ces eet certan ane igwrsneesenrngtesngtawNssnpaslete rane meePebe enone neta ete oe abe eae sp apetancbreete pos benpoete han Pogues powonem tones ne tn toate pe depen Siete ah eee RS Sete in eee Aebe e oe te ees mints SCIENCE A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISH- ING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: S. NEWwcomB, Mathematics; R. S. WoopwWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics; R. H. THurRstoNn, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chem- istry ; CHARLES D. Watcort, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; HENRY F. Os- BORN, Paleontology; W. K. Brooxs, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology ; 8. H. SCUDDER, Entomology ; C. E. Basspy, N. L. Brirron, Botany ; C.S. Minot, Embry- ology, Histology ; H. P. Bownitcn, Physiology; WiLtr1am H. WELCH, Pathology ; J. McKEEN CATTELL, Psychology. NEW SERIES. VOLUME XVII. JANUARY -JUNE, 1903. NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1903 THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY, __ 41 NORTH QUEEN STREET, ; LANcasTER, Pa. ” ISTHO( Stienal Museu CONTENTS AND INDEX. N. 8. VOL. XVII.—JANUARY TO JUNE, 1903. The Names of Contributors are Printed in Small Capitals. ApaMs, F. D., Quantitative Classification of Igne- ous Rocks, W. Cross and Others, 341 African, South, Association, 986 Agriculture, U. §., Appropriation for, 556; Cor- nell Work for, R. H. THurstTon, 831 Albinism, Negro, W.-C. FARABEE, 75; CASTLE, 75 Algol Variable, New, E. C. Pickerine, 554 Alloys, Nickel-steel, R. H. THurston, 674 American, Association for the Advancement of Science, President’s Address, 1; Physics, 8, 170; Chemistry, 15, 416; Report of General Seeretary, 41; Mechanical Science and En- gineering, 48, 210; Zoology, 63, 241; Mathe- matics and Astronomy, 81, 104; Botany, 93, 257; Geology and Geography, 217; St. Louis Meeting, 281, 428; Anthropology, 286; Elec- tion of Fellows, 339; Policy of, 430; Improve- ment of Meetings, 594; Hotel Headquarters, 629; Proceedings of, 630; Social and Eco- nomie Seience, 881, 921; Museum of Natural History, 394, 874 W. EE, Anatomists, American, Association of, G. C. HUBER, 335 Anthropological Society of Washington, W. Howe, 820, 862, 944 Anthropology and Psychology, N. Y. Acad. of Sciences, J. E. Loucu, 186, 470, 588, 624 Archeology and Ethnology, Commission of, 715 Argulids, ‘Hosts of, T. GILL, 33 ‘Astronomical, and Astrophysical Society of Amer- ica, W. S. EICHELBERGER, 321; Expedition, D. O. Mills, 436 Astronomy, The Science of, A. Hatz, 1; Physics and Chemistry, N. Y. Acad. of Sciences, S. A. MITCHELL, 385, 625, 743, 861 Auk, The Great, F. A. Lucas, 311 B., H. C., Julian’s Quantitative Chemical Analysis, 383 Bacteriologists, American, Society of, E. O. Jor- DAN, 369 Barney, L. H., Evolution of Plants, 441 Bairry, V., Sleepy Grass and Horses, 392 Bangs, N., Law of Priority, 115; Notes on Ento- mology, 154, 982; Manuscript Names, 508 Baptanodon, Dental Grooves and Teeth in, C. W. GILMORE, 750 Barometer, H. C. Bouton, 547; A. L. Rotcu, 708 Barton, B. W., Biological Station, 947 Barus, C., Cause of Lightning, 32 BASKERVILLE, C., Elisha Mitchell Scientific So- ciety, 233, 388, 793; Rare Earth Crusade, 772 Basket Materials, C. H. Mrerrram, 826 Batuer, F. A., Publication of Rejected Names, 389 Brat, W. J., The American Association, 430 BraucHamp, W. M., Iroquois Book of Rites, 189 Bedell Composite Transmissions, R. H. THuRsTon, 515 Brssry, C. E., Botanical Notes, 117, 156, 472, 552, 829; Postelsia, 230; Trelease on the Yuccez, 499; MacDougal on Influence of Light and Darkness upon Growth and Development, 584 Bibliographicum, Concilium, Progress of, H. F. Osporn, 951; H. H. Frezp, 1014 Bicetow, M. A., N. Y. Acad. of Sciences, Biology, 544, 743, 977 BicELow, R. P., Biological Station, 946 Birrines, F., Medical Education in the United States, 761 Bioleeical Laboratory, Proposed, at the Tortugas, G. Mayer, 190; C. C. Nurrine, 823; “W. = RITTER, 825; D. S. JorpAN, 825; a i. DUERDEN, 862; E. W. MacBripr, 909: sCib: DAVENPORT, 945; R. P. Bicrtow, 946; B. W. Barton, 947; H. L. CrarK, 979; P. H. Rous, 1008; J. F. CrarKe, 1009; Society of Wash- ington, F. A. Lucas, 231, 308, 386, 426, 506, 667, 704, 791; Station at Bermuda, 714; E. L. Marx, C. L. BRriston, 834 Biology, and Medicine, Experimental, Society for, W. J. Gins, 468, 741; N. Y. Acad. of Sciences, M. A. Breetow, 544, 743, 977; Teachers, N. Y. Society of, G. W. HunTER, JR., 627 Biometry and Biometrika, K. PEARSON, 592 Bishop Collection of Jade, 35 Bishop’s Ring, Second, around the Sun, H. H. Crayton, 150 Boas, F., Scientific Research, 574 Bodies, Fall of, A. Harn, 349 Botton, H. C., Wrany’s Geschichte der Chemie, 72; Muir on the Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry, 306; Barometer, 547; Tangible Lip-reading, 631 Book, Rare Scientific, H. H. Witper, 547; F. W. Hoper, 594 Botanical, Notes, C. E. Besspy, 117, 156, 472, 552, 829; Society of America, D. T. MAcDoueat, 338; Club, American, F. A. 8., 348; Desert Laboratory, 555 Brain-weights, of Brothers and Sisters. EH. A. S., 516; and their Relation to Mental Powers of Man, E. A. SpirzKa, 753 Brazil, Trigonometrie Survey of, 955 British Antarctic Expedition, 833 Britton, N. L., Research Funds of the Scientific Alliance of New York, 314 Brontosaurus, E. 8. Riees, 393 Bronzes, Ancient, Corrosions on, W. Kocu, 152 Brooks, A. H., Geological Society of Washington, 25, 186 iv SCIENCE. Burp, J. S., Chemical Society of Washington, 427 Burcess, E. §., Torrey Botanical Club, 26, 148 Butterflies, Kallima, Nat. Scr., 31 Casort, F., Deviation of Falling Bodies, 508 CampBELL, D. H., Origin of Terrestrial Plants, 93 CAMPBELL, W. W., Work of Lick Observatory, 607 Cannon, W. A., Torrey Botanical Club, 148 Cartson, A. J., Hearts of Invertebrates and Elec- trical Stimulation, 548 Carnegie Institution, 78, 161 Caste, W. B., Farabee on Negro Albinism, 75 Catalogue, International, of Scientific Literature, W. H. Evans, 585 Catss, J. S., Berzelius Chemical Society, 348, 908 Carrett, J. McK., Homo Scientificus Americanus, 561 CHAMBERLAIN, A. F., Will-making, 391 | CHAMBERLAIN, C. J., Botany at the American Association, 257 CHAMBERLIN, T. C., Scientific Research, 571 Chamberlin, Professor, Bust of, 475 CHamBLiss, C. E., Clemson College Science Club, 275, 590, 978. Cuant, C. A., Physical Basis of Color, 864 Chemical, Society, American, N. C. Section, C. B. WILLIAMS, 27, 940; Northeastern Section, A. M. Comey, 147, 669, 744, 908; Cornell Sec- tion, W. C. Grrr, 232; Berzelius, J. S. Cates, 348, 908; of Washington, J. S. Burp, 427 Chemicals, Commission on Purity of, 835 Chemistry, Inorganic, Notes on, J. L. H., 235; Applied, Congress of, H. W. Witry, 315 Crark, H. L., Biological Laboratory 979 CxiarKE, J. F., Biological Laboratory, 1009 Crayton, H. H., Second Bishop’s Ring around the Sun, 150; Hann’s Climatology, 819 Clemson College Science Club, C. E. CHAMBLISS, 275, 590, 978 CockrereLtL, T. D. A., New Mexico Academy of Sciences, 114; Publication of Rejected Names, 189, 546; Orthoplasy, 275; Dyar’s List of North American Lepidoptera, 501; New Mexico Normal University, 746 Corr, F. N., American Mathematical Society, 112, 468, 822 Cotiins, J. R., Toronto Astronomical Society, 188 Color, Physical Basis of, C. A. Cant, 864 Colorado Academy of Science, W. C. Frrrit, 385 Columbia University Geological Journal Club, H. W. Suimer, 149, 233, 505, 626, 744, 862 Comry, A. M., Northeastern Section of American Chemical Society, 147, 669, 744, 908 Concilium Bibliographicum, H. F. Ossorn, 951; H. H. Firrp, 1014 Connecticut Botanical Society, E. H. Hames, 505 Coox, O. F., Types of Pre-Linnzan Genera, 350 Crampton, H. H., Annual Meeting of New York Academy of Sciences, 73 Cranial Capacity, A. Hrpricka, 1011 Crookes, Sir W., Modern Views on Matter, 993 Currin, R. P., Entomological Society of Washing- ton, 185, 543, 705 Curtis, H. D., Limits of Unaided Vision, 1010 Datr, W. H., Sherborn’s Index Animalium, 1003 Dalton Celebration at Manchester, 954 Davenrort, C. B., Biological Station, 945 CONTENTS AND INDEX Davis, H. §., Doolittle on Results with Zenith Telescope of Flower Observatory, 540 Davis, W. M., Notes on Physiography, 115, 193, 354, 434, 550, 672; St. Louis Meeting of the American Association, 428 Dean, B., Eggs of Eastern Atlantic Hag-fish 433; Japanese Shark, 630 Degrees, Honorary, C. 8S. M., 432 Desert Botanical Laboratory, 555 Deviation of Falling Bodies, F. Casort, 508 Dickson, L. E., Easton on the Group Theory, 904 Digits, Negative, D. N. Lenmer, 514 Discussion and Correspondence, 29, 75, 114, 150, 189, 284, 275, 311, 349, 389, 428, 470, 506, 546, 592, 627, 671, 708, 744, 794, 823, 862, 909, 945, 979, 1008 Drxon, R. B., Anthropology at the Am. Assoc., 286 Dorsry, N. E., Surface Tension, 868 Drew, G. A., Am. Society of Zoologists, 481, 529 Drown, T. M., From High School to College, 521 Dryer, C. R., The Word ‘ Geest’ in Geology, 234 Duntey, P. H., Stremmatograph Tests, 733 Duptey, S. W., Thermometric Readings, 749 DuErpDEN, J. E., Tropical Marine Laboratory, 862 Duvat, J. W. T., Seeds Buried in the Soil, 872 Eames, E. H., Connecticut Botanical Society, 505 Fare, F. S., Torrey Botanical Club, 348, 427 EKeology, H. W. Witry, 794; Rise of, V. M. Spaxp- inc, 201; Applied, B. E. Fernow, 605 Edentata of Santa Cruz Beds, W. B. Scorr, 900 Educational Requirements for Professional Study, President Schurman on, A. H. Taytor, 29 Epwarps, ©. L., Note on Phrynosoma, 826 EICHELBERGER, W. S., Astronomical and Astro- physical Society of America, 321 ErmpBeck, W., Intern. Geodetic Association, 832 Elephants, Remains of, in Wyoming, W. C. KNIGHT, 828 Elephas Columbi, C. H. STERNBERG, 511 Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, C. BASKERVILLE, 233, 388, 793 Exrop, M. J., Montana as a Field for an Academy of Sciences, 851 Engineering Schools and their Imperfections, D. C. Jackson, 641 Entomological Society of Washington, Currin, 185, 543, 705 Entomologists, Economic, Association of, A. L. QUAINTANCE, 337 Entomology, Notes on, N. Banks, 154, 982 Evans, W. H., International Catalogue of Scien- tifie Literature, Bacteriology, 585 Rawk Falconiformes, Pycraft’s Classification of, R. Riweway, 509; Ridgway’s Classification of, L. SLEtNEGER, 628 FarABer, W. C., Negro Albinism, 75 Fellows of the American Association, 339 Fenneman, N. M., Mountain Spectre Boulder, Colo., 349 Fernow, B. E., Applied Ecology, 605 Ferrin, W. C., Colorado Academy of Science, 388 Fietp, H. H., Concilium Bibliographicum, 1014 Fintay, G. I, N. Y. Acad. Sei., Geology and Mineralogy, 504, 793 FireMAN, P., Translation of Gas in a Vacuum, 390 FuatHer, J. J., Utilization of Power, 48 Forestry, N. Y. College of, 1018 near NEw SERIES. VoL. XVII. Fowter, H. W., Three Interesting Fishes on New Jersey Coast, 594 FRANKLIN, W. S., Popular Science, 8 Frogs, Destruction of, A. M. Reeser, 311; H. A. WEBER, 594 Y Fuertes, Estevan Antonio, R. H. THursron, 303 Ganone, W. F., Clement’s Herbaria Formationus Coloradensium, 512; Stamens and Pistils are Sexual Organs, 652 Garpiner, H. N., American Philosophical Asso- ciation, 140 Gas, Translation of, in a Vacuum, P. Fireman, 390 Geer, W. C., Cornell Section of American Chem- ical Society, 232 Gemmorum, Nova, Light of, E. C. PricKERING, 753 Genera, Pre-Linnean, Types of, O. F. Coox, 350; D. S. JorpANn, 627 Geodetic Association, W. ErmmpecKk, 832 Geographical Society, Royal, 633 Geography in University of Chicago, 713 Geological, Society, of Washington, A. H. Brooks, 25, 186; W. C. MENDENHALL, 273, 309, 387, 541, 668, 739, 792, 941, 1007; of America, Washington Meeting, J. F. Kemp and A. W. GraABAU, 290; U. S., Survey, New Division of, 357; Research in Honduras, 1018 Geology, ‘Geest’ in, C. R. Drymr, 234; and Min- eralogy, N. Y. Acad. of Sciences, G. I. Frntay, 504, 793; Patagonian, A. E. Ortmann, 796 Gies, W. J., Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 468, 741 Gi, T., Hosts of Argulids and their Nomencla- ture, 33; Origin of Name Monotremes, 433; Walbaum and Binomialism, 744; Holbrook’s North American Herpetology, 910 Gitmorgz, C. W., Dental Grooves and Teeth in Baptanodon, 750 Glacial Period, in Japan, G. F. Wricut, 349 Gonionemus, Egg-laying in, L. Murpacn, 192. Grass, Sleepy, and Horses, V. BatLey, 392 GRIMSLEY, G. P., Kansas Academy of Science, 545 GreeELry, A. W., Reactions of Paramecia, 980 Grosvenor, G. H., Smithson’s Remains, 311 H., J. L., Notes on Inorganic Chemistry, 235 Hag-fish, Eastern Atlantic, Eggs of, B. Dean, 433 Hart, A., The Science of Astronomy, 1; Fall of Bodies, 349 Harkness, William, 436; A. N. Sxryyer, 601 Harper, H. W., Simonds on Minerals and Min- eral Localities of Texas, 620 Harper, R. M., Okefinokee Swamp, 508 Harpswell Laboratory, J. 8S. Kinestey, 983 Hart, J. H., Kelvin Physical Club of Uniy. of Pa., 671 Harcner, J. B., Judith River Beds, 471 Haw.ry, E. H., The Overspun String, 870 Hearts of Invertebrates, Response to Electrical Stimulation, A. J. Carson, 548 Hemprin, A., Activity of Mont Pelée, 546 HeEnvERSON, J., Will-making, 671 Herbaria Formationum Coloradensium, Clement’s, W. F. Gancone, 512 Herrick, C. J., Zoology at the Am. Assoc., 241 Hill, Henry Barker, T. W. R., 841 Hiss, P. H., Sedgwick and Winslow on the Bacil- lus of Typhoid Fever, 660 SCIENCE. Vv Hitcucocr, A. S., Nomenclature, 827 Hircucocn, C. H., Ormond by the Sea, 184 Hircucock, F. H., Social and Economie Science at the American Association, 881, 921 Hoper, F. W., A Rare Scientific Book, 594 Holbrook’s N. A. Herpetology, T. Giix, 910 Hoxeate, T. F., Chicago Section, American Mathe- matical Society, 272 Homo Scientificus Americanus, J. McK. Cartett, 561 Hopkins, T. C., Onondaga Academy of Science, 348 Hoven, G. W., The Planet Jupiter, 81 Hoven, W., Anthropological Society of Wash- ington, 820, 862, 944 Hovey, E. O., Magazine Science, 76; Geology and Geography at Am. Assoc. 217; ‘ Mount Pelee,’ 1010 Howe, C. 8., Mathematics and Astronomy at the American Association, 104 Hower, J. L., Miley’s Process of Color Photog- raphy, 193; Hinds’s, Jones’s and Holleman’s Text-books of Organic Chemistry, 781 Hrpricka, A., Cranial Capacity, 1011 Huser, G. C., Assoc. of Am. Anatomists, 335 Humeureys, A. C., Inaugural Address of Presi- dent of Stevens Institute of Technology, 361 Hunter, JR., G. W., N. Y. Society of Biology Teachers, 627 Fchthyological Research Committee, 1016 Iowa Academy of Sciences, A. G. Leonarp, 670 Iron and Steel Trade in 1902, 914 Iroquois Book of Rites, W. M. BraucHamp, 189 J., J., Grasset’s L’hypnotisme et la suggestion, 788 J., JR., T. A., Heilprin on Mont Pelé, 423 Jackson, D. C., Engineering Schools, 641 JEFFERSON, M. 8. W., Mount Pelee, 909 JENNINGS, H. S., Pratt’s Invertebrate Zoology, 739 Jones, L. R., Vermont Botanical Club, 591 JoRDAN, D. S., Types of Linnean Genera, 627; Biological Laboratory at Tortugas, 825 JorRDAN, E. O., Soe. of Am. Bacteriologists, 369 Judith River, Beds, J. B. Harcuer, 471; Group, C. H. Srerneere, 870 Jupiter, G. W. Hoven, 81 Kansas Academy of Science, G. P. GRimstEy, 545 Keen, W. W., Duties and Responsibilities of Trustees of Public Medical Institutions, 801 Kettoce, V. L., Mudge’s Text-book of Zoology; Goette’s Lehrbuch der Zoologie, 787 Kelvin Physical Club of University of Pa., J. H. Hart, 671 Kemp, J. F.. and A. W. Grasavu, Washington Meeting of Geological Soc. of America, 290 Kinestry, J. §., Bourne’s Comparative Anatomy of Animals, 586; The Harpswell Laboratory, 983 Kyieut, W. C., Elephants in Wyoming, Kyowtton, F. H., Rejected Names, 506 Kocu, W., Corrosions on Ancient Bronzes, 152 Kunz, G. F., Williams on the Diamond Mines of South Africa, 695 828 L., F. A., Museum Notes, 514, 873 CONTENTS AND vi SCIENCE. INDEX. Lreumer, D. N., Negative Digits, 514 Lronarp, A. G., lowa Academy of Sciences, 670 Lick Observatory, Work of, W. W. CAMPBELL, 607 Liebig, Justus von, D. WoopMAN, 952 Life, Upper Temperature Limits of, W. A. SercH- ELL, 934 Lightning, Cause of, C. BARUS, 32 Litt, F. R., Minot’s Embryology, 817 Lip-reading, Tangible, H. C. Borron, 631 Luoyp, F. E., Mell’s Biological Laboratory Meth- ods, 467 Locy, W. A., Zeigler ueber den derzeitigen Stand der Decendenzlehre in der Zoologie, 111 Loven, J. E., N. Y. Acad. Sci., Anthropology and Psychology, 186, 470, 588, 624 Lucas, F. A., Biological Society of Washington, 231, 308, 386, 426, 506, 667, 704, 791; The Great Auk, 311 M., ©, S., Abundant Honorary Degrees, 432 M. T. H., Gabrowski’s Morphogenetische Studien, 466 McM., J. P., Jaekel’s Ueber verschiedene Wege phylogenetischer Entwickelung, von Wett- stein’s Der Neo-Lamarckismus und seine Beziehungen zum Darwinismus, 380; Ver- worn on Die Biogenhypothese, 538, Kor- schelt and Heider’s Lehrbuch der vergleich- enden Entwicklungsgeschichte der wirbellosen Thiere, 906 Macatium, A. B., New Medical Buildings of Uni- versity of ‘oronto, 813 MacBrips, E. W., Biological Laboratory, 909 MacDoucat, D. T., Botanical Soc. of Am., 338; Riister’s Pathologische Pflanzenanatomie, 905 McFarland, J., Muir and Ritchie’s Bacteriology, 1005 MacMinuan, ©., Scientific Research, 579; Are Stamens and Pistils Sexual Organs?, 795 Mammals, New Generic Names of, T. S. PALMER, 873 Marine, Animals in Interior Waters, H. M. Smiru, 114; Biological Laboratory of U. 8. Fish Commission, 676 Marx, B. L., and C. L. Bristot, Bermuda Biolog- ical Station, 834 Mathematical Society, American, F. N. Corn, 112, 468, 822, San Francisco Section, G. A. Mi- LER, 232, 860; Chicago Section, T. F. Hot- GATE, 272 Mathematics, Foundations of, E. H. Moors, 401; Fundamental Discoveries in, G. A. MILLER, 496 Marunws, A. P., Nerve Irritability and Chemical and Electrical Stimulation, 729 Matter, Modern Views on, Sir W. Crookes, 993 Marruzw, W. D., Recent Zoopaleontology, 912 Mayer, A. G., The Tortugas for Research in Biol- ogy, 190, 655; Status of Public Museums in United States, 843 Mean, E., Mechanical Science and Engineering at the American Association, 210 Medical, Education in United States, F. BILLines, 761; Public Institutions, Duties of Trustees of, W. W. Kern, 801 Menpet, L. B., Von Fiirth’s Vergleichende chem- ische Physiologie der niederen Thiere, 701 MENDENHALL, W. C., Geological Society of Wash- ington, 273, 309, 387, 541, 668, 739, 792, 941, 1007 Merriam, C. H., Basket Materials, 826 Merritt E., American Physical Society, 180, 628, 938 ° Meteorology, Notes on, R. DEC. WARD, 235, 353, 595, 712, 752, 796, 829 Michigan, Univ. of, Research Club, F. C. Nrw- COMBE, 388 Miter, A. M., A Brilliant Meteor, 114 Miter, D. C., Physics at the Am. Assoc., 170 Mitter, G. A., San Francisco Section, Am. Mathe- matical Soc., 232, 860; Discoveries in Mathe- matics, 496 Minor, C. §., MeMurrich on the Development of the Human Body, 421 Missouri Botanical Garden, 195 Mircnett, 8. A., N. Y. Acad. Sci., Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry, 385, 625, 743, 861 Monotremes, Origin of Name, T. Gru, 433 Montana, Academy of Sciences, J. P. Rowe, 309; as a Field for an Academy of Sciences, M. J. Exrop, 851 Montcomery, Jr., T. H., American Zoology, 33 Moore E. H., Foundations of Mathematics, 401. Moorenrap, W. K., Fowke’s Archeological His- tory of Ohio, 618 Mostery, E. L., Ohio Academy of Science, 145 Mosquitoes, North American, Monograph of, 676 Mountain Spectre near Boulder, Colo., N. M. FENNEMAN, 349 MuUnstrerpere, H., Scientific Research, 580 Mourzacsu, L., Egg-laying in Gonionemus, 192 Murnocu, J., Atavie Mutation, 234 Museum, U. S. National, 556; Notes, F. A. L., 514, 873 ; Museums, Public in U. S., A. G. Mayer, 843 Mutation, Atavic, J. Murpocu, 234; of Tomato, C. A. WHITE, 76 Names, Rejected, Publication of, T. D. A. Cock- ERELL, 189, 546; F. A. Barner, 389; F. H. Kyowtton, 506; Manuscript, N. Banks, 508 National, Bureau of Standards, E. B. Rosa, 129; Academy of Sciences, 703 Naturalists, American Society of, 561, 571 Nebraska, Ornithologists’ Union, 592; Academy of Science, R. H. Woxcort, 623 Nerve Irritability and Chemical and Electrical Stimulation, A. P. MatHEws, 729 Newcomp, §8., The Universe as an Organism, 121 Newcomes, F. C., Research Club of Uniy. of Mich- igan, 388 New Mexico, Academy of Science, 114; Normal University, T. D. A. CocKERELR, 746 New York Academy of Sciences, Annual Meeting, H. E. Crampton, 73; Anthropology and Psy- chology, J, E. Louex, 186, 470, 588, 624; Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry, S. A. MircHe.L, 385, 625, 743, 861; Geology and Mineralogy, G. I. Frnzay, 504, 793, Biology, M. A. Breetow, 544, 743, 977; Zoological Park and Aquarium, H. F. Osporn, 265 Niagara Falls, Power at, R. H. T., 236 Nomenclature, A. S. HitrcHcocr, 827 North Carolina Academy of Science, F. S., 146 Nutting, C. C., Perplexities of a Systematist, 63; Biological Laboratory at Tortugas, 823 ——_ NeW SERIES. VoL. XVII. O., H. F., Recent Zoopaleontology, 157, 312, 336, 673 Observations, Incomplete, H. A. WrEsBER, 15 Ocprn, H. N., Comstock’s Field Astronomy, 422 Ohio, Academy of Science, E. L. Mostey, 145; State peesaiae Lake Laboratory of, 834 Okefinokee Swamp, R. M. Harper, 508 Onondaga Academy of Science, T. C. Hopxins, 348 Ornithologists’ Union, Excursion to Cal., 436 ORTMANN, A. E., Squid from Onondaga Lake, 30; Patagonia Geology, 796 OSBORN, i. F., New York Zoological Park and Aquarium, 265; Division of. Reptilia into Subclasses Synapsida and Diapsida, 275; Concilium Bibliographicum, 951 Overspun String, E. H. Hawzey, 870 Packarp, A. S., Hertwig’s Manual of Zoology, 857 Paleobotany, Grant for, G. R. WIELAND, 352 Parmer, T. S., Generic Names of Mammals, 873 Paramecia, Reactions of, A. W. GREELEY, 980 Parx, W. H., Rosenau on Disinfection and Disin- fectants, 502 Pearson, K., Biometry and Biometrika, 592 PeckHAM, S. F., Baker on Roads and Pavements, 540 Pelé, Mont, Activity of, A. Hemprin, 546; ‘or Mount Pelee, M. S. W. JEFFERSON, 909; E. O. Hovey, 1010 PenFiELp, S. L., Miers’s Mineralogy, 503 Philosophical, Society, of Washington, C. K. WEED, 24, 346, 586, 669, 705, 790, 943; Ameri- can, General Meeting, 681; ‘Association, American, 151 INT GARDINER, 140 Photography, Color, J. L. Hows, 193 Phrynosoma, Note on, C. L. EpWArps, 826 Physical Soe., American, E. Merrirt, 180, 622, 938 Physiography, Notes on, W. M. Davis, 115, 193, 354, 434, 550, 672 Physiology, ‘Harvard Method of Teaching, 516 Pickering, HE. C., New Algol Variable, 554; En- dowment of Astronomical Research, 721; Light of Nova Gemmorum, 753 Plant Morphology and Physiology, Society for, W. F. Ganone, 454 Plants, Terrestrial, Origin of, D. H. CAMPBELL, 93; Evolution of, L. H. Batry, 441 Plesiosaurian Skull, S. W. Wur.iston, 980 Positions, Scientific, under the Government, 554, 596 Potter Creek Cave, California, Exploration of, W. J. Stncrair, 708 Power Utilization, J. J. Fuaruer, 48 Priority, Law of, N. Banks, 115 Psychological Club of Cornell University, 744 PutnaM, Marv Louise Duncan, F. Srarr, 632. QuainTance, A. L., Association of Economic En- tomologists, 337 Quito, Are of, I, Winston, 947 Quotations, 751, 950 R., T. W., Henry Barker Hill, 841 Radium, 675 Rare Earth Crusade, C. BASKERVILLE, 772 Reese, A. M., Destruction of Frogs, 311 ReEvE, S. A., Thermodynamics of Heat-engines, 470 SCIENCE. vii Reptilia, Subclasses, Synapsida and Diapsida, H. F. Osporn, 275 Research, Scientific, Endowment of, T. C. CHAM- BERLIN, 571; F. Boas, 574; W. M. WHEELER, 577; C. MacMinian, 579; H. MUNSTERBERG, 580; Astronomical, E. C. Pickerine, 721 Ricuarps, T. W., Oeuvres Complétes de J.-C. Galissard de Marignac, 112, 467 Ripeway, R., The Falconiformes, 509 Riees, E. §., Brontosaurus, 393; Pneumatic Tools in Preparation of Fossils, 747 Ritrer, W. E., Biological Laboratory, 825 Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, 395 Rorrs, P. H., Biological Laboratory, 1008 Rosa, E. B., Plan of New Buildings for National Bureau of Standards, 129 Rot, Bitter-, Fungus, H. voN ScHRENK and P. SPAULDING, 750 Rorcu, A. L., The American Association, 594; First Use of the Word Barometer, 708 Rowe, J. P., Montana Academy of Sciences, 309 Royal Society Conversazione, 976 S., E. A., Marchand ueber das Hirngewicht des Menschen, 345; Brain-weights of Brothers and Sisters, 516; Brain of Siljestrém, 554 S., F., North Carolina Academy of Science, 146 S., F., A., American Botanical Club, 348 Sacral Spot in Maya Indians, F. Srarr, 432 St. Louis, Academy of Science, W. TRELEASE, 187, 666, 706, 907, 1007; Congress of Arts and Sciences, 754 Sand-dollar Spermatozoa, Circular Swimming of, G. M. Winstow, 153 School, to College, T. M. Drown, 621 ScHRENK, H. von, and P. SpauLpine, Bitter-Rot Fungus, 750 Science, Popular, W. S. Franxiin, 8; Magazine, E. O. Hovey, 76 Scientific, Books, 22, 72, 111, 143, 184, 230, 267, 305, 341, 380, 421, 466, 499, 538, 584, 616, 660, 695, 736, 781, 817, 857, 904, 937, 1003; Journals and Articles, 24, 145, 185, 307, 345, 384, 425, 503, 541, 586, 620, 665, 703, 789, 820, 860, 906, 945; Notes and News, 36, 78, 118, 158, 196, 237, 276, 317, 357, 397, 437, 477, 517, 557, 597, 634, 677, 716, 756, 797, 836, 877, 915, 955, 987, 1019; Alliance of New York, Research Funds, N. L. Brirron, 314 Scorr, W. B., Edentata of the Santa Cruz Beds, 900 Seeds Buried in the Soil, J. W. T. Duvet, 872 SetcHeLt, W. A., Upper Temperature Limits of Life, 934 Shark, Japanese, Specimens of, B. DEAN, 630 Suimer, H. W., Columbia University Geological Journal Club, 149, 233, 505, 626, 744, 862 Shorter Articles, 32, 76, 152, 190, 275, 350, 392, 432, 509, 547, 594, 630, 708,’ 747, 826} 864, 910, 947, 980, 1010" Siljestrém, Brain of, BH. A. S., 554 Stmonps, F. W., Texas Academy of Science, 590 Snycram, W. J., Potter Creek Cave, California, 708 Skinner, A. N., William Harkness, 601 Stosson, E. E., Weights of Bills and Coins, 189 Saas H. _M., Mari ine Animals in a Ties ior Waters, Me 4s» if i vill Smithsonian Institution, 284, 476 Smithson’s Remains, G. H. GROSVENOR, 311 Societies and Academies, 24, 73,,112, 145, 185, 231, 272,/ 308,, 346, 385, 426, 468, 504, 541, 586, 622, 666; 703% 739, 790, 820, 860, 907, 938} 1007 SPALDING, V. M., Rise and Progress of Kcology, 201; Fernow on Economics of Forestry, 267; Drude on Der hereynische Florenbezirk, 616 SPAULDING, P., and H. von ScHRENK, Bitter-rot Fungus, 750 Spirzka, E. A., Brain-weights and their Relation to Mental powers of Man, 753 Squid from Onondaga Lake, A. E. Ortmann, 30 Stamens and Pistils, Sexual Organs?, W. F. GANone, 652; C. MacMirran, 759 Srarr, F., Sacral Spot in Maya Indians, 432; Mary Louise Duncan Putnam, 632 Srrarns, R. E. C., James T. Stratton, 797; Huealypts cultivated in United States, 858 StrrsneceErR, L., The Faleoniformes, 628 Srrrngpere, C. H., Elephas Columbi, 511; River Group, 870 Stevens, W. Le C., American Association, 629 Stevens Institute, Inaugural Address of President, A, C. HumMPHREYS, 361 Stokes, H. N., Chemistry at the Am. Assoc., 416 Stratton, James T., R. E. C. Srearns, 797 Stremmatograph Tests, P. H. DupLEy, 733 Systematist, Perplexities of a, C. C. Nurrine, 63 Judith T., R. H., Power at Niagara Falls, 236 Taytor, A. E., President Schurman on Educa- tional Requirements for Professional Study, 29 Technical Science, Business and the Professions, R. H. Tuurston, 961 Tension, Surface, N. EH. Dorsry, 868 Texas Academy of Science, F. W. Srmonps, 590 Thermodynamics of Heat-engines, §. A. REEVE, 470 Thermometric Readings, 8S. W. Duprey, 749 Turtty, F., Baldwin’s Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology, 143 TuHurston, R. H., Reeve on Thermodynamics of Heat-engines, 305; Ithaca, N. Y., Water- supplies, 474; Bedell Composite Transmis- sions, 515; Nickel-steel Alloys, 674; Cornell Work for Agriculture, 831; Technical Sci- ence in Education 961 Tools, Pneumatic, in Preparation of Fossils, E. §. Riees, 747 Toronto, Astronomical Society, J. R. CoLiins, 188; University of, New Medical Buildings, A. B. Macatium, 813 Torrey Botanical Club, E. S. Burerss, 26, 148; W. A. Cannon, 148; F. S. Hare, 348, 427 TRELEASE, W., St. Louis Academy of Science, 187, 666, 706, 907, 1007 Tropical Marine Laboratory, A. G. MAyER, 655 TruE, F. W., Pollack Whale in Western North Atlantic, 150 SCIENCE. Ose TENTS AND INDEX. Typhoid Fever at Palo Alto and Stanford Univer- sity, 835 Universe as an Organism, 8. Newcoms, 121 University and Educational News, 40, 79, 120, 160, 200, 239, 280, 320, 360, 400, 440, 480, 519, 559, 599, 639, 680, 720, 759, 799, 840, 880, 919, 959, 991, 1024 UpHam, W.; Leverett on Glacial Formations, 22, Vaughan, Professor, Festschrift in Honor of, 914 Vermont Botanical Club, L. R. Jonus, 591 Vision, Unaided, Limits of, H. D. Curtis, 1010 W., H. L., Treadwell’s Analytical Chemistry, 736 Walbaum and Binomialism, T. GiLL, 744 Warp, H. B., Report of General Secretary of American Association, 41 Warp, R. DrEC., Notes on Meteorology, 235, 353, 595, 712, 752, 796, 829 Washington Post-graduate Medical School, 229 Water-supplies, Ithaca, N. Y., R. H. THuRSTON, 474 Weap, C. K., Philosophical Society of Washing- ton, 24, 346, 586, 669, 705, 790, 943 ‘ WeseR, H. A., Incomplete Observations, 15; De- struction of Frogs, 594 Weights of Bills and Coins, E. E. Stosson, 189 Whale, Pollack, F. W. Truxr, 150 WHEELER, W. M., Scientific’ Research, 577 WuippLe, G. C., Baker on Municipal Engineering and Sanitation; Zueblin on American Mu- nicipal Progress, 382 Wuitr, C. A., Atavie Mutation of Tomato, 76 WIECHMANN, F. G., Friihling on the Sugar In- dustry, 937 WirLanp, G. R., Grant from Carnegie Institution for Paleobotany, 352 Wiper, H. H., A Rare Scientific Book, 547 Witry, H. W., Fifth International Congress of Applied Chemistry, 315; Ecology, 794 WILLIAMS, C. B., N. C. Section of American Chem- ical Society, 27, 940 Wituiston, S. W., Plesiosaurian Skull, 980 Will-making, A. F. CHAMBERLAIN, 391; J. HEN- DERSON, 671 Winstow, G. M., Sand-dollar Spermatozoa, 153 Winston, I., The Are of Quito, 947 Wotcortt, R. H., Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union, 592; Nebraska Academy of Science, 623 Woopman, D., Centennial Celebration of Birthday of Justus von Liebig, 952 Wricut, G. F., Glacial Period in Japan, 349 X., Proceedings of American Association, 630 YERKES, R., Pearl Fresh-water Planarians, 737 Zoologists, Am. Soc. of, G. A. Drew, 481, 529 Zoology, American, T. H. Monreomery, JR., 33 Zoopaleontology, Recent, H. F. O., 157, 312, 356, 673; W. D. MarruEw, 912 SCIENCE A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: S. NEWcomMB, Mathematics; R. S. WOODWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. Watcortt, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; HENRY F. OSBORN, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooxs, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology ; S. H. ScuDDER, Entomology ; C. E. Brssny, N. L. Brirron, Botany ; C. 8. Minor, Embryology, Histology ; H. P. Bow- DITCH, Physiology; J. S. BILLINGS, Hygiene; WILLIAM H. WELCH, Pathology ; J. MCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology. Frmay, JANuARY 2, 1903. CONTENTS: The American Association for the Adwance- ment of Science :— The Science of Astronomy: PROFESSOR FARAH BETA Ts cy dated lefsiedeiela\ojalessietelex-felebeist~ aials 1 Popular Science: Proressogn W. S. FRANK- HIM? op oododcondsbe cokes ecooneubouGobNGs 8 Incomplete Observations: PRormsson H. A. \WEDIS: “San.n0c8 dhe OO BD GOC BD Rona EOn GOTOr 15 Scientific Books :— Leverett on Glacial Formations and Drain- age Features of the Erie and Ohio Basins: WARREN, (UPHAM... 52.5.-0¢ 5.65.00 000% cine 22 Scientific Journals and Articles............ 24 Societies and Academies :-— The Philosophical Society of Washington: CHARLES K. WeEED. The Geological So- ciety of Washington: Aurrep H. Brooks. The Torrey Botanical Club: ‘PROFESSOR Epwarp 8. Bureress. Worth Carolina Sec- tion of the American Chemical Society: CB a WELLVARMS)s 2 o1c1-/a/s cye'e/slorete Gonoboeser 24 Discussion and Correspondence :— President Schurman on the Educational Requirements for Professional Study: Pro- FESSOR ALONZO ENGLEBERT Taytor. The ‘Squid from Onondaga Lake, N. Y.’: Dr. A. KH. Ortmann. Kallima Butterflies: Nat. Sct. 29 Shorter Articles :-— Data on the Cause of Lightning: PRorEssoR C. Barus. The Hosts of Argulids and their Nomenclature: Dr. THEO. GILL. The Great Need im American Zoology: Dr. TuHos. H. MontcomMmry, JR............... 32 The Bishop Collection of Jade and Hard-stone Qijdas Saag Joc BOBO E APOC ORE eer 35 Scientific Notes and News...........+..02 36 University and Hducational News.......... 40 MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. THE SCIENCE OF ASTRONOMY.* I raxe for the subject of my address the science of astronomy, and propose to give a brief historical sketch of it, to consider its future development, and to speak of the influence of the sciences on civilization. The science of astronomy is so closely connected with the affairs of life, and is brought into use so continuously and in such a systematic manner, that most people never think of the long labor that has been necessary to bring this science to its present condition. In the early times it was useful to the legislator and the priest, for keeping records, the times of public ceremonies and of religious festivals. It slowly grew into the form of a science, and became able to make predictions with some certainty. This was many centuries ago. Hipparchus, who lived 150 B.c., knew the periods of the six ancient planets with considerable accuracy. His periods are: Period. ELORALOD) Period IMWercunye aaiesiretiocisenss 872.9698 + 04.0007 Menus) Pisyerservdeiosiaetae 224.7028 + 0.0009 Marthe esc nutmyeherecoe stete 365.2599 + 0.0010 Mar si Nits sets,ciarspbetstakslersis 686.9785 — 0.0002 Avior! Goseoonusdaaued 4332.3192 — 0.0061 Saturn! § /cvcrs stevererselte tole 10758.3222 — 0.0083 * Address of the President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington meeting, December 29, 1902. 2 SCIENCE. These results indicate that more than two thousand years ago there existed re- corded observations of astronomy. Hip- parchus appears to have been one of those clear-headed men who deduce results from observations with good judgment. There was a time when those ancient Greek as- tronomers had conceived the heliocentric motions of the planets, but this true theory was set aside by the ingenious Ptolemy, who assumed the earth as the center of motion, and explained the apparent mo- tions of the planets by epicycles so well that his theory became the one adopted in the schools of Europe during fourteen centuries. The Ptolemaic theory flattered the egotism of men by making the earth the center of motion, and it corresponded well with old legends and myths, so that it be- came inwoven with the literature, art and religion of those times. Dante’s construc- tion of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise is derived from the Ptolemaic theory of the universe. His ponderous arrangement of ten divisions of Paradise, with ten Purga- tories and ten Hells, is said by some eritics to furnish convenient places for Dante to put away his friends and his enemies, but it is all derived from the pre- yailing astronomy. Similar notions will be found in Milton, but modified by the ideas of Copernicus, which Milton had learned in Italy. The Copernican theory won its way slowly, but surely, because it is the system of nature, and all discoveries in theory and practical astronomy helped to show its truth. Kepler’s discoveries in astronomy, Galileo’s discovery of the laws of motion and Newton’s discovery of the law of gravitation, put the Copernican theory on a solid foundation. Yet it was many years before the new theories were fully accepted. Dr. Johnson thought persecution a good thing, since it weeds out false men and false theories. The [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 418. Copernican and Newtonian theories have stood the test of observation and criticism, and they now form the adopted system of astronomy. The laws of motion, together with the law of gravitation, enable the astronomer to form the equations of motion for the bodies of our solar system; it remains to solve these equations, to correct the orbits, and to form tables of the Sun, Moon and the planets. This work was begun more than a century ago, and it has been re- peated for the principal planets several times, so that now we have good tables of these bodies. In the case of the principal planets the labor of determining their orbits was facilitated by the approximate orbits handed -down to us by the ancient astronomers; and also by the peculiar con- ditions of these orbits. For the most part the orbits are nearly circular; the planets move nearly in the same plane, and their motions are in the same direction. These are the conditions Laplace used as the foundation of the nebular hypothesis. With approximate values of the periods and motions, and under the other favor- ing conditions, it was not difficult to form tables of the planets. However the general problem of determining an orbit from three observations, which furnish -the necessary and sufficient data, was not solved until about a century ago. The orbits of comets were first caleulated with some precision. Attention was ealled to these bodies by their threatening aspects, and by the terror they inspired among people. It was therefore a happy duty of the astronomers to show that the comets also move in orbits around the Sun, and are subject to the same laws as the planets. This work was easier because the comets move nearly in parabolas, which are the simplest of the conic sections. Still the general problem of finding the six ele- JANUARY 2, 1903.] ments of an orbit from the six data given by three observations remained to be solved. The solution was given by Gauss a century ago in a very elegant manner. His book is a model, and one of the best ever written on theoretical astronomy. No better experience can be had for a student than to come in contact with such a book and with such an author. The so- lution of Laplace for the orbit of a comet is general, but demands more labor of com- puting than the method of Olbers, as ar- ranged by Gauss. It is said by some writers that the method of Laplace is to be preferred because more than three ob- servations can be used. In fact this is necessary in order to get good values of the derivatives of the longitudes and lati- tudes with respect to the time, but it leads to long and rather uncertain computations. Moreover it employs more data than are necessary, and thus is a departure from the mathematical theory of the problem. This method is ingenious, and by means of the derivatives it gives an interesting rule for judging of the distance of a comet from the earth by the curvature of its ap- parent path, but a trial shows that the method of Olbers is much shorter. Good preliminary orbits can now be computed for comets and planets without much labor. This, however, is only a beginning of the work of determining their actual motions. The planets act on each other and on the comets, and it is necessary to compute the result of these forces. Here again the conditions of our solar system furnish peculiar advantages. The great mass of the sun exerts such a superior force that the attractions of the planets are relatively small, so that the first orbits, computed by neglecting this interaction, are nearly cor- rect. But the interactions of planets be- come important with the lapse of time, and the labor of computing these perturba- SCIENCE. 3 tions is very great. This work has been done repeatedly, and we now have good numerical values of the theories of the principal planets, from which tables can be made. Practically, therefore, this ques- tion appears to be well toward a final solu- tion. But the whole story has not been told. The planets, on account of their relative distances being great and because their figures are nearly spherical, can be consid- ered as material particles and then the equations of motion are readily formed. In the case of n material particles acting on each other by the Newtonian law, and free from external action, we shall have 3n differential equations of motion, and 6n integrations are necessary for the complete solution. Of these only ten can be made, so that in the case of only three bodies there remain eight integrations that cannot be found. The early investigators soon obtained this result, and it is clearly stated by Lagrange and Laplace. The astron- omer, therefore, is forced to have recourse to approximate methods. He begins with the problem of two bodies, the sun and a planet, and neglects the actions of the other planets. In this problem of two bodies the motions take place in a plane, and the integrations can all be made. ‘Two con- stants are needed to fix the position of the plane of motion, and the four other con- stants pertaining to the equations in this plane are easily found. This solution is the starting point for finding the orbits of all the planets and comets. The mass of the sun is so overpowering that the solu- tion of the problem of two bodies gives a good idea of the real orbits. Then the theory of the variation of the elements is introduced, an idea completely worked out into a practical form by Lagrange. The elements of the orbits are supposed to be continually changed by the attractions of 4. SCIENCE. the other planets. By means of this theory, and the mathematical machinery given by Lagrange, which can be applied to a great variety of questions, the observa- tions of the planets can be satisfied over long intervals of time. When this theory of the motions was carried out a century ago it appeared that the great problem of planetary motion was near a complete so- lution. But this solution depends on the use of series, which undergo integrations that may introduce small divisors. An examination of these series by Hansen, Poincaré and others indicates that some of them are not convergent. Hence the conclusions formerly drawn about the stability of our solar system are not trust- worthy, and must be held in abeyance. But looking at the construction of our sys- tem, and considering the manner in which it was probably evolved, it appears to be stable. However the mathematical proof is wanting. In finding the general inte- grals of the motions of m bodies, the as- sumption that the bodies are particles gets rid of the motions of rotation. These motions are peculiar to each body, and are left for special consideration. In the case of the earth this motion is very important, since the reckoning of time, one of our fundamental conceptions, depends on this motion. Among the ten general integrals that can be found six belong to the pro- gressive motion of the system of bodies. They show that the center of gravity of the system moves in a right line, and with uniform velocity. Accurate observations of the stars now extend over a century and a half, and we are beginning to see this result by the motion of our sun through space. So far the motion appears to be rectilinear and uniform, or the action of the stars is without influence. This is a matter that will be developed in the future. Three of the other general inte- LN. S. Vou. XVII. No. 418. grals belong to the theory of areas, and Laplace has drawn from them his theory of the invariable plane of the system. The remaining integral gives the equation of living force. The question of relative mo- tion remains, and is the problem of the- oretical astronomy. This has given rise to many beautiful mathematical investi- gations, and developments into series. But the modern researches have shown that we are not sure of our theoretical results ob- tained in this way, and we are thrown back on empirical methods. Perhaps the theories may be improved. It is to be hoped that the treatment of the differential equations may be made more general and complete. Efforts have been made in this direction by Newcomb and others, and especially by Gyldén, but so far without much practical result. The problem of three bodies was en- countered by the mathematicians who fol- lowed Newton, and many efforts were made to solve it. These efforts continue, although the complete ‘investigations of Lagrange appear to put the matter at rest. The only solutions found are of very special character. Laplace used one of these solutions to ridicule the doctrine of final causes. It was the custom to teach that the moon was made to give us light at night. Laplace showed by one of the special solutions that the actual conditions might be improved, and that we might have a full moon all the time. But his argument failed, since such a system is unstable and cannot exist in nature. But some of the efforts to obtain partial solu- tions have been more fruitful, and G. W. Hill has obtained elegant and useful re- sults. These methods depend on assumed conditions that do not exist in nature, but are approximately true. The problem of two bodies is a case of this kind, and the = MT 9 hens Se JANUARY 2, 1903. ] partial solutions may illustrate, but will not overcome, the fundamental difficulty. The arrangement of our solar system is such that the distances of the planets from one another are very great with respect to their dimensions, and this facilitates very much the determination of their motions. Should two bodies approach very near each other the disturbing force might become great, even in the case of small masses. In the case of comets this condition hap- pens in nature, and the comet may become a satellite of a planet, and the sun a dis- turbing body. In this way it is probable that comets and meteoric streams have been introduced into our solar system. We have here an interesting set of problems. This question is sometimes treated as one of statics, but since the bodies are in mo- tion it belongs to dynamics. Further study may throw light on some relations between the asteroids and the periodical comets. The great question of astronomy is the complete and rigorous test of the New- tonian law of gravitation. This law has represented observations so well during a century and a half that it is a general be- lief that the law will prove true for all time, and that it will be found to govern the motions of the stars as well as those of our solar system. The proof is cumulative and strong for this generality. It will be a wonderful result if this law is found rigorously true for all time and throughout the universe. Time is sure to bring severe tests to all theories. We know that the law of gravitation is modified in the mo- tions of the matter that forms the tails of comets. There is an anomaly in the theory of Mereury which the law does not ex- plain, and the motion of our moon is not yet represented by theory. The lunar theory is very complicated and difficult, but it does not seem probable that the de- SCIENCE. 5 fect in Hansen’s theory will be found by recomputing the periodical coefficients, that have been already computed by many mathematicians and astronomers, and with good agreement by Hansen and Delaunay, by very different methods. Hansen was a computer of great skill, but he may haye foreed an agreement with observations, from 1750 to 1850, by using a coefficient of long period with an erroneous value. No doubt the error of this theory will be dis- covered. Back of all theories, however, remains the difficulty of solving the equa- tions of motion so that the result can be applied with certainty over long periods of time. Until this is done we shall not be able to subject our law to a crucial test. The constants that enter the theories of the planets and moon must be found from observations. In order to compare obser- vations made at distant epochs, the motions of the planes of reference must be known with accuracy, and also the motion of our solar system in space. As the stars are our points of reference their positions and their proper motions must be studied with great care. This department of astron- omy was brought to a high degree of order by the genius of Bessel, whose work forms an epoch in modern astronomy. The re- cent progress made in determining the positions of the stars in all parts of the heavens will be a great help to the investi- gations of the future. We must have ob- servatories where accurate and continuous observations are made. Our country is well situated to supplement the work of Hurope, and we hope it will never fail to add its contribution to the annals of astronomy. American astronomers should keep pace in the improvements for increas- ing the ease and accuracy of making ob- servations. The spectroscope has given a new element in the motions of the stars, not to speak of the interesting physical re- 6 SCIENCE. sults obtained by its use. Photography will give great aid in determining the rela- tive positions of the stars and in form- ing maps of the heavens. All new methods, however, will need examination and criti- ism, since they bring new sources of error. Fifty years ago it was thought the chrono- graph would inerease very much the ac- curacy of right ascensions. It has not done this directly to any great extent, but it. has increased the ease and rapidity of observing. We must remember that as- tronomical results finally depend on meridian observations, and that it is the duty of astronomers to make these con- tinuous from generation to generation. In this way we shall gain the powerful in- fiuence of time to help control and solve our problems.. There is one poimt where a reform may be needed from the dead weight of the large and expanding vol- umes sent forth by observatories and sci- entific institutions. The desire for publi- cation is great, but the results should be well discussed and arranged, so that the printing may be shortened. Otherwise our publications may become burdensome, and when they are piled up in libraries some future Caliph Omar may be tempted to burn them. Even mathematics appears to labor under a similar oppression, and much of its printed matter may be destined to moulder to useless dust. In the not distant future stellar astron- omy will become a great and interesting field of research. The data for the mo- tions of the stars are becoming better known, but these motions are slow, and the astronomer of to-day looks with envy on the astronomer of a thousand years hence, when time will have developed these mo- tions. Much may be done by the steady and careful work of observation and dis- cussion, and the accumulation of accurate data. Here each one of us ean add his [N.S Von. XVII No. 418. mite. But the great steps of progress in science have come from the efforts of indi- viduals. Schools and universities help forward knowledge by giving to many students opportunities to learn the present conditions, and from them some genius like Lagrange or Gauss may come forth to solve hard questions, and to break the paths for future progress. This is about all the schools can do. We need a body of men who can give their lives to quiet and continuous study. When the young Laplace was helped to a position where he could devote his life to research D’Alem- bert did more for the progress of astron- omy than all the universities of Europe. One needs only to glance at history to see how useful astronomy has been in the life of the world. It has wonderfully enlarged the universe, and widened the views of men. It shows how law and order pervade the world in which we live; and by the knowledge it has disseminated and by its predictions it has banished many superstitions and fears. The sci- ences will continue to grow; and they will exert the same influence. The erroneous and dogmatic assertions of men will be pushed aside. In our new country the energies of the people are devoted chiefly to commercial and political ends, but wealth is accumulating, leisure and op- portunity will come, and we may look for- ward to a great development of scientific activity. We must be patient. Men do not change much from generation to gener- ation. Nations that have spent centuries in robbery and pillage retain their dis- positions and make it necessary for other nations to stand armed. No one knows when a specious plea for extending the area of civilization may be put forth, or when some fanatic may see the hand of God beckoning him to seize a country. The progress of science and invention will wet te CTE 5g ‘surdity. JANUARY 2, 1903.] render it’ more difficult for such people to execute their designs. A century hence it may be impossible for brutal power, how- ever rich and great, to destroy a resolute people. It is in this direction that we may look for international harmony and peace, simply because science will make war too dangerous and too costly. The influence of the sciences in bringing men of different nationalities into harmony is great. This is done largely by the com- mon languages that are formed in each sci- ence. In mathematics the language is so well formed and generally adopted that mathematicians all over the world have no trouble in understanding one another. It may be difficult to read Russian, but every one can read the formulas of Tche- ‘bitechef and Lobaschewsky. In astron- omy the common language is nearly as well established, so that there is little difficulty in understanding the astronomy of differ- ent nations. A similar process is going on in chemistry, botany and in the other sci- ences. When men are striving for the ‘discovery of truth in its various manifesta- tions, they learn that it is by correcting the mistakes of preceding investigators that progress is made, and they have charity for criticism. Hence persecution for difference of opinion becomes an ab- The labors of scientifie men are forming a great body of doctrine that can be appealed to with confidence in all coun- tries. Such labors bring people together, ‘and tend to break down national barriers and restrictions. The scientific creed is constantly growing and expanding, and we have no fears, but rejoice at its growth. We need no consistory of bishops, nor synod of ministers, to tell us what to be- lieve. Everything is open to investigation and eriticism. In our country we have one of the great- .est theaters for national life that the world SCIENCE. 7 has ever seen. Stretching three thousand miles from ocean to ocean, and covering the rich valleys of the great rivers, we have a land of immense resources. Here is a vast field for scientific work of various lands. No doubt the men of the future will be competent to solve the problems that will arise. Let us hope that our national character will be just and humane, and that we may depart from the old custom of robbing and devouring weak peoples. Any one who saw the confusion and waste in this city in 1862 might well have despaired of the Republic; and he who saw the armies of Grant and Sher- man pass through the city in 1865 felt that he need fear no foreign foe: neither French emperor, nor English nobleman nor the sneers of Carlyle. To destroy a democracy by external force the blows must be quick and hard, because its power of recupera- tion is great. The danger will come from internal forces produced by false political and social theories, since we offer such a great field for the action of charlatans. Our schools and colleges send forth every year many educated people, and it is some- times disheartening to see how little in- fluence these people have in public life. Those who are trained in the humanities and churches ought to be humane in deal- ing with other people, ready to meet great emergencies and powerful to control bad tendencies in national affairs. But this is rarely the case. On the other hand the most unscrupulous apologists and perse- eutors have been educated men, and the heroes of humanity have come from the common people. - This anomaly points to something wrong in the system of educa- tion, which should disappear. The in- erease and teaching of scientific ideas will be the best means of establishing simple and natural rules of life. Nature, and science her interpreter, teach us to be 8 SCIENCE. honest and true, and they lead us to the Golden Rule. AsapH Hat. POPULAR SCIENCE.* Lavigs AND GENTLEMEN: Five years ago I prepared a sketch of an address which I expected to deliver as retiring president of the Iowa Academy of Science. I was not able to deliver the address, however, on account of enforced absence from the Des Moines meeting of the Academy at Christmas time, 1897. It was my inten- tion in that address to speak in terms of commendation of some of the ideas ad- vanced by Professor Woodrow Wilson in his then recent address given on the occa- sion of the Sesquicentennial celebration of Princeton University. Professor Wilson’s recent promotion to the presidency of Princeton University has called his Sesqui- centennial address again to our minds, and it seems to me that I may very properly say now what I had intended to say in 1897, especially inasmuch as no one, speak- ing for science, has expressed any degree of sympathy with President Wilson’s point of view. I hope to make my meaning so clear and definite as to render it unneces- sary for me to limit or qualify my general expression of sympathy with Professor Wilson; although the words he has used in his Sesquicentennial address are cer- tainly open to an interpretation which no seriously minded man of science could pos- sibly accept. In order that we may enter upon this subject with some degree of mutual under- standing, I think it is necessary to quote President Wilson at some length. He says, ‘“I am much mistaken if the scien- tific spirit of the age is not doing us a great disservice, working in us a certain great degeneracy. Science has bred in us a spirit of experiment and a contempt for * Address of the Chairman of Section B and Vice-President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, read at the Wash- ington meeting, December 29, 1902. [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 418. the past, * * *’’ yet ‘‘I have no indict- ment against what science has done: I have only a warning to utter against the atmosphere which has stolen from our laboratories into lecture rooms and into the general air of the world at large. * * *’’ Science ‘‘has driven mystery out of the universe; it has made malleable stuff out of the hard world and laid it out in its elements upon the table of every class room. Its own masters have known its limitations; they have stopped short at the confines of the physical universe; they have declined to reckon with spirit or with the stuffs of the mind, have eschewed sense and confined themselves to sensation. But their work has been so stupendous that all other men of all other studies have been set staring at their methods, imitating their ways of thought, ogling their results.’’ “Let me say once more, this is not the fault of the scientist, he has done his work with an intelligence and success which can- not be too much admired. It is the work of the noxious and intoxicating gas, which has somehow got into the lungs of the rest of us from out of the crevices of his work- shops—a gas it would seem, which forms only in the outer -air, and where men do not know the right ‘use of their lungs. * * *’’ ‘“‘We have not given sci- ence too big a place in our education, but we have made a perilous mistake in giving it too great a preponderance in method over every other branch of study. We must make the humanities human again; we must recall what manner of men we are; must turn back once more to the re- gion of practicable ideals. * * *’? ‘‘T should fear nothing,’’ says President Wil- son, “‘better than utter destruction from a revolution conceived and led in the scien- tifie spirit.’’ The chief obstacle to me in my attempt to reach a satisfactory appreciation of President Wilson’s point of view lies in his apparently loose and unguarded use ~ humble. JANUARY 2, 1903.] of the term ‘scientific spirit.’ If he means by it that humble spirit of inquiry based upon systematic methods of analysis which are really applicable to the nature of the inquiry, I certainly can not agree with him that it can do any disservice or that it would be anything but a basis of hope as the ruling element in a revolution. I do not believe that President Wilson enter- tains any such idea. If he means, how- ever, to signify by ‘scientific spirit’ that widespread and portentous ‘neglect of the essential qualities in things,’ I most cer- tainly approve his meaning and share his feelings of distress, although I disapprove his mode of expression. Scientific men are of course not entirely free from this neglect of the essential qualities in things, but I think that the chief neglect lies in the general popular imagination, and I believe that the growth of modern science and the resulting trans- formations of our material world, have brought upon us an acute and distressing manifestation of it. Inasmuch as I intend to speak to you mainly of the nature and extent of the influence of scientific work on the popular imagination, I may claim to speak on popular science. We can not discuss intelligently any subordinate manifestation of science until we come to some mutual understanding as to what science itself is; but I must confess that I do not like to go to the extent of defining a thing which, in my own mind at least, is so severely plain and I do not know how you feel, but for my part I am sick of this disgusting din which has been increasing for a hun- dred years in canting praise of science, a din which I can most easily specify to your perception by saying that my reluctance to define science is chiefly the fear that a pack of popular idiots will rise up with indiscriminate shouting and say—you know, of course, that I have endless choice SCIENCE. 9 of ridiculous sayings of influential men in needless and foolish praise of science to quote from! Science does not need praise, nor does work need praise; they both need plain wages. I think it is time to urge a definition of science which will help to purge the popular imagination. Science is the spirit of work. I do not mean the spirit of a man who works, but I do mean simply that science has to do solely with the increasing efficacy of the sweaty labor of this world. I am little disposed to argue what many of you may be inclined to think an undue narrowness in this defi- nition, but I assure you that it is wide enough for me. ‘An affected thinker,’ says Ruskin, ‘who supposes his thinking of any other importance than as it tends to work is about the vainest kind of per- son that can be found’ among busy men. My own knowledge of science rests partly on anticipation and partly on a college and university experience more than usually varied, and I am convinced that science is ‘primarily concerned with the making of breeches,’ although, of course, you know and I know many things not now appli- cable to that useful, or in some cases it may be useless, business. Perhaps one who is chiefly engaged in technical educa- tion is prone to accept that practical view, yet one should not, I think, attempt to escape the evidence of one’s experience, the less so, indeed, the more intimately his experience is related to practical affairs, and in any case one should only strive against exaggerated inference and extrava- gant conclusion. I trust that the granting of my conten- tion as to the severe and unpretentious homeliness of science may not divest it in your minds of a bloom which you deem essential to your interest in it; but how- ever that may be, an understanding of what I have to say demands that much of you. 10 SCIENCE. I hesitate to accept President Wilson’s ideal of the perfect place of learning of which he says: ‘Calm Science [is] seated there, recluse, ascetic, like a nun, not know- ing that the world passes, not caring, if truth but come in answer to her prayer; and Literature walking within her open doors, in quiet chambers, with men of olden time, and calm voices infinitely sweet,’ for I fear that President Wilson assumes that the spirit of science is the same as the spirit of literature which is no less a grievous error than to assume that the spirit of literature is the same as the spirit of science. I can not think of science as ‘recluse, ascetic, like a nun’; but unquestionably the true seat of learn- ing is a place apart from the world, hedged about by virtue, intrenched in grace and beauty like a woman’s womb, its air pure and wholesome with the breath of faith, and looking to heaven for the confirmation of its hope. I am inclined to look upon science as a servant and J have no sympathy for that state of mind which is exemplified by two extreme types; the man of alleged general culture who has so far forgotten his man- hood as to be lost in vacant, staring wonder at the material results of modern science, but who remains in either lazy or stupid ignorance of the underlying method, and the specialist who sighs for those good old days when one man’s mind might compass the entire range of scientific activity. This second type is a man who errs mainly in false humility and I am reminded in this connection of the character of Wagner in Goethe’s Faust, second part, who humili- ates himself before a creature of his own devising, the Homonculus. JI take it to be self-evident that science can never transcend the intellectual grasp of a single man. Of course we must remember that as in case of a large industrial establish- ment there are many details which cannot (N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 418. be carried forward by the superintendent alone, so in science there are many special details which cannot be carried forward by one person, but if we consider rightly, I think it must appear that these details are essentially not intellectual. Concerning those whose interest in sci- ence is based upon its results, I think you will agree with me that no intelligent in- terest can be so founded. EHverything that appears in the name of science in our newspapers and magazines relates only to results. Have any of you seen in our newspapers or popular magazines any de- tailed description of the principles and methods used by Marconi in his wireless telegraphy? I think you have not, and yet we know too well that there is not a newspaper reader in the country but im- agines he has an idea of wireless telegraphy simply because he has read that Marconi has signaled across the Atlantic Ocean! I am somewhat intimately connected with the teaching of electrical engineer- ing, more intimately, perhaps, than my chief interests warrant, and I frequently have occasion to speak with non-technical men respecting this subject. There are, indeed, many plain men who keep their senses when they speak of the develop- ments in applied electricity and who talk with some degree of rudimentary intelli- gence concerning these things, but there are many, very many, more who seem to imagine that the glad comfort with which they ride in a trolley car constitutes an intelligent interest in science and has an intellectual quality! True interest in science begins when one gets an idea into one’s head and sees its firm and unequivocal application to ex- ternal fact, and the characteristic feature of the study of science is a determining objective constraint wpon the processes of the mind. I am surprised that this one important feature of science study is never JANUARY 2, 1903.] mentioned in the many estimates that have been made of the value of science study in education, for as a matter of fact that complete definiteness which is usually urged as the characteristic feature of sci- ence study is the fundamental condition of every psychological process; you say this or you say that, you go or you do not go; and the psychological processes which play in the study of science do not differ from other psychological processes in this respect, absolutely not at all. Let me illustrate this objective character of science study by an example which hap- pens also to illustrate an error which I suppose many of you entertain. What is the definition of the mass of a body? The careless and imaginative definition which is usually given is that ‘the mass of a body is the quantity of matter the body con- tains.’ I suppose that definition satisfies many of you, but it does not satisfy me. All our notions of length and angle take their rise in and are fixed or defined by those fundamental geometric operations of congruence. The real definition of mass is no less a physical operation, the verbal definition is the briefest possible specifica- tion of this operation and it can be nothing else, the result of this operation on a given body is an invariant number, and by a feat of the imagination we conceive this inva- riant number to be a measure of the quan- tity of matter the body contains. Ask a farmer’s boy how he would define or set the boundaries to a cow pasture, explain- ing to him that you seek real practical in- formation, and I think he could only answer, by building a fence around it! Most of our definitions in physics which apply to sensible things are necessarily ap- plied to ideally simplified conditions which can not be feasibly realized as actual opera- tions, all for the sake of simplicity and directness of statement, and the conse- quence is, I think, that many of us lose SCIENCE. 11 sight of the fact that these definitions are in reality operations. I sometimes think that no popular sci- entific writings should be tolerated which do not introduce the reader to some ap- preciation of the exacting requirements of successful work. Some of Jules Verne’s stories, for example, are peculiarly faulty in this respect, and these stories, and many others lke them, are largely responsible, im my opinion, for the widespread fancied interest in science on the part of those who really care only for its immediate results. Most persons are fascinated by Jules Verne’s ecare-less trip to the moon and by the easy improvidence of his ten thousand leagues under the sea. A short time ago IJ had occasion to re- view a little book in the pages of Scr=NcE, and I found therein an opportunity to briefly state what in my mind is a more Serious perversion of science than that which is presented by those whose fancied interest in it is based on its results, and who, poor fools, invest in Keeley motors and sea gold companies because, forsooth, the desired result is so clearly evident. Surely one ean not hold the ‘scientific spirit’ accountable for ‘great degener- acies’ lke these. The book in question purports to treat of the atomic theory, it is prefaced by an introduction by a pro- fessor in the University of Chicago, and it deserves a place in DeMorgan’s ‘Budget of Paradoxes.’ I mentioned in my review, to begin with, a list of headings to serve to indicate to the general reader the pres- ent scope of the atomic theory; the atomic theory of gases, the theory of crystal struc- ture, the molecular theory of elasticity, the electro-atomie theory of radiation, the corpuscular theory of the electric discharge and of the electric current, stereo-chem- istry, and the like, and I expressed it as my cenviction that neither the author nor 12 SCIENCE. his introducer knew even a little of these things. When I take up a book like the one un- der consideration I am always impelled to ask myself the question, What are atoms? although in studying ordinary books on physical science the question never forcibly occurs to me. In so far as we have any- thing really to do with atoms, I believe they are mere logical constructions. Bacon long ago listed in his quaint way the things which seemed to him most needful for the advancement of learning. Among other things he mentioned ‘A New Engine, or a help to the mind corresponding to tools for the hand,’ and IJ think that the great- est achievement of the nineteenth century in the physical sciences is the realization of Bacon’s idea in a great body of useful theory. Helmholtz says: ‘It is a great advantage for the sure understanding of abstractions if one seeks to make of them the most conerete possible pictures, even when the doing so brings in many an as- sumption that is not exactly necessary.’ Just how much of this useful theory is to become the common property of all men it is impossible to say. For the theory is by no means fixed and may not be for a century to come, and no one but the most determined specialist can be expected to appropriate and use the more complex theories which depend upon the keenest mechanical sense, the sharpest algebraic faculty, the strongest geometrical imagin- ation, and the most devoted study; but there is a great and growing body of simple conception and theory which can and does represent to the understanding a vast array of fact. This New Engine, as Bacon calls it, is a necessity to every man in so far as its state of perfection and the limited oppor- tunity for education permits, and on these two conditions no one need fear any seri- too many examples. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 418. ous clogging of men’s minds by it. Many scientists do not, however, fully realize, I think, that the great majority of men do not have and should not have any interest, or at least they should not expend their energies, in those border regions of science where uncertainty and obscurity neces- sarily and prevailingly obtain. The fail- ure of a specialist to realize the remote- ness of his work from legitimate popular interest often results in his endeavor to capture the popular imagination by sensa- tional announcements of which we see only The fact is that specialization in science requires a degree of renunciation and to the extent that this requirement is not met by scientists they do a disservice to their fellow men. I believe indeed that no man can do honest and effective work as a specialist and fail to meet this fundamental requirement; and the disservice that accrues when he at- tempts to evade it is illustrated most dis- tressinely by that would-be electro-scien- tist who has recently telegraphed to Mars! A eareer in which one could come into sympathetic touch with great numbers of men would be very satisfactory to most of us, no doubt, but the career of the scien- tifie specialist is not such, and I can not refrain from stating it as my conviction that a sufficiently guarded appropriation of, say, ten per cent. of the income of the Carnegie endowment for furthering the personal intercourse of scientific specialists would be productive of greater results by far than could possibly be effected by the expenditure of the remaining ninety per cent. in any other way whatever. I say this more particularly from the point of view of the western man. I think, with President Wilson that scientists have, as a rule, recognized the limitations of their work, and I certainly think, also, that other men err in attribu- JANUARY 2, 1903.] ting to science too great an extensity and in failing to reach any just appreciation of the intensity of science. Every one should know that a specialist’s idea of a thing, such as a gas, an electric current, or a beam of light, comes very near to being a working model of the thing. The ele- ments out of which such models are made are purely notional, and although the specialist habitually speaks of them in ob- jective terms for the sake of concreteness and clearness, it is of the utmost impor- tance that the thought be chiefly directed to the physical facts which are represented and not to the models themselves. ‘Our method,’ says Bacon, ‘is continually to dwell among things soberly, without ab- stracting or setting the mind farther from them than makes their images meet,’ and “The capital precept for the whole under- taking is that the eye of the mind be never taken off from things themselves, but re- ceive their images as they truly are, and God forbid that we should ever offer the dreams of fancy for a model of the world.’ There is a tendency among reflecting men to confuse the boundaries between our logical constructions and the objective realms which they represent to the under- standing. Miinsterberg thinks that this is the gravest danger of our time. I do not fully agree with this, but I do agree with President Wilson in seeing in this confu- sion of boundaries the effects of a noxious gas which has somehow got into the lungs of other men from out of the crevices of our workshops, a gas, it would seem, which forms only in the outer air and where men do not know the right use of their lungs. This confusion of boundaries is, to my mind, a new species of idolatry. The old idolatry is the worship of form, and this new idolatry is that contemplation of our logical constructions which despises objec- SCIENCE. 13 tive constraint. Now, I can not see that, ’ we as scientists are in any degree ces sible for this disservice, this working of a, © great degeneracy among men, but as aie ‘ viduals I think most of us are guilty of. more or less frequent and flagrant lapses, of that submission to objective constraint, which is the very essence of moral quality, | 3 in scientific work. An amusing collection of instances of, this new idolatry, which we all know is, not so very new after all, is given by De : Morgan in his Bulges of Paradoxes. ’ oe There are many more of these paradoxes, to use DeMorgan’s word for those uncon-. strained flights of the scientific imagina~* tion, in the mathematical and physical. sciences than in biology. The explanation: of this fact is, I think, that the logical ” structures of those sciences are to a great. extent concrete in character so that even strong minds may lose sight of the boun- daries between the realms of the mind and. the realms of objective reality. The wide difference between the logical structures, of physics and of biology may be further: illustrated if I mention that I have long. been impressed with the fact that the most" satisfactory specialist to talk with is the. biologist. His knowledge is not repre- sented to his understanding by a mathe- matical-mechanical system of conceptions, but it approaches art in its close associa- tion with external form. Conversation” with a physicist is, however, very like look- ing into the mechanism of a Mergenthaler. type-casting machine, with the machine out of sight, a thing which is feasible enough among designers and builders, but scarcely a satisfactory basis for the flow of thought when one party in the conversa-. tion happens to be unfamiliar with and perhaps not interested in the mechanism int question. : Having so far expressed a degree of sym, 14 SCIENCE. pathy with President Wilson in the dis- tress which some of the results of science, direct or indirect, have given him, I wish to say that giving the words of his sesqui- . centennial address their most sinister inter- pretation a modern man would infer that President Wilson is inclined to turn back to the hope of a revival of classical and ~ cloistered erudition as the chief end of fearning. Now, I think that many of us feel that science itself is threatened by just this sort of thing in its own field. Many of us in fact know so much of the partial knowledges that have been reached during the century that we are deterred ” £rom effective work. ‘We advise all men,’ ' says Bacon, ‘ to think of the true ends of knowledge, and that they endeavor not after it for curiosity, contention, or the sake of despising others, nor yet for profit, reputation, power, or any such inferior consideration, but solely for the occasions and uses of life.’ "Above all I believe it to be in general a ' perverting thing to use the elements and results of science as a basis of metaphysical speculation. ‘I believe,’ with Ruskin, “that Metaphysicians and Philosophers are, on the whole, the greatest troubles the world has got to deal with; and that, while a tyrant or bad man is of some use in teaching people submission or indignation, and a thoroughly idle man is only harmful an setting an idle example, and communi- cating to other lazy people his own lazy misunderstandings, busy metaphysicians are always entangling good and active ‘people and weaving cobwebs among the finest wheels of the world’s business; and are as much as possible by all prudent persons to be brushed aside like spiders.’ There is, of course, a legitimate sphere of scientific speculation of a certain kind, but the purely suggestive and highly ten- tative efforts in this line should not be con- [N.S. Vou. XVIL No. 418. fused with the more substantial work of science, and this is precisely what happens in the popular imagination. The majority of men do not appreciate the difference between a discussion of the motion of stars in the line of sight based upon spectro- scopic measurements and a discussion of the habitation of Mars based on nothing at all! Idle speculation is the last in- firmity of strong minds, but it is certainly the first infirmity of weak ones, and popu- lar science is, I think, primarily specula- tion. The extent to which some of our elemen- tary text-books in physics indulge in weak phases of speculation is very surprising to me for in this connection it is absolutely out of place and entirely misleading. What do you think, for example, of the following quotation from Maxwell as a help to clear up an inadequate definition of energy in a secondary school book in physics? ‘‘We are acquainted with mat- ter only as that which may have energy imparted to it from other matter, and which may in its turn communicate its energy to other matter. Hnergy, on the other hand, we know only as that which in all natural phenomena is continually passing from one portion of matter to another.’’ What do you think of the following from an elementary EHnelish text-book? ‘‘The fundamental property of matter, which distinguishes it from the only other real thing in the universe, is inertia. * * * We are now in a position to give one or two provisional definitions of matter—provisional because we cannot yet say, possibly may never be able to say, what matter really is. It may be defined in terms of any of its distinctive charac- teristics. We may say that matter is that which possesses inertia, or again since we have no knowledge of energy except in association with matter, we may assert that matter is the Vehicle of Energy.’’ I JANUARY 2, 1903. ] wonder if any of you really doubt that every notion in physics, definite or indefi- nite, is associated with and derived from a physical operation, and that absolutely the only way to teach physics to young men is to direct their attention to that marvelous series of determining opera- tions which bring to light those one-to-one- correspondences which constitute the ab- stract facts of physical science. If you do, I am bound to say I do not think much of your knowledge or teaching of physics. I think that the sickliest notion of physics, even if a student gets it, is that it is ‘the science of masses, molecules and the ether.’ And I think that the healthiest notion, even if a student does not wholly get it, is that physics is the science of the ways of taking hold of bodies and pushing them! W. S. FRANKLIN. INCOMPLETE OBSERVATIONS.* In scientific literature many observations are recorded which, from the experimental proof offered, have been generally recog- nized as true, but which may be classed as incomplete, owing to the fact that the methods of investigation employed de- stroyed conditions that were later found to exist, or that subsequent discoveries modified the conclusions reached at the time of the original investigation. As an illustration of this proposition the theories of alcoholic fermentation may be cited. The members of Section C will readily recall the long and bitter contro- versy which was waged between the two great masters, Liebig and Pasteur, and their respective adherents as to the true eause of this phenomenon. It is interesting at this time, in the light * Address of the Chairman of Section C and Vice-President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, read at the Washing- ton meeting, December 29, 1902. SCIENCE. 15 of recent observations, to compare the two opposing theories. According to Liebig alcoholic fermenta- tion is caused by the decomposition of complicated nitrogenous bodies designated by him as putrescible material, and the molecular disturbance thereby produced is imparted to the fermenticible substance, sugar, and breaks it up into simpler bodies, alcohol and carbon dioxide. The vitalistic theory, revived by Pas- teur and brought to general recognition by his masterly and convincing experiments, teaches that alcoholic fermentation takes place only in the presence of a living micro- organism known as the yeast plant, and that the phenomenon of fermentation is intimately connected with the life process of this organism. The most convincing proof in support of the vitalistie theory was furnished by Pasteur in his methods of preventing fermentation and _ allied phenomena by simply heating perishable bodies to a temperature high enough to kill the living germs. In the case of acetic acid fermentation he showed that a temperature of 60° was sufficient to de- stroy the vinegar plant. At this tempera- ture, he argued, the nitrogenous bodies, which Liebig claimed as the actual fer-. ments, would remain intact. In spite of this, however, he showed that further fer-. mentation was completely arrested so long as living germs were excluded. b Although the work of Pasteur was of the greatest importance to science and hu- manity, and his experimental evidence for the establishment of the vitalistic theory. of fermentation was of the highest order, . yet to the minds of many it was never en- tirely clear that the rival theory was com- pletely overthrown. For a long time, how- ever, the vitalistic theory had clear sailing. But the observations which led to its adop- tion remained incomplete until a few years: 16 SCIENCE. ago Buchner startled the scientifie world by the announcement that he had produced alcoholic fermentation without the pres- ence of a single living germ. By simply mixing the extract, obtained by strong pressure from brewer’s yeast, containing nothing but dead organic matter, he caused a solution of grape sugar to ferment, and, in fact, much more rapidly than if the yeast itself had been employed. Not only this—Buchner showed, furthermore, that the activity of this extract was com- pletely destroyed at a temperature below that required to kill the yeast plant. This is the important point in Buchner’s obser- vations, because it was the failure to recog- nize this fact by Pasteur and his adherents that helped, more than anything else, to give the death blow to Liebig’s theory. It is true that Liebig at first did not regard his putrescible matter or ferments as a product of the ever-present organisms, and it is also true that in Buchner’s extract it is the enzyme of the yeast plant which produces the molecular disturbance that causes the grape sugar to break up into alcohol and carbon dioxide; yet it is grati- fying to all those who were students of the great master to learn that, in the main, his attitude toward the process of fermen- tation has been finally vindicated. _ It was the desire of the writer, to discuss on this occasion some subject related to that branch of chemistry with which he is at present identified, and for this purpose the investigations in regard to assimilation of free nitrogen by plants were selected for consideration, since this question belongs in the category of ‘incomplete observa- tions.’ The importance to agriculture of know- ing whether plants were capable of assimi- lating the free nitrogen of the air was impressed upon the minds of the early investigators of the subject of plant nutri- [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 418, tion, because if this element in the free state so liberally supplied by nature should be found to be available as plant food, then it would fall into the same class with car- bon, hydrogen and oxygen, which furnish the bulk of all vegetable matter, and about whose source the farmer need have no con- cern. In the early fifties the French chemist, Boussingault, conducted his mem- orable experiments with various kinds of plants in order to settle this question. His apparatus consisted of a large glass, one- necked globe, into which he introduced a sufficient quantity of soil freed from nitro- gen compounds by ignition. In this soil he planted a certain number of seeds, sup- plied a sufficient amount of water and then hermetically sealed into the neck of the globe a smaller one filled with carbon di- oxide. Under this arrangement the seeds were allowed to germinate and the plants to grow. After a period of several weeks the plants with their roots were carefully removed, dried, weighed and the nitrogen determined. He then determined the ni- trogen in a like number of seeds themselves and compared the results. Out of four- teen experiments with various kinds of plants, including the legumes, he found in eleven cases a minus quantity of nitrogen in the plants and in the other three a small plus quantity. The latter results, how- ever, he considered within the limits of errors of observation. His conclusion, therefore, was that the free nitrogen was not available plant food. At the same time another French chem- ist, Ville, investigated this problem. His ex- periments were made on a somewhat larger scale, his apparatus consisting of iron sash filled with glass. Ville uniformly found a marked increase in the content of nitro- gen of the plants. over that of the seeds, and since nitrogen compounds had been excluded during the time of his experi- ments, he concluded that the source of JANUARY 2, 1903. | this increase was necessarily the free nitro- gen of the air. His objection to Boussin- gault’s conclusions was based upon the elaim that, in the confined space in which the plants were forced to grow, their nat- ural development was hindered. Ville’s criticism led Boussingault to repeat his experiments. In order to meet the former’s objection to the limited amount of air in which the plants were forced to vegetate, he substituted a three- necked globe for the one employed before. By using an aspirator the air in this globe could be continually renewed, after pass- ing it through a series of Wolf’s bottles with the proper solutions to free it from nitrogen compounds. The results of this second series of experiments fully corrobo- rated his former conclusions. A committee appointed by the French Academy of Sciences to investigate the methods employed by Boussingault and Ville held that, in the latter’s experiments, the introduction of nitrogen compounds was not excluded, and, therefore, pro- nounced in favor of Boussingault. If any doubt had remained in regard to the cor- rectness of Boussingault’s conclusions it was dispelled a few years later by the labors of Laws, Gilbert and Pugh. These investigators repeated the experiments of Boussingault with expensive and improved apparatus. Their work was performed with the greatest care and nicety, and their results fully vindicated Boussingault in the position he had taken. The experimental evidence thus pro- duced in favor of the proposition that the free nitrogen of the air was not available for vegetable growth was so clear and con- vineing that it was readily accepted by all, with the exception of one man. This man was George Ville, of France. During all the time in which this opinion prevailed, he alone remained firm in the SCIENCE. tT belief that his observations were true, and that plants could assimilate free nitrogen. That plants can not assimilate free nitro- gen directly was established by those early investigators without a doubt. On the other hand, it is now equally well estab- lished that free nitrogen does become avail- able as plant food and plays an important part in vegetable production. Hyidently, therefore, the early investi- gations must have been incomplete, and at this distant day it is not difficult to point out wherein they were defective. Bous- singault and Ville, as well as Laws, Gilbert and Pugh, regarded the soil as a mixture of mineral matter and humus. ‘They had no conception of the fact that it was the home of a world of living microorganisms, which in a variety of ways are silently and incessantly active in the transformation of matter essential to vegetable growth. Hence it is but natural that, in preparation of soil free from nitrogen compounds of all kinds, they should, what any chemist under, like conditions would do, subject their soil to an intense heat. Notwithstanding the prominence of these investigators and the general recog- nition accorded to their conclusions, fur- ther work in this connection was at most only retarded but not entirely abandoned. Facts known at that time, and new ob- servations gradually made in studying the soil in all of its phases, began to point in the opposite direction. With the discovery of Berthelot, that the fixation of free nitrogen took place through the instrumentality of silent electrical dis- charges in the soil, were associated the manifold effects upon matter, shown to be due to the action of bacterial life. These latter discoveries may be divided into two groups: 3 1. Those showing the independent action of bacteria in the soil in causing fermenta- 18 SCIENCE. tion, nitrification, denitrification and fixa- tion of free nitrogen. 2. Those showing the fixation of free nitrogen by microbes in symbiotic relation to higher plants. The first group of observations including the fixation of free nitrogen in the soil as pointed out by Berthelot and others is of great importance to agriculture, but the amount of available nitrogenous plant food produced by the various processes dis- covered is not sufficient for the demands of intensive farming. The truth of this statement can be inferred from the fact that, in addition to the enormous amount of nitrogenous material obtained from domestic and industrial sources, as well as from the extensive deposits of guano, there are, at the present time, about one million tons of Chili saltpeter employed annually by farmers the world over to maintain partially the fertility of their fields. : ‘The second group of observations are of greater interest to agriculture, since they point out the way of securing from the free nitrogen of the air an ample amount of combined nitrogen to meet all the re- quirements of intensive farming. They make the farmer independent of the nat- ural deposits of nitrogenous fertilizers, and furnish him the means of preventing his helplessness, in case these sources of plant food should become exhausted or otherwise unavailable. . From the time of the ancients down to the present day the legumes, especially the clovers, have occupied a unique position among agricultural crops. The beneficial effects of a crop of clover upon subsequent grain crops was a matter of practical ex- ‘perience in ancient and medizval times, and this empirical knowledge was applied more or less in the practice of agriculture during those periods, as well as in modern times. When the science of chemistry be- (N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 418. gan to shed light upon the production of vegetable matter, and showed the relation which plants, soil and air bore to each other, and especially that certain elements contained in the soil and air were essential to vegetable growth, the peculiar properties of the legumes received early attention. It was soon learned that the leguminous plants were preeminently nitrogen-gath- erers. Having aceepted the conclusions of Boussingault in regard to free nitrogen as true, the teachers of agricultural chemistry were forced to explain this property of the leguminous plants in various ways. Be- sides the empirical observations, already alluded to, many comparative experiments were made which showed the beneficial effects of legumes on subsequent grain crops. As an example the experiment of von Wulffen may be cited. One half of a certain field was allowed to remain in bare fallow, while the other half was sown to yellow lupines. After the lupines had fully developed the whole field was plowed and sown to rye. The yield of the two halves was determined separately with the following results: Grain Straw. After lupines............. 532.5 Ib 1,072 tb. After bare fallow......... 322 tb 656.5 Tb Here was a total increase in grain and straw of 626 pounds on that half of the field which had been sown to lupines, while nothing from without had been added to it except sixty pounds of lupine seed. The results of this experiment also show, what was claimed above, that the independent, bacterial activity of the bare fallow fell far short of producing sufficient available plant food for a full crop of rye. In seeking an explanation for this effect of the legumes, Boussingault determined the amount of refuse, 7. ¢., stubble and roots, left in the soil by various crops. For this purpose he had the roots, ete., collected JANUARY 2, 1903. ] from measured plots of fields from which the crops had been harvested. His re- sults are given in kilos per hectare and refer to dry matter. The nitrogen of the refuse was also determined. His figures are given in the following table: Nitrogen of Crop. Refuse. Refuse. \NATGEG Seee ceo eats 1,002 518 2.1 (ORNs ake rages 1,608 650 2.6 Clover oso. ce as: 1,975 1,547 27.9 If it be considered that the essential ash ingredients of plant food are equally high in the clover refuse, it will be seen that the manurial value of the clover refuse is out of all proportion to that of the two cereals, and consequently that clover must be a better forerunner for a grain crop than a grain crop itself. But Boussingault did not stop here. He also collected the refuse matter, roots and leaves from a crop of mangolds, and found that not only the dry matter, but also the nitrogen contained therein, was in excess of that of the clover. Here was a dilemma; for it was well known that, compared to legumes, root crops were poor forerunners for grain crops. The explanation for this apparent contradic- tion was found in extensive experiments made at Rothamstead. Laws and Gilbert raised root crops on the same field for years 1n succession without the application of manures, and found that they rapidly exhausted the surface soil. On the other hand, they showed that with clover, even after the removal of a highly nitrogenous crop, the soil was left richer in nitrogen than it was before. It is but fair to state in this connection that other investigators found much larger yields with clover than Boussingault. Thus, to take the other ex- treme, Heiden obtained from measured plots of clover, after it had become fully ripe, and by removing the whole aerial SCIENCE. 19 portion of the crop, the following results, expressed in kilos per hectare: Aerial] Portion. Roots. Dry matter............ 14,548 8,469.6 Nitrogen ............. 381.5 275.3 Laws and Gilbert, Heiden, and in fact - all who investigated this subject explained this large accumulation of nitrogen prin. cipally by the assumption that clover, on. account of its deep roots, had the power, in a marked degree, of obtaining a large portion of its food from the subsoil and bringing it to the surface. Furthermore, it was assumed that on account of the great leaf surface of clover, its more succulent nature and its longer period of growth, it was eapable of collecting more ammonia from the air than was the case with grasses and cereals. Another peculiarity which, the legumes were thought to possess was their ability to assimilate, in a higher de- eree than other crops, the reserve nitrogen - of the soil. This assumption would ex- plain, of course, why these plants should make a luxuriant growth on soils on which, for lack of available nitrogen, other crops failed to make a good stand, but it would: not throw any light upon the fact, estab- . lished by general observation, that the total fixed nitrogen of the soil was so ma- terially increased. It may be truthfully said that all these explanations taken together were not en- tirely satisfactory to those who were en- gaged in the teaching of agricultural chem- istry, but, in short, this was the status of the nitrogen question for a generation or more, when Hellriegel announced before the section of agricultural chemists of the Cerman Association of Men of Science and Physicians, at their meeting in 1886, that the leguminous plants could assimilate the free nitrogen of the air, and that this as- similation was intimately connected with the nodules appearing upon the roots of 420 These plants. The hearty applause with which this announcement was received at - the meeting, and the widespread and spon, taneous interest which it awakened all over the world, showed that it came as a relief to agricultural chemists. and vegetable ' physiologists in general. The report of Hellriegel was based upon observations and experiments made during the four ' preceding years. He had been appointed jointly with Wilfarth as referee on the ~ subject of nitrogen assimilation by plants. “The experiments were made in pots con- taining four kilos of recently ignited sand, ‘to which the proper, amount of mineral plant food, free from combined nitrogen, had been added. The main points estab- lished were as follows: _. 1. When no combined nitrogen was added to the artificial soil the acquisition of nitrogen over that contained in the seeds was naught. This was true for all kinds of plants, including the legumes. _ 2. The development of all kinds of plants and the acquisition of nitrogen were in direct proportion to the amount of com- bined nitrogen added. "3. When a small quantity of natural soil, or of an aqueous infusion of such soil, was added to the contents of the pots and no other combined nitrogen introduced, the graminaceous plants, as well as some other families of plants, died of nitrogen starva- tion and their acquisition of nitrogen was naught. 4. Under the same conditions the legu- minous plants, after a period of nitrogen starvation, began to recuperate, the foliage returned to its normal green color, and the plants continued to grow, in some cases vigorously, to complete maturity, and ac- quired all the nitrogen necessary for this development. 5. The graminaceous plants are depend- ent upon the combined nitrogen of the soil for their development. SCIENCE. (N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 418. 6. The legumes are independent of the combined nitrogen of the soil and can -ac- quire all the nitrogen for their complete development from the air, and, further- more, not from the small quantity of com- bined nitrogen contained in the air; but from the free nitrogen. 7. Whenever, under these conditions, the legumes acquired nitrogen, this acquisition was invariably accompanied with the ap- pearance of tubercles on their roots. 8. Sterilization of the natural soil or of the soil infusion destroys its effect. A year later, 1887, Wilfarth made a further report on this subject. In one experiment made by Hellriegel and Wil- farth the classical method of Boussingault was employed. They placed into a large glass globe four kilos of ignited sand, mixed with sufficient water and the neces- sary mineral constituents of plant food free from nitrogen compounds. ‘They also added a small quantity, an aqueous in- fusion, of a soil in which peas had been previously grown. In the artificial soil thus prepared they planted a pea, a grain of oats and a buckwheat seed. The globe was hermetically sealed with a ground- glass stopper, and the necessary carbon dioxide for the growth of the plants was introduced from time to time. ‘The oat and buckwheat plants grew only till the seeds had become exhausted, and acquired no nitrogen in -excess of that contained in the seeds. On the other hand, the pea plant made a vigorous and normal growth and was still growing, when the report was made. A large part of this plant had been removed and was found to contain 6.55 grams of dry matter and 0.137 gram of nitrogen. This interesting experiment not only cor- roborates the claims of these investigators, but it completes the original experiment of Boussingault, in that it restores the con- dition of natural soils, which he had de- JANUARY 2, 1903. ] stroyed by his method of removing fixed nitrogen. In this connection it is of in- terest to refer again to the position on the nitrogen question occupied alone by Ville. It can readily be understood that, in the large apparatus employed by this investi- gator, the chances for complete steriliza- tion were very remote, especially since no . particular attention was paid to this point. Microbes from the soil could easily have found their, way into his large case through dust or otherwise, and in the presence of organie matter arising from the seeds and the roots of the plants, could, in a short time, become active in fixing the free ni- trogen of the air. The contention of Ville that, in his experiments, free nitrogen of the air was assimilated by plants may, therefore, have been sound. But to return to the line of thought broken by this digression, Wilfarth re- ported some important gains in nitrogen by lupines grown in pots with four kilos of nitrogen-free sand on addition of a measured quantity of soil infusion con- taining not more than seven tenths of a milligram of fixed nitrogen. The yields are as follows: WirtH Sort INFUSION: No. 3. 44.73 grms. dry matter with 1.099 grms. nitrogen. No. 4. 45.62 grms. dry matter with 1.156 grms. nitrogen. No. 5. 44.48 grms. dry matter with 1.194 grms. nitrogen. No. 6. 42.45 grms. dry matter with 1.337 grms. nitrogen. WitHour Sor INFUSION: No. 9. 0.918 grms. dry matter with 0.0146 grms. nitrogen. No, 10. 0.800 grms. dry matter with 0.0136 grms. nitrogen, No. 11. 0.921 grms. dry matter with 0.0132 grms. nitrogen. No. 12. 1.021 grms. dry matter with 0.0133 grms. nitrogen. By the sole employment of a small quan- tity of soil infusion containing an infin- SCIENCE. 21 itesimal amount of combined nitrogen, in pots holding about eight pounds of sand, the plants made an average gain in dry matter of 42.9 grams, and in nitrogen of 1.18 grams over the same kind of plants grown under the same conditions without this addition. This remarkable result was surely worthy of the general interest which its publication evoked. Numerous experimenters all over the world at once began to pay attention to the little tubercles, and they were investigated from all points of view. Their morphol- ogy was studied by Frank, Laurent and others. For this purpose Frank, as well as Laurent, grew plants partly in water culture with the production of root tu- bereles. Since their labors belong to the domain of biology this simple reference to them here will suffice. The results of all investigations from a chemical standpoint verified the conelu- sions reached by Hellriegel and Wilfarth. But, in addition to this, a great many new facts bearing upon this subject were .ob- tained. Bréal analyzed the nodules of various legumes and found that the con- tent of nitrogen in the dry matter varied from three to seven per cent., and was higher than that of any other part of the plants excepting the seeds. This fact is significant. Bréal also obtained results similar to those of Hellriegel and Wilfarth by ger- minating peas between moistened filter papers, inoculating the roots, after they had attained the length of a few centi- meters, with a needle which had been plunged into a tubercle, and then growing the plants in nitrogen-free sand containing the necessary mineral ingredients of plant food. This investigator also grew peas in water culture. After germinating seeds between moistened filter papers as before, 22 SCIENCE. and after the roots had attained a length of three or four centimeters he inoculated them with a needle which had been inserted into a tubercle of alfalfa, and placed two of the young plants in a culture jar, which contained a nutrient solution free from combined nitrogen. The peas grew regu- larly so long as they found nourishment in the cotyledons. Then a period of nitro- gen starvation set in, after which the plants recuperated and grew to maturity with the production of fruit. The period of vegetation extended from April 2 to June 10. At the latter date the roots con- tained numerous tubercles. The stalks and roots were separated, dried at 110° C. and weighed. The nitrogen of both por- tions was determined, as was also the weight and nitrogen of two seeds similar to those used in the culture experiments. The following table gives the results: Nitrogen, Nitrogen, | Dry Matter, Grams. Per Cent. Total. Stalks .............. 3.785. | 235 0.089 TRITON enaasesborboe is | GD | OWED Total eee as | 4.95 | | 0.119 Seeds......... ....- 0.502 360 | 0.018 _ Gaitiiccccesesesasee 4.448 | 0.101 The table shows that the plants con- tained ten times as much organic matter and six and six tenths times as much nitro- gen as the seeds from which they were de- rived; also that the percentage of nitrogen of the roots was greater than that of the aerial portion. Now when it is considered that, in this experiment, there was no nitrogen compound of any kind present, except the infinitesimal quantity intro- duced by puncturing the roots with the needle, and that in two small plants there was*a gain of 101 milligrams of combined nitrogen, the claim for the assimilation of free nitrogen must be regarded as estab- lished. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No, 418. The order of leguminous plants, there- fore, occupies a unique position in the art of agriculture. The experimental evi- dence herein submitted shows conclusively why leguminous crops have for ages been recognized as being of special value in maintaining soil fertility, and the discus- sion of this subject points to the fact that, in many walks and practices of life, em- piricism has been in advance of science. Henry A. WEBER. OxuIo Strate UNIVERSITY. SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. Glacial Formations and Drainage Features of the Hrie and Ohio Basins. By FRANK Leverett: U.S. Geol. Survey, Monograph XLI. Washington. 1902. Pp. 802; 26 pl. (maps, sections and views from photo- graphs), and 8 figures in the text. $1.75. Ohio is the central area described in this report, and it also includes parts of each of the adjoining states and of the Canadian province of Ontario. The great importance and interest of the glacial history of this region, early studied by Whittlesey, New- berry, Orton, Gilbert and N. H. Winchell. and later by Spencer, I. C. White, Wright, Claypole, Chamberlin, F. B. Taylor and many others, is indicated by about five hundred papers cited in a bibliography of twenty pages. Mr. Leverett enumerates eleven epochs or stages of the glacial period, as follows: (1) The oldest recognized glaciation, called the sub-Aftonian by Chamberlin, perhaps the same as the Albertan of Dawson; (2) the Aftonian interval of recession of. the ice sheet; (3) the Kansan stage of glacial read- vance; (4) the second or Yarmouth interval of recession; (5) the Illinoian readvance; (6) the third or Sangamon recession; (7) the Towan readvance, with the principal time of deposition of the loess; (8) the fourth or Peorian recession; (9) the early Wisconsin stage of readvance, with the formation of four successive systems of marginal moraines during the early part of the ensuing reces- sion; (10) the fifth interval of glacial retreat. ———S a JANUARY 2, 1903. ] with important changes in the outlines and relations of the ice lobes; and (11) the late Wisconsin stage of mainly continued retreat, with ten substages of halt or slight readvancee. marked by a series of that number of marginal moraines and changes of the glacial lakes that finally occupied the Erie and Ontario basins. The chief part of the region is covered by the Late Wisconsin drift and its moraines, which in eastern Ohio extend to the boundary of the glacial drift. Chapter III., filling a sixth part of the volume, treats of the drainage systems, noting in much detail the evidences of great modifi- cations of the preglacial water courses. It is shown that before the ice age probably the upper and middle parts of the present Alle- gheny River were separately tributary to the stream then flowing along the present bed of Lake Erie; that the lower Allegheny and the Monongahela, with the upper Ohio River in Pennsylvania, flowed also north to the old River Erie by the valley of the Grand River; and that many other changes from the ancient courses of drainage also took place during the glacial period along the Ohio River, thence down to Cincinnati, where the ice sheet at its stage of fatthest advance reached across that valley into the edge of Kentucky. Descriptions of the various drift forma- tions, and especially of the moraines, occupy the greater part of this monograph, which is the second of a series giving the results of Mr. Leverett’s extensive field work. The first was published three years ago, entitled ‘ The Dlinois Glacial Lobe,’ and he has another in preparation, to treat similarly of the glacial and lacustrine geology of Michigan. His elaborate studies of the ice age in this region of the great Laurentian lakes, abounding with very instructive records of the oscillations and wavering departure of the continental ice sheet, and comprising at last a complex his- tory of many small and large ice-dammed lakes, should be of much value as a basis of text-books for the schools and colleges of these states. As soon as the recession of the ice sheet caused it to be a barrier on the northeast- wardly sloping Erie basin, the water im- SCIENCE. 23: pounded there spread out as a lake, with out- let past Fort Wayne to the Wabash River. Its earliest stage is named Lake Maumee; a later stage, when a lower outlet was uncov- ered by the glacial retreat, past Ubly, in Michigan, is called Lake Whittlesey; and the still later and most extended stage of this body of water, reaching then into the Huron basin and outflowing, as Lake Whittlesey had done, to Lake Chicago in the southern part of the basin of Lake Michigan, retains the name Lake Warren, which was proposed by. Spencer. The shores of these glacial lakes, marked by beach ridges of gravel and sand, have been traced from Fort Wayne east through Ohio, along the Erie shore of Penn- sylvania, and to the Finger Lakes and beyond in central New York, where Fairchild has identified the routes of later eastern discharge by which Lake Warren was finally drawn away to the Mohawk and Hudson, being suc- ceeded by the glacial lakes Algonquin and Iroquois in the Huron and Ontario basins. While the ice sheet was melting away, the land on which it had lain was uplifted from a depression, so that the shore lines of the glacial lakes now have, along great portions of their extent, an ascent to the north and northeast, varying from a few inches per mile to a foot or more, and in some districts, notably east of Lake Ontario, even as much as five feet per mile. At the end of the Iowan stage of glacial advance, the deposition of loess in the Missouri and Mississippi valleys, and of a closely analogous silt formation in the Ohio valley, as described in this report, gives evidence of a depression of these regions probably several hundred feet below their present height. Before the accumulation of the moraines in the Wisconsin stages of gen- eral glacial recession, the greater part of the Mississippi and Ohio basins, and the southern part of the basins of lakes Michigan and Erie, had been reelevated to nearly the same alti- tude that they have since maintained with only slight changes. But after the moraines were formed, and during the existence of the great glacial lakes on the northern borders of the United States, much of their areas yet remained depressed, as is known by the in- 24 SCIENCE. clination of the originally level shores of these lakes. The latest completed geologic period, when an ice sheet covered the northern half of our continent, is being very satisfactorily investi- gated, both in the United States and Canada. As in an earlier monograph of this series, on the glacial Lake Agassiz, it will be an ad- vantage to the geological surveys of each country that these detailed explorations about the Great Lakes be extended to give such full description and discussion of the ancient larger lake areas, with their shore lines and relations to the waning ice sheet, on both sides of the international boundary. Wareen UPHAM. SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. Bird Lore for November—December contains articles ‘On Journal Keeping,’ by Ernest Thompson Seton; ‘ Flamingoes’ Nests,’ illus- trated, by Frank M. Chapman; ‘The Weapons of Birds,’ by F. A. Lucas; and ‘ Whiskey J ohn in Colorado,’ by E. R. Warren. The seventh paper on ‘How to Name the Birds’ is de- yoted to the Sylviide and Turdide and the first paper on ‘How to Study Birds’ are both by Frank M. Chapman. There is the first of a series of portraits of Bird Lore’s advisory councilors depicting Messrs. William Dutcher, T. Gilbert Pearson, Lynds Jones and C. W. Nelson, and the usual notes, reviews and re- ports of societies. The Museums Journal of Great Britain for November has an article on museum matters presented at the Belfast meeting of the Brit- ish Association, and description of a dust- proof air inlet for museum cases, a feature entirely too much neglected in the construc- tion of cases. F. A. SBather discusses ‘Names on the Labels in Public Galleries,’ in which he touches on the difficulties of pro- viding so-called common names for objects and intimates that scientific names are much more generally understood than is often sup- posed. This article should be widely read. There is an interesting series of notes con- cerning museums in various parts of the world. LN. S. Von. XVII. No. 418. Tur American Museum Journal for De- cember gives a summarized account of the proceedings of the Thirteenth International Congress of Americanists, a review of the recent work of the museum, and a list of the December lectures. The number con- tains the index for Volume II. The Plant World for October contains ‘Extracts from the Note Book of a Naturalist on the Island of Guam,’ by W. E. Safford; “A Study of the Island Flora of the Missis- sippi River near Sabula, Iowa,’ by T. J. and M. F. L. Fitzpatrick, and the second article on the ‘Origin of Plant Names,’ by Grace S. Niles. Among the shorter articles are the official announcements of the Wild Flower Preservation Society. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Tuer 558th regular meeting was held No- vember 22, 1902. Dr. H. Carrington Bolton presented a paper on ‘ Science and Art under Rudolph II., 1570- 1612,’ narrating many of his experiences with the astrologers and’ charlatans that he patron- ized so liberally, and pointing out the im- portant results that followed his support of Tycho Brahe and Kepler. Dr. A. F. A. King read ‘ Further Remarks on Sunlight, Malaria and Scoto-therapy,’ in which he reviewed his former paper (see Screncr, December 27, 1901, p. 1007), and in support of the blue fluorescence of quinine being its curative property, cited the facts that esculin and fraxin were also fluorescent and curative like quinine. The curative power of iodine was due to its producing the violet iodide of starch in the stomach. Dr. King recommended blue- or violet-col- ored clothing for armies in malarious regions, and purple tents instead of the white canvas now used. He suggested several experiments in scoto-therapy—keeping some patients in the dark or in rooms with purple or indigo window glass, and exposing others, nude, to brilliant sunshine—which were inexpensive and easily accomplished, and which, he hoped, those having opportunities would try, in order a JANUARY 2, 1903. ] to test the power of sunlight in promoting sporulation of malarial parasites in the blood. Dr. Peter Fireman then spoke on the ‘ De- duction of the Magnitude of Osmotic Pres- sure according to the Kinetic Theory.’ He held, first, that the mean kinetic energy of the molecules of a dissolved substance is the same as that of a gas at the same tempera- ture; and, second, that the number of impacts of the molecules of a dissolved substance per unit of time on unit area of any imaginary plane in the solution is the same as if the dissolved substance were in the gaseous state and confined in the same volume at the same temperature. Therefore, the laws governing osmotic pressure in solutions are identical with the laws of perfect gases, and follow directly from the kinetic theory. Tue 559th meeting was held December 6, 1902. Announcement was made of the death of Mr. Henry Mitchell, a distinguished engineer, and of Mr. J. W. Osborne, a distinguished in- ventor in the art of photolithography, both members of the society. ’ Professor Newcomb gave a brief account of his visit to Christiania during the past sum- mer to attend the convention of mathema- ticians held in commemoration of the one- hundredth anniversary of Abel’s birth. The first regular paper was by Dr. C. D. Walcott on ‘The Development of the Car- negie Institution.’ He pointed out how its location in Washington is a case of natural development, tracing the growth of scientific organization in the city from the early days when this society stood alone, through the times when societies were multiplied, then through the unifying period of the Joint Committee and the Academy of Sciences, out of which came the Washington Memorial Association; by this last-named body plans for research were formulated clearly enough to attract Mr. Carnegie’s attention. His - $10,000,000 endowment of the new institu- tion is familiar to all. The trustees of this body appointed 16 advisory committees, in- cluding 46 members; their reports on projects submitted to them, filling over 200 printed SCIENCE. 25 pages, were presented confidentially to the trustees at their recent meeting, together with ‘ other reports; portions of these will be made public early next year. Statements were made regarding the principles adopted for making grants, both of exclusion and of inclusion; special emphasis is laid on the selection of the man who is to be responsible for any specific research, since vague or general ap- propriations are not favored. Dr. H. W. Wiley, of the Department of Agriculture, in view of the popular interest in his diet investigations, discussed ‘How to Test the Harmfulness of Food Preservatives,’ if they are harmful, as alleged. He called attention to the enormous industrial impor- tance of the subject, the difficulty of obtain- ing reliable data, and the danger of complica- tions with foreign countries over our food exports. The older methods of preservation were: Desiccation, resulting in a tasteless product; sterilization by heat, often imper- fect, and cold storage. The cold storage plants of the country are worth $100,000,000 and contain constantly food supplies of an equal value. Cheapest of all methods is the use of chemicals. The effect of these may be: tested, chemically by artificial digestion, by experiments on the lower animals, or by experiments on man. Under an appropria- tion from Congress the speaker is beginning experiments on twelve volunteers, whose food supply and excreta will be fully analyzed to determine the effect, if any, of the usual pre- servatives. Various details of the direct and the control experiments were given. CHarues K. WEaAp, Secretary. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Tuer 134th meeting was held December 10, 1902. The following papers were presented: “A Carboniferous Section in the Upper Copper River Valley, Alaska,” by W. C. Men- denhall. Mr. Mendenhall presented some of the de- tails of a section of 7,000 or 8,000 feet of Upper Carboniferous strata, measured during the past summer among the foothills of the Alaskan Range, in the northern part of the 26 SCIENCE. Jopper River basin. The paper closed with a summary of the known Alaskan occurrences of the Carboniferous. “Occurrence of Paleozoic Rocks in the Southern Portion of the Great Basin Region,’ by F. B. Weeks. Mr. Weeks said in part, the Paleozoic sedi- mentary series in this region extends from the Pre-Cambrian to the Permian, or possibly the Trias. The granites and allied rocks of the Grand Canyon section, and of southeast- ern California extending into the Sierra Nevada, comprise the basement complex. The Pre-Cambrian consists of quartzites and schists of undetermined thickness. These are conformably overlain by the Cambrian strata of alternating beds of quartzite, shale and limestone, which attain a thickness of 10,000 feet or more. The Silurian is repre- sented by two great masses of limestone with several hundred feet of quartzite between them. The series is very similar to that de- seribed by Hague at Eureka, and the impor- tant unconformity between the quartzite and the overlying limestone noted at Eureka also ‘occurs in the Panamint and Grapevine ranges. The Devonian limestone is exposed in the ranges directly east of the Grapevine range, and also forms a considerable portion of the Desert range. The Carboniferous limestones are exposed in the Inyo and Darwin ranges and form a large part of the Charleston mountains. The section in the latter range consists of Lower Carboniferous limestones, yed sandstones and shales and an Upper Car- oniferous limestone. Above these are other limestones containing a Permian or possibly a Triassic fauna. The data relating to the Charleston range were obtained by R. B. Rowe, who was engaged in a study of the geology of this region for some months prior to his death in 1902. Between the Cambrian and the Or- dovician in the Great Basin region there ap- pears to be heavy faulting in some sections, and in others a thrusting of the Ordovician upon the underlying Cambrian beds. Prior +0 the Carboniferous there was an erosion in- terval and an overlapping of the Carbonifer- ‘ous upon the Devonian and probably the Silurian. King’s conclusion that thére are [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 418, 40,000 feet of conformable Paleozoic strata in the Great Basin region has not been con- firmed by recent studies. The structure of the Basin ranges is believed to be the result of crustal movements of uplift and subsi- dence accompanied by faulting, thrusting and erosion at different stages of Paleozoic time, orographie forms haying been modified by erosion and subsequent earth movements dur- ing the long interval from the Permian to the present. ‘The Horseheads Outlet of the Glacial Lakes of Central New York,’ by M. L. Fuller. Mr. Fuller described the nearly uniform maximum altitude attained by the crests of the drift deposits of the valleys both to the north and to the west of Horseheads, and classed them with morainal terraces rather than with true moraines. The uniform altitude, together with the presence at several points of notches cut to approximately the same level across the projecting rock points by streams flowing along the sides of the ice tongues occupying the lower portion of the valleys, was considered as evidence of a local body of standing water reaching to a height of about 100 feet above the present streams at Horse- heads. The terraced character of the outlet at Horseheads was also described, and the opinion expressed that the broader terrace is an erosional and not a constructional (flood- plain) feature, and that it represents the out- let of Lake Newberry at its principal stage. The lower and smaller channel, which is nar- rower than many of the channels eut by the small streams now existing, is considered as marking the final stage of the outlet when part of the escaping waters of the lake were, as the ice retreated, beginning to escape at other outlets located, it seems most probable, at a point some distance to the east. Atrrep H. Brooxs, Secretary. TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. AT a meeting of the club on November 11, 1902, the scientific program consisted of a paper by Dr. L. M. Underwood on ‘ The Gold and Silver Ferns.’ Dr. Underwood said that characters based upon position and form of —-- JANUARY 2, 1903. ] sori and indusia have perhaps been empha- sized too much in elassification; in some species the indusium may be developed or may be wanting on the same plant. There “is now a tendency to return to the recogni- tion of the fibro-vascular system as an ele- ment in classifying ferns. Mainly free- veined ferns occur in Devonian and Carbon- iferous remains. Anastomosing veins seem to have developed later; and even now they form the predominant feature in but two of the ferns of our northern states, Onoclea sensibilis and Woodwardia areolata. The pinnate and flabellate types of venation are very distinct, but are connected in appearance by a modi- fication of the last type with successive alter- nation of its dichotomy forming a prolonged axis. The ferns known as gold and silver ferns were included in 1811 in the genus Gymnogramme. Some twenty genera have since been segregated from it, some of them on insufficient grounds. Many garden hy- brids and horticultural varieties have been developed. With the exception of a species in Madagasear, the group is confined to the tropics of America, where the species known as the silver fern is perhaps the most common fern known. The goldenback fern of Cali- fornia is perhaps most familiar to ordinary knowledge; its range is from Alaska to Lower California, but not eastward of the Sierras. In life it is of a bright golden yellow beneath (often replaced by silvery powder), a brilliant green above; in the dry season it coils up involutely, exposing only the under surface, which is covered by its peculiar golden waxy powder. This and other ferns of the arid region prevent too great transpiration of water by developing waxy or resinous powders, or by layers of wool or of scales. A Mexican spe- cies, Notholena aurantiaca, was exhibited, which combines two protections, powder and seales. The silver fern of our arid Southwest finally becomes almost chalky beneath; it be- comes coiled almost into a ball in the dry season. Discussion followed upon the true interpre- tation of the function of the waxy powder. Dr. C. C. Curtis deemed it to accomplish SCIENCE. 27 two purposes, that of plugging stomata and that of reflecting heat. Dr. Rusby recalled the suggestion made by Mr. Chas. F. Cox some years ago, to the effect that plant hairs carry on metabolism and aid nutrition. Dr. Rusby also described the appearance and habitats of ‘several species which he had been familiar with in Bolivia and in our own Southwest; in the Rockies, where Notholena and Cheilanthes grow together from the same erevices of rock, they respond to rain with remarkable quickness. In the dry season when everything else is seemingly dead, if a rain should occur, their coiled fronds quickly become bright green and well expanded, though curled again into little balls in a few days if dry weather follows. Epwarp S. Burcsss, Secretary. NORTH OCAROLINA SECTION OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. Tue North Carolina Section held its fall meeting in the Office of State Chemist, Agri- eultural Building, Raleigh, N. C., on Satur- day, November 22, 1902, with presiding officer Charles EK. Brewer in the chair. Twenty members and visitors were in attendance. Hereafter all papers presented at the meet- ings will be required to be in abstract. Drs. A. S. Wheeler and G. S. Fraps were elected reviewers for the Section for the ensuing year. Their duties will be for each to prepare and present at some meeting during the year a paper giving briefly the advances recently made in some branch of chemistry. This departure promises to be a valuable addition to the programs. The following papers were presented and discussed: “Some New Double Sulphatesof Lanthanum, and on the Existence of Lanthanum Alums,’ by Charles Baskerville and E. G. Moss. ‘Lanthanates,’ by Chas. Baskerville and G. F. Catlett. The resemblance of lanthanum to aluminum was taken advantage of and the preparation of such bodies as the lanthanates and meta- lanthanates hitherto not reported, described. The new substances are sodium lanthanate (NaLaO,) and meta-lanthanates of sodium, 28 SCIENCE. potassium, lithium and barium (M’H,La,0,,). Two methods were used—fusion of lanthanum oxide with alkaline carbonates, and prolonged digestion in a very concentrated solution of the alkaline hydroxides at 100° C. ‘Studies in Nitrification” by G. 8. Fraps. The nitrification of ammonium sulphate or eotton-seed meal in a soil under constant conditions ig periodic, reaching a maximum and then decreasing, due probably to the varia- tion in the activity of the nitrifying organisms at different times. A sterilized soil, inoculated with different nitrifying soils, nitrifies cotton- seed meal and ammonium sulphate in different ratios, according to the soil used for inocula- tion, due to difference in the nitrifying organ- isms.. A method is given for comparing the nitrifying power of two or more soils. ‘Improved Method for Halogen Determina- tions in Atomic Weight Work,’ by Chas. Baskerville and R. O. E. Davis. The method reported was devised in the progress of the work on the redetermination of the atomic weight of thorium. The nu- merous precautions for the determination of chlorine were rehearsed, and attention directed to the deliquescence of thorium tetrachloride and the difficulty incident to complete elimina- tion of chlorine from the dioxidein obtaining the ratio between the halogen and oxygen compounds of that heavy metal. A series of twenty-five preliminary determinations was made of the solubility of silver chloride in pure alcohol, alcoholic solution of silver nitrate, and nitric acid of variable strengths at different temperatures with a time variant. All reagents were the so-called chemically pure. Elevation of temperature (50° C. and above), excess silver nitrate (more than twenty per cent.), marked acidity (over three per cent.) and prolongation of time of reac- tion (fifteen minutes) were determined as factors causing a result too high by from .7 to 4.3 per cent. (in exaggerated cases) when a standard sodium-chloride solution was pre- cipitated by a standard silver nitrate. This was due to the formation of aldehyde from oxidation of the alcohol by the nitric acid and (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 418. silver nitrate, with consequent precipitation of metallic silver with the silver chloride. Ex- perimental proof of this was given. A new series of six determinations, where all reagents were repurified, silver nitrate be- ing made from metal prepared by the method of Stas, was carried out. Results were ob- tained giving an error of from zero to .098 per cent., hence it appears that the halogen may be determined accurately when an excess of silver nitrate is used (even to ten per cent.) the solution is slightly acid (nitric), the precipitation being caused at ordinary temperatures with vigorous stirring for five minutes in ethyl alcohol. Proper precau- tions as to purification of asbestos, using counterpoise crucibles, dark chamber for pre- cipitation and filtration, dark bath for dry- ing, ete. The use of alcohol appears to be new. ‘Chlorides in Tobacco, by W. H. Pegram. The work set forth in this paper was designed and is being prosecuted for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is a relation be- tween the chlorides in tobacco and the chlorides in the fertilizer used in its produc- tion; also whether a high percentage of chlorides (as calcium and magnesium chlor- ides) affects the hygroscopic property of tobacco, giving abnormal and damaging re- sults at certain stages of its preparation and manufacture. The data are insufficient as yet to justify a valid conclusion. ‘Suggested Changes in the Law of Dulong and Petit,’ by J. EH. Mills. Abstract has ap- peared in the proceedings of the Elisha Mitch- ell Scientific Society. (See Scrence, N. S. Vol. XVI., No. 414, p. 907.) = “Neodymates,’ by Charles Baskerville and W. O. Heard. The following methods were used in efforts to prepare neodymates: Fusion with alkaline carbonates, alkaline earth carbonates and oxides, chlorides, digestion in concentrated alkaline hydroxide solutions, and fusion with sodium dioxide. Results not altogether satis- factory were obtained, with the surprising ex- ception of a barium compound, BaCO,.Ba(NdO,),.5H,0. i JANUARY 2, 1903.] “Artificial Plant Food Requirements of Soils” by B. W. Kilgore. (See ‘ Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Convention of the Association of American Colleges and Experi- ment Stations,’ pp. 73-75.) ‘Methods for the Determination of Total Phosphoric Acid and Potash in Solids,’ by C. B. Williams. The method devised for the determination of total phosphoric acid in soils was simply, after igniting five grams of soil in a platinum dish, treat three times with hydrofluoric acid, evaporating to dryness each time, followed by fusion with ten grams of a mixture of equal parts of sodium and potassium car- bonate. The cake thus obtained, after cool- ing, was transferred to a beaker and digested with about 30 to 40 ec. (1 to 1) hydrochloric acid, after which the solution was evaporated to dryness on a water-bath, being subsequently heated four or five hours in an air-bath, to 110° CO. to dehydrate the silica present. It was then taken up with dilute hydrochlorie acid, filtered and washed. The filtrate and wash- ings thus obtained, after adding sufficient nitric acid to liberate all hydrochloric acid present, are placed together and reduced to a volume of about 40 ¢.c. by boiling. The excess of nitric acid is then neutralized with am- monia, and ten to twelve grams ammonium nitrate is added. After cooling, 30 cc. re- cently filtered molybdie solution is added and the phosphoric acid is precipitated by shaking in a Wagner machine, and determined volumetrically (Jour. Am. Chem. Sc., Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 8-12). Total potash is brought into solution by treating four grams of soil in a platinum dish on water-bath, after saturating with dilute (1 to 1) sulphuric acid and igniting, with from 2 to 3 cc. hydrofluorie acid for five times, add- ing 1 «ec. dilute (1 to 1) sulphurie acid just before going to dryness the last time. After the last traces of hydrofluoric acid have ‘been liberated the dish is removed from water-bath and heated gently over small flame until evo- lution of sulphur trioxide ceases. The soil is then taken up with 20 ec. distilled water slightly aeidified with hydrochloric acid, and SCIENCE. 29 digested on water-bath until the solution has been reduced to about one third of its orginal volume, after which it is transferred to a 200-c.c. graduated flask and heated on water- bath to near boiling, when ammonia and am- monium oxalate are added in sufficient quan- tity to precipitate all iron, alumina and lime present. After cooling, the volume is made up to 200 e.c., and an aliquot corresponding to two grams is filtered off into a porcelain dish. From this point on the procedure is the same as that prescribed in the regular Lindo-Gladding method. There being no further business, the sec- tion adjourned, subject to the call of the Executive Committee. C. B. Witt1aMs. Secretary. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. PRESIDENT SCHURMAN ON THE EDUCATIONAL RE- QUIREMENTS FOR PROFESSIONAL STUDY. To THe Eprror or Science: In the issue of Science of November 21, on page 816, is pub- lished an excerpt from the annual report of President Schurman of Cornell University, containing statements bearing upon the ques- tion of collegiate work as a requirement for admission to professional schools. It is not my function to discuss or criticize the policy of the President of Cornell University. The report, however, contains several state- ments upon which comment seems necessary. “ At Cornell University at any rate [runs the report] the established policy is to admit students to any course who are able to pass the examinations qualifying them to pursue that course. And such preliminary tests, it is generally conceded by the members of the profession concerned, do not exceed the re- quirements for graduation at the best high schools.” I cannot speak for the lawyer, the engineer or the architect, but in the name of the pro- fession of medicine I beg in the most respect- ful manner to protest. With the matter of culture-studies we need have no concern here. I believe it may be stated as an established fact that a proper education in modern 30 ; SCIENCE. medicine can not be acquired upon the basis of a high-school preparation. For the ade- quate study of modern medicine collegiate training in physics, chemistry and biology is essential; to use an academic term, they are prerequisites. How much collegiate training in these branches is necessary is open to discussion; the most general opinion among teachers of medicine is that two years are sufficient. I beg to state that, in my opinion, the majority of the members of the medical profession of this country, as repre- sented in the recognized societies, do not be- lieve that the tests preliminary to medical education need not exceed the requirements for graduation at the best high schools. The teachers of medicine may be said to be almost unanimous in the belief that collegiate prep- aration in the sciences is necessary for the study of medicine. The majority of the high- grade medical schools have already either in- augurated or announced collegiate require- ments for admission; with other institutions the maintenance of the older system is purely a matter of present financial conditions and does not reflect the real policy. These changes have not been made in spite of the profession, but rather with the sympathy and support of the best elements in the profession. In any event, ought it not to be the function of the universities to lead and not to follow the professions ? There is a quite current confusion of two movements. One is the culture requirement for entrance upon professional study; the other is the training requirement. Knowl- edge of Greek literature, of esthetics, of political science, may be advantageous to the physician, but it is not essential to the study of medicine; knowledge of and training in physics, chemistry and biology of the collegiate type and quality are necessary for the proper study of medicine as it is taught to-day in our best institutions. Departments of medicine are requiring collegiate preparation; in a few instances it may be partly upon the basis of a veneration for general culture, in all instances from the realization of the direct necessity of that training in the natural sci- [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 418. ences which colleges alone are able to give. With this adjustment of the prerequisites in science deemed necessary to the study of medicine, the matter of democracy in educa- tional policy, alluded to by both President Schurman and President Hadley, has no concern. The science of medicine has ‘deyel- oped to such an extent that it can not be so mastered in four years following a high-school education as to adequately prepare the phy- sician for his duties in life. To extend this course, by prerequisite collegiate work, until it fulfills its obligations to the student and its duty to the public, can not be stigmatized as undemocratic. Atonzo ENGLEBERT TAYLOR. THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, December 1, 1902. ILLEX ILLECEBROSUS (LESUEUR), THE ‘ SQUID FROM ONONDAGA LAKE, N. Y.’ THE specimen of squid, the capture of which in Onondaga Lake has been described by Dr. John M. Clarke in a previous num- ber of Screncz,* has been sent to the present writer for examination. It proves to belong to the well-known species of our northern Atlantic coast, the ‘cold water’ or ‘short- finned squid.’ The specimen has been com- pared with the description of Ommastrephes alecebrosus given by Verrill,t and with two well-preserved individuals (male and female) of this species from Provincetown, Mass., preserved in the collections of the Museum of Biology, J. C. Green School of Science, Princeton University. The result of this comparison is as follows: Total length of our specimen, from tip of tail to tip of third pair of sessile arms, up- ward of thirteen inches. Since the largest figure for this dimension given by Verrill is a little over fourteen inches, our individual * December 12, 1902, p. 947. 7 Ommastrephes illecebrosus (Lesueur): Ver- rill, A. E., ‘North American Cephalopods,’ in Trans. Connect. Acad., Vol. 5, 1880, p. 268, pl. 28. According to the ‘Synopsis of Recent Cephalo- poda’ given by Hoyle, W. E., in ‘ Voy. Challenger Zool.,’ Vol. 16, 1886, p. 34, the name of this species stands now as Illex illecebrosus (Less). JANUARY 2, 1903. ] is to be regarded as full grown. Other di- mensions can not be taken on account of the distorted condition of the respective parts. Body and head somewhat contorted and out of shape. Skin largely mutilated and worn off. General form agreeing with that of this species. The same is true of the shape and size of the caudal fin, which exhibits the characteristic outline. Details of head: nor- mal. Opening of the lids of the eyes widely distended, irregularly circular, anterior sinus indistinct (this is apparently due to preserva- tion). Sessile arms agreeing in size and shape with this species. All marginal membranes (outside of the suckers) very slightly devel- oped (or worn off), the dorsal and lateral folds of these arms indistinct, and this is especially true of the high median keel of the third arm, of which only traces are seen in our specimen. Owing to the slight develop- ment of these keels all the arms appear less angular and more rounded in cross section, although the typical shape is still indicated. Tentacular arms agreeing completely with this species, only the keel on the back side of the club is less strongly developed. Mar- ginal membranes of the suckers indistinct. No hectocotylization on the fourth sessile arms visible; thus our specimen seems to be a female. Arrangement, size and structure of suckers of the sessile as well as the tentacular arms agreeing perfectly with Verrill’s description and the specimens used for comparison; the only difference I see is that outside of the two rows of large suckers of the club of the tentacles there are only a few smaller ones; but these may in part have been torn off and lost. The buccal membrane agrees with this species. Color, yellowish-white, with purple chromatophores, but skin largely damaged, so that the usual color pattern is not visible; but the dark blotches above the eyes are well marked. The pen has not been taken out. To sum it up, our specimen agrees in all essentials with Illex illecebrosus; the only dif- ferences observed, namely, the wide eye open- ing, the lack or slight development of the ‘and rough handling. SCIENCE. ol marginal membranes and the keels of the arms, and the absence of some suckers on the tentacles, are no doubt due to preservation That the latter has taken place is shown by the general abrasion: of the skin, and the fact that a large number of the suckers have lost their horn rings or are entirely torn off. Similar mutilations and changes are very often observed in ill- preserved cephalopods. Therefore, I arrive at the conclusion that the present individual is in no wise different from Illex illecebrosus of our northeastern coasts.* ; As to the alleged capture of this species in Onondaga Lake, I can only refer to what Dr. J. M. Clarke says (J. c.), and if it is a fact that this species lives in this lake, the only explanation is, as suggested, by a former, post-glacial connection of this lake with the St. Lawrence Gulf. But I am loath to be- lieve that this species lives in Onondaga Lake, In this connection I venture only one single suggestion: this squid is largely used for bait, and the capture of squid forms a regular trade on our northeastern coasts. Could it not be possible that somebody has secured by purchase a barrel of squids, to be used as bait at the locality where our specimen was found? A. E. Ortmann. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, December 12, 1902. KALLIMA BUTTERFLIES. To tHE Eprror or Science: Dr. Bashford Dean will find some interesting remarks on the mimicry by this butterfly, and some criti- cisms of museum representations of it, in an interesting article by E H A ‘On the Influ- ence of Mind in Evolution, Natural Science, Vol. [X., pp. 297-802, November, 1896. The main point as regards museums made by this competent observer is that he never saw a Kallima sitting with its apparent stalk to- wards the twig of a tree. On the contrary, it ‘always alights head downwards, so as to- face anything coming up the tree, which is *This species is abundant from Cape Cod to Newfoundland. Rarely it is found to the south of this range (Vineyard Sound and coast of Rhode Island). 32 SCIENCE. much the most likely direction of assault from a lizard’ According to this writer, it is when the butterfly requires to rest that it settles, not on the under side of a leaf, as do most other butterflies, but ‘on the bare trunk, or one of the larger boughs, of a tree.’ Nat. Set. SHORTER ARTICLES. DATA WITH A POSSIBLE BEARING ON THE CAUSE OF LIGHTNING. 1. Lenarp inferred from his experiments that it is necessary for the water jet to strike a solid obstacle to generate the electricty ob- served in the surrounding medium of air. I find that a surface of water is also efficient, and I place the electricity as a charge on the water nuclei produced, because the charge in- ereases with the number of nuclei computed from their coronas. In other words, the mere attrition of water by water is sufficient to charge the nuclei. In a forthcoming paper in the American Journal of Science I show that if each nu- cleus carries one electron, there must be at least 106 nuclei per cubic em. ‘At least,’ because much of the charge is lost in the tube which conveys the nuclei into the con- denser, and I have not yet allowed for this. From the coronas simultaneously produced I find that about 5,000 nuclei are present per c.c. Hence each nucleus carries 200 elec- trons, while its potential is below five volts. Thus there are a million electrons in each e.c. of the air which I examine, or in a cubic kilometer there would be 1021 electrons, or 71011 electrostatic units of charge, or about 200 coulombs. 2. Let this region be spherical with a superficial capacity, which would then be 62> 10° cm. The potential* at the sur- face of the region would be eleven million electrostatic units of potential, or over three thousand million volts, if the nuclei were all of the same sign and were transferred to the surface. Every time the region is emptied of its nuclei, the surface acquires a charge of * Tor a mile flash of lightning 70 coulombs at a million volts are usually conceded (Lodge). [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 418. the enormous potential stated, and there is no reason why the nuclei may not be continually produced by attrition while they are being transferred. 3. Now regarding the transfer of nuclei, we may note that when they are produced from pure water, positive charges are usually in excess; when produced from dilute solu- tions, negative charges are usually in excess; but I find that the bulk of the nuclei are symmetrically positive and negative. The velocity of the nucleus of charge e, in an electrostatic field of the potential gradient, H, is v= He/67-R, where F# is the radius of the nucleus and - (.0002, say), the viscosity of air. Put, therefore, in this equation the values which I have here and in other places adduced, R—10-§ em., e—200 7 X 10-10 electrostatic units, whence v= 387 em./sec., or over four fifths mile an hour, for the unit’ electrostatic field; about .003 mile per hour of a field of one volt/cm. Thus there is considerable mobility in thesa nuclei. With a strong electrostatic field at least locally in action, the nuclei of one sign would thus be driven outward, warmer nuclei into colder regions of continually increasing conduction or rarer air, where their charges would be dissipated. The other nuclei would be driven earthward, colder nuclei into warmer regions of continually decreasing conduction to be discharged, if at all, by a flash, particularly if, on growth of drops, gravity steps in as a final motor. Whether there is sufficient commotion in thunder-storms to give rise to the attrition of water, whether comminution will not suf- fice if accomplished in other ways, whether an earth electrostatic field is an adequately permanent or localized occurrence, whether indeed separation of nuclei is needed if there is enough excess of charges of definite sign, must be left for further consideration; but it seems to me that data bearing on the occur- rence of lightning are here suggested which deserve serious scrutiny. C. Barus. Brown UNIVERSITY, PROVIDENCE, R. I. JANUARY 2, 1903.] THE HOSTS OF ARGULIDS AND THEIR NOMENCLATURE. An excellent monograph of the ‘ North American Parasitic Copepods of the Family Argulide’ has been contributed to the Pro- ceedings of the U. S. National Museum by Dr. Charles Branch Wilson and just published. As it is ‘the first of a series, now in course of preparation, on the parasitic Copepods,’ it seems advisable to point out a defect which should be avoided in the subsequent mono- graphs. The hosts are very often erroneously named or named in a very archaic or contra- dictory manner. The archaic nomenclature is chiefly connected with foreign forms and is the result of determinations of species made many years ago. The host of Argulus natterert (p. 720) and Dolops longicauda (p. 732) named ‘ Salmo (Hydrocyon) brevidens Cuvier’ (p. 720) or ‘Hydrocyon (Salmo) brevidens Cuvier’ (p. 432) does not belong to the same order as Salmo nor to the same genus as Hydrocyon™ (which is confined to Africa), but to a genus (Salminus) peculiar to South America. The Argulus salmini (p. 720) was also found parasitic ‘in the gill cavity’ of Salminus and not of ‘Salmo, a genus, as already stated, of a different order. Species of ‘ Chromis’ are designated as the hosts of two species of Argulids, Argulus chromidis of Nicaragua (p. 721) and Chono- peltis imermis of Wiedenhafen, East Africa (p. 729). Probably the Central American fish is a Cichlid of the genus Heros, and the Hast African, one of the genus Tilapia. Chromis is now reserved by all the best authorities for a salt-water genus of the family of Pomacen- trids. The host of Argulus doradis called Doras niger (p. 7384) is now known as Ozydoras mger. The host of Argulus africanus (p. 727) ealled Claria is a catfish of the genus Clarias. “* The host of Dolops reperta of Guiana (734) called ‘ Aymara’ is an Erythrinid now known as Macrodon tareira or by the earlier but ex- tremely inappropriate name Macrodon mala- SCIENCE. 33 baricus, due to a blunder of Bloch committed more than a century ago. The host of Dolops striata (p. 735) and Dolops bidentata (p. 736) of Guiana, called “a species of Anguilla, is probably a species of a different order named Synbranchus mar- moratus. No Anguilla has been recorded from Guiana. The host of Dolops discoidalis designated as a species of Platystoma has been for nearly forty years universally called Sorubim. Another fish, the common alewife, on the same page is called Clupea vernalis and Pom- olobus pseudoharengus. Dr. Wilson’s bibliography i. well digested, but he seems to have overlooked a few articles. Among such are three of minor importance by Reinhardt (1864), Frauenfeld (1870) and Dambeck (1877), besides one of considerable importance by von Nettovich (1900) of thirty- two pages and two plates. One other defect should be remedied. No. habitat except ‘Wiedenhafen’ is given for Chonopeltis inermis. As Wiedenhafen is not noticed in current gazetteers (it is not in the latest edition of Lippincott’s) it was deemed necessary to refer to the original description but the only reference to the place of descrip- tion was ‘Thiele, 1901,’ the rest of the line sufficient for the page being left blank. On reference to Thiele’s article in the Zodlo- gischer Anzeiger, it appeared that Wieden- hafen is in East Africa. The name of the host is no guide. The other lapses are not of sufficient im- portance to demand special attention here. THEO. GILL. Cosmos CLUB. THE GREAT NEED IN AMERICAN ZOOLOGY. Atv the present day the zoologists of the United States of America can point to a con- siderable number of well-equipped labora- tories, and of others in course of construction; of libraries, such as that of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, which is prob- ably not excelled; of an annually increasing number of fellowships and free scholarships to enable students to investigate; and of the aid of the government in maintaining such 34 institutions as the National Museum. Uni- versities are growing richer, for which we are thankful, and more numerous, an evil neces- sary perhaps to the geographical extent of the country. There are great reference mu- seums in Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, New York, Chicago, and others with a good promise that have been more recently started. These are surely signs of a vigorous activity in research, and we all must rejoice in them. It is not buildings, nor endowment funds, nor libraries nor collections that make labora- tories or universities or museums, but it is the men who do constructive work in them, those who discover and classify the facts. There have been examples of institutions that might have been splendid, but which have proved to be only ornate, and because capable men have not been placed in untrameled guidance of them they have proved to be melancholy mausoleums, examples of a donor’s folly. They have had their use in the gen- eral economy of things, however, for they have taught the American public that men, and not buildings, mean greatness—the men who do the work for the love of it and with- out thought of personal advancement. But the work that is being accomplished, the zoological investigations and reflections, what is being done to give it publicity? By: no means all that should be done. © The ave- nues of publication are incommensurate with the amount of the investigations. For we see nearly annually papers by Americans pub- lished in the English Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, in Spengel’s Zoo- logische Jahrbiicher, in the Archiv fiir Ent- wicklungsmechanik, and in the two Anzezgers. America builds and maintains laboratories in sufficiency, but does not afford to publish all the work done in them. One hesitates to undertake an elaborate contribution, par- ticularly one with expensive illustrations, for when an American journal has at last been persuaded to accept it, great delay is experi- enced before its final appearance, and by the time the proofs are received they seem like an old and stale story. So we are obliged to advise our students to condense their doctor’s SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 418. theses, to omit colored drawings, even’ to use the pen in place of the pencil, in order to avoid the expense of lithography. Now any one at all conversant with the nature of zoo- logical investigation understands how impor- tant for the representation of the facts are good and numerous figures; so important, that the zoologist is involuntarily inclined to estimate the truth of the facts contained in a paper by the character of the drawings, these being the concise evidence of what the describer has seen, or of what he thinks he has seen. The number of illustrations should in no case be reduced; in most cases they should be considerably increased, and as far as the mere statement of facts is concerned the illustrations should preponderate over the text. More thought goes into the making of a drawing than into the writing of a purely descriptive text, and much more technique. There would be much less confusion in de- seriptions, consequently much less also in con- clusions, if writers had not been obliged to be sparing with their drawings, but every American editor shrinks before an offering of drawings. A certain German cytologist, as it will be recalled, sent out with each author’s reprint of a paper upon cellular ‘Elementarorganismen’? a small ribbon of parafiine sections of the objects that he de- scribed, with the request that each recipient mount these sections, study them, and so be convinced of the writer’s truth. That is a method of argument, however, that is gener- ally not feasible; duplicate material cannot be furnished to all who are interested in a subject, but good drawings and plenty of them should be furnished, regardless of the expense of reproduction. i Plainly, what we need, and it is now the first need of zoological research, are ample means for publishing large monographs ac- companied by numerous detailed plates, and for publication of them as rapidly as the plates can be reproduced. Our present jour- nals are mainly the proceedings, transactions and memoirs of-societies and universities, and the government publications; there are a con- siderable number of these, and some of them offer excellent facilities. Then there are a JANUARY 2, 1903. ] few independent journals for general zoolog- ical papers, such as the American Naturalist ‘ and the Biological Bulletin, both intended for shorter contributions; and the more recent Journal of Anatomy, which is limited, how- ever, mainly to vertebrate anatomy. Jore- most among the independent journals is the Journal of Morphology. It has done its duty nobly; we are proud of it and ready to main- tain it; but it should have two or three vol- umes a year, instead of a single one, and as many more as may be necessary. That these avenues of publication are far from sufficient for the amount of investiga- tion is shown by the fact, already mentioned, that a large number of American papers are being published abroad, and that American editors are obliged to insist upon small volume of text and paucity of illustrations. Occa- sionally a Mzcenas has come forward and made possible the publication of a large work; but obviously investigation cannot depend upon such sporadic aid. Contrast our rela- tively small number of journals with those in Germany. There, in addition to the publica- tions of societies, which are more numerous than our own, and some of them much more sumptuous, are a large number of independent journals: the Anatomischer Anzeiger, Zool- ogischer Anzeiger, Biologisches Centralblatt, and others intended for shorter papers; and for larger monographs the Zeitschrift fiir _wissenschaftliche Zoologie, Archiv fiir mikro- skopische Anatomie, Morphologisches Jahr- buch, Jena ische Zeitschrift, Zoologische Jahr- biicher, Anatomische Hefte, Ergebnisse der Anatomie und Entwicklungsgeschichte, Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte, Archiv fiir Protisten- kunde, and others. America can make abso- lutely no comparison with that array, which includes only the more notable journals. France and Austria also outdo us in facilities for publication. To our shame it must be said that our ave- nues of publication by no means keep pace with the increase in work of investigation. It is not a new fact; it is a case of bringing owls to Athens to recall this state of affairs to the readers of Sctence. But the condition of apathy that has existed in regard to it SCIENCE. 35 needs to be replaced by one of activity. There are rich men who ean financier our zoological publications if the matter be brought to their attention in the right way; an ample endow- ment fund for large monographs, safeguarded by a competent board of critical editors, is not chimerical, but entirely feasible. The society should feel itself honored by the tender of a good monograph, and not the author by its acceptance for publication; good work should not go a-begging. There should be a concerted attempt to strengthen all the present journals, by increasing already existing publi- eation funds and by multiplying the number of subscribers. Can not the matter be so pre- sented to rich men that they may see an en- dowment fund for publication is of greater service than the founding of a university? Few men are so made that they have so much delight in the discovery itself, that the charm is not enhanced by making it known to others; obstacles in the way of publication, such as there are to-day without need, may do much to dishearten research. One word of warning must be said: we do not need new journals, but a financial strengthening of those that we already have. And because, first, we owe support to the journals that have stood by us; second, be- cause concentration is wiser than extensifica- tion, and, third, because a new journal, whose name has not yet become known, means prac- tical burial for the papers contained in its earlier issues. Tuos. H. Montcomery, JR. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. THE BISHOP COLLECTION OF JADE AND HARD-STONE OBJECTS. Heser R. Bishop was born March 2, 1840, at Medford, Mass., and died in New York City, December 10, 1902, at the age of sixty- three years. Mr. Bishop recently presented his famous collection of jade and hard- stone objects to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, and gave the sum of $55,000 for its installation in suitable cases, to be made in Louis XV. style by Allard, of Paris, one of the leading artisans of France. 36 SCIENCE. And if this is not enough his estate will add to this. A special hall will be set aside for it, to be known as ‘ Bishop Hall,’ where it will be dis- played in the finest solid gilt-bronze, plate- glass cases, but it will not be upon exhibition until a year from this time. This is the finest collection of jade objects, engraved and jeweled, that exists in any public museum or private collection. It numbers more than one thousand specimens and fully represents all phases of the artistic develop- ment of this interesting material. The col- lection was started by the purchase of the Hurd jade vase from Messrs. Tiffany & Co., in 1878. This was one of the finest pieces that ever left China, and led to Mr. Bishop’s taste for collecting such objects. The collection will be described in a volume, which when published will probably be one of the most remarkable, expensive and sumpt- uous books ever issued, limited to an edition of one hundred copies. Nearly ten years ago, Mr. George F. Kunz began the preparation of a mineralogical, geological and archeological description of the collection, to be published in this great catalogue, upon which Mr. Bishop had ex- pended more than $100,000 at the time of his death. The scientific investigation was given entirely to Mr. Kunz, and he associated with him about twenty of the most eminent men in various related lines upon both sides of the water; and a more thorough investiga- tion of this mineral has been made than was ever perhaps undertaken upon any other known mineral. The specific gravity, the tensile strength, the compression test, the sonorousness of the mineral from a musical point of view; a chemical investigation, a microscopical study, a microscopical examina- tion of the thin sections; the origin of the mineral, the mining, the archeological his- tory; the cutting, drilling, polishing, and many other phases, were gone into most thor- oughly; and where a specialist existed who more minutely understood any special branch, he was called upon by Mr. Kunz to carry out the work. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 418. The volume upon publication will go only to public institutions. The foreign etchings by French and Chinese colonists are un- equalled. Many of the color illustrations are by Prang, who made those in ‘Gems and Precious Stones of North America, so well known by our readers. It was this work that suggested the color illustrations for the Bishop book on Jade, as well as for the magnificent Walters book on Chinese porcelains. SCIENTIFIO NOTES AND NEWS. Tue Nobel Prizes, if the statement now cabled from Sweden is correct, have been awarded as follows: Medicine, Major Ronald Ross, of the School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool. Chemistry, Professor Emil Fischer, of Berlin. Physics, divided between Pro- fessors Lorenz and Zeemann, of Holland. Tue Cambridge Philosophical Society has elected as honorary members Professor H. F. Osborn, Bayley Balfour, A. H. Becquerel, E. Fischer, Richard Heymons, J. H. van’t Hoi, M. Jordan, W. K. yon Réntgen, Corrado Segre and Hugo de Vries. Mr. Puimie MacMinien, director of the Queensland Botanic Garden at Brisbane, has been elected a corresponding member of the Royal Botanic Society of London. W. H. Oscoop, of the U. S. Biological Sur- vey, has just returned from a biological ex- ploration of the base of the Alaska Peninsula and the region between Lake Clark and Nushagak River. This work is in continu- ation of his previous explorations of the Yukon River and Cook Inlet regions, the results of which have been already published in North American fauna. Proressor J. C. ArrHur has been granted a month’s leave of absence by the authorities of Purdue University, and will spend January at the N. Y. Botanical Garden in researches on the genera of the Uredinee and their types. Dr. M. A. Howes, assistant curator of the N. Y. Botanical Garden, has returned: from a six week’s collecting trip along the coast of Florida, bringing a large number of speci- mens of the algal flora of the Keys. Professor _ ’ JANUARY 2, 1903.] F. S. Earle, assistant curator, returned from “Jamaica on December 2. During his tour on the island of Jamaica an investigation was made of a number of diseases of the economic plants and a large collection of fungi was made. Mr. Hansury, fellow of the Royal Geo- graphical Society, reached Winnipeg on December 15, after an absence of nearly two years in the Arctic circle and the Hudson’s Bay regions. As has been fully reported in the daily papers, Mr. Marconi has established com- munication by wireless telegraphy between Cape Breton and Cornwall. His announce- ment, dated December 21, is as follows: “I beg to inform you for circulation that I have established wireless telegraph communi- cation between Cape Breton, Canada, and Cornwall, England, with complete success. Inauguratory messages, including one from the Governor General of Canada to King Edward VII., have already been transmitted and forwarded to the Kings of England and Italy. A message to the London Times has also been transmitted in the presence of its special correspondent, Dr. Parkin, M.P.” Dr. W. B. WueErRY, associate in bacteriology at the University of Chicago, has received an appointment to the post of bacteriologist in the Government Laboratories at Manila, P. I. Dr. Davw T. Day, chief of the Division of Mineral Resources of the U. S. Geological Survey, has been elected a member of the board of managers of the National Geographic Society to fill the unexpired term of Mr. Henry Gannett. As Mr. Gannett will remain in the Philippines for a year or more, en- gaged in the census of the islands, he has resigned temporarily, from the board. Tue first Livingstone gold medal has been awarded by the council of the Scottish Geo- graphical Society to Sir Harry H. Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., for his distinguished ser- vices as an explorer and administrator in Africa. Mr. Epmunp Perrier has been elected as the representative of the Paris Museum of SCIENCE. 37 Natural History on the French Council of Public Instruction. Dr. J. B. DeTont has been appointed pro- fessor of botany and director of the Botanic Gardens at the University of Modena. Proressor G. W. GREEN, professor of mathe- matics in the Illinois Wesleyan University, has died at Bloomington, Ill., at the age of forty-five years. ; WE learn from the American Geologist of the death of Mr. R. A. Blair, at Sedalia, Mo. He had spent many years in studying the rocks of central Missouri, and had made val- uable collections from the Chouteau limestone. Tur death is announced of Dr. J. Wisli- cenus, professor of chemistry in the Univer- sity at Leipzig. Privy Councmtor von Kuprrer, professor of anatomy at Munich, died on December 16. WE regret also to record the deaths of Dr. Friedrich Riidorff, formerly professor of in- organic chemistry at the School of Technol- ogy at Charlottenburg, at the age of 70 years; of Dr. Wladislaw Celakowsky, professor of botany at the German University at Prague, at the age of sixty-seven years; of Dr. Lats- chinow, professor of physics and meteorology in the School of Forestry at St. Petersburg; of M. Dehérain, professor of vegetable physi- ology in the Paris Museum of Natural His- tory; of M. Hautefeuille, mineralogist in the Faculty of Sciences at Paris, and of M. Mil- lardet, professor of botany at Bordeaux, known for his researches on phyloxera. Tue Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institution has made an appropriation of $8,000 for the establishment and maintenance of a desert botanical laboratory for the fiscal year 1902-1903, and the executive committee of the institution has appointed Mr. Fred- erick V. Coville and Dr. D. T. MacDougal an advisory board in relation to this undertaking. The proposed laboratory has been established for the purpose of making a thorough investi- gation of the physiological and morphological features of plants under the unusual condi- tions to be found in desert regions, with par- ticular reference to the relations of the char- 38 SCIENCE. acteristic vegetation to water, light, tempera- ture and other special factors. A resident in- vestigator to be placed in immediate charge of the laboratory will begin a series of researches upon certain more important problems out- lined by the board, and facilities will be pro- vided by the aid of which a few other investi- gators from any part of the world may carry on work upon any problem connected with desert plants. A discussion of the scope and purposes of the laboratory was arranged to be given before Section G at the Washington meeting of the American Association. Tuer Convocation of Oxford University has authorized a grant of £100 from the Craven Fund to Mr. David G. Hogarth, M.A., fellow of Magdalen, in aid of researches and explora- tion at Naucratis. Tur Thomson Foundation Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of Austra- lasia, Queensland, will be awarded to the author of the best original paper (provided it be of sufficient merit) on each of the following subjects, the papers to be sent in by the date named: (1) The commercial development, ex- pansion, and potentialities of Australia; or, briefly put, the commerce of Australia (July 1, 1903); (2) the pastoral industry of Aus- tralia, past, present, and probable future (July 1, 1904); (8) the geographical distribution of Australian minerals (July 1, 1905); (4) the agricultural industry of Australia (July 1, 1906). We learn from the Botanical Gazette that Pearson’s collections of Hepatic have been secured by the National Herbarium at the British Museum. It contains about 9,000 specimens, among which are many types and the material used in preparing several well- known papers. i A clvyiL service examination will be held on January 27 for the position of assistant biologist in the Department of Agriculture, at a salary of $1,200. The subjects and weights are as follows: Geographic distribution of animals.......... 20 WEIN gas gosdoondocouodgoeuboudoooDO.ADG 20 LBYERGIS "ga dine do doedodoooscoDbdonUGUOOBOBnOOO 15 Geography of North America................ 10 [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 418. Lip racnihy oosacansochoooconsobonhg conocao0 10 Field experience in biological investigation.... 15 General education and training............ .- 10 On the same day there will be held an ex- amination for the position of botanical clerk in the National Museum at a salary of $600. The scientific part of the examination is on systematic botany. On January 29 and 30 there will be held an examination to secure an eligible list of physicians in the United States and Philippine services. The scope of the examination is as follows: Thesis (500 words to be written on one of two HOON SAVED) coocononessoanobagooocesoocr 4 Correction of rough-draft manuscript (250 WORIGY) , GachadeooctoudoDoucHpondoo Dot OO 3 Mathematics (arithmetic, algebra, including quadratics, and plane geometry).......... 3 History and civil government of the United SMBUIESS scboanaucocusoes oor oneoponSeoence 3 General history and geography.............. 2 Colonial government and administration (gen- Ciel CWEMWOMS)) socoscbagosoccasccd0n05GuE 2 Political economy (general principles) ...... 1 Education and experience................. 2 Optional examinations may at the same time be taken in most of the sciences. Candidates are particularly desired for positions in chem- istry, engineering and agriculture in the Phil- ippine service at salaries from $1,200 to $1,400. ReutTeEr’s AGENCY is informed that the sug- gestion that the British Association should hold its annual meeting for 1905 in South Africa emanated from the new South African Association of Science, of which Sir D. Gill, Astronomer Royal for the Cape, is president. Before the last meeting of the British Asso- ciation at Belfast invitations were sent from the municipalities of Cape Town, Kimberley, Bulawayo and other centers in South Africa, and it is understood that these have been ac- cepted, and that the session of 1905 will be held in South Africa. Scientific papers will be read at various centers in the South Afri- can colonies, and visits will be paid to nu- merous places of interest. A sum of £7,000 has been collected in South Africa for the entertainment of the Association. While in Rhodesia the visitors will be the guests of 9 JANUARY 2, 1903.] the Chartered Company, who will place their railways at their disposal, and, among other things, take them by special train to the Zam- besi, where they will stay at the new hotel to be erected near Victoria Falls. Probably the guests will leave England in a special steamer. THE second International Congress of Mathematicians will be held at Heidelberg in 1904. Tur Association for Promotion of Scien- tific Research by Women announces that ap- plications should be received before March 1 for the American Women’s Table at the Zoological Station at Naples. Application blanks for the use of candidates, items re- lating to the expense of living at Naples, and full information as to the advantages for re- search at the station may be obtained from the secretary, Miss Cornelia M. Clapp, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass. Tur House of Representatives has passed the pure food bill introduced by Mr. Hep- burn; it provides “for preventing the adul- teration, misbranding, and imitation of foods, beverages, candies, drugs and condiments be- tween the States and in the District of Co- lumbia and the Territories, and for regulating inter-State traffic therein.” It directs the Secretary of Agriculture to organize the chem- ical division of the Department of Agricul- ture into a Bureau of Chemistry, which shall be charged with the inspection of food and drug products, and shall from time to time analyze samples of foods and drugs offered for sale. Traffic in adulterated or misbranded goods is prohibited under penalty of a fine not exceeding $200 for the first offense, and for each subsequent offense a fine not exceed- ing $300 or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both. At a meeting of the Zoological Society of London on November 18 Dr. Forsyth Major read a paper on the specimens of the Okapi that had recently arrived in Brussels from the Congo Free State. The author stated that these specimens, whilst presenting the same specific characters as the specimens formerly received by the COongo State authorities, SCIENCE. 39 showed conclusively that the male ‘was alone provided with horns, and that the mode of their development was the same as in the Giraffe. The Okapi seemed to be a more generalized member of the Giraffide than the Giraffe, sharing not a few features of alliance with the Upper Miocene Paleotragus (Samo- theritum). In several characters it was in- termediate between the Giraffe and the fossil forms; but, apart from these, some features were pointed out in which it appeared to be even more primitive than its fossil relatives. These last characters went some way to support the assumption that Africa was the original home of the Giraffide. Tue London Times states that the official decision of Germany to take part in the Uni- versal Exposition to be held in St. Louis in 1904 has long been assured. The delay in making the announcement has been due wholly to the exigencies of the domestic situation, and to the depression in business prevailing during the past two years. In fact, after the visit of Prince Henry to St. Louis, the tender by the Emperor of a statue of Frederick the Great to the city of Washington, and the changed attitude towards the Monroe doctrine, recently apparent, participation on large lines was certain. These have been an earnest of the emperor’s desire to please and conciliate the Americans upon both the diplomatic and personal sides. High polities has, however, been only one of the influences behind this decision. The principal idea has been that of broadening the demand for German wares, with the result that there is general concur- rence in the opinion both as to the necessity and the helpfulness which come from the most perfect and varied displays. at all the great exhibitions. Even that at Paris in 1900 was striking, following, though it did, the failure to exhibit there at all in 1889. The great Krupp firm, which has so distinctly been built up to its present massive proportions by the policy inaugurated at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and since maintained without inter- ruption, has really been the one potent ex- ample. At the Chicago Exhibition of 1893 Germany expended about $800,000 upon its 40 buildings, its official display, and as an aid to the manufacturing and commercial features. Thus far no announcement has been made of the sum likely to be set aside for use at St. Louis, but, from assurances given by the em- peror, that for the purpose of illustrating every phase of its artistic, manufacturing, agricultural and industrial development Ger- many would make at St. Louis the finest ex- hibit ever shown from that country, the con- clusion has been reached that at least 4,000,000 Marks will be set aside for this purpose. Mount McKinley, the highest mountain on the North American continent, was visited last season by Alfred H. Brooks and his party from the United States Geological Survey, of which Mr. D. L. Reaburn was topographer. As far as is known, this is the first time the slopes of the peak have been reached by white men, though in 1898 its altitude and moisture were determined from a distance by Robert Muldrow, of the same survey. The mountain is located near the western margin of the Alaskan Range, the general name given to the large mountain mass which separates the Yukon and Kuskokwim waters from Cook Inlet drainage. It is a great dome-shaped mountain, formed of intrusive rock, towering to an elevation of over 20,000 feet above the sea level. Though its summit reaches so high an altitude, almost four miles above tide, it probably is not as difficult of ascent as some other Alaskan mountains, for example, Mount St. Elias, because of its relatively high snow line. As the season was well advanced, as much of his itinerary had still to be carried out, and as it was no part of the original plan, Mr. Brooks did not attefapt to pass the snow line, though this point was reached. Now that the location and height of the mountain have been established by the exploration of the Geological Survey, travelers and individ- ual explorers will doubtless soon attempt to reach the summit. In anticipation of these attempts, Mr. Brooks is preparing a descrip- tion of the country, giving routes by which the mountain may be reached and other in- formation valuable to those interested in its ascent. His paper will appear in one of the SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 418. leading geographical magazines. The more elaborate and extended report of the explora- tion will be published by the Geological Sur- vey at an early date. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. It is announced that during the past two years an endowment fund of more than $1,- 000,000 has been raised for Syracuse Univer- Sity. By the will of the late Mrs. Lura Courrier, of New York City, Yale University will ulti- mately receive $50,000 for the aid of poor students. NorRTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY will celebrate its founder’s day on January 28, when its new professional school building, costing over $900,000, will be dedicated. President Had- ley, of Yale University, will deliver the dedi- catory address, taking as his subject, ‘The Place of the Profession] School in the Mod- ern University, and its Relation to the Other Departments.’ Tue electrical laboratory of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y., has been almost completely destroyed by fire. The loss is estimated at over $30,000. We learn from Nature that the reader in geography and the lecturers in ethnology and geology of Cambridge University have ar- ranged for a series of lectures and practical courses to serve as a training for persons wishing to undertake exploration or desirous of contributing to our knowledge of foreign countries. The series will be held during the Lent term, and will include history of geo- graphical discovery, principles of physical geography, map-making and map-reading, geography of Europe, by Mr. Oldham; an- thropogeography, practical ethnology, by Pro- fessor Haddon; geomorphology and geology, by Mr. Marr; plane-table and photographie surveying, by Mr. Garwood, and elementary astronomical surveying, by Mr. Hinks. Kenyon K. BurterricE.D, instructor in rural sociology at the University of Michigan, has been appointed to the presidency of the Rhode Island State College of Agriculture, at Kings- ton. SCIENCE A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS. OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EDITORIAL ComMiItTEE : S. NEwcoms, Mathematics; R. S. WOODWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. WALcortT, Geology ; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; HENRY F. OSBORN, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooxs, C. Hart MEERIAM, Zoology ; 8. H. ScupDER, Entomology ; C. E. Bessey, N. L. BRITTON, Botany ; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology ; H. P. Bow- DITcH, Physiology; J. S. BILLINas, Hygiene ; WILLIAM H. WELCH, Pathology ; J. McCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology. Societies and Academies :— Fray, JANUARY 9, 1903. The New York Academy of Sciences: PRo- FESSOR Hengy E. CRAMPTON............. 73 Discussion and Correspondence :— CONTENTS: Notes on Negro Albinism: Witt1am C. The American Association for the Advance- Farasee. Note on Mr. Farabee's Observa- tions: W. EH. CastLe. Magazine Science: ment of Science :— The Washington Meeting: PROFESSOR latonpove 13, \\Y020 hn Bao o0 oben peo oUGn Ono On aD 41 Modern Tendencies in the Utilization of DROS OF OVE Ys aie susie tition eae oan aoe 75 Shorter Articles :— Aggregate Atavic Mutation of the Tomato: Dr. CuHartes A. WHITE................. 76 Power: PROFESSOR JOHN JOSEPH FLATHER. 48 [he Carnegie Institution.................0. 78 The Perplexities of a Systematist: Pro- Scientific Notes and News 78 rEssor ©. C. Nurving.................. 63 Unwersity and Educational News........... 79 Suientific Books :— Eee Wrany’s Geschichte der Chemie: Dr. HENRY MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- CARRINGTON BOLTON ..............++---- 72 fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. TuE fifty-second annual meeting of the association, which was held in Washington, D. C., from December 29 to January 3, was noteworthy in many respects as marking the passage to a new order of things in the position and conduct of the association. The total enrollment reached 989, which is second to that of the Boston meeting in 1880, when 997 were enrolled, and to that of the second Philadelphia meeting in 1884, when 1,261 enrollments appear. Of these, however, 303 members of the British Association represent complimentary enrollments. The geographic distribution of the members in attendance was as follows : ; District of Columbia, 354; New York, 133; Massachusetts, 82; Pennsylvania, 70; Ohio, 39; Maryland, 38; Illinois, 27; Connecticut, 22; Michigan, 22; New Jersey, 19; Wisconsin, 19; Indiana, 16; Virginia, 14; North Carolina, 13; California, 12; 42 New Hampshire, 10; Missouri, 8; Canada, 8; Nebraska, 7; Minnesota, 7; Vermont, 6; Rhode Island, 4; Tennessee, 4; Ken- tucky, 4; Iowa, 4; Florida, 3; Maine, 2; West Virginia, 2; South Carolina, 2; Georgia, 2; Texas, 2; Montana, 2; Colo- rado, 2; Delaware, 1; Wyoming, 1; Ar- kansas, 1; Mississippi, 1; Kansas, 1; South Dakota, 1; Alabama, 1; New Mexico, 1. Foreign attendance: Canada, 8; Eng- land, 1; Ceylon, 1; Nicaragua, 1. In addition to these, 363 members of affiliated societies also registered at the office of the association, so that the total enrollment of scientific men in attendance at the meetings was 1,352, and the total attendance may be conservatively esti- mated as not less than 1,500. The membership of the association, which had reached at the Pittsburgh meet- ing a total of 3,473, was augmented by the election at this meeting of 392 addi- ditional persons. One may assert with reasonable confidence that the gathering was the most representative and extensive which has ever been held under the auspices of any purely scientific associa- tion in this country and stands in favor- able comparison with any similar congress in other lands. This was undoubtedly due in part to the advantages of Washing- ton in accessibility and attractiveness, as well as to the large number of affiliated societies which cooperated in the gather- ing. One may well affirm that the experi- ment of changing the time of meeting has proved a distinct success, and this is evi- dent not only in the size of the gathering but in the characteristic features of the series of meetings as well. In the first place, it was noteworthy that the attendance was composed in great ma- jority of the working scientific men of the country. The meetings of the various sections were well attended and the spirit of the sections was one of work, most grati- SCIENCE. [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 419. fying to those who look for renewed scien- tifie interest and activity as a result of the change in policy of the association. It is further noteworthy that the number of affiliated societies has been increased by the addition of many of the permanent scientifie organizations of the country. Such an assemblage could not be made without numerous and even serious con- flicts, together with the inconvenience and even friction which is attendant upon such relations. While this was noticeable in a few points which may possibly result in the temporary withdrawal of a few organ- izations, the advance made has been no less permanent than real in character. To be sure, there are some scientific men who have not yet grasped the meaning of organization in scientific fields, and to whom the temporary inconveniences of an affiliation, the minor details of which have not yet been completed, appear to over- shadow the great benefits which must re- sult to science at large from the strength of the ultimate union. Despite this, the broader view has appealed so strongly to the members of most sections that am- icable relations have been entered into between these and the national societies of technical character, and there has resulted a great improvement of the program for those in attendance upon the meetings and of effort and influence for the mutual ad- vancement of the organizations. No one ean doubt this on examination of the pro- grams of the sections, which manifest an especially high standard in the character, of the papers presented. Those in at- tendance upon future meetings may look with confidence to the presentation only of that which is most valuable to the worker in the field of the section. The marked improvement in the character of the con- tributions can only be demonstrated by the reports of the secretaries, which will appear subsequently. The more serious JANUARY 9, 1903.] character of the meeting was directly re- flected in the marked respect paid to it by the press, and the period during which the influence of the association will be commensurate with the importance of the subjects it represents may be confidently said to have commenced. Despite occasional criticisms of indi- viduals as to the excessive growth of ma- chinery, the association still needs perfect- ing in some details of organization in order to handle with expedition and with- out friction the enormous mass of business incident to the association of such wide scientific interests. Many details might profitably be systematized and removed from the hands of the overburdened sec- retaries, to be discharged in routine fashion by errand boys or elerks, and once pro- vided for, would be carried out through successive years as a matter of course and without demand upon the time of any officer of the association, whose energy may better be devoted to the performance of the scientific duties connected with his post. Every means possible should be employed to enable officers, as well as members, to lend their energies to those objects for which the association primarily exists, and with the perfection of this machinery will cease of necessity the iso- lated criticisms which have been made by those of pessimistic habit with regard to the over-organization of the association. The same machinery which was adequate to provide for the needs of an organization of 1,000 members with an annual attend- ance of 200 will not suffice for an associa- tion of four times that size and attendance. The sooner scientific men profit from the experience and practice of successful en- terprises in the world of business, the greater will be the success of the forward movement in the world of science. One cannot overestimate the part which is being played in this new movement by SCIENCE. 43 the affiliated societies, many of interna- tional renown, which have come into re- lations with the association. Most of these are of technical character and are establishing with the sections desirable re- lations of an advisory and directive type. This they are well able to do by virtue of the professional character, of their mem- bership, and American science may con- fidently expect great results from the in- timate relation in which such societies stand to many of the sections. It is to be sincerely regretted that in one or two eases the spirit of the movement has failed to reach other organizations, where some members have strongly opposed the culti- vation of any relations whatever, and it may be given as more than an individual opinion that such men have failed to give thoughtful consideration to the real con- sequences of the armed neutrality which their position invokes. It may be said with frankness that even before such organizations some matters of the most trivial character are presented, while the section programs have to offer that which would be of broad and genuine interest to the members of the society. Both sides have much to gain, and neither has any- thing comparable or even considerable to lose by the proposed entente cordiale. It would be improper to pass the sub- ject of these affiliated societies without re- verting in a word to one of an entirely different character. which has played an important part at Washington. The American Society of Naturalists has per- formed an invaluable service for those in attendance in its afternoon discussion on the most effective use of endowments for scientific research, which was participated in by six members of broad view and striking individuality, and by its annual dinner, with an address by the president on the characteristics and distribution in different fields of American men of science, 44 which provoked generous and general dis- cussion of the questions involved. Important progress was made toward the establishment of a permanent policy in the association by several amendments to the constitution and practices which were put into operation. The members of the sectional committees were elected for terms varying in length from one to five years, thus insuring the continuance of at least four members familiar with committee work from one year to the next; the secretaries of the sections were elected for terms of five years, and the council elected nine fellows at large for varying terms. The continuity this secures in the governing body of the association will add greatly to its efficiency in the advancement of science. The members at large, with their terms of service, are as follows: J. McK. Cattell, U. S. Grant, William Kent, term ending 1904. J. M. Coulter, A. A. Noyes, H. F. Osborn, term ending 1905. Franz Boas, H. L. Nichols, W. F. Wilcox, term ending 1906. The following resolutions of importance to the policy of the association were dis- cussed and adopted: RESOLVED, That any section is hereby authorized to arrange through its sectional committee for an independent summer meeting in any year when the association fails to hold a summer meeting; provided, ‘that the time and place of meeting and the general program be approved by the president and permanent secretary of the association and that a full report of its meeting be sent to the permanent secretary. The expenses of any such meeting to an amount not exceeding fifty dollars will be borne by the association. RESOLVED, That Section E is hereby authorized to suspend its scientific program of the reading of papers at any winter meeting when the Geological Society of America meets in conjunction with the association; provided that the Geological Society includes in its program the papers of worthy char- acter offered by members of the section who are not fellows of the society. ReESOLvED, That each section is recommended to hold during each general meeting at least one SCIENCE. [N.8. Vou. XVII. No. 419. afternoon session when a program of general in- terest shall be presented. It was recommended that the elections to fellowship be announced to the section from which the member elected had been recommended. The council voted unanimously to in- crease the salary of the permanent secre- tary from $1,250 to $1,500 on account of the greatly increased membership of the association and attendance at the meetings, which have multiplied the duties devolving upon the office. The amendment to the constitution proposed at the Pittsburgh meeting and printed in full in Scmncz, Volume XVI., page 42, was adopted, and further amend- ments were presented altering the word ‘assessment’ to ‘dues’ in three places. Resolutions, demonstrating the impor- tant part that will hereafter be taken in the association by the newly established section of physiology and experimental medicine, were passed as follows: RESOLVED, That the American Association for the Advancement of Science hereby records its sense of the great loss sustained by science in the death of Major Walter Reed, surgeon in the United States Army, and its appreciation of the far- reaching and invaluable services which he has rendered to humanity. By solving the problem of the mode of spread of yellow fever, Major Reed not only made a great contribution to science, but at the same time conferred inestimable benefits upon his country and upon mankind. To have dis- covered and demonstrated the methods, which have already been successfully tested in Cuba, of eradi- cating a wide-spread and terrible pestilence, is a benefaction of imperishable renown, of incalculable value in the saving of human lives, of vast im- portance to commercial interests, and deserving of the highest rewards in the power of his country- men to bestow. This association earnestly urges upon the attention of Congress the duty of making full provision for the support of his family. RESOLVED, That the President designate a com- mittee of nine members of this Association, with power to increase its number, which shall be au- thorized and requested to devise and carry out a JANUARY 9, 1903.] plan, or aid in similar efforts elsewhere instituted, by which a suitable and permanent memorial of this great benefactor of his race may be secured. This committee shall be authorized to prepare and publish a statement of the services of the late Major Reed in discovering the mode by which yel- low fever may be exterminated. The members appointed by President Remsen to serve as such committee are: Dr. D. C. Gilman, Dr. A. Graham Bell, General George M. Sternberg, Mayor, Seth Low, Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, President J. G. Schurman, Dr. 8. E. Chaillé, Dr. W. H. Welch, Dr. Charles 8. Minot. The second resolution was as follows: Inasmuch as the construction of the isthmian canal is through a region in which without en- ergetic sanitary control there is sure to be enor- mous loss of human life from preventable diseases, particularly from pernicious malaria and yellow fever, as well as great waste of energy and of money from disabilities caused by such diseases, and Inasmuch as the measures for the restraint of these diseases, which have already achieved even their extermination in Cuba under American ad- ministration, require expert knowledge based upon practical familiarity with tropical diseases, ex- perience in the application of these measures, and large authority in their administration, RESOLVED, That the American Association for the Advancement of Science begs most respectfully and earnestly to call to the attention of the Presi- dent of the United States the importance of ap- pointing as a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission a medical man possessed of the quali- fications indicated. The association is convinced that the mere employment of such a sanitary ex- pert by the commission will not be likely to secure the desired results. RESOLVED, That the permanent secretary of the association transmit a copy of these resolution to the President of the United States. Section F recommended to the council the followimg resolution, which was adopted: The American Association for the Advance- ment of Science heartily endorses the plan of con- verting the Donnelson estate, which has recently become the property of the State of Indiana, into a State Reserve, and urges upon the legislature of Indiana the advisability of setting aside a part of it for an experimental farm for the investiga- SCIENCE. 45 tion of cave animals and plants by American naturalists. The grants recommended by the council and announced to the general session were as follows: To the committee on the atomic weight of thorium, $50. To the committee on anthropometry, $50. To the Concilium Bibliographicum, $100. In addition to these it was announced that the Botanical Society of America had made the following grants in aid of re- search: To Dr. J. C. Arthur, $90, to be used in the prose- eution of his investigations of the plant rusts. To Dr. Arthur Hollick, $150, to be used in the prosecution of a study of the fossil flora of the Atlantic coastal plain. To Dr. D. S. Johnson, $200, to enable him to obtain material from tropical America and carry forward his studies of the endosperm and seed in the Piperaceae and Chloranthaceae. The reports of the committees on the teaching of anthropology, on indexing chemical literature and on the atomic weight of thorium were duly received and will be printed subsequently. . Other re- ports were submitted and adopted, as fol- lows: COMMITTEE ON ANTHROPOMETRY. This committee begs to report that anthropo- metric researches have been continued at Colum- bia University under the direction of its New York members and with the cooperation of Professor Farrand, Professor Thorndike, Dr. Wissler, Mr. Bair, Mr. Davis and Mr. Miner. Tests have been made on the freshmen entering the college, calcula- tions have been carried out on measurements of school children, and new determinations of the mental traits of school children have been made and correlated. The chairman of the committee has carried forward an extensive anthropometric study of American men of science, the preliminary re- sults of which formed the subject of his address as president of the American Society of Natural- ists. An anthropometric laboratory has been ar- ranged at the present meeting of the association, with the $50 appropriated at the Pittsburgh meet- ing for the purpose, and tests of the physical and mental traits of members are being made. We ask that this committee be continued and that a 46 SCIENCE. further appropriation of $50 be made in order that a similar laboratory may be arranged at the next meeting of the association. J. McK. Carrey, W J McGeEz, FRANZ BOAs. WASHINGTON, D. C., December 30, 1902. Council, American Association for the Advance- ment of Science. Gentlemen: In behalf of the committee on cave investigation, I beg leave to sub- mit the following report of work in hand and con- templated. The most important single item of interest is the discovery that there are two instead of one species of Typhlichthys south of the Ohio River. I se- cured the second species at Horse Cave, Kentucky, in numbers and under conditions that practically insure the securing of a complete series of in- dividuals illustrating the life history from the egg to old age. A colony of Amblyopsis has been successfully transplanted to a cave within five miles of my laboratory, where they are breeding. A preliminary examination of the eyes of the Cuban blind fish shows that the amount of onto- genetic degeneration is very great, and that the variability of this useless organ is all and much more than the cessation of natural selection would lead one to expect. With an assistant I have undertaken a series of measurements of the physical conditions of Mammoth Cave, chiefly of the air currents at the entrance and in different galleries of the cave, and the temperature in a series of places. The colony of Amblyopsis planted in an outdoor pool has come to grief. It demonstrated beyond a doubt that the cave vertebrates can be colonized in open pools, and this should be done at once. There is a balance of about $45 on hand out of the $75 appropriated at the last meeting. Respectfully submitted, C. H. HIGENMANN. COMMITTEE ON VARIATION. The most important events relating to the study of variation that have occurred during the past two years have been the establishment of the jour- nal Biometrika, the foundation in America of a Society of Plant and Animal Breeding, the com- pletion of the first volume of De Vries’ © Muta- tionsteorie,’ and the rediscovery of Mendel’s Law of Hybridity. Especially the latter two events have awakened a strong tendency toward the ex- perimental study of evolution. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 419 Py During the last four months the recorder has visited many of the experimental evolutionists of Europe. While the total work on this subject in Europe is of the greatest importance, it is carried on under conditions that greatly hamper the work and make it impossible to start experiments that require to be carried on for a long period of years. Everywhere the hope was expressed that in Amer- ica a permanent station for experimental evolu- tion would be tounded, and it was believed that the Carnegie Institution would be the proper organiza- tion to initiate and maintain such a station. Cuas. B. DAVENPORT, Recorder. Owing to the fact that the meeting be- gan before the close of the fiscal year, the financial reports from the permanent secretary and the treasurer were presented informally, and the formal reports were postponed until the April meeting of the council. In the sessions of the council and of the association the usual order of procedure was followed. Events of more general interest in these as well as during the days of the meeting may be chronicled as follows: The first general session of the associa- tion was held on Monday, December 29, 1902, at 10 a.m., in St. Matthews Church. It was ealled to order by the retiring Presi- dent, Professor Asaph Hall, U.S.N., who introduced the President-elect, Dr. Ira Remsen. were delivered by Dr. Charles D. Walcott, in behalf of the Washington Academy of Sciences and other scientific societies; the Hon. Henry B. F. Macfarland, on behalf of the District of Columbia; Hon. Dayid J. Hill, on behalf of the National Govern- ment; and Dr. Charles W. Needham, Presi- dent of Columbian University, on behalf of the educational institutions of Washington. To these President Remsen responded. At one o’clock p.m. on Monday the local committee invited visiting scientific people to a luncheon at the Arlington, and on the same afternoon the address of the vice- Cordial addresses of welcome JANUARY 9, 1903. ] presidents, now in course of publication in Sciencez, were given as follows: At 2:30 P.M.: Vice-President Hough before the Section of Mathematics and Astronomy on the third floor of the Columbian University, main building. Vice-President Franklin before the Section of Physics on the second floor of the Columbian Uni- versity Law School (Lecture Hall A). Subject: ‘Limitations of Quantitative Physics.’ Vice-President Weber before the Section of Chemistry on the second floor of the Columbian University Medical School. Subject: ‘Incom- plete Observations.’ Vice-President Culin before the Section of Anthropology on the first floor of the Columbian University Law School. Subject: ‘New World Contributions to Old World Culture.’ Vice-President Welch before the Section of Physiology and Experimental Medicine in the main lecture room, first floor, main building of the Columbian University. At 4 P.M.: Vice-President Flather before the Section of Mechanical Science and Engineering on the second floor of the Columbian University Law School (Lecture Hall B). Subject: ‘Modern Tendencies in the Utilization of Power.’ Vice-President Nutting before the Zoology on the second floor of the University Medical School. Subject: the Perplexities of a Systematist.’ Vice-President Campbell before the Section of Botany on the first floor of the Columbian Uni- versity Medical School. Subject: ‘The Origin of Terrestrial Plants.’ Vice-President Wright before the Section of Social and Economic Science in the main lecture room, first floor, main building of Columbian Uni- yersity. Subject: ‘The Psychology of the Labor Question.’ At this hour also was delivered the ad- dress of the president of the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America, Pro- fessor Simon Neweomb. The annual address of the retiring presi- dent, Professor Asaph Hall, U.S.N., read on Monday evening, was published in the last issue of Scrmncr. At its close Past- President C. S. Minot spoke of the new movement on which the association has en- tered. On Tuesday evening the address of the Section of Columbian “Some of SCIENCE. 47 president of the American Chemical So- ciety, Dr. Ira Remsen, was given and fol- lowed by the annual dinner of the society. At the same time Dr. C. Hart Merriam delivered the public lecture of the Amer- ican Society of Naturalists on ‘Protective and Directive Coloration of Animals with Especial Reference to Birds and Mam- mals,’ which was followed by the smoker of the American Society of Naturalists and its affiliated societies. At the same time the Botanical Society of Washington received visiting botanists. The Sigma Xi Scien- tifie Society also met the same evening. On Wednesday afternoon at 3 o’clock the annual discussion of the American Society of Naturalists was held. The sub- ject was ‘How can Endowments be used most Effectively for Scientific Research?’ and the speakers were Professors T. C. Chamberlin, William H. Welch, Franz Boas, William M. Wheeler, Conway Mac- millan and Hugo Munsterbere. On Wednesday afternoon at 4 o’clock a public lecture was given under the auspices of the A. A. A. S. and the National Geo- graphic Society on ‘Volcanoes of the West Indies,’ by Professor I. C. Russell. Mrs. Chas. D. Walcott gave a tea on Wednesday afternoon at 5 o’clock to visit- ing ladies of the association, and to the members of the Geological Society of America. On Wednesday evening the annual din- ner of the American Society of Naturalists was held, and the dinner was followed by the address of the president, Professor J. McK. Cattell. The annual dinner of the Geological So- ciety of America and a smoker tendered by the Chemical Society of Washington were also held. On Thursday evening, through the cour- tesy of the board of regents and the sec- retary of the Smithsonian Institution, the U. S. National Museum was open from 48 SCIENCE. 8:30 to 11 p.m., to afford a convenient op- portunity for viewing the collections. On Friday afternoon at 4 o’clock an illustrated public lecture complimentary to the citizens of Washington was given at the Lafayette Opera House, by Pro- fessor John Hays Hammond, on ‘King Solomon’s Mines, or the Mines of Ophir.’ On Friday evening the trustees of the Corcoran Art Gallery and the local com- mittee tendered a reception to the visiting members of the association and the affili- ated societies at the Corcoran Art Gallery, from 8:30 to 11 o’clock. On Friday even- ing also was held the dinner of the Ameri- ean Alpine Club. On Saturday morning at 10 o’clock the President of the United States received the members of the A. A. A. S. and affili- ated societies at the White House. Resolutions of thanks for courtesies ex- tended were offered by Ex-President Minot and unanimously adopted at the closing general session. The institutions and in- dividuals to whom the association was especially indebted include: Columbian University, Cosmos Club, Local’ Committee and its secretary (Dr. Benjamin), St. Matthew’s Church, Georgetown Univer- sity, Caroll Institute, Press of Washington, Trustees of Coreoran Art Gallery, the President of the United States, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, acting director of the U. S. National Museum, director of the Naval Observatory, U. S. commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. At the meeting of the general committee on Thursday evening it was decided to hold the next meeting of the association in St. Louis during convocation week, 1903-4, and to recommend Philadelphia as the place of the following meeting. The following were elected officers for the St. Louis meeting: President—Carroll D. Wright, Washington, Vice-Presidents—Section A, Mathematies and (N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 419. Astronomy, O. H. Tittmann, Washington; B, Physics, E. H. Hall, Harvard University; C, Chem- istry, W. D. Bancroft, Cornell University; D, Mechanical Science and Engineering, C. M. Wood- ward, Washington University; E, Geology and Geography, I. C. Russell, University of Michigan; * Ff, Zoology, EH. lL. Mark, Harvard University; G, Botany, T. H. Macbride, University of Iowa; H, Anthropology, M. H. Saville, American Museum of Natural History; I, Social and Economie Science, S. E. Baldwin, New Haven; K, Physiology and Experimental Medicine, H. P. Bowditch, Harvard University. Permanent Secretary—lL. O. Howard, Cosmos Club, Washington. General Secretary—Chas. W. Stiles. Secretary of the-Council—Chas. S. Howe, Case School. Secretaries of the Sections—Section A, Mathe- matics and Astronomy, L. G. Weld, University of Iowa; B, Physics, D. C. Miller, Case School; C, Chemistry, A. H. Gill, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; D, Mechanical Science and Engi- neering (none proposed) ; E, Geology, G. B. Shat- tuck, Baltimore; F, Zoology, C. Judson Herrick, Denison University; G, Botany, F. E. Lloyd, Teachers College, Columbia University; H, An- thropology, R. B. Dixon, Harvard University; I, Social and Economie Science, J. F. Crowell, Wash- ington; K, Physiology and Experimental Medi- cine, F. 8. Lee, Columbia University. Treasurer—R. S. Woodward, Columbia Univer- sity, New York, N. Y. Henry B. Warp, General Secretary. THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. MODERN TENDENCIES IN THE UTILIZA-— TION OF POWER.* Ir has been stated that to the construc- tion and perfection of her machinery, more than to any other cause, may be ascribed the present commercial supremacy of the United States. Be that as it may, the economical pro- duction of her manufactures and the con- venient adaptations of time and labor * Address of the chairman of Section D, Engi- neering and Mechanical Science, and vice-presi- dent of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science. Read at the Washington meeting, December 29, 1902. JANUARY 9, 1903. ] saving devices in all the various lines of constructional work have certainly exerted a wonderful influence in the upbuilding of her industries. Specialization in the manufacture of ma- chine tools and labor-saving devices has fol- lowed closely the segregation of processes in other lines of industry, and thus there has been created a multitude of special machines, each designed to perform some single and often very simple operation. Among other significant features the present tendency in the development and use of this class of machinery is marked by the adaptation of compressed air and the application of electric power to machine driving. In the use of compressed air, the facility of adaptation to various require- ments which are in many cases additional to the supply of motive power, is a valuable feature peculiar to this system and one which is susceptible of extension along many lines. The labor cost in most machine shops and other works is so much greater than the cost of power, that any expedient by which the labor cost may be appreciably re- duced is justified, even though the effi- ciency of the agent itself be low. When- ever new methods or agencies cause an imereased production with a given outlay for labor, we shall find these methods super- seding the old, even though the cost of the power required be greater than before. The saving of power is a consideration sec- ondary to the advantages and economical output obtained by its use. While economy in the use of power should therefore be secondary to increased output, yet careful attention to details will often greatly reduce the useless waste of power. Engineers have recognized for some time past that there is a very great percentage of loss due to shaft friction, which, in SCIENCE. 49 railroad and other shops where the build- ings are more or less scattered, may be as great as 75 per cent. of the total power used. In two cases known to the speaker these losses are 80 and 93 per ecent., re- spectively. In the ordinary machine shop this loss will probably average from 40 to 50 per cent. No matter how well a long line of shafting may have been erected, it soon loses its alignment and the power necessary to rotate it is increased. In machine shops with a line of main shafting running down the center of a room, connected by short belts with in- numerable counter-shafts on either side, often by more than one belt and, as fre- quently happens, also connected to one or more auxiliary shafts which drive other countershafts, we can see why the power re- quired to drive this shafting should be so large. There is no doubt, however, that a large percentage of the power now spent in overcoming the friction of shafting in ordi- nary practice could be made available for useful work if much of the present cum- brous lines of shafting were removed. Manufacturers are realizing the loss of power which ensues from the present sys- tem of transmission, and we find a gen- eral tendency to introduce different methods by which a part of this loss will be obyiated. Among these are the intro- duction of hollow and lighter shafting, higher speeds and lighter pulleys, roller bearings in shaft hangers, and the total or partial elimination of the shafting. Independent motors are often employed to drive sections of shafting and isolated machines, and among these we find steamn- and gas-engines, electric motors, com- pressed air and hydraulic motors, although the latter have not been used for this pur- pose to any appreciable extent. In the choice of motors, until quite re- cently the steam-engine has heretofore been 50 SCIENCE. used, especially where the units are rela- tively large. An interesting example of this is noted in the sugar refinery of Claus Spreckles, in Philadelphia, in which there are some 90 Westinghouse engines about the works, many of them being of 75 and 100 horse-power each, others are of 5 and 10 horse-power only. A similar subdivided power plant involving 42 engines was erected several years ago at the print works of the Dunnell Co., Pawtucket, R. I. It was only a comparatively few years ago when several large and economical Corliss engines were replaced at the Bald- win Locomotive Works by a greater num- ber of small, simple expansion engines, which actually required about 15 per cent. more steam per horse-power-hour than the Corliss engines. This loss, however, was only apparent, for by increasing the num- ber of units and locating them at con- venient centers of distribution much of the shaftine and belting could be dispensed with and an actual saving was obtained. Later, these simple engines were replaced by a number of compounds, some eighteen being in service; subsequent tests on these showed a saving of 36 per cent. over that obtained by the use of the simple engines. More recently, however, the electric motor has superseded the steam-engine for this work, as its economy and convenience over the latter are now thoroughly recog- nized. The statistics of American manufactur- ing compiled by Mr. T. C. Martin for the United States Census Office, show that at the time of the last census, in 1900, electric power was less than five per cent. of all that was in use in such plants, or about 500,000 horse-power out of a total of 11,- 000,000; but, as Mr. Martin states, things are to be judged by tendencies rather than by the status qwo, and these electric motor [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 419. figures exhibit an imerease of 1,900 per cent. during the decade. The introduction of the electrie motor in machine shops and factories was at first looked upon with disfayor and was opposed “by many manufacturers, but the imnova- tion obtained a foothold, and advantages which were at first unforeseen were found to attend its use, so that now it is being very generally adopted for a wide variety of work. A considerable difference of opinion ex- ists as to whether individual motors should be used with each machine, or whether a number of machines should be arranged in a group and driven from a short line shaft. There are well-defined conditions to which each system is best adapted, but there are wide limits between which there appears to be no general rule, and we find both methods occupying the same field. For isolated machines and for heavy machines that may be in occasional use the individual motor is ‘particularly well adapted, as it consumes power only when in operation. It is, however, necessary that each motor thus connected shall be capable of supplying sufficient power to operate its machine under the heaviest as well as lightest loads. In certain eases, moreover, the load is liable to very great irregularity, as for imstance in metal- working planers, in which the resistance offered by the machine at the moment of reversal of the platen is far higher than at other times, and may be so great as to endanger the armature of the motor. Un- der these conditions it is necessary to use a motor of much larger capacity than the average load would indicate. Fortunately with electric motors the rated capacity is usually less than the safe maximum load, which is determined either by the heating of the conductors, tending to break down the insulation, or by ex- ~ JANUARY 9, 1903.] cessive sparking at the brushes. For momentary overloads relatively large cur- rents may pass through the coils without injury to the insulation, since the tem- perature effect is cumulative and requires time for its operation. However for con- tinuous periods of considerable length it is usually unsafe to operate the motor much above its rated output. Ordinarily in machine-driving the motor is shunt-wound, and the current through the field-coils is constant under all condi- tions of load; but to obtain the best re- sults with that class of machinery in which the load is intermittent and subject to sudden variations, the motor should be compound-wound so as to inerease the torque without an excessive increase of eurrent in the armature. In many cases with individual motors, owing to wide variations in power re- quired, the average efficiency of the motor may be very low; for this reason a care- ful consideration of the conditions govern- ing each case indicates that for ordinary machine-driving, especially with small ma- chines, short lengths of light shafting may be frequently employed to good advantage, and the various machines, arranged in groups, may be driven from one motor. By this method fewer motors are required, and each may be so proportioned to the aver- age load that it may run most of the time at its maximum efficiency. When short leneths of shafting are em- ployed the alignment of any section is very little affected by local settling of beams or columns, and since a relatively small amount of power is transmitted by each section, the shaft may be reduced in size, thus decreasing the friction loss. More- "over, with this arrangement, as also with the independent motor, the machinery may often be placed to better advantage in order to suit a given process of manufacture; SCIENCE. 51 shafts may be placed at any angle without the usual complicated and often unsatis- factory devices, and a setting-up room may be provided in any suitable location as re- quired, without carrying long lines of shafting through space. This is an im- portant consideration, for not only is the running expense reduced thereby, but the clear head-room thus obtained, free from shafting, belts, ropes, pulleys and other transmitting devices, can be more easily utilized for hoists and cranes, which have so largely come to be recognized as essential to economical manufacture. In arranging such a system of power dis- tribution the average power required to drive is of as much importance as the maximum, for in a properly arranged eroup system the motor capacity, need not be the equivalent of the total maximum power required to operate the several ma- chines in the group, but may be taken at some value less than the total, depending upon the number of the machines and the average period of operation. On the other hand as already shown, the motor capacity of independently driven machines must not only equal the maximum power required to drive the machine at full load, but it must be capable of exerting a greatly in- creased momentary torque. In any case large units should be avoided, for the multi- plication of machines driven from one motor entails additional shafting, counter- shafts and beltmg which may readily cause the transmission losses to be greater, than those obtained with engines and shafting alone, besides frustrating some of the prin- cipal objects of this method of transmission. As far as the efficiency of transmission is concerned, it is doubtful whether, in a large number of cases, motor-driving per se is any more efficient than well-arranged engines and shafting. As already pointed out, the principal 52 SCIENCE. thing to be kept in mind is a desired in- erease in efficiency of the shop plant in turning out product, with a reduction in the time and labor items, without especial reference to the fuel items involved in the power production. On account of the subdivision of power which results from the use of many motors, there is less liability of interruption to manufacture, and in case of overtime it is not necessary to operate the whole works, with its usual heavy load of transmitting machinery. ; Another advantage is the adaptability to changes and éxtensions; new motors may always be added without affecting any already in operation, and the ease with which this system lends itself to varying the speed of different unit groups is a very potent factor in its favor. One serious obstacle to the use of con- nected motors with machine tools is the dif- ficulty of obtaining speed variation, which is so necessary with a large proportion of the machines in common use. A certain amount of variation can be obtained by rheostatic control—a wasteful method; or by using a single voltage system with shunt field regulation; but the variation in either ease is very limited. This, however, may be increased by using a double commutator if space will permit. The three-wire, 220-volt system offers many advantages for both power and lighting systems, and is very frequently employed. Variations of speed may be obtained with this system by using a com- bination of field regulation with either voltage, and, in rarer cases, the use of a double commutator motor. A method which has been used recently with considerable satisfaction involves the use of a three-wire generator, with collector rings connected to armature winding sim- ilar to that of a two-phase rotary con- * [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 419: verter. Balancing coils are used, and the middle points of these are connected to the third wire, which is thus maintained at a voltage half-way between the outer wires. This system is simple and eco- nomical, and possesses all the advantages of the ordinary three-wire method; it per- mits similar variations in speed by field regulation with either voltage; and if still wider ranges are desired a double commu- tator motor may also be used. In other recent installations the four- wire multiple voltage system is used, which permits of very wide variations of speed in the operation of the tool. This system oives excellent results and removes one of the objections urged against direct-con- nected motor-driven tools, namely, that such machines are not sufficiently flexible in regard to speed variation, and that such variation can only be obtained by throwing in resistances which cut down the efficiency of the motor, or by varying the strength of field which reduces the torque. The multiple voltage system, however, has some serious disadvantages. It can not usually be operated from an outside source of power without rotary transform- ers; the generating sets and switch-board are complicated and the total cost of installation is expensive; yet with these drawbacks the system is growing in favor, as it has manifest advantages which out- weigh the objections. The storage battery has been used to some extent to obtain multiple control and is suggestive of interesting possibilities, but in its present form it is not altogether de- sirable for machine tools. In many of the larger sizes of certain metal-cuttine machines it is probable that marked changes will be produced in the immediate future, and the indications are that direct-connected motors with wide variations of speed and power will be in- corporated in the new designs. ee Oe ee Ce JANUARY 9, 1903.] The recent improvements in the manu- facture of certain grades of tool steel have shown indisputably that the present de- signs of machine tools are not sufficiently heavy to stand up to the work in order to obtain the economy of operation which results from the use of such steels. Higher speeds, heavier cuts and greater feeds may be obtained if the machines will stand the strain, but in most cases the capacity of the machine is not commensurate with the ability of the tool to remove metal. With cutting speeds of 100 to 200 feet per minute, it is evident that the power re- quirements will be much greater than for the ordinary machines of to-day, which have a cutting speed of from 10 to 30 feet per minute. As an illustration of what can be done with these new tool steels the speaker was recently shown some steel locomotive driving-wheels which had been turned up in two hours and forty minutes, whereas the regular time formerly re- quired was not less than eight hours. In this case even better results could have been obtained, but the belts would not carry the load. Here then we find an interesting field for the direct-connected motor with ample power. and speed variation for any work which it may be called upon to perform. While the preference is easily given to continuous-current motors for the pur- poses of machine driving, yet we find al- ternating current motors used to a con- siderable extent, the proportion of motors im service being about one to five in favor of the continuous-current motor. Both synchronous and induction motors are em- ployed, but the advantages possessed by the latter cause this type to be preferred, although in long-distance transmissions, both types should be used in order to ob- tain satisfactory regulation. As shown by Mr. H. S. Meyer,* the induction motor can * London Engineering, April 19, 1901. SCIENCE. 53 readily be worked at variable speeds, which is accomplished in three different ways: (1) by rheostatie control, which is de- eidedly the cheapest and easiest method to manipulate; (2) by varying the im- pressed voltage, which, however, necessi- tates the use of a transformer or, compen- sator with variable ratio; this is very in- efficient at the lower speeds and can only be used under certain conditions; and (3) by altermg the number of poles, which is mechanically very complicated, but where the speed variation is only one half or one quarter, it may be used efficiently. One serious disadvantage met with in all induction motors is the lag produced by self-induction, and its reaction on the circuit. This lag is particularly unsatis- factory with intermittent service, such as machine driving, where the motors have to run under light and variable loads; in such cases the power, factor is probably not over 60 or 70 per cent. Reference has been made to the use of compressed air and its facility of adapta- tion to various requirements, but it is evident from an inspection of some of the devices in use that enthusiasm for new methods, rather than good judgment, has controlled in many of its applications. For some years compressed air was used only in mines, where it produced marked economies in underground work. Later, compressed air was introduced into manu- facturing lines, and to-day its use in rail- road and other machine shops, boiler shops, foundries and bridge works is being widely extended. In the Santa Fe Rail- road shops at Topeka there are over five miles of pipe in which compressed air is carried to the different machines and labor- saving appliances throughout the works. In such shops air is used to operate rivet- ing machines, punches, stay-bolt breakers, stay-bolt cutters, rotary tapping and drill- ing machines, flue rollers, rotary grinders, 54 SCIENCE. rotary saw for sawing car roofs, pneumatic hammers, chisels and caulking tools, flue welders, boring and valve-facing machines, rail saws, machine for revolving driving- wheels for setting valves, pneumatic paint- ing and whitewashing machines, dusters for car seats and the operation of switch- ing engines about the yard. It is also used in the foundry for pressing and ramming molds, and for cleaning castings by the sand blast; but its greatest field of useful- ness is its application to hoisting and lift- ing operations in and about the works. New applications of compressed air are constantly being made, and each new use suggests another. This has a tendency to increase the number of appliances which are intended to be labor-saving devices, but in many cases the work could be done just as well and much more cheaply by hand. A case in point is seen in an apparatus which was at one time in use on one of our prominent western roads. It was a sort of portable crane hoist which could be fastened to the smoke-stack of a loco- motive, whereby one man could lift off the steam chest casing. The hoisting appa- ratus weighed about twice as much as the steam chest and took three men to put it up. When piece work was adopted two men easily lifted off the steam chest and this ‘time and labor saving device’ was relegated to the scrap heap. While compressed air has been used to some extent for inducing draft in forge fires, it is unquestionably a very expensive method. ‘Tests to determine this show that it costs twenty-five times as much to pro- duce blast in that way as it would with a fan.* The suecess and economy which has at- tended the use of compressed’ air in so many lines of work has led to its adoption in fields which are much better covered * Proc. Western Ry. Club, 1898. [N. 8S. Von. XVII. No. 419. by electrically operated machines. While compressed air has been used under certain conditions very satisfactorily to operate pumps and engines, printing-presses, in- dividual motors for lathes, planers, slot- ters, dynamos and other work, it does not follow that it is always an economical agent under these various uses, or that other methods could not be used even more satisfactorily in the majority of cases. It has been proposed to use individual air motors in machine shops and do away with all line shafting, except possibly for some of the heavier machinery. This use of compressed air seems entirely outside the pale of its legitimate field; the general experience thus far indicates that rotary motors are not at all economical and gen- erally are not as satisfactory as electric motors. Exceptions are to be found in the small portable motors for drilling and similar operations, to which electricity is not at all adapted and where compressed air has been found to give excellent results. The saving obtained by the use of such portable drills as compared with a ratchet drill is very marked. Although these tools are very successful they are still rotary motors, not exempt from some of the objectionable features which seem to be inseparable from them. It is not surprising, therefore, to find a tendency to employ reciprocating pistons and cranks in these portable machines and we note such tools weighing only forty pounds capable of drillimg up to two and a half inches diameter. . While the field is to some extent limited, yet the uses of compressed air are cer- tainly not few, and in many lines of work marked economy results from its use. In most cases no attempt has been made to use the air efficiently; its great con- venience and the economy produced by its displacement of hand labor have, until re- JANUARY 9, 1903. | cently, been accepted as sufficient, and greater economies have not been sought. In the matter of compression we still occasionally find very inefficient pumps in use, but manufacturers generally have found that it pays to use high-grade eco- nomical compressors. The greatest loss is that in the air motor itself. In a large number of cases it is impracticable or, at most, inconvenient to employ reheaters, and we find very generally that the air is used at normal temperature for the various purposes to which it is applied. To obtain the most satisfactory results the air-must be used expansively, but usu- ally where the demand for power is inter- mittent no attempt has been made to re- heat the air, and as a result the combined efficiency of compressor and motor is quite low, varying in general from 20 to 50 per cent. While low working pressures are more efficient than high, the use of such pressures would demand larger and heavier motors and other apparatus which is un- desirable. The advantages of higher pressures in reducing cost of transmission are also well recognized, and the present tendency is to use air at 100 to 150 pounds instead of the 60 or 70 pounds of a few years ago. By reheating the air to a temperature of about 300° F., which may often be ac- complished at small expense, the efficiency is greatly increased; in some eases this has been shown to be as high as 80 per cent. While the lower pressures are yet -more efficient, the loss due to higher compression is not serious. If air be used without expansion it will be seen that there is a material loss in efficiency; but, on the other hand, if it be used expansively without reheating, trouble may be experienced, due to the drop in temperature below the freezing point. If moisture be present this will cause the formation of ice, which may clog SCIENCE. 