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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. 


NEW SERIES. VOLUME XXI. 


JANUARY-JUNE, 1905. 


NEW YORK 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1905 


CONTENTS AND INDEX. 


N.S. VOL, XXI.—JANUARY TO JUNH, 1905. 


The Names of Contributors are Printed in Small Capitals. 


Academic Ideals, R. S. Woopwarp, 41 

AGAssiz, A., Albatross Expedition to Eastern 
Pacific, 178, 572, 690 

Agricultural Colleges and Exper. Stations, Con- 
vention of, E. W. ALLEN, 340 

Agriculture, Teaching, in South Carolina, P. H. 
Mett, 193; Present Problems in, L. H. 
BatLey, 681 

Alamogordo Desert, T. H. Macpring, 90 

Albatross Expedition to Eastern Pacific, A. AGAS- 
siz, 178, 572, 690 

ALLEN, E. T., Venable’s Study of the Atom, 66 

ALLEN, E. W., Exhibit of Land-grant Colleges and 
Experiment Stations, 114; Convention of 
Aerie. Colleges and Exper. Stations, 340 

ALLEN, J. A., New Code of Nomenclature, 428 

Alternaria affecting the Apple, B. O. Lone- 
YEAR, 708 

American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, Executive Proceedings, Report of 
General Secretary 1; Mech. Sci. and Engi- 
neering, 7, 721; Mathematics and Astronomy, 
46, 174; Chemistry, 50, 252; Report of Com- 
mittees, 59; Fellows, 63; Physics, 81, 333; 
Botany, 90, 138; Geology and Geography, 
121, 135; Zoology, 263; Social and Economic 
Sci., 361, 446; Anthropology, 441; Summer 
Meeting, Sect. E, 901. 

Ames, O., Orchidacex, C. E. Bressry, 786 

Anatomical Congress at Geneva, 336 

Anatomists, Conference of, at Wistar Institute, 
598, 713 

Anatomy, Human, H. H. Donaupson, 16; Modern 
Philosophical, H. F. OsBorn, 959 

Angell, J. R., Psychology, E. L. THORNDIKE, 468 

Animal Psychology, M. M. Mercatr, 668 

Anopheles, The Bite of, J. B. Smirn, 71; Biting 
Position of, F. L. WASHBURN, 228 

Anthropological Association, American, 966 

Anthropology, at American Association, G. H. 
Preprer, 441; and Psychology, N. Y. Acad. of 
Sciences, R. S. WoopwortH, 469, 860; and its 
Larger Problems, W J McGersg, 770 

Antiquities, American, E, L. HEWETT, 397 

Apples injured by Sulphur Fumigation, H. J. 
EUSTACE, 994 : 

Ardeide, Tendons of, A. W. BLAIN, JR., 708 

Armsby, H. P., Die Ernahrung der landwirtschaft- 
lichen Nutztiere, O. Kellner, 698 

Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of Amer- 
ica, F. B. Lirrerr, 406 

Astronomy, Physics and Chem., N. Y. Acad. of Sci- 
ences, C. C. TRowsrincE, 308, 579, 664, 918 


Atmosphere, Exploration of, Saint Petersburg 
Conference, A. L. Rorcn, 461 


Bacteriologists, Am. Soe. of, F. P. GorHAm, 481 
Battery, L. H., Mutation Theory of Organic Evo- 
lution, 532; Problems in Agriculture, 681 
Bain, H. F., Geological Society of Washington, 349 
BaLpwIn, 8. E., The Modern ‘ Droit D’aubaine,’ 361 
‘ Ballons-sondes,’ First Observations in America, 76 
Bancrort, W. D., Future Developments in Phys- 
ical Chemistry, 50; Phase Rule and its Appli- 
cations, A. Findlay, 890 

Banks, N., Notes on Entomology, 833 

Barker, L. F., Cattell’s Post-mortem Pathology, 
784 

Barnard Medal, Award of, 965 

Barnes, C. R., Theory of Respiration, 241 

Barus, C., Nuclei and Intensity of Ionization, 
275; Alpheus Spring Packard, 404; Pene- 
trating Radiation associated with X-rays, 
561; Radioactivity, E. Rutherford, 697 

BASKERVILLE, C., Life and Chemistry, 641 

Bauer, L. A., Magnetic Survey of North Pacific 
Ocean, 594 

BreArpSsLEY, A. E., New American Ostracoda, 587 

Bement, A., Production of Carbonie Acid, 514 

BrenJAMIN, M., American Contributions to Tech- 
nical Chemistry, 873 

BerceENn, J. Y., Federico Delpino, 996 

Berry, E. W., Torrey Botanical Club, 151, 471, 
511, 628, 702 

Bressry, C. E., Botanical Notes, 36, 555, 674, 755, 
867, 963; Ames’s Orchidaceae, 786; Trees of 
North America, C. 8. Sargent, 914 

Bressry, E. A., Nematode Disease of Grasses, 391 

BicEtow, M. A., Biology, N. Y. Acad. Sci., 28, 
301, 579, 992 

Biological, Society of Washington, W. H. Oscoop, 
186; E. L. Morris, 310, 663, 744, 787; Sta- 
tion in Greenland, P. OLSSON-SEFFER, 189; 
Club, San Francisco, W. J. V. OSTERHOUT, 957 

Biology, N. Y. Acad. of Sciences, M. A. BreELow, 
28, 351, 579, 992; and Medicine, Exper., Soc. 
for, W. J. Gigs, 105, 580, 741, 986; Marine, 
Floating Laboratory, C. L. Epwarps, 995 

Bird Food between Seasons, W. L. McAter, 707 

Blackford, Eugene G., B. DEAN, 232. 

Buain, Jr. A. W., Michigan Ornithological Club, 
68, 747; Tendons of Ardeide and Gruide, 708 

Boas, F., Horizontal Plane of Skull, 862 

Bocert, M. T., Card Index for Univ. Department 
of Organie Chemistry, 750 


iv SCIENCE. 


Botanical, Notes, C. E. BEssry, 36, 555, 674, 755, 
867, 963; Society of Washington, H. J. 
WEBBER, 225; Garden, Missouri, 234 s 

Botany, at the Amer. Assoc., F. E. Luoyp, 138; Ap- 
plied, and Sci. Research, G. F. Moore, 321 

Bowman, I., Pre-pleistocene Deposits in Massa- 
chusetts, 993 

BRANNER, J. C., Natural Mounds, 514; Stone Reefs 
of Brazil, O. A. DERBY, 738 

Brannon, M. A., Life and Chemistry, 959 

Briguam, A. P., Assoc. of Am. Geographers, 300 

British Association in South Africa, 435 


C., T. D. A., Springer on Cleiocrinus, 388 

Cajori, F., Theory of Equations, J. Prerpont, 101 

Carbonie Acid, Production of, A. BEMENT, 514 

Carnegie, Institution, 201; Foundation, 716, 836 

CastLe, W. E., Mutation Theory, 521 

Castle, W. E., Heredity of Coat Characters in 
Guinea Pigs and Rabbits, T. H. Morcan, 737 

Catalogue, International, of Scientific Literature, 
H. B. Warp, 147; Automatic, of Scientific 
Literature, G. N. CoLLins, 958 

Catfishes, Mailed, C. H. ErGENMANN, 792 

Cattell, H. W., Post-mortem Pathology, L. F. 
BARKER, 784 

CaTTeELL, J. Mck., Biographical Directory of 
American Men of Science, 899 

Chemical Society, American, N. C. Section, C. D. 
Harris, 108; N. Y. Section, F. H. Povues, 
150, 271, 547, 818, 919; Northeastern Section, 
A. M. Comey, 226, 390, 513, 701; Cornell Sec- 
tion, W. S. Lenk, 630, 821;:and Section C of 
Amer. Assoc., C. E. WATERS, C. L. Parsons, 
252; of Washington, A. SEIDELL, 226, 629, 700, 
918 

Chemistry, Physical, W. D. Bancrort, 50; Tech- 
nical, M. BENJAMIN, 873 

CnHester, C. M., Total Solar Eclipse, 635 

Cireulation Scheme, W. T. Porter, 752 

CLARKE, F. W., Albert Benjamin Prescott, 601 

Clemson College Sci. Club, H. Mercatr, 351, 788 

Clerke, A. M., Astrophysics, E. B. Frost, 574 

Coceacee, Revision of, C.-E. A. Winstow, A. F. 
RoGers, 669 

CocKERELL, T. D. A., Zoological Record, 
Facilitating Work of Zoologists, 749 

Coie, F. N., Amer. Math. Soe., 215, 510, 896 

Cotitins, G. N., Automatic Catalogue of Scien- 
tific Literature, 958 E 

Columbia College, Program of Studies, 476 

Comey, A. M., Northeastern Section, Amer. Chem. 
Society, 226, 390, 513, 701 

Composition, Scientific, Style in, G. K. GILBERT, 28 

Conarp, H. S., Olympic Peninsula, 392 

ConkLin, E. G., Mutation Theory, 525 

Cook, O. F., Study of Kelep, 552 = 

Copper, Use of, in Purification of Water Supplies, 
G. T. Moore, H. KRAEMER, M. E. PENNINGTON, 
A. M. Quick, C. L. Marnatt, H. W. WILey, 
M. O. Letcuton, A. H. Dory, 603 

Correlation, Advance in Theory of, R. Peart, 32 

Crampton, H. E., Annual Meeting and Recording 
Secretary’s Report, N. Y. Acad. Sci., 103 

CrowELt, J. F., Social and Economie Science 
at American Association, 446 

Cyclones and Tornadoes, D. T. Smiru, 705 


543; 


D., W. M., Shattuck on the Bahama Islands, 953 


CONTENTS AND 
INDEX 


Date, S. §., Metrie System, 355, 922. 

Dati, W. H., Belgian Antarctic Expedition, 624 

DAVENPORT, C. B., and J. Loren, L’Année biologique, 
29 

Davis, W. M., Leveling without Base Leveling, 
825 

Dean, B., Eugene G. Blackford, 232 

Delpino, Federico, J. Y. BERGEN, 996 

Delue, ‘Geological Letters, of C. R. Eastman, 
111; versus De Saussure, 8. F. Emmons, 274 

Dersy, O. A., Branner on Stone Reefs of Brazil, 
738 

Development, Problem of, E. B. Wrison, 281 

Diamond Cutting, Prize for Methods, 901 

Directory, Naturalists’ Universal, G. K. GILBERT, 
548; Biographical, of American Men of Sci- 
ence, J. McK. CaTTELt, 899 

Discussion and Correspondence, 28, 68, 110, 152, 
189, 228, 273, 313, 352; 391, 428, 472, Sas: 
548, 585, 632, 666, 703, 748, 789, 823, 862, 
897, 922, 958 

Donatpson, H. H., Human Anatomy, 16 

Doppler’s Principle, A. B. Porter, 314 

Dory, A. H., Use of Copper in Purification of 
Water Supplies, 603 

Dressacu, M., Elliptical Human Erythrocytes, 473 

‘Droit D’aubaine,’ S. E. Batpwin, 361 

DvuERDEN, J.-E., Marine Zoology in Hawaiian Is- 
lands, 897 

Ducear, B. M., Plant Physiology, 937 

Dwieut, T., Mutation Theory, 529 


E., C. R., Museography, 964 

Earthquake, New Madrid, Audubon’s Account, M. 
L. FULLER, 748 

EASTMAN, C. R., Deluc’s Geological Letters, 111; 
Mont Pelée sive Mont Pelé, 352; History of 
Natural Science, 516 

Eclipse, Total Solar, C. M. CHESTER, 635 

Education, Men of Affairs in, 835 

Epwarps, C. L., Floating Laboratory of Marine 
Biology, 995 

EIGENMANN, C. H., Mailed Catfishes, 792 

Elisha Mitchell Scientifie Society, A. S. WHEELER, 
227, 352, 632, 702 

Emmons, S. F., Deluc versus De Saussure, 274 

Engineering, Progress in, C. M. Woopwarpb, 7 

Entomology, Notes on, N. BAnKs, 833 

Epidiascope, The, D. P. Topp, 30; A. D. Mean, 152 

Erythrocytes Elliptical Human, M. Dressacu, 473 


_. Eustace, H. J., Apples and Sulphur-fumigation, 


994 
Exoglossum in the Delaware, H. W. Fow1er, 994 


Facts, Interesting, G. K. GILBERT, 68 

Farrcnitp, H. L., Nitrogen Gas Well, 193 

Faunas, Fresh-water, D. W. Jounson, 588 

Frevp, F., Northwestern Univ., Science Club, 152, 
391, 861 

Findlay, A., Phase Rule, W. D. BANcRoFT, 890 

Fish, Broad White, H. W. Fowter, 315 

Fisheries, Bureau of, F. B. Sumner, 566; Labora- 
tory at Beaufort, C. GRAVE, 732 

Fiske, T. S., Mathematical Progress in America, 
209 ° 

Flamsteed, Controversy of, with 
Halley, E. S. HoLpEen, 706 

Fowter, H. W., Broad White Fish, 315; Exoglos- 
sum in the Delaware, 994 


Newton and 


New xr | 
VoL. XXI. 


Frear, W., Food Inspection and Analysis, A. E. 
Leach, 465 

Frost, E. B., Astrophysies, A. M. Clerke, 574 

Friih, J., and C. Schriter, Die Moore der Schweiz, 
W. F. Ganone, 424 

Fry, G., Varnishes of Italian Violin Makers, A. 
H. Gritz, 509 

Furuer, M. L., New Madrid Earthquake, 748 

Furst, C., Literary Production above Forty, 513 


GanoneG, W. F., Die Moore der Schweiz, J. Friih, 
C. Schréter, 424; Society for Plant Mor- 
phology and Physiology, 498 

GarpinER, H. N., Amer. Philosophical Assoc., 98 

Gardiner, J. 8., Madreporaria, ‘I. W. VAUGHAN, 
984 

Generations, Alternation of, H. L. Lyon, 666 

Geodesy, Present State of, O. H. Trrrmann, 46 

Geographers, Amer. Assoc., A. P. BRIGHAM, 300 

Geographic Society, National, 234 


Geographical, Societies, American, Cooperation 
among, I. C. RUSSELL, 121; Society, Royal, 


Medals and Awards of, 597 


Geological, Society of America, E. O. Hovey, 


216; of Washington, G. O. SmirnH, 224, 390, 


583, 662, 699, 822, 916; H. F. Bain, 349 

Geology, and Mineralogy, N. Y: Acad. Sci., J. F. 
Kemp, E. O. Hovey, 66; A. W. GraBau, 187, 
425, 510, 988; and Geography at the Ameri- 
can Association, E. O. Hovey, 135; Summer 
Field Courses, 437 

German Universities, Students of, 476 

GETMAN, 
Velocities ec Tons, 153 

Gigs, W. J., Soc. for Exper. Biology and Medi- 
cine, 105, 580, 741, 986 

GILBERT, G. K., Style in Scientific Composition, 
28; Interesting and Important Facts, 68; 
Naturalists’ Universal Directory, 548 

Gitt, A. H., Fry on Varnishes of Italian Violin 
Makers, 509 

Gitt, T., New Introduction to Study of Fishes, 
653; Habits of Great Whale Shark, 790 

‘Glucinum’ or ‘ Beryllium,’ J. L. Howe, 35; C. 
L. Parsons, 273 

Gornam, F. P., Soc. of Amer. Bacteriologists, 481 

GRABAU, A. W., Geology and Mineralogy, N. Y. 
Acad. of Sciences, 187, 425, 510, 988 

Granville, W. A., Differential and Integral Cal- 
culus, J. PrerPont, 64 

GRAVE, C., Fisheries Laboratory at Beaufort, 732 

GREENE, C. W., Physiological Section of Central 
Branch of American Naturalists, 884 

Greene Exploring Expedition, E. O. Hovey, 897 

Grecory, W. K., Hornaday’s Am. Nat. His., 346 

GutTuHRig, C. C., and G. N. Srewart, Science and 
Newspapers, 667 

Gynandromorphous Insects, T. H. Morean, 632 


Hatt, E. H., Theory of Thermo-electrie Action, 81 

Halsted, G. B., Rational Geometry, A. S. Hatu- 
AwAy, 183 

Hand, J. E., Ideals of Science and Faith, R. M. 
W. ENLEY, 26 

Harris, C. D., Am. Chem. Soc., N. C. Sec., 108 

HARSHBERGER, J. W., Phyto-geographic Nomen- 
elature, 189 


F. H., Hittorf’s Theory of Migration ~ 


SCIENCE. V 


Harvard University, Endowment, 836; Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology and, 969 
Harvey Society of New York City, 869 


Haruaway, A. §., Rational Geometry, G. B. Hal- 
sted, 183 
HawortH, E., and D. F. McFartanp, Nitrogen 


Gas Well, 191 
Hay, O. P., Amer. Paleontological Soc., 
Hayrorp, J. F., Precise Leveling 
lantic and Pacifie Oceans, 673 
Heap, F. D., Two Recent Moss Books, 
Heprick, H. B., The Metrie Fallacy, 473 
Herrick, C. J., Zoology at Amer. Association, 
Hess, H., Die Gletscher, H. F. Retp, 507 
Hewett, E. L., American Antiquities, 397 
HEWETT, J. IN. By and C. THomMAS, Xuala and 
Guaxule, 863 
Hinearp, EH. W., 
551 
Hircucock, A. §., Nomenclatorial Type Speci- 
mens of Plant Species, 828 
Hitcucocr, C. H., Kilauea again Active, 551 
Houpen, E. S., Controversy of Flamsteed with 
Newton and Halley, 706 
Hornaday, W. T., American Natural History, W. 


294 
between At- 


816 


263 


Prairie Mounds of Louisiana, 


K.. Gregory, 346 
Hoskins, L. M., Maurer’s Technical Mechanies, 
Ziwet’s Theoretical Mechanics, Stephan’s 


Technische Mechanik, 302 

Hovey, E. O., Geology and Geography at Amer. 
Association, 135; Geological Society of 
America, 216; Western Sierra Madre Moun- 


tains, 585; Greene Exploring Expedition, 
897; Summer Meeting of Section E of 
Amer. Assoe., 901; and J. F. Kemp, Geol. and 
Miner., N. Y. Acad. Science, 66 

Howe, C. ae Executive Proceedings and Report 


of General Secretary of Am. Assoc., i 
Howe, E., La Montagne Pelée et ses Eruptions, 
A. Lacroix, 576 


Howe, J. L., ‘Glucinum’ or ‘ Beryllium,’ 35 
Howe, M. A., Torrey Botanical Club, 920 
Hume, A., Science Club of Univ. of Miss., 109 


Illinois River Plankton, 233 

Index, Card, for Univ. Departments of Organic 
Chemistry, M. T. Bogert, 750 

Tons, Velocities of, F. H. GETMAN, 153 

Towa Acad. of Sciences, T, E. SAVAGE, 859. 


Jastrow, J., New Form of Stereoscope, 668 

Jeliffe, 8. E., Pharmacognosy, C. H. SHaw, 625 

JoHNSON, D. W., Freshwater Faunas, 588 

JoHNSTON, J. B., Reviewing Scientific Literature, 
703 

Jost, L., Pflanzenphysiologie, H. M. RrcHarps, 387 


Kelep, Study of, O. F. Cook, 552 

Kellner, O., Die Ernahrung der landwirtschaft- 
lichen Nutztiere, H. P. ARMsBy, 698 

Kemp, J. F., and E. O. Hovey, Geology and Min- 

eralogy, N. Y. Acad. Sciences, 66 

Rocking, with Metal Contacts, W. T. Por- 

TER, 753* 

Kilauea again Active, C. H. Hircncocr, 551 

Krnestey, J. S., Alpheus Spring Packard, 401 


Key, 


vi SCIENCE. 


Kirkwoop, J. E., Onondaga Acad. Sci., 311, 630, 
860 

KRAEMER, H., Use of Copper in Purification of 
Water Supplies, 603 


L., F. A., Newfoundland Whale Fisheries, 713; 
True on Whalebone Whales, 814; Museum 
Publications, 932 

Laboratory, Marine Biological, 156 

Lacroix, A., La Montagne Pelée, E. Hower, 576 

Language Study, F. E. Nrpuer, 229 

Leach, A. E., Food Inspection and Analysis, W. 
FREAR, 465 

Le Dantec, F., Les Lois Naturelles, W. H. SHEL- 
DON, 545 

Lercuton, M. O., Use of Copper in Purification 
of Water Supplies, 603 

Lenk, W. S., American Chemical Society, Cor- 
nell Section, 630, 821 

Leveling, Precise, J. F. Hayrorp, 673; E. H. 
Wittiams, JR., 862; without Baseleveling, W. 
M. Davis, 825 

Life and Chemistry, C. BASKERVILLE, 641; M. A. 
BRANNON, 959 

LicuTuipr, L. H., Torrey Botanical Club, 895 

Linuizr, F. R., Central Branch of American 
Zoologists, 849 

Literary Production above Forty, C. Furst, 513 

Lirrett, F. B., Astronomical and Astrophysical 
Society of America, 406 

Luoyp, F. E., Botany at the Amer. Assoc., 138 

Lors, J., Newspaper Science, 899; and C. B. 
Davenport, L’Année biologique, 29 

LoneyEAr, B. O., Alternaria and the Apple, 708 

Lovén, Otto C., Brain of, E. A. SprrzKa, 994 

Lyon, H. L., Alternation of Generations, 666 


McATEE, W. L., Between Season Bird Food, 707 

Macsrive, T. H., The Alamogordo Desert, 90 

MacDoueat, D. T., Mutation Theory, 540 

MacFarnanp, D. F., and E. Haworrn, Nitrogen 
Gas Well, 191 

McGer, W J, Anthropology, 770 

Macruper, W. T., Mechanical Science and Engi- 
neering at the Amer. Association, 721 

Marratr, C. L., Use of Copper in Purification 
of Water Supplies, 603 

Mason, W. P., Water Examination, 648 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Har- 
vard University, 969 

Material, Request for, H. H. Witprr, 473 

Mathematical, Progress in America, T, S. FIsKe, 
209; Soc., Amer., F. N. Cole, 215, 510, 896; 
San Francisco Sec., G. A. MILLER, 627 

Mathematics and Astronomy at the Amer. As- 
sociation, L. G. Wetp, 174 

Maurer, E. R., Technical Mechanics, L. M. Hos- 
KINS, 302 

MeEAp, A. D., The Epidiaseope, 152 

Mechanical Science and Engineering at American 
Association, W. T. MAcruprr, 721 

Met., P. H., Teaching Agriculture in S. C., 193 

Merritt, E., American Physical Society, 817 

MetrcaLr, H., Clemson College Sci. Club, 351, 788 

Metcatr, M. M., Determinate Mutation, 355; 
Modest Student of Animal Psychology, 668 

Meteorology, Notes on, R. DEC. Warp, 75, 231, 
276, 356, 433, 592, 711, 795, 832 


CONTENTS AND 
INDEX. 


Metric, Bill, British Parliament on, W. H. Sea- 
MAN, 72; Fallacy, S. S. Daum, 353; H. B. 
HEpDRICK, 473; System, W. J. SPILLMAN, 587; 
Will it Save Time? W. H. Seaman, 924; 
Error, 8S. 8S. DALE, 922 

Michigan Acad. of Science, F. C. Newcomse, 892 

Microscopical Society, American, 996 

Microscopie Slides, Storage of, J. SHatz, 314 

Miter, D. C., Physics at the Amer. Assoc., 333 

Miter, G. A., San Francisco Sec. Am. Math. Soc., 
627 

Minor, C. S., Elizabeth Thompson Science Fund, 
596 

Mississippi, Univ. of, Science Club, A. Hume, 109 

Moorz, G. T., British Freshwater Alger, G. S. 
West, 184; Applied Botany, 321; Copper in 
Purification of Water Supplies, 603 

Morean, T. H., Origin of Gynandromorphous In- 
sects, 632; Castle on Heredity of Coat Char- 
acters in Guinea Pigs and Rabbits, 737 

Morris, E. L., Biological Society of Washington, 
310, 663, 744, 787 

Mounds, Natural, or Hog-wallows, J. C. BRANNER, 
514; W. J. Spirtman, 632; A. H. PURDUE, 
823; Prairie, of Louisiana, E. W. Hixcarp, 
551; Basalt, C. V. Prrrer, 824 

Museography, C, R. E., 964 

Museum, Publications, F. A. L., 932; of Brooklyn 
Institute, 965 

Mutation, Determinate, M. M. Mercarr, 355; 
Theory of Organic Evolution, from Stand- 
point of Animal Breeding, W. E. CAsTLe, 521; 
Cytology, E. G. Conkurn, 525; Mutations, 
T. Dwieut, 529; Systematic Work and Evo- 
lution, L. H. Battery, 532; Ethology, W. M. 
WHEELER, 535; Discontinuous variation and 
Origin of Species, D. T. MacDoucaL, 540 

Mycological Society, American, 748 

Myodome of Fish Cranium, E. C, Starks, 754 


National Academy of Sciences, 675 

Naturalists, American, Physiological Section of 
Central Branch, C. W. GREENE, 884 

Nebraska Acad. of Science, R. H. Woxcort, 389 

Nematode Disease of Grasses, E. A. Bessey, 391 

Neurology and Vertebrate Zoology, Conference of, 
Cornell Univ., B. G. WILDER, 513 

NewcompeE, IF. C., Michigan Acad. of Science, 892 

New York Acad. of Sciences, Biology, M. A. BIGE- 
Low, 28, 351, 579, 992; Geology and Mineral- 
ogy, J. F. Kemp, E. O. Hovey, 66; A. W. 
GRABAU, 187, 425, 510; Annual Meeting, Re- 
port of Recording Seretary, H. E. Crampron, 
103; Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry, C. C. 
Trowbridge, 308, 579, 664, 918; Anthropology 
and Psychology, R. 8. WoopwortuH, 469, 860 

Nipuer, F. E., New Field for Language Study, 229 

Nitrogen Gas Well, E. Haworrn, D. F. McoFar- 
LAND, 191; H. L. Farrcuinp, 193 

Nobel Prizes, 37 

Nomenclatorial Type Specimens of Plant Species, 
A. 8. Hirencock, 828 

Nomenclature, Example in, L. F. Warp, 110; New 
Code of, J. A. ALLEN, 428; Phyto-geographie, 
J. W, HARSHBERGER, 789.; of Types in Natural 
History, C. ScHucHERT, 899 

Northwestern University Science Club, F. Frexp, 
152, 391, 861 


NEW SERIES. 
VoL. XXI. 


Nuclei and Intensity of Ionization, C. Barus, 275 


O., H. F., Recent Zoopaleontology, 315; Recent 
Vertebrate Paleontology, 931 

Ousson-Srrrer, P., Biological Station in Green- 
land, 189 

Onondaga Academy of Science, J. E. Kirkwoon, 
311, 630, 860 : 

Ornithological Club, Michigan, A. W. BLAIN, JR., 
68, 747 

Osporn, H., and L. B. Watton, Memorial of Ohio 
Acad. of Sci. to Professor Wright, 712 

Osporn, H. F., Philosophical Anatomy, 959 

Oscoop, W. H., Biol. Soc. of Washington, 186 

OsterHoUuT, W. J. V., San Francisco Biological 
Club, 957 

Ostracoda, New American, A. E. BrEArpSLEy, 587 

Ostwald, Prof. Wilhelm, at Harvard Univ., 598 


Packard, Alpheus Spring, J. 8. Kinestey, 401; C. 
Barus, 404 

Paleontological Society, American, O. P. Hay, 294 

Paleontology, Recent Vertebrate, H. F. O., 931 

Parsons, C. L., ‘ Beryllium’ or ‘ Glucinum,’ 273; 
and C. E. Warers, Amer. Chem. Society and 
Section C of Amer. Assoc., 252 

Peart, R., Advance in Theory of Correlation, 32 

Pelée, Mont, sive Mont Pelé, C. R. EASTMAN, 352, 
H. H. Writper, 514; Obelisk, I. C. RUSSELL, 
924 

Peninsula, Olympic, H. S. Conarp, 392 

Pennineton, M. E., Use of Copper in Purifica- 
tion of Water Supplies, 603 

Peprer, G. H., Anthropology at Amer. Assoc., 442 

Philosophical, Society of Washington, C. K. WEAD, 
67, 309, 427, 512, 627, 744, 861, 955; Amer. 
801; Assoc. Amer., H. N. GARDINER, 98 

Phonetic Conference, R. STern, 112 

Photo-micrography, C. RicHaRpson, 71 

Physical Society, American, E. Merrirt, 817 

Physician of the Future, H. W. Winey, 841 

Physics at the Amer. Assoc., D. C. MILER, 333 

Pizrpont, J., Differential and Integral Calculus, 
W. A. Granville, 64; Modern Theory of Equa- 
tions, F. Cajori, 101 

Preer, C. V., Basalt Mounds, 824 

Plant, Morphology and Physiology, Society for, 
W. F. Ganone, 498; Physiology, B. M. Duc- 
GAR, 937 

Porter, A. B., Doppler’s Principle, 314 

Porter, W. T., Quantitative Circulation Scheme, 
752; Rocking Key with Metal Contacts, 753 

Porto Rico Experiment Station, 156 

Pouau, F. H., N. Y. Section of American Chem- 
ical Society, 150, 271, 547, 818, 919 

Pratt, H. §., American Society of Zoologists, 373 

Pre-pleistocene Deposits, 1. Bowman, 993 

Prescott, Albert Benjamin, F. W. CLARKE, 601 

Psychological Club of Cornell Univ., 957 

Psychologists, Exper., at Clark University, 666 

Public Health Science, W. T. Sepa@wicK, 905 

Purpug, A. H., Natural Mounds, 823 


Quick, A. M., Use of Copper in Purification of 
Water Supplies, 603 
Quotations, 153, 230, 393, 475, 554 


Radiation, Penetrating, associated with X-rays, 
C. Barus, 561 


SCIENCE. 


Vii 


Reese, A. M., English Sparrow as Embryological 
Material, 274 

Rerp, H. F., Hess on Glaciers, 507 

Respiration, Theory of, C. R. BARNES, 241 

Rhizobia Experiments, A. SCHNEIDER, 428 

Ricuarps, H. M., Josts’ Vorlesungen 
Pflanzenphysiologie, 387 

RICHARDSON, C., Ultra-violet Light in Photo- 
micrography, 71 

Rogers, A. F., and C.-E. A. WINSLow, Revision of 
Coceacer, 669 

Rosa, E. B., National Bureau of Standards, 161 

Rorcn, A. L., Saint Petersburg Conference on Ex- 
ploration of Atmosphere, 461 

Russet, I. C., Influence of Caverns on Topog- 
raphy, 30; Cooperation among American Geo- 
graphical Societies, 121; Pelé Obelisk, 924 

Rutherford, E., Radioactivity, C. Barus, 697 


liber 


Sargent, C. S., Trees of North America, Cr: E. 
BEssSEy, 914 

Savace, T. H., lowa Acad. of Sciences, 859 

ScHNEIDER, A., Rhizobia Experiments, 428 

Scuoser, W. B., Univ. Registration Statistics, 111 

ScuucuHERT, C., Nomenclature of Types, 899 

Science, Natural, History of, C. R. Eastman, 516; 
and Newspapers, G. N. Stewart, C. C. 
GUTHRIE, 667; J. Lors, 899 

Scientific, Books, 26, 64, 101, 147, 183, 302, 346, 
387, 424, 465, 507, 543, 574, 624, 653, 697, 
737, 784, 814, 890, 914, 953; Journals and 
Articles, 27, 102, 150, 185, 223, 271, 307, 348, 
389, 425, 469, 509, 578, 626, 661, 699, 740, 
787, 817, 858, 892, 915; Notes and News, 37, 
Wipe ellGyaloian L9oy 28oyauhian olOn edly OOS; 
437, 477, 517, 556, 599, 638, 676, 717, 757, 
797, 837, 869, 902, 933, 966, 997; Records, 
Blunders in, L. StEyNEGER, 472; Literature, 
Reviewing J. B. Jounston, 703 

SEAMAN, W. H., British Parliament on Metric 
Bill, 72; Will Metric System Save Time? 924 

SEASHORE, C. E., La contagion mentale, A. Vig- 
ouroux and P. Juquelier, 102 

Sepewick, W. T., Public Health Science, 905 

SEIDELL, A., Chem. Soc. of Washington, 226, 629, 
700, 918 

Shark, Great Whale, Habits of, T. Ginn, 790 

Shattuck, G. B., Bahama Islands, W. M. D., 953 

SHarz, J., Storage of Microscopie Slides, 314 

Suaw, C. H., Pharmacognosy, 8S. H. Jeliffe, 625 

SHELDON, W. H., Les Lois Naturelles, F. Le 
Dantee, 545 

Sierra Madre Mountains, E. O. Hovey, 585 

SKINNER, E. B., Wisconsin Acad. of Sci., 227 

Skull, Horizontal Plane of, F. Boas, 862 

SmiruH, D. T., Origin of Cyclones, Tornadoes and 
Cold Waves, 705 

SmirnH, E. G., Grain and Organisms resembling 
Bacillus Coli Communis, 710 

SmitH, G. O., Geological Society of Washington, 
224, 390, 583, 662, 699, 822, 916 

Situ, J. B., How does Anopheles Bite? 71 

Social and Economic Sci. at Amer. Assoc., J. F. 
CROWELL, 446 

Societies and Academies, 28, 66, 103, 150, 186, 
224, 271, 308, 349, 389, 425, 469, 510, 547, 
579, 627, 662, 699, 741, 787, 817, 859, 892, 
916, 955, 986 


Vili 


Sparrow, English, as Embryological Material, A. 
M. REESE, 274 

Special Articles, 30, 72, 112, 153, 191, 228, 275, 
314, 355, 392, 428, 473, 514, 551, 588, 632, 
669, 706, 750, 790, 825, 862, 899, 924, 959 

Specialization, Ignorance and Palliatives, F. B. 
SUMNER, 69 

SPILLMAN, W. J., Metric System, 587; Natural 
Mounds, 632 

SpirzKa, E. A., Brain of Otto C. Lovén, 994 

Springer, F., Cleiocrinus, T. D. A. C., 388 

Standards, National Bureau of, E. B. Rosa, 161 

Srarks, E. C., Myodome of Fish Cranium, 754 

Statistics, Ph.D., R. Tompo, JR., 961 

Srery, R., International Phonetie Conference, 112 

STEJNEGER, L., Generic Names of Soft-shelled 
Turtles, 228; Scientific Records, 472 

Stephan, P., Die Technische Mechanik, L. M. 
Hoskins, 302 

Stereoscope, Overlooked Form of, F. P. WHITMAN, 
549; New Form of, J. JASTROW, 668 

Stewart, G. N., and C. C. GuTHRIE, Science and 
Newspapers, 667 

Sumner, F. B., Specialization, Ignorance and 
Palliatives, 69; Biological Laboratory of 
3ureau of Fisheries, Woods Hole, 566 

Survey, Coast and Geodetic, for 1904, 395; Geo- 
graphical and Geological of Sao Paulo, 476; 


Magnetic, of North Pacific Ocean, L. A. 
Baver, 594; Faunal, of Forest Reserves of 
Nebr., R. H. Woucort, 791 


Surveys, Scientific, of Philippine Islands, 761 


Technology, Schools of, and the University, TrEcH 
GRADUATE, 112 

Thermo-electrie Action, E. H. Hatt, 81 

Tuomas, C., and J. N. B. Hewerr, Xuala and 
Guaxule, 863 

Tuompson, J. D., Experts in Libraries, 313 

THORNDIKE, E. L., Angell’s Psychology, 468 

TirTMaNNn, O. H., Present State of Geodesy, 46 

Topp, D. P., The Epidiascope, 30 

Tomepo, Jr., R., University Registration Statistics, 
228; Some Ph.D. Statistics, 961 

Topography, Caverns and, I. C. RUSSELL, 30 

Torrey Botanical Club, E. W. Berry. 151, 471, 
511, 628, 702; L. H. LigHTHIPE, 395; M. A. 
Howe, 920 

TROWBRIDGE, C. C., Astronomy, Physies and Chem- 
istry, N. Y. Acad. Sci., 308, 579, 664, 918 

True, F. W., Whalebone Whales, F. A. L., 814 

True, R. H., Czapek’s Biochemie der Pflanzen, 891 

Turtles, Soft-shelled, L. STEJNEGER, 228 


University, and Educational News, 40, 80, 120, 
160, 199, 240, 280, 320, 360, 400, 440, 480, 
520, 559, 600, 639, 680, 720, 760, 800, 839, 
872, 904, 935, 968, 1000; George Washington, 
and Memorial Assoc., 155; Registration Sta- 
tistics, W. B. Scuober, 111; R. Tomso, JR., 
228 


VauGHAN, T. W., Gardiner on Madreporaria, 984 


SCIENCE. 


CONTENTS AND 
INDEX. 


Venable, F. P., The Atom, E. T. ALLEN, 66 

Vicouroux, A., and P. Juquelier, La contagion 
mentale, C. E. SEASHORE, 102 

Warp, H. B., International Catalogue of Scien- 
tifie Literature, 147 

Warp, L. F., Example in Nomenclature, 110 

Warp, R. DEC., Notes on Meteorology, 75, 231, 
276, 356, 433, 592, 711, 795, 832 

WASHBURN, F. L., Biting of Anopheles, 228 

Water Examination, W. P. Mason, 648 

Wavrers, C. E., and C. L. Parsons, Amer. Chem. 
Society and-Section C of Amer. Assoc., 252 

Weap, C. K., Philosophical Society of Washing- 
ton, 67, 309, 427, 512, 627, 744, 861, 955 

WesseR, H. J., Botanical Soe. of Washington, 225 

WELD, L. G., Mathematics and Astronomy at 
Amer. Association, 174 

WENLEY, R. M., Hand’s Ideals of Science and 
Faith, 26 

West, G. S., British Freshwater Alge, G. T. 
Moore, 184 

Whale Fisheries, Newfoundland, F. A. L., 713 

WHEELER, A. S., Elisha Mitchell Scientific So- 
Clety, 227, 352;. 682, 102 

WHEELER, W. M. Mutation Theory, 535 

WHITMAN, F. P., Overlooked Form of Stereoscope, 
549 

Wiper, B, G., Conference of Neurology and Ver- 
tebrate Zoology, Cornell Univ., 513 

Wiper, H. H., Request for Material, 473; Mont 
Pelée, 514 

Witry, H. W., Use of Copper in Purification of 
Water Supplies, 603; The Physician of the 
Future, 841 

WILLIAMS, JR., E. H., Leveling between Atlantic 
and Pacific Oceans, 862 

Witson, E. B., Problem of Development, 281 

WINSLow, C.-E. A., and A. F. Rogers, Revision 
of Coceacer, 669 

Wisconsin, Univ. of Sci. Club, F. W. Wort, 189, 
227, 472, 665, 701, 956; Acad. of Sci., E. B. 
SKINNER, 227; University, 964 

Wotcort, R. H., Nebr. Acad. Sci., 389; Faunal 
Survey of Forest Reserves of Nebr., 791 

Wott, F. W., Science Club of Univ. of Wiscon- 
sin, 189, 227, 472, 665, 701, 956 

Woopwarp, C. M., Progress in Engineering, 7 

Woopwarpb, R. §., Academie Ideals, 41 

Woodward, Dr. R. 8., and Columbia Univ., 997 

WoopwortH, R. S., Anthropology and Psychology, 
N. Y. Acad. of Sciences, 469, 860 


Xuala and Guaxula, C, THomas, J. N. B. Hewert, 
863 


Ziwet, A., Mechanics, L. M. Hoskins, 302 

Zoologists, Am. Soe. of, H. S. Pratt, 373; Facili- 
tating Work of, T. D. A. CocKERELL, 749; 
Am. Soe. of, Central Branch, F. R. Litiim, 849 

Zoology, at American Association, C. J. HERRICK, 
263; Marine, in Hawaiian Islands, J. E. 
DUERDEN, 897 

Zoopaleontology, Recent, H. F. O., 315 


SCIENCE 


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Lore. The Epidiascope: PRoressor DAvip 


CONTENTS. 125 MILoyD)NY: oh crdarnincs Oca Orca hcone ce Cie Cee 28 
The American Association for the Advance- 
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Executive Proceedings, Report of the Gen- The Inflwence of Caverns on Topography: 
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Style wm Scientific Composition: G. Kk. Gir- son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 


EXECUTIVE PROCEEDINGS: REPORT OF THE GENERAL SECRETARY. 


THE first meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science was 
held in the City of Philadelphia, September 20th, 1848. There were then 461 members 
of the Association, but we have no record of the number in attendance. The second 
Philadelphia meeting was held September 3, 1884. The Association then numbered 1,981 
members and the attendance was 1,261, including 303 members of the British Association 
for the Advancement of Science and nine other foreign guests. The third Philadelphia 
meeting was held December 27 to 31, 1904. The total membership was nearly 4,000 
and the registered attendance numbered 588 members and 104 members of affiliated 
societies, making a total registered attendance of 692 members. From 200 to 400 did not 
register, so that we may safely conclude that the total attendance was at least 890, and 
perhaps very much larger.* The present meeting is, therefore, the third largest in point 

* We estimate the number of scientific men in attendance to have been in the neighborhood of 1,200. 
240 members of the American Chemical Society were registered, but only 75 for the Chemical Section of the 


Association. There were nearly 100 members of the American Psychological and Philosophical Associations 
in attendance, very few of whom registered. The conditions were probably similar in other sciences.—ED. 


2 SCIENCE. 


of numbers since the year 1884. While 
numbers are not an index of the value of 
a meeting, they do show the amount of 
interest taken in its proceedings, and from 
that standpoint we may conclude that the 
third Philadelphia meeting was a success. 
It was also a suecess from the standpoint 
of number of papers read‘and the general 
interest in the papers, as well as in all of 
the proceedings of the association. 

Tabulating the members according to the 
sections for which they registered, we find 
the following numbers: 


Section. “Ay nie. chin stewie reno 57 
Section [By 244 oe Oa corte eee 66 
Section Gs. Lethe eee 75 
Section gDs 4 ...eaeeee SMAI ORAS 16 
DeCbiOn TH nis be tec nse en te cneltete enter 79 
Secklow AN eee ecko ce eee 104 
Section. Gs acai hon etme 103 
SECLION GH Ae assoc ertereeres Tikit 44 
Sechion Ly, «2 (ac craketeksol avers uovepaverielete 14 
Section: (Ke oe cscctetens wae aheestare tests 25 


giving a total of 581 who signified their 
preference as to sections. 

These figures show that where a national 
scientific society met in conjunction with 
the association, the corresponding section 
was large and where a national scientific 
society did not meet, the attendance was 
very small. This would seem to indicate 
that members of the association prefer to 
attend a meeting of the national society 
rather than the meetings of the association 
unless the two meet together. 

The University of Pennsylvania placed 
its halls and laboratories freely at the dis- 
posal of the association and each day fur- 
nished a lunch to the members. The asso- 
ciation has never received more careful at- 
tention than it received at this meeting. 
A vote of thanks was extended to the uni- 
versity, the details of which will be found 
later on in the report. 

In former years a daily program has 
been published, showing the papers to be 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 523. 


read that day and giving a list of the mem- 
bers in attendance. This has always been 
a severe drain upon the resources of the 
association and it was decided this year 
to use but one program, which was dis- 
tributed to members on the first day papers 
were read. This single program seemed 
to answer its purpose as well as the daily 
programs have in the past, except that 
many members missed the lists of those in 
attendance. If some method can be de- 
vised by which members may know who are 
present, there can be no objection to the 
single program. 