55 the passages if proper precautions are not taken to prevent it. The low temperature will not in itself cause trouble; if, there- fore, the moisture which the compressed air holds in suspension be allowed to settle in a receiving tank, placed near the motor or other air apparatus and frequently drained, less trouble will be experienced from this cause. While it may be impracticable to reheat the air in certain cases, yet there are many situations where a study of means to over- come the losses referred to would result in marked economies. The greater adaptability of compressed air to various purposes causes its use to in- erease along with that of the electric motor, for it has a different field of usefulness, independent of power transmission; at the same time when the requirements are properly observed in its production and use, its economy as a motive power in special cases compares favorably with other systems. With a better knowledge of the principles involved we may expect much better results than have yet been attained. But compressed air possesses so many ad- vantages that, however inefficient it may be aS a motive power, its application to shop processes will be continually extended as its usefulness becomes better known. Mention has been made of the use of hydraulic motors as a factor in the sub- division of power, but these are being used to such a limited extent for this purpose that we shall not consider them at the pres- ent time. There is, however, a growing field of use- fulness for hydraulic power in manufactur- ing operations which is peculiar to this agent alone, namely, its use in forging and similar work. Where hydraulic power ex- ists for this purpose it is also generally used for a variety of purposes which could bé accomplished just as well, and often more 56 SCIENCE. economically, by steam or compressed air ; but in forging operations where heavy pres- sures are required hydraulic power is infi- nitely better than either. The compressibility of air is an objection in many lines of work, and it is now well recognized that the effect of a hammer blow is oftentimes merely local. As Mr. H. F. J. Porter has so ably shown else- where,* the pressure applied in forging a body of iron or steel should be sufficient in amount and of such a character as to penetrate to the center and cause flowing throughout the mass; as this flowing of the metal requires a certain amount of time the pressure should be maintained for a corresponding period. Hydraulic pressure, instead of a ham- mer, should, therefore, be used to work it into shape. Under its action the forging is slowly acted upon and the pressure is distributed evenly throughout the mass, whereas under the high velocity of impact of the hammer the metal does not have time to flow, and thus internal strains are set up in the mass, which may cause serious results, especially with certain steels which have not the property of welding. Besides the fundamental defects incident to the method, it is very troublesome to use a hammer in certain lines of work, on account of mechanical difficulties of manip- ulation. The quality of the steel is very much im- proved by the processes of hydraulic for- ging, and we find a marked tendency to substitute this method in a wide variety of work in which presses are employed vary- ing in capacity from 20 tons to 14,000 tons. We are all familiar with the fact that the magnificent 125-ton hammer made by the Bethlehem Steel Co. lies idle, while the work for which it was intended is done by a 14,000-ton hydraulic press operated by * Trans. A. 8. M. H., Vol. XVII. (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 419. an engine of 15,000 horse-power; it may not be so generally known, however, that all forgings except small pieces are done on hydraulic presses, and that the largest hammer in actual operation is one of 6 tons capacity in the blacksmith shop. The pressure used in these works is 7,000 pounds per square inch, but the present tendency indicates the use of a so-called low-pressure transmission service under a pressure of 400 or 500 pounds, with an in- tensifier at the press which raises the pres- sure to 2,500, 5,000, 7,000 pounds, or what- ever may be required. In this case the lifting and lowering of the ram of the press is effected by low- pressure water, so that the cylinder always remains filled, and the high pressure is only brought to bear the moment the dies come in contact with the pieces to be forged. The intensifier is built in multiple, which permits of a variable force to suit the work to be done; its action and control are ex- tremely simple, and results are produced which show a marked increase in speed and a decided economy in operation. Some of the recent German hydraulic forging ma- chines equipped with intensifier operate at a speed of forty to seventy strokes per minute, on finishing, and twenty to thirty strokes per minute for the heaviest work. The suecess which has attended the use of hydraulic power in forging is causing it to be applied to other and similar work to an increasing extent. In boiler works, railroad and locomotive shops, bridge works and ship-yards it is used along with com- pressed air, but where heavy pressures are desired hydraulic power is greatly to be preferred; hence we find it operating ma- chines for punching and shearing heavy plates and sectional beams, riveting ma- chines, stationary and portable, flanging and bending machines, tube upsetting ma- JANUARY 9, 1903.] chines, wheel and crank-pin presses, lifting jacks and hoists of all kinds. For heavy boiler work hydraulic rivet- ing seems especially well adapted, as an intensity of pressure can be brought to bear upon the plates which is obtained by no other method. We have already stated that compressed air as now used without reheating is not at all efficient as a source of motive power, since the combined efficiency of compressor and motor, even under favorable condi- tions, is not more than 50 per cent. of the available energy put into the com- pressor. In other cases the efficiency is as low as 20 per cent. In the transmission of air, within reason- able limits, the loss in transmission if the pipes be tight need not be considered, for although there is a slight loss in pressure due to the frictional resistances of the pipes, yet there is a corresponding increase in volume due to drop in pressure, so that the loss is practically inappreciable. There should be no comparison between the cost of power by compressed air and its brilliant rival, electricity, since each has its own field of usefulness, yet it may be in- teresting to note for our present purposes the efficiency of electric power. A modern shop generator belted from an engine will have an efficiency of about 90 per cent. when working under favorable conditions, but as the average load is ordinarily not more than two thirds full load, and often much less, the efficiency will not usually be more than 85 per cent. Since the engine friction was added to the losses in com- pression, so also it should be considered here, in which ease the efficiency of genera- tion will lie between 75 and 80 per cent. With a three-wire 220-volt system, which is very suitable for ordinary shop transmis- sion when both light and power are to be taken off the same dynamo, the loss in SCIENCE. 57 transmission need not be more than 5 per cent., so that the efficiency at the motor terminals will not be far from 75 per cent. With motors running under a nearly con- stant full load the efficiency of motor may be 90 per cent.; but with fluctuating loads this may fall to 60 per cent. at quarter load.. In numerous tests made by the speaker the average load on several motors in machine shops has been only about one third of the rated capacity of the motor. It is interesting to note that in tests made at the Baldwin Locomotive Works it was found that with a total motor capacity aggregating 200 horse-power, a generator of only 75 kilowatts was sufficient to fur- nish the current, and ordinarily only 60 kilowatts, or 40 per cent., was required. At the present time there are in use at these works upwards of 300 motors, with a com- bined total capacity of 2,200 or 2,300 horse- power; whereas the generator output is only about 500 kilowatts. Under those conditions, where the driven machines are not greatly over-motored, we may assume a motor ‘efficiency of 80 per cent., which may be less or greater in indi- vidual cases. The combined efficiency, then, of generator and motor working in- termittently with fluctuating loads will be about 60 per cent. of the power delivered to the engine. For greater distances than those which obtain in plants of this character the loss in transmission will be greater, and higher voltage must be employed in order to keep down the line loss. While it is possible to put in conductors sufficiently large to carry the current with any assumed loss, yet the cost of the line becomes prohibitive with low voltage. Where cheap fuel is available it is found in most cases that electric power can be generated at the works more cheaply than it ean be purchased from a central station; 58 SCIENCE. especially is this the case if the exhaust steam be used for heating purposes. In isolated plants the cost of transmission is very small as compared with the total cost of generation; whereas in the average cen- tral station the cost of transmission, which includes interest and depreciation on pole line, usually constitutes a large percentage of the operating cost. In those localities where the cost of fuel is high, electric power can often be pur- chased more cheaply from a central sta- tion which obtains its power many miles distant and transmits it elect: lly to a convenient distributing center, where it is used for power and light. The recent development in electrical transmission is very marked, and one constantly hears of some new achievement more wonderful than anything previously accomplished. Distances have been gradu- ally increased until it is now possible to transmit electrical energy economically and in commercial quantities up to 150 and even 200 miles. There has been a steadily increasing tendeney to raise the line voltage in such transmissions, and to-day we find in suc- cessful operation voltages as high as 40,000 and even 60,000 as compared with the 4,000 and 6,000 volts of a few years ago. As pointed out by Mr. A. D. Adams,* so far as present practice is concerned the limit of use of high voltages must be sought beyond the transformers and out- side of generating and receiving stations. As now constructed, the line is that part of the system where a final limit to the use of higher voltages will first be reached. In order to avoid the temporary arcing and leakage between the several wires it is necessary to place the wires a consid- erable distance apart, which, with higher voltages, may lead to a modification in construction of pole line. The plan of * Hng. Mag., October, 1902. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 419. substituting a series of steel towers about 90 feet in height and 1,000 feet apart is beimg seriously contemplated.* In this case it is proposed to suspend the wires from tower to tower and separate them about nine feet apart. While ex- pensive in first cost, it is thought that the satisfactory working of the system and freedom from breakdown, with the low maintenance and depreciation charges in- volved, would warrant the investment. A more serious difficulty is found in the insulator, which is generally looked upon with distrust for the higher voltages in use to-day. With a more perfect in- sulator there would appear to be no good reason why the present maximum voltages should not be exceeded. The possibility of electrical transmission thus permits of the utilization of available sources of power at great distances from the center of distribution; but while it is interesting to know that a certain amount of power may be transmitted a given dis- tance with a high degree of efficiency, it is more important to know whether the same amount of power could be obtained at the objective point more economically by other means. It has been suggested that the future of long-distance transmission depends largely upon the development of oil as a fuel; but at the present time the outlook for oil fuel in general competition with coal or long- distance transmission is not encouraging; while the development of the Texas and southern California oil fields has increased the visible supply and brought about in- ereased activity in the use of liquid fuel, yet it 1s doubtful whether the advantages would be sufficient to cause it to come into general use as a fuel, since with a limited production and an increased demand for * Geo. H. Lukes in Trans. Assn. Edison Illu- minating Companies, July, 1902. JANUARY 9, 1903.] this and other purposes the cost would be correspondingly increased. 2 A number of railroads contiguous to the oil-producing centers have equipped their locomotives to burn this fuel, and it is used to some extent to fire marine boilers, and with great satisfaction; since its displace- ment for a given heating value is only about one half that of coal, and the labor cost is materially reduced. It is also used quite extensively in cer- tain sections of the country as a steam producer in power plants, but it is hardly probable that liquid fuel will be a serious competitor of coal, notwithstanding its many advantages. At the present time, as far as power for manufacturing plants is concerned, it is largely a question of transportation, whether oil can be laid down and handled at a given point more cheaply than coal. It is probable, how- ever, that oil fuel will supply a local de- mand in certain sections where transpor- tation charges, and possibly insurance, will permit its use at a low cost, and it is in this connection that it may become a com- petitor of electrical transmission. One interesting phase of the power prob- lem which forcibly presents itself to the engineer at the present time is the vast possibilities possessed by the modern com- bustion engine, which includes the various types of gas- and oil-engines. While its use aS a motor in industrial establishments has been somewhat limited, yet there is a marked tendency to employ the gas-engine in manufacturing works, and a considera- tion of its advantages and cost of opera- tion, together with its high thermal effi- ciency and possibility of still further im- provement, indicates that, for a great many purposes, both steam-engines and electric motors may be ultimately replaced by gas- engines. While the first cost of electric motors in the smaller sizes is considerably less than SCIENCE. 59 the cost of well-made gas-engines for sim- ilar capacities, the saving during the first six months of service, due to the more economical operation of the gas-engine, will often more than compensate for the difference in first cost. That the gas-engine in both large and small sizes has reached a point in its de- velopment where it can fairly rival the steam-engine in reliability and satisfactory running qualities there can be no question. In point of fuel economy, a gas-engine of moderate size is on a parity with the largest triple-expansion steam-engines, and will give a horse-power on less than one pound of fuel. The high price of gas in this country has contributed largely to those causes which have prevented a more common use of the gas-engine as a motor. For this reason the gas-engine has generally been used, not so much because of its high effi- ciency as a thermodynamic machine, but rather on account of its convenience and saving in labor. It is true that natural gas is cheap, but it is equally true that natural gas is not generally available. It is to producer gas that we must look for any marked increase in the use of the gas-engine. Fortunately the manufacture of producer gas has reached a high state of development, and there are now in suc- cessful use several processes by which power gas can be made from cheap bitu- minous coals as well as anthracite and coke. The leanness of such gases renders them less effective per cubie foot of gas, as compared with the richer coal gas or even water gas; but this difference is more than compensated for by the low cost of production. It is upon such power gas that the commercial future of the gas- engine as a general motor depends. A prominent factor in gas-engine prac- tice which has attained a high degree of development in European practice is the 60 SCIENCE. small gas producer. These generators are very simple in operation and furnish a convenient and economical means of ob- taining power at a much lower rate than with the ordinary city lighting gas. Gen- erally small anthracite coal or coke is used, but several methods employ bituminous coal, lignites or wood. With bituminous coal, means must be provided for removing the tar and ammonia and other products of distillation. The process of generation in some of the more recent producers is entirely auto- matic and depends upon the demand of the engine, so that no storage capacity is required. The economy of these small producers is shown by tests which give one horse-power on a 16-horse-power en- gine with a consumption of only 1.1 pound of fuel. For engines above forty horse- power one horse-power can be obtained on seven eighths pound of fuel. The gas-engine industry received a signal impetus when it was discovered that blast furnace gases could be readily utilized di- rect in combustion engines without, the intervention of boilers and without any special purifying processes. A still more important circumstance which is far reach- ing in its results is the fact shown by Pro- fessor Hubert, of the Liége School of Mines, that the superior economy of the gas-engine enables equal power to be ob- tained with 20 per cent. less consumption of furnace gas than was formerly used in the generation of steam. The successful employment of large com- bustion engines in this way utilizes vast sources of power which a few years ago were allowed to go to waste or at most were used very inefficiently. The high thermal efficiency of the gas- engine has long been recognized and the possibility of further development is a promising factor in this field. The already [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 419 accomplished efficiency of 38 per cent. re- ported by Professor Meyer, of Gottingen, greatly exceeds the maximum theoretical efficiency of the steam-engine and more than doubles its actual best obtainable working efficiency, but the end is not yet. With higher compression even greater efficiencies may be expected. But with high compression there is danger of pre- mature explosion, due to the generation of heat in compressing the gas in the presence of oxygen; for this reason Herr Diesel - compresses the air separately. - Under a pressure of 500 pounds or more, which is used in the Diesel motors, the air becomes very hot and readily ignites a charge of liquid fuel which is injected into the com- pression chamber. ‘There is no explosion; combustion occurs while expansion goes on and the heat generated disappears in the ‘form of work. Efficiencies of 30 per cent. or more have been obtained with blast furnace gases which contain a very small percentage of hydrogen, and this with the high rates of compression which can be carried has led to the advocacy of non-hydrogenous mix- tures in large engines. Certainly very high rates of compression may be had with a non-hydrogenous producer gas without fear of premature ignition, and it has the additional advantage of economical pro- duction. The practice of making the cylinder in combustion engines act alternately, first as air compressor then as motor, has the ad- vantage of greater simplicity, but it means immensely larger engines for the same power, since the number of effective im- pulses is thus cut in two. The danger of pre-ignition and conse- quent severe shock on the engine also necessitates very heavy construction in the smaller engines in order to obtain a rea- sonable degree of safety in operation. Fat ith a alge JANUARY 9, 1903.] Moreover, the smoothness of action is greatly retarded with this form of engine, especially if the governing is controlled by the ‘hit-and-miss’ method, in which the regulation is effected by varying the fre- queney of the explosions, thus causing great variations in the driving torque. Various expedients have been employed to overcome these defects, such as the use of multi-cylinders and different methods of control, but the size and cost of engine have been increased rather than decreased. Notwithstanding these well-recognized de- fects in the four-cycle type of engine, it constitutes by far the largest class in use to-day of what may be called successful gas-engines. “ More recently very satisfactory results have been obtained in the construction of two-eyele engines. In some of these we find separate pumps employed to compress the charge of gas and air, which ignites and burns as it enters the cylinder. Higher compression is thus obtained without fear of pre-ignition, and this permits smaller clearance spaces with attendant advan- tages. If the engine is single-acting, an impulse is obtamed every revolution, which thus insures better speed regulation, as well as double the power for a given sized cylinder. The highest thermal efficiency yet at- tained, namely 38 per cent., has been se- cured with a two-cycle type of engine which compresses the air and gas in separate pumps to a nominal pressure of eight or ten pounds; the air under this pressure be- ing used to scavenge the cylinder toward the end of expansion. After the uncon- sumed products of combustion have been forced out by the fresh air, the cylinder walls having been cooled thereby, a charge of gas is admitted and compressed to a pressure of 150 to 175 pounds per square inch and then exploded, as in the usual SCIENCE. 61 method. This engine is double-acting and receives a charge each side of the piston; thus two impulses are received each revolu- tion, in a manner precisely similar to that of a steam-engine. Whether these engines will be as satis- factory for small motors remains to be seen. It is possible that the greater complication of details in the two-cycle types, as com- pared with the simpler four-cycle engine, will cause the latter to continue to give the greater satisfaction, at least for the smaller SIZQS. At the last meeting of the British Asso- ciation, Mr. H. A. Humphrey gave some in- teresting data concerning recent gas-en- gines, and the record is both remarkable and significant. The limiting size has rapidly grown during the past two years, as shown by the fact that one manufacturer is now constructing a gas-engine of 2,500 horse-power and is prepared to build up to 5,000 horse-power. The development of the large gas-engine is closely connected with the evolution of the fuel gas processes, and it is noteworthy that the first gas-engines in England above 400 horse-power were operated with pro- ducer gas, while many of the large gas- engines in Hurope have béen built for use with blast furnace gas. In August of this year (1902) two leading English manufacturers had de- livered or had under construction over fifty gas-engines varying in size between 200 and 1,000 horse-power; but we have to look across the Channel for still greater achievements in this direction. Neglecting all engines below 200 horse- power, we note that a classified list of gas- engines in use or under construction shows the remarkable total of 327 gas-engines eapable of supplying 182,000 horse-power. This gives an average of about 560 horse- power per engine. 62 SCIENCE. As compared with this we find from the last U. S. Census Report that, during the eensus year 1899, there were constructed in the United States 18,500 combustion en- gines having a total capacity of 165,000 horse-power, or only about 9 horse-power per engine. Although this country has lagged some- what behind Europe in adopting large gas- engines, there is evidence that this state of affairs will not exist very long, for a num- ber of enterprising firms are already in the field prepared to build gas-engines up to any required size. One firm has already ‘sold over 40,000 horse-power of large en- gines, most of them of 2,000 horse-power and several of 1,000 horse-power. An- other firm has recently built two 4,000- horse-power gas compressors and also a number of 1,000-horse-power gas-engines. The use to which these large engines are put is about equally divided between the operation of blowing engines for blast furnaces and the driving of dynamos for general power distribution; the tabulated list compiled by Mr. Humphrey for engines of more than 200 horse-power shows 99,000 horse-power for driving dynamos for light and power and 83,000 horse-power for other purposes. While the gas-engine in the larger sizes is thus used extensively for the generation of electric light and power, a growing ten- dency is observed to use the gas-engines direct as motors. A number of railroad and other machine shops have been equipped with moderate- sized gas-engines suitably located about the works, and in addition, thousands of horse- power are used in the smaller sizes for a wide variety of purposes, including vil- lage water-works, isolated lighting stations, and manufacturing plants of all kinds. With the possibilities of high thermal effi- elencies we may look with much hope upon [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 419. the still higher development of cheap fuel gas processes that will bring the gas-engine into very general succession to the electric motor for many purposes, for it will doubtless be found that gas transmitted from a central gas-making plant at a manufacturing works into engines located at points of use will effect a material sav- ing in the utilization of power over any ex- isting methods. It is not to be presumed that the gas- engine will displace either the electric motor or the steam-engine; each has its legitimate sphere of usefulness, and each will be more highly developed as the re- sult of direct competition. Yet the econ- omies already obtained indicate that the field of the gas-engine will be extended more and more into that of the steam- engine and the electric motor. Many of the questions involved in this consideration are at the present time in a transitional stage. The reciprocating steam-engine has reached a high state of development, but it is not probable that it has attaimed its highest degree of perfec- tion. While an economy less than 94 pounds of steam per horse-power-hour has been obtained, even better results may be anticipated ; the use of high pressure super- heated steam in compound, jacketed en- eines involves more perfect lubrication, and this may demand modification in existing valve types; however this may be, the out- look is promising for still higher efficien- cies; whether this will mean cheaper power than can be obtained in other ways will depend upon many conditions. In any case, and especially with inter- mittent or variable loads, it is not so much a question of maximum efficiency as it is economy of operation. From this point of view the present ac- tivity in the construction and development of the steam-turbine is of interest to en- JANUARY 9, 1903. ] gineers and power users. The steam con- sumption of a modern steam-turbine of moderate size compares very favorably with that of the better class of large re- ciprocating engines, but what is of greater importance is the evident superior steam economy under variable loads. The steam consumption per horse-power-hour varies little from one third to full load; at over- loads the economy, as shown by numerous tests, may be even better. This feature predestines the steam-tur- bine to the special field of electric lighting and power generation, where it must in- evitably become a formidable rival of the larger-sized slow-speed reciprocating steam- engine. Tt is a significant fact that immediately following upon the installation of the large 8,000-horse-power compound steam- engines at the central station of the Man- hattan Elevated Railway, New York, we find three 5,000-horse-power steam-turbines under construction for the Rapid Transit Company, of New York. The high rotative speed of the steam- turbine is a prominent factor in favor, of its adoption in connection with electrical generators, since the cost of the generator end of the equipment ought eventually to be very materially reduced; but for many lines of work the high rotative speed of the present types of steam-turbine is prohibi- tive, nor can it be adapted successfully to belt driving, except by the use of gearing. However, it is fair to presume that the present limitations of the steam-turbine are not insuperable, and that the attention which is now being given to its develop- ment will evolve a more universal type of motor adapted to general power. purposes with large and small units alike. The economies already obtained with both the steam-turbine and the gas-engine have brought each into a prominence which is at least suggestive of the impor- SCIENCE. 63 tant developments that are taking place in methods of obtaining and using power. JOHN JOSEPH F'LATHER. THE PERPLEXITIES OF A SYSTHMATIST.* A FormMER Chairman of this Section gave utterance in his retirmg address to the followimg frank expression of senti- ment: ‘So welcome to the old-fashioned systematist, though his day be short, and. may he treat established genera gently!’ If this cheerful prognostication is to be realized, the perplexities of the systematist are of short duration at best, or worst, and it were better for us, in view of our im- pending doom, to come before you to-day with the historic ‘Morituri te salutamus,’ and then kindly but firmly retire to the oblivion so imminently before us. But on second thought we find ourselves not at all in the mood to fulfil the expec- tations of the genial oracle referred to, and, indeed, very much alive and willing to continue in the struggle for existence, although an even worse fate than death is offered as an alternative when the same prophet predicts that ‘the future system- atie work will look less like a dictionary and more like a table of logarithms.’ Of course there is no gainsaying the fact that those who prefer logarithms will have them, but I will also predict that the num- ber who will choose the lesser evil of the dictionary will remain for an indefinite length of time very much in the majority, even if this choice dooms them to the outer darkness where the ‘old-fashioned system- atists’ are to be relegated by the loga- rithm proposers. However this may be, certain it is that there will always be need for the men who perform the hard and often thankless task * Address of the chairman of the Section of Zoology and vice-president of the American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science. Read at the Washington meeting, January 27, 1902. 64 SCIENCE. of the systematist, and those of us who are still pushing forward in spite of the almost overwhelming perplexities of the work, to say nothing of the frankly expressed con- tempt of the men in whose service we toil, are by no means called upon to sing our ‘Nune dimitis.’ It has occurred to me that it would be profitable for us to con- sider. on this occasion the position in which we stand, make confession of our sins, which are many, state as clearly as possible the embarrassments which at times nearly overcome us, and attempt at least to point out some of the means by which we can better our position and our work. As to our position before the general public, it must be confessed that the gen- eral public cares for us not at all. Of all departments of biological science, none of- fers so little that is attractive to the aver- age man as that which has to do with classification and the host of outlandish names that the systematist delights, in popular opinion, to inflict upon the litera- ture of his subject. The average college student agrees with the general public, and will be prone to elect anything rather than systematic zoology or botany. There is absolutely nothing that seems to him more hopelessly dull, forbidding and profitless than all matters pertaining to classifica- tion and nomenclature. But it is in the house of our friends that we are wounded most cruelly. Even the best of our fellow zoologists and botanists wish us nothing better than a speedy and painless, at any rate speedy, death, and the worst of them would be glad to hasten the day. It is not my purpose to discuss at pres- ent the attitude of the general public, nor even that of the college student, important as it is to all of us, but some attention ought surely to be paid to the prevalent Opinion of our colleagues. Let us inquire then, briefly, into the reasons for the unfortunate attitude of (N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 419. these who ought to be our best friends. In my opinion the most fundamental cause for their discontent is to be found in their irritation in finding nothing fixed or defi- nitely settled in our classifications, or even in specific or generic names. It certainly does not conduce to the tran- quility of mind of the morphologist who desires to discuss the variation of a cer- tain structure in a given group of animals to find that his friend the systematist is utterly unable to delimit the group for him, or that no two authorities can agree as to the number of species, much less as to their names! Wishing to get upon some solid ground for his discussion, the mor- phologist asks in desperation: ‘What is a species, anyhow?’ And the systematist, if he is honest, is forced to admit that he doesn’t know. Again, the morphologist; with a commendable desire to learn some- thing of the classification in a general way, laboriously masters some scheme which seems to have met with general acceptance, only to find that the next authority that he consults scorns it utterly. Still again, wishing to discuss the geographical distri- bution or ecology of some limited group, he finds that no two systematists agree as to the number of species included or the names by which they should be ealled. Now, all this is exasperating to the last degree, and we must deal gently with our friends who exclaim in desperation: ‘Is there anything definitely settled in regard to any group of animals whatever?’ or ‘Have the systematists any real basis for their decisions, or are they anything better than the merest personal whims?’ Can we wonder that they resort at times to ab- solute brutality, and propose logarithms? Having thus admitted the unfortunate position in which we stand before our fel- low zoologists, let us now turn our atten- tion to the highly edifying endeavor to honestly confess our sins. I suppose that JANUARY 9, 1903.] every zoologist who does systematic work starts out with the idea that there is noth- ing else quite so desirable and altogether ecstatie as the discovery and naming of new species; and this feeling results, it must be confessed, in numerous synonyms and great confusion. That this is an al- most inevitable phase in the career of the ambitious systematist must be frankly ac- knowledged, and must be endured with as much philosophy as possible, the prospect being cheered by the reflection that the phase is exceedingly evanescent, and is of inconsiderable duration as compared with the whole career of the systematist. I know that I shall be backed by every worker of experience when I assert that any sys- tematist who has gotten beyond the callow period would very much prefer to be able to place a given form in a previously de- seribed species than to be forced to de- scribe it as new. Besides, those of us who are sufficiently unregenerate can take great comfort in the thought that no one more eagerly em- braces the chance to describe a new species than the morphologist who thinks he has discovered a novelty, and he it is who most often dodges the necessity of careful re- search along bibliographical lines, and at the same time artlessly evades all proper responsibility for his crimes by the for- mula: ‘If this interesting form proves to be new, I propose for it the following name.’ The naive innocence of some of our em- bryo naturalists is sometimes quite refresh- ing. For imstance, a year or so ago a young and enthusiastic student in a west- ern state wrote me that he thought he had a new species of a group in which J am interested, and asked me to kindly send him the literature on that group. Not find- mg me able to see my way clear to accom- modate him, he proceeded to describe the supposed new species, and gave it a name. SCIENCE. 65 The result proved that the name was pre- occupied and that the species was only a somewhat common color variety of a well-known form. We have all of us made ridiculous mis- takes, however, and no systematist of any experience could afford to throw the first stone were the biblical condition enforced. We should be cautious, however, and not leave too many cracks in our harness to be discovered by our friends the enemy. There are certain things that we ought to stop doing, and stop at once. One of the worst sins of the systematist is inadequate description of species. The scientific world has a right to demand good clear de- scriptions, and is not slow to express its contempt for amy remissness in this direc- tion. As an example of this particular sin I would cite an instance given by an entomological friend, which I quote ver- batim : ““™he variety harrisii of Cicindela sex- guttata is described thus: It differs from typical sexguttata in the color, which is olivaceous green, and in living at a con- siderable elevation.’’* It is not often that the variety maker is so refreshingly frank as this. Another illustration is furnished by one of our energetic and intrepid young orni- thologists, who evidently believes that each geographical locality ought to yield a tri- nomial for each bird inhabitant. He says: ““The differences characterizing this new form are not such as may be graphically deseribed, but they are, nevertheless, quite apparent on comparison of specimens.’’ It appears from the context that this subspecies is based. on a single specimen, but, coming from a different region, like the ‘living at a somewhat higher altitude’ of the insect referred to above, seems to be in reality, if not professedly, a zoolog- ical character. It seems to your speaker * The italics are mine. 66 SCIENCE. that a difference that is so elusive that it cannot be graphically described is not a proper basis for even a new subspecies. The question here arises: Is there any legitimate limit to the refinement of de- scription and niceties of. distinctions be- tween species or subspecies? There are many that hold that any difference what- ever is sufficient basis for, a specific de- scription so long as there is no intergrada- tion with other forms. Now it is evident that differences may be so small that inter- gradations are practically, although not theoretically, impossible. The keen eye of the expert systematist becomes almost microscopic in its function and sees dif- ferences that appear perfectly evident to the observer, but that are really intangible to the general zoologist, to say nothing of the scientific public at large. Should each of these microscopic differences be digni- fied with a separate name? If so, can we wonder that the non-systematie brother becomes thoroughly disgusted with our dis- cussions of the zoological ‘filioque’ and consiens us all to quick extinction or a lurid future of logarithms? It is to be hoped that the future will disclose some method of preserving scien- tific exactness, and at the same time ob- literating the excessive pedantry that at present seems to be the main objective with certain systematists. And there is good biological ground for this hope in the law enunciated by our lamented Cope as the ‘law of the unspecialized.’ This, he says, ‘deseribes the fact that the highly developed or specialized types of one geo- logic period have not been the parents of the types of succeeding periods, but that the descent has been derived from the less specialized of preceding ages.’ There is no doubt that the extremists have their time and their uses, but they are not likely to be followed in their extreme positions by their successors of coming generations. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 419: It may be confidently predicted that the future will disclose a safe mean between the lax methods of many of the older zool- ogists and the indefensible hair-splitting of the extremists among the so-called ad- vaneed systematists of to-day. In the estimation of the general scien- tific public the most grievous of our sins is the making of synonyms, and there is no question that we have much to answer. for in that direction. There are few, how- ever, that are in a position to realize the difficulties, amounting almost to impossi- bilities, that confront even the most con- scientious worker. He has in hand a form that he cannot place in any known species, although he would be saved a deal of trouble if he could. He must eall this troublesome. animal something. He can- not call it by an old name and so, perforce, he must find a new one for it. It belongs to an old and well-established genus to which hundreds of species have, in the course of more than a century, been re- ferred. Hivery descriptive term that can possibly be made to apply to such an ani- mal has long ago been used. Though the worker may live in some great lbrary center, such as Boston or Washington, it is impossible for him to have access to all of the literature pertaining to even a lim- ited group. Though he spend months in looking through dealers’ lists and cata- logues, he is bound to miss a number of papers any one of which may contain matter vital to his purpose. Having ex- hausted every available source of informa- tion, he at last ventures to decide on a name which seems to him to be apt, and not preoccupied. The more experienced he is as a systematist the less confidence he has that his name will stand, nor is he ereatly surprised to be reminded by some loving friend that that name was used twenty years ago in a paper published in JANUARY 9, 1903. ] Russian and issued by a local scientific society in Kamchatka. To illustrate the hopelessness of consult- ing all of the literature on even the most limited subject I will venture on a bit of personal experience. For the past ten years I have earnestly endeavored to consult all of the papers regarding a very small group of animals in which I am particularly interested. In addition to buying everything that was mentioned in numerous lists and cata- logues from the best European book deal- ers, the libraries of Harvard, the National Museum, the Congressional Library, the private library of Dr. Agassiz at Newport, the library of the Naples Zoological Sta- tion and other famous libraries in Hurope were faithfully consulted and a eard cata- logue of every reference to a species in- eluded in the group under consideration was made. After which it seemed that I could at last work with some confidence that nearly all of the possible synonyms were where I could get at them when wanted. A few weeks ago the mail brought me a paper published in Geneva, in which occurred no less than one hundred titles of papers relating to the group of animals in which I had been working, not one of which I had been able to find. Now if it is so difficult, nay impossible, for one who has access to a number of the best libraries to feel confident of avoiding the creation of synonyms, how can we ex- pect the young worker with access to only a few books to avoid the same catastrophe? Of course it is easy to say that he has no business to attempt systematic work, and perhaps we should be justified in such a remark. But, after all, our position would be sadly like that of the historic mother who forbade her daughter to go near the water until she had learned to swim. There is a distinct danger, in attempting to restrict systematic work to those excep- SCIENCE. 67 tional persons who have access to first-class: libraries. Thoroughly equipped systema- tists will be needed in the world for a long time to come, in spite of frankly expressed views to the contrary, and the ranks of those passing away must be filled by com- petent men. Such men must be supplied mostly from our, colleges and universities, and it is futile to expect the few institu- tions having adequate libraries to turn out a sufficient number of men to do this work. As a matter of fact, the very universi- ties that are’ in the best position to do such work are the ones that offer the least encouragement to the would-be systematist. In my opinion, our best-equipped univer- sities are falling far short of their proper function in not paying more serious atten- tion to this part of biological science. Some time ago I received a letter from a zoologist holding a high position in one of our largest museums, in which he com- plained that, while they were able to find plenty of young men who could work out the histology of a definite organ, or the embryology of a species, or undertake ex- perimental work, there was only one uni- versity that he knew of, and that a western one, that gave students the training that was necessary to make them competent to work up a collection. For years there have been waiting for suitable men the vast accumulations of material in our great museums, and it is impossible to find men able to work up some of the most impor- tant groups. Such, then, is the situation. There is: the most urgent need for competent system- atists, and our universities, the natural source of supply, are doing next to nothing in the way of training men for this im- portant work. x But the objection may here be raised that the systematist is a specialist of a kind that cannot be trained for his work in the ordinary university course. 68 SCIENCE. Of “course it is impracticable to turn out full-fledged systematists, but it is prac- ticable to give men the kind of education that will enable them to take up systematic work to advantage after their college days have been completed. The mental or intel- ‘ lectual equipment needed by the system- atist includes three prime requisites: (1) accurate observational power, (2) a well- trained and reliable power of discrimina- tion, and (3) the power to describe accu- rately and in good English. Now, be it observed that these three accomplishments are the very ones that are the most val- uable intellectual gifts in almost any walk in life, and hence it follows that that sort of education which turns out good timber for systematists is the very one that serves the best and most useful pedagogical pur- poses; and the plea which I here make for more attention being paid by our colleges to preparing men for systematic work, is at the same time a plea for the best and strongest preparation for almost any walk in life. It will, of course, be conceded that the first of the requisites cited above, namely, accurate observational power, is the pri- mary aim of work in all material science; and it will also be conceded that the edu- cation of the power of discrimination or judgment is also ineluded in any thorough scientific work; but I do not believe that any other branch of biological science does so much toward evoking fine descriptive power as does systematic work, either in botany or in zoology. After an experience of some seventeen years as a teacher of science, it is my deliberate judgment that good descriptive ability is much more rare than the ability either to observe or to dis- eriminate, which is really a part of obser- vation. It would be laughable, were it not pathetic, to see the utter helplessness of even the better class of university stu- dents when they are told to describe even (N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 419. the simplest object. Time after time I have found that a class of twenty or, more sophomores did not contain a single one who could really describe any definite ob- ject with even approximate success. But it is a never-failing delight to see the power that they can acquire in this direc- tion after a year of faithful work along systematic lines. Teaching of the sort that I have indi- cated need not be confined to the largest and best-endowed colleges. Fairly large collections in certain definite groups are a necessary prerequisite, but such collec- tions can be secured at less expense than the laboratory equipment that includes a good compound microscope for each stu- dent, and in many cases the teacher can, with the help of students, make suitable collections in such groups as birds and insects. The whole scheme of systematic arrange- ment lends itself admirably to the gradual evolution of descriptive power. Com- meneing with the larger groups, the stu- dent is drilled in discriminating the broader characters, such as differentiate classes and orders, for instance; then closer, work is required in studying the families. Lastly, some few families are taken up and the work becomes focused on the fine discriminations required in describing genera and even species. In the University of Iowa, for instance, the student works for one third of a year on the classes and orders of the lower in- vertebrates. Then he studies the groups of mammals, down to and including the families, for an equal length of time, the remainder of the collegiate year being de- voted to the study of birds, more than half of this latter period being given to a careful study of the Passeres. The work is focused more particularly on birds because the university museum is particu- larly well equipped in birds, they are JANUARY 9, 1903.] pleasing objects of study for most stu- dents, and they are particularly available for illustration in such objects as colora- tion, geographical distribution and, strange as it may seem, ecological problems. You will pardon me, I hope, for thus intruding the work of my own department upon your attention. But it serves to illustrate my meaning in claiming for sys- tematic work the highest grade of peda- gogical value. It does teach the student to observe carefully, discriminate with something of that judicial nicety so rare and so helpful in any life, and lastly—and it seems to me that this is the crowning achievement in education—to describe ac- eurately not only from a scientific but also from a literary standpoint. Lucidity and aceuracy of language accomplishes mar- vels in the way of inciting to lucidity and accuracy of thought, and, so it seems to me, actually precedes them in time. All this may seem a digression from the main theses of my address, but it will be remembered that we are trying to find a remedy for the scarcity of men competent to oceupy the field of systematic work, and the first thing needful is a realization on the part of our colleges and universities that they have too long neglected the edu- cational value of training along systematic lines. Were they led to recognize this at its just value, it would be provided for on at least an equal footing with morphol- ogy in the curricula of all reputable col- leges, and this would result in the gradua- tion, yearly, of a number of young men and women who have the preliminary training that will enable them to take up systematic work in earnest. Of course this real systematic work can only exceptionally be done in colleges. Not even as post-graduate work can it be attempted, save under circumstances sel- dom realized. But the men, if worthy, will find the place to work in centers where SCIENCE. 69 great museums and libraries will be at their command. In this connection the thought forces itself to the fore that the ereat and greatly discussed Carnegie In- stitution can do a most important work in seeing to it that such young men, equipped particularly for systematic work, ean receive enough of a stipend to feed and clothe them while necessarily away from home and doing important systematic work in overhauling and bringing order, out of the chaos that prevails in most if not all ereat museums, where a wealth of material has been allowed to accumulate for decades awaiting the time when the right man can come to the aid of overworked curators and intelligently and efficiently disentangle the all but hopeless masses of material, and, with keen insight and trained powers of description, successfully trace the ob- secure web of relationships and of descent. Thus the curators will be left free to do better and more worthy work along the lines of their chosen studies, relieved of at least a part of the all but intolerable burden under which they are staggering, and in spite of which so much excellent work has been done. While no one more heartily condemns scientific provincialism than does your speaker, still we can rightly indulge the hope that the time will come, and that soon, when it will be unnecessary to send to Europe for men competent to report on collections made by our government expe- ditions, and when collections will be en- trusted to American zoologists, not because they are American, but because they are best able to do the work in a satisfactory manner. It is probable that nine out of ten sys- tematists, if asked what, in their opinion, was the most thankless and wearying part of their work would unhesitatingly answer, ‘The bibliographic work.’ In nothing are our energies so wastefully and often need- 70 lessly expended. Now that the Congres- ‘sional Library is at last in working order, it seems to me that it ought to be possible to undertake a work in this direction that would be not only an unspeakable boon to all who are engaged in systematic investi- gation, but also to the scientific public at large; for nothing that I can think of would go so far towards reducing the per- nicious activity of the maker of synonyms to a minimum as a methodical and ex- haustive publication of bibliographies in connection with which synonyms* would be promptly ‘spotted’ and reported at once to the scientific world. Our Congressional Library is worthy of a nation’s pride. Having had occasion to work there myself, I can say that nowhere can better service or more helpful courtesy be found than is accorded one who desires to do serious work within its walls. One must use it before he can form any just idea of the wonderful change that has been brought about since the present building was completed. Here is undoubtedly the best place in America to do bibliographic ‘work, and here could be undertaken a pub- lie service that would be second to none in helpfulness to the naturalist, the sys- tematic publication of bibliographies, per- haps following the general lines of the Concilium Bibliographicum, which has al- ready rendered invaluable service, so far ‘as current publications are concerned. The Concilium Bibliographicum, how- ever, can furnish but little help regarding publications of other than comparatively recent date, and this is the most pressing need of the systematist. This task, colos- sal as it is, could be accomplished if at- tacked systematically by a sufficiently large force of competent workers. It would not ‘be necessary to complete the work in any *The word synonym is here used in its more general sense, including both and Synonyms in a strict sense. autonyms SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 419. group before the results could be available for general use. By a periodical mailing of cards some relief could very shortly be extended to all those who are known to be interested in any group, and as the his- tory of our science covers less than a cen- tury and a half, a vigorous prosecution of the work would enable us to have authentic and reasonably complete bibliographies brought up to date within a very few years. Such work need not, indeed should not, be confined to bibliographies of publica- tions, but should include bibliographies of specific names. Every reference to a spe- cies should be given a separate ecard. These could be arranged both alphabetic- ally and chronologically, and when such a bibliography is completed up to date a synonym can be detected with unerring ac- euracy. I speak from some little experi- ence when I say that such an arrangement of cards is the greatest possible assistance and time-saver, as I have myself made a eard bibliography of a single order of ani- mals with which I am working. It in- eludes some six thousand ecards, and in- volves a card catalogue of authors, with their publications, of families, of genera and of species. Of course such a plan as has been indi- eated could only be carried out by a corps of specialists, each having immediate charge of the work pertaining to some limited group, and the whole should be under, the supervision of some public sci- entific organization such as the Smith- sonian Institution, or possibly the Wash- ington Academy of Science; such bodies being particularly available on account of their being situated in Washington, where most of the actual work would be done. But what answer shall we give to our friends who plaintively implore us to ‘deal gently with established genera’? It is in connection with this question that we are JANUARY 9, 1903.] confronted with some of the most perplex- ing of our difficulties. How far are we justified in overturning that which is firmly established by usage in order to introduce schemes of classification that seem to us better and more rational? Hoping that your patience has not been exhausted by the references already made to personal experiences, I beg your indul- gence while I refer once more, for illustra- tion, to my own work, which is a mono- graphic treatment of an order of ccelenter- ates. In attempting to discuss the genera of a single family, the Sertularidx, it was found that there were included in it about twelve apparently well-established genera. These had been carefully defined and the classification seemed a logical and good one. When, however, the great amount of sertularian material accumulated dur- ing the past twenty years by the Albatross and other government agencies, together with the results of recent work by our cousins across the water, came to be worked over, the fact became more and more ap- parent that not a single one of these es- tablished genera could hold, unless some entirely unnatural and arbitrary charac- ters were used, such as would be em- ployed in the construction of artificial keys. Not a single one of these genera, as defined, was exempt from almost ideal in- tergradation with one or more other gen- era. Here the investigator is confronted with a dilemma with several horns, if the bull be allowable, either one of which was fraught with most uncomfortable conse- quences. The following courses were open: 1. To adopt an entirely artificial system, for convenience only. 2. To throw all of the old genera into one, for the sake of scientific consistency. 3. To make a new grouping, involving a new lot of genera. 4. To use the old and well-established SCIENCE. a genera, pointing out the intergradations and frankly admitting their scientific in- sufficiency. Considering these in order, we find that the first proposition, that is, to adopt an entirely artificial system for convenience only, would be eminently unscientific, a backward step that should not have serious consideration. To throw all the old genera into one would be the course to which the strict dictates of the scientific conscience would impel the investigator. If one could set aside every consideration save the letter of the law, and be willing to be pilloried by his colleagues, this would be the proper course to pursue. As a matter of fact, however, such a course would involve the renaming of about nine tenths of the hun- dreds of species involved, and throwing all the knowledge so laboriously attained by our predecessors and contemporaries into pi, resulting in every worker in that group, or every one that wanted to mention a species, being forced to find out what the thing would be called under the new sys- tem, no matter how familiar he might be with the group. Should any one have the hardihood to precipitate such a disaster, he would not only be pilloried and execrated, but, I doubt not, would fail to secure a single follower, and all of his work would die with him and his name be anathema. The third course, that is to make a new grouping under new generic names when necessary, and old ones when possible, would be an excellent solution were it not for the fact that months of the hardest study, with ample literature and material hitherto unsurpassed in abundance has resulted in the sad conelusion that no erouping ean be devised that will not be open. to the original difficulty, that of in- tererading forms in all directions. Noth- ing would be gained, and much confusion 72 SCIENCE. would result from this course, which, like the others, cannot wisely be adopted. There remains then but one suggestion. That is to use the old and established gen- era, which will work in perhaps ninety- five per cent. of the cases, and frankly eall attention to the intergradations so that no one will be misled. In this way we can heed the pleading of our friends to ‘deal gently with established genera,’ and not bring disastrous confu- sion into the already overworked syn- onymy. Of course this solution is far from ideal, and will doubtless meet with no little eriti- cism, but it is an honest one, and it is hoped will meet with the gratitude of those who plead with us to ‘deal gently with established genera.’ It is to be feared that we have been too lenient with those who have been heedless in the matter of overturning existing classifications before they are certain that they have something better to offer. The old proverb, ‘Be sure you are off with the old love before you are on with the new’ is one all too apt to be forgotten by the enthusiasts who are unable to distinguish the difference between becoming great and becoming notorious. A little wholesome conservatism is by no means to be despised. A system of classification is not necessarily better because it is new, and we need to redeem ourselves from the charge, all too well founded, that we are capricious in tinkering with matters that need the most careful pondering, and an application of Davy Crockett’s motto, ‘Be sure you’re right, and then go ahead.’ Of course all real progress must be en- couraged, and it will never do to allow considerations regarding public, or even scientific, opinion to deter us after we are sure we are right. Conservatism by no means means stagnation, but it does mean deliberation. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 419. But I have already trespassed too long upon your time without even touching on several questions of vital importance, such as the ‘A. O. U. Code,’ the best medium of publication, an authoritative tribunal for the settlement of such questions of nomenclature as could rightly be sub- mitted to such a body, and other matters that I had hoped to discuss. In conclusion, let me urge the necessity of hearty cooperation and a good under- standing between systematists and other workers in the field of biological research. None of us can afford a contemptuous attitude toward any other who is honestly striving to extend the limits of knowledge, even though his faults are many. In early days out West there hung in a popular dance hall the suggestive notice: ‘Don’t shoot the orchestra. He’s doing the best he knows how’! The same plea in thought, if not in language, we would enter in be- half of the systematist. C. C. Nurtine. SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. Geschichte der Chemie wnd der auf chem- ascher Grundlage beruhenden Betriebe in Bohmen dis zur Mitte des 19 Jahrhunderts. Von Apatp. Wrany. Prag. 1902. 8vo. Pp. vii + 397. Dr. Wrany’s volume deals with the progress of chemical science and its allied industries in the kingdom of Bohemia from the earliest times to a comparatively recent period, in an exhaustive manner. The first section con- siders the development of alchemy, it being a part of the history of civilization; it records that the first Archbishop of Prague, Arnest von Pardubice, who became chancellor of the newly founded University of Prague, attended universities in Italy to study chemistry and alchemy; he died in 1364, being a century later than Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus, and the noted physician Arnold de Villanova, but preceding Paracelsus by an equal number of years. The first Bohemian writer on al- chemy was Johann von Tetzen, whose verses ah JANUARY 9, 1903.] on the philosopher’s stone are dated 1412. The first person of high rank to practice al- chemy was the Empress Barbara (wife of Emperor Sigismund, 1451) who acquired a high reputation. The second section deals with the begin- nings of pharmacy in Bohemia. Up to the end of the fifteenth century the art of the apothecary was chiefly connected with the merely mechanical preparation of drugs, but when iatro-medicine began to develop, chem- ical processes and medicaments acquired an important place in pharmacy; a certain Mas- ter Bandinus de Aretio (Aretino = Arezzo) is named as apothecary to Prague in a manu- seript of the early part of the fourteenth cen- tury. This second section contains an interesting and useful table giving the names by which a large number of pharmaceutical prepara- tions were commonly known in the years 1585, 1699, 1750 and modern times (besides several intermediate years), which shows that Bohemia was little behind other nations in introducing chemistry and chemical nomen- clature into pharmacy. In the succeeding sections the author treats of the metallurgy and the technological in- dustries of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (III.); of chemistry in educational institutions (IV.); of scientific researches and publications in the past one hundred and fifty years (V.), and progress made in all branches of chemistry up to the middle of the nineteenth century (VI.). At the University of Prague the professor of botany gave the instruction in chemistry in accordance with the statute of 1654, and it was not until 1745 that a committee ap- pointed to reorganize the curriculum reported in favor of establishing an independent chair, which was done the following year by the installation of Johannes Antonius Scrinci, the first professor of chemistry and physics in Bohemia. Scrinei at once gathered a quantity of apparatus, etc., at his own expense, and opened public lectures which attracted students from all parts of Bohemia as well as from adjoining nations. Among his suc- cessors should be named Josef von Freysmuth, SCIENCE. 73 who was the first professor of general and pharmaceutical chemistry in 1812; under him modern rooms and fittings were introduced, but he died at the early age of thirty-three: Among the Bohemians who became eminent in chemistry may be named Plischl, Lerch, Balling (1805-1868), noted for his treatise on fermentation and his work on sugar, and lastly Ammerling (1807-1884). A comment of the author is true of other nations than Bohemia; he writes: ‘ Analyses made in the eighteenth century, as late as the second half, have only historical value.’ This remark is made apropos of examinations of the many mineral springs, whose healing qualities early attracted attention. In the last section of this comprehensive and carefully arranged work Dr. Wrany dis- eusses the introduction and growth of the coal industry, of assaying, of iron smelting, of the extraction and refining of the precious metals (especially in Joachimsthal), as well as the metallurgy of lead, mercury and other heavy metals. Nor does he neglect the his- torical aspects of the industries peculiarly connected with chemistry, as the manufacture of ink, of matches, of dyestuffs, of glass, keramics, sugar and of the brewing of beer. The volume is full of details not found elsewhere, and made accessible by an author and a subject index separately (why divided 2). Dr. Wrany is already known by his work on mineralogy in Bohemia, from a historical point of view (1896), but he has not survived the publication of the book under review. This book is clearly printed on good paper, but so wretchedly sewn (two stitches placed close together) that only with the greatest care in handling has it survived the examina- tion made for this review, and it goes imme- diately to a bookbinder. Henry Carrineton Boiron. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. Tue annual meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences was held at the Amer- ican Museum of Natural History on Monday, December 15, at 8:15 p.m., President J. Mc- Keen Cattell presiding. 74 The reports of the officers for the past year were presented, dealing with the work of the academy since the last annual meeting, on February 24. During this period, twenty- three meetings of the academy have been held, at which forty stated papers and four public lectures were presented. There are three hun- dred active members, of whom ninety-six are fellows. Among the important changes dur- ing the year mentioned was the decision to publish articles accepted by the publication committee as separate brochures, to be col- lected at the end of the year, and bound up with the proceedings. An entire formal re- organization, furthermore, has been effected. By the passage of a legislative act last winter granting increased powers to the academy, it has been possible to adopt a new constitution and new by-laws to suit the present needs of the academy. Many minor changes have therefore been made in details of organiza- tion, terminology and procedure. An event of considerable importance to the academy has been the change in place of holding meet- ings to the American Museum of Natural History. No publications have been brought out, owing partly to lack of funds. As, however, the treasurer’s report shows a much more prosperous condition of the academy, it is expected that publication will be resumed.. The library, still in Schermerhorn Hall, Co- lumbia University, has been carefully main- tained, special efforts having been made to fill gaps in serial publications of value. The following active members were recom- mended by the council for election as fellows, because of their scientific attaimments or ser- vices, and their election followed: Professor Edward F. Buchner, Clark University, Worcester, Mass. Miss Esther F. Byrnes, School, Brooklyn. Dr. R. H. Cunningham, 200 West 56th Street. Professor Albert W. Chester, 39 College Ave., New Brunswick, N. J. William Dutcher, 525 Manhattan Ave. Dr. Harrison G. Dyar, U. 8. National Museum, Washington, D. C. Dr. George I. Finlay, Columbia University. John Eyerman, Easton, Pa. Ph.D., Girls’ High SCIENCE. [N.S. VoL. XVII No. 419. Professor William J. Gies, College of Physicians and Surgeons, 537 W. 59th St. Professor Amadeus W. Grabau, Columbia Uni- versity. Dr. John D. Irving, U. 8S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C. Dr. Gustay Langmann, 121 West 57th St. Dr. H. R. Linville, DeWitt Clinton High School, 174 W. 102d St. - Professor J. E. Lough, School of Pedagogy, New York University. Professor R. MacDougall, School of Pedagogy, New York University. T. Cumerford Martin, The Monterey, West 114th St. Dr. Adolf Meyer, Pathological Institute, New York City. Dr. S8. A. Mitchell, Columbia University. Herschel C. Parker, Columbia University. Dr. Frederick Peterson, 4 West 50th St. J. C. Pfister, Columbia University. Professor John D. Prince, 31 West 38th St. Dr. H. G. Piffard, 256 West 57th St. Professor Michael I. Pupin, Columbia Uni- versity. Dr. Ivan Sickels, 17 Lexington Ave. Professor M. Allen Starr, 5 West 54th St. George T. Stevens, M.D., 22 Hast 46th St. C. A. Strong, Columbia University. Dr. F. B. Sumner, 17 Lexington Ave. | Professor W. Gilman Thompson, 34 East 31st St. C. C. Trowbridge, Columbia University. Professor John F. Woodhull, Teachers College, West 120th St. E. R. Von Nardroft, 360 Tompkins Ave., Brook- lyn. The annual election of officers was then held, and the following were chosen: President, J. McKeen Cattell. Vice-Presidents, Section of Geology and Min- eralogy, James F. Kemp; Section of Biology, Bashford Dean; Section of Anthropology and Psy- chology, BH. L. Thorndike; Section of Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry, C. L. Poor. Corresponding Secretary, R. E. Dodge. Recording Secretary, H. EK. Crampton. Treasurer, C. F. Cox. Librarian, Livingston Farrand. Editor, C. L. Poor. Councilors: (three years) Franz Boas, Hermon C. Bumpus; (two years) D. W. Hering, N. L. Britton; (one year) E. B. Wilson, George F. Kunz. JANUARY 9, 1903. ] Finance Committee, John H. Caswell, John H. Hinton, C. A. Post. Vice-president Kemp was then called to the chair, and the president delivered his annual address, entitled ‘The Academy of Sciences.’ At its close a vote of thanks was carried, on the motion of Professor E. B. Wilson. The academy then adjourned. Henry E. Crampton, Recording Secretary. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. NOTES ON NEGRO ALBINISM. Lasr spring, while engaged in archeology work in Coahoma County, Mississippi, I no- ticed some negro albino children Jhoeing in a cotton field. The fact that there was more than one in the family led me to make in- quiry which brought out the following facts. The grandfather of these children was an albino. He married a normal negro woman and had three normal sons. All three sons married. Two haye had only normal chil- dren; but the third, who has been twice mar- ried, is the father -of fifteen children, four of whom are albinos. The first wife had five normal children and one albino; the second, six normal ones and three albinos. I was unable to learn anything about the ancestry ot these women. The particular interest in the case is that the anomaly reappears in one of three lines of descent in the third generation. Accord- ing to Mendel’s law of heredity, we should not expect it to reappear at all. Yet, if we suppose that albinism was recessive in the mothers of these albino children, the observed result is just what we should expect. These albinos, two of whom have attained full stature, and others in the vicinity, are noticeably taller and have broader shoulders than their normal fellows. Are these accom- panying characters ? Witutam C. Faraper. NOTE ON MR. FARABEE’S OBSERVATIONS. Mr. Faraper has kindly shown me the proof of his interesting ‘ Notes on Negro Albinism,’ and generously consents to the publication of the following note with his own. SCIENCE. TO The point needs emphasizing that albinism. in mammals in general is a recessive char- acter in the sense of Mendel’s law. Mr. Farabee writes as if this fact were generally recognized, but I doubt whether this is so. Last winter in my lectures on heredity, which were attended by Mr. Farabee, I showed from the statistics published by von Guaita in 1900: that albinism in mice is a recessive character. This result has been confirmed by Mr. G. M. Allen, who has been carrying on breeding’ experiments with mice, under my direction, for the past two years. Some results of Mr.. Allen’s work have been in manuscript for several months, but their publication has been: unavoidably delayed. Meanwhile Bateson: (1902), in two recent important papers on: heredity, has made the first published recog- nition of the fact that albinism in mice is- a recessive character. During the last few months I have been able to demonstrate experimentally that al-- binism is a recessive character likewise in guinea-pigs and rabbits. Mr. Farabee’s ob-- servations indicate that the same is true also in man. It is probable, therefore, that this is a general law of heredity in all mammals... But Bateson has shown that in certain crosses among poultry white plumage is a dominant character; consequently we must apparently limit our generalization for the present to: mammals. Yet it should be pointed out that the white breeds of fowls used by Bateson in his experiments are not pure albinos, since- the eyes, at least, of white birds are pig-- mented. Consequently we must exercise cau- tion in generalizing from those experiments. In the case of negro albinism observed by Mr. Farabee, the result is throughout a Men- delian one, on the hypothesis that albinism is recessive. For the original male albino married to a normal negro woman should have only normal offspring, in whom, how- ever, the albinic character is recessive. The recorded observation is three sons, all normal. Two of the sons, apparently, married wives who were ‘pure dominants,’ 7. entirely recessive (albinic) character. The theoretical expectation in such cases is that half the offspring will be: e., who were: free from the 76 SCIENCE. pure dominants, and the other half dominants in whom the recessive character is latent; but both sorts will be alike (normal) in appear- ance, as actually observed. The third son appears to have married each time a woman in whom the albinic character was recessive. The probability of such unions is indicated by Mr. Farabee’s observations of other albinos ‘in the vicinity. For to every albino produced, where crossing with normal individuals takes place, there are certain to be produced at least twice as many ‘normal’ individuals containing the recessive character. If, as supposed, the third son and each of his wives contained the recessive character, we should expect one in four of their offspring to be an albino; the recorded observation is four in fifteen, a close approximation to the calculated result. W. E. Caste. ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, December 16, 1902. MAGAZINE SCIENCE. To tar Epiror or Science: The following letter from Mr. C. E. Borchgrevink, in regard to the criticisms published by me in ScrmNcE of September 13 on the captions of the illus- trations of his article on the eruptions of Mt. Pelée which appeared in Leslie’s Monthly for July, has just been received. In justice to the author, I trust that you will publish this extract from his letter in your columns. “From a correspondent I hear that you have made an attack on me based upon the article published in Lesle’s Monthly. I am not responsible for those statements or for those errors in regard to photographs, which never met my eye before they appeared in Leslie’s Monthly. Very few of those photo- graphs came from my hand and I never of course claimed them.” E. O. Hovey. SHORTER ARTICLES. AGGREGATE ATAVIC MUTATION OF THE TOMATO. On former occasions I have described two remarkable cases of aggregate phylogenetic mutation of the tomato which occurred sud- denly under my personal observation, in which publications * I used the term mutation in * ScrencE, November 29, 1901. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club., August, 1902. LN. S. Von. XVII. No. 419. the special sense that has been adopted by Professor De Vries. The following remarks refer to reports that have reached me from correspondents concerning equally sudden and complete atavic reversion of similar plants and their fruit, for which process I here use the term mutation in its ordimary sense. While the main fact of atavic mutation is clearly stated in these personal reports, they are wanting in certain details necessary to a fuller study of the subject. They are, how- ever, important as aids in an interesting line of inquiry. In May, 1902, I received from Mr. H. J. Browne, of Washington, D. C., who was then in Havana, Cuba, on business, a package con- taining a cluster of small spherical tomatoes of the variety known as the Cherry tomato. An accompanying note informed me that they were obtained from the proprietor of a planta- tion a few miles from Havana who had grown them there, and who assured Mr. Browne that they were the immediate product of seed of the large and fine variety well known through- out our country as the Trophy. These Trophy seed were obtained from the United States and planted in Cuba. ‘The resulting crop of fruit was excellent and perfectly true to that variety as regards size, color, consistence and edible quality; but the seed of those Cuban- grown Trophy tomatoes invariably produced there the small cherry variety. The planter further stated that essentially the same result oceurred in the ease of all the several other improved varieties of tomatoes, the seed of which he had also procured from the United States, and that the degeneration was in all cases complete, heritably permanent and of uniform character; and that the change equally affected the whole crop. Because of this constantly occurring and hereditary ata- vism the planter was obliged to procure fresh seed from the United States for every accept- able crop of tomatoes grown on his Cuban plantation. Quite independently of the foregoing state- ment I lately received a similar one from Miss Mary E. Starr, of Morristown, N. J. Her observations were made upon her father’s plantation on the Bayou Téche, St. Martin’s fet J iw JANUARY 9, 1903. ] Parish, Louisiana. The father there planted the seed of a choice variety of tomatoes which were obtained from the former family home in New York state, the first crop of fruit from which was perfectly true to seed. He was, however, then informed by a neighbor who had lived in that region many years that, to produce good fruit, seed must be obtained from the North for every year’s planting, be- eause all the seed of tomatoes grown in that southern region would produce the small, spherical, inferior fruit, from whatsoever improved variety the seed may have origin- ally come. The neighbor’s advice was taken, northern seed was annually procured for fu- ture crops, and the first crop of resulting fruit was in all cases as characteristic of its variety as if the plants had grown in their native northern soil. But the truth- of the reputed atavic mutation was afterward repeatedly demonstrated on the Bayou Téche plantation under Miss Starr’s observation by growing and maturing plants from seed of fruit which was grown there from northern seed. The permanence of the atavic mutation was also demonstrated by hereditary constancy in suc- cessive generations; and its completeness was shown in every plant of the second southern crop from northern seed, as well as in all sub- sequent crops. These two cases are stated so clearly by my correspondents, and agree with each other so closely as to the main facts, that one can- not doubt their genuineness. One also can- not doubt that many other similar cases are constantly occurring in various regions, the details of which are not publicly reported. This article is written in hope of eliciting such information of similar cases as shall materially aid further investigations. Re- ports of such eases should embrace detailed statements concerning attendant horticultural and local climatic and other conditions, and mention of the several varieties whose muta- tions are observed. The interest attending a consideration of the varieties involved in mutations may be illustrated by the cases of phylogenetic mutation before referred to. In those cases the mutative act was accompanied by the production of one specific form from, tion complicated by hybridization. SCIENCE. 77 another, and it is desirable to know if, in cases of atavic mutation like those just mentioned, the reversion may be direct from a specific form that has thus arisen. For example, in those phylogenetic cases the mutation was from Lycopersicum esculentum to L. solan- opsis, and the discovery of a case of atavic mutation involving a retrograde change from the latter species to the former without re- tracing the varietal steps of the genetic line would, therefore, be of interest in connection with the theory that such mutations originate in molecular changes. In the case reported by Mr. Browne mutation was only varietal or intraspecific in its scope. That is, it was within the species L. esculentum because both the Trophy and Cherry varieties belong to that species, and I do not now know whether such atavic mutation as occurred in the cases here mentioned has ever been interspecific in scope, that is, from one species to another. Cases of atavic reversion of fine varieties of tomatoes are well known to gardeners, but those are generally cases of varietal degenera- In the eases reported by Mr. Browne and Miss Starr, respectively, mutation seems to have been sud- den, complete and aggregate for the whole crop. It is, therefore, improbable that it was _a result of hybridization in either case. If those northern seeds had been sown in their native soil one cannot doubt that their prog- eny would have been true to seed in suc- cessive generations. Therefore, one also can not doubt that the exciting cause of those atavie mutations was local for. the regions in which they respectively occurred. In those cases of phylogenetic mutation which have been referred to, the initial step evidently oc- curred in the seed of the fruit of the Acme variety which I had myself grown from au- thentic Acme seed. So also in the eases of atavic mutation herein mentioned the initial step seems certainly to have occurred, not in the somatic cells of either root, stem, leaves or pericarp of the first crop of plants grown in southern soil from northern seed, but only in the germ cells of those plants. In subse- quent generations, however,mutation extended to the pericarp, that is, to the fruit; but the 78 SCIENCE. reports which I have received do not state whether any correlated change occurred in the foliage, stems or other feature of the plant’s habit. It is, therefore, plain that one cannot satisfactorily discuss the nature of those cases of atavic mutation until more complete data are obtained. Still, one seems to be justified in assuming that the exciting cause of atavic mutation in those two cases is largely connected with climatic conditions, although the determinate cause of mutation, both phylogenetic and atavic, is apparently often independent of such conditions. It may be added that I have not yet been able to suggest an exciting cause for the cases of ageregate phylogenetic mutation which I have referred to; but the facts of that mutation are absolutely as I have stated them in the publications mentioned in the foregoing foot- note. Cuartes A. WHITE. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, December 30, 1902. CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. APPOINTMENT OF RESEARCH ASSISTANTS. Ir is the purpose of the Carnegie Institu- tion of Washington, among other plans, to encourage exceptional talent by appointing a certain number of research assistants. These positions will not be those commonly known as fellowships or scholarships; nor is the object of this provision to contribute to the payment of mechanical helpers or of as- sistants in the work of the institution. It is rather to discover and develop, under com- petent scrutiny and under favorable condi- tions, such persons as have unusual ability. It is not intended to provide means by which a student may complete his courses of study, nor to give assistance in the preparation of dissertations for academic degrees. Work of a more advanced and special character is ex- pected of all who receive appointment. The annual emolument will vary accord- ing to circumstances. As a rule, it will not exceed $1,000 per annum. No limitations are prescribed as to age, sex, nationality, gradua- tion or residence. Appointments will at first be made for one year, but may be continued. Tt is desirable that a person thus appointed [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 419. should work under the supervision of an in- vestigator who is known to the authorities of the Carnegie Institution to be engaged in an important field of scientific research, and in a place where there is easy access to libraries and apparatus—but there may be exceptions to this. Applications for appointments may be pre- sented by the head of, or by a professor in, an institution of learning, or by the candi- date. They should be accompanied by a state- ment of the qualifications of the candidate, of the research work he has done, and of that which he desires to follow, and of the time for which an allowance is desired. If he has already printed or written anything of in- terest, a copy of this should be enclosed with the application. Communications upon this subject should be distinctly marked on the outside envelope, and on the inside, Research Assistant, and should be addressed to the Carnegie Institu- tion of Washington, 14389 K Street, Wash- ington, D. C. MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. Tue Carnegie Institution of Washington has made a grant to the Marine Biological Laboratory and now has at its disposal twenty tables in the Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., for the season of 1903. These tables are in- tended for the use of persons engaged in orig- inal research in biology, and carry with them the right to be furnished with the ordinary supplies and material of the Laboratory. Applications for the use of one of these tables should be addressed to the Secretary of the Carnegie Institution, Washington, D. C., stating the period for which the use of the table is desired, and the general character of the work which the applicant proposes to do. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. Tue American Society of Naturalists at its Washington meeting during convocation week elected as president Professor William Tre- lease, of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Dr. Franz Boas, of New York, was elected vice- president and Professor Bashford Dean, treas- urer. Dr. G. Ross Harrison was reelected secretary. Professor William T. Sedgwick, Soe JANUARY 9, 1903.] of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Professor J. McKeen Cattell, of Colum- bia University, were elected additional mem- bers of the executive committee. The time and place of the next meeting of the society were referred to the executive committee in consultation with the secretaries of the affiliated societies, but will doubtless be at St. Louis in conjunction with the meeting of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science. Proressor J. H. Lone, of Northwestern University, was elected president of the Ameri- can Chemical Society, in succession to Presi- dent Ira Remsen, of the Johns Hopkins Uni- versity. Avr the annual meeting of the American Mathematical Society the following officers were elected: President, Professor Thomas S. Fiske, Columbia University; Vice-Presidents, Professor W. F. Osgood, Harvard University, Professor Alexander Ziwet, University of Michigan, Professor D. E. Smith, Teachers College, Columbia University; Secretary, Pro- fessor F. N. Cole, Columbia University; Treasurer, W. S. Dennett. Librarian, Pro- fessor D. E. Smith; Committee of Publica- tion, Professor F. N. Cole, Professor Alex- ander -Ziwet, Professor D. E. Smith; Mem- bers of the Council, Professor James Hark- ness, Bryn Mawr College, Heinrich Maschke, University of Chicago, Irving Stringham and W. H. Tyler. Mr. Wittiam Lutiry Sciater has been selected by the council of the Zoological So- ciety of London to succeed his father, Mr. Philip Lutley Sclater, as secretary of the so- ciety. Mr. Sclater holds the position of director of ‘the South African Museum at Cape Town. Mr. Wits L. Moors, of the U. S. Weather Bureau, and M. C. A. Angot, of the Central Meteorological Bureau of France, have been elected members of the Royal Meteorological Society. Dr. J. Wiesner, of Vienna, has been elected a foreign member of the Linean So- ciety of London and a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences at Gottingen. SCIENCE. 70 On the occasion of his jubilee Lord Lister has been created, by the King of Denmark, a Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog. In accordance with the recommendation of the Paris Academy of Sciences, M. Darboux has been appointed a member of the Bureau of Longitude in the room of the late M. Cornu. Dr. Hermann NotTHNaGeEL, professor of clinical medicine and therapeutics in the Uni- versity of Vienna, has been nominated a life member of the upper house of the Austrian Parliament. Dr. FREDERICK W. TRUE, executive curator of the National Museum, has been placed in charge of the exhibits of the Smithsonian In- stitution and National Museum at the St. Louis Exposition. Dr. Rupotr ApERHOLD has been made di- rector of the Berlin Bureau of Health. Dr. Cuartes J. BELL, professor of chem- istry in the University of Minnesota, died on January 4, aged forty-eight years. Tue scientific fraternity, the Sigma Xi So- ciety, has established a chapter at Columbia University. Tuer Colorado Institute of Electrical Engi- neers has been organized at Denver with the following officers: Chairman, Henry UL. Doherty; Vice-Chairman, J. W. Stearns; Sec- ond Vice-Chairman, A. H. Weber; Secretary, Eugene Sayer; Treasurer, A. M. Ballou. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. It is announced that among the New Year’s benefactions of Dr. D. K. Pearsons, of Chi- cago, will be: Illinois College, Jacksonville, Tll., $50,000; Fargo College, Fargo, N. D., $50,000; West Virginia Conference Seminary, Buchanan, W. Va., $50,000; Fairmount Col- lege, Wichita, Kas., $25,000. This would make the total of Mr. Pearsons’s contributions to colleges $4,000,000. Tur Board of Trustees of Hamline Univer- sity in Minneapolis announces that an endow- ment of $250,000 for the university has been raised, principally in Minnesota. Messrs. James J. Hill and M. G. and J. L. Norton, of Winona, gave large sums. 80 SCIENCE. Ir is announced that the endowment fund for Schurtleff College, at Upper Alton, IIL, has been completed, and that $92,000 has been collected to pay the debt of Albion College, Mich. Tue trustees of Union College at Schenec- tady, N. Y., have received an offer from the General Electric Company to make a gift for the equipment of the electrical laboratory and the annual payment for salaries. The course will be in charge of Dr. C. P. Stein- metz, who will hold the position of professor of electrical engineering. Ar a recent meeting of the council of the North Wales University College, Bangor, it was announced that Lady Morgan intended to give to the college a sum of £2,500 to found scholarships in memory of the late Sir G. Osborne Morgan, a former vice-president of the college. Tue registration at New York University, which was omitted from the article on the subject by Dr. Rudolph Tombo, Jr., published in the issue of Sctence for December 26, is as follows: College of Arts and Pure Science.... 257 School of Applied Science......... 103 Graduate School .................. 181 School of Pedagogy................ 355 School of Commerce.............. 125 Summer School .................. 113 baw) School) Wa. i teens 660 Woman’s Law Class............... 36 University Medical College........ 298 Veterinary College ................ 55 2183 Deduct names repeated.................... 113 2070 Meacham S tallies ttre etie eterna ttre 210 Tue following statements regarding the scientific work of Oxford University are in- cluded in a pamphlet issued by the vice-chan- cellor on the most pressing needs of the uni- veisity: The keeper of the Ashmolean Mu- seum estimates that not less than £3,500 will be required in the near future for additional cases and upper galleries to meet the rapid increase of the collections. Eventually it will be necessary to erect new exhibition rooms, basement rooms for storage, a coin room and lecture theater; also to add to the library and [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 419. to provide a librarian. The need of space for extension is also felt by the committee of the picture galleries, and the keeper of the Hope collection of engravings. The want of lecture rooms for the use of the public teach- ers of the university is dwelt on in several of the replies. The desirability of insti- tuting and maintaining a laboratory for ex- perimental research in the field of psychology is urged by several professors. The urgent needs of the several departments of the Uni- versity Museum would at the present time in- volve an additional capital expenditure of £33,000, and an annual expenditure of £3,050 (representing a capital of £100,000); the fu- ture needs specified show that a further cap- ital sum of £60,000 and an annual outlay of £4,000 will eventually be necessary. An addi- tional professorship (for which provision is already made by statutes not yet in operation) is asked for applied mechanics. Better en- dowment is asked for the professorship of human anatomy, the readership in pathology, the Slade professorship of fine art (which it is proposed to make resident and permanent), the Sibthorpian professorship of rural econ- omy (now suspended), the chairs of geology, zoology, physics, and experimental philosophy, and the curatorship of the Pitt-Rivers Mu- seum. A large extension of the system of readerships and lectureships is asked for in medicine, natural science, ancient history and archeology. The curators of the schools ask that the electric light may be installed there at a cost of £850. AT a meeting of the senate of the Univer- sity of London on December 13 it was de- cided to constitute an additional board of studies in human anatomy and morphology. Dr. Nathaniel H. Alcock was appointed demonstrator in the physiological laboratory till October 1, 1908. Sirk Witt1am Mum has resigned the position of principal of the University of Edinburgh. Among those suggested as his successor are Sir William Turner and Sir Archibald Geikie.. Prorsessor Joser Nuspaum has been ap- pointed professor of comparative anatomy at the University of Lemberg. SCIENCE A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EDITORIAL ComMITTEE : S. NEwcoms, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. WALcoTT, Geology ; W. M. DAvis, Physiography ; HENRY F. OSBOEN, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooxs, C. HART MEERIAM, Zoology ; S. H. ScuDDER, Entomology ; C. E. Brssry, N. L. Brirron, Botany; C. S. Minor, Embryology, Histology ; H. P. Bow- DITCH, Physiology; J. S. BILLINGS, Hygiene ; WILLIAM H. WELCH, Pathology ; J. MCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology. Fripay, JANuary 16, 1903. CONTENTS: The American Association for the Advance- ment of Science :— On the Physical Constitution of the Planet . Jupiter: PRoressor G. W. HouGH........ 81 The Origin of Terrestrial Plants: PROFESSOR Doucias HouGHTON CAMPBELL............ 93 Section A, Mathematics and Astronomy: Proressok CHartes 8. Howe............ 104 Scientific Books :— ' Liegler’s Ueber den derzeitigen Stand der Descendenzlehre in der Zoologie: PROFESSOR Wittiam A. Locy. Oeuvres Completes de J.-C. Galissard de Marignac: PROFESSOR THEODORE WILLIAM RICHARDS............ 111 Societies and Academies :— The American Mathematical Society: Pro- FEssor F. N. Cote. The New Mexico Acad- emy of Science: Prorgessor T. D. A. Cock- TUF Sy aeidio€ Oe 0 Mae Dew ore ber oO cones 112 Discussion and Correspondence :— Marine Animals in Interior Waters: Pro- Fessor H. M. Smita. A Brilliant Meteor: Proressor ARTHUR M. Mitter. An Appli- cation of the Law of Priority: NaTHAN BANKS 114 Current Notes on Physiography :— Glacial Channels in Western New York; The Scenery of England; Terminology of Moraines; New Norwegian Maps: Pro- MESSOR Wilke DAVES): s wesc oie ccc eens Fes 115 Botanical Notes :— More Books on Trees: PROFESSOR CHARLES HES ESSE YG 5 cay ay ey a) sto foley et Sis[auae (Stolevave ttace « yer 117 Scientific Notes and News.................. 118 University and Hducational News.......... 120 MSS, intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. ON THE PHYSICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE PLANET JUPITER.* THe planet of Jupiter was one of the first objects to which the telescope of Galileo was directed, and the satellites of the planet were among the earliest dis- coveries made by that instrument. In 16380 the telescope had been constructed with sufficient power to show the great equatorial belt. Previous to the begin- ning of the eighteenth century the prin- cipal phenomena seen on the surface of Jupiter had been observed, and the time of rotation and position of the axis of the planet ascertained. Notwithstanding, however, the great mass of facts which have been collected from observations ex- tending over a period of 200 years, yet up to the present time no theory of the physical-condition of the surface has been advanced which has met with universal acceptance. In order that the subject may be more clearly understood it will be well to state briefly the salient features pre- sented to the eye of the observer. The disk of Jupiter appears as an ellipse hay- ing axes in the ratio of 14 to 15, the longer axis lying m the direction of the planet’s equator. The equatorial diameter is about 89,000 miles. * Address of the chairman of Section A, Mathe- matics and Astronomy, and vice-president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Read at the Washington meeting, De- cember 29, 1902. c 82 SCIENCE. Now as the axis of the planet is nearly perpendicular to the line of sight, we shall see objects in their true dimensions only near the middle of the disk and on the equator. In the revolution of the planet in its orbit, the equator, as seen from the earth, may be displaced 3.3 degrees. There- fore, all objects seen on the disk may ap- parently be shifted in latitude. At the equator the displacement may amount to 1.1” of are, or about one sixteenth of the polar diameter, while in higher latitudes it will be very much less, and at the lati- tude of 70 degrees the displacement will be only 0.28” of are. During the past twenty-five years some astronomers, who have observed Jupiter for years, imagine that when the planet is turned with its axis three degrees toward the earth, one would be able to see to the pole and beyond. I may say that this is a mistake, for the reason that the displace- ment of three degrees would amount to only 0.03” near the pole. It is very rare that any objects are seen beyond 40 de- grees of Jovian latitude. The latitude of 70 degrees is only 1” from the limb, and 80 degrees only 0.25” from the limb of the planet. Hence objects, if they existed at high latitudes, would be practically in- visible. During twenty-three years of ob- servation I have never observed a separate marking beyond 42 degrees of Jovicentric latitude, or 5.7” of are from the limb, ex- cept on one night when a small white spot was seen in latitude 62 degrees, or with- in 2” of the south limb of the planet. Usually a fine shading or discoloration of the disk is seen near the poles. The planet rotates on its axis in a little less than ten hours, and hence the shape and size of an object in passing across the disk will be materially modified by the effect of rota- tion. An object, when it is first brought into view on the disk by rotation, is in- finitely short in length and, as it is brought farther on by rotation, the length is in- [N. 8. Vou, XVII. No. 420. creased, and reaches its maximum when on the central meridian of the disk. In pass- ing off, it of course goes through the same changes in apparent size. As the meri- dians on a globe are curved lines, objects in passing across the disk may apparently be displaced in longitude in regard to each other, due to the curvature of the meridian, viz., two spots lying in different latitudes might at one time be on a line parallel to the polar axis of the planet and, when brought on the middle of the disk, would lie in different longitudes. Some astron- omers have been misled by phenomena of this kind, considering it to be a real motion of the object, when in fact it is simply displacement due to rotation. In order then to know what phenomena are real and what are apparent, it is neces- sary to take into account the position of the earth with regard to Jupiter’s equator, as well as the position of the object on the disk of the planet. Jupiter is distant 5.2 times the distance of the earth from the sun, and at mean distance 1” of are amounts to 2,300 miles. Now owing to the great distance of the planet from the earth, the objects we see must have considerable size in order to be visible. I presume that the smallest ob- ject which has been observed for longitude or latitude is at least 2,000 miles in di- ameter. In the case of a line or streak one might be able to see with the aid of the modern telescope 0.1” of are in width, which on Jupiter would be 230 miles, but all the markings which have been observed are considerably greater in size than this minimum value. The ordinary spots we see on Jupiter, from which rotation time has been determined, have usually been upward of 3,000 miles in diameter, where the spot is cireular or elliptical. I began systematic observations on Ju- piter in the year 1879, and these have been continued every year with the excep- tion of the opposition of 1888 and a part of JANUARY 16, 1903.] 1889, when the telescope was dismounted. I may say that, previous to this period, the observations of phenomena have usually been made by estimation. This was true with regard to the determination of Jongi- tude almost without exception, and very few positions in latitude have ever been determined with the micrometer. Ama- teur observers, who have no driving clock or micrometer, must necessarily rely on eye estimates for longitude and latitude, but when a telescope is equipped for micrometer work there is no better excuse for guessing than in the determination of the distance of a pair of double stars. Sketches or drawings of the planet Ju- piter are of very little value in the absence of other data. It is not unusual to find the latitude of conspicuous markings eight or ten degrees in error, and longitude a cor- responding amount. At the beginning of my observations on Jupiter I decided to fix the size and position of all objects seen on the disk by micrometrical measurement. By such a system of procedure positive facts will be established, which in time may enable us correctly to interpret the complicated phenomena observed. During the past twenty-five years the so-called canals and double canals on Mars have been the subject of much discussion. I believe if their position were fixed by micrometrical measurements, we should soon be able to decide what is real and what is imaginary. In order to use the micrometer for measurements on a planet, it is necessary to know the size of the disk. Jupiter has been measured by many astronomers, both with the micrometer and with the heli- ometer, but the measurements made differ considerably, due to two causes. First, irradiation, which depends on the size of the telescope, or rather on the magnifying power employed. Second, the increased size of the image, due to the condition of SCIENCE. 83 the atmosphere. In the use of the heli- ometer the true irradiation may be elim- inated, but not the increased size of the disk due to definition. In any ease the measured size of the disk depends directly on the magnifying power employed. In 1880 I made a series of measures of the polar and equatorial diameter of the planet with powers of 390 and 638, and in 1897 a series of measurements with powers of 390 and 925. In all cases, whatever the condition of the seeing, the lower, power gave the larger diameter. From the measures made on six nights in 1897, when the seeing was good enough to be able to use a power of 925, the differ- ence for the two powers employed was: polar, + 0.27”; equatorial, + 0.31”. In 1880 for ordinary seeing the difference for the two powers employed amounted to 1”. In order, therefore, to have some standard of size it would be necessary to decide upon the magnifying power employed with which the measures were made. Because of this apparent change in the size of the disk due to definition, to locate with pre- cision any object on the surface of the disk, or a satellite off the disk, it is neces- sary to refer the object to both limbs of the planet at the time of observation. If the object is referred to only one limb, under unfavorable atmospheric conditions an error of 1” of are would be easily pos- sible, but if it is referred to both limbs, then the effect of the irradiation, or en- largement of the disk, is almost wholly eliminated. In the reduction of my mi- crometrical work on Jupiter I have used the values 18.33” and 19.48” for the semi- axes of the planet at mean distance. These values for the size of the disk were found from a great many differential measures made in 1880-1 with a power of 390, and are somewhat larger than those given by the heliometer, owing to 84 irradiation, but they will probably better satisfy micrometer, work. The observations for longitude, latitude and magnitude of objects on the planet Jupiter have all been made with the par- allel-wire micrometer, preferably near the central meridian, but no rigid rule is fol- lowed in this respect. The longitude and latitude are usually determined whenever the spot or marking is wholly on the disk and distinctly visible. The longitudes are measured by ascer- taining the distance of the apparent cen- ter of the object from the limb of the planet, according to the method I pointed out some years ago. A determination of longitude or latitude generally consists of three bisections of the object and each limb of the planet. In the case of longi- tude, one half of the difference of the distances at the mean of the times is the distance of the apparent center of the object from the central meridian on the visible disk. This method of determin- ing longitudes has been found to be greatly superior, in point of accuracy, to the method of transits, as well as a great saving of time. The error in measurement of objects on a luminous disk is about twice as great as that from the measurement of double stars of equal distance. The ordinary error for location of objects in latitude or longitude on the disk of Jupiter may be placed at about 0.25” are. Twenty-five years ago it was almost the general opinion among astronomers that the phenomena seen on the planet Jupiter were transitory in their nature; that there was no permanency in the spots and mark- ings, but that the aspect of the planet changed from day to day, and even at less intervals of time. Perhaps we shall get a better idea of what was known about the subject by quoting from Grant’s ‘His- tory of Physical Astronomy’: SCIENCE. [N. 8. Von. XVII. No. 420. “Although generally there appear only three belts upon the disk of the planet, sometimes a greater variety is perceptible. Sometimes only one belt is visible. This is always the principal belt situated on the northern side of the planet’s equator. On the other hand, its whole surface has oceasionally been seen covered with belts. On the 18th of January, 1790, Sir William Herschel, having observed the planet with his forty-foot reflector, perceived two very dark belts dividing an equatorial zone of a yellowish color, and on each side of them were dark and bright bands alternating and continuous almost to the poles. A similar appearance was once noticed by Messier. These phenomena sometimes undergo very rapid transformations, affording thereby a strong proof that they owe their origin to the fluctuating movements of an elastic fluid enveloping the body of the planet. On the 13th of December, 1690, Cassini per- ceived five belts on the planet, two in the northern hemisphere and three in the southern hemisphere. An hour afterwards there appeared only two belts nearer the center and a feeble trace of the northern belt. The same astronomer frequently wit- nessed the formation of new belts on the planet in the course of one or two hours. The dark spots on the disk of the planet also afforded unequivocal indications of the existence of an atmosphere, for it is im- possible to reconcile their variable velocity with the supposition of their being perma- nent spots adhering to the surface of the planet. Cassini found from his observa- tions that the spots near the equator of the planet revolved with greater velocity than those more distant from it. Sir William Herschel found that the velocity sometimes underwent a sensible change in the course of a few days. He supposed the spots to be large congeries of cloud suspended in the atmosphere of the planet, and he ascribes JANUARY 16, 1903.] their movements to the prevalence of winds on its surface which blow periodically in the same direction.’’ Lardner, in his ‘Astronomy,’ says: ‘In a month or two the whole aspect of the disk may be changed.’ In my annual report to the Chicago As- tronomical Society for the year 1881, I stated that the phenomenon seen on the surface of Jupiter was of a more permanent character than had hitherto been believed to be the case. In 1878 a large and conspicuous object Imown'as the Great Red Spot was seen on the disk of Jupiter. It appears that this object was first noted on June 2, by Lohse, of Potsdam, but in looking up previous records, we find a spot seen in the same locality by the ancient astronomers. In the years 1664-6, a great red spot was observed by Hook and Cassini. It was situated one third of the semi-diameter of the planet south of the equator in latitude 6”. Its diameter was about one tenth the diameter of Jupiter, or about 8,000 miles. This spot appeared and vanished eight times between the years 1665 and 1708. From 1708 to 1713 it was invisible; the longest time of its continuing to be visible was three years, and the longest period of its disappearing was five years. Since its appearance in 1878 it has been visible with large tele- scopes during the whole period, but at times so faint that, except for the indentation in the equatorial belt, the spot, perhaps, would have been lost to astronomers, as it was formerly when they had smaller instru- ments. The great red spot is 11.61” or 37.2 de- grees in length, and 3.87” in breadth, or about 27,000 miles long, 9,000 miles broad, elliptical in outline, and, if we suppose the depth of the spot equal to its width, its vol- ume would be about three times that of the earth. This object, which seems to have SCIENCE. 85 great permanency, is not stationary in either longitude or latitude. It was visible in 1869 and 1870, when it was observed by Gledhill on four nights from November 14 to January 25, and on one night by Mayer. ‘The data for ascer- taining the rotation period have been de- rived from the drawings made, and neces- sarily are approximate. The rotation period was 94 55™ 25.88, or about eight seconds less than it was in 1879. From the observations made in 1878 I derived a rotation period of 92 55™ 33.78, Since the rotation period had been in- creasing for twenty years, the observations in 1869 are of value in tracing the motions of this object. I may add that’Mr. W. F. Denning, who has compiled the observations of what is presumed to be the red spots from 1831 to 1899, finds a rotation period of 9 55™ 34s between 1869 and 1878, by assuming the number of -rotations between consecutive observations. But where the interval is five years and upwards this is a very un- safe method of procedure, as will be per- ceived from the motions which have been studied during the last twenty-three years. From the measures which I have made every year I have determined the rotation period for the red spot from 1879 up to the present time, and with the minimum value in 1879 of 95 55™ 348, The diagram shows the rotation period at any point between 1879 and the present time. The vertical lines are intervals of 400 days, one day more than the synodic period of the planet. The horizontal lines represent seconds of are, so that the rotation period at any point will be shown on the curve, the seconds be- ing at the left hand of the diagram, and the time at the bottom of the diagram. The rotations for this curve were computed for intervals of 400 days by using at each epoch about twelve normal places, and the 86 probable error on the rotation period, as determined in this way, varies between ++ 0.02 sec. and + 0.07 see. The curve is perfectly smooth for the first six years, showing that the motion of the spot was very regular. Since that period the curve is not absolutely smooth, which may be due to the faintness of the object, and the shifting of the center from which the meas- urements were made, when the measures were referred. to the bay in the equatorial belt. My measures, when the spot was very indistinct, have been referred to the center of the bay, and that may account for the small irregularities in the curve during the later years. From the diagram it is seen that the rotation period of the planet reached its maximum between 1898 and 1899, being 41.7 seconds. Previous to 1898 the spot had an apparent retrograde mo- tion on the disk of the planet, and since that time the spot apparently has come to rest, and now has a direct drift around the planet. The rotation period for the last 400-day interval is 39.75 seconds, but the actual period at the present time is about three seconds less than it was in 1898. From the inspection of this curve, taken in connection with the rotation period which I found for 1870, it would seem to require a long eycle to make the rotation period the same as it was in 1879. The dotted curve indicates the ‘mean’ rotation period at any instant, counting from September 25, 1879. The ‘mean’ period for the interval 1879 to 1902 is 92 55™ 39.938. In 1880, when the red spot was most conspicuous, it was seen, when brought on the disk by rotation, at 87 degrees of longitude, or 28 35™ in time from the cen- tral meridian, when its length was only second of are. When the spot is wholly on the disk its longitude is 71.4 degrees and the apparent length 3.7”. It is possible that the rotation period may be connected with SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 420, its visibility, viz., when the spot comes back to the same rotation period it had in 1879 it may become more conspicuous and reddish in color. This object has drifted in longitude about three and one fourth times around the planet since 1879, assuming the rotation period at that time to be the true rotation period of the planet. It seems to me, however, more probable that the time of rotation of the planet is longer than any period hitherto determined, in which case all objeets would drift in the same direc- tion. The object also has a motion in lati- tude, and the total displacement in twenty- three years has been 1.7”, or about 4,000 miles drift in latitude. The rate of drift in longitude and the visibility may possibly be due to the greater or less submergence of the spot in the material which composes the surface of the planet. The diagram shows the mean latitude of the red spot at each opposition cor- rected for the elevation of the earth above Jupiter’s equator. It seems that during these twenty-three years the spot has ap- proached nearly 1” nearer the equator than it was in 1879. The short time scale, the vertical lines being intervals of 400 days, makes the displacement appear more abrupt than it really is. The Jovicentric latitude is given on the right hand of the diagram. At the present time this is about eighteen degrees. We might add that this displacement in latitude of the red spot is very much less than the dis- placement of the great equatorial belt. The most conspicuous marking on the surface of the planet is the great equatorial belt, which is always visible. This belt may appear as one belt, but usually is com- posed of two portions lying on either side of the equator of the planet. In 1880 it was practically one belt extending without break for a short time across the surface of the equator. From the study of the eet wit 87 SCIENCE. JANUARY 16, 1903.] C7 2 sb 7h 1b of 3g 48 8 2 -58 4B 83 7) S 0% ELA? Ae pr SS ass al [TESS ee a es 5 & Py x) < 1 » Ww By Ss < a 5 7 ay S bh Sb 1b Jb ob b2 AR LE sQihs $8738 1g 0% SUS! li : " SbS) 35 0095 le 9 5 4h g % > 9 1 G AS, Zig § pu l- Zab? —-Sb8)) TAG Verse 4g ® 0 97) bras tity O74, sane 3 behit LS belt h 5:84 Sy <7 RE? faa “ 8° 88 changes in this belt one may arrive at some idea recarding motions taking place on the surface of the planet. The systematic de- termination of motion in latitude has never been undertaken by any one previous to the observations which I began in 1879. Ocea- sionally latitudes have been measured dur- ing one opposition. Arago, in ‘Astronomé Populaire,’ raised the question whether the belts on Jupiter are fixed in size and position, and he gives some measures of the positions from 1811 to 1837, and takes the mean of these various measures for get- ting the mean position of the belts on the planet. These observations are approxi- mate, and are used without regard to the position of the earth above and below Jupiter’s equator. From 1879 to the present time the latitude and width of the great equatorial belt have been meas- ured on nearly every observing night, so that we may ascertain the position of the edge of the belt at any instant. It is found that the north edge of the belt has had a drift im latitude of nearly 4” of are or 12 degrees, and the south edge about the same amount. The changes in the drift of the belt are usually slow and gradual, but it is possible sometimes that considerable change may be observed in the course of a few days. The dia- eram indicates the position of the edge of the belt from 1879 to 1902, and it is of very great interest in showing at a elanee the changes that have taken place in latitude. From the study of this diagram it appears that the disturbances take place on both edges of the belt at practically the same time. The matter composing the belts generally has a motion on both sides of the equator in opposite directions. In 1879 the whole width of the belt was about 7” of are. In 1882 it widened out and has at times reached a width of about SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 420. 13” of are. The edges of the belt remain practically parallel to the equator in all longitudes. I have noticed two marked ex- ceptions. On October 3, 1882, there was a curved projection in longitude plus 30 min- utes, following the great red spot. On October 14 the edge was smooth at the same longitude and the whole belt had drifted so far north as to coalesce with B,. Also on February 24, 1897, in longitude plus -five hours, the preceding half of the north edge of the belt drifted about two seconds farther north than the following portion. On February 27, however, the edge of the belt was comparatively smooth in the same longitude. Aside from the drift of the edges of the belt in latitude, the belt itself changes dimensions from time to time to a consid- erable extent, and these changes have been studied from micrometrical measurements since 1895. The diagram shows the width of the two portions of the equatorial belt at any instant from 1895 to 1902. The diagram indicates the width and not the shape of the belt at any time. Now it is seen, taking the portion of the belt north of the equator, at times it becomes very narrow; for instance in 1896 it was about 1” are in width, 1897 it was about 5” in width, and then it became narrower again in 1898, and continued wide from that time until 1901, when it was less than 1’ are in width and appeared as a faint line on the planet. The south portion of the belt has not passed through so great change during the five years, and has been more steady in latitude and width. On either side of the equator are fainter belts which usually ex- tend to 40 degrees of latitude as separate belts. These faint belts are subject to change, in both size and position, from year to year. On the belts and on the surface of the planet there are frequently seen small JANUARY 16, 1903.] spots, sometimes white and sometimes black, viz., 2,000 miles or more in diam- eter, and from the observations of these spots we have determined the rotation period of the planet for different parts of the surface. The spots, which appear near the north margin of the equatorial belt nearly every opposition and are some- times permanent for two or three years, and have a slight motion in latitude, only a fraction of 1” of arc, whereas the belt may move 3” or more in lati- tude in one year. It seems to me that this fact has an important bearing as to location of the objects, viz., the belt and the spots. JI infer from the slight displace- ment of the spots that they lie at a lower level in the Jovian surface than the equa- torial belt, and for the same reason the ereat red spot lies at a lower level. The transits of the satellites of Jupiter offer phenomena which have a direct bear- ing on the constitution of the planet. The satellites at times cross all parts of the disk in transit. For a normal transit the satel- lite disappears at some distance from the disk after ingress and reappears at a simi- _lar distance before egress. From this fact it is concluded that the center of the disk of Jupiter has the same reflecting power as the satellites. With the 184” refractor I have ascertained that a satellite can be fol- lowed for a distance of 10” of are from the limb or nearly one quarter the diameter of the disk before it disappears in transit. However, when the transit occurs within 10” of the north or south limbs, the satel- lite can be seen during the entire transit across the disk. Now since the satellite is not supposed to be hot enough to give light, we conclude there is not sufficient heat in the planet to produce light. The observa- tion of the eclipse of the satellite also shows that it has no inherent light of its own. SCIENCE. 89 Aside from the period of 92 55™, some spots and markings give a shorter period of 9h 50™, indicating that these objects have a motion of about 250 miles an hour in the direction of the planet’s rotation, assuming that the true rotation period is 95 55™. For mechanical reasons the spots which give this shorter period must necessarily be located above the spots which give the longer period of 98 55™. From 1879 to 1885 two white spots in latitude 6 degrees south were observed every year, giving a rotation period of 95 50™ plus. The white spots, during the last twenty years, which give this short period, have been observed between the latitudes plus 11 and minus 8, and also in one year, in 1891, black spots which gave a short period were observed in latitude 20 degrees north. The spots and markings which give the long period of gh 55™ have been observed in latitudes be- tween 37 degrees north and 38 degrees south and within 12 degrees of the equator. The equatorial belt sometimes approaches the equator very closely, and its rotation for some years has been the same as that of the great red spot, for the spot and the belt have, as we know, maintained the same position toward each other. Hence we find the longer rotation period of 92 55™ in pre- cisely the same latitude as the shorter period. On examining the table of rota- tions there does not seem to be any connec- tion between latitude and rotation period, as has often been alleged. The longest period which I observed, covering an in- terval of 156 days, is 92 56™ 0.48, which was in latitude 26 degrees north. Mr. A. S. Williams has written some arti- cles on the rotation of the surface of Jupiter in which he finds zones of constant cur- rents. These speculations are not sound, for the reason that in the same latitude we find different rotation periods for the same instant of time, and, as I have said before, 90 there is no law connecting rotation period with the latitude, except we find this period of 92 50™ more commonly between the limits of —8 and + 11 degrees, whereas the longer period is distributed indiscrim- inately over the surface of the whole planet as far as 388 degrees latitude. The question has sometimes been raised as to whether the phenomena on Jupiter were periodic. The inclination of Jupiter’s equator to its orbit being only three de- grees, any periodicity due to the revolu- tion of Jupiter around the sun should recur at intervals of about twelve years, but from the motions which I have shown for the displacement of the belts in lati- tude there does not seem to be any regu- larity in the period. I presume any periodicity is of the same nature as we have in the meteorology of the earth. We have, of course, a sequence in the sea- sons and a sequence in weather conditions, but our sequence in weather conditions does not follow any regularity, and if changes on Jupiter are due to meteorological causes, we should not expect to find any definite period. The application of photography to astro- nomical observations has been of great value in various directions, but up to the present time it has been of no benefit in the study of planetary details. Photographs of the planet Jupiter have been made since 1880 at different times, but they only show the simple outline and some of the con- spicuous markings. The scale of photo- eraph is so small that it cannot be used with any degree of success for determining position on the disk. There is no question, however, that if we are ever able, by in- ereasing the sensitiveness of our plate, to make an enlarged photograph of Jupiter or Mars such as is seen through the tele- scope with the eye, it would be a great ad- vanee, and it would enable us to decide very SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 420 many questions, which are now impossible owing to the limited time that we are able to study the object under consideration, due to the rapid motion of the planet on its axis. The phenomena seen on the planet depend in a great measure on the size of the telescope and the magnifying power em- ployed. In my work on Jupiter I have habitually used a power of 390, which is adapted to most conditions for seeing and will show minute detail. With the same telescope, using a power of 190, the appear- ance of the disk is quite different, and minute detail cannot be seen with distinct- ness. The observers who have small tele- scopes of five or six inches in aperture and use a comparatively low power do not see the phenomena as they would be shown by larger telescopes and high power. Hence in any question of disagreement, observation with the small telescope should have very little weight. The principle is precisely the same as in the observation of double stars. While a pair of close or unequal double stars may be easy objects for 184” object glass, they are entirely beyond the range of a 6” object glass. A misinterpretation of phenomena has given rise to very erroneous notions regard- ing the changes which take place on the surface of the planet. When we look at the planet Jupiter, we see only about one fifth of the surface in longitude distinetly at any one time, and hence in the course of two hours we should have an entirely new set of features under view of the eye of the ob- server. The faint belts north and south of the equator sometimes only extend over a portion of the circumference of the planet, and in such case one might see a greater or less number of belts after the interval of two hours or more, as has been stated by Cassini and others. My observations during the past twenty- ANUARY 16, 1903.] three years have established the following facts: 1. The equatorial belt changes in both size and position to a considerable extent, but these changes are usually. slow and gradual. Occasionally, however, a marked change may be observed in the features of the belt in the course of a number of days. 2. The fainter belts also are displaced in latitude and in the amount of material of which they are composed. The visibility of the fainter markings and spots depends in a considerable measure on the distance of the planet from the earth. When the planet is at more than mean distance, the so- ealled polar belts are very faint and some- times invisible, even with a large telescope, and are not brought into view until the planet approaches toward opposition. This fact I noticed particularly in the early years of my observation on Jupiter, when the observations were made as near the sun as possible. 3. The egg-shaped white spots, which ap- pear in this form from perspective, as they are probably nearly circular, are found both north and south of the equator and are very permanent in latitude. They are usually from one to two seconds of are in diameter. These spots are not fixed with regard to each other, even when they are located in the same latitude. ' 4, Aside from the white spots, there are dark spots of similar size, sometimes on the faint belts and sometimes entirely discon- nected from the belt. The dark matter is not as stable as the egg-shaped white spots, and probably lies at the same level as the equatorial belt. 5. Near the equator are found white spots, usually of a larger size and more ir- regular in shape, which give rise to the period of 92 50™, The mean density of the planet Jupiter is 1.37 times that of water. The spheroidal SCIENCE. 91 figure of the planet indicates that the density increases as we proceed from the surface to the center. In the case of the earth the density at the surface is about one third the mean density, and assuming the same rule for Jupiter, its surface density would be 0.4 to 0.5 that of water. The liquefaction of air and gases during recent years enables us to imagine a medium which would have the density corresponding to that of the surface of the planet. The older astronomers, of course, had no knowledge of any substance between atmosphere and liquid, and henee, in forming their theories of the motions on the surface of the planet, the theory was necessarily atmospheric, but there is now no excuse for maintaining an atmospheric theory which will not account for the phenomena observed. A probable theory of the constitution of the planet should in some degree satisfy all the phenomena observed. No one can draw legitimate conclusions from casual observa- tions. On the surface of Jupiter we find the following objects: (1) The great red spot, which is the most stable of all objects seen on the disk of the planet. During the period that its size has been measured with the micrometer one cannot say with cer- tainty that there has been any change in its size or shape from 1879 to 1902. It is now conceded by astronomers that the ob- ject is identical with the spot observed by early astronomers. Such being the case, it would seem to be absurd to say that any- thing in the nature of a cloud should persist in the same form for more than 200 years. Its spheroidal shape in connection with its stability would seem to show that it has volume and mass. Its motion in latitude, as we have already seen, is much less than for the equatorial belt. The matter of which it is composed is in a different condi- tion to that of the belt. In 1880 I had the good fortune to notice the transit of a satel- 92 lite over the red spot. The satellite, which was invisible during transit, when projected on the spot appeared as bright as when off the disk. On the contrary, when satellites transit the belt they are imvisible. (2) Egeg-shaped white spots from 2,000 to 5,000 miles in diameter. These spots I have found in north latitude 18 to 37 degrees and in south latitude from 18 to 27 degrees. These objects do not look like clouds, and so far as we know they do not change their shape during the six months while under observation. They are also very stable in latitude and give a rotation period of 9855™ +. (3) Small black spots seen on the belts-or entirely separate. These objects give a rotation period of 95 55™ +, but on one occasion in latitude 20 degrees north I found a short period. (4) The dark matter forming the system of belts ineludine the equatorial belt and the so- called polar belts, which also give a rota- tion period of 9255™. (5) The white spots which give a rotation period of 95 50™. It seems to be the opinion of most writers on Jovian phenomena that the planet is yet at a high temperature, but not self-lumin- ous. The high temperature is favorable for the explanation of some of the phe- nomena observed. I have long held the opinion that a simple atmospheric theory was not sufficient. The greater luminosity of the center of the disk indicates absorp- tion of light, probably due to an extensive atmosphere. The white spots which give a rotation period of 9" 50™ are of different form and size from the egg-shaped spots which give the period of 98 55™+. The short period spots are greater in size and irregular in shape, sometimes appearing simply as a rift im the equatorial belt. Having these facts before us, we can formulate a theory which will fairly well satisfy all classes of phenomena. I assume that the visible boundary of SCIENCE. LN. 8S. Von. XVII. No. 420. Jupiter has a density of about one half that of water. This medium is in the nature of a liquid; in it are located the ereat red spot and the egg-shaped white spots. In such a medium all motions in longitude and latitude would be slow and gradual, and the shape and size of the object would have great permanency. The equatorial belt and the so-called polar belts may be located on the surface or at a higher level than the red spot. In the middle latitude within twenty degrees of the equator the higher atmosphere carries a layer of dark matter in the direction of the rotation of the planet at a velocity of — about 250 miles per hour, making a com- plete circuit around the planet in 44 days. In this envelope are formed the openings which we call white spots and, by unequal distribution, black spots. The great bay in the south edge of the equatorial belt may be accounted for by assuming that the great red spot is at a lower temperature than the medium in which it floats, and by its lower temperature condensing a portion of the vapor composing the belt. In 1882, when the edge of the belt drifted south, it did not come in contact with the spot at any point, although it advanced at times be- yond the center. In 1883 I stated that the spot seemed to have a repelling influence on the belt. During the past twenty years, when the belt and the spot were in prox- imity a depression was formed in the belt directly opposite, which was of the same form as the contour of the spot. The belts may be assumed to be some sort of vapor of considerable density. The cloudlike mat- ter, which in the equatorial regions is moy- ing over the surface at the rate of 250 miles per hour would account for the minor changes on the surface of the equatorial belt. I think the theory I have given offers a more plausible explanation of the various phenomena observed than the off- JANUARY 16, 1903.] hand statement that we see simply clouds floating in the atmosphere of the planet. G. W. Hoveu. THE ORIGIN OF TERRESTRIAL PLANTS.* I sHouup like to imvite your, attention for a little while to some of the factors that apparently have been operative in determining the changes which plant structures have undergone in the course of the development of the vegetable king- dom. While some of these are perfectly obvious, others are by no means so evident, and, as might be expected, there is not per- fect agreement among botanists as to the relative importance of some of these fac- tors, nor indeed of their efficiency at all. I shall not attempt here to go into any extended discussion of the remarkable re- sults obtained by Professor De Vries in his recent studies upon variation in plants. These are too important, however, to be dismissed without some mention. The conclusion reached by Professor De Vries is that, im addition to the variation within the limits of species, there may be sudden variations, or ‘mutations,’ which, so to speak, overstep the limits of the species, and thus inaugurate new species. While the results obtained, especially in the case of @nothera Lamarckiana, are certainly most striking, more data are necessary be- fore we can accept without reserve the conclusions reached. It is certain that marked changes—‘sports,’ as the garden- ers term them—often appear without any explainable cause, and it is equally diffi- cult to understand, what for want of a better term, we can only term ‘tendencies’ to develop in special directions. Thus the specialization of the sexual reproduc- tive cells, which has evidently taken place * Address of the chairman of Section G, Botany, and vice-president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Read at the Wash- ington meeting, December 29, 1902. SCIENCE. 93 quite independently in several unrelated lines; the development of heterospory, and probably of the seed-habit in different groups independently, are hard to explain without assuming an innate tendency to vary in a determined direction. It is not, however, with these exceed- ingly difficult and often obscure problems that we shall concern ourselves here, but rather with those changes in plant struc- tures which are. referable to more or less evident response to known conditions. Speaking in broad terms, I think we can reduce the determining factors to three categories, leaving aside the inherent tendencies to variation. These three sets of factors are: (1) those relating to the food supply, (2) the relation to water and (3) those concerned with reproduc- tion. It is hardly necessary to say that there is no fundamental distinction between plants and animals. At the bottom of the scale of organic life are many forms, especially those belonging to the group of Flagellata, which are intermediate between the strictly animal and vegetable organ- isms. We may safely assume that the primi- tive organisms were motile, perhaps re- sembling some of the existing flagellates. Of the latter some are destitute of pig- ment and approach the lower Protozoa; others are provided with chromatophores containing chlorophyll and resemble the lower plants. It is highly probable that the forms with chromatophores are able to assimilate carbon dioxide, as the typical plants do, and may be denominated ‘holo- phytic.’ The forms without chlorophyll are probably, like animals, dependent upon organic food for their existence. If we compare the holophytic flagellates with those forms which have no chloro- phyll, a significant difference may be noted, which is evidently associated with 94 SCIENCE. their nutrition. The holophytic forms are noticeably less motile than the others. Thus Huglena, one of the commonest green flagellates, becomes encysted before divi- sion takes place. The resting cell has a firm membrane about it, and closely re- sembles a typical plant cell. The forms without chromatophores, however, ¢. g., Scytomonas, may divide longitudinally in the active condition. This difference in motility between the forms with and with- out chromatophores seems to be the first hint of the differentiation of the charac- teristically motile animals and immobile plants. One group of plants (Volvocaces) evi- dently allied to the Flagellata, and some- times even included with them, like ani- mals, show. active locomotion during their vegetative existence. Aside from these, and the Peridinee, which may be remotely related to them, locomotion is exhibited only by such reproductive cells as z0o- spores and spermatozoids. The frequent reversion to the motile condition found in the reproductive cells suggests the proba- bility that these have been derived from similar ancestral forms. The loss of motility in typical vegetable cells is associated with the formation of a firm membrane, usually of cellulose, about the cell. This precludes all move- ment of the cell, except in those cases where openings are present, through which extensions of the protoplasm, usually in the form of cilia, protrude. The power of free locomotion was prob- ably a character of the primitive vegetable cell, but with the development of the holo- phytic habit, this power has been lost by the vegetative cell of most plants. The loss of locomotion in plants may probably be connected with the development of the power to assimilate carbon dioxide, the main source of food. As the CO, in the air, or dissolved in water, is constantly LN. S. Von. XVII. No. 420. being received, it is not necessary for the plant to move from one place to another in search of food, and we find plants be- coming more and more stable. Where ani- mals are so placed that their food supply is abundantly received, they may assume an immobile plant-lke habit. This is especially marked in many marine animals, such as corals, hydroids, sponges, ascidians and such molluses as oysters. The old name “zoophyte’ applied to corals and sim- ilar animals was not in all respects a mis- nomer. These rooted marine animals ex- hibit another resemblance to plants in the development of free swimming larve, an- alogous to the active zoospores produced by so many alee. In both instances it is safe to assume that the motile stage is older than the fixed condition. Lack of time forbids our consideration in detail of the very important, but by no means clearly understood, problems deal- ing with the evolution of sex in the vege- table kingdom. Thus the reason why the development of distinct sexual cells has taken place in an almost identical manner in several widely separated groups of plants is hard to explain. The sexual cells, or gametes, have beyond question been derived from non-sexual ones. Thus in several groups of alge; e. g., Volvoca- cee, Confervoidee and Pheophycer, there still exists an almost perfect series of forms leading from the non-sexual zoospores to perfectly differentiated male and female gametes. The formation of sexual or non- sexual reproductive elements is, In many eases at least, largely dependent upon the conditions under which the plants are grown. This has been very clearly shown by the remarkable series of investigations made by Professor Klebs upon various thallophytes. For a discussion of the meaning of sex, the reader may refer to the recent papers on the subject by Stras- burger and Beveri. JANUARY 16, 1903.] In short, while we know to a consid- erable extent some of the factors which determine the formation of sexual cells, where these have already been developed, the reasons why sex has developed are still very obscure. Secondary reproductive structures, such as sporangia, seeds, flowers, fruit, ete., are readily enough explicable and need not be dwelt upon here. PHOTOSYNTHESIS. Perhaps the most important physiolog- ical property of green plants is the photo- synthesis, or the ability to utilize the en- ergy of the sun’s rays for the manufacture of the primary carbon compounds neces- sary to build up living protoplasm. That some of the most striking modifications of the plant body are directly associated with photosynthesis is certain. The develop- ment of leaves in various groups of plants is, perhaps, the most obvious response to the needs for photosynthesis. The leaf is, par excellence, the photosynthetic organ. The spreading out of the green cells so as to offer the most favorable exposure to the light rays, and in the higher plants the development of stomata and the spongy mesophyll, or special assimilating tissues, are especially perfect. Leaves are by no means confined to the vascular plants, however. We need only recall the simple leaves of mosses and liverworts and the similar organs in the more highly organ- ized seaweeds, such as Sargassum or Macro- cystis. Hven among the truly green alge simple photosynthetic organs may be de- veloped. The dense branching tufts of Draparnaldia or the expanded frond of Ulwa, for example, are of this nature. The leaves of these lower plants are very different morphologically from those of the ferns and seed plants, but show very clearly that they are physiologically of the SCIENCE. 95 same nature; 7. ¢., they are analogous but not homologous. Other special modifications associated with photosynthesis are the peculiar la- cunar tissues found in the thallus of the Marchantiales and in the sporogonium of the true mosses and in Anthoceros. In all these instances there are formed, in con- nection with the green lacunar tissue, more or less perfect stomata. These upon the apophysis of the sporogonium of many mosses, and over the whole surface in Anthoceros, are precisely similar to those found upon the leaves and other green organs of the vascular plants. While it is usually stated that, among the bryophytes, appendicular organs are quite absent from the sporophyte, the apoph- ysis, or special assimilative organ at the base of the capsule in some of the more specialized mosses like Polytrichuwm and Splachnum, might almost be so regarded. In the latter genus it sometimes forms a broad disk several times the diameter of the rest of the capsule, and is just as truly a special organ for photosynthesis as is the leaf of a fern or flowering plant. WATER. Even more important than the changes of the plant body associated with photo- synthesis are those which are due to the plant’s relation to the water supply. All organisms require a certain amount of water in order that the protoplasm may perform its functions. Protoplasm is not necessarily killed by the withdrawal of water, but it is rendered inactive, as may be readily seen in such structures as seeds, spores, ete. The lowest organisms, whether plant or animal, are virtually aquatic; for, although they do not necessarily always remain in a liquid medium, they become quiescent when moisture is withheld. Very many, like most alg, are true aquatics, and it 96 SCIENCE. is safe to assume that the progenitors of the higher plants lived in the water. The nearest approach to these ancestral forms which have survived are probably certain green alex, which have retained much of their primitive simplicity. Much the greater number of living plants, however, have given up the primitive aquatic habit for life on land. In adapting themselves to this new habitat they have contrived to exist with a much diminished water sup- ply, which has enabled them to outstrip the much simpler forms which have re- tained their old aquatic habit. The change from the primitive aquatic condition to the much more varied condi- tions of terrestrial existence is bound up with profound changes in the organization of the plant body. MARINE PLANTS. Of the existing plants which have re- tained the primitive aquatic habit, the most important are the various types of marine alge, including not only the larger seaweeds, but also the minute pelagic forms like the diatoms and Peridinew. Many of the larger seaweeds are very much better developed than the simple green fresh- - water algw, and show many special modi- fications associated with their peculiar en- vironment. Not being subject to the dry- ing up which threatens all fresh-water organisms at times, it is very rarely that marine alge develop any form of resting- spores such as are so common among fresh- water algw. On the other hand, those which grow between tide-marks, where they are regularly exposed at low-tide, de- velop mucilaginous or gelatinous tissues, which prevent too complete loss of water. This is especially well seen in the large kelps and similar forms. Some of these, also, reach an enormous size, and develop leaves which are often provided with bladder-like floats, which bring them to [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 420 the surface when they are exposed to the light. Very characteristic are the minute pe- lagic plants, especially the diatoms and Peridinex, which are important constitu- ents of the plankton, or surface life of the sea. These floating plants are generally provided with some sort of buoyant appa- ratus, evidently an adaptation to their pelagic life. Small as these floating alex are individually, they are immensely im- portant to ocean life, as they constitute the main source of food for the hosts of animals inhabiting the sea. The great subkingdom of fungi offers many interesting problems bearing upon the evolution of plant-forms, but there is no reason to suppose that any higher types of plants have ever arisen from the fungi, many of which are doubtless plants of comparatively recent origin. Most of their peculiarities are associated with their nutrition, which is entirely different from that of typical plants. Not having chloro- phyll, they are, like animals, dependent upon other organisms for food. Conse- quently all fungi are either saprophytes, living upon dead organic matter, or as parasites they attack living animals and plants. I can not dwell here upon the extremely difficult problems connected with the origin and affinities of the fungi, even if I felt competent to discuss them. THE ORIGIN OF TERRESTRIAL PLANTS. We have now to consider what causes led to the abandonment of the aquatic habit by the alge ancestors of the vascular plants, and how this radical change in their environment has influenced the de- velopment of the structures of the higher plants. Nearly all fresh-water plants are ex- posed to destruction at times, by the dry- ing up of the bodies of water in which JANUARY 16, 19053. ] they live, conditions which are never met with in the life of most marine organisms. This necessitates some means of surviving the periods of drought, and has resulted in the development of various devices for carrying the plants through from one growing period to another. While a few low aquatics, like Plewrococcus or Oscilla- toria, may become completely dried up without being killed, in most fresh-water alge there are produced special cells— spores—which are more resistant than the vegetative cells and survive the death of the rest of the plant body. These resting spores may be produced non-sexually, as in Nostoc, or the ‘aplanospores’ of some of the green alex; but more commonly they are the product of the union of sexual cells, or gametes, and may be generally denominated ‘zygotes.’ This condition of things of course pre- eludes growth, except when an abundant water supply is provided. It is evident that any device by which the vegetative life of the plant can be prolonged is an obvious advantage. Some such contrivances, of a simpler kind, are seen in some of the lower green plants. Thus the gelatinous mass in which the filaments of a Nostoc colony are im- bedded, or the ‘palmella-stage’ of some Confervoider, offer a certain amount of resistance to the loss of water, and serve to prolong the period of vegetation. Less commonly root-like organs are developed which enable the alga to live on the wet sand, penetrating into it and drawing up water from below. Species of Vaucheria and Botrydiwm exhibit this very well. We may imagine that some algal form, perhaps related to the existing Confervoi- de, adopted a similar amphibious habit, developing rhizoids, by means of which it could vegetate in the mud after the sub- sidence of the water in which it was grow- ing, in a manner analogous to that exhib- SCIENCE. 97 ited by certain amphibious liverworts still existing. The well-known Ricciocarpus natans, for example, lives first as a floating aquatic, but may later settle in the mud, as the water subsides, and there vegetates much more luxuriantly than in its aquatic condition. The change from a dense medium like water to the much rarer atmosphere neces- sitates the development of mechanical tis- sues, to give the plant the requisite support in the air. There must also be developed devices for protecting the tissues against excessive loss of water due to transpira- tion. Other modifications are to insure economy of water in fertilization. In submerged aquatic plants water is absorbed directly by all the superficial cells, and of course there is no loss due to transpiration. Moreover, special conduct- ing tissues are made less important, and are either quite wanting, as in most alge, or much less developed than in related terrestrial forms. As soon as a plant be- comes terrestrial there must be provided organs (roots or their equivalent) for drawing up from the earth water to re- place what is lost by transpiration, and in all but the simplest forms special con- ducting tissues to facilitate its transport. In the lower types of land plants, the absorptive organs are usually simple hairs (rhizoids), but these are quite inadequate to supply a plant of large size, and conse- quently it is only those terrestrial plants which are provided with a true root system that have succeeded in reaching a large size. Hven in the lower terrestrial forms the rhizoids do not monopolize the absorp- tion of water, but many of them are able to absorb water directly through the leaves or through the superficial cells of the thal- lus. While this is especially marked in many mosses and liverworts, which are, so to speak, more or less aquatic in their be- havior toward water, it is by no means 98 confined to them, as most vascular plants develop structures, seeds, tubers, bulbs, ete., which can absorb water directly. Less commonly the leaves of vascular, plants have this property. This is espe- cially marked in various xerophilous plants, such as the Californian gold-back fern (Gymnogramme triangularis), Selagi- nella rupestris and other species, many species of Tillandsia, ete. As all botanists know, the structural dif- ferences between aquatic and terrestrial plants are very marked, but there are some transitional forms which illustrate very beautifully the change from one to the other, and the efforts of the plant to ad- just itself to the changed conditions. Thus some plants which are. usually strictly aquatic, such as some water-lilies, may as- sume a nearly terrestrial condition, the long-stalked, floating leaves being replaced by those borne upon shorter upright petioles. The primitive aquatic plants are either unicellular or simple cellular plants with relatively little differentiation of parts, as might be expected in organisms living in a relatively uniform medium. A necessity for their active existence is an abundant water supply, as they are not provided with any adequate means for resisting desicca- tion, although the mucilaginous or gelatin- ous substances in which their cells are some- times imbedded serve to retard for a short time the loss of water by evaporation when they are exposed to the air. A good many of the lower fresh-water organisms are capable of becoming dried up without los- ing their vitality, but of course their ac- tivity is stopped. More commonly they depend upon special resting cells, or spores, to carry them through periods of drought or cold. In exceptional cases, the lower algze may assume an amphibious habit, living upon SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 420. wet mud instead of actually in the water. Botrydium and some species of Vaucheria develop a simple root system by which the loss of water by transpiration is made good so long as the soil remains moist; but these quickly die as soon as the mud dries, as their cells are not protected against loss of water by evaporation. It is, however, among the bryophytes, or mosses, that anything approaching a satis- factory solution of the problem of a ter- restrial existence is attained. (I am leav- ing out of account the fungi.) All of the mosses are, to a certain extent, amphibious, since all of them require first water in or- der that fertilization may be effected. A small number, e. g., Riccia fluitans, Riella, Fontinalis, ete., are genuine aquatics, and the life history of such a form as Riccio- carpus natans illustrates what has prob- ably been the origin of the terrestrial habit in the primitive archegoniates. Ricciocar- pus is usually a floating plant, but it not infrequently assumes a terrestrial habit, sometimes preliminary to developing its reproductive organs. This is brought about by the subsidence of the water until the plant is left stranded on the sand. Under such circumstances it grows very vigor- ously, develops numerous rhizoids which penetrate the mud and supply it with water. Excessive loss of water is checked by the development of a ceuticularized epidermis covering the exposed surface of the thallus. It is highly probable that in some such way as this the alez ancestors of the first archegoniate plants began their life on land, and slowly emancipated themselves from the necessity of being surrounded by water, and of course thus be- came more and more independent of the drying up of shallow bodies of water in which they grew. In this way the vegeta- tive period would be much prolonged, and would give the plant a great advantage JANUARY 16, 1903.] over its aquatic competitors, and thus the terrestrial habit was established. Some liverworts and mosses may reach considerable size, a foot or more in length in a few eases. They also exhibit a cer- tain amount of specialization, correspond- ing to the requirements of the terrestrial environment. Well-developed leaves are present in nearly all true mosses, and in many liverworts, and in one order of the latter, the Marchantiales, the plant body, while retaining its thallose character, de- velops. a complicated assimilative tissue, with stomata of a peculiar type not found elsewhere. In the upright forms mechan- ical tissues are developed, and in the true mosses there is present in the leafy shoots a central strand of conducting tissue, com- parable to the vascular bundles found in the sporophytes of the vascular plants. In- deed the analogies existing between the leafy moss-shoot and the sporophytie shoots of the vascular plants are suffi- ciently obvious. No existing bryophytes have succeeded in reaching any but the most modest di- mensions. All the larger forms either are prostrate or grow in dense tufts, offering mutual support to the leafy shoots. In- deed no moss seems to have quite solved the problem of a self-supporting upright leaf-supporting axis. Neither have they successfully solved the problem of an ade- quate water supply, to compensate for loss of water by transpiration, and this of course is closely associated with the limit of size which the plant-body could assume. Given an unlimited water supply, and a plant, even of low organization, may attain very large dimensions, as we see in the giant kelps. Those plants, although in many respects of very low rank, neverthe- less may reach hundreds of feet in length, and develop specialized tissues, curiously suggesting those of the highly organized SCIENCE. 99 land plants. These giant seaweeds ab- sorb water throughout their whole super- ficial area, and there is no loss of water by transpiration ; but for a terrestrial plant to reach a large size there must be ade- quate means for absorbing water from the soil, and for transporting it expeditiously through the plant to those places where water is being lost through transpiration. In the highest terrestrial plants, the ‘vascular’ plants, we meet first with a per- fect system of water-conducting tissue. This is the woody portion of the fibro-vascu- lar bundles, composed of the characteristic tracheary tissue, first encountered in the ferns, and common to all the higher plants. ORIGIN OF THE SPOROPHYTE. Among the lower terrestrial plants, the Archegoniate, which comprise the mosses and ferns, a very marked characteristic is the ‘alternation of generations.’ By this is meant that in its development the plant passes through two very different phases, a sexual and a non-sexual one. This is per- haps best seen in the ferns. The spore of the fern, on germination, gives rise not to the leafy fern plant, but to a much simpler plant much like a small liverwort, upon which the sexual reproductive organs, the archegonium and antheridium, are borne. This sexual plant is known as the gameto- phyte. Within the archegonium is borne the egg-cell or ovum, which, after being fertilized, ultimately produces the leafy fern plant, or ‘sporophyte,’ from its pro- ducing the spores, or non-sexual reproduc- tive bodies. Among the lower Archegoniates, the gametophyte is relatively much more im- portant, and the sporophyte is never an independent plant, as it is in the ferns, but always remains to a greater or less extent dependent upon the gametophyte for its existence. 100 An alternation of generations is hinted at among some of the green alge, but never becomes sharply defined as it is in the archegoniates. Among the red alge, how- ever, it becomes clearly marked, and also in many fungi. In both of the latter cases it is extremely probable that we have to do merely with analogies, as there is not the slightest evidence of any genetic connec- tion between either of these groups and the archegoniates. With the green alge, however, the case is somewhat different, and it is highly prob- able that the earliest archegoniates arose from some forms not very different from Coleochete, a green alga in which the fer- tilized ege gives rise to a very simple sporophytic structure. The increase in the output of the zygote, or fertilized egg, due to its division into a number of spores, instead of forming at once a single new individual, is an evident advantage which becomes increasingly im- portant as the gametophyte assumes the character of a terrestrial plant, and the chanees of fertilization, which requires the presence of water, become correspondingly lessened. There are two theories as to the origin of the alternation of generations among the archegoniates, the ‘homologous’ and ‘anti- thetic.’ The first holds that the non-sexual sporophyte is a direct modification of the gametophyte and probably arose from it as a vegetative outgrowth. The antithetic theory holds that the sporophyte always, in normal eases, arises from the fertilized ovum, and is a further development of the zygote which has arisen in response to the requirements of a terrestrial existence. There is not time here to consider at length the relative merits of these two theories. In a special paper before the section, I hope to bring this matter up for discus- sion. For present purposes I shall assume SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 420. that the latter (antithetic) view is the correct one. As the ancestors of the archegoniates left their original aquatic habitat, the question of the water supply became of the first im- portance. All of these lower land plants have retained many of their original char- acteristics, among them the development of motile male cells (spermatozoids), which require free water in order that they may reach the egg-cell and fertilize it. That is, the plants are, to a certain extent, amphibious, and must return to the water in order that fertilization may be effected. It is very clear, then, that anything which tends to increase the number of spores re- sulting from the developed zygote will be advantageous, rendering a sinele fertiliza- tion more and more effective. The alternation of sexual and non-sexual plants among the green algx is not sharply marked, and has been shown to be largely a matter of nutrition. Nevertheless, as already mentioned, there is a hint of an alternation of generations in certain forms like the higher Confervoidez. In these the germinating zygote produces a larger or smaller number of zoospores, which give rise to as many new individuals. From some such form as these in all probability the primitive archegoniates arose. As these became distinctly land plants, the motile zoospores resulting from the zygote of the algze gave place to the non-motile spores characteristic of the terrestrial archegon- iates; but of any transitional forms we are quite ignorant, and the gap between alge and archegoniates is a very deep one. The gradual specialization exhibited by the existing liverworts and mosses is famil- iar to all botanists, and will only be briefly discussed here. Enough to say that from the simplest type, a globular mass of spores, with almost no sterile tissue developed, such as occurs in-the Ricciacew, there are JANUARY 16, 1903.] still found almost all intermediate condi- tions, culminating in the large and com- plex sporangia of the true mosses, and the somewhat similar but much simpler one of Anthoceros. In following such a series it is clear that spore-production, the sole function of the primitive sporophyte, becomes largely sub- ordinated to the purely vegetative exist- ence of the sporophyte. Thus in such a moss as Polytrichum, the sporogenous tis- sue does not appear until a late period in the development of the sporophyte, and comprises but a very small fraction of its bulk. An elaborate system of assimilative tissue, with lacunar green tissue and stomata like those of the vascular plants, is developed, and the loss of water due to transpiration is made good by a strand of conducting tissue, which represents a sim- ple type of vascular bundle. While the elaborate sporophyte of the mosses offers certain suggestions of the structures of the vascular plants, it is much too highly specialized in other directions to make it in the least probable that it has given rise to any higher forms. The equally dependent but much simpler sporo- phyte of the peculiar group of the Antho- cerotales is probably very much more like the forms from which this independent sporophyte of the ferns arose than is the more highly developed sporogonium of the true mosses. The subject of the gradual elaboration of the sporophyte cannot be dismissed with- out reference to the very important work of Professor Bower, whose clear exposition of the progressive sterilization of the tis- sues of the originally exclusively sporo- genous sporophyte is one of the most im- portant contributions to the subject. When we review the extraordinarily large number of resemblances between both gametophyte and sporophyte in the ferns SCIENCE. 101 and liverworts, the weight of evidence, to my mind, is overwhelmingly in favor of assuming a real genetic connection between the two groups. To say ‘that no structures among plants seem to have left so little trace of its origin as do the leafy sporo- phytes of Pteridophytes and Spermato- phytes,’ is certainly to ignore all the prin- ciples of comparative morphology. When we reflect that the reproductive organs and mode of fertilization are the same in all archegoniates; that the early divisions and growth of the embryo are identical; that in the more specialized bryophyte the sporophyte develops assimilative and con- ductive tissues strictly comparable to those of the Pteridophytes; and finally, that the spore formation is identical to the minutest details; surely such a statement is very far indeed from stating the truth. The fallacy of the arguments based upon apogamy has been ably refuted by Pro- fessor Bower. He has ealled attention to the fact that nearly all cases of apogamy are abnormal, and occur in forms where the sporophyte normally is produced from the egg. It is also noteworthy that the greater number of cases of apogamy occur in extremely variable species, such as the crested varieties of different ferns (e. g., Scolopendrium vulgare var. ramulosissi- mum). Professor Bower has also ealled attention to the fact that these are all forms belonging to the highly specialized and relatively modern group of Leptospo- rangiate. If apogamy is a reversion to a primitive condition, it is strange that it should occur in the least primitive ferns rather than in the older types. I think we may fairly class the phe- nomena of apospory and apogamy with the numerous eases of adventitious growths so common among both pteridophytes and seed plants. In these the whole sporo- phyte may originate as a bud from any 102 part of the plant. Such adventitious shoots may arise from leaves, as in many ferns, Begonia, Bryophyllum, ete.; from roots, in Ophioglossum, and many seed plants, e. g., Populus, Robima, Anemone, ete., or even from sporangia, as in the bud- ding of the nucellus of the ovule recorded in several cases of polyembryony. Now, no morphologist would argue from these that they are in any sense reversions, and I can not see why the case of apogamous, or aposporous budding is essentially dif- ferent. No bryophytes have quite emancipated themselves from the aquatic habit of their algal progenitors. While they may often dry up for an indefinite period without being killed, there is, nevertheless, much of the same dependence upon an ample water supply that we find in the alge. . Although much more resistant to loss of water through transpiration than are the few terrestrial algze, nevertheless the bryo- phytes, as a rule, are much less suited to a genuine terrestrial habit than are the vascular plants. Much the same means are employed by many bryophytes in the absorption of water as by the alge. Water may be absorbed by all the superficial cells, the roots playing a minor role as absorb- ents, except in those forms in which the plant is a prostrate thallus, where roots are often developed in great numbers. These delicate rhizoids, however, would be quite inadequate to supply the needs of a leafy stem of any but the most modest proportions. In a few bryophytes, e. g., Chimacwum, there are rhizome-like modifi- cations of the shoot, which may to a lim- ited degree be compared to roots, but any proper roots, like those of the vascular plants, are quite absent. It would seem as if nature’s attempts to adapt the origin- ally strictly aquatic gametophyte to a radically different environment had been only partially successful, owing to the fail- SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 420. ure to develop an adequate root system to restore the water lost through transpira- tion. It may be that the range of varia- tion any structural type may undergo is limited. If we accept this hypothesis, it may help to explain the significance of the alterna- tion of generations as developed among the archegoniates, and we can understand why the sporophyte has gradually replaced the gametophyte as the predominant phase of the plant’s existence. Attention has al- ready been directed to the perfectly well- known fact that sudden marked variations may appear in plants without any appar- ent cause. The work of De Vries empha- sizes this, and refers all radical advances in structures to such mutations, which are clearly distinguished from the variations which occur within the limits of a species, but which can not apparently overstep cer- tain limits. In accordance with this view it is quite conceivable that the first appearance of the leaf upon the sporophyte may have been comparatively sudden—that is, there may not necessarily have been a long series of preliminary structures leading up to a true leaf. It has been urged that the antithetic theory of the nature of the sporophyte involves the sudden appearance of a new structure. The fallacy of this claim has been pointed out by Professor Bower, and a little thought will show that no claim is made of the sudden appearance of a new structure. While no strictly intermediate forms are known, there is certainly no dif- fieulty in seeing the essential homology be- tween the rudimentary sporophyte of such an alga as Coleochate and that of Riccta. The antithetic theory merely claims that the structure developed from the zygote, which at first is devoted exclusively to spore formation, gradually develops vege- JANUARY 16, 1903. ] tative tissue as well, and finally attains the status of an independent plant. The highly organized sporophyte of the higher archegoniates is connected with the lower types by an almost continuous series of existing forms, and through these with the still simpler structures found in the green alew. The increased output of spores, with a corresponding number of new plants resulting from a single fer- tilization, is an obvious advantage, and undoubtedly is the explanation of the origin of the sporophyte. If we compare the sporophyte of even the simplest liverwort with that of the alge, there is noted an essential difference. The spores, instead of being motile zoo- spores, are non-motile, thick-walled struc- tures, adapted to resist drying up—in short, the sporophyte:is a structure essen- tially fitted for an aerial existence. Hx- cept in the very lowest types, there is de- veloped a special massive absorbent organ, the foot, which is not unlike the root de- veloped in the higher types, and is very different from the delicate rhizoids of the gametophyte. The latter always shows, to a greater or less degree, its aquatic origin. From the time that the sporophyte has attained the dignity of an independent ex- istence, its development proceeded on lines very different from those followed by the essentially aquatic gametophyte. As we have seen, the efforts of the latter to as- sume a terrestrial habit have met with only partial success, and it would appear that nature concluded to try again, taking as a starting point the essentially terrestrial sporophyte, which, as a functionally new development, seems to have proved more plastic than the gametophyte. From the first, and this I believe to be highly significant, its water supply was obtained indirectly through the medium of a special organ, the foot. It is not impor- tant for a consideration of the question SCIENCE. 103 whether the foot in all forms is or is not homologous—enough that we find for the first time an organ sufficiently massive to supply all the water needed by the tissues of the developing sporophyte. The foot is a very different organ from the delicate rhizoids of the gametophyte, and much more like the true roots of the vascular plants, which, it is highly probable, arose as further modifications of the foot of the sporogonium of some bryophyte. With the massive root penetrating the earth and thus establishing communica- tions with the water supply, the sporophyte becomes entirely independent. The pos- session of an apical meristem in the root allows of unlimited growth, and gradually the massive root system of the higher plants has been evolved, keeping pace with the increase in size of the sporophyte, which, except with rare exceptions, obtains its whole water supply through the roots. Correlated with this increase in size of the sporophyte has been developed the char- acteristic conducting tissues which consti- tute the vascular bundles. While rudi- mentary vascular bundles are found in the sporophyte of many mosses and in Antho- ceros, the characteristic tracheary tissue, par excellence the water-conducting tissue of the vascular plants, occurs only among the latter forms. With the establishment of the sporo- phyte as an independent plant, the gameto- phyte serves mainly to develop the sexual reproductive organs from which the sporo- phyte arises. While the gametophyte among the lower pteridophytes is a rela- tively large and independent green plant, sometimes living for several years, it be- comes much reduced in size among the more specialized heterosporous types, and may live but a few hours, as in species of Marsilia. In such forms little or no chlorophyll is developed by the gameto- phyte, which depends for its growth upon 104 the materials stored up in the spore, or even lives parasitically upon the sporo- phyte, as in Selaginella, thus reversing the relation of sporophyte and gametophyte found in the lower archegoniates. All of these modifications are in the direction of economy of water, in accord with the needs of a more and more pro- nounced terrestrial habit. Just as heterospory arose independently in several groups of pteridophytes, so also the seed habit—the final triumph of the terrestrial sporophyte over the primitive aquatic conditions—developed more than once. The female gametophyte, included ‘within the embryo-sac, develops without the presence of free water, and the ger- minating pollen-spore also absorbs the water it needs from the tissues of the pistil, through which the tube grows very much as a parasitic fungus would do. Except in a very few cases, the male cells of the seed plants have lost the cilia, the last trace of their aquatic origin, and are conveyed passively to the ege-cell by the growth of the pollen-tube. Once firmly established as terrestrial organisms, and the problem of water sup- ply solved, the further development of the seed plants is too familiar to need any spe- cial comment here. The great importance of water in affecting the structure of land plants is seen in the innumerable water- saving devices developed in the so-called *‘xerophilous’ plants, seen in its most ex- treme phase in such desert plants as cacti, or in the numerous epiphytes, like many orchids and bromeliads. In short, it is safe, I think, to assert that of all the extrinsic factors which have affected the structure of the plant body, the relation to the water supply holds the first place. The most momentous event in the development of the vegetable king- dom was the change from the primitive aquatie habit to the life on land which SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 420. characterizes the predominant plants of the present. Dovetas HoueHTon CAMPBELL. SECTION A, MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. Vice-President—Professor George Bruce Hal- sted, Austin. Secretary—Professor Charles 8. Howe, Cleve- land. Member of Council—Professor John M. Van Vleck. Sectional Committee—Professor G. W. Hough, Vice-President, 1902; Professor EH. 8. Crawley, Secretary, 1902; Professor G. B. Halsted, Vice- President, 1903; Professor C. 8. Howe, Secretary, 1903; Professor Ormond Stone, five years; Pro- fessor J. R. Eastman, four years; Dr. John A. Brashear, three years; Professor Wooster W. Beman, two years; Professor Edwin B. Frost, one year. General Committee—Mr. Otto H. Tittmann. Papers were read as follows: Deflections of the Vertical in Porto Rico: Orro H. Tirrmann, Superintendent U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Mr. Tittmann gave an account of some large deflections of the plumb line in Porto Rico. Their existence was first noted by Count Canete del Pinar, of the Spanish Hydrographic Commission, which extended a triangulation around the island, but the war or other causes prevented a verifica- tion by that commission. The Coast Sur- vey, however, in the course of its surveys extended a triangulation across the island from San Juan to Ponce and proved their existence beyond question. These deflec- tions are so great that they affect the car- tographic representation of the island, and a mean latitude had to be adopted, with the result that the northern coast line, as now shown on the maps, had to be moved by half a mile further south and the southern coast line by the same amount further, north than would have been the ease if the astronomical latitude had been used. JANUARY 16, 1903. | Saint Loup’s Linkage: Professor L. G. Wet, University of Iowa. The linkage deseribed by M. Saint Loup in the Comptes Rendus for 1874 was dis- eussed with reference to its application to the solution of cubie equations. An in- strument constructed upon the principle In question was exhibited and operated. The failure of the device to give the nu- merically greatest root, or the single real root, was pointed out and explained. At- tention was also directed to the fact that this root corresponds to a conjugate point of the locus traced by the linkage and can not, therefore, be reached by continuous motion in the plane of reals. A Device to Prevent Personal Equation in Transit Observations: Professor S. P. Laneuey, Secretary of the Smith- sonian Institution. Read by title. The Solar Constant and Related Problems: S. P. Laneuery, Secretary of the Smith- sonian Institution. Our absolute dependence on the light and warmth received from the sun makes the study of solar radiations of the highest utilitarian value, even apart from their. scientific interest. So little is even now certainly known about the actual amount of the solar radiation, and the absorption of it which the solar gaseous envelope and the earth’s atmosphere together cause, that it is doubtful if any one can predict just what influence a given change in the total radiation of the sun would produce on earthly warmth and life. Karly work of the author at Allegheny and upon Mt. Whitney relating to these studies was referred:to, however, as show- ing certain limits within which important predictions could be made, and then atten- tion was drawn to the present investiga- tions of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The great improvements in SCIENCE. 105 instrumental equipment within recent years were pointed out. Charts were ex- hibited illustrating how the total radiation expressed in terms of each wave-length as it reaches the earth was accurately repre- sented, by means of an observation lasting only a few minutes, where formerly over two years’ labor were required to do still less. Other charts showed how these amounts were corrected, step by step, until the rate of the sun’s radiation on the out- side of the earth’s atmosphere (commonly known as the solar constant) is determined. The absorbing action of water vapor in the air. was shown by a chart of results extending from March to November. It was stated that a yearly cycle of these ab- sorption effects is recognized. Attention was especially called to the probably great utilitarian importance of variations of absorption in the solar en- velope, in their effect upon all life, and to the consequent utility as well as scientific interest of the work now being renewed here to determine this with hitherto un- known fullness. Good Seeing: S. P. Laneuny, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Astronomers have at all times been hin- dered in all delicate observing by the dis- turbaneces arising in our own atmosphere, even in clear weather. The ill effect of these disturbances on the telescopic image is known commonly as ‘boiling’ (as con- trasted with ‘good seeing’), and it is the ereat enemy to accurate observation. Within recent years, therefore, there has been a movement to establish observatories in the most favorable localities to avoid this difficulty, regardless of all considera- tions of convenience. The author who has made a special study of the subject on mountain tops and elsewhere, has been led to think that the major part of the dis- turbance arises in the air comparatively 106 near the observer. He has accordingly attempted so to act on this nearer body of air as to prevent what may be assumed to be the main cause of the ‘boiling.’ To do this, it has hitherto been sought by astronomers to keep the air in the tele- scope tube as still as possible. What may be assumed to be novel in the writer’s plan is to vigorously churn this air by means of blowers, or in other ways. The still air is known to produce a disturbed image. That the air agitated under this new plan paradoxically produces a still image, has been shown by photographs (exhibited) of the images of artificial double stars whose beams were entirely confined within a horizontal tube in which they traveled to and fro through 140 feet of ‘churned’ air. These photographs showed that the dis- turbance within the tube itself appears to be wholly eliminated by the device of vig- orously stirring the air column. In continuation of the experiments, a tube was pointed up toward the sky, and so moved as to roughly follow the sun and thus form an inclined addition to the tele- scope tube itself. Within this tube the air was similarly churned. Very consid- erable improvement of the solar image re- sulted from the whole combination, but owing to the condition of the sun, the weather and the apparatus, the work has not yet reached a stage where it can be shown that improvement was due to the extension toward the sun, distinctly from the agitation in the tube. The merit of churning the air within the telescope tube itself is believed to be dem- onstrated by these photographs, which show the results of this artificial ‘good seeing.’ The Foundations of Mathematics: Dr. Pau Carus, Editor Open Court Pub- lishing Co., Chicago. Having briefly sketched the history of SCIENCE. [N. 8S. Von. XVII. No. 420. metageometry from Euclid to the present day, he declared that the problem was not mathematical but philosophical. At the bottom of the difficulty there lurks the old problem of the a prior. Kant wrongly identified the ideal with the subjective, and thus he regarded the a priori as a concep- tion which the mind by its intuitive con- stitution transfers upon the object. The a@ priori, however, is purely formal, and the purely formal is an abstraction from which everything particular, viz., the sen- sory, is omitted. It can best be charac- terized as ‘anyness’; it is a construction | that would suit any condition, hence uni- versality is implied and universality in- volves necessity. There are two kinds of a priori, the a prior, of being, which is pure reason, and the a priors of doing, a construction that is the result of pure motion. Our meta- geometricians tried to derive the basic geo- metrical principles from pure reason but failed. The truth is that other systems of geometry are possible, yet after all, these other systems are not spaces, but other methods of space measurements. There is one space only, although we may conceive of many different manifolds, which are contrivances or ideal constitu- tions, invented for the purpose of deter- mining space. The speaker developed space by motion in all directions after the analogy of the spread of light, and characterized the straight line as the path of greatest inten- sity corresponding to the ray. Clifford derives the plane by grinding down three bodies until the three surfaces are congruent. The main feature of the plane is that it is congruent with itself. It can be flopped, and in either ease it divides space into congruent halves. If we halve the plane, which can be done by folding a piece of paper, we have in the crease a representation of the straight JANUARY 16, 1903.] line; and if we double the folded paper upon itself (another method of halving it), we have the right angle. The three planes at right angles are the simplest systems of a combination of these products of halving. The speaker concluded that Huclidean geometry is a construction a priori of both pure being and pure doing, that other geometries are possible, but that no other is so practical as the one which utilizes the straight line, the plane, and the right angle, viz., the boundaries that are con- gruent with themselves. Further explana- tion of his views may be expected in ar- ticles to be published in the coming year. Evidences of Structure in the Mass of the Sun: Professor Frank H. Bigetow, U. S. Weather Bureau. This paper discussed the distribution in longitude and latitude of the output of solar energy as shown by the relative fre- quency of the prominences, spots and facu- lex. The observations used were those made in Italy by Secchi, Tacchini and Ricco during the years 1872 to 1900, and as they form a very regular, series, the annual variations are comparable and in- dicate real changes in the transmission of energy from the interior of the sun to the outside. The result is to show that in longitude there is a maximum of spots, facule and probably prominences on two opposite sides of the sun, as if there exists in one axial direction an excess of impulse over that at right angles to it. The same distribution on one diameter has been de- tected already in the terrestrial magnetic field and in the meteorological elements. In latitude it is shown clearly that, on re- covering from a quiescent state at mini- mum output, the new outpouring of en- ergy takes place in middle latitudes, 25° to 50°, and during the increase spreads in two crests, one towards the equator and SCIENCE. 107 one towards the poles, the former dying away near the equator and the latter in about latitude 60°. The connection that probably exists between this phenomenon and the Helmholtz-Emden distribution of heat curves in the interior of the sun indi- cates a very important type of circulation which may prove to be characteristic of the sun. Incidentally, the paper discussed the rotation period in different latitudes, and the application of the periodgram to such a problem. Spectrographic Proof of the Rotations of the Planets Jupiter, Saturn and Venus: PrrcivAL LowEtu, Director, Lowell Ob- servatory. Read by title. The Teaching of Geometry: Professor GrorceE Bruce Haustep, Austin, Texas. Of late, very remarkable discoveries have been made in geometry, affecting its very foundations. These discoveries have a noteworthy application to the teaching of geometry. Some of these discoveries and applications are considered in abstract as follows: (1) The time has come for ad- vance, (2) need for a preliminary course, (38) the preliminary must fit the rational geometry, (4) rigor gives simplicity, (5) Huclid’s unannounced assumptions, (6) the betweenness assumptions, (7) superpo- sition, (8) congruence and symmetry, (9) the real beginnings, (10) the definition of straight as shortest, (11) double import of problems, (12) use of figures, (13) graph- ics, (14) necessity for non-Huclidean geom- etry, and (15) adaptation to teaching. Special Periodic Solutions of the Problem of n Bodies: Professor E. O. Lovett, Princeton University. This note constructs analytically the par- ticular solutions of Lehmann-Filhés in the problem of nm bodies analogous to those of Lagrange in the classic three-body problem. 108 The method of Poincaré is then used to de- sign other periodic solutions; by an easy reduction the equations become amenable to the treatment proposed by Oppenheim in the corresponding case of three bodies. The Problems of Three or More Bodies with Prescribed Orbits: Professor HE. O. Lovert, Princeton University. This paper has points of contact with and generalizes certain theorems due to Bertrand, Darboux, Halphen and Oppen- heim. ‘Two problems are studied: 1. The determination of the curves which three bodies may describe under central forces possessing a force function, this function to have a form assigned in advance. The results, other than those which are well known, are transcendental. 2. The determination of forces which maintain the motions of any number of bodies in prescribed orbits independent of initial conditions in a space of any num- ber of dimensions, the forces assumed cen- tral. It appears that in general a certain number of the forces may be chosen arbi- trarily. In ordinary three-dimensional space this indetermination can not be made to disappear; the solution not becoming determinate until the case of those bodies in the plane is reached. Note on the Secular Perturbations of the Planets: Professor AsapH Haut, Pro- fessor of Mathematics, U. S. Navy (re- tired). Tt is known that the determination of the secular perturbations of the principal planets of our solar system depends on the solution of an equation of the eighth degree. The roots of this equation depend on the masses of the planets; and if the masses are changed the values of the roots will change also. In this paper an example is given of the changes in the roots, from one set of masses to another, by means of SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 420. the formulas computed by Stockwell. The results indicate that the formulas of Stock- well can be used with advantage, and that the labor of solving the equation of the eighth degree can be much diminished. The Bolyai Centenary: Professor G. B. Haustep, Professor of Mathematics, Uni- versity of Texas. On the fifteenth of December, 1902, is the centenary of the discoverer of non- EKuclidean geometry, the Hungarian John Bolyai, or, in Magyar, Bolyai Janos. This extraordinarily important and suggestive subject, non-EHuclidean geometry, in its in- ception, evolution, present state and near future development, was treated in this paper. The Approach of Comet b 1902 to the Planet Mercury: CHaruss J. Line, Man- ual Training High School, Denver, Colo- rado. The questions treated were: The exact position of comet and planet at time of nearest approach: to obtain ac- eurately distance between the bodies at this time. The great velocity of comet near peri- helion together with the position of orbit takes the comet away from Mercury very rapidly. The effect of Mercury at distance of 24 millions of miles very slight. Very questionable, if any, effect will be produced by Mereury which will enable astronomers to tell anything about mass of Mercury. An Untried Method of Determimng the Constant of Refraction: Groree A. Hi, U. S. Naval Observatory. This paper called attention to a method of deriving the constant of refraction from transits of pairs of stars in the prime verti- eal. Remarks were first made upon our present knowledge of the constant as se- eured from observations of stars at upper JANUARY 16, 1903. ] and lower culmination, either by means of the meridian or the vertical circle. A plan was then suggested by which the constant might be secured by proper groups of stars in pairs, observed in the prime vertical. A Development of the Conic Sections by Kinematic Methods: JoHN T. QUINN, Warren, Pennsylania. The paper is an abstract of a more gen- eral system of kinematic geometry whereby not only the conic sections, but nearly all the higher plane curves are developed by kinematic methods. The following defini- tion will give some idea of its scope: Kinematic geometry treats of the prop- erties of the areas and curves regarded as functions of the spacial and angular veloe- ities of lines, which move in accordance with some fixed law. With reference to the conic sections (as those are the curves in which we are at present interested), the originality of their development consists in the introduction of an auxiliary circle, called the directing cirele; and the conditions subject to which the intersecting lines are assumed to re- volve. The lines are pivoted in an axis and conceived to revolve and move at such rates that certain angles are constantly equal, then the locus of their intersection is a conie section. That this mode of development makes manifest more than any other the essential unity of the curves, and their dependence upon the same law of generation, is evi- denced by the general definition of a conic in this system, referred to a common prop- erty. ; A conic section is a curve the ratio of the distances of whose pomts form a fixed point and a directing circle is equal to unity. For the ellipse and parabola, the fixed point (a focus) is in the diameter of the directing circle, for the hyperbola, in the diameter produced. SCIENCE. 109 The problem of constructing tangents to either of the curves from external points in their plane is solved in an extremely simple manner. The mode of procedure is essentially the same for each of the curves. This problem is facilitated by the directing circle, which becomes the directrix of the parabola when the circle becomes infinite. The point on either of the curves which is common to the tangent through the ex- ternal point is located by drawing only two lines. The normal to a curve always is parallel to one of the generating lines. Conse- quently, as a problem in construction it presents no difficulty whatever. To construct asymptotes to the hyperbola we have only to describe a circle, upon the line as a diameter, which is limited by the center and the focus. It intersects the di- recting circle in two points, which, with the center, determine the direction and posi- tion of both lines. Time Determinations at the Washburn Observatory: Professor Gzuorge C. Com- stock, Madison, Wisconsin. This was a discussion of methods em- ployed in the time service of the Wash- burn Observatory, with especial reference to the advantages to be obtained by a re- versal of the instrument upon each star. Determination of Time by Reversing on Each Star: Professor CHARLES S. Howse, Case School of Applied Science, Cleve- land, Ohio. Complete determinations of time were made on several nights by the usual method with clamp west and also with clamp east. On the same nights deter- minations of time were also made by re- versing on each star. The clock errors were compared with those found with the almucantar. A table of azimuths, clamp west and clamp east was given, and it 110 was shown that the instrument changed greatly in azimuth by reversal. Note on a Geometrical Analysis: Professor JAmeEs §. Muter, Emory Virginia. Read by title. Concerning Bolzano’s Contributions to As- semblage Theory: Dr. C. J. Keyser, Columbia University, New York City. Read by title. The Constants of the Equatorial: C. W. Freperick, U. 8. Naval Observatory, Washington, D. C. This paper contained a description of a method for deriving the constants of an equatorial from observations of circum- polar and equatorial stars. The position of the polar axis of the instrument is de- termined from observations of 4 Urs Min- oris and Polaris near the times of culmina- tion and elongation; also other constants are involved. Collimation and the flexure of the tube are derived from observations of equatorial stars. Very simple formule are required in the reduction of these ob- servations. The effect of the constants in varying the parallel of the micrometer is also con- sidered, and a short process indicated by which micrometer, measurements may be corrected for these instrumental disturb- ances without undue labor. A Relation between the Mean Speed of Stellar Motion and the Velocity of Wave Propagation in a Unversal Gaseous Me- diwm, Bearing upon the Question of the Nature of Ether: Luter p’Aurta, 3810 Locust Street, Philadelphia, Pa. If the universe were involved in a pri- mordial gaseous medium in equilibrium of temperature, then assuming the density to vary inversely with some power, , of the distance from the center of this universal gaseous globe, which would be the center of the universe, it is found that n=—2, or SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 420. the density varies inversely with the square of distance. If » and », denote respec- tively the density of the medium at any distance zg and the mean density of the concentric sphere of radius z, then 0) = 30 and Ue O° 6rka® in which @ is the mean square speed of the particles of the medium and K the gravitation constant. Denoting by o the density of the me- dium in the solar system, and by S the distance of this system from the center of the universe, it is found that awe 7 6r KS?" Bodies moving in circular orbits around the center of the universe, at all distances, would all have the same velocity % = 25 V tke, and it is found that @?==3/2v,?; and if V is the speed of wave propagation in the gaseous medium, it is found also that V?—5/6v,?. As v, must be nearly equal to the mean speed of stellar motion, about 19.3 miles per second according to Kap- teyn, it is concluded that the ether can not be a gravitational gas, since this gas could not transmit energy with velocity much greater than 17.6 miles per second. Henee, the ether must be imponderable. Denoting by RF and D the mean radius and the mean density of the earth, and by g the acceleration of gravity, it is shown that r= (3) and assuming § —159 light years, an es- timated distance of Nova Persei, and as- JANuUARY 16, 1903.] suming this star to be near the center of the universe, it would follow that «=3.9 x 10 “d in which d is the density of ordinary air. That is, the density of the universal gase- ous medium in the solar system would be of the same order of magnitude as the ether. On this basis the density of the medium at a distance of 585,000 miles from the center becomes equal to that of ordinary air, and the concentric sphere of the medium within this radius would have a mass about seven times that of Jupiter, a mass entirely too small to be conspicuous in celestial space. Condition of Atmosphere, Horizon, and Seemg at the Lowe Observatory, Echo Mountain, California: Professor EpGar L. Larxgtn, Director Lowe Observatory. Read by title. The officers elected for the next meeting are: Vice-President—Otto H. Tittmann, Superin- tendent United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Secretary—Professor Laenas G. Weld, Univer- sity of Iowa. CuaArues S. Howe, Secretary. SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. Ueber den derzeitigen Stand der Descendenz- lehre in der Zoologie. Von Dr. H. EH. ZIEGLER, Professor an der Universitat Jena. Gustav Fischer. 1902. Pp. 54, with 4 text-figures. M. 1.50. On the occasion of the seventy-third meet- ing of the German Naturalists and Physi- cians in Hamburg, September, 1902, the gen- eral question of the present status of the doc- trine of organic evolution was presented in three lectures—by a botanist (de Vries), a paleontologist (Koken) and the zoologist, Ziegler. The last lecture is now somewhat extended by notes and appendices and pub- lished under the title given above. SCIENCE. 111 It is an interesting account of the present standing of the great Descendenzlehre in zoology, given in 4 temperate spirit; a good lecture for the occasion and the place in which it was delivered. The subject is considered under four sec- tions: (1) The general theory of organic evo- lution, (2) natural selection, (3) inheritance theories and (4) the application of evolution to the origin of mankind. Of these, the first section is treated with a firmer hand, as is justified by the state of our knowledge, and the author reviews interest- ingly, from the zoological side, some of the evidences in support of evolution. He points out that the general proposition has been so strengthened by the researches of the past forty years that all naturalists agree in ac- cepting it as established. We have no other tational theory of the origin of plants and animals, and, notwithstanding the controver- sies as to the factors that have brought about the diversity of organic life, the fact of evolu- tion as a process of creation is no longer seriously challenged. But the compelling arguments in support of evolution do not hold in equal force for natural selection or any other particular theory. Here we have conflicting opinions, but they do not seriously affect the main contention. As Huxley, one of the greatest supporters of natural selection, said: ‘If the Darwinian hypothesis were swept away, evolu- tion would still stand where it was, and the same thing can be said in reference to any theory of evolution that has been offered since. In regard to natural selection, Ziegler comes to the position of so many working zoologists, that as a factor it is not adequate by itself to afford an explanation of variation and de- velopment. In many instances its action is clear—as when variations which are of direct use to the animal are fostered by natural selection, but many other cases like the great development of the backward-directed tusks of the mammoth, and horns of other animals, can not be explained by natural selection. The third section is more lightly treated. The inheritance theories of de Vries, Nageli, Haacke and Weismann receive passing men- 112 tion, but the intricacies of the subject pre- vented the lecturer from entering into a dis- cussion of them. In reference to the applicability of evolu- tion to man’s origin, the evidences in favor of an aflirmative answer have been growing. The discovery, in 1894, of remains of an in- termediate type between the higher apes and man—Pithecanthropus erectus—bears upon the question. The intermediate character of that form was well brought out by the opin- ions expressed by competent anatomists, some declaring the remains to be of an ape-like form and others of primeval man. But more suggestive evidences are found in the comparative study of animal intelli- gence and of the structure and physiology of the brain. There is a gradual increase in intelligence with increase in complexity of the brain, and the discovery of localized areas presiding over definite coordinated acts brings evidence of the close relation between brain structure-and mentality. Clinical studies and criminal anthropology show that disorders of the will and mental derangements are de- pendent upon disorders of the nervous system. Man can not be separated in his development from other animals; he differs from them in the degree of his development, and his no- bility depends, not on his origin, but on how far he is advanced beyond it. The text of the lecture is followed by six appendices, made up largely of apt quota- tions which help to show the state of opinion and to illuminate some points of the lecture. Wittam A. Locy. Ocuvres Completes de J.-C. Galissard de Marignac: Hors-série des Mémoires de la Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Geneve. Geneva, Eggimann et Cie.; Paris, Masson et Cie, et al. Vol. I. Ato. Pp. lv-++ 701. The collected publication of the scattered writings of a great scientific man forms one of the most adequate and fitting memorials of him, because it enables many otherwise ignorant to perceive the way in which he attained greatness. The present volume, which covers twenty years of the life of the SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 420. eminent Swiss chemist, is no exception to this rule. It contains, in the first place, an interesting biography by E. Ador, filling the first fifty-five pages, and after this Marignac’s papers on atomic weights, crystallography and other chemical and physicochemical subjects, arranged in chronological order, as far as 1860. These papers form a notable record of un- usual ability, enthusiasm and perseverance, of which any nation may well be proud. Only one lack is to be noticed in the present publication, in common with many other French books, namely, the lack of an index. This deficiency may well be supplied in the second installment; for it is to be hoped that this handsome volume will soon be followed by another, completing the record. THEODORE WILLIAM RICHARDS. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. During the Christmas holidays the Amer- ican Mathematical Society held a series of three meetings, at New York, Chicago and San Francisco. The ninth annual meeting of the entire society was held at Columbia University, on Monday and Tuesday, Decem- ber 29-80. The San Francisco Section held its second regular meeting at the University of California, December 238. The Chicago Section met at the University of Chicago, January 2-8. The meetings were well at- tended. The several programs included some fifty papers, being about one third of the society’s annual production. Ten years ago the United States hardly produced one ‘sixth of this amount of mathematical ma- terial. The comparison fairly represents the recent great advances in mathematical inter- est in this country. Reports of the sectional meetings will ap- pear separately in Scrmence. The annual meeting, at New York, was attended by sixty members of the society. Twenty-six papers were read at the four sessions. The council announced the election of the following per- sons to membership in the society: Dr. A. B. Coble, University of Missouri; Mr. W. R. Cornish, State Normal School, Cortland, N. JANUARY 16, 1903. ] Y.; Dr. A. G. Hall, University of Michigan; Mr. E. L. Hancock, Purdue University; Pro- fessor L. M. Hoskins, Stanford University; Mr. W. D. A. Westfall, Yale University; Mr. W. F. White, State Normal School, New Paltz, N. Y. Sixteen applicants for ad- mission to the society were received. At the annual election the following offi- cers and members of the council were chosen: President, Thomas 8. Fiske. Vice-Presidents, W. FF. Osgood, Ziwet. Secretary, F. N. Cole. Treasurer, W. 8S. Dennett. Librarian, D. BE. Smith. Committee of Publication, F. N. Cole, Alexander Ziwet, D. E. Smith. Members of the Council, to serve until December, 1905, James Harkness, Heinrich Maschke, Irving Stringham, H. W. Tyler. Alexander The .report of the librarian shows that the society’s library, which was recently deposited in the charge of the Columbia University Library, is rapidly growing and already con- tains nearly one thousand bound volumes. The exchange lists of the Bulletin and the Transactions now include about one hundred and twenty mathematical journals, being nearly all that exist. Many gifts have also been received. It is hoped that the society’s collection may ultimately become the most extensive one of the kind in the country. Besides the mathematical journals of the world, it is intended to include a full set of mathematical Americana, thus making the library a historical as well as mathematical repository. A special feature of the annual meeting this year was the presidential address. Under the title: ‘On the Foundations of Mathe- matics, the retiring president, Professor Eliakim Hastings Moore, advocated the de- sirability of the society exercising a more ef- fective influence on the teaching of element- ary mathematics. The address will appear in Scrmence. A committee was appointed by the council to consider the questions involved. The following papers were read at the an- nual meeting: E. V. Huntineton: ‘A complete set of postu- SCIENCE. 113 lates for the theory of real number’ paper) .' KE. V. Huntineton: ‘On the definition of the elementary functions by means of definite inte- grals.’ C. J. Keyser: ‘On the axiom of infinity.’ G. H. Darwin: ‘The approximate determina- tion of the form of Maclaurin’s spheroid.’ Harris Hancock: ‘Remarks on the sufficient conditions in the calculus of variations.’ L. E. Dickson: ‘The abstract group simply isomorphic with the alternating group on six letters.’ f Presipent E. H. Moore: Presidential Address, ‘On the foundations of mathematics.’ W. HE. Tayror: ‘On the product of an alternant and a symmetric function.’ E. D. Ror: ‘On the coefficients in the product of an alternant and a symmetric function.’ EK. D. Ror: ‘On the coefficients in the quotient of two alternants (preliminary communication) .’ E. O. Loyerr: ‘A transformation group of (2n—1) (n—1) parameters, and its rdle in the problem of n bodies.’ I. E. Rapinovircn: ‘On solid lunes of coni- coids, analogous to the circular lunes of Hippo- erates of Chios.’ K. B. Witson: ‘The synthetic treatment of conics at the present time.’ A. B. Copre: ‘On the invariant theory of the connex (2, 2) of the ternary domain viewed as a connex (1, 1) in a five-dimensional space.’ Epwarp KAsNER: ‘The general quadratic sys- tems of conics and quadrics.’ W. I’. Oscoop: ‘On the transformation of the boundary in the case of conformal mapping.’ W. F. Osaoop: ‘A Jordan curve of positive area.’ (second Maxime Bocuse: ‘Singular points of functions which satisfy partial differential equations of the elliptic type.’ J. W. Youne: ‘On the automorphic functions associated with the group of character [0, 3; 2, 4, o]’ (preliminary report). R. W. H. T. Hupson: ‘The analytic theory of displacements.’ H. E. Hawkes: ‘Enumeration of the non- quaternion number systems.’ H. F. Strecker: ‘On the parameters in certain systems of geodesic lines.’ G. D. Birkuorr and H. 8. Vanpiver: ‘ General theory of the integral divisors of a"—b”, and allied cyclotomic forms.’ F. Mortey: ‘ On the determinant | («:—a;)—*|.’ 114 SCIENCE. G. A. Minter: ‘A new proof of the generalized Wilson’s theorem.’ A pleasant social feature of the meeting was an informal dinner on Monday evening at which about forty persons were present. The next meeting of the society will be held in New York on Saturday, February 28. Arrangements are being made for the coming summer meeting and colloquium, to be held in August or September. ¥F. N. Coz, Secretary. THE NEW MEXICO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. A New Mexico Academy of Science was formed at Las Vegas, N. M., on December 22. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, Frank Springer. Vice-President, Dr. Chas. R. Keyes. Secretary and Treasurer, Dr. W. G. Tight. Members of Executive Committee, T. D. A. Cock- erell, J. D. Tinsley. The following papers were read: W. G. Tigut: ‘The Erosion Cycles of the Rio Grande at Albuquerque.’ EH. L. Hewett: ‘Notes on the Pecos Indian Tribe.’ H. N. Herrick: ‘The Gypsum Deposits of New Mexico.’ J. D. Tinstry: ‘The Work of the Department of Soils and Physics of the New Mexico A. and M. College and Experiment Station.’ ‘E. L. Hewett: ‘An Archeological Reconnais- sance of the Chaco Cafion Region.’ C. E. Maenusson: ‘ Observations on Soil-mois- ture in New Mexico from the Hygienic View- point.’ T. D. A. CockERELL: ‘Our Present Knowledge of the Fauna and Flora of New Mexico.’ JouN WEINZIRL AND C. E. Maenusson: ‘ Fur- ther Contributions to the Study of the Blood Changes Due to Altitude.’ Joun WEINzIRL: ‘The Availability of New Mexico’s Climate for Outdoor Life. (Read by title only.) W. G. Ticut: ‘The History of the Sandia Mountains.’ T. D. A. CockereE.L. [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 420. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. MARINE ANIMALS IN INTERIOR WATERS. THE recent accounts of the finding of squid in Lake Onondaga, New York, recall two simi- lar instances that were brought to the atten- tion of the U. S. Fish Commission several years ago. The commission received for identification from Northern Michigan a specimen of re- mora (Hcheneis naucrates), with the informa- tion that it had been caught by an Indian woman in a trout stream on the southern shore of Lake Superior. There was no reason to doubt the facts from the evidence contained in affidavits which were quickly produced. The true inwardness of this matter has never been cleared up, although it was learned that a New York City sportsman had been to this region a short time before and had been in the company of the man who forwarded the specimen. ; By a singular coincidence, which must be of interest to psychologists and telepathists, at the time the Indian squaw was catching a remora in a Michigan river a Washington angler was landing another at the Great Falls of the Potomac, 16 miles above Washington and 60 miles from salt water. This speci- men was brought to the Fish Commission the next day by the man who caught it, and whose ingenuousness there was no reason to doubt. Later, several of his friends called and ex- plained that they had bought the fish in the market and attached it to his line when his attention was diverted. On the authority of Professor Hargitt, of Syracuse University, a sargassum fish (Pterophryne histrio), said to haye been eaught in Onondaga Lake, was exhibited in Syracuse some years ago. H. M. Sir. A BRILLIANT METEOR. To tHE Epitor or Science: On the evening of November 15, at 6:45 central standard time, a very brilliant meteor was observed in its fall to the earth by many persons in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisi- ana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. At once, though at first independently of each 7 JANUARY 16, 1903. ] other, Professor H. C. Lord, of the Emerson McMillan Observatory, Columbus, Ohio, and the writer began a series of investigations with a view to determining where it should have fallen. We secured reports from some twenty-five or thirty observers scattered over the states mentioned above; none of them, however, were expressed very definitely in terms of angular measurements, excepting those of Professor Lord and myself, and we evidently had not noted the altitude and azimuth of the meteor at exactly the same point of its descent. Satisfied, however, that if any pieces came to the earth, they must have fallen somewhere between Lexington and a point in Elliott County, Ky., where an ob- server saw the meteor to the west of him, I was induced to hunt down a rumor that it had fallen in Bath County, and was rewarded by finding-that it had indeed come to earth in the extreme southern portion of that county, and had been picked up by the man who saw it strike the ground. The exact point struck was.a stone in the road in front of the home of Mr. Buford Staten, five miles due south of Salt Lick, Ky. The stone (for it is an aerolite) is roughly 84 X 6 & 4 inches, has a volume of 1,642 c.c., and now weighs, with some pieces chipped off for analysis, 5,725 grms., or about 12 lbs. 104 oz. It exhibits the usual black crust or varnish, the pittings, the grayish interior, and shows on analysis the disseminated nickel- iferous metallic iron. It is interesting to note that, though the approximate place of this aerolite’s fall was not determined by calculations based upon observations giving the azimuths of the point where it appeared to burst as seen from dif- ferent stations—the meteorite itself having been brought in before our investigations had reached the calculating stage—yet had it not been seen to strike the earth, it is not im- probable that it would soon have been found as a result of special search. A projection of the lines of observation in accordance with the azimuths of the Columbus and Lexington determinations (S. 15 degrees W., and N. 81 degrees E.) cross in the southern portion of Bath County, Ky. SCIENCE. 115 Note.—Since writing the above the metorite has been purchased by Mr. Henry Ward for the Ward-Coonley Collection of Meteorites now on deposit in the American Museum of Natural History, New York city. ArtHur M. Miner. StTaTE COLLEGE or KENTUCKY. AN APPLICATION OF THE LAW OF PRIORITY. Tue first serious attempt to make regula- tions for the nomenclature of zoology was by a committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1842. Since then these rules have been both changed and added to, and may still be modified by the action of future zoological congresses. Nom- enclature can never be stable so long as the rules are subject to modification. Why then not apply the law of priority to these rules, and declare that the 1842 rules of the British Association must stand, since they have the priority. Of course there were earlier at- tempts, just as there were binomials before Linnzus and Darwinism before Darwin, but all acknowledge that the 1842 action was the first serious work on zoological nomenclature. Therefore, following the law of priority, they should not be changed. Additions, of course, should be allowed, and these should also fol- low the law of priority. This would forever prevent change. The scheme of having a zoological congress to meet at intervals, for the discussion and decision of questions, per- mits of change; and no one ean tell how slight or how great these changes may be in the fu- ture. Stability can only be obtained by deciding that something already accomplished can not be changed. Natuan Banks. CURRENT NOTES ON PHYSIOGRAPHY. GLACIAL CHANNELS IN WESTERN NEW YORK. FaircHILp’s recent work on the ‘ Pleistocene Geology of Western New York’ (‘N. Y. State Museum, 20th Rep. State Geol.,’ 1900 (1902), 103-139, plates and maps) includes the most complete statement yet made regarding those remarkable channels worn by rivers that fol- lowed temporary courses along the depression enclosed by the spurs of the Allegheny plateau on the south and the face of the retreating 116 SCIENCE. ice sheet on the north. The channels are shown to vary with the character of the rock in which they are cut. The stronger lime- stones were most worn down where they were cut through to weaker shales, and channels of this kind often have a shallow up-stream floor, separated by a cliff—the site of an ancient waterfall—from a deep gorge with steep walls. Channels cut in shales are often deep all along their length, but their walls are weath- ered to moderate slopes and their beds are thereby narrowed. Many channels haye no northern bank, for the ice that restrained their river on the north has melted away. Some of this kind are to be seen from the N. Y. Central Railroad near Oneida, where the track lies on the ancient river bed. Several small lakes are described as occupying “plunge-basins’ excavated beneath cataracts. THE SCENERY OF ENGLAND. ‘Tur Scenery of Switzerland,’ by Sir John Lubbock, is now followed by ‘The Scenery of England’ by the same author under his newer title of Lord Avebury (Macmillan, 1902, xxvi + 534 pp., 197 figs. and pl.). The book opens with 85 pages on geology and 30 on general configuration. It then takes up such topics as coast, mountains and hills, rivers and lakes, giving to each a general consideration as well as an account of local examples, and closing with two chapters on law and names as related to topography. Many of the illus- trations are half-tone plates, most of which are excellent; one of the incised meanders of the Wye is notably fine. The author disarms the critic in the preface; and indeed it is rather ungrateful to find any fault with a book that must prove useful in many ways; yet there is ground for regret that the plan of treatment adopted was not at once more thorough and more systematic. The treatment of coasts and of rivers, for example, does not do justice to the position of these important subjects in modern physiography. Truly, the items are treated in a rational and explanatory manner, but the arrangement of the items is not such as to impress the reader with their natural telations; the incised meanders of the Wye, for instance, are referred to in the section [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 420 which describes normal meanders; alluvial fans of mountain torrents are described in connection with the third stage of river devel- opment in which the river, ‘finally * * * reaches a stage when the inclination becomes so small,’ etc. Sea cliffs are described in some detail, but the reader will not learn the relation be- tween the ragged outline and the beachless base of young cliffs, or between the smoother outline and continuous beach of mature cliffs. The attention of geographers and philologists should be called to the new word, ‘ manywhere’ (p. 52), of value intermediate between some- where and everywhere. TERMINOLOGY OF MORAINES. An elaborate historical monograph, ‘ Ge- schichte der Morinenkunde, by Bohm of Vienna (Abhandl. Geogr. Gesellsch. Wien, II1., 1901, No. 4, 334 pp., 4 pl.) forms an easy means ot reference to the writings of various authors on a problem that is equally shared between geologists and geographers. The earliest writers quoted are Minster (1544) and Stumpfi (1548). Their successors count up to about 400, and the number of citations is 650; Agassiz, Chamberlin, Heim, Penck and Saussure are the most frequently referred to. This detailed review extends to 217 pages. Then follows a 25-page discussion of the re- sults reached by the Glacier Conference of August, 1899, of which the author was not a member and from whose decision he dissents. The classification and terminology of mor- aines, as preferred by the author, are next presented in a chapter of 23 pages, closing with a table of 23 kinds of moraines named in six languages. It is notable that drumlin is the only name which holds unchanged in all countries; but moraine itself varies slightly from Italy (morena) to Norway (morene). In this respect drumlin and moraine are imi- tated by atoll and monadnock. Those inter- ested in the development of physiographic terminology may perhaps gain a useful hint from these accepted though unintentional con- tributions towards a universal scientific lan- guage; none of the four words are of classic origin; all come from local names of forms that have come to be used as types. a JANUARY 16, 1903.] NEW NORWEGIAN MAPS. Soar of the newer sheets of the Norwegian topographical map, 1:100,000, contain excel- lent illustrations of cirques, which believers in glacial erosion would ascribe to ice work. In the Reppefjelde the cirque floors stand be- low sea level, so that the shore line enters sev- eral curiously rounded bays, suggesting that large blocks had been bitten out of the upland. In another example the cirques have en- eroached so far on an upland that only a skeleton of it remains. Still other sheets ex- hibit the ‘arm-chair’ relation of cirques to the large valley upon which they open, this being a special case of the hanging valley problem. Broad trough-like valleys, with divides on their floors and lateral valleys opening on their walls, are repeatedly illustrated. These vari- ous forms are of particular interest when com- pared with those occurring in a well-dissected, non-glaciated mountain district, such as the old Appalachians of North Carolina, whose forms are well shown on the U. S. Geological Survey topographical sheets around Mt. Mit- chell, W. M. Davis. BOTANICAL NOTES. MORE BOOKS ON TREES. Noruine could show more certainly the rapidly growing interest in trees and their place in the world than the increase in the number of books on this subject. It is but a short time since two books on some phases of forestry were noticed in Screncs, and now it is a pleasure to call attention to three more which have appeared within a few weeks. The first is ‘The Woodsman’s Handbook,’ prepared by Professor Graves, of the Yale Forest School, and published as Bulletin 36 of the United States Bureau of Forestry. It is a small book containing 148 pages, each 10 by 16 em. in size, and so bound and trimmed as to be easily carried in an ordinary pocket. In it the author has attempted to bring together such information in regard to the field work of the forester as he will find necessary to have at hand for use at any moment. It is for the forester what an engineer’s ‘ fieldbook’ is to the working engineer. The scope of the SCIENCE. Lay little handbook may be seen from the general headings in the table of contents. Here we find ‘Units of Log Measure, ‘ Measurements of Sawed Lumber,’ ‘ Measurements of Stand- ing Trees,’ ‘Methods of Estimating Stand- ing Timber,’ ‘Forest Working Plans,’ ‘ Spe- cial Instruments Useful to a Woodman.’ Un- der the first head no less than forty-five log rules are listed and described or commented upon. The author has made a most useful book, and the Bureau of Forestry is to be commended for giving it prompt publication, and especially for bringing it out in this handy form. The next book is a ‘ Handbook of the Trees of New England, by Lorin L. Dame and Henry Brooks, and published by Ginn-& Com- pany. It is a book of 196 pages, 10 by 18 em., and bound with narrow margins for easy carrying in one’s pocket. Highty-seven species of trees are described and figured, and a few more are noticed but not illustrated. The figures are well done and must prove very helpful. The descriptions are full, and as they follow the same order in all cases, they will be useful not only to the forester, but to many a young botanist as well. Under each species the sequence of description is as fol- lows: ‘Habitat and range,’ ‘habit,’ ‘bark,’ ‘winter buds and leaves,’ ‘inflorescence,’ ‘fruit, ‘horticultural value,’ ‘explanation of the plate.’ It is to be regretted that the au- thors followed the older nomenclature so largely, but this is not a sufficiently grave de- fect to seriously mar its usefulmess. We wish that other parts of the country had as good books as this on their native trees. In the ‘ Economics of Forestry’ (Crowell & Company), by Professor Fernow, of the New York College of Forestry, we have another technical book designed for the use of forestry students. It is a work of 520 pages, 12 by 19 em., and is bound in the usual style for the library shelf. The titles of the twelve chap- ters will give an idea of the scope of the work, as follows: ‘The Relation of the State to Natural Resources,’ ‘The Forest as a Re- souree, ‘The Forest as a Condition,’ ‘ Forest and Forestry Defined,’ ‘ Factors of Forest Pro- duction and Business Aspects,’ ‘ Natural His- 118 tory of the Forest,’ ‘Methods of Forest Crop Production, Silviculture,’ ‘Methods of Busi- ness Conduct, Forest Economy,’ ‘ Principles and Methods of Forest Policy,’ ‘ Forest Policies of Foreign Nations,’ ‘ Forest Conditions of the United States,” ‘The Forestry Movement in the United States.’ There is also an appendix of valuable notes and tables. From the titles of the chapters, as well as that of the book, it is seén that it deals with the forestry prob- lem from the standpoint of the political econ- omist, and is in fact a contribution to one phase of this science, as well as to technical forestry. A full and satisfactory index closes this timely book, which we are sure must find its way into general use by all who are inter- ested in the subject of forestry in any of its more general aspects. Cuarues E. Bessey. UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. Tur Nobel prizes for 1902 were formally awarded on December 10. As we have already announced, the prize in chemistry was awarded to Professor Emil Fischer, of Berlin; the prize in medicine to Professor Ronald Ross, of Liverpool University, and the prize in physics was awarded divided between Pro- fessor H. A. Lorentz, of Leiden, and Professor P. Zeeman, of, Amsterdam. The value of each of the prizes is about $40,000. Tue American Philosophical Society elected officers on January 2 as follows: President, Edgar F. Smith; Vice-Presidents, George F. Barker, Samuel P. Langley, William B. Scott; Secretaries, I. Minis Hays, Edwin G. Conklin, Arthur W. Goodspeed, Morris Jastrow, Jr.; Treasurer, Henry La Barre Jayne; Curators, Charles L. Doolittle, William P. Wilson, Al- bert H. Smyth; Councilors, George R. More- house, Patterson Du Bois, Ira Remsen, Isaac J. Wistar. At the Washington meeting of the Astro- nomical and Astrophysical Society of America the following officers were elected to serve for the ensuing year: President—Simon Newcomb. First Vice-President—George EK. Hale. Second Vice-President—William W. Campbell. SCIENCE. (N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 420. - Secretary—George C. Comstock. Treasurer-—C. L. Doolittle. Councilors—B. C. Pickering, R. S. Woodward, Ormond Stone, W. S. Hichelberger. The time and place of the next meeting were left for subsequent decision by the council. Tuer first appointments to the newly es- tablished honorary position of associate of the Harvard University Museum are as fol- lows: Andrew Grey Weeks, Jr., of Boston, in zoology; Herbert Haviland Field, Ph.D., of Zurich, in zoology, and Robert LeMoyne Bar- rett, A.B., of Chicago, in geography. Mr. Weeks is a specialist in Lepidoptera; Dr. Field is the editor of the well-known Con- cilium Bibliographicum; Mr. Barrett is en- gaged in exploration in Central Asia. SuRGEON GENERAL WYMAN, of the Marine Hospital Service, has returned from Cali- fornia, where he went to investigate the al- leged existence of bubonic plague in San Francisco. THREE members of the scientific depart- ments of Syracuse University have leave of absence for the purpose of study abroad— Dr. Charles W. Hargitt, professor of biology, sails for Naples in January, to be absent one year; Dr. T. C. Hopkins, professor of geol- ogy, will study voleanoes and glaciers in Italy, France and Switzerland, and Dr. Har- old Pender proposes to repeat his experiments on electricity and magnetism at the Univer- sity of Paris. THE state commissioners of education of New South Wales, headed by Dr. G. H. Knibbs, president of the University of Syd- ney, have come to the United States to study our educational system. Masor Ronatp Ross was given a reception by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool on December 22 in recognition of the award to him of the Nobel prize. Tue curators in the Zoological Museum of the University of Berlin, Dr. Wilhelm Welt- ner, Dr. Gustav Tornier and Dr. Paul Matschie have been made professors. We learn from Nature that the First Lord of the Treasury has appointed a committee to inquire and report as to the administration by JANUARY 16, 1903.] the meteorological council of the existing Parliamentary grant, and as to whether any changes in its apportionment are desirable in the interests of meteorological science, and to make any further recommendations which may occur to them, with a view to increasing the utility of that grant. The committee will consist of the Right Hon. Sir Herbert E. Max- well Bart., M.P. (chairman), Mr. J. Dewar M.P., Sir W. de W. Abney, K.C.B., F.R.S., Sir F. Hopwood, K.C.B., Board of Trade, Sir T. H. Elliot, K.C.B., Board of Agriculture, Dr. R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., Mr. T. L. Heath, Treasury, and Dr. J. Larmor, F.R.S. Mr. G. L. Barstow, of the Treasury, will act as secre- tary to the committee. Tue Medical Society of the District of Co- lumbia held a memorial meeting on December 31, in honor of the late Dr. Walter Reed, Major Surgeon, U.S.A. Addresses were de- livered by Dr. S. S. Adams, president of the society, Medical Director Marmion, U.S.N., Surgeon J. R. Kean, U.S.A., Professor A. F. A. King, Dr. C. W. Stiles, General Leonard Wood, U.S.A., and Dr. W. H. Welch, of Johns Hopkins University. WE recorded last week the death of Dr. Charles C. Bell, professor of chemistry in the Medical School of the University of Min- nesota. Dr. Bell was born at Somerville, Mass., in 1854. He was graduated at Har- vard in the class of "76, and spent several years in the study of chemistry abroad. On his re- turn he was connected with the Johns Hop- kins University and the Pennsylvania State College. He became a professor in the Uni- versity of Minnesota thirteen years ago. THe deaths are announced of Dr. John Young, lately professor of natural history at Glasgow University; of Mr. Henry Stopes, known for his researches in prehistoric archeol- ogy; of Dr. Franz Graeff, professor of miner- alogy at Freiburg i. B.; of Dr. Johan Lemberg, professor of mineralogy and geology in the University at Dorpat, of Dr. T. Zaaijer, pro- fessor of anatomy and embryology in the Uni- versity of Leiden; and of Dr. Antonio d’Achiardi, professor of mineralogy and geol- ogy at the University of Pisa. SCIENCE. 119 A COMPETITIVE examination of the New York Civil Service Commission will be held on January 24 for the position of structural engineer in the State Architect’s Office at a salary of $2,000. The duties include calcu- lation of strength and stability of structures, including floors, girders, roofs, columns, walls, piers and foundations, design of roof trusses, inspection of foundation soils, design of water supply systems, and require a knowledge of retaining walls, calculation of quantities, modern steel and concrete construction and road building. Subjects of examination and relative weights: Theoretical and practical questions, 6; experience and education, 2. Mr. Anprew Carnecir has offered to give the city of Philadelphia $1,500,000 for the erection of thirty branch libraries, on the con- dition that the city provide the sites and $5,000 a year for maintenance for each branch. Mr. Carnegie has also offered to give $100,000 to Camden for a library build- ing. Mr. Henry Putrrs, of New York City, has given $300,000 for the establishment in Phila- delphia of ‘The Henry Phipps Institute for the Study, Treatment and Prevention of Tuberculosis.’ Dr. WittmMm B. Graves, of East Orange, N. J., has presented a well-equipped bacterio- logical and pathological laboratory to the Orange Memorial Hospital, to be known as the Graves Laboratory. A press dispatch from Cambridge states that notice has been received at the Harvard Astronomical Observatory of a gift of $2,500 from the Carnegie Institution. The award is for the year 1903 and the money is to be used toward paying the salaries of experts who are to study the large collection of astronomical photographs which have been made by the observatory. Mr. Anprew Carnecir has signalized his ac- ceptance of the vice-presidency of the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain by establish- ing seven student scholarships of an annual value of $500 each for the furtherance of metallurgical research. 120 Tue London Times states that the Swedish Antaretic exploration ship Antarctic left Tierra del Fuego at the beginning of No- vember on its second summer expedition. It was expected that the expedition, after some cartographic work and natural history re- search in the northern and western portions of the Dirck Gerritz Archipelago, would ar- rive about December 10 at the winter quarters in Snow Hill Land, where Dr. Nordenskjold would resume the leadership of the entire expedition. The Antarctic will probably re- turn to Port Stanley (Falkland Islands) at the end of February or the begimning of March. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. Dr. D. K. Pearsons, of Chicago, has made a gift of $50,000 to the endowment fund of Pomona College at Claremont, Cal. Genera O. O. Howarp, president of the board of directors of the Lincoln Memorial University at Cumberland Gap, Tenn., an- nounces that the $200,000 which they desired for the endowment of the school has been raised. Dr. Gustay A. ANDREEN, president of Au- gustana Oollege, at Rock Island, Ill., has sailed for Sweden, where he goes to accept a $29,000 gift from Swedish educators and business men to Augustana College. A FELLOWSHIP of the value of four hundred and fifty dollars has been established by the trustees of Smith College for the encourage- ment of advanced work in philosophy and psy- chology. It is open to women graduates of not less than one year’s standing of Smith and of other colleges, and is awarded annually, subject to renewal at discretion, to the candi- date judged best fitted to profit by it. The holder of the fellowship is required to render a certain amount of assistance (not instruc- tion) in the philosophical department, but is free, and is expected, to devote most of her time to some specified line of work under the direction of the instructors and to present a thesis, embodying the results of her studies, at the end of the year. The work so done may be taken to qualify her for an advanced academic degree. Application for this fel- SCIENCE. [N. 5. Vou. XVII. No. 420. lowship should be sent, with testimonials and other vouchers, to Mr. H. N. Gardiner, Smith College, Northampton, Mass., by May 1. Ar the Ohio State University a veterinary building costing $35,000 and an addition to the chemical building costing $22,000 are now being constructed. Besides these, a building costing $80,000 for the department of civil engineering and drawing will be commenced as soon as the weather will permit, and plans have been ordered for a physics building cost- ing from $80,000 to $90,000. The funds for these structures have all been provided. Each of the buildings will be planned with reference to future additions. The enrolment of the institution during the past term was 1607, a gain of nearly 200 over the corresponding time one year ago. A new four-story building, 186x770 feet, for the departments of mechanical engineer- ing, mining engineering and geology at Le- high University is in process of construction. Tue trustees of Columbia University have voted to designate the physical laboratories for research the Phoenix Physical Labora- tories, in memory of Stephen Whitney Phenix, of the class of 759, who left a large bequest to Columbia. Dr. J. J. Tuomson, F.R.S., for the past eighteen years Cavendish professor of experi- mental physics at Cambridge University, has been offered by the trustees of Columbia Uni- versity the chair of physics, vacant by the death of Ogden N. Rood. Professor Thom- son was born at Manchester in 1856, and at- tended Owens College and Trinity College, Cambridge. At Cambridge he was second wrangler and second Smith’s prizeman in 1880 and was elected fellow of Trinity Col- lege in 1881. In 1884 he succeeded Lord Rayleigh as professor of experimental physics. Dr. CHartes L. Poor, formerly associate professor of astronomy at the Johns Hopkins University, has been appointed lecturer in astronomy in Columbia University. THE general board of studies of Cambridge University has appointed Mr. F. G. Hopkins, M.A., of Emmanuel College, to the office of reader in chemical physiology. SCIENCE A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EDITORIAL ComMMITTEE : S. NEwcomsB, Mathematics; R. 8S. WOODWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. WALcorTtT, Geology ; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; HENRY F. OSBORN, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooxs, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology ; S. H. ScuppDER, Entomology ; C. E. Bessey, N. L. Brirron, Botany ; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology ; H. P. Bow- DITCH, Physiology; J. S. BILLINGS, Hygiene; WILLIAM H. WELCH, Pathology ; J. McCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology. Frpay, JANUARY 23, 1903. CONTENTS: The Universe as an Organism: PRoressor S. INV OO NIESS prc ou aa.8 aon DEE c Dae Ona are ea Plans of the New Buildings for the National Bureau of Standards: Proressor E. B. LOS Auperieolvatnetacctcvetitaiers eres crstsevae se L229 American Philosophical Association: PRo- Fessor H. N. GARDINER................;. 140 Scientific Books :— Baldwin’s Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology, Vol. II.: PRoressor FRANK FURERTEAL YS oct aici yah eve se.) Syes Spore seks Ue Le ee cee as 143 Scientific Journals and Articles............. 145 Societies and Academies :— Ohio State Academy of Science: PROFESSOR E. L. Mosetey. North Carolina Academy of Science: FE. S. Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society: ARTHUR M. Comey. Torrey Botanical Club: W. A. Cannon; PRoFESSOR Epwarp 8. BURGESS. Columbia University Geological Journal CUD SAE Whee SHEMER i. oor. c ths ie isis = ieee Discussion and Correspondence :— First Record of the Pollack Whale (Balen- optera borealis) im the Western North At- lantic: FREDERICK W. TRUE. A Second Bishop’s Ring around the Sun and the Re- cent Unusual Twilight Glows: Henry Hetm (CHAR ALOR T Geet crc ane enercilce ee aot ere erent cs Shorter Articles :— Some Corrosions found on Ancient Bronzes: WALDEMAR Kocu. Note on the Circular Swimming of Sand-dollar Spermatozoa: G. 145 150 IVER VAIN SEO Ware intstawarp W. Morury, Western Reserve University, and Dayton C. Mier, Case School of Applied Science. The theory of the Michelson-Morley ex- periment contained in their paper of 1887 SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 422. was elaborated as far as seemed needful in view of the negative result of their ex- periment. This paper gives some account of a more detailed theory and announces some preliminary results of the more re- cent experiments. : Some Measures of the Speed of Photo- graphic Shutters: Hp>warp W. Morey, Western Reserve University, and Day- TON C. Minumr, Case School of Applied Science. A stroboscopic electrically driven tuning- fork and a special camera containing a cylindrical sensitive film were arranged to obtain graphie representations of the behavior of shutters. The exact manner and time of opening and closing, as well as the aperture and duration of exposure, are recorded. Of the better grade of shutters designed to give definite and adjustable exposures, it was found that they were fairly con- stant in operation, but that the actual duration of exposure is often not even ap- proximately that mdicated by the maker. Different shutters of the same make and form give widely different exposures when set for the same time. It was found in all the shutters tested that the times marked one seventy-fifth of a second or less were all of the same duration, and that this was much less than the shortest marked time, namely, from three to four thousandths of a second. If the time scale for each separate shutter of this grade were constructed upon tests of the shutter, it might then be used to give practically correct exposures. With the best shutters of the diaphragm class the duration of exposure is nearly independent of the aperture of the open- ing. Some shutters of the cheaper grades designed to give long, medium and short exposures were found to give equal ex- JANUARY 30, 1903.] posures in the three cases. In general, shutters of this grade with timing devices are wholly unreliable. On the Distribution of Pressure around Spheres in a Viscous Fluid: 8. R. Coox, Case School of Applied Science. When a single sphere is set in motion in a perfect fluid at rest at infinity, its motion is completely determined by the velocity potential due to the motion of the sphere; and the pressure around the sphere is given by (1) | mete — iv + F(t) Pp dz = Where ¢ is the velocity potential and w is the velocity of the sphere at time ¢. When w is constant (1) may be written in the form P — y2$2 costo — 8, (2) Pp - where @ is measured from the direction of motion. The curve for the pressure of a perfect fluid around a sphere was given, and also the curve for the pressure of air, which was determined by measuring the pres- sure of the air around a glass sphere by means of a water manometer while the air is flowing with a constant velocity past the sphere. The two curves differ, in that, for a perfect fluid the curve is sym- metrical with respect to both axes, as may be seen from (2), while for a viscous fluid, a. @., air, the curve is symmetrical with respect to the axis parallel to the direction of flow, but not with respect to the axis at right angles, the pressure at the rear being less than that in front of the sphere. The pressure was also determined for two spheres moving in line of centers and for two spheres moving perpendicular to the line of centers. The equations which represent the pressure for a perfect fluid Were given and the curves of pressure SCIENCE. 175 around the spheres compared with the curves obtained by measurements of the pressure in air. It was found that two spheres moving in the line of their centers in a perfect fluid are repelled, but when moving in a viscous fluid are attracted. For spheres moving perpendicular to their line of centers in a perfect fluid they were attracted, and in a viscous fluid repelled. These results agree with results given in a former paper on ‘Flutings in a Sound Wave’ and corroborate the theory there advanced as an explanation of the cause of the flutings in a Kundt-tube. A Portable Apparatus for the Measure- ment of Sound: A. G. Weestrr, Clark University. An improved form of the instrument shown at the Boston meeting, 1898. The apparatus consists of two parts, a ‘phone,’ or apparatus for emitting con- tinuously a pure tone, whose intensity is measured in absolute units (watts), and of a ‘phonometer,’ or instrument which measures at any point the intensity of the sound emitted by the phone or other source of sound measuring the absolute compres- sion of the air. The amplitude of a dia- phragm forming the back of a resonator is measured by the displacement of fringes in an interferometer, observed stroboscop- ically. Both parts of the apparatus are portable, and suitable for field work. The Mechanical Efficiency of Musical In- struments as Sound Producers: A. G. Weester, Clark University. The sound emitted was measured by the phonometer, by comparison with the phone placed in the same place where the instru- ment was. The input of energy was ob- tained by measurement of the pressure, and time rate of air consumption for wind instruments, and by the pull of the bow and velocity for stringed instruments. Preliminary results were giyen for the 176 cornet, French horn, bombardino, saxo- phone, clarinet, oboe, voice and violin. The mechanical efficiency is generally between one thousandth and one hundredth. An idea of the magnitudes involved can be got from the statement that the sound emitted from five to ten million cornets would equal a horse-power. The Damped Ballistic Galvanometer: O. M. Srrwart, University of Missouri. It is usually assumed that a ballistic galvanometer if well damped does not give deflections strictly proportional to the quantity of electricity discharged through it. It has, however, been found experi- mentally that such an error if any is very small. The theory of the ballistic galva- nometer is developed for the two general cases: (1) periodic vibrations, and (2) aperiodic vibrations. In both cases the de- flection is strictly proportional to the quantity discharged through it. Effect of the damping on the sensibility of the galva- nometer is discussed. On the Electrical Conductivity of Solu- tions in Amyl Amine: Louis KAHLEN- BERG, University of Wisconsin. The dielectric constant of amyl amine is 4.50, while that of chloroform is 3.95 and that of ether is 4.37. Chloroform solu- tions that conduct electricity appreciably are unknown; ethereal solutions are also extremely poor electrolytes. Ferric chlo- ride dissolved in chloroform or ether yields solutions that are practically insulators. It was, therefore, of interest to determine the conductivity of solutions in amyl amine. The amyl amine was dried with fused caus- tic potash and redistilled. Its specific con- ductivity was less than 8.2 * 10-8. Cad- mium iodide, silver nitrate and ferric chlo- ride are soluble in amyl amine, and the so- lutions are electrolytes. Their conductivity was measured by means of the Kohlrausch SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 422. method. In the case of cadmium solution the molecular conductivity first increases with the dilution and then it increases on further dilution, the maximum (0.542) oe- curring when one gram molecule is con- tained in about one and one tenth liters. The mol. cond. is almost ml when one gram mol. is present in six liters. Silver nitrate solutions act similarly, the maxi- mum (1.48) occurring when one gram mol. is present in about one and two tenths liters. The cond. is exceedingly low when one gram mol. is contained in 31 liters. In the case of ferric chloride the mol. cond. decreased continuously (from 0.217 at v=5.021) as the solution became more dilute, rapidly dwindling to a very small value at about the same concentra- tion as the AgNO, solutions. The con- ductivities of solutions of these three salts at higher dilutions than those mentioned were found to be practically negligible. The results show that, contrary to what one would expect according to the Nernst- Thomson rule, amyl amine yields solutions that conduct well enough readily to admit of measurement. Again the change of the mol. cond. as the solutions are diluted is such that it can not be harmonized with the theory of electrolytic dissociation. The fact that the mol. cond. dwindles to prac- tically nothing in solutions of the concen- tration above mentioned is particularly in- teresting. Potassium iodide and sodium oleate are insoluble in amyl amine. Cop- per oleate is soluble, but the solutions con- duct no better than the pure solvent. On the Thermal Conductwity of Glass: H. W. Springsteen, Case School of Ap- plied Science. Some Relations between Science and the Patent System: CHarLes K. Wauap, U. 8. Patent Office. - This informal paper will call to the at- JANUARY 30, 1903.] tention of the section as it meets in Wash- ington certain unique opportunities for re- search afforded to the public by the Patent Office and printed patents. The relations may be grouped under three heads: 1. The patent system, its laws, methods and collections, as an organized body of material. 2. Scientific men as inventors and patentees. 3. The usefulness of printed patents to scientific men. Why the E.M.F. of the Daniell Cell changes when the Densities of the So- lutions Change: Henry S. CarHart, University of Michigan. In my paper read at the Pittsburgh meet- ing of the American Association for the Advancement of Science I applied the in- erease of thermo-electromotive force per degree between a metal and a solution of one of its salts with the density of the so- lution to the above problem. An increase in the density of the zine sulphate solution increases the back thermo-electromotive force, and so decreases the E.M.F. of the cell as a whole. The writer’s explanation has been criti- cised on the ground that the heat of forma- tion of both zine sulphate and copper sul- phate, in aqueous solution, decreases as the density increases. The result would ap- pear to be a rational explanation of the change of E.M.F. of the Daniell cell with- out any regard to the thermo-electromotive force and its variation with the density of the solution. To test this question I have measured the E.M.F. of a Daniell cell of a special form set up with concentrated copper sulphate solution, and, first, with 1/16N zine sul- phate solution; and, second, with a normal zine sulphate solution. The E.M.F. in the second case is less than in the former by SCIENCE. 177 0.021 volt at 20° C. The difference caleu- lated from the thermo-electromotive forces is 0.029 volt, without taking into account the E.M.F. at the junction of the two solu- tions. The thermal E.M.F. is then abund- antly large enough to explain the phenom- enon. . Further, the most interesting fact about this is that the observed change of E.M.F. of the Daniell cell is exactly the E.M.F. of a concentration cell set up with the two zine sulphate solutions. A little considera- tion shows that such should be the ease, but I am not aware that this point has been observed before. Preliminary Report on an Absolute Meas- urement of the E.M.F. of the Cadmium Cell: Henry S. Carwart and Karn E. Gutue, University of Michigan. The paper will describe the preparation of the materials for the cadmium cells used, will give a comparison of their E.M.F.’s, will deseribe the new electro- dynamometer built for the measurement of the current which produces a fall of po- tential over a known resistance, this fall of potential being compared with the E.M.F. of the cadmium cell. If secured in time, some results of the measurement will also be given. The Characteristic Absorption Curves of the Permanganates: B. E. Moors, Uni- versity of Nebraska. A spectrophotometrie study of solutions of potassium and zine permanganate was made. These solutions were prepared nearly saturated (concentration not yet determined). Then solutions diluted 10, 100 and 1,000 times were studied. For all points in the spectrum the value K (the thickness of the standard concentra- tion which would absorb ninety per cent. of light) is caleulated. This value changes from point to point in the spectrum, but should not change at any fixed point in 178 ' SCIENCE. the spectrum upon dilution, unless some change in the solution occurs. The strongly absorbing region of these solutions shows five bands. Ostwald shows that twelve permanganates in dilute solution show identical positions for four of these bands, which suggests at once identical color for common ions. Indeed, Ostwald gives a large series of solutions of different com- mon ions to support this conclusion. Still, it must be readily recognized that the color of a solution is determined by the magni- tude of absorption, both inside and outside the absorption band, as well as by the posi- tion of the bands. This determination re- quires a spectrophotometric study, although it is a tediously slow process in comparison to the other method. Spectrophotometric- ally studied those two permanganates show that the bands are identical for both sub- stances In all concentrations. For the potassium permanganate the relative trans- parency in the band region inereases shghtly upon dilution. The zine perman- ganate remains constant for all concentra- tions in this region. teristic absorption bands, in both blue and red, both solutions show marked increase in relative absorption upon dilution. That is, Increased ionization has caused a change outside the bands, not in the band region itself. Note: Even in concentrated solutions, permanganates would have a large disso- ciation coefficient, hence a small difference in ionization could only be realized upon great dilution. Owing to the slight solu- bility of several permanganates, one is still farther restricted in the choice of sub- stances. Hence so far I have only been able to examine the two substanees. The Magnetic Rotary Dispersion of Solu- tions of Anomalous Dispersive Sub- stances: FE. J. Barns, University of Nebraska. Presented by D. B. Bracs. Outside the charac- | [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 422. The rotation of the plane of polarization of a ray of light, when passed through a substance in a direction parallel to the lines of force, has been found on theoretical grounds to be proportional to dw/d/, where w is the index of refraction of the sub- stance for the wave-length 72. Conse- quently in solutions showing anomalous dispersion there should be an anomaly in this rotation wherever there is an anomaly in the refractive index. The author has studied very dilute solutions of fuchsin, cyanin, analine (blue) and litmus with an improved form of polariscope. The mean error of a setting for any wave-length was less than .01°; while the best results claimed by previous investigators, who ob- tained anomalous effects, 1s a probable error of .03°. The first observations indicated that the apparent anomalies were present in these solutions; but further mvestigation -proved them to be spurious. After eliminating these effects no anomalies were obtained. Hence, although anomalous dispersive sub- stances may possess an anomalous Faraday effect, its magnitude is much less than it has heretofore been considered. The Investigation of the Atmospheric Cir- culation in the Tropics: A. LAwRENCE Rotrcu, Blue Hill Meteorological Ob- servatory. It is generally believed that the currents which ascend from the thermal equator proceed immediately as southwest and northwest anti-trades over the northeast and southeast trades-winds, and that the greater part of the anti-trade descends to the surface of the ocean north and south of the trades and continues to the poles as the prevailing southwest or northwest winds of the north or south temperate zones. This hypothesis is not sustained by the observations of the movements of vol- eanic dust and of upper clouds, which indi- ne " JANUARY 30, 1903.] cate a strong easterly wind above the equator, shifting suddenly, at about 20° north and south latitudes, to southwest and west. We do not know the depth of the trades, and nothing about the vertical vari- ations of temperature and humidity over the ocean, nor whether sudden changes in these elements oceur between the trade and the anti-trade. ; The author proposes to investigate these and other questions by means of kites carrying self-recording instruments which, flown from his observatory on Blue Hill, near Boston, during the past nine years, have much increased our knowledge of the atmosphere in this region up to a height of three miles. Experiments made by him in 1901, in flying kites from a steamer erossing the north Atlantic, proved that in this way observations could be obtained in the upper air independently of the wind. He now desires to make these atmospheric soundings between the Azores and Ascen- sion Island, and is endeavoring to obtain the funds necessary to charter and equip a steamer, believing that in this way some of the most important problems in meteor- ology and physical geography may be solved. ¥ Anomalous Dispersion and Selective Ab- sorption of Fuchsin: Wm. B. CarLMEL, National Bureau of Standards. Pre- sented by D. B. Brace. To give a brief and concise account of this work, I may state that it consists of a determination of the dispersion curve by interferential means, and of the absorp- tion by means of a Brace spectrophotom- eter. The methods of procedure have necessarily been somewhat novel because fuchsin is so strongly absorbing that it is not possible to determine the dispersion curve in the usual manner. The chief difficulty in the determina- tion of the dispersion curve by interferen- SCIENCE. 179 tial means is that the light of one path of the interferometer, after, passing through the film, is so reduced in intensity that it is too weak to produce interference when it meets the undiminished light from the other path. By partly balancing up the intensity of the two paths by means of an absorbing screen, and by using a form of interferometer which only allowed the light to traverse the film once, and which rejected the enormous amount of light re- flected from the surface of the film, it was found possible to obtain good fringes throughout the visible spectrum. The re- tardations were determined by means of spectral bands, using a mica compensator. The absorption of the same specimen of fuchsin was determined by means of a form of spectrophotometer which allowed an unusually great intensity of light to be used. The absorption has only been determined in part before, because of the difficulties encountered. A complete de- termination has been made throughout the spectrum, which agrees quite well with the values found by other experimenters in the portion of the spectrum in which they had made measurements. The work was done upon films of from 0.2 micron thick to 0.6 micron thick. The thicknesses were determined from the in- terference bands of thin films, and are correct to within about four or five per cent. The Coefficient of Expansion of Some Alloys of Nickel and Cast. Iron: THEo. M. Focxs, Case School of Applied Science. In Appendix No. 6 of the report of the Coast and Geodetic Survey for 1900, Mr. E. G. Fischer describes a new precise level, in which an alloy of nickel and cast iron replaces the brass ordinarily used. The experiments described in this paper were undertaken to find the composition 1380 of the alloy which should have the least coefficient of expansion. The results are given in the following table: Percentage. Mean Nickel. Cast Iron. Coefiicient. Temp. 333 663 -00000543 31.5 35 65 -00000410 31.5 36 64 -00000397 31.0 365 | 635 -00000403 32.0 Sulphur Dioxide and the Binary-Vapor Engine: R. H. THursron, Cornell Uni- versity. for FRED. Demonstrating J. Hie, St. A New Apparatus Wave Motion: John’s College. The instrument is used to demonstrate the theory of radiation, particularly the different wave-forms (longitudinal and transversal), polarization and diffraction. The apparatus consists of a network of rubber strings, at the intersection of which lead balls are suspended. Demonstration of a Portable High Tension Coil and Ozone Generator: G. Lenox Curtis, New York city. For several years I have been experi- menting with a high tension coil which is attached to the street main of 110 or more volts. The current is multiplied to one million volts, while the ampérage is re- duced to a fraction of one ampére. The object of the apparatus is to produce ozone for therapeutical purposes. It apparently has but a single pole, the atmosphere being the negative pole. To the coil are attached ozone genera- tors, inhalers, Geisler and X-ray tubes. The apparatus is portable and can be used wherever there is an incandescent current, or, the current may be supplied from a battery; it is, therefore, adapted to sick- room practice. The current and ozone, by this device, may be carried into and through the body, oxidizing pathogenic SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 422. conditions, reestablishing nutrition, and restoring the blood to normal. ‘There is no shock nor unpleasant feeling to the patient. This method as demonstrated by five years’ active practice, in which many diseases have been treated, is probably the most effective of any now in vogue. It appears to be equally advantageous in the treatment of acute and chronic eases. It quickly reduces fevers, controls pneumonia and diseases of suppurative character, and increases vitality. By passing the elec- trode over the body, superficial and deep- seated congestions may be located, and within an unusually short period normal circulation is reestablished. This fact has been demonstrated in the treatment of meningitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, neu- ritis, ete., and the long chain of affections arising from autointoxication is virtually controlled. Sufficient ozone can be gener- ated by this device to quickly disinfect the sickroom or hospital ward. Dayton C. Mimusr, Secretary of Section B. MEETING OF THE AMBPRICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY. On Wednesday, December 31, a joint meeting of Section B and the American Physical Society was held, at which Pro- fessor A. G. Webster, vice-president of the society, presided. The annual election re- sulted in the choice of the following officers for the current year: President—Arthur G. Webster. Vice-President—Elihu Thomson. Secretary—Urnest Merritt. Treasurer—William Hallock. Members of the Council—W. F. Magie and EH. H. Hall. The first paper on the program was by Dr. L. A. Bauer, ‘On the Results of Com- parisons of Magnetic Instruments.’ These comparisons had been made by the mag- netic survey and showed a very satisfac- tory agreement among the different instru- JANUARY 30, 1903.] ments used, which represented types from all parts of the world. Mr. Bauer referred ~ especially to the satisfactory performance of certain earth inductors, which were able to give dip determinations with such accu- racy as to readily show the diurnal varia- tions. Mr. Bauer also gave a report of the observations made at the time of the solar eclipse in 1901 to detect the presence of magnetic disturbances accompanying it. Observations had been made at thirty dif- ferent points distributed all over the world. Unmistakable evidences of magnetic dis- turbances were shown by the curves exhib- ited, the maximum of the disturbance oc- curring at the time of totality. Since the time of totality was widely different at different points, the effect observed could not be due to disturbances of the ordinary kind. Professor E. F. Nichols and G. F. Hull presented a very interesting paper giving the final results of their, work on the ‘Pres- sure Due to Radiation.’ Since their’ first work on this subject alterations in the ap- paratus had been made which permitted of much greater accuracy in the results. The pressure as computed from the observed energy of the radiation used was found to agree with the pressure actually observed to within 1 per cent., the greatest variation being 1.1 per cent. and the more usual vari- ation being about 0.6 per cent. The effect of wave-length on the pressure was tested by using light which had been filtered through a water cell or through red glass. In each case the pressure was found to de- pend upon the energy only, and no indica- tion of any dependence upon wave-length was observed. This is in accordance with theory. In connection with this work the authors also described an experiment by which something greatly resembling a comet’s tail was obtained under conditions approx- imating those of nature. A powder con- SCIENCE. 181 sisting of a mixture of emery and puff-ball spores was placed in a vacuum tube con- structed somewhat like an hour-glass. The vacuum was made as perfect as could be obtained, precautions being also used to get rid of mercury vapor. Upon pouring the powder from one part of the tube to the other, and at the same time concen- trating upon it the rays from an are, the lighter portions of the powder were seen to be blown out as though repelled by the light, and presented an appearance quite similar to that of a comet’s tail. The effect was of the same order of magnitude as would be expected from the authors’ values for light pressure. The authors considered it quite possible that the phenomena might in part be due to other causes; but even if this is true the experiment reproduces the behavior of a comet’s tail with great accu- racy. The apparatus used in measuring light pressure and with the tube showing the laboratory comet’s tail were exhibited. Professor E. H. Hall gave a historical account of the various” experiments that have been made to detect a southerly de- viation of a falling body, and described recent experiments by himself on the same subject. With suitable precautions to avoid disturbances, nearly 1,000 balls had been dropped through a distance of about 23 meters. The average deviation toward the south was 0.05 mm. The results are especially interesting, since the theory of the subject as developed by Gauss and others does not indicate that any deviation should be expected, while most previous experiments, like those of Professor Hall, indicate a slight effect. The papers by J. R. Benton, viz., ‘The Elasticity of Copper and Iron at — 186° C.,’ ‘Thermodynamic Formule for Iso- tropie Solids Subject to Tension’ and ‘ Ex- periments in Connection with Friction Be- tween Solids and Liquids,’ will have been 182 published in full* before the appearance of this account. The first results of a determination of the Heat of Vaporization of Oxygen were re- ported by Dr. J. S. Shearer. The method used was an electrical one similar to that already used by the author with liquid air. ‘The value obtained was 58.9. Experi- ments to determine the heat of vaporization of nitrogen were in progress, but not yet completed. Professor R. W. Wood deseribed and - exhibited a screen which was transparent to ultra-violet light, while being opaque to the rest of the spectrum. Such a screen is very useful in photographing ultra- violet spectra, since it enables the overlap- ping spectra of other orders to be elimi- nated. The author showed an interesting lecture experiment in which the rays of the lantern, after passing through such a sereen, were concentrated to an invisible focus where a suitable fluorescent substance was excited. The screen was made by combining a gelatine film containing nitroso-dimethyl-analine with copper oxide and cobalt glass. A group of papers dealing with radio- activity occupied the first half of the Wednesday afternoon session and aroused much interest. It is a subject for congratu- lation that work along these lines is icreas- ing on this side of the Atlantic, and that so many important papers dealing with the subject should be presented to the Physical Society. In a paper on the ‘Magnetic and Electrical Deviation of the Hasily Ab- sorbed Rays from Radium’ Professor Rutherford described experiments showing that these non-penetrating ‘a-rays’ are slightly deviated in passing through a mag- netic field. The deviation is opposite in sense to that of the cathode rays. The deviation of the o-rays in an electric field * Physical Review, January, 1903. SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 422 is also opposite to that of cathode rays. It would, therefore, appear that these rays are in all likelihood positwely charged particles. Both the magnetic and the elec- trie deviations were very small. In order to get results it was necessary to use in- tensely active radium and strong fields. The author’s measurements indicate for the velocity a value of about 2.5 < 10* em./sec., and for the ratio of charge to mass the value 6 < 10%. It would thus appear that the a-rays are similar in character to the ‘canal rays’ of the vacuum tube, the size of the particles constituting the rays being comparable to the size of atoms. The au- thor pointed out that this result is in har- mony with the fact previously observed that the coefficient of absorption of a sub- stance for such rays depends upon the thickness of the absorbing layer already traversed and increases rapidly with this thickness. : An article by Professor Rutherford and Mr. Hl. Li. Cook, on a ‘Penetrating Radia- tion from the Harth’s Surface,’ gave the results of experiments which indicate that part at least of the so-called spontaneous ionization of air in a closed place is due to radiation from outside. It was found that in a closed vessel surrounded by a screen of lead one inch thick the ionization was re- duced to 68 per cent. of the value obtained without the lead. The results indicated that the rays, which were in part absorbed by the lead, proceeded from all directions and originated at or near the surface of all bodies in the neighborhood. ‘The au- thors were of the opinion that the ionization upon the interior of a closed vessel was due in part also to a radiation proceeding from the surface of the surrounding vessel. This was made probable by the fact that a screen of iron seemed to be more effective in re- ducing the ionization than one of lead, while if the vessel containing the air was a JANUARY 30, 1905. | sunk in a tank of water the action couid be reduced still further. The assumption that iron and water radiate less strongly than lead would explain these results. In the case of lead the presumably more com- plete absorption of the rays from outside is more than balanced by the increased radiation from the metal itself. Professor McLennan, of Toronto Uni- versity, reported the results of experiments made at the foot of Niagara Falls to de- termine the induced radioactivity at that point. An insulated wire mounted im- mediately at the foot of the falls on the American side and maintained at a nega- tive potential was found to acquire a much less induced activity than would be ac- quired by the same wire under similar circumstances at Toronto. It was found unnecessary actually to charge the wire when at the foot of the falls, since it re- ceived a negative charge from the air or spray, the potential being about that needed for the experiment. The activity acquired at the foot of the falls was found to be only about one sixth of that ob- tained at Toronto. The author also de- seribed experiments made in the neighbor- hood of a static machine in operation. It was found that the activity acquired by a metal disk when placed near the machine and negatively charged was much less than when the same disk was placed at a greater distance. It was also found that the ac- tivity acquired by a body placed in a closed room diminished with time. A paper by Professor McLennan and Mr. E. F. Burton on the ‘Electrical Con- ductivity of Air’ dealt with experiments somewhat similar in character to those de- seribed in the paper by Rutherford and Cook mentioned above. It was found that air placed in a closed vessel showed at first a rapid diminution in conductivity, but that later its conductivity increased again. SCIENCE. 185 The effect was more marked at greater pressures. The general form of the curve showing the variation of conductivity was the same for vessels made of different ma- terials, but the initial diminution and sub- sequent increase of conductivity were much more marked in some than in others. The authors think that the result is due to an emanation or radiation issuing from the walls of the containing vessel. The rapid decrease in conductivity at first is due to the dying out of the conductivity origin- ally possessed by the air, while the subse- quent increase is the result of the emana- tion or radiation from the walls. It will be noticed that this conclusion is practically the same as that reached by Rutherford and Cook. The fact that the results of these entirely independent experiments should be announced at the same meeting of the Physical Society presents an unusual and interesting coincidence. A paper on the ‘Radioactivity of Freshly Fallen Snow,’ by Mr. S. J. Allen, showed that snow, like rain, possesses marked radioactivity, which, however, is rapidly lost. The activity of snow was found to fall to one half its initial value in thirty minutes. If the snow is melted and the resulting water evaporated some- thing possessing radioactivity is left be- hind. The radiation from snow consists chiefly of the easily absorbed rays. In the discussion of this paper Professor Me- Lennan stated that he had found that after a fall of snow a negatively charged wire aequired less activity than before the snow- storm. It would seem as though the active constituent of the atmosphere had been re- moved by the snow. In a paper ‘On the Double Refraction of Dielectrics in a Magnetic Field in a Direc- tion at Right Angles to the Lines of Force,’ by D. B. Brace, the author called attention to the fact that the existence of double circular refraction along the magnetic 184 lines of force has been definitely estab- lished from theoretical considerations. Voigt has obtained equations which indi- eate not only this result, but also double refraction at right angles to the lines of force. The experimental results of Voigt apparently confirm this conclusion for glass and sodium vapor. The author calls attention to the fact that the results ob- tained by Voigt might be due to the Fara- day effect. He finds this to be the case with glass, but confirms Voigt’s conclusion for sodium vapor. The next paper was by Professor A. Wilmer, Duff, on the ‘Viscosity of Liquids at Low Rates of Shear.’ According to ideas developed by. Poisson, Maxwell, and others, a liquid differs from a solid in having either a low modulus of rigidity or a high rate of relaxation under shearing stress, and the coefficient of viscosity con- tains a term that varies inversely as the rate of shear. Experiments by Professor Duff, made at a rate of shear about 1,000 times lower than the lowest in Poisenille’s experiments, seem to show that, while the coefficient of viscosity of kerosene is the same within rates of shear that vary as 90,000 to 1, that of water is slightly larger at the low rates of shear than at the high rates used in Poisenille’s experiments. This might be interpreted as indicating a definite, although very narrow, limit of perfect elasticity for water under, shearing stresses. ‘Results of Determinations of the Me- chanical Efficiency of Musical Instru- ments,’ were presented by Professor A. G. Webster. The determinations were made with the help of the apparatus designed by the author for sound measurements, which was described at the April, 1902, meeting of the: Society. The efficiencies obtained were extremely small, indicating that sound-producing machines are even more SCIENCE. (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 422. inefficient than those used in producing light. A paper by Dr. Herschel C. Parker on “Experiments with Very Brief Hlectrical Contacts’ gave an account of tests of a gravity contact key devised by Dr. Charles Forbes. The apparatus itself had been exhibited at a former meeting. Dr. Parker finds that reliable contacts can be obtained ranging in duration from 0.1 sec. to about 0.00001 see. Brief papers by Professor W. J. Hum- phreys, on ‘A Comprehensive Boyle’s Law Apparatus’ and ‘A Lecture-room Method of Analyzing Irregular Electric Currents,’ dealt with these subjects from the peda- gogical standpoint. z The last paper on the program was by Dr. C. A. Skinner, on the ‘Critical Cur- rent Density and Cathode Drop in Vacuum Tubes.” The author referred to the differ- ence in the formule obtained by Stark and himself giving a relation between cathode drop, current density, and pressure. Dr. Skinner explains the difference as due to the fact that wire electrodes were used in the experiments of Stark, while in the ease of his own experiments disk electrodes had been used. As one day proved too short a time to complete the program of the society, the joint meeting with Section B was contin- ued on Thursday, January 1, a number of the above-mentioned papers being pre- sented on that day. The meeting may properly be regarded as one of the most in- teresting and successful which the society has ever held. ERNEST MERRITT, Secretary. SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. A Nature Wooing at Ormond by the Sea. By W. S. Buatcutry, author of ‘Gleanings from Nature.’ Indianapolis, The Nature Publishing Company. 1902. 12mo. Pp. 945. The author went to Florida in the early JANUARY 30, 1903. | part of 1899 in the quest of health and occu- pied himself by observing ‘ facts and fancies about animals and plants.’ His place of resi- dence was about a hundred miles south of Jacksonville. His observations, with occa- sional reveries on other subjects, combined with remarks upon the conditions prevailing in the times of Bartram, Michaux and Say, make up the chief part of the volume. In an appendix he presents a list, with notes, of one hundred and fifty species of insects collected. The most important discovery made was that of the left humerus of the great auk from a large shell mound on the Spanish Grant. The writer found a second specimen of a similar animal thirty feet distant from the one obtained by Mr. Blatchley (see ScrENcE, XVL., p. 203). Hence it would seem as if the facts were well established that the great auk was once a resident of Florida, and pre- sumably of the whole Atlantic coast. This mound is over one thousand feet long and ten feet thick, composed largely of the shell of the Donaz, which is still used for food. Twenty-seven other species of mollusea were secured, besides several fish, turtles, alli- gators and half a dozen mammals. A few implements were also picked up. The author presents his facts in a very pleasant way, easily appreciated by all intelli- gent people, apart from tourists and scientists. C. H. Hircncocr. HAnoveER, N. H. SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. Journal of Physical Chemistry, Decem- ber.— On the Passage of a Direct Current Through an Electrolytic Cell” by S. L. Bige- low. A study of the cause of the residual current when the electromotive force is below the decomposition point. ‘On the Critical States of a Binary System,’ by Paul Saurel. ‘Deduction of the Magnitude of the Osmotic Pressure in Dilute Solutions according to the Kinetic Theory,’ by Peter Fireman. The deduction is drawn that the osmotic pressure of a substance in dilute solution is equal to the corresponding gas pressure of that sub- stance at the same temperature. The conclu- sion is also drawn that, in general, the kinetic SCIENCE. 185 energy of the molecules of a liquid is equal to that of gas molecules at the same tempera- ture. This number of the Journal also con- tains the index to Volume VI. January.—‘ The Rate of Oxidation of Fer- rous Salts by Chromic Acid,’ by Clara C. Benson. This paper includes an analytical method for determining ferrous iron in the presence of ferric salts and chromic acid. ‘Electromotive Force of Alloys of Tin, Lead and Bismuth, by E. A. Shepherd. ‘ Reduc- tion of Insoluble Cathodes,’ by Alfred T. Weightman. Chiefly a study of the reduc- tion of lead sulfid. ‘ Electrolytic Prepara- tion of Sodium Amalgam,’ by E. S. Shepherd. Tue Journal of Comparative Neurology for December contains the following articles: ‘On the Origin of Neuroglia Tissue from the Mesoblast,’ by Shinkishi Hatai. Describes and figures the proliferation of neuroglia cells from the walls of the embryonic capillaries. ‘On the Number and on the Relation between Diameter and Distribution of the Nerve Fibers Inneryating the Leg of the Frog,’ by Elizabeth Hopkins Dunn. A continuation and control of a previous study, showing, among other conclusions, that the largest nerve fibers do not run the longest course, as Schwalbe supposed, but terminate in the thigh. In the next paper, ‘A Note on the Significance of the Size of Nerve Fibers in Fishes,” by ©. Judson Herrick, this conclu- sion is confirmed for the fishes, and observa- tions presented tending to show that the size of nerve fibers, within certain limits, is de- termined by the state of functional develop- ment of the organ innervated. ‘The Eye of the Common Mole, Scalops aquaticus ma- chrinus; by James Rollin Slonaker. The eye is described in detail and found to be in so greatly reduced condition as to render it very improbable that it can function at all. Twenty pages of book reviews complete the number. SOCIETIES AND ACADBEMIBS. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Tue 174th regular meeting was held on January 8, 1903, eighteen members and two 186 | SCIENCE. visitors present. Officers for 1903 were elected as follows: President—Mr. D. W. Coquillett. Vice-Presidents—Mr. Nathan Banks and Dr. A. D. Hopkins. Recording Secretary—Mr. Rolla P. Currie. Corresponding Secretary—Mr. Frank Benton. Treasurer—Mr. J. D. Patten. Members of the Executive Committee (in addi- tion to the officers)—Dr. H. G. Dyar, Dr. L. O. Howard and Mr. C. L. Marlatt. Mr. W. E. Hinds, Field Agent in the Division of Entomology, U. 8. Department of Agriculture, was elected a corresponding member. Dr. Dyar read his address as retiring presi- dent, entitled ‘Recent Work in Lepidoptera.’ The author stated that the classification of Lepidoptera, ten years ago, stood essentially as in the time of Linneus. During the past few years, however, material changes have had to be made as the relationships of families and genera have come to be better understood. The studies of Meyrick, Hampson, Chapman and Tutt in England, and those of Comstock, Packard, Kellogg, Bodine and the author in America, have led them to adopt a common general scheme of classification, though differ- ence of opinion still exists as to the details of this scheme. The author reviewed briefly the work of recent American lepidopterists. Tak- ing up the butterflies, he compared the work of Scudder and Edwards, mentioning also that of French, Holland, Skinner and Beuten- miller. He then spoke of what has been done in the different groups of moths—in the Sphingide by Beutenmiiller and Packard, in the Saturnians by Neumoegen and Dyar and also by Packard, in the Noctuide by Grote and Smith, in the Notodontide by Packard, in the Geometride by Hulst, in the Pyralids by Fernald, and in the Tineids by Lord Walsing- ham and recently also by Dietz, Kearfott and Buseck. The author summed up by pointing out the work particularly needed in the near future, viz., a monograph of the butterflies, comprehensive works on Sphingid and Noctuid larve, a monograph of the Geometride, sup- plementing and reviewing Dr. Hulst’s work, tables for determining the Tortricide, and continued descriptions of new species of Tineids. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 422. Mr. Banks presented his ‘Notes on Bra- chynemuri of the B. feroz Group. A crit- ical study of large series of specimens hereto- fore determined as belonging to the species peregrinus, carrizonus, ferox and quadripunc- tatus resulted in the discovery of three more forms hitherto undescribed. Brachynemurus peregrinus Hagen is considered a synonym of B. ferox Walker. The author presented descriptions, exhibiting specimens and a plate of drawings showing the inter-antennal and prothoracic markings and profile views of the male anal appendages. Roiza P. Curr, Recording Secretary. THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Tue 135th meeting (tenth annual meeting) was held in Washington, December 17, 1902. Major C. E. Dutton spoke informally of the geologic work of the late Major J. W. Powell, and Mr. Bailey Willis of the work of the late Dr. R. B. Rowe. After the conelusion of the regular pro- gram, the annual meeting was held, at which the reports of the secretaries and of the treasurer were presented. The election of officers resulted as follows: President—C. Willard Hayes. Vice-Presidents—G. P. Merrill and Waldemar Lindgren. Treasurer—G. W. Stose. Secretaries—Walter C. Mendenhall and Alfred H. Brooks. Members of the Council—G. O. Smith, T. W. Stanton, T. Wayland Vaughan, David White and Arthur C. Spencer. ALFRED H. Brooxs, Secretary. NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. SECTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY. A MEETING was held November 24, Pro- fessor Farrand in the chair. Professor Lough was elected secretary of the section. Mr. J. B. Miner presented the results of some experiments on the perception of time intervals bounded by varied stimuli. Inter- vals of one, two, three, four and six seconds bounded by sounds, lights, or one sound and one light were given the subject, who then endeavored to reproduce the interval by taps Dasa JANUARY 30, 1903.] on a telegraph key. For intervals bounded by sounds the reproduced interval changed from plus to minus at a point between inter- vals of two and three seconds. There is very little difference between intervals bounded by sounds and those bounded by lights; but a considerable difference is given when the in- terval is bounded by a sound followed by a light or vice versa. The same interval bounded by varied stimuli seemed to the sub- jects to be longer than when bounded by like stimuli. Memory of intervals bounded by varied stimuli required more effort. Mr. Miner believed that this represented the dif- ference in difficulty of muscular adjustment on which the memory of the time interval depended. The increase in variability with the longer intervals followed the law sug- gested by Cattell and Fullerton, rather than Weber’s law. Mr. Miner also read a paper by Mr. J. H. Bair, who was unable to be present, on the general practice curve. The paper was based on experiments made with a pack of 48 cards (six different pictures, and eight of each pic- ture). The cards when dealt in the same order and then immediately after in a dif- ferent order required a longer time for the second order. If dealt 2, 3, 4, 5---m times in the same order before dealing in some new order, the successive practices in the same order followed the law of the practice curve, which is an asymptotic approach to a physio- logical limit; and at the same time dealing the cards in any order required also less and less time. This shows that practice in one order gives practice ability in another order antagonistic to it, and the more practice in one order the greater the ability to respond quickly to the new order. Professor MacDougal reported a series of experiments showing the influence of varia- tions in visual stimulation upon reactions to auditory signals. Reaction time was shorter in darkness than in light, in weak light than in strong light and in colored than in neutral light. Reaction time was more constant under neutral than under colored light; changes of quality of light were followed regularly by increased rapidity of reactions. SCIENCE. 187 These changes are apparently due to changes in the attentive condition of the reactor, not to any immediate organic influence of the intensity or quality of the light. James E. Louacu, Secretary. THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS. October 20, 1902.—Professor A. S. Chessin presented for publication a paper on ‘Some Relations Between Bessel Functions of the First and of the Second Kind.’ Professor Wm. Trelease exhibited photo- graphs showing the variations in the ring or collar of Lepiota naucinoides, and a series of lantern slides illustrating autumnal coloring of foliage. November 8, 1902.—Mr. G. G. Hedgecock gave an illustrated account of ‘The Sugar Beet Industry in the United States and Some of the Difficulties attending It.’ Five persons were elected to active mem- bership. , November 17, 1902—Dr. M. A. Goldstein addressed the Academy on ‘ The Uses of the Tuning Fork as a Means of Medical Diag- nosis.’ One person was elected to active member- ship. December 1, 1902.—Dr. Adolf Alt delivered an address on the ‘Development of the Eye, illustrated by colored drawings and stereop- ticon views made from sections prepared and photographed by him. December 15, 1902—A paper by C. F. Baker, entitled ‘A Revision of American Siphonaptera,’ was presented and read by title. Dr. C. B. Curtis delivered an illustrated address on ‘ Color Photography,’ outlining the theory of color vision and the various ways in which a given color sensation can be pro- duced, and deseribing the processes by which the natural colors of objects can be approxi- mately reproduced by photographic means. Two persons were elected to active mem- bership. January 5, 1903.—The reports of officers for the year 1902 were received, and the fol- lowing officers for 1903 installed: 188 President—Henry W. Eliot. First Vice-President—D. S. H. Smith. Second Vice-President—Wm. K. Bixby. Recording Secretary—Wm. Trelease. Corresponding Secretary—Ernest P. Olshausen. Treasurer—Enno Sander. Librarian—G. Hambach. Curators—G. Hambach, Julius Hurter, A. H. Timmerman. Directors—¥. EK. Nipher, Adolf Alt. Mr. Julius Hurter presented a paper en- titled ‘A Contribution to the Herpetology of Missouri,’ illustrated by specimens of nine- teen reptiles not included in his former paper on the same subject, and bringing the total thus far recorded for the state up to ninety- three. Dr. Hermann yon Schrenk presented some notes on the bitter-rot disease of apples, re- ferring particularly to recent investigations and cultural experiments. He exhibited specimens of the cankers formed on apple limbs by the bitter-rot fungus (Gleosporium fructigenum Berk.) in various orchards, and of the artificial cankers produced in apple trees at the Missouri Botanical Garden by inoculating branches with spores from apples affected with the bitter-rot disease, and spores from pure cultures of the fungus from cank- ers occurring naturally in the orchard. COul- tures showing the perfect or ascus stage of the fungus were exhibited, and attention was called to the fact that up to date the perfect form had been found only in cultures and on several apples kept in the laboratory. He announced the discovery two weeks ago, by Mr. Perley Spaulding, of the perithecia and perfectly formed asci and ascospores of the bitter-rot fungus in several of the cankers produced on apple limbs from pure cultures of the bitter-rot fungus, as well as from bitter- rot spores taken from cankers obtained in an affected orchard. This discovery is consid- ered extremely important, as it demonstrates for the first time, beyond question, that the bitter-rot fungus actually produces its perfect fruit in the cankers, and thereby strengthens the contention that the cankers on apple limbs are actually formed by the bitter-rot fungus. The asci are apparently as evanes- cent in the cankers as they are in the cul- SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVIL No. 422. tures, and it is, therefore, not at all improb- able that many of the supposed pyenidial spores found in both the natural and artifi- cially produced cankers were really asco- spores. Drawings were exhibited showing the perithecia found in the cankers with asci and ascospores. Two persons were elected to active mem- bership. Witu1am TRELEASE, Recording Secretary. TORONTO ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. Durine the November and December ses- sions of this society, W. F. King, Government Astronomer at Ottawa, contributed a paper dealing with the general outlook of ‘Astron- omy in Canada.’ A detailed description was given of the new government observatory at Ottawa, which was now nearing completion, and its equipment. The instruments being set up were said to be of superior excellence, the optical parts of the large telescope and most of the other instruments being the work of John A. Brashear, of Allegheny, Pa. Mr. King was quite sanguine of the future of the institution under his control. C. A. Chant, M.A., Ph.D., first vice-presi- dent, contributed a paper dealing with ‘ New Developments in Wireless Telegraphy,’ with special reference to the labors of Marconi. Upwards of fifty lantern slides were shown, illustrating the development of method and apparatus used from Hertz to Braun of Strass- burg, Professor Slaby of Berlin and Professor Fessenden, late of the U. S. Weather Bureau, up to November, 1902. Reference was made to the desirability of knowing the precise nature of the office rendered by the ether in originating and transmitting these electric waves or shocks, and also the nature of the oscillations about the aerial wire, and its earth connection, in order to give a solid scientific basis for further practical developments of the system. Dr. Chant has been doing some orig- inal work of value along these lines. The result of some of this work will be found elaborated in the forthcoming number of the American Journal of Science. Under the heading ‘ Vagaries of the Mar- iner’s Compass’ Arthur Harvey, F.R.S.C., JANUARY 30, 1903.] was able to show, from curves of magnetic variation based on the records of the mag- netie observatory, an apparent variation of the rate of motion of the north magnetic pole. J. R. Cotiis, Secretary. Toronto, December 23, 1902. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. GUESSES ON THE RELATIVE WEIGHTS OF BILLS AND COINS. THE question raised in Science for Novem- ber 7 as to whether women are capable of making closer estimates than men is an inter- esting one, but the comparison of results from different colleges is somewhat uncertain: Some of the errors can be eliminated by test- ing young men and young women from the same state who have always been educated together. The question ‘How many one- dollar bills will equal in weight a five-dollar gold piece?’ was asked of 76 male and 58 female students of the University of Wy- oming with the following results: Male students: Average guess, 391; me- dian, 56; average variation from the average guess, 516; average variation from the me- dian, 366. Female students: Average guess, 1,324; median, 50; average variation from the average guess, 2,125; average variation from the median, 1,299. Since the true number is 7, the guesses of the women are slightly better if we take the median, but the most noticeable point is the much greater variety in the guesses of the women, which is in accordance with the re- port of Mr. Messenger in Science for April 25. This agrees well with common observa- tion. Probably most grade books of classes nearly equally divided between the two sexes would show that the highest and lowest marks were given to women. In the West coin is usually preferred to paper and five-dollar gold pieces are more common than one-dollar bills in Wyoming. E. E. Srosson. UNIVERSITY OF WyomINa. SCIENCE. 189 THE PUBLICATION OF REJECTED NAMES. Wirsin the last few days I have received two papers in which rejected manuscript names are published in such a way as to render them valid, as I understand the rules. As there is evidently a misconception or divergence of opinion, it is worth while to discuss these cases. 1. Mr. Nathan Banks, in his most interest- ing paper on the ‘Arachnida of the Gala- pagos Islands’ (Proc. Wash. Ac. Sci., 1902), cites on p. 50 Filistrata oceanea and Lozos- celes galapagoensis Marx MS., n. spp. On p. 51 he states that these were nomina nuda, but that they are identical with his species of the same genera described below. On p. 55 the Filistrata is described as F. fasciata, and the Lowoceles as L. longipalpis. It is evi- dent that the Marxian names have ‘ priority of place,’ and it is clearly stated that they pertain to the two species described; it seems to me, therefore, that they are valid. 2. Mr. F. H. Knowlton (Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, November, 1902, p. 640) gives an ac- count of a fossil fruit from Vermont which he says Lesquereux named in manuscript Carya globulosa. A description of the fruit immediately follows the publication of this name; but on the next page we are told that the fruit belongs to Cucumites, and ‘in view of the fact that Carya globulosa was never actually published, it may be appropriate to name it in honor of Lesquereux, who first detected it. It may be called Cucumites les- quereuxit. On the contrary, C. globulosa was just then published, and I do not see how we can avoid calling the plant Cuwcwmites globulosus. T. D. A. CooxEre tu. E. Las Vecas, N. M. December 6, 1902. THE IROQUOIS BOOK OF RITES. I wave before me the La Fort manuscript from which my old friend, Horatio Hale, took the text of the condolence song of the ‘Younger Brothers.’ It varies considerably from his version, partly from haste in copy- ing, and partly because he made the spelling more consistent in some cases. The differ- ences are mostly in the vowels, but some con- 190 sonants are not the same. I do not think the sense is changed, but intend to have a new translation made. Another interesting Indian manuscript in my hands is the Mohawk version of the greater condoling songs. La Fort’s is the Onondaga one used at the delivery of the wampum when the curtains are removed. The others are sung at the wayside meeting, and on the march to the council-house, in which they usually end. This version was very plainly written by Chief George Key, of the Grand River reservation, Canada. For mere con- venience it is arbitrarily arranged in verses, and it has the valuable feature of a division into syllables throughout. The song with the names was written first, perhaps as bein& of first importance, but the remaining songs are in the order of Hale’s book. There are slight variations from his version, but none of essen- tial importance, except one. Those who have attended a condolence will remember the con- tinual repetition of ‘ Ha-i-i-i,) much pro- longed, and this hardly appears in his book. In the great song with names before me it is written nearly a thousand times. In the one he saw the writer may have spared him- self the trouble of writing, knowing just where it should be used. The chiefs’ names occur in the usual order, but some of those placed together in Mr. Hale’s version are separated in this. The variations in sense are very slight. The greater songs are always used in the Mohawk version, as this is better adapted to the music used. This music I hope soon to secure. W. M. BravcoHamp. 204 MapLe St., SYRACUSE, November 19, 1902. SHORTER ARTICLES. THE TORTUGAS, FLORIDA, AS A STATION FOR RE- SEARCH IN BIOLOGY. Tue Tortugas, Florida, probably surpasses any other situation in the tropical Atlantic, in the richness of its marine fauna and in natural advantages for the study of tropical life. Until within recent years, however, the inaccessibility of the islands rendered it difi- eult to maintain even a temporary station SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 422. upon them, and all of our knowledge of the life of the region is due to the cursory visits of the United States government expeditions in the Bibb, 1869; Blake, 1877-78, and Al- batross, 1885-86, as well as to the explorations of Louis Agassiz, 1850-51, and Alexander Agassiz, 1881. Certain assistants of Alexander Agassiz have also studied the fauna of the Tortugas, and several expeditions not under government control have visited the reefs, notably that of the University of Iowa under C. C. Nutting, in 1893. The latest expedition to the islands was that of the Museum of the Brooklyn In- stitute of Arts and Sciences in 1902, the re- sults of which have not yet been published. Since 1898 the United States government has established a naval coaling station upon the Tortugas, and frequent and regular com- munication with Key West is now maintained by means of a large ocean-going tug. The region has thus recently become accessible, and the time for the establishment of a research station upon the islands is now ripe. The Tortugas group is composed of seven low, sandy islands and numerous reef flats irregularly disposed so as to partially enclose a lagoon about ten miles long and six miles wide, and having an average depth of about eight fathoms. Two of the islands are inhabited, Garden Key being occupied by Fort Jefferson, and Loggerhead Key by the Tortugas Lighthouse. The group is the most recent of the Florida reefs. Pure, deep ocean water surrounds them, and there are none of the extensive mud flats or mangrove-covered shores so characteristic of the keys along the mainland coast of Florida. The northern edge of the Gulf Stream lies about twenty-five or thirty miles south of the Tortugas, and the east to southeast breezes, which prevail during the spring and summer, drift the surface waters of the Gulf-Stream upon the Tortugas, giving a remarkable opportunity to study the life of the great tropical ocean current, while at the Same time enjoying all of the advantages of a land station, a combination of advantageous conditions which all who have been upon eruising expeditions will appreciate. JANUARY 30, 1903. ] Not one of the pelagic animals which abound at the Tortugas has been found living permanently north of Cape Cod, Massachu- setts, although a large number of Tortugas species are annually drifted upon the south- ern coast of New England by the prevailing southerly winds of the summer months. The pelagic fauna of the Tortugas is, on the other hand, closely related to that of the Fiji Is- lands, both in the nature of the specimens themselves and in the relative abundance of characteristic forms, although slight specific distinctions can usually be perceived which separate the Tortugas from the Fijian forms. About ten square miles of shallow reef flats lie around the Tortugas Islands and these support a fauna which, for variety and abundance, appears to be unsurpassed by that of any other situation in the Atlantic. The Madreporaria, however, are poorly rep- resented in the Tortugas, but previous to 1878 the coral reef was remarkable for both the number and variety of species represented. In October of that year a dark-colored water, coming apparently from the mainland of Florida, drifted out over the Tortugas reefs, killing great numbers of marine animals. Practically all of the stocks of Madrepora murciata were killed at this time, and this coral is still extremely rare at the Tortugas, only a few stocks being found at depths of two fathoms or more. The genera Porites, Orbicella and Meandrina, on the other hand, appear to have survived in considerable num- bers, for many heads of these corals are now seen, all being far too large to have been formed since 1878. As a result of one month’s collecting in shallow water, it appears that about 265 species of marine animals are very abundant in water less than one fathom in depth, while a far greater number of forms are rare, or found in deeper water. Several species of gulls nest upon the is- lands during the summer months, about four thousand of them annually visiting Bird Key late in April and remaining to attend their young until the third week in August. These gulls are the noddy (Anonus stolidus), the sooty tern (Sterna fuliginosa), the least tern SCIENCE. 191 CS. antillarum). The man-of-war hawk (Fre- gata aquila), and the Booby (Sula sula) are summer visitors. Marine turtles, especially the loggerhead (Thalessochelys caretla), were onee abundant upon the Tortugas, but are now becoming rare, owing to indiscriminate and constant persecution. A few females still crawl up on the sandy beaches from between the middle of May and the first week in August and dig their nests near the line of the bushes above the reach of the spray. The eggs hatch in about six weeks and the young crawl immediately into the water. The surface hauls obtained in the Tortugas appear to be richer than those gathered in the Bahama Islands, and this is what we should expect from the prevailing winds which constantly drift the surface waters of the Gulf Stream upon the Tortugas, whereas the Bahama Islands lie to the windward of the great current, which, as every one knows, teems with pelagic life drawn into it from all parts of the tropical Atlantic. During the summer months the tempera- ture of the air rarely exceeds 95° F. The humidity is very high, however, although the nights are cool, and the gentle breeze drifting almost constantly over the islands renders it possible to retain normal health and energy. The accommodations at the Tortugas con- sist in the officers’ quarters and barracks at Fort Jefferson, the now deserted quarantine hospital on Bird Key, and the buildings at- tached to the lighthouse on Loggerhead Key. Officers of the United States government have, upon all occasions, displayed commend- able interest in the labors of scientific men at the Tortugas, and have always granted to well-qualified persons the privilege of living within the government buildings. Indeed, our knowledge of the Tortugas fauna is al- most wholly due to the efforts of the govern- ment in forwarding research in this region, and to the private efforts of Alexander Agas- siz, Were a permanent laboratory to be estab- lished upon the Tortugas, however, a com- fortable, well-ventilated wooden building ca- pable of accommodating from six to twelve This should investigators would be required. 192 be provided with a windmill to furnish run- ning salt water for aquaria and a tank to retain rain water. The laboratory proper should be a large, well-ventilated wooden building having a good north light. No bet- ter room has yet been devised than that of the Newport laboratory designed by Alexander Agassiz, although the ventilation of a trop- ical laboratory should be provided for with special care. A small working library and sleeping rooms should be attached to the laboratory, and the kitchen and alcohol storage sheds should be in small separate buildings. Six thousand dollars would be required to construct the laboratory and its accessory buildings. A seaworthy launch at least 55 feet in length and of light draft would be required. This should be provided with sails, auxiliary naphtha for power, and sounding and dredg- ing reels. Such a launch is necessary, in or- der to study the life of the Gulf Stream itself and of numerous reefs at the Tortugas and its neighborhood. It should be capable of making the journey to and fro between Miami or Havana and the Tortugas. The time has come when American men of science should awaken to the fact that we have at our very door a tropical fauna far surpassing in richness that of Naples. With our great wealth and many able and energetic workers, we should begin to perform the task for science which is being so ably done at Naples. The great monographs of the Naples Laboratory should be our incentive to do even more and better things in the develop- ment of knowledge concerning the marine life of tropical America. ALFRED GOLDSBOROUGH Mayer. MusEUM OF THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. EGG-LAYING IN GONIONEMUS. In a preliminary report on the life-history of Gonionemus (Jour. Morph., Vol. XI., p. 494) I stated that the cause of deposition of eggs was due to the withdrawal of light, as the animals could be induced to deposit the eggs almost any time of day by placing them in the dark for an hour. The next year SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVI]. No. 422. (1896) some experiments were made with col- ored light to find if egg-laying could be brought about in more than one way and thus get nearer the cause. As I was not able to continue these experiments and some one else may be in position to do so, I give the substance of a few notes made at the time and the conclusion. The medusz were ex- posed in a blackened box, one end of which was closed with a sheet of the desired color glass. First some medusz were exposed to yellow- orange light for one hour. The sun was not shining into the box; no eggs were deposited. These were then exposed for one hour to blue light (cobalt glass) and eggs were deposited; they were abnormally slow in segmentation. Next some of the animals were exposed under darker orange glass for two hours and no eggs were deposited. This and a control set were then put in the dark for one hour and in both eases eggs were deposited normally. Two females and a male were exposed under blue glass for one hour. The sun was shining through the glass and it was, therefore, lighter than in the other exposure under the blue. No eggs were deposited within the hour. Sixteen females and one male were exposed under dark ruby glass for one hour and ten minutes, the sun shining through the glass; no. eges were deposited. In two other trials ~ under the ruby glass when the sun did not shine into the box eggs were deposited. Im- mediately after the first exposure to red, above, the animals were placed under blue glass and left for one hour and fifteen min- utes, and still no eggs were deposited. It took over one and one half hours’ exposure to darkness before extrusion took place. Whether the previous exposure to ruby light had a retarding effect or not was not deter- mined. The conclusion drawn was that the colors were not effective as such, but merely as they obstructed the light. It was also found at that time that the gonads removed from the animal deposit the sex products just as well as the intact animal. L. Murpacu. Detroit, Micu. JANUARY 30, 1903.] MILEY’S PROCESS OF COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. For two years or so Mr. Miley, a photogra- pher of Lexington, Va., has been using a process of color photography which seems to present distinct advantages over any process heretofore devised, and which promises to make eolor photography a complete success. Mr. Miley is a skilled photographer, and has spent much of his time in experimentation, often with no little success. His process of color photography is the outcome of some of these experiments, and can not be considered as a development of any of the other processes in use, none of which has such practical possi- bilities. Mr. Miley has made and sold many of these color photographs during the past two years, while he has, at the same time, been experimenting to improve the process. It is only recently that he has been prevailed upon to take out patents. A paper on Mr. Miley’s work was read before the Chemical Section at the recent meeting of the Amer- ican Association in Washington by Professor W. G. Brown, and specimens of the work in its various stages were exhibited, and I am permitted to give a description of his process to the readers of ScrEncE. Negatives are prepared by the tri-color pro- cess, using three sensitized plates and three sereens, red, green and violet, respectively. For the red screen an orthochromatic plate, flowed with a cyanin solution, is used; for the green screen an orthochromatic plate, and for the violet screen a plain gelatine bromid plate. There are thus obtained three nega- tives, varying in density in the different areas according to the color values of the three primary colors in the corresponding areas of the object taken. Prints are made from these negatives by the use of bichromatized gelatine pigment paper (carbon tissue). The pigment papers used are red, yellow and blue. The blue paper is printed from the red screen negative, the red paper from the green screen negative, and the yellow paper from the violet screen negative. These three printed films are then superposed upon transfer paper, the result being a color photograph, imitating the colors of the object with a marvelous degree of SCIENCE. 193 fidelity. This process has been used to copy oil paintings, which will probably in the future be its greatest value, as well as to re- produce flowers and fruit in their natural colors. To obtain most accurate results great care and much experience are necessary. In Mr. Miley’s hands the process seems exceed- ingly simple. The points along which expe- rience is most necessary, and along which also improvements may be made, seem to be the following: choice of screens so as to give the full color value of the object; corresponding choice of pigment papers to match the effects of the screens; choice in time of exposure through the different screens, so as to attain the true color value of the object; density of printing films; order of superposition of films. While great improvements will be made in the future, the process itself can no longer be considered in its experimental stage, as it has now been in commercial use for upwards of two years. It constitutes one of the great- est advances in the history of photography. Jas. Lewis Howe. CURRENT NOTES ON PHYSIOGRAPHY. PHYSIOGRAPHIC DIVISIONS OF KANSAS. Aw essay by G. I. Adams under the above title indicates the salient characteristics of several natural areas, and illustrates their boundaries on a map (Bull. Amer. Geogr. Soc., XXXIV., 1902, 89-104). One here finds good illustration of the value and aid of physiographic explanation as a means of geographic description; the reason for this being that the relief of the state is on the whole moderate, and the elements of form hardly pass beyond the range of plain, hill, escarpment and valley, so that empirical de- scription is baffling and confusing. The divi- sions proposed are all based on structure as modified by erosion and deposition. Cherokee lowland, a subsequent lowland twenty-five miles wide, crossing the southeastern corner of the state from Missouri to Oklahoma, is generally worn down to low relief on a belt of weak coal measures, but preserves occa- sional sandstone mounds on the divides; its streams flow in wide, flat-bottomed valleys bordered by low gentle slopes, the whole area 194 being ‘ practically down to grade.’ The Osage prairies, lying next west, present a series of ragged, east-facing rock-terraces and outliers; the smuous retreating escarpment of resist- ant limestones and sandstones, between which the weaker strata are worn to fainter relief. To the north, this area is blanketed with old drift, now dissected sufficiently to reveal patches of the underlying rocks. South of the center of the state is the Great Bend lowland, an extensive plain, more or less mantled with sands, close to the level of the Arkansas river, which flows through it; the plain has been eroded on weak shales, and is bordered by uplands of harder rocks. After several other areas, the High plains of the western third of the state close the essay; this division of the Great plains is described as still largely of constructional origin, its val- leys being relatively small furrows when com- pared with the great extent of level upland re- maining between them. It is in this western and semi-arid part of Kansas that the summer trayeler from rainier lands is surprised to recognize the rivers in the distance by the clouds of sand blown up from their dry channels: a peculiarity which has suggested the remark that ‘one seldom sees rivers whose beds are so well aired as those of the Great plains.’ THE ALPS IN THE ICE AGE. ‘Die Alpen im Hiszeitalter,’ by Penck and Briickner, of which four parts have now ap- peared (Leipzig, Tauchnitz, 1901-2, 432 pp., many illustrations), promises to be a thor- ough and trustworthy monograph. The most notable characteristic of the work, as far as it is now published, is the admirably broad basis of fact upon which its generalized in- ductions are based. Many of these are of physiographic import. It is shown, for ex- ample, in the section on the northeastern Alps that the larger valleys repeatedly present a systematic succession of features for which glacial erosion and deposition are taken as the cause. These features are impressed upon a region which in preglacial time is believed on good reasons to have been a mountain mass of rounded forms, whose valleys opened north- SCIENCE. [N. 8. Von. XVII. No. 422. ward upon a piedmont peneplain. Most im- portant among the glacial features are the cirques of the valley heads, by whose excava- tion the subdued preglacial mountain ‘masses were given sharp peaks and arétes (as shown by Richter); the over-deepened main-valley troughs, with over-steepened lower side-walls and with discordant or hanging side-valleys; moraine-walled basins near where the over- deepened valleys broaden and open on the piedmont plain; groups of drumlins inside of the moraines, and extensive sheets of gravel, now more or less terraced, outside of the moraines. The repeated examples of these features, described, illustrated and mapped as occurring in orderly fashion in one valley system after another, are most instructive and convincing. Those who desire to review the work of ancient glaciers in the Alps can not do better than provide themselves with this excellent monograph as a guide for a fort- night’s excursion in one of the valleys of the Tyrol. It should be noted that these authors, and others of the same mind, have been led to conclude that large glaciers of strong slope deeply erode their valleys, not because of the discovery of any new facts regarding the erosive action of existing glaciers, but be- cause of the unanimous testimony to this con- clusion by the witnesses of glacial action in the past. Regions of extinct glaciers are unanimous in testifying to the repeated oc- eurrence and systematic distribution of the features above named in their larger valley systems, while non-glaciated regions are equally unanimous in testifying to their ab- sence. At the same time, well-grounded generalizations as to the normal development of valley systems by rain and rivers exclude Alpine cirques, over-deepened main valleys and hanging lateral valleys, basins, drumlins and moraines from among the possible fea- tures of such systems; while generalizations as to the modification of normal valley sys- tems by temporary glacial action, on the as- sumption of active glacial erosion, logically demand the occurrence of precisely such fea- tures. Little wonder then that the theory of strong glacial erosion has found increasing JANUARY 30, 1903.] acceptance in recent years, since the una- nimity of these many witnesses and the ecogency of these generalizations have been recognized. GLACIERS AS CONSERVATIVE AGENTS. Lest the opinion in fayor of strong glacial erosion should go too far, it is well to give special attention to such articles as explain by other processes the particular relation of over-deepened main valleys and hanging side valleys, to which so much prominence has recently been given in this connection. Bou- ney, writing on ‘Alpine Valleys in Relation to Glaciers’ (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., LVIIL., 1902, 600-702), recognizes the preva- lently discordant relation of trunk and branch valley in certain parts of the Alps, but con- eludes, on the basis of ‘ personal examination of every part of the Alps, of the Pyrenees, the Apennines, Scandinavia, Auvergne, and many other hill and mountain regions,’ that cirques are mainly the work of water; and that in a system of valleys, denudation would, on the whole, be checked where glaciers oc- cupied the higher tributaries, and intensified by the action of torrents in the principal vyal- leys. Garwood, discussing the ‘Origin of Some Hanging Valleys in the Alps and Him- alayas’ (Ibid., 703-715), also concludes that glaciers protect their floors. He explains cer- tain striking examples of discordance between trunk and branch valleys in the Alps as the result of the accelerated erosion of the trunk valley on account of the steepening of its stream by a tilting of the region, while the side valleys, at right angles to the direction of tilting are not cut down, because their streams are not tilted. Kilian presents some ‘Notes pour seryir 4 la géomorphologie des Alpes dauphinoises’ (La Géographie, VI., 1902, 17-26), and insists that the hanging lateral valleys of that district have been pro- tected by glaciers while the main valleys have been deepened by normal stream work. Lu- géon adduces the occurrence of rock sills that rise across certain Alpine valley floors, notably a sill known as the Kirchet in the Aar yalley above Meiringen, and a similar sill in the Rhone valley below Martigny, to SCIENCE. 195 prove that the ancient glaciers were not de- structive agents; had they been, these sills ought to have been removed; their presence is a ‘peremptory argument against the deep- ening of valleys by glaciers’ (‘Sur la fré- quence dans les Alpes de gorges épigénétiques et sur existence de barres caleaires de quel- ques vallées suisses,” Bull. labor. de géol., Univ. de Lausanne, No. 2, 1901, 34 pp., excel- lent plates). This author takes no account of the hanging lateral valleys which are so abundantly associated with the main valleys of the Aar and the Rhone, and therefore naturally enough gives much importance to the rock sills, which in the theory of strong glacial erosion are explained as residual hard- rock inequalities in a much-deepened valley floor. The manifest difficulty in the way of ex- plaining hanging lateral valleys by the con- servative action of the glaciers that once oc- cupied them is the necessity of assuming a systematic and persistent termination of many independent glaciers at the mouths of lateral valleys, for a period long enough to allow the main stream to deepen its valley by hundreds and to widen it by thousands of feet. The difficulty in the way of accounting for over-deepened main valleys by tilting, as suggested by Garwood, is that in the plentiful examples of tilted and therefore dissected districts in non-glaciated regions, the side streams cut down the side valleys about as fast as the main stream cuts down the main valley, and by the time the main valley is well opened the side valleys enter it at grade, in most accordant fashion. W. M. Davis. THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. From advance sheets of the administrative report on the Missouri Botanical Garden, presented at the recent annual meeting of the Trustees, it appears that the gross revenue for the year was $124,431.89 and the total ex- penditure $119,893.84, of which $25,352.64 was spent for the maintenance of the garden proper and $8,186.46 for improvements and extensions in this department; $3,015.81 for the herbarium; $6,595.40 for the library; $5,086.67 for administrative expenses at the 196 garden; $1,075.81 for research; $2,874.78 for publication; $1,121.96 for the training of gar- den pupils (in addition to the allotment which those holding scholarships receive and which is offset by their services in the garden) ; $2,480.93 in carrying out bequests made by the founder of the garden; and the remainder for expenses connected with the administration and maintenance of revenue property. In connection with a popular account of the garden, written by the director at the request of the editor of the Popular Science Monthly and published in the January number of that magazine, it is interesting to note that a net gain of 1584 species or varieties cultivated at the garden was made in 1902, bringing the total up to 11,551; 21,052 more persons visited the garden in 1902 than ever before recorded, bringing the total up to 112,314 for the year; the herbarium, which now includes 427,797 specimens valued at $64,169.55, was increased by the incorporation of 62,844 specimens; the library, which now includes 41,224 books and pamphlets valued at $67,506.30, was increased by the addition of 2,516 books and 2,696 pamphlets; and the current list of serial pub- lications received at the library has been brought up to 1,160. The effort which the administration of the garden is making to serve the three principal purposes of Henry Shaw in founding the garden, is evident from the expenditures above recorded for the maintenance of a beautiful and instructive garden; by the expenditure for the instruction of garden pupils and the support—within the provisions of Mr. Shaw’s will—of the Henry Shaw School of Botany, of Washington University, in which, in addi- tion to undergraduates, one candidate for the Master’s degree and four for the Doctor’s de- gree in botany are said to be registered; and by the expenditures for research and the publi- cation of the results of research noted above, and the mention in the report of extensive field study undertaken by the director in con- nection with a revision of the Yuccas and re- lated plants, published in the volume issued last summer. SCIENCE. iy [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 422. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. DispatcHes from Edinburgh report that in furtherance of his educational scheme for Scotland Mr. Andrew Carnegie has decided to endow a trust for scientific research with a fund of $5,000,000. © A MEETING of the executive committee of the Carnegie Institution was held at Wash- ington on January 24. Appropriations were made exhausting the $200,000 allotted by the trustees for grants. All the research assist- ants have not, however, yet been appointed, and those who wish to be considered in this connection should apply in accordance with the notice published in the issue of Science for January 9. Dr. W. A. Cannon, A.B. (Stanford Univer- sity, 1899): A.M., 1900, Ph.D. (Columbia University, 1902); has been appointed resi- dent investigator of the Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution. Mr. Frederick V. Coville and Dr. D. T. Mac- Dougal, of the advisory board of the labora- tory, started on January 24 on a tour of in- spection of the region west of the Pecos River in Texas, along the Mexican boundary, for the purpose of fixing upon a location for the laboratory. tine Oscar of Sweden and Norway has conferred the Norwegian medal ‘for merit’ on M. Berthelot, the eminent French chemist. Tue Norman medal of the American So- ciety of Civil Engineers has been awarded to Professor Gardner S. Williams, of Cornell University, for a paper entitled ‘ Experiments upon the Hffect of Curvature on the Flow of Water in Pipes.’ Tue board of control of the Naval Institute has awarded the gold medal and prize to Pro- fessor P. R. Alger, U.S.N., for his essay on “Gunnery in the Navy; Causes of its Inferi- ority and its Remedy.’ Tue Rumford Committee of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences has made the following grants in aid of investigations in light and heat: To Dr. Ralph S. Minor, of Little Falls, N. Y., $250 for a research on the dispersion and absorption of substances for ultra-violet radiation; to Dr. Sidney D. JANUARY 30, 1903.] Townley, of Berkeley, Cal., $100 for the con- struction of a stellar photometer of a type devised by Professor E. C. Pickering and already in use in the study of the light of variable stars; to Professor Edwin B. Frost, $200 for the construction of a special lens for use in connection with the stellar spectro- graph of the Yerkes Observatory to aid in the study of the radial velocities of faint stars; to Professors E. F. Nichols and G. F. Hull, of Dartmouth College, $250 for their research on the relative motion of the earth and the ether; to Professor George E. Hale, of the Yerkes Observatory, $300 for the pur- chase of a Rowland concave grating to be used in the photographic study of the spectra of the brightest stars. Dr. Nicnotas Senn, of Rush Medical Col- lege, University of Chicago, is making an ex- tended trip through the West Indies and South America. Dr. Wuerry, of the department of bacteri- ology of the University of Chicago, has been appointed pathologist in the Government Municipal Health Laboratory in the Philip- pine Islands. From the first of January, Mr. James Gur- ney, for nearly forty years head gardener at the Missouri Botanical Garden, retires from active service with the title of gardener emeritus, in which capacity he will continue the experi- mental breeding of decorative plants, in which field he has -attained considerable success. Dr. Marcettry Boutr has been named to succeed M. Albert Gaudry as professor of paleontology in the Paris Museum of Natural History. THE appointment by the council of Mr. W. L. Sclater as secretary of the Zoological So- ciety of London appears to have caused a good deal of discussion and may not be confirmed by the fellows. In addition to this appoint- ment it is understood that Mr. W. E. de Win- ton has been appointed to the new and tem- porary office of acting superintendent of the gardens with a view to considering questions affecting their reorganization. Tue Pathological Society of Philadelphia held a symposium on snake venom at the meet- SCIENCE. 197 ing on January 22. The speakers announced were Drs. Weir Mitchell, Flexner, Naguchi, Kinyoun and MacFarland. Dr. Welch, of Johns Hopkins University, opened the dis- cussion. Dr. H. M. Smiru, of the U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, delivered an illustrated lecture before the Geographical Society of Baltimore on the evening of January 20, the subject being ‘How the Government main- tains the Fish Supply,’ Z Mr. Roserr T. Hitt, of the U. S. Geological Survey, who visited Martinique as representa- tive of the National Geographic Society, and whose preliminary reports upon the St. Pierre disaster have been published in the National Geographic Magazine, The Century, Collier’s Weekly and the daily press, is engaged upon a careful study of the scientific aspects of the eruptions and he hopes to present his views on the subject during the coming year. He is also completing a monograph on the Wind- ward Islands for Professor A. Agassiz to be published by the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard College. This work will be the result of several years of careful study of the islands and will thoroughly discuss the details of their geological structure and their bearing upon the alleged Windward Bridge and the myths of Atlantis. Mr. Hill is also busily engaged upon an extensive monograph on the Trans Pecos province of the Rocky Mountain region, which he hopes to have com- pleted during the coming year. He has also in hand a large comprehensive geographical work upon the Republic of Mexico. From this country, where he has been gathering notes for the past fifteen years, he has just returned, after a most interesting mule-back trip across the southern end of the Sierra Madre between Mexico City and Acapulco. During the coming spring, he proposes to make a section of the Eastern Sierra Madre of Mexico, to revisit Martinique, and to spend the late summer in Europe for the purpose of continuing his comparative studies of the European and American Cretaceous faunas. Tue Entomological Society of Washington has passed resolutions as follows: 198 ResoWwed, That the Entomological Society of Washington herewith expresses its keen apprecia- tion of the great loss American science, and par- ticularly American preventive medicine, has sus- tained in the death of Major Walter Reed, Sur- geon U. S. Army. Although not a zoologist, he has been preeminent among physicians in mak- ing practical application of zoologic knowledge in saving human life, and his discovery and demon- stration of the transmission of yellow fever by mosquitoes belonging to the species Stegomyia fasciata must take rank scientifically as one of the most brilliant, and practically as one of the most important discoveries ever made in applied zoology. Resolved, also, That we heartily endorse the idea that Congress be urged to make ample provision for the support of Doctor Reed’s widow and daughter. Had Doctor Reed been in private prac- tice or on the faculty of the medical school of an endowed university, his income would have been much larger than that he received in the Army. Had he discovered some mechanical device which could in any way compare in importance, in say- ing lives and property, with the discovery he made in regard to yellow fever, he would have realized financial benefits which would have made him a multimillionaire, and even if Congress should vote an unusually generous pension, the sum could represent only an infinitesimal interest on the money which Doctor Reed’s medico-zoological dis- covery will save this country and other countries. Resolved, further, That this Society express to Mrs. Reed its sympathy in her bereavement. Committee: CH. WARDELL STILES. L. O. Howazgp. W. H. ASHMEAD. Proressor EstevAN ANTONIO FUERTES, a dis- tinguished civil engineer, and for many years head of the College of Civil Engineering at Cornell University, died on January 23. He had been a member of the faculty since 1873 until last November, when he retired on ac- count of failing health. Born at San Juan, Porto Rico, on May 10, 1838, he was employed from 1861 to 1863 in the public works depart- ment of Porto Rico. He came to this country in 1863 as assistant engineer of the Croton Aqueduct Board, of which he was engineer from 1864 to 1869. He was engineer-in-chief of the ship canal expedition which the United States government sent to Tehuantepec and Nicaragua in 1870. After two years in New York city as a consulting engineer he became dean of the department (now college) of civil engineering at Cornell. SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 422. THE death is announced of M. Gruey, di- rector of the observatory at Besancon. He has bequeathed his fortune to the observatory. THE Rey. Henry W. Watson, D.Sc., F,R.S., for nearly forty years rector of Berkswell, died on January 11, aged seventy-five years. He was educated at King’s College, London and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow. He was subsequently mathematical lecturer at King’s College and master at Har- row School. He is known as the author of numerous books and articles on mathematical and physical subjects, the latter being con- cerned with the kinetic theory of gases, elec- tricity, magnetism, ete. Mr. James WinsHurst, F.R.S., known for his work in electricity died on January 3, aged seventy years. M. Pierre Larirre died on January 4 in his eightieth year. M. Lafitte had been since 1893 professor of a chair created at that time in the Collége de France for the history of science, on which subject he had long lectured, in the rooms formerly occupied by Comte whose disciple he was. We regret also to record the deaths of Dr. Albert Hénocque, assistant director of the laboratory of biological physics at the Collége de France, and of Dr. Max Schrader, pro- fessor of surgery at Bonn, and Dr. Panas Photinoy, professor of surgery at the Paris Faculty of Medicine and formerly president of the Academy of Medicine. Tue Civil Service Commission will hold on March 38 and 4 an examination for the posi- tion of aid in zoology in the National Museum and on March 10 an examination for the posi- tion of aid in herpetology. The salaries of these positions are $60 and $50 a month re- spectively. Tue Information Committee of the Engi- neers’ Club, of Philadelphia, has arranged for an excursion to New York City on Saturday, February 7, leaving Broad Street Station on the 7:33 a.m. train. .The trip will be made without expense to the members. After an inspection of the plant of the Barber Asphalt Company at Long Island City, it is proposed to visit the New York Subway, now in course JANUARY 30, 1903.] of construction, returning to Philadelphia in time to attend the regular meeting of the Club. Mr. Anprew Carnecig has offered to the College of Physicians in Philadelphia $50,000 for the maintenance of its library, conditioned upon the college raising $50,000 more. Of this sum Mr. F. W. Vanderbilt has given $10,000 and Mr. Clement A. Griscom $5,000. Tue will of the late Dr. Bushrod W. James bequeaths to the city of Philadelphia a prop- erty on Mount Vernon street, all his instru- ments and office appliances, and $55,000 for the maintenance of ‘an institution for the examination, treatment and operation of eye, ear, nose, throat, cardiac and pulmonary dis- eases.’ His books and an endowment of $40,- 000 are given for the support of a free library. The Electrical World states that the Mu- nicipal Council, of Paris, France, has voted $600 for the creation of a bureau of scientific information for foreigners. Many foreign scientific men annually visit Paris for inquiry and study in holiday times, when heads of museums, collections and libraries are away. A competent linguist has now been appointed to reply to inquiries, verbally or in writing. Tue Scotia of the Scottish National Ant- arctic Expedition arrived at the Falkland Islands on January 6. Tue New York Association of Biology Teachers will meet in the Board of Education building, 59th Street and Park Avenue, on Friday, January 30, at 8:15 p.m. The sub- ject for the evening is ‘The Public Scientific Institutions and the School System,’ which will be discussed by Dr. H. C. Bumpus, direc- tor American Museum Natural History; Dr. N. L. Britton, director-in-chief New York Botanical Gardens; Dr. C. H. Townsend, di- rector New York Aquarium, and Dr. A. G. Mayer, curator Division of Natural Science, Brooklyn Museum. The members of the As- sociation will be glad to welcome to this meet- ing all teachers and school officers who are interested in the progress of nature study, as well as those whose chief concern is with high school biology. Tue national convention of delegates from the various State Boards of Health, called to SCIENCE. 199 consider the danger threatened by the possible introduction of the bubonie plague into the United States, was held in Washington on January 19. Resolutions were adopted sta- ting that the presence of the plague in San Francisco has been established beyond doubt and blaming severely the gross neglect of oficial duty by the State Board of Health of California, the obstructive influence of the recent governor of California and the failure of the city government of San Francisco to support its city Board of Health. New information regarding the coal, gas, and oil fields of western Pennsylvania, which was obtained last summer by the U. S. Geo- logical Survey, through Mr. R. W. Stone, in cooperation with the state of Pennsylvania, is soon to be made public by the government in the form of a new geologic map, which will form a part of the Waynesburg geologic folio. The folio will include, also, descriptive text. The map will embrace a section 13 by 17 miles in eastern Greene County, and will be based upon a topographic map previously issued by the same survey, showing in detail the sur- face features of the region. The geologic map will be of special importance in showing the outcrops of the workable coal beds of the quadrangle. One of its most prominent fea- tures will be the representation of the geologic structure of the region by contour lines drawn on the floor of the Pittsburg coal. These con- tours show that the strata have been thrown into broad folds which cross the territory in a northeast-southwest direction. Since the ac- cumulation of oil and gas is directly influenced by such structures, their accurate representa- tion is of the greatest importance to operators searching for the productive territory. The most important fold in the quadrangle is known as the Waynesburg anticline. Upon the crest and western flank of this arch is located the Waynesburg gas field, which is one of the most important producers in west- ern Pennsylvania. Future demands for bi- tuminous coal will probably cause shafts to be sunk to the Pittsburg seam in many parts of this territory, in which case the structural features as shown on this map will be of great value in determining the location of such 200 SCIENCE. shafts and in indicating the depth below the surface at which the coal will probably be found. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. Mr. Freperick W. VANDERBILT, of New York, has announced his intention of giving to Yale University another dormitory for the Sheffield Scientific School. Ground has just been broken for the first dormitory, which will be completed in June, 1904, and will contain fifty rooms providing for seventy-five students. WELLESLEY CoLLEGE is to have, through the generosity of Mr. John D. Rockefeller, a new power plant. Apparatus will be installed for heating all the buildings on the college grounds, which extend over several acres, and the grounds will be lighted by electricity. Mr. Enaar L. Marston, of New York, has founded a new scholarship at Brown Univer- sity, to which he has given $5,000. The in- come is to be available annually for any gradu- ate of the high school in St. Louis who may be recommended by the principal. Mr. Freperick Jas. Quick, of Eltham and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and of the firm of Messrs. Quick, Reek & Smith, 148 Fenchurch Street, London, E. C., has left his residuary estate to the University of Cambridge in trust, to apply the income in promoting the study of vegetable and animal biology, for which purpose the Unversity will probably eventually receive between £50,000 and £60,- 000. Tue corner stone was laid for the new Library Building of the University of Colorado at Boulder on January 17. The central por- tion will be ready for occupancy on July 1, 1908. The total cost of the structure will be about $160,000. A CONFERENCE in regard to the Rhodes Scholarships of Oxford University, represent- ing the educational interests of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, was held at Harvard University on January 24. Dr. Parkin presented fully the conditions. The chief subject of discussion appears to have been at what stage in education the scholar should proceed to Oxford. Committees were [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 422 appointed in each of the three states to take charge of the subject. Tue college entrance board is preparing its spring announcement, which will show that its work is to be considerably extended this year. Hxaminations have already been ar- ranged for in eighty-six different centers in this country and Europe. Among other places, examinations will be held in Hawaii, at Ponce and San Juan in Porto Rico, London, Paris, Strassburg and Dresden. The examiners in the sciences are: Botany—William F. Ganong, Smith College; Byron D. Halsted; Rutgers College; Edward L. Morris, Central High School, Washington, D. C. Physics—Hdward L. Nichols, Cornell; W. S. Franklin, Lehigh; Frank Rollins, Morris High School. Chemistry—Henry P. Talbot, Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology; Leverett Mears, Williams College; Albert C. Hale, Brooklyn. Geography—Albert P. Brigham, Colgate Uni- versity; William N. Rice, Wesleyan; Frank Car- ney, Ithaca, N. Y. Mathematics—Charlotte A. Scott, Bryn Mawr College; William H. Metzler, Syracuse Univer- sity; John S. French, Port Deposit, Ind. Rey. Lanepon ©. STewaRDson, professor of philosophy and chaplain of Lehigh University, has been chosen president of Hobart College, Geneva, N. Y. Proressor G. N. Stewart, M.D., Ph.D., pro- fessor of physiology in Western Reserve Uni- versity Medical School of Cleveland, has been appointed professor and head of the depart- ment of physiology at the University of Chi- cago, to fill the vacancy caused by the removal of Dr. Jacques Loeb to the University of California. Dr. Epwarp C. FRANKLIN, professor of phys- ical chemistry in the University of Kansas, has been elected to the associate professorship of organic chemistry, in Stanford University. Dr. Epwarp P. Bucuner, of Clark Univer- sity, Worcester, Mass., formerly professor in the School of Pedagogy of New York Uni- versity, has been appointed to the chair of pedagogy in_ the University of Alabama, vacated by the death of Professor Jacob Forney. a SCIENCE A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EprtoriaLt Commitrre : §. Newcoms, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THurston, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. WALtcort, Geology; W- M. Davis, Physiography ; HENRY F. OsBoRNn, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooks, C. Hart MERRIAM, Zoology ; S. H. ScupDER, Entomology ; C. E. Bessey, N. L. BRirron, Botany ; BowpitcH, Physiology ; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology; H. P. WittiamM H. WEtcH, Pathology ; J. McKEEN CATTELL, Psychology. Fray, Frsruary 6, 1903. CONTENTS: The Rise and Progress of Ecology: PROFESSOR \We ML SSI ADIN Ca GhoodocoonpooododoeSooG 201 The American Association for the Advance- ment of Science :— Section D, Mechanical Science and Engi- neering: ELwoop MEAD.................-- Section B, Geology and Geography : EpMUND OUT LEMONS sono catdopeapopanocadeonbe Opening Pxercises of the Washington Post- graduate Medical School...........+.+.+- Scientific Books :— Postelsia: The Year Book of the Minnesota Seaside Station, 1901: Proressor CHARLES 1D) LORS ooo oonndonenonooroongcnosnsas Societies and Academies :— The Biological Society of Washington: F. A. Lucas. The San Francisco Section of the American Mathematical Society: Dr. G. A. Mirter. The Cornell Section of the American Chemical Society: W. C. GEER. The Hlisha Mitchell Scientific Society: CHAS. BASKERVILLE. Columbia University Geological Jowrnal Club: H. W. SHIMER.. 231 Discussion and Correspondence :— The Use of the Word Geest in Geology: Pro- FESSOR CHARLES R. Dryer. Atavic Muta- tion: JOHN MURDOCH.............-...-0, 234 Notes on Inorganic Chemistry: J. L. H...... 235 Current Notes on Meteorology :— Report of the Chief of the Weather Bureau ; Similar Barometric Variations over Large Areas; Winter Aridity Indoors; Notes: Proressor R. DcC. WARD...............-- 235 210 217 229 230 Sop od ednudd oo lepeuodcdoapaoaEdaae 236 Scientific Notes and News.........+.+.+e005 237 University and Educational News.......... 239 MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. THH RISH AND PROGRESS OF HOOLOGY.* Tue extraordinary development of botan- ical science during the last decade, in which so much hitherto unknown has passed so rapidly into history, fully justifies the usual review of progress at our great an- nual gatherings. In following this time- honored custom I have ventured to extend the retrospect far enough to contrast some of the aspects of present-day botany with an earlier condition of the science, familiar to a few of us, though known to most of you only by tradition. The outlook, which has also come to be expected, will be limited to a single branch of the science, which has shown remarkable vigor, but the future of which is regarded by some as problematical. The reminiscences will naturally come first. Twenty-five years ago, in one of our northern universities, a young instructor with a single assistant was engaged in the rather comprehensive task of teaching botany and ‘biology.’ The botany con- sisted in part in the analysis of flowering plants by means of Gray’s ‘Manual,’ and in studying the minute anatomy of leaves, stems and other parts of plants, which the literary students pursued under the name of structural botany, while, with a strong * Presidential address delivered at the Wash- ington meeting of the Society for Plant Morphol- ogy and Physiology, December 30, 1902. 202 SCIENCE. flavor of crude drugs, it was administered to the pharmacy class engaged in the study of adulterants. Then, too, there was the so-called eryptogamic botany, and, finally, the general biology, after Huxley and Martin, in which the steps of evolution from protococeus to frog were succinctly unfolded. None of the instructor’s col- leagues had the slightest suspicion of what it was all about, and the students—well they learned some things in spite of their environment and the teaching they got. As for the books used—the Centralblatt was not in existence, but this mattered little, for neither was the enormous litera- ture it has since recorded. The Botanische Zeitung was regularly published, but the library committee had no use for it, and much the same was true of most of the periodicals that every working botanist now finds indispensable; but we had Sachs’s “Text-book of Botany’ and the big picture- book of LeMaout and Decaisne, and on the shelves were Sullivant’s ‘Icones Musco- rum,’ and dear old Berkeley, and Cooke’s ‘British Fungi,’ with all their impossibil- ities, and last, but not least, the reports of the government microscopist, of which we can not speak particularly. The rest of the outfit was in keeping. Microscopes, of a certain sort, there were, but no other apparatus whatever. Razors were sharpened on a well-hacked strap, iodine and sulphuric acid constituted the reagents, and the enthusiasm of fellow ad- venturers in an unknown country kept up the courage of young men and women who walked by faith and saw but little. All these untoward conditions harmo- nized with the stage of development of the science itself. In this country there were only the laboratories of Harvard that had anything to attract special students in botany, and abroad even the laboratories at Leipzig and Bonn had little to offer com- [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 423. pared with the magnificent work now asso- ciated with the names of Pfeffer and Stras- burger; in vegetable pathology the simple methods of DeBary and Brefeld, though coupled with infinite patience and some remarkable results, gave little promise of what has since been achieved. In conti- nental laboratories, for the most part, de- velopmental history began with the puwnc- tum vegetatioms instead of the egg cell. Anatomy was largely a matter of fibro- vascular bundles, and the literature of mitosis was unwritten. In short, botany, as we know it to-day, was as yet only a potentiality. ; The men, too, who represented the sci- ence in America, how few they were and how isolated. There were Gray and Wat- son, Eaton, Austin, Prentiss, Engelmann and a very short list of botanists contem- porary with them who are still at work. We seldom saw one another, and we had no dreams of gatherings like these, at which the working botanists of the country are numbered by scores, too many already com- fortably to hear one another talk. Now all is changed. With the coming in of the new century the multiplied vol- umes of the Centralblatt and the Jahres- bericht tell the story of an unequaled pro- ductiveness, and a literature which, as measured by number of periodicals, now considerably outranks that of any other science whatever. And this literature is, much of it, widely different from that of the earlier days. Without essaying the heroic task of re- viewing even the main lines of progress, I wish in passing to recall with you cer- tain very significant changes that are tak ing place. First in systematic botany. You are familiar with the fact that, as the result of observations extending through some seventeen years, De Vries has recorded the actual origin of various species Yh) Roe, - mp VS ee FEBRUARY 6, 1903.] of plants, ‘evolved,’ as he puts it, ‘with a sudden leap,’ not as a result of selection or the struggle for existence. It would seem that, for the species reported, the case is well within the line of positive dem- onstration, and that some species, at all events, arise by mutation. It is not clear that all species originate in that way, but meantime the whole question of the origin of species is thus coming more and more within the domain of direct observation. Henceforth, positive results are to be at- tained not by guessing, but by cultivation, and it is an inestimable gain to the science that the issue is thus clearly defined. Stu- dents who have been diverted from sys- tematic botany because of its guess-work and its unspeakable nomenclature, have in this new way of species-making a goal worthy of attainment. It is a method that promises definite and final results in a field where hitherto ‘judgment’ and speculation have unfortunately, though perhaps in- evitably, held sway. The closely related field of experimental morphology, altogether unknown in earlier days, is also making a place for itself in botanical literature. The laboratory study of plastic forms has not thus far presented fully satisfactory evidence of the perman- ence of forms thus easily evoked, but even if no student of experimental morphology has yet produced a species demonstrably permanent, the accumulation of evidence is pointing more and more clearly to the persistence of character acquired in re- sponse to changes of environment. Thus are we coming, as it seems, to conclude that Lamarck, Darwin and De Vries have all, in their own way, gained some insight into the origin of specific characters, but that nature in the beginning took counsel of none of them, and is still working in devious though consistent ways, producing species at her pleasure, meantime laughing SCIENCE. 203 at our theories and our narrow range of vision. In the matter of life histories our litera- ture is beginning to show the inevitable breaking with the past. It has always been interesting, no doubt, to know in how many planes a new series of cell walls are formed, and at what angles and with what indication of relationship to this or that ‘type,’ but it is certainly encouraging to note the present tendency to ask how con- stant these phenomena are and what their variations under changed conditions signify. The time is too short to speak of the phenomenal development of plant physiol- ogy since the working days of Sachs, which to a few of us seem not long ago, and of plant pathology in which we have had triumphant demonstration of what scien- tific spirit and method in America, now happily no longer unknown to European botanists, can accomplish. I hasten to that part of our science that is the last to make for itself a name, though it has long had a place in botanical labor and literature, namely, ecology. It has at the present time a mixed multitude of adherents, and with the double burden of a popular fad and oftentimes the cold shoulder of those who sit in judgment, if there is a survival of the name and the work it stands for, it will be because of its own inherent vitality and fitness, not because of the patronage it has received. Let us pass in review the his- tory of this new name and what it stands for. It is unnecessary to reproduce or even to condense the erudite etymological discus- sion carried on in Screncp a few months ago, with which, presumably, you are familiar. The word ecology has come to stay. Personally, I should have preferred bionomics, which has the advantage of in- dicating in its composition that living 204 things are its subject-matter. This latter term is at all events an acceptable syn- onym, and as such may properly be used aS occasion requires. The question of a name, therefore, is settled and may be dis- missed. Not so, however, with the subject-matter, which represents a growth from many and various sources. The field of bionomics, in one department or another, has been suc- cessfully cultivated by Darwin, Warming, Schimper, Kerner v. Marilaun, Bonnier, Engler, Drude, Schwendener, Haberlandt and their co-workers in the Old World, not to enumerate a growing list in the United States. Some of these are known chiefly through their ecological work, others have conducted such work incidentally. In any ease these names—not unworthy ones— represent ecology in their publications, much as De Bary, Sachs and Gray, for ex- ample, represent primarily morphology, physiology and systematic botany. We may, then, from their own work, better than from definition, form our conception of the subject. To begin, as we must, with Darwin, every one knows that he was not a systematic botanist; he sent his plants away to have scientific names attached to them. Nor was he a physiologist; at any rate this was the judgment of Sachs, who ought to know. Nor yet was he expert as a plant morphol- ogist; witness his chapter on the morphol- ogy of orchids; but he was the great ex- ponent of ecology as it was taking form during the period of his active work and before it had a name. He, more than any other man before or since, worked in such sympathy with living things—not dried in the herbarium, nor tortured on the klino- stat, nor pickled in formalin, but living, living in their own way—that they un- folded to him secrets they would tell no other, because he could understand. SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 423. The modern criticism of ecological stud- ies seems to involve the implication that final results are only to be attaimed by ex- periment; that observation and induction are well enough, but that a plant will never tell its story correctly until it is brought to the rack. But, as a matter of fact, Darwin concerned himself chiefly with plants and animals as he found them. The record of his work is a record primarily of observation. He studied the shapes of flowers as the bees left them. Following the simple operations of the horticulturist, he observed through many generations the effects of cross- and self-fertilization. Such experiments as he performed were largely out of doors, simple or even crude, and had no part nor lot with the refinements of modern physiology. His work from be- ginning to end was dominated by this one great thought. He would know something of the origin of living forms as we find them. He would formulate a law not so much to express a present reaction as a habit and a history, and while aiming at the elucidation of the great problem he had set for himself, he was engaged, first and last, in studying the origin of adapta- tions, the study that constitutes ecology. But there have been new phases and de- velopments that have greatly extended the horizon of ecological study and in various respects changed its immediate object. Consider, for example, plant anatomy as De Bary left it and as it is now pursued. Dusting the volume and glancing through De Bary’s great work with its treatment of primary and secondary growth, equivalent and non-equivalent members, anomalous thickenings, and more of life nature, what- ever of wearied admiration may be stirred by this monumental record of indefatigable patience, one can not help feeling that it is no longer a thing of the present day. But when there came the great illuminating FEBRUARY 6, 1903. ] principle embodying the relation of struc- ture to function and external factors, with what eagerness even the apparently most trivial fact was gathered and pondered, in- stead of with the dogged sense of duty which drove us through the old anatomy. Here were spirit and life. True the dis- ciples of Schwendener and Haberlandt, led on by the fascination of the new thought, in more than one instance have run beyond their masters in facile inter- pretation, but can any one doubt that the science of botany has been permanently ad- vanced by the enlightening inspiration of the ‘ Physiologische Pflanzenanatomie’ ? Morphological studies are coming into the same category. The methods and con- elusions of Goebel in the ‘Organography’ have been criticised, it is true, but it may be well to consider that morphology through such work, as has been well said, is no longer the history of an idealized type, but an account of form as correlated with function and environment. Is there any question that we have gained im- measurably by the change and that this great work has materially contributed to the more scientific view? Most suggestive are recent studies of the orientation of the plant egg and its ecological significance. Surely embryology is in a more hopeful position to-day because a few daring minds have ventured beyond the limits of pure morphology and the bounds of absolute proof, and have suggested relations that may require many years to finally establish. Still another phase of ecological study, namely, plant distribution as developed by Warming, Schimper and others, has re- cently come into special prominence. It involves no less than an attempt to account for the present actual distribution and association of plants, through historical and present agencies, and the response of the living organism to its surroundings. SCIENCE. 205 More perhaps than any other branch of biological investigation, it calls for the most varied and thorough preparation. There must be a ready knowledge of systematic botany as a working tool, at least good gen- eral training in physiology, correct mor- phological conceptions, and a practical knowledge of physiography. All of these added to sound judgment and conserva- tive habits of thought are essential pre- requisites to the successful study of this subject as it is now taking form. It may be asked whether this branch of science has within itself enough to warrant such preparation and the devotion with which it is pursued by no small number of the rising generation of botanists. There can be, it seems to me, but one reply. If the labors of geologists in bringing to light, piecemeal and often with more or less uncertainty, the past history of the earth is warranted—as it is a thousandfold, whether the progress of science or indus- trial achievement is considered—then the eritical study of this last phase of geolog- ical history, a phase which no living geolo- gist is prepared to work out alone, fully justifies the most efficient and persistent effort that botanists trained in the manner indicated are capable of giving. Like the -geologists, they are confronted with prob- lems of peculiar intricacy, some of them no doubt insoluble, many that can never be settled in the quiet of the laboratory, others perhaps that can be settled nowhere else, all together involving work that must inevitably attract men who are more than botanists merely, who are willing to grapple with problems of many elements and more than one unknown quantity, and who know how to work patiently when re- sults are both slow in coming and incom- plete. Very few, indeed, have possessed, or are likely to possess, all these qualifica- tions, yet some real progress has already 206 been made. Without attempting to re- view and estimate this, let us glance at some of the landmarks. We owe to Warming, more than to any other, the conception now familiar to us under the name of plant society, which in Warming’s conception included not merely a collection of plants living together, but, what the name expresses, an association of plants with mutual relations among them- selves and common adaptations to their environment. The most conspicuous and useful result of Warming’s work was to show so convincingly the predominant in- fluence of water in determining plant so- cieties that his classification, based on this as the chief factor, has been universally adopted, though, as he well knew, so simple a grouping could not serve as a permanent and complete system, however helpful it may have been in the early development of the subject. Later the great work of Schimper brought us face to face with the tre- mendous difficulties to be met and over- come in attempting to account for some of the most familiar facts of distribution, but it has greatly broadened our concep- tion of plant relations, presenting with almost the force of a new idea the fact that every plant on the surface of the elobe grows where it does because condi- tions of air, light, temperature, water, soil and the behavior, of other plants and ani- mals—not merely in present time, but through an indefinite past, acting not alone but together, not on a lifeless thing, like clay in the hands of a potter, but on liv- ing, changing, adaptive beings—have made its presence possible. It is to such a com- plicated study and to problems so appar- ently hopeless of complete solution that the student of ecology to-day addresses himself, and it is well, perhaps, that here as in other departments of human activity, SCIENCE. [N. 8. Voz. XVII. No. 423. there are some daring souls who, for the very joy of treading new ground, do the work of the pioneer, without too close cal- culation of the probable reward. If a personal reference may be per- mitted, I am glad to acknowledge my own great indebtedness to such pioneer work on the part of one of our own botanists. The study of the distribution of plants along shore at Lake of the Woods,* which appeared in 1897, has more than realized the hope of the writer that it ‘might be of service in stimulating ecologic study of plants.’ It could never have been written in the closet or the laboratory, however much of such labor is still required to verify or supplement the remarkable ac- cumulation of observation and suggestion there recorded. The author has shown the practicability of tracing, here with reason- able certainty, there less perfectly, among most complicated relations, cause and ef- fect. If it is said that these results are too indefinite to be of scientific value, it may be answered that it is upon precisely such data that for many scores of years the practical operations of forestry have been conducted, and that on this distinctively ecological basis it has become one of the most exact industries of the age, standing perhaps next to life insurance in the cer- tainty with which given results are at- tained. It is true that imdividual judg- ment is here an important factor, and allowance must be made for the personal equation, but this is also true in astron- omy, one of the most exact sciences, and in perhaps every other department of hu- man activity that is worth considering. A still later large and increasing litera- ture, represented by the monographs of Engler and Drude’s ‘Vegetation der Erde’ and many other recent contributions of * MacMillan, Minnesota Botanical Studies, L. FEBRUARY 6, 1903. ] European and American botanists, is per- haps too strictly contemporary for un- biased judgment, but in any case the very mass and rapidity of its accumulation is highly significant. It is expressive of the fact that a large contingent of young and progressive botanists are reaching out far beyond the bounds of systematic botany on the one hand and the limitations of the laboratory on the other and are finding abundant opportunity for productive work. Without at present referring to others of these more specifically, I gladly pause to do honor to the memory of the great man who, after some ‘forty years of so- journ and wanderings’ through the state of Alabama, presented three years ago his final contribution to the plant life of that state.* He was seldom seen in gather- ings of botanists, and I have heard him lament his lack of training such as it is the fashion now to give, but he had more than the wisdom of the schools, and per- haps studied plant relations more effec- tually because of his comparative freedom from their traditions. Certain it is that his ‘Plant Life of Alabama’ has come to us as a noteworthy and acceptable con- tribution. Through his and similar labors, worthy, if time permitted, of special men- tion and discussion, the time is drawing nearer when we shall have the data for a satisfactory comparative study of the phy- togeography of the whole world. How shall such an end be attained and how can present methods be improved so as to hasten the desired consummation ? Surely not, in the first place, by limiting or diverting into other. directions the pres- ent output of phytogeographical contribu- tions. All of this and much more is needed. The data for general conclusions are all too slow in coming in. This does not mean, however, that the scattering * Mohr, ‘Plant Life of Alabama,’ ‘ Cont. U. 8. Nat. Herb.,’ VI., 1901. SCIENCE. 207 observations of every summer cruise, with half-baked notions of the ‘reasons of things,’ need be inflicted on the long-suf- fering readers of botanical literature. There must be higher ideals, and only those who have studied, year after year, a limited area and have watched the suc- cessive changes that a few seasons bring can quite appreciate what patience and labor the maintenance of such ideals in- volves. The accumulation and expression of facts as they really are should take, as it seems to me, nine tenths, possibly ninety- nine one hundredths, of the time that is being given to ecological work. Hypoth- eses are fascinating, but we have all erred, perhaps, in demanding that those who busy themselves with such observations shall show us promptly their bearing on a theory of the universe. At present it is really the main business of the ecological student to ascertain and record fully, defi- nitely, perfectly and for all time the facts. He is not bound to tell us all their mean- ing, much as we would like to know; and furthermore, a fact once established is just as good a fact and just as likely to have an important bearing if it is ascertained in a field or garden, in the depths of the Dismal Swamp or in the Sahara, as in a university laboratory. It is just as well for science that Gregor Mendel was work- ing out of doors forty years ago, perhaps even better than if he had known more fully the significance of his own work and had abandoned the field for the laboratory and the microscope. We need to honor more than we do the man who knows how to see living things without complicated apparatus, and we need, cheerfully and without apology to ourselves or others, to give full days of active toil to learning and telling what is. It is far more difficult— I speak from personal experience—after these years of laboratory supremacy, to 208 SCIENCE. teach a student to critically report in de- cent English a direct observation in the field, than to secure from him a tabulated statement of artificially produced reac- tions. And yet no true worker in science can go on with his daily task of accumulating data without at least attempting to answer to himself the insistent question ‘What does it all mean?’ We need and shall always need the thoughtful and original workers who give us not only ‘facts well proved,’ but also ‘conclusions * * * de- duced from facts well proved,’ and we owe a debt even to those who have the in- sight sufficient to offer fruitful suggestion. As a single example, may I refer to a recent paper by Paul Jaccard * in which, from a comparative statistical study of plant distribution in alpine regions, in- volving an enormous accumulation of data, some most interesting conclusions are drawn. It is shown that, while in the region studied there is an almost mathe- matical relation between number of spe- cies and variety of ecological conditions, the generic coefficient, or ratio of genera to species, is inversely proportional to such variety of conditions; that is to say, in the struggle for existence between the numerous species of a habitat, the species of one and the same genus are in great measure crowded out by species of differ- ent genera. Thus it is shown, ‘in the course of a purely statistical study, that the struggle for existence works toward the elimination of like elements and selec- tion of unlike, and that, furthermore, the resultant of a number of external factors operates as a selecting cause, not merely on the single species, but on the grouping of species, on the society.’ In these studies then, the genus becomes ‘a real * AE One cere 257 The New York Zoological Park Aquarium: PROFESSOR HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN...... 265 Scientific Books :— Fernow on the Economics of Forestry: Pro- FESSOR V. M. SPALDING................05 267 Societies and Academies :-— The Chicago Section of the American Mathe- matical Society: PRoressor THomas F. Honeate. The Geological Society of Wash- ington: W. C. MENDENHALL. The Clemson College Science Club: CuHas. E. CHAMBLISS. 272 Discussion and Correspondence :— Orthoplasy, etc.: Professor T. D. A. CocK- DIGIT 6.4 solokd CaboeD an SOn6 SOGmeAosepEeBe 275 Shorter Articles :— On the Primary Division of the Reptilia into Two Sub-classes Synapsida and Diap- sida: PROFESSOR HENRY F. OSBORN ....... 275 Scientific Notes and News.........0200.005 276 University and Educational News.......... 280 MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SOIENCE. SECTION F, ZOOLOGY. Section F was organized at the Wash- ington meeting on December 29, 1902, with the following officers: Vice-President—C. W. Hargitt. Secretary—C. Judson Herrick. Fellow Elected to the Oouncil—Charles L. Marlatt. Sectional Oommittee—OC. W. Hargitt, Vice- President, Washington meeting; C. Judson Her- rick, Secretary, Washington meeting; C. C. Nutting, Vice-President, Pittsburgh meeting; C. W. Stiles, Secretary, Pittsburgh meeting; C. L. Edwards, to serve one year; H. F. Osborn, to serve two years; S. H. Gage, to serve three years; C. H. Higenmann, to serve four years; H. B. Ward, to serve five years. Member to General Committee—Herbert Osborn. Meetings of the section for the reading of papers and other business were held on December 29, 30, 31 and January 1. At a joint meeting of the section with the American Society of Zoologists, De- cember 30, it was ‘Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that the Concilium Bibliographicum of Zurich is of the great- est value to zoologists, and it is recom- mended to the Carnegie Institution for financial assistance.’ The following papers were presented be- fore the section: 242 SCIENCE. Tadpoles of the Green Tree Toad (Hyla versicolor) and Comparison with the Common Toad (Bufo lentiginosus) : Stmon H. Gace, Cornell University. The most obvious, although by no means the most important, change in transforma- tion is the disappearance of the tail. Com- paring the common and the tree toad, it was found that in the tadpoles of the com- mon toad the tail shortened 4.6 mm. in 24 hours, while that of the tree toad short- ened 24 mm. in 24 hours, or more than five times as rapidly as the common toad. Although the common toad is considerably larger than the tree toad, the tadpoles of the latter are much the larger—that is, from two to three times the length from tip to tip. If one compares the percent- age of the total length which disappears in the two eases, it is found that in Bufo the diminution is 25.5 per cent., while in Hyla it is 47 per cent. in 24 hours. That is, the relative as well as the absolute amount of shortening is greater in the tree toad in a given time. In coloration the common toad tadpoles are entirely black or barred. The small tadpoles of Hyla are less deeply pig- mented, but of nearly a uniform shade. As the tadpoles approach their greatest perfection as tadpoles, the coloration as- sumes a brilliant red, mottled with black. This makes them very conspicuous. The appearance is especially striking when the sunshine is strong. When transformation approaches, the green color so character- istic of younger tree toads appears on the body, and the red may become less brilliant in the tail, but often that remains and the animal is brilliant in red and green. Every effort to get at the meaning of this coloration in the tadpoles was unsuc- cessful. It can not be for attraction, as the animals are immature. It can not be for protection, as there are no similarly colored objects in the water. It can not [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 424. be a warning color, as the animals are readily eaten by animals living more or less on tadpoles. The Habits of Cryptobranchus: ALBERT M. Reese, Syracuse University, Syra- cuse, N. Y. Cryptobranchus alleghaniensis, or hell- bender, occurs in great numbers in streams of the Ohio valley, but is apparently sel- dom found outside of that region. It sometimes reaches a length of 60 em., and though it is a repulsive looking animal, and has the reputation among fishermen of beimg poisonous, it is really a most harmless and imoffensive creature. Respiration in the adult is by means of well-developed lungs, but there is a per- sistent gill-opening on each side of the throat. Air for respiration is taken in by a curious swallowing motion, and is exhaled partly by a quick expiration, when the animal comes to the surface to breathe, and partly by bubbles set free as the ani- mal lies on the bottom. In captivity, the respiration intervals seem to be quite vari- able, the average length of time between inspirations being about 15 minutes, the longest recorded interval being 43 minutes. Under natural conditions, the hellbender seems to be a remarkably voracious animal, living chiefly on small fish, crayfish, etce., but in captivity its appetite is quite mod- erate, a few small pieces of raw liver once or twice a week being all that it will eat in the summer, while in the autumn several specimens kept under observation in a tank refused to eat during a period of over two months. One morning at the end of this long voluntary fast, a black object was seen projecting from the mouth of a large hellbender which, on closer examination, proved to be the tip of the tail of a smaller individual which had been swallowed head first. By means of forceps the small hell- bender was rescued from his strange pre- ers FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] dicament, and immediately swam away, none the worse for his terrible experience. Even after this apparent evidence of re- turning appetite, the hellbenders ate but little of the liver that was given them. Their remarkable tenacity of life is shown by the fact that an individual that escaped from the tank lived for three weeks with- out food and water. Nothing was learned as to the breeding habits except the fact that they will not breed in captivity, unless, perhaps, they are captured just before their natural spawning season. Sense of Hearing in Fishes: G. H. Parker, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. To be published in Bull. U. 8. Fish Commission. The presence of an internal ear in fishes led Hunter, Miller, Owen and other physi- ologists to ascribe hearing to these animals. The fact that after the loss of the ear fishes lose their equilibrium, but still respond to sound waves if intense enough, led Kreidl and especially Lee to conclude that the internal ears of fishes were for equilibra- tion and not hearing, and that sound waves stimulate the skins of fishes, not their ears. Fishes, therefore, feel sounds, but do not hear them. Fundulus heteroclitus, after having had the nerves to its integument ~ and to its lateral line organs cut, thus rendering its skin insensitive, still responds by fin movements to sound waves, but ceases so to respond after the nerves to the internal ears are cut. Fundulus he- teroclitus, therefore, responds to sound waves through the ear—that is, it hears. Breeding Habits of the Yellow Catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) : Hucu M. Surru. To be published in Bull. U. S. Fish Commission. This paper is based chiefly on observa- tion of a pair of fish from the Potomac River in the Fish Commission aquarium SCIENCE. 243 at Washington. They made a nest on July 3, 1902, by removing in their mouths up- wards of a gallon of gravel from one end of the tank, leaving the slate bottom bare. On July 5 about 2,000 eggs, in four sep- arate agglutinated clusters, were deposited between 10 and 11 a.m. on the serupu- lously clean bottom. Ninety-nine per cent. hatched in five days in a mean water temperature of 77° F. The young re- mained on the bottom in dense masses until six days old, when they began to swim, at first rising vertically a few inches and immediately falling back. By the end of the seventh day they were swimming actively and most of them collected in a school just beneath the surface, where they remained for two days, afterwards scatter- ing. They first ate finely-ground liver on the sixth day, and fed ravenously after the eighth day. The fish were 4 mm. long when hatched, and grew rapidly, some being 18 mm. long on the eleventh day, and at the age of two months their aver- age length was 50 mm. Both parents were very zealous in caring for the eggs, keeping them agitated con- stantly by a gentle fanning motion of the lower fins. The most striking act in the care of the eggs was the sucking of the egg-masses into the mouth and the blow- ing of them out with some foree. The fanning and mouthing operations were continued with the fry until they swam freely, when the care of the young may be said to have ceased. During the first few days after hatching, the fry, banked in the corners of the tank, were at irreg- ular intervals actively ‘stirred by the bar- bels of the parents, usually the male. The predaceous feeding habits of the old fish gradually overcame the parental instinct ; the tendeney to suck the fry into their mouths continued and the inclination to spit them out diminished, so that the num- ber of young dwindled daily and the 500 244 SCIENCE. that had been left with their parents had completely disappeared in six weeks, al- though other food was liberally supplied. The Effect of Low Temperatures on Mos- quito Larve: JoHN B. Smitu, New Brunswick, N. J. To be published in Final Rep. of Mosquito Investigation, N. J. Mosquitoes were, until recently, sup- posed to hibernate as adults, and it was believed that low temperatures checked or absolutely prevented the development of larve. A series of observations made in New Jersey during the winter of 1901-02 and the last months of 1902 indicate that even freezing temperatures do not entirely pre- vent development, though they may delay it. The species vary in method of hiber- nation, some living through as adults, some as larve, and some in the egg stage. None winter as pupe. The larve that hibernate may be frozen solidly in ice and will come to no harm. Temperatures down to zero (Fahrenheit) do not prevent final matu- rity, and the freezing and thawing may be repeated several times during the winter without bad effects. Of species that hibernate as adults, many larvee of the later, broods are caught by frosts and may be ice-bound for a time without harm. The larve of Culex pun- gens have been observed in a pail coated with ice one fourth inch thick, barred ab- solutely from access to the outer air for several hours, and they completed their development in due time after the ice dis- appeared. Pup of the same species have been frozen in a solid mass of ice and transformed into adults later. Concerning Anopheles punctipennis the same observation has been made, and both larve and pups were taken from pools that had been completely ice-coated for several hours. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 424. Species which in the larval stage have survived freezing, or, at least being bound in ice-covered pools, are Anopheles puncti- pennis, Culex canadensis, Culex sylvestris, Culex pipiens, Culex restuans, Culex ter- ritans, Aedes smithw and Corethra brake- leyr. Of Aedes smith it is positively known that it winters in the larval stage only; of Anopheles punctipennis and Culex pipiens it is positively known that they winter as adults only. Of C. canadensis and C. sylvestris it is believed that they winter in the egg stage; but it is not cer- tain that they do not also winter as larve. Of C. territans it has been said that it winters as an adult, but the larve are found very late in winter and very early 10 spring. Notes on the Natural History of Some of the Nudibranchs: W. M. SmaAtuwoop, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N. Y. To be published in Bull. Syracuse Uni- versity. During the past summer at Woods Holl the followimg nudibranchs were secured: Montagua gouldu, Montagua pilata, Doris bifida, Aolis papillosa and Elysia chloro- tica. The classification is according to Verrill. Montagua gouldw was found in large numbers in the colonies of Twbularia cro- cea. Montagua pilata was taken by dredging. Doris and Molis were found at low tides on rocks and weeds. Hlysia was taken in a tow-net, but did not lay while under observation; the other forms laid very freely in common glass aquaria. One hundred and fifty specimens of Montagua gouldii laid 929 masses of spawn within nine days after beg brought into the laboratory, and hundreds of egg masses might have been collected from the hydroids from which these were taken. The spawn was scattered or laid in nests; eee eee FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] it is small and fan-shaped, containing about 500 eggs. The ends of the oviducts in the copula- tion of UW. pilata become firmly united, so that the animals may be pulled about with considerable freedom. While in cop- ulation the swollen ends of the oviducts are spherical in form and the color is in- tensified. It may take three hours for the distended oviduct to become completely retracted. The egg mass is laid in the form of a straight or undulating string frequently six inches long. There are from two to eight eggs in a single section of the string. Deposition occurs from twelve to twenty-four hours after copula- tion. : The spawn of Doris is long and rib- bon-like, one fourth of an inch wide. The eggs are arranged in regular rows at right angles to the long axis of the spawn mass. AHolis papillosa lays about forty sep- arate, oval, salmon-colored egg masses, all of which are united into one large, gelat- inous mass. Death-feigning i Sand Fleas: 8. J. Houmes, Ann Arbor, Mich. Death-feigning in the large sand-flea, Talorchestia longicornis, is a pronounced instinct. This species is nocturnal in its habits, and during the day lies curled up in its burrows in the sand in a condition apparently much like the sleep of higher animals. When dug out of its burrows, Talorchestia may remain curled up and motionless, or it may assume such a con- dition after a few hops in the sand. In assuming the death-feigning attitude, Tal- orchestia flexes its body, draws up its legs, and bends its antenne under the thorax. It will then remain motionless, often for a long time, and may usually be picked up without betraying any evidence of ani- mation. The utility of such an instinct is obvious, as it enables its possessor to SCIENCE. 245 escape detection. By lying quiet in the sand, which it closely resembles in color, Talorchestia would easily be overlooked by predatory birds and mammals, whereas if it endeavored to escape by hopping away, its large size would render it an easy victim. The terrestrial amphipods form a group which has only recently adopted the habit of living upon land. The instinct of death-feigning is, therefore, one of recent origin, as it is one which has doubtless been acquired in adaptation to the habit of living above water on sandy beaches. We naturally look to the behavior of the aquatic relatives of this species and of other terrestrial forms for, light upon the origin of this instinct. Two other species found on the New England coast, Orchestia palustris and O. agilis, fortunately exhibit intermediate modes of behavior which con- nect the death-feigning instinct of Talor- chestia with the so-called thigmotactiec re- actions of the aquatic amphipods. Nearly all the littoral species of aquatie amphi- poda manifest a strong propensity to keep in contact with solid objects. When free from contact they are restless. They usu- ally endeavor to insinuate themselves be- tween objects, so as to secure a maximum of contact; then they lie quiet, usually with the antenne bent back and the body flexed. The behavior of the two species of Orchestia studied shows that they possess certain fundamental features of conduct in common, and that the death-feigning of Talorchestia is nothing but an exag- geration and specialization of the thigmo- tactie proclivity which these forms share with the aquatic amphipoda. Variation and Natural Selection in Lepi- doptera: H. E. Crampton, Columbia University. The -relation between the process of 246 SCIENCE. elimination and variation in Philosamia cynthia was first considered. “It was shown that pupal elimination is directly related to variation, selection being “secu- lar’ (with reference to type) as well as ‘periodic’ (with reference to variability). Samia cecropia exhibits only periodic se- lection. Reproductive selection appears clearly in Samia cecropia. The Tortugas as a Biological Station for Research: Aurrep G. MayEr, Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. The Tortugas occupy what is probably the most favorable situation from which to study the tropical life of the Atlantic Ocean. Extensive coral reefs surround the islands, and in the immediate neighbor- hood one finds reef flats, sandy bottoms, coral mud and a great variety of habitats for a rich and varied fauna. Pure deep ocean water surrounds the group, and their separation from the Florida coast is sufficient to prevent the impure water of the mangrove swamps from contaminating the ocean water of the Tortugas. It is, therefore, possible to maintain larve alive for many weeks in aquaria. The tem- perature of the surface waters in the im- mediate vicinity of the Tortugas is re- markably high, being from 74° to 77° in winter and 80° to 86° in summer. It is, therefore, warmer than any other part of the Atlantic Ocean, excepting the Bight of Biafra, and is almost identical in tem- perature with the waters surrounding the Fiji Islands. The northern edge of the Gulf Stream lies about twenty-five to thirty miles south of the Tortugas, but the prevailing easterly and southerly winds of the spring and summer months drive the surface waters of the Gulf Stream upon the shores of the Tortugas, thus drifting in great numbers of pelagic animals, which cause the surface tows to be richer in this [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 424. region than at any other place known to the writer, and comparable only to the condition observed in the region of the Kuroshiwo, in the neighborhood of the Philippine Islands. The pelagic fauna of the Tortugas con- tains representatives from the coast of Africa and from the entire tropical Atlan- tic, and is in general remarkably similar to that of the Fiji Islands, although spe- cific distinctions between related forms of Fiji and: Tortugas can usually be deter- mined. This close relationship is probably due to the similarity of the temperature and the conditions of the reefs. The fauna of the Tortugas is strictly tropical. Its special advantages over any station on the Florida coast are purity of the water and the richness of the fauna. In these it appears to be superior also to the West Indies, the Bahamas, and very much richer than the Bermudas. The climate is healthful, and although in the summer months the humidity is very great, it is possible to maintain perfect health and energy throughout the hot season. The recent establishment of a naval coal- ing station at the Tortugas has made it easily accessible from Key West. The Phasmide, or Walking-sticks of the United States: A. N. Caupeun, U. S. National Museum. To be published in Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XXVI., 1903. This paper gives, in monographie form, tables for, the separation of the Phasmide into subfamilies, genera and species, only the forms of North America north of Mexico being included. A few prefatory paragraphs are given bearing upon the nature and habits of the species com- posing the family. Four subfamilies are recognized, one, Timeminz, being described as new, based upon a very remarkable for- ficulid-like form from California. Three genera and as many species are described Fesruary 13, 1903.] as new and one species, Zimema californi- cum, first mentioned by Professor Scudder some years ago, is here deseribed for the first time. Four plates are given, illus- trating species of all the genera. The Morphology of Clasping Organs in Certain External Parasites: Herbert OssBorNn, Ohio State University. The adaptations of parasitic animals afford numerous striking cases of struc- tural specialization, and in this paper. cer- tain highly modified organs for adherence in Pediculide are described and their ho- mologies discussed. In Hematopinus wrius there is a protractile disk on the distal end of the tibia, which from its position must be applied to the hair opposite the tarsal claw. In Hematopinus macro- cephalus an organ in the same position has more convex membranous surface, and distinct internal muscles. In both the disk and the spines on its border evidently arise from the chitinous wall, but their musculature is problematic. In Huhema- topinus abnormis the posterior legs are greatly modified, the femur and tibia each with expanded disk, the former opposed to the middle femur and the latter to a special structure in the margin of the ab- domen, both evidently serving to strengthen the grasp on hairs or fur, or to give greater rigidity in position. Other special struc- tures are noted in antennal joints, in ab- dominal brushes, ridged tarsi, ete. Description of Four New Species of Grass- hoppers, and Notes on Other Orthoptera from Colorado, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico: A. N. Caupeun, U. S. National Museum. To be published in Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XXVI., 1903. This paper treats of more than 150 species of Orthoptera, mostly collected in SCIENCE. 247 Colorado during the summer of 1901 by Dr. H. G. Dyar and the writer, though species from the other states mentioned in the title are included. The location and altitude of the various places visited in Colorado are given, and every species taken is listed, if only for the value attached to records of exact locality. Many of the species are represented in considerable numbers and thus present opportunities for studies in variation. Four new species are described, and two species of Blattide are recorded for the first time from the United States. One plate is given, com- prising figures of the new species. An apparently unrecorded fact regard- ing the large lubber grasshopper of the South, Dictyophorus reticulatus Thun- berg, is noted. Both sexes of this brightly colored insect make a distinct simmering or bubbling sound when disturbed. This sound was found to proceed from a gland, probably a modified spiracle, opening from the side of the body above and slightly behind the middle coxa. The sound is made by the insect’s forcing out very minute bubbles of a clear liquid with suf- ficient force to cause a sound capable of being heard for some distance. Whether this liquid has repelling properties and the resulting sound is purely mechanical, or whether the production of sound is the object of the mechanism, was not deter- mined. The conspicuous warning colors of the insect would rather indicate the former supposition. The Colorado collection seems to indi- cate the existence of but three faunal zones in that state instead of four, as indicated by the lepidopterous fauna as pointed out by Dr. Dyar in the Proceedings of the United States National Museum (XXYV., 369, 1902). The Orthoptera show no dis- tinct indication of a separate faunal zone on the western slope. 248 SCIENCE. A Review of Certain Attempts to Intro- duce the Hastern Oyster into the Bays on the Oregon Coast: F. L. WASHBURN, State Hntomologist, St. Anthony Park, Minn. Hnecouraged by the reported finding of eastern spat in abundance in San Fran- cisco Bay in 1890, it was resolved by the state authorities in Oregon in 1896 to attempt to induce the eastern oyster to propagate in the bays of the Oregon coast, and to that end an appropriation was se- eured in the legislature, as was also the cooperation of the United States Fish Com- mission. The work was in charge of the state biologist. In 1896 twenty-two bar- rels of two-year-old oysters, and in 1900, ten barrels, were shipped from New York state. The first of these consignments was on the road twelve days, and the second eight days, but the oysters nevertheless arrived in excellent condition, the loss not exceeding a fraction of one per cent. Various means were resorted to to make a success of the experiment. The oysters were placed upon a portion of ground which is a natural bed for the native northwest coast oysters, and where abun- dance of food could be obtained. Artifi- cial fertilization was practiced and mill- ions of fertilized eggs were poured into the bays at different times. Oysters were placed in floats and artificial ponds, and in cemented tanks; in fact, nothing was left undone which was within the power of the biologist. Little or no results came from these experiments. The strong, cold northwest wind which prevails almost every day in summer on the northwest Pacific coast not only chills the surface of the water of the bays, but appears to force into all the inlets an immense amount of ocean water which has an average summer temperature of about 55° F.. and a salinity of 1.025. The water in all the bays of Oregon is quite cold on the flood tide, the LN. 8. Von. XVII. No. 424. writer having seen it change from 70° F. and a density of 1.016 at low tide to 57° F. and a density of 1.022 at high tide within six hours, and this at a distance of seven miles from the ocean. These con- ditions of temperature and salinity and such marked changes are all unfavorable for the developing spawn. Only one or two specimens have been found which were undoubtedly hatched on that coast. Although these experiments in propa- gation were a failure, the transplanted oysters attained an immense size in a short time, and were all of such excellent quality that the importation and fattening for sale of eastern oysters in the markets of the northwest coast offer inducements to cap- ital. Some Recent Cytological Investigations in their Bearing on Mendel’s Principles of Heredity: EK. B. Wiuson, Columbia Uni- versity. Abstract of this paper has appeared in Scmnce, N. 8., XVI., No. 416, December 19, 1902. Provisional Program for Continuation of Researches on Cave Fauna: C. H. HigEn- MANN, Indiana University. A feconnaissance of Faunal Conditions in Jamaican Waters: Husert Lyman CuarK, Olivet, Mich. Report of a recent visit to Jamaica, in- cluding: (1) Observations of echinoderms, (2) variation in the genus Stichopus, and (3) an apparently new parasitic turbel- larian. The three preceding papers were read at a joint session of Section F and the Amer- ican Society of Zoologists. On a Small Collection of Crustaceans from the Island of Cuba: Wim.am Prrry Hay, Howard University, Washington, D. C. To be published in Proc. U. VS. Nat. Museum. -) py) Sp elianthere-4are eh es ee oe | es FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] The paper contained notes on a collec- tion of crustaceans from the caverns and coastal streams of Cuba submitted to the author by Dr. C. H. Higenmann, of the State University of Indiana. There are altogether fourteen species, of which three —Cirolana cubensis, Palemonetes eigen- manni and Palemonetes cubensis—are new to science. Cirolana cubensis and Palemonetes eigenmanni are spelean species exclusively and have the usual characteristics of such forms—they are slender, transparent and blind. Full descriptions and figures of the new species were given. Under the notes on Cambarus cubensis, attention was called to some rather unusual characters shown by the specimens collected by Dr. Higenmann which may by future work be shown to mark a distinct species. The collections were made in the early spring of 1902, through the assistance of a grant of money by the American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science. Evolution of the Proboscidea in North America: H. F. Osporn, American Mu- seum of Natural History, New York city. From the oldest certainly known form, Paleomastodon of Egypt, through the Lower Miocene M. angustidens of Europe, the Proboscidea migrated to America. In the Middle Miocene at least three and pos- sibly four contemporary phyla appear in this country. The first phylum, distin- guished (1) by laterally compressed upper tusks, (2) short lower tusks, (3) narrow molars with a single trefoil, includes the Middle Miocene M. productus Cope and the Upper Miocene and Pliocene M. flori- danus Leidy, M. obscurus Leidy, M. tropi- cus Cope, M. serridens, M. rugosidens and possibly M. precursor Cope. The second phylum, with (1) round upper tusks and (2) a double trefoil on long narrow mo- lars, includes the Upper Miocene M. cam- SCIENCE. 249 pester Cope and possibly M. humboldin of South America, a Pliocene or, Pleisto- cene form. The third phylum, distin- guished by (1) long lower tusks, with enamel in the early stages, (2) laterally compressed upper tusks, (3) short pos- terior molars, includes MW. brevidens Cope (the oldest species Inown in North Amer- ica), M. ewhypodon Cope from the Upper Miocene and possibly M. shepardi Leidy from the Pliocene. In the Pliocene ap- pears the highly specialized M. (stegodon) mirificus Leidy, with (1) round upper tusks, (2) double trefoil, (3) only four grinding teeth altogether. This may con- nect with the M. campester series, or it may represent a new arrival from Europe. The early Pleistocene includes two superb elephants, H. columbi of the Middle and Southern States, and EH. imperator of the Southwest. Both these species can now be clearly distinguished from the true northern mammoth, H. primigenius. The paper is illustrated by numerous drawings and photographs. Acknowledgments were made especially to Mr. F. A. Lucas. Primary Division of the Reptilia into Two Great Groups Phylogenetically Distinct: Henry F. Ossorn and J. H. McGrucor, Columbia University. Presented by Henry F. Osborn; will be published elsewhere. Some Questions as to the Arrangement of the Primates: B. G. Wripsr, Cornell University. This paper embraces four parts: (a) A provisional dichotomous arrange- ment of the Primates in which the main stem, terminating in man, gives off branches representing successively the lemurs, the marmosets, the New World monkeys, the Old World monkeys, the gibbons and the giant apes. Of this last group one subdivision includes the two African apes, the gorilla and chimpanzee, 250 and the other the orang. The general principle of dichotomy was followed by the author with respect to the entire ani- mal kingdom in a paper before this asso- ciation in 1887, and is believed by him to be equally applicable to the primate order. (6) But questions and difficulties arise in connection with all the divisions. For example, the extinct Pithecanthropus is not included, and there is no hint of tha possibility of a closer affinity between Tarsius and the tailless apes. As to the latter, the less divergence of the gibbons from the tailed monkeys has been urged by Chapman, but he regards the gibbons and orang as ‘closely related,’ whereas the present arrangement, mainly on cerebral grounds, places the orang nearer man than either the gorilla or the chimpanzee. (c) The author believes that, eventually, all the divisions and subdivisions may be based upon encephalic characters alone, but at present, even where the brains are recognizably different, it is not always possible to formulate the distinctions. (d) In order to determine the validity of this belief, it is necessary to compare the brains of all genera and if possible all species, and several of each. One of the author’s graduate students, Mr. T. L. Hankinson, spent most of last year in the effort to determine the fissural differences between the Old and New World monkeys, but his appointment to a college position has interrupted the work for the present. Among the genera of which more examples are desired are Hylobates, Nasalis, Sem- nopithecus, Colobus, Brachyteles, Pithecia, Brachyurus, Nyctipithecus and all lemurs. Male Preponderance (Androrhopy) in Lepidopterous Insects: A. S. Packarp, Brown University. Himer (‘On Orthogenesis,’ ete., 1898) ealls attention to what he calls the ‘law of SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 424. male preponderance,’ or the fact that the male is ordinarily a step or so in advance of the female in expressing the direction of development, and then transmits in a certain measure his characters to the spe- cies. This, he adds, may occur exception- ally in females, so that there is a law of female preponderance. He takes his ex- amples from the markings of Papilio, of — lizards and of birds of prey. There are numerous cases among other lepidoptera than butterflies. Male pre- ponderanee, as we understand it, is a gen- eral law of animal life. The female is the conservative sex, the male, as is well known, the more variable, the more active and aggressive, and the founder of new structures or markings characterizing new varieties and species. For the principle of male preponder- ance we would propose the term andro- rhopy (avdpeos, male; ‘poxy, preponder- ance), and when female preponderance exceptionally occurs, it might be called gynerhopy (7v7, female; ‘pox, prepon- derance). Very obvious examples of androrhopy occur, in the Saturniide. In this group the females have aborted mouth-parts, they are very heavy and sluggish, inactive, flying, if at all, but a short distance from their birthplace. On the other hand, the male is more active and energetic, will fly for miles in search of the female, guided by the odor emanating from her body. The male is thus exposed to a ereater variety of environmental condi- tions. An example is seen in the genus Saturma (1. e., S. pavonia-minor) of male divergence from the form and markings of the female; otherwise gynerhopy pre- vails in this genus. In the tailed forms, especially the group represented by Graéllsia, Arzema, Actias, and Tropa, the effects of the inheritance of male characteristics is seen to have af- aitdekVemciie Lk ty 2 ei FEBRUARY 13, 1903. ] fected this whole group. Comparing the two sexes of the primitive form of Graéllsia with their hind wings briefly tailed, the males have much the longer ‘tails.’ In Actias selene the tails are nearly of the same length in both sexes, but in Tropea luna, perhaps the most re- cent form of the group, the tails in the male are decidedly longer than in the other sex. In YZ. artemis of Japan there is a tendency to revert to the Graéllsia form of tail, as they are very short. The prin- ciple is seen also in regard to the mark- ings and coloration in general. From the prepoteney of the male of some ancestral form similar to this insect, the tailed forms of the large green moths living in Africa, Asia, and our American Tropea luna may have originated. Other striking examples of androrhopy are seen in the moths of an allied group (Sphingicampidz), such as Arsenura, Eu- delia, ete. This does not conflict with the apparent fact that the length of the tails of species of Papilio seems to depend on temperature, those living in boreal, cool, moist situations, or in cool, damp, elevated, mountainous regions, having the tails much shortened. The Decapod Crustaceans of the North- west Coast of America from Alaska to San Diego, California: Mary J. Ratu- BUN, United States National Museum, Washington, D. C. This paper, which will be published among the results of the Harriman Ex- pedition, embraces not only the material derived from that expedition, but the col- lections in the U. S. National Museum which have been obtained in the same region from the work of the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross, the Coast Survey and other explorations. It in- eludes a check-list of the Decapoda of the region, figures of many of the little- SCIENCE. 251 known forms, and much new information concerning them, especially as regards dis- tribution. Further Notes on the Heart of Molgula manhattensis Verrill: Gnorge WiILLIAM Hunter, Jr., New York city. Research by means of the intra-vitam method of staining with methylene-blue points to a connection between the gan- glion cells of the heart and those of the central nervous system. The course of the connectives is as yet not fully worked out. The following physiological data seem to point to this connection in animals in which the ganglion or dorsal nerve chain is partly or wholly destroyed: (a) The heart beat (variable within limits) is appreciably slower. (6) A lack of coordination between the two ends of the heart appears. (c) There is sometimes great irregu- larity in the heart rhythm. (d) The heart beats on oceasions for from two to three hours in a given direc- tion without reversal. (The normal heart usually reverses every one to two minutes.) Certain substances (caffein, muscarine, nicotine, strychnine, e¢ al.), heart depress- ors or accelerators, which are believed to act upon nerve cells or endings in the heart or in the sympathetic system of ver- tebrates, act in a similar manner upon the normal heart of Molgula. In the cauter- ized animal, however, no such results are ebtained. On the Morphological and Physiological Classification of the Cutaneous Sense Organs of Fishes: C. Jupson Herrick, Denison University, Granville, Ohio. The proper interpretation of these sense organs has heretofore not been possible, because the problem has not been ap- proached with sufficient breadth of view. Taking into account structure, innerva- 252 tion and function as experimentally de- termined, we may classify as follows: I. Organs of the general cutaneous sys- tem. Free nerve endings of tactile nerves. II. Organs of the acustico-lateral sys- tem. Peripheral organs neuromasts, with hair cells among indifferent cells, the former extending only part way through the sensory epithelium. Innervation by nerves centering in the tuberculum acus- ticum and cerebellum. They present the following varieties: 1. Canal organs, regularly arranged in canals in the dermis or dermal bones, which communicate by means of pores with the outside. Function, perception of mechan- ical jars and maintenance of equilibrium. 2. Pit organs, similar to the last, but each in a separate pit. -In lines. 3. Small pit organs, smaller than the last and irregularly distributed. 4. Ampulle. Organs at the bottom of long slender tubes. Only in Selachii. 5. Vesicles of Savi. Closed vesicles, only in the torpedoes. 6. Cristea acustice. In semicircular canals of all vertebrates. Function, equili- bration (reaction to rotary movements). 7. Macule acustice. In saceulus and utriculus. Function, equilibration (reac- tion to translatory and static stimuli?) and hearing (?). 8. Papilla acustica basilaris. In organ of Corti. Function, hearing (does not occur in fishes). III. Organs of the communis system. Special organs with the specific sensory cells extending through the whole thick- ness of the sensory epithelium. Present in the mouth of most vertebrates and in the outer skin of some ganoid and teleos- tean fishes. Innervation by communis nerves; primary cerebral centers gray matter associated with the fasciculus com- munis (=f. solitarius), represented by SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 424. the vagal and facial lobes of fishes. Func- tion, taste. Two forms, differing only in position. 1. Taste buds, within the mouth. 2. Terminal buds, in the outer skin, often on barblets or other specialized or- gans for their reception. Observations on Footprints in Beach Sand: Hersert Osporn, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. The observations recorded represent oc- casional studies during three summers on sand of Cedar Point Beach and adjacent dunes. Photographic records have been secured of as many of these as it has been possible to identify with certainty, and a few others of particular interest or rarity. The camera was adjusted to a vertical position by the use of a brass plate bent at right angles, and the best results were secured in the latter part of the afternoon, when oblique rays of the sun cast strong: shadows in the tracks. Lantern slides from the photographic records, including Hesperomys leucopus, Ardea herodias, Eurenetes pusillus, Emys meleagris, Col- uber vulpinus, Heterodon platyrhinus, Bufo lentiginosus var., Microbembex mon- odonta, Trimerotropis maritima, Fontaria indiane and Myrmeleon sp. were shown and their characters described. Such records are serviceable in deter- mining the presence of particular animals in a given region, as presenting an inter- esting feature in the biology of the animal, and as a basis for comparison in studies of the imprints left by extinct animals. An Exhibit of Lantern Slides Illustrating the U. S. 8. ‘Albatross’ and her Work: C. C. Nurrine, University of Iowa. Lantern slides taken by the author dur- ing the recent Hawaiian cruise, accom- panied by an informal account. FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] The Eyes of a Specimen of the Cuban Blind Fish, Lucifuga, and those of Her Four Young (with lantern slide illustra- tions) : C. H. Eigenmann, Indiana Uni- versity. Faunal Characteristics of the Sandusky Region: Hersert Ossorn, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. The Sandusky region as here defined includes parts of Erie, Sandusky and Ot- tawa counties, Ohio. Practically all the faunal elements of the region are to be found within five miles of the city of San- dusky. A brief summary of faune rep- resented and the faunal conditions afforded is given, with illustrations in different groups. The region includes a lowland and partially timbered area of rather rich vegetation and diverse fauna; a beach and sand-dune fauna; a swamp and marsh fauna; a fauna pertaining to rocky coast and island, and one peculiar to a prairie area, approaching plains conditions in secant flora; aquatic faune pertaining to bay, coves, river and lake, with abundant plankton, nekton and littoral elements. Protoplasmic Old Age: Gary N. CALKINS, Columbia University, New York city. The ‘A series’ of Paramecium experi- ments died out December 19, 1902, in the 742d generation. The last few individ- uals were perfectly normal so far as size, feeding, ete., were concerned. The history of the series tends to the conclusion that there is a definite potential of dividing energy which is possibly connected with a definite substance of the cell—archoplasm or kinoplasm. The Structure, Development and Function of the Torus longitudinalis of the Tele- ost Brain: Porter Epwarp SARGENT, Cambridge, Mass. Morphology.—The torus longitudinalis, as typically developed, consists of a pair of longitudinal ridges or pads projecting SCIENCE. 253 downward from the thin median portion of the mesencephalic roof and extending from the posterior commissure through the length of the mesencephalon. The form and relative size of the torus, and consequently its relations to the surround- ing structures, vary greatly in the hundred or more species~examined. Ontogeny.—The torus longitudinalis is developed from the roof of the mesen- cephalon as a longitudinal thickening of its median portion. More exactly, each lateral lobe of the torus is differentiated from the mesal edge of the tectum of the corresponding side, the precise mode dif- fering somewhat in the different groups of teleosts. Finer Anatomy.— Hach lobe of the torus has a framework of radiating ependymal fibers. The nerve eells are of relatively small size, and frequently are arranged in parallel rows between the ependymal fibers. The cells are usually bipolar, but ultimately give rise to three sets of neu- rites. The first forms the tractus toro- _ tectalis, which runs into the tectum and ends in the superficial fiber zone in con- tact with the retinal fibers of the optic nerve. Another set of fibers passing out of the torus with the preceding forms the tractus toro-cerebellaris, which courses obliquely around the lateral border of the optic lobe and enters the cerebellum. The third set of neurites forms the tractus toro- fibree Reissneris, which enters the ventricle in separate fascicles, there becoming united to form the compact fiber tract known as Reissner’s fiber. Function.—The cells of the torus are, then, in connection by their afferent neu- rites with the endings of the optic nerve, and by their efferent neurites with the body musculature through Reissner’s fiber. It is evident, therefore, that the torus longitudinalis is the nerve center. for the receipt of those impulses coming in over 254 the optic nerve which call for quick re- flexes. Homology.—lt follows, then, that the cells of the torus longitudinalis constitute a nidulus of cells of common function, homologous with cells of similar function which occur in the anterior dorsal portion of the optic lobes of other vertebrates, and which have been designated as the ‘Dach- kern,’ ‘nucleus magnocellularis,’ ete. Phylogeny.—The nidulus of cells which gives rise to Reissner’s fiber and consti- tutes the torus longitudinalis of teleosts is one of the most archaic elements of the vertebrate brain. As an independent structure, however, the torus has its begin- nings in the ganoids, resulttmg from the crowding downward of the nucleus mag- nocellularis so as to form two incipient longitudinal ridges on either side of the median plane. In the Siluride, mechan- ical causes are still operative, but in the more highly differentiated teleosts the torus appears at an early stage of onto- genetic development as the result of phylo- genetic causes. An Unusual Attitude of a Four-weeks Human Embryo. Comparisons with the Mouse: SuSANNA PHELPS Gags, Ithaca, N. Y. Illustrated by wax models. To be published in the Journal of Anatomy. 1. The specimen cut in the membranes shows the body axis lying in two planes at right angles to each other, the torsion occurring in the neck region. The attitude suggests: (a) that the great growth of the heart and the umbilical region on the left may have produced the torsion mechan- leally; (b) that the pulsations of the heart have produced a passive rotation, or (c) that the rapidly developing muscle cells may already at this early stage have a slight power to produce motion. 2. A very early mouse embryo—that is, with nine myotomes—shows a sharp bend SCIENCE. (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 424. in the region of the fourth to the sixth myotome, that is, nm the cervical region. In the early human embryos so familiar from His’ illustrations which show a sim- ilar sharp bend and have by some been considered as distorted, the bend occurs in the region of the 12th to the 14th myotome, that is in the dorsal region. In both these human specimens and in the mouse in which no manipulative distortion was pos- sible, the common feature is that the bend is over the opening of the yolk-sac. Rapid erowth of the myotomes together with rapid narrowing of the neck of the yolk- sae might im either case produce the con- dition. The Cranial Nerves of Squalus acanthias: Outver 8. Strone, Columbia University, New York city. To be published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology. The principal object of the research has been to trace the components of the V., VIL, IX. and X. nerves. In doing this special attention has been paid (a) to the verification, by study of serial sections, of the results obtained by Stannius, Ewart and others by dissection of selachians; viz., that the canal and ampullary organs are solely innervated by certain special roots and their branches (lateral line compo- nent); (b) to the separation of the com- munis (splanchnic-sensory and end-bud) component, which has not hitherto been done in selachians. In no ease thus far in this research have any branches of the V. nerve been traced to canal or ampullary organs. These or- gans in the head are innervated solely by the two lateral line roots of the VII. nerve which form the rami ophthalmicus super- ficialis WII., buecalis VII., mandibularis externus VII. and certain minor branches. The ramus mandibularis externus VII. is apparently derived practically entirely from the more dorsal of the two lateral FreBRuary 13, 1903.] line roots, the ramus buccalis receiving the major part of the remainder of this root, while the ramus ophthalmicus super- ficialis VII. is principally composed of the bulk of the more ventral lateral line root. This would apparently negative the view that the ampullary organs are modified end-buds and the dorsal root an end-bud root. In accordance with the results of pre- vious investigators, the lateral line nerve of the trunk, which shows some evidence of being really compound, is found to be derived from a special root cephalad of the IX. and X. An interesting point is that the anomalous branch of the IX. nerve to canal organs is in reality com- posed of fibers derived from a small sep- arate lateral line root. The communis root of the VII. nerve separates, distal of its ganglion, into a ramus palatinus innervating the roof of the mouth, into certain minor branches, oral and spiracular, and into the ramus mandibularis internus innervating the floor of the oral cavity. The numerous roots of the vagus are rearranged distally to the vagal ganglia into the branchial nerves, which divide into the usual pre- and post-branchial branches, the former containing communis, the latter communis and motor components, the former com- ponent innervating the lining of the pha- ryngeal and branchial cavities. Thus the communis component was found to con- form to the general type found in other forms. A Dissecting Pan and a Substitute for Beeswax: E. L. Marx, Harvard Univer- sity, Cambridge, Mass. To be published in the American Naturalist. A specimen of the dissecting pan used in the Cambridge laboratories was exhib- ited and its advantages over those in gen- eral use were explained. There was also SCIENCE. 255 described a mixture of mineral and vege- table waxes, which is better and much cheaper than the beeswax usually employed in pinning out objects to be dissected under fluids. White Feathers: R. ford, Pa. No white pigments have been found in feathers; the color of white feathers has been explained as due to a total reflection of the incident light from air spaces or bubbles in the feather structure. White feathers do not differ essentially in structure from gray, brown, black, red, orange or yellow feathers, except that no pigment of any kind is present. Though some of the white comes from the walls of the air-containing medullary cells of the barb, the larger portion is produced by the barbules which have no air spaces of sufficient size to be of any significance. The white effect, as with snow or powdered glass, is dependent upon the small size of the structural elements. These have a large number of surfaces so placed for any posi- tion of the eye that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection with a maxi- mum reflection to the eye. There is al- most no absorption by the unpigmented feather substance, and the amount of light transmitted through the feather from ob- jects behind is so small as to be imper- ceptible to the unaided eye in the intense reflection of light. M. Srrone, Haver- Some Remarkable Fossil Fishes from Mount Lebanon, Syria: O. P. Hay, American Museum of Natural History, New York city. To be published in Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. History. This paper. gives an acount of three new primitive saw-fishes and of supposed new species of eels which possess ventral fins and a palatopterygoid arch. The Bones of the Shoulder Girdle of Fishes: Tuono. Guu, Washington, D. C. 256 The most characteristic system of bones of the pisciform vertebrates is manifest in the shoulder girdle, and the classes ‘of selachians and typical fishes, or teleos- tomes, have been segregated under the name Lyrifera, on account of the character of this girdle. The main elements have the form of the ancient lyre and are con- nected by an inferior symphysis. In the selachians the lyriform pieces are simple cartilages with which the basal elements of the pectoral fins articulate. In the teleostomes dermal bones are added to the cartilaginous pieces. The cartilaginous pieces remain such in the dipnoans, cross- opterygians and ganoids. In the ganoids and especially the sturgeons, an arch is de- veloped. In the teleosts ossification super- venes and a disintegration of the structure results in three independent bones on each side. These bones have been variously named, and by the old anatomists were considered to be homologues of the arm and forearm—humerus, radius and ulna. The view of Gegenbauer, that the principal ones represented the scapula and coracoid, has been accepted by all recent ichthyotom- ists except in America. The consideration of the history of the nomenclature of oste- ology and the development of the bones, however, militate decidedly against the acceptance of such a view. Scapula and coracoid were given originally to the com- posite bone and its process familiar from manifestation in man and all eutherian mammals. The bones of fishes to which the names have been given are certainly not homologous, and consequently the ap- plication of the names is very misleading. These bones, in fact, are only developed as such in fishes specialized as teleosts and very remote from the primitive stock of the terrestrial vertebrates. A special nomenclature is therefore necessary for the bones of fishes. The so-called scapula has been designated as hypercoracoid, the SCIENCE. [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 424. coracoid as hypocoracoid and the Spang- enstiick or precoracoid as mesocoracoid. The mesocoracoid disappears in most fishes, all the acanthopterygians and offshoots from that stock being deprived of that ossicle. The modifications of the shoulder girdle and its several constituents afford excellent characters for taxonomy. The Systematic Relations of the Fish Genus Lampris: THEO. Gru, Washing- ton, D. C. Very recently the fae ichthyologist of Europe, Dr. Boulenger, has reexamined the osteology of Lampris, and especially the shoulder girdle, and has attained novel conceptions as to the affinities of that genus. The number of bones in the shoulder girdle of Lampris is the same as in ordinary acanthopterygian fishes, but two of them have been interpreted from a different standpoint than by his prede- cessors: (1) The very large bone which oceupies the lower and posterior part of the girdle was considered by him to be a peculiar bone, named interclayvicle, and homologized with a homonymous bone of the hemibranchs, and (2) the smaller one immediately above it and behind the bones supporting the pectoral fin was regarded as a ‘coracoid’ or hypocoracoid. There- fore Boulenger removed the genus from all connection with the scombroideans, near which it had always been assigned by pre- vious ichthyologists, and found for it a place near the hemibranchs. In short, he considered Lampris as the representative not only of a peculiar family (Lampri- did) but of an independent higher group named Selenichthyes and coordinated with the Hemibranchii and Lophobranchii; the three being associated together as repre- sentatives of a suborder to which the new name Catosteomi was given. The conclusions thus enunciated are so startling and the authority so great that FeBrRuaky 13, 1903.] the skeleton of Lampris was submitted to renewed examination. That examination forced the speaker to acceptance of the ideas of the older ichthyologists, rather than those of Boulenger; the four actin- osts, or pterygials, of acanthopterygian fishes are recogriized, and the coracoid of Boulenger is identified with the fourth actinost. The hypocoracoid is found in the great posterior bone called interclay- icle by Boulenger. Thus the normal structure of an acanthopterygian fish is recognized. As a consequence, the genus is restored to the group of acanthop- terygians. The forms and proportions of the principal bones of the shoulder. girdle are nearly paralleled by undisputed acanthopterygians and relatives of the scombroideans—the Caproide or Anti- goniide. Nevertheless, the differences be- tween Zampris and all other fishes, as Boulenger has shown, are sufficiently great to entitle it to rank as the type of not only a distinct family (Lampridide), but a special superfamily (Lampridoidea). C. Jupson Herrick, Secretary. SEOTION G, BOTANY. THE meetings of Section G of the Ameri- ean Association were held in Lecture Hall No. 1, on the first floor of the Columbian University Medical School. Sessions were held Tuesday morning, Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, December 30 and 31, 1902. The abstracts of papers presented are as follows: Range of Variation in Eutypella gland- ulosa (Cke.) E. & H.: C. L. Samar, De- partment of Agriculture, Washington, DC, Eutypella glandulosa is a pyrenomycete growing on dead Ailanthus glandulosus. Specimens recently collected at Washing- ton illustrate well the variability which SCIENCE. 257 may be expected in various parts of the plant and the conditions which seem to influence it. The parts most variable are the stromata, perithecia (number and shape) and ostiola (length and character of mouth). The stroma is sometimes almost entirely wanting, at other times well developed and conspicuously pulvi- nate. The perithecia vary in number from one to forty, and in shape from globose to pyriform, with all sorts of irregularities eaused by pressure against each other. The ostiola are sometimes scarcely discern- ible, while in some specimens they reach 5 mm. in length. The tips are normally quadrisuleate, but in the long examples they are frequently acute and smooth. The asci and sporidia appear most con- stant, showing no corresponding variation in the extreme specimens noted. The vari- ations found seem directly connected with the supply and the manner of supply of moisture during the development of the funeus; the maximum extreme in size and number of parts occurring where the branches bearing the plants were lying in a low place, and were more or less covered with matted grass. It is very desirable to determine the parts most variable and the range of variation in order to segregate correctly the different species in this as well as in other genera of pyrenomycetes. Antithetic versus Homologous Alterna- tion: Douctas H. CampsBenu, Stanford University. Bryophytes have left scanty fossil re- mains, hence their relation to other forms must be deduced from comparative mor- phology. This discussion will concern itself with a single class of pteridophytes— the ferns. Antithetic alternation assumes that the sporophyte of the ferns is an elaboration of some bryophytie sporogon- ium; homologous alternation assumes that bryophytes and pteridophytes are not 258 SCIENCE. genetically related. The homologous theory, based upon (1) the alga-like pro- thallium of certain ferns, together with (2) apospory and apogamy. The objec- tions are (1) the alga-like protonema is almost certainly of secondary origin; (2) apospory and apogamy are readily ex- plicable in other theories. The most prim- itive ferns have the least alga-like gameto- phytes. The numerous resemblances in both gametophyte and sporophyte point to - a common origin for bryophytes and pteridophytes. Gametophytes are always aquatic: sporophytes are distinctly terres- trial structures. The evolution of the sporophyte is demonstrated by a series of liverworts. The sporophyte of bryophytes culminates in Polytrichum and Anthoceros. The sporogenous function becomes subordi- nate and vegetative tissues become highly developed. The uniformity in spore pro- duction is one of the strongest arguments for the common origin of archegoniates. Anthoceros resembles most closely the hypothetical primitive pteridophyte. The sporophytes of bryophytes and pterido- phytes show many points of agreement, be- sides being an asexual generation derived from the oospore. Those resemblances probably represent true homologies. Ob- jections to considering apogamy as a re- version are that apogamy occurs almost always under abnormal conditions, and in highly variable and specialized forms. Lang’s hypothesis of the origin of the sporophyte is not sustained by the actual behavior of the gametophyte exposed to the assumed conditions, shown in various California liverworts and ferns. Coulter’s theory as to the importance of photosyn- thesis in determining the origin of the leafy sporophyte is not impaired by the facts. The development of special green organs is not necessarily associated with terrestrial plants. Apospory and apogamy [N: S. Von. XVII No. 424. are analogous to adventitious budding. The water supply is the prime factor in the development of the sporophyte. Specific Differences in the Wood of Elm Trees: W. J. Brau, Agricultural College, Mich. The wood must be examined from a num- ber of trees of any one species and from several places in each tree. The most re- liable differences may not be the same in all genera. In elms, the number of rows and the size of open ducts, the thickness of the cell walls and the proportions of the medullary rays, are all important in de- termining the species. Some Undescribed Structures in Synchy- trum decipiens: F. lu. Stnvens, West Raleigh, N. C. Several structures of problematic func- tion in the nucleus and cytoplasm of the Synchytrium cell are described and fig- ured. They are developed in connection with nuclear division, although their en- tire divergence from any previously de- seribed cytological structure renders an attempt at exact interpretation hazardous. (Illustrated by a plate and lantern slide.) On the Manipulation of Sections of Leaf Cuticle: S. M. Bain, University of Ten- nessee, Knoxville, Tenn. The author outlines his experience in handling leaf sections with special object of determining thickness of cuticle. His method is to imbed in paraffin, cut with blade of microtome knife in slanting posi- tion and unroll scrolls on drop of distilled water on slide. Preparations are then set aside and water is allowed to evaporate at room temperature. The sections are thus attached by simple adhesion to the glass, the whole process being a modification of the method of Nussbaum. Where many unliaiay FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] sections are to be made simply to study the cuticle, the best plan is to remove the epi- dermis from the leaf before passing into reagents. Double staining with hsema- toxylin and Sudan III. is reeommended for photomicrographic purposes. Suggestions Relative to Botanical Period- icals and Citations: W. A. KELLERMAN, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Since botanical periodicals have become numerous, it is considered desirable and practicable that there should be greater specialization, and especially that contrib- utors should offer their manuscripts to those substantial journals which most dis- tinetly represent the phase of botany con- eerned. If authors would thus generally discriminate according to the nature of their copy, existing and more or less special- ized periodicals would become more valu- able to the class of readers to which each principally appeals. Opportunity would also offer for additional magazines dis- tinetive in character and definite in scope. Ready and accurate citation would be enhanced if publications always bore sim- ple, short and correct titles. Proper run- ning head-lines are indispensable. They should contain (left page) page number, name of publication and volume number (also series if any), and (right page) date, subject (or author and subject) and page number, in order just named. No number of part (if any) should appear in head- line; it should only appear on cover-page. The rules for citation adopted by the Madison Botanical Congress should be amended in several respects—the more im- portant being that section which requires the use of the illy understood and scarcely suggestive abbreviations for the months, such as F., Ja., Ag., O., N. and D.; the well-established abbreviations are generally used and should be sanctioned by rule. SCIENCE. 259 Origin of the Patagonian Flora: PRorESSOR Gro. Mactoskin, Princeton, N. J. The Patagonian flora (ineluding that of southern Chili and the islands) contains about 2,100 species and 300 good varieties of phanerogams already described, belong- ing to 522 genera and 110 families. The Graminee have 276 species with 50 varie- ties, and the Composite about 400 species. They are chiefly derived from the Andean region; fewer from Argentina; with minor but significant contributions from Aus- tralasia, New Zealand and the Antarctic islands. Papers of Gray, Hooker and others about the North American flora are here amended so as to suppose a migration southwards on the advent of cold periods, sending to Australia and southern Chili, as far as Fuegia, forms which had been pre- viously derived from the Arctic lands; also so as to consider the flora of the Northern Hemisphere and the Oregon-Cordilleras of North America as not primitively Seandi- navian, but rather from Central Asia, whence they have radiated in all directions. This explains some of the affinities between the flora of Patagonia and that of Aus- tralia, New Zealand, Japan, ete. Besides this, there are evidences of direct transfer of plants between Patagonia, New Zealand and Australasia, by either sea or currents of air; and probably there was at one time, not a land-continuum, but a chain of islands such as would result from the ele- vation of the Cordilleras towards the south, and consequent emergence of elevated re- gions in the direction of South Shetlands and of parts towards the south pole. Victoria Land, beyond the south pole, with its volcanoes, may be part of this Cordil- leran extension, and other fan-like expan- sions are traceable. There are so many isolated and char- acteristic forms in Patagonia and neighbor- ing parts as to indicate that it is a true 260 botanical region, although not closely limited from the adjacent lands. In this respect it contrasts with the Arctic regions, which have few peculiar forms. We may cite among its characteristic forms species of Hamadeyas, Chusquea, Philesia, Lapa- geria, Chlorea, Arjona, Iodina, Acena, Patagonium, Schinus, forms of Verbena, Pernettya, Benthamiella, Acicarpha, Azo- rella, Nassawvia, Perezia; also remarkable cases of discontinuity as Drimys and Veronica elliptica. Nuclear and Cell Division in Diplophrys stercorea Cienk.: Epgar W. Oulve, Har- vard University, Cambridge, Mass. Diplophrys stercorea is an organism be- longing to the Labyrinthulee, a group on the border line between the plant and ani- mal kingdoms. It passes’ through two stages in its life-cycle—a vegetative stage in which the spindle-shaped individuals live separate and distinct from one another and a resting stage in which many indi- viduals crawl to definite centers and there heap up in stalked, orange-colored colonies, visible to the naked eye. During the ac- tive vegetative state, the naked cells creep about over a nutrient substratum, being probably propelled by the extremely deli- cate, fine pseudopodia which they bear at the almost opposite poles of the spindle. The individuals in this condition each con- tain usually one yellowish oil body, which lies in the cytoplasm close beside the nu- eleus and which breaks up into minute eranules during active movement or dur- ing nuclear division. The nucleus, which is plainly visible in the living organism, is of simple type, consisting of a single spherical chromatin mass, or karyosome, surrounded by karyolymph, the whole en- closed within a membrane. During nu- clear division, the karyosome divides by simple constriction into two equal parts. Division of the naked spindle-shaped cell SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 424, results from the progressive cleavage of a fission plane, which starts at one side and travels transversely across the cell at an oblique angle. This oblique plane of fis- sion is unusual, since longitudinal or trans- verse fission is the rule among unicellular forms. The oil bodies are equally repre- sented in the two daughter cells, and in the subsequent resting condition they usu- ally become aggregated into one refractive yellow mass. On the Behavior of Certain Yeast Organ- isms in Pure and Mixed Cultures: WM. B. Auwoop, Blacksburg, Va. This paper treats briefly of the physio- logical activities of yeast organisms isolated from the fruits of apple, and then sown as pure and also as mixed cultures in an apple must of known chemical composition. The results obtained are illustrated by two graphic charts. The Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution: D. T. MacDoucat, New York Botanical Garden. A notice in regard to this laboratory has already been published in ScmENCE. Dr. MacDougal stated in greater detail the purposes and scope of the laboratory. President Gilman, Professor McGee, Pro- fessor Toumey and others took part in the discussion. The Pines of the Isle of Pines: W. W. Row1s#, Ithaca, N. Y. A taxonomic discussion of the West In- dian hard pines and a comparison of them with the species of the Gulf states. A new species, Pinus recurvatus, is de- seribed and commented upon. The eco- logical significance of the dense summer wood of these species is ascribed to the xerophytie conditions under which the plants exist. Specimens and photographs were used to illustrate the paper. FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] Studies in Aracee: Doucuass H. Camp- BELL, Stanford University. The material was collected at Kew. The species especially studied were Aglaonema commutatum and Spathicarpa sagittefolia. Aglaonema commutatum shows extraor- dinary variation in the development of the embryo-sac. The ordinary angiospermous type was never found. The number of nuclei in the mature sac is probably, in most cases, eight, but may be as many as twelve. A definite egg apparatus and antipodal cells are rarely met with, and the former is rarely at the micropylar end of the sac, but usually lateral in position. Three or four nuclei are often found in process of fusion, presumably as a prelim- inary to the endosperm formation. The formation of the endosperm proceeds from the base of the sac; cell walls are present from the first. The tissues of the young embryo are very little differentiated; at maturity it fills the embryo-sac. A. pic- tum conforms to the ordinary angiosper- mous type. Spathicarpa sagittefolia shows no marked deviation from the angiospermous type except in the great development of . the antipodal cells subsequent to fertiliza- tion. The nuclei of the antipodal cells attain enormous dimensions. The devel- opment of the endosperm is much as in Aglaonema. The embryo is small. A Preliminary Synopsis of the North American Species of the Genus Mitrula: EH. J. Duranp, Ithaca, N. Y. During the last summer species of the genus Mitrula were unusually abundant in the vicinity of Ithaca, N. Y. Photo- graphs and full descriptive notes were obtained of so many species (some of which were undescribed) that it seemed desirable to attempt an arrangement of the North American species. A general preliminary synopsis of these species makes up the bulk SCIENCE. 261 of the paper. Further study of material in the large herbaria will be necessary be- fore the paper will be ready for publica- tion. On a Fungus Disease of the Mulberry Fruit: W. A. Orron, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. This paper gives a brief description of a disease of the mulberry in the southern states caused by an undescribed fungus which fills the seed. Specimens of the infected seeds, and also slides and draw- ings, were exhibited. Numerical Variation in Plants: Jesse B. Norton, U. 8. Department of Agricul- ture, Washington, D. C. A review of past work in this line— Ludwig’s work and his approach to a log- ical explanation of the Tibonacci series of 3, 5, 8, 18, etc., as based on phyllotaxy— other literature—place and time, modes, ete. The importance of phyllotaxy and antho- taxy in considering numerical variations, illustrated with curves constructed on the variations in numerous plants—Sangui- naria, Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, Ranunculus, ete. The lack of regularity in phyllotaxy and variation of anthotaxy in individual plants and flowers as a cause of secondary modes in variation curves, illustrated by Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, also the relation of the whorled series 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 3,6,9,12, ete., to the alternate series 1, 3, 5, 8, 13, ete., and its multiples, as giv- ing modes in different species not in per- fect accord with the Fibonacci series. The relation of double curves and in- dividual plants showing tendeney toward single curves in individual plants—Chrys- anthemum leucanthemum—and changes in anthotaxy in individual heads. The relation of reversed and normal phyllotaxy and anthotaxy to the change 262 in mode in curves is shown in the pine- apple and chrysanthemum. Transgressive variation due to change of anthotaxy is found in Jris. Contrasts and Resemblances between the Sand Dune Floras of Cape Cod and Lake Michigan: Henry OC. Cownss, Chicago, Ill. Physically the dunes of these two regions agree: (1) In the character of the sand, except that larger grains are found at Cape Cod; (2) in the general features of dune formation and movement; and (3) in the pronouncedly xerophytic conditions for plant life. The following contrasts were observed: (1) Obseure zonation on the ocean beach (this is much less marked on the bay side of Cape Cod) ; (2) a verti- eal sea front on the dunes nearest the sea, doubtless chiefly due to sea encroachment (this feature is wanting at Nantucket) ; (3) the Cape Cod dunes are much lower, (4) less extensive, and (5) present a much less. typical contour; (6) the dune move- ment is much more rapid on the Cape, as shown by self-registered measurements on half-buried trees. Keologically there is general similarity: (1) In the vegetation forms of the two regions; (2) in the wonderful endurance of swamp plants which are encroached upon; (3) in the general content and dynamics of the associations (but on the Cape lichen pioneer stages are often found and pines do not always precede oaks). The contrasts are: (1) The beach flora does not show clear zonation on the ocean side of the Cape, and the plants are hud- dled at the foot of the fore-dunes; (2) the ocean beach (but not that of the bay shore) has a much sparser plant covering than does the lake beach; (3) half-buried plants show a surprisingly vigorous leaf develop- ment on the Cape dunes; (4) the plant cov- SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 424. ering on moving dunes is more dense at Cape Cod; (5) tree shapes are less modi- fied on the lake dunes; (6) some species mesophytie in one region are xerophytie in the other. Floristically the two regions are astonish- ingly alike, the per cent. of common species being as great or greater than would be true for inland associations at such a dis- tance. In conelusion, the resemblances are more striking and more far-reaching than the contrasts, showing that halophytie and tidal factors are relatively unimportant in determining sand-dune or even sand-beach floras on Cape Cod. The contrasts which exist are probably due, in the main, to dif- ferences in moisture and wind relations. In most respects the Cape conditions seem to be the more severe, and yet the vegeta- tion covering these is more dense and the erowth more vigorous. The Production of New Varieties of Oranges: Herpert J. WEBBER and Water T. SWINGLE. The great desideratum of the orange in- dustry at the present time is a hardy variety that will be able to withstand the oceasional severe freezes without serious injury. The deciduous trifoliate orange is perfectly hardy as far north as Philadel- phia, but its fruit is small and practically worthless, though sometimes used for pre- serves. Several years ago the writers started experiments for the U. S. Depart- ment of Agriculture, in the production of a hardy orange by hybridizing the very hardy trifolate orange with varieties of the ordinary sweet orange. Our aim has been to secure a new hybrid orange that would have the hardiness of the trifoliate orange and the sweet, edible fruit of the common orange. The experiments have not yet been completed, but two hybrids have been secured which possess decided i oo Rie oe ee FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] merit and will be valuable for culture north of the present orange belt. These two hybrids have fruits about the size of a tangerine orange, varying from two to two and a half inches in diameter. The texture of the pulp is perfect in every respect, the membranes between the seg- ments being tender and the axis very small. They are thin-skinned, very juicy and nearly seedless. Unfortunately, how- ever, they are too sour to be eaten out of the hand without sugar. In flavor, they are more like lemons or limes than oranges, but as a matter of fact they stand alone and are like no other fruit existing. They are new creations in the fullest sense of the term, like Burbank’s plumeots. They are neither trifoliate oranges nor ordinary oranges, though in many characteristics they are strikingly intermediate between these two fruits. Neither are they lemons nor limes, though they will more nearly take the place of these fruits than oranges. The new fruits are very aromatic and have a sprightly acid flavor, with a trace of bit- ter, which reminds one of the lime and grape fruit. They make a superior ade which rivals lemon or lime ade. They will probably prove to be valuable also for culinary purposes to use in the place of lemons. The trees resemble the trifoliate orange mainly, though having much larger leaves, and will probably prove valuable hedge plants. They are evergreen or semi-evergreen, retaining their leaves the year round in Florida. In more northern localities they will probably lose their leaves in winter. The fruits ripen early and will be gathered before frost. Their hardiness has not yet been thoroughly tested, but young nursery trees have passed through a freeze without losing their leaves or showing any injury, while ordinary oranges beside them were defoliated and twigs the size of one’s finger killed. While the success already obtained is SCIENCE. 263 far-reaching, even more important results will doubtless be obtained when seeds from these fruits are grown and selections made from among the progeny, as it is well recognized that the segregation of charac- ters ordinarily takes place in the second generation of a hybrid. On the Production of Wart-like Intumes- cences produced by Various Fungicides: HERMANN VON SCHRENK, St. Louis, Mo. Peronospora parasitica appeared in epi- demic form on the cauliflower in a green- house of the Missouri Botanical Garden. The leaves were sprayed with various fun- gicides with and without the addition of glue. As a result of the spraying the lower sides of the leaves became covered with large wart-like growths after several days. These were formed by cells of the palisade parenchyma enormously elon- gated, giving the appearance of cdema- tous cells. The edematous condition is supposed to have been caused by a stimu- lating action of the copper salts. Evolution not the Origin of Species: O. F. Coox, U. 8. Department of Agricul- ture, Washington, D. C. Evolution, or progressive change in the characters of species, is a phenomenon quite distinct from the origination or separation of species, and due to distinct causes. Natural selection and other aspects of environmental influence conduce to the segregation of groups of individuals which have then the opportunity to become dif- ferent, but the segregation does not cause the differences, which arise through the accumulation of variations assisted by eross-fertilization. Some Experiments in Cell and Nuclear Division: FRANK M. ANnprews, Indiana University. Experiment I., Influence of Hydrogen. —Young staminal hairs of Tradescantia 264 virginica were put in a three per cent. solution of cane sugar and then brought under the influence of pure hydrogen. Under such circumstances nuclei in the resting stage can not divide, but nuclei which have begun division can complete it. No cell wall is formed; when, however, oxygen is again introduced, a cell wall is formed. Experiment I1., Influence of CO,.— Nuclear division can not take place in nearly pure CO,, nor can nuclei which have begun to divide complete the division as stated by Demoor. Experiment III., Influence of Ether.— No resting nucleus can divide in ether. In one per cent., three per cent., four per cent., five per cent. and six per cent. of ether, nuclei that have begun to divide can complete division and form a cell wall. In seven per cent. ether nuclear division ean not take place. Nuclei in ether do not change from indirect to direct division as stated by Nathanson. Experiment IV., Influence of Cold.— At 2° ©. nuclei ean divide. At —3° C. or —4° C. nuclei can not divide as stated by Demoor. Experiment V., Influence of Chloro- form.—In chloroform diluted one half with water, nuclei that have begun to di- vide can complete the division and a cell wall is formed. Experiment VI., Influence of Ammo- nium Carbonate.—In a one fourth per cent. or one half per cent. solution of am- monium carbonate, nuclei that have begun “to divide can complete division and a cell wall is formed. A one per cent. solution of ammonium carbonate kills the cell in one minute and before nuclear division ean advance. New Examples of Diurnal Nutation: F. L. Stevens, West Raleigh, N. C. Nutation similar to that exhibited by SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 424. Helianthus is demonstrated by lantern slides for several other genera, prominent among them being Bidens, Amaranthus, Ambrosia, Medicago, Melilotus, Artemisia, Lespedeza, Trifolium, ete. Problematic Fossils, supposed to be Sea- weeds, from the Hudson Group: Davi Waitt, Washington, D. C. Slabs of caleareous shale, deposited in shoal-water flats and marked with mud cracks and iron stains, bear impressions of fragments of supposed alge of singular characters and distinctness. The fossils represent a narrow sinuous axis, now flat- tened, but probably nearly subcylindrical originally, alternately and repeatedly fork- ing at an extremely wide angle at inter- vals of 1-2 em., the subdivisions recurring so as to deseribe nearly regular and equal incomplete rings or semicircles about 3 em. in diameter. The lobes, which end ob- tusely, nearly equal the axis in width, and by their ring-like form and regularity in alternate arrangement present a very strik- ing appearance on the slab. The fossils are true intaglio impressions, or trails, destitute of carbonaceous matter. The structure of the mould bears no evidence of layers or wadding as in worm burrows. They are tentatively regarded as fucoidal and comparable to Palwophycus or Butho- trephia, though it is possible that they rep- resent extraordinary trails made by some annelid or other animal organism. The specimens were collected by Dr. Robert Hessler in Fayette County, Indiana. On Cultures of the Leaf-spot of the Grape, Phyllosticta Labrusce Thm.: A. D. SeLBy, Wooster, Ohio. The paper, states the results of success- ful efforts made at the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, to secure the devel- opment of the various stages in the growth of this fungus on culture media. Peri- thecia preceded by pycnidia were obtained oe Fy FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] repeatedly upon agar-agar made from this substance with meat extract and peptone, to which 2 per cent. of grape sugar. (glu- cose) and .03 per cent. tartaric acid were added to approximate the proportion of these substances in ripe grapes. These perithecia contained mature asci and asco- spores, and are apparently referable to the same species found heretofore in the old, rotted grape berries and referred to di- verse genera—Physalospora, Larstadia and Guignardia. It seems referable to the species known as Larstadia Bidwillii Viala & Ravaz. CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAIN, Secretary. THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK AND AQUARIUM.* THE year 1902 has been a notable one in the history of the New York Zoological So- ciety. The municipality of New York through Park Commissioner Willcox in- vited the society to take over the direction of the New York Aquarium. This was a mark of strong approval by the city of the management of the Zoological Park by the society. After some deliberation the invi- tation was accepted, the necessary legisla- tion at Albany was secured, and a contract was made with the municipality whereby the society should receive not less than $45,000 per annum for the maintenance of the aquarium, and should assume entire control of the personnel and the right to dismiss any of the existing employees, the contract to be terminable on six months’ notice on the part either of the society or of the municipality. Mr. Charles H. Townsend, of the United States Fish Com- mission, was invited to become director of the aquarium. For conference and advice the society appointed a scientific committee including Professor Charles L. Bristol, of New York University, Professor Bashford * From the seventh annual report. SCIENCE. 265 Dean, of Columbia, Dr. Alfred G. Mayer, of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sci- ences, and two other gentlemen. Fortu- nately, at this time Mr. Townsend was sent abroad by the United States government as expert in connection with the Seal Fisheries dispute with Russia, and this enabled the society to arrange for a complete tour of the aquaria of Europe. Mr. Townsend brought back plans, photographs and notes upon the best features of the foreign aquaria. The director, with the aid of the advisory committee, has already experimented on a number of important changes in the aqua- rium, including a new system of labeling and illumination of the tanks. He has also planned the introduction of a fish-hatching exhibit which will be in operation through- out the year, the arrangement for a larger variety of exhibits, especially of inverte- brate forms of marine life, the closer, touch with the public school system of New York by making provision for supply of material in connection with the biological courses in the schools, ete. Alterations in the aquarium, which will vastly improve the interior, are now being considered at an estimated cost of $30,000. It is probable that the necessary appropriation will be made, and that by next year the aquarium will be thoroughly well appointed. For- tunately, the design is admirable in all respects except illumination and ventila- tion, and both these defects can be rem- edied. The attendance averages 5,000 persons a day, and the opportunities for spreading a knowledge and love of nature among the people of the city are very great. THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK. In the Zoological Park the attendance this year was 731,515, an increase of 38 per cent. or 200,000 over the year 1902. There were 127,000 visitors in the month 266 of August alone. As soon as the rapid- transit system is completed, it is anticipated that the number of visitors will double or treble. The maintenance provided by the city for the year was $85,000, but the cost of running the park exceeded this by $3,500, paid by the society. For the year 1903, owing to the increased area occupied by the park and the addition of several new buildings and installations, the city has provided a maintenance of $104,965. This is necessary for the care of a park one third as large as Central Park, and of collections now including 2,000 animals, of all kinds. The income from franchises and gate re- ceipts during the year was $7,000, all of which was devoted to additions to the collec- tions. The membership is at present 1,210; and efforts are being made to increase this to 3,000. In July, 1902, the Board of Esti- mate and Apportionment appropriated an additional $250,000 for the improvement and -extension of the park. With these funds the system of paths has been in- ereased by a broad walk east of the Bronx River, and another walk through the beau- tiful portion of the forest known as Beaver Valley, in addition to the erection of the buildings enumerated below. The society is now making application for $250,000, to be made available July 1, 1903. The mountain sheep hill has been com- pleted in a most admirable manner under the direction of the head forester, carrying out the general designs of Director Horna- day. The bear dens have been extended to the south, and now complete this series of installations, affording space for every species of this family which can be secured. The collection of bears is already the most complete in existence. The chief event is the construction of the lion house, at a cost of about $150,000, from designs by Heins & La Farge, with sculp- SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 424. ture by Mr. Eli Harvey, including finely earved sentinel lions, and two pediments, besides a variety of heads in the cornice, of the principal types of the cat family. The feature of this building is the treatment of the interior of the cages with light-green opalite tile, and a frieze of faience tile representing desert and jungle scenes for the lions and tigers, respectively. The di- rector was sent abroad especially to select animals for this building, with funds amounting to $13;000 donated by indi- vidual members of the board of managers. The building will be opened and com- pletely stocked during the month of Feb- ruary. The antelope house is also well under way, at a cost of $54,900. This will enable the society to add the African types of quadrupeds to its exhibits in addition to those already shown in the lion house. The bird and ostrich house has been designed for the west side of a new south court, to be named Audubon Court, bounded on the north by the reptile house, on the south by the antelope house, and on the east by the mountain sheep hill. In addition to the sum of $25,000 sub- seribed chiefly for the increase of collec- tions, the park has received some valuable eifts, including an antique Italian foun- tain, valued at $25,000, presented by Mr. William Rockefeller; also a memorial gate- way to Joseph Lydig, former owner of the forest tract of this park. During the coming spring the entire southern portion of Baird Court will be put in order,.including the lion and the monkey houses, the large sea-lion pool, and the Rockefeller fountain. Plans are also im preparation for extending the eastern portion of the park, and perfecting the southern terminus by a plaza connected with the new rapid-transit system. One of the most important features of FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] the year is the establishment of a thor- oughly organized medical department un- der the direction of a veterinarian and a well-known human pathologist. A path- ological laboratory is in charge constantly of an assistant, and daily rounds are made by an officer of the medical staff in com- pany with the curators of the respective departments. Full reports are being kept of the symptoms of animals of various types, and of the causes of death. From these records it is proposed to prepare a special work on the habits, care and treat- ment of animals in captivity. The larger ruminants, especially, are susceptible to gastero-enteritis, and a disappointing fea- ture of the work is the liability to these diseases which has been engendered on the larger ranges. Until the soil and grasses of these ranges have been thoroughly re- treated, it appears that better results are secured by keeping the animals in enclos- ures than by allowing them free range. After a number of experiments, entirely successful methods of feeding for the prong-horned antelope and for the caribou have been discovered, and these animals are in fine condition. The western varie- ties of deer, the moose, the buffalo, and to a certain extent the wapiti, are still being studied. A feature of the management of the park is the appointment of scientific cura- tors instead of keepers in principal charge of the animals. At present the director acts also as head curator of mammals. Mr. R. L. Dittmars has recently been promoted to the full curatorship of reptiles, and as- sists Mr. Hornaday with the mammals. Mr. C. William Beebe has been promoted to the full curatorship of the birds. By this means a continuous series of observa- tions of the habits of animals is being made and recorded. Mr. Beebe has been especially successful in the rearing of birds, and has made a number of valuable SCIENCE. 267 discoveries in the medical treatment of birds. The chief publication of the year is by the secretary, Mr. Madison Grant, on the barren-ground and woodland caribou of the northern hemisphere. Another function of the society has been duly followed during the year, namely, game protection. The secretary has been actively instrumental in connection with the new game laws of Alaska, Newfound- land and British Columbia, and a spe- cial fund of $3,000 has been presented to the society by Miss Stokes, of New York, the interest of which is to be devoted to the protection of birds. The society has enjoyed the cordial co- operation of Commissioners of Parks of the Bronx and of Manhattan; also the sup- port of Mayor Low and of Comptroller Grout. The relations with all the officers of the city have been of the most friendly character. New York now bids fair to be- come a model city in the management of its scientifie institutions. With Professor Bumpus as Director of the American Mu- seum of Natural History, Mr. Hornaday as Director of the New York Zoological Park, Mr. Townsend as Director of the New York Aquarium, and Dr. Mayer in charge of the zoological division of the Brooklyn Mu- seum, the prospects for the future are ex- tremely bright. Henry FAIRFIELD OSBORN, Chairman of the Executive Com- mittee of the N. Y. Zoological Society. SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. Economics of Forestry. A reference book for students of political economy and profes- sional and lay students of forestry. By Bernuarp E. Frernow, director of the New York State College of Forestry. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. 1902. Pp. ix-+ 520. $1.50. 268 The appearance of this book is timely, though after many years of forestry propa- ganda in which its author has taken a prom- inent part, it may be doubted whether the aver- age student, to say nothing of the layman, is yet fully prepared to appreciate the important principles and conclusions herein enunciated. It is written with characteristic clearness and directness by our greatest authority on the subject, and contains much of vital interest at this stage of forestry development in the United States. This review is an attempt to bring out some of its more salient features, in part in the author’s own words. Limits of space unfortunately necessitate great con- densation and omission of much that is well worthy of careful consideration. In his discussion of the relation of the state to natural resources the author considers the principle, recognized in all civilized states, of the necessity of protection of the rights of the many from the unrestricted exercise of indi- vidual interests, and extends the principle to its widest interpretation by including the rights of the future many. The activity of the state has for its object the perpetuity of the well-being of society, its continued welfare and improvement; it must provide for the future, must be providential, hence the economy of resources, much neglected in economic litera- ture, fully justifies the large place accorded to its discussion. “ While we are debating over the best methods of disposing of our wealth, we gradually lose our very capital without even realizing the fact. Whether we have a high tariff or no tariff, an income tax or head tax, direct or indirect taxation, bi- metallism or a single standard, are matters which concern, to be sure, the temporary con- venience of the members of society, but this prejudicial adjustment is easily remediable. But whether fertile lands are turned into des- erts, forests into waste places, brooks into tor- rents, rivers changed from means of power and intercourse into means of destruction and deso- lation—these are questions which concern the material existence itself of society; and since such changes become often irreversible, the damage irremediable, and at the same time the extent of available resources becomes smaller SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 424. in proportion to population, their considera- tion is finally much more important than those other questions of the day.” Considering the forest as a resource, it is shown that wood supplies are, and unquestion- ably will continue to be, an indispensable re- quirement of our civilization, almost like water, air and food. In the appendix sta- tistics are cited which show that all the in- dustrial nations have, during the last forty to fifty years, increased their per capita con- sumption of wood materials greatly, in spite of the increase in the use of substitutes. The money value resulting from the mere conver- sion of the products of our woodlands equals at present annually a two per cent. dividend on the entire wealth of the nation, yet, owing largely to wasteful methods, hardly more than twenty to thirty per cent. of the material in the felled trees is utilized, and by the process of culling the valuable kinds the lumberman gives the advantage to the weeds in tree growth, with no reference whatever to future supplies. In Germany, on the other hand, the forest re- source represents, in round numbers, a capital value of $180 per acre, paying a constant revenue of three per cent. on this capitaliza- tion, producing a constant annual gross rey- enue of $190,000,000, and this, too, from soils that, for the most part, would otherwise be unproductive. It is apparent that we are bound to exhaust our own stores in less time than they can be replaced, and that we are living not on interest merely, but are rapidly attacking our wood capital. Our per capita consumption is nearly nine times that of Ger- many, and twenty-five times that of England, a fact that suggests the possibility of a far more economical use of our timber resources. Under the business aspects of forest produc- tion certain striking facts are presented. Thus it is stated that Saxony has taken in about $200,000,000 during the last fifty years from a small area of rough mountain land, not half a million acres, a tract half the size of many a county in the United States, and that without diminishing, but rather increasing, its earning power. In Prussia the average price of wood per cubic foot nearly doubled in the thirty-five years from 1830 to 1865, and FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] from 1850 to 1895 it rose nearly fifty per cent. None the less no business realizes more than the forestry business that time is money, and time is what the small capitalist does not have. Since the crop is so long making—75 to 150 years—it is a business for the state and large corporations, rather than for the individual, in most cases. The natural history of the forest is clearly and instructively discussed in the light of certain well-known factors influencing tree growth, and emphasis is laid on the capital fact that the whole art of forestry, in its tech- nical as well as its financial results, is based upon the knowledge and application of the laws of accretion. The growth of the indi- vidual tree, as well as the growth of the whole stand of trees, in quantity and form is subject to laws which can be formulated. The state- ment of these laws and their application is of much interest, but must be omitted from present consideration, as must the subject of silviculture from its professional standpoint. This latter, however, includes various impor- tant suggestions which should be heeded by the would-be reformer, among them measures for reducing the danger from fires. The chapter on principles and methods of forest policy is one that it will well repay, not only the student, but every thoughtful citizen to read and ponder. It is shown that the forest cover bears a peculiar relation to na- tional prosperity, and that its continuity calls for specially active interest by the community at large, and by its representative, the state. This is apparent when it is considered that the forest is a natural resource which furnishes in very large quantities materials almost as need- ful as food, and that it forms a soil cover which influences, both directly and at a dis- tance, conditions of water flow, soil and local climate, thereby affecting in a most intimate way the financial, sanitary and social interests of the commonwealth. Since, then, the pri- vate capitalist is interested primarily in get- ting the largest present profit, the care for the future necessarily devolves on the state, and the state must interfere, wherever the inter- ests of the future clearly demand it. But what form shall this interference take? SCIENCE. 