Since the last meeting of the association 
377 members have been elected; although 
this is not as large as the number elected 
in previous years, yet it shows a steady 
growth and a growing interest on the part 
of the public in the work of the association. 

There has always been great difficulty in 
getting reports of the association and its 
work published in the daily papers, except 
those in the city where the meeting is held. 
This year the Committee on Policy of the 
Association instructed the permanent seere- 
tary to appoint a press secretary. The 
permanent secretary appointed Mr. Theo- 
dore Waters. Reports of the meetings 
were prepared each day and sent to most 
of the prominent newspapers of the coun- 
try. It was impossible to make the re- 
ports as full as desired, as some of the 
members of the association who read papers 
did not give their abstracts to the press 
secretary, although they were requested to 
do so. If the readers of papers will take 
pains to see that their abstracts are in the 
hands of the press secretary, entirely satis- 
factory reports can be sent out in future. 
It is greatly to be desired that the press of 
the country give some attention to the 
meetings of our greatest scientific society. 

The two questions of general interest 
were the time of meetings of the associa- 
tion and our relation to the affiliated so- 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


cieties. These questions have been actively 
discussed before, but they do not seem to 
be definitely settled in the minds of many. 
The sections which have been in the habit 
of giving excursions and those who study 
objects out of doors, prefer a summer meet- 
ing, but it seems that a large majority of 
the association is in favor of the winter 
meetings, as the general committee unani- 
mously decided to hold the next meeting 
during the winter. The committee on 
policy reported that it had considered this 
matter and would recommend that this 
general committee request the next general 
committee to hold a summer meeting in 
Ithaca during the summer of 1906. The 
suecess of this meeting will undoubtedly 
have a great deal to do with settling the 
question of summer meetings. 

There seems to be no objection on the part 
of the association to holding two meetings 
each year, one during the winter and one 
during the summer. The expense involved 
would be considerable, but the association 
can bear it and perhaps the best solution of 
the problem will be two meetings. This is 
a question which the future must decide. 


AFFILIATED SOCIETIES. 


The following Affiliated Societies held 
sessions in conjunction with the associa- 
tion: 


American Alpine Club. 

The American Anthropological Association. 

The American Chemical Society. 

The American Folk-Lore Society. 

The American Geographers’ Association. 

The American Mycological Society. 

The American Philosophical Association. 

The American Physical Society. 

The American Psychological Association. 

The American Physiological Society. 

The American Society of Naturalists. 

American Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists. 

Association of American Anatomists. 

The Association of Economie Entomologists. 

The Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of 
America. 


SCIENCE. 


The Botanical Club of the Association. 
The Botanical Society of America. 
The Society for Plant Morphology and Phys- 


iology. 

The Society for the Promotion of Agricultural 
Science. 

Sullivant Moss Chapter. 

The Wild Flower Preservation Society of 
America. 

The Entomological Club of the Association. 

Eastern Branch of American Society of Zoolo- 
ogists. 

The Fern Chapter. 

The Geological Society of America. 

The Sigma XI Honorary Scientific Society. 

The Society of American Bacteriologists. 

The Society for Horticultural Science. 

The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psy- 
chology. 

The Pelee Club. 


The association is still pursuing the 
policy of encouraging the great national 
societies to meet at the same time and 
place with it. The association secures 
rooms, provides accommodations, makes ar- 
rangements with hotels and railways and in 
all points takes charge of general arrange- 
ments without expense and without trouble 
to the affiliated societies. 

Nearly, if not all, of the societies meet in 
perfect harmony with the respective sec- 
tions. In almost every case the sections 
have charge of the general session in one 
half of the day and the affiliated societies 
have charge of the meetings during the 
other half of the day. Thus there is no 
friction and papers are presented before 
both bodies, while there is the additional 
advantage of a larger attendance at both 
the section and the society. It is hoped 
that this arrangement will appeal still 
more to the national societies until all 
of them enter into this arrangement with 
the association. 

The attendance of the members of the 
societies this year indicates that they are 
willing to cordially cooperate with the as- 
sociation and turn out in large numbers to 
attend these joint meetings. There is 


+ SCIENCE. 


nothing in the arrangement which prevents 
an affiliated society holding a _ separate 
meeting at any other time of the year if it 
chooses. 

The first session of the fifty-fourth meet- 
ing of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science was called to order 
in College Hall Chapel, University of Penn- 
sylvania, Philadelphia, Pa., at 10 a.m., 
Wednesday, December 28, 1904, by the 
retiring president, Dr. Carroll D. Wright. 
Dr. Wright introduced the president-elect, 
Dr. William G. Farlow, who made a brief 
address. "Provost Harrison, of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania followed with an ad- 
dress of welcome. 

President Farlow thanked Provost Har- 
rison for his words of welcome and then 
asked the general secretary to make the 
announcements from the council. 


Mr. Howe (general secretary) : The Council has 
voted to extend the privileges of associate mem- 
bership for this meeting to members of the local 
committee, residents of Philadelphia and vicinity 
and to members of the affiliated societies. 

The following committees have been appointed 
to serve during this meeting: 

Committee on New Members: The permanent 
secretary and the secretary of the Council. 

Committee on Fellows: The general secretary 
and the vice-presidents of the sections, Mr. Howe, 
chairman. 

Committee on Grants: The treasurer and the 
vice-presidents of the sections, Mr. R. 8. Wood- 
ward, chairman. 

It has been decided to hold sessions of the 
Council at nine o’clock in the morning, but there 
will be no other general session until Saturday 
morning at ten o’clock. 


Dr. Calvert, secretary of the local com- 
mittee, made some announcements in be- 
half of that committee in regard to the 
arrangements which had been made for the 
comfort and convenience of the association. 

After the adjournment of the general 
session the several sections were organized 
in their respective rooms. 

In accordance with a suggestion from 
the committee on the policy of the asso- 


(N.S. Vou. XXL. No. 523. 


ciation, the vice-presidential addresses were 
scattered throughout the week, instead of 
being given on the same date. 

It was thought best to have in addition 
to a vice-presidential address, one or more 
papers of general interest, which would fol- 
low the address, thus taking up the greater 
part of that session. 

The general program of the week was as 
follows: 


GENERAL EVENTS. 


The council of the association met daily from 
December 28 to December 31, inclusive, at 9 A. M., 
in the auditorium, Houston Hall. 


WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1904. 


Meeting of the council at 9 A. M., as above. 

First general session of the association at 10 A. 
M., in the chapel, College Hall. 

The meeting was called to order by the retiring 
president, Dr. Carroll D. Wright, who introduced 
the president-elect, Dr. W. G. Farlow. 

Addresses of welcome were delivered by members 
of the local committee. 

President Farlow replied. 

Announcements by the general, permanent and 
local secretaries. ; 

Agreement on the hours of meeting. 

Adjournment of the general session, followed by 
the organization of the sections in their respec- 
tive halls. 

At 1:00 P. M. 

Luncheon to the members of the association and 
societies in the gymnasium. 

At 2:30 P. M. 

Addresses of vice-presidents as follows: 

Vice-President Tittmann, before the Section of 
Mathematics and Astronomy, in College Hall. 
Subject, ‘The Present State of Geodesy.’ 

Vice-President Bancroft, before the Section of 
Chemistry, in the Harrison Laboratory of Chem- 
istry. Subject, ‘ Future Developments in Physical 
Chemistry.’ 

Vice-President Russell, before the Section of 
Geology and Geography, in Geological Labora- 
tory, College Hall. Subject, ‘Cooperation among 
American Geographical Societies.’ 

At 8:00 P. M. 

Address by Dr. Carroll D. Wright, the retiring 
President of the Association, in the gymnasium. 
Subject, ‘Science and Economics.’ 

At 9:00 Pp. M. 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


Reception by the Provost of the University of 
Pennsylvania, Dr. C. C. Harrison and Mrs. Har- 
rison, in the Museum. 


THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1904. 


Meeting of the council at 9 A. M. 

Meetings of the sections at 10 A. M. 

At 1:00 P. M. 

Luncheon to the members of the association and 
societies in the gymnasium. 

At 2:30 P. M. 

Addresses of vice-presidents as follows: 

Vice-President Hall, before the Section of 
Physics, in Morgan Laboratory of Physics. Sub- 
ject, ‘A Tentative Theory of Thermo-Electric 
Actions.’ 

Vice-President MacBride, before the Section of 
Botany, in Biological Hall. Subject, ‘The Ala- 
mogordo Desert.’ 

Vice-President Mark, before the Section of 
Zoology, in Laboratory of Physiology and Path- 
ology. Subject, ‘The Bermuda Islands and the 
Bermuda Biological Station for Research.’ 

Vice-President Baldwin, before the Section of 
Social and Economic Science, in Logan Hall. Sub- 
ject, ‘The Modern Droit d’Aubaine.’ 

At 8:00 P. M. 

The retiring President of the American Chem- 
ical Society, Dr. Arthur A. Noyes, delivered a lec- 
ture, illustrated by experiments, on the ‘ Prepara- 
tion and Properties of Colloidal Solutions,’ in the 
Harrison Laboratory of Chemistry. 


FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1904. 


Meetings of the council at 9 A. M. 

Meetings of the sections at 10 A. M. 

At 1:00 P. M. 

Luncheon to the members of the association and 
societies in the gymnasium. 

At 2:30 P. M. 

Addresses of vice-presidents as follows: 

Vice-President Woodward, before the Section of 
Mechanical Science and Engineering, in the Me- 
chanical Laboratory. Subject, ‘Recent Progress 
in Engineering Education.’ 

Vice-President Saville, before the Section of 
Anthropology, in the Museum of Science and Art. 
Subject, ‘Mexican and Central American Arche- 
ology.’ 

At 10:00 P. M. 

Meeting of the General Committee at the Hotel 
Walton. 


SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1904. 
Meeting of the council at 9 A. M. 


SCIENCE. 


5 


Final general session at 10 A. M., in the chapel, 
College Hall. 

Meeting of the sections following the adjourn- 
ment of the general session. 

At 1 P. M. 

Luncheon to the members of the association and 
societies in the gymnasium. 


EXCURSIONS. 


Excursions to the following plants were 
arranged by the local committee: 


Belmont Filtration Plant 
water). 

F. A. Poth & Sons Brewery. 

J. P. Baltz Brewing Company. 

Eddystone Print Works, Eddystone, Pa. (bleach- 
ing and dyeing of all kinds of cotton goods, en- 
graving and preparing the rolls). 

Barrett Manufacturing Coo. (refined coal-tar 
chemicals). 

Baldwin Locomotive Works. 

Atlantie Refining Co. (petroleum oils). 

Cramp’s Ship Yard. 

Camden Coke Company 
product coke ovens). 

United Gas Improvement Co. (coal and water 
gas). 

Hulton Brothers (dyeing and finishing). 

Forth & Foster (dyeing and finishing). 

United States Arsenal. 

United States Mint. 

United States Navy Yard. 

Gillinder’s Glass Works. 

High Pressure Fire Service Plant, kindness of 
Mr. F. L. Hand, Chief of the Bureau of Water, 
Philadelphia. 

Philadelphia Electric Co.’s new Power Station, 
through the kindness of Mr. J. B. McCall, Presi- 
dent Phila. Electric Co. 

Philadelphia Subway, through the kindness of 
Mr. W.S. Twining, chief engineer, and Mr. Charles 
M. Mills, principal assistant engineer, Subway 


(filtration of city 


(Otto-Hoffman  by- 


and Elevated Railway Construction. 

Wm. Sellers & Co., Ine., through the kindness 
of Mr. William Sellers and Mr. Coleman Sellers, 
Jr. 

On Monday evening, December 26, 1904, 
the American Physiological Society held a 
smoker at the University Club. 

On Tuesday evening, December 27, 1904, 
Professor W. F. Osborn gave a lecture be- 
fore the American Society of Naturalists 


6 SCIENCE. 


in the Academy of Natural Sciences on the 
subject, “Recent Discoveries of Extinct 
Animals in the Rocky Mountain Region 
and their Bearings on the Present Prob- 
lems of Evolution.’ On the same evening 
the American Society of Naturalists and 
the affiliated societies gave a smoker. at the 
University Club. 

Wednesday afternoon, December 28, 
1904, was held the annual discussion of 
the American Society of Naturalists on the 
question ‘Mutation Theory of Organic Evo- 
lution.” This was participated in by Dr. 
D. T. MacDougal, Professor W. E. Castle, 
Professor E. G. Conklin, Professor W. B. 
Seott, Professor T. Dwight, Professor L. 
H. Bailey and Dr. W. M. Wheeler. In 
the evening the annual dinner of the Amer- 
ican Society of Naturalists was held. 

On Thursday evening, December 29, the 
American Chemical Society held a com- 
mers at the University Club. The same 
evening the Psychological and Philosoph- 
ical Association held a smoker. The same 
evening the Society of the Sigma Xi held 
a convention in College Hall. 

Friday evening, December 30, the Amer- 
ican Alpine Club held its annual dinner 
at the University Club. 

The council elected as members of the 
council at large, J. MeK. Cattell, J. M. 
Coulter and H. F. Osborn. 

Professor C. R. Barnes, of the University 
of Chicago, Dr. H. C! Cowles, of the Uni- 
versity of Chieago, and Mr. C. L. Shear, 
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
were appointed as representatives to the 
International Botanical Congress to be held 
in Vienna in 1905. The reports of com- 
mittees and the list of fellows elected will 
be printed in the next issue of ScrENCE. 


AMENDMENTS. 
The following amendment to the econ- 
stitution which was proposed at the St. 
Louis meeting, favorably acted upon by 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 523. 


the council and reported to the general 
session, was adopted: 

Amend Article 34 by the omission of the 
words ‘‘On the election of any member as 
fellow, an additional fee of $2 shall be 
paid.’’ 

The proposed amendment of article 4, 
line 2, to read ‘‘The members of at least 
one year’s standing, who are professionally 
engaged in science and have, by their 
labors, aided in advancing science’’ was 
unfavorably reported upon by the commit- 
tee on policy. 


POLICY OF THE ASSOCIATION. 

The council appointed Mr. R. S. Wood- 
ward permanent chairman of the commit- 
tee on policy of the association. 

The council voted that the committee on 
policy of the association be requested to 
exercise a general executive control of the 
preliminary arrangements for meetings and 
of the publications, subject to the control 
of the council. 

The committee on policy of the associa- 
tion reported the following resolutions 
which were adopted: 

‘““That the permanent secretary be au- 
thorized to offer sets of the back volumes of 
the Proceedings to libraries, which shall be 
approved by the committee of the associa- 
tion appointed by the president.’’ 

‘“That the publishers of ScteNcE be re- 
quested to announce prominently that eut 
copies will be sent to members who request 
it:?? 

‘“That the committee recommends as 
members, and if they become members, 
nominates as fellows, members of the na- 
tional scientifie societies not now members 
of the association in eases in which the 
national scientific society has a qualifica- 
tion for membership equal to that of the 
qualification of the association for fellow- 
ship. The following societies are accepted 
as having such qualifications : 


January 6, 1905.] 


The American Society of Naturalists. 

The American Philosophical Society. 

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

The Association of American Anatomists. 

The Association of American Physicians. 

The Association of Pathologists and Bacteriolo- 
gists. 

The Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of 
America. 

The Botanical Society of America. 

The Geological Society of America. 

The American Mathematical Society. 

Active members of the American Ornithological 
Unicn. 

The American Philosophical Association. 

The American Physical Society. 

The American Physiological Society. 

The American Psychological Association. 

The American Society of Bacteriologists. 

The Society of Plant Morphology and Phys- 
iology. 

The American Zoological Society. 


The following resolution was referred to 
the committee on policy of the association : 


Resolved, that the year book of this association 
be hereafter sent bound to such members as may 
notify the permanent secretary of their desire to 
receive it in that form. Binding to be in cloth or 
boards, as the treasurer and secretary may think 
proper. 

Dr. W. H. Hale introduced the following 
resolution, which was adopted: 

Resolved, That the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science hereby extends its 
hearty congratulations and best wishes to Dr. 
Martin H. Boye, a founder of this association, 
and the only surviving founder of the parent 
association, that of American Geologists, after- 
wards called the American Association of Geolo- 
gists and Naturalists, which was founded in this 
city in 1840, Dr. Boye being present at that time, 
as well as at the founding of the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science in 1848. 


Professor C. M. Woodward introduced 
resolutions thanking the officers of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania and other institu- 
tions that had entertained the association 
and these were unanimously adopted. 

At the meeting of the general committee, 
Friday evening, it was decided to hold the 
next meeting in New Orleans, the work of 


SCIENCE. if 


the association to begin Friday, December 
29, 1905. Boston was recommended as 
the place of the mecting in 1906. 

The following officers were elected for 
the New Orleans Meeting. 


President—Professor CC. M. 
Louis, Mo. 


Woodward, St. 


Vice-Presidents: 
Section A-—Professor W. 
Washington, D. C. 
Section B—Professor Henry Crew, Evanston, 
Ill. 
Section C—Professor Chas. I*. Mabery, Cleve- 
land, Ohio. 


S. Eichelberger, 


Section D—Professor F,. W. McNair, Hough- 

ton, Mich. 

Section E 
dletown, Conn. 

Section F—Professor H. B. Ward, Lincoln, 
Neb. 

Secuion G—Dr. Erwin F. Smith, Washington, 
Di@. 

Section H—Dr. Geo, Grant McCurdy, New 
Haven, Conn. 

Section I—Professor 
Haven, Conn. 

Section K—Professor Wm. T. Sedgwick, Bos- 
ton, Mass. 

Permanent Secretary—Dr. L. O. Howard was 
elected for a period of five years beginning Au- 
gust, 1905. i 

General Secretary—Professor C. A. Waldo, La- 
fayette, Ind. 

Secretary of Council—Professor John F. Hay- 
ford, Washington, D. C. 

Secretary Section K—Dr. Wm. 
York City, N. Y. 


Professor 


Wm. North Rice, Mid- 


Irving Fischer, New 


J. Gies, New 


CuHarues S. Howe, 
General Secretary. 


LINES OF PROGRESS IN ENGINEERING.* 


THE, engineering army, like the myriads 
of well-trained, well-equipped and well- 
organized soldiers of the Mikado, stretches 
from high ground to high ground along an 
extended front, facing the hosts of conser- 
vatism who are entrenched behind moats 

* Address of the vice-president and chairman of 


Section D—Mechanical Science and Engineering, 
1904. 


8 SCIENCE. 


of difficulties, redoubts of prejudices, bat- 
teries of tradition and in citadels of igno- 
rance. Like the Japanese, the division com- 
manders, looking well to their supplies of 
ammuniticn (7. é@., correct theories) and 
their daily rations (7. e., materials of con- 
struction and shop practise), push forward 
now at one point and now at another, cap- 
turing hill after hill, now on the right, now 
on the left, and now in the center. The 
army of science never retreats; it forever 
forees back the frontiers of darkness, and 
solves problem after problem from the end- 
less list of secrets with which the store- 
houses of nature are filled. 

It is a glorious thing to belong to this 
engineering army, to rejoice in its triumphs 
and to share in its rewards. Its success is 
not accidental ; its triumphs are not matters 
of chance. Iingineering blood always tells. 
Just as we train our best soldiers and sail- 
ors at West Point and at Annapolis; and 
as our appliances at military and naval 
schools keep pace with the arts of war on 
land and sea; so our schools of engineering, 
if they are up-to-date institutions, keep 
pace in the theories they teach and in the 
laboratories they equip with the best en- 
Every advance at the 
front (to resume my simile) means an ad- 
vance of all supplies and in the enlisting 
and training of recruits. I am by profes- 
sion a recruiting officer, and I am engaged 
with my fellow officers in training and 


gineering practise. 


equipping men for the firmg lne and the 
front That the new material we 
send forward may be just what is wanted, 
we must have information as to the prog- 
ress making and the next points of attack. 
In short, our schools of engineering must 
know the lines of engineering progress. 

I am well aware that I shall not be able 
to touch upon many of the important mat- 
ters which my subject is sure to bring up, 
and I can not expect to take them in the 
order of their importance. Probably no 


rank. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 523. 


two of us would agree upon their relative 
importance ; one’s environment has so much 
to do with what lies just beyond his hori- 
zon; so I doubt not you will supplement 
my statement with most interesting and 
valuable suggestions. 


THE UTILIZATION OF WASTE ENERGY. 


While much has been done and much 
more is doing at waterfalls and river 
rapids, large and small, the work of saving 
the energy which now runs to waste has 
but. just begun. When the great water- 
falls are utilized the rapids will rémain. 
We are lost in wonder when we calculate 
the possibilities. Measure the volumes 
which rush over the ‘Sault St. Marie,’ as 
the waters of Lake Superior drop to the 
level of Lake Huron; and then again put 
your measuring rods into the vastly greater 
volumes which plunge and rush from Lake 
Erie to Lake Ontario; and still again 
through the rapids of the St. Lawrence to 
the sea level. At every vantage ground, 
the work of utilization has begun and na 
man now living will see that work stop. 
Turn next to smaller streams and mountain 
torrents—what fields open up to the hy- 
draulie and electric engineers! Mountain 
reservoirs will serve the triple purpose of 
preventing destructive floods, of saving the 
energy for useful work and of aiding irri- 
gation. At every count the doors open 
wide for the best of engineering enterprise 
and the best of engineers, hydraulic, me- 
chanie, electric, irrigation, and the echo of 
each department must be heard in the en- 
eineering lecture-room and laboratory. The 
electric transformer has made the transmis- 
sion of energy possible from mountain 
slopes to far cities, and has unlocked be- 
wildering amounts cf energy at thousands 
of points deemed hitherto inaccessible. No 
one ean see far into the future, but we ail 
easily see the dawn of a new era of energy 


saving. The streets of this city may y-t 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


be lighted by the energy which now runs to 
waste at Niagara. In St. Louis we look to 
the slopes and canyons of the Rockies for 
our supply of sweet, wholesome water—we 
may yet look to the same regions for the 
energy to drive our cars and run our mills. 


COMBUSTION ENGINES. 


The clumsy steam-engine, with its waste- 
ful furnace, its huge boiler and chimney, 
is doomed. It has done great work in 
producing available energy and in wasting 
still more. It has played a most important 
part in modern civilization, and it deserves 
well at our hands, but nothing ean stay 
the deeree of progress. Sentence will soon 
be pronounced, but the day of execution 
has not been set. I never expect to see 
the day when steam power plants will cease 
to exist, but my children will see such a 
day. 

Think for a moment of the present com- 
plicated, indirect method of procedure for 
converting the energy stored in coal into 
mechanical energy in a moving piston or 
a revolving shaft. Coal and air are fed 
into a furnace where combustion converts 
them into great volumes of a mixture of 
hot gases. The greater part of the heat 
and all the volume of these gases escape 
through the chimney; a small part of the 
heat only is drawn off by the steel shell 
and tubes of a boiler and transmitted to a 
body of water, which is thereby trans- 
formed into steam. The steady generation 
of steam against high pressure, added to 
its expansion as the pressure is reduced, 
enables it, when conducted to a cylinder, to 
drive a piston or revolve a shaft, thereby 
producing mechanicai power. The clumsi- 
ness of the operation is equalled only by its 
wastefulness, which varies from 88 per 
cent. to 95 per cent. 

The problem to-day is: What 1s the most 
direct and most economical road from coal 
to moving machinery? Engineers are at- 


SCIENCE. 


9 


tacking this problem on all sides, and at- 
tacking it suecessfully—gas-engines, and 
combustion-engines of various sorts bear 
witness. The future prime-mover will burn 
(not explode) its fuel in the working 
eylinder, and the piston will be driven, 
first by the products of combustion as their 
volume inereases, and secondly by their ex- 
pansion against a diminishing resistance. 
I predict great things of the Diesel motor. 
Originally it was designed to burn 
powdered coal mixed with hot compressed 
air; but erude petroleum was found to be 
preferable. So long as oi! flows abund- 
antly from wells, oil will generally be used, 
but powdered fuel, native or prepared, will 
doubtiess prevail ultimately. The economy 
and directness of the combustion motor 
can not be excelled, and when a few years 
of study and experiment have been applied 
to the work of simplifying the mechanism 
(it was a century from James Watt to a 
triple-expansion Corliss), we may expect 
it to come into general use for all great 
central power stations. 

The vitality of the steam-engine is due 
to-day to the mechanical perfection of its 
design. Its simplicity is marvelous. It 
is started and stopped with the greatest 
ease and it almost takes care of itself. The 
invention of the steam turbine has prob- 
ably given to the furnace and steam-boiler 
another lease of life. The wonderful 
adaptability of the turbine for electric gen- 
erators is something which was not an- 
ticipated. 

Will not some one design and construct 
a combustion engine which shall consume 
continuously oil and compressed air, thus 
maintaining a high pressure in a gas chest 
and driving a turbine with the products of 
the combustion used expansively as is now 
done with steam? The proposition is an 
attractive one, both for the lecture room 
and for the engineering laboratory. It is 
sufficient now to eall attention to its pos- 


10 : SCIENCE. 


sibility, and to indicate a point for study 
and progress. 

It will not be amiss for me to quote the 
figures given me by the engineer in charge 
of the Diesel engines which drove. the 
generators for power and light in the 
‘Tyrolean Alps’ at the late world’s fair in 
St. Louis. 

These engines, three in number, of 225 
horse power each, were the cbserved of 
many observing engineers during the seven 
months of the fair. The assistant engineer 
in charge kept daily records of the work 
done, and fuel used, and kindly gave me 
a sample of his reports. The details are 
extremely interesting. The work was 
measured at the switchboard, no allowance 
being made for loss of energy in the engine, 
air pump and generator. The total work 
of the three engines between noon and 
midnight was 2,768.5 K.W.H. This is 
equivalent to 3,711 H.P.H. 

Total fuel used (Indiana oil), 266 gals. 

Fuel per 100 K.W. hours, 9.58 gals. 

Fuel cost in car-tank lots, 3c. per gal. 

Cost per 100 K.W.H., $0.287. 

Cost of the day’s fuel, $7.98 or 2.15 mills per 
ishieniale 


Thus one cent paid for the fuel for one- 


horse power for four hours, forty minutes. 

The three engines worked under about 
two thirds of a full load and used three 
gallons of lubricating oil during the day. 

The above figures seem to me little less 
than remarkable. 

While still wasteful, as nature measures 
energy, these engines are several times as 
efficient as the better styles of ordinary 
steam-engines. Doubtless they lack sim- 
pheity and the certainty of action which 
comes from experience and close study; 
but I can not help feeling that the road 
to the future ‘prime mover’ runs hard by 
the construction shops of an internal-com- 
engine. Let studerts and pro- 
fessors take warning. 


bustion 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 523. 


ARTIFICIAL CENTERS OF POWER. 


One of the most important openings for 
future engineering enterprises is the estab- 
lishment of large power centers, not only 
where water power is available, but where 
iuel is abundant as well. 

Take, for example, the vast coal mines 
in the vicinity of the city of Philadelphia 
and those in the vicinity of St. Louis. In 
each case the puwer for industrial estab- 
lishments and all kinds of moving ma- 
chinery, large and small, in use in the 
city, including the street cars and the 
rolling stock on all roads, can well be 
furnished by electrical currents from large 
gcnerating establishments near the mines. 
Add to the above the establishment of gas 
works sufficiently large to furnish all the 
gas needed for illumination, for gas-en- 
gines, for heating and cooking purposes in 
a great city. In the ease of St. Louis those 
gas works should be near the extensive 
coal mines of Belleville and other coal- 
producing regions only a few miles from 
the eity. 

The effect of these two great steps for- 
ward upon the physical and sociological 
characteristics of a city can hardly be over- 
estimated. The ultimate economy and con- 
venience of such installations are enough to 
justify them. We have yet to learn how 
cheaply fuel gas and electric currents can 
be furnished to large concentrated groups 
of consumers. But omitting all questions 
of mere financial economy, what a saving in 
health, beauty and enjoyment! The Lon- 
don fogs which we hear so much about are 
produced largely by London smoke, and the 
prevention of smoke will to a very great 
extent be the prevention of the fog. _I look 
forward to the day when, instead of a small 
voleano of smoke from a brick crater above 
every house, St. Louis will have all its 
heating and cooking done by gas, and all 
power will be furnished by electric cur- 
rents, or by gas and combustion-engines, 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


both gas and electricity coming from the 
gas works and power plants at the mouths 
of the coal mines in Illinois. What an era 
of cleanliness and comfort this presages! 
This era of cleanliness will be brought 
about by the engineers. Hence engineer- 
ing education must see to it that engineer- 
ing students are prepared for their high 
mission. The proposed ‘Million Club’ of 
St. Louis bears no comparison with a pos- 
sible ‘Clear Sky Club.’ The former pro- 
poses to seduce 250,000 non-resident smoke- 
makers imto joining the 750,000 smoke- 
makers already resident in St. Louis, there- 
by making smoke enough to shut out the 
sun entirely (they almost did it during a 
whole week last November). The ‘Clear- 
Sky Club,’ on the other hand, will propose 
to eliminate all smokers by sending coal- 
burning power plants to the mines, thereby 
leaving the city so clean and beautiful that 
250,000 lovers of pure air, clear skies and 
godliness will seek homes among us of their 
own accord. The elimination of smoke, 
soot and ashes will make St. Louis abso- 
lutely bright and clean, and similar im- 
provements here would go far towards pro- 
ducing the same beneficial results in the 
city of Philadelphia. Already our cities 
have, or are making arrangements for, an 
abundant supply of pure water. This has 
been and still is a great branch of engineer- 
ing, and it deserves an important place in 
our schools of engineering. We must next 
provide pure air and a clear sky. 

These steps forward involve no very 
ereat addition to our engineering knowl- 
edge, but they give opportunity for engi- 
neering enterprises, and they show most 
clearly how essential cooperation is in such 
work. Large power plants and extensive 
gas works require much private capital, 
unless we fly to the extreme of public 
ownership. The economic construction of 
large power plants and gas plants; the lay- 
ing of pipe lines and an unprecedented 


SCIENCE. i 


amount of electric cables, all or nearly all 

underground, constitute a great field and 

furnish great engineering opportunity. 
TH PURIFICATION OF RIVERS. 

We have nearly reached the limit in 
river pollution. The public welfare will 
soon make an imperative demand for a 
halt. <A great city like Chicago shall no 
longer load with poison a little stream like 
the Illinois, nor foully pollute a great river 
like the Mississippi. Let me frankly ad- 
mit that even the city of St. Louis shal] 
not forever dump and pour its refuse into 
the Mississippi River. 

When the national government takes up 
the funetion of guarding every stream 
from poliution (and no state government 
ean deal effectively with the problem) we 
shall have a great extension of the sphere 
of sanitary engineering. The recent dis- 
coveries by Dr. George T. Moore, of the 
Department of Agriculture, suggest the 
possibility of purifying a polluted stream 
so as to make it not only clear and sweet, 
but absolutely free from alge and all harm- 
ful bacilli. The proper disposition of 
house drainage and the refuse of factories 
is already a live engineering problem in 
Europe, and American engineers must no 
longer neglect it. The study of diseases 
and their prevention is forcing its way 
into engineering schools, as preliminary to 
extensive engineering practise. Whatever 
form the solution of the problem may take, 
it will involve both chemical and hydraulic 
engineering, and the fundamental prin- 
ciples of both must be carefully laid in our 
schools. 

TUBULAR CONSTRUCTIONS. 

In the near future we are likely to make 
great progress in the construction of rolling 
stock and moving machinery, as well as in 
the construction of bridges and buildings. 

The adoption of electricity by railroads 
for all kinds of traffic will result, in the 
first place, in the disappearance of the 


© 


12 


heavy locomotive. So long as the loco- 
motive was needed to pull a long train of 
cars, great weight was necessary, and the 
weight of railway engines and the strength 
of bridges have been increasing at a rapid 
rate. We saw a locomotive at the recent 
fair at St. Louis weighing over 200 tons. 
It was a monster, indeed. Should such 
locomotives become common, every bridge 
in the country would have to be rebuilt. 
But when each car, whether for pas- 
sengers or for freight, has its own motor 
and drives itself, the heavy locomotive is 
no longer needed. Moreover, the car itself 
should be made as light as possible con- 
sistent with strength. Weight is of no 
advantage to a self-driven car. The 
bieyele has taught us a great lesson in the 
art of construction. A maximum of 
streneth and stiffness with a minimum of 
weight. This already prevails in girders 
and bridge constructions. The same prin- 
ciples should be applied to all rolling stock 
and moving machinery. Tubular axles, 
tubular spokes, tubular fellies, tubular 
shafts, tubular everything is to be the law 
of future construction. All the great 
steam-engines and propellers already have 
hollow shafts, and I predict an enormous 
inerease in the amount and precision of 
hollow steel tubing manufactured and used 
in the next ten years. The mechanical and 
material advantage of tubular shafting is 
easily stated. Thus: (1) If a solid 
eylindrical shaft be compared with a 
hollow shaft of the same weight per foot 
of length, but whose exterior diameter is 
times as great, the strength of the hollow 
shaft in torsion is 2n — 1/n times as great 
as that of the solid shaft. (2) If only 
equal strength is required, the solid shaft 
having one nth of the diameter of the tube, 
will weigh 2n — 1/n? times as much. For 
a numerical example: (a) A thin tubular 
shaft four inches in diameter is seven and 
three fourth times as strong as.a solid shaft 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XX7. No. 523. 


one inch in diameter which weighs the 
same per linear foot. 

(b) A solid shaft weighs seven and 
thirty-one thirty-seconds (call it eight) 
times as much as a tubular shaft of equal 
strength and four times its diameter. 

The ratio of stiffness of the tube to that 
of the solid shaft is even greater. 

At the recent St. Louis fair a prize of 
$2,500 was offered for the lightest motor 
per horse power. Motors up to 100 horse 
power were eligible. The prize was not 
awarded, for the reason that inventors and 
constructors of motors were not prepared 
to submit their apparatus to the rigid tests 
required for efficiency and durability; but 
the offer was made with distinct intention 
of stimulating the construction of motors 
which should be suitable for vehicles where 
lightness combined with great strength is 
a desideratum, such as in automobiles and 
air-ships. 


STEEL AND CONCRETE AND CEMENT. 


I scarcely need call your attention to 
the important part which steel-concrete 
constructions are destined to play in fu- 
ture structures. Originally all important 
bridges, walls and dams were built of 
stone, and masonry flourished as a fine art. 
Arches, groined and cloistered, segmental 
and gothic, elliptic and parabola, combined 
to make cathedrals and chapels beautiful, 
and bridges stately and strong as well as 
durable. Then came the era of iron and 
steel, and stone bridges were built no more. 
Steel trusses, posts and girders took the 
place of stone walls and granite arches. 
We are now going back to masonry walls 
and to masonry bridges, but the masonry 
is no longer granite; it is concrete reen- 
forced by steel. Evidently the opening for 
engineering theory and engineering enter- 
prise is most extensive. The new material 
is not subject to corrosion, so it will not be 
eaten up by rust. It is inecombustible, and 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


is not easily melted or weakened by heat, 
and above all it is inexpensive and easily 
handled. The field is a great one, and 
both the theory and the practise of steel 
and concrete combinations enter, or should 
enter, into the curriculum of every student 
of civil engineering and architecture. In 
the Austrian building at the recent fair in 
St. Louis there was a model of the centering 
of an arch, evidently steel-conerete, of 80 
meters span (262 feet). You will remem- 
ber that the beautiful and imposing ‘Cabin 
John Bridge,’ built of granite, in Wash- 
ington, D. C., the greatest stone arch in 
the United States, has a span of 220 feet. 

The recent enormous increase in the 
manufacture of Portland cement is an indi- 
eation of the coming demand. It has taken 
thousands, perhaps millions, of years in the 
laboratory of nature, to produce the masses 
of granite and the layers of marble and 
limestone; the engineer and the chemist, 
working together, produce from the abun- 
dant supplies of material near at hand an 
artificial masonry in a few hours. Of its 
streneth and durability the engineering 
laboratory and a brief experience tell us 
much. The verdict of a thousand years is 
still to be rendered, but here again the hand 
of promise points our way. 


AERIAL NAVIGATION. 

Above I casually mentioned air ships. 
You must bear with me while I say several 
things about aerial navigation. 

We have been accustomed to regard the 
problem of practically navigating the air 
as one which could not be solved, or, at 
any rate, as a sort of fad hardly deserving 
of mention in connection with engineering. 
It will be remembered that the late eminent 
engineer, Professor J. B. Johnson, would 
not admit that aerial navigation was a pos- 
sibility. He classed it with the problem of 
perpetual motion. But a careful examina- 
tion of all the conditions seems to me to 


SCIENCE. 13 


point towards the possibility of progress, 
and all that we can at present claim for 
many desirable improvements is that they 
admit of progress. We can not with any 
confidence predict the rate of progress. 
Some of the things I have already pointed 
out bear directly upon the problem of aerial 
navigation ; two in particular: The use of 
tubular constructions for the maximum of 
streneth and the minimum of weight; and 
the construction of motors which are strong 
and light; but many problems must be 
solved before we can really navigate the air. 

It was my privilege to be connected with 
the discussion of aerial matters at the late 
fair in St. Louis. Without my knowledge 
I was selected as the president of the aero- 
nautiec congress, in which the problems of 
aeronauties were carefully discussed. That 
congress had no functions whatever in re- 
gard to aerial exhibits, or attempts to ex- 
hibit air ships, at the world’s fair. The 
latter feature of the fair I regret to say 
was a deplorable failure. The greater part 
of the failure was inevitable, since aerial 
experimentation is expensive and difficult, 
and it has very rarely been undertaken by 
scientific people. What has been any- 
where in that direction has been for the 
most part crude, ill-advised and unscien- 
tific, and failures have generally attended 
any attempts to actually navigate the air. 
Of course there are exceptions in the char- 
acter of the investigations made. I could 
mention four Americans who are approach- 
ing the problem carefully and on scientific 
lines. Some of their investigations and 
experiments are full of promise for the 
future of aerial navigation. 

So far as the failure of the spectacular 
part of aeronautics at the fair was con- 
cerned, that failure was due very largely 
to the vandalism of some erazy crank or 
rival, who eruelly mutilated the air ship 
brought over by Santos Dumont at great 
expense, to be used during the summer in 


14 SCIENCE. 


St. Louis; and especially was the failure 
due to the most unfortunate and unwar- 
ranted charge which a police officer made 
in response to a eall for a report in regard 
to the mutilation of ‘Santos-Dumont No. 7.’ 
Being unable to get any clue to the guilty 
wretch (who had plenty of time to slip in 
and slash the gathered silk in hundreds of 
places while the guard sipped his coffee 
in a booth a few hundred yards away), 
and feeling doubtless that he must give 
some explanation, he actually stated that 
in his opinion the injury was inflicted 
either by Santos-Dumont himself or by 
some one of his men. No more injurious, 
unwarranted or insensate charge could 
have been made, and no person who was in 
any way acquainted with Santos Dumont 
could have made it; and yet that charge 
became current in the newspapers and was 
half believed by a great many very re- 
spectable people far and wide. Doubtless 
the curreney of that charge did much to 
discourage and repel Santos Dumont from 
our shores. That he should have received 


such treatment in America was surprising _ 


and greatly to be regretted. It went far 
to give us a bad reputation in, European 
circles. We are eredited with hostility 
towards European inventors and experi- 
menters. I trust Mr. Santos Dumont may 
eventually learn that Americans as a rule 
are fair-minded, generous and friendly 
towards all experimenters in every field. 
I trust he may learn that not one, so far 
as I know, of the gentlemen who were asso- 
ciated with him during his two visits to 
St. Louis sympathizes in any way, or to 
any extent, with the insinuations thrown 
out against him by the officer above re- 
ferred to. 

From this digression I now turn to the 
subject in hand, namely, the possibility of 
progress in the art of aerial navigation. 
Regarding progress in aerial navigation as 
entirely possible, I notice that it depends 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 523. 


upon the solution of many problems, and 
no successful air-ship can reasonably be 
expected to appear until these problems are 
solved. 

There are two lines of attack, which, 
while differing in one respect, have very 
much in common. Investigators are nat- 
urally divided into two classes: One seek- 
ing to devise methods for navigating the 
air as birds do, which gain support and 
propulsion solely from mechanical and 
muscular energy; and the other relying 
for support, more or less, upon the buoy- 
aney of hydrogen gas, while securing pro- 
pulsion by means of propellers. All are 
clearly interested in motors, whether the 
air-ship moves with or without the sup- 
port of a bag of hydrogen. All are con- 
cerned with methods of management, and 
with the adoption of means for directing 
the movements of an air ship through the 
air. 

If a gas bag is to be used, it is evident 
that the shape of the bag which involves 
the least amount of resistance is of first 
importance, and if that bag is to be a 
diminishing quantity, the ship must secure 
support from the use of aeroplanes or 
eurved surfaces as the craft is driven 
rapidly forward. It is evident that the 
character of supporting surfaces and their 
distribution are matters of first importance 
in all eases. The number of preliminary 
lemmas which must be solved before the 
main proposition is reached is readily seen. 
The recent aeronautical congress concerned 
itself wholly with discussions and reports 
of experiments upon these preliminary 
matters, and I ean truthfully say that ex- 
cellent work was done. 

I spoke of the gas bag as being a di- 
minishing quantity. I wish to add a few 
words to make my meaning clear. When 
it was first proposed to propel an ocean 
ship by means of mechanical power, it was 
assumed as a matter of course that the 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


ship itself could float upon the water, and 
that mechanism was to be employed solely 
for the purpose of driving it forward and 
for steering it. In aerial navigation the 
ease is different. The ship is not only to 
be driven forward, but it must be sup- 
ported. The analogous case, therefore, is 
not that of an ocean ship, but of a heavy 
swimmer who must both support and drive 
himself forward. Swimming does not 
come to boy or girl by nature, and the skill- 
ful teacher furnishes a temporary support 
while the learner masters the art of using 
his hands, feet and legs correctly. Ac- 
cordingly, he applies either a buoyant bag 
of air between the boy’s shoulders, or the 
gentle lift of a string attached to a pole, 
and thus supports the learner while he 
masters the mechanical details of swim- 
ming. This exterior lift or support is a 
diminishing quantity as the pupil pro- 
eresses, and when correct motions are 
learned and become automatic, the pupil 
swims and external aid is no longer neces- 
sary. 

Similarly, as it seems to me, aerial navi- 
eation is to be accomplished. At first the 
eraft may very properly be’supported by 
a bag of hydrogen. Something must hold 
the structure which is to carry motor, pro- 
pellers, fuel, ballast, steering apparatus, 
aero-planes, ete., above the ground, in com- 
paratively still air, while tests can be made 
and skill in management can be acquired. 
Infinite patience, plenty of money and 
first-class engineering culture and skill will 
be required. The various elements must be 
studied one at a time, while a friendly gas 
bag holds the experimenter aloft. When 
an engineer can build a durable and well- 
portioned motor and system of propellers, 
which shall be as strong as twenty horses 
and only as heavy as twenty geese; and 
when he can drive his supporting bag of 
hydrogen through the air at the rate of 
twenty or thirty miles per hour, he can re- 


SCIENCE. 15 


duce the size of his bag and get support 
from aeroplanes and curved surfaces, and 
learn to manage them. ‘The smaller the 
gas bag, the less the resistance of the air; 
consequently a greater velocity; conse- 
quently a greater lift of the aero-surfaces ; 
and again a less demand upon the hydrogen 
—and so on, to final victory. American 
skill, ingenuity and experience will tri- 
umph provided that experience is cumula- 
tive. Men must learn from twenty failures 
how to sueceed the twenty-first time in one 
thing. As I said: Patience, money and 
time are necessary. I wish Andrew Car- 
negie, or some other ‘captain of industry’ 
who is in danger of dying rich, would es- 
tablish and endow an ‘aeronautical experi- 
ment station and laboratory,’ and then 
place it in charge of a physicist hke Pro- 
fessor Zahm, and an accomplished mechan- 
ical engineer ike Mr. Blank. In ten years 
such men, under such conditions, would go 
far towards a solution of the problem of 
aerial navigation. 


FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. 


Some one proposed to teach a nation 
patriotism by writing popular songs for its 
schools. There was a world of wisdom in 
the suggestion, for the foundations of char- 
acier and the guiding principles of hfe 
are generally laid at school. That is why 
the great teacher is such a power in the 
world. 

Is it not so in engineering? Are not a 
few fundamental propositions of mechanics 
what one must fall back upon when a new 
problem is encountered? And does not the 
probability of one’s seeing new problems 
and of solving them depend very largely 
upon one’s absolute mastery of those few 
fundamental propositions? If you agree 
with me and answer these questions in the 
affirmative, then it follows, in our opinion 
at least, that the lines of progress in engi- 
neering will depend largely upon the com- 


16 SCIENCE. 


plete equipment of our schools and the 
thoroughness with which the basic doctrines 
are instilled into the life blood of the stu- 
dents. It is said of Benjamin Franklin 
that he could not take a walk nor go on a 
journey without seeing all about him un- 
solved problems and new illustrations of 
universal laws; and with Franklin to see a 
problem was almost the same as to solve it. 


MANUAL TRAINING. 


I ean not close this rambling address 
without referring to a recent improvement 
in secondary edueation which is likely to 
affect favorably engineering education, and 
through that education promote the future 
of engineering itself. I refer to the intro- 
duetion into high schools and academies of 
the study of tools, materials and the me- 
At the age of fifteen 
the expanding boy feels the thrill of in- 
creasing strength, and a natural hunger 
and thirst for contact with material things. 
The instinct to handle things, to do things, 
requires guidance or it becomes belligerent 
and destructive. The material universe is 
to be solved by every one for himself; if in 
no better way, it will be by pulling things 
to pieces to see how they are put together ; 
by breaking things to see how strong they 
are; and by making new things if he only 
know how. 


chanical processes. 


Then and there are the time and place for 
manual training; not for a trade or a pro- 
fession, nor even for fun and pleasure; but 
for culture and a conscious mastery of tools 
and materials, and of the arts of construe- 
tion. During the secondary stage of educa- 
tion the student should find himself and 
get an intelligent insight into the world of 
Both in- 
born aptitude and external opportunity 
The 
new educational feature goes far to develop 
The 


fruit of well-organized and logieal manual 


mind and matter around him. 
should justify the coming engineer. 


the ene and to discover the other. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 523. 


training is clear thinking, strong, vivid 
eoneepts, a world of knowledge gained first- 
hand, a power and habit of mental analysis 
of concrete problems—all of which ad- 
mirably prepare the boy to take up, as a 
man, the study and practise of engineering. 
We have all seen something of this rich 
fruit, and have tested its value. In my 
judgment, it bodes well for engineering. 
Like Franklin, these young men (and they 
are swarming through our manual training 
schools and knocking in increasing numbers 
at the doors of our technical schools and 
colleges) will see things, and solve things, 
and make things move. The promise of the 
future is glorious; splendid is the era now 
dawning; fortunate in their opportunity 
are the young engineers with clear heads 
and skilled hands who are coming to the 
front; and happy are we who, to the best 
of our ability, are helping on the higher 
civilization which good engineering makes 
possible. Catvin Minton Woopwarp. 


PROBLEMS IN HUMAN ANATOMY.* 


For the solution of the problems pre- 
sented to him, the anatomist is by no 
means limited in his technique to the 
scalpel or the microscope, but justly claims 
the right to use every aid to research which 
other departments of science are able to 
furnish. His position, therefore, in the 
seientifie field is determined by the stand- 
point which he oceupies and from which 
he regards animal structures, rather than 
by any special means and methods em- 
ployed for their study. 

By common consent, anatomical material 
includes not only structures which may be 
easily dissected and studied with the un- 
aided eye, but also those which tax the best 


* Address prepared for the Section of Human 
Anatomy at the International Congress of Arts 
and Science, at St. Louis. Owing to the unavoid- 
able absence of the writer, this address was not 
delivered. 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


powers of the microscope for their solution. 
But even within such wide limits the ma- 
terial that ordinarily comes to hand leaves 
much to be desired, and in elucidating this 
or that feature in the structures under ex- 
amination, it is often found necessary to 
modify the physiological conditions under 
which these structures have been working, 
in the hopes that their appearance may be 
altered thereby, and so be more readily 
understood. 

Taken in a broad way, this is the reason 
why the data of pathology and experi- 
mental morphology are so important for 
the development of anatomical thought, 
helping as they do in the solution of the 
problems connected with the finer struc- 
ture of the animal body, just as émbryol- 
ogy and teratology illuminate the gross 
morphological relations in the adult. 

I am quite aware that in making the 
foregoing statements I have suggested more 
modes of investigation than are at present 
used in connection with man. But the 
anatomy of the human body in adult. life 
forms in itself so limited a field that no 
investigator can possibly confine himself 
to this portion alone, and there is every 
reason for here treating the subject in the 
larger way. As we see from the history 
of human anatomy, it was brought into 
the medical curriculum in response to the 
demands both of physiology and surgery, 
but gradually became most closely associ- 
ated with the latter. For a long time its 
relative significance as a medical discipline 
was very great, because it represented the 
only real laboratory work which appeared 
in the training of the medical student. 
Indeed, a generation ago the exactness of 
anatomical methods was so lauded in com- 
parison with the methods then commonly 
used in medicine, that anatomists came to 
seoff at the vagueness of their colleagues, 
while to-day, if we may be persuaded by 
some of our physiological friends, they 


SCIENCE. De 


have remained only to prey on the time 
of students who might be better employed. 
Although such a thrust may be readily 
parried, it is, nevertheless, necessary to 
admit that times are changed, and that as 
a laboratory exercise human anatomy is to- 
day outranked by several of the subjects 
in which the laboratory work permits a 
more precise formulation of problems and 
their more rapid and definite solution. 
However, it still retains, rightly enough, 
much of its former eminence. 

Among the problems in human anatomy, 
there is, perhaps, none more important 
than the way in which it is to be presented 
to the five young gentlemen ranged around 
a subject in the somewhat trying atmos- 
phere of the dissecting room. Just what 
they may be expected to learn from such 
an experience would require some time to 
state. Certain it is that these beginning 
anatomists are almost all of them intend- 
ing to become physicians, and some of 
them to become surgeons, and to this end 
they are building up a picture of the hu- 
man body which will be useful to them in 
their profession. They are doing this by 
the aid of the best pedagogical means at 
their command, namely, the reinforcement 
of the ocular impressions by the contact 
and muscular sensations that come from 
the actual performance of the dissection 
itself. If previously they have had some 
experience in the dissection of the lower 
mammals, they will note at once the differ- 
ences shown in the ease of man, and if 
their embryology is at their command, it . 
will be easy for. them on suggestion or on 
their own initiative to appreciate how some 
of the peculiar relations between parts of 
the human body have been developed. 
Beyond this the information obtained is 
of the same order as that of the vocabulary 
of a language. The student gets a certain 


~ number of diserete pictures of the different 


parts of the body more or less clearly im- 


1S SCIENCE. 


pressed upon his mind, and when he has 
occasion later to deal with these same parts, 
he has the advantage of finding himself in 
the presence of familiar structures. How 
far in this first experience the special 
groups of facts which are sometimes set 
apart under the head of surgical anatomy 
should be introduced, is a more or less 
open question. The present weight of 
opinion demands that they should still be 
kept by themselves. Nevertheless, while 
the anatomical experience of the average 
medical student should rest on a broad 
scientific background, he should at the 
same time have a distinet appreciation of 
the eminently practical value of the in- 
formation he is expected to acquire. 

The question at once arises how the 
monotony of long-continued dissection ean 
be relieved, and the student maintained in 
a condition of sufficient receptivity to make 
the work really worth while; for the aequi- 
sition of vocabularies has never been count- 
ed as one of the greater pleasures of life. 
There are several legitimate devices. In 
the first place, if it is possible for the stu- 
dent to have near at hand a microscope 
which may now and then be used for the 
examination of the different tissues as they 
appear in the cadaver. This cross refer- 
ence between the gross and microscopic 
appearance will serve to bring into close 
connection with one another two classes of 
facts which are often separated to their 
disadvantage, and to revive the histological 
pictures which should be incorporated in 
gross structures, but which in most eases 
remain forever apart from them. On the 
other hand, a search for anomalies or varia- 
tions serves to give both a reality and 
purposefulness to the work and to make a 
student feel that in return for the large 
amount of time necessarily required for 
his anatomical training, he is, in some small 
measure at least, contributing to the sci- 


ence. It is unavoidable, this expenditure 


[N.S. Vou. X XI. No. 523. 


of time, and absolutely necessary, that the 
student should do these things with his 
own hands in order to obtain the three- 
dimensional impression of the structure 
with which he deals. 

In this connection just a word as to the 
way in which the beginner may be aided 
in the comprehension of his work. The 
excellent diagrams and pictures which are 
now used to illustrate the best anatomical 
text-books carry us as far as that’ means 
of assistance can probably go. Pedagog- 
ical experience points strongly, however, to 
the superior value of the three-dimensional 
model, and although such models are more 
difficult to collect, harder to care for, and 
require more space and caution in their 
use, they are so far superior to any other 
device, except an illustrative dissection it- 
self, that the collection of them in connec- 
tion with anatomical work becomes a moral 
obligation. 

If we turn now to the wider uses which 
may be made of anatomical material as it 
usually appears in the dissecting room, we 
find that a number of directors of labora- 
tories have been utilizing this material for 
the accumulation of data in such a form 
that it may be later treated by statistical 
methods. Thus they have weighed and 
measured in different ways various parts 
of the cadaver, and in some eases de- 
termined the correlations between the or- 
vans or parts examined. It ean not be 
too strongly emphasized that the results 
thus obtained are to be used only with the 
full appreciation of the fact that the ma- 
terial ordinarily available for examination 
in the dissecting room belongs in all coun- 
tries to a social-group which contains the 
highest percentage of poorly developed and 
atypical individuals. The conclusions, 
therefore, that can be drawn from the in- 
vestigations of this material must always 
be weighted by its peculiar nature. To 
illustrate what is here meant by the pe- 


JANuARY 6, 1905.] 


culiar character of this material, we may 
take as an instance the bearing of the re- 
sults obtained from material of this sort 
on the problem of the brain weight in the 
community at large. It must be admitted 
that the figures which we have at our com- 
mand for this measurement are, with the 
exception of one short list, derived from 
the study of individuals belonging to the 
least fortunate class in the community, and 
it is not fair, therefore, to carry over these 
data and apply them directly to the av- 
erage citizen who is of the normal type and 
moderately successful in the general strug- 
ele for existence. From what has been 
said, it is plain that much of the work now 
being carried on in the dissecting room 
comes very close to the lines which have 
been followed for years by the physical 
anthropologists, yet because these have for 
the most part concerned themselves with 
the study of the skeleton, have limited their 
comparisons to the various races of men 
and have developed no interest in surgery, 
they have for a long time stood apart, 
and only recently joined forces with 
the professional anatomists. This step 
has certainly been to the advantage of 
anatomy, and as one result of it, ana- 
tomical material not previously utilized 
will now be treated by statistical methods. 
But all the work to which reference has 
here been made is on the body after death. 
So manifest are the disadvantages arising 
from the conditions which are thus im- 
posed, that the necessity is felt on all sides 
of extending our observation as far as pos- 
sible to the living individual. As an 
example of such an extension, we have 
the determination of the cranial capacity 
and brain weight in the living subject 
which has resulted from the labor of Karl 
Pearson and his collaborators.* The meth- 
ods which have been employed for this 


* Pearson and collaborators, Phil. Trans. Roy. 
Soc., 1901. 


SCIENCE. 19 


purpose are capable of giving as accurate 
results as are ordinarily obtained from 
post-mortem examinations, and, moreover, 
have the advantage of being applicable at 
any time to any group in the community 
which it is desired to investigate. 

To redetermine, as far as possible, from 
studies, on the living, all the relations 
which have been made out, post-mortem 
becomes a very immediate and important 
line of work. 

But even under the general limitations 
which apply to the dissecting room ma- 
terial, it is desirable to refine our knowl- 
edge of the human body by classifying 
the subjects according to race, and thereby 
bringing into relief the slight anatomical 
differences that exist between the well- 
marked races of Europe and the races of 
other parts of the world. The history of 
anatomical differences due to sex lacks 
several chapters, and it is possible also to 
show the modifications of structure which 
come from the lifelong pursuit of certain 
handicrafts which eall for peculiar posi- 
tions of the body or for the unusual exer- 
cise of certain muscles; as, for example, 
the anatomy of a shoemaker.* 

Such results as the one last mentioned 
have a direct bearing on the modifications 
of the human form which may be intro- 
duced by peculiarities of daily life and 
work, and bring anatomy into connection 
with the problems of sociology; while, on 
the other hand, both lines of work are con- 
tributory to the broader questions of 
zoological relationship and_ susceptibility 
to modification. 

Yet when we have gained all the informa- 
tion which the scalpel can give, there still 
remains the whole field of finer anatomy, 
the extent of which it is so difficult to ap- 
preciate. 

While recognizing that the human body 


*Lane, W. A., Journ. of Anatomy and Physiol- 
ogy, Vols. XXI. and XXII., 1887 and 1888. 


20 SCIENCE. 


may be regarded as a composite, formed 
by the fitting together of the series of sys- 
tems, and while in some instances we have 


more or less accurate notion of the way 


such a system appears—as, for instance, in 
the case of the skeleton—yet a much better 
understanding of the relation of the soft 
parts would follow an attempt to extend 
this method of presentation, and to con- 
struct phantoms of the body in the terms 
of its several systems in some way which 
would show us the system in question as 
an opaque structure in a body otherwise 
transparent. This is, of course, the final 
aim of the various corrosion methods, or 
those which depend on injection or differ- 
ential coloration of structures which may 
be viewed in three dimensions. 

When the vascular, lymphatic, nervous 
and glandular systems can be thus ex- 
hibited for the entire body, or for the 
larger divisions of it, it will be possible to 
see the human form transparently, and to 
see it whole; a feat difficult to accomplish, 
but worthy of earnest endeavor. The de- 
velopment of such phantoms should serve 
to make more impressive the familiar fact 
that in many organs and systems the total 
structure is built up by a more or less 
simple repetition of unit complexes, as, for 
example, the liver by the hepatic lobule, 
the bones by Haversian systems, and the 
spinal cord by the neural segments. 

If we pass now from the consideration 
of the systems of tissues to that of their 
structural elements, we enter the domain 
of histology and cytology. Starting with 
the differentiation of the tissues by means 
of empirical staining methods, investiga- 
tors have gradually come to appreciate the 
chemical processes which underlie the vari- 
ous color reactions, and as we know now, 
there already exist methods for determin- 
ing in the tissues several of the chemical 
elements, such as iron, phosphorus, ete., to 
say nothing of the more or less satisfactory 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 523. 


identification of complex organic bodies 
by means of definite reactions. This be- 
ing the case, it is possible to imagine repre- 
sentations of the body built up on the 
basis of these micro-chemical reactions, 
representations which would show it in the 
terms of iron or in the terms of phos- 
phorus, thus yielding us an image which 
might be compared with that obtained by 
aid of the spectroscope when the picture 
of the object is taken by means of one out 
of the several wave-lengths of light which 
come from it. 

The contemplation of the multitudinous 
opportunities for investigation and com- 
parison which appear within this field, 
lead us to pause and inquire what is prop- 
erly the purpose of all this anatomical 
work; for without a strong guiding idea 
we are liable to repeat the errors of earlier 
generations, and merely accumulate ob- 
servations, the bearing of which is so re- 
mote from the actual course of scientific 
progress that the investigations are mainly 
useful as a mental exercise for the individ- 
uals who conduct them. Anatomical results 
begin to have a real meaning only when 
correlated with physiology, and when we 
learn that a tissue with a certain structure 
is capable of performing given functions, 
we feel that we are really bringing our 
anatomy into touch with the life processes. 
It is to aid in the accomplishment of this 
end that men devote their lives to anatom- 
ical work. With the variation that we 
find everywhere in organic structures, it 
should be and is possible to discover by 
comparison what variations in the strue- 
ture of a tissue or a cell are accompanied 
by the best physiological responses. It 
is along this line that we must necessarily 
work in order to reach human life either 
through medical practise or through other 
avenues of approach, for in the end the 
object and purpose of all science is to 
ameliorate the unfavorable conditions 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


which surround man, and in turn to pro- 
duce a human individual more capable of 
resistance to disturbing influences, and 
better suited for the enjoyment of the 
world in which he lives. 

Considering anatomical work with this 
thought in mind, the problems which it 
presents can be grouped according to their 
relative value and importance. The ap- 
proach may be made from two sides. On 
the one hand it is, for example, extremely 
worth while to direct years of labor to the 
determination of the finer structure of 
living substance, because the more closely 
we approximate to a correct view of that 
structure, the more readily will our anat- 
omy and physiology run together, and the 
clearer will be the conception of the sort 
of structure which it will be most desirable 
to increase for the attainment of our final 
purpose. On the other hand, if we follow 
the path from the grosser to the finer 
anatomy, we are led to inquire whether 
there is any one part or system of the 
human body which at the present moment 
is specially worthy of attention. When 
we say that the nervous system is such a 
part, I think that even those who are not 
engaged in the study of it will admit that 
there are some grounds for the statement. 
The peculiar feature which sets the nervous 
system apart is the fact that its enlarge- 
ment, both in the animal series and during 
the development of the individual, is in a 
very special way accompanied by changes 
in its physiological and psychological re- 
actions. To be sure, we think of it as built 
up fundamentally by the union of a series 
of segments, but the relationship estab- 
lished between these segments becomes 
ultimately so much more important than 
the constituent units that in the end we 
find ourselves working with a single system 
of enormous complexity rather than a 
series of diserete units, a state of affairs 
which is not paralleled in any other tissue. 


SCIENCE. 21 


In addition to this, the nervous system as 
a whole is par excellence the master sys- 
tem of the body, and as such, the reactions 
of the organism are very largely an expres- 
sion of its complexity. Indeed, within 
the different classes of vertebrates, the 
various species may be regarded as com- 
pound bodies composed of four funda- 
mental tissues and a species could well be 
defined by the quantitative relations found 
to exist between the nervous, muscular, con- 
nective and epithelial constituents. Work- 
ing from this standpoint, Dubois,* the 
Dutch anatomist, stimulated by the work 
of Snell,t has brought forward evidence 
for the view that when, within the same 
order, several species of mammals similar 
in form, but differing in size, are compared 
with one another, the weight of the brain 
is found to be closely correlated with the 
extension of the body surface, and by in- 
ference with the developmént of the affer- 
ent system of neurones. This view would 
seem to imply that in these eases there is 
the same density of innervation of each 
unit-area of skin; but the correctness of 
this inference can only be determined by 
the careful numerical study of the afferent 
system of the animals compared. It will 
appear, however, that under the conditions 
imposed, the relative weight of the brain 
depends upon the faet that each unit-area 
of skin, represented by the nerves which 
supply it, calls for a correlated addition of 
elements to the central system, and thus 
the increase in one part is followed by 
a corresponding inerease in the other. 
When, however, the large and small indi- 
viduals within the same species are com- 
pared, it is found that the increase in the 
brain weight follows quite another law, 
and that in this latter case it is relatively 
much Jess marked than in the former. This 


* Dubois, Archiv f. Anthropologie, 1898. 
7 Snell, Archiv f. Psychiatrie wu. Nervenkrank- 
heiten, 1892. 


g9° SCIENCE. 


result at once suggests that the mechanism 
of the increase is dissimilar in the two 
For the solution of the problems 
that are raised by such investigations as 
those just cited, we need to employ quan- 
titative methods, and on this topie a word 
is here in place. 

Microscopie anatomy and histology, like 
all the sciences, have passed through a 
series of phases which are as necessarily a 
part of their history, as birth, growth and 
maturity are a part of the life history of 
a mammal. The microscope in its early 
days enabled Schwann to propound the 
fruitful theory that the tissues were com- 
posed of cells. A preliminary survey 
showed that these cells were different in 
their form and arrangement in the differ- 
ent parts of the body, and a still more 
eareful examination with the aid of various 
dyes or solutions altering the tissues in the 
differential way gave the basis for yet finer 
distinctions. This phase in the develop- 
ment of the science, however, may be fairly 
compared with qualitative work in chem- 
istry, where the object is to determine how 
many different substances are presented in 
the sample examined. Naturally, the next 
step is the introduction of quantitative 
methods, and we are, therefore, now using 
the methods of weighing, measuring and 
counting for the purpose of rendering our 
notions more precise, and thereby facili- 
tating accurate comparisons. When em- 
phasizing this point, we do not, however, 
forget that hand in hand with this quanti- 
tative work the qualitative tests have been 
marvelously refined, and that these neces- 
sarily form the foundation for quantita- 
tive work, since all such work must deal 
with the elements or groups of elements 
which can be sharply defined, and the basis 
for their definition is given through quali- 
tative studies. As progress is made along 
these lines, we appreciate more and more 
that it is of importance for us to know not 


cases. 


[N.S. Vou. XXL. No. 523. 


only how much brain and how much spinal 
cord by weight normally belong to a given 
species of animal, but also the quantitative 
relations of the different groups and classes 
of elements which compose these parts. 
We are continually asking ourselves how 
far the range in gross weight of the central 
nervous system may be dependent on 
changes in the number of elements in the 
different divisions or localities, and how 
far dependent on the mere increase in the 
bulk of the individual units without any 
change either in their absolute number or 
relative size. Work along this line rests, 
as we know, on the neurone theory, that 
epoch-making generalization concerning the 
structure of the nervous system which was 
put forward by our honored colleague, 
Professor Waldeyer.* Most of us are 
aware that, at the moment, this theory is 
the subject of lively and voluminous dis- 
cussion, and that Nissl,+ for example, urges 
the inadequacy of the conception on the 
ground that it does not account for the 
gray substance in the strict sense. 

No one can fail to appreciate the very 
great importance of the satisfactory con- 
clusion of the present dispute, and earn- 
estly desire that we may obtain conclusive 
evidence on points involved; but however 
the question of the gray matter may be 
settled, the enormous importance of the 
neurone conception, and the value of it for 
the purposes of the microscopic analysis of 
the nervous system, will remain untouched, 
while our quantitative determinations ap- 
plied to the neurone as we now understand 
it, will still have a permanent value. 

Returning to the questions which are 
raised by the previously mentioned investi- 
gations of Dubois, we require in the first 
instance to determine the number of neu- 


* Waldeyer, Deutsche medicinische Wochen- 
schrift, 1891. 
+ Nissl, ‘Die Neuronenlehre und ihre Anhiinger,’ 


1903. 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


rones connecting the skin with the central 
nervous system, and to see how this num- 
ber varies in the different species of mam- 
mals similar in form but unlike in size. 
There is only cne animal, the white rat, on 
which as yet such studies have been made, 
so that the whole field hes practically open. 
Should we be able to get good numerical 
evidence in favor of the view that under 
the conditions named above, the afferent 
system could be taken as an index of the 
size of the brain, it would show us at once 
that in the laying down of the nervous sys- 
tem certain proportions were rather rigidly 
observed, and bring us to the next step, 
namely, the determination of the influences 
which control those proportions and the 
possibility of effecting an alteration in 
them. In the meantime, there is every 
reason to prepare for the application of 
these results to man, and although the pro- 
eram here is simple enough to state, it will 
involve great labor, to carry it through. 

So far as the numerical relations in man 
are concerned, we have, through the work 
of Dr. Helen Thompson,* an excellent esti- 
mate of the number of nerve cell bodies in 
the human cortex, and through that of Dr. 
Ingbert,t a reliable count of the number 
of medullated nerve fibers in the dorsal 
and ventral roots of the thirty-one pairs 
of spinal nerves of a man at maturity. It 
is easy to see, however, that we must get 
some notion of the amount of individual 
variation to which these relations are sub- 
ject within the limits of one race and one 
sex before it is desirable to attempt to 
learn whether the difference in race or sex 
here plays an important role. It is to be 
anticipated, however, that the differences 
dependent upon race and sex will be com- 
paratively slight, and especially so when 
contrasted with the differences which we 

*Thompson, Journ. of Comp. Neurol., 1899. 


7 Ingbert, Journ. of Comp. Newrol., 1903 and 
1904. 


SCIENCE. 23 


may anticipate as existing between the 
adult and the child at birth. .This aspect 
of the problem illustrates, in a conerete 
form, the sort of question which is raised 
by the anatomical study of the body dur- 
ing the period of growth. The embryolo- 
gists have worked out the formation and 
early developmental history of the various 
organs and parts of the human body, but 
the study of the later fcetal stages have 
been blocked by the searcity of material, 
and the inconvenience of dealing with it. 
On the individual at birth, we have again 
more extensive observations, but for the 
period comprised between the first two 
years of life and the age of twenty our 
information is again scanty. The lower 
death rate during this part of the life eyele, 
as well as social influences, combine to keep 
material between these ages out of the dis- 
secting room. Here is an important part 
in the life history of man which needs to 
be investigated along many lines, and dur- 
ing which it is most desirable to have a 
record of the changes in the nervous sys- 
tem expressed in quantitative terms. In 
the general problem which is here under 
discussion, our next step would be to enu- 
merate in man at birth the medullated 
nerve fibers in the roots of the spinal 
nerves. Such an enumeration will prob- 
ably show us between birth and maturity 
a very large addition to the number of 
these fibers, but we still have to determine 
at what portion of the period, and accord- 
ing to what laws, this addition takes place. 
At this point our observations on animals 
will assist us, and we should certainly look 
for the occurrence of greatest addition dur- 
ing the earlier part of the growing period. 

Let us assume then that we have ob- 
tained results which show us the normal 
development of this portion of the nervous 
system between birth and maturity. These 
observations could be used as a standard. 
Once possessed of such a standard, we are 


24 


prepared to determine variations in the 
nature of excesses or deficiencies, and in 
this instance the question of deficiencies is 
the one most easy to handle. 

The studies of Dr. Hatai* on the partial 
starvation of white rats during the grow- 
ing period show that very definite changes 
ean be brought about in the nervous system 
when these animals are deprived of proteid 
food for several weeks. As a result of 
such treatment, the total weight of the 
nervous system is reduced much below that 
of the normal rat. Such a result, however, 
leaves two points still undetermined; (1) 
the general nature of the changes bringing 
about a diminution in weight, and (2) the 
parts of the system in which changes occur. 
In testing our animal material by quanti- 
tative methods, we should in the first in- 
stance direct attention to a possible de- 
crease or arrest of growth in the afferent 
system of sensory nerves, and seek to de- 
termine whether the unfavorable conditions 
have not retarded the growth process in 
this division of the nervous system. If 
the results of such observations are posi- 
tive, we may expect to find a correspond- 
ing modification in man, when the human 
body during the period of growth is sub- 
jected to unfavorable conditions of a sim- 
ilar nature. As a matter of fact, such un- 
favorable conditions do exist in the crowd- 
ed quarters of our larger cities, and it 
seems highly probable that we have there 
in progress examples of partial starvation 
quite comparable with the experiments 
conducted in the laboratory. Under these 
circumstances, it is important to discover 
in the case of our animals how far a sub- 
sequent return to normal food conditions 
will modify the anatomy of a nervous sys- 
tem which has been subjected to proteid 
starvation for some weeks. At present 
there are no observations which indicate 
whether or no recovery in the nervous sys- 


* Watai, American Journal of Physiology, 1904. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 523. 


tem will take place, and it will probably 
require some time to reach a definite con- 
clusion. The work necessary for a de- 
termination of the anatomical changes ex- 
hibited by the animals alone constitutes by 
no means a lght task, since in order to 
obtain reliable results and to eliminate the 
factor of individual variation a series of 
individuals must be examined, and it re- 
quires a very definitely sustained interest 
to carry through the long line of enumera- 
tions necessary for such an investigation. 
The examination of the growth of the 
nervous system in animals subjected to 
definitely unfavorable conditions, is, how- 
ever, only one part of the work. 

It will be necessary to contrast the 
changes there found with the effects of 
special feeding, care and exercise in other 
groups, In order to see how far above the 
ordinary form the nervous system can be 
anatomically improved by any such treat- 
ment, and experiments in this direction are 
already being conducted by Dr. Slonaker. 
Of course the results which have been ob- 
tained and may be obtained on the animals 
studied in this way should not be directly 
applied to the case of man, because it seems 
quite evident that the higher organization 
of man is responsible for his ability to re- 
sist to a remarkable degree the disturbing 
effects of an unfavorable environment. 
The impression is abroad that the reverse 
is the case, and that it is man who is more 
responsive to unfavorable surroundings. 
I believe, however, that this current view 
will prove to be incorrect, for the lower 
mammals at least, and that when we place 
such animals where the conditions for 
them are abnormal, their limited powers 
of adaptability lead them to be more seri- 
ously affected than are animals which are 
more complexly organized. If such is the 
case, variations of the same amount should 
not be expected to appear in man, but there 
is every reason to assume that the variations 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


which do appear will be of the same gen- 
eral character and that we might look for 
them in the human nervous system where 
we find them in that of the rat. When it 
is possible to see how the anatomy of the 
nervous system may be altered during the 
post-natal growth period, we shall be pre- 
pared to take up the problem of how it 
may be improved during embryonic and 
foetal life, and how the actual number of 
potential neurones is determined, and their 
relative distribution controlled, and this 
should lead ultimately to the attempt to 
breed animals with improved nervous sys- 
tems in which we shall know the nature of 
the improvement in considerable detail. 
It may be urged that putting the prob- 
lems in this way indicates a greater interest 
in the applieation to physiology of the 
anatomical results than in the results them- 
selves. But I take it that the interest of a 
machinist in building a machine is to make 
the parts for one that will go, and that no 
less honor is due him for his painstaking 
care in determining the construction of the 
different parts and their right relations, 
because at the end of the operation he has 
devised something capable of doing work. 
Similarly, it is possible that a man’s in- 
terest from day to day shall be absorbed 
in the technique of anatomical science, and 
yet it is nevertheless distinctly advantage- 
ous, if his anatomical observations bear on 
the performances of the living animal, and 


a final result is obtained which is the syn-. 


thesis of research in two associated fields. 

In drawing up the preceding outline, no 
one is more aware than the writer of the 
fact that problems connected with the nerv- 
ous system have alone been considered. 
Without doubt those more interested in the 
other systems of the human body could 
duplicate for these the problems which 
have been suggested in connection with the 
nervous system, so that the account given 
above may be taken simply as an illustra- 


SCIENCE. 25 


tion of the sort of thing that seems worth 
doing. In presenting these illustrations it 
has been my purpose to indicate a stand- 
point from which the anatomical problems 
ean be profitably regarded, and to draw 
attention to the use of quantitative methods 
in the study of anatomy, and especially as 
apphed to the body during the period of 
active growth. 

Yet perhaps the largest of our problems 
and certainly one which appeals to all of 
us, 1s the ways and means for the solid ad- 
vanecement of our science. Alongside of 
the question of how we shall hand down 
to successive generations of students the 
facts already established, lies the still more 
fundamental problem of the best method 
of building up the body of anatomical 
knowledge. 

It is not my purpose to advocate as a 
means to this end the sharp separation of 
teaching from investigation. It is a rare 
man who ean stand the strain of such a 
division, whether he chooses one or the 
other, and there is, moreover, much to be 
said for such an arrangement as will bring 
the average student into a laboratory where 
he can himself see how research work is 
eonducted. Yet it would be possible to 
name institutions in which the relative 
amount of time required. for teaching as 
compared with that left free for investiga- 
tion might with advantage be readjusted, 
and almost all of our educational institu- 
tions at the same time admittedly lack the 
funds, and not often the educational pur- 
pose, which would justify them in attempt- 
ing to meet the various difficulties connect- 
ed with anatomical investigations on a large 
seale. Yet no one questions the impor- 
tance of striving for a more rapid advance. 
A response to this feeling finds its expres- 
sion in the several research funds which 
are now available in this country and 
abroad for the endowment of investiga- 
tion, and in the plan presented to the In- 


26 SCIENCE. 


ternational Association of Academies, and, 
it should be added, largely due to the ini- 
tiative of Professor Waldeyer, for the es- 
tablishment in various countries, of special 
institutes for the furtherance of research 
in embryology and neurology. 

These two subjects were first selected 
owing to the peculiar difficulties of obtain- 
ing the needed material, and the great labor 
necessary to prepare the complete series 
of sections which are required in many 
eases. These conditions make it impera- 
tive that if we would avoid large loss of 
labor and much vexation of spirit, the 
work in these lines should be coordinated, 
standards adopted and the material of the 
laboratory, like the books of a library or 
the specimens in a museum, be available 
for the use of other investigators. Noth- 
ing, I believe, is further from the minds 
of those engaged in this plan than an at- 
tempt to produce anatomical results on a 
manufacturing scale. But the questions 
calling for solution in the fields here desig- 
nated are so numerous, that such an ar- 
rangement will merely mean a subdivision 
of labor in which each institute will take 
one of the larger problems and direct its 
main energies to the study of this, so con- 
ducting the work that it shall be corre- 
lated with that in progress elsewhere. ‘The 
director of such an institute will be justi- 
fied in extending his work through assist- 
ants just as far as he ean earry the details 
of the different researches in progress, and 
thus knit them into one piece for the educa- 
tion of himself and his colleagues. When 
we pass beyond this limit, admittedly sub- 
ject to wide individual variation, there is 
little to be gained, but the evils of excessive 
production, should they arise, carry within 
themselves the means of their own correc- 
tion. 

This step, which is assuredly about to 
be taken, should enable us in the future to 
do things in anatomy not heretofore pos- 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 523. 


sible, and when, some years hence, there is 
another gathering of scientific men, with 
an aim and purpose similar to that of the 
present one, it is easy to predict that we 
shall be able to listen to a report on the 
important advances in anatomy arising 
from coordinated and cooperative work. 


Henry H. DoNALDSON. 
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. 


SOIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


Ideals of Science and Faith. Essays by Vari- 
ous Authors. Edited by the Rey. J. E. 
Hanp, editor of ‘Good Citizenship. New 
York, Longmans, Green & Co. 1904. 
Were this book not remarkable in itself, its 

motive would render it remarkable in any case. 

We readers of Science devoted, most of us, 

to absorbing technical subjects, may well pe- 

ruse it to our great advantage, and realize a 

few tendencies of the day, unfamiliar to us 

maybe, and assuredly not clear in their main 
outlines. 

The plan of the work is novel, even daring, 
and conjures up piquant expectancy. It con- 
sists of ten essays, each from a different hand, 
and divided into two groups. The first group, 
of six, under the general title ‘ Approaches 
through Science and Education,’ deals with 
the possible contemporary relations between 
science and religion (relations of an irenical 
nature) from the standpoint of the lay expert. 
The subjects, and the authors who speak for 
them, are as follows: ‘ Physics,’ Sir Oliver 
Lodge; ‘ Biology,’ Professor Arthur Thomson, 
of Aberdeen University; ‘ Psychology,’ Pro- 
fessor Muirhead, of the University of Bir- 
mingham; ‘ Sociology,’ Mr. Victor VY. Bran- 
ford, secretary of the Sociological Society of 
London; ‘ Ethies,’ the Hon. Bertrand Russell, 
fellow of Trinity, Cambridge; ‘General and 
Technical Education,’ Professor Patrick Ged- 
des, University Hall, Edinburgh. The second 
group, of four essays, entitled ‘ Approaches 
through Faith,’ presents the clerical stand- 
point in its various phases as follows: ‘A 
Presbyterian Approach, the Rev. John Kel- 
man, of Edinburgh; ‘A Church of England 
Approach,’ the Rev. Ronald Bayne; the Rey. 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


P. N. Waggett contributes an essay entitled 
“The Chureh as Seen from the Outside,’ in 
which he concludes by stating the High Angli- 
can, as opposed to the so-called Erastian, view; 
while, very fittingly, Mr. Wilfred Ward speaks 
for the Church of Rome. The editor furnishes 
a worthy introduction. 

Obviously, in such a collection, comparisons 
were odious. But it may be of interest to 
state that the freshest essay comes from the 
newest science—sociology—and that it is sup- 
plemented by Professor Geddes’ paper, which 
represents the same general outlook. The 
most striking contribution is that of the Hon. 
Bertrand Russell, who drives home the prob- 
lem under review, nothing extenuating in the 
logical consequences of modern scientific re- 
search. One may add, further, that, for 
American readers, the book can not fail to 
possess additional suggestiveness because writ- 
ten under British influences. 
when more of our scientific men find it pos- 
sible to write like Sir Oliver Lodge, Professor 
Arthur Thomson and the Hon. Bertrand Rus- 
sell, and when more of our religious mentors 
ean speak like the Rey. John Kelman and the 
Rey. Philip Napier Waggett, we shall be in 
far better position to ‘get together’ for the 
discussion of subjects now agitated or about to 
be agitated. To render my meaning plainer; 
I fear that an American botanist, speaking of 
his Presbyterian brethren, would scarcely find 
warrant for such a pronouncement as this: 
“So changing are the times that there seems 
nowadays to be more independent and specu- 
lative thinking among the aspirants to the 
Scottish ministry, once so strict, than among 
those of the university faculties of medicine, 
once and again so comparatively free; at any 
rate, since Robertson Smith, there has prob- 
ably been less general ignorance of the results, 
and even of the methods of scientific research 
among the students of the older faculty than 
of the more modern one” (p. 185). Undoubt- 
edly, conditions obtain in the old country that 
we do not enjoy, for there the university atti- 
tude, in contradistinction to that of the usual 
theological seminary, exercises much more 
potent sway over candidates for the ministry. 


In other words, 


SCIENCE. Zt 


Hence, perhaps, the possibility of such a book 
as this. 

No doubt the work is tentative, not con- 
elusive. No doubt one of the ecclesiastical 
contributors alludes darkly to a_ possibile 
double truth—one for science, another for re- 
ligion, and a second openly adopts this doe- 
trine, which really evades the entire question 
at issue. But, even so, the collection remains 
notable and, as I indicated at the outset, has 
everything to recommend it to reflective men, 
no matter on which side of the fence their 
main presuppositions happen to lie. More- 
over, the brilliant criticisms of educational 
formalism, supplied by Mr. Branford and Pro- 
fessor Geddes, can not fail to set us thinking 
with reference to some of our own potent, if 
intangible, academic problems. 

R. M. WEN EY. 

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 
Tue Plant World, the official organ of the 
Wild Flower Preservation Society of America, 
now in its seventh volume, will, on January 
1, come under the editorial management of 
Professor Francis E. Lloyd, head ot the de- 
partment of biology in Teachers College. 


The Journal of Comparative Neurology and 
Psychology, for November, has as the leading 
article a paper of seventy pages entitled, ‘ The 
Behavior of Paramecium: Additional Fea- 
tures and General Relations, by H. 8. Jen- 
nings. On the basis of a summary of previous 


work on Paramecium, experimentally 


trolled, and a large body of new observations 


Con= 


the reactions of this type are critically anal- 
The 
discussion of the nature of stimulation and 
of the reactions of Paramecium in detail gives 
further support to the author’s claim that the 
current theories of tropism need radical re- 
The number further contains an 
editorial by Dr. Yerkes on ‘ Physiology and 
Psychology’ and a biographical sketch, with 
portrait and bibliography, of the founder of 
the journal and late editor-in-chief, Dr. C. L. 
Herrick. 


yzed and its ‘ action system’ formulated. 


vision. 


28 SCIENCE. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 


NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. SECTION OF 


BIOLOGY. 


Tue December meeting was held at the 
American Museum of Natural History, Pro- 
fessor Underwood presiding. Papers were 
presented by Professor H. F. Osborn and 
Professor F. B. Sumner. 

Professor Osborn exhibited newly prepared 
skulls of Diplodocus, Morosaurus and Creo- 
saurus, from Wyoming. The skull of Moro- 
saurus is new to science. 

Under the title ‘ Recent Discoveries of Ex- 
tinct Animals in the Rocky Mountain Region 
and their Bearings on the Present Problems 
of Evolution,’ Professor Osborn exhibited a 
series of skulls of the Eocene ancestors of the 
Oligocene Titanotheres, stating as a result of 
recent investigations that the Oligocene Ti- 
tanotheres were found to represent four dis- 
tinct lines of descent in each of which horns 
independently developed, and that the Eocene 
forms also represented four distinct lines of 
descent, two of which became extinct, while 
the others gave rise to Oligocene forms. As 
bearing upon the general problem of evolution, 
it was pointed out that the paleontologist 
enjoys the peculiar advantage of following a 
series through the origin and development of 
organs to their subsequent progression or de- 
cline. As early as 1888 the speaker had taken 
the ground that various paleontological series 
demonstrate the definite or determinate varia- 
In 1892 he connected 
with this the idea that certain series of ani- 
mals related by descent from a common stem 


tions of certain kinds. 


form exhibit the potential of similar evolution, 
describing this as a law of latent or potential 
homology. It is now found in this series of 
Titanotheres that there is more than a poten- 
tial of similar evolution; there is evidence of 
a predisposition to similar evolution as shown 
in the wholly independent development in two 
distinet series of horns from hornless types at 
exactly similar points on the skull, namely, at 
the lateral junction of the frontals with the 
(The 
part presented before the Brooklyn Institute 


nasals. communication had been in 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 523. 


of Arts and Sciences, and before the Zoolog- 
ical Congress at Berne.) 

Professor Sumner’s paper was a_ prelim- 
inary note on ‘ Experimental Studies of Elim- 
ination and Selective Adaptation in Fishes.’ 
Many experiments with the three common 
species of Fundulus tested the relative effect 
of asphyxiation and of gradual and abrupt 
changes of density in transferring from sea 
to fresh water and vice versa. Extended 
biometric studies point to the following con- 
clusions: (1) the more and the less resisting 
individuals of a given species are different in 
type and in variability; (2) different methods 
of elimination result in selection with refer- 
ence to different characters; (3) two closely 
related species were selected with reference to 
the same characters; (4) Fundulus hetero- 
clitus from brackish water differ in all meas- 
ured characters from those taken from the 
sea; (5) the differences of type in the three 
species of Fundulus are not due to natural 
selection acting with reference to the par- 
ticular conditions which they are fitted to 
withstand. 

M. A. BicEtow, 
Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
STYLE IN SCIENTIFIC COMPOSITION. 


Proressor EastMan has recently (ScieNcE, 
XX., 807) eriticized certain new terms in 
physiography, saying they are not in good 
taste. This, being interpreted, means that his 
esthetic judgments are different from those of 
the inventors of the terms; and I find too that 
my own judgments have individual peculiar- 
ities. Such discordance is surely regrettable; 
except for the entertainment of his graceful 
fault-finding we should all be happier if we 
thrilled or shuddered in unison. But how ean 
harmony be attained? I question the efficacy 
of ridicule, which tends to strengthen rather 
than remove prejudices. The late Colonel 
Tngersoll, who made great use of ridicule, held 
that it had no power to convince, but could 
only confirm; and it was a favorite saying 
that he ‘came not to convert sinners, but to 
comfort the faithful.” Is there not some 
way in which reason may be brought to bear 


JANUARY 6, 1945.] 


on the sins of terminology? Is it not possible 
by discussion to discover or develop principles 
of scientific nomenclature the establishment 
of which may make the canons of good taste 
general instead of personal? I have a sus- 
picion that there are heavy battalions of 
argument back of Dr. Eastman’s skirmish 
line of assertion; and so venture a few sug- 
gestions in the hope of drawing them to the 
front. 