269 The answer, according to Dr. Fernow, will vary according to our conceptions of govern- ment functions, according to practical con- siderations of expediency, and according to the character and location of the forest areas. The exercise of providential functions on the part of the state is regarded as a self-evident, logical sequence of the state idea everywhere, but the manner and extent of exercising these functions must vary. In the densely popu- lated monarchical countries of Europe, with relatively scanty resources, a much more di- rect and strict interference is called for than in a country which has still plenty of elbow room, with plenty of resources; here it may be expedient to leave adjustment to future consideration and action, there expediency calls for prompt and vigorous assertion of state rights and obligations. But taking conditions and ideas as we find them, it may be accepted as a general principle that as far as forest areas serve only the one object of furnishing supplies, and form the basis of industrial activity, we may, for the present, allow our general modern policy of non-interference to prevail, based as it is on the theory, only partially true, that self-inter- est will secure the best use of the means of production. There is, however, one great gen- eric difference between the forestry business and all other productive industries, which places it on a different footing as far as state interest is concerned; it is the time element which brings with it consequences not ex- perienced in any other business. In ordinary eases the law of supply and demand coupled with self-interest can be trusted to bring about a proper balance, but in the forestry business, where the time element is so great, the balance of supply can not be maintained in this way; hence even with regard to supply forests the position of the state may properly be a differ- ent one from that which it would be proper and expedient to take toward other industrial activities. This is much more the case when protection forests are involved. Here, in exercising a protective function, the state performs merely the primary logical duty of its existence, namely, securing for each of its members the 270 maximum opportunity to do for himself, pre- venting interference, direct or indirect, by others; it is not doing for the individual what he could have done for himself, and is not liable to the charge of paternalism. There are three different ways in which the state can assert its authority and carry out its obligations in protecting the interests of the community at large, and of the future against the ill-advised use of property by private own- ers, namely, by exercising educational func- tions, by restrictive measures, that is police control, and lastly by direct control involving ownership and management by its own agents. The choice of method in the United States will naturally, and rightly, be in the order named. As a general principle, only when persuasive and promotive measures fail or are insufficient, recourse is to be had to restrictive measures; only when these are inefficient or inexpedient is the state to own and manage properties. As to educational measures, the author holds that universities have the advantage over spe- cial forestry schools and frankly expresses the view that the introduction of the subject into the primary public schools, as advocated by some propagandists, is not desirable nor ex- pedient except incidentally. The endowment of scholarships, however, and the establish- ment of experimental stations are earnestly recommended, the time element involved in forestry experiments being ample justification of state aid in this direction. The dissemina- tion of statistical information is also empha- sized as a means of aiding rational legislation, and the rational conduct of private business as well. These would include estimates of the extent of absolute forest-soils and their cul- tural conditions, composition, age and charac- ter of timber, in short the facts which a legis- lature needs in order to act intelligently and the private operator must have as soon as forestry advances beyond the stage of mere lumbering. In considering the attempts that have been made by various state governments to aid pri- vate endeavor, particularly by means of boun- ties, the fact becomes apparent, curiously enough, that paternal methods have found SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 424. much more favor and are more extensively used in our country than in European coun- tries, and that these methods, though seldom entirely successful, are still urgently pressed upon our legislators. The timber culture acts of 1873-1874 have proved quite ineffectual, yet as late as 1897 in Pennsylvania, and 1899 in Indiana, the same idea has been embodied in legislation designed for the encouragement of forestry, years after the crude law of the general government had been repealed because of its abuses and lack of satisfactory results. The method of encouragement recently in- augurated by the federal government, namely, to give to private owners specific advice as to the management of forest properties, has much to commend it, though it can hardly be ex- pected that, in the absence of an obligation to follow the working plan, commensurate re- sults will follow. The taxation of forest property, as now con- ducted in most of the states, is directly and justly condemned as tending to encourage forest destruction and discourage forest man- agement. The customary method of assessing forest property by including the value of the standing merchantable timber is compared to taxation of farm property assessed not only on the value of land, buildings and machinery, but on the value of the growing crop itself, which would be a most absurd and discourag- ing procedure. In Wisconsin, for example, taxes on tracts of hardwood lands, from which the pine has been removed, have averaged about ten cents per acre, that is to say, twenty to thirty per cent. of what is probably the year’s production must be paid to the tax gatherer. It is safe to say that no other property is so heavily taxed. The natural re- sult is that lumbermen propose to escape from this extortion by stripping the land as speedily as possible, and are not sanguine .as to what the state is likely to accomplish in the way of a rational forest policy. Still worse, perhaps, has been the outcome of tariff regulations, which have resulted in the more rapid cutting of our own forests and the transfer of prosperous industries from the northern states to Canada. Nevertheless, legislation in this direction is not necessarily a ew FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] pernicious. In Germany there has been pro- tective legislation since 1879, with the result of decreasing importations, but the conditions there and here, where forestry hardly exists as yet, are so different as to render comparisons of little value further than to say that the protection in Germany is given to a well-estab- lished forest-management against the com- petition of exploited natural woods. The impotency of existing laws designed to prevent forest fires is recognized by every one who has given the matter attention. Under the head of principles to be kept in view when formulating legislation for protection against forest fires the follow- ing suggestions are given: (1) There is a necessity of having a_ well-organized machinery for the enforcement of laws, in which the state must be prominently repre- sented; (2) responsibility for the execution of the law must be clearly defined, and must ultimately rest upon one person, an officer of the state; (3) none but paid officials can be expected to do efficient service; (4) recogni- tion of common interest in the protection of this kind of property can come only by a reasonable distribution of financial liability for loss between the state and local com- munity and the owners themselves. Passing from restrictive, or police, regula- tions to the direct supervision and control of forest properties, it is shown that, notwith- standing the necessity of the state’s assuming the function of internal improvement in cases of palpable public benefit, as, for instance, in the forcible reforestation of denuded moun- tain slopes, it is found that control and super- vision of private property is an unsatisfactory, expensive and only partially effective method of securing conservative forest management. We are prepared, then, for the conclusion, which seems inevitable, that here, as well as in the old world, it finally becomes preferable in many cases for the community to own and manage forest areas. The ownership may rest either in the state, or in the county, town or other political subdivision which seems most interested in the maintenance of the pro- tective cover, and possession, if it can not be had by purchase, may be obtained by the exer- SCIENCE. 271 cise of eminent domain, a right that may be reasonably exercised when public safety or public utility requires, as is incontestably the case in so many of our states at the present time. In the ideal, most highly organized state, the policy would be for the community to own or control and devote to forest crops all the poorest soils and sites, leaving only the agricultural soils and pastures to private enterprise. From this clear and forcible presentation of the principles and methods of forest policy the author passes to a résumé of the forest policies of foreign nations, those of France, England (in India), Russia, Austria, Sweden and Norway, and Germany being specially discussed. For the education of the lower class of foresters in Germany and Austria there are some twenty special schools, while for the higher classes not only ten special forest academies are available, but three uni- versities and two polytechnic institutes have forestry facilities. The forests of Germany cover 34,700,000 acres, or 26 per cent. of the entire land surface, a large portion of the forests covering the poorer, sandy soils of the North German plains, or the rough, hilly lands of the smaller mountain systems, and are distributed rather evenly over the entire empire. The condition of the forests depends largely on the amount of control exercised by the state authorities. It is best in all cases in the state forests, it is almost equally as good in the corporation forests under state control, and is poorest in the private forests, particularly those of small holders. In a large part of Prussia, Wiirtemberg, and Bavaria the corporations provide their own foresters; but these, as well as their plans of operation, must be approved by the state authorities. In Prussia and Saxony private forests are free from governmental interference, but elsewhere in the German Empire private forests are, for the most part, under some state super- vision; a permit is required before land can be cleared, devastation is an offense, and in some states a badly neglected forest property may be reforested and managed by state au- thorities. From this brief outline it is apparent that 272 forestry in its modern sense is not a new, untried experiment in Germany, but that care and active legislative consideration of forest wealth date back more than four centuries; that the accurate official records of several states for the last one hundred years prove con- elusively that wherever a systematic, continu- ous effort has been made, as in the case of all state forests, whether of large or small terri- tories, the enterprise has been successful; that it has proved of great advantage to the coun- try, furnished a handsome revenue where otherwise no returns could be expected; led to the establishment of permanent wood-working industries, and has given opportunity for labor and capital to be active, not spasmodically, not speculatively, but continuously and with as- surance of success. This rule has, fortu- nately, not a single exception. It is a highly significant fact, however, that even in Prussia, where the state is exhausting all ameliorative and persuasive means, over 75,000 acres have been deforested by private owners during the last twenty years. The state finally buys these half-wastes, restocks them at great ex- pense, and thus public money pays for public folly in not restricting ill use of forest prop- erties. It is interesting to note that Japan had a forest policy earlier than any of the European nations, and has now a department of forestry controlling the management of 17,500,000 acres, or thirty per cent. of the total forest area. A forest academy has been connected with the University of Tokio since 1890. The concluding chapters are devoted to forest conditions and the forestry movement in the United States. An area of 500,000,000 acres represents practically the forest terri- tory of this country capable of timber pro- duction, much of it ‘culled’ forests from which a large part of the merchantable timber has been removed. The forest reservations of the federal government to July 1, 1902, com- prise nearly 60,000,000 acres, or about one per cent. of the public domain, including brush lands, grazing lands, and desert. The state of New York owns over one and a quarter million acres and is increasing the area of the state forest, and Pennsylvania has entered SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 424. upon the same policy; but in the other states forest property is still almost entirely in pri- vate hands. It is not to our credit that con- servative lumbering is thus far hardly more than a name in the United States, and in most eases the policy of ‘skinning,’ 7. e., culling out the merchantable timber, prevails. It is, however, a hopeful feature of the situation that corporations and wealthy capitalists are beginning to see the financial advantages of the future in forest properties, that sporting asso- ciations are also becoming interested in forest preservation, and that the long period of agi- tation is finally passing into one of scientific study of our resources, with at least here and there commendable and measurably adequate legislation. It has become at last the policy of the United States government to take care of its long-neglected forest lands, but the ad- ministration of the forest reserves is still in an embryonic condition under the General Land Office, while the survey and description of forest reservations are conducted under the agency of the Geological Survey, instead of having the whole matter under the one head, namely the Forestry Bureau of the Depart- ment of Agriculture, an anomalous condition of affairs that can hardly prevail much longer. It need hardly be said that this authorita- tive exposition of the economics of forestry, with the applications that have been made to present conditions and needs in the United States, can not fail to render most important service at a time when the great majority of intelligent citizens freely acknowledge the pressing necessity of a forward movement, but, in nine cases out of ten, are either hopelessly in the dark or extremely ill-advised as to the steps that ought to be taken. Y. M. Spanpiva. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. MEETING OF THE CHICAGO SECTION OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. Tue twelfth regular meeting of the Chicago section of the American Mathematical So- ciety was held on Friday and Saturday, Jan- uary 2 and 3, at the University of Chicago. The meeting was presided over by Professor FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] H. B. Newson, of the University of Kansas. The following papers were read: Dr. Savun EpstTeen, University of Chicago: ‘Determination of the group of rationality of a differential equation.’ Proressor E. W. Davis: ‘A group in logic.’ Prornssor H. B. Newson: ‘On the generation of finite from infinitesimal transformations; a correction.’ Proressor L. E. Dickson, University of Chi- cago: ‘The ternary orthogonal group in a gen- eral field.’ Proressor L. E. Dickson, University of Chi- eago: ‘The group defined for a general field by the rotation groups.’ Proressor A. 8. HarHaway, Rose Polytechnic Institute: ‘Vector Analysis.’ ProressokR JAMES ByRNIE SHAw, Kenyon Col- lege: ‘On nilpotent algebras’ (preliminary com- munication). Proressor D. F. Campsett, Armour Institute of Technology: ‘On homogeneous quadratic rela- tions in the solution of a linear differential equa- tion of the fourth order.’ Dr. §. E. Stocum, University of Cincinnati: ‘Relation between real and complex groups with respect to their structure and continuity.’ Proressok ARNOLD Emcu, University of Colo- rado: ‘On the involution of stresses in a plane.’ Mr. R. E. Witson, Northwestern University: ‘Polar triangles of a conic and certain circum- scribed quartic curves’ (preliminary communi- cation) . Proressor H. §. Wuite, Northwestern Univer- sity: ‘ Orthogonal linear transformations and cer- tain invariant systems of cones’ (preliminary communication). Proresson R. E. Artarpice, Leland Stanford University: ‘On the envelopes of the axes of similar conics through three fixed points.’ The report of the committee appointed at the last Christmas meeting to devise a scheme of uniform requirements for the Master’s de- gree for candidates making mathematics their major subject, was discussed, and portions of it adopted, the remainder being held over for consideration at the next meeting of the sec- tion. The report deals with the undergradu- ate program and suggests a basis for graduate study on the assumption that one year of such study will be required for the Master’s degree. Copies of the report may be had from the secretary of the section. SCIENCE. 273 The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: Secretary—Professor Thomas F. Holgate. Additional Members of the Program Committee —Professor Ernest B. Skinner and Dr. S. E. Slocum. The next meeting of the section will be held in April. Tuomas F. Hotaare, Secretary of the Section. Evanston, ILLINoIs. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Art the 136th meeting of the society, held in assembly hall of the Cosmos Club, Wednesday evening, January 14, 1903, the following pro- gram was presented: Dr. Arthur C. Spencer exhibited some speci- mens of metallic copper taken from the crevices of an old wall which had been coy- ered for perhaps thirty years by sulphide-bear- ing débris from the mines at Cobra, near Santiago, Cuba. A calcareous mortar was locally replaced by copper, which now occurs without admixture of any foreign material. The chemical reactions involved were dis- cussed by Dr. H. N. Stokes, who has recently been engaged in an extensive study of the conditions under which metallic sulphides are deposited. In a brief review of the history of the work on ore deposits, in America particularly, Mr. S. F. Emmons introduced Mr. W. H. Weed, who proposed a genetic classification of ore deposits, whose major subdivisions are as follows: I. Igneous (Magmatie segregations). A. Silicious. B. Basie. II. Igneous emanation deposits (deposited by highly heated vapors and gases in large part above the critical point, é. g., 365° and 200 atm. for H,O). A. Contact metamorphic deposits. B. Veins (closely allied to magmatic veins and to division IV.). IMT. Fumarolic deposits (metallic oxides, etc., in clefts in lavas; no commercial im- portance). 274 TV. Gas-aqueous (pneumato-hydato-genetic) deposits. Igneous emanations mingled with ground-waters. A. Filling deposits. B. Replacement deposits. VY. Meteoric waters. A. Underground. B. Surficial. This classification is intended to group the geological processes forming ore deposits in such a manner as to show genetic relations, and to illustrate the subdivisions proposed by actual examples, it being understood that in- vestigators will differ as to which class a particular deposit might be assigned. Major subdivisions are based upon mag- matic segregations at one end, and cold aqueous deposits at the other, with inter- mediate groups due to the emanations from igneous rock, the eruptive after-actions of Vogt, to which the term pneumatolytie has commonly been given; fumarolic when these emanations issue at low temperature and pres- sure; gas-aqueous in which the emanations from igneous rocks, with their burden of metals, mingle with ground-water; aqueous in which meteoric waters alone are active, both chemically and mechanically. The igneous deposits are divided into basic and silicious, the former including the deposits of iron, copper, ete., found at igneous borders and as dikes, the latter the ore-bearing pegma- tites with quartz veins as extreme examples. Under igneous emanations or pneumatolytic deposits are grouped contact metamorphic de- posits shown by recent studies to be formed under conditions which preclude the presence of ordinary ground-waters or steam at a low temperature and pressure. Pneumatolytic veins, of which Cornwall tin veins are classic examples, have long been recognized as due to eruptive after-actions of this character. Geikie, Fouque and other geologists have ob- served the formations of metallic oxide in clefts in lavas by fumaroles, hence this divi- sion is introduced. Under gas-aqueous the larger number of workable deposits occur, and it would be neces- sary to present a long list of facts assembled SCIENCE. LN. S. Von. XVII. No. 424. to show their relations and the deductions therefrom, to establish the necessity for this subdivision; but if eruptive after-effects are admitted to form contact metamorphic de- posits, ete., the next group follows as a logical consequence. Meteoric waters are admittedly the agents that have by themselves formed large and im- portant deposits of iron and copper, but this agency is assigned to a less important place than given it by recent writers. As a whole, the classification differs very markedly from any so far proposed, being the first to recognize the facts established by Vogt, Lindgren, Kemp, Spurr and other advocates of the igneous origin of ores. In the discussion of Mr. Weed’s paper, Mr. J. EK. Spurr presented to the society a genetic classification of ore deposits, upon which he has been engaged for some years. He pointed out a general similarity between this and the classification proposed by Mr. Weed, especially as regards the important place given to ore deposits formed directly by igneous processes, and the classes into which these deposits are divided, the differences between the two schemes being largely differences in relative importance of the subdivisions and in detailed grouping. Mr. Spurr expressed his full sym- pathy with the theories of igneous origin for ore deposits, and recalled his own advocacy of these theories as early as 1894, when,.in de- seribing the deposits of Mercur, Utah, a gase- ous origin for one of the two types found there was proposed, and a deposit in limestone along a porphyry contact by waters occluded from the porphyry for the other. Again in 1896 he argued that the gold quartz veins of the Yukon district were the final silicious pro- ducts of differentiation of a granitic magma. In his continuation of the discussion Mr. Waldemar Lindgren admitted the desirability of a genetic classification and believed that the suggestions of Weed and Spurr should be followed. Deposits formed by water above the critical temperature by igneous emanations and those formed by mingling of atmospheric and igneous water are important divisions. Fumaroles and solfataras are surface phe- nomena and very different from deep-seated FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] emanations. The conception of ‘ mineralizing agents’ was defined, and it was shown that they may be active in magma, liquids and gases as well as in the reaction of gases on solids. A better term is desirable for deposits formed above the critical temperature of water than the variously used word ‘ pneumatolytic.’? Con- tact metamorphic deposits are probably di- rectly caused by the action of igneous emana- tions from cooling magmas, chiefly water, on the surrounding rocks at a temperature above the critical point. W. C. MENDENHALL, Secretary. CLEMSON COLLEGE SCIENCE CLUB. Tue club held its regular monthly meeting on Friday evening, January 16. The follow- ing papers were presented and discussed: ‘The Salient Points in the Bacterial An- alysis of Milk” by Professor H. Metcalf. This paper described the conventional meth- ods of milk analysis and was fully illustrated by experiments. ‘Prescription Milk,’ to which the first paper served as an introduction, was presented by Professor C. O. Upton. The treatment of this subject was based entirely upon the speaker’s experience in the Walker-Gordon Laboratory Co., where the production of milk for clinical use is made a special work. Cuas. E. CHAMBLIsS, Secretary. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. ORTHOPLASY, ETC. Iy Science, November 21, p. 820, Professor Conn treats ‘Organic Selection’ as a syno- nym of ‘Orthoplasy, stating that Professor Baldwin has prefered the latter term. In the work of Professor Baldwin reviewed (pp. 151, 152) we find these definitions: “Organic Selection: The perpetuation and development of congenital variations in con- sequence of individual accommodation. “Orthoplasy: The directive or determining influence of organic selection in evolution.” On p. 173 we read: ‘The theory of evolu- tion which makes general use of organic se- lection is called Orthoplasy.? Orthoplasy is, SCIENCE. 275 therefore, not identical with organic selec- tion, but its result. I will take this opportunity to suggest a couple of terms: Directive Characters—Those characters which may be useless or harmful to the in- dividual at the time of their development, but lead to after-effects which are the cause of survival, or are at least beneficial. Example: a wandering or migratory habit might be the cause of much hardship, but in the long run might lead the individual (if he survived the early stress) to exceptionally favorable con- ditions. Human emigrants often illustrate this course of events. Directive Individuals—Those individuals which may be useless or harmful to the race during their lifetimes, but lead to after-effects which are the cause of race-survival, or are at least beneficial. Example: many reformers, such as the abolitionists, have by their actions weakened the nation to which they belonged, for the time being; but the ultimate results have been highly advantageous. T. D. A. CockEREtu. East Las Vecas, N. M. SHORTER ARTICLES. ON THE PRIMARY DIVISION OF THE REPTILIA INTO TWO SUB-CLASSES, Synapsida anv Diapsida. Smvce 1867 there has been a slowly progres- sive movement toward the classification of the reptiles by the number of arches in the tem- poral region of the skull. The leaders have been Giinther, in the separation of the Rhyncocephalia from the Lacertilia, Cope, in the union of the Archosauria and separation of the Cotylosauria, Baur, Smith Woodward and Broom in the suggested division of rep- tiles into two groups according to the pres- ence of one or two temporal arches. Broom in 1901 went so far as to assign a phylogenetic value to this distinction. Without learning until a few days ago of Broom’s paper* the writer had been for some time studying the value of this idea. Classi- fication by single characters, such as the above, * Through a review kindly sent the writer by Franz Baron Nopsca, Jr., and received February 7, 1903. 276 has proved short-lived in so many cases that a thorough comparison of all parts of the skull and skeleton seemed absolutely necessary, and was undertaken by the writer with the valu- able aid of Dr. J. Howard McGregor. It was found that the grouping suggested by the temporal arches is confirmed by a large num- ber of characters unnoticed hitherto in this connection. On December 29, 1902, a joint- paper * was presented before the American Association in Washington in which the Rep- tiles were subdivided into two sub-classes as SCIENCE. follows: SUB-cLASS Synapsida.} I. e., Primarily with single, or united tem- poral arches. SUB-CLASS Diapsida. I. e., Primarily with double or separated temporal arches. Cotylosauria. Rhyncocephalia : Anomodontia: Proganosauria. Dicynodontia. Pelycosauria. Cynodontia. Mesosauria, ete. Gomphodontia. Dinosauria. Theriodontia. Ichthyosauria. Placodontia. Phytosauria. Testudinata. Pterosauria. _ Plesiosauria. Squamata: Mosasauria. Ophidia. Lacertilia. Crocodilia. Giving rise to the Giving rise to the t Birds through some Mammalia from some unknown unknown type tran- member of the Ano- sitional between modontia. Proganosauria and Dinosauria. In the ancestral Synapsida: (1) The roof of the skull is solid (Cotylosauria), or there is a single large supratemporal opening, the in- fratemporal opening being rudimentary or * Read before the biological section of the New York Academy of Sciences, February 9, 1903. ~The names Protherosauria (for Synapsida) and Archosauria (for Diapsida) were used in this communication. The former was abandoned be- cause of its similarity of sound to Proterosauria Seeley. The latter was abandoned because Cope proposed Archosauria as a superorder to include only two-arched forms, whereas Diapsida is given sub-class rank and made to include the Ichthyo- sauria, Phytosauria and Squamata. [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 424. wanting; (2) the squamosal is large, coales- cing with the prosquamosal and more or less covering the quadrate; (8) the quadrate is reduced and never movable; (4) the coracoid and procoracoid are separate, or united by suture; (5) the phalangeal formula is 2,3, 8, 3,8 or less than 2, 3, 4, 5, 3. In the ancestral Diapsida: (A) The roof of the skull is open, with two temporal arches and openings; (2) the squamosal is small, fre- quently separate from the prosquamosal; (8) the quadrate is large, free and secondarily movable; (4) the coracoid and procoracoid are early coalesced into a single bone; (5) the phalangeal formula is 2, 3, 4,5, 3-4. These are the most striking of a series of characters which separate these groups. ‘The grounds for placing the orders of Reptiles as they are in the above table will require fuller statement elsewhere. ¢ Henry F. Oszorn. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. Dr. WitHELM Wuonpt, the eminent psy- chologist, has been elected an honorary mem- ber of the Academy of Sciences of St. Peters- burg. Prans have been inaugurated in Great Britain to secure by subscription a portrait of Lord Rayleigh. The treasurers are Sir An- drew Noble, Sir Oliver Lodge and Professor Arthur Schuster. Dr. A. E. Ortmann, of Princeton Univer- sity, has accepted the position of curator. in invertebrate zoology in the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh. M. Epmonp Perrier has been appointed pro- fessor of comparative anatomy and M. Pierre Marcellin Boule, professor of paleontology in the Paris Museum of Natural History. Dr. M. von Rupzxt has been made director of the observatory at Cracow in place of Pro- fessor Karlinski, who has retired. Proressor ForsytH, of Cambridge Univer- sity, was elected president of the Mathematical Association which held its annual meeting in London, on Saturday, January 23. The~ Association has 351 members. FEBRUARY 13, 1903. | Dr. T. S. Croustron has been elected presi- dent of the Royal College of Physicians, Edin- burgh. Tue Royal Meteorological Society held its annual meeting on January 21, when Mr. W. H. Dines, the president, made an address entitled ‘The Method of Kite-Flying from a Steam Vessel, and Meteorological Observa- tions obtained thereby off the West Coast of Scotland.’ The society now has 666 fellows. Captain D. Wilson-Barker was elected presi- dent for the ensuing year. Sir Micuaet Foster has reconsidered his in- tention to resign his seat as representative of London University in the House of Commons. He proposed to resign, because he did not wish to continue to vote with the unionist and conservative party, but he received assurances from graduates which lead him to retain his seat. THE prize of $200, annually given by Dr. Frederick Peterson for the best original essay on the etiology, pathology and treatment of epilepsy, was awarded this year to Dr. Julius Donath, of Budapest, Hungary, for his paper on ‘The Presence of Cholin in Epilepsy and its Significance in the Production of the Con- vulsive Attack.’ Tue American Museum of Natural History has sent Dr. E. O. Hovey to the Lesser An- tilles again to supplement the studies which he made last summer on Martinique and St. Vincent. Dr. Hovey left New York by the steamer Caribbee, of the Quebec line, on Feb- ruary 4, and will remain in the Windward and Leeward Islands two months or more. After studying the changes which have taken place on Martinique and St. Vincent as a result of the great eruptions which have occurred since last July, he will visit all the other im- portant volcanic islands of the chain to photo- graph their craters, solfataras and boiling lakes, with the object of making his final re- port upon the eruptions of 1902 in the West Indies comprehend the entire series of Car- ibbean voleanoes. He will make collections of yoleanic rocks and other materials for the museum. SCIENCE. 277 Tue Danish government is about to send a commission to the Danish West Indies to investigate their condition. Professor Ehlers, of Copenhagen, will accompany the commis- sion to investigate the diseases prevalent on the islands. Two members of Baron Toll’s polar expedi- tion, Lieutenant Matissen, commander of the yacht Zaria, and Lieutenant Kolchak, have just arrived in St. Petersburg with nine men of the Zaria’s crew after an absence of two and a half years. Proressor Herspert Osporn, of the Ohio State University, gave an illustrated lecture on entomology before the Biological Club of DePauw University at Greencastle, Indiana, on the evening of January 28. ° Sir Witi1am BroapBent will give the third Hughlings Jackson Lecture before the Neuro- logical Society of London during the present year. ' A MEETING in memory of the late John Wesley Powell will be held under the auspices of the Academy and affiliated scientific so- cieties of Washington, at the Columbian Uni- versity, on the evening of February 16, be- ginning at 8:15 o’clock. On this occasion the following addresses will be given: “Powell as a Soldier,’ by Hon. D. B. Henderson. ‘Powell as an Explorer,’ by Mr. Chas. R. Van Hise. “Powell as a Geologist,’ by Mr. G. K. Gilbert. “Powell as an Ethnologist,’ by Mr. W J McGee. “Powell as a Man,’ by Mr. S. P. Langley... THE sum of $1500 has been collected to erect in the Hunterian Museum of the Univer- sity of Glasgow a memorial of the late Pro- fessor John Young. He had been since 1866 keeper of the museum and professor of natural history and lecturer on geology in the univer- sity. A comMITTEE has been formed in Germany to erect a memorial at Munich to Professor Pettenkofer in recognition of his important contributions to sanitation and hygiene. Str GrorcE Gasrien Stokes, the eminent mathematician, died on February 1, in his eighty-fourth year. Born in Ireland, he was educated at Cambridge, where he was senior 218 wrangler in 1841, and became Lucasian pro- fessor of mathematics in 1849. He was fel- low of Pembroke College, was compelled to resign, by his marriage, but was reelected under the statute of 1869 and became later president of the college. He was secretary of the Royal Society from 1854-1885 and presi- dent from 1885-1890, president of the British Association in 1869, and member of parlia- ment from Cambridge University from 1887— 1892. He was made a baronet in 1889 and was a knight of the Prussian order ‘pour le mérite.” Sir George Stokes’ contributions to mathematics and mathematical physics have given him a foremost place among the men of science of the world. Dr. Morritt Wyman, one of the best known American physicians, died at Cambridge on January 29, in his ninety-first year. He had made important contributions to medical sci- ence including the recognition of the disease known as hay fever. He was a member of the board of overseers of Harvard University, and received from it the degree of LL.D. in 1886. It is reported in the daily papers that Mr. John D. Rockefeller will build in New York City, for the Institute for Medical Research, which he has established, a research laboratory to cost with the ground about $1,000,000. It is said that the buildings will be situated on the east side of the city in the neighborhood of Hightieth St. Tur German government has appropriated $15,000 for research for the study of the rela- tion between tuberculosis in man and cattle. A pitt has been introduced in the House by Mr. Slayden, of Texas, appropriating $50,- 000 to aid in the suppression of the bubonic plague in Mexico, and to prevent its spread in the United States. For this purpose the bill authorizes and directs the President of the United States to send a commission of three medical officers of the army and navy to inves- tigate and report the conditions as to this dis- ease there prevalent. Tuer Pennsylvania Legislature has repealed the Fow Anti-hospital Law, and Philadelphia can now accept the Henry Phipps proposed gift of $1,000,000, and erect near the center of SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 424. population an institute for the study, treat- ment and prevention of tuberculosis. Rosert E. Woopwarbd, of Brooklyn, has given $25,000 to the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, in memory of his brother, the late General John B. Woodward, and an additional $25,000 in memory of his wife. Tue British Medical Journal states that the sum of £10,000 has been vested in trustees by Mr. T. Sutton Timmis, for the purpose of systematic investigations into the origin and cure of cancer, which it is intended shall be carried out in the Liverpool Royal Infirmary and the new laboratories of experimental medi- cine in the University College, Liverpool. An international conference to discuss the question of erecting an international seismic observatory in Europe will be held at Berne in May. The principal European govern- ments have agreed to send representatives. Tue Wisconsin State Board of Agriculture is considering the preservation of a group of three mounds located in State Fair Park at West Allis near Milwaukee. The Wisconsin Natural History Society is to see that these mounds are labeled. There are about one hundred large and several hundred small col- lections of antiquities in Wisconsin. The society is making efforts to have these placed in various libraries, museums and schools. Tue Department of Superintendence of the . National Educational Association holds its meeting at Cincinnati from February 24 to 26. Among the addresses and papers are ‘ How to utilize fully the plant of a city school system,’ President Eliot of Harvard University; ‘ The University of Oxford and Rhodes Scholar- ships,’ Dr. W. T. Harris, commissioner of edu- eation; ‘Some problems in manual training,’ Professor C. R. Richards, Columbia Univyer- sity; and ‘Coeducation in high schools and universities,’ Professor Albion W. Small, Uni- versity of Chicago. The National Society for the Scientific Study of Education, The Association of College Teachers of Education and the Educational Press Association meet at the same time and place. FEBRUARY 13, 1903.] On February 3, the following papers were read before the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, at Burlington House, London, England: ‘On a meteoric stone seen to fall on August 22, 1902, at Caratash, Smyrna’: by L. Fletcher, Esq., M.A., F.R.S.; ‘Note on the history of the mass of meteoric iron found in the neighborhood of Caperr, Patagonia’: by the same; ‘ On the crystalline forms of carbides and silicides of iron and manganese’: by L. J. Spencer, Esq., M.A., F.G.S.; ‘The refractive indices of Pyromor- phite’: by H. L. Bowman, Esq., M.A., F.G.S.; ‘Note on quartz crystals from De Aar’: by T. Y. Barker, Esq. The following dates have been arranged for the meetings for 1903: Feb- ruary 3, March 24, June 9, November 17, anniversary. ‘Wuy Salt Lake has fallen’ is the subject of a paper by L. H. Murdoch, section director of the U. S. Weather Bureau in Salt Lake City, in the National Geographic Magazine for February. The rapid decline in the water level of Great Salt Lake during the past few years has caused the people of northern Utah, and more especially those of Salt Lake City, to feel considerable apprehension lest this re- markable body of water will soon be a thing of the past. The reading of the gauge at Garfield Beach on December 1, 1902, was 3 feet 5 inches below the zero of the scale, show- ing a fall of 11 feet 7 inches since the close of 1886, the year in which the last rise ter- minated. The present area of the lake is about 1,750 square miles, and its drainage basin is about twenty times that area. The writer feels confident that irrigation can not be charged with more than three or four feet of the last decline in the lake level as irriga- tion began in 1848, and was in: operation dur- ing the years that the lake rose rapidly and maintained a high level. From 1887 to 1902 a dry cycle has prevailed, the average precipi- tation during this period being 14.80 inches or 1.85 inches below normal. The fall in the lake level has been much more rapid during the past three years than for any like period during the preceding years of drought. This is mainly due to the fact that the deficiency in SCIENCE. 279 precipitation has been greater during this period than during any similar period of the present dry cycle. The deficiency for the last three years alone was over 13 inches. The lake is not alone in showing the effects of the drought. Streams, springs and artesian wells are drying up, and those which continue active are discharging much less water than a few years ago. It seems to the writer that the large deficiency of 29.60 inches in precipita- tion during the past sixteen years, as shown by the Salt Lake City records, must be far more of a factor than any possible loss of water resulting from irrigating 609 square miles of land. With precipitation continuing at about 15 inches, no further fall in the lake will oceur, and if the annual precipitation is as much as 15 inches for the next three years, a slight rise may be expected. A wet cycle like that which began in 1865 may begin next year, or it may not begin for fifty or more years. When it does occur the lake will re- spond rapidly and reach levels nearly as high as those recorded in the sixties and seventies. Tue Mathematical Association (London) has received a report from its committee to consider the subject of the teaching of ele- mentary mathematics. According to the ab- stract in the London Times the report of this committee stated, with regard to geometry: “Tt is desirable (1) that a first introduction to geometry should not be formal, but experi- mental, with use of instruments and numer- ical measurements, and calculations; (2) that public schools in their entrance examina- tions should set a fair proportion of questions requiring the use of instruments, and the obtaining of numerical results from numerical data by measurements from accurately drawn figures; and that in their entrance scholar- ship examinations the same principle should be recognized; (3) that elementary geometry papers, in examinations such as University local examinations, the examinations of the College of Preceptors, Oxford responsions, and the Cambridge previous examination, should contain some questions regarding the prac- tical use of instruments; (4) since pupils will have been already familiarized with the prin- 280 cipal constructions of Euclid before they begin their study of formal geometry, it is de- sirable that the course of constructions should be regarded as quite distinct from the course of theorems. The two courses will probably be studied side by side, but great freedom should be allowed to the teacher as to the order in which he takes the different constructions.” The report proceeded to deal with the course of constructions, the course of theorems, and the importance of riders. The committee recommended the following general order in teaching the theorems of the first three books, and thought that examiners should be re- quested to recognize this order:—Book L., Book III. to 32 inclusive, Book II., Book IM. 35 to the end; and detailed suggestions were given. As to arithmetic and algebra, the committee considered that there was con- siderable danger of the true educational value of arithmetic and algebra being seriously im- paired by reason of a tendency to sacrifice clear understanding to mere mechanical skill. In view of this they recommend—(a@) that easy viva voce examples should be frequently used in both arithmetic and algebra; (6) that great stress should be laid on fundamental principles; (c) that, as far as possible, the rules which a pupil uses should be generaliza- tions from his own experience; (d) that, when- ever practicable, geometry should be employed to illustrate arithmetic and algebra, and in particular that graphs should be used ex- tensively; (e) that many of the harder rules and heavier types of examples, which examina- tions alone compel us to retain in a school curriculum, should be postponed. With these as guiding principles the committee made various suggestions. In view of the great amount of time now required for teaching the various rules connected with our complicated system of weights and measures, the commit- tee recorded its unanimous opinion that the interests of education demanded the early in- troduction of a decimal system of weights, measures and coinage. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. Tue Duke de Loubat has given $100,000 to Columbia University for the establishment of SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 424, a chair of American archeology. Mr. M. H. Saville, curator at the American Museum of Natural History, has been elected to the pro- fessorship. OBERLIN CoLLEGE has received an anonymous gift of $50,000 from the same donor who re- cently gave $50,000. Mr. AexanpeER OC. HuMPHREYS was in- stalled as president of the Stevens Institute of Technology on February 5. Addresses were made by representatives of the trustees and faculty, by President Charles S. Thwing, of Western Reserve University, by President Henry S. Pritchett, of the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology, and by Mr. Andrew Carnegie. The alumni offered a dinner and reception to President Humphreys in the evening. Aw extension of the work of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia Univer- sity, is about to be inaugurated by the estab- lishment of summer courses. Practical in- struction will be given in general medicine by Drs. Sumner and Draper; in neurology by Drs. Pearce Bailey and Cunningham; in gynecol- ogy by Drs. W. S. Stone and Bradley; in ob- stetrics by Dr. Lobenstine; in ophthalmology by Drs. Clairborne, Holden and Tyson; in laryngology by Drs. Simpson and Frothing- ham; in dermatology by Drs. Hodgson and Dade; in diseases of children by Drs. La Fetra and Huber; in genito-urinary diseases by the senior assistants in the department; in diseases of the stomach and intestines by Dr. Fischer; in clinical pathology by Dr. Jessup; and in physical diagnosis by Dr. Dow. Each course continues for a period of from three to five weeks, and the work will be adapted to the needs of undergraduates of the third and fourth years, and of practitioners. of medicine who desire to pursue further special studies. Dr. K. Aurrep Osann, of Miilhausen, has. been appointed associate professor of mineral- ogy at the University of Freiburg. Sm Witi1m Turner has been appointed principal of the University of Edinburgh. He has been demonstrator of anatomy in the uni- versity since 1854 and professor since 1867. SCIENCE A&A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EpitoriaAL CoMMITTEE : S. NEwcomB, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THursToN, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. WaLcort, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; HENRY F. OsBORN, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooks, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology ; 8S. H. ScuppER, Entomology ; C. E. Bessey, N. L. BRITTON, Botany ; BowpitcH, Physiology ; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology; H. P. WILLIAM H. Wetcu, Pathology ; J. McK&EN CATTELL, Psychology. Fripay, Fresruary 20, 1903. CONTENTS: MhesSt.. Dowis Meetings... 2s ew cnceaseees 281 The Smithsonian Institution 284 The American Association for the Advance- ment of Science :— Section H, Anthropology: Dr. Rotanp B. DIBA) Sip Goes oot Gis cobs San aean eae Beare aaa 286 The Washington Meeting of the Geological Society of America: Proressor J. F. Kemp and Proressor A. W. GRABAU...... 290 Estevan Antonio Fuertes: Proressor R. H. SIRE SON actste preter oben tats: decatsie stelans' dicta aye 303 Scientific Books :— Reeve on The Thermodynamics of Heat- engines: Proressor R. H. TuHuRsSTON. Muir on The Story of Alchemy and the Be- ginnings of Chemistry: Dr. Henry Car- EEN GIO Net OL TOW etavey ci sievalalleie apaesiel avaky oyencia she 305 Scientific Journals and Articles ............ 307 Societies and Academies :— The Biological Society of Washington: F. A. Lucas. The Geological Society of Washington: W. C. MenpennHALL. The Montana Academy of Sciences, Arts and RGLLENS sec sibs WELO WED sect hat syeonsscareie eles < ape 308 Discussion and Correspondence :— Smithson’s Remains: GiLBert H. GROSVE- nor. The Destruction of Frogs: Dr. ALBERT M. REESE. The Great Auk: F. A. Lucas.. 311 Recent Zoopaleontology :— An Upper Pliocene Cave; A New Rhinoc- eros from Southern Bavaria; The Basal Eocene Mammalian Fauna. in the Ft. Union Beds of Montana; A Review of the Reptilia of the Trias; A Horned Bocene Ungulate from Egypt: H. F. O.......... 312 Research Funds of the Scientific Alliance of New York: Dr. N. L. Brrvron.......-... 314 Fifth International Congress of Applied Chemistry: Dr. H. W. Wim8y-........... 315 Sieniajie Notes and News... . 00... ceases 317 University and Educational News........... 320 MSS. intended for publication and books, etc.. intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- fessor J. MeKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hndson, N. Y. THE ST. LOUIS MEETINGS. THouGH nearly a year is to elapse before the American Association and affiliated bodies will meet in St. Louis, in next win- ter’s convocation week, it is time for all who are interested not only in making this meeting a success but in welding the union of popular and technical scientific interests that was begun at the recent Washington meeting, to bestir themselves, that the good start that has already been made may not be lost. St. Louis has long enjoyed the reputa- tion of being a hospitable city, in which visitors: are sure of good treatment, and it has the distinction of possessing one of the oldest scientific organizations of the country, in its Academy of Science, which was founded by Engelmann and his asso- ciates In 1856, struggled through the agon- ies of a border city in the Civil War with- out a cessation of its activity, and through- out has maintained the high standard with which its scientific were Its Washington University, in- corporated in 1853, through the public spirit of Eliot, which has struggled against publications started. a variety of discouraging conditions with- out ever abating the ideals of scholarship 282 on which it was founded, has recently at- tracted attention as the recipient of nu- merous gifts which at length put it in position to take rank among the leading Through the gift of Shaw, the city possesses, in the institutions of the country. Missouri Botanical Garden, one of the most attractive public collections of plants in the country and a young but most hopeful center of research. The city, arranging for a great exposition, which is to open only a few months after the scientific meet- ings, has awakened to the need of purging itself of the attaint of bad municipal ad- ministration, which it has shared with other cities and of putting itself into twentieth century condition for its guests. There is little reason to doubt that ample and adequate provision will be made for the largest scientific gathering that can be held next winter, and if all the local edu- cational and scientific interests are not much advanced by the inspiration that it will afford, the meeting will have failed of one of its prime objects. The scientific interests of the country are capable of as great advancement at this meeting as at any that has yet been held. There was a time when they were all fully represented at the meetings of the Amer- ican Association for the Advancement of Science, and when the persons interested but not directly engaged in scientific work were sure to see at those meetings the That body, however, was organized quite as leaders in every field of research. much for the promotion of popular inter- est in science as for the interchange of knowledge between those who are directly SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 425. advancing the latter, and it is always irksome to listen to known facts when one would rather learn of new discoveries. With the growing complexity of science and the increase in the number of investi- gators having at their disposal ample facili- ties for the publication of their discoveries, there has developed a disposition on the part of many of the older men to stay away from the association meetings, or to attend them rather for the social and other advantages attending large gather- ings than for what they could learn or impart to others in the field of their own work. This has changed, to a considerable extent, as the younger men have forged ahead in their professions so as themselves to take place as leaders, but even as this has come about there has been a marked. disinclination on the part of many of these very men to present their best work to the association or to travel to any considerable distance for the interchange of ideas, when they could organize in smaller numbers near home for purposes most closely con- nected with their own interests and needs. Out of this grew the meetings of the American Society of Naturalists, the mem- bership of which is based upon professional attainments rather than mere interest in science, and the bodies of kindred aims and standards that quickly affiliated with it for the holding of winter meetings, usually restricted to the vicinity of the Atlantie seaboard. It was a most commendable purpose which caused the American Association for the Advancement of Science, with its large popular as well as professional member- FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] ship, to try the experiment of meeting in the winter season, in the hope that in this way the seceding professional interests might be held, while the affiliation of all the organized scientific bodies promised a power for the advancement of every in- terest concerned such as nothing but com- bination of forces could give. In many respects, the recent Washington meeting, the first held under the new plan of the association, was the most successful and satisfactory meeting yet held in this country; but sight should not be lost of the fact that it was an experiment, not only on the part of the association, but of all the organizations that met with it, and it was scarcely to be hoped that these should not find that something in efficiency in the promotion of their individual aims had been sacrificed for the advancement of the It must be conceded that the balance can not yet be struck in such a way as to show con- collective interests represented. clusively that the new plan is better than the old one. On the other hand, it is evi- dent that such a balance should not be struck until the experiment has been car- ried further, and much of the conflict of interests can be avoided by the closest co- operation of the officers of the affiliated societies in the earliest stages of the prep- aration for the program. It is urged on these officers, therefore, that they come together without loss of time and combine their several tasks in such a manner as to provide for a program for the St. Louis meeting which shall com- bine the maximum of breadth and strength with the minimum of conflict of interests. SCIENCE. 283 For the most efficient realization of this end, it is almost imperative that the meet- ing places of the different sections of the association and of the affiliated societies be closer together than proved possible in Washington, and it is to be hoped that the St. Louis committee, when organized, will spare no effort to arrange for ample meet- ing places for all the bodies that meet in connection with the association, as well as for its own section, in contiguity to each other, as well as conveniently situated with reference to the hotels at which most of the persons in attendance at the meeting are to stay. That the Plant Morphologists and Physi- ologists and other organizations whose con- stitutions or precedents prescribe a limited territory within which meetings are held, may not feel warranted in setting aside these restrictions, is possible and beyond the field of extraneous criticism, although it is sincerely to be hoped that they will decide to meet within their own territory next winter only after the most careful consideration of the aid that their presence in St. Louis ean afford in the effort to unify all interests. As now organized, with eastern and central branches, the American Society of Naturalists has be- come a truly national body, justifying its name, and will doubtless meet at St. Louis. It is to be hoped that the professional so- cieties of national scope which have usually affiliated with it will unite with the Ameri- can Association next winter, for a further trial of the plan of affiliation. We need a national society for each of the sciences, and while these societies may 284 SCIENCE. to advantage be organized in branches, an annual meeting of national character should be held. There is much to be said for holding the national meetings in conyo- cation week and in selecting other times for the meetings of the branches and more local societies and academies. There are also good reasons for holding the meetings of all national societies at the same place. Local arrangements can be made once for all, reduced railway rates can be obtained, provision can be made for joint meetings of overlapping sciences, and men of sci- ence in different departments can make and renew acquaintance. The national so- cieties do not relinquish in the slightest degree their individuality and autonomy by meeting with the American Association. The association has indeed proved itself ready to leave to the special societies the special programs. The American Chem- ical Society and the section for chemistry have for years held joint meetings without friction. When the new section of physiol- ogy and experimental medicine was organ- ized the special programs were explicitly left to the special societies, the section pro- posing to confine itself to addresses and discussions which concern more than one science. At the recent Washington meet- ing action was taken by which all special papers in geology may be presented before the Geological Society of America. Sim- ilar plans for union have been arranged in the cases of other sciences, and a natural evolution will leave to the national societies the presentation and discussion of special research, while the sections of the associa- tion will aim to coordinate the sciences and [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 425 present their advances in a form intelli- gible to all. The center of scientific population and of scientific activity is no longer on the At- lantic seaboard. If we have national meet- ings they must sometimes be held in the central and western states. There is a general sentiment that the association and the national scientific societies might with advantage meet once in three years at Washington, once in three years in an east- ern city and once in three years in a central or western city. The recent meeting at Washington was certainly successful from every point of view. It is to be hoped that all men of science will unite in making the meetings next year at St. Louis and the following year at Philadelphia equally representative of the scientific work and interests of the whole country. THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. THE board of regents of the Smithsonian Institution held their annual meeting on January 28. The time was so fully oceu- pied with routine business that there was no opportunity for adequate discussion of important questions concerned with the policy of the institution. An adjourned meeting was consequently called for March 11, when questions of administration will There is undoubtedly a widespread impression that the Smith- be considered. sonian Institution is not accomplishing as much for the diffusion and inerease of knowledge as it did in its earlier years. It is easier to criticize than to outline a constructive policy; but scientific men should certainly unite in the latter course. nit Fae ASSO FEBRUARY 20, 1903. ] The regents of the Smithsonian Institution are men of eminence, who meet once a year for an hour or two at Washington, and who can scarcely be expected to give the time or to secure the information needful for the conduct of the institution. Its organization is somewhat similar to that of our universities with one important ex- ception—it lacks any body corresponding to the faculty. learned and We have in most of our educational institutions a -board of trustees, who represent the au- They do not give much attention to the conduct thoritative and conservative classes. of the institution, delegating their powers largely to an executive officer. universities have faculties of experts, whose legal powers are unduly limited, but whose moral But our influence determines largely the policy and new appointments. The Smithsonian Institution and’ the Car- negie Institution lack such bodies of expert advisers, and if the executive officer is not in touch with the scientific men of the country, there is no way to bring the con- sensus of opinion before the regents or the trustees. It seems important that the board of regents should have more freqeut meetings; and that the scientific men of the country should have the opportunity of appearing before it and discussing mat- ters with the regents and with the secre- tary. The difficulty seems to be that there are but few members of the board of re- gents who could afford the time necessary. The executive committee, however, might hold sittings for the purpose of conferring with men of science, and act as the medium by which scientific public opinion could be SCIENCE. 285 brought to the attention of the regents. Perhaps it would be possible for the Smith- sonian Institution to appoint a visiting committee or a board of advisers who would give more attention to the detailed man- agement of the institution than it is pos- sible for the regents themselves to afford. There is every reason to suppose that the regents and the secretary would be glad to learn the opinion of scientific men, and we suggest that those who have given atten- tion to the subject should write to Secre- tary Langley or to the regents with whom they are personally acquainted or to whom they are known by reputation, making sug- The points which appear to need special attention are: (1) gestions as to policy. How the regents and secretary can be brought in contact with the scientific senti- ment of the country; (2) whether it would not be advisable for the National Museum and the Bureau of American Ethnology to be given greater autonomy, and (3) if the institution is released from the conduct of government bureaus, in what directions its activities should be turned. The board of regents consists of: Hon. M. W. Fuller, Chief Justice of the United States, Chancellor; Hon. W. P. Frye, President pro tempore of the United States Senate; Senator S. M. Cullom; Senator O. H. Platt; Francis M. Cockerell; Representative Hugh A. Senator Dinsmore; Representative Robert R. Hitt; Repre- sentative Robert Adams, Jr.; Dr. James B. Angell, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Dr. Andrew D. White, Ithaca, N. Y., at present abroad; Hon. J. B. Henderson, Washington, D. C.; Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, Washington, D. C.; Hon. Richard Olney, Boston, Mass.; Hon. George Gray, Wilmington, Del.; Dr. S. P. Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Insti- tution. 286 SCIENCE. THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. SECTION H, ANTHROPOLOGY. At the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Sci- ence, held in Washington during convoca- tion week, Section H united with the re- cently founded American Anthropological Association and with the American Folk- lore Society im a joint program, the papers presented being classified as far as possible by subjects, and arranged for dif- ferent days. The meetings were held in the buildings of the Columbian University Law School. Section H held its special meeting on Tuesday, December 30; the American Anthropological Association on Wednesday, December 31; the American Folk-lore Society on Thursday, January 1, and on Friday, January 2, a joint ses- sion of all three societies was held.. The following papers were offered for presen- tation to the Section (see series of. titles and abstracts attached) : H. W. Tooxer: ‘Algonquin Names of Moun- tains and Hills.’ (By title.) A. L. Krorser: ‘Tribal and Social Organiza- tion of the Indians of California.’ (By title.) W. H. Hotmes: ‘Incrusted Crania from Caves in Calaveras County, Cal.’ (Presentation.) Franz Boas: ‘Conventionalism in American Art.’ FRANK RUSSELL: ‘Some Practical Problems for the Consideration of American Anthropologists.’ Military Insignia of the Omaha: Auice C. FLETCHER. Among the Omaha there were two classes of warfare, aggressive and defen- sive. The literal translation of the word meaning aggressive war is, in the direction of men; that of defensive war, in the di- rection of women or the tent. War parties ranged from eight or ten to one hundred warriors. A man seldom went to war alone, except under the stress of grief. War parties were of two classes, those organized for securing spoils and those having for their object the avenging of [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 425. injuries. The latter held the higher rank. All parties were organized. The leader (the commanding officer), who must be ready to sacrifice his life for his command should circumstances demand it, and four, grades of servers appointed by the leader; namely, the hunters, who must provide game; the moccasin carriers; the kettle carriers; the fire makers and water car- riers. No regalia was worn in actual battle. There were six grades of war honors, each of which had its peculiar in- signia. These honors could not be claimed by a man until they had been awarded — through certain rites, which could only take place within the sacred tent of war. This tent and its ceremonies were in charge of the gens which camped south of the eastern opening of the tribal circle. These insignia represented a warrior’s act which had been recognized by the supernatural powers and awarded in the sacred tent. Other regalia represented social relations and the- interdependence of men. ‘The eagle feather war bonnet belongs to this class. A war bonnet was not made by its wearer, but was manufactured by the war- riors of the tribe with ceremony and song. A war honor had to be counted upon each of the eagle feathers, so the completed bonnet represented the warriors of the tribe who had consented to bestow this mark of distinction upon one of their fel- low tribesmen. The Extinction. of the Pecos Indians: HE. L. Hewitt. The paper gave an account of the writer’s attempt to find all the surviving members of the Pecos tribe. None were found remaining of the portion that settled at Santa Domingo and Zia. Of the prin- cipal remnant which settled at Jemez, only two are now living. Other descendants of Pecos Indians were found, but none of pure blood. One of the two survivors has FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] died since last July, and it is only through the last survivor, Augustine Pecos, that first hand information concerning the lan- guage, customs, folklore and religion of the Pecos Indians can be had. Some in- formation gained from this old man was given. “Sheet Copper from the Mounds is not Necessarily of European Origin: Cuar- ENCE B. Moore. It was shown in the paper that, while some of the sheet copper from the mounds is of European origin, much sheet copper is purely aboriginal, as is evident by the lack of association of any objects of Euro- pean make, and the fact that analyses show that the copper is in many instances hammered from pure native copper, and is far purer than any copper produced in Europe during the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth or eighteenth century from the arsenical sulphide ores which have to be made use of in Europe to obtain copper, inasmuch as native copper is not present in quantities sufficient for commercial use. The Hopewell Copper and Other Objects, are they Pre-Columbian? Warren K. MoorreHeEaD. A summary of the evidence in favor of the pre-Columbian origin of the objects taken from the Hopewell Group, based on personal exploration of the group in ques- tion. The Fossil Human Remains Found Near Lansing, Kansas: W. H. Houmes. Reports of the finding of human remains deeply imbedded in loess or loess-like for- mations near Lansing, Kansas, came to the writer’s attention early in the year 1902. In September he visited the site, accom- panied by Professor T. C. Chamberlin and other geologists. Excavations were under- taken for the purpose of giving geologists an opportunity of examining the forma- tions more critically, a month being spent SCIENCE. 287 in this work. The interpretation reached by those geologists who first visited the site was that the deposits enclosing the remains were of Glacial age, probably ex- tending back to the middle of the Iowan Epoch. later interpretations, however, favor the view that the deposits are of post-Glacial age, that they are a remnant of a fan-like delta built in and about the mouth of the little valley that opens out upon the flood-plain of the Missouri River at this point. The osteological characters and state of preservation of the human remains seem to favor the latter interpre- tation. Economic Linpitey M. KEASBEY. In the domain of physical anthropology good results have been reached. By ap- plying the biological principles of varia- bility and variation anthropologists have succeeded in elaborating a fairly full ac- count of the origin, dispersion and differ- entiation of the human species. But in the domain of cultural anthropology on- fusion still prevails. This is due to the fact that no principle of continuity has been applied to the cultural activities of primitive people. The economic activities of man are necessarily antecedent to his cultural activities—true, man does not live by bread alone, but unless man labors for his daily bread he is not able to live. Therefore, anthropologists should begin their enquiries by studying the economic activities of primitive people. By apply- ing the economic principles of utility and utilization, the anthropologist should be able to establish the first stages of indus- trial development and determine the essen- tial characteristics of primitive culture. Anthropology: The Excavations of the Gartner Mounds: W. C. Mis. The mound which was located near sev- eral other famous mounds of the Ohio area, 288 was found to contain many burials, graves being scattered throughout the whole mound. About one third were placed be- low the base of the mound, at varying depths up to five feet. The base of one of the mounds was of tamped clay covering an old village site. Ashes were placed in a layer over this clay, and in this part of the mound were-but few burials, and these ‘some three and a half feet above the clay base. With many of the burials were many artifacts, and several pieces of pot- tery were recovered intact. With some burials, instead of pottery, the materials for making pottery were buried. Anthropometry; its Relation to Criminol- ogy: Hi. Linvsey. The study of the outward physical char- acteristics of men is a branch of anthro- pology to which quantitative methods are applicable. The relations exhibited by these methods are the mathematical ones connecting the observations, and not the real relations of the phenomena themselves. Th@ application of these methods in the study of criminals, united with the view of the criminal mainly as a moral offender developed by the philanthropists, gave rise to the theories of the so-called Italian school of criminology. This is susceptible of much criticism. To deduce any theory, observations on the convict class must be compared with observations on all other classes of society. Convicts must be com- pared with non-convicts of similar environ- ment. Anthropometry must provide these data. While there is a correlation between psychical activity and physical structure, the physical is no measure of the psychical function, which can only be compared qualitatively. Criminology, therefore, must embrace both qualitative and quantitative studies. Criminology has no direct rela- tion. to criminal law, but should be pur- sued as a strictly scientific investigation, SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 425. using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The Gramophone Method in Collecting Dialects: H. W. Scripture. The phonograph and the gramophone were compared in their usefulness in the collection of dialects, and the methods of tracing curves from the records obtained by the latter instrument demonstrated. The method of analysis of these curves was described, and plans outlined for a comprehensive collection of American dia- lects, constituting a phonetic and linguistic survey of the entire country, and em- bracing aboriginal as well as other peoples. The Cultural Differentiation of the Maidu: Ronuanp B. Drxon. : The paper called attention to the rather interesting case of the differentiation of the small Maidu stock into three more or less distinet groups, each of which was, to a considerable extent, isolated from the others. It was suggested that we might see in this differentiation in culture as well as language in this single stock, evi- dence of the forces which have produced the great diversity which has long been recognized. to exist in California as a whole. A Study of Spindle Whorls from Mesxico to Colombia: H. NEwELL WARDLE. This study was based on the collections of spindle whorls in the U. S. National Museum, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the Free Museum of Sci- ence and Art of the University of Penn- sylvania, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The dis- tribution and significance of ornamental motifs were briefly considered, but the groups outlined were on the basis of tech- nique, form and material. Hight groups were recognized for Mexico, and after ref- erence to the spindle whorls of Chiriqui, attention was called to three strongly char- FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] acterized types from Colombia, hitherto undescribed. Comparative Study of Mortuary Pottery from Pajarito Park and Tewa: EH. L. HEWETT. The paper, illustrated by many drawings, was a comparison of the designs and forms of pottery taken from the Cliff Ruins of Pajarito Park, with pottery made by the Tewa Indians of the Rio Grande Valley. The Introduction of the Banana into Pre- historic America: O. F. Coox. Evidence has been found which appears to establish the existence of wide distribu- tion of the banana in pre-Spanish America. It was not, however, a native plant, and was probably introduced from the tropical Pacifie islands with which, it is claimed, there are excellent indications of prehis- toric communication. Progress in Anthropology at Peabody Mu- seum of Yale University: Grorck GRANT MacCurpy. The anthropological collection at Yale was begun in 1866, and might have been one of the most important of its kind in America had not Professor Marsh, who began it, turned his attention almost wholly to paleontology. His interest in anthro- pology continued to manifest itself in col- lecting only, since he had time neither to study the materials amassed nor to make a systematic exhibit of them. The work of installation along definite lines was not begun until 1899, soon after Professor Marsh’s death. During the three years ending June 30, 1902, a number of important exhibits were prepared, among them being a series representing the Paleo- lithie period of Europe; the Swiss Lake Dwelling collection; the Seandinavian Neolithic series; and the Egyptian, Green- land and Alaskan collections. SCIENCE. 289 Since last June many valuable accessions have been received, including a beaded . ceremonial shirt of buckskin from the Misses Terry, of New Haven, presented to their brother, General Alfred H. Terry, by a Sioux chief; the annual gift of Egyptian antiquities from the Egypt Exploration Fund; two Chileat blankets and Indian and Japanese baskets from Mrs. Kate Foote Coe and her sister, Mrs. HK. H. Jenkins, of New Haven; and a col- lection of unusual scientific value consist- ing of two hundred Indian baskets, and one hundred various ethnological speci- mens, chiefly from the Pacifie coast of North America, loaned by Mr. and Mrs. William H. Moseley, of New Haven. The Moseley collection has just been installed. The curator, Mr. MacCurdy, has done some field work in three different localities of the state, which has resulted in important accessions to the museum, one of these be- ing several hundred antiquities from a rock shelter near Pleasant Valley. the gift of Walter E. Manchester. Origin of Surnames: Anivra Newcoms Mo- GEE. Personal names may be grouped as class names and individual names, correspond- ing in present usage to forenames and sur- names. Brief descriptions of forms of names among primitive and early peoples were given, with statement of the causes which led to the general use of the class designation as a surname. Greece, Rome, England, Seotland and Ireland were es- pecially considered, and it was suggested that surnames were probably the same as, or derived from, the old clan names, brought into constant use by the demands of civilization. Anthropologists were asked to récord the forms of personal names used by the primitive peoples, be- cause they are an expression of the grade of culture which has been attained. 290 Recent Investigations among the Pawnee: Guo. A. Dorsry. In speaking of his recent investigations among the Pawnee, Dr. Dorsey confined his remarks to the description of the offer- ing to the various gods of the heart and tongue of the buffalo, this being one of the rites of an extensive ceremony in connection with a secret bundle among the Skidi band of the Pawnee, which is dedicated to the evening star, the mother of the Pawnee tribe. One of the interesting features brought out in this presentation was that the fire- place made in the tipi during the ceremony is rectangular in shape, and not round, this being supposed to be the shape of that garden in the west presided over by the evening star, and in which the heat of the sun is periodically renewed. Rouanp B. Drxon, Secretary. HARVARD UNIVERSITY, THE WASHINGTON MEETING OF THE GEO- LOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, DE- CEMBER. 30, 31, 1902, JANUARY 1 AND 2, 1903. THE society was called to order Tues- day, December 30, in a room in the build- ing of the U. S. Geological Survey. The altendance was very large, from 75 to 100 fellows being present. An address of welcome was delivered by Director C. D. Walcott and was acknowledged by Presi- dent N. H. Winchell. After routine business, memorials of Alpheus Hyatt (by W. O. Crosby), J. E. Mills (by J. C. Branner) and J. W. Powell (by W J MeGee) were read. The presentation of papers was then begun, and the following were read during the meeting. Inasmuch as the society held joint sessions with Sec- tion Ei of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, it is impossible to SCIENCE. [N. 8S. Vou. XVII. No. 425, give the papers in the exact order of pre- sentation. Section E had a full program, as did also the Geological Society, and re- lated titles were presented in succession, without regard to the body to which they had been primarily offered. In this re- port the printed program of the Geological Society is followed. The companion report by Dr. E. O. Hovey covered the papers primarily offered to Section E. Where an author was absent his paper is only: mentioned at the close of this report, among those read by title. The First Eparchean Formation: H. M. Ami, Ottawa, Can. This paper was an extension of one pre- sented at the last winter meeting and en- titled ‘The Ordovician Succession in Hast- ern Ontario.’ It emphasized the nature of the first formation which overlies the Archean crystallines in different portions of North America. Dr. Ami showed that the first Paleozoic sediments in the southern Appalachians are fragmental and of lower Cambrian age, while as we come north the strata resting on the ancient crystallines are successively later and later in age, until in Canada we find them at the top of the Ordovician. He, therefore, emphasized the probability that the earliest fossils were only to be expected in the south. In discussion C. R. Van Hise urged the importance of care and exactness in the use of the term ‘Eparchean Interval.’ If used in the sense first proposed by Lawson on Lake Superior it would be a pre-Cambrian term, whereas in the paper of Dr. Ami it might as a time expression come anywhere up to the top of the Ordovician. Trans- gression and overlap need also to be con- sidered. Bailey Willis remarked the dis- tinct faunas which occurred in the same kind of rock, and emphasized the principle that lithology could not stand for time, nor has it faunal significance. FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] A. W. Grabau mentioned that the pro- gressive overlap could be carried farther even up into the Silurian; and also that in New York we have in the Niagara lime- stone a formation whose time equivalent ought to be a sandstone in Ontario. N. H. Winchell carried the idea still farther in that in Minnesota the Cretaceous rests on the Archean, and stated that the break might be traced even to the present. Dr. Ami, in reply, stated that he used the term ‘Eparchean Formation’ in a purely strati- graphic sense with the purpose of em- phasizing the first sandstone deposits found in various places in the Hast. The Basal Conglomerate in Lehigh and Northampton Counties, Penn.: FRep- ERICK B. Peck, Easton, Pa. The basal conglomerate occurs here as elsewhere, fringing the Precambrian areas. In eastern Northampton County it fails oc- easionally, (1) as a result of faulting or (2) because it was never deposited. It has a thickness varying from zero at Eas- ton, to one hundred or possibly several hun- dred feet at Alburtis, twenty-four miles southwest of Easton. Petrographically, it is quite variable. At times it is a coarse conglomerate, made up of quartz pebbles an inch or two in diameter. Frequently it is a medium to fine-grained arkose, consisting of about one part feldspar (orthoclase and microcline) to two or three parts quartz, the former us- ually thoroughly kaolinized, the latter badly crushed, and under the microscope exhibiting an undulatory extinction, and occasionally a distinctly biaxial character. Other phases of it present a dense bluish or grayish quartzite. It occasionally con- tains interstratified beds of a very fine- grained, argillaceous sandstone with nu- merous worm borings (Scolithus), but SCIENCE. 291 as yet no distinctively lower Cambrian fossils have been found. The seemingly uppermost member is a highly ferruginous, almost jaspery quartzite, which locally con- tains iron enough to constitute a low grade ore. From this horizon a considerable amount of iron ore was formerly derived. In discussion Bailey Willis remarked the difficulty of tracing the break between the ancient crystallines and the lowest sedi- ments when the latter consist of the weath- ered débris of the former, deposited near their source. If, however, the lowest beds are sandstones, such as now form the beaches along the Atlantic, they represent the residues, which have been repeatedly worked over by the sea, and have no neces- sary relations to the neighboring erystal- lines. Dr. Peck replied that, in his area, they seemed to represent the products of secular decay, and to have been deposited near their source. The Sandstones of the Ozark Region in Missouri: Curtis F. Marsut, Columbia, Mo. The author first gave a short sketch of the history of geological investigation in the region, with reference chiefly to the various classifications which have been pro- posed for the rocks of the Ozark series. The older geologists made out four lime- stones and three sandstones. F. L. Nason had supported the view that there were two limestones and one sandstone. By means of maps the speaker described the evidence which had led him to the conclusion that there are certainly two, and there may be three or, even four, sandstones. Dr. Purdue remarked in discussion that there are in Arkansas at this horizon heavy sandstones and limestones, seven in number, which shade into each other. 292 SCIENCE. Devonian and Carboniferous Rocks of Southwestern New York: L. C. GuENN. The speaker discussed, with the aid of diagrams and maps, the puzzling question of the transition strata on the border be- tween the Devonian and Carboniferous of southwestern New York and northern Pennsylvania. The strata are prevailingly shales with lenticles of conglomerate. They have received formational names, and by agreement between the paleontologists of New York and the U. S. Geological Survey the break between the periods has been placed at the base of the Wolf Creek con- glomerate. In discussion J. M. Clarke de- seribed the nature of the faunal change. It is more sharply marked at the Wolf Creek conglomerate than elsewhere, al- though these are both antecedent Carbonif- erous forms and surviving Devonian ones, respectively, below and above the conglom- erate. H. S. Williams, likewise, emphasized the faunal relations, and also discussed some of the equivalencies of conglomerates in sepa- rated areas, suggested by the author. An- other speaker remarked the possibility of throwing much light on the boundary be- tween Devonian and Carboniferous by an investigation in southeastern Pennsylvania of the strata under the anthracite measures. _ This paper closed the morning session. On reassembling after lunch the society divided into a petrographic section and a stratigraphic, each being held in different rooms. The stratigraphic papers follow immediately; after them the petrographic are given. Stratigraphic Relations of the Red Beds to the Carboniferous and Permian in North- ern Texas: Guo. I. Apams, Washington, D. C. As a result of a reconnoisance in north- ern Texas it has been learned that the [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 425. Wichita and Clear Fork divisions of the Permian, as defined by Mr. Cummins, of the Texas Survey, are in part equivalent to the Albany and Cisco divisions of what has-been considered Carboniferous. The approximate limit of the red color is a line diagonal to the strike of the formations. Comparison of Stratigraphy of the Big Horn Mountains, Black Hills and Rocky Mountain Front Range: N. H. Darron, Washington, D. C. This communication embodied some of the results of several years’ detailed study of the stratigraphy of Black Hills and Big Horn Mountain uplifts, and a series of ob- servations extended along the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and Colorado to ascertain the stratigraphic re- lations of the Cambrian to the Cretaceous formations in their southern extension. It has been found that the broader features are of wide distribution, but they present local variations due to differences in over- laps and dates of uplift. Some distinctive beds at several horizons have been traced continuously from far north im Dakota through Wyoming and Colorado, afford- ing important reference planes for the correlation of the more variable or less dis- tinetive members. The data throw much light on the history of the uplifts, especially the discovery of Laramie conglomerates containing carboniferous limestone pebbles. The paper was illustrated by colored slides. One of the points emphasized by them was the unconformable contact be- tween the Marine Jura and the Red beds or Permic. This unrepresented interval corresponds to the Trias. Age of the Atlantosaurus Beds: W. T. Es. Trinidad, Col. (Introduced by W. B. Clark.) The paper dealt with the extension of the Atlantosawrus shales from their type local- FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] ties along the Rocky Mountain front south- ward into New Mexico and eastward into Oklahoma. The shales contain fossils, by which they can be correlated with the Lower Cretaceous of Texas. A characteristic Lower Cretaceous fossil from these beds was exhibited. Professors Seott and Williston, in discussion, consid- ered that the Lower Cretaceous age of the beds was proved by the vertebrate fossils. Both preferred the term ‘Como beds’ to Atlantosaurus beds. Mr. Darton had dis- covered similar Lower Cretaceous inverte- brates in these beds. Mr. Stanton argued that the occurrence of lithologically similar beds on the Red beds was not conclusive evidence of their stratic equivalency. The Cretaceous-Eocene Boundary in the Atlantic Coastal Plain: W. B. Cuarx, Baltimore, Md. Some of the difficulties encountered in eartographically representing the bound- ary line between the Cretaceous and Hocene deposits along the Atlantic coastal border were presented. These difficulties consist, in New Jersey, in locating, on account of the continuity of deposition, a clearly de- fined line separating the Eocene from the Cretaceous; and in Delaware and Mary- land, in determining the boundary line, because of the apparent mechanical trans- portation of Cretaceous fossils into the Eocene deposits where they exist side by side with Eocene forms. The formations discussed are: (1) Potomac, possibly Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretacic, (2) Upper Cretacic, (3) Eocene, (4) Miocene and Pleocene. Marked differ- ential movements occurred at different periods accompanied by pronounced trans- gressions and retrogressions. In discus- sion Bailey Willis made a comparison be- tween the Atlantic and Pacific coast belts. SCIENCE. 293 The Marl-loess of the Lower Wabash Val- ley: M. L. Futur, Washington, D. C., and F. G. Cuapp, Boston, Mass. A study of the marl of the lower por- tion of the valley of the Wabash River in southern Indiana and Illinois shows it to be the equivalent of the loess, replacing the latter over considerable areas. This marl- loess is usually a little coarser than the common loess and carries about 30 per cent. of CaCO,, as compared with less than 5 per cent. in the common type. Numerous exposures have been discovered in which the materials are distinctly or even con- spicuously stratified, and in some instances thin interbedded layers of fine gravel were noted. It is frequently abundantly fos- siliferous, the forms being stated as a mix- ture of aquatic and land species. The strati- fied marl-loess appears to reach an altitude of about 500 feet, or some 120 feet above the flood plain of the river. Instead of forming a mantle conforming to the sur- face inequalities, as is the case with the common loess, the marl-loess frequently oe- curs as extensive flats on broad gently slop- ing terraces at elevations ranging from 40 to 120 feet above the river. Beneath these there is usually buried a somewhat rugged topography. In distribution, the marl- loess is confined mainly to the east side of the valley, an occurrence which is most favorable to the hypothesis of wind origin, but the balance of evidence appears to be in favor of the view, with certain limitations, of aqueous origin. The paper was illustrated by lantern slides. Professor Chamberlin stated that the stratified deposits in question had per- haps been wrongly called loess by himself and others, as they were not like the true loess. He suggested that the term, loess- like alluvium, was more expressive of its character. The paper was also discussed by Professor Salisbury and others. 294 Ames Knob, North Haven, Maine; A Sea- side Note: BA@EY WiLuis, Washington, 1D); (Ci, Ames Knob is a mass of andesitie voleanic rock rising 160 feet above the sea, on the neck of land between the Fox Island thor- oughfare and South Harbor, North Haven Island, in Penobscot Bay. Its petrographic character and geologic relations have been deseribed by G. O. Smith, in his essay on the geology of the Fox Island, Maine. It is bounded on the north by a low plain eut on shales and limestones, of Niagara age, and its northern slope is a cliff re- sulting from the relatively great hardness of the igneous rock. The other slopes of the knob are of practically uniform rock, and variations in profile are attributable to conditions of attack, rather than of re- sistance. At an altitude of approximately eighty feet above the sea, on the south- eastern and southern sides facing the At- lantie Ocean, is a well-marked bench from which a steep facet rises to the summit of the knob. This bench, which has an aver- age width of about 200 yards, is attributed to the action of waves cutting at sea level. The rocks in place exposed upon this bench and about its margin exhibit rounded glaci- ated profiles, but no longer bear stris, so far as observed. Hence it is inferred that the date of submergence to this level pre- ceeded or was nearly coincident with the latest episode of glaciation, and that later influences have removed the minor evi- dences of ice action. Upon this glaciated bench there are now deposits of glacial gravel having the characteristic forms of spits and bars, which are accordingly at- tributed to wave and shore currents. These deposits indicate the presence of the sea at this level after the retreat of the ice. The simplest explanation of the facts is that Ames Knob was submerged beneath the sea to a depth of eighty feet above the SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 425. present sea level during and immediately after the latest glacial episode. Geology of Becraft Mountain, N. Y.: Amaveus W. Grapau, New York City. Beeraft Mountain in Columbia Co., N. Y., is an outlier of the Helderberg Mountains. Its base is formed by the upturned and eroded rocks of the ‘Hudson’ group— chiefly the Norman’s Kill shales. Uncon- formably upon this rests the Manlius lime- stone (upper part), followed in turn by the members of the New York Devonian up to and including the Onondaga limestone. A detailed geological map has been pre- pared by the author for the New York State Survey, Department of Paleontology, and was exhibited by permission of the State Paleontologist. The structure of the eastern and southern portion of the moun- tain, which is of the Appalachian type, was discussed. The excessive folding and faulting of this portion of the mountain was illustrated by a map and sections. In the petrographic section, Professor B. K. Emerson presiding, the time was largely devoted to a description and dis- cussion of the new system of classification of the igneous rocks which has been pre- pared and published in a recent number of the Journal of Geology by Messrs. Cross, Iddings, Pirsson and Washington. By means of charts J. P. Iddings first de- seribed briefly the general principles on which the system is based and the equi- valent terms under the old system. H. S. Washington then discussed the chemical aspects and the methods and reasoning by which the authors were led to their results. He showed the chemical and mineralogical confusion which exists in the old scheme and the improvements afforded by the new. Before discussion was called for, J. P. Id- dings presented the following: FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] Chemical Composition of Igneous Rocks expressed by Means of Diagrams: JOSEPH P. Ipprnes, Chicago, Ill. The diagrams express the molecular pro- portions of the chief chemical components of igneous rocks; the range of their varia- tion; the gradations of igneous rocks chem- ically between extremes; the grouping of them according to the system of quantita- tive chemico-mineralogical classification, recently proposed by Cross, Iddings, Pirs- son and Washington. The new diagram differed from the old in that, in place of the dots which were distributed in the earlier charts of the author (see Journal of Geology, April-May, 1898, 219), little colored geometric figures were used, drawn by the method of Brogger. Exceedingly expressive pictorial representatives of the chemistry of the eruptive rocks were thus afforded. When discussion was called for, it was first directed against the new names sug- gested by the syndicate scheme of classifica- tion, and some exception was taken by G. P. Merrill to the felicity and significance of the ones selected. This was very well met by the authors, who described the pro- cess of evolution through which they had reached the ones of their choice. W. H. Hobbs critically discussed the relative numbers of analyses on which the ranges were established, urging their fewness in some cases and their abundance in others. He made the point that some indicated little more than specimen analyses. In reply, the authors showed the variety of the rocks where the analyses were few, and their abundance in the cases of the more common rocks. They also described the care with which analyses had been selected. J. F. Kemp spoke of the good results in diffus- ing a knowledge of the molecular propor- tions instead of the percentage composi- tion which would be accomplished by the SCIENCE. 295 scheme. He instanced the difficulty of re- casting analyses involving the alferric min- erals as the stumbling-block in close work, and preferred percentage statistics of the minerals in the thin sections to the ecaleu- lated ‘norms.’ He also felt reluctant to see texture, which is now so important, become so minor a feature. A. C. Gill spoke somewhat eritically of the essential significance of ‘norms’ which are artificial assumptions, corresponding to no mineral in the rock. He spoke of the good results which could be gained by the use of the percentage of silica as a fundamental prin- ciple in arranging cards of analyses, sub- dividing them, after the choice of conveni- ent groups, on the basis of other com- ponents. On the whole from the discussion the more vulnerable part of the proposed scheme appeared to be the difficulty of calculating percentages from many anal- yses and the matter of the norms. With the many advantages of another sort and with its definiteness and logical order, all present were impressed. The Nephelite Syenite Area of San José, Tamaulipas, Mexico: Gorge I. Frnuay and J. F. Kemp, New York City. The San Carlos Mountains, in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, are largely made up of nephelite-syenite. This rock is ex- posed for ten miles along the range south of the town of San José. With it are asso- ciated dacite and andesite in the form of a laceolith, and dikes of tinguaite, analcite- tinguaite, camptonite and diabase. The general geology of the San José district was given, with a discussion of the field rela- tions of the above rock types. They were deseribed petrographically, and their min- eralogical and chemical relations are treated in accordance with the syndicate scheme of classification outlined above. 296 SCIENCE. The hour being late there was no discus- sion and the separate section adjourned. On reassembling Wednesday morning the following two papers were delivered together. Studies in the Grain of Igneous Intruswes: AuFrrEeD C. Lanz, Lansing, Mich. In studying the genesis of minerals from an igneous magma, the importance and in- ‘terest of studyimg specimens at various known distances from the margin will be illustrated by particular instances. Slides of chips taken at known distances from the edge of flows were passed around, and even to the unaided eye the increase of coarse- ness toward the center was marked. The subject was then treated mathematically in connection with diagrams and with the next title: On the Porphyritic Appearance: ALFRED C. Lanz, Lansing, Mich. There are some five different kinds of phenoerysts, or crystals, which may give a porphyritic appearance, to wit: Coarser relics of a previous consolida- tion. ‘ Crystals whose formation took place dur- ing the migration of the igneous magma. Crystals which were formed early in the process of cooling and solidification, so that their grain continues to increase clear to the center, while later formed constituents in- erease only for a shorter distance from it, their. grain thereafter remaining uniform. This porphyritie type will be most obvious at the center of the igneous mass. Crystals, the conditions (temperature) of whose formation were nearly half way between those obtaining initially in the igneous magma and the country rock. Such erystals will be most conspicuously por- phyritie at or near the margin. Finally there may be crystals which, like the staurolite of schists, are formed by metamorphic actions, of secondary origin, [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 425. and occur in sediments, and only casually occur in igneous rocks. Attention is particularly called to the third and fourth classes, the possibility of the existence of which has been almost over- looked, though their possible existence may be readily inferred from inspection of diagrams of. the cooling of an intrusive. Certain field observations render their actual existence probable. A Plwmose Diabase containing Sidero- melan and Spherulites of Calcite and Blue Quartz: B. K. Emerson, Amherst, Mass. The paper gave a description of an ex- tensive series of specimens of coarsely porphyritic diabase possessing feathery pyroxenes several inches long, and much very easily soluble tachylite or sideromelan, together with spherulites of calcite and this glass, or of deep cobalt-blue glass, radiating from a point near the border. The whole is thought to have been caused by the in- draught of much calcareous mud, its solu- tion in the magma and recrystallization. Many specimens were passed from hand to hand in illustration. Shifting of Faunas as a Problem of Strati- graphic Geology: Henry S. WinpIAMs, New Haven, Conn. A comparison of sections through the upper and middle Devonian rocks of the — New York-Pennsylvania province discloses marked differences in the faunas occurring at corresponding levels. These facts were presented and their explanation found in a shifting of faunas during the time repre- sented. The nature, extent and mode of recognition of faunal shifting in studying stratigraphy were discussed, and some con- clusions, suggested by the facts, were drawn as to the desirable modification of custom- ary practices in correlating formations by their fossils. The sections, eight in number, extended FEBRUARY 20, 1903. ] from Licking Co., Ohio, to Pike Co., Pa., a distance of over 500 miles. They are ar- ranged in groups with intervals of about 100 miles. There is an almost continuous thickening to the eastward, which to the southeastward increases strongly. Three types of sediment were noted: (1) The red shale and sandstone type, especially found in the eastern end of the section. They are estuary deposits with a peculiar fish fauna. (2) The argillaceous shale type with a rich marine fauna. (38) The Black shale type with a depauperated fauna, chiefly western. The faunas shifted with the sediments. The paper was discussed by Professor Stevenson and others. Paleozoic Coral Reefs, with Notes on the Classification of Limestones: AMADEUS W. Grapsau, New York City. Dome-like coral reefs have been studied by the speaker in the Paleozoic rocks of western New York, the southern peninsula of Michigan and in southeastern Wiscon- sin. Similar reefs have beeen described by Wyman from the Silurian of Gotland, and by Dupont from the Carboniferous of Bel- gium. Three types of fragmental lme- stones were discussed and the following terms were defined: calcirudite, calcarenite and calcilutite, corresponding to psephite, psammite and pelite among the siliceous sedimentary rocks. The desirability of such distinctive names was set forth and examples were given. The paper was illustrated by diagrams. It was discussed by Messrs. Chamberlin, Rice, Lane, Fairchild and others. The de- sirability of distinctive names for the types of fragmental limestone was conceded. Primitive Characters of the Triassic Ich- thyosaurus: JoHN C. Merriam, Berkeley, Calif. The paper presented a comparative study of the Triassic Ichthyosaurus with a view to SCIENCE. 297 determining the stage of evolution reached in these forms as compared with that seen in the Jurassic representatives of the order. The work is based mainly on an exami- nation of collections obtained from the upper Triassic of northern California by the University of California in the summer of 1902. In the material now available the important characters of the dentition, and of the heretofore imperfectly known pad- dles, can be determined with certainty. The paper was illustrated by numerous lantern slides. Distribution of Mastodon Remains in New York: Joun M. Cuarke, Albany, N. Y. Sixty mastodons have been found in New York, mostly along certain well-marked belts, viz., thirty-four in eastern New York from Albany south through Newburgh; thirteen from Rochester south through Livingston County, two near Chautauqua Lake and two near Ithaca. Outside these belts the state is barren. They, therefore, had distinct feeding grounds and that too in a not very remote time. They are now usually found resting on the boulders of old streams and in a comparatively thin layer of peat. In discussion A. C. Lane said that in Michigan they are found down to twenty- five feet below the level of the Great Lakes. E. C. Buckley stated that in Wisconsin they occurred in the driftless area and in streams. G. F. Wright said that near Oberlin, Ohio, they are found in peat, between the second and third beaches of Lake Erie. The question was raised as to the presence of the mam- moth in New York, and it was shown that no specimen had yet been discovered. When, therefore, President Roosevelt, at the time Governor of New York, urged that the mammoth should appear on its coat of arms, it was evident that although 298 a mighty hunter of existing big game, he was a bit weak as regards extinct types. Permian Elements in the Dunkard Flora: Davi Wurtz, Washington, D. C. The Dunkard series (Upper Barren Measures, XVI.) includes the topmost Paleozoic sediments in the Appalachian trough. It lies in southwestern Pennsyl- vania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia, its maximum thickness, in West Virginia, probably exceeding 1,200 feet. Its age determination rests chiefly on the land flora, the series being non-marine. The paleobotanical and lithological con- clusions that the series is Permian, reached by Professors Wm. M. Fontaine and I. C. White, have been seriously questioned by some American geologists and paleontolo- gists. Recent collecting materially increases the Permian evidence, and seems to leave little room for doubt that the beds in and above the Washington limestone are refer- able to the Lower Rothliegende of western Europe. The data so far obtained from the lower beds of the Dunkard are, in the judgment of the writer, not yet conclusive as to Permian age. The problem is difficult on account of the great paucity of char- acteristic Permian forms and the presence of a transition flora. Beds of Zechstein age seem not to have survived erosion in the Appalachian trough. Dr. I. C. White discussed the paper and expressed his pleasure that the Whites were of the same shade of opinion for once. Configuration of the Rock Floor of the Vicrmty of New York: Wiiitam H. Hosgs, Madison, Wis. New York city and its approaches are now the focus of engineering enterprises neyer before paralleled in the history of the world. The revelations afforded by these public and private undertakings are of much significance from a geological SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 425. point of view, particularly, however, as regards the formation of the island and the channels surrounding it. To the data now being furnished have been added many from earlier enterprises—the nu- merous bridges, tunnels, well borings, foundations, ete. Many lantern slides were shown, based on the profiles of en- gineers and showing crushed belts and streaks of decomposed rock under the river channels and depressions. The speaker, therefore, developed an argument in favor of faults as the cause of the depressions, and as the guiding cause of the rivers in opposition to the limestone belts which have been hitherto regarded as the main directing cause. In discussion J. F. Kemp stated the points in favor of the limestone, while ad- mitting for certain localities the force of Dr. Hobbs’s reasoning. He urged that soft and decomposed belts sometimes oc- curred without visible connection with faults. J. W. Spencer spoke somewhat in favor of the limestones and regarding the difficulty of demonstrating faults, as did also Bailey Willis, who, however, cited a fault which he believed to exist, bounding the southeastern edge of the ridge of Staten Island. On the Drowned Valleys off the North At- lantic Coast: J. W. SPENCER, Washing- ton, D. C. This paper is a sequel to the same study presented to this society, and published in the Bulletin in 1894. The subcoastal plains were described. They have a breadth of from 20 to 80 miles, or 300 miles off Newfoundland, reaching to a depth of 200 to 250 feet, with, in places, an outer terrace 200 feet lower. Across this Lindenkohl traced the Hudson val- ley to a canon nearly 3,000 feet below sea-level, while the author recognizes its continuation, in the contours of the con- FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] tinental slope, to oceanic depths. Chesa- peake and Delaware valleys are buried on the subcoastal plains, but reappear in cirques at their margin, and can be traced to 60 miles down the continental slope, where they enter a deep embayment, like the! Hudson. The valleys of the Gulfs of Maine and St. Lawrence, and smaller ones, are traced across the subcoastal plains into conspicuous amphitheatres in the edge of the continental shelf, and these widen out into.embayments indenting the great slope to oceanic depths. The continuation of the deep fjords of Newfoundland are obstructed, supposedly by drift, in crossing the coastal plain, but this is in agreement with the fact that the Lafayette formation is older than the great valley-making epoch, but the Columbia formation was subse- quent to it. So also the remarkable deep cirques in the far North Atlantic were described. The author considers these features, which have their analogies on the margins of the Mexican tablelands, as having been finally fashioned by atmospheric agents, in which case they become evidence of great continental elevation about the beginning of the Pleistocene period. The paper was admirably illustrated by a series of maps. Geology of the Leucite Hills, Wyo.: W. C. Kyiecut, Laramie, Wyo., and J. F. Kemp, New York city. The petrography of the Leucite Hills has already been quite fully treated, but the geological relations have been hardly touched. The latter furnish the most im- portant part of the paper, but petrographic details are not neglected. Up to date six separate exposures have been partially de- seribed. The authors have located and mapped twenty-two. The maps thus far prepared are incomplete and inaccurate. The authors have surveyed one which ex- SCIENCE. 299 presses the true relations much more faith- fully. Surface flows, dikes, voleanic necks and at least one probable intruded sheet were described. The stratigraphical rela- tionships, the probable time of intrusion and the dissection of the mesas were treated in closing, and it was shown that the out- breaks probably occurred in the late Ter- tiary. In discussion G. K. Gilbert re- marked the probable derivation of the sheets and dikes from a parent magma, and the illustrations which they afforded of the succession of closely related eruptions from one source. Bailey Willis likewise com- mented on the probability of the existence of a great laccolithic reservoir beneath the surface. The Work of the Geological Survey of Can- ada in 1902: Ropert Bret, Ottawa, Can- ada. The paper discussed the following top- ics: The different classes of workers, their numbers. Field-work; the parties which were sent out, objects to be attained, means employed; regions surveyed and explored from the Yukon District to Nova Scotia; some of the results. Work relating to mines and economic geology; to chemistry, mineralogy and petrography; the publica- tion of serial reports and special treatises, with illustrations; artists’ work; labors of the staff in paleontology, zoology, eco- nomic botany, fruit growing. The exten- sion of agriculture in the north, forestry, forest fires, preservation of timber; neces- sity for topographical surveying in unex- plored regions; the compilation and engray- ing of maps, those published and those in course of preparation during the year; making of illustrative models of sections and surface relief; work in connection with the museum and library; aid given to edu- cation, distribution of reports, maps, suites of named specimens of minerals and 300 rocks; the collecting of fossils, rocks and minerals; the preparation of pamphlets and descriptive catalogues showing the mineral wealth of Canada; displays of eco- nomic minerals, etc., at international ex- hibitions; contributions to archeology and ethnology ; extensive correspondence of the department, great variety of subjects treat- ed of; information and encouragement given to prospectors and explorers; useful- ness of the department as a means of in- troducing producers and consumers to each other, and in giving information and ad- vice leading to the establishment of new industries. Direction of Flow of the Ancient Beaver River Shown by Pot-holes: Ricuarp R. Hicr, Beaver, Pa. (Introduced by H. ‘LL. Fairchild.) Evidence of the slope of abandoned fluvial plains is not always conclusive as regards the direction of flow of eroding stream. Hvidence of pot-hole formation is conclusive. The abandoned fluvial plain of Beaver River near Rock Point and present stream’s bed below Fallston dam im same sandstone were cited. Views were exhibited showing the difference between the up-stream side and down-stream side of pot-holes at Fallston dam, the down-stream side being eroded and rounded off, the up-stream side steep, perhaps undercut. View of pot-hole on abandoned fluvial plain near Rock Point, the steep side to the south, the rounded and eroded side to the north, thus showing that the formine stream flowed northward. Pot-holes are only found where stream is rapid, hence the ones on abandoned fluvial plain indicate that the eroding stream had considerable fall to the northward, and thus the unusual width of the ‘inner’ valley or gorge, north of Wam- pum, is partly due to the erosion of the old north-flowine stream. SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 425. The Origin of Ocean Basins on the Plane- tessimal Hypothesis: T. C. CHAMBERLIN, Chicago, Il. é The Planetessimal Hypothesis of the origin of the solar system differs funda- mentally from the Laplacian and other gaseous hypotheses, and from the meteor- oidal hypothesis as set forth by Lockyer and Darwin. These latter assign the exten- sion of the parent nebula to the opposed movements, collisions and rebounds of the coustituent molecules or meteoroids. The former assigns it to concurrent orbital movement. In the gaseous and meteoroidal hypotheses (as usually understood) the ageregation is the simple work of gravity followimg a reduction of the oscillatory and colliding action. In the planetessimal hypothesis the aggregation is dependent on orbital conjunction. In the former the ageregation is massive and relatively rapid ; in the latter the aggregation is individual and relatively slow. In the gaseous hy- pothesis the temperatures are necessarily very high, and the planets are formed by detachments. In the meteoroidal concep- tion of George Darwin, the conditions are practically the same, and in that of Lockyer they differ rather in degree and in detail than in essence. In the planetessimal con- ception the planets grew up separately by imnumerable accretions of infinitesimal planetoids (planetessimals) and the ex- ternal temperatures were not necessarily high, since the orbits of the planetessimals were normally direct and concurrent and the aggregation came about by overtakes in contradistinetion to opposed collisions, and the frequency of these was limited by the coneurrent direction of orbital movement. The purpose of the paper is to outline the hypothetical origin of the ocean basins under the planetessimal theory, to set forth the simple self-selecting process by which they were perpetuated and deepened, and FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] the connection of this with the dynamics of deformation. In discussion A. C. Lane inquired as to the cause and amount of internal heat by the planetessimal hypothesis. The speaker replied that Osmund Fisher, at his re- quest, had calculated that there would be ‘abundant heat developed. H. F. Reid in- quired regarding the visible stratification of planetessimals in the oldest known rocks, and regarding the distribution of land and water upon whose relations the study of other planets might throw light. Professor Chamberlin replied that the configuration of Mars and the moon threw no light on that of the earth; that the oldest rocks in the Lake Superior region conformed fairly well to the hypothesis. G. P. Merrill cited the basic character of meteoric material and the difficulty, therefore, of deriving acid rocks from it. The speaker replied that the hypothesis was not meteoroidal, but nebular. That he considered meteor- oidal material a negligible quantity. The acidic character of the outer crust he attributed to siliceous voleanie contribu- tions. G. K. Gilbert cited the results of his study of the moon as showing the effects of the impact of masses falling upon it, and supporting in this way the hypothesis. G. F. Becker reviewed the history of the nebular hypothesis, and showed that, even under the new hypothesis, we must assume an original nebula. He felt, therefore, that the essentials of the old conception could not be rejected.. Bailey Willis made the point regarding the voleanoes of the moon, that they are explosive and yet on a planet without an atmosphere, whereas on the earth the explosions are due to steam. Professor Chamberlin replied that even on the earth volcanic action does not depend on surface water. Its vapors come from the depths. SCIENCE. 301 Block Mountains of the Basin Range Prov- imce: W. M. Davis, Cambridge, Mass. Observations of several of the Basin Ranges in the summer, of 1902 support the opinion of Gilbert, Russell and others that the ranges observed are carved in uplifted or tilted blocks of earth-crust that had been previously much deformed and eroded. The faulting of the crustal blocks has been continued into recent geological time. The amount of erosion during the progress of faulting has been so great that the pre-fault topography cannot be safely determined. The speaker pointed out the fact that the river valleys incised in these blocks are deep and narrow, the narrow gorges open- ing out suddenly on the open plains ad- jacent. Evidence, additional to that cited by Gilbert, of the linear character of the bases of the ranges, and of the triangular facets terminating the ridges in front, was given,—all corroborating the opinion that the ranges under consideration were formed by block faulting. Origin of Basin Ranges: G. K. Gisert, Washington, D. C. Fresh interest in the origin of the Basin Ranges having been aroused by Mr. Spurr’s communication to the Albany meeting of the society, the writer spent the summer of 1901 in the study of certain ranges of west- ern Utah. The paper discussed the origin of these as indicated by their physiography and structure, and considered the nature of the evidence bearing on such questions. Evidence of block faulting was shown to exist in the nature of extensive shear zones, triangular facets terminating the ridges in front, and in the even linear bases of the ranges. That these faults are still going on was shown by displacements in the recent alluvium. On the basis of such evi- dence the writer was convinced that his former position regarding the origin of these ranges was correct. 302 Basin:Range Structure in the Death Valley Region of Southeastern Califorma: M. R. CamMpsBeLL, Washington, D. C. Recently attention has been called to the geologic structure of the mountain ranges of Nevada and southeastern California. An attempt has been made to show that they are generally anticlinal in structure, and that the tilted-block type which Gilbert has described, and which is generally known as basin-range structure, is of rare occurrence. The object of the present paper is to show that, although minor folding was ob- served in the Death Valley region, the mountains are generally composed of huge blocks of strata that have been strongly tilted and then eroded into their present forms. The region described is traversed by two systems of structures; one extending in a north-south direction, being the southern extension of the true basin ranges of Nevada, and the other crossing these in a northwest-southeast direction parallel with and presumably an off-shoot from the main line of the Sierra Nevada. The movements which produced these structures seem to have been preceded by an epoch of slight folding in which the Paleozoic strata were somewhat deformed. This was followed presumably in Eocene time by faulting and tiltmg along northwest-southeast axes which formed parallel mountains and val- leys trending in the same direction as the Sierra Nevada. In the valleys so formed lakes accumulated, probably through a change in climatic conditions, and sedi- ments having a thickness of several thou- sand feet were laid down. In these lake beds are the great deposits of salt, gypsum, soda and borax, which have made the region famous. Following this period of sedimentation came one of movement along north-south axes, which lifted and tilted the surface into immense mountain ranges trending parallel with the new axes. Pana- SCIENCE. (N.S. Von. XVII. No, 425. mint, Death and Amargosa valleys were thus formed, and Funeral and Panamint mountains were raised up between them. Lakes formed in the new valleys and re- ceived sediments similar to those of the preceding period. The age of the second lake-forming period is vaguely referred to late Tertiary. From structural and stratigraphic evidence the. beds are younger than the lake sedi- ments of Death Valley, and they are cer- tainly older than the gravel deposits which mark the Pleistocene period in this region; therefore, they are provisionally classed as Miocene and younger. The three papers on the Basin Range structure were discussed together. C. R. Van Hise raised the question as to whether or not the entire displacement rep- resented in these uplifted or tilted blocks was brought about by a single great fault or by a series of parallel breaks, which series he had termed a distributive fault. He was of the opinion that such a dis- tributive fault was the usual if not neces- sary process in the production of moun- tains of this type. W. M. Davis believed that a single great break would account for the phenomena observed by him, although the possible ex- istence of parallel faults was admitted. G. K. Gilbert pointed out that, in some of the cases cited by him, parallel faults were evi- dent, though not apparent in all instances. The consensus of opinion as brought out by the discussion was that the evidence in the field did not support the views ad- vaneed by Mr. Spurr. The presidential address was delivered Tuesday evening as follows: Was Man in America in the Glacial Period? N. H. Wincueuu, Minneapolis, Minn. A very enjoyable smoker was then tend- aie FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] ered the society by the fellows of the Geo- logical Society of Washington. The annual banquet took place at the Hotel Raleigh on Wednesday evening. One hundred and thirty-seven covers were laid. The following papers were either read by title or were presented while the under- signed were absent on the fourth day of the session. On the whole the meeting of the society was most successful. The attendance was probably the largest in its history, and the warmest thanks are due the Washington members for their efforts in entertaining so large a gathering. Structural Relations in the Piedmont Area of Northern Maryland: Epwarp B. Maruews, Baltimore, Md. Recent Shoreline Changes, Nantucket: F. P. GuLuiver, Southboro, Mass. Timber Lines: Israzru C. Russent, Ann Arbor, Mich. Recent Volcanic Craters in Idaho and Oregon: IsranL C. RussexL, Ann Arbor, Mich. Lakes Malheur and Harney, Oregon: IsragL C. Russeuz, Ann Arbor, Mich. Artesian Wells Near Enterprise, Idaho: IsrazL C. Russexy, Ann Arbor, Mich. Concretions and their Geological Effects: J. E. Topp, Vermilion, S. D. Ordovician Rocks of the Bellefontame, Penn., Section: Gnorce L. Couiim, New Haven, Conn. The Cambrian and Pre-Cambrian of Hoosac Mts., Mass.: Joun E. Woutrr, Cambridge, Mass. The Relation Between the Keewatin and Laurentide Ice Sheets: A. H. Errman, Minneapolis, Minn. Post Glacial Time: A. H. Evrrman, Min- neapolis, Minn. SCIENCE. 303 Glacial Boulders Along the Osage River in Missouri: C. R. Buckuey, 8. H. Bau, A. T. Smiru, Rolla, Mo. Glacial Drainage in Central-Western New York: H. L. Famrcum, Rochester, N. Y. J. F. Kemp, A. W. GRaABAU. CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. ESTEVAN ANTONIO FUERTES. Estevan ANTONIO Funrtss died at Ith- aca, N. Y., January 16, after a long illness which had, nevertheless, only recently put a period to his professional work and to his service as director of the College of Civil Engineering of Cornell University. He was still Professor of Astronomy, in charge of the A. C. Barnes Astronomical Observatory of the university, which in- stitute he had happily lived long enough to see completely erected and equipped. Dr. Fuertes was born in San Juan, Porto Rico, May 10, 1838, the son of Hstevan Fuertes, for many years governor of the island, and his wife, Demetria Charbon- nier. The family is ancient and distin- guished. Its members have often been remarkable for talent and have held prominent positions under the Spanish crown for generations. He was educated in his native province (Ph.D.) and at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y., graduating as civil engineer (C.H.). Returning to his native city after leav- ing Troy, he became, first, Assistant En- gineer of Public Works, then Director of Public Works, Western Division of Porto Rico (1861-3). In 1863 he was made assistant engineer, and later engineer, of the Croton Aqueduct Board of New York city (1863-9) ; from which position he re- tired when unable to withstand the embar- rassments to which he was subjected by the corrupt elements of the then city gov- ernment. 304 In 1870-1, he was the Chief Engineer of the U. S. Ship Canal Exploring Ex- pedition to Tehuantepee and Nicaragua, under Admiral Shufeldt, conducting its engineering and geodetic work and writing a report of great value. In 1871 he became a consulting engineer, and practiced his profession in and near New York until, in 1873, called to Cornell University to take direction of the depart- ment of civil engineering. In this posi- tion he spent the remainder of his profes- sional life, and built his noblest monument in the erection of the present College of Civil Engineering and the establishment of its courses of instruction. Commencing the work, in 1873, in two small rooms of an old wooden structure on the university campus, with an equipment which, as he reported, ‘could be packed into a space of about thirty cubic feet,’ under the guidance of its enthusiastic director, with the assistance of an able faculty, and with a student-body consisting of but a handful of pupils, the institution has grown until it now occupies forty-two rooms, and about two hundred and fifty students are inadequately accommodated in a large stone structure. Its faculty, exclusive of a dozen in the non-professional departments of the university and of a number of non-resident ‘special lecturers,’ numbers eighteen, and the resources of faculty and equipment are taxed to their utmost. The greatest of all the great en- terprises recently planned and pushed to completion, under the supervision of the director of the college, is the adjunct hy- draulic laboratory on the bank of Fall Creek, adjacent to the university grounds, commanding the drainage of 120 square miles of territory, equipped for measure- ment of every variety of hydraulic flow, and which has been employed since its construction in many researches under the direction of the college and for the state SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 425. and United States Executive Departments. His last, though a lesser undertaking, the A. C. Barnes Astronomical Observatory, was also the fruition of years of thought, study and careful designing. The life of Mr. Fuertes closed with the completion of great enterprises; but his highest satisfaction was felt in the success of the young men sent out into professional work, well equipped and well trained. His reports in recent years have reiterated the statement that the demand for these young men was exceeding the supply and his last report included the assertion that but one of the regiment of alumni was known to be out of employment—a young man just re- turned from abroad. The record and the retrospect were exceedingly satisfying to the organizer and upbuilder of this great work when retiring from his almost life- long task. While too busy to accept much outside work in his later years, one of his greatest and most useful tasks was accomplished quite recently—the project for the sanitary improvement of the city and harbor of Santos, Brazil. The plans for this work were as remarkable for their extent and . completeness as was the work for its mag- nitude. At the close of his course of professional study, Mr. Fuertes married Mary Stone Perry, of Troy, who survives him. He leaves five adult children, one of whom, Mr. James Hillhouse Fuertes, is already well known as a successful practitioner in engineering, and another, Mr. Louis Agas- siz Huertes, has won distinction as a fol- lower in the steps of Audubon; all inherit something of the parents’ talents. Professor Fuertes was a man of strong individuality. Harnest and ambitious, sen- sitive and sympathetic, his warmth of heart and his easily touched sympathies admir- ably complemented his more vigorous facul- ties, and, in all the struggles and strifes of FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] professional and private life, those brought into contact with him found themselves, at the close of their however forceful rela- tions with him, imbued with a kindly and affectionate sentiment, and often became warm and strong friends. He was a member of many scientific, technical and professional associations, at home and abroad, and his death leaves a vacaney in many ways very difficult to fill, particularly, in the position which he for a generation held as an educator of the youth of his profession. R. H. THurston. SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. Thermodynamics of Heat-engines. By Sw- ney A. Reeve, Professor of Steam Engineer- ing at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. New York and London, The Macmillan Company. 1903. 12mo. Pp. 304; figs. 58; steam tables, ete. This little book, by the author of ‘The Entropy-Temperature Analysis of Steam-En- gine Efficiencies,’ the first formal attempt to introduce this method of analysis to the stu- dent of the heat-engines in this country by a native writer, is particularly useful as elabo- rating that subject still more completely and helpfully. It, however, includes very much more than this. It is an interesting, original and instructive elementary treatise on the thermodynamics of the heat-engines, written by an author who has given, evidently, much patient and illuminating thought to the sub- ject, and who has made himself thoroughly familiar with his work. Every chapter gives proof of independent thought, and while, unquestionably, many of the modes of expression of fundamental ideas and facts would be differently presented and probably sometimes criticized by one trained in the forms of the great school of Clausiusian writers, every competent critic will probably admit the soundness of the philosophy and the clarity of expression which distinguish the book. The start is excellent—a page of tabulated SCIENCE. 305 notation—and the reader is permitted to begin his task by a comprehension of the language in which it is to be discussed. The symbols are all English. The general principles of energetics are elaborated and illustrated and viewed from various standpoints. The space taken is comparatively large; but the result is not only an understanding of, but familiar- ity with, the foundations of the science. The language of the ‘laws’ of energetics and of thermodynamics is sometimes paraphrased in multiple and with gain of understanding if not always in precision. The much-discussed ‘Second Law of Thermodynamics’ takes the form: ‘The entropy of the world tends to a maximum and the temperature to a mini- mum.’ It is, however, pointed out that the law may not hold with accuracy; ‘since there is as yet no evidence accumulated which re- veals any fixed proportion between the several sorts of energy in the universe,’ and no such law can be stated, if it confines itself to a single form of energy, such as heat. The cycles p—v and 6-¢, are described, com- pared, their uses illustrated and, particularly, their individual characteristics and special utilities exhibited. The illustrative compari- son with hydraulic energy-movements is very helpful. Of the new ‘Third and Fourth Laws’ of energetics and of thermodynamics, it may at least be said that the author states his points correctly. The new laws may not be aecepted as formally entered on the statute- book by the scientific jury which always ulti- mately decides such matters. In the study of steam- and gas-engines, the two graphical forms of illustration are em- ployed, side by side, and very admirably, in exemplification of the principles and of the operations constituting the thermodynamic ease. The reader of the work can hardly fail, if intelligent and thoughtful and a conscien- tious student, to secure a good idea of the most abstruse points of the subject and ability to make useful applications of the knowledge thus acquired. The book is a valuable contribution to the literature of applied thermodynamics. The appended steam table is a distinctly important 306 accession to our data as well as to our outfit of useful tools for work of this kind. R. H. Tuurston. The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry. By M. M. Partison Mum. New York, D. Appleton & Co. 1903. 12mo. Pp. 182. Til. The author of this little book, Matthew Mon- erieff Pattison Muir, fellow and prelector in chemistry of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, is known to the scientific world as joint editor with Dr. Foster Morley of the new edition of Watts’ ‘ Dictionary of Chem- _ istry,’ as the translator of Ostwald’s ‘ Solu- tions,’ and as author of several treatises on practical chemistry published in part with the cooperation of others. Besides these valued works he is the author of ‘The Story of the Chemical Elements’? (London, 1896), as well as of ‘The Alchemical Essence and the Chem- ical Element’ (London, 1894). In the latter Professor Muir showed the weakness of the pseudo-science of alchemy in the attempts of its advocates to explain natural facts by wit and reason, before they had ascertained what the facts were that required explanation, and he contrasted with this useless undertaking the well-grounded, suggestive and rational methods of modern chemistry. In ‘The Story of Alchemy’ the author ex- pands and elaborates this view of alchemy and points out that it regarded nature by emo- tional methods, and that they resulted in base- less speculations; the alchemist ‘began the study of nature with introspection, and spins his universe from his own ideas of order, symmetry and simplicity, as the spider spins her web from her own substance.’ One of the characteristic features of alchemical doc- trine was a commingling of ethical and phys- ical ideas; the alchemists attributed to nat- ural things moral virtues and even vices, and remains of this survive in many expressions still in use, such as ‘noble and base metals,’ “imperfect gases,’ and ‘good and bad conduct- ors of electricity.’ These are Muir’s examples, but the reviewer suggests that in some of these eases the adjectives ‘good and bad’ signify “suecessful and unsatisfactory’ (or terms SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 425. analogous thereto) without any idea of im- puting moral qualities. The transmutation of metals was a natural adjunct of alchemical theory, and was based in part on observation of nature’s methods, but erroneously interpreted; philosophers re- garded metals as living things, and since na-- ture strove to bring other living things to a more perfect state, so too the noble metals had been evolved from the ignoble and less valu- able ones by Nature herself in the bowels of the earth. Were not gold found in copper mines and silver in lead mines, proofs of this? Conceptions of an orderly, material uni- verse were so intimately associated with ideas of morality and with religious beliefs, that to disprove the possibility of the great trans- mutation would have undermined the basis of material things as well as of ethics. Plants are improved by appropriate culture, by loos- ening and enriching the soil, and by choice of seed; animals are improved by judicious breeding; metals by analogous processes should be helped toward perfection. Metals, the alchemists argued, have bodies, souls and spirits; each has specific bodily form, a metal- line soul characteristic of a class, and a spirit, or inner immaterial potency, the very essence of all metals. They asserted that there is pres- ent in all things One Thing, the Primal Ele- ment, and the final aim of alchemy was to ob- tain this primal element, the soul of all things, so purified from all admixture of ‘elements’ and ‘principles’ as to ‘make it available for any transmutation. To secure this essence required patient, prolonged study in the labo- ratory, and the quest was fraught with peril. After stating that the words ‘element’ and ‘transmutation’ did not mean to the alchemist what they signify at the present time, the author remarks that our present knowledge makes such a change as lead into silver un- thinkable, yet facts may be discovered which will make possible the separation from lead ef things unlike itself, from which silver may be produced by the combination of some of these constituents. The alchemical quest of the primal matter still goes on, but modern chemistry conducts it in a more rational manner; considerations FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] of the atomic weights of the elements, their grouping and classification, suggest that ele- ments merely mark stable points in a process of change; but the investigations are still in a nebulous condition. The phenomena of Réntgen rays and Becquerel rays enter into this conception. After all, the modern chem- ical problem bears only a superficial resem- blance to the alchemical quest for the ‘One Thing.’ ‘The Story of Alchemy’ is not a history of the pseudo-science, but rather a philosophical examination of its true significance and aims, told in an attractive, interesting manner by a competent scholar. The title of the book, which is necessary as one of a series, is mis- leading; the work makes no attempt to depict the sociological influence of alehemy by de- tailing its fortunes and misfortunes, but this does not detract from its value to students and the general reader. It is interesting to note that ‘sulfur’ is spelled throughout in the manner recom- mended by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1891. Heyry Carrineron Bouton. SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. Tue Botanical Gazette for January contains the twenty-fourth installment of ‘ Undescribed Plants from Guatemala and other Central American Republics,’ by John Donnell Smith, Thirteen new species are described by the author and the specialists to whom particular groups have been referred. Zamia Tuerck- heimiz is illustrated upon a double lithograph plate—Professor J. C. Arthur, of Purdue University, reports upon the third series of ‘Cultures of Uredinee,’ which were made dur- ing the season of 1902. One hundred and twenty-three collections of material were em- ployed, and 327 cultures attempted, repre- senting 43 species of rusts and using 102 spe- cies of hosts. In no case was success in con- necting the generations of these puzzling plants attained where definite clues derived from field observation were lacking. Fourteen species tried by the guessing method were in- volyed in these failures. Twelve that had been studied with success before were again SCIENCE. 307 successfully grown and the confirmatory re- sults are recorded. Seven species of rusts were successfully cultivated and the connection be- tween the excidial and teleutosporic genera- tions established. Three new names are pro- posed.—Arthur L. Dean, of Yale University, gives an account of his ‘ Experimental Studies on Inulase. This enzyme, found in Asper- gillus and Penicillium, does not diffuse into the culture medium. It acts most vigorously at a temperature of 55° C. and in a medium containing .0001 normal H,SO,; .01 normal destroying it.—Dr. B. E. Livingston discusses ‘The Distribution of the Upland Plant So- cieties of Kent County, Michigan.’ The cli- matology and geology of the county are de- scribed and the vegetation of the uplands clas- sified imto five societies, whose distribution is shown upon a map of the county. A list of the plants constituting these societies is given and the relative frequency of the differ- ent species is indicated. The writer holds that the controlling soil factor in distribution is one of drainage. While the present observa- tions seem to justify the hypothesis that physi- ography determines vegetation, the writer thinks that the main question with which we have to deal lies still untouched, namely, ‘What is it in the nature of the soil which determines the distribution of plant societies? He offers the hypothesis that ‘The decisive factor in plant distribution on a small upland area is in most cases the moisture-retaining property of the soil.’ Of course the historic factor must also be taken into consideration.— Professor Albert Schneider, of Northwestern University, contributes a second paper on the ‘Biology of Rhizobia’ in which he corrects a previous statement that Rhizobium mutabile is absolutely non-motile, showing that while this is true of the species in most neutral media, espcially in solid ones, it is decidedly motile in acid media, the growths being gray- ish to light gray and brownish-gray in color, and the motile forms much smaller and more uniform in size than the non-motile ones.— The number closes with twenty-two pages of notices of current literature and news items. C. R. B. 308 The American Naturalist for January con- tains an article by Hubert L. Clark, on ‘ The Water Snakes of Southern Michigan,’ which contains a detailed study of the species found there and concludes that Natrix erythrogaster is a well-defined species of recent production, probably derived from some form of JV. fas- ciata, but not sipedon. Kdward W. Berry de- scribes some ‘New or Hitherto Unknown Ephemerid Nymphs of the Eastern United States,’ and R. W. Shufeldt has a paper ‘On the Classification of Certain Groups of Birds.’ This deals with the Saururez, the struthious birds, and the Odontoholee, but the writer does not seem to have consulted Pycraft’s im- portant memoir on the Paleognathe. Charles C. Willoughby discusses ‘ Hats from the Noot- ka Sound Region,’ and the number is com- pleted by a number of important reviews. THE National Geographic Magazine (Wash- ington) for February publishes as a sup- plement the North Atlantic Pilot Chart for February. The chart, which is 2 by 4 feet and printed in four colors, illustrates an article by Commander Southerland on the work of the Naval Hydrographic Office. The contents of the magazine for the month also include an illustrated article by William E. Curtis on Macedonia, Bulgaria and Servia, an article by the U. S. Weather Bureau di- rector at Salt Lake City, L. H. Murdock, dis- eussing the fall in the level of Great Salt Lake, an argument by Edwin S. Balch in favor of American Claims in the Antarctic, and miscellaneous geographic notes. SOCIETIES AND. ACADEMIES. BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. THe 365th meeting was held Saturday, Jan- uary 24. A. D. Hopkins presented a paper on the ‘Work of Forest Insects,’ fully illustrated with lantern slides, showing two phases of the subject. The first set of pictures illus- trated the economic phase, and was suggestive of the destructive character of some of the work, and its relation to public interests. The first of the principal insects mentioned in this connection was the destructive pine SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 425. bark beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis Zim.), which in 1890 to 1892 devastated the pine and spruce forests of the Virginias, causing the death of many millions of forest and shade trees, over an area of some 75,000 square miles. vidence has been recently found in Texas that the species committed similar dep- redations in the long-leaf pine region of east- ern Texas between 1882 and 1885. It was evident to the speaker that a number of serious devastations which have occurred in different sections of Southern pine forests within the past century were due to this species. The pine-destroying beetle of the Black Hills (Dendroctonus ponderose Hopk.) was also mentioned as one of the most destructive enemies of Western forests. It is now at work in the Black Hills forest reserve, and has already killed some 600,000,000 feet of timber. It is threatening a like fate to the remainder of the timber of the reserve; which involves the destruction not only of the tim- ber, but of the great mining and other in- dustries which are dependent on the timber supply. The slides also illustrated the work of other species of Dendroctonus which had recently been collected in the Priest River forest re- serve, Idaho, in western Washington, Mon- terey, Calif., and Williams, Ariz., where much timber is being killed by different species working in those localities. The destructive work of several species of Agrilus, which kill poplars, birches, oaks and chestnuts in differ- ent parts of the country, and that of the chestnut timber worm (Lymeazylon sericeum Harr.), were shown, with the statement that the latter was exceedingly destructive to the chestnut timber of the Appalachian region. The other set of pictures, illustrating the pure science phase, suggested the importance of biological material as a guide to the deter- mination of true specific characters and char- acteristics of habit, of the natural relations between primary and minor divisions of bark and wood inhabiting species, and of the rela- tion of species and genera of insects to the species and genera of plants on which they live. It also suggested the importance of FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] studying such material to determine the course of evolution in the home-building and social habits of some of the bark and wood dwellers. The various forms of the Scolytid gallery were displayed, ranging from the simpler types to the more specialized and symmetrical forms, and charts were exhibited indicating the nat- ural classification of the galleries and how they correspond with the natural classification of the insects. Under the title ‘Evolution, Cytology and Mendel’s Laws,’ Mr. O. F. Cook noticed the recently published theory that Mendel’s laws of the dissociation of parental characters in hybrids are to be explained by the segregation of paternal and maternal chromosomes at the ‘reducing division’ which precedes the for- mation of the germ-cells. It was pointed out that this theory is definitely disproved by the very facts which it was intended to explain, since the experiments of Mendel, Spillman and others have shown that the characters derived from different parents may enter into any combinations possible under the law of chance. The germ-cells may be said to be pure in characters but not in parentage. It was further argued that the existence of the ‘he- reditary mechanism’ sought by cytologists is highly tmprobable, and that heredity is not the function of an organ, but a general prop- erty of organisms, to be associated with crys- tallization and with memory. The facts dis- covered by Mendel should not be made the basis of a separate generalization, since they characterize but one of four kinds of ‘ hybrids’ representing as many different evolutionary stages. F. A. Lucas. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. At the 137th meeting of the society, held in the assembly hall of the Cosmos Club, Wednesday evening, January 28, 1903, the following papers were presented: Mr. 8. F. Emmons, ‘The Drainage of the Valley of Mexico.’ Mr. Emmons presented a sketch, illustrated by lantern slides, of the various drainage sys- tems of the valley of Mexico, culminating in the elaborate and extensive works recently completed at a cost of over 214 millions, that SCIENCE. 309 carry off not only the surplus waters in time of flood, but also the sewage of the city of Mexico. He also presented a sketch of the physiog- raphy and geology of the valley, together with some speculations as to the probable causes of its change from a valley of the ordinary type to the enclosed area without external drainage of the present day, a change that evidently occurred in very recent time, geo- logically considered. Mr. Waldemar Lindgren, ‘Notes on the Geology of Molokai, Hawaiian Islands.’ The island is entirely of yoleanic origin, and, like some others of the same group, is made up of two old volcanoes separated by a low gap. The western part of the island is a volcanic mountain rising to an elevation of about 1,200 feet. The eastern and most interesting part forms a segment of a circle, the north coast being the chord. The highest peaks rise to nearly 5,000 feet above the sea. While the southern slope is that of a fairly regular volcanic cone and is scored by a great number of ravines, the northern coast is characterized by a great and extremely steep escarpment attaining a height of over 3,000 feet above the sea. Five streams drain this north slope and have eroded deep canyons or aleoves. The escarpment is interpreted as a great fault along which the northern half of the voleanic cone has sunk down below the sea. The peninsula of the leper settle- ment at the foot of the escarpment is believed to be a part of the thrown block. At the forks of the stream of Wailau great boulders of coarse diabase were found, indi- cating that in the upper drainage basin of this stream there are extensive outcrops of this rock, which has not heretofore been known to occur in the Hawaiian Islands. W. C. MenDENHALL, Secretary. THE MONTANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS AND - LETTERS. THE academy held its first meeting at Boze- man at the same time as the meeting of the State Teachers Association. Three sessions were held, and ten papers were presented. 310 SCIENCE. The strength of the academy was shown by a membership of fifty-eight at the first meet- ing. With the membership badly scattered in a large state, it was very satisfactory to have an attendance of from fifteen to forty at each session. The sessions were held in the chemical lecture room of the Agricultural College. The following papers were given: President’s Address, ‘Montana as a Field for an Academy of Sciences, Arts and Let- ters, Morton J. Elrod, University of Mon- tana. ‘An Experiment in Temperature as Affected by Altitude,’ Morton J. Elrod, University of Montana. Two thermographs are placed at different altitudes, one at 3,225 feet, the other at 5,100 feet. The instruments have been read weekly since March last. The daily range of tem- perature is greater at the base than at the summit. During the early fall the higher altitude frequently showed warmer tempera- ture at night than the lower. In October and November the instrument at higher altitude frequently registered more than twenty de- grees colder than the one at lower altitude. The mountain top at 5,100 feet frequently showed positive and continuous rise in tem- perature eight to twelve hours before the effect was noticeable on the lower instrument. It also cools much more quickly than the base. The experiment is being continued, and read- - ings are made regularly. ‘A History of Botanical Collecting in Mon- tana, Dr. J. W. Blankinship, Agricultural College. This is a very important paper, dealing with the various expeditions and collectors and the collections made by them. Brief histories of expeditions are given, stating the localities to which the expeditions were made, the names of the collectors, the magnitude of the collec- tion, and the institutions in which the her- bariums are deposited. Many of the names of collectors have been perpetuated in the names of flowers, now common to botanical collections. The history is carried down to 1898, when the writer began work in the state, and will be completed later. Most of the LN. S. Vou. XVII. No. 425. papers covering the reports of the expeditions are in the library of the agricultural college, as are also many of the important herbariums. The paper is an important contribution to the botanical literature and work in the state. ‘An Investigation of Young’s Modulus and the Rigidity Modulus of Copper Wire as af- fected by Twisting the Wire,’ Professor J. E. Monroe, State Normal School. The paper is the result of an experiment in which the wire was twisted a given number of revolutions. 1. The object was to determine the effect quantitatively. 9. A wire was so arranged that each mod- ulus could be determined under the same conditions. 3. First test was made with the wire in its normal condition; then with 10 complete turns taken; thén 20 more; then 80 more; and so on until 360 turns were put into the wire, out of which number 332.25 remained. 4. Young’s modulus increased quite uni- formly from 1.1310" to 1.159 10> in dynes per sq. cm. The rigidity modulus de- ereased uniformly from 4.409 10" to 3.702 X 10" in grams’ per sq. em. 5. The wire broke from the torsion at the four hundred and fifth turn. Length of wire, 4.88 meters, diameter, 1.607 mm., density, 8.821. “Some Montana Geology,’ with lantern slides, Professor J. P. Rowe, University of Montana. ‘Collecting at High Altitudes,’ with lan- tern slides, Professor M. J. Elrod, University of Montana. j ‘The Problem of Meaning in the Light of Development,’ Dr. Wm. Chandler Bagley, State Normal School. The combination of conscious elements into meaningful compounds requires an explana- tion in terms of the elements themselves. Looking upon consciousness as functioning primarily for the modification of reaction, it would seem that the muscular and strain sen- sations are the most important factors in meaning. These are also quite predominantly ‘marginal’ sensations, and it is probable from ‘ oan FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] other sources of evidence that the margin of consciousness carries the meaning. Disturb- ances of apperceptive functioning in apraxia and sensory aphasia form a basis for a theory of apperceptive degrees which may explain the different meanings which at different times may be read into the same complex of sensa- tions. Flechsig’s researches on the functions of the ‘silent areas’ of the cortex furnish a psychophysical basis for this position. The kinesthetic theory of meaning is, in general, confirmed by genetic studies of language and by the data of anatomy, especially those facts concerning the increase in the diameter of the pyramidal tracts and the increased differen- tiation of the muscular system in the higher orders. The following were read by title: ‘Vertical Movements of Hntomostraca, M. J. Elrod. ‘The Reduction of Nitro Compounds of Benzole,’ W. D. Harkins, University of Mon- tana. ‘ €Voleanic Ash Beds of Montana, J. P. Rowe. Caves in Montana, J. P. Rowe. J. P. Rowe, Secretary pro tem. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. SMITHSON’S REMAINS. -To THe Epiror or Science: James Smith- son, the founder of the Smithsonian Institu- tion, is about to be turned out of his grave in Genoa, Italy, to make room for a quarry! Why should not the United States Government bring his body to this country and give him a permanent resting place in the grounds of the institution which he founded ? Smithson left his entire fortune ‘to the United States of America’ to promote ‘the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.’ Congress accepted the trust and estab- lished ‘The Smithsonian Institution’ which has done so much to advance science during the last fifty years. Now let the nation that has benefited by Smithson’s generosity show its appreciation and gratitude. He left no descendants to care for his remains; let us SCIENCE. 311 accept them, too, as a sacred trust and bring them to the United States to be deposited with all reverence in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. Gitpert H. Grosvenor. Wasuineton, D. C. THE DESTRUCTION OF FROGS. To tue Eprror or Science: The Erie Rail- road, near Meadville, Pa., runs parallel to and near French Creek. In the early spring of 1901, at about ‘the time when the frogs were becoming active after their hibernation, I noticed, while walking along the tracks of the above railroad, a number of frogs that had been crushed by the passing trains. I counted no less than thirty-six frogs that had been killed on half a mile of single-track road. One fact noticed was that nearly every frog had been cut across the middle line, so that the hind legs lay on one side of the rail, and the fore legs and head on the other side. The rails were the heavy T rails ordinarily used on such roads. At about the same time I noticed on one of the streets of Meadville that was near the creek, a great number of frogs that had been sim- ilarly crushed by the electric cars that ran on that street. As the rails of the street rail- way were laid flush with the level of the street, it was not so surprising that many frogs were crushed, since they were very nu- merous in that part of town; but how so many of them should be caught on top of a six- inch T rail, and why they should practically all be cut in two, transversely, is not so easy to explain. AxBert M. Reeser. THE GREAT AUK. To THE Eprror or Science: Permit me most emphatically to dissent from the deduction of Professor Hitchcock ‘that the great auk was once a resident of Florida, and presumably of the whole Atlantic coast.’ This deduction is based on the finding at Ormond, Fla., of two humeri of the great auk in one section of a large shell heap. This is a small basis for so sweeping a generalization, and it is all the smaller in the light of the fact that these two humeri are the only traces of this bird that, so far as I am aware, have come to light south of Block Island, although scores of shell heaps 312 have been explored and thousands of the bones of other animals recovered. It is quite pos- sible that the great auk may have straggled so far south during severe winters, since there is some reason to believe that it was not rare off the coast of Virginia, but that it was a resident anywhere south of Nova Seotia is open to doubt, and that it bred even there is open to argument. Mr. McGuire tells me that foreign vessels traded along the eastern coast of North America to a much greater extent than is generally known, and as the great auk was frequently salted down for ships’ stores, it may well have been carried south in this form, and found its way to an Indian village. As bearing on the value of the evidence of stray bones found in shell heaps, it is to be noted that the same part of the heap in which the bones of the great auk were found yielded a humerus of a typical dachshund. (My an- thropological friends will cheerfully correct me if I err in saying that this breed of dogs was unknown on the American continent in prehistoric times.) Are we then to at once conclude that the dachshund was common among the Indians? F. A. Lucas. WASHINGTON, D. C. RECENT ZOOPALEONTOLOGY. AN UPPER PLIOCENE CAVE. Prorrssor Boyp Dawxins recently (January 7, 1903) described, before the Geological So- ciety of London, an Upper Pliocene Cave dis- covered in 1901. This cave is of far greater antiquity than the familiar caves of the Pleis- tocene and contains a mammalian fauna including the mastodon, elephant, rhinoceros, horse and saber-toothed tiger in an Upper Pliocene stage of evolution, similar to that of the Val d’Arno of Italy. In course of the ab- stract he says: “Some of the bones present the character- istic teeth-marks of the hyenas; and the pre- ponderance of the remains of the young over the adult mastodons points to the selection by the hyenas, who could easily master the calves, while they did not as a rule attack the large and formidable adults. The author has ob- served a similar selection in the case of mam- SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 425. moths in hyena-dens, into which the remains had been brought by those cave-haunting ani- mals.” At the same time the author presented a map illustrating the physical geography of the British Isles in the Upper Pliocene Age. A NEW RHINOCEROS FROM SOUTHERN BAVARIA. Dr. Ernst Srromer, working in the Paleon- tological Museum of Munich, has recently de- scribed* a new rhinoceros, Aceratheriwm bava- ricum, from the Upper Miocene of Bavaria. The skull is of similar type to the well-known Aceratherium tetradactylum of Sansan, and the A. incistvum of the Lower Pliocene of Eppelsheim. Unfortunately the tip of the nasals is lacking, a fact which renders it diffi- cult to determine to which series of rhinoce- roses this animal belongs. (2) The same author gives a valuable summary of the geo- logieal history of northern Africa.t (8) He has also published a comparative paper upon the entepicondylar foramen and third tro- chanter,{ primitive characters of the fore and hind limbs of mammals. (4) A more exten= sive work is his memoir entitled ‘ Die Wirbel der Land-Raubtiere,’ based principally upon the extensive collections in the Museum of Munich and worked out at the suggestion of Dr. Max Schlosser. THE BASAL EOCENE MAMMALIAN FAUNA IN THE FT. UNION BEDS OF MONTANA. THE very important discovery of bones and teeth of mammals in the Ft. Union beds of Montana has been reported by Earl Douglass of the Carnegie Museum, in a paper entitled “A Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary Section **Hin Aceratherium-Schiidel aus dem Dino- therien-Sand von WNiederbayern, Abdr. a. d. Geognostichen Jahresheften, 1902. 15. Jahrgang, 1902. t‘ Betrachtungen tiber die geologische Ge- schichte Aethiopiens,’ Abdr. a. d. Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. geolog. Gessellschaft, Jahrg., 1901. t‘ Ueber die Bedeutung des Foramen entepicon- dyloideum und des. Trochanter tertius der Siiuge- thiere, Sep. Abdr. Morphologisches Jahrbuch, XXIX., 4. FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] in South Central Montana.’* In order to set- tle beyond a doubt the age of these beds a large collection of fossil leaves was made and determined by Mr. F. H. Knowlton, of the U. S. Geological Survey, who reported the species all Ft. Union beyond a doubt. The invertebrates, so far as discovered, are also Ft. Union. The association of these char- acteristic Ft. Union fossils with basal Eocene mammals such as WMioclenus, Anisonchus, Euprotogonia and Pantolambda of New Mexico, constitutes one of the welcome geo- logical correlations of recent years, it has been so difficult hitherto to decide as to the age of the Ft. Union beds. The bearing of this discovery on the age of the Puerco and Torrejon is still open to discussion. This correlation may tend to strengthen the sug- gestion of Professor Cope, who at one time placed the Puerco and Torrejon in an upper- most division of the Cretaceous. Unfortu- nately the mammals of this formation have no exact counterparts in the oldest Eocene mammals of Europe. A REVIEW OF THE REPTILIA OF THE TRIAS. WE are indebted to Friedrich von Huene, of Tiibingen, for a valuable preliminary re- view of the Triassic reptilia in a memoir+ of eighty-three pages, illustrated by nine plates. Our knowledge of the Triassic reptiles in general is extremely limited as compared with either that of the Permian reptiles and amphibians, or that of the Jurassic and Cre- taceous; yet in the Trias the ancestral types of Plesiosaurs and Ichthyosaurs, of Rhyncho- cephalia and Testudinata, of Dinosaurs, of Pterosaurs, and of Crocodilia were so near the point of departure from each other, that Triassic skeletons and skulls, when fully known, will give us the clearest insight into the original relationships of these great orders. The volume contains extensive quotations and figures taken from the general literature of * Proc. Amer Philos. Soc., April 3, 1902, pp. 207-224. +‘Ubersicht iiber die Reptilien der Trias,’ Geol. u. Paleont. Abh., E. Koken, N. F. VI., Heft 1, Jena, 1902. SCIENCE. 313 the subject, and is fortunately more in the nature of a review and summary of our knowl- edge than of an attempt still further to in- crease the nomenclature. Among the valuable new figures, however, is that of the occiput of Placodus gigas. The author includes the stegocephalian amphibians and anomodont reptiles of the Karoo formation of South Africa in his list. Of these two groups alone there are 85 genera, out of a total of the 155 genera heretofore described in the Trias. In connection with this special investigation he is especially desirous of securing casts and figures of specimens from the American Trias. A HORNED EOCENE UNGULATE FROM EGYPT. Tue latest addition to the newly discovered mammalian fauna of northern Egypt is even more peculiar than any which have been de- seribed hitherto. Mr. Hugh J. L. Beadnell* gives it the name Arsinoitherium, after Queen Arsinée. The general form of the somewhat long, narrow skull is rhinocerotine; the author indeed compares the dentition with that of the rhinoceros, but so far as we can judge from his figures, the true molar teeth, of which the worn pattern reverses that of the rhi- noceroses, do not support this comparison. A most peculiar feature is the enormous pro- tuberance rising out of the anterior half of the skull-top, bifureating and slightly flatten- ing toward the top, somewhat in the same manner as the horns of the later species of Titanotheres. These bony ‘horns’ reached the height of 68 cm., as compared with the total length of the skull, 75 cm. To strengthen their support at the base, a vertical bone or septum is carried down, uniting with the pre- maxillaries, as in certain of the heavy-horned rhinoceroses. The animal was as large as one of the larger rhinoceroses, the pelvic girdle having a transverse extent of 140 cm. Further accounts of this pachyderm will be awaited with the greatest interest. .It dem- onstrates that, in addition to the fauna an- *°*A Preliminary Note on Arsinoitherium zit- teli, Beadn., from the Upper Eocene Strata of Egypt.’ Survey Department, Publie Works Min- istry, Cairo, 1902. 314 SCIENCE. cestral to that which subsequently found its way into Europe, Africa had a very distinc- tive ungulate fauna of its own. H. F. O. RESEARCH FUNDS OF THE SCIENTIFIC ALLIANCE OF NEW YORK. THE council of the Scientific Alliance of New York holds two funds, the income from which is used for the aid of investigation by persons who are members of one or more of the societies composing the alliance. An account of the operation of these funds, up to the present time, is given herewith. The John Strong Newberry Fund.—The plan for the administration of this fund, es- tablished as a memorial of Professor New- berry, was adopted by the council of the Sci- entific Alliance on February 25, 1897, and at the same time a grant of $50 was appro- priated for research in geology or paleon- tology. On June 14, 1897, this grant was awarded to Dr. Arthur Hollick for aid in his study of the geology and paleontology of the Atlantic Coastal Plain; during the summer of 1897 Dr. Hollick prosecuted work in New Jersey and on Long Island and Block Island with the special object of tracing the Cre- taceous formation to the latter locality, where its presence had long been assumed but not proved. Dr. Hollick secured the evidence desired by the discovery of a number of spe- cies of well-known Cretaceous plants. The results of these investigations were published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, XI., 55-88, pls. II—IX.), under the title ‘ Notes on Block Island,’ which was sub- sequently reprinted as ‘Contributions from the Geological Department of Columbia Uni- versity, No. XLII’ The second grant from this fund, $50, was awarded by the council on June 22, 1898, to Mr. Gilbert Van Ingen for aid in research in paleontology. Mr. Van Ingen utilized the money in the study of the Silurian Fauna of Arkansas, and his results are published under the title ‘The Siluric Fauna near Batesville, Arkansas’ in School of Mines Quarterly, XXTII., 318-329 (1901), in which the geological relations are discussed, and also in the same journal, XXITII., 34-74 (1901), [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 425. where the trilobites of that fauna are de- scribed. A third grant of $50 was awarded May 18, 1899, to Professor E. S. Burgess for aid in his studies of the genus Aster. Professor Burgess, who has been studying this difficult genus of plants with close attention for many years, is now just about completing his mon- ograph upon them, and it will be printed in Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club; some of the results of this study were incorporated by him in the treatment of the genus Aster in the ‘Illustrated Flora of the Northern States and Canada’ by N. L. Britton and Addison Brown, also in ‘ Manual of the Flora of the Northern States and Canada’ by N. L. Britton, and have also been used in ‘ The Flora of Southeastern United States’? by J. K. Small. The fourth grant from the fund, also $50, was awarded May 17, 1900, to Dr. Marshall A. Howe, for assistance in his investigation of the algal flora of the Atlantic coast of the United States. Dr. Howe spent some time on the coast of New England and on the Ber- mudas, making extensive collections of the seaweeds of both regions; his studies have not yet been sufticiently advanced to enable publication to be made of them, but it is expected that some of his papers will be printed within a few months. The fifth grant was for $100, a friend of the alliance having added enough money to the annual interest on the fund to make up this amount, and it was authorized February 28,1901. It was awarded to Dr. Arthur Hol- lick for assistance in the continuation of his studies upon the paleontology of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Dr. Hollick’s field work, by means of this grant, was carried out for the most part upon Cape Cod and Chappaquidick Island, Mass., where the furthest eastward extension of the Cretaceous formation was shown to occur, by means of the fossil plants collected, and a summary of his results under the title ‘Geological and Botanical Notes: Cape Cod and Chippaquidick Island, Mass.,’ is published in the Bulletin of the New York Botanical Garden, II., 381-407. A sixth grant of $50 was authorized May San! 6 Gat m4 pn FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] 15, 1902, and it has been recommended by the committee on the fund, and approved by the council, that the award be made to Miss Ida M. Ogilvie, for assistance in her studies of the Strombide. The Herrman Fund—tThe principal of this fund amounts to $10,000. This money was presented to the council of the alliance by Mrs. Esther Herrman in January, 1899, as a nucleus of a building fund, and with the con- sent of Mrs. Herman, the interest upon it is being temporarily used for the encouragement and assistance of investigation. Rules for its administration were adopted by the coun- cil in October, 1902, and the following grants have been made: 1. To Professor L. M. Underwood, of the Torrey Botanical Club, for aid in his investi- gations upon the ferns of tropical America, $200. Professor Underwood is now in Ja- maica and will visit Cuba and other West Indian Islands during the next few months. 2. To Professor J. McK. Cattell, of the New York Academy of Sciences, for aid in his in- vestigation on the natural history of Ameri- can men of science, $200. N. L. Brirron, Secretary of the Council Scientific Alliance of New York. FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF APPLIED CHEMISTRY. I wave received the following communica- tion dated December 3, 1902, from Dr. Geo. Pulvermacher, Secretary of the Fifth Inter- national Congress of Applied Chemistry to be held in Berlin, beginning May 31, 1903, with the request that it be published in ScrENcE: The preparations for the Fifth Interna- tional Congress of Applied Chemistry, which will meet in Berlin during Whitsuntide of this year and which will be the first of its kind on German soil, are advancing in a satis- factory manner. All expectations with refer- ence to a successful session will no doubt be fulfilled to the greatest degree. The mem- bership of the general committee and the organization committee has increased to about one hundred and fifty. We find as members SCIENCE. dl5 of the general committee the Imperial Chan- cellor, all the secretaries of the various states and individual members of the same, the presidents of the Imperial Health Depart- ment, of the Patent Office as well as the Im- perial Insurance Department, the ministers of the German Confederate States, almost all Prussian provincial ministers, representa- tives of many Prussian authorities and rep- resentatives of all German Confederate States. Furthermore, twelve members of the high courts, six members of the municipal council and common council, with the Chief Burgo- master. and presiding officer of the common council at the head, and numerous represen- tatives of various industries. About sixty of the most prominent repre- sentatives of German science and industry compose the organization committee and are making the requisite arrangements. An ex- tensive fund for the expenses of the Congress has been subscribed and is in the hands of the treasurer of the Congress, Deputy Doctor Bottinger. The foreign states whose governments re- ceived notice of the Congress through diplo- matic channels and who were requested to send delegates have formed separate organiza- tion committees which are in constant com- munication with the organization committee in Berlin. A large attendance both from European and foreign countries is expected. The work of the congress will be done in eleven sections. The President of the con- gress, Professor Dr. Otto N. Witt, in con- juction with the presiding officers of the in- dividual sections, has fixed the basic prin- ciples for the scientific arrangement of the congress. The sections have been divided as follows: 1. Analytical chemistry, apparatus and in- struments; presiding officer, Professor Dr. G. yon Knorre, Charlottenburg, Technische Hochschule. 2. Chemical industries of inorganic prod- ucts; presiding officer, Dr. Heinecke, Berlin N. W., Wegelystr. 3. Metallurgy and explosives; presiding of- ficer, Professor Dr. J. Weeren, Charlotten- burg, Stuttgarterplatz, 13. 316 4, Chemical industries of organic products. (a) Organic preparations including tar products; presiding officer, Professor Dr. H. Wichelhaus, Berlin, N. W., 40, Grosse Quer- allee, 1. (b) Dyes and their application; presiding officer, Dr. Lehne, Grunewald, Trabnerstr. 9. 5. Sugar industry; presiding officer, Pro- fessor Dr. Herzfeld, Grunewald, Gillstr. 12. 6. Fermentation industries and starch man- ufacture; presiding officer, Professor Dr. H. Delbruck, Berlin W. 15, Fasanenstr. 44. 4. Agricultural chemistry; presiding officer, Professor Dr. Wagner, Darmstadt. 8. Hygiene, medical and pharmaceutical chemistry, foods; presiding officer, Dr. E. A. Merck, Darmstadt. 9. Photo-chemistry; presiding officer, Pro- fessor Dr. A. Miethe, Charlottenburg, Kantstr. 42. i 10. Hlectro-chemistry and physical chem- istry; presiding officer, Dr. H. T. Bottinger, Elberfeld. 11. Judicial and economic questions asso- ciated with chemical industries; presiding officer, Dr. C. A. Martius, Berlin, W. 9, Vossstr. 12. These sections have been formed and have held sessions in which all matters placed be- fore them have been discussed. Hach section will submit certain questions of general and international importance for which referees and coreferees have been appointed and whose treatment will include a discussion as well as an eventual resolution which will be placed before the congress in its final general session. Furthermore, each section has already re- ceived a number of papers from scientists both local and foreign. The three general sessions will include the official opening and closing addresses, and a number of detailed lectures by prominent representatives of the sciences and industries of different countries. A series of especially important questions in the field of analytical chemistry is now under consideration by a special international commission. A separate exhibit of apparatus and prep- arations will not be held by the congress. It is, however, certain that the members will SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 425. have numerous opportunities to become ac- quainted with improvements in the various provinces of chemistry. Lectures with dem- onstrations will be allowed in the sessions of the individual sections. Both the general section sessions will be held in the hall of the Reichstag. Only section 10, electro-chemistry and physical chemistry, will, on account of the experiments connected with the addresses, hold its sessions in the auditorium of the Physical Institute. : A local committee has been formed, of which Dr. J. F. Holtz is chairman. An ex- tensive program of entertainments has been prepared. An informal meeting at some suit- able place has been planned for the evening of June 2, after the meeting in the hall of the Reichstag. A banquet and a commers will be held during the week. ‘The city of Berlin will give a festival in honor of the members of the congress. A-performance at the opera house and a garden festival are also planned. An excursion to various points of interest in the vicinity of Berlin will close the week. Invitations to the congress, which contain all details of interest to those who will par- ticipate, will be sent during January to the addresses collected during the last two years, from all countries of the world. About 50,- 000 copies will be distributed. Communications and inquiries concerning the congress should be addressed to the bu- reau, Charlottenburg, Marchstrasse, 21. Since the publication of the first list of the American committee, the following changes have been made: M. E. Jaffa, of the University of California, present address Middletown, Conn., has been appointed chairman of section 8, in place of Dr. W. O. Atwater, and Dr. Leo Baekeland, ~ Snug Rock, Yonkers, N. Y., chairman of section 9, in place of Dr. L. H. Friedburg. Word has been received from Dr. Pulver- macher that circulars of information, etc., have been sent to the chairman of the Ameri- can committee for distribution to interested American chemists. Already a list of con- siderable magnitude of the names of such FEBRUARY 20, 1903. ] chemists has been compiled, but it is far from complete. All interested in receiving these circulars of information should address a re- quest to that effect to the chairman of the American Committee on Organization. Intending members are requested to send a check for $4.85 to Dr. H. W. Wiley, U. 8. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., who will give a receipt therefor and transmit the amount to Berlin. Titles of papers should be sent to the Amer- ican chairmen of the various sectional com- mittees. (See Scmnor, No. 414, December 5, 1902, p. 899.) It is hoped that the interest which has already been manifested by American chem- ists in this congress will continue, and that next to Germany we may have the largest number of members enrolled. H. W. WILEY, Chairman, American Committee on Organization. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. Dr. Apert B. Prescott, professor of chem- istry in the University of Michigan, has been given the degree of LL.D. by Northwestern University. Dr. Kart GecENBAUR, professor of anatomy at the University of Heidelberg, has been made a knight of the Prussian order ‘ Pour le merite’; and Professor Luigi Cremona, di- rector of the School of Engineering at Rome, has been made a foreign member of the same order. Dr. Frieprich Scuotrky, professor of mathematics at Marburg, has been elected a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Tue Carnegie Institution has made a grant of $1,000 to Professor H. V. Wilson of the University of North Carolina, for the prosecu- tion of an investigation on the morphology and classification of sponges. Proressor 8. W. Winuiston, of the Univer- sity of Chicago, has received a grant from the Carnegie Institution for a monographic study of the plesiosaurs. Professor FE. C. Case, of the State Normal School of Milwaukee, Wis., SCIENCE. d17 has received a similar grant to aid him in re- searches on the Permian reptiles. A press despatch states that the Carnegie Institution has made grants of money to pro- fessors of the Johns Hopkins University as follows: Professor R. W. Wood, professor of experimental physics, $1,000 to maintain a re- search assistant in his laboratory; Dr. H. N. Morse, professor of analytical chemistry, $1,500 to enable him to retain the services of an assistant during the current year in his investigations upon his newly discovered method of measuring osmotic pressures; Dr. Harry C. Jones, professor of physical chemis- try, $1,000 for an assistant; and Dr. J. J. Abel, professor of physiological chemistry, $1,000 for the purchase of apparatus necessary in his work. Proressor E. B. Pounton, of Oxford Uni- versity, has been elected president of the Entomological Society of London. Aw Electrochemical Society has been estab- lished in Great Britain, with Dr. J. W. Swan as president. The vice-presidents are Pro- fessor A. Crum-Brown, Sir Oliver T. Lodge, Dr. Ludwig Mond, Lord Rayleigh, Mr. Alex- ander Siemens and Mr. J. Swinburne. Mayor Low, of New York city, has ap- pointed a commission to pass on the plan of the new Manhattan bridge over the East River, consisting of Lieut. Col. Charles W. Raymond, U.S.A., Mr. George 8. Morrison, Mr. Charles C. Schneider, vice-president of the American Bridge Company; Mr. Henry W. Hodge and Professor Mansfield Merriman, of Lehigh University. Proressor W. S. Franxuin, of Lehigh Uni- versity, delivered a lecture before the Pitts- burgh Academy of Science, on February 5, on the subject of ‘Lens imperfections and their compensation.’ Proressor Conway MacMinuan, of the Uni- versity of Minnesota, is recovering from a serious attack of typhoid fever which has kept him from the university since January 6. JosepH Burrr Davy, instructor in botany in the University of California, has. accepted the position of state agrostologist and botanist 318 to the Department of Agriculture of the Transvaal government, with headquarters in Pretoria. FarHer Epmunp Goetz, S8.J., who has re- cently been in this country and is now in Paris, is to take charge of an astronomical, magnetic and meteorological observatory which is to be situated at Buluwayo, Rhodesia, South Africa. Dr. T. G. Bropm, lately director of the laboratories of the Royal Colleges, London, succeeds Dr. J. Rose Bradford as superin- tendent of the Brown Animal Sanatory Insti- tution. We learn from The British Medical Jour- nal that Dr. A. S. F. Griinbaum has been appointed director of the Cancer Research for which Mr. Sutton Timmis, of Liverpool, has recently generously initiated a fund by a donation of £10,000. The work is to be carried on in connection with University Col- lege and the Royal Infirmary, Liverpool. THE committee of the Royal Society ap- pointed to investigate the ‘sleeping sickness’ in Uganda has received reports from the ob- servers whom they despatched to Uganda in July last. The investigations so far carried out not being considered conclusive, the com- mittee, in view of the great gravity of the situation, have obtained the consent of Lieu- tenant-Colonel Bruce, F.R.S., one of their own members, to proceed at once to Uganda to superintend further investigations into this disease. Dr. Jean Cuarcot, of Paris, will leave in May with a staff of scientific experts for arctic explorations north of Franz Josef Land and Nova Zembla. THe senate has passed a bill pensioning the widow of the late Colonel Walter Reed at the rate of $125 a month. The house committee on pensions has given a hearing on the bill providing for a pension of $4,000 a year. Those invited to address the committee in- cluded President Gilman, of the Carnegie Institution; Professor William Welch, of Johns Hopkins University; Dr. Alexander Graham Bell and Surgeon-General Robert O’Reilly, U.S.A. SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 425. We learn from Nature that an influential committee has been formed in Rome to take measures to honor the memory of Father A. Secchi, 8.J., the distinguished astronomer and meteorologist, on the occasion of the twenty- fifth anniversary of his death, which oceurred on February 26, 1878. The president of the committee, Father G. Lais, 8.J., vice-director of the Vatican Observatory (address, Via Torre Argentina, 76, Rome), will be glad to add the names of scientific men and institu- tions to the list of those interested in this celebration. Tuer Rey. Norman Macleod Ferrers, D.D., F.R.S., since 1880 master of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, died on January 31 in his seventy-fourth year. He was senior wrangler in 1851. He for a time edited the Quarterly Journal of Mathematics in con- junction with the late Professor Sylvester, and made numerous contributions to that journal. His best known work was a treatise on spherical harmonics. Mr. James GuatsHer, F.R.S., well-known for his work in meteorology and aeronautics, has died at the age of ninety-four years. He was for many years superintendent of the meteoro- logical department of the Greenwich Observa- tory. Dr. Davin Gerorce Rircuir, professor of logic and metaphysics at St. Andrews Uni- versity, died on February 3, aged fifty years. He was from 1878 to 1894 fellow of Jesus Col- lege, Oxford. He was the author of numerous articles and books on philosophy, political sci- ence and ethics. Though belonging to the group of philosophical students influenced by Thomas Hill Green, he was well acquainted with modern science and published in 1899 a book entitled ‘Darwinism and Politics.’ Proressor Epwarp R. SHaw, recently elected superintendent of Public Schools of Rochester, N. Y., and until recently dean of the New York University School of Pedagogy, died on February 11. THE deaths are also announced of M. Sirodot, honorary professor at Rennes and a corresponding member in botany of the Paris FEBRUARY 20, 1903.] Academy; of Joseph Chavanne, the Austrian geographer and meteorologist, and of Dr. Rudolf Franz, a Berlin physicist. Tue bill creating a department of com- merce, with a secretary in the cabinet, has passed the house and senate. The new depart- ment will consist of the Bureau of Corpora- tions, the Bureau of Labor, the Lighthouse Board, the Lighthouse Establishment, the Steamboat Inspection Service, the Bureau of Navigation, the Bureau of Standards, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Commissioner General of Immigration, the Commissioners of Immigration, the Bureau of Immigration and the immigration service at large, the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department, the Shipping Commissioner, the Bureau of For- eign Commerce (now in the Department of State), the Census Bureau, and the Fish Commission. Tue senate judiciary committee has made a favorable report on the bill to establish a laboratory for the study of the criminal, pauper and defective classes, a similar bill having been reported favorably by the house judiciary committee. Ir will be remembered that last year con- gress made an appropriation of $5,000 to pre- pare plans for the building for the National Museum. We understand that the tentative plans have been prepared and transmitted to the House of Representatives. They call for a fireproof steel brick and terracotta building to cost $3,000,000, only one half of which is to be erected at present. It is to be hoped that congress will find time to attend to the matter, as it is universally admitted that the present building is entirely inadequate. ANNOUNCEMENT has been published to the effect that the land purchased for the Rocke- feller Institute for Medical Research is part of the old Schermerhorn farm. It extends from Avenue A to the East River, and from 64th to 67th St. The price paid for the land is reported to be $700,000, and it is said that the laboratory to be erected on it will be the most complete institution of its kind in the world. SCIENCE. 319 Mr. AnpREw CARNEGIE will erect a library at Atlantic City at a cost of $60,000; and one at Dover, England, at a cost of £10,000. Tue Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg in cooperation with the govern- ment offers 7,500 roubles in prizes for research solving the cause of poisoning through the use of salted raw fish. The papers, which may be in English, must be presented by January 1 next. Tue Michigan Academy of Sciences meets at the University of Michigan on March 26, 27 and 28. Tue French Congress of Scientific Societies will hold its forty-first annual meeting at Bordeaux from April 14 to 18. Tue International Congress of Historical Science will meet at Rome from April 2 to 9. One of the eight sections is devoted to the history of science. Tue Linnean Society of London has taken action to alter its charter so that hereafter women may be elected as fellows. Ir is reported that German explorers have recently discovered a fossil horse in central Africa. We may soon look for rapid exten- sion of our knowledge of the fossil Equide of this continent. Tue United States Geological Survey, in cooperation with the state of Maine, has re- cently issued a new map of the region sur- rounding the entrance to the Penobscot River, known as the Castine quadrangle. The map is uniform with the maps already issued by the government of other parts of the state. It differs from the charts issued by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in giving the details of features on the islands and the mainland, whereas the latter maps are confined almost exclusively to the marine features of the re- gion—soundings, channels and the outlines of the coast. Like other maps of the Geo- logical Survey, the Castine sheet illustrates the topography or relief of the land features, giving at the same time in great detail all roads, settlements and rivers, and, in addi- tion, the elevation above sea level of all parts of the region shown. 320 UNIVERSITY AND HDUCATIONAL NEWS. Tur Goldsmiths Company that some time since purchased the economic library of Pro- fessor Foxwell for $50,000, has presented it to the University of London with an endowment of $50,000 a year for five years. Tue debt of Bristol University College, amounting to $25,000, has been cleared by subscriptions including two of $5,000 from Sir William Wills and Sir Frederick Wills. Tue Carnegie Trustees are elaborating a scheme to provide funds to the four Scottish Universities for the purpose of endowing post- graduate research. A COURSE on forestry has been established at the University of Toronto. A MEETING of about fifty members of con- gregation at Oxford passed without dissent a resolution recommending that candidates for honors in mathematics and natural science be not required to pass an examination in Greek on entering the university. Congregation has passed a resolution exempting students who have passed the Abiturienten examination at a Gymnasium in Germany, Austro-Hungary, or Switzerland from responsions. Ir is hoped that the Rhodes scholars from Cape Colony, Natal, and Rhodesia may be elected in time to go into residence at Oxford in October next and also the first students from Germany, who are to be appointed by the German Emperor, but the other scholarships will not commence before October, 1904. Most of the regents of the University of the State of New York have signed a me- morial address to the governor, legislature and people of the state of New York asking that the exclusive power and duty of supervising public education to the state be committed to them. At the same time a bill has been in- troduced at Albany organizing a state board of education within the board of regents. According to this bill, nine regents of the university would be elected by the legislature forming a board of education, who would elect a superintendent of public instruction and supervise the primary and secondary schools. SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 425. Pursuant to the suggestion of President Butler, the members of the various depart- ments of Columbia University have grouped themselves together into divisions. The or- ganization of the divisions dealing with scien- tific subjects is as follows: Biology, comprising the Departments of Anat- omy, Bacteriology, Botany, Physiology, Physiolog- ical Chemistry and Zoology—Chairman, Professor John G. Curtis; Secretary, Professor Bashford Dean. Chemistry, comprising the Departments of Chemistry and Physiological Chemistry—Chair- man, Professor Chas. F. Chandler; Seeretary, Dr. Henry C. Sherman. Geology, Geography and Mineralogy, compris- ing the Departments of Geology, Geography and Mineralogy—Chairman Professor Alfred J. Moses; Secretary, Dr. Lea MclI. Luquer. Mathematical and Physical Science, comprising the Departments of Astronomy, Mathematics, Me- chanics and Physics—Chairman, Professor J. Howard Van Amringe; Secretary, Dr. William S. Day. Mining and Metallurgy, comprising the Depart- ments of Metallurgy and Mining—Chairman, Pro- fessor Henry S. Munroe; Secretary, Mr. J. F. McClelland. Philosophy, Psychology and Anthropology, com- prising the Departments of Anthropology, Phi- losophy and Psychology—Chairman, Professor J. McK. Cattell; Secretary, Dr. Adam Leroy Jones. JouHN Henry MacCracken, president of Westminster College, at Fulton, Mo., has re- signed to become assistant to his father, the chancellor of the New York University. Mr. Bruce Fink, of the Upper Iowa Uni- versity, has accepted the chair of botany at Iowa College, and will assume the duties in September. Proressor Kart Marse has been appointed professor of psychology at Wurzburg. Mr. P. A. Suir has resigned as instructor in mathematics in the University of Illinois to accept a position in the Hiroshina Higher Normal School of Japan. THe Lucasian professorship of mathematics at Cambridge, vacant by the death of Sir George Gabriel Stokes, will be filled on Feb- ruary 28. The electors are the heads of the several colleges of the University. ne aioe = Ao es A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, EpiroriaL ComMITTEE : S. NEwcoms, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THuRsToN, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. WAtcort, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; HENRY F. OsBoRN, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooxs, C. Hart MERRIAM, Zoology ; S. H. ScuDDER, Entomology ; C. E. C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology; H. P. Witt1am H. WeEtcu, Pathology ; J. McKErEN CATTELL, Psychology. BrssEy, N. L. Britton, Botany ; BownpitcH, Physiology ; Fripay, Frsruary 27, 1903. CONTENTS: The Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America: Dr. W. S. EICHELBERGER.... The Association of American Anatomists: PROFESSOR G. CARL HUBER............... The Association of Economic Entomologists: PA Ue CU TTATIN IVA INGEN oc fc.=<.c\e clots aleveiete rn se's The Botanical Society of America: Dr. D. T. SLAC OBEN “oho Be hp oltboiob con ameonconina The American Association for the Advance- ment of Science :— The Election of Fellows................+- Scientific Books :— The Quantitative Classification of Igneous Rocks: PRoFESSOR FRANK D. ADAMS. Marchand Ueber das Hirngewicht des Wie7 Sav 08 105 9S Shaeineaepaenoonouonengon Scientific Journals and Articles............ Societies and Academies :— The Philosophical Society of Washington: Cuartes K. Wrap. The Torrey Botanical Club: F. S. Earte. The American Botan- ical Club: F. A. S. The Berzelius Chem- ical Society: J. 8. Cates. Onondaga Acad- emy of Science: PRoressor T. C. Hoprins. Discussion and Correspondence :— The Fall of Bodies: Proressor A. HALL. Mountain Spectre near Boulder, Colorado: Proressor N. M. FenneMan. Signs of the Glacial Period in Japan: PROFESSOR G. WREDERICK WRIGHT .|...5-02c0.sccceve cece Shorter Articles :— Types of Pre-Linnean Genera: O. F. Cook. A Grant from the Carnegie Institution for Paleobotany: G. R. WIELAND............ Current Notes on Meteorology :— Scientific Investigations by Weather Bureau Men; Cycles of Precipitation in the United States: Proressor R. DEC. Warp........ Current Notes on Physiography :— Abandoned Channels of the Monongahela; La Céte d@Or; Canons of the Euphrates: PROFESSOR W. M. Davis..............+- 321 335 337 338 339 341 345 346 349 350 353 Recent Zoopaleontology :— Age of the Typical Judith River Beds: Proressor Henry F. OSBORN............. 356 A New Division of the United States Geolog- TG) ISWU ois Sook SO RoKS ABC OANOd FUOCE Ob ae 357 Scientific Notes and News........-.++++++++ 357 University and Educational News.......... 360 MSS, intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. THE ASTRONOMICAL AND ASTROPHYSICAL SOCIETY OF AMBRICA. THE second winter meeting of this society was held in Washington, D. C., during con- vocation week, in affiliation with the Amer- ican Association for the Advancement of Science. On Monday, December 29, at 4 P.M., over two hundred persons assembled in the lec- ture room on the first floor of the Law Building of the Columbian University to hear the address of the president of the society, Professor Simon Newcomb. This address has already appeared in ScrmENcE. Three sessions of the society for the reading of papers and transaction of busi- ness were held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, the average attend- ance being about seventy-five. Tuesday evening the annual dinner was given at Maison Raucher. Among the forty-three present were a number of ladies and, as guests, His Excellency, the Im- 322 perial German Ambassador; Hon. J. T. Morgan, U. S. Senate; the Assistant Sec- retary of State; and the Superintendent of the Naval Observatory. A most en- joyable evening was spent together, among the good things being addresses by the guests, by Professor Newcomb, and by Pro- fessor Hale. On Wednesday afternoon the session was adjourned shortly before 4 o’clock, to en- able the members of the society to attend a reception given them by the Superintendent of the Naval Observatory and Mrs. Chester. After a most pleasant social gathering for an hour or more, all present were invited to spend as much of the evening as they chose inspecting the observatory and its instrumental equipment. At the final session resolutions were adopted tendering the thanks of the society to Captain Chester, the Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, for his courteous invitation to visit the observatory, and his kind attentions during the meeting of the society; also tendering the thanks of the society to the Cosmos Club, for the use of the club house and of all its facilities so courteously accorded to the society and its members. During the meeting seventeen new mem- bers were elected, and the selection of a time and place for the next meeting was left open for future action by the council. The officers elected were: For 1903. President—Simon Newcomb. First Vice-President—Geo. E. Hale. Second Vice-President—W. W. Campbell. Treasurer—C. L. Doolittle. For 1903-4. Councilors, Ormond Stone, W. S. Hichelberger. For 1903—4-5. Secretary—Geo. C. Comstock. PAPERS PRESENTED. Harotp Jacosy: ‘Comparison of Astronomical Photographic Measures made with the réseau and without it.’ SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 426, Grorce H, Hate, FERDINAND ELLERMAN and J. A. Parguurst: ‘The Spectra of Stars of Seechi’s Fourth Type.’ W. J. Humpureys: ‘On Certain Matters Con- nected with Spectroscopic Methods.’ E. B. Frost and W. S. Apams: ‘ Radial Veloci- ties of Twenty Stars having Spectra of the Orion Type.’ HE. B. Frost and W. S. Apams: ‘ New Spectro- scopic Binaries.’ E. B. Frost and W. S. Apams: ‘The Wave- lengths of Rydberg’s First Line of Hydrogen (A 4686) and Others.’ W. S. Apams: “The Orbit of the Spectroscopic Binary 7 Orionis.’ EH. O. Lovett: ‘ Periodic Solutions of the Prob- lem of Four Bodies.’ K. O. Lovett: ‘ On the Integrals of the Problem of n Bodies.’ G. C. Comstock: ‘The Masses in 85 Pegasi.’ F. W. Very: ‘Form and Structure of the Galaxy.’ 8. A. MircHeti: ‘The New Gases, Neon, Kryp- ton and Zenon in the Chromosphere.’ G. C. Comstock: ‘Preliminary Account of an Investigation of the Proper Motions of Faint Stars.’ Saran F. Waitine: ‘ Astronomical Laboratory Work for Large Classes.’ F. W. Very: ‘ An Inquiry into the Cause of the Nebulosity Around Nova Persei.’ G. W. HoucH: ‘Improvement in the Mounting of Fixed Meridian Instruments.’ J. A. ParkHurst: ‘Photometric and Photo- graphic Observations of Faint Variable Stars.’ S. C. CHanpieR: ‘The Probable Value of the Aberration Constant.’ C. L. Doorrrrie: ‘ Constant of Aberration from Zenith Telescope Observations, 1901-1902.’ E. F. Nicnots and G. T. Hutu: ‘The Pressure of Light and its Illustration in the Construction of a Laboratory Comet’s Tail.’ HK. E. Barnarp: ‘On the Micrometrical Tri- angulation of the Stars in the Great Globular Clusters, M. 3, M. 5, M.13 and M. 92.’ HK. E. Barwarp: ‘ Observations and Light Curves of some of the Small Variable Stars found in the Globular Clusters.’ A. O. Lruscuner: ‘Notes on the Short Method of Determining Orbits from Three Observations.’ A. O. Leuscuner: ‘A Method of Computing Orbits in Rectangular Coordinates.’ A. O. Lruscuner: ‘The Solution of the Orbit Irrespective of Parallax and Aberration.’ A. 0. LruscHNER: ‘The Orbit of Comet 1902 a.’ FEBRUARY 27, 1903.] G. H. Perers: ‘The Photoheliograph of the U. S. Naval Observatory; its Use and Defects in Solar Photography.’ Snmron Newcoms: ‘Statement of the Progress made by the Watson Trustees in Computing Tables of the Asteroids discovered by James C. Watson.’ A. S. Fuint: ‘ Results of Meridian Observations for Stellar Parallax made at the Washburn Ob- servatory.’ L. A. Bauer: ‘ Preliminary Summary of Mag- netic Results obtained during the Recent Erup- tion in Martinique.” S. D. Towntey: ‘The Light of the Stars.’ ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS. Comparison of Astronomical Photographic Measures Made with the Réseau and without it: HaroLtp JACOBY. The réseau method of measuring stellar photographs, as considered in the present note, is similar to that in use by the ob- seryatories participating in the photo- graphic survey of the heavens now in prog- ress. The most important advantage of this method of measurement is that it avoids almost altogether the effects of pos- sible contractions or expansions of the sen- sitive film during development; and to this advantage has been joined another of a practical character which was perhaps not foreseen by the originators of the réseau method. It is found most confusing to measure plates having nothing on their surfaces but stars-images; in fact, in the ease of close clusters, it is well-nigh impos- sible on such plates to make sure that the two coordinates assigned to any star really belong to the same object. All this pos- sibility of confusion disappears, however, with réseau plates, as it is easy to keep all measures in order by considering each little square by itself. As usual, there are compensating disad- vantages connected with the réseau. It is necessary, for instance, to make certain as- sumptions, such as the following: SCIENCE. 323 1. That the division errors of the orig- inal réseau can be determined as accurately as those of a scale. 2. That the photographic copy of the réseau, aS it appears on the star-plate, really reproduces exactly the division errors of the original. 3. That the bisection of the photo- graphed réseau lines on the star-plate can be made with a microscope as accurately as the lines of a scale can be bisected. It is of course possible to discuss each of these assumptions separately; but in the present note I shall consider one simple experiment only. This consisted in meas- uring a couple of Pleiades photographs twice, once by the réseau method, and once with a metallic scale. A simple compari- son ought then to show how far the two methods of measurement differ in their re- sults. Seventy-five stars were observed in each case, and the same stars were used. The first plate was made at Paris, January 14, 1901, and the ‘probable discordance’ between the two methods of measurement was + 0’.11. No corrections were applied for possible division errors of the Paris réseau, as none have been published, though the MM. Henry have satisfied themselves that the Paris réseau errors are inappreciable. The second plate was made at Helsingfors, December 12, 1900, and gave a probable discordance of =E 0.22. In this case, the measures were corrected with Donner’s division errors, but these are not large enough to affect the result appreciably. In both cases, meas- ures made with the metallic scale were corrected for the division errors deter- mined at Columbia University. The larger discordance in the case of the Helsingfors plate is probably due to the less well de- fined character of the photographed réseau lines. In many eases it is impossible to bisect these lines under the microscope any- 324 where except at the corners of the squares, where two lines cross and form a point. But when we consider that the above dis- cordances involve the errors of both meas- urements, they do not appear unduly large. Divided by V 2, they give for the probable error of a measurement by one method only + 0.08 for Paris, and = 0”.16 for Helsingfors; and there is no evidence of a systematic arrangement of signs in the differences between the two methods. We may conclude, therefore, that plates meas- ured by the réseaw method and without it give identical results within a very narrow margin; nor does irregular distortion of the film appear to have affected appre- ciably the measures made without the réseau. The Spectra of Stars of Secchi’s Fourth Type: Grorce E. Haus, FErpinanp ELLERMAN and J. A. PARKHURST. In his early surveys of stellar spectra, Secchi divided the red stars into two great classes (his third and fourth types), whose spectra differ very markedly in their gen- eral characteristics. Subsequent investi- gations by Vogel and Dunér- confirmed Secchi’s conclusion with regard to the pres- ence of carbon bands in the spectra of stars of the fourth type, but in view of the in- strumental means employed it was impos- sible for these investigators to distinguish the individual lines in the spectra. An investigation of these stars was accordingly undertaken with a three-prism spectro- graph, used in conjunction with the forty- inch refractor and the two-foot reflector of the Yerkes Observatory. Some 250 photographs, ranging in exposure-time from a few minutes up to twenty-five hours, were made. They include the yellow and green as well as the blue regions of the spectra. A special study has been made of eight stars, in whose spectra the wave- SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 426. lengths of several hundred bright and dark lines have been measured. The pres- ence of bright lines, though suspected by Secchi, was denied by subsequent observers, but has been abundantly confirmed by the present photographs. Hitherto it has not been possible to identify these lines. . “ m eee eo ee ee ee Pan Oe ee : . ; ai = Rei aepr Neen one a a oe a ——— oo FEBRUARY 27, 1903.] asking where you get the authority to make such a statement. I suppose Mr. Hatcher has never visited Dog Creek near the mouth of the Judith River, or read Professor Cope’s paper on the Judith River region, with a cut illustrating this valley of Dog Creek. I was with the Professor when he made the sketch from which the illustration was made. I also know that the great bed of black shale filled with beds of soft coal was called Fort Pierre by Professor Cope, and that I found several bones of Mosasaurs in it resembling Platecarpus, that the buff-colored sandstone on top was called Fox Hills by Professor Cope. On top of these formations were the Judith River Beds, in which we found great numbers of the cast-off teeth of Dinosaurs. I there found the new ray Myledaphus bipar- titus Cope, and many fragmentary shells of Trionyx, ete. On top of all was a bed of oysters. - We got no complete bones, I believe, here of Dinosaurs. The two new species I found of Monoclonius were near Cow Island, about fifty miles down the river. I write for information. Is not Mr. Hatcher wrong in his correction? We found no Mosasaur bones in the vicinity of Cow Island. Would not the finding of these animals at Dog Creek prove the Fort Pierre age? We have similar deposits on top of the Niobrara in western Kansas that contain many Mosasaurs.” Henry F. Osgorn. A NEW DIVISION OF THE UNITED STATES GHOLOGICAL SURVEY. A New division, to be known as the Division of Hydrology, has recently been organized by the Hydrographic Branch of the United States Geological Survey. The work of the division will include the gathering and filing of well records of all kinds, the study of ar- tesian and other problems relating to under- ground waters, and to the investigation of the stratigraphy of the water-bearing and associ- ated rocks. In addition to the gathering of statistics relating to the flow, cost, etce., of the wells, it is hoped in the future to give especial attention to the geological features SCIENCE. 357 which govern, or which are related in any way to, the supply of water. The division will be subdivided into two sec- tions, the eastern and the western, the first em- bracing the Gulf and Mississippi River states and the states to the east, and the second em- bracing the remaining (‘reclamation’) states and territories, or those having public lands. The charge of each section has been assigned to a geologist, the western section to Mr. N. H. Darton and the eastern section to Mr. M. L. Fuller. The office details are in charge of Mr. Fuller. The sections will be still further subdivided, each state, or group of adjacent states, con- stituting a district, in which the work of col- lecting data and of the investigation of the problems relating to underground water will be in charge of a geologist employed for the purpose. In the western section it is expected that the study of the geological structure will be followed by the sinking of wells by the sur- yey, the aim being to test such of the arid or semi-arid regions as appear to present condi- tions favorable for artesian water, with a view to their ultimate development for agricultural purposes. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. Dr. L. Emmerr Hott, secretary of the board of directors of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, has made a statement in re- gard to its plans. In addition to the $200,000 given by Mr. J. D. Rockefeller in 1901 for current uses, he has now given $1,000,000 for land and buildings, and it is understood that he is prepared to contribute such additional means as the needs of the institution demand. Dr. Simon Flexner, professor of pathology at the University of Pennsylvania has been elected director of the laboratory. Ir is reported in the daily papers that Mr. Marshall Field has offered to erect a museum on the Lake Front Park, Chicago, which may cost as much as $10,000,000. A pit has been introduced at Albany at the request of the State Commissioner of Lunacy, appropriating $300,000 for the con- 358 SCIENCE. struction of a psychopathic hospital in New York city. At the Founder’s Day celebration of the University of Pennsylvania, the degree of D.Se. was conferred on President Alex. C. Humphreys, of Stevens Institute of Tech- nology. The address was made by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell. Dr. E. A. Kennetiy, of Harvard Univer- sity, lectured on February 18 before the New York Electrical Society on the laying of the cable across the Gulf of Mexico. Proressor Cuarntes A. Doremus, of the City College, New York city, lectured at the college on February 21 on the life and scien- - tific work of Robert Bunsen. The lecture was given under the auspices of the Cooper Union Chemical Society. Joun H. Barr, professor of machine design at Cornell University, is to become manager of the Smith Premier typewriter works at Syracuse. Tur Executive Committee of the Illinois Wesleyan has granted Professor J. Culver Hartzell eighteen months leave of absence to pursue his investigation on conditions of fos- silization in Germany. He sails from New York on March 18. REuTER’S agency states that Dr. Sven Hedin, the Swedish explorer, delivered a lecture on February 7, to the Geographical Society of Berlin upon his recent journeys in Central Asia and Tibet. During his lecture Dr. Sven Hedin gave some description of the Chinese writings he had discovered in a ruined city on the shores of Lake Lak-nor. The sinologist, Dr. Himle, of Wiesbaden, to whom they had been sent for translation, was of opinion that they pointed to the existence of a flourishing Chinese community about A. D. 250 on the spot marked by these ruins. At the conclusion of the lecture Professor Hill- man announced that the German Emperor had conferred on Dr. Sven Hedin the second class with the star of the Prussian Order of the Crown. Dr. Sven Hedin was elected an honorary member of the Berlin Geographical Society, and was presented with the golden [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 426. ‘Nachtigal ’ medal which was founded in mem- ory of a well-known Central African explorer. Dr. Grorce B. Suarruck, professor of phys- iographie geology of the Johns Hopkins Uni- versity, and secretary of the Baltimore geo- graphical Society, has been authorized by the directors to organize an expedition for a sys- tematic scientific survey of the Bahama Islands. Dr. F. B. Loomis, of Amherst College, will this summer conduct an expedition for the collection of fossils to the Bad Lands of South Dakota. Tue Imperial Academy of Science of St. Petersburg will send an expedition to search for Baron Toll, who is exploring the Siberian coast line, and who was reported on November 21 to have been cut off from the coast by early winter ice in New Siberia. Lieut. Koltchak, who was with Baron Toll will command the expedition. Tue Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, has arranged a course of lectures on science and travel for Saturday afternoons at three o’clock, as follows: Mareh 7—‘The Crow Indians of Montana,’ Mr. S. C. Simms, Assistant Curator, Division of Ethnology. March 14—‘ Diamonds and Diamond Mining,’ Professor O. C. Farrington, Curator, Department of Geology. March 21—‘The English Sparrow, Dr. J. Rollin Slonaker, University of Chicago. March 28— A Tour of the Plant World—Japan,’ Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, Curator, Department of Botany. April 4—‘ Swimming Reptiles,’ Dr. S. W. Willis- ton, Associate Curator, Division of Paleontology. April 11—‘ Mining in the Southern Appalach- ians,’ Mr. Henry W. Nichols, Assistant Curator, Department of Geology. April 18—‘ Our Household Insects,’ Mr. W. J. Gerhard, Assistant Curator, Division of Ento- mology. April 25— Experimental Agriculture in Russia,’ Mr. Frederick W. Taylor, Chief of the Depart- ment of Agriculture, St. Louis Exposition, 1904. THE medical papers of Ithaca state that the epidemic of typhoid fever at Ithaca has resulted in the death of ten students of Cor- nell University. Ten professors and instruct- FEBRUARY 27, 1903.] ors are ill with the fever. The epidemic is, however, now abating. A oivin service examination will be held on March 10 for the position of aid in the Divi- sion of Mollusks, U. S. National Museum, with a salary of $1,000. On April 7 and 8 there will be an examination to fill positions as hydrographic aid in the U. S. Geological Survey, at salaries of $65 and $70 a month. It is stated that these appointees will be eligible for future promotion as assistant en- gineer after one or two years’ service in the field. WE learn from the Hlectrical World that at a meeting of the Fritz Memorial Committee, held in New York on January 23, the an- nouncement was made that the four national engineering societies have appointed the fol- lowing as their representatives on the board of trustees of the Fritz Medal: American So- ciety of Civil Engineers, J. James R. Croes, New York, one-year term; Robert Moore, two- year term; Alfred Noble, New York, three- year term; Charles Warren Hunt, New York, four-year term. American Institute of Min- ing Engineers, E. E. Olcott, New York, one- year term; E. G. Spilsbury, New York, two- year term; James Douglas, New York, three- year term; Charles Kirchhoff, New York, four-year term. American Society of Me- chanical Engineers, Gaetano Lanza, Boston, Mass., one-year term; John E. Sweet, Syra- cuse, N. Y., two-year term; Robert W. Hunt, Chicago, Il., three-year term; S. T. Wellman, Cleveland, Ohio, four-year term. American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Arthur E. Kennelly, Cambridge, Mass., one-year term; Carl Hering, Philadelphia, Pa., two-year term; Charles P. Steinmetz, Schenectady, three-year term; Charles F. Seott, Pittsburgh, Pa., four- year term. CommanperR W. H. H. Sourneruanp, head of the Hydrographie Office of the Navy De- partment, contributes to the National Geo- graphic Magazine for February an article defining the work of this great geographic bureau. At the present time the Hydro- graphic Office has in its possession nearly 1,200 engraved chart plates and about 50 SCIENCE. 309 photographie chart plates. These 1,250 plates have all been constructed from the results of original naval surveys; from geographical and cartographical data reported by the command- ing officers of vessels in the naval service; from information collected by the branch hydrographic offices from incoming mariners of all nationalites, and also from the geo- graphical information that comes into the custody of the Navy Department through the prosecution of surveys by foreign govern- ments. These charts represent about one- third of what are actually necessary for a complete set of navigational charts of the world for the use of the naval and shipping interests of the United States. It must not be understood, however, that if we were to become possessed of engraved plates repre- senting the charts now issued by all other nations we would be able to produce naviga- tional charts covering the world’s entire water area. Very much remains to be done before the hydrographic features of the world can be so chartered as to warrant the statement that dangers to navigation due to lack of knowledge of geographic positions and cor- rect soundings have been reduced to a mini- mum. There are numerous places in the West Indies which we lknow to be inaccurately charted, and this same statement applies. to locations in nearly all parts of the world. In the North Pacific Ocean alone there are thousands of reported dangers. Many of these are probably either inaccurately located or do not exist, but all the same they are a hindrance to navigation through the anxiety or loss of time which the fear of their pos- sible existence causes to shipmasters. For- tunately, little by little the national vessels of the Great Powers are either accurately locating or disproving the existence of many of these. As a result of an investigation along the Colorado River, made in January, 1902, by the hydrographic branch of the United States Geological Survey, the extent of the alluvial bottom land between Camp Mohave and Yuma was found to be from 400,000 to 500,000 acres. Extended surveys were begun November 1, last, to determine the area and quality of these 360 SCIENCE. bottom lands, the possibility of diverting water to them, and the probable expense of their reclamation. The average rainfall at Camp Mohave is only 5.99 inches per annum, and at Yuma it is 3.06 inches per annum, while the temperatures are such as to provide twelve growing months in the year. The Colorado River derives its principal source of water supply from the melting snow on the high mountains of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. It reaches the stage of maximum flow—ap- proximately 50,000 cubic feet per second—in the months of May and June, when the de- mand for irrigation is normally the highest; its minimum flow—about 4,000 cubic feet per second—occurs in the months of January and February, at the time of least demand. The opportunities for storage on this stream are yery great. The silts of the river are difficult to handle in canals, but the fertilizing prop- erties which they have are such that lands irrigated with these muddy waters will never require further fertilization. Mr. R. H. Forbes, of the Agricultural Experiment Sta- tion at Tucson, Ariz., who has made a study of the silt in the Colorado River, has pointed out that this stream resembles the Nile in many particulars. Like the great river of Egypt, the Colorado is subject to an annual summer rise sufficient to overflow the exten- sive areas of its borders and delta lands. These high waters are rich in fertilizing sedi- ments, are exceptionally free from alkaline salts, and come at an opportune time for irrigation. Mr. Forbes maintains that when the Colorado is understood and utilized as successfully as the greater and better-known Egyptian stream, it will be recognized as the American Nile—the creator of a new country for the irrigator, the mother of an occidental Egypt. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. By the will of the late Professor Sylvester Waterhouse, of St. Louis, Washington Uni- versity received $25,000, and Harvard Uni- versity and Dartmouth College each $5,000. The bequest to Washington University is to accumulate until the year 2000. [N.S. Vo. XVII. No. 426. Sir Witi1am Macponanp, of Montreal, has donated a further sum of $4,500 to the Mac- donald Institute at the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, to complete the furnishing. This makes a total of $175,000 given by Sir William to this institute. S. M. Inman, of Atlanta, Ga., has given $25,000 toward the proposed presbyterian uni- versity to be erected in that city. Tue new library building given to Trinity College at Durham, N. C., by Mr. James E. Duke, was formally opened on February 23. The dedicatory address was given by Mz. Walter H. Page of New York. Tue Association of the Colleges and Pre- paratory Schools of the Middle States and Maryland will hold its next annual meeting at Columbia University, November 27 and 28. At the mid-winter commencement of the University of Nebraska, on February 16, 1903, degrees were conferred as follows: Bachelors of Arts, 17; Bachelors of Science, 7; Doctor of Medicine, 1; Master of Arts, 1; Doctor of Philosophy, 1. Eleven graduates were given University Teachers’ certificates. The thesis presented by the candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Haven Metcalf, was in botany, and consisted of a discussion of the cause and nature of a disease of sugar-beets, to which the name of ‘sour rot’ has been applied. Tue chair of physiology at the Harvard Medical School, occupied by Professor H. P. Bowditch, will hereafter be known as the George Higginson Professorship. Dr. George B. Hatstep, late of the Uni- versity of Texas, has been elected to the chair of mathematics of St. John’s College, An- napolis, Md., to succeed Professor John L. Chew. Dr. ALEXANDER JOHNSON, dean of the faculty of arts and professor of pure mathematics, and the Rev. Dr. J. Clark Murray, professor of mental and moral philosophy, have resigned their appointments at McGill University, to take effect September 1, 1903. They retire in accordance with the pension scheme formu- lated last year by the board of governors. q ’ ¢ AE SCIENCE @A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN*ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EDITORIAL CoMMITTEE : S. NEwcoms, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. WALcorT, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; HENRY F. OsBORN, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooks, C. Hart MERRIAM, Zoology ; S. H. ScuppDER, Entomology ; C. E. Bessey, N. L. Britton, Botany; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology; H. P. BowpitcH, Physiology; WinLiaM H. WELCH, Pathology ; J. McKEEeN CATTELL, Psychology. Fripay, Marcu 6, 1903. CONTENTS: Inaugural Address of the President of the Stevens Institute of Technology: PRESI- DENT ALEX. C. HUMPHREYS.............. 361 The Society of American Bacteriologists: PRo- FESSOR Epwin O. JORDAN.............+-+ 369 Scientific Books :— Jaekel’s Ueber verschiedene Wege phylo- genetischer Hntwickelung; von Wettstein’s Der Neo-Lamarckismus und seine Bezieh- ungen zum Darwinismus: J. P. McM. Baker on Municipal Engineering and Sani- tation; Zueblin on American Municipal Progress: G. C. Wuierete. Julian’s Tezxt- book of Quantitative Chemical Analysis: His (SL, Bbc vongedheu cactsn poco boda poenOoE 380 Scientific Journals and Articles............. 384 Societies and Academies :— . The New York Academy of Sciences, Sec- tion of Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry: Dr. 8S. A. MrrcHett. Biological Society of Washington: F. A. Lucas. Geological So- ciety of Washington: W. C. MenDENHALL. The Research Club of the University of Michigan: Dr. FREDERICK C. NEWCOMBE. The Blisha Mitchell Scientific Society: PROFESSOR CHAS. BASKERVILLE. The Colo- rado Academy of Science: WiLL. C. FERRIL 385 Discussion and Correspondence :— The Publication of Rejected Names: F. A. Batuer. Motion of Translatien of a Gas in a Vacuum: Dr. PETER FIREMAN. Will- making: PROFESSOR ALEXANDER F. CHAM- THOTTENTEN oes Gecone S00 Uae Aol DeoeeEe 389 Shorter Articles :— Sleepy Grass and its Bffect on Horses: VERNON Battey. The Vertebral Column of Brontosaurus: E. S. RicGs.............. 392 The American Museum of Natural History.. 394 The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research 35 Scientific Notes and News..........-----: 397 University and Bducational News.......... 400 MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY.* In subscribing to this oath of office I am profoundly sensible of the responsibilities I assume. For the two months preceding my ac- ceptance of the presidency of Stevens In- stitute I was constantly studying the many questions involved therein, and especially that of my fitness for the office. I feared that it would be presumptuous for a man not an educator by profession to undertake to earry on Dr. Morton’s great work; at the best it seemed to me an experiment of doubtful wisdom, for failure meant prob- able injury to the loved alma mater as the return for serious sacrifices to be made by myself and those dear to me. In considering the objection that I had not been trained as an educator, I was not unmindful, on the other hand, of the fact that in my professional career I had been called to direct the later studies of gradu- ates of engineering schools, including a large number of Stevens men, and so had been forced to study and appraise from the viewpoint of practice, the efficiency of the training supplied by a number of our tech- nical schools. In this work I had found myself deeply interested; and in reviewing my experiences in this and some other di- * Delivered in the Carnegie Laboratory of Engi- neering, February 5, 1903. 362 SCIENCE. rections in which I had been brought into practical contact with educational work, I was encouraged to hope that if I accepted this office my lack of training and experi- ence in the school might in part be com- pensated for by these experiences and my sympathy with the aspirations of youth. Finally my action was determined by the fact that the call was made ‘by the trustees, faculty, alumni association and many of the alumni individually. Since I have been in daily contact with the duties and responsibilities of the office I have been more and more impressed with the largeness of my undertaking and with the practically unlimited opportunities af- forded for the exercise of a wise, patient, firm and energetic leadership. As all this and more is included in my view of the situation, necessarily then I am profoundly sensible of my new responsi- bilities. But I must ask those at whose instance I have accepted this office to un- derstand that they have not shifted their responsibilities to my shoulders. I shall look to them to help me to carry my new burdens and to be patient with me when I hesitate or stumble on the way. As the circumstances under which I have accepted office are somewhat unusual, I have, at the risk of being misunderstood, decided to thus briefly refer to some of the influences under which I have acted. The responsibility rests upon us all— trustees, faculty and alumni—to preserve and further extend and perfect that which has been so well built on the noble bene- faction of EH. A. Stevens. The admirable record which has been made during the thirty years of Dr. Morton’s brilliant, wise and self-sacrifice administration will not alone carry the institute over the obstacles surely to be met in the years to come. This reference to the work of our hon- ored late president leads me to recall with a reverent sense of appreciation the de- [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 427. voted services of Professors Wood, Mayer and Leeds, who are with him now resting from their labors. While resolving to zealously preserve and develop that which has been passed on for a while to our stewardship, let us consider whether, this calls for any departure from the established ways. My four months’ experience as acting president, added to that gained as alumnus, trustee, engineer and man of business, leads me to say em- phatically that though there is much to be done, there is no change in principle or policy to be desired or tolerated. The changes to be made are chiefly those called for by the increase in the number of students. A glance at the register shows that the equipment, methods and admin- istration of twenty years ago are no longer adequate to meet our present requirements. Even with his own repeated benefactions Dr. Morton was unable to keep pace with the requirements as they developed. The first ten classes graduated numbered as follows: "73, 1; °74, 3; ’75, 10; 76, 17; 777, 10; 78, 22°79) 14. 280Or pei ty a7 eome idee Total for first ten years, 117. The last ten classes graduated numbered as follows: 93, 43; 794, 39; 795, 45; °96, 64; 797, 63; °98, 57; 99, 53; 1900, 53; 1901, 40; 1902, 54. Total for last ten years, 511. There have been 987 graduated up to date, of whom 54 have passed on to that other life where their records as engineers are only of moment as affecting their rec- ords as men. These figures alone do not furnish a fair comparison and should be supplemented by a comparison of enrollments. The enrollment at the end of the first ten-years period was: rt 7 bd if 4 amit etc - VR OEE ae eee 58 ema Si DR Makcu 6, 1903.] TIVE GSES eich NE ARS IMR crore is 20 SUT EG Re ae Aner over Seige Or retain 12 LOLA TR ea ie’ Gib Sete orc eieeme Got 132 and the enrollment at the end of the last ten-years period was: mesh racer erates eatets leis alee P feledane. rei 87 Sophomores ........ Spon omenerorer 78 PRL OEM severe is otie yatt iaiieve seid cilolerai a) ee 48 SLECEDGSY he odhhicks Bciey tice PDS OR IO-ee 55 PROT eters ra cisco eMehe. bs a arenes wale 268 The enrollment at the beginning of this school year was: PRES GNT eres siete exec reiterate encase @ si elete 115 OBNOMOLES! sere ees v at gigieos +5 isn wee 69 PIITELONS pen eenaeee ch ainue: sree tain may orete ates asters 62 HSL EvanKa) ANDY Seay Arcvancy ela iee Brrr es Fs oleae 50 RP OHA 2 eats aie He sini hussain enti scerasc' = acs 296 Though by these last comparisons it ap- pears that we have only something more than double the number of students to care for than we had twenty years ago, the practical facts are that in our upper classes we have nearly five times as many to in- struct; and, as most of our elass- and lecture-rooms can accommodate only about fifty students, the lower classes have to be taught in sections, requiring the professors and instructors to duplicate much of their work. ; This all means that we need larger class- and lecture-rooms, larger chemical and physical laboratories and shops, a general auditorium, additional equipment and ad- ditional instructors. Another addition, which should be made, is at least one dormitory. To complete our course in four years re- quires of the students hard work and long hours. It is thus incumbent on us to do our utmost to keep the students in good working condition, mentally and physically. To this end they should have cheerful, comfortable, sanitary, though simple, lodg- ings, and plain, wholesome and attractive food. Men so cared for and provided with facilities for intelligent recreation should SCIENCE. 363 be able to safely undertake a large amount of work, and should be less liable to seek relaxation in harmful pleasures. I am most anxious to promptly secure such an addition to our plant as will en- able us to offer these more attractive and elevating surroundings to those of our stu- dents who in coming to us are cut off from home influences. This would add to the cares and responsi- bilities of the administrative officers, but it would also give us additional opportu- nities to influence the students for, good. It would also tend to cultivate a healthier college spirit and to attract more men from the several sections of the country, which would in itself be broadening and mellow- ing to the student body. On the basis of the present fees for in- struction the original Stevens endowment was at first ample to furnish the additional income required to meet the difference between the yearly expenses and the income from students. That difference now amounts to about $100 per year per stu- dent. The original endowment would now be entirely inadequate to meet our devel- oped requirements, and even with the addi- tions made by Dr. Morton from time to time, aggregating $150,000, the Carnegie Laboratory and its special endowment of $100,000, $30,000 given at the time of our twenty-fifth anniversary by Mrs. E. A. Stevens, Sr., and other additions by mem- bers of the Stevens family, our endowment is insufficient to meet present needs, to say nothing of the additions required to be made to our plant and our teaching staff as already outlined. Expenditures which the trustees, upon my earnest recommenda- tion, have already authorized lead me to fear a deficit at the end of this school year. Against this it is encouraging to note that provision is already being made to meet some of the deficiencies in our plant. 