One suggestion is that utility may have 
an important bearing on our sense of fitness, 
or eyen elegance; that there may be a deep 
philosophic basis for the maxim ‘ handsome is 
that handsome does.’ Is there not a tendency 
gradually to adjust esthetic judgments into 
conformity with rational judgments? Is not 
expressiveness, after all, the most admirable 
and the most admired quality of literary com- 
position? And will not the system of tech- 
nical nomenclature best adapted to practical 
needs become in the end most grateful to the 
esthetic sense? 

In deprecating the belief of physiographers 
‘in the penury of the English language, and 
unsuitability of Saxon epithets,’ and in stig- 
“matizing the introduction of ‘alien’ words, 
Dr. Eastman seems to oppose the introduc- 
tion of foreign words for the purposes of 
scientific terminology. As a large majority 
of new terms in science are either direct im- 
portations or else rearrangements of foreign 
material, and as the somatic growth of all 
languages is largely from alien sources, this 
view is, to say the least, radical, and should 
not be accepted without good reason. Have 
I possibly misunderstood him? Or is there 
a substantial basis for such an opinion ? 

He objects vigorously to the use of the hu- 
manistiec analogy, and here I follow him so 
far as to admit that it has sometimes been 
carried too far. That is a danger to which all 
figurative language is exposed, but it is the 
ordinary danger from excess, and I would not 
therefore condemn the use of figures. Purely 
as a matter of literary taste I like the human- 
istic analogy in Eastman’s ‘rabble of words 
recruited from the uttermost parts’; and from 
the same point of view I like also Davis’s char- 
acterization of the stages of the topographic 


SCIENCE. 29 


cycle in terms of the cycle of human life. 
Eastman says the physiographic figure is 
founded on a ‘false analogy,’ but this I do 
not admit. The rhetorical quality of good 
analogy is close resemblance in some striking 
particular, coupled with difference in other 
respects; and that is precisely the relation be- 
tween the topographic and human cycles. The 
stream valley resembles the human heing in 
that from an early stage it evolves normally 
through a definite sequence of stages; and in 
mest other respects the two differ. 

But the characterization of topographic 
stages as ‘ youthful, ‘ mature’ and ‘senile’ is 
not a mere literary flower, the transitory dec- 
oration of a sentence; it is a part of technical 
terminology in continuous employment; and 
in that capacity its utility is of primary im- 
portance. In my judgment there are few 
groups of terms which serve better than does 
this group the purpose of concisely expressing 
an idea. Its strength inheres, first, in the apt- 
ness and completeness of the analogy, and, 
second, in the perfect familiarity of the group 
of facts to which the unfamiliar facts are 
likened. The physiographic stages have no 
precise limits, but grade one into another as 
parts of a continuous development; each one 
is so complex in its phenomena and so variable 
from individual to individual that sharp-cut 
definition is impossible; and in these respects 
they are strictly paralleled by the life stages. 
The aptness and the familiarity make the 
terms permanently mnemonic, so that the use 
of any one of them brings to mind not only the 
sequence, but relative within the 
sequence. Davis’s generalization had such 
merit that it would probably have found 
eventual appreciation, whatever its mode of 
expression, but I think that the promptness 
and universality of its acceptance and as- 
similation were in large measure due to the 
felicity of the associated terminology. 

G. K. GiILBert. 


position 


WASHINGTON, D. C. 


L’ANNEE BIOLOGIQUE. 
To tHE Eprror or Socrence: We learn that 
the annual L’Année biologique is in danger of 
being discontinued unless it receives addi- 


5) SCIENCE. 


tional support. One hundred more subscribers 
in this country would probably encourage the 
editors to go on with it. These ought not 
to be difficult to get. To those who are un- 
acquainted with it we may say that it is quite 
unique and occupies a different and higher 
plane than most bibliographic works. There 
is not merely a more or less roughly classified 
list of titles and brief abstracts of contents, 
but a series of logically arranged critical re- 
views pointing out the bearing of the paper, 
reviewed on the state of knowledge of the sub- 
ject. The systems of cross referencing and 
indexing are wonderfully complete. The re- 
views are arranged primarily into twenty 
chapters, as follows: Cell, sex products and 
fertilization, parthenogenesis, asexual repro- 
duction, ontogenesis, teratogenesis, regenera- 
tion, grafting, sex and pleomorphism, alterna- 
tion of generations, latent characters, correla- 
tion, death, general morphology and physiol- 
ogy, heredity, variation, origin of species and 
specific characters, geographic distribution, 
nervous system and functions, general theories. 
Most of these chapters are elaborately sub- 
divided. A feature has been comprehensive 
reports on the state of our knowledge of special 
topics. No one who is interested in the de- 
velopment of the- topics named above can 
view with equanimity the prospect of the loss 
of this review. It is to be hoped that every 
biological laboratory and every library that 
has a scientific department and which lacks 
T’Année biologique will at once send a sub- 
seription to Schleicher fréres, Paris, the pub- 
lishers, or to Professor Y. Delage, Sorbonne, 
Paris, the chief editor. 
Cas. B. DAvENporT, 
JACQUES LOEB. 


THE EPIDIASCOPE. 

To tue Eprror or Science: Who saw the 
epidiascope at the St. Louis Exposition? It 
appears in the catalogue of German scientific 
instruments at page 211, and is a most inter- 
esting type of projection apparatus, of espe- 
cial utility to all schools. The possibility of 
speedy and facile transition from reflected to 
transmitted light, if worked out to the last 
optical and mechanical detail, would render 


[N.S. Vou. X¥I. No. 523. 


it worthy of wide adoption. The diffusion of 
knowledge of all the arts and sciences ought 
to be very materially enhanced by this per- 
fected apparatus. The projection of printed 
pages, photographs, charts and works of art, 
all without the necessity of photography, is 
most important. The name of the inventor 


is not given: presumably Carl Zeiss, of Jena. 


. Davip P. Topp. 
AMHERST COLLEGE OBSERVATORY. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 
THE INFLUENCE OF CAVERNS ON TOPOGRAPHY. 

Ir is well known that caverns, particularly 
those in regions underlain by limestone, are 
frequently associated with depressions in the 
surface above them, such as sink-holes, or 
swallow-holes, as they are commonly termed. 
It is also a familiar fact that the falling of 
portions’ of the roofs of caverns sometimes 
gives origin to ravines, canyons, ete., which 
are occasionally- spanned by remnants of the 
roofs which remain in place, as in the case of 
the natural bridge of Virginia, and in other 
similar ways influence surface relief. A char- 
acteristic feature of this class of topographic 
changes is that depressions in the surface of 
the land are produced. The class of land 
forms to which attention is here invited, how- 
ever, are exceptional, and, as it seems, have 
not been recognized as having a direct asso- 
ciation with caverns, for the reason that they 
stand in relief and in some instances are con- 
spicuous and picturesque on account of their 
height and boldness. 

The topography of most regions the world 
over owes its leading characteristics, aside 
from elevation above the sea, to erosion. The 
chief exceptions are elevations produced by 
voleanic and glacial deposition. Erosion, par- 
ticularly by streams, leads to the production 
of two classes of earth features, one class be- 
ing due to the removal of material, as in the 
excavation of valleys, while the other class 
includes the remnants of uplands left when 
erosion to a plane surface is incomplete. In 
the production of such topographic changes, 
weak rocks, as a rule, are removed most readily 
and are replaced by depressions; while resist- 
ant rocks persist longer and are left in relief. 


- 


a tp, 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


By weak rocks is meant those which offer a 
comparatively small degree of resistance to 
the agencies of abrasion, such as streams, 
glaciers, ete., or yield readily to the solvent 
action of water; while resistant rocks are 
such as have the opposite attributes in these 
particulars. Certain rocks are weak in refer- 
ence to both mechanical and chemical erosion; 
and of the members of this class limestone is 
by far the most common. 

On account of its comparative softness and 
solubility, limestone is, as a rule, more easily 
removed during the process of denudation 
than the formations with which it is usually 
associated, and when it occurs at the earth’s 
surface side by side with more resistant rocks, 
its presence is frequently indicated by a de- 
pression. So generally is this the case, particu- 
larly if the rocks referred to occur in essen- 
tially horizontal beds, that it is a surprise to 
find limestone forming bold eminences in a 
region which has been stable for a long time 
and in which pronounced mechanical and 
chemical denudation has occurred. Examples 
of limestone standing in bold relief in regions 
where, for the most part, these several condi- 
tions obtain, are furnished by Mackinac 
Island, situated in the western portion of Lake 
Huron, and by Gibraltar, the well-known rock- 
fortress, one of the Pillars of Hercules. 

Mackinae Island has a circumference of 
about nine miles, and an area of 2,221 acres. 
It rises to an elevation of 317 feet above the 
level of Lake Huron, and the surrounding 
water within a mile of its shore is from 150 
to 200 feet deep; its total height above the 
bottom of the partially submerged valley in 
which it is situated is thus in excess of 500 
feet. The rock of which the island is com- 
posed is limestone, which dips very gently to 
the south, and at several localities has been 
eroded so as to form vertical lake-cliffs. Lime- 
stone belonging to the same geological forma- 
tion occurs on the neighboring St. Ignace 
Peninsula, but excepting these two cirecum- 
seribed localities, has been deeply denuded 
over an extensive region, and the depressions 
formed are now occupied by the waters of 
Lakes Huron and Michigan. 

Gibraltar rises 1,349 feet above the surface 


SCIENCE. ol 


of the Mediterranean, and the water within a 
mile of the borders of the peninsula is from 
300 to more than 600 feet deep. The length 
of the promontory is about two and one half 
miles and its width from 550 to 1,550 yards.* 
It is composed mainly of limestone in highly 
inclined strata, and, as is rendered evident 
from its isolated position and the presence of 
similar limestone on the African side of the 
adjacent strait, is a remnant of a once ex- 
tensive formation. 

Mackinae Island and Gibraltar are similar 
in several particulars; for example, each one 
is situated on the border of a navigable strait, 
and is of great strategic importance, as history 
has demonstrated; but a more fundamental 
fact is that they are composed mainly of 
fissured and cavernous and in part brecciated 
limestone, which is thus rendered especially 
favorable for the downward percolation of 
water. The only conspicuous difference be- 
tween the two elevations seems to be that 
the rock of Mackinac Island is essentially 
horizontal, while the rock of Gibraltar is 
steeply inclined. In each case bordering 
precipices are present which, no doubt, have 
been produced in part by under-cutting by 
waves and currents, but the isolation of the 
great rock masses themselves seems to be due 
to the lowering of the region about them re- 
spectively, and this lowering, as it seems most 
reasonable to conclude, has resulted from sub- 
aerial denudation. Precisely why bold rem- 
nants of formerly widely extended formations 
should have been left at these two localities, 
however, has, so far as I am aware, never been 
explained. 

Another example of limestone standing in 
relief in a deeply denuded region, and one 
which is especially instructive in the above 
connection, is furnished by a low hill at 


* A, C. Ramsy, and James Geikie, ‘On the 
Geology of Gibraltar,’ in Quarterly Journal of the 
Geological Society of London, Vol, XXXIV., 1878, 
pp. 505-541. 

I should, perhaps, state in partial justifica- 
presenting the present article, that I 
have visited each of the localities mentioned 
above, and have at least some first-hand informa- 
tion concerning them. 


tion for 


32 SCIENCE. 


Luray, Va. The hill referred to has extensive 
caverns beneath it, and, as appears evident, 
has been left in relief owing to the more rapid 
denudation of the surrounding country; the 
reason being that rain falling on the area 
where the rock is cavernous percolated down- 
ward and was prevented from forming surface 
streams and in consequence lost its ability to 
mechanically erode, while the surrounding 
country where the existence of surface streams 
was possible was degraded more rapidly. 

The influence of subterranean drainage, as 
must be well known although seldom men- 
tioned, is frequently indicated by minor eleva- 
tions, especially in limestone regions where 
joints and other openings permit of the ready 
descent of surface water. Similar conditions 
on a larger scale, as just stated, may reason- 
ably be held accountable for the origin of the 
hill above the caverns at Luray, and seem- 
ingly furnish the basis for an hypothesis which 
meets the conditions present at Mackinac 
Island and Gibraltar. If this hypothesis is 
sustained by future tests, it not only furnishes 
an explanation of the origin of the elevations 
just but embodies a_ principle 
which is widely applicable. For example, it 
is frequently stated in modern text-books of 
physical geography, that residual hills stand- 
ing on plains of subaerial denudation or 
‘“monadnocks,’ owe their prominence to the 
greater resistance of the rocks of which they 
are composed,. mainly because of their hard- 
ness, in comparison with the rocks about 
them; or have been spared on account of their 
geographical position, that is, they occur at 
localities where streams originated and flowed 
away in various directions, and in conse- 
quence were left in relief after the country 


mentioned, 


about them had been conspicuously degraded. 
To these explanations of the origin of monad- 
nocks a third may now be added, namely: If 
the rocks of a given area are more open and 
porous, or traversed by fissures or caverns to 
a conspicuously greater degree than the rocks 
beneath the surrounding region—the general 
elevation being sufficient to favor subterranean 
drainage—they may be left in relief because 
the water reaching them will be conducted 
away by means of underground channels and 


[N.S. Vou. XXz. No. 523. 


thus in a great measure and in general almost 
entirely deprived of its power to mechanically 
erode, while adjacent areas are not favored in 
this manner. 

A consideration of all the known facts re- 
lating to the rocky heights forming Mackinae 
Island and Gibraltar indicates that at each 
of these localities a residual of the nature of 
a monadnock has been left as the region about 
it was lowered by erosion; the controlling 
condition being that the rocks left in relief 
are fissured and cavernous, thus facilitating 
subterranean drainage, while the country 
about them was denuded at a more rapid rate 
through the agency of surface streams. 


IsraEL C. Russet. 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. 


A NOTABLE ADVANCE IN THE THEORY OF 
CORRELATION. 


To Professor Karl Pearson the new science 
of biometry is indebted not only for its name, 
but also for those refinements and extensions 
of the methods of statistical analysis without 
which it would be far from occupying the 
position which it holds to-day. In the re- 
markable series of memoirs which have ap- 
peared under the general title ‘ Mathematical 
Contributions to the Theory of Evolution,’ 
Pearson and his assistants have laid a founda- 
tion on which a superstructure of great im- 
port to biology can, and will be, reared. The 
most recent of the memoirs in this series* 
brings forth a very interesting extension of 
the theory of correlation which at once greatly 
widens the range of problems and material 
which can be effectively handled by biometric 
methods. 

In the development of the method of de- 
termining the degree of correlation between 
characters not admitting of quantitative meas- 
urement,+ it was thought necessary in form- 
ing the correlation table to arrange the classes 


** Mathematical Contributions to the Theory of 
Evolution,’ XIII. ‘On the Theory of Contingency 
and its Relation to Association and Normal Cor- 
relation.’ Drapers’ Company Research Memoirs, 
Biometric Series, I., pp. 1-35, 2 pl., 1904. 

7 Phil. Trans., Vol. 195 A, pp. 1-47, and pp. 
79-120. 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


or subgroups of the characters in a definite 
order corresponding to the real (though in de- 
tail undeterminable) quantitative scale in the 
character or attribute itself. The order of 
the classes appeared to be the important thing, 
and consequently the method was assumed to 
be limited to such attributes as could be ar- 
ranged in a definite scale order. In recent 
work, however, by varying the order of the 
classes Pearson has found that so far as the 
value of the correlation coefficient is con- 
cerned this group order has practically no 
influence. For the new conception of corre- 
lation which arose from a consideration of 
this fact Pearson proposes the term 
tingency. 

As a measure of the contingency of any 
classification of characters, it is proposed to 
use some measure of the ‘total deviation of 
the classification from independent proba- 
bility.’ The practical method of making such 
a measure Pearson develops in the following 
way. 

“Let A be any attribute or character and 
let it be classified into the groups A,, A,, °**, 
A, and let the total number of individuals 
examined be NV, and let the numbers which 
fall into these groups be n,, n., ***, M» Te- 
spectively. Then the probability of an indi- 
vidual falling into one or the other of these 
groups is given by n,/N, n,/N, --:, n/N, re- 
spectively. Now suppose the same population 
to be classified by another attribute into the 
PTOUpS! 23.0 Bae o, B, and the group 
frequencies of the N individuals to be m,, 
m,, ***, m,, respectively. The probability of 
an individual falling into these groups will be 
respectively m,/N, m,/N, m,/N, -*:, m /N. 
Accordingly the number of combinations of 
B, with A” to be expected on the theory of 
independent probability if N pairs of attri- 
butes are examined is 


con- 


Nu Mm, Ny My 

aN oN, 
““Tet the number actually observed be Nays 
Then, allowing for the errors of random 
sampling, 


= Vur, Say. 


NyMy 
= ~—= Nw 
N ue 


Nuy — — Vuy 


is the deviation from independent probability 


SCIENCE. 33 


in the occurrence of the groups A,, B,. 
Clearly the total deviation of the whole 
classification system from independent prob- 
ability must be some function of the n,, — »", 
quantities for the whole table.” The value of 
any function of these quantities will clearly 
be independent of the order of classification. 
The following functions of the n,,— » 
quantities were chosen for practical use. 
(a) 1—P;; the contingency grade, where P 
is determined from x° by the use of Elder- 
ton’s tables.* The quantity x° is a measure 
of the deviation of the observed results from 
independent probability, 


Uv 


depending on the 
quantities as shown by the equation 


ee ane 


Vay 


Wh, SE 
uv 


uv 


where S indicates summation of like quanti- 
ties over the whole table. <A large value for 
1— P indicates that there is association be- 
tween the attributes, while with a small value 
of this function the chances are that the sys- 
tem arose from independent probability. 
(b) The function 
KOe: 


termed the mean square contingency. 

(ec) The function 
eas _ Vuv) 
where S denotes summation of all Ny — Yaw 
quantities having the same sign. This fune- 
tion y is called the mean contingency. 

In determining the functions of ¢° and y 
which shall be used practically, Pearson con- 
siders the relation of these quantities in the 
ease of normal correlation. After some an- 
alysis the result is reached that 


v2 


(= (28 
or 
ice 
fi Ni+ g? 


This re- 
sult proves at once that ‘the coefficient of 
correlation is * * * 


in the case of normal correlation. 


entirely independent of 
the arrangement of our classes on the basis 
of any assumed order or scale.’ 

* Biometrika, Vol. 1., p. 155. 


34 SCIENCE. 


This function 
= 
Vise 
is called the first coefficient of contingency 
and is denoted by C,. 

The analysis of the relation of function y 
in the case of normal correlation leads to the 
practical result that the value of + may be 
obtained if y is given, which, of course, is 
the ease, the latter function being obtained 
from the observations. A table and plotted 
curve from which values of 7 correct to two 
places may be read off directly, are given. If 
the coefficient so obtained from y be desig- 
nated as C,, the second coefficient of contin- 
gency, we have as a limiting case 


G= = 


when the correlation is normal and the group- 
ing is sufficiently fine. The approach of C, 
and C,, to equality may be taken as a measure 
of the approach of the system to normality 
and of the correctness of the grouping. 

An investigation into the problem of the 
probable errors of contingency coefficients 
leads to the result that the probable error of 
any contingency coefficient CO may, for rough 
judgments, safely be taken to be less than 

o>< 67449 1 
Vn 


The percentage probable error of 
go 281808 Ee 
S/N aes 
After considering the subject of multiple 
contingency and its relation to multiple nor- 
mal correlation the author proceeds to’ give 
some illustrative examples showing something 
of the sort of problems to which the method 
may be applied, and also how it is to be used 
in practise. The examples include (a) the 
correlation between father and son in respect 
to stature, (b) color inheritance in grey- 
hounds, (¢c) fraternal resemblance in hair 
color in man, and (d) the correlation between 
father and son in respect to occupation or 
profession. 
The net results brought out by the analysis 
and confirmed by the numerical illustrations 
may best be stated in the author’s own words: 


[N.S. vou. XXI. No. 523. 


“With normal frequency distributions both 
contingency coefficients pass with sufficiently 
fine grouping into the well-known correlation 
coefficient. Since, however, the contingency 
is independent of the order of grouping, we 
conclude that, when we are dealing with al- 
ternative and exclusive sub-attributes, we 
need not insist on the importance of any par- 
ticular order or scale for the arrangement of 
the subgroups. This conception can be ex- 
tended from normal correlation to any dis- 
tribution with linear regression; small changes 
(%. e., such that the sum of their squares may 
be neglected as compared with the squares of 
mean or standard deviation) may be made in 
the order of grouping without affecting the 
correlation coefficient.” These results “are 
not so fruitful for practical working as might 
at first sight appear, for they depend in prac- 
tise on the legitimacy of replacing finite in- 
tegrals by sums over a series of varying areas, 
where no quadrature formula is available. If 
we, to meet the difficulty, make a very great 
number of small classes, the calculation, es- 
pecially of the mean square contingency, be- 
comes excessively laborious. Further, since 
in observation individuals go by units, casual 
individuals, which may fairly represent the 
frequency of a considerable area, will be 
found on some one or other isolated small area, 
and thus increase out of all proportion the 
contingency. The like difficulty oceurs when 
we deal with outlying individuals in the case 
of frequency curves, only it is immensely ex- 
aggerated in the case of frequency surfaces. 
It is thus not desirable in actual practise to 
take too many or too fine subgroupings. It is 
found, under these conditions, that the cor- 
relation coefficient as determined by the prod- 
uct moment or fourfold division methods is 
approximated to more closely in the ease of 
the contingency coefficient found from mean 
square contingency than in the case of that 
found from mean contingency. Probably 16 
to 25 contingency subgroups will give fairly 
good results in the case of mean square con- 
tingency, but for each particular type of in- 
vestigation it appears desirable to check the 
number of groups proper for the purpose by 
comparing with the results of test fourfold 


JANUARY 6, 1.95.) 


division correlations. Under such conditions 
it appears likely that very steady and consist- 
ent results will be obtained from mean square 
contingency.” 

In the caleulation of contingency coefficients 
the present writer has found that the follow- 
ing procedure saves much time and _ labor. 
The value of the independent probability r,,, 
for each compartment of the table is obtained 
by the use of a Thacher calculating instru- 
ment (Keuffel and Esser). With this instru- 
ment one can read directly to four or five 
figures the values of any expression which can 
be put into the form ax/b, where a and b are 
constants and x is a variable. Since y,, for 
any compartment equals (n,-m,,)/N for that 
compartment, it is evident that by taking 
either n, or m, as the constant, it will only 
be necessary to make as many settings of the 
instrument as there are rows or columns in 
the table. Having obtained the y,, quanti- 
ties, the sub-contingencies (n,,,— y,,,) may be 
written down directly, squared from Barlow’s 
tables, and divided by y,,, with an arithmom- 
eter or with Zimmermann’s or Crelle’s multi- 
plication tables. The remainder of the caleu- 
lations necessary to obtain the mean square 
contingency and the whole of the calculations 
for the mean contingency, and their respective 
coefficients are, of course, easily performed. 
Proceeding in this way, the calculation of con- 
tingency coefficients, even though several ex- 
perimental groupings are made, has been 
found to take but comparatively little time. 

The noteworthy features of this method of 
contingency are found in that it, in the first 
place, broadens and illumines the whole theory 
of correlation, and in the second place, brings 
within the range of biometrical investigation 
a large series of problems to which it has 
hitherto been impossible to apply exact meth- 
ods. One ean but feel that this memoir, like 
so many of the others which have preceded it 
in the series, marks a definite and funda- 
mental step in advance in the steady progress 
of the science of biometry. 

Raymonp Peart. 


‘GLUCINUM’ oR ‘ BERYLLIUM.’ 
SoME years ago the question of choice be- 
tween the two names ‘glucinum’ and ‘ beryl- 


SCIENCE. 30 


lium’ was gone into quite carefully by Pro- 
fessor F. W. Clarke and also by the committee 
appointed by the American Association on 
the Spelling and Pronunciation of Chemical 
Terms, and the conclusion was arrived at that 
the name ‘glucinum’ should be used on the 
ground of priority. In Science for Decem- 
ber 9 Dr. Charles Lathrop Parsons has stated 
his grounds for preferring the name ‘ beryl- 
lium.’ Dr. Parsons is, thanks to his biblio- 
graphical work on the element in question, 
thoroughly informed in its literature, but the 
arguments adduced by him would seem to lead 
to a conclusion diametrically opposed to that 
which he has drawn. 

It was obviously the privilege of Vauquelin, 
the discoverer of the element, or rather its 
oxid, to name it. This he never did, but con- 
tented himself by speaking of it at first as ‘la 
terre du Béril,’ that is, the earth in beryl. At 
the close of Vauquelin’s first paper the editors 
of the Annales added a note signed ‘ Redac- 
teur’ in which they propose the name ‘ glu- 
It was of course well known that Guy- 
ton and Fourcroy were the editors. Vauque- 
lin’s second paper in the Annales was evi- 
dently prepared at the same time as the first, 
or at least before the second was in print. 
In his third paper, some weeks later, as Dr. 
Parsons admits, Vauquelin actually adopted 
the term ‘ glucine,’ prefacing its use with ‘on 
a donné le nom de glucine.’ The paper in the 
Journal des Mines was apparently prepared 
at the same time as the first two papers in the 
Annales and before the appearance of the sug- 
gestion of Guyton and Fourcroy, but at its 
close occurs the note which Dr. Parsons has 
quoted. In this he states that Guyton and 
Foureroy have advised him to call the new 
earth ‘glucine’ and while he evidently does 
not think the name the best that could have 
been chosen, he clearly acquiesces in the sug- 
gestion of the two great authorities and says 
“Cette denomination sera assez significante 
pour aide le mémoire.’- Finally, as seen above, 
in his third paper, he adopts the name. As 
far as priority goes, the argument in favor of 
‘beryllium’ would seem to be that probably 
Vauquelin would have given the earth some 
other name had he ventured to dissent from 


cine.’ 


36 SCIENCE. 


Guyton’s authority, and it is probable that he 
would have liked to name it ‘ beryllia.’ All of 
which may be quite true, but actually he did 
not do it. 

As regards the German use of ‘ Berylerde’ 
it was merely at first the natural translation 
of Vauquelin’s expression ‘la terre du Béril,’ 
which, as we have seen, he used in no denom- 
inative sense. If the generally accepted rules 
of priority have any weight ‘ glucinum’ is the 
only term to be used for the element. 

As regards usage, the case is hardly quite 
as bad as Dr. Parsons seems to think, since 
the index to the Journal of the Chemical So- 
ciety (London) for 1903 gives ‘ Beryllium, see 
glucinum.’ With French, English and Amer- 
icans using ‘glucinum,’ we can afford to let 
the German journals cling to ‘beryllium’ a 
little while longer. 

Incidentally, what shall we do when the 
Germans insist on kalzium, kolumbium, karo- 
linum, zerium and zesium, or will it be 
keesium ? Jas. Lewis Howe. 

WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY, 

December 12, 1904. 


BOTANICAL NOTES. 
THE STUDY OF FIBERS. 
Tre book (‘ The Textile Fibers, their Phys- 


ical, Microscopical and Chemical Properties ’) 
prepared by Dr. J. M. Mathews, and recently 
published by John Wiley, should make the 
study of textile fibers somewhat easier by stu- 
dents and practical operators. It covers 
nearly three hundred pages of neatly printed 
text, illustrated by sixty-nine cuts, in which 
the author has presented the whole matter 
in a most helpful way. There is first a use- 
ful classification of fibers, followed by deserip- 
tions and discussions of those which enter 
into fabrics. Some of these fibers are, of 
course, of animal origin, as wool, hair and silk, 
and to these are given about ninety pages. 
The remainder of the book is devoted almost 
wholly to plant fibers, and here the treatment 
is especially clear and helpful. The origin, 
varieties, physical and chemical properties of 
cotton, and mercerized cotton, are discussed in 
as many chapters. Linen is given another 
chapter, while jute, ramie, hemp and several 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 523. 


other fibers of minor importance are disposed 
of in another chapter. An interesting chapter 
for the general reader is the one on artificial 
silks, the processes for the production of which 
“have been attended with a considerable degree 
of success.’ It is said that artificial silk ‘ has 
become a commercial article, and is used in 
considerable quantity by the textile trade.’ 
Of these artificial silks there are four general 
kinds, viz: 

1. Pyrozylin silks, made from a solution of 
gun cotton in a mixture of alcohol and ether. 

2. Fibers made from a solution of cellulose 
in ammoniacal copper oxide or chloride of 
zine. 

3. Viscose silk, made from a solution of 
cellulose thiocarbonate. 

4. Gelatin silk, made from filaments of 
gelatin rendered insoluble by treatment with 
formaldehyde. 

Most of the artificial silk is of the first 
variety, the manufacture of which is carried 
on in England, Germany, France and Switzer- 
land. “The fibers are formed by forcing the 
ether-aleohol solution of pyroxylin through 
glass capillary tubes, and winding them on 
frames. As the solution is very viscous it re- 
quires a pressure of forty-five atmospheres to 
discharge it through the capillary openings.” 


A STUDY OF COMPARATIVE EMBRYOLOGY. 


THE comparative embryology of the Cucuwr- 
bitaceae (Gourd Family) has been studied by 
Dr. J. E. Kirkwood, the results of which ap- 
pear in the Bulletin of the New York Botan- 
ical Garden (No. 11, 1904). After an 
instructive historical introduction, the organ- 
ogeny of representatives of the five tribes 
(Fevilleae, Melothrieae, Cucurbiteae, Sicyo- 
ideae, and Cyclanthereae) is summarily de- 
scribed, and this is followed by a quite 
particular examination of the embryo-sae in 
sixteen genera distributed among the five 
trikes. Twelve fine plates of 166 figures add 
much to the value of this portion of the paper. 
In a closing discussion the author finally con- 
cludes that ‘in most points the differences 
between the Cucurbilaceae, and other sym- 
petalous families are more striking than the 
similarities.’ The paper closes with a bibli- 


JANUARY 6, 1905.] 


ography including 89 titles. It constitutes 
a valuable addition to our knowledge of the 
embryology of a family whose place in the 
system of plants is still in doubt. 


A HELPFUL BULLETIN. 


Tue office of experiment stations of the 
United States Department of Agriculture has 
issued a bulletin (No. 2) consisting of an 
outline of a lecture on ‘ Potato Diseases and 
their Treatment,’ for the use of farmers’ insti- 
tute lecturers. It was prepared by F. C. 
Stewart and H. J. Eustace, of the New York 
Experiment Station. It contains summaries 
of our knowledge of the most important dis- 
eases which affect the potato in the United 
States. The descriptions are given in non- 
technical language, and ought to convince 
every botanist of the possibility of treating 
quite difficult subjects in plain English. Fol- 
lowing the description of diseases, is an ad- 
mirable chapter on spraying and other pre- 
ventive measures. <A very useful bibliography 
is added in an appendix. 


Crarues E. Bessey. 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. 


THE NOBEL PRIZES. 


Iy a cablegram from Stockholm to the Lon- 
don Times, dated December 10, further details 
are given in regard to the Nobel prizes. 

The prize for physics has been awarded to 
Lord Rayleigh, professor of natural philos- 
ophy at the Royal Institute. The chemistry 
prize is conferred upon Sir William Ramsay, 
professor of chemistry at University College. 
M. Pavloff, professor at the Military Academy 
of Medicine at St. Petersburg, receives the 
prize for physiology and medicine. The lit- 
erature prize is divided between M. Mistral, 
the Proveneal poet, and Don Jose Echegaray, 
the Spanish dramatist. The peace prize has 
been awarded to the Institute of International 
Law. 

The distribution of the Nobel prizes took 
place in the great hall of the Academy of 
Musie at Stockholm in the presence of King 
Osear. Lord Rayleigh, Professor Ramsay 
and M. Pavloff received their prizes, together 
with diplomas and gold medals, in person 


SCIENCE. 37 


from his Majesty, while the prizes awarded 
to M. Mistral and Don Jose Echegaray, who 
were unable to be present, were handed to the 
French and Spanish ministers respectively. 
The sum of money attaching to each prize 
amounts to 140,858 kroner (about $39,000). 
The Nobel peace prize will be presented by 
the Norwegian Storthing at Christiania. 

The distribution of the prizes was followed 
by a banquet at the Grand Hotel. Covers 
were laid for 190 guests, the company in- 
eluding the Crown Prince, Prince and Prin- 
eess Charles, Lord and Lady Rayleigh, Sir 
William and Lady Ramsay and M. and Mme. 
Pavloff. Count Mérner, speaking in German, 
proposed the health of M. Pavloff; Professor 
Petterson, in English, proposed the health of 
Sir William Ramsay; and Professor Hassel- 
berg, in Latin, that of Lord Rayleigh. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

Ar the meeting of the American Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science held at 
Philadelphia last week, Professor C. M. Wood- 
ward, of Washington University, was elected 
president for the New Orleans meeting. 

Av the recent Philadelphia meeting of the 
American Society of Naturalists, Professor 
William James, of Harvard University, was 
elected president. Professor Chas. B. Daven- 
port, of the Cold Spring Laboratory of Experi- 
mental Evolution of the Carnegie Institution, 
and Professor J. M. Coulter, of the University 
of Chicago, were elected vice-presidents, and 
Professor W. E. Castle, of Harvard University, 
secretary. 

Proressor Mary Wurron Calkins of Welles- 
ley College, has been elected president and Mr. 
Wm. Harper Davis, of Lehigh University, 
secretary, of the American Psychological Asso- 
ciation. 

Proressor JoHN Dewey, of Columbia Uni- 
versity, has been elected president of the Amer- 
ican Philosophical Association. 

Proressor S. W. BurnHAM, astronomer at 
the Yerkes Observatory, has been awarded the 
Lalande gold medal of the French Academy of 
Sciences for his researches in astronomy. 

Prorressor Svante ARRHENIUS has been 
made head of a laboratory for physical chem- 


38 SCIENCE. 


istry, to be established at Stockholm by the 
Nobel Institute. 

Proressor E. E. Barnarp, of Yerkes Ob- 
servatory, will join Professor George E. Hale 
at the branch of the observatory on Mt. Wil- 
son, Cal. He will take with him the Bruce 
10-inch photographic telescope and will spend 
the rest of the winter and next summer in 
making photographs of the sun. 

M. Virrte has been elected a member of the 
Paris Academy of Sciences in the Section of 
Mechanics, and M. Dastre a member in the 
Section of Medicine and Surgery. 

Proressor TANMANN, of Gottingen, has re- 
ceived from the German Society of Engineers 
the sum of 5,000 Marks for experiments on 
the melting point of alloys. 

THE superintendent of government labora- 
tories for the Philippines, Dr. Paul C. Freer, 
formerly professor of chemistry at the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, is at present in the 
United States on a leave of absence. 

Mr. Grorce V. Nasu and Mr. Norman 
Taylor returned late in December to the New 
York Botanical Garden from an exploring 
tour around the island of Inagua in the Ba- 
hamas. The expedition secured a valuable 
collection of living and preserved plants, in- 
cluding many massive specimens of the few 
cacti native to the island. 

Dr. C. Hart Merriam, chief of the Biolog- 
ical Survey of the Department of Agriculture, 
lectured at Stanford University on December 
15. He has since returned to Washington. 

Mr. Cuartes F. Lummis, of Los Angeles, 
Cal., lectured before the New York Society 
of the Archeological Institute of America on 
December 22, his subject being ‘ The Primitive 
Music of the Southwest.’ : 

Lorp Rayxetcu delivered a lecture at the 
Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, on December 
13, on ‘ The Density of Gases.’ 

A wrxpow in the cathedral at Norwich in 
memory of the late William Cadge, an 
eminent surgeon of the city, was unveiled on 
December 6, by the president of the Royal 
College of Surgeons. 

Mr. Evucenr G. Briackrorp, of Brooklyn, 
a fish merchant who made many contributions 


[N.S. Vou. XXf£. No. 523. 


to ichthyology and did much to promote its 
study, died on December 28, at the age of 
sixty-five years. 

Mr. Francis H. Nicnotas, a newspaper 
correspondent of New York City, has died in 
Tibet, where he was making explorations. 

WE regret also to record the deaths of M. 
Bernard Renault, assistant in paleontology in 
the Paris Museum of Natural History, at the 
age of sixty-eight years; of Dr. IL N. 
Goroschankin, professor of botany at Moscow 
at the age of sixty years; of M. André Lefévre, 
professor of ethnology at Paris School of 
Anthropology at the age of seventy years, and 
of Dr. Karl Koester, professor of pathology 
at Bonn. 

Mr. Ropert H. Sayre, president of the 
Board of Trustees of Lehigh University, has 
presented the institution with an annex to the 
Sayre Observatory founded by him in 1860. 
The building, designed by Professor C. L. 
Thornburg, contains a zenith telescope, made 
by Warner and Swasey and presented to the 
university by Mr. Sayre. 

One of the most valuable contributions of 
scientific material yet made to the New York 
Botanical Garden has recently been received 
from Sir William Dyer, director of the Royal 
Gardens at Kew, England, consisting of many 
thousand herbarium and museum specimens 
of lichens, duplicates from the famous lichen 
herbarium formed by the Rev. W. A. Leighton, 
of Luciefelde, Shrewsbury, and presented by 
him to the Royal Gardens in 1882. 

Tue British Medical Journal states that at 
a sitting of the Paris Académie de Medécine 
held on December 14 the names of the suc- 
cessful candidates for the various prizes of- 
fered for medical researches of one kind or 
another were announced. The Audiffred prize 
of £960 for the best work on tuberculosis was 
not awarded, but sums varying from £60 to 
£20 were given, by way of encouragement, to 
Dr. Armand Delille, of Paris, for an investi- 
gation of the part played by the poisons gen- 
erated by Koch’s bacillus in tuberculous men- 
ingitis and tuberculosis of the nerve centers; 
to Dr. Nattan-Laurier, of Paris, for a research 
on mammary tuberculosis; to Dr. Pautrier, 


JANnuaARY 6, 1905.] 


of Paris, for one on atypical forms of cutane- 
ous tuberculosis; and to Dr. Lalesque, of 
Arachon, for a memoir on the sea and con- 
sumptives. The Baillarger prize for £80 for 
researches on mental diseases was awarded to 
Dr. Paul Sérieux for a series of reports on the 
treatment of insanity and the organization of 
asylums. The Adrien-Buisson prize of £420 
was awarded to MM. E. Leclainche, professor 
in the Veterinary School of Toulouse, and H. 
Vallée, professor in the Veterinary School of 
Alfort, for researches on symptomatic anthrax 
and gangrenous septicemia. The Campbell- 
Dupierris prize of £92 was awarded to Dr. J. 
Tissot, of Paris, for an experimental investi- 
gation on the exchange of gases in the arterial 
blood, the ventilation of the lungs, and arterial 
pressure during chloroform anzsthesia. The 
Daudet prize of £40 was awarded to Professor 
Monprofit of Angers for a memoir on tumors; 
to the same surgeon also fell the Huguier 
surgical prize of £120 for essays on the sur- 
gery of the ovaries and Fallopian tubes, and 
on salpingitis and ovaritis. The Theodore 
Herpin (de Genéve) prize of £120 was award- 
ed to Drs. P. E. Launois and Pierre Roy, of 
Paris, for a biological study of giants. The 
Jacquemier obstetrical prize of £68 was award- 
ed to Dr. Bouchacourt, of Paris, for a series 
of memoirs on the applications of radiography 
to midwifery; while Dr. Briquet, of Nancy, 
gained the Tarnier prize of £120 for a work 
on tumors of the placenta. The Laborie sur- 
gical prize of £120 was awarded to Drs. J. 
Hennequy and R. Loewy, of Paris, for a mono- 
graph on the treatment of fractures of the 
long bones. The Louis prize of £120 was 
awarded to Dr. Victor Balthazar, of Paris, 
for a memoir on the serumtherapy of typhoid 
fever, and the Saintour prize of £172 to Drs. 
Fernand Bezancon and Marcel Labbé for a 
treatise on hematology. A considerable num- 
ber of prizes of smaller value was awarded to 
various competitors. 

We learn from the British Medical Journal 
that Professor Koch expected to start on a 
new expedition of scientific exploration on 
December 17. He will first proceed to Dar 
es Salam in German West Africa for the 
purpose of completing the researches on cattle 


SCIENCE. 39 


plague begun by him in South Africa. These 
investigations were directed to purely prac- 
tical objects, while questions of importance 
from the scientific point of view had to be left 
untouched. These questions will now in the 
first instance engage Professor Koch’s atten- 
tion, but he will also study other tropical dis- 
eases affecting animals and man. As occasion 
arises he will go to other places suitable for 
purposes of research. Professor Koch esti- 
mates that he will be away six months. On 
December 11 a dinner was given by a com- 
mittee formed to celebrate the completion of 
his sixtieth year. 

Tue report of the Meteorological Council 
for the year ending March 31, 1904, to the 
president and council of the Royal Society 
has been issued as a Blue-book. According to 
an abstract in the London Times it is stated 
at the outset that a meeting of the Interna- 
tional Meteorological Committee was held at 
Southport during the session of the British 
Association at that place. Among the sub- 
jects then raised was the very important ques- 
tion of the units adopted in different countries 
for meteorological measurements. In the 
United Kingdom, its colonies and depend- 
encies, and in the United States the inch and 
the Fahrenheit degree have always been used 
for the measurement of pressure and tempera- 
ture, whereas in the rest of the world the 
millimeter and the centigrade degree have 
been adopted. The council state that if they 
can obtain a satisfactory consensus of opinion 
as to the method of measurement which will 
probably commend itself to the approval of 
all civilized countries, they are prepared to 
give effect to proposals for the adoption of 
that method in this country without delay. 
After discussing other matters dealt with by 
the international committee, such as the re- 
port of the sub-committee on cloud observa- 
tions and the relation between solar and ter- 
restrial changes, the council proceed to state 
that the office has been in communication 
with the Deutsche-Seewarte and the Meteor- 
ological Institute of the Netherlands with re- 
gard to the 7 a.m. service of telegraphic re- 
ports. In order to obtain reports at that hour 
from the east coast of England, a special sta- 


40 SCIENCE. 


tion was established at Skegness. Reports 
have also been obtained from Portland Bill, 
and Malin Head has taken the place of Black- 
sod Point. <A station was still required, how- 
ever, on the south coast of Ireland to complete 
the requirements of the two continental offices. 
In other respects the arrangements for weath- 
er telegrams between this country and the con- 
tinent of Europe, the Azores and the United 
States remained the same as in the preceding 
year. The council regret that the practical 
extension of wireless telegraphy has not en- 
abled them to increase the area of observation 
to the westward by information obtained from 
Atlantic liners by that means. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


Lorp RayLeicH proposes to present to Cam- 
bridge University the value of the Nobel prize 
for physics which has just been awarded to 
him. 


Tue secretary of the University College of 
North Wales has announced that the recent 
bequest to the college by the late Dr. Isaac 
Roberts, the astronomer, is expected to realize 
£15,000. 

Tue University of Edinburgh has received 
a gift of £25,000 from Sir Donald Currie for 
the establishment of lectureships. £5,000 may, 
however, be used for the purchase of a site for 
new laboratories. The university has also re- 
ceived £15,000 from other sources. 


Iy accordance with the will of George 
Smith, 53, of St. Louis, filed in March, 1902, 
the treasurer of Harvard University has re- 
ceived in cash and securities a payment of 
$257,550.66. When this fund reaches $450,000 
by accumulation, three new dormitories are to 
be erected. They will be named the James 
Smith Hall, the Persis Smith Hall, and the 
George Smith Hall. 


Ir is reported that general plans for the 
new Yale library to be built from the Ross 
legacy of $250,000 are definitely settled. The 
Chittendon wing will be preserved, and the 
first part of the new library will probably be 
built between that wing and the present old 
university library, which will thus be pre- 
served for some years. The new structure 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 523. 


will probably use up the whole legacy of $250,- 
000, and will supply all university library 
needs for twenty-five years to come. 


Hots Hau, the oldest dormitory of Har- 
vard University in use, was damaged by fire to 
the extent of $5,000 on December 29. 


Tue Columbia University Council has au- 
thorized the degree of graduate in pharmacy 
to be conferred, as in the past, by the New 
York College of Pharmacy, but has provided 
for the establishment of a course of higher 
grade leading to the degree of pharmaceutical 
chemist. 


A scHoou of veterinary medicine and sur- 
gery was opened at the University of Liverpool 
on December 13. 


Tue Association of American Universities 
will meet at Johns Hopkins University, in 
Baltimore, on January 12, 13 and 14. The 
following are the delegates: California, Pro- 
fessor B. I. Wheeler, Professor Irving String- 
ham, Professor Leuschner; Catholic, Dr. E. 
A. Pace, Dr. M. F. Egan; Chicago, President 
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Monroe Smith, Professor W. H. Carpenter, 
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Thomas F. Crane; Harvard, President C. W. 
Eliot, Dean J. B. Ames, Professor T. N. 
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land Stanford, Jr., Professor A. H. Suzzallo, 
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fessor A. C. McLaughlin; Pennsylvania, Dean 
J. H. Penniman, Professor J. C. Rolfe, Dean 
Clarence G. Childs; Princeton, Professor A. 
F. West, Professor W. M. Daniels, Professor 
H. B. Pine; Virginia, Dean J. M. Page, Presi- 
dent E. A. Alderman; Wisconsin, President 
Charles R. van Hise; Yale, President A. T. 
Hadley. 

Joun Rosert Sr, assistant professor of 
mathematics in the College of the City of 
New York, has been made head of the de- 
partment of pure mathematics. 


Dr. Oskar Breretp, professor of botany at 
Breslau, has retired from active service. 


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A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 
OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 


FrIpAy, JANUARY 13, 1905. 


CONTENTS: 
Academic Ideals: Proressor R. S. Woopwarp 41 


The American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science :— 

The Present State of Geodesy: 

DINTEHATERTUANN IN Ome wre steyote) creer yoke harrosderaise ates delet a as 46 


Future Developments in Physical Chem- 
istry: PROFESSOR WILDER D. BANCROFT.... 50 


EC PORUS Of OC OMUIMULECES sar. <)- )e © ea ciels ie asi « » 69 


Scientific Books :— 
Granville on the Differential and Integral 


Calculus: PRoressoR JAMES  PIERPONT. 
Venable on the Study of the Atom: HK. T. 
ANUIDIBINE aye, Eich ORE ORG EN Oe MERCH ERE ean eee 64 


Societies and Academies :— 
Section of Geology and Mineralogy of the 
New York Academy of Sciences: PRorESSOR 
JAMES F. Kemp, Dr. E. O. Hovey. The 
Philosophical Society of Washington: 
CHARLES K. Wrap. Michigan Ornitholog- 
RCAC UO: Aa Wie BLATNG RRs «aie scracs ss 66 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Interesting and Important Facts: G. K. 
GILBERT. Specialization, Ignorance and 
Some Supposed Palliatives: Dr. FRANCIS 


B. Sumner. Ultra-Violet Light in Photo- 
microscopy: Dr. CtLirrorp RICHARDSON. 


How does Anopheles Bite? PRoressor JOHN 
iB). /SIRUTEC “ash enone Gable Once Coa ek ene 68 


Special Articles :— 
Discussion in the British Parliament on the 
Metric Bill: Witt1aM H. SEAMAN........ 72 


Current Notes on Meteorology :— 
Temperatures in the Free Air; Bad Weather, 
Good Roads and Farmers ; Monthly Weather 
Review; No Secular Change of Climate in 
Tripoli; Climatic Changes in the Lake 
Chad Region; Kite Meteorology over Lake 
Constance: Proressor R. DEC. Warp..... 75 


First Observations with ‘ Ballons-Sondes’ in 


AVGUGIRIOUE. scxchhee HOCERS EeCRC IRD Oot ROR CIE EI eRe 76 
Scientific Notes and News................. UT 
University and Educational News.......... 80 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScreNcr, Garri- 
son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


ACADEMIC IDEALS.* 


Tue beginning of an academic year calls 
up at once the lighter thoughts of pleasing 
associations and the graver thoughts of in- 
spiring obligations. Here on the table- 
land of intellectual life youth and age 
meet to labor for a season in the fields of 
knowledge and discovery. The confident 
optimism of youth seeks to be chastened 
by the gentle admonition of experience. 
Youth imparts its buoyancy to age, age im- 
parts its wisdom to youth, and both are 
kindled by the glow of elevating aspira- 
tions. It is a time, therefore, for a blend- 
ing of our lighter and our graver reflec- 
tions. 

Being delegated for the moment to speak 
to and for this academic body, it has seemed 
that some considerations on academic ideals 
might serve to awaken thought and to 
arouse zeal appropriate to the occasion. ° 
In the abstract, however, this would appear 
to be a delicate and a difficult subject; 
delicate because of diversity of sentiment, 
and difficult because of diversity of judg- 
ment, amongst those best qualified to 
speak, as to what academic ideals are, or as 
to what they should be. Hence it may 
seem fitting at the outset to suggest appli- 
cation to the views here set forth of the 
Soeratic caution that they ean hardly be 
exactly as represented, if not the more 
sweeping caution of Mareus Aurelius— 
‘Remember that all is opinion.’ But the 
delicacy and the difficulty of the subject 


* Address read on the occasion of the opening 
exercises of Columbia University, September 28, 
1904. 


42 SCIENCE. 


are probably more apparent than real to 
us; for this is a university assembly, and 
it is one of the highest functions of a uni- 
versity to examine the various aspects of 
debatable questions without suppression of 
eandor and without loss of humor. 

The typical American university of our 
time is a complex organization which has 
erown up rapidly from the typical Amer- 
ican college of a half century ago. It has 
its undergraduate, its professional and its 
post-graduate schools, as we see them in 
Columbia University to-day. It has a 
heterogeneous aggregate of students ani- 
mated: by a great variety of aims and pur- 
poses. Its curricula embrace courses of 
study and research quite unknown to the 
educated public of thirty or forty years 
ago; and its degrees recognize professions 
quite unheard of before the middle of the 
nineteenth century. Moreover, the modern 
American university has broken to a large 
extent with custom and tradition. It is 
an institution characterized by intellectual 
agitation, by adjustment and readjustment, 
by construction and reconstruction, the end 
of which is not yet in sight. This complex 
organization is the resultant of the more 
or less conflicting educational activities of 
It is a resultant due in part 
to world-wide influences; it expresses a 
generalized academic ideal. 

Whatever may be our inherited prej- 
udices or our calmer judgments, the attain- 
ment of this ideal must be regarded as a 
remarkable achievement. Here, for ex- 
ample, in this institution, we find all kinds 
of subjects of study, from the most ancient 
to the most modern, from the most prac- 
tical to the most theoretical, from the most 
empirical to the most scientific, from the 
most materialistic to the most spiritualistie, 
all on a plane of intellectual equality and 
all equally available to those fitted to pur- 
sue them. Little surprise is manifested at 
the close juxtaposition of a professor of 


our times. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 524. 


metallurgy and a professor of metaphysics, 
and it has actually been demonstrated that 
professors of poetry and professors of 
physics can dwell in peaceful activity un- 
der the same roof. Here too the ten or a 
dozen faculties and the various student 
bodies mingle and intermingle in a spirit 
of cooperation and mutual regard almost 
unknown outside, and hitherto little known 


‘within, the academic world. 


The mere atmosphere, then, of a modern 
university must energize and elevate all 
those who come within its influence. But 
the domain of this atmosphere is not 
bounded by academic walls. It is not a 
limited medium within, but is actually a 
part of, the unlimited medium of the intel- 
lectual world; for the modern university 
has broken also with custom and tradition 
in allying itself closely with the external 
world of thought. Through interaction of 
the intramural and the extramural spheres 
of thought the instructor and the student 
are kept face to face with the vantage 
ground of contemporary life, whence they 
may look forward as well as backward. 

The modern university is an institution 
of learning in the full sense of the word; 
an institution wherein instructors teach 
students, and wherein, reciprocally, to a 
very important degree, students teach in- 
structors; for that instructor is fossilized 
who does not learn more per year from his 
students, if they are worthy of the name, 
than they learn from him. Together they 
work diligently not only to become ac- 
quainted with the known, but still more 
diligently to penetrate the secrets of the 
unknown. Among them there is a senti- 
ment that condemns alike the instructor 
who would impart knowledge by the meth- 
od of the rotary calabash, and the student 
who, with saturnine stolidity, would ab- 
sorb only the information poured into his 
ears. Dwelling thus at a university, not 
apart from, but actually in, the world of 


_—— 


LOLCat I Ey. a a ca he 


7) ee 


icc eieeletenineinaldteenttee ee Eee ee 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


contemporary thought, students may best 
fit themselves for the- world of contempo- 
rary life; and while they may justly esteem 
it a great privilege to graduate from an 
historie college, or from a professional 
school of international reputation, they 
should esteem it a far higher privilege to 
eraduate from a great university. 

It should be observed also that the re- 
sultant ideal which has been attained in 
our best universities is not fixed but pro- 
eressive, not inflexible but subject to im- 
provement. It is a development whose 
sources are seen in the earliest civilizations, 
whose growth was dimly perceived during 
the middle ages, and whose conscious ap- 
preciation is a realization of the century 
just past. The method which characterizes 
this development is the method of science. 
It dates essentially from the epoch of Gali- 
leo and Huygens. It rose to a maximum 
of brillianey in its interpretation of ma- 
terial phenomena during the epoch of New- 
ton and Leibnitz, and during the epoch of 
Laplace and Lavoisier; and it has recently 
illuminated: a new domain through the 
labors of Darwin and Spencer. Galileo, 
Newton and Laplace gave us a system of 
the inorganic world; Darwin and Spencer 
have given us a system which includes the 
organic world as well. 

The method of science has permeated all 
regions of thought and animated all of the 
commercial, industrial, political, social and 
religious activities of men. Whether we 
welcome it, deplore it, or indifferently ac- 
quiesce in it, the fact seems undeniable 
that the method of science and the doctrine 
of evolution are the most effective sources 
of the intellectual enterprise of our day. 
Through anthropology this method and this 
doctrine have given a transcendent interest 
to the study of man; for they show that 
man may not only investigate the rest of 
the universe, but that he may, by the same 
means, investigate himself. Consciously or 


SCIENCE. 43 


unconsciously, the terminology, the figures 
of speech and the modes of thought of sci- 
ence are being applied to all subjects and 
objects of human concern. They have 
penetrated the depths and the darkness 
even of the polite literature of our times. 

But while the ideal thus outlined appears 
to be the effective, or working, ideal at 
which we have arrived, it goes without say- 
ing that it is not the only ideal entertained 
by those whose opinions on academic ques- 
tions are worthy of regard. On the con- 
trary, many eminent minds deplore present 
tendencies and write and speak regretfully 
of the vanishing ideals of the past. Grave 
publicists, accomplished men of letters and 
subtle philosophers see little but danger in 
the educational readjustments of recent 
times. They deplore especially the decline 
in popularity of those ancient studies long 
called the humanities and the contempo- 
rary rise and increasing recognition of the 
newer studies. Culture, they seem to 
claim, comes inevitably through the pur- 
suit of the former, never through pursuit 
of the latter. They go so far in some cases 
as to decide at what point the study of a 
subject ceases to be liberal and begins to 
be illiberal, or professional. Give a student 
by the ancient formula, their facile editors 
say, that modicum of learning which would 
otherwise be dangerous, stamp him with the 
degree of A.B., and he becomes an aristo- 
erat. They take a gloomy view of the rest- 
less present and they are little hopeful of 
the future; for they hint darkly of ‘the 
bankruptey of science’ and of disasters im- 
pending if we do not return to ancient 
ideals. 

Argument concerning these matters is 
fruitless. Logie avails as little in an edu- 
eational campaign as political economy 
avails in a presidential campaign. Appeal 
must be had to our sense of humor and to 
the arbitrament of time. It may be ob- 
served, however, that these apostles of 


44 SCIENCE. 


doubt and prophets of evil are slowly dis- 
appearing. They are more numerous out- 
side than inside academic walls, they are 
less strenuous in large than in small col- 
leges, and they are no longer dominant in 
the best universities. From a philosophic 
point of view they illustrate the action of 
a most interesting and usually beneficial 
sociological prine:ple. When consciously 
applied this principle may be called the law 
of rational conservatism. When uncon- 
sciously apphed it may be called, in anal- 
ogy with a great physical principle, the 
law of conservation of ignorance. It is so 
much more important for society to protect 
itself against the follies of the unwise than 
it is to profit by the improvements of the 
wise, that progress comes, generally, only 
painfully slowly. May we not entertain 
the hypothesis that the contemporary op- 
ponents of educational reforms have been 
animated towards them rather uncon- 
sciously than consciously? Having drunk 
deeply at certain fountains of learning, 
they appear to be sure that there are no 
others. They seem to have been, and to 
be, always reeeding. For more than a 
thousand years, in fact, the gaze of most 
scholars has been fixed so steadfastly on 


the glories of the past that it has been pos- 


sible to advance only by marching back- 
wards. 

Through the unconscious action of the 
law of the conservation of ignorance we 
are always in danger of disproportionate 
estimates of educational values and of er- 
roneous judgments in the larger affairs of 
life. We involuntarily revert to precedent, 
commending what is old, condemning what 
Thus, to give a concrete illustra- 
tion, fear and panic would be visible in our 
faces if we did not understand the mythical 
significance of the names Phobos and Dei- 
mos lately applied to the moons of the 
planet Mars; but very few of us would be- 
tray the slightest mental disquietude at our 


is new. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


profound lack of knowledge of the prop- 
erties of the atmosphere which is the me- 
dium of communication between you and 
me in this room. Thus, also, in spite of 
the obvious aphorism that all men are hu- 
man, they have been divided into human- 
ists and non-humanists, Matthew Arnold, 
for example, being one of the former, and 
the founder of our John Tyndall Fellow- 
ship being one of the latter. And stranger 
still, one might infer from the slowness of 
legal and constitutional reforms, and from 
many current arguments opposed thereto, 
that laws and constitutions are not made 
by men for men, but that, in some mys- 
terious way, men are merely experimental 
material for the training of crafty lawyers 
and sagacious politicians. 

But we have broken irrevocably with the 
past; not in the sense of disregarding the 
rich heritage of experience from our dis- 
tinguished predecessors, but in the sense 
that their customs and traditions no longer 
dominate us. We have corrected their 
observations for geocentric parallax; and 
we must now correct their observations for 
anthropocentrie parallax, just as our suc- 
cessors, if they prove progressive, will 
surely correct our blunders and avoid our 
errors. The need of corrections for an- 
thropocentric parallax in educational af- 
fairs is now widely recognized. It leads 
to the investigations of Mosely Commis- 
sions, to the conferences of the Association 
of American Universities, and to the broad- 
er conferences of world’s fair congresses. 
It is the chief source of the educational 
activities of our day. In these activities 
are to be seen the most hopeful signs of 
the times; for while agitation does not 
necessarily mean progress, serene content- 
ment is pretty certain to mean stagnation, 
if not regress. 

And the readjustment now going on in 
the academic world must continue. It isa 
part, simply, of the readjustment going on 


ee ee aL ae 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


in the intellectual world at large. We are, 
so to speak, in a state of unstable equilib- 
rium, wherein mental repose can be pur- 
chased only at the price of mental somno- 
lence. Great as have been the enlargement 
and the appreciation of educational and 
professional opportunities during the past 
three or four decades, we may confidently 
anticipate still wider enlargement and ap- 
preciation in the future. New divisions 
of knowledge may be expected to arise, and 
old divisions may be expected to undergo 
marked expansion, redistribution or 
emendation. The so-called humanities, 
especially, must be broadened, purified and 
elevated if possible to the intellectual level 
of the more highly developed sciences. It 
is clear, indeed, that in any revision of the 
humanities some matters may be redis- 
tributed, if not discarded, with advantage. 
The reckless amours and the clandestine 
peceadilloes of ancient and modern royalty, 
for example, should be transferred from 
the historian and the novelist to the anthro- 
pologist, the alienist and the pathologist. 
Such humanities, and many others of like 
kind, can hardly stand in comparison with 
the constancy of the stars and the beauties 
of harmonic analysis. 

All these matters of controversy, how- 
ever, belong rather to the lower than to 
the higher life of a university. How a 
student acquires elementary training is an 
academic question in the narrower sense of 
the word. The world cares little for edu- 
cational ways and means unless they can 
commend themselves by results. Attain- 
ments must be tested by achievements and 
proficiency must be proved by progress. 
To rise to this standard of excellence is 
the ideal of the higher life of a university. 
It is only by the pursuit of, and in the real- 
ization of, this ideal, that instructors and 
students may keep pace with and contribute 
adequately to the advancement of modern 
knowledge. Those who would separate 


SCIENCE. 45 


theory from practice, those who would 
draw lines of invidious distinction between 
pure and applied science, along with those 
who would mistake a part of archeology 
for the whole of education, are all alike 
inimical to the trend of current progress. 

It is the highest function of a university 
to cherish this ideal and to promote espe- 
cially the arduous labors essential to fruit- 
ful original research. Those who ean add 
somewhat to the sum and substance of per- 
manent knowledge by the establishment of 
a physical, a social, an esthetic or an 
ethical principle, are the greatest benefac- 
tors of our race. Of the many who feel 
drawn to this high calling, however, few 
are destined for fame. Only those who 
prefer the turmoil of conflicting thoughts 
to the tranquility of inherited opinions, 
who can bear alike the remorseless dis- 
eipline of repeated failure and the pros- 
perity of partial success, may hope to 
attain renown. But, as those serve also 
who stand resolutely and toil patiently at 
their allotted tasks, so is there room in the 
grand aggregate of human achievement for 
the humblest as well as for the noblest of 
investigators. 

The ideals, then, of a modern university, 
like the ideals of the intellectual world at 
large, contemplate achievement and prog- 
ress in all grades of work from the lowest 
to the highest. They demand endless 
patience and unflagging industry from all 
who seek to rise above the dead level of 
mediocrity. The opportunities now af- 
forded for the pursuit of, for the acquire- 
ment of, and for the advancement of, learn- 
ing are greater than ever before. We are 
the heirs of the ages. But along with an 
increasing heritage there come increasing 
duties and inereasing responsibilities. It 
rests with us to show that we are worthy of 
this heritage and able to meet these duties 
and responsibilities. -This is the line of 
endeavor we resume to-day, and the spirit 


46 SCIENCE. 


of the hour bids us look forward with cheer- 
ful optimism. 
R. S. Woopwarp. 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 
THE PRESENT STATE OF GEODESY.* 


THE problems of geodesy, like those of 
most sciences, enter upon new phases with 
the accumulation of facts bearimg upon 
them. The problem of determining the 
amount of the earth’s compression was 
added to that of determining the size of 
the supposed sphere as soon as Newton had 
demonstrated its oblateness. The contro- 
versy to which Newton’s theory gave rise 
was settled by the famous geodetic opera- 
tions of the eighteenth century which fur- 
nished the cardinal facts in regard to the 
earth’s figure and size. 

What may be regarded as the slow prog- 
ress of a more precise knowledge of the 
earth’s dimensions since that time must be 
attributed to the difficulties inherent in the 
problem. 

In the first place the dimensional meas- 
urements must necessarily be confined to 
the continental areas which occupy but 
three elevenths of the earth’s surface. The 
configuration and relationship of these 
areas make it impossible to girdle any sec- 
tion of the earth by direct measurement. 

Secondly, the admeasurement of these 
areas is far beyond the reach of individual 
enterprise and can only take place when 
the practical needs of governments suggest 
the utility of great mensurational surveys 
which at the same time and without great 
additional expense will furnish the data 
required for a more perfect knowledge of 
the spheroid. In making this statement 
it is not forgotten that individuals and 
covernments did undertake in all ages 


* Address of the vice-pres@lent and chairman of 
Section A—Mathematies and Astronomy, Amer- 
ican Association, Philadelphia, December, 1904. 


[N.S. Vou. XX]. No. 524. 


measurements for the purely scientific pur- 
pose of determining the size of the earth, 
for the desire for knowledge on this sub- 
ject may be reckoned coeval with intellee- 
tual development of man. 

Happily it may be said also that by their 
collective action the governments of the 
world have shown in recent times that it is 
considered a governmental function to sup- 
port and promote researches in this branch 
of science. I allude, of course, to the ex- 
istence of the International Geodetie Asso- 
ciation. It will not be out of place to say 
in this connection that the association exists 
by virtue of a formal convention between 
the participating governments, which are, 
at the present time, the United States, 
Japan and Mexico and all the European 
nations save Portugal, Roumania and the 
group south of the Danube No account 
of geodesy would be complete that failed 
to consider the aims and labors of this asso- 
ciation. Its history is part of the history 
of geodesy since 1861. At that time it 


’ began its career as the Mittel Europaische 


Gradmesung. In a few years it expanded 
into an European association and in 1886 
it became international. 

It is not generally known that it was this 
association which instigated the French 
government to invite the world to establish 
an international bureau of weights and 
measures at Paris. Without detracting in 
any way from the labors of Bessel, Clarke 
and others in intereomparing geodetic 
standards, the successful labors of the 
bureau which in consequence was estab- 
lished in Paris removed at least some of 
the difficulties that were encountered by 
the investigators in this branch of science, 
and by those engaged in the practical work 
of the measurement of the earth. 

The history of geodesy is full of in- 
stances of confusion and wasted energy due 
to the lack of a common standard, and the 
results of many are measures which would 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] - 


at least have great historic interest are 
utterly lost to us, because we can not make 
even a respectable guess at the units used. 
The adoption of an international unit of 
length and its necessary auxiliary, a com- 
mon thermometric scale, and the provision 
which the various governments made for 
the reference of their measuring apparatus 
to a common unit was a step of funda- 
mental importance. 

The association as such has no control 
over. the geodetic operations conducted by 
the different governments. Its function is 
to be the intermediary where cooperative 
action is needed, and to discover and point 
out along what lines the greatest need for 
information exists. 

In pursuance of these duties it has helped 
to perfect the European systems of trian- 
gulation by showing where missing links 
should be supphed, not only by measure- 
ment of angles and bases but also by addi- 
tional astronomical observations. It has 
made absolute gravity determinations with 
all the accuracy demanded by modern sci- 
ence and has caused suitable connection to 
be made by relative measures between wide- 
ly seattered pendulum base stations, and it 
has instituted unique relative gravity meas- 
ures, to which further reference will be 
made. It organized and maintains the sta- 
tions for observing the variation of lati- 
tude in regard to which it should be re- 
marked that it is the desire of the associa- 
tion to continue the observations beyond 
the year 1906, which marks the end of the 
ten-year period for which that service was 
tentatively organized. The association 
strongly desires not only to continue but 
to extend the service to the southern hemi- 
sphere and other latitudes than those now 
oceupied by the permanent stations, and to 
obtain the cooperation of suitably situated 
observatories in their endeavor to discover 
the cause of the phenomena. 

That the problem of determining the 


SCIENCE. 47 


earth’s dimensions could not be solved by 
simply measuring two ares in suitable lo- 
ealities was brought home to geometers by 
the anomalous results obtained in the eight- 
eenth century. For instance, according to 
Lindenau the combination of the two Amer- 
ican ares, Mason and Dixon’s, measured in 
1764, and that of Peru, measured a quarter 
of a century earlier, gave a value of one 
five-hundredths for the earth’s compression. 
The value derived from those measured in 
Great Britain alone was about nine times 
as great, or one fifty-fifth, while those 
made in France, considered by themselves, 
gave one one-hundred-and-fiftieth. It is 
not now important to inquire whether these 
differences are not in part due to the erudi- 
ties of the methods of measurement em- 
ployed. They were sufficiently real to 
throw doubt on the belief that the earth 
could be represented by a regular mathe- 
matical figure. Finally, the existence of 
local deflections of the vertical as affecting 
the amplitude of ares was recognized, but 
not taken into account save, perhaps, by 
arbitrary exclusion of stations showing ex- 
ceptionally large deflections. 

The method of finding an osculating 
spheroid from are measures remained in 
its essence that of taking averages of meas- 
urements reduced to the geoidal surface. 
The differences between the observed direc- 
tions of the vertical and those computed on 
an assumed spheroid of reference were 
treated as if they were accidental errors of 
observation. At the present time it is the 
aim of geodesists to assign to the deflections 
their proper place in the computations and 
to interpret them by discovering through 
them and through gravity measurements 
the manner of the distribution of masses in 
the interior of the earth. Thus geodesy is 
trenching on the domain of geophysics and 
geology. 

In India, in Europe and in the United 
States the study of these deflections is re- 


48 SCIENCE. 


celving special attention. In the last- 
named countries the junction and correla- 
tion of the triangulation, which was for- 
merly disjointed, makes it possible to take 
up the study. Similarly in this country 
the completion of the transcontinental are 
and its connection with the lake survey tri- 
angulation furnished the opportunity and 
oceasion for adopting a standard datum of 
geographical coordinates for the whole 
country. This in turn furnished the de- 
flections of the vertical referred to a com- 
mon origin of coordinates on the same 
spheroid and made it possible to begin the 
study of the form of the geoid in this coun- 
try over a very extended area. 

The investigation has so far been extend- 
ed over the eastern part of the United 
States. Here as elsewhere it was found 
that the curves of elevation of the geoid 
above the spheroid reflect perceptibly the 
visible topographic features. 

A preliminary statement of the scope of 
these investigations was recently given be- 
fore the International Geographic Congress 
by Mr. Hayford, the chief of the computing 
division of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. 
From it I quote as follows: 

The conclusion that for the eastern half of the 
United States and the adjacent portion of the 
Atlantic the theory of isostasy is true to a con- 
siderable extent is reasonably safe. The conclu- 
sion that the depth within which the isostatic 
compensation takes place is 205 miles is one 
which may be modified considerably as the inves- 
tigation proceeds. 

The investigation thus far leaves the signs of 
the corrections to the constants of the Clarke 
spheroid of 1866 uncertain. 

Mr. Hayford will give before this meet- 
ing an account of the method devised by 
him of computing the topographic correc- 
tion. The task of computing this correc- 
tion to a distance of 4,000 kilometers for 
each of say 500 stations has been rendered 
possible by this method, which is, therefore, 
referred to by me as a distinet advance in 


geodesy. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


It is hoped that the completion of the 
study of the data now available in regard 
to the deflections will serve as a guide to 
the most effective use in the future of the 
pendulum, and it is on this account largely 
that pendulum observations have been for 
the present deferred by the coast survey. 
They are, however, being actively made by 
other nations. 

A new impetus was given to relative 
gravity observations by the adoption of 
short and light pendulums in place of the 
heavy seconds’ pendulum. Aside from 
their portability, their lightness insures 
greater invariability for the knife edges, 
simplifies the task of securing uniformity 
of temperature and pressure in the metal 
cases in which they are swung, and the ease 
with which a low and constant pressure 
can be maintained in the case insures the 
continuance of the swing through so long 
a period that the errors of the chronometer 
or, other timepiece are eliminated. Thanks 
to the efforts of the International Geodetic 
Association, the widely scattered base sta- 
tions have been connected with the central 
station of the association at Potsdam, where 
a long series of absolute gravity determina- 
tions were brought to a successful conelu- 
sion two years ago. The association has 
available now the data from nearly 1,800 
stations seattered over various parts of the 
globe. A most interesting and valuable 
extension of relative gravity measures to 
the surface of the ocean was made two 
years ago. The principle upon which the 
new method depends is that if the atmos- 
pherie pressure is determined at the same 
time and place by means of a mercurial 
barometer on the one hand and by the 
temperature of the boiling point of water 
on the other, the observed height of the ba- 
rometer will be affected by gravity at the 
place, while the result by the hypsometer 
will be independent of it. According to 
Dr. Hecker, who carried out the laboratory 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


experiments as well as the actual test at 
sea, the suggestion that the two instruments 
might be used for the determination of 
differences of gravity was first published 
in 1894 by Dr. Guillaume, of the Interna- 
tional Bureau of Weights and Measures at 
Paris. Dr. Mohn, of Christiania, success- 
fully apphed the method by actual tests in 
various places in Norway for the purpose 
of determining the gravity reduction of 
the barometer for meteorological purposes. 
Doctor Hecker installed his apparatus on 
a steamship and sailed from Hamburg to 
Rio Janeiro via Lisbon, Portugal, and 
Bahia, Brazil, and returned on another 
steamer to Lisbon, making observations 
both ways. The results of his observations 
have been published and show: 

1. That the intensity of gravity on the 
Atlantic Ocean between Lisbon and Bahia 
is nearly normal, and agrees with the theo- 
retical values computed by means of the 
general formula published by Helmert in 
1901. 

2. That the difference of gravity at sea 
in shallow water and in deep water corre- 
sponds approximately to the difference of 
gravity between coast stations and inland 
stations. 

These results were submitted to the Geo- 
detic Association at the last meeting. 
Means were provided for another expedi- 
tion and last March Dr. Hecker began his 
journey, crossing the Indian Ocean and the 
Pacific by way of Melbourne and Sydney 
to San Francisco. Thence he recrossed to 
Japan and China, and we may look for- 
ward to an early statement of the results, 
which are being awaited with deep interest. 

As in the case of the pendulum already 
referred to, there has been in the last dec- 
ade a decided improvement and simplifica- 
tion in instrumental means and methods of 
work. It is only necessary to cite the in- 
troduction of tapes and wires for primary 
base measurement, the introduction of the 


SCIENCE. 49 


transit micrometer for the elimination of 
personal equation in time determinations, 
and of the leveling instrument, devised in 
the coast survey, which is making its way 
into more general use. With the use of 
the latter there has just been satisfactorily 
completed the first precise line connecting 
the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific mean sea 
levels in the coasts of the United States. 

In all countries the determination of the 
mean sea level and the establishment of so- 
called bench marks in the interior are being 
actively prosecuted as they furnish part of 
the required geodetic data. 

In beginning I referred to the measure- 
ment of continental areas. Let us see what 
has been accomplished as to the extent of 
areal measurement since Snellius intro- 
duced triangulation into geodesy 289 years 
ago. In our own hemisphere, so far as I 
am able to learn, about the three-hundredth 
part of one per cent. of the area of South 
America has been covered ; of Mexico about 
one per cent.; of the United States about 
five per cent. Geodetically the British pos- 
sessions in the western hemisphere are bar- 
ren. We may say that less than three per 
cent. of the western hemisphere has been 
triangulated. 

In the eastern hemisphere we find that 
about forty per cent. of Europe has been 
covered, but if we leave out Russia the per- 
centage rises to eighty per cent. for the 
rest of Europe. 

The triangulation of Asia is furnished 
by India and Japan, Java and Sumatra 
and amounts to about four per cent. 

Australia shows about two per cent., 
Africa about two and six tenths per cent., 
making a total for the eastern hemisphere 
of about seven per cent. 

If we exclude the north and south polar 
regions a little over six per cent. of the 
available land area has been triangulated, 
or about one and one half per cent. of the 
total surface of the globe. These figures 


50 SCIENCE. 


are accurate enough for the purpose for 
which they were compiled, that is, to show 
the relatively small area covered. There 
is, however, another side to the picture, the 
hopeful one. In South America the are 
of Peru is being remeasured and extended 
by the French government. As the work 
is being carried out with the advice of 
the most distinguished mathematicians of 
France, the results will be, in their impor- 
tance, out of all proportion to the extent 
and area involved. 

Mexico has made a brave beginning and 
is working towards a connection with an 
extension of the ninety-eighth meridian 
measurement, of which the United States 
has completed about three quarters of the 
amplitude lying in her own domains. Work 
on the Pacific coast are has been resumed 
and it has nearly been completed from San 
Diego to the Columbia River. 

Two years ago the Russians and Swedes 
jointly completed an are in Spitzbergen 
between latitudes 76° and 81°. The Euro- 
pean ares are being extended eastward by 
Russia, and one must look forward to the 
ultimate connection between the Russian 
trianeulation at Astrakhan or Orsk and 
the Indian triangulation, however improb- 
able it may seem if looked at from a po- 
litical view point. 

In Africa the work of extending the 
South African ares northward from the 
Cape towards Alexandria is well under 
way, and no doubt need be entertained that 
the British and Germans will earry it 
through. 

A general review of this part of the 
field of geodesy shows that while some 
ereat geodetic measurements have been 
completed or are approaching completion, 
new ones are being undertaken under the 
fostering care of different governments. 

Reasoning from the experience of the 
past, we may econelude that the solution of 
one problem in geodesy will disclose the 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


existence of another, and from the trend 
of the investigations of the present that 
other than purely mathematical and astro- 
nomical sciences will be advanced by the 
search for their solution. 

That the progress of the branches of 
science to which this section of our asso- 
ciation devotes itself was greatly affected 
by the problems of geodesy was pointed 
out by Humboldt in language which may 
fittingly conclude these remarks: 


Except the investigations concerning the par- 
allax of the fixed stars, which led to the discovery 
of aberration and nutation, the history of science 
presents no problem in which the object obtained— 
the knowledge of the mean compression of the 
earth and the certainty that its figure is not a 
regular one—is so far surpassed in importance 
by the incidental gain which, in the course of 
long and arduous pursuit, has accrued in the gen- 
eral cultivation and advancement of mathematical 
and astronomical knowledge. 


O. H. TirtMann. 
U. S. Coast AND GEODETIC SURVEY. 


DEVELOPMENTS 
CHEMISTRY .* 

Ir has been the custom of the retiring 
officers to discuss the development of some 
portion of that field of chemistry in which 
they were most interested. Since the 
president of the American Chemical So- 
ciety will speak on physical chemistry to- 
morrow night, it has seemed to me that I 
might break with tradition and discuss the 
future of physical chemistry rather than 
its present or its past. 

We have reached a eritical stage in the 
development of the electrolytic dissociation 
theory. The work of Kahlenberg has 
shown that there are a number of facts 
which we did not anticipate and which we 
ean not explain satisfactorily at the pres- 
ent time. The recent experiments of Noyes 
show that the dilution law does not hold 
for any strong electrolyte and that the 


FUTURE IN PHYSICAL 


* Address of the vice-president and chairman of 
Section C—Chemistry, Philadelphia, 1904. 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


sanie empirical equation describes the be- 
havior of binary and of ternary electro- 
lytes. This last fact appears to be fatal 
to all explanations based on the assumption 
that electrostatic effects are the disturbing 
factors. While the mutual attraction or 
repulsion of two ions or of three ions may 
easily change the dissociation formula for 
a binary or a ternary electrolyfe, it is very 
improbable that the changes will be such 
as to make two radically different formulas 
identical. Of course, the hypothesis of 
hydrated ions gives us some leeway but 
the outlook is not what it was five years 
ago. It is too soon yet to say whether we 
are merely to remodel the electrolytic dis- 
sociation theory or whether we are to re- 
place it by something else. My own opin- 
ion is that reform is what is needed and not 
revolution. It is evident, however, that 
we have gone ahead too fast and that we 
must test more thoroughly the premises on 
which our conclusions are based. We know 
of one error. The proportionality between 
molecular weight and osmotie pressure 
holds only for the cases in which the heat 
of dilution is zero. This is stated clearly 
in van’t Hoff’s original deduction of the 
van’t Hoff-Raoult formula n/N —log 
p/p,, but has been pretty generally over- 
looked. Since the heat of dilution is rarely 
zero in any actual case, our deductions as 
to the molecular weights of solutes are 
always somewhat in error. In the ease of 
the metals of the alkalies and the alkaline 
earths dissolved in mereury, the lowering 
of the vapor-pressure due to the heat of 
dilution is practically equal to that due 
to the molecular weight, and we therefore 
have the surprising result that the appar- 
ent molecular weight is only about one 
haif the atomie weight. One of the first 
things we have to do is to eliminate this 
source of error in all eases. 

Another distressing feature in the quan- 
titative physical chemistry of to-day is that 


SCIENCE. 51 


the field which. it covers is daily growing 
less. A tenth-normal solution is now con- 
sidered a concentrated one, and some people 
are so extreme as to maintain that we can 
not expect agreement between theory and 
experiment for anything except infinitely 
dilute solutions. To my mind a theory 
which holds only for infinite dilution is 
necessarily wrong. Here again one prob- 
able source of error is easy to find. The 
van’t Hoff-Raoult formula is deduced on 
the expleit assumption that there is no 
specifie attraction between solvent and 
solute. If this assumption is wrong, it is 
reasonable to suppose that the error thus 
introduced would become less as the con- 
centration approaches zero. Under these 
circumstances the van’t Hoff-Raoult for- 
mula might represent the facts at infinite 
dilution without being a true formulation. 
This is the case with another well-known 
and important formula. The Helmholtz 
and the Nernst equations, for the electro- 
motive foree of concentration cells are 
identical for infinitely dilute solutions and 
for these only. The Nernst equation 
ignores the coneentration of the undis- 
sociated salt, while the Helmholtz formula- 
tion does not. The two equations become 
identical at the moment when the concen- 
tration of the undissociated salt and the 
disturbing factor due to it become zero, 
that is, at infinite dilution. Since the 
Helmholtz formula applies to all concen- 
trations, the Nernst formula is necessarily 
only approximately accurate. This has 
been recognized explicitly by Planck, 
though the point is often overlooked. It 
is quite conceivable that the shortcomings 
of the van’t Hoff-Raoult formula may be 
due in part to theoretical inaccuracies and 
that we have laid too much stress on ‘vari- 
ations from the gas laws.’ 

If we introduce the conception of a 
specifie affinity between solvent and solute 
in certain eases, notably those in which the 


52 SCIENCE. 


heat of dilution is marked, we combine all 
of what has stood the test with what is 
good in Kahlenberg’s conceptions and I 
believe that we are nearly ready to take a 
long step forward. One point must be kept 
in mind, however. Raoult’s experiments 
preceded his formula. Before we can 
hope to work out a satisfactory theory of 
concentrated solutions, we must have ac- 
curate measurements on concentrated solu- 
tions and at present we have practically 
none. We need experiments at constant 
temperature on the compositions of co- 
existent liquid and vapor phases for binary 
systems with one volatile component and 
with two volatile components. These 
measurements are not easy to make and 
that is one reason why they have not been 
made. We have measured boiling-points 
and freezing-points because they are easy 
to measure; but for a theory of concen- 
trated solutions the value of such measure- 
ments is very small. This is because 
we are then measuring the combined effect 
of the change of the pressure with con- 
centration and with temperature, whereas 
we ought to study the two separately. Fur- 
ther, if we are to express our results in 
volume concentrations we must give the 
volume concentrations of both components. 
It would be absurd to pass from dilute to 
syrupy solutions of sugar, for instance, and 
to treat the concentration of the water as 
constant. Personally, I believe that the 
theory of concentrated solutions is rela- 
tively simple and that the difficulties have 
been chiefly of our own making. My own 
experience with ternary mixtures confirms 
me in this view. In developing a theory 
of concentrated solutions we must also keep 
in mind the actual properties of the com- 
ponents, a thing which we have not done 
in the past. Thus the dissociation equa- 
tion for liquid chloral hydrate can not be 
the same as that for liquid chloral aleohol- 
ate because chloral is miscible in all pro- 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


portions with alcohol and forms two liquid 
layers with water. This is a perfectly 
obvious fact, yet no reference to it is to 
be found in any text-book on physical 
chemistry. 

In the last ten years the work of Rooze- 
boom and others has brought the phase 
rule to the front as a basis of classification 
and as an instrument of research. The im- 
portance of the phase rule is going to in- 
crease very rapidly in the next decade. 
The study of alloys has really only just 
begun. Our knowledge of the carbon 
steels is still very incomplete and unsatis- 
factory. In fact, we know the constitution 
only of a very limited number of binary 
alloys. Nothing systematic is yet known 
about the chemical properties of alloys 
or about the conditions for electrolytic 
precipitation. The variation of the engi- 
neering properties, such as tensile strength, 
torsional resistance, ductility, ete., with 
varying concentration and varying heat 
treatment is a subject which can only be 
worked out satisfactorily with the phase 
rule as a guide. On the basis of what has 
been done it appears quite safe to predict 
that we do not yet know one half the pos- 
sibilities of our structural metals. 

Quite recently the constitution of Port- 
land cement has been established and we 
owe this result to an application of the 
phase rule. It will not be long now before 
we get much clearer ideas on the causes of 
the strength of cements and of the plas- 
ticity of the clays. The time will soon 
come in our engineering schools when the 
subject known as ‘Materials of Engineer- 
ing’ will have to be taught by the chemist 
rather than by the engineer. 

The applications of the phase rule to 
petrography will be numerous and will 
come soon. It is evident that no rational 
classification of minerals ean be possible 
until the constitution of the minerals has 
been determined. The situation in regard 


JANUARY 13, 190v.] 


to petrography is much the same to-day as 
it was in regard to alloys a few years ago 
and we may reasonably expect as satisfac- 
tory results from rocks as from metals. 
More and more people are experimenting 
with fused salts and the new geophysical 
laboratory at Washington is planning to 
study igneous rocks in the same thorough 
way that van’t Hoff studied the Stassfurt 
deposits. The problem is a difficult one 
experimentally, but it can and will be 
solved. 

The classification of electrochemistry 
under the phase rule is a problem of the 
immediate future. Some work has been 
done already, but it is confined to the dis- 
cussion of the electromotive forces of cer- 
tain reversible cells. What I mean is some- 
thing vastly wider than this, the applica- 
tion of the phase rule to all electrolytic and 
electrothermal processes. Since electro- 
chemistry is essentially chemistry, a classi- 
fication which is of fundamental impor- 
tance in chemistry must be equally neces- 
sary in electrochemistry. 

The extension of the phase rule to or- 
ganic chemistry is an achievement about 
which we like to dream, but the realization 
of it seems far off. To treat a large por- 
tion of organic chemistry as a system made 
up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen wiil 
some day be possible; but at present we are 
balked by so-called ‘passive resistances to 
change.’ Theoretically methyl ether, 
(CH,),0, and ethyl alcohol, C,H,OH, are 
two modifications of the substance C,H,O 
and they should be mutually convertible. 
Practically they are not. Only one of the 
three dibrombenzenes can theoretically be 
the stable form. Actually, we can not con- 
vert any one of them directly into either 
of the other two. 

In spite of all this there is really quite a 
mass of material waiting to be worked up. 
Reversible equilibrium between hydrogen 
and oxygen can be realized at all tempera- 


SCIENCE. 53 


tures. Reversible equilibrium between car- 
bon, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide 
is possible above 200°, while reversible 
equilibrium between carbon, methane, 
acetylene, ethane and hydrogen can be ob- 
served above 1200° without catalytic 
agents. Carbon monoxide and water re- 
act at 480° in presence of copper. Methane 
can be made from carbon monoxide and 
hydrogen at 250° in presence of nickel, 
while methyl alcohol can be changed to 
earbon monoxide and hydrogen by zine 
dust. The decomposition of alcohols into 
aldehydes, or ketones, and hydrogen is re- 
versible. Aldehydes can be changed into 
carbon monoxide and paraffines, though the 
reverse reaction has not been accomplished 
satisfactorily. Methylal and acetal are 
formed by a reversible reaction, while the 
ester formation has been studied for years. 
Formic acid decomposes into carbon mon- 
oxide and water when heated by itself, and 
into carbon dioxide and hydrogen when 
heated in presence of rhodium. Starting 
from carbon monoxide and caustic soda we 
can make sodium formate, carbonate and 
oxalate. 