364 SCIENCE. Before Dr. Morton’s death $60,000 had been subseribed by him and the alumni for a laboratory of chemistry. This amount proves under present market conditions in- sufficient for the purpose, and I am now applying to the alumni—and the alumni alone—for an additional $60,000 to enable us to build and thoroughly equip a labora- tory which will equal, if not surpass, in practical efficiency anything of the kind in the world. This is a large additional sum to ask from such a small body of men, the majority of whom are young and working on salaries; but if we sueceed—as I believe we shall—this addition is to be named the Morton Laboratory of Chemistry, and it will serve as a most fitting memorial of our late president. In moving into the Carnegie Laboratory of Hngineerine we set free the ground floor of the main building. At comparatively small expense this can be arranged to afford an excellent location for larger and more efficient shops. Moving the shops from their present location would set free the old auditorium, which with certain changes and additions could be restored to its original purpose and provide for an audience of seven hundred. This change, including some additional tools and certain other minor, but much-needed, additions to our plant, could be effected for a cost not to exceed $25,000; part of this has been subscribed contingent upon the whole sum being pledged. One important step has been taken to- wards the beginning of dormitory life. Col. HE. A. Stevens, our trustee, and his brother Robert L., sons of our founder, have notified me that a piece of land, 200 x 100 feet, which they jointly own in the block adjoining the institute’s property, admirably located for the purpose, will be deeded to the Institute provided we can promptly erect thereon a dormitory. Pre- [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 427. liminary plans have been drawn for a group of three buildings, which can be erected separately or together, as circumstances de- mand or warrant. One of these buildings would contain a refectory to cater to all the students lodged in the three buildings. Each unit in this group could be well made to serve as a Separate memorial and named accordingly. I believe the cost of one of these units could be quickly pledged if pledges for the other two could be obtained. The entire group would accommodate about 110 students, and would be sufficient for our present needs. This would not only greatly inerease the efficiency of our plant, but would consider- ably add to our income. What I have said will serve to correct the opinion held by many that our endow- ment is sufficient for our needs. There are some who know more or less completely of those needs, but hold, as I believe, a totally unwarranted opinion as to where we should look for relief. After considering the ques- tion long and carefully, I have decided to openly combat this opinion: namely, that as the institute carries the name of Stevens, the heirs of H. A. Stevens should be respon- sible for its support. This strikes me as a most unjust proposition. HK. A. Stevens bequeathed $650,000 and a block of land for an institution of learning. So well has this trust been administered that a new line of educational work has been developed, and the success achieved has created the demand for the increased facilities I have just mentioned. Because the world has secured through the original endowment so much more than could have been reasonably anticipated, does that furnish a reason for demanding from the heirs of our founder, after the balance of his fortune has been divided into many parts, that they keep pace with this ln ae ane ET pet Fee MARCH 6, 1903.] constantly increasing financial requirement by constant additions to our endowment? Rather, it seems to me, that because of the great work accomplished primarily through the instrumentality of the Stevens endowment, the community and those who have directly and indirectly profited by the advances made in technical education dur- ing the last thirty years—and it would be hard to find in the United States those who have not so profited—owe it to HE. A. Stevens, his heirs, Dr. Morton and those who as trustees and instructors have faith- fully worked with him, to provide the means to maintain, extend and perfect that which is already a powerful agency for good. I have gone so far in speaking on a somewhat delicate subject, I may as well go farther in the hope of disposing of this question onee for all. It has been further suggested, that as the institute carries a family name, we have but little chance of securing aid from sources outside of that family. I do not doubt that this may influence some narrow- minded men against coming to our relief. But we can show against this that it has not stayed the helping hands of es Morton and Andrew Carnegie. The evidences are on every side that our rich men are exercising more intelligent discrimination in the effort to secure full returns on their philanthropic investments. As with their personal investments, they are coming to investigate in advance, to make as sure as possible that their bene- factions will secure full returns in per- petuity. To such a man it could be readily shown that a million dollars added to our present endowment and plant, would give a far greater return than could possibly be derived from the same amount employed to establish a new institution. And now why should not the name of ‘Stevens’ be attached to our institution? SCIENCE. 365 Our original endowment was a large one for the time when it was made, and it was most natural that the institute should have been named after our founder, though it is a fact that some of the family opposed that course. I can say that, while in my opinion any change would be most unwise, the Ste- vens family would be the first to urge a change if they believed that a majority of the alumni were in favor of it, or if by so doing we could secure the cooperation which would enable us to enlarge our use- fulness. But it can not be supposed that the alumni would be willing to surrender the prestige which is theirs through being known as graduates of Stevens. If we must consider the question of name, it should be seen that we offer an advantage rather than otherwise. Such an addition to our endowment as [ have spoken of would be naturally individual- ized under the name of the donor. That name would not be alone, but would stand with the three great names—Stevens, Car- negie, Morton—and this should attract rather than repel. In estimating our future requirements we should not fail to recognize that there has been within the last few years a marked increase in the demand for technically edu- cated men. It is beginning to be recog- nized that the commanding position which the United States to-day holds in the fields of industry and commerce, is in consider- able measure due to the intelligent and conscientious work done during the last thirty years by our technical schools. While our country has benefited by a unique combination of natural advantages, it needed the men technically educated, working in an atmosphere most favorable to the full utilization of their best powers, to secure from these conditions the excep- tional prosperity of to-day. We can better appreciate our advan- tages, both as to superiority in the line of 366 SCIENCE. technical education and freedom from the trammels of caste, when we compare our condition in these regards with that of Great Britain; yes, and even with that of Germany. This increase in the demand for scien- tifically trained engineers is evidenced by the fact that whereas thirty, and even ten, years ago employers could select from the eraduating classes to meet their require- ments, to-day many concerns now accept these graduates and apply for them a year in advance, without being able to exercise any such selection. This has resulted in ereating some question in the minds of cer- tain employers as to whether our methods are now as efficient as in the past. Natu- rally they find that the cadet engineers they now hire without the advantages of ‘Selection do not average as high as those ‘engaged in years gone by. This does not at all mean that every young man must succeed because he is a graduate of Stevens or some other good engineering school. It only means that his diploma will give him the opportunity to prove the stuff of which he is made. Since Stevens Institute was opened many mew engineering schools have been organ- ized, and the departments of applied sci- ence in many of our universities have been so developed and improved that they have in some cases become the very life of the universities with which they are connected. As we contemplate this change we may be tempted to question whether our little school has a work to perform which can not be safely left to others. Then let us remember how many there are in this vast and growing country requiring, for the nation’s good, to be educated in applied science. In thirty years Stevens has placed less than one thousand men in the industrial ranks. There is room and more than room for all of these schools, and we may well wish them all Godspeed. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 427. If some time in the future it were found that there were more than enough technical schools to supply the wants of this great country, the country should be the gainer, for the fittest only would survive. And if under this searching test it were found that we were unable to show a reason for our continued existence, we could at least take comfort from the reflection that we had helped in no mean degree to make possible the progress in educational meth- ods with which we had finally been unable to keep pace. But I prefer to believe that, let the stand- ard be developed never so high, Stevens will be found steadily in the van. In the past there has been a tendency in our technical schools to specialize too closely. Graduates of technical schools are sometimes to be heard regretting that they had not first taken a B.A. course. Part of this is no doubt a well-grounded regret occasioned by a too narrow training, but part of it is the natural inclination we all experience to long for that we do not pos- sess, and lightly regard that we have grown familiar with through years of use. No doubt every possible effort should be made to include in the engineer-student’s cur- riculum all that the four years will safely contain of such non-technical studies as will be best qualified to make the course broad as a whole. But let us be careful that the reaction from the fault of too close specialization does not carry us to the other extreme. First our students should be thoroughly and completely tramed in the fundamen- tals required in the practice of their pro- fession. They must be given a working knowledge of the higher mathematics and an accurate knowledge of the fundamental laws of nature; and throughout the course they must be trained to apply in the draw- ing-room, the shops and laboratories, the mathematics, chemistry and physics (espe- 4 . ; 4 ¥ : ms Sa RNR oie Bap eet ee oe MARCH 6, 1903.] cially mechanics and electricity) learned in the lecture- and class-rooms. That is to say, there must be as complete a coordination of theory and practice as is possible in an institution of learning. The tremendous activity in the indus- trial field creates a constant pressure for the inclusion in our course of closer specializations within our specialty. As our course is now so crowded that no addi- tional work can be safely included without the elimination of an equal amount, this pressure, if not resisted, will almost surely result in the slighting of the essential fundamentals. As in the past we have stood for the harmony of theory and practice and thoroughness, so we have stood for concen- tration on one broad course in mechanical engineering. While we have thus differen- tiated from the other broader divisions of the engineering profession, such as civil, mining and electrical, we have covered much that is included in these other divi- sions. In any case we can not expect to gradu- ate our men as engineers. As they get out in the world probably natural bent or necessity will lead most of them to further specialize. If so and they have taken advantage of the opportunities we have offered them and even forced upon them, they will find they are able to quickly and surely build upon the broad and strong foundations they have here laid. There are certain studies which can not be properly or safely omitted from any engineering course, be it mechanical, civil, mining, electrical or any other. I should inelude in this list English, logic, history, modern languages, economics and business methods. Outside of the question of culture, an engineer. needs a working knowledge of his own language. He must be able to convey to his employers or associates in language SCIENCE. 367 concise and explicit the results of his work or investigations. In the department of economies he should at least have sufficient insight into the science to guard himself against the danger of drawing conclusions from in- sufficient or inconsistent data. He should have such a Imowledge of business methods, and especially the prin- ciples of accounting, as to qualify him to exercise a close and independent super- vision of manufacturing cost. He must appreciate the necessity for and be capable of instituting a system of charges, based upon a complete study of local conditions, to provide for the depreciation of plant and stock; he must appreciate the danger of confusing capital or investment items with revenue or expense items. While we can not expect to give the engi- neer-student a working knowledge of the law of contracts, we should try to give him such instruction as will serve to warn him of the pitfalls to be avoided, and to impress him with the wisdom of seeking competent legal advice in all eases outside of estab- lished routine. All this and more must be covered in a course which claims to harmonize theory and practice, for the engineer who is most practical in the shop may be most unprac- tical in business affairs—and here it is to be understood that the engineer must find his success within the limitations of com- mercial conditions. Much of this part of the instruction may well be ineluded in lectures on engineering practice, and preferably these lectures should be delivered by men who have them- selves been successful as engineers and speak from that standpoint; for it is most difficult to impress upon students the neces- sity for the inclusion of these subjects in a course of engineering study. This applies particularly to the study of English, and every possible effort should be made to 368 quickly impress upon the freshman classes the reason why English is necessarily in- eluded in the curriculum; unless the sym- pathy of the students can be promptly se- cured in connection with this difficult study, there is but little hope that much good can be accomplished in the time available. To do in four years all the work which has been here most briefly outlined the stu- dent should be strong mentally and phys- ically and be possessed of a definite pur- pose. There is danger of overstrain, but I firmly believe the danger of injury is less than in the case of the courses in some of our universities, where, according to our Own observation, confirmed by the views lately expressed by a number of the univer- sity presidents, the students can take their B.A. degree in four years without any sus- tained effort. This is an enervating in- fluence to which many young men can not safely be subjected. Our students are better able to sustain the strain to which we subject them because they average in years somewhat higher than those entering the universities for the first degree. Our last three classes averaged, respectively, at entrance, 1844 years, 1814 years and 1834 years; a general average of say 1814 years. This brings the average age of the grad- uate to more than 2214 years, as there are more of the younger students than the older who drop by the way. This should dispose of the question of lengthening the course to five years, ex- cept in the case of the few who are specially qualified to carry on work in engineering research. There can be no question that during the next decade we are to see many changes in our educational methods. We must here be prepared to listen to all suggestions with an open mind, and then be careful not to act rashly. During the last quarter cen- SCIENCE. [N.§8. Von. XVII. No. 427. tury there have been in the United States not a few false moves made in our educa- tional schemes, and especially has there been a tendency at times to spread out thin at the expense of thoroughness. In looking over the list of our alumni and the work they have performed and are now performing, we can obtain therefrom enough encouragement to warrant us in moving slowly when radically different methods are suggested for our adoption. When we think of these changes to come we may well hearten ourselves by recalling that many of our great universities and important colleges and separate technical schools are under the direction of men who are statesmen as well as scholars. While it is our duty as teachers and guides to see to it first that the men en- trusted to us should be producers and not dependents, that the problem of self-sup- port should first be honestly and squarely met, we should further endeavor to culti- vate in them aspirations for the higher things of this life and the life to come. The motive for the struggle for success may at first be largely selfish, but, as we all can acknowledge with gratitude, from lower motives can be evolved those of a higher order. While we of the faculty can not give our students religious training, we can be care- ful to set them an example of absolute honesty and straightforwardness. We can best eliminate meanness and trickiness from the student body by being ourselves candid, just and, as far as our natures will permit, sympathetic. We may well recall the names of the headmasters of certain schools whose influence upon the lives of their scholars has been potent to the end. Jt was not the curriculum or the system of teaching which made these schools so effective for good, but the personal influence of these men who were deeply sensible of the responsibility eo ce Resid Marcu 6, 1903.] of being entrusted with these young lives during the formative period. Eyen in a school like ours the faculty can exert a strong personal influence for good and ean, if they will, create an atmos- phere of honesty which should be of special benefit to the students in connection with that vexed question of examinations. The responsibility for honest examinations first rests on the examiners. And we must re- member that the man who is not honest in the class-room defrauds his alma mater and weakens and debauches his own character. God grant that such an influence shall always be around the students of Stevens, and that so they may go out into the world not only honestly trained to take their places in the engineering profession, but also influenced to do their whole duty as citizens and self-respecting, God-fearing gentlemen. Arex. C. HUMPHREYS. THB SOCIETY OF AMPRICAN BAOTERIOL- OGISTS. Tue fourth annual meeting of the society was held at the Columbian University Medical School, Washington, D. C., on De- cember 30, 31, 1902. Abstracts of papers* presented at the sessions of the society fol- low herewith: Contribution to the Study of Agglutinins: W. W. Forp and J. T. Hatsey. (From the Pathological Laboratory, John Hop- kins University.) Experiments were undertaken to deter- mine which constituent of the red blood corpuscle takes part in the production of lysins and agglutinins when the blood of one species of animal is used to immunize another species, Bordet stating that the stroma was responsible for the lysins, Nolf maintaining that the stroma was respon- sible for the agglutinins, the laked blood “The abstracts were prepared by the authors. SCIENCE. 369 for the lysins. In the present experiments rabbits and guinea-pigs were immunized with the stroma and the laked blood of hens; guinea-pigs with the stroma and laked blood of rabbits; rabbits with the stroma, the laked blood, and the washings from the stroma, of the goose; and rabbits and guinea-pigs with the hemoglobin of hens’ and dogs’ blood. For the preparation of the stroma and the laked blood, the blood was washed with isotonic salt solution, laked with two to three times its bulk of water, made up to one per cent. -salt solution, and centrif- ugalized to separate stroma from aqueous solution. Stroma was then washed re- peatedly with water made up to one per cent. salt solution or with isotonic salt solution. For the preparation of hemoglobin the blood was collected in ammonium oxalate, washed, laked with distilled water, centrif- ugalized to get rid of the stroma, treated with 25 per cent. absolute alcohol, upon the addition of which the crystals of oxyhsemo- globin are deposited at 0° Centigrade. The dog’s hemoglobin erystallizes readily, the hen’s hemoglobin with some difficulty. The results of the experiments showed that in all cases the animals immunized with the laked blood and the stroma from rabbits and from hens developed in their sera agglutinins and lysins both far beyond the limits of normal variation, so powerful that frequently in dilutions of 1-100, al- ways in dilutions of 1-50, complete aggluti- nation and lysis took place. The rabbits immunized with goose’s blood stroma and aqueous solutions developed agglutinins only—no lysis taking place. The agglu- tinins were present in very high dilutions, at times 1-10,000, always in dilutions of 1-1,000. Normal rabbit’s serum aggluti- nates goose’s blood in dilutions of 1-250 or 1-330. The attempt to supply a com- plement for a hypothetical amboceptor 370 with hen’s, rabbit’s and guinea-pig’s sera was unsuccessful. The animals immunized with dog’s hemoglobin possessed, after re- peated injections, a serum not differing from the normal, while the animals treated with hen’s hemoglobin developed agglu- tinins and lysins present in dilutions of 1-100 parts. On the Nature of ‘Pyocyanolysin’: BE. O. JorDAN, University of Chicago. A number of bacteria, including patho- genie forms like the tetanus bacillus, and ordinary saprophytes like B. megatherwwm, have been reported as producing hxemo- lysins in their broth cultures. B. pyocy- aneus is one of these forms, and ‘pyocy- anolysin’ has been generally considered as belonging in the same general category with tetanolysin and staphylolysin. The well-known laking effect of alkalies and the fact that old cultures of B. pyocy- aneéus possess a strongly alkaline reaction led to inquiry into the relation between the alkalinity of the bacterial filtrate and the power of the filtrate to produce hemolysis. It was found that the filtrates from broth cultures of B. pyocyaneus (seven strains, one freshly isolated and quite virulent) produced no greater hemolysis than NaCl solution, or sterile broth of the same de- gree of alkalinity. The alkalinity of B. pyocyaneus filtrate sometimes reaches as high as 2.6 per cent. normal alkali. If the alkalinity of the B. pyocyaneus filtrate be increased or diminished, the hemolyzing power is correspondingly affected. The hemolytic power is practically destroyed by neutralization (indicator, phenolphtha- lein). Most bacterial hemolysins, lke the hemolysins of blood sera, are inactivated by exposure to a temperature of 56°; but “pyoeyanolysin’ will withstand 125° for at least an hour. The statements regard- ing ‘pyocyanolysin’ made by Bullock and Hunter, Weingeroff, Breymann and Loew SCIENCE. (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 427. indicate that the hemolyzing power ob- served by these writers in the filtrate of B. pyocyaneus is no greater than might be due to the simple alkalinity of the medium. It is possible that other strains of B. pyocy- aneus may be found which produce some other hemolysin than alkali, but it is evi- dent that in any study of bacterial hemoly- sins the superimposition of the effect of alkali upon that of any other hemolyzing substance must be reckoned with, espe- cially when corpuscles so sensitive to alkali as those of the dog are used for test objects. A Fat-splitting Torula Yeast Isolated from Canned Butter: L. A. RogErs, Biochemie Laboratory, Washington, D. C. The author has isolated from several samples of canned butter, a torula yeast, possessing to a limited degree, the ability to split up glycerides with the liberation of free fatty acid. The action of this torula is much weaker than that of the fat-split- ting molds. The acid number of a pure butter fat inoculated with a milk culture of the torula, increased in two weeks from 0.579 to 3.474. The cells are elliptical, about 3.5 , long and have little tendeney to form chains or bunches. The yeast ferments maltose slowly at 37° C., but does not ferment lactose, galactose, levulose, mannose or cane sugar. A complete description will be -given in a later paper. Oligomtrophiice Bacteria of the Soil: Freprerick D. Cumster, Delaware Agri- eultural Experiment Station. Reference is given to the early literature bearing upon the subject of nitrogen as- similation by lichens, aerophilous alge, molds and bacteria. Land may gain in nitrogen through the activities of soil bacteria. Oligonitrophilie et oil oth asians, bene og ee ees a —_ Marcu 6, 1903.] bacteria are those that grow in nitrogen- free or nitrogen-poor media, and that pos- sess the power of utilizing the free nitrogen of the air. The oligonitrophiles belong to the Clostridiwm group, or to Beijerinck’s Granulobacter group. Clostridium Pasteurianum, which Wino- gradsky found to possess nitrogen-assimi- lating properties, is an anaerobe, but it also grows in symbiosis with aerobic forms; it is, therefore microaerophilic. The micro- aerophiles will grow luxuriantly under normal conditions under diminished ox- gen pressure, effected by the active utili- zation of oxygen by the aerobes (macro- aerophiles). Nitrogen assimilation in the soil is not the result of the activities of a single or- ganism, but of symbiosis of microaerophiles with macroaerophiles. Of the micro- aerophiles we have Clostridium Pasteur- tanum, several species of Granulobacter of Beijerinck, and Radiobacter of Beijerinck. Of the macroaerophiles we have Azoto- bacter of Beijerinck. Azotobacter alone is without nitrogen- assimilating properties, and the same is true of the Granulobacter and Radiobacter, but mixed cultures of Azotobacter with the other forms showed marked gain of nitro- gen of four to seven milligrams per gram of assimilated sugar in the medium. A form of Azotobacter isolated from Dela- ware soil was without the power of assimi- lating atmospheric nitrogen. The Bacterial Flora of the Oyster’s Intes- tine: Cates A. FuLuEr, Brown: Univer- sity. Of late there has been considerable dif- ference of opinion regarding the signifi- eance of B. coli in drinking water and various foodstuffs. Some authorities do not consider this organism a certain indica- tion of sewage pollution, while others look SCIENCE. oll with suspicion on all food materials con- taining bacteria of the colon group. Oysters are especially liable to contamina- tion by sewage, for many cities and towns discharge their waste matters into bays or other bodies of water where they are cul- tivated. In some reports on the bacteriology of the oyster it was suggested that B. coli might be present normally in the intestines of oysters. This statement differs mate- rially from the results of some previous work of mine on oysters and sewage in Narragansett Bay. These results seem to indicate that this organism does not oecur in oysters obtained from perfectly clean sea-water. In order to throw some light on this point I examined the intestines of over two hundred oysters in October and November, 1902. These oysters were taken from a bed known to be free from any trace of sewage. A number of tests have shown that the sea-water above this bed does not contain B. coli. The method of analysis was as follows: Two gelatin plates were inoculated, each with a large loop of material from the in- testine of each oyster and grown at room temperature for three or four days. One of these plates was made from the usual nutrient gelatin and the second from gelatin containing carboli¢e acid (.05 per cent.). From the ordinary gelatin plates I separated sixteen species of bacteria; some of them common water forms, and others unidentified, that seem to be char- acteristic of the oysters of this locality. Of the carbol-gelatin plates, with but a single exception all remained sterile. The single colony that developed was not B. coli. If B. coli was present in the intestines of these oysters, even in small numbers, it would have developed in the above medium. Of the other species isolated, none resembled B. coli when tested by the usual methods. 372 SCIENCE. From the results of these experiments it appears that the colon bacillus is not nor- mally present in the intestines of oysters, and when present always indicates con- tamination from some outside source. The Influence of Physical Conditions on the Character of Colonies on Gelatin Plates: A Prelinunary Communication: Epwarp K. Dunnam, New York University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York. Attention was called to the influence of physical conditions on the appearance of colonies by two sets of observations: (1) The same species of bacterium grown in different lots of gelatin made with the same ingredients and having the same re- action frequently produced colonies of widely divergent appearances; (2) colonies of different species often form colonies that are indistinguishable in some gelatins, but when grown in other lots of gelatin can be readily recognized as different. These variations were traced to differences in the stiffness of the gelatins, and this led to a study of the physical properties of nutrient gelatin. The melting points, penetrabil- ities and viscosities were determined and compared with the appearance of colonies on plates made with the gelatins. Atten- tion was chiefly directed to the deep col- onies, and the studies were confined to the colon bacillus, bacillus typhosus, bacillus dysenteriz and a paratyphoid bacillus. If the gelatin is very stiff the colon colony is lenticular in form and presents a tendency to form multicontours. In a somewhat softer gelatin the colony is spheri- eal, with indications of concentric structure. In still softer gelatin, budding or root-like projections are formed on the surface. In a very soft medium, not a single colony but a federation of colonies, closely grouped together, is produced. Similar variations occur when typhoid colonies develop on [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 427. plates. These may be small and spherical, or more or less thready with delicate fila- ments penetrating into the medium, accord- ing to whether the gelatin is stiff or rela- tively soft. In a very soft but still solid gelatin, the typhoid bacilli may penetrate the medium, disseminating themselves throughout its mass. Such plates appear sterile. Variations in the stiffness of the gelatin may be produced by a reduction of its original stiffness with heat or by incubat- ing the plates at different temperatures. A ten per cent. gelatin made with Compte Fils’s or Heinrich’s ‘Gold Label’ gelatin, cooked with an ege for thirty minutes and sterilized three times for fifteen minutes in the Arnold sterilizer, will melt at 29.5° to 30.3° and have a viscosity between eight and nine times that of water. Gelatin plates made with this gelatin and incubated at 27° will yield, e. g., colon and typhoid colonies that can easily be distinguished from each other and fished within twenty- two hours. In the author’s opinion the physical properties of gelatin and temperature of incubation should receive fully as much attention as the ingredients and reaction in the standardization and use of gelatin, particularly when employed for plating with reference to species. Milk-agar as a Medium for Demonstrating the Production of Proteolytic Enzymes: K. G. Hastines, University of Wisconsin. If ten to twelve per cent. of sterile skim milk is added to ordinary nutrient agar, after the same has been allowed to cool to 50° C. after having been melted, an opaque medium is obtained which, when allowed to solidify in tubes in a sloping position, or poured into Petri dishes, has some advan- tages over gelatin for the determination of the liquefying properties of bacteria, 1 gen al ee al a anl Marcu 6, 1903.] inasmuch as it can be incubated at high temperatures. If cultures of a liquefying organism be made in this medium, the growth after a few hours’ incubation will be surrounded by a transparent zone due to the liquefac- tion of the casein. Its advantages over gelatin are that it ean be incubated at any temperature; that the liquefying power of organisms whose optimum temperature zone lies above 20° C. ean be determined in a much shorter time than by the use of gelatin. It can also be used to determine the presence of proteolytic enzymes in plant and animal tissues by adding cubes of milk- agar to the extracts of such tissues, in the presence of suitable antiseptics, such as small amounts of earbolic acid or formalin. The presence of proteolytic enzymes is made apparent by the edges of the cubes becoming transparent. Laboratory Notes: W. M. Estren, Middle- town, Conn. A new thermo-regulator for incubators heated with incandescent lamps was con- structed from a description by Mr. H. E. Ward, of the Illinois Experiment Station. This was shown and its regulating quality demonstrated. Its advantages are that the heat is applied to the interior, and that in- eubators can be constructed of wood and danger from fire avoided. New Method of Preparing Blue-litmus- lactose-gelatin.—The cooking and steriliz- ing of litmus with gelatin proves to be detrimental to the reaction of litmus. The litmus and gelatin media are prepared and sterilized separately, then mixed immedi- ately before plating. Fifteen to twenty per cent. of litmus is digested in distilled water for several hours at 70° C., filtered, the reaction adjusted to +-1.5 per cent., and sterilized. A gelatin medium is pre- pared with 3 per cent. lactose and 25 per SCIENCE. 373 cent. less water than ordinary gelatin. Tubes are filled with 8 ¢.c. of gelatin. Cheese-whey-gelatin is prepared by add- ing rennet to fresh skim milk. The whey is placed in an autoclave for thirty minutes at 105° C. ‘Ten or eleven per cent. of gelatin is added and the medium cooked in open dish until one-fourth is evaporated; the reaction is adjusted to + 1.5 per cent., and tubes filled with 8 c.c. To prepare the gelatin tubes for plate cultures, place in each tube of melted gela- tin with sterile pipette 2 ¢.c. of the litmus solution, mix and add 1 ee. of diluted milk, and plate. The comparative values of the two kinds of gelatin are that the lactose-litmus-gela- tin gives the maximum numbers while the cheese-whey-litmus-gelatin gives a strong differentiation of acid and non-acid species. To get the advantages of both kinds of gelatin mixing half and half proves very satisfactory. It is possible by means of this mixed gelatin to classify the different kinds of bacteria on the plates by means of the colonies alone. The ‘Germicidal Property’ of Milk: W. A. Stocking, Jr., Middletown, Conn. Freudenreich, Park, Hunziker and others have shown that cows’ milk, when a few hours old, contains a smaller number of bacteria than when freshly drawn from the cow. From this they conclude that milk possesses a ‘germicidal property or action’ during the first few hours. This conelu- sion was based on the results obtained from agar plate cultures, on which the total num- bers of bacteria were determined. These investigators, however, were unable to ex- plain the cause of this phenomenon. The purpose of the experiments described in this paper was to determine, if possible, the cause of this dropping out of the organ- ol4 SCIENCE. isms during the early part of the ripening period. For this work peptone-litmus- gelatin was used and the milk was plated at intervals of three hours. From these plates the total number, of organisms, the number of acid-producing bacteria and the different species, as far as possible, were determined. The results of a long series of experiments seem to show that the de- crease in numbers was due, not to any “property or action’ possessed by the milk, but to the natural dropping out of certain species of bacteria which do not find the milk a suitable medium in which to grow. Fresh milk obtained under ordinary con- ditions contains a large variety of types and species of bacteria, while milk which has soured or curdled contains but few species, often not more than two or three. Fresh milk ordinarily contains but few of the typical lactic organisms which later, cause souring and coagulation. When these species have once gained access to the milk their growth is constant and quite uniform from the first. Certain other acid- producing species, however, and many non- acid species do not find the milk a favorable medium in which to grow, and drop out. Some species appear only in the plates made from the fresh milk, while other spe- cies may continue for a few hours and then disappear. Usually the decrease in the numbers of the miscellaneous species is greater than the increase in the ‘lactic’ Species, during the first few hours, so that plate cultures made when the milk is a few hours old will show smaller numbers of bacteria than were found in the fresh milk. Summary of the Steps which must be Fol- lowed in Staining Flagella by Loffler’s Method: W. R. Copenanp, Bureau of Wiltration, Philadelphia, Pa. The films of bacteria on the cover slips should be made from suspensions of bac- teria obtained by immersing the cells in water for one or two hours in order to dissolve the outside gelatinous capsule. Loffier’s mordant should be made of the best grade of tannic acid with ferrous sul- phate and Gruebler’s basie fuchsin. This mordant should be heated to 70° or 75° C., until a stream of steam rises for a distance of two inches. The preparation should then be set aside for half a minute. The stain is made of the best grade of ani- line oil, absolute alcohol and a saturated alcoholic solution of Gruebler’s basic fuch- sin. The stain should be applied cold, for from eight to ten seconds. Finally Loffler’s method of staining fla- gella is better and more powerful than either van Hrmengem’s, Pitfield’s or Lo- witz’s methods: It magnifies the size of . the cells and flagella in a manner that is especially favorable for class demonstra- tion. Egg Medium for the Cultivation of Tu- bercle Bacill1: M. Dorsnr, Biochemic Laboratory, Washington, D. C. A further report of the results obtained by the use of this medium which had been previously described in American Medt- cme, April 5, 1902, and the ‘Highteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Animal Industry,’ 1901. Cultures were made from more than seventy-five tuberculous rabbits and guinea- pigs, with almost uniform success, the few failures being traceable to a contamination of the culture tubes or the presence of very small numbers of tubercle bacilli in the tissues from which the cultures were taken. The medium seems to be specially well adapted for obtaining the first growth of tubercle bacilli from animals. Tubercle bacilli of bovine origin gave a slightly less abundant growth than the human tubercle bacilli, and the gross appearances of the cultures differed slightly. The morpho- [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 427. _ tat tae Marcu 6, 1903.] logical characters of human and bovine tubercle bacilli when grown on egg have been left for future report. Studies on Quantitative Variations in Gas Production in the Fermentation Tube: C.-E. A. Wiystow, Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology, Boston, Mass. Experiments were made to determine the amount of variation in gas formation in a series of dextrose broth tubes filled with the same batch of culture medium and in- oeulated with the same organism. For inoculation, measured portions of an aque- ous suspension of the surface agar growth of a strain of B. coli were used. A wide variation between individual tubes was ob- served. Thus in one case with tubes re- ceiving the same amount of culture ma- terial the amount of gas varied from 20 per cent. to 62 per cent. of the closed arm after 16 hours, and from 38 per cent. to 86 per cent. after 64 hours. This was not simply a variation in the rapidity of the evolu- tion of gas; for in this instance the maxi- mum of gas formed in a given tube at any time varied from 42 per cent. to 86 per eent. By averaging the results obtained in a number of tubes more general rela- tions became apparent. During the first 12 hours the amount of gas formed de- pended upon the amount of material used for inoculation, and the relative proportion of hydrogen was greater than at a later period. Between 24 and 48 hours the maximum of gas was generally formed with the classical gas formula of two to one, and after 48 hours a marked decrease of total gas occurred, due to the absorp- tion of carbon dioxide. The principal point brought out was the wide variation in individual tubes due to some unknown fac- tor, and apparently only to be avoided by making a series of duplicate analyses. SCIENCE. 375 Preliminary Note on Chromogenic Cultures of B. diphtherie: Hiepert WINSLOW Him, Boston Board of Health Labora- tory. Six stock cultures of B. diphtheria, the originals of which had been isolated be- tween March, 1901, and January, 1902, and since kept on serum, with reinoculation at intervals of one to two months, showed eradually imereasing yellow color when streaked on serum. Recently (December, 1902) this colora- tion became so striking as to attract def- inite attention. One of the six cultures (4014) isolated October 18, 1901, from a clinical case of diphtheria, and then typ- ical morphologically and typically virulent to guinea-pigs, was selected for examina- tion. The morphology and virulence, re- tested in December, 1902, were stil! typical. Cultures from this stock developed the color on serum at 37° C., slightly in one day; by the third day the color was very marked—a clear bright yellow. The erowth, removed by scraping, is treated with chloroform, which dissolves the pig- ment. After filtration to remove the bacilli, evaporation to dryness deposits the pigment, which is then found soluble in chloroform and in ether, but not in water. The same culture grown on agar for the same time yields only an ordinary dirty- white tint. When treated similarly, such dirty-white cultures yield a small amount of faint grayish-brown pigment. From fresh uninoculated serum of the same lot ether extracts a yellow pigment, but chloro- form does not. The writer has observed cultures of B, diphtherie showing a faint pink color, and others which, especially when old, show quite dark-brown or black coloration. The Chemistry of Bacterial Pigments: M. X. Sunuivan, Brown University. While growing bacteria upon synthetic 376 SCIENCE. media, I noticed that often chromogenic _ varieties became colorless. Accordingly ex- perimenting to determine what salts, bases or acids in addition to the organogens, ear- bon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, are necessary for pigment production, I found, with Jordan, that for the formation of fluorescent pigment, sulphates and phos- phates are required. Extending the re- search to other pigments, such as those pro- duced by B. pyocyaneus, B. prodigiosus, B. ruber balticus, B. rosaceus metalloides, B. janthinus and B. violaceus, I found that the characteristic pigments were produced whenever there were present, in addition to suitable compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, phosphates together with sulphates, chlorides or nitrates, irre- spective of the base. Suitable compounds of C, H, O, N, are asparagin, and the am- monium salts of succinic, lactic and citrie acids. The solutions containing asparagin were the best, so that upon a medium con- sisting of asparagin 0.2 per cent., MgSO, 0.02 per cent., K,HPO, 0.1 per cent., glycerin 2 per cent., the pigments were quickly produced. Magnesium and potas- sium may be replaced by other bases, as sodium or ammonium. If the glycerin is left out the asparagin must be increased to 1 per cent. to get good pigment formation. Upon media consisting of (NH,),PO, 0.1 per cent., (HN,).SO, 0.1 per cent. and glycerin 2 per cent., there occurred a good production of pigment. — Replacing the asparagin and glycerin by ammonium salts of organic acids, 0.2 per cent. to 0.5 per cent., I found that while the Succinate, lactate and citrate gave pigment, the tartrate, oxalate, urate and formate, though allowing growth, were unfavorable to chromogenesis. By testing the chlorides and nitrates as to pigment formation, it was found that upon a solution consisting of asparagin 1 [N. S. Vo. XVII. No. 427. per cent., K,HPO, 0.02 per cent., NaCl or KCl 0.2 to 0.5 per cent., or KNO, 0.02 per cent. the pigment was formed, though less abundantly than when MgSO, was present. On the other hand the sulphides, bromides and iodides were unfavorable to pigment production. The conclusions to be drawn are that, in addition to suitable compounds of C, H, O, N, phosphates and sulphates are neces- sary for the fluorescent pigment, while for the pigments of B. pyocyaneus, B. prodi- giosus, B. rosaceus metalloides, B. ruber balticus, B. janthinus and B. violaceus, the sulphates may be replaced by the chlorides or nitrates. The Pyocyanin and Fluorescent Functions of Bacteria: M. X. SuLLIVAN, Brown Uni- versity. = Since Gessard’s discovery in 1882 of a bacillus which produced a blue or blue- green pigment soluble in chloroform, many experiments have been carried on not only as regards the morphological characters of the bacillus to which Gessard gave the name of B. pyocyaneus, but also as to the nature of its pigments. In the study of B. pyocyaneus, many varieties have been isolated, so that at present we have kinds which produce pyocyanin alone, others which produce both pyocyanin and a green- ish-yellow fluorescent pigment, insoluble in chloroform, but soluble in alcohol and ether, and further, some perhaps degener- ate types, which produce a fluorescent pig- ment only. Now the question is, what is the relation between the different varieties of this bacillus? Are the varieties char- acterized by the ability to produce a dif- ferent pigment or pigments, or can the same race be compelled to form different colored products according to the medium on which it is grown? That the latter view is the correct one would seem to be oe et t~ > pe ore oF eo ~ Fy re Maxcu 6, 1903.] the conclusion from the following experi- ments. A variety which produces pyocyanin only on a medium consisting of asparagin 1 per cent., MgSO, 0.02 per cent., K,HPO, 0.1 per cent., can be made, by gradually in- creasing the phosphate to 0.5 per cent., to produce both pyocyanin and fluorescent pigment. In this case there is very little pyocyanin and a great deal of the fluores- cent pigment. Another variety, which was producing both pyocyanin and the fluores- cent pigment, was made to produce the fiuorescent pigment alone on asparagin 0.2 per cent., MgSO, 0.02 per cent., K,HPO, 0.5 per cent. This same variety upon as- paragin 1 per cent., MgSO, 0.05 per cent., K,HPO, 0.2 per cent., strongly acid, pro- duced pyocyanin alone. Turning now to the common B. fluores- cens liquefaciens, which on asparagin 1 per cent., MgSO, 0.02 per cent., K,HPO 0.1 per cent., produced the fluorescent pigment. I gradually lessened the phosphate and in another series the sulphate to determine whether or not this bacillus could be in- duced to take up the pyocyanin function. The fluorescent pigment disappeared and the growth became colorless, but no pyocyanin was produced. The conclusions to be drawn are that the same variety of B. pyocyaneus can be made to produce pyocyanin alone, pyocyanin and a fluorescent pigment, or the fluorescent pigment alone, according to the medium upon which the bacillus is grown; but that the purely fluorescent bacilli can not be made to take up the pyocyanin function. A Preliminary Chemical Study of Various Tubercle Bacili: BE. A. dE ScHwEINITz and M. Dorset, Biochemie Laboratory, Washington, D. C. Dr. de Schweinitz gave, for himself and Dr. Dorset, a brief résumé of the work carried on by the Biochemie Laboratory SCIENCE. 377 of the Department of Agriculture so far, upon a chemical examination of the fol- lowing bacilli: bovine, horse, swine, avian, virulent human and attenuated human. He pointed out that the conclusions which might be drawn from these analyses indi- cate a closer resemblance in the composi- tion of the germs between the moderately virulent human bacilli and the bovine and swine, than between the moderately virulent human and the very attenuated human bacilli. The analyses also indicate a closer relationship in composition between the attenuated human bacilli and the avian bacilli, than between the two varieties of human bacilli used. He also called atten- tion to the fact that a similar comparative examination of human bacilli and bovine bacilli of various degrees of virulence was being carried out. Attention was called, further, to the fact that the large amount of phosphoric acid obtained from the germs indicated that this constituent was abso- lutely necessary for the proper develop- ment of these bacilli, and it was noted that for a number of years in all the work in the study of tubercle bacilli in the Bio- chemie Laboratory, culture media had been prepared with the addition of acid potas- sium phosphate, and that sodium chloride had been entirely eliminated. The results had been uniformly more satisfactory than with any liquid medium that has been used for the tuberculosis bacilli. The impor- tance of a chemical study, not only of the tubercle bacilli themselves, but also of their products, was emphasized. The authors further presented the his- tory of a case of generalized tuberculosis in a child of five years of age that had been brought up on milk. The cultures obtained from the mesenteric glands of this child had produced generalized tubereu- losis in a heifer, after subcutaneous inocu- lation, within about a month. Drawings which showed the appearance of the lung 3718 SCIENCE. from this calf, and also the appearance of the liver of a pig, which had also been submitted to subcutaneous inoculation with this germ, were shown. In addition, draw- ings showing the comparative results of a subeutaneous inoculation of bovine and human tubercle bacilli in monkeys were presented. These indicated that the bo- vine tubercle bacilli were very much more virulent for the monkey than the human tuberculosis bacilli used. In the discus- sion which followed this paper, Dr. de Schweinitz further stated that the cultural characteristics of the germ which had pro- duced the tuberculosis in the heifer upon subcutaneous inoculation appeared to be those which some authors claim to be pos- sessed. only; by the bacilli derived: from the bovine species,.and that further, whether the germ that killed the heifer was re- garded as a bovine germ or, a human germ, the conclusions naturally were of equal value; for if the germ was of bovine origin, then it seemed that tuberculosis in children could be produced by bovine bacilli. If, on the contrary, the germ was what is com- monly called the human germ, then it was a germ which was virulent for cattle. He also called attention to the fact that the attenuated human germs used in the chem- ical study referred to were the offspring of the same attenuated germs which had been used a number of years ago for the purpose of producing immunity to tuber- culosis in small animals, by subcutaneous inoculation. These results were published at the time, in the Medical News, Decem- ber, 1894. Reference was also made to the fact that tubereulin prepared from bovine bacilli, and tuberculin prepared from the virulent or attenuated human bacilli, when tested interchangeably on men and animals, seemed to give the same positive results. A résumé of these tuberculin tests was [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 427. published in American Medicine, in Jan- uary, 1902. Further Evidence of the Apparent Iden- tity of B. coli and Certain Lactic Acid Bacteria: 8. C. Prescott, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass. Last year it was reported by the author that certain lactic acid bacteria isolated from grains and products of milling gave all the cultural reactions generally regarded as typical of B. coli. In the present work cultures of ‘lactic acid bacteria’ were iso- lated from various sources apparently free from contamination with fecal matter, and were compared directly with 23 cultures of B. coli obtained either directly from feces or from waters known to be sewage-pol- luted. Of these 61 cultures, 44 gave exactly the same reactions in the culture tubes, 25 of them being lactic acid bac- teria, and 19 typical colon bacilli. These organisms were also found to be alike in their morphological characters. A study of the fermentative power showed that the ‘lactic acid bacteria’ and “eolon bacilli’ produced approximately the Same amount of acid when grown under similar conditions, while organisms of dif- ferent groups, as for example streptococci, gave results showing a marked difference in fermenting power. As a final test the effect of inoculation into animals was noted, with the result that lactic acid bacteria and colon bacilli produced the same results when used in the same manner and with like amounts. Subcutaneous injection of 1 ¢.c. produced dullness and torpor, followed by rise of temperature, while intraperitoneal inocula- tion of 1.5 cc. produced death within twenty-four hours. As a result of the experiments the author believes that the organisms studied are not merely alike in certain characteristics, but are absolutely identical, and thus that or- > eo Makrcn 6, 1903.] ganisms having the same characteristics as B. coli are very widely distributed in na- ture, and their presence, unless in consider- able numbers, is not necessarily indicative of recent fecal contamination. On the Relative Viability of B. col and B. typhosus under Certain Conditions: SrepHen DeM. Gace, Lawrence Experi- ment Station. In various studies of both B. coli and B. typhosus at the Lawrence Experiment Sta- tion, a number of points of similarity in the behavior of the two species under cer- tain conditions have been noted, which ap- pear to have a bearing on the interpreta- tion of tests for B. coli. 1. As regards sand filtration. With a water to which both species have been added, 99.9 per cent. of all the B. coli and 100 per cent. of the B. typhosus were re- moved by an intermittent filter, and 99.8 per cent. of B. coli and 99.9 per cent. of B. typhosus by a continuous filter. 2. As regards the persistence of the two organisms in a filter after infection of the applied water has ceased, B. coli was found to continue in the effluent from the inter- mittent filter for 24 to 36 hours, and B. typhosus only for two to three hours. With the continuous filter B. coli con- tinued for four to six days and B, typhosus for two days 3. Effect of cold without freezing. In a water subjected to a temperature of 33° F., about 90 to 95 per cent. of both species were destroyed in 24 hours; a few organ- isms of each, however, may live for a con- siderable number of days. 4. Elimination by freezing and viability in ice. About 50 per cent. of the B. coli and 75 per cent. of the B. typhosus were de- stroyed by fifteen minutes’ freezing; after one hour, 95 per cent. of the B. coli and 98 per cent. of B. typhosus were killed; and at SCIENCE. 379 the end of 24 hours over 99 per cent. of all the organisms had disappeared. Of the few organisms surviving, however, B. coli were found alive after three months, and B. typhosus after nine months, in the frozen ~ condition, these experiments being still in progress at the present writing. 5. Resistance to heat. Both species re- sist temperatures up to 45° C. for five minutes. At-between 45° and 55° C. all but a few individuals of each are destroyed, these few individuals, however, resisting temperatures up to 85° C. at which tem- perature all the organisms of both species were destroyed. The effect of sunlight and the relative viability of both species in both sterile and natural waters are being studied, and from the data at hand a similarity between the two species will also appear. The Germicidal Properties of Glycerine in Relation to Vaccine Virus: M. J. Rosenau, Hygienie Laboratory, Wash- ington, D. C. The bacteriological examination of many dry points and capillary tubes of glycerin- ated virus bought upon the open market showed an excessive contamination, due to an over-confidence in the germicidal properties of glycerine. About one year ago, of 41 dry points examined, there was found an average of 4,807 organisms per point; of 51 glycerinated tubes examined, there was an average of 2,865 colonies per tube, some individual tubes running as high as 18,000. Following a publication of these facts and the warning given to manu- facturers that glycerine is not a substitute for care, a great improvement in the bac- teriological contents of glycerinated virus on the market resulted. Thus, of 89 tubes examined an average of only 28 organisms per capillary tube was found as a result of recent studies. 380 Glycerine has distinct antiseptic powers. It restrains the growth of most bacteria in dilutions of 35 per cent.; molds grow on the surface of bouillon containing 48 per cent.: no growth was observed above 50 per cent. Its germicidal properties are very feeble. It has practically no effect on spores, an- thrax and tetanus being the spores tested. Tetanus, however, does not multiply in glycerinated lymph, nor in. bouillon con- taining 60 per cent. of glycerine, the amount used by manufacturers in glycerin- ated virus. It was found that the antiseptic and germicidal powers of glycerine varied some- what with the kind of glycerine used, and also with the organisms tested. Cholera and plague were retarded by the presence of 21 per cent. to 24 per cent., while pus cocci grew in 31 per cent. and some molds grew on the surface in 48 per cent. Pus cocci are usually rendered sterile in 50 per cent. glycerine within five days, though they were kept alive as long as ten days in the ice-chest; they died more quickly at incubator temperature. In 80 per cent. and 90 per cent. glycerine Staphy- lococeus pyogenes aureus was kept alive in the ice-chest at 12° C., 41 days. An- thrax spores have been kept alive 247 days and the experiments are still going on. Tetanus spores were found viable in vari- ous percentages of glycerine after 135 days in the ice-chest. ; The Reaction of Certain Water Bacteria with Dysentery-Immune Serum: D. H. Brrery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. A Mold Pathogenic to Lobsters: F. P. GorHAm, Brown University. Complete Inhibition of the Cholera-Red Reaction by Impure Peptone. JAMES CarroLu, Army Medical Museum. SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 427. Demonstration of the Value of Mac- Conkey’s Medium for the Differentiation of B. coli from B. typhosus: N. Mach. Harris, Johns Hopkins University. Epwin O. JorDAN, Secretary. SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. Ueber verschiedene Wege phylogenetischer Entwickelung. By O. Janke. Jena, Gus- tav Fischer. 1902. 8vo. Pp. 60; 28 text- figures. Der WNeo-Lamarckismus und seine Bezte- hungen zum Darwinsmus. By R. von WETTSTEIN. Jena, Gustav Fischer. 1903. 8vo. Pp. 30. The intensity which a few years ago char- acterized the struggle between the opposing eamps of Neo-Lamarckism and Neo-Darwin- ism has, fortunately, largely subsided. Some new standpoints have arisen, notably those afforded by the doctrine of organic selection and by the rediscovery of the Mendelian law, and there has been a general tendency to in- quire more thoroughly into the laws of varia- tion and to seek for the factors concerned in that phenomenon. The first of the two pamphlets which form the subject of this notice represents a phase of this tendeney, and is of interest as exhibiting the views of a paleontologist who has had ac- cess to and has made admirable use of an ex- ceptional abundance of material bearing upon the questions he discusses. In his opening pages Professor Jaekel combats the idea that if the paleontological record were complete it would furnish evidence of almost insensible transition from species to species, so that no ‘good’ species could exist for the paleontolo- gist, and points out that an exhaustive search for confirmation of this idea, extending through the last three decades, has brought to light only three more or less acceptable cases, namely, those of the Steinheim Planorbis and of the Pannonian and Kossian Paludinas, none of which shows any more gradation than may be found in variable species of recent land snails. ee Te Se Piiy dae we Magcu 6, 1903.] The conclusion is reached, accordingly, that the distinctness of species was just as pro- nounced in the past as it is to-day, and that the idea of species has a definite morphological value. But this distinctness can not have been brought about by successive and pro- miscuous minglings of the germ plasm, by amphimixis; the réle of this has rather been to annul in the course of generations extreme variations, and, granting the limitation of amphimixis to a group of forms by the action of migration, isolation or some other such factor, the result will have been the consolida- tion or concentration of certain characters, determined by the environment, and the for- mation of a species. A species, then, is ‘a product of individual variation and limitation of crossing, and represents a local departure from the general tendency of development’; it is a fixation of one of the rapidly changing pictures produced during a general develop- mental progress. What then are the factors which determine the general developmental tendency? Of these Professor Jaekel discusses three, namely, orthogenesis, epistasis and metagenesis, none of which is entirely unfamiliar, although the last two may not be recognizable under their new names. The factor of orthogenesis is essentially the orthogenesis of Eimer and the ‘Vervollkommnungstrieb’ of Nigeli, extended, however, so as to include progressive modifi- cations of parts as well as of the entire organ- ism, and to embrace as well retrogressive as progressive modification. As examples of its action there are cited the progressive modi- fications in the structure of the arms in the Melocrinide and Taxocrinide, the gradual migration of the anus in the Caryocrinidze from the lower region of the theca to its upper margin, and the progressive complica- tion of the septal lines in the Ammonitide. Epistasis is a modified form of the process emphasized by Boas under the name of neotenia, a reversion of a phylum to a modi- fied embryonic condition. Evidence for such a factor is found again among the crinoids, in the apparently reversionary peculiarities ob- servable in certain groups, and also in the Saleniide and in the Agnostide among the i SCIENCE. 381 trilobites, whose small number of free body segments is regarded as due to an inhibition of development, rather than as an ancestral character. So too the transition of the Acanthodide of the Devonian period, with numerous dermal bones on the head and shoulder girdle and with acrodont teeth, to their Permian descendents which some paleon- tologists have regarded as true selachians, is advanced as a case much to the point, and the discovery of two Paleozoic cyclostomes which show, when compared with the more ancient Paleospondylus, a marked diminution of osseous material in the skeleton, leads to the supposition that this group of fishes may also have arisen as the result of epistasis. It must be confessed, however, that the morphol- ogist who may have followed Professor Jaekel up to this point with interest, if not with abso- lute confidence, will draw a deep breath when he reads that the author is inclined to regard the entire group of the fishes as degenerated vertebrates, whose watery environment inhib- ited their normal development ‘und die For- men namentlich in ihrer Atmung zur Stadien zarickfihrte, wie wir sie bei Orustaceen an- treffen,’ Finally, under the factor of metakinesis there are found the results of what embryolo- gists term cenogenetic modification, for the process is defined as a profound modification of a form in a manner impossible in the adult and only possible in a young stage in which the various organs are not yet histologically specialized and still possess more or less plastic- ity. Examples of the action of this force are again drawn from the crinoids, but these can not, within due limits, be detailed here. Among the echinoids the development of the irregular forms from the regular is regarded as the result of metakinesis, and the occur- rence in the Trias of Tiarechinus, with more than two rows of interradial plates, is quoted among other examples of its action. Such, in brief, are the ideas which Pro- fessor Jaekel advances in his pamphlet, which, it may be said, is a reprint from the ‘ Verhand- lungen des V. Internationalen Zoologen-Con- gresses.’ The ideas are not entirely novel, nor does their exposition free the mind of a 382 sense of something yet lacking for the com- plete solution of the question. It is not clear why epistasis and metakinesis may not well be regarded as particular cases of orthogenesis as Professor Jaekel defines that factor, and, if amphimixis have no place or part im the production of the orthogenetie progress, what is its souree and maintenance? ‘The paper, however, is full of interest, the ideas being clearly and forcibly expressed, and accompanied by a wealth of illustration drawn from sources unfamiliar to the majority of biologists. The second paper, that of Professor von Wettstein, is a relapse into the old discussion, since it takes as its thesis the combined action of the Darwinian and Lamarckian factors in the origin of species. It can not be said, however, that the evidence adduced by the author from the botanical field in favor of Lamarckianism is more’ apt to carry convic- tion to the minds: of Selectionists than much that has already*been presented. The fact, for instance, that an asporogenous variety of yeast, produced by exposure to an abnormally high temperature, does not again become sporogenous when grown at a normal tem- perature, will not be regarded by Selectionists as proof of the Lamarckian position, since they recognize the inheritance of acquired characters, if so they may be called, in unicell- ular organisms. Nor will the gradual as- sumption of the peculiarities of Hungarian wheats by foreign varieties grown in that country prove to them a stumbling-block, since such changes may plausibly be explained as the results of the direct action of the en- vironment upon the germ plasm and through it upon the somatic cells. The author, in fact, fails to take into account the fundamental idea of the Selectionist standpoint, namely, the isolation of the germ plasm, and, like many of his predecessors, assigns to the term ‘ ac- quired characters’ a meaning very different from that which it possesses for a Selectionist. J.P. McM. Municipal Engineering and Sanitation. By M. N. Baker. New York, The Macmillan Company. 1902. 12mo. Pp. 317. $1.25. In the Citizen’s Library. SCIENCE. LN. S. Vou. XVII. No. 427. The phenomenal growth of cities which has been. so characteristic a feature of the last two decades has brought us face to face with many new and important problems. Jt some- times seems. as if these problems were in- creasing faster than the abilities of our cities to solve them; but to students of sociology it is an encouraging sign of the times to note the interest which is being rapidly awakened in municipal affairs among local. organiza- tions such as boards of trade, village improve- ment societies, women’s clubs, as well as among individuals. It leads one to hope that in the not distant future the “age of the poli- tician” may be succeeded by the age of the — good citizen. Te all who are interested in municipal affairs, especially in those matters which relate to the control of the forces of nature, Mr. Baker’s book on ‘ Municipal En- gineering and Sanitation’ can, be heartily recommended. It is a review of the whole field, and touches the vital points of many classes of activity. It describes the underly- ing principles of all, but does not pretend to give detailed information about any one. The subjects treated are grouped under five heads, as follows: ‘Ways and Means of Communiea- tion’; ‘ Municipal Supplies’; ‘ Collection and Disposal of Wastes’; ‘Protection of~ Life, Health and Property’; ‘Administration, Fi- nance and Public Policy.’ The forty-three chapters of the book relate to streets and pavements, bridges, ferries, docks, telephones; water, ice, milk, markets, lighting and heat- ing; sewerage, street-cleaning, garbage dis- posal, cemeteries; fire protection, smoke abate- ment, public baths, dwellings, parks; city charters, contracts, franchises, municipal ownership, taxation, uniform statistics, ete. These subjects are treated concisely, and a hasty reading of the book might lead one to think that they were treated too concisely, that the book was, in fact, a mere explanatory eatalogue of unsolyed municipal problems. This opinion would be far from the truth. Embellishments of rhetoric and extended il- - lustrations are not to be found, but all the essential facts are there and where no facts are obtainable no attempt is made to conceal it by indulging in generalities. The book MakcH 6, 1903.] is to be commended almost as much for what it omits as for what it includes. It shows evidence of accurate knowledge and careful preparation, as might be expected from the pen of the associate editor of the Engineering News. Several chapters were written by the author’s wife, Mrs. Ella Babbitt Baker, and these are among the most interesting in the book. The book gives comparatively few references, a fault for which the author atones by referring to Rebert C. Brook’s ‘ Bibli- ography of Municipal Problems and City Conditions’ (New York, 1901). A comparison of the title of the book with its table of contents shows to what wide limits the scope of the ‘engineer’ has extended. ‘Municipal housekeeping’ is a term which has been applied not inappropriately to certain groups of activities, but ‘municipal engineer- ing?is much nearer the truth. Whenever forces are to be controlled and materials handled on a large scale, there the engineer is to the fore. So in our growing cities activities that once were domestic or indi- vidual have become engineering in their nature and must be entrusted to technical men. The author well says: ‘ Happily the day is coming when permanent and well-paid technical men will be put in charge of all technical work, and the most experienced specialists of the country will be called in to aid in the construc- tion and testing of all public works and to advise from time to time regarding the best mode of operation.’ American Municipal Progress—Chapters in Municipal Sociology. By Cuartes ZurEs- tin. New York, The Macmillan Company. 1902. 12mo. Pp. 380. $1.25. In the Citizen’s Library. The author begins his introductory chapter in the good old German way by defining his terms. He draws a distinction between the ‘urban district,’ ‘city’ and ‘municipality’; the first having ‘a psychological and indus- trial unity,’ the second, ‘a legal and topo- graphical unity,’ and the third ‘a functional unity.’ He considers the municipality as the organization for supplying communal needs, and defines ‘municipal sociology’ as the sci- SCIENCE. 383 ence which ‘ investigates the means of satisfy- ing communal wants through public activity.’ Illustrations of these definitions then follow. The work is divided into chapters which treat respectively of ‘Municipal Sociology’; ‘Transportation’; ‘Public Works’; ‘ Sanita- tion’; ‘Schools’; ‘ Libraries’; ‘ Public Build- ings’; ‘ Parks’; ‘ Public Recreation’; ‘ Public Control, Ownership and Operation.” It is written in a discursive style, and the prin- ciples set forth are sometimes obscured by an overabundance of illustration. It is in these illustrations, however, that the work is chiefly valuable. The author, who is profes- sor of sociology in the University of Chicago, evidently has at hand an extensive collection of data from the chief cities of America upon all phases of municipal work, and the comparisons which he makes between the dif- ferent cities.are most-instructive. It is inter- esting to observe the different directions in which engineering effort has been bent in dif- ferent cities. One city, for example, excels in its parks, another in its streets, another in its schools, another in its water supply, ete. The book gives the impression of being written by one who has studied the work of others rather than by one who has taken part in it himself. It is somewhat inclined to be theo- retical rather than practical. For instance, the author still clings to the idea that the cost of sewage disposal may be met by sepa- rating the solid matter ‘through familiar processes’ and selling it as a fertilizing ma- terial, while sanitary engineers agree that this is, at present at least, impractical. The last chapter, on ‘ Political Control, Owner- ship and Operation,’ is perhaps the most val- uable one in the book. It shows the modern tendency towards public absorption of mu- nicipal functions, an evolution towards social- ism which the author manifestly approves. The work concludes with numerous append- ices giving interesting statistics for various American cities, and digests of laws affecting schools, child labor, ete. G. C. WHIPPLE. A Tesxt-book of Quantitative Chemical Analy- sis. By Frank Junin. St. Paul, Minn., The Ramsey Publishing Company. 1902. 8vo. Pp. 604. Tllustrated. $6.00. 384 This voluminous work is from the brain and pen, not of a teacher, but of the chief chemist in the Great Northern Railway Shops, St. Paul, and naturally reflects the practical experience of its industrious author. To attempt to review in a conscientious man- ner a closely printed volume of more than six hundred pages, estimated to contain over four hundred thousand words, is impossible in the time and space that can be given. The au- thor states that the ‘volume is intended for the aid of students who have a fair acquaint- ance with the elements of general chemistry and can devote a limited time to quantitative analysis concurrent with or following the usual qualitative course.’ At the same time it will form ‘an introduction to the mono- graphs on special departments of technical analysis for those purposing to engage in some particular branch as a future occupa- tion.’ After outlining the general principles of the subject and describing the operations usually employed, the book presents a graded series of exercises for practice; these comprise twenty- four examples of great diversity, aleohol, fer- rous sulfate, coffee, cast iron, ether, vinegar, hydrastis, metol, steel, barium chloride, lard, air and wollastonite, with others, in the se- quence here given. Then Part III. begins, at page 259, and deals with the analytical behavior of articles of commercial importance; these embrace, among: others, iron ores, coal, natural water, fertilizers, alkaloids, tannins, carbohydrates, soap, milk and butter, and urine, besides methods based on colorimetry, electrolysis, and organic analysis both proximate and ulti- mate. Part IV., beginning at page 521, gives notes and observations relating to the art in gen- eral. The volume closes with an appendix on ‘Technical and Industrial Analysis,’ and an index. This work is in some degree encyclopedic; the author shows familiarity with many branches of the subject, and the numerous citations show a wide knowledge of the litera- ture, especially American. He has rescued from the pages of periodicals many good SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 427. methods little used in laboratories, giving their authors due credit. He shows through- out ability, thoughtfulness and universality. The arrangement of some of the matter is open to criticism. The book adopts the mod- ern spelling of ‘sulfur’; it is freely illus- trated; its rather small type was probably necessitated by its length; there are about seven hundred words on each page. The paper, type and binding are hardly up to the high standard adopted for other works of like character. This comprehensive treatise of Mr. Julian contains many processes, as well as specific details of ordinary methods, not easily found elsewhere, and ought to be serviceable in the libraries of technical schools and universities as a work of reference. H. C. B. SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. BIOLOGICAL BULLETIN. VotuME IV., No. 1, December, 1902: 1. G. T. Hargitt, ‘ Notes on the Regeneration of Gonionema.’ A résumé of experiments conducted at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Holl, dur- ing the summer of 1901, and extending the previ- ous work-of C. W. Hargitt and Morgan. 2. C. W. Hargitt, ‘ Notes on a few Meduse new to Woods Holl.’ This paper is part of the synopsis of the medu- soid fauna of the region which it is hoped may be ready within the year. 3. Walter S. Sutton, ‘On the Morphology of the Chromosome Group in Brachystola magna.’ The conclusion is that the association of paternal and maternal chromosomes in pairs and their subsequent separation during the reducing division may constitute the physical basis of the Mendelian law of heredity. This subject will be continued in a later number of the Bulletin. 4. Ida H. Hyde, ‘The Nervous System in Gonio- nema Murbachii.’ A study of the distribution of the nervous sys- tem with reference to its physiology. VotumeE IV., No. 2, January, 1903: 1. Harold Heath, ‘The Habits of California Termites.’ 2. J. H. Elliot, ‘A Preliminary Note on the Oc- currence of a Filaria in the Crow.’ Records the discovery of embryo filarie in the blood and of Halderidium in the red corpuscles. SS ee =k’, MARcH 6, 1903.] 3. Mary J. Ross, ‘The Origin and Development of the Gastric Glands of Desmognathus, Ambly- stoma and Pig.’ This work was submitted to the Faculty of Cornell University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 4. H. F. Thatcher, ‘A Preliminary Note on the Absorption of the Hydranths of Hydroid Polyps.’ The conclusion is reached that the process is not liquefaction of protoplasm, or of withdrawal of the polyp as a whole. The absorption takes place by the degenerating cells of the endoderm and ectoderm being turned into the digestive tract of the colony. VotumME IV., No. 3, February, 1903: 1. Axel Leonard Melander, ‘ Notes on the Struc- ture and Development of Hmbia texana.’ 2. W. R. Coe and B. W. Kunkel, ‘ A New Species of Nemertean (Cerebratulus melanops) from the Gulf of St. Lawrence.’ 3. R. P. Cowles, ‘Notes on the Rearing of the Larve of Polygordius appendiculatus and on the Oceurrence of the Adult on the Atlantic Coast of America.’ The rearing of the larve of an American Polygordius by the diatom method, and its identi- fication with the European species appendiculatus. 4. Arthur W. Greeley, ‘On the Effect of Varia- tion in the Temperature upon the Process of Artificial Parthenogenesis.’ The length of exposure to the solution necessary to produce artificial parthenogenesis of the un- - fertilized eggs of Asterias and Arbacia varies in- versely with the temperature. An increase of temperature to 27° C. liquefies the protoplasm of the Asterias eggs and produces a fragmentation of the nucleus. 5. Wm. Morton Wheeler, ‘ Zrebomyrma; a new genus of Hypogeic Ants from Texas.’ Containing an account of the first ant-genus to be established by an American. ‘ Science Abstracts will in future be pub- lished in two sections, Section A: physics em- bracing light, including photography; heat; sound; electricity and magnetism; chemical physical and electro-chemistry; general phys- ics; meteorology and térrestrial physics; phys- ical astronomy. Section B: embracing steam plant, gas and oil engines; automobiles; oil- engine-driven ships and launches; balloons and airships; general electrical engineering, including industrial electro-chemistry; elec- tric generators, motors and transformers; SCIENCE. 385 electrical distribution, traction and lighting; telegraphy and telephony. The American Physical Society is now joined with the Insti- tution of Electrical Engineers and the Phys- ical Society of London in the direction of the publication and has elected Professor E. H. Hall of Harvard University as its representa- tive on the publishing committee. In con- sequence of this arrangement, Section A will in future be received by all members of the American Physical Society. The American Institute of Electrical Engineers is also co- operating with the committee and taking special means to bring the publication to the notice of all its members, who will in future be able to obtain it at a reduced subscription rate through the secretary of the American Institute. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. SECTION OF ASTRONOMY, PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY. Av the meeting of the section on January 5, the following papers were presented: Mr. C. C. Trowbridge on ‘Some Facts Regarding Persistent Meteor Trails—the significance of size, color and drift’; Professor Harold Jacoby on a ‘Comparison of Astronomic Photographie Measures With the Reseau and Without it.’ At the meeting of February 2, Mr. Herschel C. Parker read a paper on ‘ Experiments Con- cerning Very Brief Electrical Contacts,’ ex- hibiting contact keys by means of which he could get a fairly accurate range of adjust- ment from 0.1 second to 0.00001 second. Professor Marston T. Bogert gaye a very interesting talk on ‘Some Products Derived from Coal” paying special reference to the products from coal-tar. From bituminous coal, by distillation, are derived: (1) Coal gas, (2) ammonia water, (3) tar and (4) coke. The uses of coal-gas and coke are so well known as to need no mentioning. In the United States, the total production of am- monium compounds for the year 1900 amounted to 2,700 tons, valued at about $2,000,000. 386 The chief source of coal-tar is the coal-gas manufacture, but large amounts are also ob- tained from the by-product coke ovens, the water-gas industry, ete. During the year 1900, twenty per cent. of the gas produced in the United States was coal-gas, requiring the distillation of 1,350,000 tons of coal, and pro- ducing thirteen and one half billion cubic feet of gas, 7. e., 10,000 cubic feet per ton of coal. The yield of tar is approximately five per cent. of the weight of the coal used; the product of tar was, therefore, 67,000 tons. If we add to this the 52,000 tons of tar from the by-product coke ovens, we have a total of about 120,000 tons of tar produced in 1900 from coal. This is less than one fifth of the amount produced in England from similar sources. The total production of coal-tar in Europe for the year 1898 was 1,120,000 tons. Coal tar is first roughly divided into the following fractions: (1) First runnings, or light oil Cighter than water); (2) middle oil, or earbolie oil; (3) heavy oil, dead oil, or ereosote oil; (4) anthracene oil, or green grease; (5) pitch (remains in the stills). These five products were taken up in de- tail, and about one hundred drugs, perfumes, ete., were exhibited, the method of derivation of the substances being explained. S. A. MitcHett, Secretary of Section. BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Tuer 366th meeting was held Saturday, Feb- ruary 7. Vernon Bailey spoke on ‘The Goodnight Herd of Buffaloes and Cataloes in Texas,’ say- ing that this comprised fifty buffaloes and about seventy cataloes, or crosses between the buffalo and domesticated cattle. The breed selected for crossing was the Polled Angus, and the half-bloods resembled these more than they did the buffalo, being black, of the same build, and often hornless. This cross has most excellent beef qualities, growing rapidly and reaching a weight of 1,800 pounds, while it is unusually hardy. Mr. Goodnight hopes to establish a fixed breed of this grade. So far all crosses have been between buffalo bulls and Polled Angus cows, the demand for SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 427. buffaloes being such that the buffalo cows have been kept breeding pure-blooded calves. T. H. Kearney presented a paper entitled ‘Further Observations on the Effect of Sodium and Magnesium Salts, with and without Cal- cium, upon Needlings.’ In experiments upon seedlings of the white lupine (Lupinus albus) it was found that the degree of toxicity of certain salts of sodium and magnesium was greatly affected by the presence or absence of calcium. In pure solu- tion magnesium sulphate was found to be far the most toxic, and sodium bicarbonate the least. In solutions to which an excess of calcium sulphate had been added the order of toxicity was quite different, sodium car- bonate being toxic in slightest concentration, while magnesium sulphate became decidedly the least toxic. In pure solution a 0.00125 normal solution of magnesium sulphate repre- sents the maximum concentration permitting the root tips of lupine seedlings to retain their vitality during a twenty-four-hours culture. Upon the addition of an excess of calcium sulphate, however, the root tips could survive in a normal 0.6 solution of the magnesium salt. : The question whether other higher plants, under exactly similar conditions of experi- ment, would show a corresponding relation to the same salts, immediately presented itself. With lucerne or alfalfa (Medicago sativa) almost identical results were obtained, the salts proving toxic in the same order and almost in the same degree, both in pure solu- tions and in solutions to which calcium sul- phate was added. As it was desirable to ascertain the effects of these salts on plants of widely different relationships, the experiments were repeated on maize, the criterion of toxic effect being the death point of the strongest rootlet. Very un- expected results were obtained, for with pure solutions both the relative and the absolute toxicity of the salts were found to be widely ° different from those observed in the case of the lupine. In pure solution the salt which killed at the lowest concentration was sodium carbonate, while the least toxic of all was ee MARcH 6, 1903.] magnesium sulphate. With the latter salt the root tip retained its vitality in a normal 0.25 solution, hence at a concentration of the pure solution two hundred times as great as the maximum which allowed lupine root tips to survive. Equally interesting results were obtained upon adding calcium sulphate to the solutions. It is important, in view of the diverse re- sults obtained, to continue the experiments with many different plants. Until that is done no generalizations are possible, and we may only say that the protoplasm of remotely related plants differs widely in its reaction to pure solutions of various mineral salts; while the addition of a calcium salt would appear to cause a certain amount of uniformity in the effect of each salt upon various organisms. Frank Bond discussed ‘Irrigation Methods and Machinery,’ illustrating his remarks with lantern slides showing how the conditions varied in different states and the different types of dams, reservoirs, canals and devices for measuring the amount of water used. He concluded with some remarks on the great Assouam dam on the upper Nile. F. A. Lucas. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Art the 138th meeting of the society, held in the assembly hall of the Cosmos Club, Wednesday evening, February 11, 1903, the following program was presented. Mr. W. C. Mendenhall, ‘Chitina Copper Deposits, Alaska.’ The Chitina copper belt is in the eastern part of the Copper River basin, Alaska. The deposits which have been exploited here are concentrations in various forms of copper, which is believed to have been distributed originally in minute quantities throughout an extensive series of basalt flows of pre-Permian age. The most promising ore bodies aré found near the contact with a heavy lime- stone which overlies the basalts. They occur as veins in the limestone and in the green- stone or as ‘bunches’ in the greenstone only. The ores are usually bornite or chaleocite in the surface exposures. Chalcopyrite and na- tive copper also occur. SCIENCE. 387 Mr. David White, ‘An Anthracite Coal Field Three and a half Hours West of Wash- ington.’ Under this title the speaker contributed some observations on the Sleepy Creek moun- tain basin in Morgan County, West Virginia. It has recently been thought by some geolo- gists that the coal-bearing series here might be of Pottsville age, but the stratigraphic and paleontologie evidence were stated by Mr. White to agree in indicating that the beds belong to the Pocono. One very thick, though highly impure, coal has been exposed at a number of localities. Its anthracitie character is ascribed to the porosity of its rock environment and the al- terative influences to which it has been sub- jected because of its extreme eastern position. This position perhaps accounts also for its exceptional thickness. Mr. George: W. Stose, ‘The Structure of a Part of South Mountain, Pennsylvania.’ South Mountain, the Blue Ridge of southern Pennsylvania, is composed of Lower Cambrian quartzites and shales forming a flat-topped, steep-sided anticline exposing Algonkian vol- canics in the center. The quartzites dip steeply beneath the limestone of the Cumber- land valley and only small local faults, if any, occur along the western flank of the mountain. Offsets of the mountain front are due to additional anticlines coming in on the north- west and plunging southwestward beneath the limestone, which partakes of the folding of the mountain rocks. The offset opposite Waynesboro is accentuated by faulting. Mr. Geo. Otis Smith, ‘Abandoned Stream Gaps in Northern Washington.’ The cases cited are in the Okanogan valley, and, as shown by photograph and contoured map, are peculiar topographic features, but very common in this region. Such series of gaps on the valley side result from the succes- sive occupation by streams flowing along’ the side of an expanding valley glacier. Antoine Coulee, near the junction of the Methow and Columbia Rivers has been described by Pro- fessor Russell as the fissure behind a displaced block. Glacial and physiographic evidence 388 SCIENCE. was cited, however, to show that this larger gorge was also the product of stream erosion at a time when the Columbia caiion was occu- pied by the Okanogan glacier with a thickness of ice exceeding 2,500 feet. W. C. MeENDENHALL, Secretary. THE RESEARCH CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. THE club met on the evening of January 91, and listened to a paper by Dr. C. L. Meader on ‘The Acquired Meanings of the Latin Pronoun Idem,’ and a paper by Pro- fessor H. S. Carhart on ‘The Role of Thermoelectromotive Forces in a -Voltaic Cell.’ The latter contained in brief the thermo- dynamic theory of a voltaic cell, so far as relates to itg properties dependent on tempera- ture. It was shown that all these could be completely explained by means of electrolytic thermoelectromotive forces between a metal and the liquid in contact with it. Thermo- electromotive forces exist without temperature difference at the junctions, for a current will either absorb or generate heat at a junction ac- cording to its direction in relation to that of the thermo-electromotive force there. Data were given showing that the tempera- ture coefficients of a Daniell cell, a Carhart- Clark cell, and a calomel cell are all accounted for numerically by the thermoelectromotive forces at the metal-liquid junctions. It was also shown that the heat represented by the second term of the Gibbs-Helmholtz equation is the difference between the heat generated at the negative electrode, where the current flows against the thermoelectromotive force, and that absorbed at the positive, where both current and electromotive force are in the same direction. The effects are thus local- ized in the cell. It was also demonstrated by curves and numerical data that the electromotive force of a concentration cell is explained for dilute solutions by the thermo-electromotive forces at the two electrodes, because this electro- motive force increases with the density of the solution. For this last reason also thermo- [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 497. electromotive forces explain the change in the electromotive force of a Daniell cell when the density of either solution is changed. All these conclusions have been confirmed by numerous measurements. FrepEerick C. NEwcoMBE, Secretary. ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. Tue 146th meeting was held in the Chem- ical Lecture Room, University of North Caro- lina, February 10, at 7:30 P.M. In a paper on ‘The Biological Blood Test,’ Dr. R. H. Whitehead gave an account of the recent work of Uhlenhuth in the serum- diagnosis of blood in various species of ani- mals, and ealled attention to its great im- portance in certain medico-legal cases. Under the title ‘Recent Work on Corals,’ Dr. J. E. Duerden gave an account of his work upon the septal development in recent and fossil corals. Im recent corals the septa beyond the primary septa—metasepta—are found to appear bilaterally, in a dorso-ventral sequence, within each of the six primary sys- tems, the adult radial symmetry being sec- ondary. In certain Paleozoic corals the meta- septa arise in a regular dorso-ventral succes- sion within only four of the six primary systems. ‘The Peter Cooper Hewitt Static Trans- former’ was described by Professor J. W. Gore. Cuas. BASKERVILLE, Secretary. COLORADO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. THE 31st, 32d and 33d meetings of the Col- orado Academy of Science were held in the rooms of the State Historical and Natural History Society of Colorado, in the Capitol building, Denver, Colorado, October 21, No- vember 18 and December 16, 1902. The membership of the academy is restricted to those members of the State Historical and Natural History Society of Colorado en- gaged in scientific work and investigation. These sessions of the academy have had an attendance ranging from about 100 to 300, and the outlook for the winter meetings is most encouraging. ee ee Makcu 6, 1903. ] At the 31st meeting the death of Professor A. M. Collett was announced, and Mrs. Cor- nelia §S. Miles, first vice-president, became acting president. Mrs. Miles is principal of the Broadway School, Denver, Colorado, and has received the degree of A.M. in the gradu- ate school of the University of Denver, and last summer was engaged in scientific work in the graduate school of the University of Chicago. Professor George L. Cannon, who for a number of years had been engaged with Pro- fessor Collett in scientific work in the East Denver High School, gave a sketch of his life, and offered resolutions which were adopted. Mr. E. B. Sterling delivered a lecture on ‘puff balls,’ obtained in Denver and vicinity, explaining the difference between them and the eastern forms. He pronounced the sev- eral species at Denver, so far as tested by his observations and experience, to be edible. His lecture was supplemented by a short ad- dress by Professor Ellsworth Bethel, a recog- nized authority on botany in Colorado. Pro- fessor George L. Cannon followed with an address on the ‘Death of the Leaves, con- trasting the fall colors of this region with those of the East. At the 32d meeting, ‘Navajo Blankets, their History and Symbolism,’ was the topic for discussion. After some introductory re- marks by Dr. J. B. Kinley, Colonel U. S. Hollister spoke at length on the subject, il- lustrating his remarks by about sixty-five blankets from his own private collection. He described their system of weaving, use of dyes, and the meaning of the symbols. Dr. A. L. Bennett delivered a lecture at the 33d meeting on the ‘ Value of the Cranial Capacity as Indicating the Degree of Intel- ligence Enjoyed by the Prehistoric Cliff Dwellers of our Great Southwest.’ Dr. Ben- nett, in addition to being chairman of the Section of Anthropology and Ethnology of the Colorado Academy of Science, is also a fellow of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Dr. Bennett has spent considerable time examining and meas- uring the cranial capacity of the large col- lection of the Oliff Dweller skulls from the SCIENCE. 389 Mancos region, Colorado, in the museum of the State Historical and Natural History Society of Colorado. From data obtained in these measurements he gives them a higher grade of intelligence than has been accorded by some to these primitive people. Mrs. W. S. Peabody read a paper on the ‘Work and Plans of the Cliff Dwellings Association,’ being an interesting review of efforts made to preserve from vandalism and the relic hunter the prehistoric ruins of the Southwest. Wii. C. Ferrin, Secretary. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. THE PUBLICATION OF REJECTED NAMES. I wish to speak quite respectfully of Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell; but surely systematists would be much happier if he and his like did not raise such disturbing questions as that in Science for January 30, p. 189. Had he chosen to condemn Messrs. Banks and Knowl- ton, first for wasting time, ink and paper over names that they never intended to use, sec- ondly for presumption in substituting their own inventions for those of Marx and Les- quereux, then one would have applauded him. But all he objects to in them is that they in- advertently happened to print the so-called MS. names a page or so ahead of the new names proposed by themselves. Mr. Cock- erell does not attempt to prove that the MS. names were published five minutes earlier, and it is clear that the publication of the old and new names was simultaneous in each paper. The precise number of pages, lines, or words that intervened can make no differ- ence. Suppose that Mr. Banks had written as follows: “For this species of Filistrata there is a choice of two names: F’. oceanea and F. fasciata. The name F’. oceanea has been found on an unpublished label, but since in my opinion it is inappropriate, I shall call the species F’. fasciata.’ Now to be consist- ent, Mr. Cockerell would have to insist that in writing thus Mr. Banks contravened the rules of nomenclature, because he introduced oceanea first. ‘An two men ride of a horse, one must ride behind.’ Surely an author does not lose his freedom of choice before he 390 SCIENCE. has finished posing the question? On the contrary, I regard the names F. oceanea and fF. fasciata as equal in their pretensions, until the choice is made. Once made, the person that attempts to upset it is the true begetter of confusion. But does Mr. Cockerell’s conclusion follow from his premises? The conception under- lying his application of the law of priority is that place is to be reckoned as time. Now a specific name has no standing until a de- scription of the species denoted thereby has been published, and until the name in ques- tion has been associated therewith. Till then it is a nomen nudum. The name Filistrata oceanea is, we are told, a nomen nudum. Even had it been published in a previous paper, it would, in the absence of a descrip- tion, have remained a nomen nudum. Tt ap- pears first on page 50 of Mr. Banks’ paper, but without description; and it remains with- out description for five whole pages. During all this space, it remains a nomen nudum. Mr. Banks may asseverate as often as he pleases that F. oceanea is identical with PF. fasciata. But F. fasciata does not exist (for Mr. Cockerell), except as a nomen nudum, till page 55 is reached. Here is a description at last; but the name associated with that de- scription is not F’. oceanea but F. fasciata. It is this latter then that ceases first to be a nomen nudum. The case of Cucumites lesquereuxii Knowl- ton is different; but even this may, on Mr. Cockerell’s principles, be defended. For it follows from the axiom ‘place=time’ that every name is a nomen nudum until the diag- nosis or description is complete. But the description of the fruit under discussion once finished, Mr. Knowlton calls it, not Oucwmites globulosus, but C. lesquereuxii. Mr. Cockerell may retort that this is mere hair-splitting and childish chop-logic. Tt is. But it is the natural outcome of an attempt to subject mere modes of expression to a rule obviously intended to apply to essential mat- ters and not to the niceties of style. To save all misunderstanding, let me repeat emphatically that I am not defending either Mr. Banks or Mr. Knowlton. I have no [N. 8. VoL. XVIL. No. 427, sympathy with people who print names for the mere sake of rejecting them, or who tell us what they might have done or what some- body else might do if circumstances had been different, and so forth. If such action be in any degree checked by Mr. Cockerell’s argu- ments, their publication will have had one good result. F. A. Barner. MOTION OF TRANSLATION OF A GAS IN A VACUUM. (REPLY TO MR. R. W. WOOD.) In the hope that if I bring around Mr. R. W. Wood to my view of the energy required to set a gas in motion of translation in a vacuum, he will not find my explanation of the energy changes which take place when a gas expands into a vacuum unnecessary, I will only take up here that view. Mr. Wood in his second note (Scmnce for December 5) on a communication of mine to the American Association says: We sometimes find the statement in text-books that a gas expanding under such conditions that no work is done experiences no cooling, for ex- ample, when expanding into an infinite vacuum. It appears questionable, however, whether a gas ean expand without doing work. Leaving out of consideration the internal work, 7. e., the over- coming of the forces of cohesion, we still have the gas in the receiver doing work in giving a motion of translation to the mass of gas thrown out into the vacuum. I think, however, that it can be proved that no work is necessary to set a gas in motion of translation in a vacuum by the following reasoning. Suppose that in a body of gas all the molecules move with the same velocity in- stead of having, as we assume according to the kinetic theory, velocities varying greatly in magnitude, and that the identical velocity of all the molecules plays in other respects the same part which we attribute to the mean molecular velocity, e. g., that to each degree of temperature of a gas a fixed velocity corre- sponds, ete. Let that gas be compressed in a receiver and then allowed to enter a vacuous vessel which communicates with the latter. What will happen? To my mind, it can hardly be conceived that anything else could take place than the uniform distribution of the Mirdcrnicdesbtecananaiers cme ¢ ee ARCH 6, 1903.] gas in both vessels, the same temperature ob- taining throughout its entire mass. For how eould a difference of temperature result when no other action between the molecules is pos- sible than their collisions with one another, collisions which cannot affect the molecule’s kinetic energy (the kinetic energy of each molecule being the same according to our sup- position). But if it is admitted that in the supposed case the two vessels will be filled uni- formly with the gas at the same temperature throughout, it is also admitted that a portion of the gas was set in motion of translation without any work haying been done. The only objection that could be raised to the above reasoning is perhaps this: the gas, while compressed in the receiver, has motion of agitation and, after equilibrium is estab- lished upon a portion of the gas having en- tered the vacuous vessel, it has again the same motion of agitation, but while passing from the receiver into and through the vacu- ous vessel a portion of the gas had, in addi- tion, motion of translation which must be superimposed on the motion of agitation. There thus seems to be here a plus of energy to be accounted for. But this objection can be met by considering more closely the three stages in time which the phenomenon of the expansion of a gas into a vacuum presents. First, in the compression chamber all the gas has only motion of agitation, then while tra- yersing the vacuous vessel the respective por- tion of the gas has only or mainly motion of translation at the expense of its original mo- tion of agitation; and lastly, on striking the walls of the empty vessel the incoming gas has its motion of translation reconverted into motion of agitation. If the above reasoning is correct, it means that just as to set one gas molecule in motion of translation in a vacuum does not require anything else than its own motion of agita- tion (which will, I believe, be admitted by every one), so with a body of gas. But if in the hypothetical case no change in the magnitude of the kinetic energy of the individual molecules is required to ‘ trans- late’ (if I may use the expression) a portion of the molecules, why should it be necessary SCIENCE, — 391 in the actual case as understood on the basis of the kinetic theory? It is true that we observe here a redistribution of energy and a ‘translation’ of a portion of the gas, but this ‘translation’ would have taken place if there were no redistribution of energy. Perer Fireman. WASHINGTON, D. C. WILL-MAKING. To tHe Eprror or Scrence: The ever-recur- ring contests of wills, the disputes as to their validity, their meaning in general and par- ticular, the interpretation of their peculiar- ities and seeming inconsistencies, etc., are such a damage to private comfort and to the public welfare in the highest sense, that any means of lessening the growing evil must be welcomed by all concerned. As part remedy at least, I would suggest the establishment by each state of a court or other properly constituted body, whose duty and business it should be, upon application, to consider and validate during the lifetime of the testator his will, which, after approval could be deposited with the necessary secrecy, as a thoroughly competent legal instrument. To change a will, the same process should be gone through again. This presentation, vali- dation and placing on record should absolutely bar all actions designed to break or alter the will after the death or subsequent incapacity of the testator. The way in which the Tor- rens land-title has been instituted in some ~ countries is, if not a precedent, an instance of the successful treatment of a kindred diffi- culty. An unbreakable will might turn out to be as great a boon as an indefeasible title. ALEXANDER EF’. CHAMBERLAIN. CLARK UNIVERSITY, WORCESTER, MASS., [It is said of Charles Darwin in the ‘ Life and Letters’: ‘He would declare energetically that if he were law-giver no will should be valid that was not published in the testator’s lifetime.’ It is not clear how a secret will could be validated in the manner suggested by Professor Chamberlain, but there appears to be no reason why it should not be possible to probate a will during the lifetime of the testator. Such legal and moral scandals as 392 the subversion of the intentions of Stewart, Tilden, Fayerweather and others would thus be rendered impossible.—Kpitor. | SHORTER ARTICLES. SLEEPY GRASS AND ITS EFFECT ON HORSES. In the Pecos Valley of New Mexico a year ago, a ranchman told me of a strange kind of grass found in the Sacramento Mountains _ west of there which, from its peculiar effect on horses, is called ‘sleepy grass.’ He de- seribed it as differing from the locoes in merely putting horses into a deep sleep with- out other symptoms of poison. The story had a far-away sound and made little impression at the time, but last Sep- tember, as I was traveling along the crest of the Sacramento Mountains, it came back to me with a new interest. We had made camp one evening in a beauti- ful park, bordered with spruces and firs, and covered with tall grass that, with its green base leaves and ripe heads loaded with heavy rye-like grain, offered a tempting feast to our hungry animals. The moment saddles and harness were off, the horses were eagerly feed- ing. A few minutes later a passing ranch- man stopped his team and called over to us, “Look out there! Your horses are getting sleepy grass,’ and added, ‘If they get a good feed of that grass you will not get out of here for a week.’ We were not prepared to spend a week in that locality, but I was anxious to test the grass, so let the horses feed for a half hour, then brought them up for their oats and picketed them on some short grass on a side hill well out of reach of the sleepy grass. The following morning just after sunrise the cook called my attention to the attitude of one of the team horses, saying there was “sure something the matter with old Joe.’ The horse was standing on the side hill, asleep, his feet braced wide apart, head high in air, both ears and under lip dropped, a most ridiculous picture of profound slumber. The other horses apparently had not eaten as much of the grass as old Joe, for they were merely dozing in the morning sun and showed signs of life in an occasional shake of the head or switch of the tail. At breakfast time the SCIENCE. LN. S. Von. XVII. No. 427. others woke up to a keen interest in their ~ oats, but old Joe, after being dragged to camp much against his will, preferred to sleep rather than eat, and after pulling back on his rope all the way down to the spring, re- fused to drink or even lower his head to water. My little saddle mare showed the least signs of the general stupor, so dropping behind with her, I woke the others up pretty thoroughly and brought them into camp on a lope. Later, when in the harness, the team traveled along steadily with some urging, but when we reached Cloudecroft and left the horses in front of the store while getting sup- plies, their heads dropped, and for an hour they slept soundly. Even my nervy little mare did not move from her tracks, but stood with drooping ears, paying no attention to the unusual surroundings and stir of a town. On starting again the saddle horses responded to the spurs with worried switches of the tail quite different from their usual manner, while the team paid no greater attention to the whip. For the rest of the day our progress was slow, notwithstanding which, the driver called my attention to the fact that the team, and especially old Joe, were sweating pro- fusely. Our saddle horses would sigh with relief when allowed to stop for a moment, and we had many a good laugh at the flap- ping ears of my companion’s horse—a large- eared, raw-boned cayuse which seemed to have lost all control of her usually erect ears. That night we camped in another park- like valley where sleepy grass was abundant, but took care to picket the horses out of reach of it. They were hungry and all began to feed eagerly, but old Joe soon stopped, braced his feet and relaxed into forgetful slumber. The next morning when we went to bring them in for their grain all were fast asleep. The stupor lasted about three days, and was too evident and unusual to be attributed to weariness or natural indisposition. We were making easy trips and the horses were in good condition. After it wore off they showed their usual spirit and energy, as well as appetite. The only after-effect was a gaunt appearance, apparently resulting from lack of a MakcH 6, 1903.] energy to get their usual amount of grass. Old Joe had even refused his grain for about half the time. It should be remembered that our horses had but a small amount of the grass. The ranchmen told us that other travelers coming into the country had been obliged to camp for a week while their horses slept off the effect of a good feed of it, and while its ef- fects usually lasted for a week or ten days, it did no more serious damage than to leave the animals thin from fasting. Stories were told of horses being lost in the mountains and found several days later in the bushes near camp fast asleep. I have offered no real proof that this par- ticular species of grass is what affected our horses. They undoubtedly ate a dozen other species of grass, as well as some other plants, every day while we were in the mountains. But after our experience I am inclined to give credit to the uniform statements of the ranchmen in regard to it. All agree on the species, on its effects, and to the fact that after one good dose of sleepy grass, horses will never touch it again. This latter state- ment has ample proof. Horses and cattle are ranging in many of the valleys where it grows in abundance, untouched and full of ripe seed, while the other grasses are cropped close all around it. I did not see horses or cattle touch it except in the case of our own animals and the team of another traveler from the valley, all of which ate it eagerly. They ate both the base leaves and the heads that were full of ripe seeds. I shelled out and ate a handful of the seeds, but without noticeable effect. The ranchmen generally agree that it is the leaves which produce the sleepiness. I did not hear that cattle were affected by it, but they certainly avoid it, as many were grazing near where it stood untouched. While this experience was new to me, I find that sleepy grass has long been known to botanists as such, or technically as Stipa vaseyt. Something has been known of its effects on horses, but apparently its chemical properties have not yet been determined. Vernon Batury. SCIENCE. 393 THE VERTEBRAL COLUMN OF BRONTOSAURUS. AurnoucH the genus Brontosaurus Marsh has been known from the greater part of the skeleton for more than twenty years, many points of interest concerning its structure re- main undetermined. The Field Columbian Museum Expedition of 1900 was fortunate in securing a large part of a skeleton of one of these great reptiles in such a state of preserva- tion that the bones of the torso and base of the tail were scarcely disturbed from their relative positions. This splendid specimen, which is now almost ready for exhibition, makes it possible to determine the vertebral formula of the thoracic and anterior caudal regions, as well as many other minor features. The specimen consists of eleven presacral vertebre, five coalesced sacral, and twenty- three caudal vertebre, with pelvis, ribs and chevrons almost intact. The eleventh pre- sacral was exposed and partially broken away when found. From that point backward the thoracic, sacral and caudal vertebre, as far as caudal X|||,, were lying in a close series, with their centra nowhere displaced more than two or three inches. Most of the ribs and many of the chevrons were also found in position. The specimen throughout agrees very close- ly, both in size and in character, with Marsh’s type, Brontosaurus eacelsus. However, it shows that with regard to the thoracic region his final restoration was considerably at fault. In fact his first figure* shows the thorax much more nearly correct. Counting the five coalesced vertebree as sacral, the thoracic series in this specimen is made up of ten rib-bearing vertebre. The eleventh, as before stated, has been partially lost, but enough remains to show that the transverse process is replaced by a cervical rib. A noticeable reduction in size of the rib facets on presacral X together with the much-reduced neural spines on presacral XI., bears out the conclusion that the latter is the posterior cervical. We may, therefore, conclude that the number of thoracic vertebre in this genus is ten instead of fourteen as estimated by Marsh. The crest of the dorsal arch was evidently *Am. Jour. Sci., Vol. XXVI., pt. I. O94 SCIENCE. just in front of the sacrum, where the dorsal spines reach their greatest length. From this point they rapidly fall away in both the caudal and the thoracic series. In the fourth pre- sacral the first evidence of bifurcation appears in a slight concavity on the posterior margin of the spine. In the eighth, bifurcation is complete, the median spine being replaced by two slender and laterally directed processes. In the eleventh presacral, or posterior cervical, these lateral spines are reduced to mere rudi- ments. The anterior caudal series departs less widely from that represented in Marsh’s restoration. Indeed, the gradual reduction of the series posteriorly offers no reliable basis of com- parison. The first caudal may be readily recognized by the semi-concave, semi-convex anterior surface of the centrum. It is also but little excavated laterally. The four suc- ceeding caudals are more or less excavated at the base of the transverse processes. In one or two instances these fosse descend deeply into the centra, but as they are some- times present on one side and absent on the other they can not be regarded as constant characters. However, as Marsh has estimated the first caudal having a solid centrum as caudal |V., it is quite probable that three ver- tebree, instead of one, were missing in his specimen from the anterior end of the series. On the other hand, Dr. Osborn has probably erred on the side of estimating the number of anterior caudals as too great, if indeed the specimen described by him * as Camarasaurus syn. Brontosaurus may be regarded as belong- ing to this genus at all. The centra of the anterior caudals are markedly proccelous in form, but as they diminish in size and complexity this character disappears, so that in the region of the fif- teenth they become irregularly amphiplatyan. The transverse processes are rapidly reduced in size, from broad flattened plates to peg-like processes, and disappear entirely with the twelfth. As has been pointed out by Osborn and by Hatcher with regard to Diplodocus, the three types of chevrons (viz., the closed arch, * Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. X., p. 219. - [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 427. the open arch and the double arch types) are all found in Brontosawrus, ranging in the order named from the anterior end of the series backward. The presence of a short, stout, closed chevron imbedded in the matrix below the first caudal suggests that the whole series may have been cheyron-bearing. As the double arch pattern is also known to occur in Morosaurus, the three types may be re- garded as characteristic of the Sauropoda. A complete description of this splendid specimen will be given in an early issue of the museum publications. K. S. Rices. Fimtp CoLtumBian MusEum, January 10, 1903. AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. Av the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, on Monday evening, Feb- ruary 9, announcement was made in the Presi- dent’s report of many notable accessions to - the collections of the Museum during the year 1902. sions are the following: The Cope collection of fossil reptiles, am- phibians and fishes, and the Robinson collec- tion of archeological copper inplements, the two collections being gifts of the President. Many rare and superb specimens have been added to the J. Pierpont Morgan collections of gems and gem minerals, and the Museum is indebted to the same donor, Mr. Morgan, for a type collection of gold and silver coins of the United States Mint. The Duke of Loubat has presented a collec- tion of ancient jadeite ornaments from Mexico and a valuable ethnological collection from Brazil. The material received through the expedi- tions, supported by the Museum and through special gifts, has yielded gratifying results. Among the noteworthy expeditions are: The William C. Whitney expedition in search of fossil horses. The researches carried on in Mexico through the contributions of B. T. Babbitt Hyde and Frederick E. Hyde, Jr. The archeological research carried on in the Among the most important acces- . ets S + ti 2a 4 —e9- EE es Makcu 6, 1903.) Delaware valley at the expense of Dr. Fred- erick E. Hyde, and the field work among the vanishing tribes of the North American In- dians, supported mainly through the contri- butions of Mrs. C. P. Huntington and Archer M. Huntington. The Jesup North Pacific Expedition has yielded a large quantity of material. The Eastern Asiatic Research expedition, maintained through the assistance of a friend of the Museum, has added to the collections a series of valuable and interesting objects illustrating the culture of China. The expedition under Andrew J. Stone, who has been collecting specimens of the large fur-bearing animals in the far north, has enriched the Museum collections with many specimens of caribou, bear, deer and sheep, which will be utilized in the prepara- tion of groups of the animals, represented with their natural environment. A large quantity of material has been re- ceived from Commander Robert E. Peary, through the Peary Arctic Club. The library of the Museum has received many gifts of desirable works, the most note- worthy being a gift of 287 volumes on conchol- ogy, for which the Trustees are indebted to Frederick A. Constable. President Jesup referred to the loss to the Board in the death of Abram S. Hewitt, who had been a Trustee since 1874. The officers for the year are: c President—Morris K. Jesup (Twenty-third term). First Vice-President—J. Pierpont Morgan. Second Vice-President—Professor Henry Fair- field Osborn. Treasurer—Charles Lanier. Director—Dr. Hermon C. Bumpus. Secretary-Assistant Treasurer—John H. Winser. THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE FOR MEDI- CAL RESEARCH.* Tue Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re- search was founded in 1901, by Mr. John D. Rockefeller, who gave for this purpose the sum of two hundred thousand dollars. The *A statement sent us by the secretary of the institute, Dr. L. Emmett Holt. SCIENCE. 395 aims of the institute are the promotion of medical research, with especial reference to the prevention and treatment of disease. It was thought wise by the directors of the institute not, at first, to concentrate the work in any one locality, but to enlist the interest and cooperation of such inyestigators through- out the country as might be engaged in promising researches or who might enter upon new fields if suitable pecuniary assistance could be afforded them. It was the convic- tion of the directors that in this way it would be possible not only to stimulate and foster valuable contributions to science, but also to secure important practical suggestions as to the lines along which the institute might most wisely develop. Among the large number of applications for assistance in carrying on original studies which relate to the cause, prevention and cure of disease, and to the problems upon which new knowledge on these subjects must be based, over twenty have been selected. The directors have secured counsel in these selec- tions from the heads of departments or others in the universities of Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins, Pennsylvania, Columbia, New York, Chicago, Michigan, McGill, Wesleyan, Cali- fornia and Western Reserve; and in many of these institutions work has been prosecuted. Two of the Rockefeller fellows have been working in Europe. Some of the workers under these Rockefeller Institute grants, which vary in amount from two hundred to fifteen hundred dollars, have completed and published their investigations; some are still engaged upon them. It is the purpose of the directors, from time to time, to bring together in the form of vol- umes of collected reprints, the results of these researches which may be published in various technical journals. An arrangement has been effected by which the institute will assume the publication of the Journal of HLxperimental Medicine which will remain under the edi- torial supervision of Dr. William H. Welch, professor of pathology in the Johns Hopkins University, and president of the board of di- rectors of the institute. At the end of the first year of practical 396 SCIENCE. work of careful study of the situation, it be- came clear to the directors that existing insti- tutions in this country, while in many in- stances carrying on most valuable researches in medicine, do not afford adequate facilities for many phases of investigation which are of the utmost importance and urgency. This is in part due to the lack of sufficient en- dowment, in part to the large demands made upon the time and energy of the workers by their duties as teachers. It was further evi- dent that such assistance as the institute had thus far been enabled to extend to selected investigators in various parts of the country had fostered work of great actual value, as well as of high promise, and should be per- petuated along similar lines. The directors, however, were united in the conviction that the highest aims of the insti- tute could not be secured in this way alone. Useful as such individual studies are and im- portant as it is to enlist and to maintain the ‘interest of research workers in established in- stitutions of learning, it is not possible in this way to secure the unity of aim and the co- ordination and mutual stimulus and support which are essential to the highest achieve- ments in research. These are to be secured, it was believed, only by the centralization of certain lines at least of the work of the insti- tute under a competent head or series of heads of departments, in a fixed place, with adequate equipment and permanent endow- ment. There is no lack of men of sufficient train- ing and experience ready to devote their lives to the solution of medical problems which bear directly or indirectly upon the welfare of man- kind. The widely open fields of research are many. Some of these relate to the applica- tion of existing knowledge to the prevention and cure of disease; others to the develop- ment of new knowledge along various lines of science which more than ever before give promise of great significance in the problems of physical life. In a broad sense, the directions and meth- ods for the study of disease may be classified as morphological, physiological and chemical; and the institute, it was thought, should in- [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 427. clude departments providing for these divi- sions of the subject. For the morphological study of disease there should be a complete equipment for pathological-anatomical re- search. For the physiological study of disease provision should be made for experimental pathology, for pharmacology and therapeutics, for the study of bacteria and other micro- organisms with especial reference to their re- lation to the infectious diseases, and for other investigations in personal and public hygiene, including preventive medicine. Here belong especially the problems of infection and im- munity, and here also, in large part, such studies as require access to patients in hos- pitals. There should be a laboratory, well equipped for investigations in physiological and pathological chemistry. It was the conviction of the directors that such an institute might wisely add to its aims in the direct increase of the knowledge of dis- ease and its prevention and cure, a phase of activity which should look toward the educa- tion of the people in the ways of healthful living, by popular lectures, by hygienic mu- seums, by the diffusion of suitable literature, ete. For, in fact, the existing agencies for medical research for the most part stop short of those direct and widely diffused applica- tions of newly won knowledge upon which the immediate practical fruitage of their work so largely depends. In order that the causes and treatment of human disease may be studied to the best ad- vantage, it was the opinion of the directors that there should be attached to the institute a hospital for the investigation of special groups of cases of disease. This hospital should be modern and fully equipped, but it need not be large. It should attempt to pro- vide only for selected cases of disease, and the patients would thus secure the advantages of special and skilled attendance and such cura- tive agencies as the institute might develop or foster. Tt was thought that an institute for medical research of the largest promise would require a central institution, fully equipped and en- dowed, and with capacity for growth, in which the more comprehensive studies demanding eee ie ee as ei MAkcH 6, 1903.] the coordinated forces of various phases of science could be carried on from year to year; while at the same time, by means of such grants of assistance as had been offered during the initial year, it should continue to make available the resources of special workers all over the country, as well as in Europe. In view of the above considerations relating to its future, in June, 1902, Mr. Rockefeller gave to the institute the sum of one million dollars for the purchase of suitable land, the erection of buildings, and the organization of a working force along the broader lines which had been projected. It is the purpose of the directors to proceed at once to the erection of a laboratory building which will provide for the present requirements and will be capable of enlargement as the character and extent of the work of the institute may develop. Negotiations for a suitable plot are now under way. A small hospital will also be built in the immediate future, which will be maintained in close association with the experimental work of the institute. Provision will be made in the laboratory building for research in physiological chem- istry, pharmacology and therapeutics; in nor- mal and pathological physiology; and in vari- ous phases of morphology; and for the study of bacteria and other microorganisms. It is hoped that the laboratory buildings may be completed and ready for the commencement of work in the autumn of 1904. Dr. Simon Flexner, professor of pathology in the University of Pennsylvania, will direct the scientific work when the building is com- pleted. His colleagues deem it of the highest importance that the institute has been able to secure so eminent an inyestigator as Dr. Flexner to shape the work of its early years. Dr. Flexner will spend several months abroad while the new buildings are in course of erec- tion. It is proposed to organize the various sec- tions and departments into which the work of the institute will naturally fall so that each of them, though in a measure autonomous, will still be so closely associated as to favor the conjoint investigation of comprehensive SCIENCE. 397 Associated with the head of each of these departments it is proposed to have a staff of trained assistants. Provision will also be made for research work by a group of trained men, to be desig- nated fellows, scholars, ete., of the institute, under pecuniary grants of varying amounts. Finally, opportunity will be afforded to suit- able investigators, not members of the regular staff of the institute, to pursue special lines of research. The directors of the institute are: Dr. William H. Welch, Baltimore; Dr. T. Mit- chell Prudden, New York; Dr. Theobald Smith, Boston; Dr. Simon Flexner, Philadelphia; Dr. Hermann M. Biggs, New York; Dr. C. A. Herter, New York; Dr. L. Emmett Holt, New York. problems. The officers are: President—Dr. William H. Welch. Vice-President—Dr. T. Mitchell Prudden. Secretary—Dr. L. Emmett Holt. Treasurer—Dr. C. A. Herter. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. Dr. J. H. van’r Horr, professor of chem- istry at the University of Berlin, has been elected a corresponding member of the Acad- emy of Sciences at Munich, and an honorary member of the Philosophical Society of Cam- bridge. M. E. Mascart has been elected a member of the International Committee on Weights and Measures. Tue Lucey Wharton Drexel medal of the University of Pennsylvania was presented to Professor F. W. Putnam at the Founder’s Day celebration on February 21. The medal was established four years ago, but no awards were made until this year, when four were awarded at one time. The other three to re- ceive the medal are: Professor Petrie for his work at Abydos; Professor Evans for his ex- eavations at Crete; and Professor Hilprecht for work in Babylonia. Hereafter one medal will be awarded each year ‘ for the best excavations in archeology or for the best pub- lication, based on archeology, by an English- speaking scholar.’ Next year the medal will 398 SCIENCE. be awarded by the first four recipients to one whom they deem the most worthy. Dr. J. WatreR FEwkKEs, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, who has been in Porto Rico since last November, has sent a large number of valuable specimens to Washington. Messrs. Winuiam K. Wricur and W. K. Palmer, of the Lick Observatory, left San Francisco on February 28 for Santiago, Chili, where astronomical observations will be made in accordance with the plan we have already announced. The expenses, it will be remem- bered, are defrayed by Mr. D. O. Mills. Limur. Boyp ALrexaNnper has returned from an expedition to the Island of Fernando Po in continuation of his survey of the birds of western Africa and the adjacent islands. His collection represents sixty-eight species, of which no fewer than thirty-two are new to science. Mr. Srewart Cun, recently curator of the Museum of Science and Art of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, has become curator of ethnology to the Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. Dr. A. S. Grinsaum, F.R.C.P., has accepted the post of director of cancer. research at the invitation of the committee appointed to ad- minister the fund initiated for that purpose by a gift of £10,000 from Mr. Sutton Timmis of Liverpool. The work will be carried on at the University College and Royal Infirmary in Liverpool. Dr. W. H. C. RepeKe has been appointed director of the Zoological Station at Helger, Holland, in place of Dr. P. C. C. Hoek, who has become general secretary of the Interna- tional Bureau otf Oceanography at Copen- hagen. Dr. Epuarp ZELLER, emeritus professor of philosophy at Berlin, has recently celebrated his eighty-ninth birthday. Dr. J. BisHop Tincir, professor of chem- istry at Illinois College, Jacksonville, Ill., has received a grant of $500 from the Carnegie Institution to enable him to continue his in- vestigations of derivatives of camphor and allied compounds. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 427. i Tue Academy of Sciences at Berlin has made appropriations of 2,000 Marks to Pro- fessor Landolt and of 1,500 Marks to Dr. Marckwald, both of Berlin, for work in chem- istry; of 1,000 Marks to Dr. Danneberg, of Aachen, for work in mineralogy, and of 800 Marks to Professor Kobert, of Rostock, for work in pharmacology. Dr. H. W. Witey, chief of the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture gave a lecture before the American Philosoph- ical Society in Philadelphia, on February 6, on ‘The Composition and Adulteration of Foods’; before the Society of Medical Juris- prudence at New York, on February 9, on “The Adulteration of Drugs and Laws Rela- ting Thereto’; before the National Canners’ Association at Washington, on February 12, on ‘Chemical Problems relating to the Can- ning Industry’; and before the National Geo- graphic Society at Washington, on February 18, on ‘ The United States: its Soils and their Products.’ Mrs. -Rowxanp has given to the Johns Hop- kins University the library of the late Pro- fessor Rowland relating to spectroscopy, and a former student has given a fund of over $5,000 to purchase books on this subject. With these gifts, there will be established a “Henry A. Rowland memorial library’ to con- tain publications in the field of radiation and spectroscopy. To make the collection com- plete, and to maintain its usefulness, the co- operation of observatories, laboratories and investigators is necessary. It is requested that sets of official publications, books, re- prints of papers on spectroscopy or allied subjects, and photographs of spectra and of apparatus will be contributed to the library, both now and in the future. They may be addressed to the care of Professor Joseph S. Ames, director of the Physical Laboratory,. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. Proressor CzperNy, son-in-law of the late Professor Kussmaul,-has had the house at Kandern, where Kussmaul lived in his early years, marked with a tablet with the following inscription: ‘ Adolf Kussmaul, later Professor ee ee hd ee Marcu 6, 1903.] at Erlangen, Heidelberg, Freiburg, and Strass- burg, practised here, 1850-1853.’ Rear-Apmirat WittraM Harkness, U.S.N. (retired), the eminent astronomer, president of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science in 1893, died on February 28 of typhoid fever, in his sixty-sixth year. RicHarpD JorRDAN GATLING, inventor of the gun that bears his name and of various agri- cultural implements, died on February 26, in his eighty-fourth year. Mrs. M. L. D. Putnam, of Davenport, Iowa, died on February 20. Mrs. Putnam was presi- dent of the Davenport Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. WE regret also to record the death of Dr. Charles Dufour, professor of astronomy at the University of Lausanne, and of Dr. René Thomas Mamert, professor of chemistry at the University of Freiberg, in Switzerland. Mr. Henry Puirps, of New York, has given a further sum of $50,000, making $60,000 in all, for the promotion of scientific work in India. It is said that the money will be used for a Pasteur Institute in southern India and for an agricultural laboratory in Cashmere. Tuere will be a civil service examination on March 24 to fill the position of assistant curator in the division of physical anthropol- ogy in the National Museum at a salary of $1,800. On the same day there will be an examination for the position of laboratory as- sistant in the Bureau of Soils, Department of Agriculture, at a salary ranging from $840 to $1,200. A Boston chapter of the American Insti- tute of Electrical Engineers was established at the Massathusetts Institute of Technology on February 13, Professor Elihu Thomson pre- siding. Tue United States has been invited to take part in an agricultural congress, which will be held at Rome from April 19 to 23. Tur Davenport Academy of Science is having a loan exhibit of objects illustrating weaving. Among over 250 specimens on ex- hibition are some rare Aleutian, together with fine Alaskan and Californian baskets. In SCIENCE. 399 connection with the basketry exhibit is shown a collection of Navajo blankets, Mexican mats and ethnological specimens from the South Sea Islands and Manila. Tue Geographical Journal states that the Swedish expedition which went last summer to Spitzbergen to complete the operations for the measurement of an are of the meridian, left unfinished the preceding year owing to unfavorable weather conditions, returned dur- ing the autumn after successfully accomplish- ing its task, a junction being effected with the Russian net of triangles in the more southern parts of the group. The operations were be- gun in 1898, and had, therefore, occupied in all no less than five summers. We learn from the London Times that in order to encourage investigations into the increase of fertility in soils by the action of bacteria and other micro-organisms, under the influence of mineral manures, with special reference to manuring with basic slag, Verein der Thomasphosphatfabriken has instituted a competition, with prizes amounting to a total of £1,950. Scientific essays and experiments conducted by practical farmers will be admis- sible in the competition. The method of treatment of the subject is left to the discre- tion of each competitor. The competition is to be open to all, without regard to nationality. The following five gentlemen have consented to act as Judges, any of whom will be pleased to give particular information to intending competitors: Government-Adviser Dr. L. Hilt- ner, principal of the Royal Agricultural and Bacteriological Institution, Munich; Professor Dr. Alfred Koch, principal of the Royal Agri- cultural and Bacteriological Institution, the University, Géttingen; Professor Dr. Remy, principal of the Institute for Researches and Bacteriology, the Royal Agricultural Univer- sity, Berlin; Professor Dr. A. Stutzer, prin- cipal of the Royal Agricultural Chemical In- stitute, the University, Kénigsberg; and Pro- fessor Dr. H. Wilfarth, principal of the Ducal Agricultural Experimental Station, Bernburg. Competitors are requested to send in their essays, written in German, to the association, not later than February 1, 1906, by registered post. 400 UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. At the recent meeting of the trustees of Cornell University President Schurman an- nounced an anonymous gift of $150,000 for the establishment of a pension fund. Mr. James B. Coneatr, of New York, has given $100,000 to Colgate University, Hamil- ton, N. Y., to which he had already given over $1,000,000. Mr. Anprew Carnecie has given $100,000 to Western Reserve University for the estab- lishment of a school for the training of librarians. A: qirr of $250,000 was made last spring to Teachers College, Columbia University, for the construction of a building for physical education and school hygiene. It is now an- nounced that the donor is Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson, one of the trustees of the college. Last week we announced that Professor Sylvester Waterhouse, at the time of his death emeritus professor of Greek at Wash- ington University, had bequeathed $25,000 to the university, the interest to accumulate until the year 2000, and had made other be- quests. We are informed that this is not quite correct, Professor Waterhouse haying given $25,000 to Washington University in 1895 on condition that he should be paid five per cent. interest during his life and that the gift should be kept secret until at least one year after his death. The money is to accumu- late until the year 2000 or until the fund amounts to $1,000,000. Under somewhat sim- ilar conditions Mr. Waterhouse had given $5,000 to Harvard University, to Dartmouth College, to Phillips-Exeter Academy and to the Missouri Historical Society. Mr. R. B. Knyser, president of the board of trustees of the Johns Hopkins University, has given $5,000 to make plans for improving the new site of the university. CotumBiA University receives $10,000 for the establishment of a scholarship by the will of Mrs. Ellen Josephine Banker. At Cornell University Professor L. H. Bailey has been appointed director of the college of agriculture and dean of faculty of SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 427. agriculture, to succeed Professor I. P. Rob- erts, retired; Professor L. M. Dennis, head of the department of chemistry, to succeed Protessor Caldwell, retired; Assistant Pro- fessors W. R. Orndorff, W. D. Bancroft and EH. Merritt have been promoted to professor- ships of organic and physiological chemistry, physical chemistry and physics, respectively. At the University of WHELTAM IDREEBASE S20p.-ie caine ees oes 703 Discussion and Correspondence :-— The First Use of the Word ‘ Barometer’: A. LAWRENCE ROTCH ...........2...+.-0 708 Shorter Articles :-— A Preliminary Account of the Exploration of the Potter Creek Oave, Shasta County, California: WM. J. SINCLAIR............. 708 Current Notes on Meteorology :— Helm Cloud in the Blue Ridge of North Carolina; Meteorological Phenomena of Volcanic Eruptions; James Glaisher; Atlas of the Atlantic Ocean; Notes: PRorEssor R. DEC MAVWARD I ais sevetsiical enumerate Ltn. 712 Geography in the University of Chicago.... 713 A Biological Station at Bermuda........... 714 Progress toward an International Commission of Archeology. and EHthnology............. 715 Scientific Notes and News.................. University and Educational News........... MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. GHNERAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. Tur general meeting of the American Philosophical Society was held in Philadel- phia on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 2,3 and 4. A large number of mem- bers were in attendance, and the meeting was in every way a most successful and im- portant one. Morning and afternoon ses- sions were held in the historic hall of the society on Independence Square, and lunch- eons were served here each day to mem- bers and invited guests. On Thursday even- ing a reception for members of the society and their friends was held at the hall of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, on which occasion the president, Professor Edgar F. Smith, delivered an address on the origin and early history of the Ameri- ean Philosophical Society, which will be published in full elsewhere. On this ocea- sion President Daniel C. Gilman of the Carnegie Institution also spoke on the work of that institution during the first year of its development. Professor Wm. H. Welch, who was to have spoken on the objects and aims of the Rockefeller Institute for Medi- cal Research, was prevented by sickness from being present. At the close of the morning session on Friday the annual election of members was held, and the following persons were chosen ; 682 Residents of the United States.—Kdward KH. Barnard, Se.D., Williams Bay, Wis.; Carl Hazard Barus, Ph.D., Providence, R. I.; Franz Boas, Ph.D., New York; Wil- liam W. Campbell, Se.D., Mt. Hamilton, Cal.; Erie Doolittle, Philadelphia; Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, LL.D., Baltimore; Francis Barton Gummere, Ph.D., Haver- ford, Pa.; Arnold Hague, Washington, D. C.; George William Hill, LL.D., Nyack, N. Y.; William Henry Howell, Ph.D., Balti- more; Edward W. Morley, Ph.D., Cleve- land; Harmon N. Morse, Ph.D., Baltimore; Edward Rhoads, Haverford, Pa.; Alfred Stengel, M.D., Philadelphia; William T're- lease, Se.D., St. Louis. Foreign Residents.—Anton Dohrn, Naples; Edwin Ray lankester, LL.D., F.R.S., -London; Sir Henry EH. Roscoe, F.R.S., D.C.L., London; Joseph John Thomson, D.Se., F.R.S., Cambridge, Eng.; Hugo de Vries, Amsterdam. Action was also taken at this session look- ing to the adequate celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Franklin, the founder of the organization. This was expressed in the following pre- amble and resolution which were unani- mously adopted: Inasmuch as the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin occurs in Jan- uary, 1906, it is proper that the American Philo- sophical Society, which owes its existence to his initiative and to which he gave many long years of faithful service, should take steps to commem- orate the occasion in a manner befitting his emi- nent services to this society, to science and to the nation. Therefore be it Resolved, That the president is authorized and directed to appoint a committee of such number as he shall deem proper to prepare a plan for the appropriate celebration of the bi-centennial of the birth of Franklin, and to report the same to this society. The president appointed the following members to constitute the committee: Hon. George F. Edmunds, Chairman; Professor SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 435. Alexander Agassiz, Boston; President James B. Angell, Ann Arbor; Professor George F’. Barker, Philadelphia; Professor A. Graham Bell, Washington; Mr. Andrew Carnegie, New York; Professor C. F. Chandler, New York; Hon. Grover Cleve- land, Princeton; President Charles W. Eliot, Cambridge; President Daniel C. Gil- man, Baltimore; President Arthur T. Had- ley, New Haven; Provost C. C. Harrison, Philadelphia; Hon. John Hay, Washing- ton; Dr. I. Minis Hays, Philadelphia; Pro- fessor Samuel P. Langley, Washington; Capt. Alfred T. Mahan, U. S. N.; Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, Philadelphia; Professor Simon Newcomb, Washington; Governor S. W. Pennypacker, Harrisburg; Professor H. C. Pickering, Cambridge; Professor Michael I. Pupin, New York; President Ira Remsen, Baltimore; Professor John Trow- bridge, Cambridge; Dr. Charles D. Wal- cott, Washington; Hon. Andrew D. White, Ithaca; President Woodrow Wilson, Prince- ton. On Friday evening the annual dinner of the society was held at the Hotel Bellevue, at which about eighty members were pres- ent, the occasion being a most enjoyable one and a fitting climax to the social side of the meeting. Professor W. B. Scott acted as toastmaster and the following toasts were responded to: _‘The Memory of Franklin,’ Professor Albert H. Smyth, of Philadelphia. ‘Our Sister Societies,’ Rear Admiral Melville, of Washington, and Professor Henry F. Osborn, of New York. ‘Institutions for the Promotion of Knowledge,’ Dr. Cyrus Adler, of Wash- ington. “The American Philosophical Society,’ Mr. J. G. Rosengarten, of Philadelphia. The opinion was freely expressed, by many members who had come from a dis- tance, that the entire meeting was one of the most enjoyable and profitable which May 1, 1903.] they had ever attended. All were hearty and unanimous in the desire that the gen- eral meetings of the society should be con- tinued and made an annual event. No fur- ther justification of these meetings is needed than that they have been successful, that they have attracted many members from a distance and that their continuance is de- sired by those who are acquainted with them; furthermore, it should not be neces- sary to defend our oldest scientific society for carrying out in practical form the broad policy which it has upheld for more than a century and a half. Nevertheless, since there has been some misunderstanding as to the purpose of these general meetings, it may not be amiss to point out the fact that in no sense are they intended to antagonize or to supplant the meetings of other societies. On the con- trary, they occur at a time when few other societies are meeting and they attract papers of a general rather than of a special- ized character. The broad and compre- hensive scope of the society, which includes the whole range of useful knowledge, so far from being a hindrance to the success of the meetings, has been a particular attraction and source of strength. The opportunity of hearing and becoming acquainted with men eminent in the most diverse fields of thought is likely to prontote catholicity of spirit even if it does not greatly advance individual specialties, and, after all, the present world stands quite as much in need of the former as it does of the latter. Amidst all the special societies which exist in this country there is surely room for one which shall weleome learned men from all fields whatsoever, and it is fitting that this common meeting ground should be the old- est learned society in America, founded by the many-sided Franklin, and devoted to the promotion of useful knowledge, ‘nullo discrimine.’ SCIENCE. 683 The program of the meeting with ab- stracts of some of the papers presented fol- lows; most of these papers will be printed sn full in publications of the society: THURSDAY, APRIL 2. Morning Session, 10 o’clock. President Smith in the chair. President’s Address of Welcome: Professor Epe¢ar F. Sire. The Structure of the Corn Grain and Tits Relation to Popping: Professor Hunry Kraemer, of Philadelphia. There is a marked difference in the struc- ture of the several parts of corn grains, and according to the character of the endosperm three distinct kinds of grains may be dis- tinguished as follows: (1) One variety, representing the sweet corns, contains com- paratively few nearly spherical starch grains from 4 to 10 microns in diameter, besides considerable dextrin becoming red with iodine, and a small amount of a reduc- ing sugar. (2) The second class includes the dents and possibly also the soft corns, and in these the greater portion of the en- dosperm is whitish and more or less mealy; the starch grains in this mealy area are rounded or slightly polygonal, vary from 5 to 25 microns in diameter, and have a central rarefied area or point of origin of growth, which may be either wanting or usually not more than 2 microns in di- ameter. (3) The third class includes the pop-corns, in which the endosperm is more or less translucent and horny, and the eells of which contain closely arranged poly- gonal starch grains from 7 to 18 microns in diameter, and having a central rarefied area from 2 to 7 microns in diameter. Some of the flint corns closely resemble the pop-corns and form a group intermediate between the latter and the dent corns. If the entire grains of these several groups are heated in a popper or in a hot- air oven at a temperature between 145°C. 684 SCIENCE. and 160°C. for from four to ten minutes, there will be a splitting or popping open of the grain from the apex and a modification of the contents varying according to the kind of corn. In the sweet corn the grain swells very perceptibly, becoming hollow in the center, the endosperm becoming more or less friable and containing an increased amount of reducing sugars. In the dent corns there is a splitting of the hulls and the endosperm, and this may take place on the flat surface or along the edge, or the upper portion may separate like a lid. There is not much alteration in the endo- sperm cells of this class, only a small amount of soluble starch being formed. In the pop-corns there is a splitting of the grain along the two radii, the endosperm swelling very considerably, the peripheral portions cohering with the hull and thus leaving a central more or less rounded mass; where the popping is perfect the quarters turn back and meet below the embryo. On examining the endosperm of the popped grain it is observed that there has been considerable alteration in the starch grains and cell walls, and that the starch has been changed into a soluble form, the amount of which depends upon the degree of alteration in the endosperm cells and their contents. The structural characteristics of the starch grains in the altered areas of the different pop-corns would seem to indi- cate that the popping of the grain of corn results from the expansion of the individual starch grains, the degree of expansion de- pending upon the relative amount of water and air in the grains. As an illustration of this it may be stated that perfectly fresh pop-corn or pop-corn that has been soaked in water for twenty-four hours will pop but little in the true sense of the word. On the other hand, a pop-corn which was seven years old, but had not lost its germinating power, would not pop unless first soaked in [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 435. water and then allowed to dry for from four to twelve hours. That this property probably resides in the starch grain is fur- ther shown by the fact that pieces of the pop-corn grain will pop. Beaver County (Pa.) Orchids: Mr. Ira FRANKLIN MansFietp, of Beaver, Pa. A brief account of twenty-eight species of orchids which the writer has found in Beaver County, Pa. The Forward Movement in Plant Breeding: Professor L. H. Bamny, of Ithaca, N. Y. The current idea in plant breeding is to breed ‘varieties,’ to produce something ‘new’ that can be named and described. However, a variety is not a thing or an entity, but only an aggregation of forms that agree rather more than they differ. Any one of these minor forms might be separated as another variety. The ulti- mate form or, unit is the individual plant, and from this individual, irrespective of the variety it represents, the plant-breeding of the future must proceed. The new idea is to breed for definite characters that make for efficiency. We must ‘scale’ our plants according to what they perform or what they contain. Thus, the new corn breeding does not attempt to produce new ‘varieties’ of corn, but to in- crease the efficiency of any variety by in- creasing its yield, protein or starch con- tent, its drought-resisting or disease-resist- ing qualities. The new work with corn in Illinois, with wheat in Minnesota, with cot- ton and other crops by the United States Department of Agriculture, was described and illustrated. The first thing that strikes one in all this work is its contrast with the old ideals. The ‘points’ of the plants are those of ‘performance’ and ‘efficiency.’ It brings into sharp relief the accustomed ideas as to what are the good ‘points’ in any plant, illustrating the fact that these points are oa May 1, 1903.] for the most part only fanciful, are founded on @ prior: judgments, and are oftener cor- related with mere ‘looks’ than with effi- ciency. An excellent example may be taken from corn. In ‘scaling’ any variety of corn, it is customary to assume that the perfect ear, is one nearly or quite uniformly eylindrical throughout its length, and hav- ing the tip and butt well covered with kernels. In fact, the old idea of a good variety of corn is one that bears such ears. Now, this ideal is clearly one of perfection and completeness of mere form. We have no knowledge that such form has any cor- relation with productiveness, hardiness, drought-resisting qualities, protein or starch content, and yet these attributes are the ones that make corn worth growing at all. An illustration also may be taken from string beans. The ideal pod is considered to be one of which the tip-projection is very short and only slightly curved. This, apparently, is a question of comeliness, al- though a short tip may be associated in the popular mind with the absence of ‘string’ in the pod; but we do not know that this character has any relation to the efficiency of the bean pod. We are now undergoing much the same challenging of ideas respecting the points of animals. These ‘points,’ by means gf which the ani- mals are ‘scored,’ are in large part merely arbitrary. Now, animals and plants are bred to the ideals expressed in these arbi- trary points, by choosing for parents the individuals that ‘score’ the highest. it becomes necessary to recast our ‘scales of points,’ the whole course of evolution of domestic plants and animals is likely to be changed. We are to breed not so much for merely new and striking characters that will enable us to name, deseribe and sell a ‘novelty,’ as to improve the performance along accus- tomed lines. We are not to start with a SCIENCE. When ' 685 variety, but with a plant. It is possible to secure a five per cent. increase in the efficiency of our field crops. This would mean the annual addition of hundreds of millions of dollars to the national gain. The purpose, then, of our new plant- breeding is to produce plants that are more efficient for specific uses and specific re- gions. They are to be specially adapted. These efficiency ideals are of six general categories : 1. Yield ideals. 2. Quality ideals. 3. Seasonal ideals. 4, Physical conformation ideals. 5. Regional adaptation ideals as to cli- mate, altitude, soil, ete. 6. Resistant ideals as to diseases and in- sects. The main improvement and evolution of agriculture are going to come as the result of greater, and better crop yield and greater and better animal production. It is not to come primarily from invention, good roads, rural telephones, legislation, discus- sion of economics. All these are merely aids. Increased crop and animal produc- tion are to come from two agencies—im- provement in the care that they receive and improvement in the plants and animals themselves. In other words, the new agri- culture is to be built upon the combined results of better cultivation and better breeding. So far as the new breeding is concerned, it is characterized by perfect definiteness of purpose and effort, the strip- ping away of all arbitrary and factitious standards, the absence of speculative theory and the insistence on the great fact that every plant and animal has individuality. Development of the English Alphabet: Pro- — fessor Francis A. Marcu, of Lafayette College, Haston, Pa. Language is growth. We will to utter sounds, and the muscles move by their own / 686 laws. The sounds weaken by the law of least effort, strengthen under the accent, are assimilated by neighboring sounds while the writing of a word remains un- changed, so that any letter may come to stand for any sound and any sound be found represented by many different let- ters. This is the condition of a language as it grows. Such a language needs to be shaped by reason to the use of man. An alphabet addressed to the eye is ma- chinery to suggest the elementary signifi- cant sounds, and is open to improvement like all labor-saving machinery. The Roman alphabet was a simple set of largely straight-line forms suited for cut- ting in stone from right to left like our capitals. It has been improved into cursive forms easily connecting from left to right. This change was established in the fifteenth century. It brought two forms of J into use, i and j. The penmen often swept the i below the line with a flourish, and the types 7 and j were used indifferently for either the vowel or consonant force of the Roman I. In the beginning of the seventeenth century they were differentiated and j used only as a consonant. The Roman V also had two cursive forms, v and w, used indifferently for vowels and consonants, differentiated at the same time, all under the lead, as our Dr. C. P. G. Scott has lately shown us, of the great scholar Philemon Holland and his printers. The philologists have also developed six continuant lingual consonant diagraphs with a diacritie h, viz., dh, th, sh, zh, dzh =j, tsh=ch, to which the attention of workers in alphabetics is invited. There are also a new type z for sonant s and a nasal ng. But the vowels are the most tangled field. Between A and # has been established the sound in ‘at,’ ‘fare’; between A and O that in ‘not,’ ‘nor’; between A and U that in SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 435. ‘fun,’ ‘burn.’ Three new types are wanted. It is proposed to obtain them as Holland did. There are two forms (@ and d@) used for both the sounds in ‘father’ and fat’; a is to be used always for the first, @ for the last. ‘“‘I can’t tell a lie, papa; you know I ean’t. I did it with my little hatchet.’’ The words are not obscured, the spelling is perfected. There are two graphic forms (0 and 6) used for the sounds of ‘no’ and ‘not’; o ‘must be used only for the first, 6 only for the second sound. So let the lower case w be used only for the vowel in ‘full,’ ‘rule’ and the small capital U only in ‘but,’ ‘burn,’ ete. It will be seen in accompanying diagrams how easily the use of these types may be intro- duced, and how far the general use of them will go in reducing our chaos to cosmos. The society is urged to use types in her documents as plainly within her general sphere, ‘philosophy for fruit,’ as a special field in which her members have always been leaders from Franklin to Haldeman, and the authors. of the last state paper on spelling. This is a time of erisis. The language of the Pacific and the coming world ought not to be left to pidgin Hng- lish. Archeology and Mineralogy: Professor Pauut Haupt, LL.D., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. In seven passages of the Old Testament we find references to a precious stone of Tarshish, 2%. e., southern Spain (Hxod.. xxvii. 20, xxxix. 13; Ezek. i. 16, x. 9, xxvill. 13; Song of Solomon, v. 14; Dan. x. 6). As a rule, it is stated that the Greek Bible translates ‘chrysolite,’ and that the chrysolite of the ancients was our topaz; but the passage of Pliny quoted in support of this view clearly points, not to topaz, but to crystals of cinnabar. An- thrax also, which the Greek Bible has for May 1, 1903.] tarshish in Ezek. x. 9, means cinnabar. Pliny calls cmnabar miniwm, while we ap- ply this term to the yellowish-red oxide of lead which is called by Pliny wsta cerussa. Pliny says the best chrysolites are those which, when brought in contact with gold, make the gold look like silver; this is, of course, due to the 86 per cent. of mercury in the erystals of cinnabar (Pliny, Xxxvil. 126: optime sunt que in conlatione aurum albicare quadam argenti facie co- gunt). Pliny states that the Romans re- ceived cinnabar, almost exelusively from Spain, and the best cinnabar came from Sisapo, the present quicksilver mines of Almaden, north of Cordova in southern Spain. Just as Pliny applies the name miniwm to.cinnabar, so the ancients used the name ‘sapphire’ for lapis lazuli. The ancients received lapis lazuli almost exclusively from the famous mines in Badakhshan, the mountainous region in northeastern Af- ghanistan, on the northeastern flank of the Hindukush, the Paropannisus of the an- cients. The Assyrian king Hsarhaddon (680-668 B. C.) calls this lapis lazuli mountain Bikn, adding that it was situated in the remotést part of Media. Hsarhad- don must have advanced to the Paropan- nisus, as far east as did, three hundred years later, Alexander the Great, and the Macedonian conqueror would probably not have extended his victorious march so far east if he had not obtained in Babylonia some information regarding those eastern regions. After we have established the fact that the sapphire of the ancients denotes lapis lazuli, while the stones of Tarshish repre- sent erystals of cinnabar, we can explain the stanza in the Biblical love-ditties (Song of Solomon, v. 14) where the maiden de- scribing the beauty of her lover says: SCIENCE. 687 His arms are poles that are golden, bedecked with rubies of Tarshish; His body is one piece of ivory adorned with azure blue sapphires. That is, his bronzed arms are covered with ornamental designs tattooed in vermilion (the brilliant red pigment formerly made by grinding select pieces of cinnabar), while his white body is tattooed in ultra- marine (the beautiful blue pigment for- merly obtained from lapis lazuli). Tattoo- ing has been common among the Semites from the earliest times. The mark which the Lord appointed to Cain was a tattooed tribal mark. I maintain, therefore: the stones of Tar- shish are ruby-like crystals of cinnabar from the quicksilver mines of Almaden, and Tarshish is a Phcenician word mean- ing ‘dressing of ores,’ especially ‘spalling.’ King Solomon’s mines were located in southern Spain and in southeastern Africa; the silver came from Spain and the Ophir gold from the Eldorado north of the for- mer South African Republic, opposite Madagascar. The Actwity of Mont Pelée: Professor ANGELO HEILPRIN, of Philadelphia. II- lustrated with lantern slides. Reaction as an Agent in Securing Navi- gable Depths in River and Harbor Im- provements: Professor Lewis M. Haupt, of Philadelphia. This paper dealt with the necessity which exists for deeper channels to meet the re- quirements of modern vessels; the inability of contending with the ceaseless activities of nature by mechanical means; the enor- mous tonnage which requires ample facili- ties for its rapid and economical distribu- tion by the cheapest medium; the existing resources of the engineer as at present ap- plied and the results secured therefrom; the rapid increase in the annual appropria- tion for the construction and maintenance 688 of this class of works, and the latest de- velopments which have proved the prac- ticability of a new form of tool for securing results by the utilization of the principle of reaction, instead of velocity and con- centration by means of two jetties. It also emphasized the inability of currents of fresh water to scour to sufficient depths when buoyed up by the heavier salt water which obstructs and raises them on their path over a bar and the greater specific eravity of the wave-driven sand, or littoral drift, of which the bars of tidal inlets are composed. The location and cause of the abnormal depths found in gorges or under the lee of obstacles, and the resultant counter-scarps, illustrated by numerous slides showing the proper position and form to secure a continuous channel across an obstructing bar at half the cost of the usual devices, and by natural forces which will maintain the channels which they carve. The above general claims and principles were illustrated and confirmed as to their value by a practical demonstration on a large scale of incompleted work on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, which has proved to be remarkably permanent and effective. Afternoon Session, 2 o’clock. Vice-President Barker in the chair. The Curtis Steam Turbine: Mr. W. L. BR. Emmet, of Schenectady, N. Y. The Principle of Least Work in Mechanics, and tts Possible Use in Investigations Regarding the Ether of Space: Professor MANSFIELD Mrrriman, of Bethlehem, Pa. The use of this principle in engineering computations was briefly explained. It was pointed out that its application is only valid in the case of bodies that are perfectly elastic and that its successful use in the determination of stresses in indeterminate SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 435. structures depends upon this assumption. If the ether of space be perfectly elastic it is probable that the principle of least work can be applied to determine the stresses which accompany the action of gravitation, and an effort is being made’ in this direc- tion, the results of which appear to indi- cate that the ether has properties in some respects unlike those of elastic bodies. The Nernst Lamp (with experimental dem- onstration) : Mr. ALEXANDER JAY WURTS, of Pittsburg. The Problem of the ‘Trusts’: Mr. C. Stuart Patterson, of Philadelphia. An Inquiry mto the Relation between the Objective Operations and Events Re- vealed to Us by the Scientific Study of Nature, and the Corresponding Actual Operations and Events Which are What Have Taken Place in the Unwerse of Real Hxistences: Professor G@. JOHN- STONE Stonny, F.R.S., of London. Hitherto every attempt to ascertain the events that are actually happening in the universe of real existences—in other words, the study of ontology—has been pursued almost exclusively from the human stand- point of the metaphysician. This limited mode of treatment has led to a few nega- tive results, which are chiefly of value by helping to dispel popular errors; but it has established little that is positive, or that can be of service to the scientific student of nature. And yet the scientific investiga- tion of nature has led us in more than one direction into contact with problems of ontology—as when physiology brings us face to face with such a fact as that there is some interpendence between the thoughts that are our mind, and objective events going on in our brain. What help has ontology rendered in a ease of this kind, or throughout our studies in physics, when we make any attempt to penetrate to the causes of the events that occur? In fact, May 1, 1903.] the inquiries hitherto made into ontology have been pursued on a wholly different plane, and do not seem to have solved any of the real enigmas which the study of na- ture presents. It appears, therefore, in an eminent degree desirable that an attempt shall be made to bring ontological studies into line with physical by ascertaining in what way the scientific study of nature (with which experience shows that the hu- man mind is fitted to cope) stands related to the real events and real existences of which the universe actually consists (but which our human minds find it more diffi- cult to probe). The aim of the present paper is, there- fore, to bring ontological and physical in- vestigations into accord by substituting a Copernican for the Ptolemaic point of view of the metaphysician, and by throughout following up the ontological investigation from the standpoint of the student of na- ture. FRIDAY, APRIL 3. Morning Session, 10 o’clock. Vice-President Langley in the chair. The Double Star System ¥ 518: Mr. Eric DoouittLE, of Philadelphia. (Intro- duced by Professor M. B. Snyder.) The Constant of Aberration: Professor CHARLES L. Doouittus, of Philadelphia. The Degree of Accuracy of the Newtonian Law of Gravitation: Professor ERNEST W. Brown, F.R.S., of Haverford, Pa. Two bodies attract one another inversely as the square of the distance, that is, if the distance be halved the force is increased four times; if the distance is divided by ten the force is increased one hundred times. This is the Newtonian law of eravitation. The moon, earth, sun and planets all should obey this law, which was discovered by- Isaac Newton in the seven- teenth century. How far do the bodies obey it? The SCIENCE. 689 most sensitive is the moon. We are able to observe its motions so accurately and predict its places with such unfailing cer- tainty by means of this law that we can scarcely have much‘doubt that it is correct. But, nevertheless, there are some small deviations, and the question is whether these deviations are due to errors in the calculations of astronomers or to some- thing wrong in the law itself. Hansen’s theory of the moon’s motion has been accepted up to the present, but there are still some small differences be- tween his theory and observation. Two at least of these have been unexplained in the periods of revolution of the perigee and node. My ealeulations have shown that the differences are due to errors in Hansen’s theory and that on a correct theory they do not. exist. Thus it appears that Newton’s law is accurate to one mil- lionth per cent.! It is by far the most accurate physical law known and perhaps the most striking evidence of the fact that our existence and surroundings are not the result of chance. New Applications of Maclaurin’s Series in the Solution of Equations and in the Expansion of Functions: Professor P. A. Lampert, of Bethlehem. (Introduced by Professor C. L. Doolittle.) In an equation of any degree, numerical or literal, f(y) =0, introduce a factor x into several terms. There results an equa- tion f(a, y) 0 which defines y as an implicit function of z The successive de- rivatives of y with respect to # are now formed, and the values of y and the de- rivatives found when ~—0. An applica- tion of Maclaurin’s series gives the value of y 1m a series in powers of 2 multiplied by factors which depend on the coefficients of f(z, y) =0. By properly selecting the terms of f(y) =0 into which the factor a is introduced and placing «= 1 in the 690 series values of y, all the roots of the equa- tion f(y) 0, real and imaginary, are found in convergent series involving only the coefficients of f(y) =0. The same device of introducing a factor ax which is eventually made unity makes it possible to obtain by a direct application of Maclaurin’s series all the expansions which hitherto have been obtained by La- grange’s series and Laplace’s series. The Mechanical Construction and Use of Logarithms: Mr. Cuarurs E. Brooks, of Baltimore. (Introduced by Professor GrorGE EF’. BARKER. ) In this paper is described a simple in- strument for constructing the logarithmic spiral with great accuracy. The device will be useful for drawing the curve in the class room; it may be used also for the preparation of tables of logarithms of all the possible systems, or for the mechanical solution of arithmetical problems. The machine consists of a screw pivoted so that it may be rotated, but will remain parallel to the paper. A wheel is threaded to the screw and rests with its circumfer- ence on the paper. As the screw is rotated, the wheel rolls on the paper, but this rolling makes it travel along the screw. The track of the rolling wheel is, therefore, a spiral. To show that this spiral is the logarithmic curve, consider the equation of motion of the center of the wheel, which has the same motion as the point which draws the curve. Let OA (see figure) be the screw, pivoted at O; let B be the wheel; C its center. Call CO the point p@ measuring with O as origin and any line OP as axis. let the pitch of the screw be p, and the radius of the wheel be r. As @ inereases an amount 40, c moves through an are cc’ equal p4o. At the same time the wheel turns through an are p40, so the angular motion around OA is SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 435. pA@ a Under the infiuence of the thread on OA it is moved along OA a distance pAd@ a But this distance is dp, so we have A PP. p r or App AQ be and in the limit, Tntegrating, p=ceX6 Tr That is, @ 1s the logarithm of p. The Theory of Assemblages and the In- tegration of Discontinuous Functions: Prorsssor I. J. ScuHwatt, of Philadel- phia. . (Introduced by Professor C. L. Doolittle.) An historic review of the state of the theory of continuous and discontinuous functions prior to the creation of the theory of assemblages by Bolzano and Cantor is first given. It is then shown how the theory of assemblages has served to make this part of the theory of functions more clear and definite. The question of the content of a mass of points, distributed along a line, is discussed ; the more important principles of the theory of assemblages are given, and applications of these principles to the in- tegration of -discontinuous functions are made. The Franklin Papers in the Library of the American Philosophical Society: Mr. J. G. ROSENGARTEN, of Philadelphia. In the collection of this society there are some seventy large folio volumes of ‘Frank- lin Papers.’ Franklin left all his papers to his grandson, William Temple Franklin, May 1, 1903.] who, after a long interval, published in London and in Philadelphia six volumes of ‘Franklin’s works. Of course, this repre- sented but a small part of his papers. Those used in the preparation of Temple Franklin’s edition are now the property of the United States, which has never yet printed a calendar of them. Temple Frank- lin selected from his grandfather’s papers those that he thought suitable for publica- tion, and left the rest of them in charge of his friend, Charles Fox, to whom he be- queathed them, and Charles Fox, in turn, after a long lapse of years, presented them to the American Philosophical Society, in whose custody they have remained ever since. They have been roughly classified, and are bound in a rude and careless way. Under the present efficient librarian, Dr. Hays, a calendar is being made as fast as the limited means at his disposal will per- mit, and, when that is completed, it is hoped that it will be printed as a useful guide to the miscellaneous matter collected here. Sparks, Hale, Ford, Parton, Fisher and others who have written about Franklin have used them, but even the most indus- trious student may well be appalled at the labor required to master all the contents of these bulky volumes, representing Frank- lin’s long and many-sided activity. He kept copies of most of his own let- ters and the originals addressed to him, often indorsing on them the heads of his replies. These volumes contain papers from 1735 to 1790—the first forty-four volumes, letters to him; the forty-fifth, copies of his own letters; the forty-sixth, his correspondence with his wife; the forty- seventh and forty-eighth, his own letters from 1720 to 1791; the forty-ninth, his sci- entific and political papers; the fiftieth, his other writings—notably his Bagatelles, those short essays which had such a vogue, and are still read; the fifty-first, poetry and SCIENCE. 691 verse, his own and that of others, no doubt selected by him for use in his publications; the fifty-second, the Georgia papers—he was agent for that colony; and the remain- ing twenty volumes all the multifarious correspondence, other than official, mostly during his long stay in France, his various public offices at home and abroad, his enor- mous correspondence about appointments from men of all nationalities, who wanted to come to America, under his patronage, to fight, to settle, to teach, to imtroduce their inventions, for every imaginable and unimaginable purpose. Both in Hngland and France he kept all notices of meetings, such as those of the Royal Society, and other scientific bodies of which he was a member, invita- tions, visiting cards, notes, business cards, ete., and at home he kept copies of wills, deeds, powers of attorney, bonds, agree- ments, bills and drafts, checks, bills of lad- ing, public accounts and even certified copies of acts of Congress and account books, and, in addition, Temple Franklin left eight volumes of letters to him from 1775 to 1790. In this mass of material his biographers have found much that was of value, but there remains almost untouched the inter- esting correspondence of his friends in England during the years before and those of the War of Independence. There are ex- amples of his own clever jeux d’esprit in the ‘Intended Speech for the Opening of the Parliament in 1774,’ in which the King himself is made to foretell the ‘seven or ten years’ job’ that his ‘ministers have put upon him to undertake the reduction of the whole continent of North America to un- conditional submission.’ His friend Hart- ley sent it to him in 1786, when the proph- ecy had been fully realized. Again in 1778 he received a full report of the famous dying speech of Chatham and of that of Lord Shelbourne in his defense of the 692 SCIENCE. American cause, speeches which have hardly been reported in full. During these eventful years his corre- spondents in England and in the Colonies kept him well informed both of the actions and plans of the government and of the opposition. Some of these may be of inter- est as showing how earnestly both sides were presented to him, that he might use his influence to maintain peace. Priestley, who was then the secretary of Lord Shelbourne, writes from London in February, 1776, with a due report of political and scientific information, and Lee and Wayne write to him during the campaign which was to end in Burgoyne’s surrender, and thus con- tribute largely to the alliance with France, which owed so much to Franklin’s influence not only with the French court and French statesmen, but with the philosophers and the people. His correspondence in Paris is a per- fect picture of the time. One day he gets an invitation to attend experiments in elec- tricity from a correspondent, Brogniart, who reports the successful treatment of sick people by electric fluid in 1778, and soon after the Curé of Damvillers asks him for ‘a eure for dropsy for one of his parish- loners. His correspondence came from England and from all parts of the continent and from the West Indies in an unending stream. A very curious letter is one from Richard Penn, dated London, October 20, 1778, which I think has never been printed, in which he says: “*T should think myself infinitely obliged to you if you could point out to me in what ' manner I could procure, either from Amer- ica or in any other way, a temporary sub- sistence. I have not a doubt but that in time matters will turn out much to the ad- vantage of everybody concerned and con- nected with that country.’’ (N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 435 When it is remembered that the hostility of the Penns to Franklin was so strong that Governor John Penn declined to be patron of the American Philosophical Society be- cause it had chosen Franklin for its presi- dent, and that Richard Penn had been Lieutenant-Governor (as deputy for that unele and his brother) from 1771 to 1773, it must have been difficult for Franklin not to feel that such a letter from such a man at such a time was indeed a tribute to his position, achieved solely by his own efforts. It is well that this venerable society, so largely the result of his labors, should be made the custodian of the papers that fol- low almost his daily thoughts, and it is to be hoped that the preparation and publica- tion of a calendar showing their contents may be completed at no distant day, cer- tainly by the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of our founder, and thus per- petuate his memory. Afternoon Session, 2 o0’clock. Vice-President Scott in the chair, Further Notes on the Santa Cruz Eden- tates: Professor Winuiam B. Scorr, of Princeton. The fossil edentates of the Santa Cruz beds in Patagonia differ very notably from the forms now living in South America. Of the three edentate orders represented in the Santa Cruz, only one, the armadil- los, has persisted to the present day, while no trace of the true sloths or of the ant- eaters has yet been found. The ground- sloths are very numerous and form very interesting evolutionary series leading to the giant species of the Pampean, while the armadillos and glyptodonts are, for the most part, away from the main line of descent. An Attempt to Correlate the Marine with the Non-marine Jurassic and Cretaceous Formations of the Middle West: Pro- fessor JoHN B. Hatcunmr, of Pittsburgh, / ee ae May 1, 1903.] The Evolution and Distribution of the Proboscidea: Professor Henry F. Os- BORN, of New York. A New Fresh-Water Molluscan Faunule from the Cretaceous of Montana: Mr. T. W. Stanton, of Washington. (In- troduced by Professor W. B. Scott.) This paper describes and discusses a col- lection of invertebrate fossils from near Harlowton on the Musselshell River, Mon- tana, collected in 1902 by Dr. Farr and Mr. Sitberling, of the Princeton Univer- sity expedition. The species are only six in number, but with one exception each is represented by abundant and well-preserved examples. Of these two are referred to Unio, two to Gomobasis, one to Campeloma and one to Vwiparus. The study of these fossils, in connection with their reported strati- eraphic position and a general discussion of the early Cretaceous and late Jurassic non-marine formations of the region, leads to the conclusion that they are probably from a horizon near the base of the Upper Cretaceous, or possibly as low as the Lower Cretaceous. Hints on the Classification of the Arthro- poda, the Group a Polyphyletic One: Professor AtpHeus S. Packarp, of Providence. Anatomy of the Floscularnde: Professor THomAs H. Montcomery, Jr., of Phila- delphia. The Earlest Differentiations of the Egg: Professor Epwin G. ConKutn, of Phila- delphia. In the living eggs of fresh-water snails important differentiations are recognizable before the eggs begin to divide. Soon after the formation of the polar bodies clear non-granular protoplasm accumulates at the animal pole and spreads down over the SCIENCE. 693 surface of the ege towards the opposite pole. - About three fourths of the surface of the entire egg is covered by this clear protoplasm, which gives this portion of the ege a milky appearance, while about one fourth of the ege surface at the vegetative pole is not covered by this protoplasmic layer and is bright yellow in color. These two portions remain distinct throughout the subsequent development of the egg, the protoplasmic area giving rise to the ecto- derm, the yellow one to the endoderm and mesoderm. The germ layers are, there- fore visibly outlined in the unsegmented ege. In these eggs the type of asymmetry of the adult snail (whether dextral or simitral) is also predetermined, probably while the egg is still in the ovary. The chief axis of the future animal is also marked out in the egg, and is probably to be traced directly back to the ege of the previous generation. In this case, there- fore, these axial relations are probably con- tinuous from generation to generation. Some Properties of Nickel: Mr. JosmPH Waarton, of Philadelphia. A Résumé of the Composition of Petro- leum from Different Fields: Professor Cuares FEF. Maprry, of Cleveland. This paper explained the composition of petroleum from different sources, and de- seribed the series of hydrocarbons that make up the great body of petroleum. In Pennsylvania oil the series C\H,,,, pre- dominates in the lower distillates and con- tinues to include solid paraffine hydro- carbons. Pennsylvania oil also contains the series C,H, and the series C,H,,".,, and probably also series still poorer in hydrogen in the less volatile portions. Ohio oil has much the same composition, with the addition of the series C_H,,_,, and probably other series still poorer in hy- drogen. 694 California oil does not contain the series C.H,,,, so far, as known, but contains the other series mentioned. Canadian oil contains all the series men- tioned, with larger proportions of the series poor in hydrogen. fj All petroleums contain compounds of oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur, but in vari- able amounts, very small in Pennsylvania oil, large in California, Ohio and Canadian erude oils. A summary of what is known concerning the origin of petroleum was given, with some suggestions based on recent knowl- edge of its general composition. SATURDAY, APRIL 4. Morning Session, 10 o’clock. President Smith in the chair. A Further Classification of Economies: Professor Linptey Mimurr Keassey, of Bryn Mawr, Pa. An economy is a system of activity whereby the utilities inherent in environ- ment are, through utilization, converted into actual utilities. These economies can be distinguished from one another in two ways: First, ac- cording to the motive making for utiliza- tion, and, second, in accordance to the means employed in the process. They may be classified as the automatic, characteristic of plants; the instinctive, characteristic of animals; the rational, characteristic of hu- man life. The rational economy may be subdivided into the natural, characteristic of savages: the proprietary, characteristic of barbar- ians; and the commercial, characteristic of western civilization. Some Features of the Supernatural as Rep- resented in Elizabethan and Jacobean Plays: Professor Frirx EH. ScHEniine, of Philadelphia. SCIENCE. LN. S. Vou. XVII. No. 435, The Hamites and Semites in the Tenth | Chapter of Genesis: Professor Morris JASTROW, JR., of Philadelphia. The Most Insidious Cause of Error im Quantitative Chemical Research: Pro- fessor THropoRE W. RIcHARDS, of Cam- bridge, Mass. Experiments are recorded and quoted ‘showing that most if not all erystals de- posited from solutions contain included mother liquor. The experiments show also that before this mother liquor can be elimi- nated by pulverization, the absorption of water from a moist atmosphere begins to . augment appreciably the weight of the sub- stance. It is pointed out that this absorp- tion can not be overcome in the ease of hydrated salts without a loss of water of erystallization also. Hence hydrated salts can not be accurately weighed according to any usual procedure. In the case of anhy- drous salts the elimination of absorption is easy, but in order to remove included water the cell walls enclosing it must be disin- tegrated. Mechanical, thermal and chemi- eal methods of such disintegration are classified and applied to the preparation of pure materials. It is pointed out that other impurities are usually included with the solvent in the invisible cells, and that these other impurities must never be forgotten in the course of the further purification. Finally, it is suggested that these almost infinitesimal enclosed impurities might be used as a clue to the manner of growth of natural minerals, and hence to the mechan- ism of geophysical processes. : The Warfare against Tuberculosis: Dr. Mazycox P. Ravens, of Philadelphia. All efforts at the eradication of tuber- culosis to be successful must be based on the fundamental fact of its communica- bility, and in the main it is to be treated as the other contagious diseases, though the restrictions need not be so severe. May 1, 1903.] Two parties are to be considered, the _ tuberculous persons and the community, and while the former are entitled to every consideration and attention, the good of society in general must be the principal consideration which guides our action. Fortunately, the interests of the two parties are not irreconcilable and much can be done by education to smooth the difficulties which lie in our path. There should be in every state and in every large city societies whose objects are the study of methods of prevention and the dissemination of such knowledge in short, plainly written tracts among the people. In addition to this, boards of health should issue circulars constantly giving such information and advice. At present only twenty-two states and seven cities issue such circulars and recommendations, while five states have societies and five cities have local societies for the preven- tion of tuberculosis. These societies can do much good also in shaping legislation. States and cities should have uniform laws regarding expec- toration in public conveyances, buildings and on sidewalks; overcrowding of factories and tenement houses, the construction of such buildings as regards light and ventila- tion, and the employment of children under age. / Health officers should have the power to force ignorant and vicious tubercular persons who persist in reckless expectora- tion into hospitals provided for them by the public. There should be compulsory notifi- cation and registration of persons suffering with phthisis, and apartments occupied by such persons should be thoroughly disin- fected periodically, and always after death or vacation of the premises before new tenants are allowed to enter them. The urgent need is for institutions in which the sick can be cared for and in- SCIENCE. 695 structed. These should be of two types— sanatoria, built in open country districts in regions known to be specially adapted to the treatment of tuberculosis, and, sec- ond, hospitals for the hopelessly ill and destitute, where the maximum of comfort . ean be given to them and where they will cease to be sources of infection to their families and the public in general. In spite of the enormous expenditure which would be involved in providing hos- pital accommodations for the indigent tu- bereulous, it would cost less than the pres- ent money loss to the country from deaths alone, and in a few years we could confi- dently expect a marked decrease in the disease. SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. The Diamond Mines of South Africa. Some Account of their Rise and’ Development. By Garpner F. WinuiamMs. New York and London, The Macmillan Co. 1902. Pp. 681. With 491 illustrations, 29 photogravures and 11 maps. The most important volume that has ever appeared upon the diamond fields of South Africa, or in fact upon diamond mining in general, is that from the pen of Mr. Gardner F. Williams, General Manager of the De Beers Consolidated Mines. There is no doubt that the late Hon. Cecil J. Rhodes, who died dur- ing the early part of 1902, would have been deeply interested in this volume, and it was the desire of the author that he should see it —little realizing that this great organizer would so soon have passed away. But it must also be recognized that it was through the di- recting capacities and experienced mining knowledge of Mr. Williams himself that the De Beers Mines were managed in such a way that the cost of production was gradually brought-down to the lowest possible limit; that theft was almost ,entirely done away with; and that each year had shown a decrease in the cost of production, and a greater security of these mines as an investment. To the union of these two men—one as the organizer, Mr. 696 SCIENCE. Rhodes, and the other as the manager, Mr. Williams—is due a financial corporation laid out and conducted on lines of such extent and permanence that it surpasses almost any other in existence. To the credit of both be it said that they never used their positions for specu- lative dealings in the stock, and that neither of them ever lost faith in their great enter- prise. . The title, ‘The Diamond Mines of South Africa, is slightly misleading, as the book refers only to those mines owned by the De Beers Consolidated Co., and omits some other mines in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State not under their management or owner- ship. These, however, represent less than three per cent. of the entire output of South Africa. The volume opens with a chapter on the an- cient Adamas, illustrations being given of all the noted historical diamonds. The second chapter treats of the traditional Ophir Land, and the facts tending to prove that the famous King Solomon’s mines were in Rhodesia. ‘To support this view, illustrations are given of the gold ornaments found in the district, and the historical evidences of the great ruins at Zimbabwe, Khami and Insiza. This theory is also sustained by John Hays Hammond, notably in a lecture delivered before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, on January 3, 1903. It is doubtful if any one else living possesses so many facts as Mr. Williams concerning the original discovery of the African diamond mines, the early pioneers of the district and other historical data, which, if they had not been preserved here, would have been soon for- ever lost. These are presented in chapters IIT. to VII. entitled, respectively, ‘The Pioneer Advance,’ ‘The Discovery,’ ‘The Camps on the Vaal,’ ‘The Rush to Kimberley,’ and ‘ The Great White Camps.’ These chapters give a connected and vivid account of the history of the whole region, from the Cape to the hinter- land—its early settlement, its slow and scanty development through two centuries and its sudden and marvelous period of change and growth in the last thirty years. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 435. In the ‘Pioneer Advance’ we have an in- teresting sketch of the early conditions of the Cape Colony; of the expeditions under en- terprising Dutch governors and explorers, in search of the golden land of traditional Ophir, ever disappointed and turned back; of the de- cline of interest and of hoped-for prosperity; of the British seizure and occupation. Then follows a striking account of ‘ the Great Trek,’ when the Boer farmers, preferring a fresh start in the wilderness to the acceptance of an alien rule, went forth to found new common- wealths on the upland veldt beyond the Vaal. The features of the country, and the strife with negro savages, are forcibly pictured; and the record, if rude, is yet heroic, and appeals very powerfully to the best traditions of our own history. After a generation had passed, in the calm, old-fashioned pastoral life of the Dutch republics, came ‘The Discovery ’—the first diamond accidentally picked up in the gravel of the Vaal, in 1867. In due time followed an invasion of prospectors and dia- mond-hunters, gathering along the valley— “The Camps on the Vaal’—the period of the ‘river diggings.’ Soon after came the finding of other and richer beds on the uplands to the east, and the ‘Rush to Kimberley’ set in, in the early 70’s. This marvelous gathering, from every part of the world, is most vividly pic- tured, and the ‘Great White Camps’ that ‘ sprang up as though by magie, to give place to permanent cities and gigantic industries. Chapters VIII. to XV. are taken up with the diamond mines themselves; chapter VIIL., on ‘The Opening of the Craters,’ describes the early stages of mining operations, in which scores and hundreds of little private claims were worked from the surface down, until with increasing depth, the intervening roadways and then the great surrounding ‘reef’ or wall-rock, began to fall and cave in, so that an entire change of method was seen to be ere long inevitable. The next chapter, on ‘The Moving Men,’ introduces us to the history and personality, the plans, purposes, efforts and rivalries, of the two leading figures in the subsequent development of the De Beers and Kimberley mines—Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato—whereby was brought about : ; 2 :) May 1, 1903.] the consolidation of these extraordinary prop- erties. Chapter X.—‘ The Essential Combi- nation ’—deseribes this result—the great achievement of Cecil Rhodes—in its history and in its bearings, both upon the mines themselves and upon the future of all South Africa. The next chapter, on ‘Systematic Mining,’ gives full accounts of the methods then adopt- ed, and now in use, for the operation of the mines in a comprehensive and economical man- ner. Here Mr. Williams is describing his own particular work; as the whole vast con- nected scheme of exploitation, under which such splendid success has been attained in the past fourteen years, and which is adapted to the further prosecution of the work for an in- definite time to come, is of his planning and execution. The modesty, however, with which he refers to himself and his unique achieve- ments is remarkable, and bears the stamp of genuine greatness. Without the skill and ability which Mr. Williams has shown in the designing and operating of the present system, the great consolidation effected by Mr. Rhodes and his group of financial supporters might have failed of a successful result, or at least never haye attained the far-reaching impor- tance that it has. This chapter is largely technical, and can not be readily outlined in a manner intelligible to the ordinary reader—dealing as it does of necessity with conditions, terms and processes belonging to mining engineering. Im a gen- eral way, however, it may be described as a process of undermining instead of excavating. The first method had been by digging down from above, by a host of independent claim- owners, individual or corporate. The mines thus became immense pits, traversed by roads that came to stand up as narrow ridges, and walled by the vertical surrounding ‘reef’ of basalt and shale. As already stated, however, first the intervening roadways between the claims caved in and became useless, and then the reef-wall began to fall and cover great areas of diamond-bearing ‘ blue-ground’ with thousands of tons of broken rock. Various tentative devices were tried for continuing the working under such conditions, but they were SCIENCE. 697 plainly temporary and destined to ultimate failure. Only by consolidation of all the claims could a general and comprehensive plan be adopted for operating the whole. This was brought about by Mr. Rhodes, first for the De Beers mine; next, after much contest with Mr. Barnato, by the union of this with the Kimberley mine, in which the latter had a controlling interest; then by both in coopera- tion, by the taking in by the great corporation, the ‘De Beers Consolidated Mines, Limited,’ of the Bultfontein and Du-Toits-pan mines, which together now form the wonderful group of voleanic ‘necks’ or ‘ craters’ (though the latter term is hardly correct) around the city of Kimberley. This took place in 1888; and by the begin- ning of 1889 Mr. Williams, as the general manager of the whole, began his new method of working. Shafts were sunk in the solid rock outside of the mine areas, and horizontal galleries run from these into the ‘blue-ground’ of the mines, beneath all the fallen mass that covered so much of the former workings. The blue-ground was excavated along galleries branching from these again, and thus a given area on a given level was worked out, and the overlying mass of fallen rock, its support largely removed, was allowed to sink down and fill up the empty galleries and chambers. The same process was then repeated on an- other level, thirty or forty feet below, and a new set of galleries opened and emptied, and whatever ‘ blue-ground’ also had been left as supports, on the former level, was now taken out from below. It will be seen that this process admits of being carried on indefinitely downward, so far as the mechanical difficulties are concerned. The extraction is done, in each level, from the rock-wall toward the in- terior; and in each mine, several levels are being worked at the same time, by methods explained in the account. The extensive ma- chinery for hoisting the material removed and for pumping out the water that accumulates, ete., 1s also here deseribed and illustrated. Chapter XII.,:on ‘Winning the Diamonds, is less technical than the preceding, and full of curious interest. The ‘blue-ground’ rock of the necks or chimneys was at first broken 698 SCIENCE. up with shovels, then rudely washed and the residue picked over by hand. The various steps and stages of progress in its’ treatment are described, down to the wonderfully com- plete, rapid and accurate machine processes now employed. The rock was found to dis- integrate and break up by a few months’ ex- posure to the air, sun and rain; and thus most of the former crushing is dispensed with. The rock brought out is hauled by a very perfect system of traction to the ‘ floors’ —large areas of smoothly rolled ground, coy- ering several hundred acres—and there spread «out, about a foot in thickness. Various qprocesses, of steam-harrowing, occasional watering in dry times, ete., are employed to accelerate nature’s effect. The removal to the washing machines, and in part to crush- ers, and all the devices for sorting and con- -centrating, are described in detail, until the last stage is reached, when the heavy con- “centrates are fully separated, and ready to ‘be picked by hand. Here it appeared as though the point had been reached where smachine processes had to cease and ~human :agency alone could avail. But no! After amany years of hand-picking, the discovery ‘was made by one of the employees, Mr. Fred. Kirsten, that diamonds would adhere to grease, while the other minerals of the con- eentrates would not. A few experiments proved conclusive; and soon all hand-sorting was replaced by machinery—slightly inclined tables coated with a layer of grease. These are vibrated as the concentrates are made to pass over them with a current of water, and every diamond is retained, while the garnets and other heavy minerals pass on! No more simple and complete device has ever been dis- covered, for the saving of time, labor and loss. The diamonds thus separated are after- wards boiled in a hot solution of soda, and are then ready for the company’s office and the valuator. The succeeding chapter tells of ‘ Obstacles and Perils’ encountered in the working of the mines, and is a graphic presentation of this aspect of the subject. The earlier dangers were chiefly from reef-falls and cave-ins; after the new methods were introduced these be- [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 435. came unimportant. Occasional slight explo- sions, due to carelessness of workmen, and one disastrous fire, of unknown origin, but probably from the same cause, are described, the latter in a very vivid and feeling way. The ‘ mud-rushes’ are the most serious liabil- ity of late; and the methods employed to pre- vent them are ingenious and interesting. Chapter XIV., on ‘The Workers in the Mines,’ is one of great general interest, de- scribing the conditions and regulations of life and work in the vast subterranean hive of activity, and the arrangements for housing, feeding and controlling the great heterogene- ous army when above ground. About one sixth of the employees are white men, largely from the mining districts of England, though there are many Afrikanders, and a sprinkling from nearly every land on the globe. The rest, some eleven thousand, are native blacks, representing almost every tribe south of the equator, some coming from distances as great as a thousand miles. Mr. Williams gives a most interesting estimate, based on conspicu- ous facts, of the industrial capacity of the negro—one that impresses an American with surprise. The steadiness, persistence, con- tentment and capacity shown by these thou- sands of laborers, fresh from their native savagery, 1s in utter contrast to the shiftless and indolent character of the negro so largely seen in the New World, and so generally at- tributed to the race as such. As a sociological study this subject of the experience of the De Beers Company with African labor, on a grand scale and through many years, is worthy of most careful attention by anthropologists and philanthropists. The moral and physical well-being of these natives are well guarded by the company in its great system of ‘ compounds ’—walled en- closures, carefully constructed and steadily watched, where the laborers are kept in a sort of paternal confinement during their period of working. Every one engages freely for a time not less than three months, and is then at liberty to leave or renew—the great ma- jority choosing the latter, and many remain- ing for years. liquor is rigorously excluded, as ruinous to all steady or reliable service. May 1, 1903.] Good food is furnished at low rates and good wages paid. Strict sanitary arrangements are provided and maintained; and the whole of Sunday and the Saturday half-holiday, save for a little indispensable work, are granted regularly. It was found that with three shifts of men each working eight hours a day diamonds could be mined for less per head than with a twelve-hour day at the same rate of pay per day. No women may be em- ployed in mine work, and no boys under twelve. These broad and humane provisions are an impressive object-lesson to employers and corporations not so far away. The natural result is industry, contentment and monumental success. Much very inter- esting matter is given as to the ways and usages of the different tribesmen. On Sun- days there is considerable missionary work done among them, and much visiting, games and music among themselves; all are cheer- ful and friendly, tribal enmities and feuds being excluded from the ‘compound.’ The native music is in itself a curious and fas- cinating subject, but one that can not be enlarged upon here. The De Beers com- pounds, however, surely present a most in- teresting field for study in many ways, alike in ethnology and sociology. The succeeding chapter deals with ‘The Mining Towns,’ and is an account of the modern cities and suburban communities that have grown up around the diamond mines. Kimberley is described and illustrated, in its various stages, from the camp of tents and shanties of thirty-two years ago, through its next phase of brick and corrugated iron, to the up-to-date city of recent years, with its hospitals, churches, club-houses, library and school of mines, its gardens and water-works, and its refined houses surrounded with foliage and flowers. The tale is a wonderful one, though paralleled by much in our own western development, with the difference that in the ease of Kimberley there is ever present as the leading factor the one great corporation, and its master-spirit, Mr. Rhodes. Chapter XVI., on ‘The Formation of the Diamond, is the one possessing the highest interest in the book, from a scientific point SCIENCE, 699 of view. Both to the general reader and to those who have followed the very active dis- cussion among geologists through some years past on this subject, Mr. Williams’s full and clear summary of the facts and theories as to the whence and the how of this unique store of precious gems, will possess great in- terest. It may cause surprise, however, and disappointment to find that his closing word is practically that we do not know! He finds in the several theories advanced many points of striking suggestion and some of strong probability, but nothing yet that fully meets and explains the various facts encountered. Some points are well established; others are eliminated; others still are awaiting further study. The ‘necks’ are in some sense vol- canie chimneys, but their filling has taken place at no very high temperatures—more after the manner of mud-voleanoes than of true voleanoes; the ‘ blue-ground’ is a breccia of fragments, and not a decomposed lava; the diamonds were not found in it, but carried up with it from below. In these conclusions Mr. Williams agrees more with the English scientists, Bonney and Crookes. On the other hand, he does not agree with Sir William Crookes in attributing to the diamonds an origin similar to the artificial diamonds of Moissan, formed from carbon in melted iron under enormous pressure and heat. Here Mr. Williams gives some facts of his own, opposed to Crookes’ theory. The latter, arguing for a erystallization at great depths from molten iron, at very high temperature, had cited the explosion, or violent rupture, of African dia- monds, said to occur not infrequently, as an evidence of the strain and pressure under which they had been formed. Mr. Williams states that this spontaneous breakage is ex- ceedingly rare, and that in fact he had hardly ever met with it. He then describes some original experiments as to the presence of iron or its oxides as the coloring matter of the yellow and brown diamonds, which Crookes had cited as an evidence of their origin from fused iron far down in the earth’s erust. ‘These experiments were made upon a magnetic separating machine, the field mag- nets of which attracted any mineral which 700 SCIENCE. contained iron in a metallic or oxidized state’; but no slightest response was shown under the most powerful action of the machine, and with diamonds of the most marked yellow and dark tints. If they contain iron at all, its amount must be infinitesimal. That the ‘blue-ground’ is not a decom- posed lava, and has not been greatly heated since the diamonds have been in it, is shown by experiments of Herr Luzi, at Leipsie (Ber. d. Deutschen Chem. Gesell., 1892), which are here described, but which have not attracted the attention that they deserve. He fused some of the ‘blue-ground’ in a graphite erucible at 1770° R. (4014° F.) and then in- troduced a diamond erystal, and closed and reheated the crucible. The diamond, pre- viously smooth and brilliant, was found to have been corroded and etched, 7. e., partially dissolved, by the fused silicate mixture, in which it had been originally embedded. Mr. Williams then asks, How is it possible that most of the crystals found are bright and polished, with no trace of such corrosion, if the blue-ground has ever been in any condi- tion of fusion from heat, like a lava. The latest reference of the diamonds to an origin in an eclogite rock at very great depths, suggested by Professor Bonney, in conse- quence of some having been found enclosed in boulders of that rock in the blue-ground of the Newland’s mine, is duly considered, and some questions raised in regard to it by Professor Bonney himself are stated. Mr. Williams expresses no positive opinion as to this view, the facts observed at the Newland’s mine not having come under his notice at De Beers or Kimberley; and, as before stated, his latest word is non-committal. The next two chapters, on ‘The Diamond Market’ and ‘Cutting and Polishing,’ are abundantly interesting, but can not be en- larged upon in this sketch. Suffice it to say that they are full and accurate accounts, freely illustrated, of all the methods of as- sorting and valuing the diamond-product, to- gether with notes on the other diamond re- gions of the world and on the sale and distribution, of the stones in commerce; and in the eighteenth chapter, of the history and [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 435. development of the art of cutting, and of the present methods and principal seats of the industry. ~ The closing chapter, ‘An Uplifting Power,’ is a remarkable presentation, from the Rhodes- De Beers standpoint, of the influence of the great diamond fields on the development, prog- ress and civilization of the Dark Continent. The opening of mines; the building of cities; the laying out of railroads; the conversion of an arid wilderness into a populous and pro- gressive land of civilized institutions; the repression of bloody tribal warfare; and the extension of British control and influence far toward the equator, and ultimately, in vision, ‘from the Cape to Cairo’—all these have re- sulted largely from the Kimberley discoveries. They were the dream and the ambition of Mr. Rhodes, who bent all his truly wonderful ener- gies toward their accomplishment, seeking wealth and power, as Mr. Williams emphat- ically contends, not as ends in themselves, but as means to the realization of a grand historical idea. The account is both impres- sive and inspiring, and evidently contains a large amount of truth. Of the other and darker side, nothing is said; the ‘ Jameson raid’ is not mentioned and the recent war is but slightly alluded to, save in the account of the siege, in the appendix, and then only in its local incidents. It is but just to Mr. Williams, however, to recall that he is writing about the De Beers mines, and not about the history of South Africa in general, though the two are closely connected, as he himself has shown. His estimate of Mr. Rhodes is ex- ceedingly high and his sympathy with him is profound, but he writes in a spirit of great breadth and fairness that impresses the reader very favorably. The volume closes with an appendix, of which the first part is a history of the siege of Kimberley. This is a most vivid and even thrilling account of the four months’ invest- ment; the conversion of the mine-workers into a garrison, and of the tailing-heaps into re- doubts; of the turning of all the machinery and resources of the great mining plant into one and another means of defense; of the ever-ready energy of Mr. Rhodes to meet new May 1, 1903.] emergencies as they arose, which were often beyond any means of military or official solu- tion. \ The remaining parts of the appendix give detailed statements about the winding engines, pumping plant and the relative value and efficiency of various coals, African and Eng- lish; and the last section gives a tabular state- ment of the yield of the mines, year by year, since the consolidation in 1888. This is a most remarkable body of statistics, well worthy of careful examination. The report volume would be much more valuable if a single good map of the region dealt with so extensively in all the historical chapters accompanied it. Two or three little maps of special localities, and one of the rail- road systems, in part, are all that are given. The book has a good index, but is wholly lack- ing in a table of contents, either at the be- ginning of the volume or at the head of each chapter. This again is a great defect. Mr. Williams has written a great book that reads like a romance; and the tale of Sinbad the Sailor and his valley of diamonds is as nothing compared with the story of the dis- covery of mines which up to the present have produced more than $500,000,000 worth of uncut diamonds—with little diminution of the output in sight to-day; of the building of cities and railroads in the wilderness; of mines equipped with machinery made in Chicago and London—machinery that is almost hu- man in its accuracy. The literature quoted in the volume is an admirable exposition not only of the history of the mines, but of the entire South African region. From the find- ing of the diamond by the children of Samuel Jacobs, the handing of the erystals by van Niekerk to a traveling trader, John O’Reilly, and the identification of it by Lorenzo Boyes, to the, working of a shaft to a depth of 1,400 feet, is a story without parallel. The wonder- ful finding of the diamond on the Vaal River on the Gong Gong, and discovery at Kimberley only a few years later, are described so vividly as to have an interest such as few works on travel afford us. Here we have also the story of the thousands of claims that seven- teen years later were consolidated into a great SCIENCE. 701 corporation through the genius and organizing powers of Cecil J. Rhodes. ‘The discovery of diamonds in South Africa has done more to open up that country than all other industries together, for it was the encouragement from the sale of diamonds that precipitated the Matabele war which led to the discovery of gold in the Transvaal, in value many times exceeding that of the diamond fields of the region. The change from a multitude of individual claims, that gave the district the appearance of gigantic ruins, to the working by the shaft system was organized under Mr. Williams’s administration. The employment of contract and native labor, the latter often obtained more than 1,000 miles from the mines, and the utilization of the most approved mining machines, replacing the old wheelbarrows and cradles of the earlier days, meant that the cost of mining diamonds was reduced to a fraction of what it was be- fore, and that there was nothing to be feared from the lowering of the price by dealers who - purchased stolen material. When we realize that South Africa has recently produced in one decade more than ten times the value of all the diamonds ever found in Brazil, and that this immense production dates from the discoveries begun in 1867, we may realize in a slight de- gree how great a change has taken place in the world’s diamond production within the life- time of a single generation. Grorce F. Kunz. Vergleichende chemische Physiologie der mederen Thiere. Von Dr. Orro von Furtu, Privatdocent und Assistent am physiologisch-chemischen Institut der Uni- versitat Strassburg. Jena, Gustav Fischer. 1903. The progress which recent years have con- tributed in the study of the comparative mor- phology and physiology of animals has largely been emphasized along non-chemical lines. This is due not so much to an absence of chemical data which are of interest and im- portance in animal biology as to the difficulty which the student has experienced in collect- ing and correlating what has already been ascertained in this direction. There is no 702 dearth of observations which may be expected to throw light on the chemical reactions and metabolic processes of the lower animals; but they are scattered so widely through the lit- erature, and they appear so isolated in their bearing, that an adequate systematic presen- tation of the comparative chemistry of ani- mals has never been attempted before the publication of the book by Dr. von Fiirth. Indeed, it must be acknowledged that few individuals have acquired the wide biological experience and chemical training which are demanded for the successful accomplishment of such a task. In the opinion of the writer, Dr. von Fiirth’s book is one of the most important recent additions to the literature of physio- logical chemistry. Its value lies not only in the compilation of an orderly digest of an enormous number of scientific papers, most of which have apparently been consulted in the original; equally satisfactory is the crit- ical attitude which has been assumed in edit- ing the heterogeneous experimental material. And it is, perhaps, not so much in the classi-* fication of facts and the orderly treatise on comparative physiological chemistry, as in the exposition of the deficiencies of our knowledge, that, the biological investigator will find the work helpful and stimulating. In almost every chapter the author has pointed out lines of experimental inquiry—biochemical problems which demand solution. What has already been attained makes it clear that we may expect still greater advances in biology to follow the more extensive application of comparative chemical methods in this domain. A review of the current text-books will readily convince one upon what slender basis many chemical considerations, handed down without verification from writer to writer, really rest. As yon Firth remarks, too many have con- tented themselves with the principle: “Nur muss man sich nicht allzu ingstlich quiilen; Denn eben wo Begriffe fehlen, Da stellt ein Wort zur rechten Zeit sich ein. Mit Worten liisst sich trefflich streiten, Mit Worten ein System bereiten, An Worte liisst sich trefflich glauben, Von einem Wort lisst sich kein Iota rauben.” SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 435. New experiments and fresh facts are wanted; and the encouragement which this volume offers will bring results. When, for example, the physiological chemist shall be able to differentiate the proteid substances according to their chemical structure—a pos- sibility which recent advances make by no means improbable—then we may truly group like with like and classify protoplasmic masses according to their chemical make-up. Then we may hope to accomplish along chemical lines also what the morphologists have long attempted with much success in determining the biological relationships of animals. In merely pointing out the gaps in our present knowledge von Firth has done a useful service. Von Fiirth’s book is not adapted to detailed review in this place. In an introductory chapter a résumé of the essential features of organic chemistry and of the physiologically important types of organic compounds has been given with unusual success. This will be a welcome recapitulation to the biologist unaccustomed to thinking in chemical ways. Succeeding parts deal with the chemical com- position of protoplasm, the blood, respiration, nutrition, excretion, animal poisons, specific secretions, the muscles, the connective tissues, reserve and skeletal constituents, products of _ the sexual glands, and the chemical environ- ment of animals. Jn each chapter an intro- ductory historical sketch leads to detailed con- sideration of the topic in connection with the various groups of the invertebrates. The ref- erences to the literature are given in detail, experimental methods being included in many cases. The completion of a task such as von Fiirth has accomplished so well should not be made the occasion for unfavorable criticism. A number of typographical errors, aside from those noted in the appendix, remain uncor- rected. It seems unfortunate that in Strass- burg the work of American physiologists is still cited and known only through German abstracts. Dr. von Fiirth deserves congratu- lation for his contribution to biochemical literature. Larayerre B. MENDEL, SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL, YALE UNIVERSITY. May 1, 1903.] SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. Tue Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club for February contains a paper ‘On Atavistic Variation in (@nothera cruciata; by Hugo de Vries; ‘Nova Ascomycetum Genera Spe- ciesque, by Frederic E. Clements; ‘ New Species of Fungi,’ by Charles H. Peck; ‘A Fossil Petal and a Fossil Fruit. from the Cre- taceous (Dakota Group) of Kansas,’ by Ar- thur Hollick; ‘ Notes on Antillean Pines, with Description of a New Species from the Isle of Pines,’ by W. W. Rowlee; ‘The Polypor- acer of North America, II., the Genus Pyro- polyporus, by William Alphonso Murrill; and the usual instalment of the ‘ Index to Recent Literature Relating to American Botany.’ The March number consists mainly of ‘ Stud- ies in Plant Hybrids: The Spermatogenesis of Hybrid Cotton, by William Austin Can- non, but includes a biographical sketch of Dr. Timothy Field Allen by N. L. Britton; ‘Studies in the Asclepiadacee—VII., A New Species of Vincetoxicum from Alabama,’ by Anna Murray Vail; ‘A New Species of Wald- steinia from Idaho, by C. V. Piper; and the “Tndex to Recent Literature.’ THE February number of Torreya contains “Notes on Southern Ferns,’ by L. M. Under- wood; “Trichomanes Peters Found Anew,’ by A. B. Seymour; ‘A Unique Climbing Plant, by Roland M. Harper; ‘An Unde- seribed Hleocharis from Pennsylvania, by N. L. Britton, and ‘A Key to the North- American Species of Stropharia, by F. S. Earle. Carlton C. Curtis reviews Kraemer’s “Course in Botany and Pharmacognosy,’ and this is followed by the ‘ Proceedings of the Club’ and news items. Torreya for March includes ‘ Vital Persist- eney of Agave Americana, by S. B. Parish; “A Key to the North-American Species of Lentinus—i.,” by F. 8S. Earle; ‘The Pubes- cence of Species of Astragalus, by Francis Ramaley; ‘Insect Visitors of Scrophularia, by T. D. A. Cockerell; and ‘ Some Interesting Hepatice from Maine,’ by Caroline Coventry Haynes. OC. C. Curtis reviews MacDougal’s SCIENCE. 703 ‘Influence of Light and Darkness upon Growth and Development,’ and the number is completed by the ‘ Proceedings of the Club’ and news items. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. Tue following papers were either read or presented by title at the stated session of the National Academy of Sciences held at Wash- ington on April 21, 22 and 23: Henry F. Osporn: ‘ An Estimate of the Weight of the Skeleton in the Sauropoda, or in the Sauropodous Dinosaurs.’ Henry F. Osporn: ‘New Characters of the Skulls of Carnivorous and Herbivorous Dinosaurs.’ Henry F. Osporn: ‘Models illustrating the Evolution of the Amblypoda, also of the Dinosaur Diplodocus, together with a Theory as to the Habits of the Sauropodq.’ GrorcGE F. BARKER: ‘ Radioactivity of Thorium Minerals.’ J. M. Crarts: ‘The Law of Catalysis in Con- centrated Solutions.’ ; J. M. Crarts: ‘The Standardization of Thermo- metric Measurements.’ GrorceE EH. Hare: ‘The Rumford Spectro- heliograph of the Yerkes Observatory.’ Lewis Boss: ‘The Determination of Standard Right-ascensions free from the Personal Equation for Star-magnitude.’ (With stereopticon illustra- tions.) R. A. Harris: ‘ On the Semi-diurnal Tide of the Northern Part of the Indian Ocean. (Introduced by Cleveland Abbe.) 5 Artuur L. Day: ‘The Melting Point of a Sim- ple Glass.’ (Introduced by G. F. Becker.) THEODORE GILL: ‘ Biographical Memoir of J. E. Holbrook.’ GrorceE F. Barxer: ‘ Biographical Memoir of Matthew Carey Lea.’ S. F. Emmons: ‘ Biographical Memoir of Clar- ence King.’ JEFFRIES WYMAN: ‘ Biographical Memoir of A. A. Gould.’ (Read by W. H. Dall.) Cuartes S. Hastines: ‘ Biographical Memoir of James H. Keeler.’ Cart Barus: ‘The Diffusion of Vapor into Nucleated Air.’ H. P. Bowpircu: Theodore Lyman.’ ALEXANDER AGassiz: ‘The Nomenclature of the Topography of the Bottom of the Oceans.’ ‘Biographical Memoir of 704 SCIENCKH. S. Wem Mircuert: ‘On the Discovery of an Antidote for Rattlesnake Poison.’ Atrx. GraHam- Bett: ‘On the Tetrahedral Principle in Kite Structure.’ BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Tue 370th meeting was held on Saturday, April 4. H. J. Webber discussed ‘Bud Sports and Bud Variation in Breeding.’ The speaker called attention to the very numerous cases of bud sports which have been described in literature and discussed a num- ber of instances that had come under his personal observation. All parts of a plant, it was pointed out, may exhibit this phenome- non; in some cases almost the entire plant shows the change, while in others the varia- tion is limited to a single fruit or flower or a segment of a fruit or portion of a flower. Many cases seem unquestionably to be in- stances of reversion to some ancestral type, while in other cases the change would seem to be attributable to another cause. The writer outlined an hypothesis accounting for the occurrence of such bud sports as segrega- tion changes in the division of meristematic cells in the bud. Im plants of- mixed or hybrid origin a segregation of the pangens or anlagen representing an allelomorph, or character pair, was presumed to occur in cer- tain somatic cells resulting in a separation of the anlagen, as in the case of the pollen and egg cell formation of first generation hybrids, following Mendel’s bLypothesis. In the case of the appearance of new characters the speaker assumes that here, and also in the case of hybrids, the new combination of pan- gens representing various characters results in the formation of a new crystallization, as it were, which appears as a new character. Rodney H. True described ‘The Manufac- ture of Tea in America,’ illustrating his re- marks with lantern slides. He stated that all varieties of tea plant used in American experiments belonged to one botanical species, the class of tea, green, black or oolong, being in large measure the result of factory treat- ment. There are present within the tea leaf [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 435. tannin and oxidizing enzymes, which on uniting form a reddish-brown product, allied to the class of bodies known as phlobaphenes. In the making of green tea the leaves are so dried as to destroy the oxidizing enzymes before they react with the tannin, thus re- taining the green color of the leaf. The ap- plication of heat is the usual method of destroying the enzymes. light exerts also a destructive influenee on this class of bodies. In making black tea any process hindering the reaction between the tannin and oxidases is avoided until the fermentation has been completed. The high temperature attained during the final firing destroys the oxidases and prevents further fermentation. Oolong teas represent a class in which the action of the oxidases on the tannin has been begun, but has been stopped before full fer- mentation has taken place. Owing to the fact that various varieties of tea contain oxidases in varying quantities, the readiness with which black tea can be made from these varieties is also variable. W. C. Kendall spoke on ‘The Trouts of the Rangeley Lakes,’ saying that the fish fauna of these waters was poor in species, although the lakes were renowned for the size of their brook trout, examples of which reached a size of from nine to eleven pounds. The trout was now extinct in Lake Umbagog, and while the blame of this was laid on the pick- erel, there were reasons for believing that the pickerel was not wholly, if at all, to blame. The speaker stated that while it had been denied that the Rangeley trout were decreas- ing, yet such was the case, and that the angler was probably to blame for it by the introduc- tion of the landlocked salmon. This fish made additional demands on the small food sup- ply, introduced a competitor to the trout and, possibly, an additional enemy. Mr. Kendall then discussed the blue-backed trout, Salmo oquossa, a Species supposed to be peculiar to the Rangeley Lakes, and noted that this fish had become rare within the last few years, although those taken were much larger than the average size of this trout. The possible reasons for the decrease were considered, and Te AL OA sale May 1, 1903.] it was stated that possibly Salmo oquossa, S. oquossa marstoni, and S. alpinus aureolus might prove to be different forms of one species. F. A. Lucas. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Tur 176th regular meeting was held on March 12, 1903, fifteen members and three visitors present. Mr. W. D. Kearfott, of New York City, was elected a corresponding mem- ber, and Messrs. H. E. Burke and J. L. Webb, of the Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, active members. Mr. Busck announced that a collecting ex- cursion to Bladensburg had been planned for the 26th of March. Mr. Ashmead exhibited two wasps from Trong, Lower Siam. The first, Vespa dory- loides Saussure, superficially resembles the male of Dorylus, a genus of large ants. It ap- pears to possess characters which differentiate it from Vespa and justify placing it in a new genus. The other specimen belongs to the genus Ischnogaster. This genus, though classified with the Eumenide, a family com- posed mostly of forms which are solitary in habit, is nevertheless said to be represented in India by social species. Mr. Ashmead showed, also, a specimen of the large Japanese wasp, Vespa mandarinia Smith, now placed in Thom- son’s genus Vespula. Dr. Dyar presented a short paper entitled ‘Note on Crambus offectalis Hulst and Allied Forms.’ eal a [eens a) Cross-section of Pneumatic Hammer, with Tool- holding attachment. ized in work at the point of the chisel. The tool head e is fitted to a square opening in d at j which prevents rotation. The taper- socket holds the chisel in place so that it may be guided by the hammer; when desired the chisel may be readily released by placing in a vise and tapping the tool head lightly. One escape-vent is directed forward so as to blow away dust and small chips from the work. For chisels, one-fourth-inch round steel cut in six-inch lengths and drawn to a point of [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 436. one-eighth or three-sixteenth inch in breadth are most efficient. For finishing, a broader bladed chisel may be used to advantage. This appliance makes it possible to dispense with the unnecessary weight of metal in the chisel so that a keener stroke and a greater cutting capacity result. At the same time the manipulator is relieved of the necessity of holding the chisel in place with the left hand and so avoids the benumbing jar caused by the vibration. The advantages of this hammer over the old-fashioned hammer and chisel are its much greater cutting capacity and its freedom from the jar which causes so much breakage im specimens encased in hard matrix. The relative cutting capacity depends upon the nature of the material to be removed. If it be sandstone, by which tools are rapidly dulled, blocking off in large pieces by means of ham- mer and chisel will be found more expedient. Or if it be a very hard substance, such as ~ quartz or chalcedony infiltrations, a method of spalling by means of a square-poled ham- mer may prove more efficient than either. But in limestone or any of the indurated clays the superiority of the pneumatic hammer is at once evident. This is especially true in the case of complicated specimens where there are deep cavities or foramina to be developed. In such work the pneumatic chisel can be used wherever its point can be introduced, while with the old-fashioned hammer and chisel one is often at a loss for room to hold and strike. The cutting capacity of a chisel is much greater also when used with the pneumatic hammer, as the point can be made much harder without danger of breaking. Chisels made from a high grade English steel of 1.4 per cent. carbon chilled to a file-like hard- mess may be used four or five hours in con- eretionary clays without need of grinding. The advantage of relieving the specimen from the jar of the hand-hammer ean scarcely be overestimated. In working out dinosaur vertebree from a concretionary matrix by means of hand tools we have often found it necessary to break the specimen to pieces with a hammer in order to remove the chal- cedony-filled masses of concretion from the EM SS ee May 8, 1903.] cavities. The use of the pneumatic chisel has made it possible to remove the matrix from such cavities, with but little injury to the specimen. The tendency to chip off thin edges with flakes of the matrix is also avoided. Skill in the use of these tools is readily ac- quired. By adapting the size of the chisel to the work in hand and gauging the amount of air admitted to the tool by means of a push- button throttle valve, the stroke can be reduced so that a scale may be removed from the most delicate surface. . E. 8. Rices. Fretp CoLtuMBIAN MUSEUM. core eeremnatat srauty coueat, comenus tarcemcre. SCIENCE. 749 by the following formule: F.° = 20.° + 32° =2R.