As yet only a few of these reactions have 
been studied with care and we do not know 
how many of them are reversible or what 
are the temperature limits. We do not 
even know whether colloidal metals act 
more effectively than the pulverulent 
metals, although it is very probable that 
they do. While we ean not yet tell how 
far we may be able to go, it is clear that 
the attempt to apply the phase rule to 
organic chemistry opens up a most inter- 
esting field of research both as regards or- 
ganic chemistry and as regards the theory 
of catalytic agents. 

The usefulness of the phase rule in study- 
ing basic and double salts is being realized 
more and more by our friends the inor- 
ganic chemists. The recent work on the 
changing solubility of the hydroxides of 


54 SCIENCE. 


many of the metals ealls attention to a 
possibility of error which must not be over- 
looked. In all eases of hydrolysis there is 
always a possibility that equilibrium may 
not be reached in weeks or months. The 
only safe way is to reach the equilibrium 
from both sides. In this way and only in 
this way do we get any clue to the magni- 
tude of the error involved and it is only 
after we have done this that we are justified 
in assuming that a reaction is irreversible. 

The application of the phase rule to the 
fractional erystallization of rare earths 
would certainly lead to marked improve- 
ments. There are few people who could 
separate potassium and sodium chlorides 
by fractional crystallization, getting out all 
of each salt entirely pure. Even fewer 
would be able to separate potassium sul- 
phate and copper sulphate. In spite of this 
we start in cheerfully on the fractional 
erystallization of an unknown number of 
elements having unknown properties. The 
result of all this is that we reach a point 
where further separation is impossible and 
yet we do not know why. - This state of 
things is really the fault of the physical 
chemist and not of the inorganic chemist. 
It is not to be expected that the inorganic 
chemist can start in off-hand and apply 
the phase rule to the study of basic and 
double salts or of rare earths. Before this 
can be done the physical chemist must work 
out the methods and must be prepared to 
sive explicit working directions, possibly in 
the form of recipes. 

It must also be clear to you that a study 
of the conditions of existence of com- 
pounds, atomic and molecular, is a pre- 
requisite to any theory of valency, 

In the past, reactions in organic chem- 
istry have been studied by physical chem- 
ists chiefly as examples of reaction velocity. 
There are two other fields which will re- 
ceive more attention in the near future, 
namely, yields and irreversible reactions. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 524. 


The question of yields is in a very bad 
way. In Lassar-Cohn’s admirable book on 
laboratory methods in organic chemistry 
there is an enormous amount of valuable 
material; but there is really very little in 
the way of theory. Although we know 
that a reversible reaction will run to an 
end if the concentration of one of the re- 
acting substances be kept practicaily zero, 
surprisingly little use has been made of 
this principle. We know that certain re- 
actions take place better in dilute solutions 
or at low temperatures or in certain sol- 
vents, but in most cases we can not tell why. 
In the pyridine method for introducing 
acetyl or benzoyl groups the pyridine is 
said to be effective because it is a weak 
base; but it is much more probable that 
it acts as a catalytic agent. We do not 
know how far the dehydrating action of 
certain reagents is simply a question of 
vapor-pressure or how far there is a specifie 
effect due to the particular reagent. The 
action of sulphurie acid in the formation 
of ether is something more than a dehydrat- 
ing effect, and the same is true of the effect 
of zine chloride in the synthesis of ethyl 
ehJoride. 

A single instance will be sufficient to 
show the state of confusion that exists. 
Anschiitz’s method of preparing certain 
esters was to saturate the solution with 
hydrochlorie acid gas and to allow the solu- 
tion to stand overnight. Fischer improved 
on this by adding less acid and by raising 
the temperature. He boiled for two hours 
and found that the hydrochlorie acid con- 
centration could be reduced to three per 
cent. without affecting the yield. There 
the matter is left and we are led to look 
upon a three per cent. concentration as 
having special merits, whereas this is un- 
doubtedly merely a result of boiling for 
the arbitrary period of two hours. If 
Fischer had boiled for one hour only he 
would have had to use a stronger acid to 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


have reached equilibrium in the allotted 
time. If he had boiled three hours, the 
lowest permissible concentration of hydro- 
ehlorie acid would undoubtedly have been 
less than three per cent. Anschiitz, on the 
other hand, worked at ordinary tempera- 
ture and his solutions consequently needed 
more acid and more time to approximate 
to equilibrium. All of this is really first 
principles and it is only one ease out of 
many. If any one will try to classify and 
explain the results given in Lassar-Cohn’s 
book, he will find himself provided with 
enough interesting research to last him the 
rest of his natural life. 

The second field for research to which I 
have alluded is that of irreversible reac- 
tions. In inorganic chemistry there are as 
yet no well-authenticated cases where a re- 
action starts and then stops short of equi- 
librium. The results of Pélabon on hy- 
drogen and selenium and of Hélier on hy- 
drogen and oxygen have heen disputed by 
Bodenstein and must for the present be 
considered as wrong. In organic chemistry 
we appear to have many such reactions, 
typical instances being the formation of 
nitro-benzene and the decomposition of al- 
dehyde into methane and carbon monoxide. 
While it is possible that these and other 
reactions run to an end in infinite time, we 
have not infinite time at our disposal, and 
it may, therefore, prove profitable to find 
out whether and how the apparent end- 
point varies with varying initial conditions. 
This work is desirable now and will become 
necessary if we should ever revise our opin- 
ions as to the theoretical possibility of an 
irreversible equilibrium. By definition we 
ean not determine the existence of an ir- 
reversible equilibrium by approaching the 
end-point from the two sides. It seems to 
me probable, however, that we ean draw 
conclusions from the reaction velocity. If 
we are dealing with a case of a theoretic- 
ally reversible reaction running practically 


SCIENCE. 55 


to an end, I can see no reason why the con- 
centration of the decomposition products 
should have any effect on the reaction ve- 
locity, so long as we confine ourselves to 
gaseous systems. If, however, we are deal- 
ing with a theoretically irreversible reac- 
tion which does not run to an end, the reae- 
tion velocity would vary with the concen- 
tration of the decomposition products. 

It should be noticed that it will not do 
to reason from the behavior of a system 
in presence of a catalytic agent to that of a 
system without a catalytic agent, since the 
catalytic agent may displace the equilib- 
rium. Thus ethyl aleohol is decomposed 
by heated copper into aldehyde and hydro- 
gen, while heated alumina changes it chiefly 
into ethylene and water. It was the study 
of organic solutes in organie solvents which 
led Raoult to the formulation of his law. 
It seems probable that a study of organic 
reactions may lead to an entirely new class 
of equilibria. If this happens it will throw 
much light on the preceding problem be- 
cause it is very difficult to explain some of 
the peculiarities in regard to yields in or- 
ganic chemistry so long as we are obliged 
to postulate reversible reactions only. 

The theorem of Le Chatelier has been 
applied chiefly to heat and work effects, 
but this is by no means the extent of its 
usefulness. Wherever we get a reversible 
displacement of equilibrium by lght, it 
must be possible to make use of this the- 
orem. The change of color of the silver 
photochlorides is in accordance with the 
theorem; but there seems to be no reverse 
change in the dark. The simplest case 
with which to. begin would appear to be the 
formation of ozone. There seems to be a 
contradiction here. Ozone is known to ab- 
sorb ultra-violet light and yet it is believed 
to be formed by the action of ultra-violet 
light. Whether we are dealing with the 
same sets of rays in the two eases is a point 
that has not been settled. In fact. we do 


56 SCIENCE. 


not know definitely whether ozone is formed 
by the action of ultra-violet light in the ab- 
sence of electrical waves, though this is a 
matter easily settled by experiment. We 
know that ozone gives out light on decom- 
posing, but we do not know anything about 
the spectrum of this light. It is quite 
probable also that we must formulate the 
theorem of Le Chatelier more exactly than 
we have hitherto done before we can apply 
it suecessfully to the phenomena of light. 
An instance based on electrical phenomena 
will show what I mean. If a voltaic cell 
be short-circuited the chemical change will 
be such as to decrease the electromotive 
force of the cell. If we do not keep the 
cell at constant temperature the Joule heat 
will cause the temperature to rise and this 
may either raise or lower the electromotive 
force of the cell. We are then really con- 
sidering two phenomena, the electrical and 
the heat effects. One may mask the other 
completely. 

In one case, at any rate, we know that 
we can apply the theorem of Le Chatelier 
to‘light phenomena. Suppose we have a 
gas enclosed in a transparent adiabatic 
vessel and concentrate upon it light of a 
wave-length that is absorbed by the gas. 
The temperature of the gas will rise and 
equilibrium will be reached when the gas 
has changed so that it no longer absorbs 
light of that particular wave-length or 
when the gas emits light of the same wave- 
length and intensity as that which is acting 
upon it. This emission by a gas at some 
temperature of the light which it absorbs 
at the same temperature is Kirchhoff’s law, 
which thus appears as a special case of 
what the chemists call the theorem of Le 
Chatelier. To be frank, I do not now see 
how we are to apply this theorem to the 
phenomenon of phosphorescence, and yet 
we are dealing with an absorption and an 
emission of light. I venture to suggest 
that it is to the application of the theorem 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


of Le Chatelier that we must look for a 
rational treatment of phosphorescence, 
fluorescence, chemiluminescence, ete., rath- 
er than to a theory of vibrating molecules. 
It will be time enough to discuss the appli- 
cation to radiations when we have solved 
the simpler problem of the theory of cold 
light. 

A discussion of equilibrium relations 
would not be complete without some refer- 
ence to the future of thermodynamics in 
chemistry. There are two radically dis- 
tinct ways of considering the relation of 
thermodynamics to chemistry. One is to 
look upon thermodynamics as a mathemat- 
ical shorthand. The aim of thermody- 
namics is then to present a consistent and 
formal treatment of the known energy re- 
lations. In this case thermodynamics deals 
with the past and not with the future; with 
the classification of knowledge and not with 
the discovery of new laws. This is the 
point of view of most mathematical chem- 
ists and it is because of this that we do not 
turn to the mathematical chemist for new 
ideas. There is another way of consider- 
ing thermodynamics, namely, as an instru- 
ment of research. It is not too much to 
say that the mathematical chemist can 
work out in a few hours or days results 
which would take his less fortunate col- 
league months or even years to obtain. At 
present the race is to the tortoise and not 
to the hare; but I can not believe that this 
will always be so. Other things being 
equal, the man who can handle his thermo- 
dynamics will beat the man who can not; 
but in order to have that take place thermo- 
dynamics must be considered as an instru- 
ment of research and not as a branch of 
metaphysics. We must confess that the 
mathematical chemistry of the past decade 
has not done what it should have done and 
that there is no immediate prospect of any 
improvement. In the meantime we do not 
despair. There are great possibilities in 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


the application of mathematics to chem- 
istry and some day they will be developed. 

So far we have considered problems in- 
volving equilibrium only. When we begin 
to study the conditions which make a reac- 
tion possible and which govern its rate, we 
are brought face to face with our need for 
a satisfactory theory of catalytic agents. 
We know experimentally the catalytic ac- 
tion of many substances on many reactions, 
but we have not even the first suggestion 
of an adequate theory. This is a subject 
of more vital importance than may appear 
at first sight. I wish to call your attention 
to two very important matters which de- 
pend directly upon catalytic agents. The 
first is the chemistry of plants. We can 
make in the laboratory many of the sub- 
stances which the plant makes. Some of 
them, such as alizarine and indigo, we can 
make more cheaply than the plant can, and 
of a higher degree of purity. As yet we 
can not make any of them in the way the 
plant does, and this gap in our knowledge 
will have to be filled by the physical chem- 
ist, as the problem apparently does not 
appeal to the organic chemist. The plant 
does not use reverse coolers or sealed tubes; 
it does not boil with sulphuric acid or fuse 
with caustic potash; it has not metallic 
sodium and chlorine gas as reagents. The 
reagents on which the plant can draw are 
air, water and a few mineral salts. As 
catalytic agents it has heat, light, difference 
of electrical potential, enzymes—and itself, 
namely, living protoplasm. From the work 
of Bredig and others we know that colloidal 
metals, the so-called inorganic ferments, 
ean be substituted for enzymes in some 
eases. As we do not yet know our limita- 
tions, it is quite possible that we can substi- 
tute inorganic catalytic agents for the en- 
zymes in all cases. If that proves to be 
true we can then duplicate everything ex- 
cept the plant itself, and we shall be ready 
to determine how closely we can duplicate 


SCIENCE. 57 


the reactions of the plant. The experi- 
ments of Sabatier and Senderens in France 
are distinctly encouraging, even though 
they do not carry us very far. By means 
of nickel powder it is possible to reduce 
acetaldehyde to aleohol with hydrogen at 
30°. This is the best result that has been 
obtained and it indicates the possibilities. 
When we get a satisfactory theory of ecata- 
lytic agents we shall undoubtedly be able 
to duplicate many of the plant syntheses 
and our failures will be interesting as 
bringing us nearer to the most difficult 
problem of all—that of life. Pending the 
development of a satisfactory theory of 
eatalytie agents, there is much to be done 
in the way of experimenting. In view of 
the fact that mixtures of two catalytic 
agents often act more intensely than would 
be expected from the behavior of each 
taken singly, it would appear advisable to 
determine the combined effects of inorganic 
ferments and ultra-violet light. 

The second problem, which would be 
easier of attack if we had a satisfactory 
theory of catalytic agents, is that of the 
transmutation of the elements. This is 
now admitted to be distinctly a scientific 
problem, though not one in which we have 
made much progress. It is usually as- 
sumed that it is a very difficult problem. 
While this may be true, we have not yet 
reached the point where we are justified in 
being certain of it. No one has ever at- 
tacked the problem systematically and all 
we can say is that the rate of change has 
been small under any conditions that we 
have yet realized. That is not surprising. 
We should naturally expect a low reaction 
velocity. The rate of change of radium is 
so slight that it could not be detected by 
any ordinary methods. The fact that we 
have never observed any transmutation of 
the elements does not prove that none has 
taken place. We had been making dia- 
monds artificially for years, even for cen- 


58 SCIENCE. 


turies, but nobody thought of looking for 
them in east iron until after Moissan made 
his experiments a few years ago. 

If we aecept Lockyer’s conclusions as 
to the state of things in the sun, we could 
undoubtedly break up many of the ele- 
ments if we could hold them long enough 
at 6000° C. One difficulty is to get the 
temperature, and of course we must be 
cautious about conclusions based on simpli- 
fied spectra. Many people have thought 
that radium was to be the catalytic agent 
which was to change all the elements; but 
the recent work of Rutherford seems to 
put an end to this idea. If radio-active 
lead, tellurium and bismuth are merely 
these elements plus the radium emanation 
or one of its decomposition products, there 
is very little evidence to show that any of 
our well-established elements are undergo- 
ing any change from contact with radio- 
active substances. 

Another possibility which has been sug- 
gested is that we could change our elements 
if we could pump energy into them and 
change their energy content. This would 
have to be done electrically if at all. I 
have been told that Stas was busy during 
the last years of his life trying to change 
sodium into something else by an electrical 
process. The difficulty is to pump energy 
into the element. Passing a heavy cur- 
rent through a metal produces no effect 
that we know of other than to raise the 
temperature. Taking the element in the 
state of gas enables us to employ a higher 
potential difference, but here the effective- 
ness of the method is limited by the appear- 
ance of the are. The first stage in the 
problem would, therefore, be the attain- 
ment of the highest possible potential dif- 
ference without causing arcing. In view 
of the remarkable insulating action of gases 
under high pressure, it seems as though 
the silent discharge through compressed 
gases were the thing to try. The difficul- 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 524. 


ties people had in proving the dissociation 
of water at high temperatures makes us 
realize the possibility that we might decom- 
pose our elements and never know it, owing 
to the recombination taking place at once. 
If we are to simplify our elements by 
pumping energy into them, it appears that 
we should work with gases under high pres- 
sure, with the highest potential difference 
compatible with the absence of sparking, 
and with some application of the principle 
of the hot-cold tube. 

While the methods of extremely high 
temperature and of high electrical stress 
have much to commend them on paper, 
they are liable to fail owing to the diffi- 
culty of attaining the proper temperature 
or the proper electrical stress. The ideal 
method would be to find a catalytic agent 
which would accelerate the rate of change 
and which would eliminate what we should 
then call the instable elements. Since 
there is no immediate prospect of our being 
able to predict the suitable catalytic agent 
and the conditions under which it is to be 
used, we must ask ourselves what is the 
scientific method of attacking the problem 
of the transmutation of the elements. 

The answer is a simple one. We must 
start with the simplest case, study that 
thoroughly, and work up gradually to the 
more difficult tasks. We should begin with 
the cases in which we know a change is 
possible and should study the allotropic 
forms of the elements. At present our 
knowledge of these is disgracefully incom- 
plete. We know a little about sulphur, 
phosphorus, carbon, selenium and tin; but 
even for these few elements our knowledge 
is incomplete and it is especially unsatis- 
factory in matters bearing on the rate of 
change. In most eases the change from 
one allotropic form to the more stable one 
is fairly slow. It is not even easy to get 
large amounts of gray tin. On the other 
hand, Saunders discovered, quite by ac- 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


cident, that there were a number of sub- 
stances, notably quinoline, which convert 
amorphous selenium into the more stable, 
black, metallic modification. It is probable 
that similar results could be obtained with 
other elements. Kastle has shown that 
the rate of change of yellow mercuric 
iodide into the red form varies enormously 
with the nature of the solvent. The first 
thing that we need is a systematic study of 
the allotropic forms of the elements, con- 
sidering reaction velocity as well as equi- 
librium. We next take up cases where the 
change from one form to another can be 
made increasingly difficult. The three 
disubstituted benzene compounds, as I have 
already said, are to be considered as dif- 
ferent modifications, only one of which can 
be stable as solid phase at any given tem- 
perature and under atmospheric pressure. 
According to the text-books o-phenol sul- 
phonie acid changes readily into p-phenol 
sulphonic acid on heating. When bromine 
acts on phenol in the cold, p-bromphenol 
is formed, while o-bromphenol is formed 
when the reaction takes place at 180°. I 
have not been able to find any record of 
the p-brom compound changing into the 
o-brom compound on heating; but the ex- 
periment is worth trying. When we come 
to the three dibrombenzenes, we have a 
case where we know that the three forms 
are identical in composition and where 
there is certainly some sort of an equi- 
librium at the time of formation because 
the relative amounts of the modifications 
ean be changed by varying the conditions 
of preparation. In spite of all this we 
know no way of converting two of these 
compounds directly into the third. We 
could undoubtedly do it if we could raise 
the temperature high enough, just as we 
could also convert the elements. It is as 
yet impossible to attain the temperature 
at which the elements change rapidly, while 
secondary reactions interfere in the case 


SCIENCE. 59 


of the organic compounds. So long as we 
can not change the two less stable forms of 
any disubstituted benzene compound into 
the most stable form, there is no reason 
why we should expect to succeed in what 
may, perhaps, be the impossible task of 
simplifying the elements. 

Summing up, the future developments 
in physical chemistry will comprise a 
theory of concentrated solutions, further 
applications of the phase rule and of the 
theorem of Le Chatelier, a systematic study 
of organic chemistry, and a theory of 
catalysis. Wiper D. BAncrort. 


REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. 


Tue following reports of committees 
were presented to the council. They were 
accepted and ordered printed: 


On the International Congress of Americanists. 


“The International Congress of Americanists 
held its fourteenth biennial meeting in Stuttgart. 
Germany, August 18-23, 1904. On June 1, 1904, 
I received a communication from you announcing 
my appointment as the representative of the 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science at this meeting. The designation was 
gladly accepted, as it had already been arranged 
that I should attend the congress on behalf of the 
Smithsonian Institution. 

I now have the honor to report that the meet- 
ing was in every way a most gratifying success 
and that the representation of the American As- 
sociation was duly recognized and published in 
the official bulletins of the congress. The attend- 
ance was largely German, but representatives 
from a dozen other countries were present and 
took an active part in the proceedings. The 
papers presented related almost exclusively to 
American history and anthropology and especially 
to South American subjects. The Germans as 
well as the French have given very great atten- 
tion to investigations on that continent. 

The next meeting of the congress is to be held 
at Quebec in August, 1906. 

Very respectfully, 
W. H. Homes. 


On Anthropometry. 


The committee beg to report that individually 
and as a committee they have been carrying on 


60 SCIENCE. 


anthropometric work during the past year. It 
was not feasible to arrange an anthropometric 
laboratory last year at St. Louis, but this year 
excellent arrangements have been made in con- 
nection with the psychological laboratory of the 
University of Pennsylvania. Measurements of 
the members of the association are being made by 
Messrs. V. A. C. Henmon, F. Bruner and G. C. 
Fracker, with the cooperation of Professor Thorn- 
dike, Dr. Woodworth and members of the com- 
mittee. The chairman of the committee is ma- 
king an extended study of American men of 
science; two papers have been published on the 
subject and there is now in press a ‘ Biographical 
Directory of American Men of Science,’ containing 
much material that can be used. We may call 
special attention to the Anthropometric and 
Psychometric Laboratory of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase Exposition, arranged by Dr. McGee, head 
of the Department of Anthropology. The labo- 
ratory, under the direction of Dr. Woodworth, as- 
sisted by Mr. Bruner, made measurements of 
about 1,000 representatives of different races, 
especial attention being paid to the native races 
of the Philippine Islands. 

We ask that the committee be continued and 
that an appropriation of fifty dollars be made 
for the expenses of an anthropometric laboratory 
at the next meeting of the association. 

J. MCKEEN CATTELL, 
Chairman. 


On the Atomic Weight of Thorium. 


The work on the ‘Complexity of Thorium’ by 
Chas. Baskerville and R. O. E. Davis, referred to 
in our Jast report, has been repeated, verified and 
extended by Fritz Zerban. The investigation was 
prosecuted partly in the laboratory of the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina and is continuing in the 
College of the City of New York. Larger amounts 
of the pure thorium compounds have been frac- 
tioned. 
busied 
thorium the contaminating constituents prelimi- 
nary to a determination of its physical constants. 
Coincident with this work they are studying the 
properties of the novel impurities, which have 
: ‘berzelium.’ 
The research is being aided by the Carnegie Insti- 
tution. 


Baskerville and Zerban are at present 
with removing entirely from the new 


been designated ‘carolinium’ and 


Concerning the second problem assigned your 
committee for supervision, namely, the work of 
preseodymium, it would make the following re- 
port: Baskerville and G. MacNider did not suc- 
ceed in proving the complexity of that constituent 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


of the old didymium. The methods of attack 
were: (1) Production of higher oxides by fusion 
with sodium dioxide; (2) fractional solution of 
the well known black oxide in hydrochlorie acid 
at variable temperatures; and (3) fractional pre- 
cipitation of the oxalate at different temperatures 
—zero, 20°, and 100° C. A Zeiss comparison spec- 
trometer, purchased by a grant from the council, 
was used for controlling the progress of the work, 
which will be continued, 
We, therefore, beg leave to report progress. 
Respectfully submitted, 

CHAS. BASKERVILLE, 

Capt. Sins Honz, 

F. P. VENABLE. 


On Cave Fauna. 


Owing to the absence of the secretary of your 
committee in the caves of Cuba during the last 
meeting of the association, a report on progress 
was omitted at the St. Louis meeting. 

Since the last report the following papers based 
in part at least on material collected with the 
grant of three years ago have been published: 

1. ‘Report on the Fresh-water Fishes at West- 
ern Cuba.’ Bull. U. 8. Fish Comm. for 1902, 
211-136. 

2.°The Water Supply of Havana, 
Science, N. S., XVII., 281-282. 

3. ‘The Eyes of Typhlops lumbricalis, a Blind 
Snake from Cuba.’ Biol. Bull., V., 261-270, by 
Mrs. E. F. Muhse. 

4. ‘The Ovarian Structures of the Viviparous 
Blind Fishes Lucifuga and Stygicola’ Biol. Bull., 
VI., 31-54, by H. H. Lane. 

5. ‘The History of the Eye of Amblyopsis from 
the Beginning of its Development to its Integra- 
tion in Old Age.’ Mark Anniversary Volume, 
167-204. 

6. ‘ Divergence and Convergence in Fishes.’ In 
the press of the Biol. Bull. 

Number five is the most important of these and 
gives a complete account of the eyes of the largest 
of our blind fishes. Further work on this form 
should consist in noting the changes of the eyes 
in individuals reared in the light. 

Several papers are in preparation. 

Several years ago a Mr. Donaldson died in Scot- 
land, owner of a farm of somewhat over 182 acres 
of land near Mitchell, Ind. He was apparently 
without legal heirs. Suit was brought by the 
state of Indiana to have this farm escheat to the 
state. The suit was contested by Scottish heirs 
of Mr. Donaldson, but was won by the state. This 
farm is in the midst of the cave region of the 


Cuba,’ 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


Ohio Valley, to which belong Wyandotte and Mam- 
moth caves, and is much more ideally adapted for 
experimental work with cave animals than either 
of the larger caves. On it are easily accessible 
some very large rooms provided with water. On 
it are the only entrances to an underground 
stream which I have followed over a mile by 
actual measurement and from which all of my 
material of Amblyopsis was obtained. Finally 
on it the stream comes to the surface under condi- 
tions that make the farm admirably adapted for 
surface ponds and pools to rear cave animals in 
the light. 

The American Association at its Washington 
meeting passed resolutions asking the state of 
Indiana to set this aside for a state reservation, 
and part of it for an experimental farm for the 
investigation of cave animals, ete. In the winter 
of 1902 the state legislature passed a bill in part 
as follows: 

“The title of all such lands shall be and remain 
in the state of Indiana, and such lands shall be 
devoted to educational purposes. 

“The control and management of all such lands 
shall be vested in the trustees of Indiana Uni- 
versity and such lands may be used by said trus- 
tees for any proper educational purposes. 

“Said board of trustees may in its discretion 
set off any portion of such grounds to the use of 
the state board of forestry or to that of Purdue 
University, or any other educational or scientific 
institution of the state.” 

In the meanwhile the heirs appealed the suit 
to the supreme court of Indiana which also ruled 
in favor of the state in August of 1903. ‘lhe 
heirs thereupon asked the same supreme court to 
grant them a new hearing before itself and there 
the matter has been suspended for over a year. 
It seems very probable that this farm will ulti- 
mately pass into the possession of the Indiana 
University and can then be used for experimental 
work with cave animals. 

I have personally received a grant from the 
Carnegie Institution which enabled me to make 
further attempts to secure the embryological ma- 
terial of the Cuban blind fishes, without, however, 
being entirely successful in securing this much- 
desired series of embryos. 

The most notable and systematic piece of cave 
work so far undertaken is in preparation by my 
assistant, Mr. A. M. Banta. He is making a phys- 
ical and biological survey of Mayfield’s cave, 
situated but five miles from my laboratory. He 
has determined the distribution of animals in the 
cave, the per cents. of the total cave fauna that is 


SCIENCE. 


61 


accidental, occasional or permanent. He is 
working in the interrelation of these forms and 
determining the modifications of the permanent 
members of the fauna to adapt them to cave life. 
This piece of work will form a base line for future 
work with the fauna of caves, and it is very de- 
sirable that Mr. Banta be enabled to make 
similar studies of a few selected caves in the 
various cave regions of America. 

It is recommended that the committee be con- 
tinued and that an appropriation of $100 be made 
to continue the work of the committee. 

Respectfully submitted for the committee. 

C. H. E1cENMANN, Secretary, 
THEO. GILL, 
S. H. Gace. 


On Indexing Chemical Literature. 


The committee on indexing chemical literature, 
appointed by your body at the Montreal meeting 
in 1882, respectfully presents to the Chemical Sec- 
tion its twenty-second annual report, covering the 
eighteen months ending December 1, 1904. 

Works Published: 

‘A Select Bibliography of Chemistry, 1492- 
1902,’ by Henry Carrington Bolton, Second Sup- 
plement. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 
No. 1440, City of Washington, 1904. 

This supplement brings down the literature of 
chemistry from the close of the year 1897 to the 
close of the year 1902. The author died while the 
publication was in press and most of the proof- 
reading, as well as the preparation of the index, 
was done by Mr. Axel Moth, of the New York 
Publie Library. 

In the Arbeiten aus dem Kaiserlichen Gesund- 
heitsamt, volume 21, pages 141 to 155, appears a 
critical bibliography of sulfur dioxid in wine, by 
W. Kerp: 

Indexes on the literature of gallium and of ger- 
manium, by Dr. Philip E. Browning, of New 
Haven, Conn., have been completed and accepted 
by the Smithsonian Institution for publication. 

An index to the literature of radium and radio- 
activity has been completed by Dr. Chas. Basker- 
ville and Mr. Geo. F. Kunz, and is expected to 
appear in a bulletin of the United States Geolog- 
ical Survey, as an appendix to a paper by Mr. 
Kunz on radium. 

An index to the literature of solubilities, 1875— 
1903, by Mr. Atherton Seidell, of the Bureau of 
Soils, is now in the hands of the committee. 

The index to the literature of glucinum by Pro- 
fessor Chas. E. Parsons, of New Hampshire Col- 
lege, Durham, N. H., has been completed. 


62 SCIENCE. 


As is well known for a number of years such 
bibliographies as have been recommended by their 
committee have been accepted by the Smithsonian 
Institution for publication in its ‘ Miscellaneous 
Collections.’ It has thus been possible to put into 
the hands of specialists and others valuable in- 
dexes which could not otherwise be rendered ac- 
cessible. 

That it is not deemed possible for the Smithso- 
nian Institution to continue this work appears 
from the following extracts from correspondence 
with Mr. S. P. Langley, Secretary of the Institu- 
tion: 

“The institution has found it necessary to dis- 
continue for the present the publication of sepa- 
rate indices to the literature of the various chem- 
ical elements. 

“The resources of the Smithsonian Institution, 
as is well known, are limited, and must be dis- 
tributed over a very considerable variety of in- 
terests. When, failing congressional aid, it 
seemed that the project of the International Cata- 
logue of Scientific Literature could not proceed 
without the establishment of an American re- 
gional bureau, I decided to assume this on the 
part of the Smithsonian Institution, and the allot- 
ment made for this purpose is practically all that 
can be spared for any current indexing work. 

“The various bibliographies to chemical ele- 
ments and other chemical indexes could not, ap- 
parently, have veen projected upon a plan that 
would fall in with this catalogue, since at the time 
they were begun no one had the catalogue in mind. 
Accordingly, I find that the earlier ones come down 
to 1887, 1893, 1896 and 1900, and a more recent one, 
thorium, down to 1902. This brings up the entire 
question of retrospective indexing and_bibliog- 
raphy. previous to the date 1901, designed to cover 
the period prior to the beginning of the interna- 
tional catalogue. Such a project for all science 
should, of course, only be taken up after mature 
deliberation, and could only be carried through by 
international cooperation. Meanwhile it seems 
prudent for the institution to await a careful 
consideration on the part of all interested in the 
whole subject, chemistry, being of course, but one 
of the large group of sciences whose workers must 
be considered. In view of these considerations, 
the importance of which you will, I am sure, rec- 
ognize, I am constrained to leave the entire matter 
in abeyance for the present.” 

In view of the above it may be questionable 
whether the work of this committee has not been 
completed as far as it is possible to carry out the 
oflices for which it was originally constituted. It 


LN.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


may, however, be wise to continue it for another 
year, to await developments. 

In conclusion, references should be made to the 
great loss sustained by the-committee, the sec- 
tion and the association, in the death on November 
19, 1903, of Dr. Henry Carrington Bolton, who 
from the first appointment of this committee has 
been its chairman. The work of Dr. Bolton in the 
field of chemical and alchemical bibliography 
needs no encomium; it is invaluable to all work- 
ers in these fields. 

Jas. Lewis Howe, Chairman, 
F. W. CLARKE, 
H. W. WILEY. 


On Electrochemistry. 


A pure iridium electrode was purchased, and 
some rhodium powder. It was deemed advisable 
to precede the electrochemical portion of the in- 
vestigation by a study of the chemical phenomena 
caused by these metals when no current passed. 
With this in view experiments have been made on 
the action of these metals on formic acid. These 
have confirmed the qualitative results of Deville 
and Debray, that the decomposition products are 
essentially carbon dioxid and hydrogen under 
these circumstances and not carbon monoxide and 
water. The reaction starts at a higher tempera- 
ture than one would have supposed from the 
statement of Deville and Debray as to ‘gentle 
heating.’ The rate of decomposition of liquid 
formic acid is constant when the decomposition 
products are allowed to pass off, but there is need 
of the further study of the behavior of the acid 
in a closed space. This will be taken up next, and 
after that the electrolysis. The effect of the iri- 
dium on the chemical and electrochemical equi- 
librium between chlorine and water will also be 
studied. For this work your committee asks for a 
grant of an additional sixty dollars. 

The committee begs leave to report progress. 

Respectfully, 
WILpER D. BANCROFT, 
Epear F,. SMITH. 


On Grants. 

The committee on grants recommended that the 
following grants be made for the year 1905: 

To the Committee on Anthropometry, $50. 

To the Committee on Electrochemistry, $60. 

To the Committee on Cave Fauna, $100. 

To the Concilium Bibliographicum, $100. 

To W. H. Dall, to assist in republishing a rare 
work on mollusks, the amount to be repaid in the 
printed volumes, $50. L. O. Howarp, 

Chairman. 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


On the Walter Reed Memorial. 

At a meeting of the association held in Wash- 
ington, a committee was appointed, of which I was 
made chairman, to take such measure as might 
be found wise for securing a permanent memorial 
of Major Walter Reed, U. S. A., in recognition of 
his important services to humanity. Acting 
under this authority, it was at length found ex- 
pedient, after several preliminary meetings, to 
form an incorporation in the city of Washington 
to hold such funds as might be contributed. This 
incorporation is now endeavoring to raise the sum 
of $25,000, of which the income may be paid to 
Mrs. Reed and the principal may be devoted to a 
permanent memorial of Dr. Reed. More than 
$13,000 has been subscribed already, a large part 
of this amount coming from the medical profes- 
sion. This is all in addition to the action of Con- 
gress, which has given, on the representations of 
your committee, an unusual pension to Mrs. Reed. 

The effort is now making to secure the additional 
sum of $12,000, and the cooperation of all mem- 
bers of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science is urgently desired. 

Yours respectfully, 
DANIEL E. GILMAN, 
Chairman. 


On the Relations of the Association to the Journal 
* Science.’ 

We beg to report that the arrangement by which 
Scrence publishes the official notices and proceed- 
ings of the association and is sent free of charge 
to the members in regular standing on payment 
of two dollars for each appears to give satisfac- 
tion. We recommend that the contract with The 
Macmillan Company be renewed for the year 1905, 

Smuon Newcoms, Chairman, 
CARROLL D. WRIGHT, 

L. O. Howarp, 

R. S. Woopwarp, 

J. McK. CattTErt1, 

G. IX. GILBERT. 


The following members of the association 


were elected fellows: 


Section A: 
Hayes, Ellen, Wellesley, Mass. 
Milham, Willis I., Williamstown, Mass. 
Quinn, John Jones, Warren, Pa. 


Section B: 
Davis, Bergen, New York City. 
Lewis, E. Percival, University of California. 
Pegram, George Braxton, Columbia Univ., New 
York City. 


SCIENCE. 63 


Section 0: 
Dorr, Allen Wade, Washington, D. C. 
Martin, F. W., College Park, Lynchburg, Va. 
Schober, Wm. B., Lehigh South 
Bethlehem, Pa. 


University, 


Section D: 
Bissell, Geo. W., Ames, Iowa. 
Blanchard, A. H., Providence, R. I. 
Greene, Arthur Maurice, Jr., Columbia, Mo. 
Loewenstein, L, E., South Bethlehem, Pa. 
McCaustland, E. J., Ithaca, N. Y. 
Wood, Arthur J., State College, Pa. 


Section E: 

Aguilera, Jose G., Mexico, Mex. 

Bawell, Joseph, 105 Bishop St., New Haven, 
Conn. 

Bayley, W. S., Waterville, Me. 

Berkey, C. P., New York City. 

Bien, Julius, 140 Sixth Ave., New York. 

Boutwell, John Mason, Washington, D. C. 

Bownocker, J. A., Columbus, Ohio. 

Brooks, Alfred Hulse, Washington, D. C. 

Bryant, Henry G., 2013 Walnut St., Phila. 

Buckley, Ernest R., Rolla, Mo. 

Campbell, Henry Donald, Lexington, Va. 

Campbell, Marius R., Washington, D. C. 

Cobb, Collier, Chapel Hill, N. C. 

Collier, Arthur James, Washington, D. C. 

Cowles, Miss Louise F., South Hadley, Mass. 

Curtis, Geo. C., Boston, Mass. 

Douglas, James, 99 John St., New York City. 

Fuller, Myron §., Washington, D. C. 

Goode, John Paul, Chicago, Il. 

Gordon, Charles H., Seattle, Washington. 

Graham, A. W., New York City. 

Grimsley, Geo. Perry. 

Hayes, C. Willard, Washington, D. C. 

Heilprin, A., Academy Natural Sciences, Phila. 

Lyman, Benj. 8., Philadelphia. 

Merriam, John C., Berkeley, Calif. 

Penfield, S. L., Yale University, New Haven, 
Conn. 

Tower, Ralph Winfred, American Museum of 
Natural History, New York City. 


Section F: 

Allis, E. P., Menton, France. 

Bailey, Vernon, Washington, D. C. 

Bawden, H. Heath, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, 
IN NG 

Beebe, C. W., New York City. 

Birge, E. A., Madison, Wis. 

Blake, Joseph A., 601 Madison Ave., New York 
City. 


64 SCIENCE. 


Brown, Arthur Erwin, Phila. 
Curtis, Winterton C., Columbia, Mo. 
Dahlgren, Ulric, Princeton, N. J. 
Davison, Alvin, Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. 
. Duerden, J. E., Chapel Hill, N. C. 
Evermann, Barton W., Washington, D. C. 
Glover, M. Allen, Cambridge, Mass. 
Guyer, M. F., Cincinnati, O. 
Hall, Robert William, South Bethlehem, Pa. 
Herrick, Francis Hobart, Cleveland, O. 
Hunter, Walter David, Cosmos Club, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 
Jenkins, O. P., Stanford University. 
Jones, Lynds, Oberlin, O. 
Knower, H. McE., Baltimore, Md. 
Linton, Edwin, Washington, Pa. 
McGregor, James Howard, New York City. 
Mead, A. D., Providence, R. I. 
Nachtrieb, H. F., Minneapolis, Minn. 
Neal, H. V., Galesburg, Ill. 
Osgood, W. H., Washington, D. C. 
Rand, Herbert Wilbur, Cambridge, Mass. 
Rankin, Walter M., Princeton University, 
Princeton, N. J. 
Raymond, Pearl, Ann Arbor, Mich. 
Rice, E. L., Delaware, O. 
Torrey, Harry Beal, Berkeley, Calif. 
Weysse, Arthur W., Boston, Mass. 
Wilder, Harris Hawthorne, Northampton, Mass, 
Zeleny, Charles, Chicago, IIl. 
Section G: 
Ames, Oakes, North Easton, Mass. 
Banker, Howard J., Greencastle, Ind. 
Berry, Edward W., Passaic, N. J. 
Blodgett, Frederick H., College Park, Md. 
Burrill, Thomas J., Urbana, Ill. 
Cannon, W. A., Tucson, Ariz. 
Coker, Wm. C., Chapel Hill, N. C. 
Coulter, S. M., St. Louis, Mo. 
Duval, Joseph W., Washington, D. C. 
Ferguson, A. McG. 
Fitzpatrick, lowa City, Iowa. 
Holferty, George M., St. Louis, Mo. 
Jeffrey, E, C., Cambridge, Mass. 
Kirkwood, Jos. E., Syracuse, N. Y. 
Piper, C. V., Washington, D. C. . 
Pond, Raymond H., 87 Lake St., Chicago, Ill. 
Rose, J. N., Washington, D. C. 
Shull, G. H., Cold Spring Harbor. 
Spillman, Wm. Jasper, Washington, D, C. 
Thornber, J. J., Tucson, Ariz. 
Wylie, R. B., Sioux City, Iowa. 
Section H: 
Bair, Joseph H., Boulder, Colo. 
Baird, John Wallace, Baltimore, Md. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 524. 


Churchill, William, New Haven, Conn. 
Dellenbaugh, Century Club, New York City. 
Fracker, George Cutler, New York City. 
Haines, Thomas Harvey, Columbus, O. 
Jones, Adam Leroy, New York City. 
Kirkpatrick, E. A., Fitchburg, Mass. 
Messenger, James Franklin, Winona, Minn. 
Spaulding, Edward G., New York City. 
Witmer, Lightner, Philadelphia. 
Woodbridge, Frederick J. E., New York City. 


Section I: 
Burton, Theodore E., Cleveland, O. 
Clark, Judson F., Montreal, Canada. 
Du Bois, William E. B., Atlanta, Ga. 
Edmonds, Richard H., Baltimore, Md. 
Foote, Allen Ripley, Home Ins. Bldg., Chicago. 
MacVannel, John Angus, New York City. 
Stoke, Alfred Holt, Greenville, Miss. 
Stokes, Anson Phelps, New York City. 


Section K: 

Abbott, Alexander C., University of Pennsyl- 
vania, _ 

Burton-Opitz, Russell, New York City. 

Dexter, E. G., Urbana, Ill. 

Flexner, Simon, Rockefeller Institute, New York 
City. 

Lindley, Ernest H., 
Bloomington, Ind. 

Loeb, Leo, University of Pennsylvania. 

Meyer, Adolf, New York City. 

Smith, Allen J., University of Pennsylvania. 

Yerkes, Robert Mearns, Cambridge, Mass. 


University of Indiana, 


SOIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


Elements of the Differential and Integral Cal- 
culus. By W. A. Granvitte. Boston, Ginn 
and Company. Pp. xiv + 463. 

A characteristic feature of mathematics in 
the last half century is the increasing atten- 
tion paid to the foundations and rigorous de- 
velopment of this science. In analysis this 
movement began with Gauss, Cauchy and 
Abel in the early years of the nineteenth cen- 
tury and found its greatest exponent in Weier- 
strass. The movement thus begun has been 
continued by such men as Riemann, Dede- 
kind, Hankel, Cantor, Jordan, Dini, Stolz, 
Harnack, Peano and a host of younger men. 

As a result of these investigations it was 
found that much of the reasoning hitherto 
employed and in current use among mathema- 
ticians was either worthless or required to be 


: 


JANUARY 13, 1905.) 


modified, restricted or completed. It thus be- 
came necessary to rewrite textbooks on an- 
alysis or to prepare new ones more in harmony 
with the new teachings. In this way arose 
the new edition of Jordan’s ‘ Cours d’ Analyse’ 
and Harnack’s edition of Serret’s ‘ Calcul,’ 
as well as the new works of Stolz, ‘ Allgemeine 
Arithmetik, and ‘Grundziige’; Tannery, 
‘Théorie des fonctions d’une variable’; Dini, 
‘Fondamenti per la teorica delle funzioni di 
variabili reali,’ 

In England and America more progressive 
teachers have felt for some time the need of 
a modern text-book on the calculus, which is 
at once rigorous and elementary. The task 
of writing such a work is not easy. On the 
one hand, it is necessary to avoid the worth- 
less and even vicious forms of reasoning which 
mar so many elementary treatises and which 
are simply intolerable to one educated accord- 
ing to modern standards of rigor. On the 
other hand, the author must not introduce 
subtilties of reasoning and logical refinements 
beyond the needs and comprehension of those 
who are to use the book. 

The volume under review is an attempt to 
solve this difficult problem. To our mind the 
efforts of its author have been abundantly 
crowned with success. In perusing Dr. Gran- 
ville’s book one feels throughout that the 
author has in mind the requirements of mod- 
ern rigor. The demonstrations, it is true, 
often rest on intuition; but this is necessary 
in a first course, as all will admit. They are, 
however, usually correct as far as they go, and 
free from the defects we have mentioned 
above. We believe the present volume is 
eminently a safe book to put in the hands of 
the beginner. He will get no false notions 
which afterwards will have to be eradicated, 
with much difficulty; he will, on the other 
hand, acquire a considerable acquaintance 
with the principles of the calculus and a good 
working knowledge of its methods. 

We make now a number of criticisms and 
suggestions. 

The definition of limit given in § 29 is not 
the one given by Cauchy and Weierstrass and 
now universally accepted. Looked at care- 
fully, we see it supposes that all variables are 


SCIENCE. 


65 


functions of an auxiliary variable, the time. 
This leads to unnecessary complications in 
the definition of the limit of a function in 
§ 32. We believe the strict Weierstrassian 
definition should be given and used. As an 
aid to comprehension, the author’s notions in 
these articles might prove useful. In § 34 the 
notion of a graph is explained; but not with 
sufficient care, to our mind. How is the reader 
to know from their graphs that x and log « 
are continuous functions? The three proper- 
ties of the exponential function given in this 
article result from their arithmetical proper- 
ties and not from their graph, as the author 
seems to imply. 

The definition of the derivative given in 
§ 41 is not satisfactory; what the author really 
defines is the differential coefficient at a point. 
It is their aggregate that forms the derivative. 

In §55 the author has avoided an error 
which is very prevalent. His passage to the 
limit is, however, not completely justified. He 
has yet to show that 


ca AG fe NO 
Saline = alin ; 
Av=0 Av Axr=0 Ax 


The demonstration in § 56 should, it seems 


to us, be replaced by a simpler one. The au- 
thor obtains the equation 
_ dy dx 
a dx dy ) 


and then remarks: 


if dx/dy + 0, we have 


He should see that there can be no need of 
making the further assumption, dxr/dy +0: 
for if it were, the equation (1) could not exist. 

In §133 the author introduces a double 
limit without any explanation. As_ such 
limits are used in connection with double in- 
tegrals, § 231, seg., they should be explained 
with care. The footnote on page 194 is un- 
intelligible to us and certainly will give rise 
to misapprehension. 

The theory of total differentiation does not 
meet our approval at all. The author has 
treated the subject from the standpoint that 
the variables x,, x, --- 2, are all functions 


n 


66 SCIENCE. 


of some one variable. Instead of true total 
differentials, he gets total derivatives. The du 
in $187 are not total differentials, but differ- 
tials of functions of one variable. In the dif- 
ferentiation of implicit functions the author 
assumes merely the existence of the partial 
derivatives. He should assume also their con- 
tinuity. The form of demonstration is bad, 
as it requires him to assume (tacitly) the ex- 
istence of the very thing he is seeking, viz., 
dy/dx. 

In the treatment of envelopes, § 141, the 
author does not as usual give sufficient condi- 
tions for the validity of his reasoning, but 
contents himself with the vague statement in 
a footnote that the process is all right ‘in all 
applications made in this book.’ This blemish, 
which a few lines will remedy, should be re- 
moved in another edition. The definition of 
an infinite series given in § 147 is not felici- 
tous. In avoiding the lax definition usually 
given the author has gone to the opposite ex- 
treme. The simplest way seems to be to con- 
sider 

a,-+a,+a,+, ... in inf. 


as a symbol to which a meaning is attached as 
to other symbols, as > <=, ete. The solu- 
tion of Ex. 3, § 152, is not quite rigorous, as 
it postulates the covergence of G. In § 160 
undefined arithmetical operations are per- 
formed on series. 

We can not agree with the author that the 
remainder in Taylor’s series for several vari- 
ables is too complicated to be given. The 
treatment of maxima and minima can be made 
much more complete without complications or 
difficulty. The reasoning given at the bottom 
of page 248 can be made not only ‘ plausible,’ 
but entirely conclusive, using no more space 
that that required by the author. 

In the reduction of indefinite integrals the 
author proves the trivial formule 


f(a + dv— dw) = foaw + fa — faw, 
faa— a fae, 


but omits entirely the demonstration relative 
to the transformation of the variable. This 
is all the more surprising as this transforma- 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 524. 


tion is constantly employed, even in establish- 
ing important theorems. Two chapters, 
XXIX. and XXX., are devoted to definite 
integrals. In the first we arrive at the notion 
of a definite integral by means of the notion 
of area; in the second, by means of the limit 
of asum. In our opinion the first treatment 
is not only superfluous, but should he entirely 
omitted on several counts. 

The relatively few blemishes in this work, 
the reviewer is glad to state, will be removed 
in the next edition. JAMES PIERPONT. 

YALE UNIVERSITY. 

The Study of the Atom, or the Foundations 
of Chemistry. By F. P. Venasie. Easton, 
Pa., The Chemical Publishing Co. Pp. 290. 
The history of an important scientific theory 

is an interesting study, where it is possible, 

as it often is, to trace the orderly development 
of that theory from stage to stage. The evo- 
lution of the atomic theory is a subject which 
has claimed the attention of many writers, 
and the story has been told so often and so 
well in works on the history of chemistry, that 
one wonders whether it is not familiar to most 
chemists. A careful perusal of this book does 
not disclose any new point of view, or any- 
thing new in the method of treatment, though 
the matter is generally presented in a satis- 
factory manner, especially Chapter V., which 
deals with the periodic system. In the last 
chapter of the book the author considers the 
most recent hypotheses regarding the constitu- 
tion of matter by J. J. Thomson, Rutherford 
and others. The book is generally clear, con- 
servative in tone and, on the whole, well-pro- 
portioned, though 75 pages, or one fourth of 
the contents, seems rather too much to de- 
vote to the conception of the atom before the 
time of Dalton, especially as this material 
must be taken entirely from secondary sources. 

The book may be commended as a good sum- 

mary for students. BE. T. AntEn. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. SECTION OF 
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 
Tue section was called to order at 8:15 P.M., 
November 21, 1904, with Vice-president Kemp 
in the chair and forty persons present. 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


The first paper of the evening was by Pro- 
fessor J. J. Stevenson, upon ‘ The Island of 
Spitzbergen and its Coal,’ and was illustrated 
by lantern slides. In introducing his subject, 
the speaker described briefly the coast of 
northern Norway and its geology, and referred 
in some detail to Bergen, Hammerfest and 
other cities. Spitzbergen was then taken up, 
and its coals and their geological relations 
were passed in review. The coal beds are of 
Jurassic age, and the coal is peculiar in that 
it partakes of the characters of the lignites as 
well as of the true coals. 

The second paper on the program was by 
Professor James F. Kemp, on ‘ The Titanif- 
erous Magnetite in Wyoming. On account 
of the lateness of the hour, the speaker pre- 
sented his topic only in abstract. The mag- 
netite occurs in two places, fifteen and twenty 
miles north of Laramie, Wyoming, the former 
and smaller occurrence being near the Shan- 
ton ranch, the latter and larger being on Chug- 
water Creek. Both are in wall-rock of an- 
orthosite which is practically indistinguishable 
from anorthosite occurring in the Adiron- 
dacks. The ores range from 20 per cent. to 
40 per cent. TiO,. Thin sections show that 
they contain green spinels, and one slide pre- 
sents much olivine. They can be most reason- 
ably explained as intrusive dikes. In this 
view the speaker agreed with Waldemar Lind- 
gren, who has published a brief note regarding 
them. James F. Kemp, 

Secretary pro tem. 


Tue section held a special meeting Decem- 
ber 2, 1904, with Vice-president Kemp in the 
chair and two hundred members and visitors 
in attendance. The meeting was called to 
order at 8:25 p.m. and the program of the 
evening was at once taken up. This consisted 
of a lecture by Professor Albrecht Penck, of 
the Imperial University at Vienna, who is an 
honorary member of the academy. 

The speaker discussed ‘ The Glacial Surface 
Features of the Alps,’ and gave a brief sum- 
mary of some of the results of the twenty 
years of masterly work which has been done 
by him and under his direction in the Tyrol. 
Professor Penck described in popular language 


SCIENCE. 67 


the nature of the valleys of the Alps and 
showed by means of lantern slides and a dia- 
gram how the glaciers have widened and 
deepened portions of their rocky basins and 
produced lakes. 

After a vote of thanks to the distinguished 
guest of the evening, the section adjourned. 

Epmunp Orts Hovey, 
Secretary. 


THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 

Tue 592d meeting was held December 10, 
1904. 

The first paper was read by invitation by 
Mr. H. H. Kimball, of the Weather Bureau, 
on ‘ Variations in Insolation and in the Polar- 
ization of Blue Sky-light, during 1903 and 
1904.2. Observations with an Angstrém pyr- 
heliometer have been maintained by the 
Weather Bureau at Washington since April, 
1908. Comparison with previous observations 
at Providence, R. I., and Asheville and Black 
Mountain, N. C., indicate that the quantity 
of solar radiation reaching the surface of the 
earth on clear days during 1903 was consid- 
erably less than during 1902 and 1904, the 
deficiency from April to September being 16 
per cent. as compared with 1902, and 9 per 
cent as compared with 1904. 

Observations with a Pickering polarimeter 
indicate that there have been corresponding 
fluctuations in the polarization of blue sky- 
light, the percentage of polarization at a 
point on a vertical great circle passing through 
the sun and 90° from it, having averaged 
49.6 per cent. from May to October of 1904, 
as compared with 40.6 per cent. during the 
same months of 1903. 

The work of the astrophysical observatory 
of the Smithsonian Institution and numerous 
European observations were quoted, showing 
similar deficiencies in insolation, in the trans- 
missibility of the atmosphere, and in the 
polarization of blue sky-light, during 1903. 

The subject was considered to be one well 
worthy of investigation by meteorologists. 

Mr. J. F. Hayford, of the Coast and Ge- 
odetic Survey, presented some recent results 
on ‘The Computation of Deflections of the 
Vertical from the Surrounding Topography.’ 


68 SCIENCE. 


Deflections may be due to irregularity of 
density within the earth or to attraction of 
parts of the earth above the surface of the 
mean spheroid. By an ingenious method, 
partly graphical, the author had found it prac- 
ticable to take account of the influence of all 
known topographical features on the plumb- 
line at more than 200 stations; it is usually 
necessary to consider all the land-masses with- 
in 2,500 miles of the station. When these 
computed deflections from known causes are 
combined with the deflections found from 
geodetic measurements, the quantities to be 
accounted for by irregularities within the 
earth’s surface are usually much greater than 
had been supposed heretofore. 
Cuartes K. Wrap, 
Secretary. 


MICHIGAN ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 


Tue Michigan Ornithological Club held its 
last quarterly meeting for 1904 at the Detroit 
Museum of Art on December 2. The follow- 
ing program was presented: 

P. A. TAVERNER: ‘ Re Kirtland’s Warbler.’ 

A. W. Buatn, JR.: ‘Some Phases of the Life 
History of the House Wren.’ 

J. Wi~pur Kay: ‘ Remarks on the Cowbird.’ 

Dr. P. E. Moopy: ‘ Nésting of the Blue-gray 
Gnat-catcher in Wayne and Oakland Counties, 
Michigan.’ 

J. CLAtRE Woop: ‘ Notes on a Great Horned Owl 
in Captivity.’ 

A. B. Knucu: ‘Summer Birds of Puschlinch, 
Lake Ontario.’ 

The following were presented by title: 


PROFESSOR WALTER B. BARRows: ‘ Birds of the 
Beaver Islands, Michigan.’ 

Dr. Morris Gress: ‘ Bird’s Nesting.’ 

Wo. H. DunuaAmM: ‘A Preliminary List of the 
3irds of Kalkaska County, Michigan.’ 

PRoressor FRANK SmitH: ‘An Unusual Flight 
of Sparrow Hawks in Michigan in 1904.’ 

Cuas. C. ApAmMs: ‘A Natural History Expedi- 
tion to Northern Michigan.’ 


The next meeting of the society will be held 
on March 3, 1905. A. W. Brat, Jr. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT FACTS. 
In Powell’s ‘Truth and Error’ a_philo- 
sophie distinction is made by giving special 


[N.S. Vou. XI. No. 524. 


definitions to the terms property and quality. 
A property is an essential characteristic con- 
sidered in itself; a quality is a characteristic 
considered in relation to man. Thus the 
ductility of iron is a property; its utility a 
quality. The form and coloration of a tree 
are properties; its beauty or ugliness is a 
quality. Iron’s property of ductility, when 
thought of in connection with human needs, 
is a factor of its quality of utility; and the 
properties of the tree, when viewed from the 
standpoint of man’s esthetic sense, are quali- 
ties. This simple distinction is of far-reach- 
ing application, because properties are the 
domain of science and qualities the domain 
of art. Pure science (with a reservation in 
respect to anthropology) is not at all con- 
cerned with qualities, and when the investi- 
gator deals with them he passes into the field 
of applied science, or the arts. Failure to 
recognize this distinction leads to much con- 
fusion of thought and expression. 

One of the milder or less harmful, but at 
the same time most conspicuous, manifesta- 
tions of this confusion is connected with the 
word interesting. Not unfrequently an essay 
ostensibly and mainly scientific will contain 
the statement that an object, or relation, or 
other phenomenon is ‘ interesting,’ the context 
indicating that interest is supposed to inhere 
in the phenomenon. As a matter of fact, 
interest is a mental attitude of the observer, 
and the adjective ‘interesting,’ though ap- 
plied to the phenomenon, describes only the 
observer’s relation to it. There are, of course, 
many legitimate uses of the adjective, and 
some of these occur in scientific writings. 
When an author, for example, declares that 
the insect habits he is about to deseribe are 
interesting to students of the psychology of 
the Bombocoreide, it is clear that he does not 
deceive himself by supposing that he has 
named a property of the phenomena. 

Something similar may be said of important, 
valuable, ete., when employed in scientifie de- 
scription. In common with novel, pertinent, 
significant, and the like, they indicate the rela- 
tions of phenomena to the condition of human 
knowledge. Just as each observed fact has at 
some time, temporarily, the quality of novelty, 


} 
} 
| 
| 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


so each fact and inference may in some phase 
of the progress of knowledge serve to explain 
the previously unexplained, and thus have 
importance or comparative value. Apart 
from such temporary and humanistic rela- 
tions, all facts are equally important or equally 
unimportant. When, therefore, an author 
makes the bald statement that a fact is ‘im- 
portant, he ascribes to it a quality and not a 
property; and he is self-deceived if he thinks 
of the importance as an essential character- 
istic. 

It conduces to clear thinking as well as 
clear writing if one fortifies the use of ‘ in- 
teresting’ or ‘important’ by pointing out the 
relation which endows the indicated fact with 
interest or importance. When that has been 
done the need for the adjective often disap- 
pears; and if it can not be done, the adjective 
is a meaningless platitude. 


G. K. Gitpert. 


WASHINGTON, D. C. 


SPECIALIZATION, IGNORANCE, AND SOME PROPOSED 
PALLIATIVES. 

I sre leave to use the columns of Science 
to express a few ideas which may strike some 
readers as strangely naive, but which have 
been incubating in my brain for a term of 
years, and must now at length find some mode 
of deliverance. I speak as one of that large 
class of unfortunates who aspire to contribute 
a few small stones to the temple of knowledge, 
but who are forced to give so much time to 
purely routine work that little is left for better 
things. And that precious little remnant of 
our time—how do we employ it? Largely in 
misspent energy and unproductive eficrts; not 
in the quest of knowledge, but of the means 
of acquiring knowledge; not in learning facts, 
but in learning how to learn! After we have 
deducted the time spent in purely mechanical 
operations, in developing our technique and in 
digesting the ever-growing literature of our 
particular little fraction of a sub-science, how 
much remains of those brief moments spared 
from the struggle for bread? Is it a wonder 
that ‘general culture’ suffers, when even our 
sister sciences are neglected, or that specializa- 
tion so often results in an intellectual isola- 


SCIENCE. 69 


tion, fatal alike to the scientist and the man? 
Platitudes?—of course they are! Who has 
not deplored these conditions? But we all 
resign ourselves to them as inevitable, just as 
we do to a social order which tolerates boss 
rule, ‘Standard Oil’ and the inheritance of 
poverty or riches. Who has not wished to 
halt the march of discovery long enough to 
allow himself to ‘catch up’? And, seriously, 
would it be a misfortune if we should be com- 
pelled to pause for a moment in the exploita- 
tion of new facts, and properly assimilate the 
ones we have? But this is not the burden of 
my modest message. 

One can not but marvel at the absence of 
any adequate bureau of exchange among 
specialists in different fields of knowledge. We 
have our societies, it is true, where papers are 
presented which are oftentimes too technical 
even for the limited circle of members—all 
fellow specialists in a single science. We 
have our journals, congested with contribu- 
tions, good, bad and indifferent. But which 
one of us can follow all the technical journals 
of his own specialty, even though his path 
be blazed by international bibliographic cata- 
logues? We have our reviews and year-books 
and Jahresberichten, in which the topics 
treated are apt to gain in technicality in pro- 
portion to the degree of abridgment. Various 
semi-popular periodicals doubtless do a 
splendid work in making accessible some of 
the more general conclusions of science, but 
their eontents are necessarily fragmentary and 
uncoordinated. 

In our higher educational institutions we 
find specialists engaged in two chief pursuits: 
giving instruction to students, and conducting 
research. A third possible function of the 
faculty seems never to be fully recognized, 
namely, mutual enlightenment. Why is there 
often such utter isolation between various 
departments? Why has there not been estab- 
lished any recognized clearing-house for the 
exchange of expert knowledge? Much of such 
exchange doubtless occurs in a desultory and 
haphazard way, through ordinary social inter- 
course, so that a man of requisite personal and 
social gifts may receive and impart much of 
value. And doubtless various public lecture 


70 SCIENCE. 


courses do something toward meeting this 
But why not organize in every uni- 
versity an inter-departmental congress, in 
which members of the various departments 
shall present, in as palatable form as possible, 
the problems and discoveries of present interest 
in their respective branches of learning? On 
the face of things it would seem that such an 
arrangement would necessarily result in an 
added stimulus and a broader horizon for each 
member of the staff, and a greater solidarity 
for the whole. 

An objector will doubtless be prompt to 
point out that the above plan, though plausible 
on paper, would, for one reason or another, be 
quite impossible in practise. 
that no suggestion which offers the least hope 
of lessening the baneful effects of over-special- 
ization ought lightly to be dismissed. Nor 
should I be surprised by the quite different 
criticism that my idea utterly lacks novelty, 
that it has long since been threshed over by 
educational experts, perchance received a fair 
trial somewhere. In reply, I could but cite 
my own ignorance of these facts as a fine 
illustration of the very conditions which I 
have deplored. 


need. 


But there is another idea which I cherish 
just as tenderly—one equally chimerical, may- 
hap. It is nothing more nor less than the es- 
tablishment of a sort of human encyclopedia 
as an adjunct to our libraries. How much of 
our ignorance is due to the inaccessibility of 
knowledge! How many questions we allow to 
pass unanswered, rather than grope blindly 
The thought 
lies near to hand that some one could save us 
that trouble-—some one who would not have to 
grope. But who? The plain man sends a 
query to his daily paper, and receives an 
answer which we hope is more trustworthy 
than the editorial opinions or news items on 
the same sheet. Or he may have the temerity 
to write to an expert, who may be good-natured 
enough to reply. 


amongst unfamiliar volumes! 


But where in our educa- 
tional system is the man or body of men whose 
recognized function it is to answer questicns ? 
Teachers we have by the thousand, employed 
to impart knowledge in accordance with cer- 
tain more or less stereotyped courses of study, 


I can only reply _ 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


but where are the men whose business it is to 
tell us just those things for which we happen 
to be seeking? The scientific departments of 
our government, it is true, give much expert 
advice on various matters, in reply to corre- 
spondents, and here, indeed, we find our most 
instructive models. But their scope is ob- 
viously limited. 

Suppose that one of our great libraries were 
to employ a staff of consulting experts, men of 
the rank of college professors, whose duty it 
should be to furnish definite bits of informa- 
tion in response to legitimate questions, or at 
least to guide the seeker on his way. The 
cost of maintaining such a library would 
doubtless be vastly increased, perhaps doubled 
-—I leave that for the professional librarian 
to compute. But over against this added cost 
could be set the untold hours saved to the 
student or the layman, searching in un- 
familiar fields, and the vastly greater facility 
of the diffusion of. knowledge. My suggestion 
might easily be caricatured into the proposal 
that the learner should henceforth dispense 
with books. Quite otherwise, it is my main 
object to enable him to do more reading and 
less groping’; to peruse pages of text, instead 
of card catalogues and tables of contents; to 
economize time, and to minimize the loss of 
energy through friction. 

Tn the case of a university library, could not 
such relations be maintained with the faculty 
as to permit of members of the latter body 
being called in for expert advice, not sporad- 
ically, but as a part of the organic system? 
This would throw an additional burden upon 
the teaching staff, which would, of course, 
need to be increased numerically. But would 
not such a function compare favorably in use- 
fulness with the teaching of various prescribed 
subjects to apathetic learners? To the over- 
burdened specialist, such a system would 
serve the same end as the plan first proposed, 
giving him more ready access to other fields 
of thought, and minimizing the evils resulting 
from the increasing differentiation of knowl- 
edge. 

But here again I fear that the experts may 
smile at my modest suggestion, either as be- 
ing utterly impracticable, or as quite devoid 


ie ee 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


of novelty or originality. If so, I can but 
humbly acknowledge my ignorance, adding 
once more that this unhappy condition merely 
strengthens my case! 

Francis B. SuMNER. 

ULTRA-VIOLET LIGHT IN PHOTO-MICROGRAPHY. 

To tHe Eprror or Science: Apropos of Dr. 
Cleveland Abbe’s letter in a recent issue of 
Science, I would eall the attention of your 
readers to the fact that the developments in the 
use of utra-violet light in photo-micrography 
with apparatus designed at Jena is described 
in some detail in Hngineering (London), for 
December 2, 1904, page 760. 

Ciirrorp RICHARDSON. 
HOW DOES ANOPHELES BITE? 

In a recent number of Science Professor 
Washburn, in the course of some remarks on 
the mosquito exhibit at St. Louis, prepared by 
me for the New Jersey State Museum, ques- 
tions the accuracy of a figure of Anopheles 
in the act of biting. JI do not understand 
him to say positively that the figure is inac- 
curate, only that it had been his belief .that 
the biting position resembled the resting posi- 
tion more nearly. The figure in question, 
which was a large colored one calculated to 
attract the attention of the passers-by, was 
intended to duplicate the picture given by 
Nuttall and Shipley in their work on Ano- 
pheles, its structure and habits. It is really 
a very accurate copy of their plate and the 
position in my chart is just exactly as pub- 
lished. This is an explanation, not a justifi- 
cation; if the figure is wrong it should not 
have been put on exhibition in that way; but 
is it wrong? 

When I read Professor Washburn’s note I 
tried to recall my own experience with Ano- 
pheles. I recall distinctly, watching speci- 
mens bite on several occasions, and particu- 
larly at Cape May, where Anopheles crucians 
was very plentiful in 1903 and bit freely dur- 
ing the early morning hours. This habit is 
unusual in the genus and attracted my atten- 
‘tion, so that I gave the insects every oppor- 
tunity to bite; yet, while I can recall dis- 
tinetly all the surrounding circumstances, I 
do not recall just what position the insect 
assumed when biting. I questioned in turn 


SCIENCE. V1 


every member of the field and office force, and 
found that they were equally uncertain in 
the matter. All of them had been bitten and 
all of them were able to recall specific occa- 
sions where they watched the insect bite, yet 
none of them would say positively just what 
the biting position of the insect really was. 
During the summer of 1902 Dr. Herbert 
P. Johnson studied Anopheles for me near 
Newark, ‘N. J., and kept a number of the in- 
sects in confinement, allowing them to bite 
from time to time, and of course watching 
the operation. I wrote him to the St. Louis 
University, where he is at present engaged, 
and received an answer as follows: “ While 
I have not so distinct a mental picture of the 
operation as I would like to possess I am very 
confident he [Professor Washburn] is wrong. 
The biting attitude he mentions would be a 
most extraordinary one, and for this reason: 
it is obvious that the mosquito pumping ap- 
paratus must penetrate the epidermis before 
any blood ean be drawn and the epidermis is 
made up of many layers of cells. To thrust 
its lancets in obliquely is evidently to encoun- 
ter more resistance, do more work, and with 
less prospect of suecess than to thrust verti- 
eally through the many layers of cells of the 
epidermis. If there is an easy way of doing a 
thing, nature does not ignore it for a more 
difficult way. 
pheles could introduce its bill vertically and 
still keep it in line with its body, would be 


The only way in which Ano- 


for the body to assume the vertical position, 
which I have never seen it do. It is always 
somewhat oblique.” 

Mr. Henry L. Viereeck, who spent the entire 
summer at Cape May for me and who espe- 
cially studied A. crucians, writes: “ In biting 
Anopheles crucians stand like A. punctipennis 
as shown in Berkeley’s figure 17; that is, with 
the body and beak nearly in a straight line 
and at an angle somewhat greater than 60° 
to the surface. The disposition of the legs 
during the act I can not recall exactly, but I 
feel quite sure they were very much as in the 
figure I have referred to.” 

These communications were hardly satis- 
factory and we looked up every reference that 
was available, only to find that no one who 


72 SCIENCE. 


has written upon the subject, whose works we 
had in hand, spoke definitely on the position 
of Anopheles in actually biting. Nuttall and 
Shipley deseribe the bending of the proboscis, 
and in fact the entire mechanism of biting, 
and other authors are almost as detailed as 
they; but to the position, no one seems to 
refer. 

In the hope of getting other information [ 
wrote to Dr. L. O. Howard, and received this 
reply: “I never saw Anopheles bite but once, 
and that was in the dusk while I was sitting 
on the platform of a railroad station at Fresno, 
Cal. My impression was that the beak was 
not in the plane of the body; but that the head 
was bent downward. Mr. Pratt, when he was 
living in Virginia, was frequently bitten by 
Anopheles, and tells me that he has a positive 
recollection that the head was bent downward 
and that the hind legs were curved upward.” 

I wish it distinctly understood that this is 
not a contribution to knowledge. It is an 
illustration of how many men may make ob- 
servations in certain lines and absolutely ig- 
nore the most obvious points. It is also in- 
tended as a suggestion to those who may have 
made and recorded direct observations on this 
point, to publish their experiences. 


Joun B. SmirH. 
RUTGERS COLLEGE, 
New Brunswick, N. J. 
December 22, 1904. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


THE DISCUSSION IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT ON 
THE METRIC BILL. 

Tuere lies before us a reprint from the 
Parliamentary Debates in the House of Lords 
on February 23, 1904. The order of the day 
was the second reading of the bill for the com- 
pulsory introduction of metric weights and 
measures into the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland. We will make some ex- 
tracts from the discussion which will show the 
present conditions over there and which will 
interest us because it is universally admitted 
that the adoption of the metrie system by one 
branch of the English race will secure its 
adoption by the other. The reading was 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


moved by Lord Belhaven and Stenton, but the 
principal advocate of the bill was Lord Kelvin. 
In order to show how great change had taken 
place in public opinion on the measure in 
recent years, as compared with the time not 
long ago when the chief argument of the op- 
ponents of the bill was that public opinion was 
not yet ripe for it, the noble lord presented 
petitions from thirty town and city councils, 
representing a population of over 8,000,000, 
from fifty chambers of commerce, thirty retail 
dealers’ associations, forty-three trades unions 
representative of 300,000 workers, sixty teach- 
ers’ associations, inspectors of weights and 
measures in eighty districts and a large num- 
ber of individual signatures, bringing the total 
number of individuals represented to 333,000. 
A nearly equal number additional were prom- 
ised within a week, the Liverpool Chamber of 
Commerce sending theirs separately by Lord 
Avebury, together with several chambers of 
agriculture. The difficulties alleged to be 
experienced by foreign countries in making 
the change were declared non-existent. His 
Majesty’s representatives abroad at the time 
stated the change was made without much 
difficulty; though some countries were more 
rapid than others, there never had been any 
desire to return to the old system, and the 
adoption of metric weights and measures had 
assisted the development of trade. Switzer- 
land commenced to use the metric system 
eighteen months from the passing of the law. 
There was no great difficulty found there in 
the towns, but it was some time before it was 
adopted in remote country places. In Ger- 
many it was adopted more quickly than any- 
where else. Two years and one month were 
allowed, and the interval thus granted was 
sufficient to insure the adoption of the new 
system in all details; it was an accomplished 
fact by the day named. There is no desire 
to go back to the old system, and the change 
has contributed to a rise of German trade and 
commerce, foreign trade deriving much bene- 
fit. There are some persons who object from 
a dislike to mental effort, and who prefer to 
muddle on with the British system described 
by the prime minister as ‘ arbitrary, perverse 
and utterly irrational.’ To these I reply that 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


the metric system is bound to be adopted 
sooner or later, and that personal inconven- 
ience for a few days should not be allowed to 
interfere with a measure calculated to promote 
the trade and prosperity of the country. 

We have had nine years of permission to use 
the metric system without thereby rendering 
ourselves liable to punishment for a breach of 
the law, and experience has proved that the 
change from the system that has been so long 
in use in this country to a new system can not 
be made over the whole country voluntarily. 
It is a case for compulsion, and I think the 
legislature will be thanked by the country for 
having applied compulsion. In Germany, 
France and Italy no inconvenience has re- 
sulted from the introduction of the metric 
system, and there has never been such a thing 
as a complaint. The change in Germany oc- 
cupied only two years. JI have in my hands 
a statement by Sir Wm. Ramsay, in which he 
wrote: “I was in Germany during the change 
there; it gave no trouble whatever and was 
recognized within a week.” 

It is interesting to know that the decimal 
system, worked out by French philosophers, 
originated in England. In a letter dated 
November 14, 1783, James Watt laid down a 
plan which was in all respects the system 
adopted by the French philosophers seven 
years later, which the French government sug- 
gested to the King of England as a system 
that might be adopted by international agree- 
ment. James Watt’s objects were to secure 
uniformity and to establish a mode of division 
which should be convenient as long as decimal 
arithmetic lasted, a thing we may consider as 
absolutely settled. 

I hope this bill will be sent forward with 
full pressure to the other house, 333 members 
of which have declared themselves in favor of 
it and ready to support it. 

In introducing the bill, Lord Belhaven and 
Stenton recalled some of the testimony given 
in the blue book, known as the ‘ Report on 
Weights and Measures,’ made to the house of 
commons July 1, 1895. That report contained 
three recommendations, viz: 

(a) That the metrical system of weights and 
measures be at once legalized for all purposes. 


SCIENCE. 


72 
(>) 


(bo) That after a lapse of two years the 
metrical system be rendered compulsory by 
act of parliament. 

(c) That the metrical system of weights and 
measures be taught in all public elementary 
schools as a necessary and integral part of 
arithmetic, and that decimals be introduced 
at an earlier period of the school curriculum 
than is the case at present. 

Of these recommendations the first was com- 
plied with by the permissive act of 1897, which 
made the use of the metric system in trade 
lawful (it was previously illegal to use it), 
and the third was adopted under the educa- 
tional code of 1900. The second is in the bill 
now before us. An important point in the 
history of this subject is, that in August, 1902, 
there was a colonial conference attended by 
all the premiers of the self-governing colonies, 
which passed this resolution: “It is advis- 
able to adopt the metric system of weights and 
measures for use within the empire, and the 
prime ministers urge the government repre- 
sented at this conference to give consideration 
to the question of its early adoption.” And 
since that time the colonies have been pushing 
the matter with great earnestness. 

The saving of time in education by the use 
of the metric system is not only in the teach- 
ing of the tables, but the whole system of com- 
pound addition, subtraction, multiplication 
and division, and the system of computation 
called ‘practise.’ Last year inquiries were 
made of head masters of schools on this sub- 
ject, and 197 sent replies, of which 161 said 
the saving would be one year, 30 said it 
would be two years, and 6 said that it would 
be three years. The senior mathematical 
master of Edinburgh high school wrote: “ An 
average scholar would save at least a year 
and a half, probably two. I conceive it to 
be not only a saving of time, but an economy 
of mental effort which is incalculable.” 

The commercial value of the metric system 
has been reiterated by British consuls in 
foreign countries for many years. In the 
Board of Trade Journal, February 15, 1900, 
the British consul at Amsterdam says: “ The 
iron and steel manufacturers’ unions of Ger- 
many have adopted a uniform system of 


74 SCIENCE. 


dimensions based on metric weights and meas- 
The classifications are making more 
and more progress in Germany, not in the 
iron trades alone, but in other manufactures. 
In the future Germany, and the continent 
generally, will have a constantly increasing 
advantage over British manufactures in for- 
eign countries, unless the metric system be 
fully and entirely adopted by Great Britain. 
I may mention as an undoubted fact that the 
preference which Germany has obtained here 
over Great Britain regarding railways, bridges 
and other railway material is mainly owing 
to the existence of this metric classification.” 

Other items in the discussion were that 
Russia had directed her iron and steel works 
to alter their rolling machinery so as to pro- 
duce only rods, rails and sheets on a metric 
seale, that 45 per cent. of British exports were 
to non-metrie countries and 55 to metric 
countries (66 per cent. of United States im- 
ports are invoiced in metric measures). At 
present Britain has eighty different denomi- 
nations represented by 155 different kinds of 
weights and measures, which by this bill will 
be reduced to thirty denominations repre- 
sented by fifty-three different kinds of weights 
and measures, or only one third the present 


ures. 


number. 

Vhe bill was read a third time in the house 
of lords, May 17, and referred to a select com- 
mittee to arrange the practical details neces- 
sary to carry it into effect. It was then 
passed and sent to the house of commons, and 
read the first time. This discussion showed 
that there was a very great popular demand 
in England for the introduction of the metric 
system, more than there is in this country at 
the present time. England is a small country, 
and the adjacent countries, France, Belgium, 
IJolland and all Scandinavia use the metric 
system, hence people in general are brought 
much more in contact with it than in the 
United States, where we only touch the metric 
system directly in Mexico, and even this con- 
tact is having a decided effect in making the 
system familiar to our citizens. 

The principal arguments now relied on by 
the opponents of the metric system here are 
that it has not displaced the old measures in 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


countries where it has been legalized, and that 
its introduction would be a matter of enormous 
expense. Any one who has had personal ex- 
perience in foreign travel, or who will take 
pains to inquire of any of the thousands of 
emigrants that come among us, will soon con- 
vince himself that the metric system is the 
principal system in actual use in trade and 
ecommerce in European countries. 

The very large number of working people 
who appear in Lord Kelvin’s list as advocates 
of the metrie system are drawn to its support 
not only by the actual contact with metric- 
using nations, but also by the handicap im- 
posed by the British system on getting a useful 
practical education. This point is increasing 
in importanee since the complete change of 
both British and American text-books to the 
metric system. The absurdity is patent of 
requiring the workman to use an old system 
different from that in which all knowledge is 
gathered by the original workers and com- 
muniecated to their students, and of which the 
great mass of operatives are ignorant. The 
operatives themselves, as soon as they become 
fully aware of it, demand the possession of 
this key to knowledge and the higher eduea- 
tion. 

We have heard a great deal in the last three 
years about the enormous expense of adopting 
the metric system. The great majority of 
people who talk about this expense do not 
know anything about the actual use of the 
metric system, and have not brought one scrap 
of testimony that supports their views from 
countries that have made the change, while 
most of those who advocate the system are 
in the actual use of it as teachers, investiga- 
tors, ete. The opponents of the system are 
in the position of a man who condemns a tool 
without ever having used it. Now Lord 
Kelvin said in his argument before the lords 
that “last year inquiries were made of head 
masters of schools, 197 sent replies, of whom 
169 said the saving of time by teaching the 
metric system would be one year, thirty said 
it would be two years and six said it would be 
three years. The senior mathematical master 
of Edinburgh high school wrote, that in view 
of the wearing out of teachers and scholars in 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


obtaining a knowledge of the British system, 
the adoption of the metric system would result 
in not only a ‘saving of time, but an economy 
ot mental effort which is incalculable. ” 
Lord Kelvin’s argument applies with even 
more force to the United States. The com- 
mittee on coinage, weights and measures say 
in their report No. 1701, April 21, 1902, made 
to the first session of the fifty-seventh con- 
gress: “When we consider there are over 
15,000,000 school children in the United 
States being educated at a public cost of not 
less than $200,000,000 per annum, the enormity 
of the waste will be appreciated. In the life- 
time of a single generation nearly $1,000,000,- 
000 and 40,000,000 school years are consumed 
in teaching a system that as a whole does not 
agree with any other nation in the world, and 
which does not offer any advantage whatever 
to compensate for its complexity. Surely the 
children and teachers of the country are 
worthy of quite as much consideration as the 
temporary personal and pecuniary interests of 
some manufacturers, who have failed to fur- 
nish, by either themselves or their representa- 
tives, any evidence whatever that the manu- 
factures of Germany or Switzerland have or 
did suffer any loss whatever by the recent 
adoption of the metric system in those coun- 
tries. No one in this country has proposed to 
affix any penalties legal or otherwise to the use 
of the customary system, what we do want, 
and are entitled to work for as citizens, is that 
the government shall adopt in all its work the 
metric system, which is already the interna- 
tional system for a majority of the civilized 
world.” 

The American Machinist, of January 14, 
sums up the matter by saying what is true: 
“The testimony of men who have kad experi- 
ence in all parts of the world with both sys- 
tems in the manufacture of machinery is prac- 
tically unanimous, that most objections to the 
metric system are based upon purely imagin- 
ary difficulties, and that the testimony of men 
who have not had such experience does not 
amount to anything. 

We are constantly asked what advantage 
will the metric system be to this or that partic- 
ular business. The whole community is larger 


SCIENCE. 75 


than any part of it, and is entitled to first 
consideration. We have shown above that one 
of the largest and most important activities 
in this country, the business of education, will 
be enormously benefited, and every other trade 
or business will also be benefited, by the in- 
creased effectiveness of mental effert in every 
direction which is the necessary consequence 
of substituting a simple and rational system 
for the complex, irregular and barbarous sys- 
tem now in vogue. 
Witiiam H. Seaman. 


CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 
TEMPERATURES IN THE FREE AIR. 


Tue valuable data concerning the tempera- 
tures in the free air obtained during the daily 
‘soundings’ made at the Prussian Aeronaut- 
ical Observatory at Berlin, are discussed by J. 
Homma in the Meteorologische Zeitschrift for 
October, 1904. The observations considered 
are those of the year 1903, and they are 
grouped by seasons and by good and bad days, 
the temperatures being summarized for differ- 
ent altitudes. It is to be noted that the as- 
cents were made at different morning hours, 
between nine and twelve, and, therefore, the 
mean obtained is not to be regarded as ac- 
curately representing the conditions during 
the twenty-four hours. The vertical tempera- 
ture gradients for the four seasons show a 
very slow decrease up to 2,000 meters in 
winter, and a rapid decrease in spring and 
summer. The average rate of temperature 
decrease for the year is about 1.3° per 100 
meters near the surface, but decreases aloft, 
up to about 2,000 meters (0.9°), and then in- 
creases with altitude. The mean decrease of 
temperature for May, June and July between 
the surface and 500 meters is more rapid than 
the adiabatic rate of 1.8° in 100 meters. 


BAD WEATHER, GOOD ROADS AND FARMERS. 
Proressor A. P. Bricuam, in the Bulletin 
of the American Geographical Society for De- 
cember, emphasizes the need of good roads in 
the United States, and points out how great is 
the handicap of bad roads to farmers and to 
railroads. In this connection, the weather is 
an important factor, for when the roads are 


76 SCIENCE. 


bad, the farmer is greatly restricted in the 
times when he can go to market. If high 
prices coincide with a period of wet weather 
and deep mud, the farmer may lose his oppor- 
tunity of getting his crops to market. In 
France, cold or stormy days are often used for 
hauling to market, but American farmers 
usually have to use for hauling the days which 
are the best for work on the farm. Railroad 
receipts often suffer a serious falling off when 
the weather is severe, and when the country 
roads are in such condition that farmers can 
not haul their produce to the train. 


MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 


Tue Monthly Weather Review for Septem- 
ber, 1904 (dated November 19), contains the 
following articles of general interest: H. 
Elias, ‘A New Theory of Fog Formation’ 
(translated from the German); J. H. Spencer, 
‘Three Notable Meteorological Exhibits at the 
World’s Fair’ (the U. S. Weather Bureau, the 
German and the Philippine Weather Bureau 
exhibits); and the following notes: ‘ Meteor- 
ology in Roumania’; ‘ Observations for Twelve 
Months in Lassa’ (data obtained by M. Tys- 
bikov, a Russian, who resided in Lassa from 
August 15, 1900, to August 22, 1901); ‘ Ob- 
servations at the Franco-Seandinayian Sta- 
tion for Aerial Soundings’ (from Comptes 
Rendus) ; ‘Wind Velocity and Ocean Waves’ 
(from a recent paper by Cornish). 


NO SECULAR CHANGE OF CLIMATE IN TRIPOLI. 


VICOMTE DE MATHUSIEULX, in an account of 
his expedition to Tripoli (Bull. Amer. Geogr. 
Soc., December, 1904), states it as his opinion 
that there is no reason for supposing any 
secular change of climate to have occurred in 
that region, although others have taken the 
opposite view. The Latin texts and monu- 
ments seem, to this writer, to establish the 
fact that so far as the atmosphere and soil 
are concerned, everything is just as it was in 
antiquity. The present condition of the 
country is ascribed to the idleness of the 
Arabs, who have allowed innumerable wells 
to become choked and the vegetation to perish. 
“Tn a country so little favored by nature, the 
first requisite is a diligent and hard-working 


(N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


population. The Romans took several cen- 
turies to make the land productive by dam- 
ming the ravines and sinking wells in the 
wady beds.” 


CLIMATIC CHANGE IN THE LAKE CHAD REGION. 

Tue evidence from the region between the 
Ubangi River and Lake Chad, studied by M. 
Aug. Chevalier in 1902-8, is, however, be- 
lieved to point towards a progressive desicca- 
tion there (La Geographie, May, 1904). M. 
Chevalier thinks it probable that a great river 
once flowed north across the Sahara to the 
Mediterranean, and that Lake Chad was mere- 
ly a back water. Vegetable and animal re- 
mains indicate an invasion of the Sudan by 
the Saharan climate, and Neolithic relics indi- 
cate the former presence of prosperous com- 
munities. The change is not a regularly 
progressive one, for Lake Chad sometimes 
spreads beyond its usual bed as a result of 
several years of heavy rainfall. Since 1897 
the waters have continued to fall. After a 
drought in 1902, Lake Fittri dried up in the 
following year, and hippopotami which inhab- 
ited it went elsewhere. 


KITE METEOROLOGY OVER LAKE CONSTANCE. 

Dr. HerceEsett has contributed to a recent 
number of the Beitrage zur Physik der freien 
Atmosphire an account of the observations 
made by him with kites on the Lake of Con- 
stance, the flights being made from a motor- 
boat, loaned by Count Zeppelin, during the 
years 1900, 1902 and 1903. The observations 
show that inversions of temperature and of 
humidity frequently occur in the free air 
which are not exhibited by the observations 
made at mountain observatories. 