° + 32°. Fahrenheit degrees being plotted along a horizontal axis, and Centigrade or Réaumur degrees along a yertical axis, the graphs of the two equations above give two straight lines, as shown, from which, having given a reading in one of the systems, the correspond- ing reading in either one of the other two may be obtained. Thus to find the equivalent of 80° R. the horizontal from the 80° division on the ver- guestetvatt + ae an ee Seo Hee + fete f at + fa + Sas os fe ue ae aieae qa — ian aie -2b yee pee eccesteetatatie R A Eerie C EES SH intr fies site fe seiecesats THERMOMETRIC READINGS. Havine had frequently occasion to transfer thermometric readings given in one of the common systems, Centigrade, Fahrenheit and Réaumur, into one of the others, the accom- panying diagram has been developed, which affords a convenient and rapid means of such transformation, and is adequate, provided a high degree of accuracy is not desired. The relations between the three systems are given tical axis is followed to its intersection with the line marked Réaumur, thence downward where the corresponding Fahrenheit reading (212° F.) is found on the horizontal axis; or upward to ‘ Centigrade’ line and thence hori- zontally to left where the corresponding Cen- tigrade reading (100° C.) is found on the vertical axis. Both lines cross the horizontal, or Fahren- heit, axis at the same point, 32°; the Réaumur 750 line haying a slope of ?, the Centigrade line a slope of 2. The diagram is capable of being extended as far as may be desired, and by shifting the origin of coordinates and choosing a suitable scale of magnification, almost any desired degree of accuracy may be obtained for read- ings along any given part of the diagram. S. W. DupDLey. SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL, YALE UNIVERSITY, February 7, 1903. DISCOVERY OF DENTAL GROOVES AND TEETH IN THE TYPE OF BAPTANODON (SAURANODON) : MARSH. ze THROUGH the courtesy of Dr. C. E. Beecher the writer has recently enjoyed the privilege of studying the types in the Yale Museum on which Professor O. C. Marsh based the de- scription of Baptanodon natans and B. discus. The discovery * of teeth in the jaws of an Ichthyosaurian (No. 603) belonging to the collection of fossil vertebrates of the Carnegie Museum, led the author to believe that dental grooves, if not teeth, were present in the type of the genus Baptanodon. Only a little preparation was necessary to demonstrate the existence of well-developed dental grooves on both upper and lower jaws, and just outside of the dental groove, imbedded in the matrix surrounding the ros- trum of No. 1952+ (type of the genus), a small tooth was discovered. This tooth is Ichthyo- saurian in character. The enameled crown, however, is perfectly smooth, there being pres- ent no such longitudinal strie as those ob- served on the teeth belonging to No. 603 of the Carnegie Museum. The complete preparation of No. 1952 would undoubtedly reveal other teeth. Professor Marsh’s statement, that ‘ the jaws appear entirely edentulous and destitute even of a dentary groove,’ was doubtless due to the imperfectly prepared material upon which he based his first description. **Discovery of Teeth in Baptanodon, an Ich- thyosaurian from the Jurassic of Wyoming,’ Science, N. S., Vol. XVI., No. 414, December 5, 1902, pp. 913-914. + Catalogue number of the Yale Museum. SCIENCE. LN. S. Von. XVII. No. 436. The presence of teeth in the type of Baptanodon, as well as their existence in two specimens preserved in the collections of this museum, clearly demonstrates the fact that American Ichthyopterygians possessed teeth. This fact, now firmly established, makes it still more dificult to separate the genus Bapta- nodon trom the closely allied Kuropean form Ophthalmosaurus, and unless other distin- guishing characters can be found they will necessarily have to be considered as generically identical. Baptanodon would then become a synonym of Ophthalmosaurus. In my first paper I provisionally proposed the new genus Microdontosaurus, using as the type No. 603 of the Carnegie Museum collec- tions. I then distinguished this genus from Baptanodon by the supposedly edentulous character of the latter. Since, however, Bap- tanodon has been conclusively demonstrated to have possessed teeth Microdontosaurus must be abandoned as a synonym of Baptanodon or Ophthalmosaurus. Since some time must necessarily elapse be- fore the publication of the final paper upon which the writer is now engaged, it has been thought best to call attention to the discovery of teeth in the type of the genus Baptanodon, which has been considered edentulous for nearly a quarter of a century. CHaRLes W. GILMORE. Carneciz Museum, April 4, 1903. THE BITTER-ROT FUNGUS. In 1854 Berkeley (Gardener's Chronicle, p. 676) described a fungus, Septoria rufomacu- lans n. sp., growing on grapes. He renamed this in 1860 ( Outlines of British Fungology,’ p. 320), calling it Ascochyta rufomaculans Berk. Im 1879 von Thiimen (‘Fungi Pomi- coli,’ p. 59) placed this fungus in the genus Gleosporium and it then became Gleosporium rufomaculans (Berk.) von Thiimen. In 1856 Berkeley (Gardener's Chronicle, p. 245) de- scribed a fungus causing a rot of apples, naming it Gleosporiwm fructigenum n. sp. This is the fungus which is the cause of the bitter-rot disease of apples which has caused such extensive damage to apple crops for many WP i May 8, 1903.] SCIENCE. 751 years. It has now been shown that the Gleos- Gleosporium versicolor (Berk. & Curt.) poritum on grape and the Gleosporium on 1874. apple are one and the same fungus, and this Gnomoniopsis fructigena (Berk.) Clinton, fungus has by common consent been called 1902. Gleosporium fructigenum Berk. In 1902 Clinton (‘Bulletin Illinois Agricultural Ex- periment Station, 69:193-211, III.) de- seribed the perfect stage of this fungus and placed it in the genus Gnomoniopsis estab- lished by Miss Stoneman (Botanical Gazette, 26:71-74, 99-101, 1138-114) in 1898, making the name for the bitter-rot fungus Gnomonz- opsis fructigena (Berk.) Clinton. Recent studies have shown that the name Gnomoni- opsis applied to the perfect forms of several species of Gleosporium and Colletotrichum by Miss Stoneman in 1898 was used by Ber- lese in 1892 (‘Icones Fungorum,’ p. 93) for a very different group of fungi. The genus name Gnomoniopsis Stoneman is, therefore, invalidated, and a new name must be given to the fungi included. until now under that name. The writers propose the name Glom- erella, in which the following species can up to the present time be included: Glomerella cingulata (Atk.) Spaulding & v. Schrenk. Glomerella piperatum (EB. & EB.) Spaulding & v. Schrenk. Glomerella cinctum (B. & C.) Spaulding & y. Schrenk. . Glomerella rubicolum (E. & E.) Spaulding & yv. Schrenk. To the above the bitter-rot fungus must be added. As the name Gleosporium rufomacu- lans and Gleosporium fructigenum apply to the same fungus, and as Gleosporium rufo- maculans antedates Gleosporium fructigenum the new name for the bitter-rot fungus becomes Glomerella rufomaculans (Berk.) Spaulding & yon Schrenk, with the following synonyms: Glomerella rufomaculans (Berk.) Spaulding & von Schrenk. | Septoria rufomaculans (Berk.) 1854. Ascochyta rufomaculans (Berk.) 1860. Gleosporium rufomaculans, (Berk.) von Thiimen, 1879. Gleosporium fructigenum (Berk.) 1856. Gleosporium leticolor (Berk.) 1859. HERMANN von SCHRENE, PrerLey SPAULDING. U. S. Dept. or AGRICULTURE. Missourr BoTanicaL GARDEN. QUOTATIONS. THE INDEX MEDICUS. WE are informed on good authority that the ‘ Index Medicus,’ the first number of which under the new auspices has just appeared, is not receiving its due support, that 251 copies cover the entire subscription list among the profession, both abroad and in this country. That would bring in a return of only $1,255, with an expenditure of about $12,000 per annum. The Carnegie Institution has gen- erously devoted $10,000 per annum to the pub- lication of the index for three years and it was intended to continue this indefinitely, pro- vided sufficient interest is shown in this enter- prise, which has in the past redounded so much to the credit of our country. The ‘Index Medicus’ should go to every place where at least an attempt at clinical or research work is being done, to every insane asylum, to every large hospital, to every medical educational in- stitution, and, in our opinion, it is almost an indispensable adjunct to the editorial work of every medical journal worthy of the name. If it can receive subscriptions from each of these sources, it would not only relieve the Carnegie Institution of its expense, but fur- nish a considerable surplus for its enlargement and increased usefulness. It is not an Ameri- can publication alone. It should receive equal patronage from every part of the world. It is just as discreditable, if not more so, that its subscription list from abroad is not more than double or treble what it is in this country. No person who is interested in medical litera- ture, no one who is attempting to do original work, can wilfully dispense with the aids it can offer. The fault of much of the work that has been done and is still being done through- out the world, especially in some of the insti- 52) SCIENCE. tutions in this country, is that so little is known of what others are doing and, conse- quently, a great deal of human effort is need- lessly wasted. Much sciolistic conceit would be also avoided if this publication, with its preceding series and additional data from the “Index Catalogue,’ could be properly utilized, and medical literature would be a far more satisfactory thing than it is at present. Brown-Sequard, the celebrated French physiol- ogist, used to bitterly complain of the amount of rediscovery of his work that he was con- stantly seeing in the German literature. It is only by such bibliographies as the ‘ Index Medicus’ that much of this can be avoided. We hope the subscription list will be at least quadrupled. The very moderate subscription price, $5, puts it within the reach of everyone who is attempting to do any medical literary work, and no one should attempt that without having at least access to its aid. We do not believe in multiplication of references or un- necessarily elaborate bibliographies, and the rule of verifying one’s references by the orig- inals, of course, is a good one to be followed, but there is no better first guide to medical literature than the ‘Index Medicus’ as now presented to the profession.—Journal of the American Medical Association. THE PRESIDENCY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. Tue University of Virginia, after adhering for over eighty years to the plan of govern- ment devised by its founder, Thomas Jefferson, now decides to conform to the practice of other American universities and to elect a president. From the names suggested for the office it may be inferred that it is a ‘ business’ president that is wanted. No doubt, the trus- tees of the university know best the needs of the institution, and it may be that in the modern competition in education it is neces- sary to sacrifice individual characteristics. An enlightened despotism, more or less tem- pered by trustee or overseer supervision, can accomplish much in a short time from both the financial and the educational points of view, as Harvard shows. It is possible, there- fore, that the change may bring immediate prosperity to the University of Virginia. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 436. All the same, regret must be felt that a system devised by the great Democrat with the deliberate purpose of eliminating the one- man power, a system that has proved efficient and successful in its scholarly results and in the character of the men trained under it, should disappear in the modern craving for uniformity and for quick material gains.— New York Swn. CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. GENERAL CIRCULATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE. AN important publication is the report on the general circulation of the atmosphere, pre- pared by Dr. Hildebrandsson as Part I. of the “Rapport sur les Observations internationales des Nuages’ for the International Meteorolog- ical Committee (Upsala, 1903, large 8vo., pp. 48, pls. XXIJJ.). This is a brief historical presentation of the theories of the general circulation of the atmosphere advanced by Dove, Maury, Ferrel and Thomson, and an examination of the results of cloud observa- tions made at stations in different parts of the world in their bearing on these theories. These results, which include the latest and best ob- tainable, are presented graphically in a series of twenty-two charts, for stations selected be- cause of their position in certain critical lati- tudes. Thus, among these stations are found the following: San José de Costa Rica; ‘Square No. 3’ (Lat. 0°-10° N.; Long. 20°-80° W.); Manila; Mauritius; San Fernando and Lisbon; Havana; Lahore, Allahabad and Calcutta; Kurrachee, Bombay and Cuttack; Blue Hull; Paris; several in England, Germany and Den- mark; Upsala, and others in Sweden, Norway, Siberia, China, Japan. Dr. Hildebrandsson, as is well known, has already done most im- portant work in his study of cloud forms and cloud measurements, and he has been one of the moving spirits in the international inyes- tigation of cloud heights and velocities. He is, therefore, the meteorologist who is per- haps best fitted to undertake the discussion in hand, and his conclusions, which are based on a thorough study of data carefully compared and digested, will be received with satisfaction and accepted with confidence. So important are some of these conclusions in their bearing on a May 8, 1903.] the theory of the general circulation of the atmosphere as put forward by Ferrel and Thomson, and as adopted in all the newer text- books, that it seems well to give here a trans- lation of Dr. Hildebrandsson’s summary (pp. 47-48 of the report) : “By means of direct. observations the fol- lowing results have been obtained: (1) Above the heat equator and the equatorial calms there is, throughout the year, a cur- rent from the east which seems to have very high velocities at great altitudes. (2) Above the trades there is an anti-trade from S. W. in the northern, and from N. W. in the southern hemisphere. (8) This anti-trade does not extend beyond the polar limit of the trade; it is deflected more and more to the right in the northern, and more and more to the left in the southern hemisphere, and finally becomes a current from the west above the erest of the tropical high pressure belts, where it descends to supply the trades. (4) The dis- tricts at the equatorial margin of the trades are partly in the trades and partly in the equa- torial calms, according to the season. Above them there is, therefore, an upper monsoon: the anti-trade in winter, and the equatorial current from the east in summer. (5) From the tropical high pressure belts the air pres- sure on the whole decreases continuously to- wards the poles, at least to beyond the polar cireles. Further, the air of the temperate zone is drawn into a yast ‘polar whirl’ turning from west to east. This whirling movement seems to be of the same nature as that in an ordinary cyclone: the air of the lower strata approaches the center, while that of the higher strata tends out from the center, and this out- ward tendency increases with the altitude above sea level as far up as the greatest alti- tudes from which we have observations. (6) The upper currents of the atmosphere in the temperate zones extend over the tropical high pressure belts, and descend there. (7) The irregularities which are noted at the earth’s surface, especially in the regions of the Asian monsoons, as a whole disappear at the lower or intermediate cloud levels. (8) We must entirely abandon the notion of a vertical cir- culation between tropics and poles which has SCIENCE. * avec les distances horizontales. 753 up to this time been accepted in accordance with the theories of Ferrel and Thomson.” This ‘ vertical circulation,’ to which allusion is made, refers to the view that the air, ascend- ing near the equator, flows as an upper cur- rent across the tropical high pressure belts to the cireumpolar regions, and thence returns as an intermediate current from the poles to- wards the equator. It is in regard to this point that the conclusions of Dr. Hildebrands- son are most interesting. Dr. Hildebrands- son expressly states that he simply presents facts, and does not discuss theories. But he does say most emphatically (p. 44): “JI faut done abandonner une fois pour toutes cette idée d'une circulation verticale entre les trop- aques et les poles—cireulation qui semble du reste impossible pratiquement dans une couche dont l’épaisseur est trés petite en comparison Espérons que dés 4 présent ces ‘courants polaires’ et “équatoriaux,’ qui ont fait tant de confusion dans la météorologie dynamique, disparaitront enfin complétement de la science météorolo- gique, au moins dans le sens dans lequel on les a adoptés jusqu’ici.” R. DeC. Warp. THE LIGHT OF NOVA GEMMORUN. Tue light of Nova Gemmorum appears to be fluctuating like that of Nova Persei No. 2. On the evening of May 1 it appeared that its light had increased about half a magnitudé during the preceding twenty-four hours. Since the measures described in the Asfro- nomical Bulletin of April 22, similar measures were obtained on April 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30 and May 1, and gave the magnitudes 9.37, 9.67, 9.71, 9.81, 9.61, 9.76 and 9.26 respectively. Epwarp C. PIcKERING. BRAIN-WEIGHT, CRANIAL CAPACITY AND THE FORM OF THE HEAD, AND THEIR RELATIONS TO THE MENTAL POWERS OF MAN. Dr. H. MatiecKa, in Part I. of his extensive studies on this subject,* has published some ** Ueber das Hirngewicht, die Schiidelkapacitit und die Kopfform, sowie deren Beziehungen zur psychischen Thitigkeit des Menschen,’ Siteb. d. kon bohm. Ges. d. Wiss., II. Classe, Article XX., 1902. 104 ‘SCIENCE. new and interesting facts concerning the weight of the human brain. His material and data were gathered in the Bohemian In- stitute of Pathological Anatomy and in the Institute of Forensic Medicine, and were sub- jected to a careful analysis with reference to age, sex, stature, race, muscular and skeletal development, state of nutrition, mental state, occupation, cranial capacity and form, and the mode of death. The work is exhaustive, and hardly permits of suitable abstraction in a limited space. Only a few of the most in- teresting results may be quoted here. The heaviest male brain (1,820 gms.) was that of a young man, age 22, of large stature (180 em.) and powerful build, well-nourished ; suicide by drowning. The heaviest female brains, three in number, weighed 1,500 gms. The lightest female brain, from an individual of middle age (25 years), weighed 1,020 gms., with a stature of 150 cm.; cause of death, hemorrhage from a stab-wound of the lung. The brain of a senile female (age, 89) weighed 1,000 gms. The average weight (or as Matiegka specifies, ‘der Kulminations- punkt*) of males aged 20 to 59 is 1,400 gms.; of females, 1,200 gms. Among recent brain-weights of notable per- sons, Matiegka mentions that of Konstan- tinoff, a Bulgarian novelist, 1,595 gms.; F. Smetana, the insane composer, 1,250 gms. (atrophy of paralytic dementia); J. G. Kolar, a Bohemian dramatic writer, 1,300 gms. (age, 84 years; senile atrophy), and Marie Bittner, a talented actress, age 44, 1,250 gms. (about 45 gms. above the average). The skull of P. J. Savarik, the noted Slavist, had a capacity of 1,788 ¢.c., which, with Manouv- rier’s coefficient 0.87, gives an estimated brain- weight of 1,512 gms. One of the most interesting chapters in Matiegka’s monograph concerns the relations of brain-weight and occupation. For this analysis he had 235 brain-weights at his dis- posal, which he arranged in six groups, as- cending from the ordinary day-laborers, who never could learn a trade or remain steadily employed, to those of considerable mental ability. The table is here reproduced in con- densed form: [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 436. = No. of | Average Cases.| Brain- weight. Group I. Day-laborers ......... 14 | 1,410.0 sf MS Lalborersie-rrrracter-rieie 34 | 1,433.5 S Ill. Porters, watchmen, ObCHus ae panne ieteuiiees 14 | 1,435.7 «IV. Mechanics, trades- workers, ete. ....... 123 | 1,449.6 se V. Business-men, teach- ers, clerks, profes- sional musicians, photographers, ete..| 28 | 1,468.6 «VI. Men of higher mental abilities, presuppos- ing a collegiate edu- cation, such . as scholars, physicians, GUE lopnduadeooogcase 22 | 1,500.0 Persons employed in clothing industries, who are apt to be poorly nourished and not very muscular, show a lower brain-weight, 1,433.6 gms. Carpenters (11 cases) have 1,441.8 gms.; coachmen and truck-drivers (14 cases), 1,445.7 gms. Blacksmiths, locksmiths and metal-workers in general, who are as a rule muscular and well-nourished, have a higher brain-weight (21 cases) .1,476.7 gms. Persons occupied in the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages (brewers, tavern-keep- ers, waiters, etc.) have a low brain-weight (16 eases), 1,416.9 gms., doubtlessly due to the large proportion of drinkers among them. These results are indeed striking and sig- nificant, and while they may be challenged as being based upon an insufficient number of eases, the method of the analysis employed by Matiegka is worthy of wide-spread: adop- tion in anatomical institutes everywhere. EK. A. SpirzKa. THE ST. LOUIS CONGRESS OF ARTS AND SOITENCES. We begin on Monday, the 19th of Sep- tember, 1904, late enough to avoid the tropical summer heat of St. Louis, and early enough still to make use of the university vacations. On Monday morning the subject for the whole congress is knowledge as a whole, and its marking off into theoretical and practical knowledge. Monday afternoon the seven divisions meet in seven different halls; Tues- day the seyen divisional groups divide them- } ; i ; 2M % May 8, 1903.] selves into the twenty-five departments, of which the sixteen theoretical ones meet in sixteen different halls on Tuesday morning, and the nine practical, on Tuesday afternoon. In the following four days the departments are split up into the sections; the seventy-one theoretical sections meeting on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, about eighteen each morning in eighteen halls, and the fifty- nine practical sections on the same days in the afternoons, the arrangement being so made that sections of the same department meet as far as possible on different days, every one thus being able to attend in the last four days of the first week the meetings of eight differ- ent sections, four theoretical and four prac- tical ones, in the narrower circle of his inter- ests. In the second week a free sub-division of the sections is expected, and, moreover, a number of important independent congresses, as, for instance, an international medical con- gress, an international legal congress, and others, are foreseen for the following days. These independent congresses will highly profit from the presence of all the leading American and foreign scholars, whose coming to St. Louis will be secured by the liberal arrange- ments of the official congress in the first week; on the other hand, these free congresses repre- sent indeed the logical continuation of the set work of the first seven days, as they most clearly indicate the further branching out of our official sections, leading over to the special- ized work of the individual scholars. And yet this second week’s work must be, as viewed from the standpoint of our official congress, an external addition, inasmuch as its papers and discussions will be free independent con- tributions not included in the one complete plan of the first week, in which every paper will correspond to a definite request. The official congress will thus come to an end with the first week, and we shall indicate it by putting the last section of the last department, a section on religious influence in civilization, on Sunday morning, when it will not be, like all the others on the foregoing days, in com- petition with fifteen other sections, and may thus again combine the widest interests. In SCIENCE. 755 this section there will be room also for the closing exercises of the official occasion. The arrangement of the sciences in days and halls is however merely an external aspect. We must finally ask for the definite content. Our purpose was to bring out the unity of all this scattered scientific work of our time, to make living in the world the consciousness of inner unity in the specialized work of the millions spread over the globe. The purpose was not to do over again what is. daily done in the regular work at home. We desired an hour of repose, an introspective thought, a holiday sentiment, to give new strength and courage, and, above all, new dignity to the plodding toil of the scientist. Superficial re- petitions for popular information in the Chau- tauqua style and specialistic contributions like the papers in the issues of the latest scientific magazines would be thus alike unfit for our task. The topics which we need must be those which bring out the interrelation of the sciences as parts of the whole; the organic development out of the past; the necessary tendencies of to-day; the different aspects of the common conceptions; and the result is the following plan: We start with the three introductory ad- dresses on ‘Scientific Work,’ on the ‘ Unity of Theoretical Knowledge,’ and on the ‘ Unity of Practical Knowledge,’ delivered by the presi- dent and the two vice-presidents. After that the real work of the congress begins with a branching out of the seven divisions. In each one of them the topic is fundamental concep- tions. Then we resolye ourselves into the twenty-five departments, and in each one the same two leading addresses will be delivered; one on the development of the department during the last hundred years, and one on its methods. From here the twenty-five depart- ments pass to their sectional work, and in each of the one hundred and thirty sections again two set addresses will be provided; one on the relations of the section to the other sciences, one on the problems of to-day; and only from here does the work move during the second week into the usual channels of special discussions. We have thus during the 706 SCIENCE. first week a system of two hundred and sixty sectional, fifty departmental, seven divisional, three congressional addresses which belong in- ternally together, and are merely parts of the one great thought which the world needs, the unity of knowledge.—Professor Hugo Miins- terburg in the Atlantic Monthly.. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. Durine the week beginning June first, Pro- fessor J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., Cavendish pro- fessor of experimental physics in the Uni- versity of Cambridge, will give a course of lectures in the Physical Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University on ‘A Theory of the Arc and Spark Discharges.’ Proressor Kurment ArKkapisevic Timir- JAZEV, professor of botany at Moscow, gave the Croonian lecture before the Royal Society on April 30, his subject being ‘The Cosmical Function of the Green Plant.’ TuE University of Glasgow has conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws on Sir Norman Lockyer, director of the Solar Physics Ob- servatory, South Kensington, and editor of Nature; Dr. Thomas Oliver, professor of physiology in the University of Durham, and Mr. Philip Watts, director of naval construc- tion at the Admiralty. Tue University of Dublin has conferred the degree of Doctor of Science on Sir Wil- liam Abney, F.R.S., assistant secretary of the British Board of Education, known for his work on photography and color vision. We learn from Nature that M. Lippmann is to succeed M. Poincaré as president of the French Astronomical Society this month. M. Janssen has been elected president @honneur. The society’s prize has been awarded to M. Charlois for the discovery of a large number of minor planets, and the Janssen prize to M. Giacobini for the discovery of seven comets. Proressor RALPH W. Tower, of Brown Uni- versity, associate professor of chemical phys- iology, has been elected head of the depart- ment of physiology and curator of the books and publications in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 436. Mr. Sipney D. Towntey has been placed in charge of the International Latitude Observa- tory at Ukiah, Cal. Mr. Hucu H. Bennert, assistant in the Chemical Laboratory, University of North Carolina, has accepted the position of assist- ant in the Chemical Laboratory, Division of Soils, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Dr. Capitan has been made a member of the committee on historic and scientific works of the French ministry of public instruction, in room of the late M. Bertrand. Mr. F. A. Denano, general manager of the OC. B. and Q. R. R., gave an address before the engineering students of Purdue University upon ‘The Comparative Development of American and Kuropean Railways,’ on April 13. Drs. Witt1AmM H. WetcH and William Osler gave a dinner at the Maryland Club, April 18, to Dr. Robert Fletcher, of Washington, editor of the ‘ Index Medicus,’ to celebrate the revival of its publication. Mr. H. F. Perxins, of the University of Ver- mont, has been given a research assistantship by the Carnegie Institution for study of special organs and structure of jelly-fish which affect their distribution. Proressor CuHarues S. Sarcent, director of the Arnold Aboretum, Harvard University, will spend next year abroad, devoting a part of the time to studying the trees of Siberia. Dr. W. A. SETCHELL, professor of botany in the University of California, has been given a year’s leave of absence which he will spend in Kurope. M. E. Jarra, assistant professor of agricul- ture in the University of California, who has for the present year been carrying on studies in nutrition in conjunction with Professor W. O. Atwater, has gone to Europe to visit the centers where similar work is in progress. Tur National Geographic Society has ap- pointed Mr. William J. Peters, of the U. 8S. Geological Survey, as its representative on the Arctic expedition to be sent by Mr. William Ziegler. Mr. Peters will be second in com- May 8, 1903.] mand of the expedition, as well as director of the scientific observations. Tuer Russian Geographical Society will send a scientific expedition into Mesopotamia dur- ing the year. ‘The expedition will be under the leadership of M. Kaznakoff, and will in- elude among its members M. Alferaki, the zoologist, and M. Tolmatcheff, the geologist. M. Lacrorx, sent by the Paris Academy of Sciences to Martinique, has returned to Paris, after six months spent in studying the condi- tions on the island. Mr. JonatHan Hutcuinson has returned from India, where he has been investigating the cause of leprosy. A wixpow in honor of Horace Wells, the discoverer of anesthesia, has been placed in the First Congregational Church at Hart- ford, Conn., by his son, Mr. Charles T. Wells. The cartoon was designed by Mr. Frederick Wilson and executed by the Tiffany Company, New York City. Paut Bettont Du CwHatiu, the explorer and author, died at St. Petersburg on April 99. He was born in New Orleans in 1838, and in 1855 he went from New York to the west coast of Africa, where he made the well- known expedition described in his ‘ Explora- tions and Adventures in Equatorial Africa.’ The death is announced of M. E. Duporegq, secretary of the French Mathematical Society, at the age of thirty-one years. Tuer American Medical Association is meet- ing this week at New Orleans under the presi- deney of Dr. Frank Billings. Tue American Social Science Association meets in Baston on May 14,15 and 16. Ses- sions are to be devoted to the discussion of public health and education in physiology and hygiene, the speakers including Professor W. ’ T. Sedgwick, Dr. W. T. Councilman and Dr. EK. M. Hartwell. The Medical Record and The Medical News publish cable reports of the fourteenth inter- national Medical Congress, which met at Madrid last week. On the first day five thou- sand delegates were registered, proportioned as follows: Germany and Austria, 1,000; SCIENCE, 707 France, 825; Great Britain, 235; Russia, 290; Italy, 335; other European countries, 327; United States, 193; South America, 136. The Moscow prize for original research, established by the city of Moscow, in honor of the meet- ing of the Congress in that city in 1897, was awarded to Professor Metchnikoff, and that of Paris to Professor Grassi. It is expected that the next congress will be at Buda Pesth. No discoveries of an epoch-making character appear to have-been presented to the congress, though the programs are said to contain the titles of many papers of importance. Tue Boston Transcript states that a bill has been favorably reported to the Connecticut General Assembly providing for the establish- ment of a geological and natural history sur- vey of the State. The work is to be con- ducted under a commission composed of the governor, the presidents of Yale and Wesleyan Universities, of Trinity College and of the Connecticut Agricultural College. The com- mission is to serve without compensation ex- cept for necessary expenses. It is directed to appoint as superintendent of the survey a scientist of established reputation and such assistants as may be deemed necessary. The bill carries an appropriation of $3,000. The objects of the survey as explained in the bill are as follows: First, an examination of the geological formations of the State with special reference to their economic products, namely, building stones, clays, ores and other mineral substances; second, an examination of the ani- mal and plant life of the State with special teference to its economic and educational value; third, the preparation of special maps to illustrate the resources of the State; and fourth, the preparation of special reports, with necessary illustrations and maps, which shall embrace both a general and a detailed descrip- tion of the geology and natural history of the State. It is expected that the bill will pass without opposition. Nature states that the French Physical So- ciety has held its annual exhibition of ap- paratus in Paris. The entrance hall and vesti- bule were lighted with ‘heliophone’ lamps of the French Incandescent Gas Company, the stair- 758 ease and ground floor by the French Oxyhy- drogen Company, and the entrance hall of the first floor by Nernst lamps. Conferences were held in the Physics Theatre of the Fac- ulty of Sciences on April 16, 17 and 18, at which the following papers were read:— On Anomalous Propagation of the Form of Vibra- tions in the Neighborhood of a Focus, by M. G. Sagnac; ‘Recent Researches in Radio- activity, by M. P. Curie; ‘Experiments on Electric Convection,’ by MM. Crémieu and Pender; and ‘ Further Experiments on Electric Convection,’ by M. Vasilesco Karpen. Reuter’s AGENcy states that Sir Alfred Jones, chairman of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, has received the following communication from the expedition sent by the school to the Gambia and Senegambia to investigate the newly-discovered parasite of trypanasoma. The report is dated March 18, and comes from McCarthy Island, 150 miles in the interior of the Gambia. The communi- cation says: “ We have just returned from a trip, taking nearly two weeks, to Maka, the chief town of the French ‘Cercle de Niani- Ouli’ While there we stayed with M. Porthes, the French Commandant of that district, who was very kind to us in every way. Maka is situated about sixteen miles from the head of Kunchau creek, and about twice that distance, from the main river. Our object in going there was to examine the natives living in the interior and away from large collections of water. Although we found the parasite in none of the natives examined, we did find a trypanasome in each of two horses belonging to the Commandant, which he believes to have become infected while in the district far up the river beyond the British possessions. We are hoping that there is something in this, and intend to experiment at St. Louis (French territory), as many horses there are said to suffer from a species of ‘malaria, and die from it. We hope to be able to show that it is trypanasoma, the symptoms, as far as we ean see at present, being the same as those developed in the two horses seen at Maka. This will be of great importance to the French government in Senegal if correct. If it is at SCIENCE. [N. 5. Vox. XVII. No. 436. all possible, Dr. Todd intends leaving for this district within the next two days. At present we intend to leave the Gambia by the Benin, which is due at Bathurst on the 7th of next month. From Dakar we shall go straight to St. Louis, where, unless something important turns up, we shall only stay for a fortnight before returning to Dakar to catch the steamer for Conakry. We recently infected a horse with the human trypanasome. Only two days ago we found numerous trypanasomes in its blood, and in the stomach of a species of horn fly (which is rather troublesome here) which had fed on this horse we found interesting forms of the parasites suggesting conjugation.” At the recent meeting of the Michigan Academy of Science, at Ann Arbor, the two following resolutions were adopted: (1) WuHereEas, The contour topographic map of the Ann Arbor quadrangle, recently com- pleted by the United States Geographical Sur- vey in cooperation with the Geological Survey of Michigan, is of a high degree of excellence; and Wuereas, A similar map of the entire area of Michigan, in addition to its direct com- mercial and educational importance, would be of great assistance in many branches of scien- tific research: Resolved, That the request now before the legislature for an addition of $1,000 to the appropriation for the State Geological Survey, to enable it to continue to cooperate with the United States Geological Survey in making a topographical survey and contour topo- graphic map of Michigan, is heartily approved, and the prompt passage of the measure re- ferred to earnestly desired. (2) WuereEas, The sanitary science section of this academy has considered the subject of the proposed establishment of state sanatoria for consumptives, and it.has been learned by scientific methods that such sanatoria, in other states and countries are efficient for the education and care of consumptives; therefore, Resolved, That this academy respectfully petition the legislature of Michigan to estab- lish at least one state sanatorium for the edu- cation and care of consumptives, and that an May 8, 1903.] adequate appropriation be made for that pur- pose. Nature states. that the Naples Academy of Physical and Mathematical Sciences offers a prize of 1000 lire to the author of the best memoir on the theory of the invariants of the ternary biquadratic form, preferably in con- nection with the conditions for splitting into lower form. The papers may be written in Italian, Latin or French, and must be sent in on or before June 30, 1904. In addition prizes are offered in connection with the legacy of Professor Luigi Sementini, who in 1847 left the sum of 150 ducats per annum ‘to distribute it as a prize for three memoirs on applied chemistry which they shall judge the best, or to award it as a prize to the author of one single memoir containing great utility, or finally to give it as a life pension to the au- thor of a classical discovery useful to sick mankind.’ Competitors for this prize are invited to send in their applications, accom- panied by manuscript or printed papers, not later than December 31, 1903. Mr. Nevinte-Roure, British consul in Naples, refers in a report abstracted in the London Times to the widespread interest now being taken in Italy in the question of re-affor- esting the country. In 1877 about four mil- lions of acres were withdrawn from the opera- tion of the old forest laws, as well as about one million acres in Sicily and Sardinia. The consequence was a reckless destruction of forests; and now it is generally admitted that the state must step in to save those that are left and to aid in replanting. The question now being discussed is what trees are to be used for the latter purpose. The Italian oak is of little use except for railway sleepers; there is plenty of chestnut all over the country, and pine-trees would grow luxuriantly and prove most useful. The cork-tree, however, appears to be the one which would prove eco- nomically the most valuable, and it has hitherto been almost wholly neglected in Italy. In 1900 the cork exported was valued at only £36,000, and much, no doubt, was used at home. But a few years ago Spain exported wine corks to the value of over a million sterling. SCIENCE. 709 In Italy about 80,000 hectares of land are under the cork-tree, chiefly in Sicily and Sardinia; in Portugal, Spain and Algeria the areas respectively are 800,000, 250,000 and 281,000 hectares. The Calabrian cork forests have been almost wholly destroyed, the trees having been burnt for charcoal, and even Sicily now imports corkwood in considerable quantities. Seventy years ago nearly all the cork imported into England went from Italy. But since then most of the Italian forests have been destroyed for charcoal and to produce potash, and those that remain are being de- vastated for the same purpose; and no one thinks of replanting the ground, which naturally gets washed away owing to the ab- sence of trees. Large forests containing a majority of cork-trees are continually being released from the forests laws, and there is a risk that the production of cork in Italy will soon cease. Nothing can replace cork in its manifold use, and now when vast quantities are used in making linoleum and in shipbuild- ing an adequate supply of it is of great eco- nomical importanee. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. THE board of trustees of Stanford Univer- sity held a meeting on April 25, at which the formal transfer of the property of the uni- versity to the trustees was considered. It is understood that the transfer will be made dur- ing the present week. Mrs. Stanford will be elected president of the board of trustees. Tue New Hampshire legislature has voted an appropriation of $20,000 a year for two years to Dartmouth College. Amonc the appropriations made by the state legislature to the University of Missouri there is one of $7,500 for an addition to the new building occupied by botany, entomology and horticulture. The addition will be used for experimental work in botany along physiolog- ical, pathological and ecological lines. Mr. Anprew CarneciE has contributed $12,- 000 toward the amount needed for the erection of Emerson Hall, the new philosophical build- ing of which Harvard University hopes to lay the corner-stone on May 25, the centennial anniversary of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s birth. 760 This gift was made through Professor Min- sterberg, and it brings the total amount now subscribed for this building up to about $140,- 000, or within $10,000 of the total which the university corporation requires before it will permit the corner-stone to be laid. Tur new engineering building being erected at Brown University for the immediate use of the departments of Mechanical Engi- neering and Drawing will be ready for oc- cupany next September. The building is 72 by 84 feet, three stories high, and is designed so that a later addition of nearly equal size may be made to provide room for all the en- gineering departments. TE Technical Education Board of the Lon- don County Council is offering for competi- tion five senior county scholarships, together with a certain number of senior exhibitions. The scholarships are of the value of £90 a year, and are tenable, under ordinary circum- stances, for three years at universities, umi- versity colleges or technical institutes, whether at home or abroad. Tue board of governors of McGill University have decided that the faculty of comparative medicine and veterinary science at the uni- yersity shall cease to exist at the close of the present session. The reason given for this step is the impossibility of securing adequate funds for the reorganization of the faculty along the lines suggested by the governing staff of the university. N. M. Fenneman, professor of geology at the University of Colorado and C. K. Leith, assistant professor of geology at the Univer- sity of Wisconsin, have been appointed pro- fessors of geology in the latter university in view of the election of Professor C. R. Van Hise to the presidency. Ar the annual meeting of the regents of the University of, Nebraska on April 24 and 25, Frank G. Miller, of the Yale School of Forestry, was elected professor of forestry, his services to begin September next. The fol- lowing promotions in scientific positions were announced: H. R. Smith, from associate pro- fessor of animal husbandry to professor of animal husbandry; J. H. Gain, from instructor SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 436, in animal. pathology, to adjunct professor of animal pathology; F. E. Clements, from ad- junct professor of botany to assistant professor of botany; G. H. Chatburn, from adjunct pro- fessor of mathematics and civil engineering to assistant professor of civil engineering; A. L. Haecker, from assistant professor of dairy husbandry to associate professor of dairy hus- bandry; F. W. Smith, from instructor in edu- cation to adjunct professor of education; R. A. Emerson, from assistant professor of horti- culture to associate professor of horticulture; A. L, Candy, from adjunct professor of mathematics to assistant professor of mathe- matics; R. EK. Moritz, from adjunct professor of mathematics to assistant professor of mathematics; ©. C. Engberg, from instructor in mathematics to adjunct professor of mathe- matics; T. L. Bolton, from adjunct professor of philosophy to assistant professor of phi- losophy; C. A. Skinner, from adjunct professor of physics to assistant professor of physics; R. H. Wolcott, from assistant professor of zoology to associate professor of zoology; W. A. Willard, from instructor in zoology to ad- junct professor of zoology; G. H. Morse, from associate professor of electrical engineering to professor of electrical engineering. Among other appointments are the following: H. H. Waite, to be assistant professor of bacteriology and pathology; H. L. Shantz, to be instructor in botany; R. S. Lillie, to be adjunct professor of physiology. Fellowships were announced as follows: G. G. Frary, chemistry; H. L. Shantz, botany; Esther P. Hensel, botany. G. F. Miles was announced as scholar in botany. Amone the members of the summer school of the University of California from other institutions will be Professor Palmer, of Har- vard, in ethics, Professor Angell, of Chicago, in psychology, Professor Monroe, of Columbia, in educational method, Professor Palache, of Harvard, in mineralogy, and Mr. Gifford Pin- chot, chief of the Bureau of Forestry. Norton A. Kent, Ph.D., formerly assistant at Yerkes Observatory, is at present in charge of the department of physics at Wabash Col- lege, Crawfordsville, Indiana. SCIENCE 4 WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: 8S. NEwcomB, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. WALCOTT, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; HeNRY F. OsBoRN, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooxs, C. HART MEERRIAM, Zoology ; S. H. ScupprER, Entomology ; C. E. BrssEY, N. L. BRITTON, Botany ; BowDitcH, Physiology ; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology; H. P. WILLIAM H. WELCH, Pathology ; J. McKEEN CATTELL, Psychology. Fripay, May 15, 1903. CONTENTS: Medical Education in the United States: Dr. FRANK BILLINGS The Rare Earth Crusade—What it portends, Scientifically and Technically: PROFESSOR CHAS. BASKERVILLE Scientific Books :-— Chemical Teut-books: PROFESSOR JAS. Lewis Hows. Zoological Text-books: PRo- FESSOR V. L. Kertoge. Grasset’s L’Hypno- tisme et la suggestion: J. J............. Scientific Journals and Articles............ Societies and Academies :— The Philosophical Society of Washington: Cuartes K. Wrap. The Biological So- . ctety of Washington: F. A. Lucas. The Geological Society of Washington: W. C. MENDENHALL. Section of Geology and Mineralogy of the New York Academy of Sciences: Grorce I. Fintay. Elisha Mit- chell Scientific Society: PRroressor CHAs. BASKERVILLE Discussion and Correspondence :— Ecology: Dr. H. W. Witny. Are Stamens and Pistils Sexual Organs? PROFESSOR Conway MacMirran. Patagonian Geol- ogy: Proresson A. EH. ORTMAN.......... Current Notes on Meteorology :— Meteorological Reporter to the Government of India; Dunn's ‘The Weather’; Notes: PROFESSOR R. DEC. WARD................ Rop’t E. C. General James T. Stratton: STEARNS 761 172 781 789 790 794 Scientific Notes and News.................. University and Educational News.......... MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES.* Onz of the chief objects of the organiza- tion of the American Medical Association was the elevation of the standard of med- ical education in the United States. In the president’s address, the Father of the Asso- ciation, Dr. N. S. Davis, stated that ‘the purpose of the organization was the im- provement of our system of medical educa- tion and the direct advancement of medical science and practice.’ That medical edu- cation in that day was defective, as recog- nized by the founders of the Association, is shown by the report of the Committee on Medical Education in the year 1850. The committee said, in part, as follows: ““Medical education is defective because there are too many medical schools; the teachers are too few. There are too many students. The quantity of medicine taught is too limited; the quality too superficial, and the mode of bestowal of the honors of medicine too profuse and too unrestricted.’’ * President’s address, delivered at the fifty- fourth annual session of the American Medical Association, at New Orleans, May 5-8, 1903. j Transactions A. M. A., Vol. XVI., 1865. 762 SCIENCE. For many years the association showed its interest in and attempted to influence the elevation of the standard of medical education through a committee on medical education. The ‘Transactions’ of the asso- ciation of the earlier years show many re- ports of this committee, which display much thought and effort on the part of the asso- ciation to improve the status of medical education at that period of time. James R. Wood, as chairman of the committee, in the year 1858, recommended that the various medical colleges of America be re- quested to send delegates to a convention of medical colleges, to consider the matter of medical education. This movement finally resulted in the formation of the Association of American Medical Colleges, which thereafter represented, to a degree at least, the American Medical Association in its efforts to improve medical educa- tion. Later, the Southern Medical College Association was formed. Together these associations represent about 80 per cent. of the regular medical schools of the country, and these colleges have, in a general way at least, fulfilled the minimum requirements prescribed by the rules of the associations in regard to the preliminary education of students, the length of the college course, and the character of the curriculum. About twenty-five years ago the Illinois State Board of Health, through the splendid efforts of Dr. J. H. Rauch, its secretary, made a report on the number and character of the medical schools of the country. This board adopted a minimum of requirements of medical schools as a necessary step toward the recognition of their diplomas by the State Board of Health of Illinois. This minimum requirement of the State Board of Health was gradually increased from time, with the result that many of the medical schools were obliged to raise the standard of medical education to en- LN. S. Von. XVII. No. 437. able their graduates to obtain licenses to practice in Illinois. Other states followed Illinois in requirements for better methods of medical education, with the result that the standard of education in the country was very much improved. MEDICAL SCHOOLS OF THE COUNTRY. In the earlier days of our country, the need of physicians was met by the organ- ization of medical schools which were, as a rule, proprietary in character. These schools attempted the education of physi- cians on the then existing conditions of medicine by teaching in a didactic way the principles and theories of medicine and surgery. The branches usually taught at that time consisted of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, materia medica, obstetrics, the practice of medicine and of surgery. But little opportunity was offered in the great majority of the schools for extensive, prac- tical teaching in anatomy or chemistry, and but a moderate amount of clinical work in the so-called practical chairs. The course of medicine in the college consisted of two annual sessions of four or five months. The course was not graded. The student attended all the lectures and clinics taught during his first year, and the second year was a repetition of the first. This class of schools was rapidly increased in the course of time. The chief reasons therefor were the fact that it was recognized that a connection with a medical school was profitable, directly and indirectly. The prestige which the teacher enjoyed among the graduates and the laity brought him a remunerative consultation and private prac- tice. In most of the states it was easy to incorporate and obtain a charter for a med- ical college. It cost comparatively little to conduct and maintain the institution. Lecture rooms were obtained at trifling cost. The dissecting room was not worthy of the name of a laboratory, and the chief nd May 15, 1903.] expense in maintaining it was the cost of dissecting material, which was usually de- ficient in quantity and poor in quality. Medical schools were organized all over the country, without reference to the needs of the people. Medical education was prosti- tuted. To obtain a sufficient number of students many institutions showed a most degraded disregard of the moral and mental qualifications of the matriculates. The in- come of the school was wholly derived from the tuition of students, and no applicant was turned away who had the cash with ’ which to pay his way. To add to the fa- cility of obtaining a medical college course, there were organized in some cities evening schools, the hours of college attendance occurring from 7 to 9 or 10 o’clock at night. These sundown institutions enabled the clerk, the street-car conductor, the jan- itor and others employed during the day to obtain a medical degree. In spite of the general tendeney to in- erease the facility by which a medical de- gree could be obtained, there was a force at work to improve the methods of medical education. A few older medical colleges and an occasional new one set the standard high in relation to the existing status of medicine. There were earnest, forceful medical men in some of the schools who fought for a higher standard for matricu- lation and graduation. The medical college associations exerted a splendid moral influence for good, and the state boards in all the more advanced states have, by mandatory legislation, com- pelled the colleges to raise the requirements in reference to the preliminary education, the length of the annual session, the time of medical college study, the character of the curriculum, ete. As a result, the status of medical college education has been very much improved in the last twenty, and chiefly in the last ten years. But, im- SCIENCE. 763 proved as it is, there are évils which menace us, the chief of which still are too many medical schools, too many students, and inadequate facilities for the proper, teach- ing of medicine. The improvement in medical college re- quirements has increased the cost of the maintenance of the medical college to a degree that it is no longer a profitable financial venture. There can be no divi- dends. Indeed, the proprietors of the private institution must often make up a deficiency in the annual budget. In spite of this fact, medical colleges have continued to imerease steadily. In 1877 there were sixty-five medical schools in the United States. In 1882 this number had increased to 89, and 1901-2 to 156. The enrollment of students and the number of graduates have also in- ereased, in spite of the fact that the re- quirements for matriculation and gradua- tion have been increased. In 1882 there were* 14,934 matriculates, and this number was increased in 1901 to 26,417, and in 1902 to 27,501, an increase of about 100 per cent. in twenty years. a The number of graduates in 1882 was 4115; in 1901, 5,444; in 1902, 5,002, an increase of about 25 per cent. in twenty years. If, in 1850, there were too many medical schools and too many students, what can we say of the condition to-day? It has been estimated that there is an average of one physician to 600 of the population of the United States at the present time. The natural increase in the population of the country, and the deaths in the ranks of the profession, make room each year for about 3,000 physicians, based on the proportion of one physician to 600 of the population. With 5,000 or more graduates each year, a surplus of 2,000 physicians is thrown on the profession, *The Journal A. M. A., Vol. XXXIX., No. 10, p. 574. 764 overcrowding it, and steadily reducing the opportunities of those already in the pro- fession to acquire a livelihood. The evil of an overcrowded profession is a sufficient cause of complaint, but the cause thereof is the important point for us to consider and, if possible, remove. To correct the evil, the ease and facility with which a medical degree may be secured in this country must be diminished. As before stated, there are now 156 medical schools in this country. Of these, 30 are sectarian, and 136 are so-called regular schools. Fifty-eight are medical- departments of universities, of which twenty-four are state institutions. The relation of the medical school to the university in most instances is a nominal one only. In but few of them is the control of the faculty, or the finances of the medical department, vested in the university proper. Ina very few of them the sciences fundamental to medicine are taught in the university. In the majority of these schools these departments are duplicated in the medical department, and are taught by members of the medical faculty. In most instances, too, the teach- ers of the fundamental branches are physi- cians who devote but a part of their time to teaching. They teach without a salary, or for a nominal one only. Their remuner- ation is obtained by private practice, to which they must devote their best energies, to the detriment of their value as teachers. The clinical department of these schools is, in most instances, wholly inadequate. The majority of such schools depend on the gen- eral hospitals situated near them for the privilege of the use of clinical material. Necessarily, these clinical advantages have great limitations, inasmuch as they can not be fully controlled for the purpose of proper bed-side teaching, or for scientific investigation. Some of the medical schools which are connected with state universities SCIENCE. [N. 8. Von. XVII. No. 437. are situated in small cities where it is im- possible to command an adequate amount or variety of clinical material. The con- nection with a university, which many of the schools enjoy, is, therefore, almost valueless in a pedagogic sense. The major- ity do not differ materially from the private or proprietary schools in their value as teaching institutions. Ninety-eight of the medical schools in the country are private corporations, organized, maintained and, as a rule, owned by the faculty. If, in earlier years, these institutions were sources of direct financial profit to the owners, they have ceased to be so now—at least most of them. The evolution of medicine has made it necessary to extend the labora- tory method of teaching. As these schools attempt to teach the whole curriculum, the erection, equipment and maintenance of the necessary laboratories have so increased the cost of conducting the schools that they are usually no longer self-supportmg. The temptation is im such schools to conduct them on a plane which shall just comply with the minimum requirements of the various state bodies, which regulate medical practice in the several states. They are maintained ostensibly to teach medicine, but in reality for the prestige which a pro- fessorship affords the teacher in his private and consultation practice. Proprietary schools depend on general hospitals and dis- pensaries for clinical material. What was said of the status of clinical teaching of the medical departments of the universities is true also of the proprietary college. These schools can not hope to improve their present standards. The majority attempt to maintain laboratories and other expensive means of teaching which a modern medical education demands. But in how many are the laboratories worthy of the name? What kind and variety of instruments and apparatus do May 15, 1903.] —————— SE they afford? Are their teachers of the sciences of the fundamentals of medicine capable? They can not hope for better conditions, because the time when a stu- dent’s tuition will pay the school for his instruction, if he is properly taught, will never return. Medical education of the future must be based on the status of med- ical science. That basis is recognized now, but is attempted in the great majority of our medical institutions in a very super- ficial way. SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE. The great and important discoveries of Pasteur and the practical methods devised by Koch in bacteriology marked a new era in medicine. Before the facts made clear by these discoveries, the hypotheses and theories of other days have disappeared. Our knowledge of man and the lower ani- mals and of the diseases and evils which afflict them has been revolutionized within the last twenty years. The advance in medical knowledge has been greater in that period than in all preceding time. Medi- cine now embraces many more subjects, chiefly fundamental ones, than were known twenty years ago. Formerly a very super- ficial knowledge of a few isolated facts in general chemistry and human physiology and a memorized knowledge of human anatomy and of materia medica enabled the student to learn the practice of the art of medicine and surgery. Now, the problems which confront the clinician and investi- gator in medicine and surgery compel him to have a good and working knowledge of general, physical and physiologic chemistry, of general biology, bacteriology, pathology, physiology, embryology, pharmacology, his- tology and anatomy. The physician who has not a practical knowledge of these fun- damental subjects can not clearly under- stand the methods of others engaged in scientific investigation, nor can he ration- SCIENCE. 765 ally utilize the discoveries of others in his work. Medicine to-day is applied science. If we utilize the knowledge of to-day in an attempt to cure and prevent disease, it must also be an experimental science. No one can practically apply or rationally experiment with what he does not know. The fundamental studies of medicine must, therefore, be acquired by all who desire to successfully apply them as sciences. The successful experimental application of these sciences has given us within ten years a knowledge of the method by which the in- vading bacteria affect the host, and has likewise developed a principle of wide ap- plication as a preventive and cure of cer- tain diseases by the use of antitoxie sera. It has confirmed the principle of preventive inoculation, accidentally discovered by Jenner, and has enabled us to apply the principle in other. diseases than smallpox. It has enabled us to know the methods of transmission of certain infectious diseases, and to know how to stamp out scourges like yellow fever, the plague and malaria. Through the evolution of Listerism, it has enabled the surgeon to invade every region of the animal body, and to save scores of lives formerly doomed to death. The free- dom with which the surgeon may now operate has not only saved lives, but, in- directly, the knowledge of disease processes so studied during life has taught us many new facts in symptomatology, and has cleared away many fallacies concerning pathologic processes. It has given us many new methods of clinical study, and furnished data from the blood, the spinal fluid, the exudates, the sputa, the sweat, the feces, and urine, which enable us to recognize disease much more readily than before. Much as has been accomplished by ex- perimental medicine in a comparatively brief period of time, there are vast fields to which the method has not been applied. 766 SCIENCE. With most of us, our present methods of clinical observation enable us to do little more than name the disease. In the vast majority of the infectious diseases we are helpless to apply a specific cure. Drugs, with the exception of quinin in malaria, and mereury in syphilis, are valueless as cures. The prevention and cure of most of the infectious diseases is a problem which scientific medicine must solve. What is true of the infectious diseases is also true of the affliction of mankind due to chem- ical influences within the body. We know but little of diabetes, of the primary blood diseases, or of the various degenerative processes of age and disease. We hope- fully look to chemistry to reveal to us the cause of these and other conditions. Hx- perimental medicine must be the means of removing the ignorance which still em- braces so many of the maladies which afflict mankind. Not every student, nor every physician, can become an experimenter in applied medicine. Nevertheless, every physician must be so educated that he may intelligently apply the knowledge furnished him by experimental medicine in the cure of such diseases as can be cured. He will no longer juggle with the life of his patient by an attempt to cure with drugs or other- wise, where no help is possible. METHODS OF MEDICAL EDUCATION. | The phenomenal evolution of medicine has multiplied the subjects of medical study. The character of these sciences requires that they shall be taught by the laboratory method. The laboratory meth- od, too, has been adopted as the chief method of instruction in anatomy, pharma- ecology and chemistry, formerly almost wholly taught in medical schools by di- dactic lectures. The laboratory method, while necessary to the proper and practical instruction of the student, involves an ex- pense which is appalling when compared (N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 437. with the methods of teaching formerly practiced in all schools, and still adhered to in many medical schools. The method is expensive, Inasmuch as it involves more extensive buildings, much expensive appa- ratus and an increase of the teaching force. The instruction must be individual or to small groups of laboratory workers, and this involves also an extension of the time of instruction. A physician engaged in private practice can not possess and retain the general and technical knowledge neces- sary to enable him to teach one of the fundamental sciences properly, nor can he devote an adequate amount of time to it. The teachers of these fundamentals must be investigators in the province of their respective sciences. They must give their whole time to the instruction of students and to original investigation. The thor- oughness and accuracy of the training of the special senses, and in experimenting, which a student will receive from such teachers in properly equipped laboratories, will make him keen in intellect and sound in judgment. His desire for knowledge will be stimulated by the atmosphere of his surroundings, and will awaken in him a consciousness that through him and his work the knowledge of the world will be increased and humanity benefited thereby. But teachers of this character must be paid salaries quite as large as the remuneration of professors in the departments of arts, literature and science. The salaries of such professors and of the corps of assist- ants which the laboratory method implies make the cost of the university or college far beyond the income which could be de- rived from the tuition of students. I be- lieve it has been estimated that the labora- tory method of instruction, now followed by all first-class institutions of learning, costs annually from $400 to $500 per stu- dent. But, great as the cost seems, it must 5 i May 15, 1903.] be conceded that the present status of medi- cine demands the thorough instruction of students in these fundamental studies. It matters not whether his future may be that of a teacher or a practitioner of medicine. In either event, he must apply his knowl- edge of the fundamental sciences to his work, and the result will depend on the thoroughness of his education. APPLIED MEDICINE AND SURGERY. To enable the student to utilize the knowledge of a thorough training in an- atomy, physiology, chemistry, pharmacol- ogy, physiologic and physical chemistry, embryology, neurology and pathology, he should be afforded facilities of equal rank in clinical medicine and surgery. To sup- ply the student with proper clinical facili- ties involves several important features. Special hospitals, which would be abso- lutely under the control of the medical school, would be necessary. The hospital should be constructed with a definite idea of teaching students and of making re- searches into the nature, causes and treat- ment of disease, as well as to care for a definite number of patients. Hospitals for general medicine, surgery and obstetrics would be essential. Such hospitals, with laboratories and equipped with instru- ments, apparatus and library, would cost for their building and maintenance a very large sum of money. With such hospitals it would be necessary to choose the pro- fessors of medicine, of surgery and of ob- stetrics, with competent assistants, of the same type as the teacher of the funda- mental sciences. They should give their whole time to the work of teaching and to original research in the hospital. They should be men who have proved their scien- tifie fitness for the important positions by the contributions they have made to med- ical knowledge. They should rank with and receive the pay given to professors of im- SCIENCE. 767 portant departments in arts, philosophy and science. When so paid, they would be free to devote all their energy to teaching, and to experimental medicine—a career which would enable one to be of the great- est possible service to mankind. No life’s work could be fuller or of greater self- satisfaction, and surely none would be more honorable. From these teachers and investigators the student would obtain in- struction of the same systematic methods of accurate observation and investigation which are employed in the fundamental branches. He would receive thorough, con- scientious drill in the fundamental meth- ods of examination of patients, and his knowledge of the fundamental sciences would be constantly applied in this work. The trained clinical teachers would direct the student in thorough, careful observa- tion in the wards and at the operating table, would collect data to be submitted to experimental tests, and would conscien- tiously carry out the experiments in the laboratories of the hospital. The brilliant discoveries which have made our knowledge of the cause and means of transmission of many of the infectious dis- eases have been chiefly due to the intro- duction of the experimental method of in- vestigation. Teachers and investigators of the type mentioned will have the oppor- tunity to make equally important’ discov- erles in the broad field of the unknown in medicine. They will train students in the methods of research work and constantly increase the number of investigators in the domain of medicine. And there is need for such men. We may give the great practitioners who have taught clinical medicine their due meed of credit for their excellent, painstaking, unselfish efforts as teachers. They have added to the sum total of our clinical data, have utilized the knowledge of the pathologist and the physi- 768 ologist in diagnosis, and have tested and judged the worth of therapeutic aids in the treatment of disease. But as teachers they have not made students investigators or experimenters. Not one of the recent ereat discoveries in medicine has been made by such a man. He has used as clinical material hundreds of cases of pneumonia, rheumatic fever, tuberculosis and chronic diseases by the score; his experience has taught him to recognize these diseases, even when the clinical manifestations are ob- secure, but he is no more successful than when he began to practice in saving the life of the patient with pneumonia, in pre- venting endocarditis in rheumatism, in curing tuberculosis, or in checking the ad- vanee of a chronic hepatitis. It is time, therefore, that the clinical teacher should have the knowledge necessary to carry on experimental investigation, with hospital facilities for the work that the profession may become purged of the shame of help- lessness in curing so many of the common diseases of mankind. The patients who will be received in these hospitals will be fortunate. They will receive the most painstaking examina- tion and study, and the experiments made on animals in the laboratory will benefit the patients directly, inasmuch as more rational therapeutic measures will be ap- plied in cases so investigated. In addition to the clinical teachers, who will devote all their time to teaching and research work in the special hospitals, there will be quite as much need for the clinical teacher, who is In private practice, in the general hos- pitals. Under his direction the student may himself investigate a hospital or am- bulatory case, and undertake the care of the patient. His rich and varied experi- ence in hospital and private practice will enable him to round out the student’s col- lege education. He will impart to the stu- . SCIENCE. LN. S. Vou. XVII. No. 437. dent a better idea of medicine as a whole. He will coordinate and arrange the isolated facts of clinical and laboratory imvestiga- tion, and give them their true and relative value. He will teach the student the art of medicine; he will teach him that human sympathy and encouragement of the sick and dying are a part of his duty as a physician. It would be most practical to make the clinical work of the third year a clinical drill and experimental course, given in the special hospitals, and assign the students of the fourth year to the general hospitals and to the clinical teachers who are in private practice. All the general hospitals and dispensaries controlled by the medical schools could be utilized in the fourth year for this purpose, and afford the student an abundance of clinical material and the benefit of the experience of many clinical teachers. Many of the assistants in the special hospitals, of the third year course, would doubtless engage ultimately in pri- vate practice, and would, because of their scientific attaimments, make excellent clin- ical teachers in the fourth year. A medi- eal school conducted on the high plane advocated must necessarily be under the control of a university. - Such a medical school would cost an enormous amount of money, and this can be commanded only by the trustees of a university of the high- est order. That the money for the purpose of establishing and maintaining university medical schools with research hospitals and university clinical courses will be forth- coming can not be doubted. The world is awake to the great discoveries recently made in medicine. The wealthy men of this country have had their interest aroused as never before in reference to the possi- bilities and benefits which medical investi- gation will give to mankind. They now recognize that they and all posterity will May 15, 1903.] be benefited by every new fact discovered in medicine, and that physicians thor- oughly and scientifically trained are neces- sary to conserve the health of the people. Three years ago Professor W. W. Keen, in his address as president, deplored the fact that medical schools received relatively little aid in the form of endowments as compared with universities and colleges of philosophy, art and theology. Since that time several millions of dollars have been given for medical education and scientific research. The signs of the times point to a brighter future of medicine in America. EDUCATION PRELIMINARY TO MEDICAL STUDY. The subject of the educational require- ments for matriculation in medical schools has been discussed at many meetings of this Association in its earlier years, and later by the college associations, hy the Ameri- ean Academy of Medicine and by the vari- ous state boards of health. The requirements were at first lament- ably low, and the efforts of the Committee on Hdueation of the American Medical Association and of the college associations had but little effect, because they possessed no legal power to control the schools. The influence of the various boards of health of several states, notably Illinois, was more marked, inasmuch as these state boards possessed a mandatory power. The colleges were forced to adopt the mini- mum educational requirements of the state boards of health if their diplomas were to be recognized by the respective state boards. These moral and legal influences to im- prove the preliminary requirements were almost nullified by the practice of a major- ity of the medical schools in admitting students whose educational status was ex- amined into and judged by a committee of the college faculty. This practice is still followed by a majority of the medical schools, and re- SCIENCE. 769) sults in the admission of many students who are unable to fulfil the prescribed requirements. As a subterfuge, students are often matriculated conditioned in one or even several subjects. Then the student and the faculty committee forget all about the subject, and the student completes his course, goes into practice, and dies with the conditions still undischarged. The present requirements of the college associations and of the various state med- ical examining boards and state boards of health amount, on the average, to a high- school education. The curricula and length of course of the high schools of the different states, and even in the same state, differ very substantially. However, if the med- ical schools now in existence would honestly require as a minimum education the diploma of a high school, without regard to the rank, it would be a marked advance over the present requirements as practiced by most schools. We must admit, too, that there are med- ical schools of such low educational grade that they have no right to demand of their matriculates as much even as a common school education. This fact that low-grade medical colleges exist is one of the most satisfactory explanations of the difficulty encountered in elevating the standing of preliminary requirements. To get at the root of the matter the med- ical college must be brought up to the proper educational standard, and then, and then only, can be made a proper prelim- inary educational requirement. UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGES. The present status of medical science re- quires and demands a university medical college course. By university medical eol- lege is meant a medical school which is directly connected with and a part of a uni- versity; the university fixing the require- ments and controlling the admission of stu- 770 dents to the medical department. The method of teaching both the fundamental and the clinical branches is on the prin- ciples outlined above. To properly pre- pare for such a course the student should have, as a minimum preparation, at least two years of study in a good college or uni- versity. The requirements to enter a good college or university would insure a suffi- cient knowledge of the ordinary school branches and also Latin or Greek. During the two years’ course in college his time would be well spent in the study of Eng lish, French, German, mathematics, history, philosophy, physics, chemistry, general and organic, and qualitative analysis, compara- tive anatomy and general biology. The amount of time to be devoted to each of these subjects would be the same as that of students of general science, as arranged in all college curricula, with the exception of a much more thorough course in chem- istry, biology, physics and comparative anatomy. So prepared, the medical matriculate would be able to grasp all the intricacies of the subjects of the fundamental branches of medicine. With the adélition of the full medical college course, as outlined above, his education would be equal in culture to that of the graduate in arts and philosophy. At the same time, it would be practical and especially fit him for his work as a scientific investigator or prac- titioner, or for both. With the medical profession so educated a physician would be, in truth, a member of a learned profession. From an educa- tional point of view he would rank as an equal with the scholar in philosophy, law and theology. As a man he would be recognized as the greatest benefactor of mankind. With the establishment of university medical schools the first two years of work SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 437. in the medical school will consist of courses in pure science. Then, doubtless, all uni- versities will adopt the plan which two or three universities have already put in practice. That is, that the student who completes the first two years of the science course of a university, or at a college of good standing, may enter the sophomore year of the university and take the first two years’ work in medicine, as the sopho- more and senior years of the bachelor’s course, when he would receive the degree of S.B. The student who completes the three years of the arts or philosophy course at a university, during which he should take a large amount of work in physics, chemistry and biology, could then enter the medical colleve and after two years receive the degree of A.B. or Ph.B. After two years spent in the clinical school he would receive the degree of M.D. This telescoping of the literary and med- ical courses affords the advantage of an economy of time, while it does not in any way lessen the value of the result to the student. In the one case the student se- eures the degrees of S8.B. and M.D. after six years of study, and in the other the de- erees of A.B., or Ph.B., and the degree of M_D. at the end of seven years’ study. . THE OUTLOOK OF MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. Medical education must advance to its proper level if it complies with the present status of the medical sciences and the de- mands which continued evolution in medi- cine promises. What does this imply? It means that the private—the proprietary—medical school which is conducted for commercial reasons must go. Acknowledge, as we must, the great value which the best of these schools have been to the profession and to the country, all such schools have —— to May 15, 1903.] lived past the time when they ean be of value. The continuation of these institu- tions henceforth will be harmful. They can not command the money to build, equip and maintain the laboratories and hospitals which a proper and adequate medical edu- cation demands. In the past their gradu- ates have furnished the many great and in- fluential medical and surgical clinicians of this country. In former days a gradu- ate poorly prepared has been able, by inde- fatigable labor and post-graduate work, to place himself in the front rank as a clinical physician and surgeon. To-day medical science demands primary instruction to fit a man as an investigator and scientific physician. If not properly educated he can not grasp the great prob- lems which medicine presents to-day as he did the more simple clinical facts which comprised the art of medicine and surgery a few years ago. In the future medicine must be taught in the large universities of the country and in the state universities which are situated in or near large cities, where an abundance of clinical material may be commanded. The state university and the college which desires to teach medicine, and is so situated that it can not command clinical material, should confine itself to teaching the ‘sciences fundamental to medicine. These should be taught as pure sciences, and should be included in the course for the degree of S.B. A college or state uni- versity ambitious to teach the medical sci- ences can do so without great cost. To attempt to teach applied medicine without proper and adequate hospitals, and with an insufficient number of patients, would be irrational, nor can they command the necessary funds with which to doit. From such colleges and state universities the students could go to the larger institutions which are able to furnish the proper facili- SCIENCE. 771 ties for teaching applied medicine and sur- gery. The general hospitals of many of the cities, now used by proprietary schools, could be utilized as clinical schools for both undergraduate and post-graduate teaching, conducted by the clinical teachers in the existing proprietary schools. Indeed, these hospitals could be utilized as university extension clinical courses. Necessarily, they would have to be under the control and direction of a university medical school. How many schools may be necessary to educate the number of doctors of medi- cine required annually in the United States? The question one can not answer, but it is safe to say that 2,500 graduates annually will fully supply the demand. This would imply about 10,000 to 12,000 matriculates. A minimum number of twenty-five and a maximum number of thirty-five medical schools should offer suf- ficient facilities to educate 10,000 students. The various state universities and the col- leges which offer adequate science courses would educate a great number of students in the fundamental branches, or in the first two years of the medical course. MEDICAL RECIPROCITY BETWEEN THE STATES OF THE UNION. The low requirements of some medical colleges, and the want of uniformity in the requirements for a license to practice in the different states, has resulted in a con- dition which entails much hardship on a physician who desires to remove from one and to engage in practice in another state. The rules of most state boards of medical examination and of health are so stringent that a physician or surgeon of years of experience and of acknowledged skill and education, and the specialist who may be renowned in his field of work, are obliged, like the recent graduate, to take an exam- 712 SCIENCE. ination in all of the branches of medicine and surgery in order to secure a license to practice in the state of his adoption. To correct this evil it has been suggested by a member of the American Medical As- sociation, and concurred in by others, that a national board of medical examiners be organized; that the board hold examina- tions at different seasons of the year in the various large cities, and that the diploma so obtained shall be recognized as a license to practice in any one or all of the states and territories. The measure suggested seems to be practical and feasible. In addition to this plan, it remains to be said that the degree granted by the future university medical school will be undoubtedly recognized as an evidence of fitness to practice in any state in the Union. When we shall have a less number of schools and annual graduates the various states may safely and rationally become more liberal and discriminating in the con- duct of their office. THE INFLUENCE OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. The American Medical Association should maintain its interest in the elevation of the standard of medical education, one of the chief reasons of its organization. Its in- fluence in former years was principally moral. This was of considerable value, for the reason chiefly of the high ideals of the founders and first members of the as- sociation, who advocated and fought for a higher standard of medical education. In the future its influence should be many fold that of the past, for with the reorgan- ization of the profession, the better, meth- ods of conducting its affairs, the increased and probably very large membership, and its great medical journal, it should wield a great influence for good. As the direct agent by which the Amer- ican Medical Association may exert its in- [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 437. fluence in the elevation and control of med- ical education, the Committee on Medical Colleges and Medical Education should be made permanent and should be given ade- quate power and sufficient annual appro- priation to make its work effective. This association should, therefore, stand for, and should'use its whole power to im- prove, medical education in this country. It is said that we never exceed our ideals in practice, and that if we lower our ideals our conduct sinks to a lower level. The American Medical Association should take as its ideal and standard of medical education the university medical college, with all the name implies in regard to the fundamental medical sciences, and to the clinical branches. It should use its influence to drive out of existence those proprietary medical schools which are conducted solely as money-making institutions. These meas- ures can not be accomplished at once; but medical science demands it, the profession demand it, the people demand it, and look to the American Medical Association as the chief influence which shall accomplish this end. FRANK BILLINGS. CHICAGO. THE RARE EARTH ORUSADE; WHAT IT PORTENDS, SCIENTIFICALLY AND TECHNICALLY .* In the movement of economic and social forces the closed century knew four periods of intensified activity. In 1775, a memo- rable date in American history, Watt began the manufacture of the steam-engine. Dur- ing the adolescence of our own country revolutions were wrought in the commer- cial world by the invention of the locomo- tive by Trevethick (1801), the loom by Jacquard (1801), and Fulton steamed upon the Seine. By the beginning of the nine- teenth century the inventions of Watt and * A lecture delivered before the Chemists’ Club, New York, by request, April 8. a May 15, 1903.] Boulton, Arkwright and Hargreaves, were completed and something like the modern factory system was begun. From indus- trial history we gather that ‘England in- ereased her wealth tenfold and gained a hundred years’ start in front of the nations of Europe.’ While vigorous protests, some even vio- lent, as the riots at Lyons and the destruc- tion of Hargreaves’ home in England, were made against this rampant spirit of indus- trialism, there was witnessed a literary renaissance in Great Britain second only to ‘the spacious times of great Elizabeth.’ That age nourished Keats, Shelley, Byron, Seott, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Burns and Burke. C. Alphonso Smith in his exquisite essay on ‘Literature and Industrialism’ says: ‘In a love of nature that made all seasons seem as spring, in devotion to democratic ideals, in variety of range and intensity of feeling, this period takes pre- eedence of Elizabeth’s reign.’ It was of this age that Wordsworth said: “ Joy it was in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven.” Granting Tolstoi’s definition of science as a ‘mere gratification of human curiosity,’ we realize that ‘science is history making,’ for it was in this period that Volta and Galvani (1801) gave us a source of power and a means of applying it. At the close of the time Dalton had announced the atomic theory and Davy had obtained the alkali and alkaline earth metals. In the second period, about 1840, there accumulated the potentialities that shaped what is termed the Victorian Era. Quot- ing Smith again, ‘‘In those years railroads first began to intersect the land, telegraph lines were first stretched and the ocean was erossed for the first time by steam-pro- pelled vessels. All these mechanical tri- umphs tended to annihilate time and space. The products of manufacture could now SCIENCE. 773 be sent with dispatch to the most distant quarters. Nations came closer together. The two hemispheres became, and have con- tinued, one vast arena of industrial and scientific interchange. * * * ”’ The literary record of this period con- - tains the names of Tennyson, Goethe and the Brownings as poets; Dickens, Thack- eray and George Eliot in fiction; Ruskin and Carlyle in miscellaneous literature. In America, durine this Mexican War period, we had Lonefellow, Lowell, *Whit- tier, Hawthorne, Emerson and Holmes, ‘the six names that have given the New England states their incontestable suprem- acy in American literature.’ The part played by the south in litera- ture during these periods was not prom- inent. The preeminence of that part of our country in forensic art and oratory need not be considered, nor need we dis- cuss the social conditions, and honest dif- ference of opinion as to the proper inter- pretation of the true relationship of the government as a whole and the integral states which constituted it, other than to say that the south, conquered, as was neces- sary, came out of the Civil War with new economic ideas, with a renewed and ‘ever- increasing development of her natural re- sourees, with a more flexible industrial sys- tem, a more rational attitude toward labor, and more enlightened methods of education and with it there came a literary and scientifie inspiration impossible be- fore.’ In the year 1870, our third period, which statisticians take as the birth year of the new industrial movement in the south, flashed out new literary stars such as Sidney Lanier, Charles Egbert Crad- dock and George W. Cable. That year can not be named in the presence of scientific men without our thoughts reverting at once to the names of Mendeleeff and Meyer. The last period is but as yesterday, even to-day. 774 SCIENCE. ‘All the world’s a stage And all the men and women merely players.” Tt has been called the age of trusts and mistrusts. In it we must realize that sci- _ ence and its applications must face vested interests; these must be overwhelmed or its universal monopolistic rights be pigeon- holed by purchase. Let us realize, how- ever, in this time, as Boyle has said, that ‘men often suffer as much cold and wet and dive as deep to fetch up sponges as to fetch up pearls.’ In 1788 Geyer discovered the new min- eral, gadolinite, and in 1794, the Finnish chemist, Gadolin, separated a new earth, or oxide, in a black mineral found at Ytterby near Stockholm, and ealled it yttria. In 1803 another Scandinavian mineral, then known as ‘the heavy stone of Bastnas,’ or cerite, was discovered by Berzelius and Hisinger and Klaproth in Germany. In 1839 Mosander discovered lanthanum in this earth. Three years later he resolved it into two elements, one giving a white oxide and the other a pink, namely true lanthanum and didymium. Scheerer noted that yttria, which is white when heated in a closed vessel, becomes yellow when heated exposed to the air. He, in consequence, assumed that it was a complex substance and the year followimg (1843) Mosander proved that it could be resolved into three earths, one beimg colorless (true yttria), the second rose-colored (terbia), and the third (erbia) giving colored salts, but a deep yellow peroxide. H. Rose in 1839 analyzed samarskite and showed it to be a columbo-tantalate of iron and calcium on the one hand and yttrium and cerium mainly on the other. Satis- factory analyses of this mineral, however, were not had for almost a half-century (Swallow, Allen and Smith), when its com- paratively abundant occurrence was noted in North Carolina. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 437, Shortly after the discovery of the spec- troscope, Gladstone in 1859 observed the surprising fact that certain substances gave absorption spectra, especially didymium. This constituted the first important and is now, perhaps, the most valuable criterion in the investigations of many of the rare earths. In 1860, Berlin, by means of partial decomposition of the fused nitrates, showed the presence of but two earths where Mos- ander had reported three, namely, yttria, as given above, and a rose-colored body, which was termed erbia. A reversal of names occurred, for two years later Bahr observed the characteristic absorption spectrum of erbia and Delafontaine found it in Gado- lin’s yttria and Mosander’s yellow perox- ide. The typical oxide was assumed to be RO, and it remained for Mendeleeff in the enunciation of the Periodic Law (1870) to give lanthanum the present accepted formula for its oxide, ha,O,. These elements were obtained as metals —in the then accepted pure form—and Hil- lebrand and Norton determined the specific heats, which data have aided subsequent workers materially. These determinations, in the light of knowledge gained within recent years, possess a quondam value, however much care and energy may have been expended in securing them. In 1878 Delafontaine stated that samars- kite contained much terbia. He separated a more soluble formate and announced the new element philippium, which Roscoe, al- though he noted band 2 450, proved to be a mixture of yttrium and terbium. This band in reality belongs to dysprosium, dis- covered by Lecoq de Boisbaudran. The same year Delafontaine, having found a mare’s nest in samarskite, from which Mosander separated erbium, announced decipium. The absorption bands attrib- uted to this element were 4 416 and 2 478, A Lots a i ' oar. May 15, 1903.] which were subsequently appropriated by samarium, reported as a constituent of didymium by de Boisbaudran. Samarium would now have the name of decipium, but for the fact that, im 1881, Delafontaine declared his decipia could be resolved into an oxide without absorption spectrum (true decipia) and one with these lines, or samarium. J. Lawrence Smith, of Kentucky, in the seventies, announced mosandrum in samars- kite. Marignac and Delafontaine inde- pendently pointed out that mosandrum was the same as terbium, while later de Bois- baudran demonstrated that it was a mix- ture of terbia and gadolinia. This ‘nebula of elementary matter,’ as Petterson puts it in that charming account of the life work of Nilson, appeared to clear up through the work of the English, French and Swiss chemists, Roscoe, de Boisbaudran and Marignac. While ‘the beginning of crea- tion is light,’ as Carlyle says, the millen- nium has not yet arrived, for the earths obtained from gadolinite began. to break up into a number of new earths. Cleve (1873) found that the bands of erbium with an atomic weight of 170.5 could be split into those belonging to one element forming a red oxide with the char- acteristic emission spectrum (by meandes- cence) of old erbium and another group of two absorption bands in the visible spec- trum. These were shown to belong to thulium. Five years later Marignae found all the absorption bands could be eliminated by successive fractioning, whilst the atomic weight of the remaining oxide increased. This oxide gave colorless salts without ab- sorption bands, and the name ytterbium was assigned to it, with an atomic weight of 172.5. In the erbia fractions Soret found bands which could not be attributed SCIENCE. 775 to erbium. This body, designated X, sub- sequently proved to be Cleve’s holmium. Material giving out, Marignac, with the true scientific spirit, begged other and younger men to take up the work, using larger amounts. This Nilson did and veri- fied Marignae’s work. Just before reach- ing the same point Marienae arrived at, however, Nilson obtained a nitrate of a less basic material of lower atomic weight. One fraction continued to drop, while the other, rose until, in the year following (1879), assisted by Thalén, who examined the products with the spectroscope, Nilson separated probably the two best defined of the rare earths, scandium (44.1) and ytter- bium (173). Nilson showed the location of these elements in the Mendeleeff table, the properties of the former having been predicted. Referring to these elements Mendeleeff says: ‘These metals which are rare in na- ture, resemble each other in many respects, always accompany each other, are with dif- ficulty isolated from each other and stand together in the periodic system of the ele- ments.’ The last statement is based largely upon analogy, a most valuable method of argument in scientific generalizations with- out doubt, but, as Davy once said: ‘ Analogy is the fruitful parent of error.’ In 1880 Marignae attacked samarskite, and by fractionine the double potassium sulphate obtained two oxides in almost pure state, as follows: Ya giving a white oxide, colorless salts and no absorption bands. Six years later it was called gadolinium and the atomic weight 156 assigned it by Marignac, de Boisbaudran, Cleve and Bettendorff. Y# proved to be samarium of de Bois- baudran, or Delafontaine’s original decip- ium. Marignac, Cleve, Brauner and Bet- tendorff determined its atomic weight (149— 150). While the elementary character of 776 samarium was questioned by de Boisbau- dran and Demareay, as late as 1893, the latter stated that no real proof of the com- plexity of samarium had been offered. What an exquisite illustration we have here of Tyndall’s dictum, ‘Every system must be plastic to the extent that the growth of knowledge demands’; for, but a few years have passed before Demareay (1901) an- nounces europium, with atomic weight of 151 (approximately), obtamed by pro- longed fractionation of the double magne- slum-samarium nitrate. His observations are reported as proved by reversal, absorp- tion, spark and electric phosphorescent spectra. The element appears to lie be- tween samarium and gadolinium, with sev- eral strong limes in the violet and ultra- violet. In 1883 Crookes brought into considera- tion phosphorescent spectra obtained in a vacuum tube under the influence of an elee- trie discharge. The year following Lecoq de Boisbaudran obtained another method of securing a phosphorescent spectrum. It is in fact an inverse spectrum, nearly related to that of Crookes, very delicate, being ereatly influenced by small amounts of foreign bodies and other conditions. The brilianey of the bands thus obtained does not depend upon the proportion of the active substance present. A small amount of the body with much inert material gives a bright spectrum, consequently it offered little promise as a method for following the process of fractionation. Up to this time holmia and thulia had not been freed from the other earths. In 1886 de Boisbaudran showed that holmia was composed of true holmium (162) and dysprosium (?), adverted to, character- ized by several bands, the one to which Sir Wm. Crookes called especial attention be- ing 2 451.5. This Englishman later (1889) subjected yttrium salts to a great number SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 437. of fractionations, several thousand, finding the bands of the original material distrib- uted among the different fractions. From this work he assumed that yttrium could be split into a number of elementary sub- stances, which he termed “meta-elements, ’ naming one victorium after the lamented queen. Without doubt Sir William Crookes enunciated in this paper an important prin- ciple in morganic research, namely, what may be termed ‘partial cleavage’; that is, the fractioning of a complex mixture of elements may be pushed to an extreme with one compound and the bodies appear ele- mentary. On applying another method, or the same method to another compound of the assumed elementary substance, the cleavage may be brought about in another direction, and so on. The ‘genesis of the elements’ was the natural theory offered by that master mind. It was strongly combated in the main, however, by de Bois- baudran, who showed that two of the bands obtained, Za and Z/, are not at all related to yttria, as the former follows holmium and the latter is identical with terbium. He says, further: “Perfectly pure yttria gives no phosphorescent spectrum.’ Den- nis, the American worker on the element in question, appears to agree with the French chemist. It may be recalled that Delafontaine ex- tracted samarium (his original decipium) from Mosander’s didymium. The theoret- ical work referred to naturally gave rise to the complexity of didymium, which has an absorption spectrum characterized by a number of well-defined bands. In fact, Cleve made the prediction of the presence of another element in lanthanum and didy- mium in 1878. Carl Auer (von Welsbach), in 1885, by prolonged fractional erystal- lization of the double ammonium nitrate, obtained from the pink solution green salts of praseodidymium (140) and rose-red Se May 15, 1903. ] salts of neodidymium (143). The absorp- tion spectra of these two are complement- ary. The next year Crookes eliminated band after band of the didymium until only 2 443 remained. Kriiss and Nilson and Kieserwetter and Kriiss prepared didy- mium from several sources, fractioned the preparations and arrived at a similar con- clusion. It is now known, as shown above, that erbium has been resolved into seven other well-characterized elements, viz., be- sides erbium (166.3), scandium (44.1), yttrium (89), terbium (160), ytterbium (173), thulium (170.7), holmium (162) and dysprosium (?). After the elimina- tion of samarium, didymium shows at least nine distinct absorption bands: 2 728.3, 679.4, 579.2 to 575.4 (which is easily re- solved into two), 521.5, 512.2, 482, 469, 445.1 and 444.7 (443) (ultra-violet and infra-red not considered). In short, these two elements neo- and praseodidymium consist of at least nine elements. The full conclusion of Kriiss and Nilson may be stated in their own words: ‘ Nach obigen Auseinandersetzungen hatten wir an Stelle des Erbiums, Holmiums, Thuliums, Di- dyms, und Samariums die Existenz von mehr als zwanzig Elementen anzunehman.’ While the acceptance of such conclusions without question would be wholly unsci- entific, we must carefully consider the gen- eral idea involved, and the investigations upon which the conclusions were founded and the investigations carried out subse- quently to test them. Absorption bands determined under variable conditions are not to be accepted as essential character- istics of new elementary substances, as they have been shown to vary with the salts used. Sorby and Liveing have shown that the character of the solvents and traces of impurities bear importantly upon the in- tensity of the absorption bands. Lawrence Smith and de Boisbaudran and latterly SCIENCE. dg Dennis and Chamot have called attention to variations in the absorption spectrum ct didymium, when nitric acid is present. Becquerel showed there were variations in the spectra of crystalline compounds of the same element. Very recently Muth- mann and Stiitzel have shown that, if a sub- stance be regarded undecomposable, its ab- sorption spectrum varies considerably with dilution and amount of free acid present. Demareay has urged the necessity of giving the thickness of the medium used, with a statement of its strength. C. M. Thompson reported that didymium salts from various sources showed no ma- terial differences in absorption spectra. Schottlaénder remarks, however, that the material used contained several oxides, giv- ing absorption bands, so the intensity of certain bands of a particular element may have been inereased by the superposition of bands of other elements. Crookes and Dennis independently made the extremely interesting observation that the heavy orange bands (575-579), which were resolved by Auer, were not altered in their fractions when the remaining lines had undegone some changes, hence the former stated that probably ‘didymium will be found to split up in more than one direction, according to the method adopted.’ The work of Dennis on the relative inten- sities of the bands observed, by varying the procedure of fractionation, is in direct accord with the observations of previous investigators as to the compound nature of neo- and praseodidymium. Von Scheele (1898) carried out a series of investigations looking toward the proof of the elementary character of praseo- didymium. JBettendorff, by a spectro- scopic examination of the mother liquors obtained by the Welsbach method, con- firmed the observations of Kriiss and Nil- son, especially with regard to the absorp- 778 SCIENCE. tion bands in the blue portion of the spectrum. Schottlander, working with the same object in view, came by no means to the same conclusion. He held it probable that praseodidymium consists of a mixture of two elements, whose oxides burned in air give R,O, and RO, (7. e., R,O, + 2RO, ==R,0,, the accepted peroxide). His con- clusion was founded upon the small per eent. of oxygen present in the peroxide. Forshing confirmed Bettendorff’s results spectroscopically and reported Pr a char- acterized by the yellow bands, and Pr £, which has the three bands in the blue, indigo and violet. Boudouard arrived at the same conclusions. Brauner concluded, in his work on the oxides, “from the tend- eney of them both (praseodidymium and neodidymium) to become more highly oxidized than would correspond to the formule Pr,O, and Nd,O;, that praseo- didymium and neodidymium may be fur- ther split up.’ Von Scheele maintains that none of the savants has proved Kriss and Nilson’s theory that there are four elements pres- ent in praseodidymium. By lone repeti- tion of the Welsbach process he failed to bring about any variation in the yellow bands, which Bettendorff maintained could be fractioned away, and demonstrated to his own satisfaction the elementary com- position of praseodidymium in a paper reciting much careful and patient experi- mentation. Unfortunately, he ignored the work of Crookes and Dennis, which is de- pendent upon variation of the finer details of manipulation. In our laboratory, fol- lowing entirely novel lines of research for this element, we have apparently verified the conclusion of the complexity of the element in question. The material used was generously pre- sented by Mr. H. S. Miner, the long-time associate and successor of the lamented [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 437. Shapleigh. It was quite free from neo- didymium, but contained a notable amount of lanthanum. The presence of lanthanum facilitates the fractioning of didymium by the Auer method, as pointed out by Den- nis. A pure praseodidymium compound is readily had by using the method of Basker- ville and Turrentine, namely, fractioning a citric acid solution saturated with the hydroxide, and heating. The citrate ob- tained was converted into the oxide. This oxide was free from the other elements giv- ing absorption bands in the visible spec- trum. ~So far we have not been able to examine the ultra-violet, but shortly ex- pect the arrival of one of Wood’s nitroso- dimethylaniline screens, which I am haying made for my spectroscope. The instru- ment is a Steinheil plane grating (made by Brashear) with 14,438 lines to the inch, essentially the same as that described by Dennis in his work with Dales on yttrium, except a size larger. It was purchased by a grant from the Bache Fund of the Na- tional Academy. The oxide was proved to be free from elements which give no absorption band, especially lanthanum, by means of photographs of the are spectrum obtained with a Rowland concave grating (15,000 lines to the inch and twenty-one- foot diameter). The spectrograph work was done by my friend Dr. W. J. Hum- phreys, of the Department of Physies, Uni- versity of Virginia, and will be published by us in full at the proper time. The oxide was very carefully treated with hydrochloric acid, bringing about partial solution, whereby a distinct brown oxide was obtained different from the normal , black peroxide; further, a separation has been secured by fusion with sodium per- oxide. Other methods of attack have been fol- lowed, as, for example, fractional erystal- lization from a concentrated chloride solu- os May 15, 1903.] tion by means of gaseous hydrogen chlo- ride, fusing with alkaline hydroxides, sodium dioxide, ete. The details will be given in the full papers when published.* Suffice it to say that we have succeeded in obtaining a preparation, which has lost entirely the absorption line 2 443 and an- other, very small in amount, which shows only that line. The oxide is bright green when heated in the air. The work of Crookes and Dennis is thus verified by en- tirely novel methods. Drossbach reports the existence of an element in monazite sand with an atomic weight of 100, that is, eka-manganese, but it is discredited by Urbain. Tt may be interesting at this point to eall the attention of the scientific men of America to the fact that from the locality, Ytterby, where cerite was found, four ele- ments, yttrium, erbium, terbium and ytter- bium, have secured a name. From the occurrence of samarskite and monazite (Mitchell and McDowell and other counties in North Carolina and Brazil), which con- tain most of these rare earths and have furnished so much of the material for the researches, not a single element is named, except the tentative carolinium, which will now receive attention. The other rare earths to which I wish to direct your indulgent attention in a few words are those which possess radio-activ- ity, a property accidentally rediscovered by Beequerel. It may be remarked that Sir George Stokes fifty years ago addressed the physicists of the British Association on *J have been assisted in the numerous re- searches barely summarized in this address by Messrs. J. E, Mills, R. O. H. Davis, J. W. Turren- tine, James Thorpe, Reston Siem, Ww. O. Heard, Hazel Holland, HE. B. Moss, H. H. Bennett, Geo. F. Catlell and F. H. Lemly. The separate papers will shortly be published. Three grants of fifty dollars each have been made by the American Association for the Advancement of Science to aid in the work on the rare earths. SCIENCE. 779 the curious action of certain bodies in emitting light at ordinary temperatures. little was then known of the phenomenon of fluorescence. There is not time to at- tempt a discussion of the origin and nature of radio-activity. It appears that our satisfactory Maxwellian theory of the pro- gression of ethereal stresses may yet be harmonized with the older corpuscular view of Descartes and Newton by the re- cent elegant researches of Becquerel, J. J. Thomson, Rutherford, Giesel and others. M. and Mme. Curie have been pioneers in utilizing this physical activity, which serves to detect the presence of minute amounts of certain elements contaminating hitherto well-defined bodies. J. J. Thom- son, in his recent extremely interesting address at Belfast, brings out a point de- manding the chemist’s closest attention, namely, that the radio-activity is five thou- sand times as delicate as the spectroscope, it matters not whether the are, spark, ab- sorption or phosphorescent spectrum be made use of. By prolonged fractionation the Curies separated radium from barium salts. Demareay has prepared the spectrograph showing the characteristic lines of the ele- ment, while Madame Curie determined its atomic weight (225). It fits beautifully in Mendeleeff’s table. The Curies have also announced polonium, or the active constituent of bismuth. Uranium appears to have been the first to shaw this property, as noted by Beequerel. Actinium, it seems, is the elusive body found in pitchblende by Curie, and appears to be the same as Crookes’ uranium X. Chroustschoff a dozen years ago an- nounced that thorium contained another element, which he called russium. I have been unable to secure a copy of this paper or even to learn where it appeared. I am informed by Professor Mendeleeff, who 780 mentions it in his ‘Principles of Chemis- try,’ that Chroustschoff made the an- nouncement before the Russian Chemical Society, but had published no complete in- vestigation. Two years ago, Brauner, working along one line, and I, on another, independently announced the complexity of that element. It is generally accepted now from the published work that the property of emit- ting rays which affect the photographic plate is not a specific property of thorium, but characteristic of a constant contaminat- ing constituent of that element. It is well known also that, while some of these radia- tions or emanations affect the photographic plate, some do not. The electrical method of measurement (quantitative) has been substituted im our work and improved methods of fractionation are being used, whereby we seem to be approaching a non- radio-active thorium and one possessing that property in high degree. Further, similar compounds of thorium fractions similarly treated show almost no differ- ence with the Rowland grating referred to, yet show marked divergence in their radio- active properties. The radio-active work is being done by Mr. G. B. Pegram, of the Department of Physics in Columbia Uni- versity. I have not come from ‘away down south’ to the center of commercial activity of all the Americas to tell you how these rare substances are to be had at low cost, ‘advertise their uses, form a combination and arrange for their sale at a good profit, although one of my neighbors ranks high among Knickerbecker mergers. The fourth period in rare earth activity is coexistent with the extension of the use of some of them for illuminating purposes. The price of thorium nitrate fifteen years ago was over five hundred dollars per pound. Now the market price is about five dollars per SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 437. pound. Commerce required thorium com- pounds; they were provided. Commerce demanded thorium compounds at a rea- sonable price; the demands were met. The prices of certain of the impure rare earths occurring in nature with thorium are high, but their values do not follow well-known economic laws and are purely fictitious. When uses are found, the prices of these by-products will fit the demand. In this maze of an enticing problem one imagines much and many speculate more. Not unfrequently, especially of late, have we been treated with irenic disquisitions as to the location of these rare elements in the natural system. It appears to be forgotten that Mendeleeff used his table to correct the formulas of the typical oxides of cer- tain elements, as, for example, lanthanum (LaO to La,O,). The fact is forgotten that the atomic weights, now ascribed, would be materially different were the type different. The ascribed atomic weights are dependent upon the synthesis or analysis of the sulphates almost without exception. It is forgotten that ‘-yl’ salts, like uranyl, chromyl sulphates are possible for these elements, as recently shown by Blandel for titanium and Matignon for praseodidymium and neodidymium. Fur- thermore, it is forgotten that the sulphate method is absolutely defective, as Schtitzen- berger pointed out. This has been verified by Wyrouboff, Dennis, Brauner and Pavlicek, and Demarecay, as well as myself. Therefore, all attempts to arrange these elements, some of which are known to. be complex, in the periodic table are veriest speculation, which can profit little. It is quite as true also that the table should re- ceive no discredit because it fails to ac- count for them with our present knowl- edge. According to its author the table reserves twenty-three places for their oc- cupancy. May 15, 1903.] Two desiderata may be mentioned: (1) Satisfactory tests, preferably colorimetric, which may be quickly applied, as Hille- brand has remarked about titanium. This supplied, perhaps these earths would not be so rare. I have shown the universal occurrence of titanium. (2) Spectral data from more highly purified substances, for much that is now at hand has been obtained from impure earths. The methods of attack at present are mainly based upon the same phenomena of oxidation, reduction and saturation. The applications are different, however. As typical examples, a few may be cited as follows: Melikow has been using the hypo- chlorites, virtually the Lawrence Smith method; Muthmann, hydrogen dioxide and acetate solutions; Dennis is using organic acids, as did Metzger for thorium; Jeffer- son and Allen have applied certain organic bases for analytical purposes, while in our laboratory we have saturated the stable alkalies, fused with sodium peroxide, and reduced with such basic reducing agents as hydrazine and phenylhydrazine, and so forth. All is not dark, for rifts in the clouds are making. Old Watt said: ‘Nature has always a weak side, if we can only find it out.’ Looking back and with that cen- tury of experiences we can frequently in a measure judge of the future and those things which make toward the true end. Naturally a sequel is due this paper, and I look forward to presenting it in my vice- presidential address before Section C of the American Association at the St. Louis meeting. Some sequels are better than their predecessors; most of them, however, are not so good. CHas. BASKERVILLE. UNIVERSITY OF NoRTH CAROLINA. SCIENCE. 781 SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. Inorganic Chemistry, with the Elements of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry. By J. I. D. Hinps, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Nashville. New York, John Wiley & Son; London, Chapman & Hall, Limited. 1902. Large 8vo. Pp. viii + 566. Chemistry by Observation, Experiment and In- duction. A Laboratory Manual for Stu- dents. By J. I. D. Hinps, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Nashville. New York, John Wiley & Sons; London, Chapman & Hall, Limited. 12mo. viii 192. Principles of Inorganic Chemistry. By Harry ©. Jones, Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry in the Johns Hopkins University. New York, The Macmillan Company; London, Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 1903. Large 8vo. Pp. xx-+ 521. A Text-Book of Inorganic Chemistry. By Dr. A. F. Howteman, Professor Ordinarius in the University of Groningen, Netherlands. Rendered into English by Herman C. Coorrer, Ph.D., Instructor in Syracuse Uni- versity, with the cooperation of the author. New York, John Wiley & Sons; London, Chapman & Hall, Limited. 1902. Large 8vo. Pp. vili-+ 458. While the number of smaller and intro- ductory text-books on chemistry which have appeared in this country during the past few years is very large, it is a long time since any new work on inorganic chemistry, which aims to be even tolerably complete, has been pub- lished. That three such works should appear within a few months of each other is evidence that a need was felt in this field. This is, of course, due to the revolution, as it might well be called, which has taken place in the fun- damental conceptions. of inorganic chemistry, and the recognition of the fact that these must be utilized in teaching the subject. This was early seen by Ostwald, and he must be con- sidered the pioneer of the new didactic chemistry. It is imteresting to note how the authors before us have utilized the wealth of ma- 782 SCIENCE. terial placed before them by the physical chemists. One is tempted to use a piscatorial metaphor and to affirm that Hinds has nibbled at the bait, Holleman has taken a good hold on the hook, while Jones has swallowed lie, sinker and all. These books are intended for serious college work, but the question must arise as to whether they would be suited for beginners even in college classes. In some of our colleges, most of those entering have had some smattering of chemistry, and a few have had really thor- ough grounding in the fundamentals of the science in the secondary schools. Yet in most college classes there are those to whom the subject is new. Just now it seems to be the fad to introduce conceptions of physical chem- istry into the elementary text-books, and in one recently published the student meets the theories of electrolytic dissociation and of mass action during the first few weeks of study, while descriptive chemistry is relegated to a score or two of pages at the end of the book. Im spite of all that has been said to prove that chemistry will never be a true sci- ence until it can be treated on a purely mathe- matical basis, it still remains the writer’s opinion that a knowledge of what is some- times rather superciliously called descriptive chemistry is fundamental to the thorough ac- quisition of the science of chemistry. Natu- rally it is not necessary, in gaining a knowl- edge of descriptive chemistry, to found it upon theories which are false and must be unlearned at a later period; indeed, too much theory is just what is not called for in studying deserip- tive chemistry. But a student must have some considerable familiarity with chemical elements and compounds and with chemical reactions before he can at all realize the bear- ing of chemical theories. On the other hand, college students are sup- posed to have a certain maturity and develop- ment of mind, which should enable them to handle a subject in a very different manner from students of secondary schools. Theoret- ically a purely inductive method may be the most scientific, but practically the average college student will weary of following the arguments of a well-developed course of rea- [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 437. soning three or four weeks long, and he will lose his interest. If a partially deductive method be used, if certain of the more prom- inent lines of the fundamental theories are sketched before him, he sees something of the import of the phenomena he is studying, much to his pleasure and his interest. This appears to be clearly recognized by the authors of the books before us. In Professor Hinds’ ‘ Inorganic Chemistry ’ this idea is apparently carried to an extreme, for the whole of the theoretical matter is pre- sented before descriptive chemistry is touched upon, but in this respect the book is not quite so extreme as it seems at first sight, for in the preface the author advises that the book is not intended to be studied consecutively, but lessons are to be taken alternately from the two portions. He suggests a definite order, which, however, any teacher may change to suit his own ideas. In this respect the book takes on somewhat the character of an en- ceyclopedia, where each user may formulate his own logical system for himself. A system, this, which presents some advantages, but also some drawbacks. This book is divided into four parts: ‘ In- troduction,’ ‘ Physical Chemistry,’ ‘ Theoretical Chemistry’ and ‘ Descriptive Chemistry,’ and the third part has two divisions— Statics’ and ‘ Dynamics.’ The Introduction is brief and contains a short outline of the atomic theory and a de- seription of the various divisions of chemistry. Part II. is a review of those portions of physics which have a more or less direct bear- ing on chemistry, with a few pages on erystal- lography. The chapter on ‘Interaction of Solids, Liquids and Gases’ is perhaps the most unsatisfactory one in the book. Osmotic pres- sure is not even alluded to and the treatment of solutions is very inadequate; indeed, the whole chapter might have been written fifty years sgo. The chapter on ‘Changes of Physical State’ is more modern and more satisfactory. Under the head of ‘ Statics’ we have a dis- cussion of atoms and molecules and their properties, including the classification of atoms, valence, acids, bases and salts, nomen- May 15, 1903. ] clature and some pages on formula writing and structural formule. The division on ‘Dynamics’ includes the chapters ‘ Chemical Actions,’ ‘ Thermochemistry’ and ‘ Chemical -Caleulations.’ In the first, dissociation, ion- ization and the law of mass action are taken up. One can not help feeling that these sec- tions are, as it were, dragged in, rather than that they form an integral part of the subject of which the book treats. This is especially the ease when one finds, in close contiguity, the following, under the caption of superior chem- ical attraction as a cause of reactions: ‘ In the following, HgCl, + 2KI = Hel, + 2KCI, the IX leaves the I and takes the Cl from the Hg, and the Hg and I, being set free together, unite. Altogether, these first hundred pages or so of the book give little evidence of the advances that chemistry has made in recent years. Perhaps this would appear less con- spicuous if the material were scattered through the book, as the author recommends when us- ing the book for didactic purposes. The remainder, some four fifths, of the book is taken up with ‘ Descriptive Chemistry.’ The treatment of this subject is much more satisfactory. It is full enough for college classes, a good sense of proportion is observed in the amount of space devoted to the different elements and compounds, errors of statement and of typography are rare, and the material is brought well down to date. A considerable number of experimental illustrations are de- seribed, which would serve well for lecture or laboratory. The general arrangement of the elements is according to the periodic system, beginning with hydrogen and the inert gases of the eighth group, and then proceeding in order from the seventh group to the first, con- eluding with the metals of the eighth group. This order is occasionally departed from, as in the treatment of manganese in close con- nection with iron, and in discussing the at- mosphere and combustion immediately after the carbon group. Thulium is placed with the halogens, samarium with manganese, and gadolinium between silver and gold, but as only a few lines are given to these rare ele- ments, little harm is done. The nomenclature of the groups, though not absolutely new, is SCIENCE. 783 new enough to appear strange, for the halogens appear under the chloroids, group VI. is treated in the two divisions of the sulfoids and the chromoids, the inert gases under the heloids, ete. For all those teachers—and they are many— who believe. that the newer conceptions of physical chemistry should be reserved for stu- dents more or less advanced in general chem- istry, Professor Hinds’ book will be found an excellent text-book for a thorough course in inorganic chemistry. ‘Chemistry by Observation, Experiment and Induction’ is a laboratory manual prepared to accompany Hinds’ ‘Inorganic Chemistry.’ The essential feature of the book is that un- der each experiment a series of questions is given, with spaces in which answers are to be written. The experiments are simple and well chosen. No quantitative experiments are introduced, but there is a considerable number of problems. In both of the books the revised spelling is used. If Dr. Hinds almost ignores in his book the newer physical chemistry, Dr. Jones goes to the opposite extreme in his ‘ Principles of Inorganic Chemistry,’ and the book appears almost like a treatise on physical chemistry, copiously illustrated from inorganic chemistry. Yet all the essentials of inorganic descriptive chemistry are here, but viewed from the stand- point of physical chemistry. This book must be considered the most notable contribution to didactic chemistry produced by an American since the appearance of the Remsen series of text-books. We have here a conscientious attempt to teach general chemistry purely from the stand- point of the newer chemical conceptions, and it doubtless gives us a little forecast of what will be the character of the chemical teaching of the future. The book, however, shows the dogmatic spirit which is characteristic of many of the physical chemists of to-day. Not only are the old ideas looked upon as com- pletely overthrown, and their adherents as antiquated—this might be condoned—but the newer theories are treated as if in them the last words in chemistry have been uttered. 784 SCIENCE. This tone is illustrated by a single quotation from the book before us: “The highest aim of scientific investigation is the discovery of wide-reaching relations between large numbers of facts. Such relations when sufiiciently comprehensive are known as generalizations. Beyond these we can not go” (italics ours). A very considerable proportion of the studies of these physical chemists center around the theory of electrolytic dissociation, and this theory is invoked to explain practically all the phenomena of chemistry. Speaking of the fact that perfectly dry sodium does not react with perfectly dry sulfuric acid, Dr. Jones tells us that ‘in terms of the theory of electrolytic dissociation and catalysis these facts are just what would be expected, and could have been predicted before they were discovered.’ Ostwald shows that in the light of this theory all the reactions and procedures of analytical chemistry become simple and clear. On the other hand, we must remember that the theory itself applies with strictness, as far as it concerns solutions, to those solu- tions only which are at great dilutions, indeed in many cases to those of such dilutions as to be practically unattainable. The theory may be invoked to explain the phenomena of concentrated solutions, multitudinous reac- tions of organic chemistry, reactions which take place at high temperatures, and many others, but in these fields the applicability of the theory is largely a matter of conjecture. Im other words, the theory of electrolytic dis- sociation is not the great, universal general- ization we might imagine from the writings of some of its adherents. It represents a truth, but by no means the whole truth. In certain fields, as notably that of analytical chemistry, it is exceedingly useful, though even here it by no means explains everything. It does clear up many points which were for- merly obscure. One can not kelp sometimes wondering if it is not leading chemistry fully as much back to the views of Berzelius, as carrying it forward into new fields, and whether it may not, like the dualism of the great Swede, some near day meet its Dumas. But even should this be the case, the work of the school of modern physical chemists is of (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 437. inestimable value, and will always stand as one of the greatest advances in the develop- ment of chemistry. The dualistic theory of Berzelius was, after all, never really over- thrown, but lives to-day in the theory of electrolytic dissociation. The mistake of Berzelius was in believing it applicable to all chemical phenomena. The physical chemist of to-day has found a key which fits many locks hitherto inviolable, but it has not yet proved itself to be the master-key. In the preface to his book Dr. Jones says: “The aim of this book is to add to the older generalizations those recently discovered, and to apply them to the phenomena of inorganic chemistry in such a way that they may form an integral part of the subject, and at the same time be intelligible to the student. Why should we continue to teach the chemistry of atoms to students on the ground of its being a little simpler, perhaps, than the chemistry of ions, or on any other ground, if we know that it is not in accordance with the recently discovered facts? Or why should we continue to teach purely descriptive chemistry when the science of chemistry has outgrown this stage, and many of the most important relations have been accurately formulated in terms of the simpler mathematics? * * * If a student can grasp the conception of an atom and can not add to this the idea of the atom carrying an electrical charge, his hope of ever learning anything of chemical phenomena in general is not bright. * * * Why should chemists be hampered by being compelled to describe phe- nomena at length when these could be formu- lated in a single line? The time has come when they need not be, and the earlier ele- mentary mathematics is introduced into text- books on chemistry, the better for chemistry and for the chemist.” While thoroughly carrying out the spirit of the preface, the book is not, perhaps, as radical as might be expected. After opening with an introduction on elements and com- pounds and a chapter on the great generaliza- tions of chemistry—the laws of conservation of mass, of constant proportion, of multiple proportions, of combining weights, the atomic theory and the correlation and conservation of x May 15, 1903.] energy—an exhaustive study of oxygen is taken up, introducing the subjects of combus- tion, thermo-chemistry, the laws of Boyle and Gay-Lussac, absolute zero, liquefaction of gases, and closing with the experimental dem- onstration of the statement that ‘the real difference in the properties of oxygen and ozone is due to the different amounts of in- trinsic energy present in their molecules.’ The next chapter, on hydrogen and water, leads to the phase rule and electrolytic dissocia- tion. The following chapters on determina- tion of atomic and molecular weights contain also dissociation, the law of mass action, and the freezing and boiling point methods. Next comes an important chapter on osmotic pres- sure and the theory of electrolytic dissociation, written with excellent clearness. The con- ductivity method is here described. A chapter on chlorin brings up the conception of acids, - of valence and Faraday’s law. The subject of valence, or valency as the author calls it, has evidently been a difficult one to deal with. There is clearly an effort to confine valence solely to the ions, and structural formule are completely tabooed throughout the book. It would be rather rash to cut loose from struc- tural formule in organic chemistry, but if they represent a truth in one field, they repre- sent a similar truth in the other. It is true that structural formule have been fearfully misused and abused in inorganic chemistry, but this is no reason for completely abandon- ing their use and confining valence to the ion alone. The author is quite consistent, but he has thrown away a useful piece of scaffolding before the walls of his building are complete. The periodic system is the next topic, and is well treated. We can not help thinking that some of the imperfections which the author finds would disappear if Venable’s modification of the table were used. This is particularly true of the difficulty in making sodium a member of the copper, silver, gold group, and that of grouping fluorin with manganese instead of with the halogens, where it evidently belongs. From this point on, the elements are studied in the order indicated by the periodic table. The other halogens are followed by sulfur, SCIENCE. 785 under which the temperature-pressure diagram is considered, and, in connection with hydro- gen sulfid, reversible reactions. After nitro- gen comes a chapter on neutralization of acids and bases, and another on the atmospheric air, including the inert gases. Under carbon dioxid we find a discussion of critical tem- perature and the continuity of the liquid and gaseous states, as well as a brief outline of the kinetic theory of liquids. The section on the réle of carbon in producing light is particularly good. After completing the metalloids (the author uses this term very sparingly, and the term non-metals not at all, as far as we have noticed), the metals are taken up, beginning with those of the alkalies. The purification of sodium chlorid gives occasion for a consid- eration of the application of the law of mass action to ions,vand the sodium halids are used to show the transition point on their solubility curves. The phase rule finds a good illustra- tion in the dissociation of calcium carbonate. Under zine is an extended discussion of pri- mary batteries and solution tension. That the book does not overlook practical applica- tions of the subject is evidenced by nearly two pages on phosphate fertilizers and their analysis, and by a clear, if brief, treatment of iron and steel manufacture. Iron also leads to a consideration of oxidation as a method of ion formation, and of chemical action at a distance. Change of color with change in electrical charge is exemplified by the iron cyanids, and the color of ions by the permanganates. Under uranium, radio-ac- tivity is taken up, and under copper, ion formation in substitution reactions. Pho- tography is outlined under silver; gold fur- nishes an example of ion formation from contact of molecules and also of colloidal solutions. This last subject is more fully taken up under platinum, where the work of Bredig is noticed. We have thus gone rather minutely over the contents of the book because it represents somewhat of a pioneer attempt to treat inor- ganic chemistry from the standpoint of phys- ical chemistry, and this necessitates present- ing a pretty full outline of physical chemistry 786 SCIENCE. itself. The attempt is interesting and, we must admit, very successful. The only serious omission we note is that of double and com- plex salts. There is a brief reference to the double mercuric iodids, a paragraph on alums, some discussion of double cyanids and chloro- platinates, but no consideration of double salts from a theoretic standpoint nor any men- tion of Werner’s hypothesis. When one con- siders the number, variety and importance of double salts, he can not but feel that this omission is a defect in a book of this scope. The book will be interesting and profitable reading for every teacher. of chemistry, nor should any advanced student of chemistry fail to go carefully through it. It will be particularly valuable for those teachers whose student days were before the reign of the present physical chemists. How the book will fare as a text-book remains to be proven. In the judgment of the reviewer it would make a hard task for a beginner and should only be used for students who have a considerable knowledge of descriptive chemistry. With this view, however, the author of the book evidently differs. The book is well gotten up, the type is elear, and the proof-reading has been almost perfectly done; the illustrations, though not numerous, are mostly new and really illustra- tive, and the book closes with a copious index. One other commendation must. not be omitted. The style of the author is excellent. It is clear, never heavy, and at times almost con- versational. This makes the book easy read- ing. Some may object to the author’s en- thusiasm; we do not. We like to read of the “beautiful investigations’ of Moissan with the electric furnace, we like to hear Wohler called the ‘great’ German chemist, and we appre- ciate a book the better whose author is not so much engrossed with theory but that he ean close its pages with the words, speaking of magnesium plato-cyanid: ‘It is question- able whether another compound of equal beauty is known in the whole field of chem- istry.’ The last book before us, that of Professor Holleman, of the University of Groningen, was first published in 1898, and two years later [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 437. a German translation appeared. The Eng- lish translation has the further advantage of having been completely revised by the author, so that it is practically a revised edition. This book bears in many respects a marked resemblance to that of Dr. Jones, so much so, indeed, that it would be superfluous to give an extended review of it. The aims and the scope of the books are the same, the meth- ods used are similar, and the order in which the different subjects are taken up does not differ materially. Holleman’s book lacks wholly the dogmatic atmosphere we have noticed in that of Jones, but it also lacks the enthusiasm of the latter, although it is very readable. Holleman treats the principles of physical chemistry rather more fully than Jones, and he introduces more mathematics, though the mathematics used is always ele- mentary. It seems as if this makes the sub- ject matter simpler and clearer, but many may think otherwise. Holleman is also fuller in his treatment of subjects connected with practical and technical chemistry. Taken al- together, it is impossible for the reviewer to decide which book would probably prove more successful in the class room, but both will prove very helpful to a teacher. There is not quite the same freedom from errors that is found in Jones’s, and it is occa- sionally evident that the book was not origin- ally written with reference to use in America. This is particularly true in some cases of metallurgical practice. The translation is exceedingly well done, and does not read like a translation, though now and then expres- sions creep in which reveal the fact, as well as others which are English rather than Amer- ican. For example: ‘it is not supplied with a steam pipe either’; ‘ferric hydrate serves as a counter-irritant’ (for arsenic); ‘silicon trichloride is obtained as a side-product’; ‘SnS falls down as a powder’; ‘SnS, falls out as a powder’; ‘it (minium) has a pretty red color’; ‘soda crystals weather, and efflo- rescence seems invariably to be spoken of as weathering; ‘having very different properties than liquids,’ and ‘than’ is frequently used after ‘ different’; ‘axles of railway carriages’; ‘metallic crustations’; ‘it dissolves without _ Schon ene haem nian meen cmemma aia May 15, 1903.] generating scarcely any chlorin’; titanium, zirconium and thorium are spoken of as ‘ un- common’ elements. But if these are the worst criticisms that can be passed upon the book, and this is per- haps the case, it must be conceded that both author and translator have done their work in a very satisfactory manner, and we have no doubt but that Holleman, as well as Jones, will find its way into many class-rooms and will also prove to be but a pioneer of an im- proved type of text-book, which will revolu- tionize the teaching of inorganic chemistry. And for this let us be devoutly thankful. Jas. Lewis Howe. WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY. A Tezxt-book of Zoology. London, Edward Arnold. -+ 416. The author of this book is lecturer on bi- ology at the London School of Medicine for Women, and on zoology and botany at the Polytechnic Institute, Regent Street, and is also demonstrator in biology at the London Hospital Medical College. His text-book may, therefore, be presumed to be an expression of the practice of an experienced and active teacher of biology. It differs markedly in matter and arrangement from the usual zoo- logical texts, arranged systematically, that is, according to the accepted classification of animals. In a first part are an interesting introduction called ‘the scope of biology’ and a brief statement of ‘the characters of the great divisions of the animal kingdom,’ in which Protozoa, Metazoa, Acclomata, Cclo- mata, Vertebrata, Invertebrata, Diploblastica and Tripoblastica are defined. Then comes a second part given to a study of ‘the com- parative morphology of the organs of Scyl- lium, Rana and Lepus.’ The organs of these three vertebrates are discussed on the plan of the comparative anatomist, the condition of each organ or system of organs being com- pared in the three forms. This discussion covers one hundred and sixty-seven pages, and is illustrated by fifty-two diagrammatic fig- ures. To this part is added a chapter of twenty-two pages on the morphology of Am- By G. P. Mupcs. 1901. Pp. viii SCIENCE. 787 phiozus. A third part, of sixty-eight pages, is given to the morphology of four celomate invertebrates, viz., Astacus, Periplaneta, An- odonta and Lumbricus, the treatment being again that of the comparative anatomist. Then comes a chapter on ‘the morphology of Hydra, an accelomate invertebrate, and a chapter on ‘the morphology of Paramecium and Ameba. The fourth part of the book is composed of a chapter on ‘embryology’ (388 pp.), one on ‘the life history of the cock- roach and the butterfly, and their chief struc- tural differences’ (9 pp.), one on ‘karyo- kinesis, oogenesis and spermatogenesis, ma- turation and impregnation of the eggs, and parthenogenesis’ (10 pp.)!—the author is seeing the limits of his permitted space; then one on ‘heredity’ (26 pp.), and finally one on ‘yariation’ (15 pp.). When one departs from the usual and pre- sumably approved manner of make-up of z00- logical text-books, the real court of appeal for the final decision as to the worth of the new manner is that composed of teachers who have tested in actual class work the useful- ness and practicalness of the innovation. Thus does the reviewer easily put aside the necessity of expressing an opinion about the matter. He will hazard the guess, however, that most present-day teachers of zoology will not choose a text-book of comparative anat- omy under the name of a text-book of zoology for their first-year classes. The work outlined in the book is sound and thorough, and the discussions of heredity, variation and the scope of biology are modern and interesting. The book is compact, well- made and fully indexed. VY. L. Kerwoaa. Lehrbuch der Zoologie. Leipzig, Wilh. Engelmann. 1902. 512 figs. The author of this zoological text-book is professor of zoology in the University of Strassburg. The book is intended for uni- versity classes; it is of the reference or manual of classification type of text-book, not of the laboratory guide or specifically outlined course type, as is the English text-book reviewed above. After twenty-five pages of introduc- By Atex. GoETTE. Pp. 504; 788 SCIENCE. tion, defining homology, analogy, ete., and de- seribing protoplasm, the cell, ete., and men- tioning some names and dates in the history of zoology, the rest of the book is arranged according to the present classification of ani- mals, beginning with the Protozoa, and sys- tematically discussing systematic zoology with orders and sometimes suborders for units. The systematic consideration of the Metazoa is preceded by a fifty-page discussion of the tissues, organs and development of the many- celled body. Where all animals are touched on none can be adequately considered. Text-books of zool- ogy which get in the name of every order of living animals are misnamed; they are diction- aries of systematic zoology, catalogues of the animal kingdom. The beetles, of which there are 12,000 known species in North America— and how many thousand in the world ?—with a variety of form and habit comparable in extent with that of the endless pattern pictures of a busily handled kaleidoscope, get one page and one figure of this book. Three fourths of this page are given to dividing beetles into four suborders. Why not make it one line, and be more truly and just as effectively a catalogue and less a pretense of being something else? The rest of the page could then go to the needed expansion of the account of the special structure and physiology of the class of insects. The student who is going to study beetles be- yond the name Coleoptera has no possible use for one page and a subdivision into four sub- orders. He must have thirty pages and half of the families if he is to go a single step for- ward in their systematic study, or as many pages as he can haye, with no subdivision, if he is to get a glimpse of their life and habits. The author, in trying to get all the animals catalogued in his ‘ Lehrbuch,’ makes of it no text-book at all, and a sort of catalogue vastly inferior to a professed synopsis like Leunis’s. VY. L. Kettoee. L’Hypnotisme et la Suggestion par le Dr. Grasset. Paris, Octave Doin. 1903. 8vo. Pp. 534. The culmination point of the contributions to the literature of hypnotism was reached [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 437. quite a number of years ago. There was a period when the contributions to this topic quite overshadowed those to any other division of abnormal psychology. Dessoir issued in 1890 a supplement to his bibliography of hypnotism first issued in 1888, and recorded nearly four hundred titles to the credit of these two years.* The more recent contribu- tions that have been comprehensive in scope have likewise been more selective in purpose. Some have been devoted to the analysis and description of the psychology of suggestion; others to the therapeutic applications; others to the analogies between that and other states normal and abnormal. As a number of the In- ternational Library of Experimental Psychol- ogy now appearing in fifty volumes under the editorship of Dr. Toulouse, there has appeared a volume on ‘ Hypnotism and Suggestion,’ of which the author is Dr. Grasset, of the Uni- versity of Montpelier. As the representative of this library, the volume on hypnotism will command wider attention than would be ac- eorded it as an independent contribution. It can not be said that the volume, though it compares favorably enough with many others that have appeared, really adds much of note or illumination to the present status of the subject. It does, indeed, bring for- ward with a fair sense of their relative im- portance the several problems that are most worthy of attention in contemporary psychol- ogy. It wisely dispenses with much intro- ductory or historical matter, which in former compends found a somewhat undue place. It recognizes that the fundamental problem, the * Beginning with 1896, the number of entries for this group of topics in the ‘ Psychological In- dex’ is 51, 84, 154, 143, 77, 35, 35, 28. These numbers are not comparable, since the falling off in the more recent years is in part due to a sub- division of the topics that bring ‘ Hypnotism’ into a separate division in the later but not in the earlier years. Parallel with this, there is some widening of the scope of the ‘Index’ since its foundation. None the less, the ‘ Index’ shows the general falling off in the productiveness of this topic. Such falling off is a weleome consumma- tion, so far as it represents the cessation of wordy and unorganized—not to say amateur—contribu- tions. ach ay May 15, 1903.] solution of which will determine the status of hypnotism, of suggestion and of other varieties of mental states, is the problem of the subconscious and its relation to the ordi- nary form of mental action. Dr. Grasset’s solution of this problem, or rather his attitude towards it, is not helpful. His discussion . thereof is more like a logomachy than a psy- chological analysis, and his use of his favorite diagram decidedly illogical. He accepts the hypothesis, now current in such diverse forms, of two separate forms or types of psychic ex- pression; by the letter O he designates the superior form of psychic action or the highest center; the O stands at the apex, and de- pendent thereon and with connections be- tween them, are the members of the group of inferior psychic centers arranged in the form of a polygon. By this painfully arti- ficial representation the words ‘ polygonal’ and “suspolygonal’ become synonymous with sub- conscious and subvoluntary sources of action. We read of the ‘dissociation of the polygon’ of the individual, of ‘polygonal spontaneity,’ of ‘polygonal patients or maladies’ and other confusing and absurd expressions. This type of logicality is hardly pedagogical. It must also be added that the author’s attitude to- wards many other questions of fact and inter- pretation are far from commendable. His reference to the independence of the action of the two hemispheres of the brain as proven by the phenomena of hypnosis, and his accept- ance of questionable hypotheses in regard to the nervous substrata of hypnotic behavior, are instances in point. His entertainment of the hypothesis of telepathy and clairvoyance —though he belieyes that neither of these is proven—suggests weakness of grasp of their status, rather than judicial toleration. The author’s main positions are these: that there is a real hypnotic state, distinct from suggestion, marked by independent physical signs as well as by increased suggestibility; that the source of this state is in the dissocia- tion or disaggregation of the subconscious psy- chie mechanism; that though normally the higher and lower psychic centers act in com- plexly coordinated, unified manner, in ab- normal states—of which hypnosis is one great SCIENCE. 789 type—they act separately; that hypnosis does not present sufficient analogies to sleep or to any normal mental state to be affiliated with it or interpreted by it; that a significance may be given to spiritistic or mediumistic phe- nomena analogous to the various states and types of hypnosis; that the phenomena of normal suggestion, which in the conception of the Nancy school is made almost synony- mous with the acquisition of ideas, are not truly analogous to the increased suggestibility characteristic of the true hypnosis. These are all debatable positions that yet await a more competent master to set forth their bearing and value for experimental psychology. Dr. Grasset contributes something of value to the consideration of these positions, but not what one has a right to expect of a volume that is presented as authoritative in character. It only remains to add that there are the usual chapters upon the medical and legal aspects of hypnotism, and interesting, though some- what prolix and not properly systematized pre- sentation of the facts of hypnotism, and a better index than the average of French books offers. It is to be hoped that the further vol- umes of this series, the contributors to which include a few American names, will meet a higher standard. The ten volumes already published give fhe impression of very unequal care in their preparation and merit in their authors. Some of the volumes are distinctly commendable. . May the rest prove to be so! J. J. SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. The Plant World for April contains the fifth of the ‘Extracts from the Note-Book of a Naturalist on the Island of Guam,’ by W. E. Safford. ‘Monocotyledons or Dico- tyledons,’ by J. Arthur Harris, calls atten- tion to the fact that there are some plants whose position in this respect is very puzzling, and briefly discusses the question which of the two forms is the older. George V. Nash describes ‘The Palm Collection at the New York Botanical Garden,’ and there is much of interest in the section on ‘The Home Gar- den and Greenhouse.’ 790 Bird Lore for March—April has the story of ‘A Sierra Nighthawk Family,’ by Florence M. Bailey, and of ‘A Family of Barn Owls,’ by Thomas H. Jackson; an important brief article on ‘The Heath Hen in New Jersey.’ Anna Head describes the ‘Nesting of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet’ and Frank M. Chap- man gives the third paper on ‘ How to Study Birds,’ this being devoted to the nesting sea- son. There is the third series of portraits of Bird Lore’s Advisory Councilors. There are the customary notes, reviews and reports of the Audubon Societies, from which we learn of the spread of bird protection in various states. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Tue 567th meeting was held on April 11, 1908. Professor Marvin exhibited a seismo- graph sheet showing a slight earthquake wave on March 15. Professor Gore described the ‘International Bibliography of Mathematics’ now published at irregular intervals in card form. Thus far eleven sets of one hundred eards each have been published. Professor T. J. J. See, U. S. Navy, read a ‘Historical Sketch of Olaus Roemer, the Discoverer of the Velocity of Light.’ Roemer was one of the greatest scientific geniuses, ranking with Aristarchus of Samos, Archi- medes and Hipparchus, among the ancients, and with Galileo, Newton and Bessel, among the moderns. As almost all of his observa- tions were consumed in the conflagration which destroyed a large part of Copenhagen in the year 1728, his memory has been greatly neglected. Yet it was Roemer who invented all the principal instruments of the modern observatory—the meridian circle, the prime vertical, the altazimuth and the equatorial telescope. He lived very much in advance of his age. The discovery of the velocity of light in 1675 was treated at length. It was made from the eclipses of the first satellite of Jupiter. Most of Roemer’s contemporaries rejected his theory of the finite velocity of light, or adopted it only after long years had elapsed. The French men of science were SCIENCE. ’ Royal Observatory of Copenhagen. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 437. slower in accepting the new idea than men of science in other nations. Huygens and New- ton adopted Roemer’s results, while Fontenelle, the perpetual secretary of the Paris Academy of Sciences had even gone so far as publicly to congratulate himself on escaping the sedue- tive error of believing in the gradual propaga- tion of light! Roemer gave eleven minutes for the equation of light (time in coming from the sun to the earth), but Newton re- duced the value to between seven and eight minutes. The true value found by the classic researches of Michelson and Newcomb is about 8.4 minutes, to which Newton’s was a close approximation. The speaker said that with the exception of the discovery of the law of gravitation, no sublimer discovery than that of the velocity of light had ever been made. Notwithstand- ing the inecredulty of others, Roemer had never wavered in his belief in this discovery, and the speaker said that it paved the way for the investigation of the velocity of electricity, which had been found with much accuracy. Roemer was born in 1644 and died in 1710, all of his life except nine years being spent in Denmark. He met Picard when he came to Denmark to determine the position of Tycho Brahé’s Observatory in 1671, and the following year returned with him as his assist- ant, and spent nine years at the Paris Obsery- atory, just started under J. D. Cassini. Picard was much the best astronomer of his age, but had been set aside by the government of Louis XIV., and a foreigner, Cassini of Bologna, called to be superintendent of the Royal Observatory at Paris. This cireum- stance injured astronomy in. France for many years. Roemer’s association with Picard was fortunate, as this gave him the best ideas of the times, though his own genius was even greater than that of Picard, who had acquired an imperishable reputation by measuring the are of the meridian’ used by Newton for verify- ing the theory of universal gravitation in 1685. A picture of Roemer was exhibited, kindly sent by Professor T. N. Thiele, director of the This showed a striking resemblance to Newton. May 15, 1903. ] The paper will be published in an early num- ber of Popular Astronomy. Dr. A. L. Day, of the Geological Survey, discussed ‘The Melting Point of a Glass,’ bas- ing his remarks on a study of borax glass, which has a melting point in the neighborhood of 730° as determined in ordinary ways. If ordinary solid bodies have heat communicated to them the temperature gradually rises till melting begins, when it remains stationary till melting is complete; and a corresponding phenomenon takes place on cooling from liquid to solid. So the curve of temperature as a function of the time shows a portion parallel to the axis of the time. The borax glass, if in the erystalline state, shows a similar straight portion, or at least a departure from the smooth curve; but if in the vitreous stage the curve may be perfectly smooth, and the material pass from liquid to solid without showing any phenomena by which to fix a melting point, as ordinarily defined. Tue 568th meeting was held April 25, 1903, in the rooms of the National Bureau of Stand- ards through the courtesy of Director S. W. Stratton. No formal papers were presented, but the laboratories and shops were opened, and many new instruments were exhibited and explained informally. The evening was one of great interest to all visitors. CuarLes K. Weap, Secretary. BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. THE 371st meeting of the society was held on Saturday, April 18. W. J. Spillman spoke on ee ee, Problems in the United States, using a num- ber of lantern slides by way of illustration. These slides were prepared from the recent census reports, and showed the distribution of each of the important hay and forage crops over the country. He brought out the rather remarkable fact that by far the larger part of the hay and forage produced in this coun- try is produced on the glacial drift, also that one fourth of the total hay and forage is pro- duced from wild grasses, and that of the wild grasses that are thus utilized no one of them has as yet been brought into cultivation. The SCIENCE. 791 principal reason for this les in the poor seed habits of these grasses, a fact which renders their use impracticable. He also gave some illustrations of the relation between certain crops and certain geological formations. It was shown that, in the state of Kentucky, Kentucky blue grass (Poa pratensis) is con fined to a circular area in the northern part of the state, in which the dolomitie limestones of the Silurian outcrop. In a similar man- ner Johnson grass in the southern states is more or less closely confined to the soils of the Cretaceous. He pointed out the impor- tance of increasing the areas of hay and for- age crops, particularly in the cotton belt, where the system of farming has depleted the soil of humus to such an extent as greatly to interfere with its productivity. He stated that another very important problem was to secure suitable crops for the arid and semi- arid regions that could be grown without irri- gation, and that some progress has been made in this direction. A paper by Basil Dutcher, captain U. S. Army (Medical Corps), on the ‘Mammals of Mount Katahdin, was read by Vernon Bailey. , The topography of the region was carefully described, and this was followed by a fully annotated list of the mammals. Of the larger species the moose was fairly common, the Virginia deer abundant, while the otter and lynx were still found in the vicinity. Small carnivores, the fishes, mink and weasel were said to be common, but Mr. Dutcher was able to trap but few small rodents, the only really abundant rodent being the musk- rat. The fauna was that of the Canadian region, and not that of the Hudsonian. In his paper, entitled ‘ Notes on the Dis- semination of Sedum douglas by Proliferous Shoots, Mr. VY. K. Chesnut drew attention to a comparatively undescribed natural meth- od of plant reproduction. Sedum douglasw, a plant growing at an altitude of about 7,000 feet in Montana, forms axillary branches about a half inch long, which, late in the summer, become detached from the dried stem after the plant has flowered, and which are capable of reproducing the plant vege- tatively. The light, spear-shaped branches 792 SCIENCE. are blown about by the wind, remain dormant under the snow through the long winter sea- son, and, if the proper conditions are present, take root in the soil the following spring. The mechanical structure of the shoots which enables the plant thus to disseminate and to perpetuate the species was described and il- lustrated by specimens and by photographs. ¥F. A. Lucas. THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. At the 142d meeting of the society, held in the assembly hall of the Cosmos Club, Wednesday evening, April 8, 1903, the fol- lowing program was presented: Mr. J. E. Spurr, ‘The Relation of Faults to Topography.’ Folds and faults are closely associated gen- etically, and their effect on the surface relief is analogous. Each may be divided into three orders: 1. Those affecting great areas, as portions of continents. 2. Those affecting broad belts, producing mountain systems. 3. Folds and faults proper, being wrinkles and fractures on the grander flexures and dis- placements of the first and second orders. Gravity antagonizes these disturbances, in so far as they affect surface relief. On ac- count of the relative bulk of material to be readjusted, and for other reasons, erosion is generally ineffective in combating flexures and dislocations of the first and second orders, while folds and faults proper are generally overcome. So the anticlinal ridge and the synelinal valley of direct deformation are relatively rare as compared with the anticlinal ridge, the synclinal ridge and the anticlinal valley of erosion. Similarly, the speaker’s studies have convinced him that the analogous features of relief connected. with faults have about the same proportion. Simple fault- scarps (analogous to ridges and valleys of di- rect deformation) are relatively rare; while normal erosion fault scarps and reversed ero- sion fault searps (analogous to anticlinal and synclinal ridges of erosion) are about equally abundant. The forms indirectly expressed on (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 437. the topography by the erosion of folded and faulted rocks also differ in different climates. Mr. Waldemar Lindgren, ‘ Metallic Sul- phides from Steamboat Springs, Nevada.’ During a visit to Steamboat Springs in 1901, it was found that a shaft forty feet deep had been sunk through the sinter deposits near the railroad station. Below the sinter, ‘a gravel of well-rounded granitic and andesitic pebbles was found, and in this gravel, which is probably an older deposit of Steamboat Creek, minute needles of well-crystallized stibnite were found to be very abundant. The gravel also contains vwell-crystallized pyrite, and some opal often coats the surface of the pebbles. From the investigations of Dr. Becker it is known that the sinters con- tain sulphides of arsenic and antimony, but no well defined or crystallized minerals cor- responding to these salts have previously been found. Since the gravels in which the crystal- lized stibnite and pyrite occur seem to be free from the sulphide of arsenic which is found in the overlying sinters, it is inferred that the conditions of deposition in the two cases are different. Mr. Geo. I. Adams, ‘Origin of Bedded Breccias in Northern Arkansas.’ The fracturing and brecciation in the northern Arkansas zine and lead district are probably due to stresses induced at the time of the folding in the Ouachita Mountain and Arkansas valley regions. At the close of the Carboniferous period the thick mass of sediments which had accumulated in what is now central Arkansas and western Indian Territory was deformed in a manner which suggests that the beds were thrust to the northward. In the Ouachita Mountains there are close folds and thrust faults; in the Ar- kansas valley region, open folds. In the southern border of the Ozark region, and particularly in the zine and lead district of northern Arkansas, the generally horizontal position of the rocks was retained, but there was considerable movement of individual beds, especially in the Ordovician series. The variation in the structure of the Ordovician dolomites, which are in places massively bed- ded and in other places thin-bedded, lamin- Seater 2 May 15, 1903. | ated and even shaly, resulted in the lateral movement being taken up in varying degree by the individual beds, so that the motion was such as is produced by forces acting in couples. The brecciation is due to the tend- ency of the pieces, resulting from the break- ing of certain brittle strata, to shear past each other, or to rotate with the horizontal move- ments of the adjacent beds, so that the frag- ments are relatively displaced. Mr. E. C. Eckel, ‘Dahlonega Mining Dis- trict, Georgia.’ The country rocks in the Dahlonega dis- trict in Georgia are mica schists and gneisses of pre-Cambrian age, including possibly some metamorphosed Paleozoic. These early rocks are cut by diorites and granites; the former highly sheared, the latter but slightly gneiss- oid. The gold-bearing quartz veins occur along the contacts of the diorites or granites with the mica schists. The veins show but little deformation, and the epoch of vein formation, as well as of the intrusion of the granites, is therefore thought to be not earlier than the Ordovician. This view is confirmed by the occurrence of gold veins in the Ocoee (Cambro-Silurian) rocks of Georgia and Ten- nessee, and in Ordovician rocks in New York. W. OC. Mendenwatt, Secretary. NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. SECTION OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. ; A REGULAR meeting of the Section of Geol- ogy and Mineralogy was held at the American Museum of Natural History on the evening of March 16. In the absence of Professor Kemp, Dr. Julien was made temporary chair- man. The first paper was by Dr. A. W. Grabau on the ‘Geology of Becraft Mountain, New York’ Becraft Mountain, in Columbia Co., N. Y., is an outlier of the Helderberg Moun- tains. Its base is formed by the upturned and eroded rocks of the Hudson Group, chiefly the Norman’s Kill shales. Unconformably upon this rests the upper part of the Manlius limestone, followed in turn by the members of the New York Devonian up to and includ- SCIENCE. 793 ‘ing the Onondaga limestone. The structure of the eastern and southern portion of the mountain, which is of the Appalachian type, was discussed, and the excessive folding and faulting upon it illustrated by maps and sec- tions. The paper was discussed by Dr. Ste- venson and by Dr. Julien. The second paper, by Mr. C. W. Dickson, was entitled ‘The Mineralogy and Geology of the Sudbury Ontario Copper Nickel De- posits” ° It was shown that by magnetic concentra- tion of the ore nearly all the nickel can be eliminated from the pyrrhotite, proving that the element is present in a separate mineral and that it does not replace part of the iron of the pyrrhotite isomorphously. ‘The eco- nomic concentration of the nickel by mag- netic methods is, however, practically impos- sible. The composition of the nickel mineral corresponds closely to that of pentlandite, but there is always an excess of (Fe-+ Ni) over that required by the formula (Fe -- Ni)S in the proportion 11:10. After studying the relations of the ore and rock minerals in the field and by the aid of the microscope, the conclusion was reached that the deposits are replacements along erushed zones through which the mineral- bearing waters circulated, and that they can not be original magmatic segregations, as generally held. Guorce I. Finiay, Secretary pro tem. ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. Tue 148th meeting was held in the chemical lecture room, University of North Carolina, April 14, 7:45 p.m. The following papers were read: “The Prices of Anthracite Coal in the United States, 1850-1902,’ by Professor C. L. Raper. “Habits of North Carolina Woodpeckers,’ by Mr. Ivey F. Lewis. ‘Note on Imaginary Roots of a Cubic, by Professor Wm. Cain. Certain characteristics of the graphs of functions of the third degree were established and easy tests found (not 794 SCIENCE. involving the discriminant) to ascertain when cubic equations had imaginary roots. CuHas. BASKERVILLE, Secretary. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. ECOLOGY. To THe Eprror or Sctence: I read with much interest Professor Fernow’s article, bearing the above caption, in Science, April 17, an article attractively written and con- taining many valuable suggestions. I do not propose to enter into the general discussion outlined by the author, but shall confine myself to the paragraphs on the soil. It would not be right to allow so misleading a statement as ‘it is first of all to be con- sidered that chemical constitution [of the soil] plays probably only a small part or practically none; the reliance of tree growth on mineral constituents being relatively small’ to go without protest. The chief fact that is adduced in support of this dictum rests on the small percentage of ash in the grown tree and its greater abundance in the leaves and younger growth. The growth of a tree is as absolutely con- ditioned by ‘mineral constituents’ as by any other fundamental factor of the environment. Vines says: ‘Thus the inorganie substances absorbed by the roots pass into the cells of the leaves where they are concerned in the processes of constructive metabolism which are in operation in those organs.’ It is apparent that without this ‘ construc-’ tive metabolism’ the materials of which the chief part of the plant is composed, mostly earbohydrates, could never be provided. One of the functions of the absorption of water as such by plants is to secure the trans- lation of these mineral elements from the soil to the parts of the organism where their con- structive work is to be done. Vines says: ‘Only very dilute solutions of salts can be taken up by the roots; as a con- sequence, it is necessary that relatively large quantities of water should be absorbed in order that the plant may be supplied with the salts which are important in nutrition.’ [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 437. The tree, during the whole period of its growth, does not use from without a single organie product. It gets its nitrogen in the form of nitric acid, its carbon in the form of earbon dioxid, its phosphorus in the form of phosphoric acid, its hydrogen in the form of water, and so on to the end of the nutrients. The fact that mineral matters are exuded in the leaves is no proof that they have not per- formed or assisted in performing the most important physiological functions. ‘The ex- eretion of a ‘mineral constituent’? may even be a proof of its importance in metabolism, as is the case with a great part of the phosphorus that is excreted from the body. Nature is eareful to provide a superabundance of the most important substances. Because a tree may take up only one millionth part of the carbon dioxid which comes to it in the air during its period of growth, is no reason for saying that this constituent of the air is of little consequence in biodendry. | Mineral substances not only are useful and necessary in plant growth because of their part in forming tissues, but also because they stimulate by their presence the functional activity of the vegetative cells. In other words, they are condimental or katalytie as well as constitutional. Although potash is not a constituent of starch, it is thoroughly established by indubitable evidence that in the absence of potash in the plant blood starch granules are not formed. The ions of mineral matter taken from the soil and coursing through the circulating ap- paratus of the tree perform useful and neces- sary functions from the time they enter the waiting mouth of the rootlet until they con- gregate in the extremest tip of the reddening leaf. The ‘mineral hunger’ of plants is as well known and recognized by physiologists as that of animals, and the welfare of the growing tree is undoubtedly as profoundly affected by the soil element of its environment as by any other. Experiments have shown the minimum of any given mineral element of the soil which will permit normal development, but such a minimum only does so in case other mineral May 15, 1903.] elements are in excess. Jf the minima of all mineral elements are presented to the plant at the same time, normal growth can not take place. ' In the experiments of Wolff it was conclu- sively shown that in such’ cases flowering and fruiting are practically prevented. The plant has, therefore, need of an excess of mineral matter, and this is secured from other mineral substances if one of the essential minerals is present in a minimum quantity. Thus some mineral foods may, temporarily at least, act as substitutes to a certain degree for others. Strange to say, however, sodium, which is so near potassium in its general properties, has but slight, if any, suitability as a substitute therefor. It is a mistake, therefore, to look upon the constitutional assimilation of min- eral matters as their chief utility. The fact that both potash and phosphorus are always associated with the functions of the living cell is not to be forgotten. The absence of either of these minerals makes vegetable growth impossible. Especially are these two substances the katalytic agents whereby the living cell converts the other mineral foods of plants into starch, sugar, cellulose, oil and protein, of which the organic parts of plants are chiefly composed. These elements reach the tree solely through the soil, and the greater or less abundance of them in the soil can not fail to affect profoundly forest growth, per- haps to a greater extent than almost any other factor of the environment. The soil has, therefore, marked ecological as well as physiological influences on forest growth. The soil of the forest is nature’s own handiwork and will never be modified by man. When man begins his work the forest ends and the park begins. We all know how the soil alone has, in many \instances, deter- mined the character of tree growth. It is not wholly accidental that the sands are covered by pines and the mountains by oaks. The virgin forests in many localities were indexes whereby the early settlers selected their en- tries of land. They did not need to be told that the maple, the walnut and the tulip grew on the richer, and the beech, the gum and the oak on the poorer soils. The first forests that SCIENCE. 795 fell before the ax were those of the first-named trees. Thus the nature of the soil has often determined the original distribution of forest growth. -Nature seems-to know the edaphic principle in ecology better than man. It is to be regretted that at this late day we should be told by such an eminent author- ity: ‘ Moreover, the total amount of mineral constituents in a tree is not only very small, but by far the largest portion is found in the leaves and young parts, suggesting again their merely fortuitous presence as a residue of the transpiration current, and mostly not re- quired.’ I need hardly add the observation that the presence of mineral substances, both as such and as salts of the organic acids, profoundly modifies osmotic pressure, and without the aid of these substances the ‘ transpiration current’ would never reach the tips of the trees, but, like the vanishing stream of the desert, be forever lost. The incidental fact of peripheral accumulatiqn of mineral matter due to transpiration seems to have no bearing on the previous utility of the accumulated material during its passage through the cel- lular substance of the tree. H. W. Witey. ARE STAMENS AND PISTILS SEXUAL ORGANS? In Screen, XVII, 652, Professor W. F. Ganong suggests that stamens and pistils are sexual organs, and gives some interesting rea- sons for this conclusion. In brief, he proposes to abandon the morphological point of view and adopt one purely physiological. It must be admitted that a genuine argument is pre- sented here, but it is still open to question whether such a use of terms conduees to clear- ness. If the stamens are male organs, I sup- pose their product, the pollen spores, must be regarded as male cells. And if the pistil is a female organ, I suppose the scattering of pollen spores upon the stigma must, if one is consistent, be considered as a sexual act and, in that case, may be termed, as Mueller did, ‘Befruchtung.’ But to the mind of a mor- phologist this confusion of the processes of pollination and fecundation is extremely ob- 796 SCIENCE. jectionable. The phylogenetic history and the ecological significance of the two processes are totally different. Since the appearance of Goebel’s ‘ Organ- ography’ it has been the fashion to urge the morphologists to be humble, but it is not im- possible that a clear definition of terms in accord with the facts of phylogeny, such as morphologists have insisted upon, may still be of some value to botanical science. When it is so easy to use such terms as ‘staminate’ and ‘pistillate,’ it seems a pity to permit flowers to be called ‘male’ and ‘female.’ Conway MacMinnan. PATAGONIAN GEOLOGY. Unoper the title ‘L’age des formations sedi- mentaires de Patagonie,’ * Dr. F. Ameghino has issued a collection of papers relating to this subject published originally in the Anales de la Sociedad Cientifica Argentina, Vols. 50— 54 (1900-1903). The chief purpose of this series is to refute the views on Patagonian geology expressed by Mr. J. B. Hatcher and myself. Unfortunately, the representation of my statements as given by Ameghino is in almost every single case more or less inaccurate, sometimes my views are not properly under- stood, sometimes they appear distorted and even directly altered. Since it is not worth while to correct all these misunderstandings—this correction be- ing merely a reiteration of what I have said before—I do not think it necessary to go into detail. I only wish to caution any subse- quent writer occupying himself with the ques- tion of Patagonian geology, not to rely im- plicitly on Ameghino’s representations of my views and statements, but always to consult the original version of them, as laid down in the final report on the ‘ Tertiary Invertebrates of the Princeton Expedition.’ + A. E. OrTMANN. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY. * Buenos Aires, 1903. _ ‘Reports of the rrinceton University Expedi- tions to Patagonia,’ vol. 4, part 2, 1902. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 437. NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. METEOROLOGICAL REPORTER TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. Sir Joun Exniot, who has for a number of years occupied the important position of meteorological reporter to the government of India, and who received the distinction of knighthood on the occasion of the Durbar at Delhi, is to resign at the close of the present year. Mr. Gilbert T. Walker, who has been appointed Assistant Meteorological Reporter to the government of India, is to sueceed Sir John Eliot on the latter’s retirement. Mr. Walker is a fellow of Trinity College, Cam- bridge, where he attained highest honors in mathematics, and where he has taught mathe- matical physics since 1895. He has published a number of important researches on electricity and magnetism. After his appointment to the position of assistant meteorological reporter, Mr. Walker came to the United States, where he made a study of our methods of work in astronomy and in meteorology, visiting the Harvard and the Yerkes astronomical observa- tories, the Blue Hill Meteorological Observa- tory, the Weather Bureau in Washington, ete. Mr. Walker sails for India early in May. With his admirable training in mathematics and physics, his great ability to pursue orig- inal investigations along these lines, and his wonderful field for work in Indian meteorol- ogy, there is no doubt that Mr. Walker will make important contributions to our knowl- edge of the mechanics of the earth’s atmos- phere. He may be assured that he takes with him to his new field of labor the best wishes of American men of science for his success in a region where many of those whose names are written large in the history of meteorology have done their work. DUNN’S ‘ THE WEATHER.’ ‘Tur Weather’ (New York, Dodd, Mead & Co. 1902. S8vo, pp. 356) is designed to ‘ avoid all mathematics, and scientific and technical ‘terms (!), and present the subject in the sim- plest and most popular form.’ The author is E. B. Dunn, for several years local forecast official of the Weather Bureau in New York City. The book endeavors to cover a large May 15, 1903.] amount of ground, with the result that most subjects are treated very superficially. There are also a great many inaccuracies. The chapters on weather maps and on weather fore- casting are on the whole the best. In no way does ‘The Weather’ rank with the meteorol- ogies of Hann, Davis, Angot, van Bebber, Mohn, Waldo and others. NOTES. TueErE has recently been published a ‘ Cata- log der in Norwegen bis Juni 1878 beobach- teten Nordlichter, zusammengestellt von Sophus Tromholt’ (Christiania, 1902. 4to, pp. 429). This catalogue was prepared for publi- eation by J..Fr. Schroeter, of the University Observatory, Christiania, Tromholt having died on April 17, 1896. THE volume on Meteorology of the ‘ Inter- national Catalogue of Sciertific Literature,’ published for the International Council of the Royal Society, is now on sale. It numbers about 200 pages, and costs 15 shillings. R. DEC. Warp. GENERAL JAMES T. STRATTON. Arter fifty years of professional activity in California, General James T. Stratton, the well-known surveyor, died at his home in Oakland on March 15. General Stratton was born in the state of New York in 1830, and eame to California in 1850. After mining for a few years he resumed his professional work in 1853 and made the first official survey of the Alameda Encinal, at that time an un- inhabited region. In 1858 he was elected county surveyor of Alameda County and was subsequently identified with the surveys of the large land grants made by the Spanish and Mexican authorities; through the knowledge acquired in this connection, he became a rec- ognized expert on such land grants, their titles and boundary lines. He subdivided more of these, in many cases, immense areas, than any other surveyor in California. He also made the first survey for a railway out of Oakland by the way of Niles and the Livermore Pass to Stockton; these surveys extended to Fol- som, Placerville being the objective point. SCIENCE. 797 This work was done for an English syndicate; the project was, however, abandoned because of the civil war. ater the rails were laid on these lines by Stanford and his associates, as the Western Pacific Railroad Company, later merged into the Central Pacific Railroad Company. In 1873 he was appointed United States Surveyor General for California by President Grant, resigning in 1876 on account of ill health. From 1880 to 1883 he was connected with the State survey general’s office, and from the latter date was engaged as a land attorney till 1899: To General Stratton belongs the credit of being the first to make an artificial forest west of the Rocky Mountains, he hav- ing in 1869 planted some forty-five acres with EKucalpytus trees of the species H. globulus and H. viminalis. He was a public-spirited citizen and quiet, unassuming gentleman. Ros’r KE. C. Stearns. Los ANGELEs, April 24, 1903. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. Mr. Anprew Carnecie has offered to give ; $1,000,000 for a building for the engineering societies. It is to be situated in New York City, and will provide an auditorium, a library and headquarters for five engineering societies, namely, the American Society of Civil En- gineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society of Electrical Engineers, the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the Engineers’ Club. Finan contracts have been signed for the purchase from the Schermerhorn estate of the site in New York City for the Rockefeller In- stitute. The property acquired extends from Sixty-fourth street to a line 50 feet north of Sixty-seventh street from Avenue A to the East River. The price was about $700,000. The work of construction on the main build- ing will begin about August 1. By vote of its council the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America will hold its next meeting in affiliation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science at St. Louis during convocation week, 1903- 1904. 798 SCIENCE. Tur Walker Grand Prize, which is he- stowed once in five years by the Boston So- ciety of Natural History, has just been awarded to J. A. Allen of the American Mu- seum of Natural History ‘for his able and long continued contributions to American ornithology and mammalogy.’ The amount of the prize is $500, but in view of the high character of Mr. Allen’s investigations, it was voted to increase the amount to one thou- sand dollars. Among the chief of Mr. Allen’s investigations are his ‘ Birds of Florida,’ ‘A Monograph of the Pinnepeds,’ ‘ Monographs of North American Rodentia’ and ‘The Geographical Distribution of North American Mammals.’ The prize was last given (1898) to Samuel H. Scudder, of Cambridge, Mass., in recognition of his entomological work. Dr. Joun H. Musser, of Philadelphia, has been elected president of the American Medi- eal Association. A BRANCH of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers has been organized at Washington, with Dr. Frank A. Wolff, Jr., as chairman. Sir FREDERICK TREvEs, the well-known Eng- lish surgeon, has been given the LL.D. degree by the University of Aberdeen. THE Geographical Society of Paris has con- ferred the La Roquette gold medal on Captain Sverdrup, the Arctic explorer. Axsour fifty German students of agriculture are at present in the United States and will remain here about three months investigating agricultural methods. Dr. EpMunp Otis Hovey returned on May 8 from a three months’ trip to the Caribbean Islands. He was sent out by the American Museum of Natural History to continue and extend the observations on the West Indian voleanoes which he began directly after the great eruptions of a year ago. During the present trip, Dr. Hovey visited all the vol- canoes from Saba to St. Vincent, devoting most of his time to Martinique and St. Vin- cent. Many fine specimens and photographs were obtained for the museum. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 437. Proressor Henry 8. Graves, director of the Yale School of Forestry, has gone abroad, and will spend the summer on the continent study- ing schools and methods of forestry. Dr. F. S. Ears, assistant curator at the New York Botanical Garden, sailed for Porto Rico on May 9 to make an investigation of the diseases which affect the vegetable prod- ucts of the island. A Proressor J. C. Merriam, of the depart- ment of geology, University of California, will go to the southeastern part of Idaho this summer to search for reptilian remains in a portion of the Triassic formation lower than those in which such remains have been found. Proressor A. A. VEBLEN, of the department of physics at the State University of Iowa, will spend his summer vacation in making a visit to Norway. While absent he will study the history and development of ancient ship building as evidenced by the remains of old vessels preserved in the museums of that country. Tue board of regents of the University of Michigan at their April meeting granted leave of absence for the year 1903-04 to Dr. Herbert 'S. Jennings, assistant professor of zoology. Dr. Jennings will spend the year at the Zoo- logical Station at Naples, Italy, in prosecuting investigations on the behavior of the lower organisms, continuing researches on which he has been engaged for some years. Jor the furtherance of this work the Carnegie Insti- tution has made a grant of $1,000, in addition to the sum of $250 granted last fall, together with the use for the year of one of the tables maintained by the institution at the Naples Zoological Station. Dr. Jennings expects to leave for Italy at the close of the summer session in August. Tuer large number of fossil fishes collected during the excavations at Boonton and else- where in the Triassic area of New Jersey dur- ing the last year or two are being studied by Dr. Charles R. Eastman, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. Tue first link, Vancouver to Fanning Island, of the transpacific longitude, of which Mr. May 15, 1903.] Otto Klotz has charge, has been successfully established. A Reuter telegram from Cape Town states that Dr. Rubin has left for Chinde, with an expedition numbering 280 persons, for the pur- pose of measuring an are of meridian into northeastern Rhodesia, from the Zambesi to Lake Tanganyika. The expedition will be away three years, and is expected to yield important data in connection with the deter- mination of the earth’s dimensions. It is reported from Berlin that Mr. Walker, who is scheduled as the successor of John Eliot as superintendent of the German Indian Meteorological Service, recently spent a week at the aeronautical observatory with a view to establishing experimental stations in India for the observation of monsoon conditions by means of kites and kite balloons. The first station will be in the Himalayas at Simla, seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. A portrait of Dr. James H. Richardson, for many years professor of anatomy in the Med- ical Department of Toronto University, has been presented to the university by his former students. At the British National Physical Labora- tory, Mr. C. C. Paterson has been appointed to take charge of the electro-technical and photometric work, and Mr. F. J. Selby has been appointed to prepare certain tide tables for Indian ports and to act as librarian. Tue centennial of the birth of Justus Liebig was celebrated on May 12 at the Chem- ists’ Club, New York City. Dr. Ira Remsen, president of the Johns Hopkins University, and Professor William H. Brewer, of Yale University, were expected to make the prin- cipal addresses. Mr. ArtHur HE. Sweetnanp, the youngest member of the staff of the Blue Hill Meteoro- logical Observatory, died on May 8. Mr. Sweetland had been connected with the Ob- servatory since 1896, and several of his in- vestigations, notably a study of cloud forms which had long occupied his attention, were published in the Annals of the Harvard Col- lege Observatory. He also aided the director, Mr. Rotch, to obtain the first meteorological SCIENCE. 799 records high above the Atlantic Ocean, as was described in Screnck in 1901. Tur daily papers state that Dr. R. N. Hart- man, professor of analytical chemistry at the School of Mines at Golden, Colo., was killed by escaping gas in his laboratory on May 8. WE regret also to record the death of Pro- fessor Carl Anton Bjerknes, professor of pure mathematics at the University of Christiania, at the age of seventy-eight years, and of Dr. G. C. Dibbits, formerly professor of chem- istry at Utrecht, at the age of sixty-four years. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. Tue enlargement of the Silliman Labora- tory of the Mount Hermon School is rapidly approaching completion. This enlargement was made possible through a gift of $13,000 from Hon. H. B. Silliman, who erected and equipped the original building in 1892. The laboratory when completed in June will repre- sent the expenditure of nearly $40,000 by Dr. Silliman for scientific purposes. Professor C. E. Dickerson, who is in charge of the labo- ratory, has directed the work of enlargement. TuE late Walter D. Pitkins has bequeathed $10,000 to Yale University, one half to be used for a scholarship and one half for a prize in mathematics. Tue Harvard Club of Chicago has given $5,000 to found a scholarship in memory of Dunlop Smith. Mr. Francis L. Stetson, of New York, has given $25,000 to Williams College. Mr. Robert C. Billings has given the same sum to Wellesley College. Dr. Gerorce M. Turrie, professor of gynecology; Dr. George L. Peabody, professor of materia medica and therapeutics, and Dr. Robert F. Weir, professor of surgery, have resigned their chairs in the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. Dr. Weir was appointed professor of clinical surgery, and Drs. J. A. Blake and G. E. Brewer were made lecturers in surgery. Dr. Christian A. Herter was elected professor of pharmacology and therapeutics. Dr. Edward B. Cragin succeeds Dr. Tuttle in the depart- ment of gynecology. 800 SCIENCE. Amone the promotions and new appoint- ments at Columbia University are Dr. C. C. Trowbridge and Dr. F. L. Tufts to be imstruc- tors in Physics; Dr. B. Davis, tutor in physics; Dr. A. P. Wells, instructor in mechanics; Dr. R. S. Woodworth, instructor in psychology, and Dr. W. P. Montague, lecturer in phi- losophy. Dr. G. H. Howse, now assistant professor of physics at Dartmouth, has been elected to the Appleton professorship of physics, in succes- sion to Professor H. F. Nichols, who has been called to Columbia University. AT a recent meeting of the board of trustees of the New Mexico School of Mines six ad- ditional chairs in the faculty were established. These were mining, physics and electrical en- gineering, mechanical engineering, mineral- ogy and petrography, metallurgy and lan- guages. Several special lectureships were also provided. Carl E. Magnusson, B.E.E., Ph.D., from Wisconsin University, has been appointed to the chair of physics and electrical engineering; Charles T. Lincoln, B.S., of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been appointed acting professor of chemistry, and Francis C. Lincoln, B.S., M.E., late of the San Barnardo Mining and Milling Co., has been placed in charge of the metallurgical department. President Keyes announces that hereafter regular summer work will be carried on at the institution. This work will con- tinue through seventeen weeks and will count as a half year’s credit. Field work in geol- ogy, surveying and mine examinations, and special investigation will occupy the time of certain classes. Practical metallurgy in its various phases will also be carried on. Tue University of Montana will be well represented this summer both in field and class work. The University Summer School will open June 15, and continue for six weeks. Kleven departments will offer work, and the new Woman’s Hall will be completed and opened for this session. The Biological Sta- tion work, at Flathead Lake, under the di- rectorship of Professor M. J. Elrod, with a corps of instructors, will give several field and laboratory courses both in botany and [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 437. zoology. The station will open the middle of July and continue for five weeks. The de- partment of geology will conduct an expedi- tion in the southeastern part of the state. This expedition will be composed of several students and an official photographer, and be in charge of Professor J: P. Rowe. The party will leave the university about the middle of June and remain in the field from six to eight weeks. y Director R. H. THurston, of Sibley Col- lege, Cornell University, has accepted an in- vitation from the trustees and faculty of the Iowa State College at Ames, Iowa, to deliver the address at the dedication of the new en- gineering hall on May 21. The new building was built at a cost of $220,000. THe Rev. Charles S. Murkland, who for the past ten years has been president of the Agricultural College, Durham, N. H., has been forced to resign. According to the Manchester Union, the governor of the state, Mr. Bach- elder, may be made president. This news- paper indicates that there are political im- trigues in connection with the presidency. A scHoon of applied science has been ere- ated by the board of regents of the Univer- sity of Iowa, and Professor L. G. Weld has been appointed director. Mr. Witi1am Kent, of New York City, has been elected dean of the L. C. Smith College of Applied Science of Syracuse University. Proressor Ropert SaMPLE MiuLuER, asso- ciate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, has been elected to a simi- lar position in the newly organized department of engineering at Colorado College. At this institution Dr. Florian Cajori, professor of mathematics, has- been elected dean of the school of engineering. Dr. Norman M. Harris, associate professor of bacteriology at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, has accepted a eall to the University of Chicago. Mr. C. A. AsHrorp, who has had charge of the teaching of science at Harrow since 1894, has been appointed headmaster at the Royal Naval College, Osborne. ee ee a SCIENCE 4& WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EpirorraL CommMitTEE : S. NEwcoms, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. WAtcort, Geology; W. M. DAvis, Physiography ; HENRY F. OsBoRN, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooxs, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology ; S. H. SCUDDER, Entomology ; C. BE. Bgssty, N. L. BRITTON, Botany ; BowpitcH, Physiology ; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology; H. P. Witt1am H. WeLcH, Pathology ; J. McKren Catreni, Psychology. Fripay, May 22, 1903. CONTENTS. The Duties and Responsibilities of Trustees of Public Medical Institutions: Dr. W. W. KEEN The New Medical Buildings of the University of Toronto: Proressor A. B. MACALLUM.. ' Scientific Books :— Minot’s Text-book of Hmbryology: PrRo- FESSOR FRANK R. Litiis. Hanns Climat- ology: H. H. CLAYTON................++ Scientific Journals and Articles............ Societies and Academies :— The Anthropological Society of Washing- ton: WALTER HoucH. The American Mathematical Society: Prormssor F. N. COLE Discussion and Correspondence :— The Proposed Biological Laboratory at the Tortugas: PRoressor C. C. Nurrine, Pro- FESSOR WM. E. Ritrer, Presipent Davin STATE eORDAN st riars dis are Ghevstavelalerac aun Grete aie Shorter Articles :— Some Little-known Basket Materials: Dr. C. Hart Merriam. A Note on Phryno- soma: PROFESSOR CHARLES L. EDWARDS. A Note on Nomenclature: A. 8S. Hiren- cock. Remains of Elephants in Wyoming: PROFESSOR WILBUR C, KNIGHT........... Current Notes on Meteorology :— Snow Crystals; Structure of Cyclones: Proressor R:- DEC. WARD............... Botanical Notes :— A New Classification of Plants; More Ma- rine Botany; Ards to the Study of the Fungi: PROFESSOR CHARLES EH. BESSEY.... Cornell Work for Agriculture: PRoressor R. Is], MHstUENONGacinncognndépeuscopseuedae The International Geodetic Association: WIL- EAN OHLENEB EC Kens aye te eteiiynueayaiccavevesnin aie iedeyenscess:6 The British Antarctic Hupedition .......... The Bermuda Biological Station............ 801 813 817 820 820 823 826 829 The Lake Laboratory of the Ohio State Uni- DERRY) pice onap.c cogs 5 Go OOO OHO EH needs a 834 Committee on the Purity of Chemicals...... 835 Typhoid Fever at Palo Alto and Stanford URMECGSULY) sx sbabion oto gacnseounegeDD0655 835 Scientific Notes and News................. 836 University and Educational News........... 840 MSS. intended for publication and books, etc:, intended tor review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. THE DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OP TRUSTEES OF PUBLIC MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS.* THE value of occasional and stated gath- erings of the principal leaders of medical thought in the various special departments is acknowledged by all. Certainly those who have attended this congress, now held for the sixth time, have felt its broadening influence. We are all apt to become nar- row when we are devoted heart and soul to one specialty, be it medicine, surgery, physiology, ophthalmology or any other. When we meet nearly all the more prom- inent men in cognate interrelated branches of medicine in Washington every third year, we are sure to find that there are as interesting and as important questions in other specialties as there are in our own; and, moreover, we are sure to find that there are men of as acute intelligence, wide reading and original thought in other than * The presidential address at the sixth congress of American Physicians and Surgeons, Washing- ton, May 12, 1903. 802 SCIENCE. our own departments whom it is our pleas- ure to meet, and whose acquaintance be- comes not only valuable for what we find them to be, but because of the stimulus that they give to our own thoughts. Ordinarily the presidential address has been devoted to some special professional topic. My first idea was to select such a subject for to-night, but as I was absent from the country when I received the very highly appreciated notice of my selection, I asked the members of the executive com- mittee for suggestions, being sure that their united judgment would be better than my own. Iwas very glad when they proposed the topic upon which I shall address you, partly because it is different from the usual type of such addresses, and partly because it seems to me appropriate to the present time. I shall, therefore, give the time at my disposal to presenting to you some thoughts on ‘The Duties and Responsibili- ties of Trustees of Public Medical Insti- tutions.’ Before entering upon my topic I beg to state explicitly that what I may say is offered in no spirit of unfriendly criticism, but only by way of friendly suggestion. I have been too long and too intimately associated with scores of such trustees not to know that they are almost without ex- ception generous, self-sacrificing, giving of their time and money and thoughtful care without stint and often sacrificing personal convenience and comfort for the good of the college or hospital which they so faith- fully serve. Anxious to discharge their trust to the best of their, ability, I am sure they will accept these suggestions, the fruit of forty years of personal service as a teacher and a hospital surgeon, in the same friendly spirit in which they are offered. There are two such classes of institu- tions to be considered: (1) Medical col- (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 438. leges, and (2) hospitals, whether they be connected with medical schools or not. There is, it is true, a third class of trustees for a wholly new kind of medical institution which has arisen as a modern Minerva Medica, born full-armed for the fray. Of this class we have as yet but a single example—the Rockefeller, Institute for Medical Research. Akin to it are labo- ratories for special investigations, such as the two cancer laboratories in Buffalo and Boston. But the Rockefeller Institute is so-recent, and its scope at present neces- sarily so undetermined, that I would not venture to consider the duties of these trus- tees, and I am sure their responsibilities are adequately felt by them. Moreover, their admirable selection of a director for the institution is the best pledge of a future wise administration. I heartily congratu- late the profession and America upon the establishment of so peculiarly useful an institute. Its founder has wisely left its work unhampered saving as to its general purpose, and the whole world, and espe- cially the United States, will soon be his debtor for researches and discoveries that will abridge or even abolish some diseases, shorten sickness, prolong life and add enor- mously to the sum of human happiness. Could any man of wealth by any possible eift win for himself a higher reward or a happier recollection when hé faces the fu- ture world? Though not a medical institution, I can not refrain also at this point from express- ing not only for myself, but for you, our hearty appreciation of what the Carnegie Institution has done for medicine in the reestablishment of the ‘Index Medicus.’ This publication is essentially and pecu- larly American in origin, but its useful- ness is worldwide. It aids alike an author, in Japan or in India, in Europe or Amer- ica. It is one of the best and wisest under- z + id S May 22, 1903.] takings of this lusty educational giant. But to ensure the permanent publication of the ‘Index Medicus’ the profession must show that it really values this generous gift. Unless the ‘Index’ finds a hearty support in the profession abroad and espe- cially at home, we can hardly expect the continued publication of this unique and invaluable publication. May I earnestly ask, therefore, of this audience of the chief medical authors of the United States that each one will demonstrate his appreciation by an immediate subscription to the ‘Index Medicus.’ There are some matters common both to the medical college and the hospital which may be considered together. The most important of all these is the cordial and hearty cooperation of the medical men con- nected with the college or hospital and the boards of trustees. In order to ensure this the members of each body must be ac- quainted with each other. I have known of instances in which if a professor in the medical school ventured to suggest any changes as to its management, or even to state his opinion as to the qualifications of a candidate for a vacant professorship, his suggestions were resented as an interfer- ence instead of being welcomed as a means of valuable information. I take it for, eranted that we should not offer such sug- gestions after the fashion of a partisan either of a man or a measure, for the ad- vancement of a friend or to the disadvan- tage of an enemy, but solely for the good of the institution with which we are con- nected. He who would endeavor to foist a friend upon an institution because he is a friend, and in spite of the fact that a rival is the abler man and better fitted for the position, is just as false to his duty to his college or to his hospital, as the trustee who would vote for the less desirable man on the ground of personal friendship or of SCIENCE. 803 association in some society, church or other similar body. Of all these influences, that arising from membership in the same re- ligious body is, I fear, the most frequent and yet most absolutely indefensible. What one’s theological opinions are has no more to do with his qualification for a profes- sional or hospital appointment than his opinions on protection as against free trade, or whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. I have always honored one of a board of trustees, who was an old personal friend of my father’s and who had known me from boyhood, yet who in my early profes- sional career, when I asked for his vote for an important hospital appointment, had the manly courage to tell me that he thought a rival, who was older and more experienced, was the better man for the place and that he should, accordingly, vote for him and not for me. I confess it was at the time a bitter disappointment to me, but I never had so high an opinion of my father’s friend as after he denied me his vote. There should be, in my opinion, but two questions asked in considering the election of either a professor or a hospital physi- cian or surgeon. First, which one of the candidates for the place has the best quali- fications from the medical point of view? This should include not only his scientific knowledge, but his ability practically to impart or to apply that knowledge. Sec- ondly, are his personal qualifications and character such as to make him a desirable incumbent of the position? It must be remembered that a man may be scientific- ally and practically an extremely able man, but of such a quarrelsome disposi- tion, or the unfortunate possessor of some other similar personal disqualification, as to make him a most undesirable member of a staff; The personal equation may be 804 SCIENCE. quite as important as the scientific quali- fication. Of course his personal moral character should be above reproach. To place a drunkard or a libertine in a posi- tion of so much responsibility and infiu- ence is to abuse a trust. No patient should be confided to the care of such a man and still more no such man should be made an instructor of young men, upon whom his influence would be most disastrous. It is often extremely difficult for a lay- man to reach a correct conclusion as to the qualifications of medical men for college or hospital appointments, because of the confident, yet conflicting, statements of their friends. But there is apt to be a certain clear partisanship in such state- ments which betrays the purpose of the speaker. Especially will this be so if he advocates the election of A or B on the lower, grounds of friendship, social posi- tion, or for other similar motives. The man who is advocating the best man be-- cause he 1s the best man has the stamp of sincerity upon every word. Perhaps the most striking example I can advance of such an unfortunate misjudg- ment is Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, who was denied a professorship in both the medical institutions of his native city, thus de- priving them of the most brilliant medical genius that America has produced within my personal recollection. For him it is now a matter of indifference, and for American literature it has been a gain. But for medicine, and especially for physi- ology, it was an immense loss. Both of his rivals were estimable, worthy gentle- men who held an honorable position in the profession, it is true, but Mitchell is a genius. ‘Helipse was first; the rest were nowhere.’ One of the best methods of bringing the medical board and the board of trustees into more intimate contact would be to [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 438. have the dean or a committee of the fac- ulty, or, in a hospital, if the staff is not too large, the whole staff invited to the meetings of the board. Here I can speak from personal experience. At the Ortho- pedie Hospital and Infirmary for Nervous Diseases in Philadelphia, there are three surgeons and three physicians. These members of the medical staff are invited to meet with the board of managers at each monthly meeting, excepting the an- nual meeting, when the medical staff is elected. They are free to express their opinions on any topic relating to the man- agement of the hospital to which their judgment may contribute something of value, but when a decision is taken they have no vote. It is purely in an advisory capacity and for the purpose of giving and receiving information that they are present. The plan works exceedingly well. When economy is necessary in the hospital, the staff is fully acquainted with the fact and can cooperate with the trustees; when expenses have run up from carelessness in the wasteful use of dressings or appliances, a halt is called; when, alas, very rarely, the treasurer is all smiles, and plans for the extension of the hospital, or the installa- tion of some new addition to the plant is contemplated, their knowledge as to the necessity, for instance, of a hydrothera- peutic or an x-ray plant, or a new oper- ating room, is of the greatest possible value. Nothing but good, im my opinion, can come from such personal cooperation. One of the difficult questions which boards of trustees have to face is whether there shall be a fixed age at which a col- lege professor or a hospital physician or surgeon shall retire from the active duties of his post. I firmly believe that they should fix such a retiring age in the in- terest of the students and the patients. As age advances, a man’s opinions and his er he & arb MAY 22, 1903.] practise become ‘as petrified as his ar- teries.’ He is incapable of constant study, of adding té his knowledge or of keeping up with the feverish strides of medicine. He ought then to be relieved of his cares and his duties. If no rule exists, he is allowed to continue his inefficient or even disastrous work, or by some harsh sugges- tion is compelled to give place to another more competent man. A rule is a condi- tion accepted when he is appointed, and just as in the army and navy, when an officer reaches 64 or 62 years of age he is retired on reduced pay, and because it is a rule he does not feel hurt or humili- ated; so in a college or a hospital, when time and the rule brings us to the period when we must gracefully retire, no one’s reputation is injured or his feelings lacer- ated. I have ascertained that the following rules are now in force in some of the larger institutions: At Harvard, the age when a professor may request to be retired is 60, provided he has been in the service of the university for 20 years, with a reduced pay ranging from one third to two thirds of his salary. © At 66 he may be retired by the president and fellows partly or wholly. The details of the plan are admirably arranged. ' At Chicago, while no plan is yet in force, largely, I presume, because of its recent establishment on the present basis, such a plan will soon be made operative. At Columbia the retiring age, after 15 years of service, is 65, either at the request of the professor or upon motion of the trustees, and on half pay. At Yale the retiring age is 65, after 25 years of service, and on half pay, but the retirement is not compulsory. It will probably be made compulsory before long. At Cornell the retiring age is 70, but the pension fund will not be available until SCIENCE. 805 1914. $1,500. At the University of Pennsylvania and at Johns Hopkins no retiring age is fixed. The only hospitals I know of in which a retiring age is fixed are the Massachu- setts General Hospital and the Boston City> Hospital. At the former the compulsory retiring age of the surgeons is 63, and of the physicians 65. At the Boston City Hospital the visiting surgeons are retired at 65, but the physicians, gynecologists: and all the other medical officers continue im service indefinitely—a very curious anomaly. These varying but in the main identical provisions, when any exist, show the trend of thought and practise. They generally apply to the medical department, except that in case a professor is engaged in the practise of his profession and so has a private income, the provision for continu- ing a portion of his salary does not apply- This is right and fair. Of course, in all hospitals where there are no salaries, no provision as to reduced salary would oh- tain. The point I wish to emphasize is, how- ever, that the age limit (which in my opinion should be 65) should be compul- sory and so not be invidious in any given ease. It will be objected that not a few men are in full intellectual and physical vigor at 65, and it will be a detriment to the institution to lose their services when their ripe experience and admirable teach- ing are most desirable. I admit it. But for every one such case of harm done by compelling a man to stop, there are a score of instances of ' men who are doing vast injury by their inefficiency. Moreover, in the very few cases in which it might be allowable, as boards of trustees make rules they can unmake them, and in special cases they could pay a graceful compliment and The retiring pension will then be 806 SCIENCE. preserve to the institution their exceptional men by extending the limit to 70. In no ease can I think it wise to go beyond this limit. ' In some of the universities I have quoted a sabbatical year of rest or study is allowed a professor. He is put upon half pay and his place is filled by a temporary substitute, who receives the other half of his salary. I believe that in present conditions this should not be applied to medical faculties, for nearly all of the professors are in active practise and take sufficiently long summer holidays. These latter are often spent in observation and study abroad—a most use- ful and remunerative employment of a holiday—and serve the purpose of the sab- batical year for men whose entire time is given to their teaching. In hospitals it certainly should not apply. One of the recurring questions in hos- pital and college management is whether there should be a certain number -of doc- tors on the board. J know that there is a wide diversity of opinion upon this point. My own belief is that a small proportion of well-chosen medical men is a distinct advantage in such boards of trustees. I have said a ‘small proportion,’ for it should not be, I think, larger than probably 20 per cent.; and I also said ‘well-chosen’; that is, they should be men of large mental caliber and executive ability. It should be distinctly understood, if not indeed abso- lutely expressed, in institutions in large cities at least, that any physician or sur- geon placed upon such a board should never be eligible, even by resignation from the board, for a position on the faculty or the medical staff. In small towns the lack of suitable persons for hospital trus- tees and members of the hospital staff might make it desirable not to institute such a rule. Moreover, such medical men should be [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 438. selected for trustees as by their mental training, social relations and personal character would be, so far as it is possible for human nature to realize such a posi- tion, absolutely free from influences arising from personal jealousy or professional bias. If it were a social club, it would be per- feetly proper to vote against a man because he is personally distasteful, but where it is a scientific body responsible for the education of large numbers of young men and for the care of still larger numbers of hospital patients among the poor, even if a candidate were personally unfriendly I should vote for his election if he were the man best fitted for the place. Turning now to the duties and responsi- bilities peculiar to trustees of hospitals, let me point out the objects of a hospital. First, the care and the cure of the sick and injured; secondly, the education of medical men and medical students; and thirdly, the promotion of Imowledge, which, in turn, will inure all over the world to the more speedy and certain cure of the sick and injured, and so be of the ereatest benefit to humanity. In order to accomplish these three pur- poses, it is necessary that the hospital shall have sufficient funds to purchase ground, erect buildmgs and provide a thorough material equipment. It is a great pleasure to me, as to you also, to note that through- out the length and breadth of the land the medical and surgical staff never tax the always inadequate resources of hospitals for any remuneration. They serve with- out pay, they give ungrudgingly and freely day and night to the poor, often for many years, their time and skill without ever a thought of any money reward. Their re- ward comes from increased knowledge and skill, and the daily blessmg invoked of heaven, often lisped in children’s prayers or breathed in mothers’ benisons which : i ; ; $ j May 22, 1903.] pass not unheeded by the recording angel. But, as I have pomted out elsewhere, instead of receiving any pay, they give to hospitals. The mere money value of this daily gift of the profession to the poor amounts to an enormous sum. The value of the professional services of the staff of the Jefferson Medical College Hospital, a single hospital in a single city, on a mod- erate basis of fees, I found was more than half a million dollars annually. The mil- lions upon millions of money given in that most self-sacrificing form—personal service —by the entire profession all over the United States, and I might add with still further pride, all over the world, is simply inealculable. The Gideon Grays and Weel- lum MacLures are not found only in Scot- land or at the countryside. They are even more plentiful in the slums of our great cities, giving of their time, their skill, and what is more, their hearts, their lives, themselves to the service of humanity. Trustees sometimes seem to take it for granted that their duties are ended when they have done two things: begged or given and safely invested the necessary funds, and then elected the staff. To my mind, their duties do not by any means end at this point. They should see to it that the resources of the hospital are utilized to the utmost in doing the largest good. Let us see now how the objects of a hospital, as I have stated them, can be realized. The first object is the care and cure of the patients. But the cure of any individual patient is not the ‘be all and the end all’ of a hospital. His cure must be a means of larger vision to the doctor, who will thus be better fitted to care for future similar cases. Even his death, if he can not be cured, should minister to the increasing knowledge and skill of the doctor, so that he may be able to snatch future victory from the present defeat. SCIENCE. 807 The second—the training of doctors and students—is frequently carried out, but sometimes even objected to. There are three classes of doctors who are trained by a hospital: first, the staff of the hos- pital itself.- I have lived through the period of the establishment of hospitals in many of the smaller cities and towns, and im some cases even villages in this country, for it was a rare thing in my early pro- fessional life for any except the larger cities to have hospitals. The moment that a hospital is established with its medical and surgical staff, that moment a new era has dawned on the community in which the hospital is established. More careful meth- ods are introduced, greater cleanliness is observed, hygienic conditions are bettered, laboratory methods are inevitably intro- duced in time. Even if the old-timers who graduated years before our modern labo- ratory methods were adopted do not care for them or can not use them, the young fellows who come fresh from our medical schools and serve as residents, and even the nurses graduated from our training schools, finally shame the older ones into better ways and greater exactness, not only in the hospital, but in their private work as well. ‘As a consequence of the establishment of these hospitals and the added skill and training of the local physicians and sur- geons, the character of the consultations of the physicians and surgeons of our great medical centers has been greatly modified. The really simple cases, such as hydrocele and small tumors (and even large ones), clubfoot, harelip, etce., which used to be sent to city consultants, are now successfully operated on by the local surgeons, and only the more difficult, serious or complicated cases are sent to the cities. This is a great advantage to the patient, whose good is the first consideration, and to the local medical 808 SCIENCE. men; and though seemingly a serious loss to the city consultant, it is in the end an advantage, as he must prove his better metal in the higher scientific fields and be, as well as seem to be, the better man. Moreover, the trustees of every hospital should see to it that a good library and laboratory are provided. Insensibly the staff will read more and more. A single restless, progressive spirit, even though it be a young interne, calling attention to this case and to that, in one journal or another, will compel the rest of the staff to read in spite of themselves. It is abso- lutely clear that a laboratory with modern equipment for bacteriological, pathological and chemical research in its examination of tumors, of the urine, the sputum, the feces, the blood, the pus, and other fiuids from wounds, ete., is a necessity in every hospital. Even many of our smaller hos- pitals are equipped with microscope and reagents if not with a complete bacteriolog- ical outfit, which nowadays is inexpensive and imperative. All of this raises the in- tellectual and professional standard of the staff. I venture to say that no town of 20,000 people can afford to be without its hospital for the sake of its own catizens, utterly irrespective of the good it does to the poor who are treated in its wards. It must be established in the interest of the well-to-do citizens and their families, so that they may secure better equipped doc- tors for themselves as well as for the patients in their hospital. Self-interest, therefore, will compel every community to establish its hospital, even if charitable motives had no influence. Again, the trustees of all hospitals of any size should establish a training school for nurses. Only those who, like myself, have lived in the period before such train- ing schools were established, can appreciate the vast improvement effected in a hospital [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 438. by this change. To replace the former ignorant, untrained attendants by ‘trained nurses whose jaunty caps and pretty uni- forms and often winsome faces almost make one half wish to be sick, and when one is sick, half loath to be well,’ is not only a boon to the patients but to the doctors as well. The intelligent, well- trained nurse, who is on the alert to ob- serve every important change of symptoms: and who will keep accurate bedside notes,, is the doctor’s right hand. Not a few patients who would otherwise lose heart and hope are, one may say, lured back to health and happiness by the tactful atten- tions and restful but efficient care of such a nurse. The community of the well-to-do also are benefited, because the hospital pro- vides them with skilled nurses in their homes when they are so unfortunate as to be compelled to remain there instead of going to the hospital. The old repugnance to entering a hos- pital when sick or when an operation is: demanded is rapidly fading away. The immense advantages of a good hospital over. the most luxurious home are now acknowl-. edged on all hands. The poorest patient. in a hospital is better cared for, his case: more carefully investigated by bacterio- logical, chemical and clinical methods in a hospital, than are the well-to-do in their own homes. Indeed, wise surgeons, except in cases of emergency, now very properly refuse to do operations in homes instead of in hospitals. In many instances lives. that would be lost in homes are saved in hospitals, where the many and complex modern appliances for every surgical em- ergency are provided. The hospitals in direct or indirect con- nection with medical schools, however, do a far larger work than merely the train- ing of their own staffs of doctors. They train three other classes of doctors: First, . &; . , j N & May 22, 1903.] the undergraduates who are aspiring to the degree; secondly, graduate physicians who spend a certain amount of time in the hos- pitals either as internes or as temporary students refurbishing their professional knowledge; and thirdly, experts in certain branches of medicine and surgery. The undergraduates are taught first in the general clinics, where to some extent they learn both by didactic instruction and by seeing the patients, hearing their his- tories and witnessing the institution of proper treatment by prescription, by regi- men, or if necessary, by surgical opera- tion. This is of great value, particularly in the more important cases, and espe- cially, for I speak now as a surgeon, in important operations. It is often objected that students see nothing in large clinics. To some extent this holds good; but no student can look on at an operation when the jugular vein or the lateral sinus is torn, the pleural cavity opened, the bowel lacerated, or other of the great emergen- cies of surgery occur, and fail to be im- pressed by the coolness of the operator, the carefully explained methods adopted for remedying the mischief, and the vari- ous devices used to save life, all of which hereafter will be used by him when similar emergencies may occur. Yet far more important than the public clinics are the smaller clinics held with classes of ten to twenty men each, when under an experienced teacher the absolute work of the clinic is divided among the various students in turn, watching the pulse and the respiration, giving an an- esthetic, assisting actively at operations, percussing the chest, palpating the ab- domen, determining inequalities of the surface or the varying density of under- lying organs. Here is the real forum in which our modern medical student ac- quires his skill. In many eases visits in SCIENCE. 809 the ward itself are made, and to a small group around the bedside the physician or surgeon will point out the phenomena to be recorded, the need for the examina- tion of the blood, the results of bacterio- logical cultures, the facts discovered by the microscope, or, the chemical reagent. By the Socratic method also, he will reveal to the student the imperfection of his knowledge, call out—e-ducate—his powers of observation, of reasoning; stimulate his thought, and give him an impetus which will last throughout life. Who that has ‘walked the hospitals’ with a Skoda, a Trousseau, a Nélaton, a DaCosta or a Mitchell can ever forget their teaching? It is sometimes objected by those who are not familiar with the actual facts, and especially by trustees, that this method of actual bedside instruction does harm to the sick. I speak after an experience of nearly forty years as a surgeon to a half dozen hospitals and can confidently say that I have never known a single patient injured or his chances of recovery lessened by such teaching. Of course, the physi- clan or surgeon uses common sense. He would not allow a number of men to pal- pate the abdomen of a patient with peri- tonitis, or move an acutely inflamed joint, nor would the physician allow a patient with pneumonia to have the chest unduly exposed, or a typhoid fever patient dis- turbed if his condition were such that it would be inadvisable. But such cases are the exception. In fact, many of you are familiar with patients who have responded to repeated percussion. by members of such a class by prompt recovery, attributed by the patient to the supposed medication of percussion. Moreover, it is by this actual practice only that the student acquires the necessary skill in the use of modern instru- ments of precision, such as the stethoscope, the laryngoscope, the esthesiometer, the 810 sphygmomanometer, the various specula. Here he learns when to make blood counts, how to take histories, arrives at the actual facts by skilful cross-questioning, notes the varying symptoms and physical signs of a case, determines the need for laboratory investigations, all under the guidance of skilled observers, who will point out his errors, encourage his queries and stimulate his thought. Moreover, trustees may overlook one im- portant advantage of a teaching hospital. Who will be least slovenly and careless in his duties, he who prescribes in the solitude of the sick chamber, and operates with two or three assistants only, or he whose every movement is eagerly watched by hundreds of eyes, alert to detect every false step, the omission of an important clinical laboratory investigation, the neg- lect of the careful examination of the back as well as of the front of the chest, the failure to detect any important physical sign or symptom? Who will be most cer- tain to keep up with the progress of med- ical science, he who works alone with no one to discover his ignorance; or he who is surrounded by a lot of bright young fellows who have read the last Lancet, or the newest Annals of Surgery, and can trip him up if he is not abreast of the times? I always feel at the Jefferson Hos- pital as if I were on the run with a pack of lively dogs at my heels. I can not afford to have the youngsters familiar with operations, means of investigation or newer methods of treatment of which I am ignorant. JI must perforce study, read, catalogue and remember; or give place to others who will. Students are the best whip and spur I know. Of the value of training graduates in posteraduate work I need scarcely speak, to this audience at least. The doctor who graduated five, ten or fifteen years ago SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 438. comes to our, great centers of medical edu- cation and renews his youth at the foun- tain of knowledge. He learns the use of all the new instruments, sees new methods of operation, new methods of treatment, new means of diagnosis, and goes home an enormously better equipped man. The trustees should see that the staff does not become fossilized by following the same ancient local methods from year to year, but should encourage them to visit other hospitals, see other men operate, hear other, men discourse on the latest methods of investigation, and then import into their own hospitals all the good found elsewhere. I learn a deal by such frequent visits to the clinics of my brother surgeons, and if one who has grown gray in the service can thus learn, surely the younger men can do so. When we are too old to learn we are too old to remain on a hospital staff. I do not know anything which has more impressed upon me the enormously rapid progress which surgery is making than a recent experience. I was absent from this country for almost a year and a half. In that time circumstances were such that I saw almost no medical journals and but few doctors. I have been home now eight months and even with incessant work I have not yet caught up, so rapid has been the progress of surgery in this short time. Had I been absent for five years, verily I should have been a ‘back number,’ and never could have caught up at all. In his very excellent presidential address before the Association of American Physi- cians in 1901, Professor Welch made a plea for hospitals to afford ‘the requisite oppor- tunities to young men who aim at the higher careers in clinical medicine and surgery.’ He ealled attention to the fact that in our bacteriological, pathological and anatomical laboratories the opportunities, though still too few, were reasonably good, and in a May 22. 1903. | few places exceptionally good, for the training of young men for positions as teachers of anatomy, pathology and _ bac- teriology. Any young man in these de- partments who by good hard work makes for himself a name is fairly sure, before long, of being called to some important post as a professor, director of a labora- tory, or some similar position. But the opportunities for work in clinical medicine and clinical surgery are far more re- stricted, since opportunities for both the exercise of their clinical skill are less fre- quently open to them and the opportuni- ties of combined physiological, pathological, bacteriological and anatomical research along with their clinical work is but scantily provided for. This plea is rein- forced by the recent paper of Sir Michael Foster (Nineteenth Century, January, 1901, p. 57). These special graduates, bright young men, determined to devote themselves to one or another department of medicine or surgery, are the men who bring honor to the school at which they obtain their training, and are invaluable to the community. They are the future Jenners, Pasteurs, Virchows, Listers, Da- Costas and Grosses, and our hospitals should provide for these exceptional men exceptional facilities. The third object of a hospital is the pro- motion of knowledge, and so, fourthly, the good of humanity. Physicians and sur- geons engaged only in private practice do not generally keep notes of their cases, and rarely publish important contributions to knowledge. I find in 100 books taken con- secutively in my library that 85 were written by hospital men and only 15 by authors not connected with any hospital so far as was indicated on the title page. In order, that proper investigations may go on, trustees should enforce a permanent record of all the cases treated in the hos- SCIENCE. 811 pital, properly mdexed, from which the staff may derive their data for papers and books. Each large hospital should have its pathological resident as well as the clinical residents in the various wards, so that post- mortem records shall be well kept, patho- logical, bacteriological and chemical in- vestigations of various secretions, or blood counts, ete., shall be properly made and permanently recorded in such a manner as to be aceessible. It is too often the case that trustees, as I have said, regard their duties and re- sponsibilities at an end when they have taken care of the funds and elected the staff. They may say that after all this is their real duty, and that all that I have advocated is medical and surgical, and the responsibility for it should devolve on the staff and not on the trustees. I do not take so narrow a view of the duties of trustees. When they have elected a physi- cian or surgeon, if he neglects his duty, it is their business to displace him and fill his place with another man who will attend to his duty, and the duties that I have indi- cated pertaiming to the increase of knowl- edge as well as of its diffusion are quite as much within their province as it is to see that the funds are invested to the best advantage. The intellectual funds as well as the invested funds must bring in good dividends. If trustees and staff work together for such a purpose and in such a manner, they will create an ideal hospital which will do more good to the patients than any other type of hospital. It will attract the best physicians and surgeons in every commu- nity, will acquire the best reputation, not only local, but it well may be national, and do the most for the good of science and the benefit of humanity. It may be said that this is an unduly strenuous view of the duties of trustees, 812 SCIENCE. that in our father’s day and im our, own earlier lives no such conditions existed or were contemplated. “‘I need hardly ask a body like this,’’ said President Roosevelt in addressing the Methodists assembled in council, ‘‘to remember that the greatness of the fathers becomes to the children a shameful thing if they use it only as an excuse for inaction instead of as a spur to effort for noble aims. * * * The instru- ments with which and the surroundings in which we work have changed immeasur- ably from what they were in the days when the rough backwoods preachers ministered to the moral and spiritual needs of their rough backwoods congregations. But if we are to succeed, the spirit in which we do our work must be the same as the spirit in which they did theirs.’’ Moreover, we must remember that “‘the world-field into which all nations are com- ing in free competition by the historical movement to which all narrower policies must sooner or later yield, will be com- manded by those races which, in addition to native energy and sagacity, bring the resources of scientific investigation and of thorough edueation.’’ The international race for the leadership of the world is just as strenuous and intense in medicine as it is in commerce. If we are going to join the race and win the prize there must be the highest development of American edu- cation at the top. The best men must be pushed to the front, and ample opportuni- ties for growth, for investigation and for original research must be provided. Never has there been so large an opportunity for the man of large ideas, complete education and indomitable energy and purpose as there is to-day. The world is waiting, looking, longing for him, and will ery ‘Make room’ for him when he is found. In the hands of the trustees of our col- leges and hospitals are the money and the opportunity for developing such men. If LN. S. Von. XVII. No. 438. the right spirit pervades both trustees and medical faculties and hospital staffs, then it will be but a short time before America will lead the world in medicine as well as she now does in commerce. Will the profession rise to the level of their great opportunity? Yea, verily they will! Never yet have they been wanting when the emergency arose; not only the emergency of labor, but also the emergency of danger. In Russia the common soldier counts for little. Yet in Vladikavkaz (where the Dariel Pass—the old Porte Caspie of Herodotus—leading from the Caucasus joins the railroad from Baku on the Cas- pian to Moscow) is a monument to a com- mon soldier. At the last battle in which the Russians won the victory over Schamyl which gave them undisputed sway over the Caucasus, this soldier blew up a mine and won the day at the cost of his own life. It was ordered that his name should never be erased from the list of his company. At every roll-call when his name is reached, the solemn answer is given ‘Died in the service of his country.’ In our hospitals lurk the deadly breath of diphtheria, the fatal virus of bubonic plague, of cholera, of yellow fever, of typhus fever, and the ever present danger, of blood poisoning. _I have known of brother physicians who have died victims to each one of these scourges. Yet who has ever known one of our guild to shrink when danger smote him on the right hand and the left and death barred the way? As brave as the Russian soldier, ready to risk life, and, if need be, to lose it, these martyrs to duty shall never have their names stricken off the honor list, and at the last roll-call the solemn reply shall be, ‘Died in the service of humanity.’ W. W. Keen. JEFFERSON MeEpIcAL COLLEGE, PHILADELPHIA. j + May 22, 1903.] THE NEW MEDICAL BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. Tue new buildings for the department of physiology and pathology of the University of Toronto, which are to be formally opened in October next, are the first to exemplify the unit system of laboratory construction proposed by Professor Minot,* of Harvard University, and consequently an account of them may be acceptable to all who are interested in laboratory admin- istration and construction. The main features of the unit system, as outlined by Professor Minot, are all com- prehended in the character of the labora- tory ‘unit’ room. This must, first of all, be no larger than is required to accom- modate readily the maximum number of students whose practical instruction a single demonstrator can efficiently guide and control. It must also be of such di- mensions that it can, at need, be made to serve aS a museum, a library or reading room, or a small lecture room. The units, further, must be so placed with respect to one another, preferably in pairs or series, that, by the removal of the partitions ‘separating them, rooms of larger dimen- sions may, when desired, be obtained at a minimum cost and in a short time. The dimensions of such a unit, as determined by Professor Minot, are 23 x 30 feet, and this room will accommodate twenty-four working students, which number, experi- ence shows, is the largest that should be under the supervision of a single class demonstrator. The system, as may be seen, offers the great advantage of elasticity, for a labora- tory director may enlarge or contract, at will, or according to the needs of the oc- casion, the accommodation required for a class, a feature that does not obtain in any other system of laboratory construc- * Philadelphia Medical Journal, Vol. VI., p. 390, 1900; Screncr, Vol. XIII., p. 409, 1901. SCIENCE. 313 tion. It has also other and not less im- portant advantages. The cost of construc- tion is less than in any other system, it adequately provides for the all-important question of hght, and it permits of subse- quent extensions and additions without disturbance of the original arrangements. Tt is also to be noted that the system pro- vides for the formation of smaller rooms through the division of the unit. All these points were thoroughly can- vassed when, nearly two years ago, the medical faculty of the University of Toronto took up the question of erecting new labo- ratory quarters for physiology, physiolog- ical chemistry, pathology and public health, and discussed the various plans of con- struction offered. The result was that the faculty unanimously recommended the adoption of the unit system for the pro- posed laboratories. The university trus- tees accepted the recommendation, and construction, begun in August last year, has progressed so rapidly that the build- ings are completed and the equipment is now being put in. The whole is, there- fore, at the moment in such a stage as to permit one to say to what extent the object sought has been attained. Architecturally, so far as the exterior is concerned, the utmost has been done, con- sidering the difficulties that the enormous window space interposed. The appearance of the buildings, however, is, on the whole, very acceptable. The interior, on the other hand, is very satisfactory, The accommodation it fur- nishes, as well as the conveniences of ar- rangement it offers, is sufficient to demon- strate the great advantages of the unit sys- tem over the common, more or less haphaz- ard, system of laboratory construction everywhere illustrated. The buildings are to house physiology, physiological chemistry, pathology and 814 SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 438. public health. The wing to the right, as lecture theaters, twelve units and eight half shown in the accompanying diagrams, ac- units. The other departments occupy the hyelenic MUSEUM ee 3 SosEmnLy MeL MEDIGAL BUILDING TORONTO UNIVERSITY BASEMENT PLAN. MEDICAL BUILDING TORONTO UNIVERSITY paring Srmamson SUB-BASEMENT commodates physiology and physiological main portion and the left wing, which con- ehemistry and contains;-in addition to the tains sixteen units and fourteen half units. May 22, 1903.] In the construction of these buildings ac- cording to the unit system special local conditions had to be considered and, fur- ther, the possibility of their extension in a few years was a factor in determining the arrangement asa whole. This necessitated important modifications in the disposition of the units as suggested in Professor Minot’s later paper. ' What these modifications are may be gathered from examination of the copies of the plans of the various floors of the build- ings. The latter are in the form of the SCIENCE. 815 theaters and units from the entrances and from the students’ quarters. The units are, for the most part, grouped im pairs on each side of the corridors on the various floors. The walls of the cor- ridors are of brick, but those which sepa- rate the units from each other are of wood and plaster only, and they can consequently be removed in a few hours. without leaving traces of their disturbance other than those on the line of the fresh plaster added. Each unit communicates directly with its neighbor by a door, and, further, has two MEDICAL BUILDING TORONTO UNIVERSITY GROUND FLOOR PLAN figure |_|, the lecture theaters forming wing-like extensions at the angles of the figure. This latter arrangement was adopted in order to permit the lecture rooms to be lighted from their roofs, and at the same time to avoid interfering with the light for the units. An additional ad- vantage resulted from the arrangement in that the corridors, which are centrally placed, permit ready access to the lecture doors opening into the corridors. It is thus possible at any time to form two rooms out of a unit, each of which will communi- cate directly with the corridor. The window space devoted to each unit is ample. It is, in fact, as large absolutely as the supporting capacity of the outer wall will safely permit. The window area is 242 square feet, while the outer wall of each ‘unit measures 420 square feet. 816 SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 438. The window area is, therefore, nearly three all the other units, noweres the Heteie 18, fifths that of the outer wall. The terminal as already said, ample. SERUM Laneaareay MEDICAL BUILDING TORONTO UNIVERSITY SECOND FLOOR PLAN MEDICAL BUILDING TORONTO UNIVERSITY FIRST FLOOR PLAN units of the wings have additional window The corridors are lighted from the hall space in their second outer wall, and of doors, from the large windows at the ends course in these the lighting is brilliant. In of the wings and from the wells over the MAY 22, 1903. ] stairway. An examination of the building itself shows that this provides sufficient illumination with diffuse daylight, and even on very dull days it is enough for all ex- cept, perhaps, the main corridor extending between the two lecture theaters on the ground floor, and then resort may be had to electric lighting. The two stairways are lighted from the roof, and are so placed as to permit the student reaching any floor directly from the basement, where the reading and wri- ting rooms are situated. The locker rooms and lavatories, on the other hand, are in the subbasement and can only be reached from the basement corridor. The wings are, including the basement and subbasement, five stories in height. The main portion is only three stories, if we leave out of account the boiler room. This arrangement is due to the fact that the rear part of the building is placed in a shallow ravine. White brick, with stone facings here and there, is the material; the roof is flat and bordered all round with a brick parapet. The building is heated by air forced over heated coils by large fans driven by steam and the ventilation is thus, in part, pro- vided for, and also by the exhaust currents in the ventilation turrets which rise over the entrances. A feature of special interest is presented by the small research rooms. The half units are intended to be used for various purposes, but chiefly for small groups of students pursuing advanced work or for special lines of research, but each of the fifteen small rooms, shown in the plans as adjacent to the lecture theaters, is reserved for individual workers carrying on selected investigations. These, with the other ar- rangements described, have been designed with the view of making the buildings a home for research. A. B. Macauium. SCIENCE. 817 SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. A Laboratory Text-Book of Embryology. By CuHartes Sepewick Minor. Philadelphia, P. Blakiston’s Son & Co. 1903. Pp. 380. With 218 illustrations, chiefly original. The past year has witnessed the publication of several manuals of embryology, among which may be mentioned: (1) The compre- hensive and exhaustive ‘Handbuch der ver- gleichenden und experimentellen Hntwickel- ungslehre der Wirbeltiere,’ edited by Dr. Oscar Hertwig, of which eleven Lieferungen have appeared to date; (2) Korschelt and Heider’s “Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Entwicklungs- geschichte der wirbellosen Thieren, allgemein- er Theil’ in two parts; and (3) MeMurrich’s admirable ‘ Development of the Human Body.’ The first furnishes the student with the only complete summary of the embryology of ver- tebrates published since Balfour’s ‘ Compara- tive Embryology’ appeared in 1881; in it the enormous mass of literature since that date is fully digested, and the results are presented in connected form, so that it may serve as a new \starting point for the student of vertebrate embryology. Im the general part of their text-book Korschelt and Heider furnish the long-promised completion of the special parts by a full treatment of the structure, origin, maturation and fertilization of the germ- cells, and the experimental embryology of invertebrates. MeMurrich’s book is an excel- lent brief treatise for the medical student of the main facts of human embryology. Minot’s new book is a laboratory guide, mainly in the embryology of mammals. Thus the teacher of embryology is furnished with a fairly complete ‘ up-to-date’ equipment of the literature in his subject for the use of his students. Minot’s laboratory text-book is written from the standpoint of the anatomist rather than of the biologist. In this point of view lie both its limitations and its excellencies. It is the outgrowth of the actual experience of one of the best known of the teachers of embryology, and hence is strongly individualized. Too much praise can not be given to the large number of new and beautifully executed ry 818 _ * SCIENCE. illustrations; a number of fine figures are transferred from the original sources to a text-book for the first time, and only the best of the stock illustrations of other text- books are retained. The book is, indeed, built up around the illustrations, and the text often suffers by comparison. The figures of recon- structions of the pig embryo of twelve milli- meters neck-length are especially fine, as are also the figures of sections of this embryo and of other sizes. In all of these figures there is the most painstaking reproduction of details, and the accuracy of the work is equaled only by its beauty. The illustrations of the two stages of the chick embryo studied are also noteworthy for accuracy and finish. The contents are arranged as follows: The first chapter deals with general conceptions, the second with the early development of mammals, and the third with the most general development of the human embryo. These chapters are introductory in their scope, with- out practical directions. The following chap- ters are practical; the fourth deals with pig embryos: beginning with the embryo of 12 mm., there follow in order, embryos of 9 mm., 6 mm., 17 mm. and 20 mm. The fifth chapter is a study of two stages of the embryo chick, with twenty-four somites, and with seven somites. In chapter six we have a study of the blastodermic vesicle of mammalia and of the segmentation of the ovum.. Chapter seven deals with the uterus and the fetal append- ages of man, and chapter eight with methods. Thus it will be observed that the student is led from a 12-mm. pig to a 9-mm. and, 6-mm. stage, then by jumps to 20-mm.; from here a broad leap takes him to the youngest embryo yet studied, the chick of twenty-four somites, and he continues to descend by way of earlier stages of the rabbit, to the unseg- mented ovum. This may fairly be termed inverted embryology. Professor Minot will not claim that this inverted order is logical, but only that is practical. It is a question of the pedagogy of embryology. Now it is safe to admit, that, for an anatomist who knows nothing of biology, the inverted method. of studying embryology is likely to bethe more comprehensible; and as most of our medical [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 438. students are (crude) anatomists of this sort, it may be that their journey to embryological knowledge would subject them to fewer intel- lectual jolts if made by this road. It cer- tainly is the historical highway by which the fathers of this science traveled; if recapitu- lation be the law in embryonic development, why not in embryological pedagogies? It seems to me, however, to be an unwise concession to the present imperfect preparation of our medical students, and, in all seriousness, I believe an unnecessary concession; for my experience is that, after the first shock of ex- posure to biological conception and ideas, the medical student readily follows the ecenogen- etic and logical method of proceeding up- wards from the ovum. Moreover, the time is not far distant when every medical student will be required to have mastered the rudi- ments of biology before he shall be admitted to the study of that branch of applied biology known as medicine. With such a preparation the logical method is much better. It is not, however, incumbent on the user to follow the order of the book, for the de- scription of each stage is complete in itself. Those who use it, therefore, will probably fol- low their own ideas of order; and the prac- tical parts can be unhesitatingly recommended as excellent in themselves. The chapter on methods is rather brief, but good as far as it goes; a larger number of formule of killing fluids and stains and the methods of using them would undoubtedly be an improvement. The three general introductory chapters are best, as is to be anticipated, in the parts allied to the author’s own province of work; thus the ‘law of genetic restriction’ is well ex- pressed and discussed; and the third chapter on the human embryo is by far the best brief outline of human development known to me. On the other hand, the unfortunate student who might have to derive his ideas on karyo- kinesis and on the maturation of the ovum from the yague accounts of this book, would probably conclude, for his own peace of mind, that these subjects are not, of much importance after all. As regards the germ-layers in mam- mals we read on p. 59 that ‘it is probable that: et a eg MAy 22, 1903.] the subzonal layer is the ectoderm and that the inner mass is the entoderm,’ whereas it is well established that the subzonal layer forms the ectoderm of the chorion (possibly also its mesoderm in some forms) only, and that the inner mass forms all of the tissues of the em- bryo proper as well as the yolk-sac. The mesoderm is described as arising by a process of delamination in birds, reptiles, elasmo- branchs and mammals: ‘It is safe to say that the mesoderm probably arises by this process, which we call delamination in all vertebrates’ (p. 74). It would be difficult to make a more misleading statement concerning the origin of the mesoderm in vertebrates. The neces- sity for condensation affords no excuse, as the admirably clear, accurate and brief statement on the same subject in McMurrich’s new manual demonstrates. Such sweeping statements as the two follow- ing are at least regrettable: ‘It is fortunate for our comprehension of embryological processes that we are already able to say that Roux’s hypothesis is erroneous,’ ‘referring to the mosaic theory of the segmented ovum; we know, as a matter of fact, that certain ova (é. g., of Ctenophores) are true mosaics; and the general bearing of recent embryological results is that all ova are more or less mosaic, in an unstable fashion. On page 41 we are told that Weismann’s hypotheses are ‘complicated’ and ‘useless’; not to mention the stimulus they have given to research, this sounds strange on the eve of a general rehabilitation of such hypotheses in connection with Men- del’s laws of inheritance. The book contains too many bad misprints and similar errors; e. g., page 19: ‘In mammals there are always four pairs (of gill pouches) on each side’; page 29, ‘latter’ for ‘former’ in the second line of the last paragraph; page 63, first line, Fig. 23 does not show the struct- ure referred to; page 63, another erroneous figure reference in the second sentence of the last paragraph; page 91 ‘ectoderm’ for ‘ ento- derm’ middle of page; page 105, ‘ unguiculate’ for ‘ungulate,’ last sentence of third para- graph; page 113, ‘three months’ for ‘three weeks,’ second line from bottom of first para- SCIENCE. 819 graph. These are only a few instances of many. Finally a protest should be entered against the use of the German word ‘Anlage’ to de- note ‘rudiment,’ and especially against such a hybrid monstrosity as ‘ deck-plate’ for ‘ roof- plate,’ the first component being German and the second English. Frank R. Linum. Handbook of Climatology. Part I., General Climatology. By Dr. Junius Hann, Pro- fessor of Cosmical Physics in the Univer- sity of Vienna. Translated by RosBrrt DreCourcy Warp, Assistant Professor of Climatology in Harvard University. New York and London, The Macmillan Co. ; English readers interested in the climate of the earth will welcome the translation of the most important portion of the ‘ Handbuch der Klimatologie’ by Dr. Hann, who now by general consent is accepted as the leading authority on this matter in the world. But the new English edition is more than a trans- lation, and it would have been clearer had the title read translated and revised. Professor Ward has taken great pains to bring all the matter down to date. Besides his own large reading on the subject he has consulted such experts as Professor F. W. Very, Professor W. M. Davis and Professor R. W. Wilson,, and then referred all criticism and suggested changes or additions to Dr. Hann, who has passed upon them or revised them, and thus given the weight of his authority to the matter, so that the book becomes essentially a revised edition including more American examples than the original. The preface says that, “ Most of the examples given, however, necessarily still relate to Europe, because the climatology of that continent has been studied more critically than that of any other region. A few cuts have been made where the discus- sion concerned matters of special interest ta European students only. Most of the para- graph headings are new, and the arrangement: of parts, sections and chapters is somewhat different from that in the original. These: changes have been made with a view to adapt- ing the book better:for use in the class-room. Every change that has been made has the full! 820 approval of Professor Hann, who has been consulted in regard to all of these matters. Every reference, the original of which is ac- cessible in the Harvard College library or in the library of the Harvard College Observa- ‘tory, has been looked up, verified and made ‘as complete as possible. No apology is needed for the use of the Centigrade and metric sys- ttem im such a book as this. conversion tables, reprinted from the Smith- sonian Meteorological Tables, are given in the appendix.” Professor Ward has also taken great pains ito have the book rendered into good English, and in this matter he has had the skilled hand ‘of Professor Henry S. Mackintosh to assist ‘him. He has also taken great pains to add new references; and the book is remarkably rich as a bibliography to modern literature on ‘climatology. The book is divided into two parts. Part 4. deals with the ‘ Climatic Factors,’ namely, temperature, moisture, cloudiness, precipita- tion, winds, pressure, evaporation, composi- tion of the atmosphere and phenological ob- servations. Part II. deals with solar or mathematical climate, physical climate, the influence of land and water on the distribution of temperature, the influence of continents upon humidity, cloudiness, precipitation and winds, the influence of ocean currents upon climate, the influence of forests on climate, the mean temperature of parallels of latitude and of the hemispheres, mountain climate, and finally geologic and periodic changes of climate. No less than five chapters are devoted to mountain climate and the influences of moun- tains on climate. No one familiar with Dr. Hann’s writings need be told that he deals with the subject from a cosmopolitan standpoint which is rare even among the leaders in science, and he shows a surprising familiarity with the litera- ture of every language. The translation ‘seems all that one could wish. H. H. Crayton. For convenience, SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 438, SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. Tue Journal of Comparative Neurology for April contains the following articles: ‘The Fore-Brain of Macacus; by Wm. Wolfe Lesem, a study of the superficial anatomy of the brain of the macaque monkey, with two plates. ‘Brain Weights of Animals, with Special Reference to the Weight of the Brain in the Macaque Monkey,’ by Edward Anthony Spitzka, including a tabulation of the brain and body weights of 204 specimens of mam- malian brains. ‘A Description of Charts showing the Areas of the COross-sections of the Human Spinal Cord at the Level of each Spinal Nerve,’ by Henry H. Donaldson and David J. Davis, an entirely new computation, including a comparison of the young and mature spinal cord and six different sets of eurves. ‘The Brain of the Archeoseti,’ by G., Elliot Smith, a description of two casts of the brain cavity of this extinct cetacean, with four figures. There are twenty pages of book reviews, including a full summary of the re- searches of Professor Elliot Smith on the “Phylogeny of the Pallium.’ SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Tue work of the society for the winter has maintained the high level of former years, as shown by the importance of the papers pre- sented and the enthusiasm displayed. At the meeting of November 4, 1902, Professor Lester F. Ward discussed ‘ Race Differentiation and Race Integration,’ treating the subject from the social side, and in this connection Pro- fessor Holmes showed diagrammatically the beginnings of races and their final amalgama- tion. Professor W. H. Holmes followed with a paper entitled ‘The Search for Glacial Man,’ reviewing the various discoveries and describ- ing the recent find of human remains at Lansing, Kansas. The meeting of November 4 was devoted to sociology, and papers were read by Mr. Charles F. Weller, on ‘ How Citizenship is Molded in Washington Alleys and Shacks,’ and by Dr. George M. Kober, on “The Abuse of Medical Charities.’ These May 22, 1903.] papers set forth in an interesting manner the efforts being made to promote good citizenship. On December 2 Dr. D. S. Lamb read a paper on Rudolph Virchow, Miss Harriet A. Boyd gave a résumé of the important discoveries of the past few years in Crete, and Professor Holmes presented examples of Central Ameri- can sculpture. The twenty-fourth annual meeting was held on January 6, 1903, and the following officers were elected: President—Miss Alice C. Fletcher. General Secretary—Walter Hough. Treasurer—P. B. Pierce. Councilors—Dr. G. M. Kober, Dr. D. 8. Lamb and F. W. Hodge. At the following meeting of the board of managers there were elected: Secretary to the Board—J. D. McGuire. Curator—Mrs. Marianna P. Seaman. Councilors—Hannah L. Bartlett, J. Walter Fewkes, Weston Flint, J. W. B. Hewitt, J. H. McCormick, J. D. McGuire, J. R. Swanton and Edith C. Wescott. Vice-Presidents of the Sections—D. S. Lamb, Frank Baker, W. H. Holmes, J. Walter Fewkes, George M. Kober, W J McGee and Lester F. Ward. At the meeting of January 20 a paper was read by J. Dyneley Prince and Mr. Frank Speck, on ‘The Modern Pequots and their Language,’ which was discussed by Dr. A. S. Gatschet, who remarked that this paper con- tains almost all we know about the vanishing Pequots. The general secretary read a paper entitled ‘The Gypsy,’ which brought out gen- eral discussion. At the meeting of February 3, the retiring president, W. H. Holmes, delivered his annual address under the auspices of the Washington Academy of Sciences, the subject being ‘A Genetic View of Man and Culture.’ The scope of the science of anthropology was de- fined and the limitations and relations of its various branches considered. By means of diagrams, the genetic relations of the various groups of physical, mental and cultural phe- nomena were indicated, and the methods of research in the various fields and the manner of applying the knowledge acquired to the SCIENCE. 821 elucidation of human history were discussed. At the meeting of February 17 Dr. John R. Swanton’s paper on ‘The Religion of the Haida Indians’ gave voluminous information on a subject almost entirely untouched, hereto- fore. The second paper, by Mr. C. A. Simms, described a wheel-shaped monument discoy- ered by him in Wyoming. At the meeting of March 4, under the head of varieties, Dr. G. M. Kober read an extract from American Medicine on ‘ Hereditary Pau- perism’; Professor Holmes gave details as to the new museum building; the president, Miss Fletcher, read a letter from Dr. G. G. Mac- Curdy in response to an inquiry concerning the course of anthropology at Yale, and remarked on Dr. Codrington’s observations on the sta- bility of unwritten language based on the Solomon Islanders, whose vocabulary has had no change in 300 years; she also announced the death of Mrs. Mary L. D. Putnam, of Davenport, Lowa. Professor L. F. Ward followed with a paper on ‘ The Cross-fertilization of Cultures.’ He dealt with origins, tracing the course of two or several independent human nuclei up to the point of meeting and contact, which, ac- cording to circumstances, determined peaceful or warlike races. He traced the origin of the state through militancy by various stages until conquerors and conquered are united under a war chieftain who is depended on, thus giving stability. Then races mix on the line of contact between the conquerors and con- quered, forming a people, and we have cross- fertilization of races. In discussion, Pro- fessor Holmes said that we can now almost safely go back along the lines marked out by Professor Ward and depict pre-man. In the next paper, by Dr. J. H. McCormick, on ‘ Prehistoric Remains of Mobile Bay,’ the ancient mounds and sites of historic interest in the locality were described. At the meeting of March 17 thé president read a communication from Mr. Hill Tout, giving the aims of the Ethnographic Survey of Canada, of which he is secretary, and com- mented on the plan. 822 SCIENCE. Professor M. D. Learned, of the University of Pennsylvania, read a paper entitled ‘An Ethnological Survey of the United States.’ Professor Learned noticed the efforts of the Germans, English and Americans in this mat- ter, and announced that a bill for an ethno- graphic survey of Pennsylvania is pending in Harrisburg. This bill grew out of a test sur- vey called the Conestoga Expedition of 1902, through which a great mass of valuable ma- terial was gathered. Professor Learned said that the character of the investigation should be a culture census of the American people, and agreed that, owing to the magnitude of the task, it should be undertaken by the census office. The paper was discussed by W. H. Babeock, Dr. H. ©. Bolton, George R. Stetson, Professor Alexander G. Bell, Mrs. M. C. Ste- yenson, Dr. D. S. Lamb and E. 8. Hallock. The paper by Dr. I. M. Casanowicz, entitled ‘Greco-Roman Papyri in the United States National Museum,’ described the making of paper from the papyrus reed, the size of the books in the collection, their character as ac- counts, ledgers, letters, etc. Translations of a number of these Fayum papyri were given. At the meeting of March 31 the president announced that Professor Brigham, of Hono- lulu, had succeeded in taking phonographic records of the intoned ‘olas’ or sagas of the Hawaiians, from the few old men who pre- served these sacred chants. ; The paper of the evening, ‘ Indian Baskets: What they are and What they mean,’ was presented by Dr. C. Hart Merriam. The subject was illustrated with numerous speci- mens from Dr. Merriam’s large collection and by many lantern slides. It was pointed out that the basket-making tribes to-day are con- fined to the regions west of the Rocky Moun- tains. The materials, the forms and uses of baskets, the environment, the state of the art and other topics were discussed and the pat- terns, so far as they have been determined, were explained. Dr. Merriam said that he had found the butterfly pattern in use among widely separated tribes, who give it the same meaning. Watter Houcu, Secretary. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 438. AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. A REGULAR meeting of the American Mathe- matical Society was held at Columbia Uni- versity, Saturday, April 25. About fifty persons, including forty members of the so- ciety, attended the two sessions. The presi- dent of the society, Professor Thomas Scott Fiske, occupied the chair. The following new members were elected: Professor Wil- liam N. Ferrin, Pacific University, Forest Grove, Ore.; Mr. Ernest H. Koch, Jr., Mac- kenzie School, Dobbs Ferry, N. Y.; Professor Norman ©. Riggs, Armour Institute of Tech- nology, Chicago, Ill.; Mr. K. D. Swartzel, Harvard University. Twelve applications for membership were received. Sectional meetings of the society were held at Northwestern University, April 11, and at Stanford University, April 25. Reports of these meetings will appear separately in SCIENCE. The university subscriptions in support of the Transactions which have expired have been renewed, except that Wesleyan Univer- sity now takes the place of Princeton in the list of supporting institutions. While the activities of the society are con- centrated on the promotion of mathematics as a science, it is inevitable that through its large and representative membership it should ultimately exert a considerable and beneficial influence on the teaching of mathematics in schools and colleges. As a scientific body, the society does not promulgate official views on any subject, but merely furnishes a forum- for discussion. That it does not endorse any particular conclusion is not, however, by any means inconsistent with the collection and digestion of useful information. At present three several committees of the society are actively engaged in the preparation of reports on requirements in mathematics for the master’s degree, on college entrance require- ments in mathematics, and on desirable rela- tions of the society to the teaching of element- ary mathematics, respectively. The society has recently been greatly interested in a move- ment, foreshadowed in Professor E. H. Moore’s presidential address (vide Sctmncr, current . x "] t 2 e y» MD < enetept May 22, 1903. ] volume, pp. 401-416), which is taking effective shape in the organization of associations of teachers of mathematics throughout the country. On April 11-12 the Central Associa- tion of Teachers of Mathematics and Science was formed at Chicago, Professor Moore and other members of the society actively cooper- ating. At a meeting held in Boston on April 18 the Association of Teachers of Mathematics in New England was organized. This meet- ing was opened by an address, by President Thomas 8. Fiske of the society, on ‘ Methods for improving the teaching of mathematics.’ Other similar associations will probably soon be formed. It is precisely through such asso- ciations that the society can best exert a real influence on the teaching of mathematics. The following papers were read at the April meeting: ‘ H. E. Hawkes: ‘ On non-quaternion number sys- tems in seven units.’ B. O. Perrce: ‘On families of curves which are the lines of certain plane vectors, either solenoidal or lamellar.’ E. W. Brown: ‘On the variation of the arbi- trary and given constants in dynamical equations.’ L. P. Ersenwart: ‘Cpngruences of tangents to a surface, and derived congruences.’ H. F. Srecxer: ‘Least distance in the non- euclidean plane.’ L. E. Dickson: ‘Fields whose elements are linear differential equations.’ Saut Epstren: ‘On linear gruences.’ R. S. Woopwarp: ‘The deviation from the vertical of falling bodies.’ Epwarp Kasner: ‘The automorphic groups of the manifolds defined by a general and a sym- metric determinant.’ C. H. Stsam: ‘On some directrix curves on quintie scrolls.’ L. I. Neri: ‘Groups of order p” which con- tain cyclic subgroups of order p”—3.’ I. M. SchorrenrErs: ‘On the simple groups of order 8!/2, E. B. Witson: ‘The so-called foundations of geometry.’ differential con- The American Physical Society was in ses- sion simultaneously with the Mathematical Society. While it was found impracticable to arrange a joint session, several members of the Physical Society attended the presentation SCIENCE. 823 of Professor R. S. Woodward’s paper. In the evening twenty-five members of the two so- cieties dined together and continued the dis- eussion of the outlook for the better teaching of mathematics, a topic of mutual interest and importance. The next meeting of the Mathematical So- ciety will be the summer meeting, which, with the Fourth Colloquium, will be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bos- ton, beginning August 31. F. N. Cozz, Secretary. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. THE PROPOSED BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY AT THE TORTUGAS. Tue need of a first-class marine laboratory for research in the tropical Atlantic is so ap- parent and so pressing that I hope that no apology is necessary for a few practical sug- gestions that are the result of a personal ac- quaintance with the station that seems, from the replies to Dr: Mayer’s enquiries, to be the one most favored by the zoologists who have been consulted. Without any intention of belittling the claims of any other situation, there are certain important advantages that can be urged in favor of the Tortugas that seem to render this station far and away the most advantageous for the best work along marine biological lines. These may be sum- marized as follows: 1. The unexcelled fauna. It seems to me that there is hardly a doubt that at no point in the vicinity of our southern coast are the conditions more favorable for profuse marine life than here. Some years ago an expedi- tion from the University of Iowa examined with some care several regions in the West Indies and Florida keys, including the island of Hleuthera, Cuba, Key West and the Tor- tugas. While any one of these stations would afford abundant material for investigation, the preeminence can confidently be claimed for the last of these points. As asserted by Dr. Mayer, the northern edge of the Gulf Stream seems to very materially excel the southern, especially in the matter of pelagic life. 824 _ The extensive reefs and flats abound in almost all groups of marine invertebrates that belong to the West Indian fauna, and are easily accessible from Garden Key, where the proposed station would logically be placed. 2. The unusual purity of the water. This is a condition that will appeal to any one who has had much experience with marine work. There being no city or even town in the im- mediate neighborhood is a decided advantage from this standpoint. Even at Naples, which is now probably the best station in the world, there are many forms that are not successfully kept for any length of time in the aquaria. When the writer was at Plymouth, England, some years ago, the water, although apparently pure, was the cause of much perplexity and discouragement. At the Woods Hole labo- ratories the condition is even worse, and many problems have to be abandoned that could be solved with the aid of such water as could easily be secured at the Tortugas. While it may be claimed that equally pure water could be obtained at other points in the West Indies, I know of no place where it would be so easily introduced into a laboratory. The ship chan- nel runs right by the old quarantine station on Garden Key, and practically no piping would be necessary to utilize it for laboratory purposes. 3. By far the largest and best stocked aquarium in the world is already established there in the form of the old moat that was of course originally designed to serve quite different purposes. This moat is protected by a solid wall of masonry that at the time of our visit was practically intact and good to serve for many years. The opposite side of the moat is the solid wall of old Fort Jef- ferson. I do not remember the width of the moat, but it must be at least thirty yards, judging from a photograph taken by myself. It is from three to six feet deep, the water is changed at every tide, and its surface is always quiet, except when an unusually heavy storm throws the spray over the outer wall. Here are conditions such as can nowhere else be found. During nearly half a century this moat has been practically undisturbed by man, and has been populated with an extremely rich SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 438. fauna of its own. Here many species of marine animals and plants can be watched daily and hourly, if need be, throughout their lives, and under perfectly natural conditions. Portions of the moat could easily be divided off for particular purposes by the use of wire sereens. The breeding and development of many species could be carried on under scien- tifie control, and the results would not be vitiated by the objections so constantly raised concerning the unnatural conditions of many of the present laboratory experiments. 4. Nearness to the Pourtales Plateau. This submarine shelf made famous by the wonder- ful results of the dredging done by the Blake and other vessels lies within easy reach of the Tortugas. This would give an excellent op- portunity to investigate forms of a compara- tively deep-water zone in a region probably unexcelled in richness of fauna by any other in the western hemisphere. ‘Jt is improbable that deep-water work is contemplated by those having charge of the movement for a laboratory in this region, but ’ there is no reason why excellent work should not be done in this direction. We were per- fectly successful in dredging on the plateau with a small schooner, with iron rope and an ordinary windlass worked by hand power. Indeed, it was here that we met with our best success. 5. An abundance of building material. This is already on the spot and could doubt- less be secured for scientific purposes without any cost whatever. Fort Jefferson was orig- inally one of the most extensive fortifica- tions in the United States, but it is now crumbling into ruins. Some parts of the buildings could doubtless be repaired at little cost to serve the purposes of the station, and there are millions of brick and quantities of stone that are serving no purpose whatever. I understand that all this is now in the hands of the U. S. Army, but it could surely be secured for such a purpose as is contemplated if the matter were fairly presented to the proper authorities. Another very important matter in this con- nection is the large supply of excellent drink- ing water stored away in the immense cis- May 22, 1903.] terns, originally intended to serve for a sup- ply for thousands of men. Any one who has worked in tropical regions will appreciate what it means to have abundant fresh water that is good and sweet and cool. This, together with the absence of mosquitoes, would be a very forceful argument in favor of the Tor- tugas with naturalists of experience in, warm regions. Of course it is possible that some of the conditions have changed since the writer vis- ited the Tortugas. For instance, the moat may have become partly filled up, or the channel may have changed so as to block the way to the old quarantine building. But it does not seem likely that conditions are greatly different from those described above, or that the changes are such as materially to modify the advantages of that locality for a marine biological laboratory. It has been my purpose to mention particularly certain advantages that would not occur to one not acquainted with the local situation, and it appears to me that these considerations are of unusual weight in the present case. Taking into consideration the whole body of American workers that could use such a Station to advantage, it can hardly be said that the Tortugas are less accessible than the other localities suggested in the letters pub- lished by Dr. Mayer, 7. e., the Bermudas or Jamaica. For those living in the central or western states the Tortugas are more access- ible than either of these. Of course if a station were established at the Tortugas, it should possess its own means of transferring workers and supplies to the mainland. C. C. Nurtrtine. State UNIVERSITY oF Towa, May 2, 1903. I am asked whether I approve or disapprove of the plan to establish a marine biological laboratory for research in the tropical Atlan- tic. Considered solely with reference to the good of science, it is impossible to see how any biologist could disapprove such a plan. Thus viewed, the only room for discussion would seem to be as to what the aims of such a laboratory should be. But even here it SCIENCE. 825 seems to me there should be little hesitation, so far, at least, as generalities are concerned. The proposed laboratory should, of course, aim to provide facilities for any investigator, at any time, to carry on any investigation for which the opportunities furnished by nature should be good. This general purpose re- quires no advocating, since it is essentially one that has been held by most, if not all, American marine laboratories, and hence would probably be foremost with this. What does need urging, it seems to me, is that this new laboratory should not limit itself to this purpose. In addition to its be- ing a laboratory where anybody can do any kind of work in which he may be interested, let it have an aim of its own, as a laboratory. Let it set for itself the task of investigating the sum total of the life and the life condi- tions of the area in which it shall be located. Let it undertake a biological survey of the region. This will require organized, con- tinuous and long-continued effort. In no American seas is there being biolog- ical work done in any way comparable with what, for example, Scandinavian and German naturalists are doing in the North and Baltic seas, and the Liverpool biological committee is doing in the Irish sea. Yet whether re- garded from the strictly scientific point of view, or from the point of view ot the eco- nomic interests of marine life, few aspects of biology promise surer and more important results than do investigations of this sort. The work done by our seaside laboratories has been altogether too narrow, and the foundation of a new one in the tropical At- lantic would be a peculiarly favorable oppor- tunity to broaden out. Wo. EK. Ritrer. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, May 3, 1903. To THe Eprror or Sctence: The plan to es- tablish a marine biological laboratory in the tropical Atlantic is one of which I am heartily ‘in favor. Although I have never visited the Tortugas, I have received many interesting collections from there and appreciate their wealth of characteristic coral-reef fauna. At some 826 SCIENCE. future time, a comparison of the fauna of this region with that of the life of similar reefs in Samoa or Tahiti would be highly instructive. Surely there can be no place on our Atlantic coast ‘which would give handsomer returns for such an outlay. The only objection is the relative inaccessibility of the Tortugas. Davin S. JorpDan. SHORTER ARTICLES. SOME LITTLE-KNOWN BASKET MATERIALS. Basxet collectors haye been much puzzled over the identity of two materials which are extensively used by some of the California tribes. One of these forms the body surface of most of the coiled baskets made by the Indians inhabiting the lower slopes of the Sierra from Fresno River south to the Kern. These baskets are celebrated for excellence of workmanship, beauty of form, elegance of design and richness of material. The ma- terial differs ‘in tone and texture from that used by the tribes north and south of the region indicated. When fresh its color is brownish-buff; with age it becomes darker and richer. By careful selection a handsome dappled effect is produced. The Indians told me it was the root of a marsh plant which they traveled long distances to procure. After some difficulty I succeeded in obtaining speci- mens, which were identified for me by Miss Alice Eastwood, botanist of the California Academy of Sciences, as Oladium mariscus. The coil, around which the split Cladium root is wound, consists of a bundle of stems of a yellow grass, Hpicampes rigens. The black in the design is the beautiful root of the ‘bracken’ or ‘brake fern,’ Pteridiwm aquilinum. The red is usually split branches of the redbud, Cercis occidentalis, with the bark on, gathered after the fall rains when the bark is red. The tribes making the Ola- dium baskets are the Nims, Chukchancys, Cocahebas, Wuksaches, Wiktchumnes, Tulares . and perhaps one or two others. Besides these, the root is sometimes used by certain squaws of the Mewah tribe living north of the Fresno, and by the Pakanepull and-;Newooah tribes: [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 438. living south of the Kern; but among these its use is exceptional. Another material which has proved a stumbling block to collectors is the red of the design in the handsome baskets made by the Kern Valley, Neewooah, and Panamint Sho- shone Indians. This material is often called “eactus root,’ but in my recent field work in the region where it is used I discovered that it is the unpeeled root of the tree yucca (Yucca arborescens). The tree yucca grows in the higher parts of the Mohave Desert, pushes over Walker Pass, and reaches down into the upper part of the valley of South Fork of Kern. The so-called Tejon Indians obtain it in Antelope Valley at the extreme west end of the Mohave Desert. The yucca root varies considerably in depth of color, so that by careful selection some of the Indian women produce beautiful shaded effects and definite pattern contrasts. Some of the Panamint Shoshones inhabit- ing the desolate desert region between Owens Lake and Death Valley use, either in com- bination with the yucca root or independ- ently, the bright red shafts of the wing and tail feathers of a woodpecker—the red-shafted flicker. These same Indians use two widely different materials for their black designs— the split seed pods of the devil’s horn, Mar- tynia, and the root.of a marsh bulrush, Scirpus. The Martynia is a relatively coarse material and when properly selected yields a dead black. The Scirpus root is a fine deli- cate material which, by burying in wet ashes, is made to assume several shades or tones, from blackish-brown to purplish-black, or even lustrous black. In parts of the Colorado Desert in south- eastern California the Coahuila Indians use split strands from the leaf of the desert palm ‘(Weowashingtonia filamentosa) as a surface material for their coiled baskets. The design is usually black or orangé-brown and is a rush (Juncus). C. Hart Merriam. A NOTE ON PHRYNOSOMA. In ‘The Cambridge Natural History,’ Vol. VIII., on ‘Amphibia and Reptiles,’ by Hans Gadow (London, 1901), on p. 533, regarding May 22, 1903.] the genus Phrynosoma, the author says, ‘ All the species are viviparous, almost the only instance among Jguanide.’ : This statement, which is as given in the older works on reptiles, does not apply to Phrynosoma cornutum of Texas, as I showed in my ‘ Notes on the Biology of Phrynosoma cornutum Harlan’ in the Zoologischer An- zeiger, No. 498, 1896 (also Scrence, N. S., Vol. III., No. 73, pp. 763-5). Im that paper I described the nest building and ovulation for the above species. As pointed out by R. W. Shufeldt in Science, September 4, 1885, pp. 185-6, and later Science, N. S., Vol. III., No. 76, pp. 867-8, June 12, 1896, Phrynosoma douglassit is viviparous, so that the genus Phrynosoma contains both oviparous and viviparous spe- cies. CuHartes L. Epwarps. Trinity CoLLEGE, HartrorpD, Conn. A NOTE ON NOMENCLATURE. _ Festuca spicata Pursh. Fl. Am. Sept. 83. 1814. Agropyron divergens Nees in Steud. Syn.. Pl. Glum. 347. 1855. A. spicatum Rydb. Mem. N. Y: Bot. Gard. 1: 61. 1900 (Cat. Fl. Montana). Agropyron glaucum occidentale Scribn. Trans. Kan.’ Acad. Sci. 9: 119. 1885. Agropyron spicatum Scribn. & Smith, Bull. U. S. Dept. Agric. Div. Agrost. 4: 33. 1897. Agropyron Smithii Rydb. Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1: 64. 1900 (Cat. FJ. Montana). Agropyron occidentale Scribn. U. S. Dept. Agric. Diy. Agrost. Cire. 277: 9. 1900. Festuca spicata Pursh. “FE. spiculis alternis sessilibus erectis sub- quinquefloris, floribus subulatis glabriusculis, aristis longis seabris, foliis linearibus cul- moque glabris. “On the waters of Missouri and Columbia rivers. June. vy. s. in Herb. Lewis.” Steudel published ‘Triticum divergens Nees. (mpt. sub. Agropyrum)’ based on a plant col- lected by Douglas. This is the common wheat grass of the Northwest, usually with long- awned spikelets. SCIENCE. 827 Another common species of the Great Plains, often called blue joint or blue stem, had for years been identified with A. repens Beauy. or A. glaucum R. & S. of Kurope. In 1885 Professor Scribner made this a variety (occidentale) of the latter European species. Twelve years later Scribner and Smith, in their review of the genus Agropyron, raised this to specific rank, but with the name A. spicatum, as they believed it to be the same as Pursh’s Festuca spicata. Mr. Rydberg, having examined Lewis’s specimen in the Herbarium of the Philadel- phia Academy, decides that Festuca spicata Pursh is identical with Agropyron divergens Nees and, following the Rochester Code, re- names the plant A. spicatum Rydb. But there was already the A. spicatum S. & S., which must receive a new name, A. Smithii Rydb. Then Professor Scribner calls atten- - tion to the earlier varietal name occidentale, which must be taken up, and we have A. occi- dentale Seribn., or more consistently, if the parenthesis is used in citations, A. occidentale (Seribn.) Seribn. Tf a later botanist examines the type and decides that it is A. Vaseyi Secribn. & Smith or some other species, another change must ensue. It seems to be a case of he laughs best who laughs last. The object of reciting this piece of nomen- elatorial history, which might be duplicated many times, is to point out the mischief which arises from allowing a specific name to have priority over a binomial. JI am not sure that the Rochester Code compels this, but it seems to have been so interpreted by many botanists. Rule 3, as given in Britton and Brown’s ‘Tilustrated Flora,’ states that: ‘In the trans- fer of a species to a genus other than the one under which it was first published, the original specific name is to be retained” This is wnequivoeal, as no exceptions are made. Rule 5 seems to prohibit the use of Agropyron spicatum for any species later than that to which it was first applied. (Rule 5: ‘The -publication of .a generic name or binomial invalidates the use of the same name for any 828 SCIENCE. subsequently published genus or species, re- spectively.’ ) It may be that the ‘subsequently published species’ refers to the application of an orig- inal specific name and not a binomial. But Rule 7 says: ‘Publication of a species con- sists only * * * (2) im the publishing of a binomial, with reference to a previously pub- lished species as a type.’ While it is not my object here to advocate any particular set of rules, but only to point out the way these rules work in practice, I would observe that in the above case: 1. The use of the original specific name, when the identity of Festuca spicata Pursh is discovered, gives us two new names, Agro- pyron spicatum Rydb. and A. Smithi Rydb. This must always occur when the displaced binomial has no earlier synonym, and even when there is an earlier available name there results a change of names. 9. If a binomial has precedence over the specific name, that is, if in transferring a species to a different genus, the earliest spe- cific name is used except where this specific name already occurs, there is not more than one new binomial. In the case under con- sideration, as there is already an Agropyron spicatum S. & S., if Festuca spicata Pursh is transferred to the genus Agropyron, it would ordinarily be given a new binomial, but as the name A. divergens Nees has been applied to the same species, no new binomial is neces- sary. 3. If the earliest specifie name which the plant has received in a given genus is used, the so-called Kew rule, no subsequent changes are necessary, so long as the plant is assigned to this genus. Subsequent investigations re- garding earlier names under other genera may add to our knowledge, but will not alter the binomials. From the standpoint of sta- bility the maximum would appear to result from following the third method. A. S. Hirrcucocs. REMAINS OF ELEPHANTS IN WYOMING. I am not aware that any elephant remains have ever been reported from Wyoming, and for this reason wish to make a record of the [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 438. following notes: During the fall of 1894 Mrs. Dover, of Dover P. O., Albany Co., dis- covered the lower jaw of a very small elephant in Halleck cation, which is about forty-five miles north and east of Laramie. The fossil was covered with a thin coating of earth in the valley wash, and not petrified. It was badly taken up, and by the time it reached me was very fragmentary. The front of the jaw has been well preserved and the right molar is nearly complete. The jaw and teeth are exceptionally small and probably indicate a new species. It is interesting to note that this specimen was found at an elevation of about 6,500 feet above thé sea. The remains have been donated to the university, and in due time will be described. Three years ago, while at work in the Goshen Hole region, I found an elephant’s tusk that had been cut in two by a eattle trail that was not over a foot in depth. The tusk was over six inches in diameter. No doubt there is more or less of an animal at this place; but no attempt has been made to unearth it. : While at Casper a few years ago a stock- man described a tooth which one of his riders had brought into his ranch, and which he had — sent east as a present to a friend. From his description it must have been a very large tooth of an elephant. While this_datum has little if any value, yet it is quite certain that an animal or a portion of an animal was found in that region. To this I wish to add another note, which, although not in connection with Wyoming data, adds some important information to this subject. Two years ago, while at work near Fossil, a collector brought to me a beauti- ful elephant’s tooth of unusual size. He in- formed me that he had taken it from the bottom of a well very near Bear Lake, Utah. This well was about twenty feet in depth and the tooth was found in rather fine: gravel. The tooth belonged to H. primigenus, judging from its size and the arrangement of the plates. It is interesting to note that the ele- phant lived at rather high elevations, as well -ag along the streams of the plains and the lower areas of North America. It is also May 22, 1903.] quite probable that there were highland or mountain species that have not been de- seribed. Witsur C. Kyicut. GEOLOGICAL LABORATORY, UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING. OURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. SNOW CRYSTALS. Mention has already been made in these notes.of the micro-photographic study of snow erystals which has been carried on for twenty years by Mr. W. A. Bentley, of Vermont. In the ‘Annual Summary’ of the Monthly Weather Review for 1902 (dated March 16, 1903), Mr. Bentley has a further contribution to this subject, in which he gives the results of his studies of snow crystals during the win- ter of 1901-02. The classification proposed by Hellmann (‘ Schneekrystalle, Berlin, 1903, p. 38) is adopted as the best. It has been found that in general the great majority of perfect erystals are produced in the western, south- western or northwestern portions of widespread snowstorms. The whole number of photo- graphs of individual crystals taken by Mr. Bentley is now somewhat over 1,000, and no two are alike. This is doubtless the most com- plete collection in the world. _ The article con- tains 22 plates giving half-tone reproductions of 255 separate snow crystals—altogether a most beautiful collection. } STRUCTURE OF CYCLONES. THe January number of the Monthly Weather Review contains a paper by Professor F. H. Bigelow on ‘ The Structure of Cyclones and Anticyclones on the 3,500-foot and 10,000- foot Planes for the United States.’ In this paper charts are given showing, for the eyclones of January 2 and 7, 1903, the dis- tribution of pressure and temperature at sea level, at 3,500 feet and at 10,000 feet. In re- ducing the station observations of pressure and temperature to the two high-level planes, Pro- ‘ fessor Bigelow used the tables prepared by him and published in his report on Barometry, a brief note on which appeared in Science for April 10; page 595. says, these charts ‘have special interest’ from the fact that this is the first exhibit of the SCIENCE. As Professor Bigelow’ 829 isobaric systems in the upper air surrounding individual cyclonic and anticyclonic centers.’ R. DeC. Warp. Harvard UNIVERSITY. BOTANICAL NOTES. A NEW CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. In his new syllabus of the plant-families (‘Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien,’ 1903), Eng- ler makes a considerable modification of the system of plants which he has followed here- tofore. In the edition of the ‘Syllabus’ which appeared in 1898, four branches (‘ Abteil- ungen’) of the vegetable kingdom were recog- nized, as follows: (1) Myxothallophyta, (2) Euthallophyta, (3) Embryophyta Zoidiogama, (4) Embryophyta Siphonogama. The changes in the new edition consist in breaking up the Kuthallophyta into ten branches, thus in- ereasing the whole number from four to thir- teen. This very materially changes the group- ing of the algz and fungi which make up the bulk of the Euthallophyta. The branch Myxothallophyta remains unchanged, except in minor details as to group names, and the same is true of Embryophyta Zoidiogama and Embryophyta Siphonogama. ; The new grouping is as follows: Branch (‘Abteilung’) 1. PHYTOSARCODINA (Myxothallophyta), with three classes, Acrasiales, Plasmodiophorales and Myxogastres. Branch 2. ScuaizopHyTa, with two classes, Sehizomycetes and Schizophyceae. Branch 3. FLAGELLATAE. Branch 4. DINOFLAGELLATAE. Branch 5. ZyYGOPHYCEAE, with two _ classes, Bacillariales and Conjugatae. Branch 6. CHLOROPHYCEAE, with three classes, Protococeales, Confervales and Siphoneae. Branch 7. CHARALES. Branch 8. PHAEOPHYCEAE. Branch 9. DIcTYOTALES. Branch 10. RHOpDOPMYCEAE, with two classes, Bangiales and Florideae. Branch 11. Eumycretrs, with five Phyeomycetes, Hemiascomycetes, Euascomycetes, Laboulbeniomycetes and Basidiomycetes. Branch 12. EMBRYOPHYTA ASIPHONOGAMA, with two subbranches (* Unterabteilungen’) as follows: ; classes, 830 SCIENCE. Subbranch Bryophyta, with two classes, Hep- aticae and Musci. Subbranch Pteridophyta, with four classes, Filicales, Sphenophyllales, Equisetales and Lycopodiales. Branch 13. EmMpBropHyta SiPHONOGAMA, with two subbranches, as follows: Subbranch Gymnospermae, with six classes, Cyeadales, Bennettitales, Cordiatales, Gink- goales, Coniferae and Gnetales. Subbranch Angiospermae, . with two classes, Monocotyledoneae and Dicotyledoneae. The significance of this rearrangement con- sists in the recognition of the greater relative importance of the lower groups of plants. There was a time, not many years ago, when eminent botanists regarded the flowering plants (Phanerogams) as coordinate with the lower plants bunched into one group (Cryp- togams). Next, four groups—Thallophyta, Bryophyta, Pteridophyta and Spermatophyta —were recognized, the flowering plants (Sper- matophyta) representing but one of the four great types of plants. Now we find in Eng- ler’s latest grouping that Spermatophyta are coordinate, not with one, or three, but with twelve other groups. This means that we no longer regard the morphological differences among lower plants as of merely secondary importance, but accord to them a value equal to that which they have in the flowering plants. While one may bring serious objections to many details in this new system, there can be no doubt as to its usefulness in calling attention to the morphological differences among lower plants. In the consideration of the characters upon which the classification of plants depends botanists have generally given too much weight to those of flowering plants, and too little to those of the lower plants. This has made our systems top-heavy. In recent years tardy justice has-been given to the fernworts (Pteridophyta) and moss- worts (Bryophyta), but as for the fungi, lichens and algae, they have been thrown into a common heap of the ‘ thallus plants’ (Thal- lophyta), in spite of the fact that they repre- sent several well-marked great types. This mistake, at least, has not been made in Eng- [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 438. ler’s new system. Here the lower types re- ceive. full recognition, and the higher are thereby reduced to something like their proper relative rank. MORE MARINE BOTANY. A Few weeks ago mention was made of the opportunities for seaside laboratory work in botany at Woods Holl, Sandusky and on Van- couver’s Island. To this list should be added the Biological Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, on the north shore of Long Island, which will be opened for its fourteenth ses- sion this year from the middle of June to the middle of September or later for investi- gators. There will be lectures from July 1 to August 15. In botany, courses are offered in cryptogamic botany, ecology and bacteriol- ogy. For a small number of investigators there are private laboratory rooms which may , -be obtained free of charge on certain condi- tions. Professor C. B. Davenport, of the University of Chicago, is the director. AIDS TO THE STUDY OF THE FUNGI. Prorrssor KELLERMAN, of the Ohio State University, Columbus, is doing two things which will do much toward helping to increase the study of the fungi. The first is intended for the scientific worker, and consists of alpha- betical lists of articles, authors, subjects, new species, hosts, new names and synonyms per- taining to North American fungi. Two such lists have appeared, the first representing the mycological literature of the year 1901, cover- ing fifty-seven pages, and including nearly 1,000 citations, and the second representing the literature for 1902, and including about 1,400 citations. These lists are printed on one side of the page only, and so may be cut for card cataloguing purposes. The amount of work which these lists represent is quite appalling, and one can only wonder at the courage of the professor in undertaking it. That it will be of the greatest value to students of the fungi is at once obvious. The other undertaking of the professor is the publication of a four-page leaflet under the title Ohio Mycological Bulletin for the benefit of beginners and amateurs in the study May 22, 1903.] of the fungi. It is to be issued ‘from time to time,’ and is sent for the nominal charge of ten cents for the year. All who send this sum are enrolled as members of the ‘ Ohio Mycological Club,’ and from the lists already published this club is certainly a very live and active one, since it enrolled nearly 150 names in less than a fortnight. While in- tended for the beginner, these bulletins, of which two numbers have been issued, are of interest to the worker as well. Professor Kel- lerman is to be congratulated upon having so successfully launched this useful little publi- cation. Cuartes EH. Brssey. TnE UNIVERSITY oF NEBRASKA. CORNELL WORK FOR AGRICULTURE. THE president of Cornell University in a recent address before the College of Agricul- ture of that university gave a very admirable summary of the work of the college and its relations with the state. The college was founded under the Land Grand Act of 1862 and is, under that act, a state college; but the state of New York has done nothing for it until within a few years, and the annual expenditures of the university on free scholarships for the state have ex- ceeded the sum total of all the contributions of the state to the work. This address refers mainly to the work of the college and of the university in scientific fields and in promo- tion more or less directly of the agricultural interests of the state. The university provides about eight hun- dred scholarships at a cost of about $250,000 per annum. Of these, six hundred are dis- tributed to the one hundred and fifty assembly districts of the state. They are ‘state scholar- ships.’ by competitive examinations. The annual cost of the College of Agriculture is $141,- 061.27, as for the last fiscal year 1901-1902. The state of New York does not appropri- ate a dollar of this nearly $400,000. It makes appropriations for the state colleges of for- estry and of veterinary science, located at Cornell University but not its property, $35,- The others are open to all and secured - SCIENCE. 851 000. It turns over to the university the less than $60,000 per annum coming in from the Land Grant Fund, which fund was the gift of the United-States. It has built two build- ings, which, however, remain the property of the state. The College of Agriculture of Cornell Uni- versity gives free tuition and has done so from the first. The students in regular course number about two hundred. There are en- rolled in the Farmers’ Reading Course 30,000 students; in the Farmers’ Wives’ Reading Course, 8,000; in the 1700 Junior Naturalists’ Clubs, 30,000; in the Home-Study Courses about 15,000 teachers. -Five hundred farmers have conducted experimental work on their own farms, under the supervision of the col- lege. A correspondence school of_large ex- tent is carried on, which gives instruction to all agriculturists throughout the state. The experiment station has published 196 bulle- tins, of 20,000 in each edition, and 14 annual reports. Members of the staff of the college are sent out whenever an outbreak of disease among either animals or plants is reported and, if familiar, it is extinguished; if un- familiar, it is studied and a way found of preventing and curing it. In such an in- stance, that of the pear-sylla, a million dol- lars was saved to a single county, a few years ago. This is work prescribed by the statutes and the charter of Cornell University. It is car- ried on mainly through the liberality, not of the state, but of Messrs. Cornell, Sage and other private contributors to the available funds of the university. Illinois, Iowa, Wis- consin and other states, similarly interested in agriculture, are providing handsomely for seientifie work of this kind in their land-grant and state colleges. New York gains much, gives little. Professor Robertson, Agricultural and Dairy Commissioner of the Dominion of Canada, after a three days’ visit to Cornell, writes as follows: “T do not know of another great university that is doing the same sort of work. Insti- 832 SCIENCE. tutions of this kind generally confine their activities to the professional and scholastic classes, but here is one that is bringing its culture and its wealth of knowledge, based on careful research, to the help of the common people in their practical, every-day work.” R. H. TuHurston. THE INTERNATIONAL GEODETIC ASSO- CIATION.* THE systematic reduction of the 52° parallel survey was published by the Central Bureau of the International Association under the title ‘ Lotabweichungen, Heft II.’ The pub- lication of the third part, which will contain the deflections along the northern geodetic lines of the 52° parallel survey, will be at- tempted this year. Owing to the resignation of Dr. Schumann, who accepted the position of professor of geodesy, Fischer High School, the investiga- tion of the curvatures of the meridians and parallels of the ‘geoid’ could be but little advanced. Still, preparations for the compu- tation of the triangulation through France, Spain and Algiers are in progress, and it is hoped that the final computations will be com- pleted during the coming year. Voluntary contributions of observations for variations ot latitude during the year, from which to determine the motion of the earth’s axis of rotation within its body, were received from only four observatories, namely, the ob- servatories of Tokyo, Heidelberg, Leyden and Philadelphia.. Unfortunately, the data thus furnished proved insufficient for an inde- pendent determination of the pole’s motion. Utilizing these contributions, the results were compared with the motion of the pole as de- duced from the series of special observations executed by the International Latitude Ser- vice, and it is gratifying to note that the com- parisons proved the results to be satisfactory. In this connection it remains to call atten- tion to publication No. 6, of the Central “ Abstract of Professor Helmert’s report on the activities of the Central Bureau of the Inter- national Geodetic Association during the year 1902, together with the proposed plan of work for 1903. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 438. Bureau, entitled ‘Ergebnisse der Polhohen- bestimungen in Berlin’ during the years of 1889, 1590 and 1891, by Dr. Adolf Marcuse. The work of the International Latitude Ser- vice made satisfactory progress during the year. Star-pairs were observed as follows: No. of Pairs Stations. Observed. Observers. 1. Mizusawa......... 1,577 Kimura and Nakano. 2. Tschardjui........ 1,564 Medzwietsky. 3. Carloforte........ 3,386 Ciscato and Bianchi. 4. Gaithersburg...... 1,822 Davis. 5. Cincinnati........ 1,425 Porter. (He WISN No AG anoosoaes 2,014 Schlesinger. The reduction of these observations was made immediately upon the receipt of the records by mail. Im addition to these sys- tematic computations, the Central Bureau also undertook the reduction of the mean dec- linations. The mean declinations were de- rived from Cohns’ catalogue. A list of the apparent declinations of the several stars thus observed, for the epoch of Greenwich culmination for the period No- vember 2, 1902, to November 1, 1903, was pre- pared, and a copy sent to the observers for the purpose of enabling them to test and control their respective works by their own computa- tions. An abstract covering the most important re- sults of this work is given by Dr. Albrecht in his article in No. 3808 of the Astronomische Nachrichten, entitled ‘ Resultate* des inter- nationalen Breitendienstes’ for 1899.9-1902.0. In this article Dr. Albrect calls atten- tion to the fact that the motion of the earth’s pole could no longer be satisfactorily repre- sented by the expression : Ag+ v=-2cosi+ ysind, but that according to the suggestion of Pro- fessor Kimura in Astrom. Nachr., No. 3783, an expression of the form : 4g +v=2 cosa+ysinA+z would have to be used instead. That is to say, the complete expression for the variation of latitude required an additional yearly term (z), wholly independent of the geographical longitude of the place of observation. Determination of the Acceleration of Grav- MAY 22, 1903.] ity—In accordance with the provisions of the plan of work for 1892, the measurements of gravity with the Italian pendulum, which on previous occasions had exhibited uncommon variations of length while swinging under di- minished atmosphere pressure, were repeated, and it was found that the results for 1902 verified the results from the experiments of 1901. The results from all these gravity experi- ments, which will be extended farther, if deemed necessary, in one or the other partic- ular, will be published next year (1903). Relative Gravity Determinations—A com- prehensive report on the relative determina- tions of gravity upon the Atlantic Ocean be- tween Spain and South America has been pub- lished. The results found proved to be trust- worthy, as also the newly determined relative results at the stations of Potsdam, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon and Madrid, by means of the half-second pendulum. A new connection be- tween the gravity stations at St., Petersburg and Potsdam is also contemplated. More- over, Breteuil and other base-stations will also be connected by means of Stackraths’ pendu- lum apparatus. The commission also proposes to connect the Potsdam gravity station with their own pendulum apparatus and to determine the co- efficients for air pressure and temperature. For the new Stackrath apparatus these co- efficients were ascertained by adequate experi- ments at Rio de Janeiro. The constants of the four pendulums of Schumann (Stras- burg), which have recently been materially re- modeled, in order to improve them and render them less sensitive to variations of external conditions, will be determined. Finally, it is proposed also to swing the pendulum at a series of stations in the high mountains of Central “Asia, and to that end the trigonometric survey of India is be- stowing particular care upon the determina- tions of the constants of temperature and air pressure for their own apparatus. WiLiiAM EIMBECK. SCIENCE. 833 THE BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. Tue London Times publishes the following summary of the results of the National Ant- arctic Expedition contributed by a member of the scientific staff: 1. The discovery of extensive land at the east extremity of the great ice barrier. 2. The discovery that McMurdo Bay (7?) is not a ‘bay,’ but a strait, and that Mounts Erebus and Terror form part of a compara- tively small island. 3. The discovery of good winter quarters in a high latitude—viz., 77° 50’ S., 166° 497 E.—with land. close by suitable for the erec- tion of the magnetic observations, etc. The lowest temperature experienced was 92° of frost Fahrenheit. 4, An immense amount of scientific work over 12 months in winter quarters, principally physical and biological. 5. Numerous and extensive sledge journeys in the spring and summer covering a good many thousand miles, of which ‘the principal is Captain Scott’s journey, upon which a latitude of 82° 17’ south was attained, and an Immense tract of new land discovered and chartered as far as 83° 30’ south, with peaks and ranges of mountains as high as 14,000 feet. 6. The great continental inland ice reached westwards at a considerable distance from the coast and at an altitude of 9,000 feet. 7. A considerable amount of magnetic work at sea, also soundings, deep sea dredging, etc. Captain Scott writes as follows: We do not seem to have done much in any one particular direction, but I hope the sum total of our labors will not be displeasing to the societies. I must make a general apology for the sketchy nature of this note, which owing to the circumstances, has to be written in haste. When you receive it the matter will be decided, but as I write I am in con- siderable anxiety as to our prospects of getting out this season. It will be poor luck if we do not. We found one year’s ice here last sea- son; it broke away, and the spot remained open to the sea for at least six weeks; but we are now past the date at which it opened last season, and for this last fortnight little ice 834 SCIENCE. has gone out, though in the past few days there have been renewed signs of a break up. The season is evidently very bad, and the weather is getting much colder and more blustering. Under these circumstances I am getting all the stores I can from the Morning, hoping to send her back to New Zealand in a week or so and to free ourselves at a later date. We shall be fully prepared for another winter, and I should not deplore it except as a waste of time. All our people remain as keen as possible. I think it would be difficult to imagine a happier or more comfortable community, considering how closely we are thrown together. If we get back this sea- son it is my firm intention to do my best to raise money in the colonies for a third season, if the funds are not forthcoming from home. I think it would be difficult to praise Colbeck too highly for the manner in which he has followed our track, picked up our records, and found this ship; it has all worked out wonder- fully well, but it must be appreciated what meagre information he had to work on, how intelligently he has followed the scent. The manner in which he and his ship’s company lay themselves out to help us in every possible manner here is beyond all praise. We shall be quite comfortable, and I cannot think the harbor will remain closed for two seasons in succession. THE BERMUDA BIOLOGICAL STATION. THE time for making application to work at the temporary biological station at Ber- muda has been extended from June 1 to June 15. Tull June 1, application may be made to Professor C. L. Bristol, University Heights New York City. After that to Pro- fessor E. L. Mark, 109 Irving St., Cambridge, Mass. One hundred dollars provides first-class passage from New York to Bermuda and return, six weeks’ board and lodging—but not washing—at the Hotel Frascati, Flatts, Ber- muda, ample facilities for collecting the ani- mals and plants of the coral reefs, lagoons and shores, and a table in a temporary labo- ratory furnished with the ordinary glassware, [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 438. reagents and apparatus provided in modern marine laboratories. The building secured for the laboratory is well constructed and new. < If applicants are able to send information as to the subject or subjects on which they desire to work, it will aid the management in making better provision for their accom- modation. It may be possible in some cases to provide the use of a certain number of books and monographs, if applicants indicate those which they can not themselves procure. It should be understood that the oppor- tunities offered are for investigation and that no formal instruction will be given. KH. L. Marg, CO. L. Bristou. THE LAKE LABORATORY OF THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY. Tur Lake Laboratory of the Ohio State University this summer will enter upon a new period of growth. The Cedar Point Pleasure Resort Company, which owns the long stretch of land bordering the east branch of Sandusky Bay has given a site for the new laboratory building in a most commanding and beautiful position where the laboratory will have at its very doors a magnificent stretch of Lake Erie beach, extended sand dunes, a native forest of cedars and other fine trees, an arm of the bay with good harbor for small boats and ready access to the larger bay and also an extensive swamp with a very varied vegetation. The lease on this site runs for fifty years with privilege of renewal for a like term on the same conditions as to free rental, access of roads and freedom from buildings between laboratory and Lake front, and the Resort - Company grants free transportation to stu- dents and workers at the laberatory on its steamers which, during the summer, ply be- tween Sandusky andthe resort two or three times per hour from early morning till late at night. The distance from the city being but two miles will make it possible to choose in the matter of living between the city board- ing houses and the use of rooms in the labo- ~~ May 22, 1903.] ratory or tents, cottages or hotel accommoda- tions available on the Point. The new laboratory buildimg which will accommodate at least one hundred students and investigators is already under construc- tion under contract to be finished by June 15. This building includes four large laboratory rooms that will accommodate twenty to twenty-five students each in general work, two lecture rooms, four small laboratory rooms for special classes and rooms for about twenty research students or investigators, also private rooms for instructors, store room, dark rooms and other conveniences. The location is about a half mile from the docks and buildings of the Pleasure Resort thus making it convenient to steamers «and for mail, express, ete., but far enough away so that the work will not be interfered with by the patrons of the resort, nor will the virgin conditions of forest, beach and dunes be likely to suffer change for generations to come. COMMITTEE ON THE PURITY OF CHEMICALS. Ar the last annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, held in Washington in De- cember, a committee, consisting of Professors Baskerville, Dennis, Hillebrand, Talbot and the president of the society as chairman, ex officio, was appointed to investigate the ques- tion of the purity of chemicals sold as pure for use as reagents. It is held by many an- alytical chemists that the quality of the re- agents as furnished by dealers is far from satisfactory, and below the grade sold some years ago. It is also well known that the designations ‘C. P.,’ ‘Chemically Pure’ and “Strictly Pure’ as employed by certain deal- ers are practically meaningless. The com- mittee wishes to discover the extent of the evil complained of in order to be able to sug- gest a remedy. Chemists who are interested in the matter and who are acquainted with facts bearing on the subject are invited to communicate their information to Professor H. P. Talbot, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. SCIENCE. 835 TYPHOID FEVER AT PALO ALTO AND STANFORD UNIVERSITY. Tuer following are the facts in relation to the outbreak of typhoid fever in Palo Alto. During the past winter, a dairy formerly of good repute, lying about four miles from Palo Alto, was leased to a Portuguese family. In this family, in March, a death occurred from typhoid fever. Two of the three houses stand on the bank of a brook which bounds the cattle yard. From this brook a wooden channel carries water to a large wooden trough within the yard. In this trough the cans and pails of the dairy were washed. From the house, the excreta of the fever patient seem to haye been thrown, Latin- fashion, on the ground, to be washed by the rains into the brook, and thence into the trough. One of the milkmen supplying the town of Palo Alto bought milk from this Parreiro dairy. About April 6 cases of fever appeared in Palo Alto. The water supply of the town, as well as that of the university, from deep driven wells, was found above suspicion. This dairy was examined, bacilli were found in its ‘milk, and on April 8 the milk route was closed. In this period, however, many people had taken the milk, and in the next three weeks there were upwards of 150 cases in the town, 80 of them being students of Stanford University. On the university campus, a mile away, about 850 of the 1,480 students of the uni- versity live. Two fraternity houses on the campus were served with milk from Par- reiro’s. In one of these houses fourteen out of twenty persons were attacked. In the other four out of twenty. In the university dormi- tories, and in the remaining fraternities there have been a few cases, persons who had eaten at a Palo Alto restaurant or had been guests at some infected house. About 110 cases have developed among the students of the university, and there have been four deaths, all in Palo Alto. The source of infection was promptly detected. The period of incubation, about three weeks, is now past; every care has been taken to pre- 836 SCIENCE. vent secondary infection, and thus far there have been no cases from such infection. There is no epidemic, no panic, and no ‘infected’ district. The chief lesson lies in the need of closer inspection of the habits and methods of dairymen and gardeners who come from the south of Europe. SOIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. Tue following fifteen candidates have been selected by the council of the Royal Society to be recommended for election into the so- ciety: Dr. William Maddock Bayliss, Pro- fessor Thomas William Bridge, Dr. Sydney Monckton Copeman, Mr. Horace Darwin, Mr. William Philip Hiern, Mr. Henry Reginald Arnulph Mallock, Professor David Orme Mas- son, Mr. Arthur George Perkin, Professor Ernest Rutherford, Professor Ralph Allen Sampson, Mr. John Edward Stead, Mr. Au- brey Strahan, Professor Johnson Symington, Professor John S. Townsend and Mr. Alfred North Whitehead. M. pe Foreranp has been elected a corres- ponding member of the Paris Academy of Sciences in the section of chemistry, in the yoom of the late M. Reboul. THE contest of the election for the post of secretary to the Zoological Society of Lon- don has ended in an undoubted victory for the supporters of Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, who have occasionally been spoken of as the ‘reform party. The poll was unprecedent- edly large and the numbers were: Mitchell, 530; Sclater, 336. Whatever views one may hold as to the respective merits of the candi- dates, it is at least satisfactory that the ques- tion has been settled in so definite a manner, as this will conduce to much greater stability in the future conduct of the society’s affairs, and the storms that have raged over the con- test are likely to calm down all the sooner. Proressor L. M. UnpERwoop, of Columbia University, is still in Jamaica. He will visit Dominica and other islands of the Windward group, after which he will go to Europe to study ferns in English and continental botan- ical gardens and museums. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 438. Dr. J. Puayrair McMurricu, professor of anatomy at the University of Michigan, has accepted a commission from the Royal Acad- emy of Prussia and the government of Hol- land to examine and identify certain species of animal life. Dr. ArtHuUR HOo.uick, assistant curator of the New York Botanical Garden, has received leave of absence for four months, with the ob- ject of investigating the fossil plants of Alaska in order to determine certain geolog- ical horizons through the aid of paleobotany. Haran I. Smiru, of the American Museum of Natural History, has gone to North Yakima, Washington, where he has begun work on the archeology of the Columbia Val- ley m continuance of his general archeological reconnoissance of the northwest. Forest B. H. Brown, a member of the senior class in the University of Michigan, has been appointed to conduct an inyestiga- tion under the direction of the Michigan state geological survey of the plant societies of Monroe and Washtenaw counties, Mich- igan, with reference to their historical suc- cession and their relation to water supply. Dr. GEorGE S. FULLERTON, professor of phi- losophy in the University of Pennsylvania, has gone to Germany and will spend the sum- mer at Munich. We learn from The British Medical Journal that Mr. A. G. R. Foulerton has resigned the position of director of the Cancer Research Laboratories, a position which he has held for the last three years. The weekly board of the hospital has decided on the appointment of a director who will be required to devote the whole of his time to the work of the Cancer Research Laboratories. Mr. Foulerton will continue his service to the hospital as direct- or of the Clinical and Bacteriological Labo- ratories. ‘ Mr. ANDREW CARNEGIE presided at the an- nual dinner of the British Iron and Steel In- stitute on May 8. Addresses were made by Mr. Balfour, the Duke of Devonshire, Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman and others. Tue following have been nominated as vice- presidents of the Royal Institution, London, eee SR in en = Ria OCI gers May 22, 1903. ] for the ensuing year: Sir Benjamin Baker, Sir Frederick Bramwell, Lord Halsbury, Dr. W. C. Hood, Lord Lister, Mr. George Matthey, Sir James Crichton Browne (treasurer) and Sir William Crookes (honorary secretary). ' Tue Association of American Physicians has elected the following officers: President, Dr. William T. Councilman, Boston; vice- president, Dr. Edward Trudeau, Saranac Lake, N. Y.; recorder, Dr. Solomon Solis- Cohen, Philadelphia; secretary, Dr. Henry Hun, Albany; councilors, Drs. Victor C. Vaughan, Ann Arbor, Mich., and George M. Kober, Washington, D. C. Tur Carnegie Institution has made a grant of $500 for a research assistant to Dr. M. Gomberg, junior professor of chemistry in the University of Michigan. Mr. Lee H. Cone, who has been doing graduate work in the university since September, 1902, has been appointed to that position for the year 1903-4. The British Medical Journal states that Professor Zakharoff of the faculty of medi- cine of the University of Warsaw, and di- rector of the Veterinary School of that city, is likely to fall a victim to his zeal for scien- tific research. In making a necropsy of the brain of a dog which had died of rabies, he inflicted a slight cut on one of his fingers, to which he paid no attention. About a fort- night later symptoms of hydrophobia ap- peared, and he was taken to the Pasteur In- stitute, which is under the direction of Pro- fessor Palmyski. There is said, however, to be no hope of Professor Zalkharoff’s recovery. PRESIDENT PRITCHETT, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is to give the com- mencement address at the University of Vir- ginia on June 15. Prorsessor Wm. T. Sepewick, of the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology, recently gave the annual address before the alumni asso- ciation of the medical department of the Uni- versity of Buffalo, his subject being ‘ Protec- tion. of the Public Health by the Filtration of Municipal Water Supplies.’ Tue Wild Flower Preservation Society of America held a meeting under the auspices of the Olivia and Caroline Phelps Stokes SCIENCE. authorities. 837 Fund for the Protection of Native Plants in the Museum Building of the New York Bo- tanical Garden on May 16, when Mr. Charles Louis Pollard delivered an illustrated lecture on ‘ Vanishing Wild Flowers.’ Prorgssor G. Routt, of Pisa, celebrated on March 5, the twenty-fifth year of his incum- beney of the chair of anatomy at Siena and Pisa. He was presented with a souvenir volume of the ‘ Archivio Italiano di Anatomia ed Embriologia’ and a gold medal. Tue hundredth anniversary of the birth of Liebig was celebrated on May 12 by the Uni- versity of Giessen and the Technical School of Darmstadt. THE London Times states that a representa- tive committee has been formed for the pur- pose of raising a memorial to the late Sir Henry Bessemer. The extraordinary indus- trial development of the world in recent years is largely due to the metallurgical process which bears the name of Bessemer, and it has long been felt that his life’s work should be suitably commemorated in the center of the British empire. The objects of the memorial are as follows: (1) The erection (and, if neces- sary, the endowment) of metallurgical teach- ing and research work in connection with the University of London, equipped for the testing of ores and metallurgical products by modern methods and for the investigation of new methods and processes. (2) The founda- tion of international scholarships for post- graduate courses in practical work in connec- tion with proposals now under the considera- tion of the board of education. The com- mittee includes leading representatives of the metallurgical, engineering and mining in- dustries and professions, and of education A meeting to inaugurate the fund will be held at the Mansion-house on June 29 next, particulars of which will be published later. Mr. Asranam Fontnrr Oster, known for his work in meteorology, died at Birmingham on April 26, at the age of ninety-five years. He had been a member of the Royal Society since 1855. 838 “We regret also to record the deaths of Dr. C. H. Dufour, professor of astronomy in the University of Lausanne; of M. René Mam- mert, professor of chemistry at the University of Freiburg in Switzerland; of Dr. Clemence yon Kahlden, professor of pathological anat- omy at Freiburg i. B.; and of Dr. Heinrich Hartel, formerly professor of geodesy at Vienna. Tur American Institute of Electrical En- gineers held its annual meeting in New York City on May 19. Tue fifteenth international medical congress will be held at Lisbon in 1906 with Professor Alfredo da Costa as president. THE government has introduced a bill in the Swedish Riksdag granting about $50,000 for the equipment of a vessel to be sent to the relief of the Nordenskjold Antarctic expedi- tion. Oswaup Wincet, of Leipzig, will sell at auction on June 11-13 the library of the late Dr. Julius Platzmann, which contains some fourteen hundred works on American lan- guages, especially on the languages of South America. Durine the last field season Mr. Whitman Cross, of the United States Geological Survey, visited the Hawaiian Islands for the purpose of observing the results of volcanic activity at Kilauea. Critical comparisons were made between the modern volcanic rocks of these islands and the areas of old volcanic rocks occurring in the Rocky Mountain country. The larger islands of the group were all visited, advantage being taken of this oppor- tunity to gather data for use in planning fu- ture work in Hawaii by the Geological Survey. A press despatch from Washington, dated May 13, says: “ The executive committee of the Carnegie Institution reports that the en- tire sum of $200,000 allotted to grants for original research has been distributed, and that of the $40,000 set aside for publications to be made this year $20,000 has been assigned to special publications, leaving $20,000 still at the disposal of the executive committee. No more grants for researches will be made until after the next meeting of the board of SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 438. trustees, which will be held in December. At the meeting of the executive committee to- day the question of giving more publicity to the grants of the institution was not taken up. The policy hitherto has been to permit the receivers of grants to make them public, but for the officials of the institutions to refrain from giving out names of the for- tunate scientists who receive these grants. It is probable that this policy will be continued.” A CHAPTER of the university scientific so- ciety of the Sigma Xi has recently been estab- lished at the University of Chicago. Chapters of this society are now maintained at the following universities: Cornell, VY. A. Moore, president; Union, O. H. Landreth, president; Kansas, F. H. Snow, president; Rensselaer, W. P. Mason, president; Yale, J. P. Tracy, president; Brown, W. W. Bailey, president; Nebraska, L. Bruner, president; Minnesota, J. J. Flather, president; Lowa, T. H. McBride, president; Ohio, W. R. Lazenby, president; Pennsylvania, HE. F. Smith, president; Stan- ford, V. L. Kelloge, president; California, C. L. Cory, president; Columbia, J. F. Kemp, president; Chicago, H. H. Donaldson, presi- dent. Tue International Mathematical Congress will meet at Heidelberg in August of next year. It is expected that the International Hlec- trical Congress will be held at St. Louis, dur- ing the week beginning September 12, 1904. It will thus immediately precede the Inter- national Congress of Arts and Sciences. A MEETING of the committee of the Central International Bureau for the Prevention of Consumption was held in Paris on May 4 and 5 to make preliminary arrangements for the next international congress, which is to take place at Paris in October, 1904. A CABLEGRAM from Paris to the daily papers states that the airship constructed for the Lebaudy Brothers made a highly successful trip on May 8 under Pilot Juchmes and Engineer Rey. The start was made at 9° A.M. from St. Martin during a light rain and with a brisk wind blowing. The dirigible airship May 22, 1903. ] passed over a number of suburban towns. At Mantes the airship made a circle around the cathedral spire and on leaving that town went diagonally against the wind. Over Limay, Mantes and Rosny the airship was put through a series of evolutions and an- swered her helm and manoeuvred to the per- fect satisfaction of all interested in her. She then returned to her point of departure, where she descended without accident. The distance covered was 37 kilometers in one hour and thirty-six minutes, against Santos-Dumont’s record for the Deutsch prize of 114 kilometers in thirty minutes. Av the twenty-fifth annual general meet- ing of the Institute of Chemistry, Professor J. M. Thomson, F.R.S., the retiring presi- dent, delivered an address in which he sketched the history and work of the institute since its foundation. He said that the real origin of the institute was in a suggestion put forward in 1872 by the late Sir Edward Frankland, at a dinner given to Professor Cannizzaro on his appointment as Faraday lecturer. Later, in 1876, he proposed to the council of the Chemical Society that a class of fellows, to be styled licentiates (or some analogous title), should be created for the purpose of distinguishing between competent professional chemists and those who professed an interest in chemistry as a science, and not *as a means to earning a livelihood. The idea was not adopted, but it was decided to found a new society, and the Institute of Chemistry was formally incorporated under the Com- panies Act on October 2, 1877. Among those active in founding the institute were Mr. Carteighe, Professor Hartley, the late Mr. Frederick Manning, Mr. Charles Tookey and the late Dr. Alder Wright. Professor Thom- son himself was also a keen worker for the institute in its earliest history. He proceeded to relate its progress under the successive presi- dents: Sir Edward Frankland, Sir Frederick Abel, Dr. William Odling, Dr. James Bell, Professor W. A. Tilden, Dr. W. J. Russell and Dr. Thomas Stevenson. He dealt with the regulations as to training and examina- tion of candidates for the associateship of the SCIENCE. 839 institute, showing how the standard of the requirements for membership had been stead- ily raised, and he commented on the conse- quent increasing recognition of the qualifica- tions ‘ A.I.C’ and ‘ F.I.C’ by government and municipal authorities and by the leaders of industry throughout the kingdom. ‘The an- nual report of the institute drew attention to the increase in the number of members, in spite of the fact that there had been heavy losses through death. Attention was also ealled to the increase in the number of candi- dates for examination, notwithstanding that within the last few years the standard of ad- mission had been considerably raised. The adoption of the report was seconded by Dr. Thomas Stevenson, and carried. The newly- elected president, Mr. Thomas Howard, then took the chair. We learn from the London Times that a recent cablegram from Captain Colbeck brings the information that, when he discovered the position of the winter quarters of the expedi- tion in MeMurdo Bay, the ice prevented him from bringing the Morning nearer than eight miles to the Discovery. The transshipment of coals and provisions had, therefore, to be done by means of sledges dragged over that distance. Nor was this the only difficulty. On completion of the transshipment the dis- tance had been reduced to five miles, showing that, in addition to the hard work of trans- shipment, there must have been much trouble with the ship in moving her about at the edge of the ice as it broke away. The failure of the provisions on board the Discovery, the particulars of which have not yet been re- ceived, made it necessary for the Morning to transfer a much larger quantity of provisions than was intended, and this will entail large additional expense. It is now clear that it would have been quite impossible for the Dis- covery to return this year. But she is only provisioned until next January, so that the despatch of the Morning for her relief a sec- ond time is an absolute necessity in order to avoid a catastrophe. For the additional ex- pense a sum of £12,000 is urgently needed, £6,000 this year, and the rest next year. 840 SCIENCE. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. Mr. Henry Dennart, of Washington, IIL, who has in the last five years given $35,000 to Carthage College, announces a further gift of $145,000 on certain conditions. He offers $100,000 for the endowment fund providing that the same amount be raised in the college territory, half of the expense of any new buildings erected up to $20,000, and $25,000 cash. Prans have been completed for the new engineering building of the University of Pennsylvania, which will be located opposite Dental Hall, and will be completed in Sep- tember, 1904, at a total cost of $500,000. The building is to be 300 feet long and 175 feet deep, with an exterior of dark brick and sand- stone trimmings. Tue chair of electrotechnics at University College, Liverpool, has been endowed with £10,000 by Mr. Jardine. University Inn, at State College, Pa., was destroyed by fire on May 9, causing a loss of about $35,000; insurance, $13,000. The inn was occupied by thirty-five students of the State College, and seven professors and their families. A MEETING of educators representing prin- cipally the colleges of the middle west met at Chicago on May 8 and 9 to discuss the college and its relation to the professional schools. A national college association was formed which will hold annual conferences. Tue Yale University Corporation at the May meeting approved the recommendations of the academical professors to extend the elective system into the freshman year by allowing each freshman to choose five out of eight courses of study and to allow the substitution of advanced work in mathematics or modern languages in place of Greek for admission to college. The new requirements for admission, which will go into effect in 1904, leave English, ancient history and Latin unchanged, but will allow Greek to be wholly or in part superseded by an additional amount of mathematics or by a thorough knowledge of either French or German. In the fresh- man year the eight courses open to the class, LN. S. Vou. XVII. No. 438. five of which must be elected, are Greek, Latin, French, German, English, mathematics, chemistry and history. It is required that three of the five courses elected must be in continuation of the five studies—Greek, Latin, English, mathematics, or a modern language —already pursued in the preparatory school. Tue Rey. Edwin H. Hughes, of Malden, Mass., has been elected president of De Pauw University, at Greencastle, Ind. Proressor WiLuiAM H. Brewer has resigned the professorship of agriculture at Yale Uni- versity and has been appointed professor emeritus. Mr. Girrorp Pincuor, chief of the Bureau of Forestry, has been elected to a professor- ship in the forest school of Yale University. He will continue his work and his residence in Washington, but by special arrangement will lecture at Yale. Assistant Professor J. W. Toumey has been advanced to a full pro- fessorship in the Forest School. At Cornell University Professor T. F. Hunt, dean of the Agricultural College, of the Ohio State University, has been appointed professor of agronomy and Dr. B. F. Kings- bury has been appointed assistant professor of embryology. Dr. Kingsbury was formerly instructor and has spent the last two years in study at Freiburg. Avr Harvard University Messrs. A. Fv Blakeslee and J. J. Wolfe have been ap- pointed Austin teaching fellows in botany. Puiuie Bouvier Hawn, M.S., for the past two years assistant in physiological chemistry at Columbia University, has resigned his position to accept that of demonstrator of physiological chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Howarp S. Reep, assistant in plant physiology in the University of Michigan, has been appointed instructor in botany at the University of Missouri. : M. Cuarrin has been apointed to a newly- established chair of general pathology in the Collége de France; Dr. Fliigge, of Breslau, has been appointed professor of hygiene in the University of Vienna. ee ee St we ae 2 TS SCIENCE &@ WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EpItoRIAL COMMITTEE : S. NEwcoms, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. WaLcott, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; HENRY F. OSBORN, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooks, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology ; S. H. SCUDDER, Entomology ; C. E. BessgEy, N. I.. Britton, Botany ; BowpitcH, Physiology ; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology ; WILLIAM H. WELCH, Pathology ; H, P. J. McKEEN CATTELL, Psychology. Fripay, May 29, 1903. CONTENTS. Henry Barker Hill: T, W. R............--- The Status of Public Museums in the United States: ALFRED GOLDSBOROUGH MAYER.... Montana as a Field for an Academy of Sci- ences, Arts and Letters: PRoFESsoR Mor- TON dio: IBWXOW sacsoncacceemdoasnHoacnans 851 Scientific Books :— Hertwig’s Manual of Zoology: PROFESSOR A. S. Packarp. Hucalypts Cultivated in the United States: Dr. Rop’r EH. C. Stearns Scientific Journals and Articles............ 857 860 Societies and Academies :— The San Francisco Section of the Amer- ican Mathematical Society: PRoFEssor G. A. Miniter. New York Academy of Sci- ences, Section of Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry: Dr. 8S. A. MircHELt. Columbia University Geological Journal Club: H. W. SHIMER. Anthropological Society of Wash- ington: Dr. WALTER HouGH............. Discussion and Correspondence :— Tropical Marine Laboratory for Research: IDR, dis 12, IDURD, s soa0adscucceosedene Shorter Articles :— The Physical Basis of Color: Dr. C. A. CuHant. Surface Tension, Molecular Forces: Dr. N. Ernest Dorsey. Zhe Overspun String: E. H. Hawtry. Notes on the Judith River Group: CHARLES H. STERN- BERG. Seeds Buried in the Soil: J. W. T. Duvet. Some New Generic Names of Mam- UUSE IDR. AUS Sh IPNeosidan po oo oe acoseo OE Marseum, Notes: BW. ALL... 25.02. .2. ss ee 873 The American Museum of Natural History.. 874 Scientific Notes and News................. 877 University and Educational News.......... MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended tor review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- fessor J. McKeen Cattell], Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. 860 862 HENRY BARKER HILL. Henry Barker Hin, professor of chem- istry and director of the Chemical Labo- ratory of Harvard College, died on April 6, 1903, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, after a brief but painful illmess. His death makes an irreparable gap in the ranks of American scientific men. Professor Hill’s life was a quiet one— the life of an investigator in a field of sci- entific rather than of public interest. His delicate health for years and his retiring disposition prevented many of his ecol- leagues from knowing him well; hence his true worth has perhaps not been fully appreciated by those outside the circle of his intimate friends. The Reverend Thomas Hill, his father, was at one time president of Antioch Col- lege, and later, from 1862 to 1868, president of Harvard University. In 1845 Thomas Hull married Miss Anne Foster Bellows, and on April 27, 1849, Henry Barker Hill was born. Having spent his later school days in Cambridge, he entered Harvard College in 1865 at the age of sixteen years. Here his unusual versatility was soon rec- ognized by his early companions, who felt that with so many possibilities the choice of a profession must be difficult. His mathematical ability was rare; he pos- sessed a keen and sympathetic taste for music, and his literary and philological in- 842 SCIENCE. stincts were strong. When the decision was made, however, there was no swerving or faltering in the path. After gradua- tion in 1869, he went to Berlin, where he studied chemistry for a year with A. W. Hofmann. On returning to America, he was made assistant in chemistry in Har- yard University, a post which he held for four years. At the age of twenty-five he was promoted to an assistant professor- ship, and ten years afterwards became full professor. The always increasing admin- istrative duties of the growing department of chemistry were divided on the death of Professor Josiah Parsons Cooke in 1894, and Professor Hill was given the respon- sibility of the maragement of the laboratory as director, while Professor Charles Loring Jackson was made chairman of the depart- ment. During the nine years of his direc- torship, Professor Hill, with the utmost ingenuity, remodeled and enlarged an old and unsuitable building with such success as to provide available accommodation for over seven hundred men, and to increase immensely the efficiency of the institution. Administrative work of this kind was un- ‘dertaken with the conscious sacrifice of some of his dearly cherished scientific ideals, but no murmur of complaint escaped him. The long service of thirty-three years to Harvard University was unremit- ting; for he never claimed the occasional holiday-year which was his due. On September 2, 1871, he was married to Miss Ellen Grace Shepard, who with their son, Edward Burlingame Hill, sur- vives him. Im recent years their sum- mers have been spent in Dublin, New Hampshire, and bicycle rides thence to Cambridge on laboratory business were not unusual occurrences during the summer months. The National Academy of Sciences elected Professor Hill to membership as [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 439. long ago as 1883, and he was also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sci- ences and a member of the Washington Academy and of the American and Ger- man Chemical Societies. Professor Hull’s original scientific work was marked by the quality which pre- eminently characterized his whole life— absolute sincerity. At the outset, great enthusiasm enabled him soon to overconie the handicap of his somewhat inadequate training, and even his first paper on methylurie acid was an unusually thorough and convineing piece of work. Soon after- wards his fortunate discovery tof the rare substance furfurol among the products of the dry distillation of wood, enabled him to begin its imvestigation; and for twenty years his best thought was given to the derivatives of this substance, especially to pyromucic, mucobromic and muco- chlorie acids. This series of investigations constitutes a remarkably complete and sys- tematic whole, raising a large group of substances from a position of oblivion to one of commanding importance. Later his discovery of nitromalonie aldehyde led him to a number of interesting syntheses of the benzol ring; and last winter he was engaged in the study of derivatives of pyrazol, another ring-structure. An acute sense of the responsibility of publication was always in his mind; ac- cordingly his words were carefully weighed, and unusually free from misstate- ments. Work done by students was always repeated with his own hands before publi- cation—instead of being tested only here and there, after the manner of most chem- ists. His remarkable lectures on organic chemistry were noticeable for the same ad- mirable completeness; they presented a finely balanced and comprehensive view of the subject. In these lectures he occasion- ally expressed theoretical views of his own OLS Pr aie May 29, 1903.] which never appeared in print. Many of these views have since been generally adopted at the later independent sugges- tion of others less diffident about publica- tion. An example in point is his opinion concerning the structure of diazo bodies, first conceived by him over, twenty years ago, and now conceded to be the most prob- able hypothesis. Hill’s original work and his lectures were equally conspicuous for thorough knowledge, convincing logic and perfect sincerity. Until the end his highly eulti- vated and widely varied tastes continued to be sources of refreshment and pleasure to him, while to those of his colleagues who came closest he revealed also keen and appreciative sympathy, self-forgetting gen- erosity, a stanch and devoted friendship, undaunted courage, and above all, single- heartedness in the search for truth. T. W. R. THE STATUS OF PUBLIC MUSEUMS IN THE UNITED STATES. I. THE AUSPICES OF OUR MUSEUMS. No general discussion of the status of our museums has been attempted, although G. Brown Goode (see ‘Annual Report of Smithsonian Institution,’ 1897, Vol. IL., U. 8S. National Museum) has presented many phases of the subject in a masterly manner in his papers upon ‘The Genesis of the United States National Museum,’ “The Origin of the National Scientific and Educational Institutions of the United States,’ ‘The Beginnings of American Science,’ ete. He also instituted some comparisons between our museums and those of Europe, and in his report upon the condition and progress of the U. S. National Museum, 1892-93, he shows that while for 24 years the South Kensington Museum had spent an annual average of about $47,000 in the purchase of speci- SCIENCE. 843 mens, our National Museum had never spent more than $8,500 annually for this purpose. It is gratifying to observe that while our National Museum has been enabled to spend annually somewhat more for speci- mens than during the period referred to by Goode, yet in 1901 the American Museum of Natural History expended more than twice as much as the National Museum for this purpose. The whole question of museum status has become an important one, as we are in all probability upon the eve of a museum movement which may prove comparable with the great increase in efficiency and number of our public and school libraries, which during the five years from 1895 to 1900 have increased from 4,026 to 5,383, and the number of volumes from 33,051,- 872 to 44,591,851, or almost 35 per cent. No corresponding increase has taken place in the number of our public museums or in the magnitude of their collections; and, indeed, the subject has attracted so little public interest that no published lists of our museums are at present available, although a very valuable list of the natural history museums of the United States and Canada and an account of their collections are being prepared under the direction of Professor Frederick J. H. Merrill, of the New York State Museum, and will soon be published. Professor Merrill has been so kind as to allow me to inspect the proofsheets of this interesting work, and I am also indebted to the Smithsonian Institution for a partial list of the museums of the United States. Tt appears that within the United States there are at least 252 institutions which contain collections of objects of natural history. Of the total number, 176 or 70 per cent. are school, college or university museums; 31 are the museums of learned 844 societies; 29 are under national or state control, such as the museums of the various geological surveys, agricultural and mining bureaus, ete. Sixteen of our museums are not under the control of colleges, learned societies or national or state governments, but either are maintained by private en- dowment derived from public-spirited citizens, are supported by municipalities, or are under the control of boards of trus- tees, who administer funds derived both from cities and from private subscription. It is noteworthy that, although the num- ber of such institutions is as yet small, among them we find some of the greatest and most useful of our museums, such as the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Columbian Museum, the Car- negie Museum at Pittsburgh, ete. It is both sad and interesting to observe that no society composed primarily of learned men has succeeded in maintaining a thoroughly successful museum, yet forty- five years ago the leading museums of our country were controlled by such societies. It is possible that the government of these societies may have been too democratic to insure that permanency of policy and maintenance of a strong executive which appear to be necessary to. insure the suc- cess of American institutions of learning. However, these societies have not ad- vaneed in material resources at a rate com- parable with that of the country itself, and in consequence are relatively poorer to-day than they were many years ago. Their general lack of success is the more remark- able from the fact that most of them have existed in our wealthiest and most pro- eressive cities, and that while other insti- tutions of learning have received bountiful support from both private and public sources,* the museums of learned societies * Tn 1850 the funds of Yale University amount- ed to about $300,000. In 1902 they were over SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 439. have been relatively neglected. In other words, they have generally failed to inter- est men of wealth who are desirous of de- voting a portion of their resources to the advancement of public education. Experts upon scientific subjects are not usually adepts in matters of finance, and the successful management of a great mu- seum appears to demand that its financial resources and expenditures be under the control of a board of trustees composed of representative men of affairs, while the scientific policies of the institution might well be directed by men of science. Such, in general, is the scheme of man- agement of some of our best museums, and it would appear that our learned societies must surrender the control of financial matters into the hands of experts in finance before they can hope to achieve their due measure of success In museum manage- ment. It is much to be regretted that many of the collections which have fur- nished the basis for classic memoirs of sci- ence, and some of the most valuable scien- tific libraries in our country, are stored in buildings which are not fire-proof and are inadequate in many ways for the proper care and maintenance of the treasures which they contain. Turning to the subject of museums under the control of colleges and universi- ties: 176 such institutions are known to maintain collections in the natural sciences, while 44 more small colleges are believed to contain collections. It is safe to say that fully two thirds of these college museums are, aS Goode aptly states, “mere store- houses for the materials of which museums are made.’ Our universities, both under private endowments and under state con- trol, are developing good museums, but it $6,800,000. During the same period the funds of Harvard have increased from a little over $600,- 000 to more than $14,000,000. May 29, 1903.] is worthy of note that the most successful of these owe more of their prosperity to the generous interest and financial support of public-spirited individuals than to the col- lege itself. A good example of this condition is seen in the zoological museum of our oldest uni- versity, which, distinguished above all others for its publications of research and for having been the cradle of most of our leading naturalists, has been mainly de- pendent for many years upon the generous bounty of a single individual. Other ex- amples might be cited, but the above will suffice to show that even our greatest and richest universities have not been able to maintain museums worthy of their aims, unless aided by private subscriptions for the purpose. The financial resources of our universities have been taxed to the utmost in the erection of buildings and em- ployment of leading scholars upon their faculties, and few of them have been able to devote a due measure of support to mu- seums. Moreover, our universities have often failed to recognize the benefit which the museum may confer upon the institution as a whole as a-center for productive ~ scholarship and publication of research. Unfortunately, at present, museum cura- tors are too often narrow specialists who display little interest in subjects other than those which demand their immediate atten- tion, but the fact remains that the curator enjoys a unique opportunity in that he gains much of his knowledge direct from nature and that in this his opportunities for. rivaled. The organization of graduaté schools in our universities is beginning to demand the appointment of professors who shall be productive scholars and leaders of research, and who shall instil into the grad- uate students that thirst for knowledge and SCIENCE. research and exploration are un- 845 desire for its advancement which inspires the university students of Germany. The curators of university museums should be men of this stamp. Too often our college museums are vast storehouses of practically unstudied ma- terials under the charge of men who are already overworked in the prosecution of their duties as teachers of elementary facts, or worse still, under the control of special- ists who rarely or never may lecture to the student body, and whose store of valuable knowledge is wasted in seclusion. The university museum should be the center for, the intellectual life of the graduate student in the natural sciences. The cura- tors should be his teachers, and the re- sources of the museum should be constantly expanded to meet his needs, and to encour- age research which may lead to the dis- covery of new laws of science. It is remarkable that, although large sums have been given within recent years for the construction of buildings and for the purchase of collections in our museums, relatively little has been devoted to the endowment of publications of research. Our university museums must remain in- effective as centers for the advancement of science until this defect has been overcome. It appears that museums under purely political or governmental auspices have in our country rarely attamed to that suc- cess which one might reasonably have ex- pected them to have achieved. Without in the least reflecting upon the character or abilities of the corps of emi- nent men of science whose names are in- separably connected with that of our Na- tional Museum, and who in the face of limited means and meager opportunities have devoted their lives to its service, it may not be too much to say that this insti- tution should be granted a greater measure of independence, its curators should have 846 more freedom to devote their energies to the advancement of science, and the mu- seum must receive more effectual rather than greater financial support before it can hope to attain to that exalted position among the world’s museums which should be occupied by the National Museum of the United States. On the whole, it appears that our most successful museums are those in which the financial control is vested in boards of trustees composed of representative, pub- lic-spirited men of affairs, who serve with- out salary and who determine the expendi- ture of funds derived from both public and private sources. Such boards of trus- tees should be and usually are dependent upon the advice of scientific men for sug- gestions concerning the scope, management and educational policy of the museum. The responsibility incident to the admin- istration of public funds maintains the sta- bility and efficiency of the board, and en- ables it to secure the services of men of culture, energy and influence, whose con- nection with the museum becomes an im- portant factor in maintaining public in- terest and respect for the institution. II. SCOPE, DISTRIBUTION AND RESOURCES. From a study of Merrill’s ‘List of the Natural History Museums of the United States,” The American Art Annual, 1900, and other sources of information, it ap- pears that there are within the United States at least 233 museums of natural his- tory, 13 of science and the fine arts, 6 of science and industrial arts, 34 of fine arts, 11 of industrial arts, 20 of history, and 26 which combine art, history, archeology and ethnology in varying proportions. There are thus at least 348 collections in the fields of art, science and history open to the pub- lic of the United States. It is evident that our country is already SCIENCE. {N.S. Von. XVII. No. 439. rich in incipient museums, for while many of the collections recorded above are mere “materials out of which museums may be made,’ there is reason to expect that a large proportion of them will ultimately develop into creditable museums. The fact that there appear, to be but 17 museums devoted to the industrial arts in the United States is remarkable when we consider the enormous progress which our country has made in this direction. This may possibly be taken as an indication of the general lack of interest in museums which prevailed until within recent years. in our country, and this explanation ap- pears more probable when we consider that among our most valuable industrial collections are those in the Patent Office building, which were accumulated not primarily for the purpose of establish- ing a museum, and that such exhibitions. are either insignificant or altogether wanting in our great industrial cities. With the exception of Philadelphia, our industrial cities have not yet awakened to an appreciation of the valuable educa- tional influence which may accrue through. the exhibition of carefully selected and clearly labeled models of machinery and. apparatus used in the arts and trades, and displays of products in various stages of manufacture. Certainly the remarkable advance which Germany has achieved in manufacture and in the industrial arts has received sub- stantial aid from her great industrial mu- seums, where these processes may be studied. in detail. Our technical schools and ecol- leges should devote more attention to the establishment of well-planned museums, wherein the processes of the arts and the history of inventions may be exhibited. Although our museums are most de- ficient in industrial exhibits, they are but little better im their historical dis- May 29, 1903.] plays. Only 43 museums known to the writer contain historical exhibits, and 84 per cent. of these are in the oldest states. Massachusetts leads with 12 such mu- seums. Pennsylvania has 10, Virginia 4, Washington, D. C., and New York 3 each, while California and Illinois have 2 each. Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Rhode Island and Utah have each one such museum. Nearly all of these museums are under the control of historical societies, most of which receive little or no aid from public grants and, in common with other learned societies in our country, are financially poor and becoming rela- tively poorer as the country develops. A museum of history maintained at least par- tially by public funds should be established in each of our leading cities. Although remarkable progress has been made in the establishment of museums of art in our eountry within the past ten years, these institutions still exist in sur- prisingly small numbers even in some of our richest states. Massachusetts has 14, New York and Pennsylvania 12 each, Washington, D. C., 7, California 3, Colo- rado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Rhode Island and Virginia have 2 each, while Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin each have 1. In addition to these, how- ever, there are 19 general museums which are devoted to both science and art. Highty per cent. of our art museums are in the states on the Atlantic seaboard. The majority of these institutions are art gal- leries rather than museums of art. No- where is the labeling more imperfeet or the arrangement of the exhibits more illogical, from the educational standpoint, than in most of our art museums. Almost no effort is made to give a comprehensive view of the development of art, and the pictures are arranged to produce what is known as SCIENCE. 847 an ‘artistic effect’ rather than to show the sequence of the various schools or the causes of their rise and decline. We also learn but little of the life histories of the artists, their aims or achievements, and the display is designed to appeal more to the eye than to the mind. It is not the purpose of this article to criticise, but to indicate what might be done in the future. No de- partment of museum activity can exert a more immediately refining influence upon the people or lead more surely and rapidly to a higher development of public appre- ciation of the beautiful, than that of art. The contrast between the architecture in our American cities and that of those in Europe is sufficient warrant for the con- clusion that although great improvements have been made within the past few years, public appreciation is still erude and un- educated in matters of art. Our oldest, most numerous and, in gen- eral, richest museums are those devoted to natural history. These are more uniformly distributed over the country than are mu- seums of other sorts, only 46 per cent. of them being found in the region comprised in the original thirteen states. New York leads with at least 31 such museums, then follow Pennsylvania with 19, Massachu- setts 17, Illimois 15, Ohio 14, and Cali- fornia with 10. Not only are the natural history museums of New York and Penn- sylvania more numerous than those of Massachusetts, but the annual income of a single natural history museum in New York is much greater than the combined incomes of all such museums in Massachu- setts, and the richest museum in Massachu- setts has not one third the annual income of the Field Columbian Museum of Chi- cago. Although now small and poorly sup- ported financially, a generation ago the natural history museums of Massachusetts 848 SCIENCE, were the most creditable in our country, and while they are still distinguished as having been the fields of labor of some of our greatest naturalists and as having pro- duced research work of high and lasting value to science, yet are they doomed to sink into insignificance in comparison with those of New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and California unless that public spirit which has ever distinguished Massachusetts be immediately aroused in their behalf. NuMBER OF MUSEUMS IN EACH STATE. Da 2) H her) Bee |e Name of State. 4 BR g a) ge] 2 | 78 Wew SW@HEoasocoasccosoancoes 31 13 44 Pennsylvania ..............-. 19 18 37 Massachusetts .............-- 17 90 37 THUNACNS o.55ee0n0000050K008000 15 3 18 Chie, Sooonseouscosoooued 10 5 15 ONO “sascecsscoedo oadsowodos 14 1 15 District of Columbia......... 6 8 14 \Wiyemaine, ooocooonocnoc0e0cKDC 4 5 9 Glolomeicloy Sobsooounoccodaaades 6 b) 8 IMME soa aodosonooecoodo0b0 8 0 8 Wierevlleingl sasocacccccsooa0nde 5 3 8 WME COGN Soop pace oo doboosas 7 1 8 (CKoaeouleniy Gosasasocucse00ca 5 D) 7 OWE Seep eoaroen aoe. sas oere 7 0 7 WIMESGOUIN sao oodoceodoocobduDS 6 1 7 Rhode Island ............... 4 3 7 Indiana, Minnesota, Tennessee. 5 0 5 Georgia, Maine, Michigan.... 4 1 5 Kentucky, South Carolina, Ver- mont, Washington ......... 4 0 4 ING JGWEAy s554555c0000ccGos 3 1 4 Alabama, Mississippi, Ne- braska, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Texas....... 3 0 3 OREGON soochoocssatoncosacee 2 1 3 Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, North. Carolina, North Da- Kota, Witany Acris eres cs 2 0 2 iINeWwr Mexicoy a4] e--iaelaee 1 1 2 Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Indian Territory,| Montana, Oklahoma, West| Virginia, Wyoming ........ 1 0 1 Within recent years Boston has acquired what is probably the most extensive and well-planned system of public parks in our country, but it must be stated, to her dis- [N. S. Von. XVII. No..439. eredit, that she gives nothing to the support of her museums, all of which are struggling against undeserved poverty. Im this re- spect she is more conservative than New York, Philadelphia or Chicago; and even small cities of Massachusetts display a more enlightened policy than Boston.* The accompanying table gives the geo- graphical distribution of our museums. RESOURCES AND EXPENDITURE OF OUR MU- SEUMS. No general consideration of museum economy in the United States has hitherto been attempted. Believing that some inter- esting results might be derived from such a study, an examination was made of the latest treasurers’ reports of sixteen of our leading museums, such as the National Mu- seum, American Museum of Natural His- tory, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Field Columbian Museum, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, Free Mu- seum of Science and Art of the University of Pennsylvania, The Museum and Library of the Art Institute of Chicago, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, Museum of the Boston Society of Natural History, Cincinnati Museum Association, Peabody Museum of Archeology in Cam- bridge, Detroit Art Museum, and three other institutions which are under political auspices and whose employees are con- trolled by civil service rules. The total an- nual income of these museums amounted to $1,418,144, of which $723,583 was derived from public grants, while $694,561 was ob- tained from private sources consisting of gifts, subscriptions, interest on endowment and admission fees. This amount does not include balances on hand at the beginning of the year or the proceeds of sales of speci- *In 1901-02 the city of Springfield, Massa- chusetts, appropriated $29,945 for the mainte- nance of its museums and library. ee ee May 29, 1903.] mens or catalogues, but represents the voluntary contribution of individuals to the direct support of the museum. These museums expended $725,116 for salaries and wages, from which we see that the public support which they received was not quite sufficient to meet this item alone, the entire expense for maintenance, pur- chase of specimens, cost of expeditions, libraries and publications bemg, so to speak, borne by voluntary subscription of private individuals. It is possible to discover the amounts paid for specimens in the case of thirteen of these museums; the total sum being $80,828, or less than twice the sum an- SCIENCE. 849 4.9 per cent. for expeditions, 5.7 per cent. for publication of researches and 1 per cent. for books, pamphlets and binding; leaving 31.3 per cent. for maintenanee, re- pairs, cases, installation of collections, ete. The museums under political auspices, whose employees serve under civil service rules, show poor economy in their manage- ment in comparison with that of museums whose finances are managed by boards of trustees not subjected to political in- fluences, and who have full control over the administration of public or private funds, with power to appoint and discharge all museum employees under rules of their own making. . 32 Sie ce oi | oe | 83. | oe Et Beg | oeSS | cstod | FE | BS | cee | ase 3S 3 to BnZa Bands a =] SEC ek=rs q Bas eos OARS a) i i | Sou Name of Museum. S| aEe Snes HRSSo ae ge sig | g23 FI Boo | SeGh | Sakae | "2 | 88 | Seu | O38 5 & ous peste os S38 | Se yee | Se val = o Ag 5° ae (lS) ie) = Au Ay my Oy a ieey ot National Museum....... June 30, 66 42 4.6 0.7 47 1901. American Museum of| Dec. 31, 45 10.2 | 9.6 0.6 5.4 Natural History...... 1901. Field Columbian Mu- | Sept. 30, 53 Janitors, | 6.9 | 7.4 0.4 2.5 seum ........ secancdnecnea 1901. guards, labor, 22. Carnegie Museum of |March 31, 52 13.6 8.2 2.2 5.1 Natural History .....| 1902. nually expended by the Kensington Mu-~ seum for this purpose.- Hight of the mu- seums maintained expeditions for collection or research, and these cost in the aggregate $48,544. Nine institutions expended a total of $58,118 in the publication of re- searches, and twelve expended a total sum of $13,895 for books, pamphlets and bind- ing. In other words, in these sixteen mu- seums we find that 51 per cent. of their in- come came from public grants, and 49 per cent. from private sources, while 51 per cent. of their total Income was expended in salaries and wages. Where the amounts are known, an average of 6.1 per cent. of their income was expended for specimens, For example, the four institutions under civil service rules expended from 45 per cent. to 75 per cent. of their incomes in the payment of salaries and wages, the average being 63.7 per cent.; whereas the twelve museums not under eivil service recula- tions expend from 25 per cent. to 66 per cent. in salaries and wages, the average being 45 per cent. or 18.7 per cent. lower than that of the institutions under the civil service. A fair example of the general lack of economy of civil service administration in our museums is illustrated by a comparison of the expenditure’ of our National Museum with that of three non-political institutions, 850 such as the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Columbian Museum and the Carnegie Museum of Natural His- tory in Pittsburgh. This comparison appears fair, owing to the fact that the management of our Na- tional Museum is more economical than that of many other prominent museums under political auspices.* The results are presented in the table on previous page showing the percentage of total income de- voted to various purposes. In general, it appears that museums under political control expend more for salaries and wages and less for specimens than do those whose management is en- trusted to boards of trustees who have power to appoint and discharge employees independent of civil service rules. Mu- seums under civil service rules, however, expend relatively more for books and pam- phlets, and more for the publication of re- search, than do public museums not under political control. The museums of universities or of learned societies, however, lead in the pro- portionate amount devoted to the develop- ment of their libraries and to publication of original research, and these institutions have in our country contributed to the ad- vancement of science and education in a ratio wholly disproportionate to their rel- atively meager income. An analysis of the expenditures for salaries and wages in our museums under civil service shows that in general they pay much more for the services of clerks, guards and laborers than for the salaries of * The National Museum being the repository for all collections made under the direction of gov- ernment, is not obliged to maintain expeditions under its own auspices. The sum of $2,016, or 0.7 per cent. of its total income, was devoted to ‘travel.’ SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 439. men of science, artists and skilled pre- parators, while the reverse is the case in museums under other auspices. The mu- seums of colleges are most economical in their appropriation for salaries, but in many such museums the lack of curatorial work upon the collections is very apparent, and renders their educational value insig- nificant in comparison with that of collec- tions which have received, more attention in labeling and arrangement. Also the universities often rely, to a considerable extent, upon the services of unpaid cura- tors, who devote only a portion of their time to museum work and whose spasmodic efforts are, on the whole, unsatisfactory. As Sir William Flower* aptly states: ““What a museum really depends upon for its success and usefulness is not its build- ing, not its cases, not even its specimens, but its curator. He and his staff are the life and soul of the institution, upon whom its whole value depends.’’ Specimens are materials only; their use- fulness depends upon what is done with them. Our museums can do no better than to obtain the services of men of the best scientific training and efficiency. We re- quire better rather than more men. Mu- seums from their nature afford exceptional opportunities for study, research and ex- ploration, and may be made peculiarly attractive as fields of labor for men of sci- ence who desire to increase knowledge. The leading men of science in our country should be found in the museums, but a narrow policy in the granting of oppor- tunity for research, exploration and pub- lication, and the general poverty of our museums, have confined them largely to our universities, where their efforts are devoted to elementary teaching rather *¢Hssays on Museums and Other Subjects Con- nected with Natural History,’ London, 1898, p. 12. May 29, 1903.] than to productive scholarship,* and this condition will hardly improve until our universities ean afford to appoint pro- fessors who shall lecture exclusively to the students of the graduate school. As a whole, our museums expend too small a proportion of their resources upon the development of their more serious aims, such as the maintenance of learned libraries, the publication of research and encouragement of exploration. The great majority of our museums contribute little or nothing to the direct advancement of knowledge, either in publication of original work, or in the maintenance of lecture courses given by acknowledged masters. Moreover, the installation, arrangement and labeling of their collections, and econ- omy in expenditure leave much to be de- sired. It is true that all of these deficien- cles are in a measure traceable to the poor support which our museums receive from public funds, a fact which is apparent when we consider that the British Museum in 1897-98 received a public grant of about $812,000 or more than the entire public support given more recently to sixteen of our best museums whose finances we have been considering. In European countries the state of civil- ization and development of culture of each nation is certainly commensurable with the development of its museums. Measured by this standard, the United States com- pares unfavorably with other civilized countries. This investigation appears to show that the average well-managed museum in the United States devotes one half of its an- “nual income to salaries and wages, one * An excellent exposition of the inefficiency of our universities as centers for the production of research is given by Hugo Miinsterberg, ‘ Ameri- can Traits from the Point of View of a German,’ Chapter IIT., ‘ Scholarship,’ 1901, Houghton Mifflin and Co. SCIENCE. 851 third to maintenance, installation and re- pairs, and only about one sixth of its in- come to expeditions, library, publications of research and purchase of specimens. ALFRED GOLDSBOROUGH MayEr. MUSEUM OF THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. MONTANA AS A FIELD FOR AN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS AND LETTERS." Ir seems appropriate at this meeting, the first in the history of the work of the Mon- tana Academy of Sciences, Arts and Let- ters, to discuss the opportunities for work in the state, rather than to take the dis- cussion of some problem or phase of work, tempting as the latter may be. In this day of many societies and organizations, when each line of work has its own organization, with a membership composed of those di- rectly interested in the work fostered by the organization, it would appear that new organizations and societies should not be brought into existence without good rea- sons for so doing. Let us present some of the reasons for the organization of this academy. In organization lies strength. Accord- ing to the laws of physics, if a thousand separate forces act upon an object from different directions the object will move in the direction of the component of all the forces and with the force exerted by it. This component may be smaller than any single force, when the forces act against each other. Or it may be the sum of all of them when they act together. Hach human being may be considered to repre- sent a force. The sum total of progress represents the combined action of all the forces of the different units, human beings. When the work is concerted and not an- tagonistic, progress is rapid. When every * Address delivered at the first meeting of the Montana Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, at Bozeman, Montana, December 29, 1902. 852 man is at war with his neighbor advance- ment is slow. The strength of organization has long been recognized. The political ‘machine’ may not number many politicians, but its power is well known. Church organiza- tions have for centuries been powerful agencies among men, controlling both thought and action. Capitalists organize, making many monopolies into one gigantic monopoly, and threatening the peace of the world. Nations form alliances for pro- tection. Laborers unite as a unit to bring about reforms and better to protect them- selves from abuses of employers. The wave of organization is sweeping onward with great force. Nothing to-day prom- ises success without organization and con- certed action. Proof of this is the great number of societies of various kinds, with titles expressive of their importance and work. This banding together of human beings for mutual good is usually of two grades or degrees, 7. €., local and state or national. Local associations deal with affairs imme- diately at hand. State and national socie- ties discuss subjects broader and more far- reaching in scope, omitting such details as refer to single localities. There is thus a double tie of strength in organization. The strength of the national or state so- ciety is measured in great part by the strength of the local associations. ~Hach aids and supports the other. If the foregoing is sound reasoning there is much to be expected from such an or- ganization in the state as that proposed in the Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. The teachers of the state have their state association, with its various departments. With this we do not wish to interfere. The agriculturists, wool-growers, cattle- men, horticulturists, laborers of various callings, physicians and others have their local and state organizations or both, in SCIENCE. [N. 8. Von. XVII. No. 439. order the more effectually to accomplish the work the individual members see should be done. By such an association an indi- vidual idea soon becomes common prop- erty. The good things are quickly sifted and are pressed by the power of the whole association instead of by the individual who first conceives them. Most of the great achievements of the world have come about through exchange of ideas. The occasional meetings of kindred spirits for the discussion of topics in which there is mutual interest are pro- ductive of far more good and are much more effective than is usually considered. At such gatherings there is an unusual stimulus for thought. Business or profes- sional cares are subordinated to the work of the association, and the thought and attention are directed solely to the subjects presented. 2), 16, p'(p > 2), p'a, 32, p’(p > 2); simple groups of low orders; orders of com- posite and soluble groups; systems of simple groups. Some minor remarks or corrections are here in order. In § 21, for ‘class’ read ‘ de- gree.” In § 44, for ‘product of two elements’ read ‘product of any two elements.’ In § 26, add alternative designation ‘ commutative JUNE 5, 1903.] group” and remark that ‘abelian group’ is used in an entirely different sense in linear group theory. In § 38, on abstract groups, it is stated that ‘these generating elements define the group completely,’ whereas the gen- erating elements with a complete set of gen- erational relations are necessary for the def- inition of the group; also as alternative for ‘equations’ should be given ‘generational relations.’ In § 63 add ‘itself and. In § 73, 83 the correspondence should be defined. For (m—1) read (m, 1). In § 74, for (m—n) read (m, n). Im §85, the identity group is not, as usual, included in the composition series. In § 239 is quoted incorrectly the review- er’s generalization of Hermite’s theorem on the analytic representation of a substitution of degree p*. The two congruences modulo p* should be equations in the Galois field of order ;*, Since the variable z is indeterminate in the field, the only reduction consists in apply- ing the algebraic equation z?°—z and redu- cing the coefficients modulo p. In formula 9 of page 84, p?" —1 should read p2” —1. For so elaborate a piece of work, executed with such thoroughness and success, both the specialist and the beginner in- group theory must feel most grateful. In pointing out various errors in the literature, a valuable service has been rendered to the student. L. E. Dickson. Pathologische Pflanzenanatomie. E. Ktstmr. Gustav Fischer, Jena. 1903. 8vo. Pp. iv + 312; 121 figs. Dr. Kiister’s investigations upon gall-for- mations and structures of similar character in the plant has led him to a discussion of the entire subject of pathological anatomy of plants. The text-book resulting from this treatment of the subject takes into considera- tion the major structures that might be con- sidered as histological or organographical de- partures from the normal, but does not include degenerations, or the phenomena of decay due to fungi or other causes. The various abnormalities are classified ac- cording to the cytological and topographical © features presented by their development, and are embraced under the following general SCIENCE. 905 heads: Restitution, Hypoplasie, Metaplasie, Hypertrophie and Hyperplasie. Restitution is the term applied to all processes set in ac- tivity by the loss of a tissue or an organ, and may include the replacement of the lost mem- bers by the development of new ones on ad- jacent parts of the body, or on the injured surface; the substitution of an organ of a different character arising on the injured sur- face, or the substitution of an organ of a dif- ferent character on adjacent portions of the plant. Hypoplasie includes all processes re- sulting from disturbances of any kind in which the number, size or differentiation of the cells does not attain the normal. Meta- plasie is taken to include all development of the protoplasts by which their structure, com- position, form or character of the membrane is different from the normal, and includes all progressive changes of the cell not connected with growth and division. Hypertrophy is used in its accepted sense to designate the production of abnormally large cells which may be aggregated in such manner as to re- sult in abnormally large organs. Such en- largements may ensue in meristematic or permanent tissues. Hyperplasie is used to designate the abnormal increase in the ‘yolume of a tissue resulting from an unusual multiplication of the cells. Such inerease in the number of cells may consist in the forma- tion of a surplus number of the ordinary tissues, or by the formation of cells of a dif- ferent character, such as in galls or calluses. The two last-named divisions of the subject are of the greatest importance from the stand- point of the practical pathologist, and are given an adequate treatment in the present volume. These sections of the book owe much of their value to the original matter ad- duced by the author from his own investiga- tion. The concluding section of the book consists in a general consideration of the etiology and morphology and pathological structures, and sets forth some of the more important problems of general pathology. Dr. Kiister’s book is invaluable to the stu- dent of plant pathology, and has much more to commend it than any of the few reading books on the subject which have been written 906 SCIENCE. in English, or been translated into that lan- guage. Its interest is scarcely less for the physiologist and for the botanist concerned with the problems of alterations and adapta- tions of structure. D. T. MacDouaat. New York BoranicaAL GARDEN, Bronx Park. Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Entwicklungs- geschichte der wirbellosen Thiere. Allge- meiner Theil. Erste und Zweite Auflage. Zweite Lieferung. By EH. Korscurntt and K. Hemer. Jena, Gustav Fisher. 1903. The second instalment of the general part of Korschelt and Heider’s ‘ Lehrbuch,’ which has recently appeared, maintains the high standard of excellence which we have learned to expect from these authors. The instal- ment includes only the sixth chapter, that dealing with the maturation of the germ cells and with the phenomena of fertilization, but it runs to more than two hundred large oc- tavo pages and contains over eighty figures. These numbers will give some idea of the comprehensiveness with which the subjects named have been treated, especially if it be remembered that not a little collateral ma-~ terial was considered in the first instalment of the work and is, therefore, omitted or merely referred to in the present part. When all is of such general excellence it may seem invidious to make special mention of certain of the sections. In section IV., however, there is presented an admirable statement and discussion of the maturation divisions in their relation to the reduction question, and in its presentation certain new terms are introduced to indicate the three methods of maturation division recognized by Hacker. To the method, observed by Boveri in Ascaris, in which both the divisions of the chromosomes are longitudinal and in which, accordingly, there is no reduction division in the Weismannian sense, the term ewmitotic is applied, since it is the method characteristic of ordinary somatic mitoses. For that method in which one of the chromosome divi- sions is transverse and the other longitudinal the term pseudomitotic is suggested, and this method is subdivided into a method of post- [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 440. reduction division in which the so-called re- duction division succeeds the equation division and a method of prereduction division in which the reduction division is the first to occur. The possibility of a fourth method in which both divisions are reduction divisions is admitted, but it is held that at present its occurrence is not proved. An excellent section is also that on the maturation of parthenogenetic ova, in which the question of the development of ova with a subnormal number of chromosomes is con- sidered. As in the preceding instalment of the work the statement of facts is throughout thorough, elear and well arranged, and opportunity is taken to discuss fairly their bearing on gen-. eral questions, sections of great interest being devoted to the significance of the numerical reduction of the chromosomes in maturation, to sex determination, to the significance of fertilization, and as an appendix there is added an excellent review of the theories of heredity and the allied theories of differentiation. The figures are throughout well chosen and reproduced and there is an extensive bib- liographieal list. J. P. McM. SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. Tue American Anthropologist for January— March (Vol. V., No. 1), recently published, contains an exceptionally large number of articles, in addition to the usual book reviews, - periodical literature and anthropologic mis- cellanea. ‘The Native Languages of Cali- fornia’ are treated, with seven plates, by Drs. Roland B. Dixon and A. L. Kroeber, the classification of these interesting linguistic groups dealing with structural resemblances rather than with definite genetic relationships —the aim being to establish not linguistic families, but types of families. The illus- trated article, ‘Sheet-Copper from the Mounds is not necessarily of European Origin, by Mr. Clarence B. Moore, with a discussion by Mr. Joseph D. McGuire and others, is an able presentation of both sides of a long-dis- puted question in American archeology. Bear- ing on the same theme is an article by Warren K. Moorehead, ‘ Are the Hopewell Copper Ob- JUNE 5, 1903.] jects Prehistoric?’ followed by ‘ Primitive Metal Working,’ by C. C. Willoughby. The entire question of aboriginal American cop- per-working is debated and many new evi- dences brought out by specialists who have devoted much time to the study of the prob- lem of prehistoric metal-working and in ex- perimental work with primitive appliances. In ‘American Indian Games (41902)’ Mr. Stewart Culin, the recognized authority on this subject, presents his most recent conclu- sions. Dr. George Grant MacCurdy reviews the ‘Progress in Anthropology at Peabody Museum, Yale University,’ during the last few years, describing the field work conducted and the more important collections made. Some ‘Parsee Religious Ceremonial Objects in the National Museum’ are described, with illustrations, by Dr. I. M. Casanowicz, intro- ducing his paper with a brief account of the Parsees and their religious beliefs. Dr. Frank Russell, in an article on ‘Pima An- nals, deseribes some interesting tally-sticks of the Pimas of Arizona on which are kept mnemonic or pictographic records of events, such as battles or skirmishes, infrequent natural phenomena, relations with white people, festivals, killings during drinking bouts, ete. The four ‘annals’ described cover the years 1833-4, 1836-7, 1857-8 and 1881-2. Mr. Clark Wissler, in a paper on ‘ The Growth of Boys, gives in tabular form a series of correlations for the annual increments, based on some 1,500 annual measurements of about 300 individuals of a private school for boys. Dr. Maurice Fishberg treats of pigmentation among the Jews, continuing from the last number of the journal his discussion of the “Physical Anthropology of the Jews.’ Mr. S. C. Simms describes, with an outline figure, a curious ‘ Wheel-shaped Stone Monu- ment in Wyoming,’ the former use of which is problematical. Mr. George F. Kunz pre- sents a biographie sketch, with an excellent portrait, of the late Heber R. Bishop, and deseribes the remarkable jade collection which Mr. Bishop presented to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The proceedings of the meeting of Section H of the American Asso- SCIENCE. 907 ciation for the Advancement of Science, with it affiliated societies, at the Washington meet- ing, is given by Dr. George Grant MacCurdy, and the number closes with an account of the organization of the American Anthropological Association, with its constitution and a list of the officers and members. The American Anthropologist is now pub- lished under the auspices of the new associa- tion, of which it is the official organ, as well as that of the Anthropological Society of Washington and the American Ethnological Society of New York. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS. At the meeting of April 20, 1903, Professor J. A. Holmes gave an illustrated account of some of the efforts that are being made in the United States to preserve the forests and other natural features of the country, showing what is being done for the preservation of some of the great scenic features and partic- ularly what the national government is doing in the way of national parks and forest re- serves and in the protection of the forests on such reservations. One person was elected to active member- ship. At the meeting of May 4, 1903, Mr. H. A. Wheeler gave an account, illustrated by several lantern slides and some of the recently ejected material, of the active Mexican volcano Colima, of which he saw some of the recent eruptions. It was shown that the material now being ejected is a trachyte, or belongs to the acid series of lavas, while the basal plain of the voleano is of basalt, which is basic, resting upon volcanic tufa. It was pointed out that this sequence reverses the Richtofen order of voleanie discharges, from which it was considered probable that there have been other centers of lava outflow besides the now visible vents of Mt. Colima (active) and Mt. Zapotlan (inactive). Samples of the ash from the eruption of February 28, in the form of granules 1 to 2 mm. in diameter, which fell at Tixpan, some twenty-five miles from the crater, and which were secured by Pro- 908 SCIENCE. fessor Trelease, contained 62.5 per cent. of silica, according to the analysis of Mr. W. M. Chauvenet. An amendmeht to the by-laws was adopted, providing that the home recently presented to the academy shall not be mortgaged or voluntarily encumbered and shall not be sold except with the consent of two thirds of the members, obtained by letter ballot, and, if sold, the proceeds, or so much thereof as may be necessary, are to be used to provide another home for the academy. At the meeting of May 18, 1903, Dr. C. Barck gave a detailed account of the Grand Cation of the Colorado, with lantern illustra- tions. After an outline of the geology, past and present, of the plateau province and the caiion district, he gave a description of the latter and added a report of its first deliberate crossing. This was made by Mr. James and himself in 1901. They started from Bass’s camp, about twenty-four miles west of the Bright Angel Hotel. Their point of destina- tion, ‘Point Sublime,’ on the northern rim of the cation, was reached, after some difficult traveling, on the fifth day; the return took three days. One person was elected to active member- ship. WiLuiam TRELEASE, Recording Secretary. AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. . NORTHEASTERN SECTION. ; Tue forty-fitth regular meeting of the sec- tion was held on Friday, May 22, at 8 p.M., at the Technology Club, Boston, Vice-President Henry Howard in the chair. Thirty-five members were present. Professor S. W. Stratton, of Washington, D. C., gave an address on ‘The National Bureau of Standards,’ in which he first gave a historical introduction describing the legal standards of length and weight used in this country from 1776 to 1901, when the National Bureau of Standards was established by act of Congress. The functions of this bureau are briefly the comparison of the standards used in scientific investigation, engineering, menutfacturing, commerce and educational [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 440. institutions with the standards adopted or recognized by the government, the construc- tion when necessary of standards, their multi- ples and subdivisions, the testing and calibra- tion of standard measuring apparatus, the solution of problems which arise in connec- tion. with standards, the determination of physical constants and the properties of ma- terials. The bureau is authorized to exercise its functions for the government of the United States, for state and municipal govern- ments within the United States, for scientific- societies, educational institutions, firms, cor- porations or individuals. Temporary quar- ters are now occupied by the bureau, and two permanent buildings in the outskirts of Wash- ington are in process of erection, one of which, the mechanical laboratory, is now nearly com- pleted, and will contain the mechanical and electrical plant, instrument shop and labora- tories for experimental work or testing requir- ing considerable power or large currents. The second building is a physical laboratory and will be of extra heavy construction, and will contain laboratories for testing and investiga- tion in connection with problems concerning length, mass and capacity. A large space is to be devoted to electrical measurements of all kinds, and the upper floors are to be used as chemical laboratories. The buildings are con- nected with a tunnel, part of which will be used as a laboratory for experiments requiring a long distance. The lecturer described the present work of the bureau in verifying standards of length, mass and capacity, electrical resistance and capacity, electromotive force, photometry, temperature standards, calibration of chem- ical glassware, ete., and showed several lan- tern slides of plans of the buildings under construction. ArtHur M. Comry, Secretary. MEETING OF THE BERZELIUS SOCIETY. Tue eighty-fifth monthly meeting of the Berzelius Chemical Society was held in the Department of Agriculture Laboratory, Mon- day, May 4. The program was filled by Mr. J. W. White, student in dyeing at the A. & b 4 % = JUNE 5, 1903. ] M. College, and by Dr. B. W. Kilgore, state chemist. t Mr. White read a paper embodying a re- port of studies made of the sulphur class of dyes, which are to-day the most interesting elass of colors with which the cotton dyer has to work. Samples were obtained from Mr. White from all the leading dye-stuff dealers. These samples were submitted to all the different tests corresponding to the tests through which the cotton must pass in actual use, and in all these tests the new class of sulphur colors showed themselves very much superior to the direct cotton colors now in use, and they promise to ultimately replace the dye-stuffs now on the market, and entirely change the method for dying cotton goods with direct dye-stuffs. The paper was illus- trated with dyed samples which had been tested to all the different conditions. Dr. Kilgore filled the program for a short time with a discussion of the recent work of the soil survey in this state. Though the work has not. progressed far enough to draw very many conclusions, several very interesting things were noted. Im analysis made of soil waters, for plant food, as was to be supposed, it was found that the more leachy sandy soils contained the largest amount of plant food in solution in the third and second foot in depth. It is interesting, however, to note that the same holds with the red clay soils in the Piedmont section of the state. In the study of the composition of type soils of the state, which work is being carried on by the department, it has been found that lime is present in seemingly unusually small amounts. In the red-clay soils in the Pied- mont section of the state, where there were considerable amounts of phosphoric acid, ni- trates and potash, analysis revealed scarcely a trace of lime. This would indicate that the soils are in actual need of an application of lime, but of course for definite conclusion this would have to be tested experimentally. J. S. Catzs, Secretary. RateicH, N. C., May 5, 1903. SCIENCE. 909 DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. MOUNT PBELEE. To tHE Eprror or Science: Should not the Martinique volcano be called either Mont Pelé or La Montagne Pelée or in plain Eng- lish Mount Pelee (no accent)? My impression from a visit to St. Pierre and Morne Rouge in 1895 is that the common name was La Montagne Pelée and I understood that pelée was an adjective meaning bare like the Spanish pelado, also applied to bare or wood- less hills. J remember that the mountain did not then seem to have any bare surface at all. Of course, if an adjective, the form to go with the masculine mont is pelé and with the feminine montagne is pelée, and the combi- nation Mont Pelée is neither French nor Kng- lish. I am reminded of this now by what seems a complete confirmation in Professor Heilprin’s book at page 166, although he calls his work ‘Mont Pelée and the Tragedy of Martinique. Geo. Kennan’s ‘Tragedy of Pelée’ is non-committal and his use of the name always accurate. In Stark’s ‘Guide to Barbados and the Caribbee Islands,’ Boston, 1893, the form Mt. Pelee (mo accent) occurs at p. 42. This I suppose should be read Mount Pelee on usual English analogies. The writing of a French accent, however, seems to involve the correct French form of the word. Mark 8. W. JEFFERSON. THE PROPOSED BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY AT THE TORTUGAS. To THE Eprror or SciENcE: Professor Mayer, of the Brooklyn Museum, has asked me to give my opinion on the advisability of estab- lishing a tropical biological station in Ameri- can waters. I think that such a station would be an in- valuable aid to biological research in all de- partments, and no one who is acquainted with the rich fauna of the Mediterranean and even of British seas can help regretting the way in which work is hampered by the comparative paucity of life on our northeastern coasts. West Indian waters would, however, sur- pass in interest and variety of species the Mediterranean. 910 It seems to me that a station on one of the Bahama Islands, if possible in a place where some sheltered or lagoon water could be had, would be the situation most to be desiderated. KH. W. MacBripe. McGitt UNIVERSITY. SHORTER ARTICLES. THE FIRST EDITION OF HOLBROOK’S NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY. In a ‘biographical memoir of John Ed- wards Holbrook,’ prepared for the National Academy of Sciences, and in the compilation of which I took unusual care, I assumed that only three volumes of the first edition of the “North American Herpetology’ had been pub- lished. Im the ‘publisher’s note’ to the second edition it was, indeed, explicitly stated that ‘in consequence of * * * the demand for the first three volumes it became necessary either to reprint them or to make a new edi- tion,’ and thus by implication it was certified that no later volume of the first edition had been published. With this statement all the many bibliographies and works I had con- sulted agreed. I was not a little surprised, therefore, when I received a letter from my friend, Mr. Wit- mer Stone, informing me that ‘ the last word’ has not been said on the ‘ Herpetology, and that there was a fourth volume of the first edition in the library of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. I was led thereby to review numerous bibliographies and works on reptiles and amphibians to ascertain whether any references had been made to a fourth volume which I had previously over- looked. Duméril and. Bibron, Baird and Girard, Cope, Garman, Giinther, Boulenger, and Stejneger alike made no reference to such a volume. The bibliographies of Agassiz and Strickland, Engelmann, Carus and Engel- mann, and catalogues of numerous public libraries were also silent as to the existence of any other than ‘the first three volumes.’ The British Museum librarians, indeed, knew only one volume; in its great catalogue, ‘ Vol. I., Philadelphia, 1836. 4°’ is listed, and the remark made ‘ No more published”! SCIENCE. of 2d Ed’ [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 446. In short, no recent author seems to have known a fourth volume of the first edition, but it occurred to me that Dekay, who was a friend of Holbrook and published his part on the reptiles in the same year (1842) as Hol- brook did his second edition, might have done so. On reference to his work, I found he did. Dekay, in his ‘ Zoology of New York,’ Part TII., listed Holbrook’s work in his ‘ List of works referred to’ by him (p. vi), as ‘ North American Herpetology; [ete.] 4 vols. 4to. Philadelphia, 1834 et seq.,’ but inasmuch as he referred, in the synonymies of his work, to the second edition, although published in the same year (1842),* this was entirely in- sufficient. Occasionally, however, he did refer to a volume IV. (‘vol. 4’) which evidently was not that of the second edition. ; Under ‘the Snapping Turtle’ (p. 8), refer- ence was made to ‘vol. 4, p. 21, pl. 3; and vol. 1, p. 139, pl. 23 of the 2d Ed’ Under ‘the Geographic Tortoise,’ reference was made to ‘ Testudo id. [1. e., geographica] Hoxsroox, N. Am. Herp. Vol. 4, and Vol. 1, p- 99, pl. 14 of Ed. 2da.2 This was quite erroneous; Holbrook described his “Hmys pseudogeographica’® in the fourth volume, but not Hmys geographica, that species haying been described in the first volume under the new specific name Hmys megacephala. Under ‘the Pseudographic Tortoise,’ as well as all the other Chelonians, reference was only made to the second edition. Under ‘ Coluber] sayi’ (noticed as extra- limital at p. 41) reference was made to ‘ Vol. 4,” which must have been of the first edition, since in the second edition the species was described in the third volume. Under ‘ the Ribbon Snake’ (p. 47) reference was made to ‘ Holbrook, N. A. Herpetology, Vol. 4, p. 21, pl. 4; and Vol. 4, p. 21, pl. 4, Evidently the author had taken up the fourth volume of the second edition twice, for in that of the first, the ‘ Coluber saurita’ was described on page 87 and figured on plate 16. The ‘C. obsoletus, ‘C. rhombomaculatus” * Dekay probably had proof-sheets and not com- plete volumes. JUNE 5, 1903. ] and “C. doliatus’ were bracketed ({ ) and listed as unpublished ‘(Hotproox, ined.).” Really each of these species was published in “Vol. III’ of the second edition and Dekay had referred to Holbrook’s descriptions of the species which occur on adjoining pages, 2. @., Coluber constrictor (III., 55, pl. 13, errone- ously given by Dekay as ‘p. 69, pl. 15’) and Coronella sayz. The 0. rhombomaculatus and GC. doliatus of the first edition were referred to Coronella in the second edition. Under Salamandra rubra, reference was made to ‘ Holbrook, N. Am. Herpetology, Vol. 4” without specification of page or plate. In the second edition the species was treated of in the fifth volume. For all the other species described in the fourth volume, reference was made by Dekay to the second edition only. With these exceptions, I know of no refer- ences to the volume in question. The subjoined description and summary of the contents of the volume are entirely due to Mr. Stone. I Vol. IV., Philadelphia, J. Dobson, 1840. [4to, title page-+ blank leaf + introduction [vii]—vili + contents (one leaf) + 9-126 pp., 28 pl.] PAGE. PLATE. I POORUYED T/CRUsna as 6o-00 cod ou occ @. = al TOUMOUS coacassodsacaces Uh) 2 Chelonura serpentina........ 21 38 Temminckii (n.)........ 29 4 Chelonia mydas...........-. SoD CaO seo Savecauabansea 2808 : HOUORUOE sj o5doo0dsca505 CO) | Emys cumberlandensis (n.)... 55 8 pseudographica (n.)..... 59 9 Coluber getulus............. 63 10 SAYIN Ne oe eso. ll! muelanoleucus ........... 11 19 CONSUFICIL Sogoeodnooncaa (5 183 Ciel Bbc sascousoneoce ell ie DCPS {Sabb basccncs6n0 es als} SUFI comacddodséaodees OF 1G GUAT SM arog cei do Go oa Oak le alley ordinatus ............... 95 18* SIDCRON: Leswolidhe seis 99) MLO * Misquoted in text VIII. for XVIII. ' SCIENCE. 911 rhombomaculatus (n.)...103 20 IQOGTES o dots de soscoscacollOS. Bil Bufo quercicus (n.).........109 922 Coluber amenus...... . 113 28 Crotalus oreganus (n.)......115 29* [=24] Salamandra cirrigera........119 30 [=25] quadramaculata (n.)t...121 27 [=26] TUONO NAN se aah aera LOL Haldemani (n.).........125 28 “ Acknowledgements in the introduction are to Dr. Harden, of Georgia; S. S. Haldeman, Dr. Barratt, of South Carolina, for specimens, Mr. Heimans, Miss Martin and Chas Rogers for drawings, and to Dr. Logan for aid. “The lithographing is by Duval, the draw- ings by Dr. T. M. Logan (4), A. Heiman (2), J. Queen (4), C. Rogers (3), Stocking (1), J. Sera (5), J. H. Richard (6), Miss Martin (1), Dr. J. L. Smith (1), A. Newsam (1). “The volume is perfectly uniform with the others.” It will be noticed that Mr. Stone records no less than ten artists as contributors to the plates of the volume. It is quite possible that Holbrook may have become dissatisfied with the results, and for that reason suppressed the volume. His ideals were high, but, unfortu- nately, his constitutional inertness and for- getfulness interposed to prevent him from - realizing his ideals; those ideals, too, were rather the perfection of the artistic than of the literary parts of his work. His later artist, Richard (pronounced Ree-shard), was an Al- satian Frenchman and his work required rigorous supervision. As a matter of gossip, he informed me that he had heard, in Charles- ton, that Holbrook had spent ‘ three fortunes’ in the preparation and publication of his works. He would become dissatisfied with a work before its completion and would have new plates drawn and published. Then he would offer to substitute the new for the old “The numbers on the last five plates are badly jumbled; the numbers in the text are all right, however. j Name accompanying description is ‘ maculo- quadrata”’ The plate name comes first but maculo-quadrata is in the contents at the begin- ning of the book! 912 numbers, and, I was told, might even decline to let an old subscriber have a copy of the new edition unless the old one was returned —to be destroyed. If this statement was correct, the rarity of the old volumes would be to some extent at least accounted for. The discovery of the new volume is inter- esting chiefly from a historical or bibliograph- ical point of view. The only essential change it will entail is the dating back of the first descriptions of seven species, viz., Crotalus oreganus (so spelled), Coluber cowperi, Co- luber quadrivitiatus, Ooluber rhombomacu- lata, Bufo quercicus, Salamandra quadrimacu- lata and Salamandra haldemani. In my biographical memoir I did not con- sider it necessary to correct or notice num- erous misstatements respecting Holbrook’s works, but perhaps it may Pe advisable to refer to one here. In Engelmann’s ‘ Bibliotheca ERyiowien- naturalis’ (p. 172) and in Carus and Engel- mann’s ‘ Bibliotheca Zoologica’ (p. 184) to “Holbrook, John Edvw.,’ is accredited a publi- cation entitled ‘Scientific Tracts. 3 Vols. in- 12. Boston 1831-83 (London, Wiley and Putnam.) 18s.’* John Edwards Holbrook had Berne to do with that serial, the series having been com- menced by one Josiah Holbrook in company with other writers. I have been able to see the volumes, which are in the library of congress. The three volumes are composed each of 24 tracts of a monographic nature, the ‘ terms’ being ‘24 numbers a year, at one dollar and fifty cents, payable in advance.’ Volume 1 has such contents as ‘The Atmosphere’? (num- bers 1 and 3), ‘Geology’ (2), ‘ Gravitation’ (4), ‘Animal Mechanism’ (5) and the like; one of the coauthors was J. V. C. Smith. This series was succeeded by a ‘ new series,’ “conducted by Jerome V. ©. Smith, MD., issued in numbers of 32 pages each on the dst and 15th of each month, miscellaneous in their character, and paged to form two volumes each year. Smith gave up and in 1836 a new “The words are quoted from Engelmann (p. 172) and differ slightly from those in Carus and Engelmann. SCIENCE. (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 440. volume (apparently the last) of the ‘ Scien- tifie Tracts’ was published by others in 12 semi-monthly numbers of 32 or 24 pages, and, at last, of 16 pages each. Those were the years of tracts, religious, temperance, polit- ical, and even ‘ scientific.’ My thanks for information respecting the volume in question are due and given to Mr. William J. Fox, as well as to Mr. Witmer Stone. THEO. GILL. Cosmos CLUB, April 28. RECENT ZOOPALEONTOLOGY. CONCERNING THE ANCESTRY OF THE DOGS. Mr. J. B. Harcuer, in a recent memoir on Oligocene Canids, distinguishes three closely allied genera from the White River formation and proposes some very interesting changes in the phylogeny of the family. His obser- vations are based on the very fine specimens of these rare fossils collected by Mr. O. A. Peterson for the Carnegie Museum. ‘These include one complete and three incomplete skeletons, the skulls all well preserved. The thorough and clear description of the skeleton of Daphenus felinus is especially valuable as based on a single and very complete specimen. The resemblance of this primitive dog to.the contemporary ancestors of sabre-tooth cats - has been strongly urged by Professor Scott in his previous description of Daphenus; Mr. Hatcher, on the contrary, is impressed less by its feline than by its creodont characters, which he points out at some length. He distinguishes three closely allied genera among these specimens: 1. Daphenus, with elongate skull, high sagittal crests, robust premolars, ete. 2. Protemnocyon, gen. nov., with short skull, low sagittal crest and small premolars. 3. Proamphicyon, gen noy., with elongate skull, high sagittal crest, small premolars and serrate canines. (The distinctions between the first two genera are better displayed in the referred species, D. felinus Seott and P. inflatus Hatcher, than in the typical species D. vetus Leidy and P. hartshornianus Cope, which, as JUNE 5, 1903.] shown by skulls in the American Museum, are intermediate forms and quite closely allied. The height of sagittal crest, assigned as one of the distinctive generic features of Daphenus, is a highly variable character in most ear- nivora, dependent on sex, age and individual robustness. A series of opossum skulls will well illustrate analogous variations, as recently described by Allen. Serrations are to be found on the unworn canines of all daphenoid dogs that I have examined, but disappear yery quickly with wear. Canines of old ani- mals are smooth and more rounded in section from wear.) As the names indicate, Mr. Hatcher be- lieves that Protemnocyon is ancestral to Temnocyon of the John Day formation, and Proamphicyon to Amphicyon of the Loup Fork, while Daphenus left no descendant. Scott, Eyerman, and Wortman and Matthew had, on the contrary, derived Temnocyon from Daphenus, and all previous authors have re- garded Amphicyon as a distinctively Euro- pean type which found its way to America only in the later Miocene. Mr. Hatcher does not recognize Mesocyon Seott (—Hypotemnodon Eyerman, type Temnocyon corypheus Cope) as a valid genus, and bases his comparison of Protemnocyon with Temnocyon upon T. corypheus, and not upon the typical species (7. altigenis and I. ferox). The authors above mentioned had derived the typical Temnocyons from Daphenus but threw out Mesocyon corypheus from this line of descent. (Mr. Hatcher can hardly have seen Dr. Eyerman’s paper of May, 1896, for he could not fail to observe that the characters as- signed to separate Temnocyon and Mesocyon are identical with those by which he separates Daphenus and Protemnocyon, only they are even more marked and certain differences in the teeth are superadded. In the White River there are intermediate species between the two extremes; in the John Day these have not been found. If then Protemnocyon is a good genus, Mesocyon must certainly be held. If we can assume that the John Day forma- tion is of later age than the White River, it SCIENCE. 913 appears probable that Mesocyon and Temno- cyon represent the further progress of the differentiation between the large-skulled ro- bust Daphenus and the small-skulled, more slender Protemnocyon. The extremes have become more divergent and the intermediate forms weeded out. The Daphenus-Temno- cyon line appears to lead into a type such as Cyon, or the dholes, and evidences of an in- termediate stage from the Loup Fork Mio- cene were described by Matthew about a year ago. The Protemnocyon-Mesocyon line leads into much more typical dogs, but can not be considered as a direct ancestor of any living species which I have examined. Mr. Hatcher’s derivation of Amphicyon americanus from Proamphicyon is, 1 think, hardly admissible. Amphicyon first occurs in America in the upper Miocene Loup Fork, but in Europe it is found in the oldest Oligo- cene formations, as old as or older than the White River. ‘The evidence is not at all such as to warrant our affirming the actual con- vergence of the Miocene Amphicyons of Europe and America, the one derived from one Oligocene stock, the other from a widely different one. We might, perhaps, believe that Proamphicyon and the European Oligo- cene Amphicyons had a common Eocene an- eestor; but as Proamphicyon is in fact very much nearer to Daphenus than to Amphicyon it seems more reasonable to suppose that the latter is, as Wortman believes, derived from a distinct group of short-jawed dogs of the Middle Eocene.) Mr. Hatcher makes at the close of his memoir some good-natured criticisms of the views expressed by Wortman and Matthew in 1899 as to the ancestry of certain Canide: That such phylogenies are to a high degree hypothetical, and seldom, if ever, more than approximations to the truth, I am most ready to admit—and have always regarded such a saving clause as implied in any phylogenetic remarks. But the new evidence brought for- ward since then by Wortman and myself, and now by Mr. Hatcher, serves to confirm in most points the very lines of descent which we suggested at that time. W. D. Marriew. 914 SCIENCE. TRON AND STEEL TRADE IN 1902. Tum report, now in press, on the iron and steel trade for 1902, by Mr. James M. Swank, United States Geological Survey, shows a continued advance in the annual domestic production of pig iron, the excess over 1901 being 1,942,953 tons, or almost 12.24 per cent. The total production in 1902 was 17,821,307 long tons, as compared wth 15,878,354 tons in 1901, 13,789,242 tons in 1900, 13,620,703 tons in 1899, 11,773,934 tons in 1898, and 9,625,680 tons in 1897. Notwithstanding this increase of produc- tion, the imports of iron and steel in various forms amounted in foreign value in 1902 to $41,468,828, as against $20,395,015 in 1901, an increase in 1902 of $21,073,811, or over 100 per cent. The total exports of iron and steel, including locomotives, car wheels, machinery, ete., amounted in 1902 to $97,892,036, as against $102,534,575 in 1901, $129,633,480 in 1900, $105,690,047 in 1899. The exports of agricultural implements, which are not in- cluded above, amounted in 1902 to $17,981,497, against $16,714,308 in 1901. The consumption of pig iron in 1902 was approximately 18,439,899 long tons, of which 625,383 tons were imported, as compared with 16,232,446 tons in 1901, of which 62,930 tons were imported. The increased production of pig iron in 1902 over 1901 was 1,942,953 tons; the increased consumption was 2,207,453 tons. At the close of 1902 the number of furnaces in blast was 307, as compared with 266 at the close of 1901 and 232 at the close of 1900. At the close of 1902 105 furnaces were out of blast—many being temporarily banked from lack of fuel—as against 140 furnaces at the close of 1901. The production of Bessemer steel ingots and castings increased more than half a million tons in 1902—to 9,306,471 long tons; the production of. Bessemer steel rails remained almost stationary. The production of open- hearth steel ingots and castings in 1902 was 5,687,729 long tons, an increase of 1,031,420 tons over 1901. Tn the fiscal year 1902 there were built for ‘mereantile service 106 steel vessels and one (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 440. iron vessel, with a gross tonnage of 280,362 tons, as compared with 119 steel vessels and one iron vessel, with a gross tonnage of 196,- 851 tons, built in 1901. Of these 107 vessels, 49, with a gross tonnage of 161,930 tons, were built at ports on the Great Lakes. The production of pig iron in Canada in 1902 increased to 319,557 long tons, over 30 per cent. as compared with 1901; and the production of steel ingots and castings in 1902 was 182,037 long tons, as compared with 26,084 tons in 1901, an increase of 155,953 tons, or nearly 600 per cent. The second part of Mr. Swank’s report con- sists of an interesting and valuable series of tables presenting complete statistics of the production of iron and steel, iron ore, and coal in the United States, Great Britain, Ger- many, France and Belgium, to the close of 1901, thus showing the progress that has been made by these countries in the first year of the twentieth century. ‘ FESTSCHRIFT’? IN HONOR OF PROFESSOR VAUGHAN. A COMMITTEE consisting of John J. Abel, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; Edmund Andrews, Chicago, Ill.; Flemming Garrow, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Richard Dewey, Wauwatisa, Wiscon- sin; George Dock, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.; William J. Herdman, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.; William H. Howell, Johns Hopkins Univer- sity, Baltimore, Md.; Franklin P. Mall, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; William J. Mayo, Rochester, Minnesota; Lewis 8S. Pilcher, Brooklyn, New York; Albert B. Pres- eott, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Henry Sewall, Denver, Colorado; and G. Carl Huber, secretary, has sent out the following announcement: The close of the present academic year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the doctorate of Doctor Victor C. Vaughan. Certain of the former students of the Department of Medicine and Sur- gery of the University of Michigan and his col- leagues have deemed it opportune to commemorate: the long and valuable services which he has ren- dered to his Alma Mater and to American medi- — JUNE 5, 1903.] cine in general. This expression of appreciation and esteem should be one of permanent value and to the educator and investigator nothing can be more acceptable than the dedication of a volume which contains the researches of friends and co- workers. Such a volume, or Festschrift, is an appropriate honor to the recipient and is itself a valuable contribution to medical science. The sug- gestion that on this occasion the testimonial should take this form met with the cordial favor and ready approval of the committee. At an early date steps were taken to secure adequate and representative contributions and it will be a source of pleasure and pride to all friends of the movement to know that the project is near- ing its realization. The commemorative volume, which will be of about seven hundred pages, is now in press and is expected to be ready for distribution by the end of June. The price to subscribers, in advance, has been fixed at five dollars for cloth binding, six dollars for half moroceo. After publication the price of the volume will be raised. Subscriptions may be sent to Dr. F. G. Novy or to Mr. George Wahr, publisher, Ann Arbor, Mich. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. Proressor J. Peter Lesnry, the eminent geologist, died at Milton, Mass., on June 1, aged eighty-three years. Vicrorta University, as part of the celebra-~ tion at Manchester in commemoration of Dal- ton’s publication of the atomic theory, has conferred the degree of D.Sc. on Professor F. W. Clarke, of Washington, and Professor J. H. Van’t Hoff, of Berlin. Tue University of Wales will confer -the degree of Doctor of Science on Lord Kelvin ‘on the ground of his eminént services to physical science,’ and upon Lord Lister, ‘on the ground of’ his long-continued scientific research, which, by establishing a system of antisepsis, has revolutionized the practice of surgery throughout the world’ The degrees will be conferred at a congregation of the “university next November at Cardiff. Dr. H. M. Resss, of the Lick Observatory, has accepted an appointment in the Yerkes Observatory. His place at Lick Observatory will be filled by Mr. J. H. Moore, assistant SCIENCE. 915 in the department of physics of Johns Hop- kins University. Tue German Chemical Society has con- ferred its gold Hofmann medals on Professor Henri Moissan and Sir William Ramsay. Mr. Bion J. Arnoup has been elected presi- dent and Messrs. Calvin W. Rice, W. S. Bar- stow and Ralph D. Mershon, vice-presidents of the American Institute of Electrical En- gineers. Mr. Henry L. Warp has been elected cus- todian of the Milwaukee Public Museum for a period of five years. Dr. W. J. Houtanp, the director of the Car- negie Museum, Pittsburgh, gave the com- mencement address before the University of North Carolina.at Chapel Hill on June 3. Prorressor Huco MunstrersereG, of Harvard University, sailed on May 30 for Germany, where he will represent the St. Louis Exposi- tion in an effort to secure the cooperation of the German government and educational in- stitutions in the International Congress of Arts and Sciences to be held in connection with the exposition next year. Professor Albion W. Small, of the University of Chi- cago, will undertake a similar mission to France. Professor Simon Newcomb, chair- man of the committee, is also abroad, partly in the interests of the congress. Proressor W. F. Wiiucox, of Cornell Uni- versity, has been requested by the director of the census to prepare a report on the census work of other countries, and will spend the present summer in Europe. , Proressor C. S. Sargent, director of the Arnold Arboretum, accompanied by his son, Mr. A. R. Sargent, and Dr. John Muir sailed for Europe on May 29. After traveling through France, Holland and Germany the botanists will go to St. Petersburg and Mos- cow, and thence over the Transsiberian Rail- way to Pekin. They will make numerous stops on the way to collect seed and herbarium specimens in Siberia and northern China. From Pekin they will go to Java and Hong Kong: 916 SCIENCE. Dr. Barton Warren EverMANN, for several years ichthyologist of the U. S. Fish Com- mission, and assistant in charge, Division of Fisheries, since November, 1902, has been promoted to the position of assistant in charge, Division of Scientific Inquiry of the U. S. Fish Commission. On June 13 he sails on the Albatross from Seattle for Alaska, where,.as assistant head of the special Alaska Salmon Commission, he will spend the summer ma- king an investigation of the salmon fisheries of that coast. Tur Earl of Onslow has been appointed president of the Board of Agriculture for Great Britain. Tuer subject of the Romanes lecture, which is to be delivered by Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., at Oxford, on June 12, will be ‘ Modern Views on Matter, q Prorressor GrorcE EH. Beyer, of the depart- ment of biology and natural history at Tulane University, has gone to Vera Cruz, Mexico, to continue his studies on yellow fever. Mr. J. A. Suarer, custodian of the botanical collections at the Carnegie Museum, who went to Cuba with Dr. N. L. Britton some months ago, has returned. He remained on the is- land after Dr. Britton’s departure for the - north in order to prosecute further researches. As the result of the joint labors of Dr. Brit- ton and Mr. Shafer the herbaria at Bronx Park and Pittsburgh have each received over one thousand species of the plants of Cuba in fresh condition. ; Tut Berlin Geographical Society celebrated on May 4 its seventy-fifth anniversary. In honor of the seventieth birthday of Professor von Richthofen the sum of 26,000 Marks has been subscribed as a fund for research. The society has awarded its Nachtigall medal to Dr. Gerhard Scholt, of Hamburg. Lieut. ©. J. SHackenton, who was one of the officers of the British Antarctic Expedi- tion, is at present in the United States on his way from New Zealand to England. Syracuse Universiry has appointed Pro- fessor H. Monmouth Smith delegate to the [N. 8. Von. XVII. No. 440. Congress of Applied Chemistry at Berlin and granted him leave of absence till fall. Dr. H. C Cooper of the same university has also been granted leave of absence that he may work for a year as research associate in physical chemistry at the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology. Mr. Charles 8. Bryan, Jr., Ph.B., Syracuse, has been appointed re- search assistant to Professor A. A. Noyes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. M. A. Lepsur, lecturer in astronomy in the University of Montpelier, has been appointed director of the Observatory at Bescancon. It is stated in Nature that steps have been taken to secure and erect a memorial of the late Sir George Stokes in Westminster Abbey. At a meeting of a joint committee of the University of Cambridge and the Royal So- ciety, held on March 12, the Duke of Devon- shire being in the chair, it was resolved that the authority of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster be requested to place a medallion relief portrait of Sir George Stokes in the Abbey of the same general character as the memorials of Darwin and other scientific men already there. A letter has since been re- ceived from the Dean of Westminster express- ing his general assent to the proposal and his willingness to take detailed plans into consid- eration. Mr. Hamo Thornyecroft, R.A., has undertaken to prepare a medallion, the ma- terial to be bronze, and the head to be in high relief. It is estimated that the cost of placing this memorial in Westminster Abbey will be about £400. The treasurers of the fund are the vice-chancellor of the University of Cam- bridge and the treasurer of the Royal Society, to whom subscriptions may be sent. Dr. THomas Jay Hupson, for some years principal examiner in the U. S. Patent Office and the author of a number of books of a psychological character, has died at Detroit. Mr. Henry J. Woopmay, a natural history collector, has died at Mount Vernon, N. Y. Tue death is announced of Dr. Max West- ermayer, professor of botany at Freiburg, Switzerland, and of Dr. H. Schurtz, assistant in ethnography in the museum at Breman. JUNE 5, 1903.] Mr. Wituam Tarsor Avmine, for many years engaged on the Geological Survey of Great Britain, died on May 12, at the age of eighty-one years. A TELEGRAM has been received at the Har- yard College Observatory from Professor Per- cival Lowell, at Flagstaff, Arizona, stating that a large projection on Mars was found by Slipper, May 26, at 15535™ Greenwich mean time. The position angle was 200° and the projection lasted thirty-five minutes. THE expedition organized for a scientific survey of the Bahama Islands by the Geo- graphical Society of Baltimore, to which we have already referred, left Baltimore on June 1. It is under the direction of Dr. G. B. Shattuck and includes more than twenty members. As the result of an expedition to Florida during the spring the Carnegie Museum has added to its ornithological collections over 1,300 specimens in fine condition. THE anniversary dinner of the Royal Geo- graphical Society was held on May 18. The president, Sir Clements Markham, propesed the toast of ‘The Medallists,’ to which Mr. Douglas Freshfield and Dr. Sven Hedin re- sponded. The president next proposed ‘ Suc- cess to the Antarctic Expedition.’ Major L. Darwin proposed ‘The Guests, and Sir W. Huggins and Mr. Pember Reeves responded. The president then gave ‘The Staff,” and the secretary (Dr. J. S. Keltie) replied. Mr. E. Gosse proposed the last toast, ‘The President and the Society,’ to which the president re- plied. Accorpinc to a cablegram to the daily papers Premier Balfour announced in the House of Commons on May 26 that the goy- ernment was prepared to contribute to the relief of the officers and men of the Antarctic steamer Discovery, now icebound in the Ant- arctic region. At the same time, the Premier eriticized the action of the Royal Geograph- ical Society and the Royal Society in sending out the expedition without being fully pre- pared to safeguard it, and said that even the limited aid the government was accustomed SCIENCE. 917 to give to scientific research was only justified so long as the government felt absolute con- fidence that the scientific bodies inviting help had given all the information regarding the cost and limits of the proposed action. That confidence had been rudely shaken in the present case. A SrockHoLm correspondent writes to the London Times on May.19: Serious uneasiness has arisen here about the fate of Dr. Norden- skidld’s expedition on board the Antarctic. Contrary to expectation, the ship has not yet returned to South America. She had not a very large stock of provisions on board, and it is feared that a second winter out might prove disastrous, as the ship’s company con- sists of 27 men all told, one Argentine officer being among them. A plan for a relief ex- pedition under the command of Lieutenant Gyldén of the Swedish Navy, who has pre- viouly conducted an expedition to Spitzbergen, has just been formed; 50,000 crowns have been collected by private subscription, and the Riksdag to-day granted 200,000 crowns for the expedition, which is to start towards the end of August next. The Argentine Government has offered its cooperation. ForriGN journals announce that a Nor- wegian expedition, commanded by Captain Roald Amundsen, has left Christiania with the object of fixing the exact situation of the magnetic North Pole. The party are ex- pected to be absent for four years, the route taken being by Lancaster Sound, Boothia Felix, where a magnetic observatory will be established for a period of two years under control of two members of the scientific staff, and back by the North-West Passage, Victoria Land and the Behring Straits. THE executors of the late Mr. Reyner Hur- rell have made a donation of £500 to the funds of the Brown Animal Sanatory Institution, London. Tue following committee of organization for the United States, for the Eleventh Inter- national Congress of Hygiene and Demog- raphy, to be held in Brussels, September 2-8, 1903, has been appointed, at the request of the Belgian government, by the State Depart- 918 ment: Dr. BE. A. de Schweinitz, the Columbian University, Washington, D. C.; Dr. A. B. Richardson, the Columbian University, Wash- ington, D. C.; Dr. John Marshall, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.; Dr. C. Harrington, professor of hygiene, Harvard University, Boston, Mass. The committee de- sires to secure the cooperation of all those in this country who are engaged in hygienic work, both in attendance at the meeting in Brussels, and in sending papers to the congress. The congress will be divided into two sections, hygiene and demography. The subjects which will be considered are the relation of bacteria and parasites to hygiene, the hygiene of foods, the treatment and prevention of communicable diseases, ete. The important subject im its various phases of the communicability of tuberculosis will be discussed -by prominent men. The fee for membership is 25 francs, which may be sent to the Secretary-General, M. le Dr. Felix Pulseys, Rue Forgeur, 1. 4 Those proposing to attend or send papers will please notify E. A. de Schweinitz, Washington, D. C. Liége, Belgium. A TESTIMONIAL signed by over 500 fellows of the Zoological Society of London has been presented to Mr. W. L. Sclater. It reads as follows: We, the undersigned, Fellows of the Zoological Society of London, desire to place on record our appreciation of the merits of Mr. William Lutley. Selater and of his conduct in the recent contest for the secretaryship of the society. Mr. Sclater was summoned from Cape Town last January to undertake the duties of secretary, and, although he had some warning that opposition might be expected, he could not have foreseen that, in addition to his arduous duties as secretary, he would have had to face a campaign of an unusual kind or be involved, through no fault of his own, in a position with which we greatly sympathize. Throughout the recent trying circumstances Mr. Sclater has acted with dignity and reserve which may in some measure have sacrificed his own interests, but which place him all the higher in our estimation. We belieye that his scientific attainments, high character, and proved ability would have fully satisfied the claims of the posi- tion to which he had been provisionally elected, and we can assure him that in returning to Cape SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 440: Town he adds to those qualities the respect and esteem of a wide circle of new friends. Tur Geographical Magazine learns from the report of the last meeting of the board of directors of the Siberian’ Railway that the main line is now completed permanently ex- cept for the portion circling Lake Baikal, which it is hoped will be finished by the close of 1904. The total cost of the line, including the Baikal section, amounted to nearly 385,- 000,000 roubles. The number of immigrants who have had grants of land allotted to them is 611,494, and for colonization purposes a sum of 30,000,000 roubles has been assigned. To facilitate the acquisition of agricultural implements and seeds, ete., twenty-nine depots have been established. Arrangements have been made for an efficient prospecting of the country in the neighborhood of the railway, with the view to the development of its min- eral resources, and these have already led to the discovery of oil in the vicinity of Sud- jenka, in central Siberia, and near Cherem- khoyskoje, in the province of Irkutsk. A special grant has also been made for the en- couragement of gold prospecting, and an in- vestigation of the Yenesei and Obi has re- vealed the fact that these rivers are navigable for ocean steamers for a distance of nearly 1,000 miles. Nature notes a great improvement in the appearance and instructiveness of the exhibits in the reptile and fish galleries of the British Museum of Natural History, which were left at the death of Sir W. H. Flower in their original condition. Until the director under- took the rearrangement, the cases were cram- med with a number of faded and ‘khaki ’- colored specimens, unaccompanied by any descriptive labels. The duplicate and super- fluous specimens have now, for the most part, been weeded out, and those that are left placed so that they can be well seen by visitors. In many instances old specimens have either been replaced by new ones or have been painted up so as to give them, so far as possible, some sort of resemblance to the living animals; and this process of replacement and renova- tion is being actively continued. A large JUNE 5, 1903.] specimen of thunny which has been for many years in the museum affords an excellent ex- ample of what can be done by judicious paint- ing. The splendid coloring of the Malay python is displayed in a specimen presented by Mz. Rothschild, as well as by a second ex- ample, on which an artist was still engaged at the time when this was written. In the reptile gallery, which is in the more forward condition, descriptive labels have already been placed in several of the cases, in which the specimens have been removed from the old hideous sycamore stands and set on sanded ground-work. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. Tre Legislature of Michigan has passed a bill appropriating $171,900 for the Michigan College of Mines at Houghton for the bi- ennium beginning July 1 next. The largest item is one of $45,000 for the construction of a metallurgical laboratory. Mer. James Stimuman, of New York, has given $50,000 to establish a contagious disease ward in Stillman Infirmary, which he founded a year ago at Harvard University. Mr. Freprerick F. Ayer has added $50,000 to the $100,000 that he had already given to the Lowell Textile School. Dr. Barton W. EvermMann, ichthyologist of the United States Fish Commission, has just returned to Washington from Axton, New York, where he gave a course of twenty-five lectures on ‘Fish Oulture’ and ‘Fish and ' Game Protection’ to the juniors and seniors of the New York College of Forestry of Cor- nell University. The class this year con- sisted of twenty-two students and is the larg- est in the history of the college. This course is intended, first, to interest those who are to become foresters in the lakes and streams of the forest, that they may be saved from pollu- tion to the injury of the fishes which inhabit them; and second, to give the students some acquaintance with the mammals, birds, and other animals of the forest, their value, and the necessity for the preservation of those which are not noxious. In addition to the SCIENCE. 919 formal lectures, the students were taken on daily excursions for field observations. Tue Massachusetts Institute of Technology, assisted by several gifts made for the purpose, has established a laboratory of physical chem- istry to be opened in September, 1903, which is to be devoted exclusively to research work in that important subject. The laboratory is to be under the directorship of Professor Arthur A. Noyes, with whom will be asso- ciated Professors H. M. Goodwin and Willis R. Whitney. The researches will be carried on in large part by a staff of research assist- ants and associates working under their direc- tion. Every facility will also be offered to advanced students who wish to carry on inves- tigations in this branch of science, either with or without reference to an advanced degree. The research laboratory is to occupy one floor of a new building now being erected for the purpose. It will consist mainly of a series of small laboratories, each of which will afford ample accommodation for two workers, and a - well-equipped shop in which a skilled instru- ment-maker will be regularly employed in making and repairing apparatus for inyestiga- tion work. Rooms for special “purposes— weighing, photographie work, glass-blowing, pure-water distillation, storage of chemical and physical apparatus, and the holding of lectures and seminar meetings—will adjoin the laboratories. The members of the laboratory staff will offer a number of advanced lecture courses and will conduct several seminars on physico-chemical subjects which will be open to all those connected with the laboratory. An announcement of these courses is made in the program of the Research Laboratory issued by the institute. At a meeting on May 18 of the Court of Governors of University College, Sheffield, the Duke of Norfolk presiding, resolutions were adopted to the effect that in the interests of higher education in the city and district it was essential that Sheffield College should have the powers and statws of a university similar to those granted to Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, and also that ap- plication should be made to the Privy Council for a charter. 920 SCIENCE. Tur report of the Mathematical Pass Ex- aminations Syndicate, at Cambridge Univer- sity, appointed in December, 1902, has been issued, dealing with the mathematical subjects of the previous examination. According to the London Times the report makes important recommendations as regards the treatment of geometry. Hitherto Euclid’s elements has been the universal text-book, and Euclid’s sequences, if not his actual proofs, have been insisted on. Should the senate accept this report, all this will be changed. In the proofs of theorems any proof which forms part of a systematic treatment of the subject will be accepted, so that teachers will be free to use any text-books. As most of the theorems in the schedule to the syndicate’s report are to be found in Euclid, many teachers will no doubt adhere to the old method. Another novelty in the schedule is the introduction of ques- tions in practical geometry involving the use of mathematical instruments. For some years changes more or less of this character have been recommended by a committee of the Mathematical Association and a committee of the British Association. With regard to arithmetic, there will not be required a knowl- edge of recurring decimals and of the process of extracting cube root, but the use of algebraical symbols and processes will be per- mitted. These changes are unanimously ap- proved of by a very strong syndicate, con- sisting of the leading resident mathematicians —viz., Mr. Charles Smith, Master of Sidney, Professor Forsyth, Dr. Hobson, Mr. Mollison, Mr. C. A. E. Pollock, Mr. Welsh, Mr. G. B. Mathews, Mr. S. Barnard, Mr. W. M. Coates, Mr. E. T. Whittaker and Mr. A. W. Siddons. It is proposed that the first examination under the new regulations should be held in Decem- ber, 1904. The proposal as to algebra is not approved by Mr. Coates. At a meeting of the members of the senate, there was almost en- tire unanimity in favor of the recommenda- tions, the criticism being confined to points of detail. Some of the suggestions will prob- ably be accepted, but the acceptance of the report by the senate is practically assured. THe question of the expediency of main- LN. S. Vou. XVII. No. 440. taining the Engineering College at Coopers Hill, as a government institution for the sup- ply of officers to the Public Works Depart- ment in India, having again been raised, the Secretary of State for India has appointed a committee to inquire and report to him on this subject. It will be composed as follows: Sir Charles Crosthwaite, late Lieutenant- Governor of the North-Western Provinces and member of the Council of India, chairman; Sir James Mackay, G.C.M.G., Sir William Arrol, M.P., Sir Arthur Riicker, principal of the University of London, and Sir Thomas Higham, K.C.J.E., late of the Indian Public Works Department, with Mr. J. KE. Ferard, of the India Office, as secretary. WasHineron UNIversiry is extending its teaching force for the coming year by adding an instructor in mathematics, and a professor of psychology-and pedagogy. Dr. JoHN Gorpon, president of Tabor Col- lege, has received an offer of the presidency of Howard University, at Washington, D. C. Dr. L. A. Parsons, of the Johns Hopkins University, has been appointed assistant in physics at the University of Utah. Dr. S. M. Coutrer has been promoted from instructor to assistant professor in the Shaw School of Botany in Washington University, and has been given an additional assistant. Mr. Lewis A. Dartine, of the University of Nevada, has been appointed instructor in me- chanical engineering in Stanford University and will take part of the mechanical engineer- ing work of Professor G. H. Marx, who goes to Europe on a year’s leave of absence. Dr. GrorGe WaLTeR STEWART, instructor in physics at Cornell University, has been ap- pointed assistant professor of physics in charge of the department at the University of North Dakota. Dr. Pamir Henry Pye-Smirn, M.D., F.RB.S., has been appointed vice-chancellor of the Uni- versity of London for the remainder of the year for which Dr. Robertson (now Bishop of Exeter) was appointed in June, 1902. mens SCIENCE 4 WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EDITORIAL COMMITTEE : S. NEwcoms, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWaRD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING. Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering ; [RA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. WaLcort, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; Henry F. OsBoRN, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooks, C. Hart MERRIAM, Zoology ; S. H. ScuDpDER, Entomology ; C. E. Brssspy, N. L. Brirron, Botany; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology ; H. P. BowpitceH, Physiology; WILLIAM H. WELCH, Pathology ; J. McKEEN CaATTELL, Psychology. Fripay, JUNE 12, 1903. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD- VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. SECTION I., ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONTENTS: 10 S SCIENCE. American Association for the Advancement of Science :— JU Section I, Economic and Social Science: he rae : y - 2 FRANK BL TShENOIE KOO a ie daa sawn go DOOR ae 921 Is an Ideal Money Attainable? CHarums A. The Upper Tenperature Limits of Life: Pro- CONANT, Treasurer of the Morton Trust FESSOR WILLIAM ALBERT SETCHELL....... 934 Company, New York city. Scientific Books:— Mr. Conant discussed some of the proj- Priihling on the Sugar Industry: Dr. F. G. for aeigt 6 : IVER CREEL AGING Aint El Gonrarent ins ntl, CoM ans Me g37 ects for doing away with money which Societies and Academies :— have been put forward from time to time American Physical Society: PRormessor by studen nd rej Ernest Merritr. North Carolina Section y Cais, d rejected them Oe the of The American Chemical Society: C. B. ground that they ignore the true function WILLIAMS. The Geological Society of a : a Washington: Dr. W. C. MrNDENHALL. of gold as a store of value and the most ex Philosophical Society of Washington: changeable of commodities. He declared Crartes K. Wrap. Anthropological So- 5 ; ae : Maar Widahingion: De. WAGER HOUGH: 1938 that while large transactions could be Scientific Journals and Artieles............ 945 cleared against each other without the use Discussion and Correspondence :— of gold, yet in the long run gold must be The Proposed Biological Station at the Tortugas: Proressor C. B. Davenport, Dr. employed as the final test of value, because R. P. BrceLow and B. W. BarTon........ 945 it was the one thing desired above all other Shorter Articles :-— a things because it could always be ex- 1 Ar ito: ! VINSTON...... . 2 fe eepigac noe i> ISAAC) WINSTON 7 changed for other things. Other things Quotations :-— ‘actuated a I ta He The New York State School of Forestry. uctuated in value according to their de- Age of German University Professors.... 950 gree of exchangeability. This degree of ex- Progress of the Concilium Bibliographicum: changeability fell greatly where there was Proressor HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN..... 951 2 F 3 : : overproduction of goods, and it would be Centennial Celebration of the Birthday of ‘ 0 i Justus von Liebig: Dk. Durand Woopman. 952 ‘utile and unjust to take the values of The Dalton Celebrations at Manchester...... 954 goods, even over an average of time, as a The Trigonometric Survey of Brazil........ 955 proper measure of values. Gold money Scientific Notes and News................. 955 - was the touch-stone of the need for goods. University and Educational News.......... 959 If they rose in price in gold it was an indi- MSS. intended for publication and books, ete.,intended cation of unsatisfied demand: if they fell for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- H fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. in gold it was an indication of overpro- 922 duction. Hence, the exchange value of gold in relation to each other thing was the governor of production and determined the direction in which capital should be em- ployed. It would deprive society of any accurate means of determining the proper direction of capital, and the necessity for increasing or decreasing production of given articles, if it should be attempted to replace gold by a system of averages in- tended to give uniformity to prices without regard to the relation of demand and sup- ply between different classes of goods. Cooperation, Coercion and Competition: Professor Linpuey M. Knasspry, Bryn Mawr College. ; Industrial organization is determined by two factors, by the character of the social surplus, and by the monopolization of the sources thereof. History shows us three characteristic systems of industrial organ- ization—the cooperative, the coercive and the competitive—which have succeeded each other in the order named. Im the natural state before the appropriation of natural resources for pastoral and agricul- tural purposes, the cooperative system pre- vailed; during the proprietary period which followed, when natural resources were appropriated, but before the institu- tion of exchange, the cooperative system became subservient to the coercive system, while with the rise of the commercial era, resulting from the development of ex- change, the coercive system was superseded for some time by the competitive system. Present tendencies appear to point to a re- versal of the original order of this succes- sion. Owing to the gradual monopolization of the sources of the industrial surplus by the great capitalists, the older competitive system is breaking down. In its piace the coercive system is being reestablished. But coercion when applied stimulates coopera- SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 441. tion. The laborers are combining to resist the coercion of organized capital. If, as seems likely, capitalists and laborers co- operate in profit-sharing — undertakings, then the consumers may possibly be coerced by the producers. It will then be necessary for the consumers to cooperate. Or to put the general thought theoretically, we may expect the present monopolization of the surplus sources to be extended gradually to admit laborers as well as capitalists, and finally, perhaps, some monopolies to be still further extended so as to admit consumers as well as producers. Economic Work of the Weather Bureau: Professor Winuis L. Moors, chief of Bu- reau. In connection with the economic worth of the Weather Bureau the question is often asked, ‘Does it pay?’ I will cite a few facts in answer to that question. The first year of the weather service the annual appropriation was about $20,000. This year that appropriation is $1,250,000, and congress and the people are plainly well satisfied with its expenditure. Our daily survey of the atmosphere is the larg- est attempted by any country or organiza- tion, and our system for the dissemination of warnings of severe or injurious weather conditions, such as storms, hurricanes, cold waves, frosts, floods, heavy rains and snows, is so complete that these conditions seldom occur without the country being notified well in advance. To give you some idea of the value of the storm warning ser- vice alone, I may say that there are 6,000 sailing vessels and as many steamers en- gaged in the trans-Atlantic trade, which leave our ports in a given year, and 17,000 sailing vessels and 4,000 steamers which an- nually ply between the ports on the At- lantie coast. Marine insurance people esti- mate that one West Indian hurricane, if it JUNE 12, 1903. ] were to sweep up the Atlantic coast unan- nounced, would leave wreckage to the amount of $2,000,000, without considering the loss of life. There has not been a storm of marked violence along the coast in the past eight years warnings for which were not issued from eight to twenty-four hours in advance of its approacb. Warnings of floods in the river valleys of the United States are also of great value. In the great flood of 1897 in the lower Mis- sissippi valley, warnings were distributed over the inundated districts four to five days in advance of the flood, with the result that almost all of the movable property was taken to higher ground and saved. It is estimated that $7,000,000 worth of prop- erty was removed from the Yazoo valley alone on this occasion. Warnings of those sudden temperature changes known as cold waves are of great importance. In January, 1896, a cold wave of exceptional severity swept over nearly the entire country east of the Rocky Mountains. Warnings of its approach were sent to nearly every weather bureau station in that region from twelve to twenty-four hours in advance. Informa- tion gathered systematically from shippers of perishable products and other interests affected disclosed the fact that the warn- ines resulted in the saving of over $5,500,- 000 in the protection of property from in- jury or destruction. The frost warnings recently issued for Florida, when the temperature in the northern part of the state fell as low as 20° to 24°, and frost formed as far south as Tampa, resulted in the probable saving of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the truck interests of that state. These are but a few instances of prop- erty and money values saved, and they give a very incomplete idea of the full economic value of the Weather Bureau forecasts and SCIENCE. 923 warnings to the interests of the country. The work of the bureau in the collection and publication of data and the issue of forecasts and warnings affects the daily life of the pedple to a very great extent, and becomes an important factor in their various avocations and business enterprises. Economic Work of the Bureau of Animal Industry: Dr. D. HB. Saumon, chief of Bureau. The Bureau of Animal Industry is re- quired by its organic act “‘to investigate and report upon the condition of the domestic animals of the United States, their protection and use, and also inquire into and report the causes of contagious, infectious and communicable diseases among them, and the means for the pre- vention and cure of the same, and to col- leet such information on the subjects as shall be valuable to the agricultural and commercial interests of the country.’’ Since the organization of the bureau, however, it has been given from time to time a great amount of executive work, and this now largely exceeds the investigations which constituted the original object of its establishment. Thus it is expected to control and stamp out the contagious dis- eases of animals which are dangerous to interstate or foreign commerce; to prevent the introduction of diseases from foreign countries by an inspection and quarantine of imported animals; to inspect and certify to the healthfulness of exported animals; to supervise and control the fittings of steamships which carry our animals to foreign countries; to imspect the meat slaughtered for interstate or foreign com- merece; and to inspect and certify to the quality of dairy products that are ex- ported. This brief summary will give an idea of the scope of the duties of this bureau under existing laws. 924 The first great task was to establish what is known as the Texas-fever line, which now extends from ocean to ocean and serves to divide the section of the country in which the disease originates from that in which its ravages are usually seen. This line needs constant rigid supervision to prevent the spread of the infection. It involved last year the inspection of 1,545,- 000 cattle and the cleaning and disinfec- tion of 46,736 railroad ears. The wisdom of establishing the bureau is attested by the successful eradication of the contagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle from this country, at a comparatively small expense; by the development of a single vaccine for blackleg, which has been used upon millions of cattle and has reduced the losses in infected herds of cattle to less than one per cent., thus saving many millions of dollars to the cattle industry; by the development of a federal meat-in- spection service which last year imspected at the time of slaughter 38,829,439 car- casses, insuring healthy meat to domestic consumers and enabling the government to certify to the wholesomeness of that which is exported; by its successful control over the exportation of live animals, a trade em- bracing 300,000 to 400,000 cattle and 200,- 000 sheep a year, and which has done away with all unnecessary suffering aboard ship and reduced the losses to 0.13 per cent. with cattle and 0.89 per cent. with sheep; by the successful investigation of many dis- eases and the dissemination of a vast amount of information relative to the breeding and management of domesticated animals in health and disease. These are only the principal lines of work undertaken. Hvery outbreak of dis- ease which is supposed to be contagious is promptly investigated, and in case any are found dangerous to the animal industry of the country the proper measures are ap- SCIENCE. LN. S. Von. XVII. No. 441. plied. Scientific researches are constantly conducted and are throwing new light on the nature of diseases and the means ap- plicable for their control. The objections raised in other countries to our animals or animal products are carefully watched, and the causes removed when well founded, or explained when they are brought with a misunderstanding of the facts. Economic Work of the Bureau of Plant In- dustry: Professor B. T. Gannoway, chief of bureau. The organization of the Bureau of Plant Industry was first described. It was poimted out that the general policy of the bureau is to give the broadest opportunities to its individual workers, recognizing the fact that the best results can be accom- plished by giving to each individual such responsibilities as will lead to the strong- est development of both the man and the work. The bureau’s work is handled by problems rather than by groups of subjects. Tt was pointed out that while the object of the bureau’s work is practical in all things, the policy is to encourage scientific research in every way, it being recognized that scientific investigation is the basis for all applied work. The work of the more important branches of the bureau were then briefly reviewed. Hxamples of the methods of handling plant diseases were given, showing the relation of laboratory research to the securing of practical results in the field. Various methods of handling diseases of crops were described. Treat- ments by direct remedial measures were discussed; treatments, or preventions, by the securing or creation of immune sorts, were described, and the other methods fol- lowed in this line of work were brought out. The work in physiology was de- seribed, especial attention being given to the results obtained in the laboratory im- vestigations on nitrifying organisms. The JUNE 12, 1903.] economic bearing of the plant-breeding in- vestigation was shown. The efforts being made to imerease the protein content of corn, and the creation of new varieties of corn for special purposes, were described in detail. Some of the new creations in the matter of fruits were also discussed. The work of the bureau in the matter of foreign explorations for the purpose of securing new plants for use in this country was de- seribed. Finally there was given an out- line of some of the important work of the botanists in the matter of investigating poisonous plants, and the results accom- plished in finding antidotes where the in- juries to stock, through the eating of such plants, had proved serious. Economic Work of the Bureau of Chem- istry: Dr. H. W. Wey, chief of bureau. The science of chemistry is the first mentioned in the organic act creating the Department of Agriculture. Chemistry, botany and entomology were the three fundamental scientific divisions recognized in the establishment of the department. And the chemist was the first man ap- pointed to investigate the economic prob- lems relative to agriculture in which chem- istry is concerned. I will try to give you some idea of the extent and character of this work. In 1886 as vice-president of Section C at Buffalo I gave an address on ‘The Economie Aspects of Agricultural Chemistry.’ So you have on the records of this association what I have to say on the subject. There has been little change, and I can only offer illustrations and use data not then available. In the first place, chem- istry has established the principles of scien- tifie crop feeding. The business of fertiliz- ing in this country has grown enormously. ‘Until twenty-five years ago fertilizing was altogether empirical. When a farmer had any fertilizer to use he spread it all over SCIENCE. 925 his fields and used the same kind for all parts of his farm. The patches which yielded the poorest were of course most treated. He had no idea of what was needed or how it should be used. When commercial fertilizers came into vogue many were of poor character and some farmers were rather badly cheated. How- ever, the general effect was good and lands in almost every state in the union have in- ereased in value in consequence of the adoption of the principles laid down by agricultural chemistry. Much better re- sults may yet be obtained when the needs of the soil and plant life are given more attention by the farmer. The researches of agriculture in plant life show often that only certain elements essential to plant erowth are lacking in a particular soil, and that others, not always present elsewhere, can be found here in abundance, so that some constituents of the ordinary fertilizer may be left out and others should be pres- ent in even greater quantities. It is not necessary to supply a complete fertilizer for each field. The needs of the field should be determined beforehand, and this the agricultural chemist is domg. The ereat problem is not only how to conserve fertility, but how to inerease it when it has been diminished. There is no reason to be- lieve that there will be any reduction in the ratio of the food supply to the popu- lation. The former will increase as rapidly as the latter. I might refer to the address of Sir William Crookes a few years ago before the British Association for the Ad- vanecement of Science, in which he looked forward to a period about thirty years hence, when humanity would begin to suffer very seriously from a lack of land of the proper productive capacity to feed all of us, until finally there would not be enough food to go around. There is no 926 longer ground for such fears. The pyro- ductiveness of the soil will keep pace with the increase of population. When it is necessary to produce 1,000,000,000 bushels of wheat annually in this country it will be forthcoming. The part of the doctrines of Malthus which holds that the food supply can not be made sufficient to maintain the increasing population as the years go by, im my opinion, is absolutely groundless. The food supply will always be sufficient, but that supply must depend largely upon the researches of agricultural chemistry. The farmer to-day can prepare steers for the market at one third less cost than he could twenty-five years ago, because he knows how to balance the rations in the right proportions. He also knows how to bring his stock into the market at an earlier period and thus effect another great saving. The cost of feeding farm animals to-day is only about two thirds what it would be had not the principles of science been applied to raismg stock on the farm. After a while perhaps we will be able to study the scientific feeding of man. He is an animal too, you know. If we want a man to be an athlete we feed him in a cer- tain way, and so the time is not far distant when we must learn to feed all kinds of men for the markets just as we do the other animals. And so economy will come in the feeding of men as well as in the feeding of what we are pleased to call the lower ani- mals. We shall save at least oné third and shall still have as much as is good for us. Here is another way in which the prin- ciples of agricultural chemistry will prove of economical value. I refer to the idea of securing elements necessary for the growth of the plant from the nitrogen in the air. It has been suggested that the nitrogenous material now in the soil is insufficient for a very great period. But it may be aug- mented yearly by the floods of which Pro- SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 441. fessor Moore has spoken, by damming rivers, ete., and the use of water power thus secured for converting the nitrogen of the air into forms available for plant nutrition, by electrical means. This, with the nitrogen already available, is more than enough for present and future needs. With a sufficient food supply for the pres- ent we can look with complacency upon our rapidly increasing population, and rely on agricultural chemistry for all additional food needed. Economic Work of the Bureau of Soils: Professor Mmron Wuuitnery, chief of bureau. The Bureau of Soils of the United States Department of Agriculture was organized as a part of the Weather Bureau about eight years ago. Since its organization it has been separated from the Weather Bureau and reorganized into an independ- ent division, and later into a bureau, its rapid growth in size, scope and efficiency haying been remarkable. One of its most important lines of work is the soil survey which, while not in itself immediately pro- ductive, really constitutes a more intel- ligent basis for the development of other economic work in agriculture than has hitherto been available. In the strenuous competition for agricultural supremacy ex- isting between different countries, states and individuals, a thorough knowledge of all factors bearing on agriculture is essen- tial. The soil is-one of these factors, just as climate, insects and plant diseases are others. As an illustration of the economic value of the soil survey work may be mentioned the introduction of Sumatra tobacco in the Connecticut valley. A soil survey made in that valley in 1899, showing the distri- bution of the different soils, disclosed a soil producing a leaf which was the closest approach to the Sumatra wrapper. While JUNE 12, 1903.] the Connecticut tobacco then brought an average of twenty cents per pound, the imported leaf commanded from $2.50 to $5 per pound. By growing Sumatra seed under cheesecloth tents, erected at a height of nine feet over the entire field, this cover- ing modifying the climatic conditions, and with radical changes in the methods of cultivation and fermentation, a wrapper leaf has been produced equal at least in all respects to the imported article. This past season 700 acres have been grown, the product of which is valued at $1,000,000, bringing on an average from $1.50 to $3 per pound, compared with twenty cents per pound for the ordinary Connecticut wrapper; and an industry has been estab- lished which will pay 100 per cent. and over on the investment. Capital is at- tracted by reason of the fact that a large expenditure can be made on a small area with large returns, or on a larger area with proportionally large profits. An expendi- ture of $650 per acre yields a return of 100 per cent. or more over and above all expenses. This is a productive industry that has been developed by the bureau, and which is attracting the investment of enormous sums of money. Another illustration is in the discovery of a soil in Texas which will produce a leaf possessing all the desirable qualities and aroma of the Cuban product. These lands are entirely undeveloped, principally uncleared and practically valueless for other crops, yet tests of the leaf produced, made by experts, show it to be far superior to any of our domestic filler tobacco. A soil survey made in the Yazoo delta, Mississippi, has brought attention to a soil which, covering enormous areas, has here- tofore been regarded as absolutely worth- less, but which with a slight expenditure for protection from overflow would produce from $200 to $1,000 per acre, being partic- SCIENCE. 927 ularly adapted, by reason of fertility and climatic and market facilities, to trucking. Another line that has been productive of useful results has been the study of alkali soils of the west. It has been thoroughly demonstrated by practical experiments of the bureau that excessive alkali may be removed by drainage, and thousands of aeres of land now worthless may be re- claimed and made productive. A careful study and practical experiments are now in progress, and already the success achieved has thoroughly demonstrated the success of these operations. Heonomic Work of the Office of Experi- ment Stations: Dr. A. C. Trun, director, Office of Experiment Stations. This office is so related to the agricultural colleges and experiment stations as to con- stitute a general agency for the promotion of agricultural education and research. On the economic side, the agricultural colleges, chiefly through their research departments called experiment stations, are doing a large and successful work directly for the improvement of agriculture, by increasing the amount of production and at the same time raising its quality through the appli- cation of science to agriculture. But it is on its social or educational side that the experiment station movement is destined to exert its most profound and permanent influence. For the scientific researches of the stations and their application to agri- cultural practice not only provide much material for effective courses of instruction in the theory and art of agriculture, but they also furnish to the farmer the hitherto lacking motive for definite technical educa- tion alone the lines of his art. This is changing the intellectual attitude of the farmer from conservatism to progressive- ness. If, as now seems likely, the stations and the Department of Agriculture shall erelong succeed in arousing the mass of 928 SCIENCE. farmers to a progressive attitude of mind, and put the center of interest of the vast and fundamental industry, agriculture, in the future, they will accomplish a work of inealeulable importance—a social revolu- tion the like of which has never before been seen. This subject is well worth the earn- est consideration of students, of economic and social science. The important thing to note here is that it is the present policy of the Department of Agriculture to aid broadly in the education of the farmer alone the lines of agricultural science, in - the belief that the broadening and deepen- ing of the intellectual life of our rural population are as important, to say the least, as the improvement of their material conditions. The Office of Experiment Stations pro- motes the general interests of the American system of agricultural education and re- search in several ways: (1) It collects and diffuses information regarding the progress of agricultural science the world over through a monthly journal called the EHapermment Station Record and through numerous technical and popular bulletins; (2) it seeks to formulate the principles on which institutions for agricultural research should be organized and managed, and exerts its influence to secure the practical application of those principles in the man- agement of the state experiment stations; (3) it aids the movement for the technical education of the farmer by encouraging the formulation of a distinct science of agriculture and its reduction to ‘pedagogic form’—to meet the requirements of dif- ferent classes of students. It is now especially promoting the establishment of secondary courses in agriculture and the extension of farmers’ institutes. Besides its general functions, the office has at present certain special duties. It has organized and directly manages agri- [N. 8S. Von. XVII. No. 441. cultural experiment stations mm Alaska, Hawaii and Porto Rico, and in cooperation with agricultural colleges, experiment sta- tions, state officials and private organiza- tions in different parts of the country, it is conducting investigations on the food and nutrition of man and on irrigation. Its nutrition investigations have a broad economic bearing as affecting the food habits of our people and as contributing to the scientific basis of the teaching of home economics in our schools and colleges. Its irrigation investigations deal with the laws and institutions of communities whose agriculture is wholly or in part dependent on irrigation, and treat of social and economic problems of fundamental im- portance to such communities. The office is also beginning studies re- garding the use of various kinds of power in agriculture and other subjects in the domain of agricultural engineering, hoping to lay the foundation for a broad treatment of this hitherto neglected branch of agri- cultural science by the department. Economic Work of the Division of Ento- mology: Dr. L. O. Howarp, chief of Division. The work of the Division of Entomology is to investigate insects directly or indi- rectly injurious to man, and to endeavor to lessen the damage which they bring about. It also includes an investigation of beneficial insects. It has been estimated that insects injure the agriculture of the United States to an extent of more than three hundred millions of dollars annually, and it is further estimated that were it not for the continued investigations and suggestions of economic entomologists, this money loss might any year reach the sum of four hundred and fifty millions to five hundred millions of dollars. The sum ex- pended by the government for investiga- tions of this character, whether under, the JUNE 12, 1903. ] state agricultural experiment stations or under the Department of Agriculture, amounts to less than two hundred thousand dollars annually. Public interest in this work and confidence in the recommenda- tions of entomologists is growing. This means that the service is being encour- aged by larger appropriations. When the speaker came to Washington twenty-five years ago four thousand dollars was appro- priated for this work, which was carried on by two men; now nearly one hundred thousand dollars is appropriated and about twenty-five scientific experts are employed. The work is well systematized and is being carried on under the following heads: 1. Field crop imsect investigations, in- eluding a southern section which comprises the insects injurious to cotton, tobacco and sugar cane, and a northern section which investigates the species damaging cereals and forage plants. 2. Fruit insect investigations, with a northern section devoted to the deciduous orchard fruits, and a southern section which cares for citrous and other tropical fruits. 3. Small fruit and truck crop insect in- vestigations. 4. Forest and forest-product insect in- vestigations. 5. Insecticide and insecticide machinery investigations, which include a section of field operations and experiments and a sec- tion of chemical analyses and tests. 6. Investigations of insects affecting stored products, such as cereal, animal and other food substances, materials and fabrics of all sorts. 7. Investigations of insects in relation to diseases of man and other animals, and as animal parasites. The enormous importance of mosquitoes in relation to malaria and yellow fever, and of flies to typhoid, has drawn very general popular SCIENCE. 929 attention toward this phase of the work. 8. Special insect investigations, which in- elude a section for the investigation and introduction of beneficial insects, a section for the study of fungous and other diseases of insects, and a section for emergency and unelassified work. 9. The conduct of an insect laboratory and the care of collections, as well as the care of an experimental garden. 10. Investigations in bee culture. 11. Investigations in silk culture. The speaker, with some little detail, de- seribed some of the operations carried on under these respective heads, and dwelt especially upon the work now being prose- cuted in Texas against the Mexican cotton boll weevil, an insect which has caused a money loss to Texas cotton planters, dur- ing the past three years, of approximately seventy-five millions of dollars. He showed that this insect may be practically handled by simple variations in the cropping meth- ods in use in the state of Texas, and de- seribed certain large-scale demonstrations which have been carried on during the past year upon farms of 150 and 200 acres, respectively. He also spoke especially of the introduc- tion of a fig-fertilizing insect from Algeria which has rendered possible the cultivation of the Smyrna fig in the United States, and also of the recent introduction of a lady- bird beetle from China which feeds upon the San José seale. Economic Work of the Biological Survey: Dr. C. Hart Murriam, chief of Division. The Biological Survey comprises three independent sections: The Biological Sur- vey proper, which studies the geographic distribution of animals and plants and de- termines the boundaries of the life zones and crop zones; the section of economic ornithology, which studies the food and 930 food habits of birds with respect to agri- culture and horticulture; and the section of game preservation and introduction, which has jurisdiction over matters covered by the provisions of the Lacey Act, and also of the game laws for Alaska. The Biological Survey proper carries on field explorations in all parts of the coun- try, but does most of its detailed work in the west. It collects data and prepares maps showing the actual distribution of various species of mammals, birds, reptiles, trees and shrubs, and determines the boundaries between the several life zones and areas. By a study of the associations of species distinctive of the several zones in connection with the crops found to thrive best in parts of these zones, it pre- pares lists of the particular varieties of fruits and other agricultural products adapted to each belt. The section of economic relations, by studying the food habits of birds in the field, and the stomach contents of birds in the laboratory, determines the economic status of various species of importance from the standpoint of practical agricul- ture. Birds are studied by species and groups, and an effort is made to ascertain the food of each species during each month in the year and from different parts of the birds’ range throughout the United States, so that the results arrived at may be au- thoritative and final. Among the groups thus far treated are the hawks and owls, erows, blackbirds, orioles, cuckoos, shrikes and sparrows. The section of game protection and pre- servation inspects importations of live birds and mammals from foreign countries in order to prevent the introduction of nox- ious species, such as the mongoose, the large fruit-eating bats, the starling, kohlmeise, and others, and gives permits for the intro- . duction of non-harmful species. It. has SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 441. charge, also, of matters of federal game protection and the interstate commerce in game shipped in violation of state laws. It publishes digests of the state game laws and laws for the protection of birds other than game birds, and other literature bearing on the general subject of game protection. The Economic Value of the Remaming Public Land: J. D. WuHetpeuEy, Wash- ington, D. C. The land office of the United States has had under its control for disposal under such laws as have prevailed from time to time an area probably amounting to about one billion five hundred million acres of land. About one billion acres of this land have passed from government to private ownership. About five hundred million aeres remain subject to the law of congress. The economic value of the one billion acres which have already been disposed of has been fully demonstrated. The world power of the United States as a nation has become great in direct ratio to the develop- ment of the natural resources of the public lands. The tremendous increase in wealth resulting from the rapid settlement of the one billion acres of public land has blinded the people of this country to the serious de- fects which have existed in the laws gov- erning the disposal of the same. Not one hundred million acres of the five hundred million remaining are suitable to profitable and comfortable occupation by American citizens under existing eco- nomic, physical and social conditions. It is now generally recognized that it is of supreme importance that the government should intelligently conserve the possible economic values of that area of the United States which is still included within the limits of the public domain. Room is needed for more population, more raw ma- terial is necessary to maintain our manu- facturing industries, and one homesteader JuNE 12, 1903.] and his family settled happily upon 160 aeres of carefully tilled land is worth more to the industrial, commercial, transporta- tion and social interests of the country than the non-resident ownership of a range industry covering many thousand acres. Every Secretary of the Interior for twenty-five years past has recommended a curtailment of the land privilege. Con- gress has responded in some degree to this demand, but there is immediate need of radical changes in the laws now upon the statute books. Not another acre of the public lands should be sold for cash or its equivalent. Residence and cultivation should be required hefore title could be ob- tained, and this residence and cultivation should be at least five years, so as to insure a permanent and not speculative interest in the holding. The desert-land law and the commutation clause of the homestead act should be repealed, for while there may be isolated cases produced in evidence of the alleged beneficial character of these laws, a vast majority of the land acquired under these filings is for other than the legitimate purpose of settlement, occupa- tion and general development of the coun- try. In 1902 about twenty million acres were taken from the public domain under the various laws now on the statute books. It is estimated that there will be nearly twenty-five million acres appropriated in 1903. In 1901 there were but sixteen mill- ion, and yet at that time that figure was considered enormous and alarming. Those who are building up large land holdings in the west realize that public sentiment is aroused, and they are crowding in every direction to secure title to as much land as possible before congress takes this matter in hand. It has been argued against the repeal of these laws that the fund created by the SCIENCE. 931 national irrigation law from the sale of public lands would be destroyed. In the first place, if these laws were repealed to- day and existing rights allowed to be per- fected there would probably be about twenty million dollars in the reclamation fund. The government would reap an enormous profit on the investment, even if it were necessary to appropriate one hun- dred million dollars to maintain the fund for reclaiming the arable public lands of the west rather than to allow a continuation of the present system. The cream of the people’s land is being skimmed each year; and with less than a hundred million acres which may be con- sidered as reasonably possible of settlement, it can be but a very short time, at the pres- ent rate of segregation, before this has dis- appeared and the area which congress pro- posed to improve for the home-builders will have been included within the boundaries of great pastures producing not a thou- sandth part of their possible annual con- tributions to the wealth and prosperity of the country. Outlook of the Timber Supply of the United States: Professor B. E. Fernow, director, State College of Forestry, Cor- nell University. This paper. reviewed, upon the basis of the last census and of other statistics, the consumption of wood products in the United States, and the probabilities of meeting the same from the virgin supplies still on hand. Contrary to expectations, the wood con- sumption of the leading industrial nations has, in spite of substitutions, constantly in- ereased during the last forty years, and that greatly in excess of the increase in population, as a result of greater industrial activity and higher civilization; the in- crease in per capita consumption in Great 932 Britain being by five per cent. annually in the average; for Germany and France, ten per cent., and for the United States the apparent increase indicated by census sta- tistics is above this last figure: The total wood consumption for the United States is placed at round twenty- five billion ecubie feet, of which over seven billion is log-size material, the important part needed for the industries. After analyzing the relative value and importance of the different parts of this consumption, in which the conifers are shown to furnish three fourths of the log- size material, the question of supply is dis- cussed. It is shown that Canada, the only coun- try from which such supplies can be im- ported, can not be relied upon for any leneth of time. A probability calculation of the present stand of virgin timber in the United States, ready to supply the demand for lumber, although, admittedly on a slender basis, brings out the improbability, if not im- possibility, of meeting the increasing de- mand for another thirty years, under pres- ent methods of utilization. Even if the entire forest area of 500 million acres were supposed still fully stocked with the aver- age stand per acre, as reported by the cen- sus in the holdings of lumbermen—an ab- surd proposition—the stock on hand would be exhausted within that period. The possibilities of securing the require- ments from the reproduction in the natural forest are discussed on the basis of Euro- pean experiences, and with proper refer- ence to the damaging forest fires. It is shown that even under good forestry prac- tice, the present increasing demand could from the present area be supplied only for a limited time. Hence the efforts to secure such forest management and greater econ- omy in the use of timber are not too early, SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 441. but rather too late, and the dallying with the problem by the legislatures fatal. Sociological Aspects of the Irrigation Prob- lem: Guy HE. MircHetn, editor, The Na- tional Home-Maker. The reclamation of arid America through government construction of irriga- tion works will furnish for years to come an effective outlet for the industrious sur- plus of our great cities. The irrigation sections of the west present almost ideal rural conditions. The tendency is, where water is used for farming, to subdivide land into small individual holdings, which gives to a community a prosperity and sta- bility not found in larger farming districts, nor in cities. This is not a new idea. But while this is being done, the people of the entire United States will become so edu- cated on irrigation matters and irrigation methods that there will be a gradual spreading eastward of the irrigation idea, which will eventually result in the subdi- vision of great numbers of large eastern and southern farms and plantations which are now farmed without thought of arti- ficial water supply, into smaller irrigated farms. Never a season goes by even in the best watered districts of the rain belt that there is not some period of plant growth where the judicious application of water would very greatly increase the yield, and in some years double and treble it. It takes only a year of excessive drought among eastern farmers to get them talking about irrigation, but little comes of it, for the reason that they are entirely unfamiliar with irrigation methods and have no idea how to go about the practice of supple- menting the natural water supply. The irrigation then of the one hundred million acres of western plains and valleys, while it will create innumerable small rural homes of five, ten, twenty or thirty acres JUNE 12, 1903. ] each, will serve further to encourage sub- division of larger areas in the east and south and tend to make the small farm and home a general rule throughout the entire country. Under wise administration, arid America has a glorious future. With her countless small farms and rural homes, communities where people live in the open air, till the soil with their hands and yet enjoy the privileges and advantages of the city, she will prove the sheet anchor of the republic in any time of national peril, while from her will radiate eastward the same idea of the division of the large into small farms and the utilization of the stream and the pond in making certain and increasing an oftentimes unreliable crop. An Inquiry Into the Composition of Creamery Butter: Major Henry E, Auvorp, chief of Dairy Division, Depart- ment of Agriculture. The value of butter depends upon the fat it contains, and although there are necessarily other constituents, and they have value, they should not be in excess. This is especially true of the water content. Purchasers do not wish to buy water by the pound at butter prices. The product of creameries, or the factory system, is the leading grade of butter in the markets. Creamery butter has been alleged ordi- narily to carry too much water. There has been no reliable basis for such asser- tions, and it has seemed desirable to ascer- tain the facts. During the year 1902, the U. S. Depart- ment of Agriculture (Dairy Division) has had opportunity for examining 730 differ- ent packages of butter, representing the product of 400 different creameries, located in eighteen states. The butter was made in May, June, August and September. Moisture determinations were made on 802 SCIENCE. 933 samples. The range of water content was found to be from 7.20 per cent. to 17.62 per cent., and the general average was 11.78 per cent. There were but three re- sults below 8 per cent. and only eight above 16 per cent. Seven eighths of the 802 samples were between 10 and 14 per cent., and more than half between 11 and 13 per cent. Making all reasonable allowance for error, it seems safe to state that American creamery butter, during the months named, has an average water content not exceeding twelve (12) per cent. Education for Farmers: Professor WILLET M. Hays, Minnesota Agricultural Hx- periment Station. The states are gaining charge more and more of education. By unifying the primary and graded schools, the city high schools, and the universities and colleges into an articulated system, education has been greatly promoted. But the current in this system is away from the farm, and a parallel system is suggested in which the student must go against the current to leave the farm. The suggested system includes the consolidated rural school, with free transportation of pupils, serving an area three to five miles square; the agricultural high school, serving ten or more counties; and the agricultural college, serving the entire state. The consolidated rural school supplies superior primary education; could include some studies of rural industries; and a small demonstration farm and garden could be added to the equipment. By ex- tending the course in the consolidated rural school to include the freshman and sophomore high-school studies, the pupils are longer under the parental roof; and the expense of non-resident study in the agri- eultural high school is reduced to the junior and senior years, which study may be made largely technical. The civie and economic, 934 as well as the educational, value of such a system is urged: School Gardens: Miss Louise Kurmy Mit- LER, director of the Lowthrope School of Horticulture and Landscape Gardening for Women. Educators are becoming alive to the im- portance of school gardens as a potent fac- tor in education, and the next five years will see rapid progress in this direction. The schools of Europe are far in advance of us in this phase of education, and the agricultural and horticultural progress 1s largely due to the efficiency of the school gardens. In Austria-Hungary alone there are 18,000 school gardens. In France, the teachers are required by law to be able to instruct their pupils in the elements of agriculture and horticulture, and normal schools have been established for the pur- pose of giving teachers such training. No plans for school buildings to which the state contributes are approved unless ac- companied by plans for a school garden. The study of horticulture is compulsory in Belgium. In Germany and England, school gardens are encouraged, but not regulated by law. Some excellent work has been done in this country, but in many instances the educative features have been made subservient to the raising of vege- tables. The theory and practice of gardening satisfies certain dominant interests in a ehild’s physical, mental and moral evolu- tion; affords an opportunity to expend normally and naturally often misdirected energy; develops an appreciation of the proper values of things; quickens a knowl- edge of the close interrelations in nature; gives fundamental principles of great eco- nomic significance; suggests some of the great problems in the struggle for exist- ence; teaches the dignity'of labor and per- sonal responsibility. SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 441. The day is not far distant when a super- visor of school gardens will be as important an officer in a school system as a super- visor of music or drawing. Children are not satisfied with evasive answers. They are alert, inquisitive and intelligent, and a teacher who wishes to gain their con- fidence and keep their respect must be able to respond to most of the demands made upon her, and have her knowledge at her tongue’s end and finger tips. This is an open field for women, and in this capacity an earnest, capable and enthusiastic teacher can render valuable service to the public good. A difficult problem for the economist and sociologist to solve is the herding together of a large population in a crowded city. Strenuous efforts are being made to turn the tide countryward, and induce persons to seek homes where life will be freer and more wholesome. If the elements of agri- culture and horticulture were taught in country, town and, so far, as possible, in city schools, in an intelligent, scientific and attractive manner, life in the country would be the joy that the opportunity affords. FranK H. HitcHcocg, Secretary. THE UPPER TEMPERATURE LIMITS OF LIFE.* THE upper temperature limits of con- tinued and active life are possible of ob- servation most satisfactorily in the case of the organisms inhabiting hot springs. Such springs are widely distributed in both hemispheres and vary in temperature from tepid to boiling. In all these springs, ex- cept in the very hottest waters and in those in which there is something in the chemical composition which prevents, or- ganisms have been found. Various indi- * Abstract of an address before the California Chapter of the Sigma Xi, Berkeley, April 28, 1903. JUNE 12, 1903.] vidual references have been made to the organisms living at higher temperatures in such springs, such as are tabulated by Davenport in his ‘ Experimental Morphol- ogy’ (Vol. I., pp. 249-267), under the heading of ‘ Acclimatization to Heat.’ As may be seen from the references there given, and more particularly from Daven- port’s notes on the different records, as well as from an examination of the records themselves, there is a very decided lack of good strong evidence as to exact tempera- tures and the kinds of organisms occurring at the temperatures given or hinted at. The records are largely of isolated obser- vations, generally made incidentally and without, in any case, being a portion of any extensive work to determine tempera- ture limits. As far as the literature goes, there seems to have been nothing sys- tematic attempted along these lines. It has been my own good fortune to study with considerable care and thorough- ness the thermal organisms of several dis- tinet regions. The first observations were made at the Arrowhead and Waterman Hot Springs near San Bernardino, Cali- fornia, being introduced to them through the kindness of Mr. S. B. Parish of that city. The visits made to these springs were three in number, in as many different years. The organisms of the hot waters of the so-called geysers in Sonoma County, California, as well as those of several minor hot springs near Calistoga, in Napa County of the same state, were collected and the temperatures carefully noted in June, 1900. In August, 1898, ten days were spent in the Yellowstone National Park, under the auspices of the United States Geological Survey, examining the life in the hot waters of the Mammoth Hot Springs, the Norris, Lower, Middle and Upper Geyser Basins, the Lakeshore Hot Springs, and of other lesser collections of SCIENCE. 935 springs. In all, several hundreds of gath- erings have been made, the specimens ecare- fully preserved and studied, and the re- sults are awaiting publication. - Among other things, especial care was taken to determine accurately and record the exact temperature at which each specimen was growing, so that the data of this character might be complete for the whole series. Not only were the highest temperatures at which living organisms were found, taken, but the temperatures of all organisms in- habiting strictly thermal waters. The re- sults of all my own observations agree perfectly and present a series of facts somewhat at variance, at least in certain essential details, with the results of other observations as tabulated by Davenport. Many, or even the large majority, of the discrepancies disappear, or may be plaus- ibly explained, however, when one con- siders how erroneous certain temperature observations may be, unless taken with certain precautions. In my own work it was found very soon that, unless very considerable care was | exercised, the temperatures were not those at which the organism was living. It was found, for instance, that it was extremely misleading to take the temperature of a spring and then eredit the temperature of any organism existing at any distance from that point as being the same. The central portion of a spring with shallow margins may be of a considerably higher tempera- ture than the margins. In the ease of streams, the temperature of two points only a few centimeters distant from one another may differ 10°-15° C. on account of currents imperceptible except to the thermometer. Especially is this likely to be the case in springs or overflows into which colder currents come from side streams, whether these be of thermal or cold waters. The temperatures of masses 936 SCIENCE. of organisms partly or wholly emergent from the waters are difficult to ascertain with certainty, but in the majority of such eases which have come under my own ob- servation, the only living portions of such masses were comparatively cool. The temperatures which seem sufficiently cer- tain to place implicit confidence in were taken with the following precautions: (1) temperatures only of submerged tufts were taken; (2) the bulb of the thermom- eter was placed within, or just at, the sample which was removed and preserved for microscopical study; and (8) in a very considerable number of cases, particularly of the highest temperatures noted, samples and temperatures were taken at the same spot on different days, or times of the year. The results of all these observations, taken with the precautions indicated above, give certain general results for the strictly thermal waters—1. e., for waters over 43°-45° C. The temperature results may be indicated under a number of dif- ferent heads: 1. No animals were found in strictly thermal waters, although careful search was always made for them. 2. No living diatoms were found in strictly thermal waters. At times, a few empty valves were found, but these may easily have been blown in, since the localities were in the neighborhood of ex- tensive areas of diatomaceous earth. 3. All the organisms found in my own collecting in strictly thermal waters be- long to the groups of plants designated as Schizophyta, being either Schizophycex (Cyanophycee) or Schizomycetes (Bac- teria). These two groups possess a simple morphology and peculiar cell-structure. 4. The chlorophyllose Schizophycez (or Cyanophycex) commonly continue up to [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 441. 65°-68° C., and in some eases, but scantily, up to 75°-77° C. 5. The chlorophylless Schizomycetes (or bacterial forms) endure the highest tem- peratures observed for living organisms, being abundant at 70°-71° C. and being found in some considerable quantity at 82° C. and at 89° C. 6. The temperature of 89° C. is the highest at which I have been able to find any organisms living. This temperature was taken at several different times and on two separate days. The organism belongs to the filamentous Schizomycetes. Search was made most carefully at the ‘geysers’ of Sonoma County, California, for green or- ganisms at 93° C., as recorded by Brewer, but no life was observed at any tempera- ture above 68° C. 7. Living organisms were found at higher temperatures in siliceous waters than in ealeareous waters. 8. The limits of life in the siliceous waters, as determined by my own observa- tions, are between 75° C. and 77° C. for chlorophyllose, and 89° C. for chlorophyl- less Schizophyta. 9. The limits of life in the calcareous waters, as determined by my own observa- tions, are between 60° C. and 63° C. for chlorophyllose Schizophyta and between 70° C. and 71° C. for chlorophylless Schizophyta. 10. No organisms were found in springs reputed to have a decided acid reaction. This needs more study, but where a strong acid (sulphuric) character is given for a spring, the waters are free even from Schizophyta. A careful study of the species of thermal Schizophyta shows several details of in- terest. They are either filamentous or unicellular, but in each case the filaments or cells are enclosed within a jelly, usually abundant. Within the strictly thermal oat ila JUNE 12, 1903.] limits, only one member of the higher and heterocysted Cyanophycer has been noted, viz., Hapalosiphon laminosus. This species does not reach the upper temperature limits, even for the chlorophyllose forms. The majority of the chlorophyllose forms are either species of Phormidiwm or uni- cellular forms peculiar, as far as known at present, to the thermal waters. The chlorophylless forms, as far as detected, are filamentous, very slender, and belong to the group known as the sulphur bac- teria. All of these forms are very closely related, even the so-called sulphur bacteria being little else than colorless species of Phormidiwm. A matter to be emphasized is this—that all of the strictly thermal organisms are low forms, not even repre- senting the higher differentiation in the group to which they belong. The question is always raised, in the case of the thermal organisms, as to the nature of the protoplasmic contents of the cells. What is it that enables the proto- plasm of the thermal organisms to with- stand a temperature which coagulates, and consequently kills, the protoplasm of the majority of organisms. We find that when a proteid, like egg albumen, is free from water, it does not coagulate at the very highest temperatures which leave it unburned, and that the less the content of water, the higher the temperature of coagu- lation. The cell structure in the Schizo- phyta is peculiar, being quite different from that of other groups of organisms. While the details are not satisfactorily set- tled, there seems to be a certainty that there is less differentiation than in other groups. Whether we believe that the pro- toplast is all nucleus or whether we believe that it is all cytoplasm, it remains clear that it is different from the protoplast of other groups of organisms and affords us room for surmise. There is nothing, so SCIENCE. 937 far as my own study of the Cyanophycer cell is concerned, to indicate that the protoplasm contains so little water as to render it incoagulable by the higher tem- peratures which it endures. It seems rather that there may be some important difference in the essential proteids of the mixture, or in the nature of the constitu- tion of the substance, if it be regarded as simple, which renders it less coagulable, a difference similar to that existing between a substance of the group of the vitellins and one of the group of the globulins. Witiiam ALBERT SETCHELI.. SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. Anleitung zur Untersuchung der fiir die Zuckerindustrie im Betracht kommenden Rohmaterialien, Produkte, Nebenprodukte und Huilfssubstanzen. Sechste wmgearber- tete und vermehrie Auflage. Von R. Friupine. Braunschweig, Friedrich Vie- weg und Sohn. 1903. Pp. xxi-+ 505. Marks 12.00. The rapid advances made in sugar chem- istry within the past few years have necessi- tated a thorough revision of and the intro- duction of a considerable amount of new mat- ter in this, the sixth, edition of Friihling’s ‘ Anleitung.’ Examination of the book shows that the author has spared no pains to do justice to his self-imposed task. Adoption of the regulations of the Inter- national Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis, Paris, July 24, 1900, has of course resulted in the introduction of fundamental changes. The metric cubic cen- timeter has replaced the Mohr cubic centi- meter; the normal sugar weight is now 26,000 grams instead of 26,048 grams; 20° Centi- grade has been accepted as the standard tem- perature for the preparation and the polariza- tion of sugar solutions. Space is given to the extensive table showing the relation be- tween the specific gravity of sucrose solutions at 20° C. and the sucrose percentage of such 938 solutions, which table has been prepared by the Imperial Normaleichungskommission. At- tention has also been paid to the determina- tion of the alkalinity of first products, to the determination of sucrose in the presence of invert-sugar, raffinose, ete. About one half of the book is given over to sugar-analysis, or rather, to be more precise, to the analysis of sugar and sugar-containing compounds. The rest of the work treats of the analysis of bone-black, water, limestone, gas-analysis, fuels, fertilizers and so on, and in most of these sections considerable changes and improvements are also to be noted. A recalculation of all numerical data and problems was made imperative by adoption of 16 as the atomic weight of oxygen. Paper and print are excellent, and the numerous illustrations a feature of value. F. G. Wrscu Mann. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIBS. THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY. THE spring meeting of the Physical So- ciety was held at Columbia University, New York City, on Saturday, April 25. An un- usually large program of fifteen papers was presented, and the attendance was above the average. The first article was by H. T. Barnes and KE. G. Coker, and dealt with the ‘Flow of Water through Pipes in Stream Line Motion with Special Reference to the Critical Ve- locity. By taking every precaution to have absolutely quiet water in the tank which supplied the pipe studied, it was found pos- sible to inerease the critical velocity much beyond the limit found by previous observers. The presence of little disturbances in the water entering the pipe seems to have a strong tendency to break up stream line flow into an irregular eddy flow. For small pipes the authors found that two critical velocities might be observed. As the velocity was in- creased from a low value a speed was reached at which stream line flow ceased and eddies formed. If the velocity was increased still more, another critical stage was reached, be- yond which the flow again oceurred in stream lines. SCIENCE. [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 441. Messrs. H. T. Barnes and D. McIntosh de- seribed a form of platinum thermometer especially designed for work with the con- tinuous flow calorimeter and avoiding many of the difficulties met with in previous forms. In a paper on ‘Architectural Acoustics’ G. W. Stewart described a series of experi- ments made in the auditorium of Sibley Col- lege at Cornell University. The reverbera- tion in this hall when first completed was so bad that a speaker could hardly be understood at all. It seemed to offer a good opportunity to test the methods and conclusions developed by Sabine in his work on architectural acoustics. Mr. Stewart found a complete agreement between the results obtained by experiment and those computed upon the basis of Sabine’s theory. A paper on the ‘Spectral Hnergy Curve of a Black Body at Room Temperatures’ was also presented by Mr. Stewart. In order to obtain radiation from a body at room temperature the vane of a radiometer was used as a radiating surface, while in front of the slit of the mir- ror spectrometer used was placed a body at the temperature of liquid air. Under these circumstances, since the radiation from so cold a body is practically nil, the cooling of the radiometer would be due to its own radiation, and the deflections observed in the different parts of the spectrum would measure the radia- tion for particular wave-lengths. The curve showing the distribution of energy in the spectrum had the same general form as that observed at higher temperatures. The maxi- mum occurred at 9.2”, the position of the maximum differing from that computed by Wien’s formula by about 0.6. The energy curve was compared with that computed from Planeck’s theory, and variations of ten per cent. were noticed, although the curves were alike in general form. Jn view of the fact that the maximum deflection obtained was not quite 4 mm., such differences were not surprising. The results of determinations of the specifie heats of certain organic solids were presented by W. F. Magie. Fourteen substances were examined, the Pfaundler calorimeter being employed. The results were compared with JUNE 12, 1903. ] the theory advanced by Staigmiiller, showing a reasonably close agreement. The heats of solution in water were also determined. An article by E. H. Hall ‘On CO, for Liquids and the a of Van der Waals’ called attention to a disagreement between observation and certain conclusions based upon Van der Waal’s equation. Mr. A. W. Smith described the methods used in a careful redetermination of the Heat of Fusion of Ice. An electrical method was employed, every precaution being taken to obtain results in absolute units. A caleula- tion based upon a preliminary determination gives 334.25 joules for the heat of fusion of ice prepared from pure distilled water. Mr. J. S. Shearer reported the results of a determination of the ‘Heat of Vaporization of Nitrogen,’ the method being that previously used by him in determining the heat of vapor- ization of oxygen. The value found was 49.8 ealories per gram. Since the latent heat of oxygen is much greater than this, it becomes a matter of interest to determine the heat of yaporization of air as a function of its com- position. This determination had been car- ried out by J. S. Shearer and F. R. Strayer, who reported that the heat required to vaporize air is the same as would be required to vaporize the constituents separately. Tt has long been known that ordinary slow evaporation is not accompanied by electrifica- tion. When a mass of water is suddenly shat- tered, however, as in jets, marked electrical effects are produced, but these persist only for a short time. The question then arises whether electrical effects may not be present in ordinary cases of evaporation, vanishing so quickly as to be undetected. Experiments to test this point, by investigating cases of sudden evaporation or condensation, were de- seribed in a paper by Carl Barus. No elec- trical effects could be detected. Mr. Barus also presented a paper showing that condensation nuclei are produced by the mixture of ordinary coal gas and air. The nuclei are not ionized. They are probably due to chemical action resulting from the presence of sulphur in the gas. “A Preliminary Note on the Selective Ab- SCIENCE. _ bers. 939 sorption of Organic Compounds in the Infra- ted’ was presented by W. W. Coblentz. Thirty-eight substances had thus far been studied, observations extending to a wave- length of 154. The results were of especial interest in the case of related compounds, for example, the substitution derivatives of benzene. Certain radicals, such as CH and CH,, were found to produce well-defined bands in the absorption spectrum of any substance in which they appeared. In some instances series of bands were found in which the wave- lengths were simple multiples of one another (e. g., CH, bands were found at 3.5, 7.0», 10.5). As its title indicated, the report is preliminary. Mr. Coblentz is to continue the work with the aid of a grant from the Carnegie Institution. The remaining papers on the program were: “An Attempt to Construct an Electrostatic Transformer,’ J. K. Ives; ‘ Note on the Bend- ing of Rock Salt,’ W. W. Coblentz; ‘ A Modi- fication of the Quadrant Electrometer with- out Liquid Contacts,’ C. Barus. At the meeting of the council fifty-five new members were elected. This number of elec- tions exceeds that of any previous meeting, and doubtless indicates the appreciation by the physicists of the country of the recent ar- rangement made by the society with Science Abstracts and the Physical Review. The pro- ceedings of the society are now published in the Physical Review, which is sent to all mem- The Physical Society also cooperates with the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Physical Society of London in the support of Science Abstracts. Membership in the Physical Society thus carries with it a sub- scription to both the Review and the pure science part of Science Abstracts, at a total cost of only a little more than half the regular price of these two journals. Under these cireumstances it is evident that the question of discrimination in the election of new members becomes an important one. The question was discussed at some length, and the sentiment in favor of a distinctly conservative policy was unmistakable. The Physical Society is not to be an honorary society, such, for example, as the National 940 Academy. But effort is to be made to keep it a working society, and not merely an asso- ciation of men having some general interest in physics. It is expected that new mem- bers will in general be chosen only from the active workers in physics—from such as have either already contributed to the advancement of the science or have shown especial promise of becoming investigators later. That ex- ceptions to this policy may occasionally be made is of course probable, but it was felt that such exceptions should be rare. Ernest Merrirt, Secretary. NORTH CAROLINA SECTION OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. THE spring meeting of the section was held in the chemical lecture room of the Univer- sity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, on May 8, 1908, at 8:15 p.m, with Presiding Officer Charles E. Brewer in the chair. After the transaction of some miscellaneous - business, the following papers were presented and dis- cussed : A Simple Hydrogen Sulphide Apparatus: Cuas. E. Brewer. This apparatus is an adaptation of well- known principles. Its peculiar interest lies in the fact that it may be used on the labora- tory desk. The parts are a bottle (250 ec.) with a two-hole rubber stopper to fit, a separa- tory funnel (100 c.c.) passing through one of these holes to the bottom of the bottle to serve as a reservoir for the acid, an Erlenmeyer flask (any size desired) with a one-hole rubber stopper to fit, glass and rubber tubing to con- nect bottle and flask, with as many wash bottles between as may be desired. The bot- tom of the bottle is covered with shot to a depth of one inch, so as to keep the acid off the sulphide while the gas is not needed. The delivery tube passes through the stopper to the bottom of the flask which contains the solution to be treated. The stopper is in- serted loosely until the air in the flask is driven out, then tightly to prevent escape of gas, which comes over as fast as it can be absorbed. It hastens saturation to shake the flask from time to time. SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVIL No. 441. The Assimilation of Nitrogen by Bacteria: G. S. Fraps. This refers to bacteria which assimilated nitrogen without symbiosis. The effect of the nature of the medium, the time, the tem- perature and the soil used for inoculation of the medium were studied. Addition of mag- nesium sulphate to a medium containing glu- cose, potassium phosphate, ferric chloride, sodium chloride and calcium carbonate in- ereased the amount of nitrogen assimilated. Nitrification of Different Fertihzers: W. A. Wirners and G. S. Fraps. The nitrification of different fertilizing ma- terials was compared in four soils. There was some variation. Placing the amount of nitro- gen nitrified in cotton seed meal at 100, the amount of ammonium sulphate nitrified varied from 13 to 127; dried blood, 70 to 120; fish, 85 to 190; bones, 22 to 43, while less nitrifica- tion took place when barnyard manure was present than when it was absent. Very much larger amounts of manure were used than are used in farm practice, and with smaller amounts different results would perhaps be ob- tained. Nitrifying Powers of Typical North Carolina Soils: W. A. WitHErs and G. S. Fraps. The nitrifying powers of fifteen typical soils, collected and classified by the Bureau of Soils, and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, under the same conditions as regards temperature, water content, number and kind of germs, and time, varied from 11 to 106, compared with a standard soil placed . at 100. - The soils with the lowest nitrifying powers are sands, with low water capacity, low humus, low absorptive power for ammonia and low acidity, though a soil low in any or all of these does not necessarily have a low nitrifying power. Acidity of the soil did not prevent nitrification. Report—Progress of the Dyeing Industry: G. S. Fraps. A discussion of the most important lines of advancement, particularly as regards the introduction of sulphur colors, the production of mercerized cotton and artificial silk, and the manufacture of synthetical indigo. JUNE 12, 1903.] Derivatives of Trichlorethylidene di-p-nitro- phenamine: A. S. WuHerter and M. R. GLENN. This body, on treatment with alcoholic potash, gives a monohydroxy-derivative by replacement of one chlorine; with sodium methylate, a monomethoxy-compound; with bromine, a dibrom-derivative with bromine in the rings; with zine dust, a compound con- taining no chlorine. Determination of Glycerine: A. S. WHEELER and W. R. WELLER. Chaumeil’s method in which iodie acid is used was found to give high results. Mercurous Sulphide; CHas. BASKERVILLE. This body was formed by the prolonged action—through five years—of concentrated sulphuric acid (99.65 per cent.) upon pure mereury. Ricent Work on the Rare Earths in the Chemical Laboratory of the University of North Carolina: Cuas. BASKERVILLE. An abridgment of his recent lecture before the New York Section with two additions; first, a new method for purifying neodidy- mium (with Stevenson), and second, an elab- oration of that portion touching radioactive bodies and fluorescence. The paper was fully illustrated with specimens and a few experi- ments. 5 Note on the Thermodynamical Calculation of the Latent Heat: J. EK. Mis. Attention was called to the fact that when the constants for Biot’s formula were known, differentiation of this equation would give op/ét. Substitution in the ordinary thermo- dynamical equation for calculating the latent heat could then be directly effected, with a great saving in the calculations involved. Molecular Attraction: J. E. Mutts. If at any temperature the internal latent heat of vaporization be divided by the differ- ence of the cube roots of the densities of liquid and vapor, the result should equal a constant, according to a published theory of molecular attraction (Jour. Phys. Chem., April, 1902). It was shown that the latent heats for ether, benzene and carbon tetra- SCIENCE. 941 chloride gave a good agreement with the theory to within a few degrees of the critical temperature. Some New or more or less Novel Forms of Laboratory Apparatus: J. M. Picket. (a) An unusual form of siphon. (b) A modified form of a previously described filter-washer. (c) An automatic measurer and dispenser of the acid used in Kjeldahl nitrogen determinations. (d) Same for the alkalies. (e) A stand for Kjeldahl digestion flasks. (f) A file for samples contained in bottles. (g) A desiccator for equalizing inside and out- side air pressure. (h) An appliance for utilizing the incandescent electric light as source of heat in fat extractions with ether. (i) An asbestos furnace for gold assays. (7) An economical but efficient blast-lamp. (k). Spiral support for round-bottom flasks. An LHfficient Asbestos or Graphite Muffle: J. M. Picken and C. B. Witttams. This mutie has been used principally in the determination of potash in fertilizers. It is very efficient and has given satisfaction in other respects. A description of it will soon appear. After the completion of the program Dr. Charles Baskerville tendered the members of the section and their friends an informal “smoker’ at his residence. C. B. Witu1aMs, Secretary. THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. At the 144th meeting of the society, held in assembly hall of the Cosmos Club, Wednesday evening, May 6, 1903, the following program was presented: Professor Lester F. Ward: ‘ Correlation of the Potomac Formation in Maryland and Virginia.’ In this paper Professor Ward outlined the present status of the Potomac formation, as determined from numerous rich collections made in recent years, chiefly by the Maryland workers, and studied and reported upon by Professor Fontaine. The position and extent of the Potomac belt within Maryland and 942 Virginia and the principal localities repre- sented in the collections were shown by maps. The entire review, with Professor Fontaine’s reports, and numerous plates, will be published shortly as a professional paper of the U. S. Geological Survey. My. M. R. Campbell: ‘ Pocono Rocks in the Allegheny Valley.’ Recently Mr. David White and Mr. Camp- bell obtained fossils from the Allegheny Val- ley which show (1) that Pocono rocks having a thickness of at least 130 feet are present in Armstrong County, Pa.; @) that the Potts- ville is 140 feet in thickness and consists of the Homewood and Connoquenessing sand- stones separated by the Mercer coal group; and (8) that the well-marked Pocono and Pottsville are separated by a mass of sandstone and sandy shale having a thickness of about 80 feet and apparently barren of fossils. AlI- though these beds can not be classified definitely, there are some reasons for referring them to the Pocono. If this reference is cor- rect the Mauch Chunk shales and Sharon conglomerate are absent and the Connoquenes- sing sandstones rest directly on rocks of Pocono age. Mr. David White: ‘Age of the Mercer Group.’ Under this title Mr. White communicated certain conclusions and correlations resulting from the study of the fossil plants of the group. He described the pteridophytes of the Mercer flora as a mixture of distinctly upper Pottsville elements with the earliest, and often slightly archaic, representatives of the common species of the Allegheny. Consider- able change is noted between the plants in shales resting on the top of the Connoquenes- sing at certain localities and those mediately underlying the Homewood sand- stone at others, the duration of Mercer time, as indicated by the floras, being greatly dis- proportioned to the relatively small thickness of the group in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Such a comparative duration is, however, in part suggested by the composition of the group, which embraces coals, limestones, iron ores and fire-clays in the northern region. The associated fossil plants indicate that the re- fractory or ‘ flint’ clays worked at many points im- SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 441. in Somerset, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield and Jefferson counties, as well as the famous Mount Savage clays in western Maryland, be- long to the Mercer group, which is shown to be the stage of a belt of refractory fire-clays extending irregularly from the Potomac basin, in northern West Virgina, northward around the border of the main bituminous field through McKean County and as far as St. Charles on Red Bank Creek in northern Arm- strong County. The Mercer group is correlated by the au- thor of the paper with the lower stage of the Westphalian (Sudetic) or the Lower Coal Measures of Kurope. The more complete knowledge of its flora throws much light on the age of the Kanawha formation in the southern Virginia regions, additional collec- tions from which have recently been examined. In a diseussion of the age of the Kanawha in 1899, the speaker had shown that the greater portion, embracing not less than 600 feet, of the formation, antedated the Allegheny for- mation, although the northern equivalents of the formation were not definitely known. It now appears that its partial equivalence with the Mercer, then conservatively proposed, is conclusively shown by the plants, and that a great portion of the Kanawha formation is to be regarded as the southern extension of the Mercer group. The further study of the floras indicates not merely that the middle of the formation may be of Mercer age, but that beds up to within 125 feet of the ‘ Black Flint’ are clearly referable to the latter group, while the basal Allegheny time boundary is probably very much nearer the level of the Black Flint. During the evening of May 13 a special meeting was held in continuation of the 140th regular meeting, which was devoted to a dis- cussion of the ‘ Quantitative Classification of Igneous Rocks.’ No formal papers were pre- sented, but the practical workings of the new classification were commented upon by sey- eral petrographers who had tested it, and ob- servations, critical and commendatory, from foreign workers were read and discussed. W. C. MrEnDENHALL, Secretary. JUNE 12, 1903.] PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Tue 569th regular meeting was held May 9, 1903. The first paper was by Dr. H. Car- rington Bolton, on ‘The Genesis of Hygrom- eters and Anemometers.’ The earliest recorded instruments for meas- uring the moisture in the atmosphere were those of Nicolas de Cusa, about 1450; they were bits of wool and of sponge fastened to one arm of a balance. Leonardo da Vinci invented a more perfect hygrometer, consist- ing of a metallic ring with a graduated scale which bore at its center a movable rod, to the ends of which were fastened small spheres of metal, one covered with wax and one with cotton wool. Leonardo thought the wax re- pelled moisture and the cotton absorbed it. Sanctorius in his ‘Medicina statica’ (Venice, 1614) mentions three hygroscopic substances, the ‘dregs of alum,’ thin boards and strings of a lute. The Italian physicists of the Accademia de Cimento employed a conical vessel filled with ice for condensing the moisture of the air. The ingenious Robert Hooke describes in his * Micrographia’ (1664) a hygrometer, the es- sential feature being the awn of wild oats. The weather-mannikin, still common in Ger- many, was invented in 1685 by Wm. Molineux. In the eighteenth century a very great variety of hygroscopic bodies were employed, from wood through guts of animals to marine alge and deliquescent salts, but De Saussure’s hair hygrometer was found to excel. John Dalton in 1801 proposed noting the dew point, and Leslie’s psychrometer was in- vented about the same date. Daniell’s con- densing hygrometer dates from 1820. The earliest anemometers were those in- vented about 1578 by Egnatio Danté, a Dominican monk. It is similar to that of Wild’s tablet-anemometer reinvented in 1860. The speaker described briefly a large number of instruments for measuring the velocity of the wind down to Robinson’s cup anemometer now in use, first brought out in 1850. Dr. Bolton called attention to the fact that eyery one of the fundamental instruments SCIENCE. 943 now used in meteorological observations is of Italian parentage: 1450....... Hygrometer, Nicolas de Cusa. UVihoas soos Anemometer, Egnatio Danté. 59 Derren Thermometer, Galileo. WOBDsoccose Raingauge, Cartelli. WGA ec ood o's Barometer, Torvicelli. Mr. E. E. Hayden, of the Naval Observa- tory, then described, with aid of lantern ob- servations, the ‘ Naval Chronometer and Time Service.’ The Navy possesses about 800 chronometers, and for the rating of these elaborate provision is made at Washington; further facilities are provided at Mare Island Navy Yard, Cal., and at Cavite. The tests used were described, diagrams were exhibited to show the actual behavior of instruments under service conditions, and the details of the daily telegraphic time service were ex- plained. The last paper of the evening, by Mr. J. F. Hayford, dealt with the unusual features of the plans of a primary triangulation party of the Coast and Geodetic Survey on the 98th meridian triangulation in 1902. The trian- gulation was done at considerably more than double the usual rate for such work in the past, and at half the usual cost per station occupied under similar conditions. The work of a single season furnishes an are of the meridian 6° long, twice as long as the famous Peruvian are. The accuracy of the work is fully up to the best standards of the past. The observations were made upon heliotropes in the day hours and upon acetylene lights at night. The light keepers were given their orders by heliograph signals. Many of the observations were taken under apparently bad conditions upon very faint images, or images which were very large and fluctuating wildly. The observing towers, 42 feet high upon an average at each station, were erected by a separate building party of seven men, at an average rate of ten per month, the towers be- ing scattered throughout the whole extent of the are 446 miles long. No screens were found to be necessary to shelter the inner tower from the sun and wind, although such sereens have been regularly used in the past. 944 Tue 570th meeting was held May 23, 1903. The evening was devoted to memorial ad- dresses on deceased members as follows: By Dr. A. F. A. King, on Dr. 8. C. Busey, lee- turer, sanitarian and author; by Mr. B. R. Green, on Mr. Edward Clark, for many years architect of the Capitol; by Professor F. H. Bigelow, on Professor William Harkness, late of the Naval Observatory; by Mr. H. L. Marindin, on Professor Henry Mitchell, hydraulic engineer, latterly of the Massachu- setts Institute of Technology; by Dr. Swan M. Burnett, on Mr. Charles Nordoff, journal- ist and author; by Mr. G. W. Littlehales, on Admiral W. T. Sampson, U.S.N. Notices of Major J. W. Powell and Mr. J. W. Osborne that had been expected were un- avoidably postponed. CHartEs K. Weap, Secretary. ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Tur 346th regular meeting was held on April. 28. Professor W. H. Holmes gave an account of his explorations in a hematite mine in Franklin County, Missouri, where there are ancient workings consisting of pits and drifts honeycombing the whole mass of ore. Nu- merous stone hammers, flint and chips were found about the pits, and it is evident that this locality was a favorite one among the Indians for procuring paint which occurs in pockets in the iron ore. A communication from Mrs. Catherine Foote Coe, giving her impressions of travel in Japan, was heard with great interest, and a vote of thanks was extended to her. Dr. W J McGee announced that the In- ’ ternational Archeological Commission for the study and preservation of antiquities, which originated at the Pan-American conference held in Mexico in 1901, has made progress toward organization, and that on the third Monday in December next the representatives of the American republics will meet with adequate powers to complete the organization. Mr. Ainsworth R. Spofford read a paper entitled ‘The Folk-Lore of Popular Sayings.’ Mr. Spofford, in calling attention to the great collections of sayings and proverbs in different SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 441. languages, spoke of the wealth of such say- ings in English and Irish. These, he said, possess a distinct ethical value in that they are almost invariably optimistic. The best sayings are of Latin, Greek or Oriental origin from the ages past. Sayings relating to the inanimate world, the animate world, profes- sions in life and color were given, also rhymed sayings, sayings of noted men, maxims of unknown origin, weather proverbs and sayings referring to the days of the week. In the dis- cussion of the paper Professor McGee remarked that proverbs prevail in lower culture and are wonderfully paralleled among different tribes, and said that we may almost predicate the stage of development of a people by their use of proverbs. In answer to a question Mr. Spoftord said that no one can trace the origin of proverbs. The secretary pointed out the debt of language and literature to these pithy sayings, which are in reality word sentences. Mr. Pierce said that in many cases proverbs show their locality of origin, and Mrs. Tul- loch gave examples. The president, Miss Fletcher, said that among Indians ethical proverbs are used in teaching, as, ‘ Stolen food does not satisfy hunger,’ an expression of the Omaha. ‘Some Exploded Theories concerning South- western Archeology’ was the title of a paper by Mr. U. Francis Duff. These myths are the exaggerated estimates of early population, a distinet race of cliff dwellers, dwarf tribes, the destruction of tribes by cataclysms or pestilence, the destruction of villages by lava, the Gran Quivera myth, and the finding of gold in the southwestern ruins. Professor McGee, in discussing the paper, said that in the valley region the extensive irrigation works show that the population was very large, as it would not be necessary to take water far out in the valley to higher levels if the land were not occupied in the near valley. In answer to a question by Mr. McGuire as to the Spanish origin of the ditches, Professor McGee said that the irrigation works show no traces of European culture. Other points were taken up and discussed by members. WALter Hove, Secretary. vei et PE JuNE 12, 1903.] SOIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. Tus May number of the Botanical Gazette contains a paper by Dr. A. A. Lawson, of Leland Stanford University, on ‘The Relation- ship of the Nuclear Membrane to the Proto- plast,’ in which he holds that the typical nucleus of the higher plants is a water cavity, structurally similar to the vacuole, the chro- matin being the only permanent constituent, while the nuclear membrane originates by the cytoplasm coming in contact with the karyolymph, just as the tonoplast is formed by the cytoplasm coming in contact with the cell sap. Dr. B. M. Davis concludes his paper on ‘QOogenesis in Saprolegnia, with an ex- tended theoretical discussion of the homologies, origin and evolution of the coenogamete, the occurrence of coenogametes among the As- comycetes, the phylogeny of Phyecomycetes and Ascomycetes, and the nucleus of Phycomycetes in ontogeny. An ecological paper by Mr. J. Y. Bergen, now residing in Naples, dis- cusses the thickets of under shrubs known locally as macchie of the Neapolitan coast regions. Dr. F. L. Stevens, of the Agricul- tural College of North Carolina, describes the occurrence of ‘ Nutations in Bidens and Other Genera,’ quite similar to the well known nuta- tions of the sunflower. Fernow’s ‘ Economics of Forestry,’ Boulger’s ‘ Woods’; ‘ Postelsia’ and other current works are reviewed. Tue July number of the American Jowr- nal of Mathematics contains the following articles : “Tsothermal-Conjugate Systems of Lines on Surfaces. By L. P. Hisenhart. ‘Some Differential Equations connected with Hypersurfaces.’ By G. O. James. “On the Forms of Sextie Scrolls of Genus Greater than Cne.’ By Virgil Snyder. ‘Geometry on the Cuspidal Cubic Cone.’ By Frederick C. Ferry. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. THE PROPOSED BIOLOGICAL STATION AT THE TORTUGAS. To tHe Epiror or Scmnce: In the marine biological stations (which carry on, it must be remembered, only a portion of all biolog- SCIENCE. 945 ical work) two tendencies, opposite at first sight, but really directed toward the same high aims, are discernible. The one tendency is to investigate the phenomena of structure, development and function in the individual; the other is to consider individuals in masses as species, as form-units bearing the imprint of environment, and adapted thereto, and as constituents of faunas. For students of the first sort of marine zoology what is required is one large central laboratory, with an ex- tensive library and the requisite cytological and physiological apparatus, where students of anatomy, embryology and physiology may work together and give mutual aid and stim- ulus. The needs of the workers on the other side of marine zoology call for several labora- tories, widely separated, in diverse environ- ments. These will assist the first sort of laboratory by furnishing particular kinds of material found only in the locality. But their chief work will be to study the fauna, de- termining the laws of geographic distribution of organisms, the variation of species in dif- ferent environments and the interaction of organisms. Such laboratories will, of course, be exclusively for research, and should be equipped with everything requisite for the collection, the study alive and the rearing of organisms. While the Woods Holl Laboratory provides a home for the first-mentioned investigations, and will, with increased resources, be able to provide still better for them in the future, the needs of the second sort of biology are still imperfectly met. On the middle Atlantic coast there is a series of laboratories that are of value for this work, as at Harpswell, Woods Holl, Cold Spring Harbor, Beaufort and Ber- And on the Pacific coast we have the Hopkins Laboratory and that of the Univer- sity of California. The pressing needs are now for one or more stations on the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea—those vast mediterranean seas our failure to investigate whose fauna remains to-day one of the great reproaches to American zoology. Every zool- ogist who is more than half a zoologist will be glad to see this reproach. removed. muda. 946 In Europe individual enterprise or univer- sity initiative backed by government support has established a magnificent chain of biolog- ical research stations reaching from Troms6, Norway, and even the White Sea, along the North Atlantic, the Baltic and North seas, the Irish Sea, the Channel, the Bay of Biscay, and the Mediterranean, Adriatic and Black seas. In this country, where the idea that a university should be primarily a research in- stitution is slow in taking root, we can not look for the establishment of such stations far from university centers. The founding of the Carnegie Institution leads us to hope that now America can do her plain duty in the investigation of our adjacent tropical seas. Just where these laboratories should be lo- eated may be left to the consensus of opinion of zoologists, if such can be obtained. There seems to be a nearly unanimous agreement that the Tortugas are the best place for one of them. Certainly any one looking at the map and seeing their position in the middle of the out-portal of the great breeding ponds of the Atlantic tropical fauna would predict that here would be one of the best places in the world for a marine station. Twelve years ago Mr. Agassiz named it to the writer as the ideal place for a marine station, and every zoologist that has been there since has brought home the same report. So it clearly is an ideal spot, and the first tropical marine station should go to the Tortugas. It is to be hoped that, in addition, the desira- bility of establishing a marine station at Ja- maico, Porto Rico or another of the Antilles may be considered; and while we are planning a chain of marine stations, certainly the island of Grand Manan or the coast of Newfound- land and Puget Sound should be considered. Also, it would be well to have a party to ex- plore in successive years the fauna of Davis Strait, Hudson Bay, Bering Sea and the Gulf of California, and to report on the feasi- bility of establishing marine stations at those places. But it seems to me the first step is certainly to establish a laboratory at the Tor- tugas. C. B. Davenport. CHICAGO, May 13, 1903. SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 441. To THe Epiror or Science: ‘Although some- what tardy in my reply to Dr. Mayer’s query, I am none the less enthusiastically in favor of the establishment of a marine biological laboratory for research in the tropics. There would be certain advantages in having it within the jurisdiction of the United States, which would narrow the choice of site to Porto Rico, the coast of Florida, or the Tortugas. In the region of Porto Rico the island of Culebra seems especially favorable, and the Fish Hawk found good collecting also at Mayaguez. Before a laboratory is finally established I think that these localities should be considered carefully. As to the main coast of Florida and the islands immediately adjoining, a laboratory in most localities of this region would be inaccessible and difficult to provision. Moreover, as I can testify, the water there is frequently in bad condition, becoming milky with fine caleareous material from the grinding of the coral sand by the surf. Dr. Mayer reports the water at the Tortugas to be very pure; and, as there is a goyernment station there, I infer that means is afforded for frequent communication with Key West, which is easily accessible and would furnish a satisfactory base of supplies. Professor Nutting has mentioned the abundant fauna of the Tortugas, but the one, point in which the Tortugas seem likely to excel all other localities has not been emphasized, and that is as a place for the study of the tropical pelagic fauna. It was a search for such a place that led the Johns Hopkins party of 1892 to Bimini, which is on the east side of the Gulf Stream. The Tortugas were considered, and rejected on account of the quarantine for yel- low fever there at that time. We arrived at Bimini after a storm with the wind blowing from the southwest, and upon rowing out into the Gulf Stream we found an abundance of pelagic forms that more than satisfied our greatest expectations. But after the wind had returned to normal southeast and had been blowing from that direction a week or so we realized that we had selected the wrong side of the Gulf Stream, for there was a com- JUNE 12, 1903.] plete change in the pelagic fauna within reach of the laboratory, the catch consisting chiefly of larve of forms living upon the Bahama Bank. Reports of the Weather Bureau show that, except during the midwinter months, the prevailing winds at the Tortugas are from east to southeast. That is, they blow diagonally across the Gulf Stream toward the station. This, with a reasonable amount of calm weather, would afford ideal conditions for the study of the truly pelagic fauna, which is the most interesting and the least known. Or- dinarily one has to go out in a ship to study this fauna, but at Tortugas, as at Bimini, it would be brought to the door of the laboratory by an ocean current, and at the Tortugas there would be the additional advantage that the wind would generally be blowing across the current toward the laboratory instead of away from it. Tf a laboratory is established there I shall certainly endeavor to use it, and I hope that its establishment will not be delayed by any idea of great expenditure. Very good work ean be done at such a place with very modest equipments. Ropert Payne BicELow. MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, May 26, 1903. Havine spent a season in Jamaica I am disposed to advocate that island with almost unqualified commendations as a site for a research laboratory in the tropical Atlantic. B. W. Barton. Jonns Hopkins UNIVERSITY, May 6, 1903. SHORTER ARTICLES. THE ARC OF QUITO. Tue following statement concerning a work of international interest and importance is taken from the Comptes Rendus, Hebdoma- daires, des Séances de V Académie des Sciences, tome CXXXVI., No. 14 (6 Avril, 1903).* * Report presented in the name of the commission charged with the scientific control of the geodetic operations on the Equator. (Commissioners; Mm. Bouquet de la Grye, Hatt, Bassot, Loewy; H. Poincaré, Secretary.) SCIENCE. 947 “The commission formed by the French Academy of Sciences for the scientific control of the geodetic operations on the Equator had a meeting on March 9 to hear the report of M. le Commandant Bourgeois on the work executed during the year 1902.” Unhappily, the progress of the work has not been as rapid as was expected last year when the previous report was made. This delay has resulted from two prinicipal causes, the first being the exceptionally unfavorable meteorological con- ditions. The summits of the mountains were constantly covered with clouds or mist which rendered observations impossible. Lieut. Perrier remained three months at the station on Mirador, at an altitude of 4,000 meters, and was constantly in the clouds. During his whole stay incessant rains and a furious wind prevailed except at rare intervals. The other parties encountered the same diffi- culties. At Tacunga, M. Maurain was only able to observe at rare intervals. At Cahuito, M. Lacombe passed many days in the mist and snow without being able to obtain a single observation. M. Lallemand had charge of the reconnaissance and signal building and encountered many obstacles. These unfavor- able conditions appeared to have an excep- tional character which the reconnaissance could not make known in advance. Ordinarily the season of rain is shorter, and even in the worst months observations are sometimes pos- sible during many hours of the day. Is it possible that the persistent bad weather should be ascribed to the recurrence of volcanic ac- tivity which showed itself in the whole of South America after the catastrophe at Martinique ? The yoleanoes of the eastern Cordilleras, which ordinarily emit a little vapor, threw out columns of smoke on many occasions, and there were lava flows in the western chain. Strong earthquake shocks were also felt. These voleanic manifestations did not directly delay the work, but perhaps they were con- nected with the meteorological conditions which proved to be so serious in delaying the operations. The second cause of delay was the continued 948 destruction of the signals by the Indians, and also by the whites. These ignorant people imagined that these signals were erected to mark the location of treasure and they not only threw down the signals but they dug deep in the soil all around and destroyed the marks which had been established in order to recover the exact location of the stations. The warning of the government, the commands of the bishops and sermons of the priests were equally unable to prevent this destruction. We hope that, thanks to the efforts of the authorities and, above all, to the zealous efforts of the president of the republic, such incidents will become unusual. The destruction of signals in a country where communication is _so difficult always entails long delays, but, above all, to find on many occasions that the marks had been destroyed after the position of the station had been exactly determined was most disastrous, as it entailed the reoccu- pation of all the stations from which the one destroyed had been observed. Thus the de- struction of the marks at Chujuj, situated in the center of a polygon, made it necessary to reoccupy the four surrounding stations. Certain signals have been destroyed three times and almost every report from Captain Maurain mentions other cases of destruction. The most unfortunate of these incidents was the simultaneous destruction of the marks at Panecillo, where one of the principal astro- nomical stations was located, and of the geodetic station of Pambamarea. The ge- odetic station had not been occupied, and it was necessary to redetermine the astronomical azimuth of the side Panecillo-Pambamarea, a primary operation which had been completed in 1901. There is great anxiety about the safety of the stations Zagroun and Lanlanguzo at the ends of the line, from which the work to the south will be extended. If these stations are destroyed it will be necessary to redetermine many other stations. Native officers at- tached to the expedition have been sent to this line to watch the stations and impress — on the local political authorities the impor- tance of preserving it from destruction. In spite of all these difficulties, we have the SCIENCE. (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 441. satisfaction of stating that the operations have been conducted in such a way as to fur- nish every guarantee of precision. We regret the delay of some months which will undoubt- edly imcrease the expense, but the scientific value of the work will leave nothing to be desired. Base Measurement.——Two base lines were measured in 1901, one in the center at Rio- bamba, measured first with a bi-metallic bar and afterwards with the Jaderin wire; the other on the north at El Vineculo measured only with the Jaderin wire. These measure- ments were made during the preceding year, but since then they have been reduced. A third base will be measured at Payta in the southern section of the are at the close of the operations. Astronomical Observations.—The necessary observations have been entirely completed. The latitude of Tulean (principal station) was determined in February; the determination of the difference of longitude, Quito-Tulcan required much time on account of unfavorable weather; the evenings of the exchange of telegraphic signals, comprising two entire evenings with four joint determinations at the two stations, two joint half evenings, plus five evenings with two determinations at one station and only one at the other. The com- putation of these observations has not been completed, but the results appear satisfactory. The exchange of observers was not practicable, but MM. Maurain and Perrier determined their personal equations at Quito and will redetermine them when they meet again. The resulting latitudes are as follows, all the com- putations having been made: Daiybiais soravate in ainte/horerscvstsyains es eiereeene — 5° 05’ 08.6 Riobambaies . tyoeteces aeeositneretoerets —1 40 00 9 Pamecilloy crccssmlveceic pickererseastie sane —0O 13 51 .1 Mail Camry im stvacvien ercisne vacnasee ey eee +0 48 25 6 Total amplitude of arc........... 5° 53/ 3477.2 Amplitude of northern section..... 2 28 26 5 The northern section includes two second- ary astronomic stations, Tacunga and Ibarra. Captain Maurain decided first to determine the longitude between the principal station at Panecillo and the observatory at Quito, so as to take advantage of the continuous presence yy JUNE 12, 1903.] of M. Gonnessiat at the observatory for the determination of the longitude of the second- ary stations. For this purpose M. Maurain, before starting, determined his difference of personal equation with M. Gonnessiat and then determined the difference of longitude between Quito and the two secondary stations, on three evenings, using one chonograph in- stalled at Quito which registered the observa- tions of the two observers. Telegraphic com- munication was made without a relay. The latitude of Tacunga was determined on four evenings with a meridian circle and the pre- liminary general mean is 0° 56’00’.97. The results of the observations for altitude at Ibarra are not yet reduced. Geodetic Operations —The astronomical ob- servations have been completed and the un- expected delay has all been in the geodetic work. The northern section from the side Zagroun Lanlanguzo includes thirty stations between the two base lines, and of these thirty stations only six or seven remain to be occupied. The northern observing party has com- pleted the polygon which encloses the El Vineulo base line, except the central station Machines, while the southern party, starting from the line Zagroun-Lanlanguzo to the south of Riobamba, has reached the line Pichincha-Pambamarea, to the north of Quito. Unhappily we must expect to find difficulties at the remaining stations, similar to those , already encountered, on account of the cli- matic conditions. The azimuths already determined show a very satisfactory agreement and the mean error of closure of the triangles already com- puted is about one second. Zenith Distances.—In general, it is not pos- sible to measure simultaneous reciprocal zenith distances, but reciprocal zenith dis- tances have been obtained between all the sta- tions. The preliminary examination of these observations shows that they are very accord- ant and the refraction seems suitably constant, which fact the steadiness of the objects ob- served had indicated in advance. This is confirmed by the rigorous simultaneous meas- SCIENCE. 949 ures made by M. Maurain at Pambamarea and by M. Gonnessiat at Panecillo. Under these conditions it is possible to execute good geodetic leveling. Latitudes of the Third Order—The atten- tion of the observers was called to the neces- sity of obtaining observations for latitude as often as practicable. The theodolite with micrometers could not be used, and it was very difficult to transport the meridian circle. After considerable progress had been made the observers received acces- sories which enabled them to use the theodo- lite with micrometers in observations for latitude. Captain Maurain observed a sec- ondary latitude at Tacunga with the meridian cirele and then made observations for lati- tude with the theodolite to ascertain the pre- cision to be expected when that instrument was used. The result was sufficiently good to warrant its use for this purpose in the mountains. There is always a systematic dif- ference between observations on north stars and those on south stars, but the errors from many successive nights are always very small. The observers will soon receive two Claude Driencourt apparatus; this apparatus, which has been described in the Astronomical Bul- letin, Vol. XVII., gives results of great precision and is very portable, and it can be utilized at the geodetic stations which re- main to be occupied, especially in localities where gravity observations will be made. A great number of observations for latitude of the third order have been made with the theodolite, one to the south of Riobamba, one near Riobamba, two around Tacunga, three around Quito (Pambamarca, Pichincha, Corazon) and four around the northern base line. Gravity—This portion of the work has not made much progress. The station at Rio- bamba is reduced, but it still needs the ac- curate determination of the rate of the side- real clock. No other observations have been made. It is still undecided what instru- ments should be used at the secondary sta- tions. The Sterneck pendulum does not ap- pear to present as great advantages as it was at first believed to possess. M. Maurain 950 thought of using the new thermo-barometric method which has been used on the Atlantic Ocean, but it has been justly stated that this method would not give results sufficiently pre- cise. However, the chief of the expedition has not lost sight of this important question, and we can be’assured that it will not be neglected. Leveling of Precision—The completion of the work on the railroad towards the plateau between the Andes permits the levels between Guayaquil and the base line at Riobamba to be determined with much greater facility than was possible when the are measure was begun. Topographic Work.—A map on a scale of 1/500,000 will be made of the whole inter- mountain region and special maps on a larger seale have been made in certain localities. Magnetic Observations—Magnetie observa- tions have been made at nearly all the stations. They are not yet reduced. ‘ Studies in Natural Science.—Dr. Rivet has continued his studies relating to the natural sciences and has made a number of additions to the museums. He has undertaken the study of the anthropology of the Indian races in this intermountain region. The following is the program of work dur- ing the year 1903: 1. The completion of work on the northern section. 9. The geodetic observations on the south- ern sections and more or less of the section Riobamba-Cuenga, comprising besides azimuth observations the determination of the latitude “a la seconde ronde’ at each station if possible. 8. A secondary latitude at Cuenea and the difference of longitude Cuenga-Riobamba (or Cuenga-Quito) if telegraphic connection between the former stations can not be made without delay. 4, The magnetic observations as heretofore. 5. The beginning of the levels of precision. There remains for the following years the geodetic work on the section Cuenga-Payta, the pendulum observations, and the connec- tion, if possible, by geodetic observations of the island of Puna, with the meridional chain of triangulation, with a complete astronomical station on Puna. Isaac WINSTON. SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVI. No 441. QUOTATIONS. THE NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL OF FORESTRY. Wuen New York established a School of Forestry, to make sure that it should not fall into the hands of politicians and be exploited for ‘what there was in it,’ it was lodged under the shelter of Cornell University. It was deemed advantageous to make this arrange- ment for other reasons also, and particularly in order that, the teachers and students should have access to the library and laboratories and lecture rooms of the university proper, where the cognate sciences of botany, chemistry, mineralogy and various kinds of engineering are taught. The university chose a professor of forestry of the highest repute, Mr. E. B. Fernow, and placed him in charge of the im- portant work which had been assigned to it, and the state set apart certain forest lands which it owned, in order to impart the needed instruction to students. The annual reports of Professor Fernow have been published and circulated at the state’s expense, and have been highly praised by ‘all competent to form an opinion. We have never seen an untayorable comment upon them by any expert in forestry. The state also made an annual appropria- tion for its School of Forestry. That of 1902 was for $10,000, where $30,000 had been asked for. This year the appropriation was vetoed by the governor, and now the attorney-general has been requested by certain summer resi- dents of the Upper Saranac Lake region to bring an action to annul the ‘grant of forest lands to Cornell University’—so the dis- patches read. Naturally, the newspapers have fallen into the habit of considering the uni- versity the beneficiary of both the grant and the appropriation. This is not the first time that the mistake has been made, although the fact is that the state is indebted to the univer- sity in respect of this school. The university has no pecuniary interest in the School of Forestry that is not common to all citizens of New York. What is at the bottom of this rage against the School of Forestry it is difficult to see, unless it may be the mere objection of campers, hunters and summer residents. The objectors, whoever they may JUNE 12, 1903.] be, say that the state constitution is violated by the removal of timber from the ground “for purely commercial purposes.’ There has been no removal of timber for any such pur- pose. If the science of forestry is to be taught at all, it must be done by first clearing some portion of the land for the reception of new growth. The timber removed would naturally be sold on the general ground of economy and for the special purpose of re- imbursing the state for the cost of cutting and hauling. The only question which now confronts the state is that of continuing the scientific instruction in forestry which it has begun or of abandoning it.The N. Y. Hven- ing Post. ; AGE OF GERMAN UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS. Dr. F. EvLenpurG, privat-docent in the University of Leipzig, has published in the Jahrbiicher’ fiir Nationalokonomie und Statistik a lengthy article dealing with the age of the active full professors in the uni- versities of Germany as also of the German universities in Austria and Switzerland. It is practically exhaustive, only about two per cent. of the complete data being wanting, so that it covers 1,288 professors for the winter term of 1890-91, and 1,429 for the winter term of 1901-02. According to these statistics, the average age of the full university professors at present is 53.4 years, which is two years above what it was a decade ago, when it was 514 years. The highest average age is found at the ten Prussian universities, where it is 54.5 years, and the lowest average in the three uni- versities of Switzerland, where it is 51.8. It is Significant that the smaller universities ex- hibit a smaller average than the larger; this is explained by the fact that usually men do not gain an entrance into the faculties of the larger until they have been tried and found approved in the smaller. In different depart- ments the average varies considerably. In the case of the 201 theological professors it is 54.2; of the 226 law professors, 54.2; of the 295 medical professors, 54.8; of the 707 men in the several departments of the philosophical faculty, 53.1. That the average among the medical men should be the highest is readily explained by the fact that the rush to this SCIENCE. 951 department is especially great, and that the number of assistant professors and _privat- docents is very large. On the other hand, the law faculties have not been attracting so many candidates, and the chances for earlier promotion are accordingly greater. The high- est averages are reported from Berlin, Konigs- berg, Munich and Leipzig; which can readily be explained in the case of the first, third and fourth, as these leading universities are the Ultima Thule of the German sayant’s ambi- tion. The youngest full professors are found in Bonn, Heidelberg, Vienna and Strassburg, in the non-theological faculties, and in Tiibingen, Marburg, Innsbruck, Erlangen and Giessen in all departments. There are only two full professors under thirty, both in the law department, one in Tiibingen and the other in Bern. About four per cent. of the pro- fessors continue in the harness after they have passed their seventieth year, but it should be remembered that in Austria, as in the Ger- man provinces of Russia, professors are re- tired by law when they reach this age. Eulen- burg suggests that the German states pass a law giving the incumbent of an academic chair the right to retire at the age of sixty- five with a pension, and making this com- pulsory, except in rare cases, at the age of seventy, but in each instance, in the latter case, making the incumbent Professor Emeri- tus and giving the ‘ Lehrauftrag’ to a younger man. This, he declares, would be justice to both students and professors. His discussion has an added interest when compared with the paper published in 1876 by Laspeyres on the same subject.—Medical News. PROGRESS OF THE CONCILIUM BIBLIOGRAPHICUN. Dr. Herpert Havinanp Fietp is now in this country in connection with the Concilium Bibliographicum, and will visit various insti- tutions, in order to report in person on the progress of the concilium, and to enter into communication with all who are interested in bibliography in the various lines of natural history. His address during his stay in America will be 106 Columbia Heights, Brook- lyn, New York. 952 The turning point has been reached in the history of this really great undertaking. The chief support has come through the generosity of the Swiss government, and it is hoped that the American government and some of the leading American institutions will unite in placing this work upon a secure foundation. Naturally one of the first questions asked is how the undertaking is regarded abroad, and why it should receive the united support of workers in the various lines of natural history. There are several striking proofs of the esteem in which the concilium is held on the con- tinent. Through the death of Professor Carus, who has given his entire life to bib- liography, almost without remuneration, a vacaney has oceurred which the concilium has been invited to fill. It is a matter of con- tinuing the zoological bibliography conducted by one who has been universally acknowl- edged to be a master in his subject and which reaches back without interruption to the year 1700. Before agreeing to undertake to carry on this work, the concilium is brought to face obligations which it can not fulfill without new support. At the same time the botanists on the continent, impressed with the thorough- ness of the work of the concilium, at the inter- national conference held in Leiden on April 16, voted to place the editorship of the well- known botanical bibliography in the hands of the concilium, as soon as funds could be ob- tained for doing the work. In both these eases, zoology and botany, it is only a small portion of the entire expense that is needed, but failure to obtain this comparatively small aid will make it impossible for the concilium to undertake these new duties. Meanwhile a number of European geologists are await- ing the results of these negotiations, with a view to establishing a geological section of the concilium similar to that of other parts of the institution. This endorsement from workers in three entirely separate fields, ar- rived at entirely independently, is so striking that it needs no further comment. Never was the conjunction of circumstances for se- curing a thoroughly adequate bibliography of an entire group of natural sciences more SCIENCE. [N. 8. Vou. XVII. No. 441. marked. It is hoped, therefore, that the effort that Dr. Field is now making here will be crowned with success. The special needs of the concilium are, in the order of importance: $3,500 for improve- ments in the Zurich plant, especially for the acquisition of a linotype printing machine; $4,000 for the liquidation of an accumulated debt; and at least $1,000 additional for cur- rent expenses. Dr. Field especially invites criticisms and suggestions upon the work as it is now being carried on. From several persons the criticism has been made to the present writer that the ecards accumulate too rapidly and are some- what difficult of arrangement. This difficulty, in the nature of embarras de richesse, has been felt in many laboratories. It will be readily obviated, first, by the introduction of the guide cards which are supplied by the eoncilium, and which make the arrangement of the titles a purely mechanical matter; sec- ond, it is proposed, wherever desired, to limit the number of cards sent out which relate to certain local faunz and are of purely local in- terest. These, and any other matters of crit- icism which may arise, Dr. Field, as director of the concilium, will be glad to receive and carefully consider as suggestions for improve- ment of the service. All those who are using the cards appreciate that, whatever criticisms as to details may be made, the concilium is doing a magnificent work, a work far sur- passing in accuracy and fulness and readiness of arrangement that which has been done or is now being done elsewhere. Many of the former critics and opponents of the concilium are now recognizing its superiority, and it is certainly to be most earnestly desired that the United States should strongly support an undertaking which has been conceived and carried out only through the persistence, energy and devotion of an American. Henry FAIRFIELD OSBORN. CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE BIRTHDAY OF JUSTUS VON LIEBIG. On the twelfth of May, by invitation of the New York Section of the Verein Deutscher JUNE 12, 1903.] Chemiker, the members of the American Chemical Society, the Society of Chemical Industry and the Chemists’ Club partici- pated in a celebration in memory of the illus- trious investigator and chemist, Justus von Liebig, who was born one hundred years ago. The societies met in the assembly hall of the Chemists’ Club and listened to addresses by Dr. Ira Remsen, president of Johns Hop- kins University; Professor Wm. H. Brewer, of Yale; Dr. Carl Duisberg, vice-president of the Verein Deutscher Chemiker and managing director of the Farbenfabriken of Elberfeld, Germany. The exercises were opened by Dr. Hugo Schweitzer, chairman of the Verein, who wel- comed the assembly and foreign guests in a very appropriate address, and introduced the speakers. Dr. Remsen outlined the early life of Lie- big, mentioning his unpromising inaptitude for study at school, which resulted in giving it up and devoting himself to chemistry; his first interest in which was aroused by the study of colors and dye-stuffs. Later, while at a country fair, he saw an exhibition of Pharaoh’s serpents, accompanied by some chemical operation connected with their prep- aration which led eventually to his study and investigation, while attending the lectures of Gay Lussac at Paris, of the cyanides, eyanates and fulminates. This work resulted in his introduction to Gay Lussae, who admitted him to his private laboratory. He was ap- pointed a professor at the University of Gies- sen, in his twenty-first year, 1824, where his laboratory was of the crudest character, not much better than a barn without flooring; but from this modest beginning, with only six or seven students, his work grew and his reputation spread; a new laboratory was built and students came to it from all quarters. During the twenty-eight years at Giessen the activity of Liebig and the work he accom- plished were enormous; and he can be truly considered the greatest chemist of that time. His publications in scientific journals amount- ed to more than two hundred papers, in addi- tion to his works on agriculture, organic SCIENCE. 953 chemistry and analysis; besides acting as editor of several scientific journals. Coming to personal reminiscences of the time when he attended the lectures of Liebig at Munich, Dr. Remsen described the difficulty he experienced as a student in attempting to harmonize the old system as taught by Liebig, with the new as taught by his assistant, Vol- hard. Speaking of his methods, he said that all Liebig’s lectures were profusely illustrated by experiments, many of them so elaborate as to be unthought of in the present-day lec- ture room—metallurgical experiments requir- ing wind furnace, and many others which the speaker said he would now hardly believe could have been done on the lecture table if he had not preserved his note-book filled with rude drawings of all the apparatus used. Liebig was fond of a little dramatic effect, and took some care to bring his lectures to a climax with the most effective experiment, whether with a big flash of flame or an ex- plosion or otherwise; and while the present method is more severe and straightlaced, the speaker said he was not certain that the im- pressions made and the train of thought aroused by Liebig’s method were not very effective. It was extremely difficult to get admission to Liebig’s laboratory as a student; in fact, it was one of his conditions, on accepting the professorship at Munich, that he should not give his time or attention to students. In appearance, Liebig was large of stature and of fine bearing; one of nature’s noblemen, but very emphatic in berating his assistants when the experiments went wrong, his lan- guage on such occasions being more remark- able for condensed energy than for rhetorical elegance. Professor Brewer, who is the oldest living pupil of Liebig in this country, and who has been his devoted follower in the line of agri- eultural chemistry, told of his enthusiastic desire to study under him, aroused by reading a translation of his work: on agriculture in 1846. A few years later he went abroad, and with letters of introduction went to Munich. Here he found Ogden Rood, afterward pro- 954 fessor of physics at Columbia University, who offered at once to introduce him to Liebig, and assist in every way toward the desired end. But Rood advised him not to use his letters of introduction; not to call Liebig ‘professor,’ but ‘ Herr Baron’; to have plenty of assurance, and not to spare flattery. With this preparation the introduction was brought about and Brewer stated his mission. Liebig assured him that he would do better to go somewhere else. He said: ‘I will give you no attention; no attention.’ This assurance met every advance until finally the speaker said: ‘I told him I have come three thousand miles to sit at the feet of the greatest teacher of chemistry in Europe and I am going to remain here.” ‘Well,’ said Liebig, ‘see Mr. Meyer.’ He saw ‘Mr. Meyer, and a place was set apart in the laboratory for the new student, who remained there a year, but actually re- ceived practically ‘no attention,’ except when he showed some organic erystals to him which had the appearance of potassium nitrate, and were so pronounced by Liebig on sight. The effort to convince him that they were organic was followed by a sound berating for ‘ con- tradicting, which was later followed by dem- onstrating to the great professor that no con- tradiction had been intended, and that the erystals were in fact ‘very peculiar’ Pro- fessor Brewer’s address was full of personal interest and was followed with the closest attention. Dr. Carl Duisbere read a paper describing the influence of Liebig on chemical industry, his teachings resulting in that knowledge of the importance of scientific method which has so largely displaced the ‘ rule-of-thumb’ man by trained chemists in all the great chemical industries of Germany; and more or less in other countries. Liebig’s influence was ex- erted chiefly on the organic chemical indus- tries, and much of their progress is due to his activity and energy while at Giessen. “A stat of his pupils making their way to all quarters of the globe disseminated his ideas in assisting agriculture and the chem- ical industries, and as the first systematic SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 441. teacher of laboratory methods, the credit is justly due him for an influence which can hardly be measured or described.” Among those assembled to honor the mem- ory of the great chemist were Mr. Ivan Lev- enstein, of Manchester, England, president of the Society of Chemical Industry, and his son, who represents the Levenstein Company, limited, in this country; Dr. Liebmann, also of Manchester; Drs. H. Reisenegger and F. Backe, of the color works at Hochst am Rhein; Dr. Teichmann, of Kuhnheim Works, Berlin; F. Bayer of Elberfeld; W. Haarmann and son of Holzminden, ‘German; also Dr. T. J. Parker, chairman of the American Chemical Society; Dr. McMurtrie, ex-presi- dent of the same society; Professors W. H. Hallock and C. EK. Pellew, of Columbia Uni- versity; Charles A. Doremus, William Jay Schieffelin and others. Duranp WoopMAN. THE DALTON CELEBRATIONS AT MANCHESTER.* THE Manchester celebrations in connection with the centenary of Dalton’s atomic theory began on Tuesday afternoon, May 19, when Professor F. W. Olarke, chairman of the In- ternational Commission on Atomic Weights, delivered the Wilde lecture on the ‘ Atomic Theory’ to the Manchester Literary and Phil- osophie Society. Addresses were presented on behalf of the Royal Society and the Chemical Society, and a message was received from the Russian Physico-chemical Society. In an admirable discourse Professor Clarke sketched the history of the atomic theory from its first conception in the minds of Greek philosophers down to the present day. He pointed out the directions in which the atomic theory would probably develop, but declared that the problem of matter would never be solved until the atomic weights of the ele- ments had been finally settled. ‘“ Who,” he asked, “will establish the Dalton Laboratory for pure research, and so give the work which he started a permanent home?” In the evening the Literary and Philosoph- ical Society gave a dinner, at which the prin- * From Nature. aa JUNE 12, 1903.] cipal guests were Professors Clarke and van’t Hoff, Professor A. E. Armstrong, Mr. Brere- ton Baker, Professor P. F. Frankland, Mr. Vernon Harcourt, Dr. Harden, Sir James Hoy, Professor Kipping, Dr. W. H. Perkin, Sr., Sir William Ramsay, Professor Emerson Reynolds, Sir Henry Roscoe, Professor Smith- ells, Dr. Scott, Professor Thorpe and Pro- fessor Tilden. In proposing the toast of the evening, the ‘Wilde’ medallist—Professor Clarke—and the Dalton medallist—Professor Osborne Reynolds —Sir Henry Roscoe said that Dalton’s atomic theory and Joule’s discovery of the mechan- ical equivalent of heat reflected more distinc- tion on Manchester than the city’s association with the cotton industry or with the Ship Canal. On Wednesday morning a special meeting of the Owens College Chemical Society was held to offer an address to the great Dutch chemist, J. H. van’t Hoff, now professor at the Berlin University. Professor Dixon was im the chair. The address was presented by Mr. Norman Smith, a former student under Professor van’t Hoff. The professor, who was enthusiastically received, said the question was often asked, nowadays, whether the atomic theory had not outlived its utility. His reply was that, in dealing with natural phenomena, with states of unstable equilibrium, the atomic theory was indispensable for essential explana- tions. He had come to regard the conception of the carbon atom as the center of a tetra- hedron as childish, but it contained the germ of a profound truth, the solution of which must be left to the future. He suggested that valency was due to an equilibrium. The four mutually repellent ‘electric atoms’ of Helm- holtz were kept in equilibrium by their attrac- tion for the carbon atom at the center. Later in the morning Earl Spencer, Chan- cellor of the Victoria University, conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Science on Professor Clarke and Professor van’t Hoff, who were presented by Professor Dixon. After the conclusion of the ceremony Professor van’t Hoff laid the first stone of the proposed ex- tension of the Owens College Chemical Labo- SCIENCE. 955 ratories, and was presented, as a memento of the occasion, with a silver trowel by the Col- lege Chemical Society. The celebrations were concluded by a soirée held at the Owens Col- lege on Thursday night, when Dr. Harden ‘gave an interesting account of John Dalton, and many Dalton relics were exhibited by the Manchester Literary and Philosophical So- ciety, Professor H. B. Dixon, Mr. Theodore Neild, Mr. G. W. Graham and Mr. G. S. Woolley. TRIGONOMETRIC SURVEY OF BRAZIL. Tue Brazilian government has provided for the mapping of its territory on a scientific basis. Last year the congress appropriated the necessary funds for commencing the work, and a commission of which Colonel Francisco de Abreu Lima is President, was to leave Rio early in May for the state of Rio Grande do Sul to make a reconnaissance of the first zone to be triangulated. The scheme as far as at present outlined, includes the measurement of bases at Porto Alegre and Uruguayana, and the connection of these two cities by triangulation. This will give an are of about six and one quarter degrees of longitude in about latitude 30° south. The Superintendent of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey has been requested by the commission to supervise the preparation of the necessary tapes and accessories for the measurement of the bases. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. Dr. W J McGer has been appointed chair- man of the committee of the International Geographical Congress of 1904, succeeding General A. W. Greely, who has resigned owing to ill health and the pressure of official duties. THE University of Marburg has conferred its honorary doctorate on Mr. Geo. F. Kunz, of New York City. M. Henri Becqueret, Paris, and Professor A. Righi, Bologna, have been elected honorary fellows of the Physical Society of London. Dr. Max NorruHer, professor of mathematics at Erlangen, has been elected a foreign mem- ber of the Academy of Sciences at Buda Pesth. 956 SCIENCE. Lapy Hucoins and Miss A. M. Clerke have been elected honorary members of the Royal Astronomical Society. THE commencement address at the gradua- ting exercises of the Worcester Polytechnic In- stitute is to be given by O. H. Tittmann, director of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Avr a special meeting of the Physical So- ciety, London, held on June 5, at University College, Professor EK. Rutherford, of McGill University, read a paper on radioactive proc- esses. Mr. Anprew GraHwAmM, who has for nearly forty years held the office of chief assistant at the Cambridge Observatory, is retiring at the age of eighty-eight. Dr. Orto BitscHut, professor of zoology and paleontology at Heidelberg, has celebrated the termination of his twenty-fifth year of ser- vice as professor at the university. Dr. WitttaAm Oster, professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University, sailed on May 29 to England, where he will remain until the end of September. The National Geographic Magazine states that Dr. A..Graham Bell resigned the presi- dency of the National Geographic Society at a meeting of the board of managers, on May 15. Dr. Bell stated that owing to the pressure of work he found it impossible to give to the society the thought that the position of presi- dent demanded. The resignation of President Bell was accepted by the board with profound regret, to take effect on the election of his successor. Dr. Bell was appointed chairman of a committee of three to consider and nom- inate a successor. The other two members of the committee, appointed by the president, are Dr. Willis L. Moore, chief U. S. Weather Bureau, and Mr. G. K. Gilbert, U. S. Geo- logical Survey. As no election will be made until the fall, Dr. Bell will continue as presi- dent of the society for some months. A statue of the chemist, Kekulé, by the sculptor Heinz Everding, has been unveiled this month at Bonn. (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 441. Joun F. Hicks, assistant botanist of the Ohio Agricultural Experimental Station, died at Wooster, Ohio, on June 1. Dr. Mitan Sacus, a young Viennese physi- cian, has died from plague at Berlin. He had studied the disease at Agram and other Bal- kan cities, and went to Berlin a few weeks ago to continue his researches at the Bacteriolog- ical Institute, where he became infected. M. Gaston Dusoris DEsAULLE, who was on a voyage of exploration to the West Coast of Africa, has been killed by the Galadils. We regret also to record the deaths of Dr. Friedrich Deichmiiller, professor of astronomy at Bonn, and of M. Francois Crépin, director of the Botanical Garden at Brussels. THERE will be a civil service examination on July 15 for the position of chief of the Division of Pharmacology, Bureau of Public “Health and Marine Hospital Service, the sal- ary of which is $3,600. There will be no scholastic tests, and competitors will not be required to be assembled for examination, which will be based on technical training, professional experience and publication. THERE will also be a civil service examina- tion on June 3 for the position of illustrator in agrostology in the Bureau of Plant In- dustry, Department of Agriculture, with a salary of $720. Mr. Carnucie’s gift of $1,000,000 to the four national engineering societies and the Engi- neers’ Club for a building has been accepted at a meeting of the representatives of the five organizations, and plans have been made for a joint committee consisting of three mem- bers from each organization. This commit- tee will prepare plans for a building to be erected on Thirty-ninth St. Efforts are being made to secure funds for the purchase of the land, and we learn from The Electrical World that a number of subscriptions have been re- ceived by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers including $5,000 from Dr. Elihu Thomson and the Westinghouse Hlectrical Company, $2,000 from Mr. Frank S. Sprague and $1,000 with a contingent $1,500 from Mr. J. G. White. ee ee ee, ee JUNE 12, 1903. ] Tue College of Physicians of Philadelphia will remove from its present building on Thirteenth and Locust Sts., and will erect a new building on Twenty-second St. THe corner stone of the new observatory at Amherst College will be laid at noon on June 23, in connection with the commencement exercises. _ Tur steamship Gauss of the German Ant- aretic Expedition, under the command of Pro- fessor yon Drygalski, has arrived at Natal on the way to Cape Town. THe forty-frst Annual Convocation of the University of the State of New York will be held in the Senate Chamber, Albany, June 29 and 30. Ir is stated in Nature that the annual con- gress of the Southeastern Union of Scientific Societies will be held at Dover, June 11-13. On Thursday evening, June 11, the president- elect, Sir Henry H. Howorth, F.R.S., will de- liver the annual address. The following papers will be read on June 12: ‘ Atmospheric Moisture as a Factor in Distribution,’ by Mr. A. O. Walker; ‘Experiences of Leprosy in India,’ by Dr. Jonathan Hutchinson, F-.R.S.; ‘The Diminution and Disappearance of South- eastern Flora and Fauna within the Memory of Present Observers, by Captain McDakin and Mr. Sydney Webb; ‘The Seedlings of Geophilous Plants,’ by Miss Ethel Sargant; ‘The White Chalk of Dover, by Dr. Arthur Rowe; ‘A Late Keltic Cemetery at Harlyn Bay,’ by Rey. R. Ashington Bullen. On June 13 Mr. A. T. Walmisley will lecture on ‘ In- ternational Communication.’ Tue Lake Laboratory of the University of Montana will open on July 13 and will con- tinue for five weeks, after which opportunity will be given for research work. Professor M. J. Elrod is director of the station and has charge of the work in botany and entomology. Mr. Morris Ricker has charge of zoology and photography and Mr. P. M. Silloway of ornithology and nature study. The field labo- ratory is located on the bank of Swan River at its outlet into Flathead Lake. This loca- tion affords a harbor for boats and a camping SCIENCE. 957 site for the tents of those attending. The adjacent region contains forests, ponds, lakes, swamps, cultivated fields, mountains, rivers and ravines. It is rich in animal and vegetable life. The lake offers opportunities for col- lecting, and presents some beautiful scenery. East of the lake the Mission range comes ab- ruptly to the water’s edge. The range slopes from the Swan River on the north to the high peaks, ten thousand feet, at the southern end, and its scenery is wild, rugged and grand, truly Alpine in character. West of the lake are the Cabinets. Near the station Swan Lake, Rost Lake, Echo Lake, and other waters, are easily accessible. Daphnia Pond, a few minutes’ walk from the station, is rich in pond life, while Estey’s Pond, about as far again, is fully as productive. The Swan range is easily accessible from the station, and Alpine summits are annually visited. The station is not difficult of access. The stage and boat rides are easy, with charming scenery con- stantly in view. The building is a convenient out-door laboratory, with tables for a dozen students. The station work has entirely out- grown the building. Many of the lectures are given out of doors in the yard, and the fine summer weather permits of much laboratory work out of doors. Lorp AyrBtry read a paper at the meeting of the Geological Society, London, on May 27, on the formation of mountains. According to the report in the London Vimes he said that experiments had been made long ago by Sir J. Hall, and afterwards by Daubree, Rus- kin, Cadell and others, by arranging layers of cloth, clay, cement, ete., and studying the folds and fractures which resulted when they were compressed. Im all these experiments, however, the pressure was in one direction only, whereas it was obvious that if mountains were due, at any rate in part, to the contrac- tion of the earth, in nature the contraction and consequent pressure took place from all sides. Lord Avebury said that he, therefore, provided himself with a square case com- pressible on all four sides at once. In the central space he arranged layers of sand, cloth, ete., and compressed them, thus throwing them into folds. He then took in each experiment 958 four casts in plaster of Paris, beginning from the top, and these casts were exhibited to the society. They presented an interesting analogy to actual mountain districts, though, of course, they did not show the results of subsequent denudation due to rain and rivers. It had long been observed that mountainous districts showed two sets of lines at right angles to one another. Any one who would glance at a map of Scotland would see this clearly. One set was represented by the Great Glen, with the lochs and valleys parallel to it, such as the Minsh, Loch Awe, Loch Fine and many others; the second series at right angles to it by Loch Shin, Loch Moree, the Sound of Mull, ete. This characteristic of moun- tain regions had long been known, and there had been discussions as to whether the folds were simultaneous or successive. Lord Ave- bury’s casts showed this feature very clearly, and it was evident that the cross foldings took place simultaneously. INVESTIGATIONS of artesian and other under- ground waters and of springs will be con- ducted in the following states during the coming field season: Maine—Professor W. S. Bayley will collect data in regard to deep wells by correspondence and by field work in the islands along the coast. He will be assisted by Mr. W. C. Washburn. New Hampshire— The occurrence of underground waters and of springs will be studied by Mr. J. M. Boutwell, who has already entered into communication with well owners at many points in the state. Vermont—Work on underground waters and springs in this state will be conducted by Pro- fessor George H. Perkins in connection with his work as state geologist. Massachusetts and Rhode Island—These states have been divided into two districts, the northern dis- trict including the northern and western por- tions of Massachusetts, and the southern in- southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The wells and springs of the former will be investigated by Mr. Lawrence LaForge, and those of the latter by Professor W. O. Crosby. Connecticut—The seryices of Professor H. E. Gregory have been secured for eluding the investigations of underground water and SCIENCE. [N. S. Von. XVII. No. 441. springs in this state. He will probably have one or more assistants in the work. New York—Two problems are under investigation in this state; the first is an imvestigation of the geology and water resources of Long Is- land by Messrs. M. L. Fuller, A. C. Veatch, W. O. Crosby, and several assistants; the sec- ond relates to the occurrence, composition and economic value of the spring waters of the state. The latter investigation will be con- ducted by Mr. F. B. Weeks, in cooperation with Dr. A. C. Peale on the statistical and chemical sides of the problem. New Jersey— The work in this state is being conducted in cooperation with the State Geological Survey. It is expected that the artesian well investiga- tions will be completed during the summer, and that a report will be prepared by Mr. G. N. Knapp during the fall and _ winter. Georgia—Mr. 8. W. McCallie, assistant state geologist, will probably complete his investiga- tions and prepare a report on artesian and un- derground waters in the state. Alabama— Professor EK. A. Smith, state geologist, will continue his investigations of the occurrence of underground waters. Mississippi—The work in this state, which has been going on for some time, will be continued by Mr. L. C. Johnson. Kentucky and Tennessee—Dr. L. C. Glenn will undertake an examination of the portion of the Mississippi embayment area lying within the limits of these states, with the special object of determining its underground water resources. Arkansas—The investiga- tions in this state consist of correspondence with well owners and drillers and of field work along the contact of the Paleozoic rocks with the embayment deposits in the northern part of the state. Missowri—Professor E. M. Shepard will carry on investigations relating to deep wells and springs, with a view to preparing a report at an early date. Jowa— Professor W. H. Norton will continue his studies on deep wells, and will prepare a re- port on the artesian waters of the state. Minnesota—Professor CO. W. Hall will com- plete a report on the water resources of Min- nesota, and will probably investigate new de- velopments along similar lines, as they occur. Wisconsin, Illinois and Upper Michigan—The JUNE 12, 1903.] investigations in these states will cover all those areas in which artesian waters are known to occur, as well as adjacent portions of Illinois and the Upper Peninsula of Mich- igan. Mr. A. R. Shultz will have charge of the work and will probably have one or more assistants. Michigan—The work in this state is conducted in cooperation with Dr. A. C. Lane, state geologist, the field work being in charge of Mr. W. F. Cooper, who will spend a considerable part of the summer in investi- gation of the underground waters of the state. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. At the meeting of the board of trustees of the Leland Stanford, Junior, University, held on June 1, Mrs. Leland Stanford resigned and surrendered all the powers and duties vested in her by the terms of the grant found- ing the university, under which she had com- plete control. That control is now vested in the board. Mrs. Stanford will be elected a trustee, and will be elected president. THE total appropriation made to The Penn- sylvania State College by the legislature of 1903 and recently approved by the governor was $250,805.55. Of this amount $100,000 is for the purpose of assisting in the erection, equipment and furnishing of a building for the Department of Agriculture, while $150,000 additional are virtually pledged by the attach- ment of a proviso requiring the trustees of the college to file with the auditor general plans, specifications and estimates satisfactory to him showing that the entire cost of the building and equipment will not exceed $250,- 000. Tue plans of Messrs. Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson, of Boston, have been accepted for the new buildings of the West Point Military Academy, which are to number twenty-one. Lorp IveacH has given £40,000 to Trinity College, Dublin, for building and equipping scientific laboratories. _ Accorpine to the London Times, after a great deal of consideration and many con- sultations with the colleges at Manchester and Liverpool, the council of the Yorkshire College have at last agreed upon the principles SCIENCE. 959 upon which the charter for the proposed new Yorkshire University should be based. These are that the Yorkshire College be merged in the university; that the university be founded on a non-federal basis, but that it be empowered to affiliate other institutions ; and that the university be governed by a court of governors and by an executive council. Substantial agreement has been arrived at be- tween the three colleges on some important matters, such as that of a common matricula- tion examination for all the three universities of Yorkshire, Manchester and Liverpool, and provision has been made for a joint board to be constituted from the three universities to deal with such questions. With regard to affliated imstitutions, it is provided that at- tendance at courses of study in such institu- tions may be accepted by the university in place of such part of the attendance or courses of study at the university as may from time to time be determined. It is considered that the additions to the staff and equipment of the college essential to the proper carrying on of an independent university will require a minimum additional expenditure of about £7,000 a year, while extensive additions will also be required to the college buildings for the proper housing of some of the depart- ments. The coal-owners of Yorkshire have decided to erect a separate building for the mining department, and have collected a sum of £5,500 for the purpose. The council of the college are desirous also of completing the main block of the college, and it is estimated that this would cost about £60,000. Though a canvass for the necessary funds has not yet been instituted, three friends of the college have each promised £5,000, while a fourth has promised £2,000. The Clothworkers’ Company of London, who have already proved munificent benefaetors of Yorkshire and the Yorkshire College, have added to their pre- vious generosity by offering to transfer to the new university as its absolute property the whole of the buildings and equipment of the textile industries dyemmg and art de- partments, which are at present held in trust by the college for the Clothworkers’ Company, and which have cost that company about £70,- 960 000. Attached to the offer is a condition that these departments shall be recognized as integral parts of the university. The com- pany has also promised to grant in perpetuity to the university for the maintenance of these departments an annual sum of not less than £4,000. This means a gift to the university of a capitalized sum of upwards of £200,000. AccorDInG to the Hochschulnachrichten the attendance at the universities of the German empire last winter was 40,661, of whom 36,652 were matriculated. The number of matricu- lated students in the Austrian universities was 16,125. The number of students in the German technical schools was 13,049 and in the Austrian schools 6,451. These figures, however, do not include the attendance at the schools of agriculture, forestry, veterinary surgery, mining and commerce. The num- ber of foreigners in attendance at Vienna was 1,386 and at Berlin 1,085. There were last year 1,253 foreigners in attendance at Paris. Tue council of Trinity College, Dublin, has recommended that the senate approve the ad- mission of women to that institution and the abolition of the compulsory study of Greek. JOINT ceremonies of the inauguration of Dr. John Huston Finley as president of the College of the City of New York and the laying of the cornerstone of the new buildings being erected on the site bounded by One Hundred and Thirty-eighth and One Hundred and Fortieth Streets and St. Nicholas Terrace and Convent and Amsterdam Avenues are being arranged by the board of trustees. The installation ceremonies will take place at 10:30 A. M. on October 1. President Roosevelt and ex-President Cleveland will make addresses. The cornerstone of the new buildings will be laid at 3:30 in the afternoon, and addresses will be made by Mayor Low and others. Rey. H. W. McKyicur has resigned the presidency of Pennsylvania College, at Get- tysbure. Proressor WittrAm R. Ware, from 1860 to 1881 professor of architecture in the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology and since SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 441: then professor at Columbia University, has retired from active service and will become professor emeritus. APPOINTMENTS at Cornell University have been made as follows: J. J. Hutchinson and Virgil Snyder, assistant professors of mathe- matics; J. S. Shearer and Ernest Blaker, as- sistant professors of physics; W. N. Barnard, assistant professor of machine design; C. S. Hirshfield, instructor in experimental engi- neering; R. Stevenson and I. Baum, assistants in chemistry; L. O. Veser and R. C. Fenner, assistants in physics. Mr. J. C. Pearson, A.B. (Bowdoin, 1900), now graduate student at Harvard University, has been appointed instructor in physics and mathematics in Bowdoin College. Miss Ina Evans, who was graduated from the Woman’s College of Baltimore in 1902, has been appointed instructor in biology in Rockwood College. Miss Bertha May Clark, instructor in physics at the Woman’s College, Baltimore, has been awarded the graduated fellowship offered annually to an alumna. Miss Olark will study spectrum analysis and advanced mathematics at the University of Gottingen. Amone the twenty-two fellowships awarded at the Johns Hopkins University, the follow- ing are in the sciences: Samuel J. Allan, of Montreal, Canada, physics; James Barnes, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, physics; Walter Buck- ingham Carver, of Stewartstown, Pa., mathe- matics; August Ernest Guenther, of San- dusky, O., physiology; Elliot Snell Hall, of Jamestown, N. Y., chemistry; Arthur Isaac Kendall, of Somerville, Mass., pathology; Charles Kephart Swartz, of Baltimore, geol- ogy; David Hilt Tennent, of Janesville, Wis., zoology; Rheinart Parker Cowles, the Adam T. Bruce fellow in biology. Nine fellowships have been awarded at Bryn Mawr College, including Carrie Alice Mann, of South Weymouth, Mass., mathe- matics; Lillian Cohen, of Minneapolis, Minn., chemistry; Ellen Terelle, of Minneapolis, Mifin., biology. SCIENCE & WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EDITORIAL COMMITTEE : S. NEwcomsB, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING. Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics; h H. THURSTON, Engineering ; [RA REMSEN, Chemistry ; CHARLES D. Watcort, Geology ; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; HmNRY F. ()sBoRN, Paleon- tology ; W. K. Brooks, C. Hart MeRRIAM, Zoology ; S. H. SCUDDER, Entomology ; C. E. BresszEY, N. L. BRITTON, Botany ; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology ; H. P. BowpitcH, Physiology; WILLIAM H. WELCH, Pathology ; : J. McKEEN CATTELL, Psychology. Fripay, June 19, 1903. CONTENTS: Functions of Technical Science in Education for Business and the Professions: PRo- FESSOR ROBERT H. THURSTON............. 961 The Royal Society Conversazione.......... 976 Societies and Academies :— Section of Biology of the New York Acad- emy of Sciences: Proressor M. A. BIcELow. Clemsen College Science Club: Cuas EH. CHAE TATS Si cyetocer crs pechersterolninan. sist etacn ereiaee eases 977 Discussion and Correspondence :-— The Proposed Biological Station at the Tortugas: PrRoresson Husert Lyman CHASER SBS cir 5 rae en EERE Een tere tcp 979 Shorter Articles :— The Structwre of the Plesiosawrian Skull: Proressor 8. W. Wixuiston. The Reac- tions of Paramecia and other Protozoa to Chemical and Electrical Stimuli: Dr. A. Neu GREISTOE Yan oy csieverss cui eevee cast sucsiwante renee (cise teats 980 Notes on Entomology: NATHAN BANKS...... 982 The Harpswell Laboratory: PRoressor J. S. SGN GS TOYA Perv ctir 'o)< fvedeseeicj entea’ ee 10° centimeters per second, or two thirds that of light The kinetic energy per milligram is 10*7 ergs, about three and a half million foot-tons. Becequerel has calculated that one square centimeter of radio-active surface would radiate into space one gram of matter in one billion years. The positively electrified masses or ions are enormously great in comparison with the size of the electron. Sir Oliver Lodge illustrates it thus: If we imagine an or- dinary sized church to be an atom of hydrogen, the electrons constituting it will be represented by about 700 grains of sand each the size of an ordinary full-stop (350 positive and 350 negative) dashing in all SCIENCE. [N.S. VoL. XVII. No. 443. directions inside, or, according to Lord Kelvin, rotating with inconceivable ve- locity. Put im another way; the sun’s diameter is about one and a half million Inlometers, and that of the smallest plane- toid about 24 kilometers. If an atom of hydrogen be magnified to the size of the sun, an electron will be about two-thirds the diameter of the planetoid. The extreme minuteness and sparseness of the electrons in the atom account for their penetration. While the more mas- sive ions are stopped by intercollisions im passing among atoms, so that they are almost completely arrested by the thinnest sheet of matter, electrons will pass almost unobstructed through ordinary opaque bodies. The action of these emanations on phos- phorescent screens is different. The elec- trons strongly affect a screen of barium platinoeyanide, but only slightly one of Sidot’s zine sulphide. On the other hand, the heavy, massive, non-deflectable positive ions affect the zine sulphide screen strongly, and the barium platinocyanide screen in a much less degree. Both Rontgen rays and electrons act on a photographic plate and produce images of metal and other substances enclosed in wood and leather, and throw shadows of bodies on a barium platimocyanide screen. Hlectrons are much less penetrating than Rontgen rays, and will not, for instance, show easily the bones of the hand. A photograph of a closed case of instruments is taken by radium emanations in three days, and by Rontgen rays in three min- utes. The resemblance between the two pictures is slight, and the differences great. The power with which radium emana- tions are endowed of discharging electri- fied bodies is due to the ionization of the gas through which they pass. This can be effected in many other ways; thus, JUNE 26, 1903. ] ionization is communicated to gases faintly by the splashing of water, by flames and red-hot bodies, by ultra-violet light falling on negatively electrified metals, and strong- ly by the passage of Rontgen rays. According to Sir Oliver Lodge’s elec- tronic theory of matter, a chemical atom or ion has a few extra negative electrons in addition to the ordinary neutral atom, and if these negative electrons are re- moved it thereby becomes positively charged. The free electron portion of the atom is small in comparison with the main bulk, in the proportion in hydrogen of about 1 to 700. The negative charge con- sists of superadded or unbalanced elec- trons—one, two, three, ete., according to the chemical valency of the body—whereas the main bulk of the atom consists of paired groups, equal positive and negative. As soon as the excess electrons are re- moved, the rest of the atom, or ion, acts as a massive positively charged body, hanging tightly together. In a high vacuum the induction spark tears the components of a rarefied gas apart; the positively charged ions, having great comparative density are soon slowed down by collisions, while the electrons are driven from the negative pole with an enormous velocity depending on the initial electromotive force and the pres- sure of gas inside the tube, but approach- ing, at the highest exhaustions, half that of light. After leaving the negative pole the elec- trons meet with a certain resistance, in a slight degree by physical collisions, but principally by reunion with the positive 10nS. Since the discovery of radium and the identification of one set of its emanations with the cathode stream or radiant matter of the vacuum tube, speculation and ex- periment have gone hand in hand, and the two-fluid theory of electricity is gradually SCIENCE. 1001 replaced by the original one-fiuid theory of Franklin. On the two-fiuid theory, the electrons constitute free negative elec- tricity, and the rest of the chemical atom is charged positively, although a free posi- tive electron is not known. It seems to me simpler to use the original one-fluid theory of Franklin, and to say that the electron is the atom or unit of electricity. Flem- ing uses the word ‘co-electrons’ to express the heavy positive ion after separation from the negative electron: ‘We can no more,’ he says, ‘have anything which ean be called electricity apart from corpuscles than we can have momentum apart from moving matter.’ A so-called negatively charged chemical atom is one having a surplus of electrons, the number depending on the valency, whilst a positive ion is one having a deficiency of electrons. Differences of electrical charge may thus be likened to debits and credits in one’s banking account, the electrons acting as current coin of the realm. On this view only the electron ex- ists; it is the atom of electricity, and the words positive and negative, signifying ex- cess and defect of electrons, are only used for convenience of old-fashioned nomen- clature. The electron theory fits and luminously explains Ampére’s idea that magnetism is due to a rotating current of electricity round each atom of iron; and following these definite views of the existence of free electrons, has arisen the electronic theory of matter. It is recognized that electrons have the one property which hag been re- garded as inseparable from matter—nay, almost impossible to separate from our con- ception of matter—I mean inertia. Now, in that remarkable paper of J. J. Thom- son’s published in 1881, he developed the idea of electric inertia (self-induction) as a reality due to a moving charge. The electron therefore appears only as apparent 1002 SCIENCE. mass by reason of its electrodynamie prop- erties, and if we consider all forms of mat- ter to be merely congeries of electrons, the inertia of matter would be explained with- out any material basis. On this view the electron would be the ‘protyle’ of 1886, whose different groupings cause the genesis of the elements. There is one more property of the ema- nations of radium to bring before your notice. I have shown that the electrons produce phosphorescence of a sensitive sereen of barium platinocyanide, and the positive ions of radium produce phosphor- escence of a sereen of zine blende. If a few minute grains of radium salt fall on the zine sulphide screen the surface is immediately dotted with brilliant specks of green light. In a dark room, under a microscope with a two-third-inch objective, each luminous spot shows a dull center _ surrounded by a diffused luminous halo. Outside the halo the dark surface of the sereen scintillates with sparks of light. No two flashes succeed on the same spot, but are scattered over the surface, coming and going instantaneously, no movement of translation being seen. If a solid piece of a radium salt is brought near the sereen, and the surface examined with a pocket lens magnifying about 20 diameters, scintillating spots are sparsely scattered over the surface. Bring- ing the radium nearer the sereen the scin- tillations become more numerous and brighter, until when close together the flashes follow so quickly that the surface looks like a turbulent luminous sea. When the scintillating points are few there is no visible residual phosphorescence, and the successive sparks appear ‘atoms of intensest light,’ like stars on a black sky. What to the naked eye seems like a uniform ‘milky way,’ under the lens becomes a multitude [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 443, of stellar poimts, flashing over the whole surface. “Polonium’ basic nitrate, actinium and radio-active platinum produce a similar effect on the screen, but the scintillations are fewer. In a vacuum the scintillations are as bright as im air, and being due to inter-atomic motion they are not affected by extremes of low temperature: in liquid hydrogen they are as brilliant as at the ordinary temperature. A convenient way to show these scintil- lations is to fit the blende screen at the end of a brass tube with a speck of radium salt in front about a millimeter off, and to have a lens at the other end. I propose to call this little instrument the ‘ spinthari- scope,’ from the Greek word ozxtvOapic,* a scintillation. It is difficult to estimate the number of flashes of light per second. With the ra- dium about five centimeters off the screen the flashes are barely detectable, not more than one or two per second. As the dis- tance of the radium diminishes, the flashes become more frequent, until at one or two centimeters, they are too numerous to count, although it is evident this is not of an order of magnitude inconceivahly great. Practically the whole of the luminosity on the blende screen, whether due to ra- dium or ‘polonium,’ is occasioned by ema- nations which will not penetrate card. These are the emanations which cause the scintillations, and the reason why they are distinct on the blende and feeble on the platinocyanide screen, is that with the latter the sparks are seen on a luminous * Ev? &x vnds bpovoev avak éxdepyor ‘AT 6AAw?, aorépt eldbpevoc, péow juati tov 0 and ToAAat omwdapides mwTOvTo, céAac 0 el¢ ovpavov keV’. (Here from the ship leaped the far-darting Apollo, like a star at midday, while from him flitted scintillations of fire, and the brilliancy reached to heaven.) Homer’s ‘ Hymen to Apollo,’ lines 440-442. 1 en Rta JUNE 26, 1903. ] ground of general phosphorescence which renders the eye less able to see the scintil- lations. It is probable that in these phenomena we actually witness the bombardment of the screen by the positive ions hurled off by radium with a velocity of the order of that of light. Hach particle is rendered apparent only by the enormous extent of lateral disturbance produced by its impact on the sensitive surface, just as individual drops of rain falling on a still pool are not seen as such, but by reason of the splash they make on impact, and the rip- ples and waves they produce in ever-widen- ing circles. Indulging im a ‘scientific use of the im- agination,’ and pushing the hypothesis of the electronic constitution of matter to what I consider its logical limit, we may be, in fact, witnessing a spontaneous dis- sociation of radium—and we begin to doubt the permanent stability of matter. The chemical atom may be actually suffer- ing a katabolic transformation; but at so slow a rate that supposing a million atoms fly off every second, it would take a cen- tury for, weight to-diminish by one milli- eram. It must never be forgotten that theories are only useful so long as they admit of the harmonious correlation of facts into a reasonable system. Directly a fact refuses to be pigeon-holed and will not be explamed on theoretic grounds, the theory must go, or it must be revised to admit the new fact. The nineteenth century saw the birth of new views of atoms, electricity and ether. Our views to-day of the con- stitution of matter may appear satisfactory to us, but how will it be at the close of the twentieth century? Are we not inces- santly learnimg the lesson that our re- searches have only a provisional value? A hundred years hence shall we acquiesce SCIENCE. 1003 in the resolution of the material universe into a swarm of rushing electrons? This fatal quality of atomic dissociation appears. to be universal and operates when- ever we brush a piece of glass with silk; it works in the sunshine and raindrops, and in the lightnings and flame; it pre- vails in the waterfall and the stormy sea, and although the whole range of human experience is all too short to afford a par- allax whereby the date of the extinction of matter can be calculated, protyle, the ‘formless mist,’ once again may reign su- preme, and the hour hand of eternity will have completed one revolution. WinLiAM CROOKES. SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. Index Animalium, sive index nominum que ab A. D. MDCCLVIII, generibus et spe- ciebus animalium imposita sunt. By C. Davies SHrersorn. Part I., January, 1758, to December, 1800. Cambridge (England), University Press. (New York, Macmillan Co.) 1902. 8vo. Pp. lix-+ 1195. All zoologists have been aware of the stu- pendous undertaking upon which Mr. Sher- born has been at work for the last twelve years, except for an interval during which his health was so impaired as to necessitate a temporary interruption. The aim of the undertaking was ‘to pro- vide zoologists with a list of all the generic and specific names which have been applied by authors to animals since January 1, 1'758,’ together with an exact date for each page cited, and a reference ‘sufficiently exact to be intelligible alike to the specialist and to the layman.’ Special groups of animals have been so treated before, but this is the first work planned to include the entire animal kingdom in its scope. Work was begun in July, 1890; in 1892 the British Association extended its support, and two years later appointed a committee to watch and advise the undertaking. Financial support has also been extended by the Royal Society and the Zoological Society of London. 1004 In 1897, at the suggestion of Dr. Sclater, in view of the long period which must elapse before the completion of the whole manu- seript, it was decided to publish that portion relating to the zoological literature of the eighteenth century, and this material drawn from some 1,300 volumes is comprised in the book now under review. When it is consid- ered how rare many of the printed sources are, it must be considered fortunate that less than twenty titles comprise those which are still ‘Libri desiderati.? Mr. Sherborn has been indefatigable in searching out obscure dates, the dates of works issued in parts, etc., and his contributions to our knowledge of the chronology of zoological literature will be gratefully appreciated by students. There are one or two features of the scheme to which exception will undoubtedly be taken by many zoologists, such as the denial of standing to excerpts and authors’ separates, which often appear years before the volume of transactions to which they belong is of- fered in its entirety to the public; also, the treatment of named figures as nomina nuda, if issued before or without a text explaining or describing them. However, if the facts and dates are fully included in the body of the bibliography, as we suppose to be the ease, individual judgment can be exercised without reference to the views of the committee or compiler. The list of works consulted covers forty- nine pages and is a most important part of the work, and we would strongly urge that in future instalments an even fuller and more explicit description of each be included, espe- cially with regard to its relation to binomial nomenclature. What the student working out the nomenclature of a group needs is an exact statement of the facts. There will always be differences of opinion as to the use of these facts in some cases, but the judgment finally should be that of the student, and his oppor- tunity to utilize the facts should not in any way be restricted by the views of those en- gaged in preparing or supervising the com- pilation. Many of the works which are essential to SCIENCE. (N.S. Von. XVII. No. 443. the determination of questions of priority be- long to the transition period when the Lin- nean system was not generally accepted and was frequently not even understood, so that it is of the first importance to the synonymist to know whether the author of such a work accepted the Linnean nomenclature or not, and, if he did not consistently accept it, the fact should be plainly stated. To cite an instance bearing on the question, a work by Moehring, ‘Geschlachten d. Vogelen,’? was printed in 1758. A friend, who, at my re- quest, has consulted the only copy known to me in America, informs me that there are in the book no genera in the Linnean sense, no specific names in the modern sense whatever, only vernacular names; and the latest Lin- nean citation in the book is from the sixth (non-binomial) edition of Linnzeus’s ‘ Systema Nature’ The ‘genera’ of Moehring, there- fore, are, like the ‘ genera’ of Tournefort and other pre-Linnean authors, not entitled to be cited in systematic nomenclature. Yet of this in neither bibliography nor text of Mr. Sher- born do we find any intimation that Moehr- ing’s ‘genera’ are not regularly binomial. Again, in the Museum Geversianum an ex- tremely rare book with an important bearing on molluscan nomenclature, we find the ma- jority of the animals cited under Linnean names, but the mollusks classified by a new method invented by Meuschen, all the ‘ gen- eric’ names being in the plural, many of them composed of two separated words. ‘Genus 51’ is ‘Umbilici marini formes’; “Genus 58’ is ‘Disci transfixi,’ and so on. The former name does not appear in Mr. Sherborn’s list at all, the second appears in the modified form of ‘ Disci-transfixus.’ Hip- popodes Meuschen, appears in Sherborn as Hippopus, without explanation, and the great majority of Meuschen’s names are changed into forms which do not occur printed in his book at all. In his bibliography Mr. Sher- born states that “‘ Meuschen’s trinomials are his binomials plus ‘ forma’ —‘ varietas,’ and are precisely similar to the trinomials used by mammalogists in the present day.” I am not a ‘mammalogist,’ but I do not remember JUNE 26, 1903. ] eyer seeing any mammalian generic names of the present day composed of three words or in the plural number. It is of course per- fectly open to any one to accept Meuschen’s polynomial plurals as ‘genera,’ if it seems good to them; the point here made is that a perfectly satisfactory bibliography should state the exact facts and leave the reader to apply them according to his own judgment. Appreciating the immense and self-sacri- ficing labor devoted to this work by Mr. Sher- born and the committee, and the very great value to all working zoologists of the result; while feeling that any criticism must seem ungracious, we nevertheless believe that it is a matter of duty to insist on the importance of greater fulness in description and exactitude in citation of works in regard to which any doubt can exist. Otherwise an uncertainty which would be deplorable must rest on the published results, of such importance to every zoologist. Wm. H. Dati. A Manual of Bacteriology. By Rosrrt Mum, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P. (Edinburgh), Pro- fessor of Pathology, University of Glasgow, and James Rircur, M.A., M.D., B.Sc., Reader in Pathology, University of Oxford. American edition (with additions), revised and edited from the third English edition by Norman MacLzop Harris, M.B. (Tor- onto), Associate in Bacteriology, the Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore. New York, The Macmillan Company. 1903. 170 illustrations. Every student of bacteriology is familiar with this excellent work of Muir and Ritchie, which must be regarded as one of the most comprehensive and most useful writings upon the subject, and every American student of bacteriology will welcome Dr. Harris’s edition. In the preface of the American edition, Dr. Harris assures us that an endeavor has been made to add to the value of the book by giv- ing practical expression of the best American laboratory methods and research, and at the same time to augment the general scope of the work without eliminating the personal impress of the author. Therefore, occasional, altera- tions and additions of greater or lesser mag- SCIENCE. 1005 nitude have been made throughout the book in general, but more especially in the chapters upon ‘Methods of Cultivation of Bacteria, “Microscopic Methods—General Bacteriolog- ical Diagnosis—Inoculation of Animals,’ “Bacteria of the Air, Soil and Water—Anti- septics, ‘Typhoid Fever—Bacilli Allied to the Typhoid Bacillus’ and ‘ Tetanus.’ Dr. Harris has so successfully introduced the added matter that it is practically impos- sible to differentiate his insertions from the original text, and we are pleased to observe that the original general arrangement and treatment of subjects has not been departed from. We are impressed with the care exer- cised by Dr. Harris in introducing new mat- ter and bringing the book up to date, as well as by his selection of the important contribu- tions of American writers to be introduced. We find the chapter upon ‘The Methods of Cultivation of Bacteria’ containing sufficient references to the work of Mr. Fuller upon “The Standardization of Media’ and the recommendations of the laboratory committee of the American Public Health Association upon the same subject. We also note with pleasure a description of Hiull’s ‘Hanging Block Cultures,’ by which the growth of bac- teria upon solid media can be observed under the microscope. Stuart’s ‘Cover Glass For- ceps’ appear in the chapter upon ‘ Microscopic Methods.’ Pitfield’s method of staining fla- gella is considered with care. The chapter upon ‘The Relation of Bacteria to Disease’ has lost none of its excellency, though this chapter has always been of such a superior quality that it would be hard to find any way to improve it. Throughout the special part of the work we notice that matters of recent controversial interest are carefully, though not dogmatically, treated. The various toxic products of bacteria are mentioned in brief, commonly with the conclusion that very little is known about them, so that the student is not-led astray. Likewise the importance of antitoxins and antiserums in those diseases in which their virtue is not proved, are but briefly dwelt upon... Koch’s suggestion that the bovine tubercle bacillus does not infect man is discussed and Theobald Smith’s pre- 1006 vious contribution upon the subject men- tioned. The matter is dismissed with the statement, ‘As at present the subject is still” under investigation in this and other coun- tries, it would not be justifiable to dogmatize, but in the meantime we see no sufficient rea- son to depart from the view entertained up to this time, that the tubercle bacilli infect- ing mammals are of one and the same species, though differences in virulences obtained, and that milk containing tubercle bacilli is a highly important source of infection to the human subject.’ The other ‘acid-fast’ bacilli are mentioned briefly without speculation as to the probable ancestral importance of the grass bacilli of Moeller, to the smegma bacillus, lepra bacillus, tubercle bacillus and others. The chief use of tuberculin is said to be the diagnosis of tuberculosis in cattle. Concerning the new tuberculin, it is said ‘ Little success has at- tended the use of this substance as a remedial agent.’ It is said that attempts to grow the leprosy bacilli outside of the body have so far been unsuccessful. Evidently the editor does not accept the recent contributions to the subject. The bacillus of rhinoscleroma is said not to stain by Gram’s method. The chapter upon ‘ Typhoid Fever’ is excel- lent and the treatment of the colon bacillus unusually good. The author points out that the mere presence of the colon bacillus in water is not necessarily indicative of sewage pollution, as this organism is so widely dis- tributed in nature. He also shows that the presence of the Streptococcus and Bacillus enteriditis sporogenes are important adjuncts in the detection of sewage. The microorgan- ismal differences between fresh and stale sew- age are also dwelt upon. Considerable atten- tion is devoted to bacillary dysentery, the recent work of Flexner being given sufficient prominence. In the chapter upon ‘ Diph- theria’ Dr. Harris seems doubtful whether the bacillus of Hoffman is an attenuated form of the diphtheria bacillus or a separate spe- cies, though he says: ‘The possibility of the transformation of the pseudo-diphtheria (Hoffmann’s) into the true diphtheria bacil- lus has been the subject of much controversy, SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 443. but it can not be regarded as sufficiently es- tablished that such a transformation may be effected, still less that the former organism is related to the origin and spread of diph- theria.’ We heartily endorse Dr. Harris’s view that it might be well, when practicable, that every ragged unhealthy-looking wound, especially when contaminated with soil, should, as a matter of routine, be examined bacteriologically. Under such treatment from time to time cases of tetanus would be de- tected earlier and their treatment could be undertaken with more hope of success than at the present time. We have, however, not infrequently made very careful bacteriological studies of wounds, shortly afterwards followed by tetanus, in which for unknown reasons we failed to find any bacilli, and we regret that Dr. Harris does not recommend that simul- taneously with this bacteriological examina- tion a prophylactic injection of the antitoxic. serum be given. We are fully convinced that by routine use of the antitetanic serum for purposes of prophylaxis many useful lives might be saved. We regret that in the chapter on yellow fever the name of Dr. Carlos Finlay does not appear. It was Dr. Finlay who originated the mosquito theory. The United States Army Commission of 1900 and 1901 simply proved it to be correct. The chapter upon ‘Immunity’ is excellent, though we do not regard the space devoted to the ‘lateral chain theory’ of Ehrlich as sufficient, considering its importance and wide usefulness, and we also regret that no dia- grammatic representation of Ehrlich’s views is given. The usefulness of the book is aug- mented by excellent though brief chapters upon such other microparasites as molds, yeasts, the malarial organisms and the ameba coli. At the end of the volume eighteen pages of bibliography are appended in which a great deal of very, useful material is stored away in such form that we doubt whether it will ever be utilized by students. There seems to be no systematic mode of reference to the literature given, and our impression is that references in the text to footnotes at the bot- tom of the page or to literature given at the end of each chapter is a far more useful JUNE 26, 1903. ] method of introducing bibliography into text- books. JosepH McFaruanp. Mepican anp CuIRuRGICAL COLLEGE, PHILADELPHIA, PA. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS. Ar the meeting of June 1, 1903, Drs. B. M. Bolton and D. L. Harris exhibited sections eut after infiltration with agar-agar, and de- seribed the use of this material for embedding purposes as follows: Tissues can be readily hardened and em- bedded for cutting into sections in a hot solu- tion of agar-agar containing formalin. The proportions of the mixture which have so far yielded the best results are nine parts of a five per cent. aqueous solution of agar-agar to one part formalin. This mixture can be prepared beforehand and kept indefinitely in an air-tight vessel. The agar-agar should be boiled for several hours, and after the addi- tion of the formalin allowed to clear by sedi- mentation. The bits of tissue to be embedded are placed in a wide test-tube or wide-mouth vial containing the mixture previously melted. This is kept at 65-70° C. for an hour or longer, and the tissues are ready to be blocked. After attaching to blocks they are placed in strong or absolute alcohol for an hour or two and can then be cut. It is important not to use dilute alcohol. The tissues are stuck to the blocks by means of the agar-agar itself and adhere as soon as the agar becomes cold. No previous hardening of the tissues is at all necessary; fresh tissues can be placed at once into the hot agar-agar-formalin mixture; in fact, fresh tissue is more desirable than that which has been previously hardened, though this can also be readily embedded by this method. But the main advantage of the method, aside from its convenience and sim- plicity, is the fact that the cells of the tissues are not at all contracted or shrunken, and the ordinary methods of hardening have this effect more or less. With sections prepared from fresh tissues by this method the cell-proto- plasm fills out the membrane fully, and the granules of the protoplasm, the nuclei, and the cell contours are remarkably distinct. The SCIENCE. 1007 whole process, hardening, embedding and cut- ting, does not occupy more.than three or four hours, where the tissues are not larger than about one centimeter in diameter. Professor A. W. Greely presented the re- sults of an investigation of the relations of Paramecia and other protozoa to chemical and electrical stimuli. A detailed account of this investigation has been contributed to SCIENCE. Wo. TRELEASE, Recording Secretary. THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Ar the 143d meeting of the society, held in the assembly hall of the Cosmos Club, Wednesday evening, April 22, 1903, a general discussion on the problem of the occurrence and storage of crude petroleum and petroleum products was opened by Dr. David T. Day in a paper entitled ‘Experiments on the Dif- fusion of Crude Petroleum through Fuller’s Earth.’ Dr. Day reviewed a series of experiments which he has been carrying on intermittently within the last five years on the changes which take place in crude oils by diffusion through various porous substances. It was found that if crude petroleum were allowed to pass slowly through finely pulver- ized fuller’s earth, it became separated by fractional diffusion into a series of oils differ- ing in color and specific gravity from the original product, and representing the com- paratively simple oils of which the complex erude petroleum is composed. In color the fractions varied from the dark brown or am- ber of the crude to the clear white of refined petroleum, and variations in specific gravity from .70 to .85 were secured. An account was given of a series of experi- ments conducted by Professor Engler, to de- termine the nature of the changes which took place in the oil. Professor Engler’s conclusion was that no chemical change whatever took place in the process of diffusion, the differ- ences in the resulting products being entirely physical. Experiments as to the effectiveness of vari- ous diffusion media tended to prove that the best results are invariably attained by the use 1008 SCIENCE. of fuller’s earth. Quartz sand and amorphous silica exhibit practically no selective action. Powdered limestone was equally ineffective. Different clays show greatly differing capacity for separating the petroleum oils, the greatest effectiveness being secured as the clay ap- proaches fuller’s earth im composition and texture. Interesting practical and scientific sugges- tions made by Dr. Day as a result of his ex- periments were, first, that the great variety in color, specific gravity, viscosity, ete., of the different Pennsylvania oils may be due to dif- ferences in amount of diffusion suffered by these oils in passing upward through Carbon- iferous shales from a common source, rather than to differences in original composition; and a corollary of this suggestion is that these oils and those of the Trenton district in west- ern Ohio may have an identical original source far down in the geologic column, the present differences being due to the greater diffusion suffered by the Pennsylvania oils in passing upward through the intervening strata to the horizons in which they are now found. An examination of the Texas oils shows that they contain considerable amounts of constituents which are most easily removed by diffusion, the conclusion being, therefore, that they are nearer the original source than the Ohio and Pennsylvania oils. At the conclusion of Dr. Day’s paper a number of geologists, among them Messrs. Hill, Eldridge, Hayes, Adams, Butts and Fuller, discussed various phases of the prob- lem of the origin and storage of the fluid and gaseous hydrocarbons, the suggestions of Dr. Day as to the competency of fractional dis- tillation by diffusion to account for the pres- ent differences in native oils, and the further suggestions of a common origin for many of them being regarded as of particular interest. W. C. MrENDENHALL, Secretary. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. THE PROPOSED BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY AT THE TORTUGAS. To tHE Eprror or ScteNcE: Since the sub- ject of a research laboratory in or near the [N. S. Vou. XVII. No. 443. tropics is under discussion, I would like to have the privilege of a few comments. For the last two years I have been discussing the matter privately with a number of people who are interested in establishing a subtropical biological laboratory. This is by no means new, Since an attempt was made a few years ago to carry on research work at Bimini, an island about fifty miles east of Miami. At another time the question of locating a labo- ratory at Miami was under discussion, and my department (biology) at the Florida Agri- cultural College pledged a small sum to aid in the expense of carrying on this work. The advantages of establishing such a labo- ratory at Miami may be stated as follows: (1) Miami is about one degree of latitude south of the northern limits of the Antillean flora. (2) The city is located on the Biscayne Bay, a magnificent sheet of water that is always navigable to sail-boats and launches. (3) The Gulf Stream is within easy reach, being only about six or seven miles out, cat-boats and launches making one or two trips a day dur- ing the tourist season. (4) The Miami River, Little River and other streams, which drain the everglades, may be explored easily for fresh-water forms. (5) The everglades can be reached by row-boat or bicycle, macadam- ized roads having been built to the edge of the glades. This vast unexplored region, about which so many erroneous ideas are abroad, is now open for botanical exploration. (6) Miami is within twenty-four hours of Havana and twelve hours of Key West by Washington can be reached in thirty-six hours. (7) Launches and _ sail- boats may be chartered at any time at reason- able rates. (8) Miami is located south of the 26th degree of north latitude. At the present time the tropical laboratory has only one room which ean be offered to visiting biologists. This has been in almost constant use during the past year. Among those who have taken advantage of this op- portunity are Professors V. M. Spalding and J. H. Comstock. There can be no-doubt as to the healthful- ness of the location, and the comforts of life steamer. are aoe JUNE 26, 19U3. | are abundantly supplied. The city has a pop- ulation of about 4,000, and has water works, sewer system and electric lights. There are over forty miles of macadamized roads in the best of condition for wheeling. The question of mosquitoes has been raised by one of the people discussing this matter. There are cer- tain places in the state of Florida that are seriously infested, but at the location under diseussion there is very little difficulty. The hommocks and mangrove swamps will prove to be thickly infested during the summer months, but in the clearings and on the pine land the mosquitoes are certainly not more annoying than in Lowa or Minnesota. Tn a recent number of ScieENcE, one of the correspondents discusses the question of lo- eating the laboratory in Jamaica. The loca- tion may le an ideal one from several points of view; it is, however, an out-of-the-way place, and one difficult to get to and get away from. There are practically only three lines of steamers which permit one to visit the island comfortably. These sail from Boston, New York and Philadelphia. To reach the island it would be necessary to sail from one of these ports. The average worker would lose nearly a week in getting to the labora- tory. To attempt to make the trip by way of Hayana and Santiago requires nearly three weeks, together with a very heavy expense account. The fact of traveling in a foreign country has some fascination about it, but has likewise its disadvantages for scientific re- search. We have on our southern coast a vast unexplored region which has been given only a cursory examination. Dry Tortugas has also been under discus- sion. This seems to be an ideal place for soli- tary confinement, as one of our correspondents points out. This is all right for about six or eight hours a day, but during the other sixteen or eighteen hours it is very pleasant to have the companionship of people. Dry Tortugas would have to be reached by way of Key West. It being about sixty miles west of Key West, one would have to charter a sail-boat or a launch and pay for at least two days to make the trip,,a, considerable loss of time. SCIENCE. 1009 The majority of people who work in these research laboratories have only two or three months to put in at one time, and it becomes very important, therefore, that they should not spend twenty-five per cent. or more of this time in going to and returning from the labo- ratory. A laboratory located at a railway station would prove much more convenient, even if located in a field not so rich as one that would be located at a point which re- quires a considerable amount of traveling to be reached. P. H. Rotrs. U.S. DEpARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, TROPICAL LABORATORY, MIAMI, FLA. To tue Eprror or Science: [ have read with interest the letters in ScrmncE relating to the establishment of a biological station at the Tortugas, also Professor MacBride’s sugges- tion favoring the Bahamas and Professor Duerden’s fayoring Jamaica. Will you kindly allow me to make one fur- ther suggestion? I would ask that the Isle of Pines be considered as a location for this station and for these reasons: 1. As Professor MacBride says, West Indian waters ‘surpass in interest and variety of species the Mediterranean.’ The fringing ceyos, bays and rivers of the Isle of Pines give areas of water at varying depths and, it seems to me, conditions unsurpassed for collecting the greatest variety of species. 2. This island, though in the tropics has, because of sea breezes, a climate agreeable for study the year round. The dry, buoyant air prevents one feeling the languor usually ex- perienced in the tropics. 3. The fresh water supply at the Isle of Pines is unsurpassed. The fertile gardens can supply food, and lumber and building material are abundant. 4. The climate is most healthful, there being no epidemic sickness. Yellow fever, typhoid fever and malaria are unknown. Americans ean live there for years in excellent health. 5. This island belongs to the United States, and it is probable that a naval coaling station is to be located there. It is easy of access. Students then could, on the Isle of Pines, have a delightful place of residence, with all 1010 SCIENCE. the requisites of health and comfort and variety of scenery and exercise, while per- haps no other place could supply a greater abundance of the material for study, both marine and terrestrial. Of course I am unable to give an opinion of value on this subject. I only ask an investi- gation of this Island of Pines. J. FRED. CLARKE. ‘MOUNT PELEE.’ To THE Eprror oF Science: In Scmnce for June 5 Mr. Mark S. W. Jefferson raises a question which is of interest to those who, like myself, are studying the volcanoes of the West Indies: What shall we call the now cele- brated volcano on the island of Martinique? Mr. Jefferson seems to be inclined to use the name ‘ Mount Pelee.’ During a stay of four weeks on the island last year and another visit of like duration this year, I heard the mountain called almost in- variably ‘ Mont Pelé,’ very rarely if at all ‘ La montagne Pelée.’ The latter form is that employed on the charts of the island, but the former is the one most commonly used by the French in correspondence and in written de- scriptions, as well as in conversation, as being more compact. The general tendency among geographers now is toward using geographical names in the way in which they are employed in the region containing the geographical feature, hence it seems to me better to write the correct French ‘Mont Pelé,’ than the Anglicized ‘Mount Pelee,’ in which there is little suggestion of the true pronunciation of the name. When but one word is to be used for the mountain, the generally accepted form, ‘Pelée’ is convenient and is to be recom- mended as conforming the formal appellation of the voleano. I speak with the more feeling on this topic, because I am one of those who have helped to perpetuate the incorrect com- bination, ‘Mt. Pelée.’ Regarding the origin of the name and its applicability to the mountain it may be re- - marked that the accepted explanation among Martiniquans is that the term has been de- rived from the ancient Carib name for the LN. S. Vou. XVII. No. 4438. mountain. When Columbus discovered Mar- tinique he found a Carib town at Le Carbet, nearly two miles south of the present site of St. Pierre. The Caribs were afraid to live any nearer to the voleano on account of their traditions regarding its activity; and they ealled it the ‘bald’ or treeless mountain, a name which in itself indicates traditional eruptions. Any one who has seen Mont Pelé since May 8, 1902, will grant that the moun- tain now merits its name. EpmuNnp Otis Hovey. SHORTER ARTICLES. ON THE LIMITS OF UNAIDED VISION. It is generally accepted that the sixth stel- lar magnitude is the limit of naked-eye vison. Though observers with eyes of unusual sharp- ness may under favorable conditions see stars nearly an entire magnitude fainter, that this is for all practical purposes the limit may be seen from a consideration of the faintest stars given in the various star catalogues and uranometriz devoted to naked-eye stars. The average magnitude on the scale of the Har- vard photometry of the faintest stars visible in several of these catalogues is as follows (H. C. O. Annals, Vol. XIV., Part II.): Ptolemy’s Almagest ........... 5.38 M SOU es aeeeatyac seis ae ae enobaees 5.64 “ Argelander, Uranometria Nova.. 5.74 “ Heis, Atlas Celestis Novus..... 6.06 “ Houzeau, Uranométrie Générale. 6.40 “ Gould, Uranometria Argentina.. 6.71 “ Argelander states that his sixth magnitude comprised stars as faint as he could make out at Bonn; his eye, according to his own esti- mate, was of moderate sharpness. The faint- est class of Houzeau comprised those stars which, under favorable conditions, could not be seen continuously, but only at intervals. Gould found in the clear atmosphere of Cor- doba that on very good nights observers of ordinary vision might go even below his seventh magnitude (6.71 M. Harvard phot.), and attributes it mainly to the advantage given by the altitude of the observatory. Several of the observers at the Lick Observa- tory have, under the most favorable condi- Ce OO ee ey i ed ia JUNE 26, 1903. ] tions, seen stars well down toward the seventh magnitude. The invisibility. of stars of the seventh magnitude or slightly fainter is due mainly to the amount of light given by the back- ground of the sky, even on the clearest nights and in regions well removed from the Milky Way (cf. papers by Professor Simon New- eomb, Astroph. Jour., December, 1901; Dr. S. D. Townley, Pub. A. 8. P., No. 88, and G. J. Burns, Astroph. Jour., October, 1902). At Professor Newcomb’s suggestion Director Campbell has asked me to find my own limit of naked-eye vision, having given as artificial aids the direction of the star, and the screen- ing off of the light of the sky. Two blackened screens were attached to the twelve-inch telescope at a distance apart of 178 inches. The rear screen was pierced with an aperture half an inch in diameter and that at the object glass with one of one quarter of an inch. These apertures were so aligned that when a star was seen centrally through them it would be found at the intersection of the cross-wires of the three-inch finder.. A movement of two or three minutes of are was sufficient to carry the star out of the field thus formed. The method of observation adopted was to clamp the telescope at the proper declination for the selected star. It was then swept slowly in right. ascension with the eye at the aper- ture till the star was picked up. ‘The posi- tion of the star was then noted in the finder and if not more than a minute or two of are from the intersection of the cross-wires the observation was considered successful. Sev- eral such trials were made on each star. Eleven stars were observed on three nights, of which only the last could be called a very clear night. The magnitudes of the stars employed ranged from 6.42 to 8.5. It was found that up to and including magnitude 8.0 the stars. could be certainly seen in every instance, though in no sense easy objects. Stars of magnitudes 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 and 8.5 were seen with great difficulty and with occasional failures, generally when the eye was tired SCIENCE. 1011 from the strain of searching for these very faint objects. The contrast between the almost perfect darkness of the object glass screen and the sky immediately around it, as seen through the rear aperture, was very marked. It seems evident that for the observation of such faint objects without telescopie aid the screening off of the light of the sky is more-important than the concentration of the vision in a definite direction as afforded by the use of the apertures. Heser D. Curtis. Lick OBSERVATORY, April 22, 1903. . A MODIFICATION IN MEASURING CRANIAL CAPACITY. One of the most important, but at the same time rather difficult and tiresome, manipula- tions in anthropometry is the measuring of eranial capacity. The importance of the measurement lies mainly in that it gives us the volume, as well as a fair basis for the cal- culation of the weight, of the brain, both of which data are very valuable in racial com- parison, and, so far as most of the more primitive races of people are concerned, are quite impossible to be secured in any other manner. It is plain that a procedure of such impor- tance should be brought to the utmost possible simplicity and perfection, and so regulated that the capacity measurements could be utilized with full safety and universally. This sentiment was undoubtedly common to all the practical workers in physical anthropol- ogy up to the present day, and the results have been an invention of many more or less related methods for measuring cranial capacity, and a gradual approach to an ultimate, generally adoptable, procedure, under the circumstances the nearest possible to perfection. It is in connection with this very desirable, ultimate method, the main points of which are already well understood, that there is still a place for some modification, and one such will be de- seribed in this paper. In the first place, how- ever, it is advisable to give a few explanatory notes as to the various procedures in gen- eral use. The many methods of measuring cranial 1012 capacity can be segregated into five groups, namely: 1. The skull is made impermeable and then filled with some liquid, preferably water, which is then weighed or measured; or the water is forced into a thin rubber bag until it fills with this the entire skull cavity, after which the liquid is measured. These methods, em- ployed by Broca, Schmidt, Matthews, ete., yield good results, but are too complicated or tedious for ordinary use. 2. The skull is filled with sand or other substances, and this is weighed, the result giving a basis for calculating the capacity. This method, used especially by some Ameri- can anthropologists of the last century, was not sufficiently accurate, and soon became obsolete. 3. The skull is filled with small, rounded seeds, beads, shot or other substance, and the contents are then measured (Tiedemann, Busk, Flower, ete.). The filling or the measuring (or both) is aided by certain manipulations (tilting, tapping, ete.), but, except the meas- uring vessels, no implements are required. The method in its numerous modifications is comparatively easy and has other advantages, but the results are mostly not as accurate as desirable. 4. The method invented and regulated by and named after Broca. In this procedure the skull is packed with shot, which is then measured; but both the fillmg and measuring are aided by certain implements, and every step of the procedure follows definite rules. Among the implements used appears a funnel of certain dimensions, which controls the flow of the shot. The method gives steady results, but can not be used with frail skulls, and the capacity obtained is always larger than actual, the proportion growing with the size of the skull. 3. The Welcker’s method.* In this pro- cedure, which is the outgrowth of the majority * Arch. f. Anthrop., Bd. XVI., 8. 1 et seq. HE. Schmidt, ‘ Anthropologische Methoden,’ pp. 217— 219. Recently a modification of the instruments with a form of a funnel stopper has been pro- posed by E. Landau, Intern. Centralblatt f. Anthrop., ete., 1903, I., pp. 3-7. SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 443 of those mentioned, but more directly of that of Broca, the most important part is delegated to the funnel, which, by its size, controls the measuring of the contents of the skull. The mode of filling the skull, so long as efficient and uniform, is immaterial; all that is re- quired is that each worker should, with the aid of a standard skull, find the exact size of the funnel necessary to give him, in measuring, the correct result with his particular method and substance used for the filling of the skull. Any rounded seed or substance can be em- ployed for the filling, as it is possible to com- pletely fill the cranial cavity without using the process of jamming, such as that used by Broca; this allows the most fragile skull to be measured without any injury. Welcker advocated a funnel large enough to receive all the contents of the skull. The contents of the properly filled skull are emptied into a separate vessel and then ‘ with one movement is versed into the funnel,’ which is open (mot provided with any stopper) and held in position verti- cally and centrally above the graduated re- ceiving vessel. Each new series of measure- ments is controlled by the standard skull. There can be no doubt that this last is the most advanced and preferable method, and the one which, a little more perfected, presents the best claim for universal adoption. Experimenting for nearly six years, at the American Museum of Natural History, with the various earlier procedures of measuring eranial capacity, I arrived, a little over two years ago and practically independently, at a method which in principle is identical with that of Welcker, but is carried on with a few further helping details which deserve being mentioned. Starting, as Welcker, with the laws con- cerning the flow of solid substances, ete., as laid down by Broca, and with Broca’s implements and a standard skull, I was soon able to satisfy myself that: (a) The same substance poured through the: same funnel with the same rapid- ity will always give the same, but with differ- ent rapidity will give differing, measures; and that (b) each different substance that can be utilized for the measurement of cranial ca- daclolnan JUNE 26, 1903.] pacity, flowing through a definite size funnel and with regulated rapidity, will give different results from those given by any other sub- stance flowing through the same funnel and with equally regulated rapidity. (c) Given the same regulation of rapidity of the flow, there can be obtained, through the proper selection of funnels of different diameter, any measurement, ranging between the minimum and maximum of a substance of medium weight and size, by all the solid substances employable for filling the cranial cavity. Without going into details, I may state that I obtained a very efficient regulation of the flow by adding to the funnel a movable stop- per. By doing this I found by many prac- tical demonstrations that it becomes imma- terial as to with what rapidity, or in what manner, the funnel is filled before opening the stopper. This removes at once all source of error connected with the emptying of the eranial contents, and allows us to dispense with the extra vessel used in measuring the *Landau’s stopper differs in kind, but is ap- parently allied in purpose. t i SCIENCE. 1013 cranial contents in Welcker’s procedure. With the funnel closed, the cranial contents are poured into it entirely at the convenience of the measurer. In 1901 I had constructed, mainly on the basis of Broca’s, a special apparatus, of which a cut is inserted, and with this I have worked since with much ease and with entire satis- faction. My favorite mode of filling the skull is that used by Flower. ‘To measure the con- tents, they are emptied directly, in any way desired, into a combination of a zine vessel (higher than, but otherwise similar to, the standard Broea’s double litre) and a remov- able funnel of 45° dip, with 15 mm. high ver- tical section, which, for my purpose (using old, dry mustard seed), is 20 mm. in diameter. Immediately below the funnel is a movable disk which acts as its stopper. The disk is attached to a rod which rises along the side of the vessel and above its border, and ends in a lever; by using this lever the disk closes or opens the funnel. A number of extra fun- nels, of the same dip but of different sizes, are provided, from which to choose if another sub- stance than mustard seed is used for the fill- ing. The vessel with the cranial contents is placed on the top of a %,000-c.c. graduated glass tube (such as used by Ranke), which is fixed in a vertical position. The zine vessel is provided with a groove in its bottom which exactly fits the border of the glass, the open- ing of the funnel being central. Then the lever is rapidly pushed to either side, opening the funnel at once and completely, and the flow left to itself; the level which the seed reaches (determined simply by the eye or, preferably, by the careful aid, without any shocks or pres- sure, of a niveau finder, such as comes with Ranke’s tube) is the skull capacity. Thus the measuring part of the capacity determina- tion is entirely reduced to a mechanical one, which not only makes it very easy, but elim- inates from it all source of error due to per- sonal equation. All that a student needs to learn is some method by which a complete and uniform filling of the skull can be effected, and then, working with the aid of the standard skull, choose the proper funnel; the rest is 1014 controlled. The results, always with the con- dition that the proper use is made of the standard skull, are as uniform and as near the reality as can be reasonably hoped for. The apparatus I use is not made for the market, but it should not be difficult for any one sufficiently interested to have it con- structed, following the given directions. Ais Hrpiicka. U. 8. Nationat Museum. NEW DEPARTURES IN THE CONCILIUM BIBLIO- GRAPHICUM. II.—THE SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY. THis portion of the great catalogue exists primarily in manuscript form. As fast, how- ever, as the demand for any part becomes great enough the cards are duplicated by a new lithographic process. Should the de- mand become still greater, typography would be resorted to. This ought certainly to be the case for the American section. The references consist of such entries as can not for practical reasons be admitted into the general bibliography. The price of any given collection of cards is double that charged for the same number of cards taken from the main bibliography, ranging thus from half a cent to two cents a card. 1. New Genera, Species, Subspecies, etc.— As was shown in the first part of the pres- ent article, the Concilium adopted several years ago the uniform practice of reading, or at least perusing, the text of every publi- eation entered in the bibliography. In this way the descriptions of all families, subfam- ilies, genera, subgenera, species, subspecies, ete., described in zoology passed before our eyes. It seemed under such circumstances a great pity that the information thus acquired should not be placed at the service of the zoological world. referring to every new species under the ap- propriate genus name in connection with the printed cards. This has been made a perma- nent feature of the card catalogue, and no eard is now issued which does not bring refer- ences to all new species described and to all new names introduced by the author. Many zoological memoirs contain descriptions of SCIENCE. A beginning was made by [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 443. several hundred new species; but we have never wavered in our decision to record everything, even though double and triple ecards were required. The value of these entries is very great; but we have, of course, not been able to cite every species in full, nor to state the locality from which it came. Nor were the printed eards giving references to the new species available for an adequate catalogue of new species; for, in most cases, species from many different genera being described in a single publication these were recorded on a single eard. Im 1900 certain preliminary experiments were made in view of testing the possibility of placing all novelties on permanent record, — so that, for example, a zoologist turning to the genus Carabus in the year 1950 might find before him in convenient form an exhaustive catalogue of every new subgenus, species and of every new name introduced under that genus since 1901. The value of such a record seemed to us quite inestimable and one can well imagine the feverish impatience with which the outcome of our experiments were awaited, for they were to decide whether this gigantic task lay within the possibilities of our organization. The experiments showed that the labor would in truth be immense. We also had to face the stubborn fact that we were working for posterity and that the full value of the work would not be appre- ciated for many years. We also knew that the entire work would be a complete financial loss. In view of all these facts it was, indeed, a bold decision which we took on January 1, 1901, when we began recording each novelty on a special card. The work is now progress- ing well, and if the Concilium be adequately supported, will never be abandoned. The collection of references to such a genus as Carabus will not be the only facility which the Concilium will offer to the student coming to it in 1950. If a person is then desirous of studying the fauna of Bolivia, my successor in office will first show him the main printed bibliography, comprising at that date some 200 to 300 entries; he will then lead the visitor to a great cabinet of 72 drawers devoted to the new species described from South Amer- ade’ JUNE 26, 1903.] ica. At the present rate of publication, three library bureau drawers would, fifty years hence, be devoted to Bolivia. The 2,500 cards would not, however, be indiscriminately arranged. One drawer would be devoted to arthropods. The greater part of the drawer would be filled with references to the insects, readily recognizable by the appropriate sym- bol of the decimal classification. A rather large group of cards would follow the guide eard Coleoptera. Relatively smaller packets would refer to the primary subdivisions of the Coleoptera. I do not seriously believe that a representative of the genus Carabus will have appeared in Bolivia; but I trust that the references to Felsche’s species of Pinotus will still meet the eye of the visitor of 1950 and that he will respect the self-sacrifice that made the inauguration of the work possible. Multiple entry is the feature of the cata- logue of new species as of the printed bibli- ography. Thus, in the paleontological part, there is not merely a division for dinosaurs, there is also an exhaustive treatment of the fossil fauna of Kansas gathered together under the heading Kansas, and a reference to all discoveries of Cretaceous animals under the appropriate stratigraphic heading. Most of the work that we are here under- taking has never been attempted before; but our experience has shown that, in such places as our activity runs parallel to other record- ing agencies, we find in the latter so numerous omissions that the necessity of a more perfect organization of the work is most apparent. Even in regard to genera, a cursory compari- son showed omissions aggregating a hundred or more, while, in regard to species and sub- species, we are sure that many hundred are recorded in the catalogue of the Concilium which are elsewhere quite overlooked. Omis- sions, of course, occur in our lists, but, again, we know just where the gaps lie and can make them good as soon as we can obtain access to each publication which we had not hitherto been able to excerpt. The two years’ experience has shown us, furthermore, how impossible it is for the in- dividual worker to avoid giving preoccupied names. As soon as we detect such errors we SCIENCE. 1015 inform the author and suggest a change. Often the same name is chosen by two authors within a few weeks of each other, so that the entry in our record with date is highly im- portant. In regard to genera the case is most disturbing. How can an ornithologist de- seribing a new genus of birds be sure that his name has not been used by some paleontolo- gist describing a fossil sponge? No such uni- versal knowledge of the literature can be ex- pected of any worker. For this reason, the Concilium is anxious to issue at frequent in- tervals, perhaps yearly, with cumulative five- year and twenty-five-year indexes, a cheap concise list of genus names that have been proposed. This work would supplement the “Nomenclators’ of Agassiz, Marshall and Scudder and the work recently published by the Zoological Society of London. The following entry may serve to illustrate the arrangement of the text of our record of new species: 57.98 NESODYNERUS (96.9) obtabilis n. sp. Perkins 1901a. Entom. Monthly Mag. (2), Vol. 12, p. 267. 57.98 is the group number for Vespide, (96.9) for Hawaii. A second entry is made under (96.9) as primary division. 2. Minor Notes—Many local journals of natural history, e. g., Entomologist, Auk, etc., publish, often in small print, numerous notes on captures, isolated observations of habits, records of trifling color variations and so forth. Ever since the foundation of the Con- cilium it has been a burning problem how to deal with these notes. It is-out of the ques- tion to neglect them, for they may contain changes of nomenclature which by the rule of priority might become decisive of the proper name of an animal. Thus we may find new genera of fishes actually introduced for the first time in the editorial talks on recent literature appearing in the American Naturalist! No form of publication can be too trivial for a conscientious bibliographer, so long as the law of absolute priority forms the basis of our nomenclature. In regard to these minor notes, the bibli- ographies in pamphlet form have a vast ad- 1016 vantage over a card bibliography. No one need hesitate long to sacrifice two lines of print even to an almost worthless publication. But when it is a case of publishing a com- plete bibliographical card it becomes a most serious matter. For many years the Con- ecilium tried various subterfuges; it issued many cards that seemed scarcely worthy of notice; it then experimented with printing the references on gummed paper to be pasted on cards by the subscriber, if desired. It also tried holding back such references till the end of the year and then publishing a dozen or more entries on a single card. None of these means was successful. Fi- mally, in 1902, a great catalogue of manu- seript entries was founded. Such entries be- ing omitted from the printed bibliography, the total number of cards sent to subscribers will be reduced annually by a thousand or more. The new cards are similar to the ordi- nary bibliographical cards in every respect, save that instead of being printed they are in manuscript. They can, however, be sup- plied when desired. Thus a subscriber in Cali- fornia will not be burdened by innumerable tales of beetles found in the county of Kent, England. For the inhabitant of Kent the note may have value, for the Californian it is rather superfluous. In future the Kent entomologists can receive the reference if they eare for it; but the Californian ornithologist need not. This new departure means a loss to the Concilium of several hundred dollars an- nually. The maintenance of the manuscript catalogue is costly and the income from the printed card catalogue is reduced by leaving out such notes. It is merely a case of what I may conscientiously declare to have been the uniform policy of the Concilium, that of never deviating a particle from its disinterested aims. Every innovation of recent years has been attended with financial loss; but never have we faltered in assuming it. We have perhaps often imperiled the very existence of the work by such scruples, but at the same time we have, I believe, won the unqualified approval of every one who has taken the pains to examine closely our work and can with justice appeal for support to those who have SCIENCE. [N.S Vou. XVII. No. 443. the interests of science at heart. I am con- fident that the disaster which the abandon- ment of the work would entail is not a danger which is seriously threatened. ‘The imme- diate needs of the institute seem to us great; but they are only so in comparison with the modest means which have thus far succeeded in keeping the enterprise alive. A debt of $4,000 ought not to burden indefinitely the work. $3,500 for new machinery ought not to be a hopelessly large sum to secure. A yearly grant from an American source equal to that offered by little Switzerland ($1,500) seems least of all exaggerated. And yet this is all that is needed to inaugurate a period of prosperity and work without preoccupations of a financial character. Doubtless new possi- bilities and new needs would open as the years passed; but the present program could be fully carried out with the support that I have sketched. HERBERT HAVILAND FIELD. REPORT OF THE ICHTHYOLOGICAL RE- SHARCH COMMITTEE.* WE understand that the committee ap- pointed by the Board of Trade in August last year ‘to inquire and report as to the best means by which the State or local authorities can assist scientific research as applied to problems affecting the fisheries of Great Brit- ain and Ireland, and, in particular, whether the object in view would be best attained by the ereation of one central body or depart- ment acting for England, Scotland, and Ire- land, or by means of separate departments or agencies in each of the three countries,’ have come to the conclusion that, while no sufi- cient reason has been adduced for suggesting any changes as to the central authority for conducting scientific fishery investigations in Scotland and Ireland, it is desirable that the functions of the Fisheries and Harbor De- partment of the Board of Trade, which is the central authority for England, should be con- siderably enlarged. They recommend, there- fore, that the Board of Trade should have power not only to delegate to any satisfactory fishery authority the conduct of such fishery * From the London Times. JUNE 26, 1903. ] investigations as the latter body are willing and able to carry out, but also themselves to conduct investigations; and, further, that the local fishery authorities and the authorities or bodies who conduct or contribute to the ex- penses of such investigations should be repre- sented on a Central Fishery Council at the Board of Trade, which council should have general control over all such investigations. To give practical effect to this scheme the committee recommends the constitution at the Board of Trade of a Fishery Council for Eng- land, consisting of one expert and one admin- istrative member representing each of the three coasts (E., S., and W.), together with such official representative or representatives as the department may nominate; the duty of this council being to meet periodically, to formu- late schemes of investigation, to make recom- mendations as regards Governments grants, to report on the knowledge acquired by the researches made, and, generally, to exercise control over the investigations. In order to secure uniformity of action between scientific bodies at work in the seas surrounding the United Kingdom, and to prevent overlapping _of areas of research, the committee suggest that there should be a conference consisting of representatives of the three central au- thorities to this extent only. The committee propose that statutory powers should be given to the local sea fisheries committees to expend money on fishery research; and, recognizing that on the east coast of England (except to a small extent in Northumberland) there are no local fisheries committees contributing to the knowledge of fishery problems, they re- commend that the Fishery Council for Eng- land should itself conduct investigations on that coast. The committee think, however, that, if possible, the expenses of such inyesti- gations should be partly borne by those who are pecuniarily interested in them. Another point emphasized in the report is the desirability of making provision at the principal fishing ports of the United King- dom for the collection of statistics on the largest scale practicable for the purpose of ascertaining the particulars of the fish landed SCIENCE. 1017 and the place where they are caught. To achieve this end the committee suggests that arrangements should be made for the payment of masters of fishing vessels for filling up returns, and for the engagement of a staff of trained assistants to deal with these. re- turns and with the samples landed and se- lected for examination. In addition to the research vessels possessed by the central au- thority in Ireland and by the Marine Biolog- ical Association at Plymouth, three special steamers should, the committee think, be pro- vided to study definite sea areas, one to work on the east coast, a second along the west coast of England, and a third to replace the Garland on the coasts of Scotland. If the plan formulated by the committee finds ap- proval, each of these steamers will work in connection with a biological laboratory; and each laboratory (in addition to those already established in Scotland and Ireland) will have three biological assistants, while another as- sistant will be stationed at the office of the central authority in each country. The com- mittee explain that the laboratories at Liver- pool and Port Erin (Isle of Man) would meet the wants of the west coast, while that at Plymouth would suffice for the south coast. It would be necessary, however, to establish a new laboratory at some central point on the east coast of England. Finally, the committee expresses the view that benefit would be derived from the estab- lishment of a National Fishery Museum, which had best be placed at a great fishing center, such, for example, as Grimsby. In this museum might be exhibited such of the specimens of the Buckland collection as are worth preserving; and, it is added, “perhaps it would be found possible to apply Mr. Buck- land’s monetary bequest for the purpose of such a museum, which might very appropri- ately be united with the proposed laboratory for the east coast.” The original chairman of the committee was Sir Herbert Maxvwell, M.P., but he resigned the post last May, since when the inquiry has proceeded under the presidency of Sir Colin Campbell Scott-Mon- erieff, whose name appears first amongst the signatories to the report. 1018 SCIENCE. OPPORTUNITY FOR GEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN HONDURAS. THE great excavations and tremendous eut- tings into and through the mountains along the line of the new highway from Tegucigalpa to the south coast have laid bare large parts of these mountains. I desire to call the attention of geologists and students of geology to this rare opportu- nity for research in this field of science. It is of especial interest to students in volcanic formations and action. Calcareous deposits abound, and metamorphic formations may be studied minutely. There are excellent exhib- its of shale formation as well as of tufa and other igneous conglomerates. Pumiceous de- posits and -voleanic sand present a fine chance for study at first hand. These cuttings have entailed an expense of many thousand dollars, and geologists may now profit by the result without any greater expense than that of travel and living while here. Amapala, Honduras, may be reached by the steamers of the Pacific Mail Line from San Francisco, or from Panama (connecting with Panama R. R. 8. S. Co.). The entire ex- pense, including that while in Honduras, should not exceed three hundred dollars. It would be advisable to make use of tents and camping paraphernalia, as the accommo- dations for strangers are very crude as well as limited. ji Since vegetation is luxurious and of rapid growth in these countries, I suggest that those intending to make a study of these formations do so at once, as the surface of these now bare cuttings, excavations and slides will, in not many months, be overgrown with tropical flora. Aurrep K. Mos, U. 8. Consul. TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS, THE NEW YORK COLLEGE OF FORESTRY. Tue trustees of Cornell University at their meeting on June 17 passed the following reso- lution : [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 448. “Owing to the failure of the state to ap- propriate means for the support of the Col- lege of Forestry, established by the state at Cornell University, resolved, that instruction in that college be, and the same is hereby, suspended until ways and means are provided therefor by this state, and that all appoint- ments to the instruction force, including the appointment of the director, be vacated.” In his report to the trustees President Schurman writes as follows: “The administration of the New York State College of Forestry was undertaken by Cornell University at the instance of the state, the university having neither asked for the establishment of such an institution nor been consulted concerning the terms of the act under which it was organized. But when the legislature framed and the governor approved.a bill inviting Cornell University to conduct a great experiment in forestry in the Adirondacks in connection with a State Col- lege of Forestry, to be established at Ithaca, the university, in its loyal desire to cooperate with the state in this scientific enterprise, accepted the duty imposed by the act and ad- dressed itself to the task with good faith, diligence, and an earnest determination to carry out the purpose of the state as expressed in the terms of the act itself. “The first and all essential step was to secure an expert into whose hands, under the general supervision of the trustees, the work might be committed. The university con- gratulated itself on securing the services of a gentleman who had been thoroughly trained both on the theoretical and practical sides in European forestry, who had lived many years in the United States, and who, after successful experience as a forester for private parties (among whom the late Abram S. Hewitt strongly testified to his merits and success), had for some years held the foremost posi- tion in forestry in the United States, namely, that of chief of the Division of Forestry. From this office Dr. Bernhard Eduard Fernow eame to the position of Director of the New York State College of Forestry. He outlined t a er. JUNE 26, 1903. ] a plan for the conducting of scientific forestry in the tract of 30,000 acres in the Adirondacks which the state had assigned to the College of Forestry for that purpose. The plan grew out of the actual condition of the tract in ques- tion. It was a scheme to substitute valuable soft woods for old and rotten hard woods. This meant denudation and replanting. But there is a general prejudice against cutting even old trees and an impatience to wait as long as fifty years for new ones to take their place. Both feelings have been invoked by eritics of Director Fernow’s work in the Adirondacks. And without going into further detail, the result now is that the state, speak- ing through its organized authority, desires to have the work stopped. The university stands by its expert. But the university has not the means, even if it had the power, in the absence of state appropriation, to carry on the work of the College of Forestry. “What is to be done under these circum- stances? The President believes that the wishes of the state in regard to the Adi- rondacks tract which it has placed in charge of the college should be observed as soon as these wishes can be officially ascertained. All that the university need insist upon is indemnity against liability assumed as agent of the state in the contract with the Brooklyn Cooperage Company. If the state, on mature consideration, disapproves of the plan of for- estry adopted by Director Fernow, the uni- versity has no interest in attempting to force that plan upon the state, however excellent it may be in itself or however extensively it may be practised in Europe or America. Not a cent of state money has inured to the benefit of Cornell University, though the state work in forestry has entailed heavy burdens and anxieties upon the president, treasurer and trustees. It is a hardship to deprive so many students of the opportunity of completing their course, and a matter of regret that the first college of forestry in the United States should be suspended or discontinued, but the action of the state authorities seems to give the trustees no alternative.” SCIENCE. 1019 SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. Dr. Cart GEGENBAUER, the eminent anat- omist, since 1863 professor at Heidelberg, died on June 15, at the age of seventy-seven years. A MONUMENT in honor of Pasteur was un- veiled on June 7 at Chartres, near which Pas- teur carried on his experiments on anthrax. Addresses were made by M. Chauveau, repre- senting the Paris Academy of Sciences and M. Chamberland, representing the Pasteur Institute. The monument is by Dr. Paul Richer, who is both a sculptor and physician. Proressor J. H. van’r Horr and Professor Robert Koch, of Berlin, have been elected honorary members of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, and Sir William Ramsay and Pro- fessor Georg von Neumayer corresponding members. M. Muyier CuHatmas has been elected a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences in the section of mineralogy in the room of the late M. Hautefeuille. -Professor H. A. Lor- entz, of Leiden, has been elected a correspond- ent of the academy in the section of physics. Tue Honoraste ArTHuUR Batrour, the Brit- ish premier, has accepted the presidency of the British Association for the meeting to be held in Cambridge in 1904. Dr. D. C. Gruman, president of the Carnegie Institution, gave the address at the recent convocation at the University of Chicago. The university conferred its LL.D. on Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Co- lumbia University. Turts Cotztece has conferred its LL.D. on Dr. Carroll D. Wright, U. S. Commissioner of Labor. Rurerrs CoLuece has conferred the degree of LL.D. on Dr. C. M. Ellenwood, president of the Cooper Medical School, San Francisco, and the degree of D.Se. on Joseph F. Hills, professor of agricultural chemistry in the University of Vermont. Tuer degree of Se.D. was conferred by the Western University of Pennsylvania upon Mr. William Harris Ashmead, the curator of the entomological collections of the United 1020 States National Museum, in recognition of his distinguished contributions to the litera- ture of hymenopterology. Tue alumni of the College of the City of New York gave a dinner on June 15 to Pro- fessor Alfred G. Compton, acting-president of the college and professor of mathematics. Professor Compton was a member of the first graduating class in 1853, and has for fifty years served the college as instructor and professor. Tue Observatory Syndicate of Cambridge University recommends that a pension of £200 per annum be granted to Mr. Andrew Gra- ham, M.A., on his retirement from the posi- tion of chief assistant at the observatory, which office he has held for a period of thirty- nine years. Mr. Graham began his work in astronomy at Mr. Cooper’s observatory in Markree, county Sligo, in 1842. Mr. Grorce WHITEHOUSE, engineer-in-chief of the Uganda Railway, has been knighted. Tue Harveian Lectures of the Harveian So- ciety of London, will be delivered by Dr. D. B. Lees, next November, his subject being the treatment of some acute visceral inflamma- tions. Prorrssor H. L. Fatrcuiip, secretary of the Geological Society, sails for Europe on June 27. He will attend the International Geo- logical Congress in Vienna, the last of Au- gust, and join the excursion through the Austrian Alps. The time previous to the congress he will spend in geological study in Italy and Switzerland. Dr. F. H. Herricr, professor of zoology at Western Reserve University, will spend next year abroad. Dr. Howarp S. ANprrs, instructor in phys- ical diagnosis of chest diseases at the Medico- Chirurgical College, Philadelphia, has been re- elected president of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, which meets in the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia. Dr. Etisu THomson has been appointed president of the committee of organization of the International Congress of Electricity, SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 443. which meets at, St. Louis in the week begin- ning September 12, 1904. The other members of the committee are: vice-presidents, Pro- fessor H. S.- Carhart, C. F. Scott, Professor W. E. Goldsborough, Dr. W. S. Stratton; gen- eral secretary, Dr. A. E. Kennelly; treasurer, W. D. Weaver; advisory committee, B. J. Arnold, B. A. Behrend, C. 8. Bradley, J. J. Carty, A. H. Cowles, Professor F. B. Crocker, Dr. L. Duncan, H. L. Doherty, Professor R. A. Fessenden, W. J. Hammer, C. Hering, L. B. Stillwell, C. P. Mathews, R. D. Mershon, K. B. Miller, Dr. W. J. Morton, Dr. E. L. Nichols, Professor R. B. Owens, Dr. F. -A. C. Perrine, Professor M. I. Pupin, Professor J. W. Richards, Professor H. J. Ryan, William Stanley, Professor C. P. Steimmetz and A. J. Wurts. On June 15 Professor G. Jesup, from 1877 to 1899 professor of botany in Dartmouth College, died in Hanover, N. H. WE regret also to announce the deaths of Mr. Alfred Haviland, known for his work on the geographical distribution of disease in Great Britain, at the age of seventy-eight years; of M. Eugen Demarcay, the French chemist, at the age of fifty-one years; of Dr. Stanislao Vecchi, professor of geometry at the University of Parma; of Dr. Dirk Huiz- inga, professor of physiology at the Univer- sity of Groningen, and ©. L. J. X. de la Vallée Poussin, professor of mineralogy and geology at the University of Lowen. Reruter’s Acrncy has received the following particulars of the operations of the Danish literary expedition, which consists of M. Mylius-Erichsen, the author; Count Herald Moltke, the painter; Dr. Bertelsen, and a student, M. Knud Ramassen. last summer they made a voyage in boats along the west coast of Greenland from the colony of God- thaab to the colony of Jacobshavn, where the expedition wintered. In February the expedi- tion. started on sledges drawn by dogs for Upernivik (lat. 73 deg. north), the most northerly Danish settlement in West Green- land, which was reached in March. By March 24 the preparations for leaving Upernivik were complete, and some members of the ex- ~~ S JUNE 26, 1903.] pedition were about to proceed in a northerly direction along the coast with the intention or reaching Cape York by way of Melville Bay, the shores of which are quite uninhab- ited, and which have never yet been explored. The object of the journey was to study the tribes of Esquimaux. Dr. Bertelsen was starting southwards through the Danish dis- tricts of Umnak, Godthavn and Egedesminde in order to collect:material for his book on the diseases of Greenland. He purposed meeting the Cape York expedition on its way home in South Greenland this summer. Several months’ provisions for six men and one month’s food for six teams of dogs (ten or twelve dogs te a team) were deposited last summer at the most northern point of the Danish coast. All the members of the expe- dition were well when the letters left. A CABLEGRAM from Cape Colony to the daily papers says: The German Antarctic steamer Gauss has arrived here and will remain about three weeks to refit and then will proceed homeward. The vessel shows outward signs of her experiences in the ice. The expedition has been a great success and not a single casualty occurred among those on board throughout her stay in the Antarctic regions. After sailing from Cape Town, December 7, 1901, the Gauss called at Kerguelen Island, where a party was landed. ‘The vessel reached floating ice on February 14, 1902, and was ice- bound on. February 22. The expedition dis- covered a new land, which they named Em- peror William II. Land. It was covered with ice, with the exception of an inactive volcano. The expedition was icebound here for almost a year, the ship being fast in pack ice. The erew went into winter quarters, and many scientific investigations were carried out dur- ing this period. Several expeditions with dogs and sleighs left the winter quarters, but found the season too advanced, and their progress was hampered by fearful snow storms and darkness. The Gauss made her way out of the ice with northward flowing currents, and, Jeaying the ice April 8 of this year, she pro- ceeded to Durban, passing Kerguelen Island and calling at St. Paul and New Amsterdam SCIENCE. 1021 Islands. The expedition enjoyed good health, and there was no sickness, accident or death among its members. Professor Drygalski speaks in the highest terms of the vessel both at sea and in the ice and as regards its equip- ment. There were enough provisions on board to last the expedition another two years. There was no trouble with the dog teams. The results of the expeditions are briefly: The - discovery of a new land in the polar circle and many special investigations. Specimens will be sent on ahead to Berlin. The expedition did not sight the British Antarctic expedition steamer Discovery, now icebound in the Ant- tarctic regions, nor the ship Morning, which was sent to the Discovery’s assistance. Tuer Philadelphia College of Physicians has passed a resolution requesting its fellows to subseribe for the Index Medicus, published by the Carnegie Institution. The Carnegie Institution has appropriated $10,000 annually for its support, but this sum and the sub- scriptions so far received will not suffice. THE fourteenth annual meeting of the Mu- seums Association will be held in Aberdeen, Scotland, during the week beginning July 13, under the presidency of Dr. F. A. Bather, of the British Museum, who opens the confer- ence with an address at 10 a.m., on Tuesday, July 14. Meetings for the reading and dis- cussion of papers will occupy the mornings of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, while there have been arranged excursions to Bal- moral and Dundee, visits to the Art Gallery and Museums of the city, and various social festivities. A special attempt is being made to induce museum officials from the continent of Europe to attend the meeting, and it is particularly hoped that some American visit- ors to Great Britain may find it possible to be present. Some museum curators may be passing through on their way to the Interna- tional Geological Congress at Vienna, and we are requested to state that the presence of those or any others interested’ in museum questions would be warmly welcomed at Aber- deen. Any who propose to avail themselves of the invitation should, if possible, commu- nicate beforehand with the secretary of the association, Mr. E. Howarth, Public Museum, Sheffield, England. Tue HKnelish electrochemical society, to the steps for the organization of which we have already referred, will be known as the Fara- day Society, and will hold its first meeting on June 30. _ Tue Lake Laboratory buildings at Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio, will be formally opened on July 2. Addresses will be made by Professor Herbert Osborn, director of the laboratory and professor of zoology in the Ohio State University, by Professor C. J. Herrick, president of the Ohio Academy of Sciences and professor of zoology at Denison University, and others. Tue whaling ship Gjoa, with an expedition under the command of Captain Ammundsen, has left Christiana to study the conditions about the magnetic North Pole. Reuter’s Agency is informed of the arrival on June 11 at Obbo, to the southeast of Gon- dokoro, of Major Powell-Cotton, Northumber- land Fusiliers, who for the past year has been traveling in Central Africa. When last heard of he had been studying the cave dwellers at Mount Elgon and was proceeding towards the Upper Nile. He then expected to reach Wadelai in February. Nature reports that in the House of Com- mons Mr. Austen Chamberlain, speaking on the vote for the telegraph services, referred at some length to the relations between the post- office and the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. He said that the postoftice had no desire to check the progress of wireless telegraphy, nor could they have done so had they wished, as their monopoly did not extend beyond the three-mile limit. The Marconi Co. had, how- ever, asked for too much; in the first instance they asked to be given a permanent and ex- elusive right to work wireless telegraphy in this country, which he could not grant, es- pecially after the postoffice’s experience with the telephone system. He had, however, granted them a private wire to Poldhu on the ordinary terms as soon as they asked for it, but before undertaking to act as their agents for the collection of messages, as was done for SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. XVII. No. 443. the cable companies, the postoffice required that certain conditions should be fulfilled in order to safeguard the admiralty, and also asked that their experts should be satisfied that the company were able to carry on their business and transmit messages across the Atlantic commercially. He was still waiting an answer to this request, which was made last March. Tur Haperiment Station Record states that the legislature of Hawaii at its recent regular session provided for a reorganization of the office of the commissioner of agriculture by placing the duties of that office under the con- trol of a non-salaried board of five commis- sioners. The new law defines the duties of the board and provides for the enforcement of its regulations. Under the new arrangement particular attention of the board is given to forestry, entomology and inspection of plants, fruits, etc.,.to prevent the admission of in- jurious fungi and insects. For this work paid superintendents and assistants are provided. For the development of general agriculture, cooperation with the experiment station es- tablished by the U. S. Department of Agricul- ture is to be sought. We learn from the New York Times that as the result of plans that have been developed since early in the spring the American Mu- seum of Natural History has arranged to loan to the biology departments of as many of the public schools of Greater New York as may make proper application collections of inverte- brate specimens for use in connection with the school biological work. It was found that two sets of collections could be prepared, one, known as the duplicate collection, consisting of about forty-five specimens, covering be- tween thirty and forty species and illustrative of general characteristics, and the other, a specialized collection of from one hundred to one hundred and fifty specimens, collected and arranged with a view to showing typical forms of different species, and where- ever possible, bring out some essential fact in the development of the type.. Ten schools have applied for the first of the collections, now ready for distribution. eee ———eeeEeEeEEeEeEeEeEeEeEEEeEeeeeeee ee i ee ‘or four years. years succeeding the fall of Napoleon, when’ JUNE 26, 1903. | A REPORT on technical high schools in Ger- many by Dr. Frederick Rose, British Consul in Stuttgart, has been issued by the British Foreign Office. According to an abstract in the London Times Dr. Rose begins by refer- ring to his previous report on chemical in- struction and the chemical industries in Ger- many (No. 561 in the same series), in which he demonstrated that by means of thorough chemical education in the universities and technical high schools Germany had in the course of half a century risen to the front rank in the nations of the world in chemical industry, so that her chemical products are now valued at about 50 millions sterling yearly—a sum which is considered as the in- terest accruing from the capital invested by the country in chemical education. The present report deals with the technical high schools of the country generally, as their part in the industrial progress of the country has been very important. At present there are nine of these institutions in Germany—at Aix, Berlin, Brunswick, Darmstadt, Dresden, Hanover, Karlsruhe, Munich and Stuttgart, while one at Danzig is to be opened shortly, and one at Breslau in the course of three Most of them date from the they were founded as small trade or technical schools; then they passed into the stage of polytechnic schools, and during the last quar- ter of a century into that of technical high schools, while they now grant degrees and rank with the older universities. They are all in towns of 100,000 inhabitants and up- wards, and their growth and progress are co- incident with the transformation of Germany from an agricultural to an industrial state. The German universities have always taught some branches of pure and applied science, but they have always regarded the economic application of science as inferior to research in pure science; chemistry is an exception to this rule, but the idea of technical education has never been able to assert itself as equal - with the pursuit of knowledge and science, and hence the necessity for the technical schools. SCIENCE. 1023 / Warer-SupreLty Paper No. 80, now in press, United States Geological Survey, by Mr. George W. Rafter, deals with the subject of the relation of rainfall to run-off. Some of the many conclusions of the paper are here given. Mr. Rafter holds that there is no gen- eral expression giving accurately the relation of rainfall to run-off, every stream being, in effect, a law unto itself. The cause of rain- fall, beyond the cooling of the air below the dew point, is not very well understood; and it 1s uncertain whether rainfall is in any de- gree increasing. Rainfall and run-off records are conveniently divided into storage, grow- ing, and replenishing periods, a large per- centage of the total water supply running off during the storage period. The run-off of streams has been generally overestimated. Evaporation is a persistently uniform ele- ment, and streams with large evaporation are, so far as known, always deforested. Ground water must be taken into account in order to understand all peculiarities of stream flow, and a very important effect of forests is in increasing the ground-water flow, so that it may be said that the removal of forests notably decreases minimum stream flow. It is un- certain whether forests in any way influence the quantity of rainfall. As a broad proposi-_ tion merely it may be said that catchment areas from which municipal water supplies are drawn should be heavily forested. Never- theless, Mr. Rafter thinks that it would not be a good investment for the city of New York to undertake to reforest the Croton catchment area; and for this opinion he as- signs the following reasons: To acquire the entire watershed—a necessary prerequisite— and to plant it in trees would cost, on a very conservative basis of estimate, about $24,000,- 000. There would be some consequent in- - crease of water supply after about 30 years, but 120 years would be needed to realize the full effect of forestation and to produce the estimated resulting additional supply of about 75,000,000 gallons per day. By the expiration of the 120 years, however, the original cost compounded at three-per cent. interest would 1024 amount to about $780,000,000, a sum out of all proportion to the resulting daily increase of water supply. Hence the attempt to increase the water supply by forestation of the Croton catchment area is inexpedient. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. ANNOUNCEMENT of a gift of $150,000 from Mr. J. Ogden Armour was made at the con- vocation exercises of the Armour Institute of Technology on June 19. THE committee appointed by the Columbia University cquneil to prepare a report on “what celebration, if any, should be held on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the corporation,’ which oc- curs on October 31 next, has made the tenta- tive suggestion that the commemoration last from October 25 to November 1. On October . 25, 26, 27, 28, a series of colloquies, confer- ences and lectures is proposed to be delivered by eminent European and American scholars. On October 31 there will be a luncheon and reception in honor of the guests, and an ad- dress, historical in character, by the president of the university. ARRANGEMENTS have been made between the Western Reserve University and the Case School of Applied Science permitting students to complete their academic and engineering courses in five years. Coneate University has given up its degree of Ph.B. and will hereafter give the B.A. degree without required Greek. Carters have been approved incorporating independent universities at Manchester and Liverpool to be known as the Victoria Uni- versity of Manchester and the University of Liverpool. Own June 18 the corporation of Brown Uni- versity voted to establish a graduate depart- ment and elected Professor Carl Barus as dean. Dr. tz Baron Russetn Bricas, professor of English and dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, has been elected president of Radcliffe College to fil erg. SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XVII. No. 443. the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mrs. Agassiz. Proressor M. E. Cooney, of the engineering department of the University of Michigan, has been offered the deanship of the Engineering Sehool of the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Frepertck E. Bowron, professor of edu- cation "in the University of Iowa, was offered the presidency of a normal school at Manila, Philippine Islands, but has declined the posi- tion. Tue Rey. Dr. Smith, for the past twenty years president of Trinity Oollege, has re- signed. Dr. F. S. Luther, Jr., professor of mathematics and dean of the faculty, is acting president. Dr. J. J. R. McLeon, assistant demonstrator of physiology at the London Hospital, has been appointed professor of physiology at Western Reserve University, occupying the chair made vacant by the removal of Pro- fessor G. N. Stewart to Chicago. Proressor C. H. Ropryson has resigned the chair of physics at Rochester University. H. C. Ives, instructor in Worcester Poly- technic Institute, has accepted an assistant professorship of civil engineering in the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. Tue three scholarships available for mem- bers of the Harvard summer course in geology in the Rocky Mountains open to general ap- plication have been assigned to Chas. W. Brown, of Rhode Island, graduate of Brown University and instructor; W. S. Tower, of Massachusetts, student in Harvard Univer- sity, and P. H. Cormick, of Texas, student in the University of Tennessee. Mr. Atrrep Hucues has been appointed. professor of education at Birmingham. Mr. CarvetH Reap has been appointed to the Grote professorship of philosophy of mind and logic at University College, London, in succession to Professor James Sully. M. Dantet has been elected to a newly-es- tablished chair of agricultural botany at the University of Rennes. ™~ ~ OT 3 9088 01301 4314