R. DEC. Warp. 


THE FIRST OBSERVATIONS WITH ‘BALLONS-SONDES’” 
IN AMERICA. 


As is known to many readers of ScIENCcE, 
there have been despatched in Europe fre- 
quently during the past ten years ballons- 
sondes, or small balloons carrying only instru- 
ments that record automatically the tempera- 
ture and pressure of the air, thus enabling the 


JANUARY 13, 190v.] 


temperatures to be determined at the succes- 
sive heights reached, the place and time at 
which the balloons fall indicating approxi- 
mately the direction and velocity of the upper 
currents. The ‘aeronautical concourse’ of the 
St. Louis Exposition afforded an opportunity 
to undertake these investigations in this coun- 
try. Accordingly, the work was taken up by 
Mr. A. Lawrence Rotch, director of the Blue 
Hill Observatory, in cooperation with Col. J. 
A. Ockerson, chief of the Department of Lib- 
eral Arts at the Exposition, and a series of 
very satisfactory experiments has just been 
completed. 

The balloons used in the experiments are 
the closed rubber balloons devised by Dr. Ass- 
mann, director of the Prussian Aeronautical 
Observatory. These balloons are inflated with 
about 100 cubic feet of hydrogen gas; they 
expand in rising until they burst, and then 
the attached parachute moderates the fall. 
In some eases two balloons, coupled tandem, 
were employed, and, as only one balloon bursts, 
the other is borne slowly to the ground and 
serves to attract attention. The instruments, 
which were furnished by M. Teisserene de 
Bort, of Paris, record the temperature and 
barometric pressure upon a smoked cylinder, 
turned by clockwork; and the lightest of them 
in its basket weighs about one and one half 
pounds. A notice attached to each requests 
the finder to pack the instrument carefully in 
a box and return either to St. Louis or to Blue 
Hill, with promise of a reward for the service. 

Owing to delays in obtaining the gas and 
apparatus, the experiments were not begun 
until the middle of September, during which 
month four ascensions took place. All of the 
balloons fell within a radius of fifteen miles, 
about fifty miles east of St. Louis. Twice the 
height of nine or ten miles was attained 
where a temperature of 68° F. below zero was 
recorded. These experiments were conducted 
by Mr. S. P. Fergusson, of the Blue Hill Ob- 
servatory staff. Another series of ten ascen- 
sions was executed by Mr. H. H. Clayton, 
meteorologist at the Blue Hill Observatory, 
during the last part of November and the first 
days of December, mostly after sunset, in 
order to avoid the possible effect of insolation. 


SCIENCE. Yi 


Fortunately, all these balloons were also re- 
covered, though the stronger upper air cur- 
rents carried them further from St. Louis, 
three of them traveling more than two hun- 
dred miles, and two, at least, with a speed 
exceeding one hundred miles an hour, the 
direction of every balloon being toward the 
easterly semi-circle. Ten of the fourteen as- 
censions furnished good records, and the re- 
duction of the later ones reveals lower tem- 
peratures than in September, for example, 
72° below zero at the height of seven and 
three quarters miles on November 25, and 
76° below at six and one quarter miles on the 
following day. 

The fact that all the balloons were recovered 
indicates the excellent topographical situation 
of St. Louis for despateching them, and Mr. 
Rotch expects to make another series of as- 
censions there this month, in order to obtain 
the temperatures of the upper air in mid- 
winter. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

Tuer Lavoisier medal of the Paris Academy 
of Sciences has been awarded to Sir James 
Dewar. 

Tue title of Correspondant de Ecole d’An- 
thropologie de Paris has been conferred upon 
Mr. George Grant MacCurdy of the Yale Uni- 
versity Museum. 

Mr. Frevertc Emory, chief of the Bureau 
of Trade Relations of the Department of 
State, has presented his resignation to take 
effect on March 31. 

Dr. Horack JAYNE has resigned the director- 
ship of the Wistar Institute of the University 
of Pennsylvania. 

Lorp Kevin has accepted the nomination of 
the council for the presideney of the London 
Faraday Society, in succession to Sir Joseph 
Swan. 

Proressor G. Srerct has been made president 
for the International Congress of Psychology 
to be held at Rome from April 26 to 30 of the 
present year. 

Lirutrnant-CotoneL A. Kroc has been ap- 
pointed director general of the British Army 
Medical Service. 


78 SCIENCE. 


Avr the meeting of the California Academy. 
of Sciences, recently held in San Francisco, 
Mr. Walter K. Fisher, assistant in the depart- 
ment of zoology, of Stanford University, de- 
livered a lecture entitled ‘ Bird-life on a 
Tropical Island of the Pacific. 

Dr. Orro Norpenskiotp lectured on his 
Antarctic exploration before the French Geo- 
graphical Society on December 16. 


Puans have been made to erect a memorial 
to Dr. Franz Riegel, professor of medicine 
at Giessen, who died last August. 

Nature states that it is proposed to estab- 
lish in the University of Liverpool a memorial 
to Mr. R. W. H. T. Hudson, late lecturer in 
mathematics, whose brilliant career was so 
tragically cut short at the end of last Sep- 
tember. The memorial will probably take 
the form of an annual prize in mathematics, 
to be awarded for distinction in geometry, 
the subject in Mr. Hudson’s work 
chiefly lay. 


which 


Dr. Bensamin West Frazier, professor of 
mineralogy and metallurgy at Lehigh Uni- 
versity since 1871, died as the result of a 
stroke of apoplexy on January 4, at the age 
of sixty-three years. 


Mr. C. C. Barrett, an English entomolo- 
gist, has died at the age of sixty-eight years. 

Sirk Lornuiran Betz, F.R.S., the author of 
works on metallurgy, died on December 20 
at the age of eighty-eight years. 

Tue death is also announced of Professor 
Hermann Wilfarth, director of the Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station at Bernburg; and 
of M. Paul Tannery, author of works on the 
history of science. 


Foreign exchanges state that the Circolo 
Matematico di Palermo intends to offer an 
international prize for geometry at the fourth 
International Mathematical Congress, which 
will meet at Rome in 1908. The prize will 
consist of a small gold medal, to be ealled the 
Guiccia medal, after its founder, and of 3,000 
franes, and will be given by preference, though 
not necessarily, to an essay which advances 
the knowledge of the theory of algebraical 
curves of space. The treatises may be written 
in Italian, French, German or English, and 


. uary 15. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


must be sent to the president of the Circolo 
Matematico before July 1, 1907. 


Tut New York Hvening Post states that in 
pursuance of the written agreement between 
Harvard and New York Universities, to carry 
on for ten years a biological station in the 
Bermuda Islands, a supervising committee has 
been completed by the acceptance of a third 
member of the committee, Hugo Baring, who 
was nominated by the Royal Society of Lon- 
don, which is a contributor to the enterprise 
through the Bermuda government. Harvard 
University is represented on the committee by 
Hon. Charles S. Fairchild, ex-secretary of the 
United States Treasury, and New York Uni- 
versity by Mr. William M. Kingsley, the treas- 
urer of the university. 

Mr. ANDREW CARNEGIE has given $263,000 to 
the Maryland Institute School of Art and 
Design, thus doubling the assets of the institu- 
tion. A new building will be erected to re- 
place the one destroyed in the Baltimore fire. 
It is also stated that Mr. Carnegie has inti- 
mated to officials of the Franklin Institute, 
of Philadelphia, that if they can secure the 
Franklin fund amounting to about $155,000, 
in the hands of the Board of City Trusts, he 
will add an equal sum to the amount. The 
Franklin fund, £1,000, was left to the City of 
Philadelphia by Dr. Benjamin Franklin in 
1790, to be used in making loans to young 
married artificers under certain conditions. 
No loans under the conditions have been made 
for years. The money will be used for the 
erection of a new building. 


Tur Mexican Department of Agriculture 
is planning a series of meteorological stations 
to be conected by telegraph with the meteoro- 
logical observatory in Mexico City. 

Proressor Boycr, of Liverpool University, 
has proposed to the Liverpool Chamber of 
Commerce a scheme for the establishment of 
a commercial museum and bureau of scien- 
tific information. 


Tur new tuberculosis building at the Johns 
Hopkins Hospital, adjoining the general dis- 
pensary, will be formally opened about Jan- 
It is the gift of Mr. Henry Phipps, 
of Pittsburg, who gave $20,000 last winter, 


JANUARY 13, 1905.] 


through Dr. Osler, for a separate dispensary 
for tuberculous patients. 

KarusruHe has followed the example of 
Charlottenburg in establishing a tuberculosis 
museum. Arrangements are being made by 
which parties of working people will be en- 
abled to visit the museum from all parts of 
the country. 

WE learn from The British Medical Journal 
that a private citizen has placed in the hands 
of the government of the Grand Duchy of 
Baden a sum of $60,000 towards the founda- 
tion at Heidelberg of an institute for the 
study of cancer. The government has given 
a site for the purpose in the immediate neigh- 
borhood of the University Hospital, and has 
promised a grant for the maintenance of the 
institute. 

THe completed object-glass of eighteen 
inches clear aperture for the new observatory 
was formally delivered to the trustees of Am- 
herst College on December 31 by Mr. C. A. 
R. Lundin, the maker and optical expert, rep- 
resenting the firm of Alvan Clark and Sons. 
The objective was brought to Amherst by Pro- 
fessor Todd and deposited in the college vault 
for safe keeping till the mounting is ready to 
be erected in the spring. The flint and crown 
disks were made by Mantois, of Paris, and 
were pronounced by Alvan Clark the finest 
pair of disks ever received in his shops. The 
optical work upon them, figuring, correcting 
and polishing, during the past two years, fully 
maintains the highest standard of excellence 
set by this firm in the forty-inch Yerkes tele- 
scope, the thirty-six-inch Lick telescope, the 
thirty-inch Russian object-glass, the twenty- 
six-inch at Princeton, and numerous others. 

A Pactric Coast Biological Society was es- 
tablished at a meeting held in San Francisco 
on December 10. Its membership includes 
those who are carrying on research in zoology, 
paleontology, anatomy, physiology, psychology 
and botany. Meetings will be held four times 
a year. At the first meeting Dr. Jacques 
Loeb gave an address on heliotropism in ani- 
mals. Professor H. Heath, of the Stanford 
University department of zoology, was elected 
pres:dent, and Professor W. J. V. Osterhout, 


SCIENCE. ee) 


of the department of botany at the University 
of California, secretary-treasurer. 


A MATHEMATICAL section of the California 
Teachers’ Association was organized on De- 
cember 26, 1904, at San Jose. Professor G. 
A. Miller, Stanford University, was elected 
president, and Mr. J. F. Smith, Campbell 
High School, secretary. The main object of 
the association is to arouse more interest in 
mathematical pedagogy by means of separate 
meetings for the discussion of recent mathe- 
matical movements. 


Tue American Breeders’ Association will 
hold its annual meeting at Champaign, Illi- 
nois on February 1, 2 and 3. Special sessions 
will be devoted to the following subjects: 
specific methods of breeding corn, wheat, 
apples and other plants; methods of improving 
short horns, dairy cattle and other breeds of 
live stock, breeding disease-resisting plants, 
Mendel’s law, in-and-in breeding. 


Mr. Francis Darwin has written the follow- 
ing letter to the London Times: 


‘Greek at Oxford, from a 
correspondent in 7'he Times of December 27 occurs 
the remark ‘It will be remembered also that 
Darwin regretted not having learnt Greek.’ 

I am at a loss to know on what authority this 
statement rests. If Darwin had any regrets on 
the subject of Greek it was when he found that 
in the two years intervening between leaving 
school and going up to Cambridge he had almost 
forgotten his classics, and had to begin again an 
uncongenial task in order to get a degree. 

Darwin says of his education at Shrewsbury 
School: “ Nothing could have been worse for 
the development of my mind than Dr. Butler’s 
school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else 
being taught, except a little ancient geography 
and history” (‘Life and Letters, I., 31). He 
was, in fact, a victim of that *‘ premature speciali- 
zation’ which is generally referred to in a some- 
what one-sided spirit, and from which the public 
schoolboy is not yet freed. 

If the name of Charles Darwin is to be brought 
into this controversy it must not be used for com- 
pulsory Greek, but against it. 


In an article on 


In 1867 he wrote 
to Farrar, ‘I am one of the root and branch men, 
and would leave classics to be learnt by those 
alone who have sufficient zeal and the high taste 
requisite for their appreciation’ (‘ More Letters 
of Charles Darwin,’ II., 441). 


80U SCIENCE. 


Tur Biological Society of Washington offers 
for sale to the highest bidder, prior to January 
15, 1905, its entire accumulation of exchange 
publications, consisting of about 1,500 serials 
or parts of serials, pamphlets and volumes on 
all branches of natural history. An opening 
bid of $25 is already in hand. The collection 
will be sold as a whole, and bids for parts can 
not be accepted. For information apply to 
the secretary, Wilfred H. Osgood, Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

Dr. Henry Fairritp Ossorn, Da Costa 
professor of zoology in Columbia University 
and curator in the American Museum of Nat- 
ural History, will deliver a series of lectures 
in February, at the Museum of Natural His- 
tory, on ‘The Evolution of the Horse.’ The 
lectures will be given under the auspices of 
Columbia University in cooperation with the 
museum, on the first three Mondays and the 
first three Wednesdays of the month. The 
stibjects are: ‘The Horse as an Animal Mech- 
anism,’ ‘The Horse in Relation of the Idea 
of Evolution, ‘The Fossil History of the 
Horse,’ especially in North America; ‘ The 
Fossil History of the Horse Continued,’ ‘ Ex- 
isting Races of Horses, Asses and Zebras,’ 
‘Probable Origin of the Domesticated Breeds 
of Horses.’ 

A COLONIAL exposition will be held in 
Marseilles in 1906, for which preparations are 
being made with great energy. A site has 
been selected, and 1,500,000 franes has been 
voted by the department, city and chamber of 
commerce. The various French colonies have 
already appropriated 5,000,000 francs to meet 
their expenses in this exposition, and further 
financial aid is expected. 

Proressor Boycer, F.R.S., Dr. Arthur Evans 
and Dr. H. T. Clarke, who comprise the 13th 
expedition despatched by the Liverpool School 
of Tropical Medicine to West Africa for pur- 
poses of scientific research, sailed from the 
Mersey, on December 14. We learn from the 
London Times that on the day before they 


were entertained to a farewell luncheon by 
Sir Alfred L. Jones, and a numerous company 
of Liverpool commercial men were invited to 


meet them. Sir Alfred Jones in proposing 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 524. 


‘Success to the Expedition,’ said the Liverpool 
School had accomplished invaluable work in 
the direction of making the West Coast more 
healthful and habitable to white men and 
natives alike. Mr. James Boyle (American 
Consul) pointed out that Liverpool was rapidly 
forging to the front as a scientific center, and 
both London and Edinburgh would soon have 
to look to their laurels. Mr. Walter Long, 
M.P., said that Liverpool and the nation at 
large owed an incalculable debt to Professor 
Boyce. In the history of British colonization 
and territorial acquisition the most painful 
page was that in which one read of the death, 
not of men who had fallen sword in hand 
fighting under the flag of their country, but 
of those countless thousands whose lives had 
been sacrificed, as they now believed quite un- 
necessarily, to a deadly and unseen enemy, 
which had wrought such terrible ravages in 
the past, and which they had every reason to 
believe could now be vanquished. This was a 
great work, and must result in conquests as 
great and lasting as any that science had yet 
achieved. Professor Boyce, in responding, 
said that the feasibility of Ross’s views on this 
subject had now been proved up to the hilt. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 
By the will of the late E. W. Codman of 
Boston and Nahant, Mass., an estate which it 
is said, may reach $1,000,000 will be equally 
divided between Harvard University and the 
Massachusetts General Hospital. 


Ir is said that the classes graduating from 
Princeton University from 1881 to 1902 have 
each pledged $10,000 for the erection of a new 
dormitory. 

Tue board of trustees of the University of 
North Carolina has authorized the organiza- 
tion of a School of Applied Science, consisting 
of the departments of mathematics and engi- 
neering, physics and electrical engineering, 
chemistry, geology and mining. Professor 
Gore is dean. 

Dr. H. Metprncer, professor of applied phys- 
ies at the technical institute at Karlsruhe, has 
retired from active service at the age of 
seventy-three years. 


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The American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science :— 
A Tentative Theory of Thermo-electric 
Action: PRoressor Epwin H. HALL....... 81 


The Alamogordo Desert: PRoressor THOMAS 
PAPO UACESRTD Ee te starve tps iscsi alee a (6 aller sapdl.ne. ops 90 


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Cajori’s Introduction to the Modern Theory 

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than conclusive or exhaustive. 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 
A TENTATIVE THEORY OF THERMO-ELEC-— 
TRIC ACTION.* 

Let the lines (1)—(1) and (2)-(2) in 
Fig. 1 be the lines representative respect- 
ively, of two metals M, and M, in the or- 
dinary thermo-electric diagram. We may, 
if we please, think of these metals as copper 


-and iron, respectively. The lowest horizon- 


tal line is the temperature coordinate and 
begins at the absolute zero. 


() 


B Ai 2) 
B ! S 

| 

| oS. 
O° Abs, > ae 


Jae Ie 


The diagram is so constructed that the 
area CC’I'IC is equal to the net thermo- 
electromotive force, EH, counterclockwise, 
in the circuit indicated by Fig. 2, in which 
the left-hand junction is kept at tempera- 
ture 7 and the right-hand junction at tem- 
perature 7’. We will suppose that EH’ is 
expressed in mechanical units, as the 


* Address of the vice-president and chairman of 


Section B—Physics, American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, Philadelphia, December, 


1904. [The theory here given is certainly incom- 


plete, and I fear that it is not entirely self-con- 
sistent. 


It is intended to be suggestive rather 
155 dats Js le| 


82 SCIENCE. 


amount of work done, at the expense of 
heat, on unit quantity of electricity while 
it goes once around the eireuit. Evi- 
dently, then, the area CC’l'IC, which rep- 


(2) 
Zi 


T Tat 
Fic. 2. 


resents H, represents also the mechanical 
equivalent of the net amount of heat con- 
sumed by unit quantity of electricity in 
one eyele. 

The arrow-points in Fig. 1 indicate 
merely the direction of the current result- 
ing from the net # of the cireuit. 

It is consistent with what precedes to 
consider the area BCC’B’B as representing 
that part of the total, or net, ZH which lies 
in the unequally heated M, between 7’ and 
T’, the area B’C’l'D’B’, as representing 
that part of HE which lies in the junction 
M,-M, at T’, ete.; and this interpretation 
is sometimes given as a mere statement of 
fact. In the course of this paper it will, I 
hope, be shown that another view of the 
matter is consistent with the known facts 
of the case. 

As this declaration puts me for the mo- 
ment into a somewhat heretical attitude, 
let me hasten to say that I hold as strongly 
as any one to the proposition that the area 
BCC'B’'B represents the amount of heat 
absorbed by unit quantity of electricity in 
going through the metal M, from the tem- 
perature 7 to the temperature 7”, that the 
area B’C'l'D'B’ represents the heat ab- 
sorbed by unit quantity of eleetricity in 
going from M, to M, at temperature 7”, 
ete. This proposition is familiar and needs 
no proof from me; but I wish to develop 
a little one aspect of it which is sometimes 
overlooked, an aspect which has a decided 
pedagogic value and which is at least sug- 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 525. 


gestive of the line of thought I wish to fol- 
low later. 

As we have in Fig. 1 a diagram in which 
areas represent heat absorbed, and in which 
one of the coordinate axes represents tem- 
perature, the other axis must represent 
entropy. Let us, therefore, in order to 
conform to the common practise in the use 
of the temperature-entropy diagram, make 
the T axis vertical, and the entropy, or 8S, 
axis horizontal, thus getting as the equiva- 
lent of Fig. 1 the Fig. 3. 


Db’ D 
RIG. 3. 


1 sok 


It is to be observed that Fig. 3 is the 
obverse of Fig. 1 so that the arrow points, 
without any relative change of position in 
going from one figure to the other, now 
lead clockwise around the area CC’l’IC. 

Any one who is familiar with the tem- 
perature-entropy diagram of the steam- 
boiler-engine cycle, as given and discussed 
by Ewing, will see at once interesting 
points of resemblance between Fig. 3 and 
that diagram. For example, the sloping 
line CC’, which indicates one phase of the 
Thomson effect, the absorption of heat by 
the electric current in passing through the 
metal M, from a point at temperature 7 
to a point at the highest temperature, 7”, 


JANUARY 20, 1905.] 


is analogous to the sloping line which in 
the steam-boiler-engine diagram indicates 
the absorption of heat by the feed water. 
from the condenser in mixing with the hot 
water in the boiler. The slope of each line 
implies that the working agent, electricity 
in one ease and water in the other, takes 
in the particular quantity of heat repre- 
sented by the area under the line at a tem- 
perature below the highest of the cycle, and 
therefore, does not make the best possible 
thermodynamic use of the heat supplied 
and of the range of temperature available. 
Similarly the inclined line /’J, which indi- 
cates that heat is absorbed by the electric 
current in passing through the metal M,, 
from temperature 7” to the lower tempera- 
ture 7’, is analogous to the line of the steam 
eyele which indicates the recovery of heat 
from the cylinder wall during expansion 
after cut-off. 

Furthermore, the horizontal lines C’l’ 
and IC, indicating the absorption or emis- 
sion of heat by the electric current in pass- 
ing, without change of temperature, from 
one metal to the other, are analogous to 
those horizontal lines of the steam cycle 
which indicate absorption or emission of 
heat in the act of evaporation or of con- 
densation. To this analogy we shall pres- 
ently return. 

Let us for the moment occupy ourselves 
with a reexamination of the prevailing 
opinion as to the relation between the heat 
absorption or emission at the junction of 
two metals and the difference of potential, 
or the electromotive force, at that junction, 
that is, between the thermal aspect and the 
electrical aspect of the Peltier effect. We 
shall find the situation not quite so clear 
as it is often supposed to be. 

Maxwell* states that the amount of heat 
taken up or given out by unit quantity of 
electricity in going from one metal to an- 
other at any temperature is a measure of 


**Electricity and Magnetism,’ § 249. 


SCIENCE. 83 * 


‘the electromotive contact force at the june- 
tion’; and he says that ‘this application 
* * * of the dynamical theory of heat to 
the determination of a local electromotive 
force’ is due to Sir Wm. Thomson.* He 
then goes on to declare that—‘‘The elec- 
tromotive force at the junction of two 
metals, as determined by this method, does 
not account for Volta’s electromotive force. 
* * * The latter is in general far greater 
than that of this article, and is sometimes’ 
of opposite sign,’’ ete. 

But it is a remarkable fact that Thom- 
son, years after he had pointed out the 
method which Maxwell approves for de- 
termining contact electromotive force, came 
out (in 1862) with a letter giving a ‘New 
Proof of Contact Electricity,’ his famous 
‘divided ring’ experiment, in which letter 
he says ‘‘For nearly two years I have felt 
quite sure that the proper explanation of 
voltaic action in the common voltaic ar- 
rangement is very nearly Volta’s,’’ ete. 

I do not feel called upon to take up the 
cudgels for Thomson or for Volta. The 
point of immediate interest is that Thom- 
son, after proposing the thermodynamic 
method of determining contact electro- 
motive force, found it possible to hold a 
view contradictory to the soundness of this 
method. This fact may give the rest of us 
courage to question the finality even of 
Maxwell’s opinion as to the relation be- 
tween electromotive force and heat in the 
Peltier effect. I believe, too, that Poin- 
earé, in article 292 of his ‘Thermodynam- 
ique,’ holds that the opinion supported by 
Maxwell may be wrong. Let us see what 
we can do with the question thus raised. 

By difference of potential, D.., between 
two points I shall mean the net amount 
of work which must be done because of 
the attractions and repulsions of electric 
charges (to use the convenient terms of 


* Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., Dec. 15, 1851; Trans. 
Roy. Soc. Bdin., 1854. 


84 SCIENCE. 


action at a distance) in carrying unit 
quantity of positive electricity from point 
1 to point 2. 

By electromotive force, Ey, along a 
given path from the point 1 to the point 2, 
I shall mean 

Fy2 = Day + t1.2Ri2, 


where 7,, is the current from (1) to (2) 
and R,. is the resistance of the chosen 
path from (1) to (2). 

If either 7 or R is zero, 


Fi2= Daa, 


which is practically the case when we have 
a battery in open cireuit, (1) being one 
terminal and (2) the other, or when we 
have under consideration two points on 
opposite sides of a junction of two metals, 
but exceedingly near together, even if a 
current is flowing from one to the other. 

We have already, looking at Fig. 3, com- 
pared the passage of electricity from metal 
1 to metal 2 to the evaporation of water 
in a boiler. Now in this evaporation work 
of two kinds is done upon the water, in- 
ternal work and external work. The move- 
ment of electricity across a junction against 
a difference of potential corresponds to the 
external work of evaporation. Is there 
accompanying this movement anything cor- 
responding to the internal work of evapora- 
tion? If so, the heat absorbed by the elec- 
tricity in the movement may be as bad a 
measure for the difference of potential at 
the junction as the latent heat of evapora- 
tion would be for the external work of 
evaporation. 

It is not absurd to imagine that there 
may be some change of state of electricity 
besides change of potential. It is possible 
that we should take account of something 
like an attraction between electricity and 
the metals with which it is associated. 
Helmholtz imagined such an attraction in 
order to explain the action of a galvanic 
cell, Indeed, we are familiar with the idea 


[N.S. Vou. AXI. No. 525. 


that attraction or repulsion exerted on the 
electric charge which ordinary matter may 
bear is communicated to the matter itself. 
When the charge on a pith ball is drawn 
this way or that, it carries the pith ball 
along withit. To be sure, this phenomenon 
and others like it may not indicate any 
fundamental attraction between ordinary 
matter and electricity. Perhaps they can 
all be explained by stresses in the dielectric 
surrounding or penetrating the ordinary 
matter; but whatever the true agencies 
may be, they at least simulate attraction 
or some physical tie between ordinary mat- 
ter and electricity. We may, therefore, 
feel free to make speculative use of such 
attraction. 

Our problem is to find, if we can, by use 
of any reasonable hypothesis, an explana- 
tion of the way in which heat drives an 
electric current around the cireuit of dis- 
similar metals unequally heated. 

There are two types of mechanical cir- 
cuits or cycles operated by heat with which 
we are very familiar, the steam-boiler- 
engine cycle, in which the circulation may 
be practically in a horizontal plane, and 
various convection cycles, commonly used 
for heating and ventilation, which may be 
in vertical planes. In the horizontal cycle 
we must have valves. Circulation is se- 
cured by heating or cooling a fluid which 
is free to expand or to contract on one side, 
but not on the other side, the valves being 
so contrived as to give the necessary free- 
dom and the necessary restriction. In the 
convection eyele we do not necessarily make 
use of valves. If the heating and cooling 
are effected at the right parts of the cir- 
cuit, gravity supplies the differential force 
necessary to maintain circulation. 

How can the metals of our thermo-elec- 
tric cireuit take the function of valves or 
the function of gravitation and so deter- 
mine the flow of electricity at the expense 
of heat energy? 


JANUARY 20, 1905.] 


Let us consider first the case of a thermo- 
electric couple in which neither metal has 
any Thomson effect, but in which there is 
a tendency of positive electricity from (1) 
to (2) at each junction. The thermo-elec- 
tric force of such a circuit can be accounted 
for by assuming that metal 2 attracts posi- 
tive electricity more and negative elec- 


‘tricity less than metal 1, and that both 
these differential attractions increase or . 


decrease with change of temperature of 
the electricity. 

At first glance one is likely to think that 
the differential forces here imagined must 
increase with rise of temperature, as it may 
at first seem that the forces at the hot june- 
tion must prevail over the opposing forces 
at the cold junction. But this need not 
be. The action must be such as to take in 
heat at the hot junction and to give out 


heat at the cold junction; but this condi- — 


tion is perfectly consistent with the pre- 
vailing of the attractive forces at the cold 
junction. 

For, consider the analogous ease of cir- 
culation of water in a pipe circuit made 
up of two verticals and two horizontals 
(see Fig. 5). If heat is applied at the 
proper part of one vertical and if heat is 
taken away from the proper part of the 
other vertical, the water will ascend against 
the force of gravity at the heated place and 
descend under the pull of gravity at the 
eooled place. That is, the attractive force, 
upon the differential action of which the 
circulation depends, prevails at the place 
where heat is taken out from the system. 

Another analogous case is that of two 
galvanic cells of precisely the same kind, 
one cold and the other warm, set to work 
in opposition to each other. If the cells 
are such that each would grow warm 
(aside from the development of resistance 
heat within its parts) by its own direct 
action, the cooler cell will prevail, and vice 
versa. 


SCIENCE. 85 


So, if the spontaneous action at each 
junction of our two metals, if each junc- 
tion could have its own way, would be such 
as to generate heat at the junction, the 
cooler junction will prevail when the two 
are opposed, and vice versa. 

Now we have rather more reason for 
expecting, in a given untried case, that the 


- free action of attractive forces will generate 


heat than we have for expecting that it 
will absorb heat. Consider, for example, 
the heat freed as the result of molecular 
attractions in the condensation of a vapor. 
Accordingly, if we are to account for a 
thermo-electrie current, in such a combina- 
tion of metals as we have imagined, by 
attraction of ordinary matter for elec- 
tricity, this attraction varying with the 
temperature of the electricity, we are nat- 
urally led to the opinion that the colder 
junction prevails. 

The assumption of such an attraction as 
we have here imagined, with its dependence 
on the temperature of the electricity and 
its independence of the temperature of the 
metal, except as the temperature of the 
metal determines that of the electricity 
within it, is much less violent than it at 
first appears. If there is such a phenom- 
enon as the expansion of electricity, that is, 
a diminution of general volume density of 
electricity, with rise of temperature of the 
metal containing it, corresponding to the 
expansion of air or water in the heated 
part of a convection circuit, this is enough 
to give just the temperature relation re- 
quired. For, the lessened volume density 
of the electricity at the hot junction of the 
two metals would imply a diminished tend- 
ency of the electricity to pass over to the 
more strongly attracting metal at that 
junction; but just as there is no tendency 
of water to flow by gravitation along an 
unequally heated pipe, if this pipe is hori- 
zontal, so there would be no tendeney for 
electricity to flow along an unequally heat- 


86 SCIENCE. 


ed homogeneous metal bar, unless the hot 
parts of this bar attracted a given quantity 
of electricity more or less strongly than the 
vold parts. The two metals in which we 
have stipulated that there shall be no 
Thomson effect correspond in our thermo- 
electric circuit to the horizontal pipes of 


our imagined convection system; and for. 


the comparison which we are here making 


it-is well to go back to the usual disposition . 


of the thermo-electrie diagram, in which 
unequally heated metals having no Thom- 
son effect are represented by horizontal 
lines. 

Let us now consider a case in which the 
Thomson effect does play a part, such a 
ease as that illustrated by Figs. 1 and 3. 
We ean, apparently, account for the Thom- 
son effect in any metal by assuming that 
this metal has a greater attraction for elec- 
tricity of one sign than for electricity of 
the opposite sign, and that the difference 
of these attractions is a function of the 
temperature of the metal. With this con- 
«lition the electricity of one sign at any 
part of a homogeneous but unequally heat- 
ed metal bar will be subject to a net attrac- 
ticn, exerted by the metal, toward a place 
cf higher temperature or toward one of 
lower temperature, according as the attrac- 
tion between the metal and this kind of 
electricity increases or decreases with rise 
of temperature of the metal; and the other 
kind of electricity will be subject to a dif- 
ferent, greater or less, net attraction from 
the metal; so that a difference of potential 
would be set up between the hot and cold 
part of the bar, if the bar were left to 
itself. 

If we take the view that the electromotive 
forces which prevail are those at places 
where heat is given out, we shall in Fig. 3 
have the local electromotive forec, due to 
‘the attraction between metal and_ elee- 
‘tricity, opposite at every place to the elee- 
tromotive force commonly supposed to re- 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 525. 


side at that place; so that the unequally 
heated metals and the hot junction will 
still conspire against the cold junction; 
but, as the direction of the current is 
known by experiment to be that which is 
indicated by the arrow points in Fig. 3, 
we must in this case suppose that the cold 
junction prevails over the opposing com- 
bination. 

Let us now consider the magnitude of 
the local electromotive forces. In any case 
the net electromotive force of the whole 
circuit is expressed, as we agreed at the 
beginning, by the area CC’l'IC of Fig. 1 
or Fig. 3. But knowledge of the net elec- 
tromotive force of the circuit tells us little 
or nothing of the magnitude of the indi- 
vidual four electromotive forces of the cir- 
euit. Ordinary doctrine represents these 
by the areas, already mentioned, under the 
lines CC’, C'l’, ete., in Fig. 3, down to the 
line of absolute zero of temperature, but 
as we now undertake to have the electro- 
motive force at the cold junction prevail 
over the other three, it is evident that we 
must look for other areas on the thermo- 
electric diagram to represent these local 
forces. In this case we find such areas 
above the lines CC’, C’'l’, ete., in Fig. 3, or 
in Fig. 4, which we will now use in place 


JANUARY 20, 1963.] 


of Fig. 3. Thus the area Cbb’C’C, ter- 
minated above by the temperature lne 7, 
characteristic of metal 1, may represent the 
thermo-electromotive force directed from 
C’ to C in the unequally heated (1). 
Similarly the area I’d’dII', terminated 
above by the temperature line 7.,, charac- 
teristic of metal 2, may represent the 
thermo-electromotive force directed from I 
to I’ in the unequally heated (2).* The area 
0’b'efd'l'C’, terminated above by the broken 
line b’efd’, depending on both 7, and T,, 
may represent the thermo-electromotive 
force directed from I’ to C’ at the hot junc- 
tion. Finally the area Cbb’efd’dlC, term- 
inated above the broken line bb’efd’d, de- 
pending on both 7, and 7.,, may represent 
the thermo-electromotive force directed 
from I to C at the cold junction. This last, 
larger than the sum of the others, which 
oppose it, would be the prevailing electro- 
motive foree. The net electromotive force 
of the cireuit would be, as in Fig. 3, repre- 
sented by the area CC’I’IC, and the cur- 
rent would run, as before, clockwise with 
respect to the boundary of this area. 


We have apparently succeeded in ac- 
counting for the circulation of the elec- 
tricity by means of differential attractions 
conditioned by differences of temperature 
and in showing that the local electromotive 
forces of the thermo-electrie circuit may be 
opposite in direction to those which are 
commonly supposed to exist. But we have 
as yet given no conclusive reason why heat 
should go in at one part and out at the 
other, and we have not yet made any at- 
tempt to show how heat is used up in the 
circuit. Our explanation, so far as it has 


*T, is apparently the temperature at which the 
differential attraction of M, for the two kinds of 
electricity becomes zero. A like explanation holds 
fom: [The sloping lines might curve so as to 
strike the lines 7, and T., respectively, at any 
angle. | 


SCIENCE. 87 


now gone, utilizes difference of tempera- 
ture but does not utilize heat. 

If we return to the consideration of our 
analogical convection system, we see that, 
if we were to put in heat at any point p 
only and take out heat at the point p’ only, 
these two points being on the same level, 
there would be no continued circulation, 
as we should presently have the fluid at a 
uniform temperature all the way over from 


Oo 


i 
} 


p to p’ and at a uniform, though different, 
temperature all the way under from p’ to 
p. To maintain circulation we must have 
the point p, at which heat enters, at a lower 
level, and therefore at a higher pressure, 
than the level and the pressure of the point 
p’, at which heat comes out. The work 
and the absorption of heat at expansion 
under high pressure would be greater than 
the return work and the emission of heat 
at the lower pressure, and the difference 
between the inflow and the outflow of heat 
would be utilized in maintaining 
tion against some resistance. 

Do we naturally find anything in our 
thermo-electrie circuit corresponding to 
this heat differential ? 

We have already assumed that the elec- 
tricity within each metal acts like an ex- 
pansible fluid, and it is natural to assume 
that the rise of temperature which causes 
the expansion of the electricity absorbs 
heat. That is, we naturally assume next 
that there is a real thermal capacity of 


eircula- 


88 SCIENCE. 


electricity, or of the corpuscles moving 
with it, which would come to the same 
thing. Moreover, we can hardly avoid 
supposing that the attraction which we 
have assumed to exist between metal and 
electricity holds the electricity within the 
metal in a state of pressure; and accord- 
ingly we must recognize in the thermal 
capacity of the electricity a part accom- 
plished against this pressure in the expan- 
sion which accompanies rise of tempera- 
ture. 

Returning, with these additional ideas, 
to the examination of a thermo-electric cir- 
euit showing no Thomson effect, we find 
that we must in such a ease suppose that 
in each metal the heat absorbed by the 
current of electricity, positive or negative, 
which is flowing from cold to warm within 
that metal is balanced by the heat given 
out by the current of opposite sign, nega- 
tive or positive, which is flowing in equal 
strength from hot to cold within the same 
metal. 

But at the junctions the case is different. 


At the junction which is the prevailing’ 


one, across which each kind of electricity 
flows from the metal by which its kind is 
attracted less to the metal by which its 
kind is attracted more, that is, from a 
place where the pressure caused by the 
attraction is less to a place where the pres- 
sure caused by attraction is more, each kind 
of electricity will, without change of tem- 
perature, suffer contraction of volume in 
the transition, and evolution of heat will 
result. On the other hand, at the other 
junction, where each kind of electricity 
moves, without change of temperature, 
from a place of high attractive pressure to 
a place of low attractive pressure, each 
kind will expand in the transit, and ab- 
sorption of heat will accompany this ex- 
pansion. 

Thermodynamic considerations show us 
that in such a case as that which we are 


LN.S. Vou. XXI. No. 525. 


considering, in which there is no Thomson 
effect, heat must be taken in at the hot 
junction and heat must be given out at 
the cold junction. Hence our theory, with 
its later assumptions, assumptions suggest- 
ed, as others have been, by reflection on 
the manner and reason of the working of 
an ordinary convection cycle, has led us 
clearly to the conclusion that the cold june- 
tion should be, in the case considered, the 
prevailing junction. But thermodynamic 
considerations go further. They require 
that the amount of heat, Q’, taken in at the 
hot junction at temperature 7’, must bear 
to the heat, QY, given out at the cold junc- 
tion at temperature 7, such a relation that 


Can we without a straining extension of 
our assumptions meet this condition? Ap- 
parently we can do so by supposing that 
electricity in its state of compression with- 
in each metal obeys the law of a perfect 
gas. At the hot junction we have the posi- 
tive electricity going, at constant tempera- 
ture 7’, from the attractive pressure p to 
the attractive pressure p — dp, with con- 
sequent expansion, work of expansion, W’, 
and absorption of heat equivalent to this 
amount of work. At the cold junction we 
have the positive electricity going, at con- 
stant temperature 7, from the attractive 
pressure p — dp to the attractive pressure 
p, with consequent compression, work of 
compression, W, and evolution of heat 
equivalent to this amount of work. From 
the gas law, pv = KT, we have, when T 
is constant, 


padv = — dp = — 


This gives us, since p and dp are the same 
at the hot junction as at the cold junction, 
W’:W vs: pdv’ : pdo:: Ws 7: 

And so 
ORNONI Ts he 


JANUARY 20, 1905.] 


The production of absorption of heat 
within a single unequally heated metal, the 
calorimetric aspect of the Thomson effect, 
is, apparently, easily accounted for without 
additional assumptions. Thus, according 
to the theory already stated, the line CC’ 
in Fig. 4 represents a case in which the 
attractive pressure of the positive elec- 
tricity is greater at the cold end than at 
the warm end, while the attractive pres- 
sure of the negative electricity is greater 
at the warm end than at the cold end, of 
metal 1. According, positive electricity 
moving from the eold end to the warm end 
of this metal will expand more, and there- 
fore absorb more heat, than the mere rise 
of temperature requires, while the negative 
electricity in moving from hot to cold with- 
in the same metal will contract less, and 
therefore give out less heat, than the mere 
fall of temperature requires. That is, to 
use the conventional mode of expression, 
the current absorbs heat where it flows 
from cold to hot in metal 1. For the line 
II’ and the metal 2 the case is wice versa. 

The conception of electricity, each kind 
of electricity, as acting within a metal like 
a perfect gas seems very revolutionary to 
one who has been strongly impressed by 
Maxwell’s discussion of the analogy which 
the behavior of electricity in Faraday’s 
‘ice-pail’ experiment presents to the be- 
havior of an ‘incompressible fluid,’ though 
Maxwell in pointing out this analogy warns 
us against being too much influenced by it. 

The ice-pail experiment, however, as I 
understand it, proves merely the difficulty 
in putting an appreciable excess of either 
kind of electricity into a given space, a 
difficulty which still exists after all the 
assumptions of this paper are made. Con- 
sider, for example, the difficulty of putting 
any considerable excess of positive or of 
negative ions into an electrolyte. Indeed, 
the idea of the electric current within a 
solid as consisting of two oppositely mov- 


SCIENCE. 89 


ing perfect gases is so like the familiar and 
commonly accepted idea of the current in 
an electrolyte, where we apparently have 
two oppositely moving bodies of ions, each 
body obeying the gas law in its osmotic 
pressure, that, instead of being troubled 
by the heretical character of this view of 
the current in a solid, I am somewhat con- 
cerned lest I am failing to give due credit 
to some one who has already proposed it. 
Of course, Drude in his electron theory 
does apply the gas laws in some particulars 
to the electrons within metals, and I can 
not be sure that he has not anticipated me 
in much that is given in this paper, though 
I did not, so far as I am aware, get from 
him any of the main features of the theory 
here proposed. 

The question naturally arises, Why not 
determine the direction and magnitude of 
the local electromotive forces of the thermo- 
electric circuit, and so get a decisive trial 
of the case between the ordinary and the 
proposed view of thermo-electrie action? 
The reply is that physicists have been try- 
ing for more than a hundred years to get 
a satisfactory determination of a single 
one of these local forces, the one measured 
by the true contact difference of potential 
between any two metals, and have, appa- 
rently, not yet succeeded in the attempt. 
It is the old question of the Volta effect. 
Some months ago I was of the opinion that 
Mr. John Brown, F.R.S., of Belfast, had 
found a way of getting rid of the dis- 
turbing effect of the medium surrounding 
the two metals, zine and copper in his ease, 
by heating them for several hours in a cer- 
tain kind of oil. Considerable recent ex- 
perience with various kinds of oil at the 
Harvard Physical Laboratory has led me 
quite unwillingly to the conclusion that the 
kind of treatment to which Mr. Brown 
subjects his metal plates may substitute 
for the disturbing surface condition ac- 
quired in air an equally baffling surface 


90 SCIENCE. 


condition produced by the action of the oil. 

An attempt to measure directly the dif- 
ference of potential between the two ends 
of an isolated unequally heated bar of 
metal would, apparently, encounter ob- 
stacles quite as great as those which have 
thus far proven unsurmountable in the 
ease of attempts to measure directly the 
eontact difference of potential between 
metals. The outlook is, therefore, not 
bright for any immediate and final answer, 
on experimental grounds, to this question 
of the direction and magnitude of the local 
electromotive forces with which we have 
been dealing. 

I wish to add one afterthought. If elec- 
tricity flows like a perfect gas through a 
homogeneous solid conductor of uniform 
cross-section, its velocity at any given cross- 
section of the conductor must be, approxi- 
mately at least, proportional to the abso- 
lute temperature of this cross-section. Now 
the ordinary law of resistance in the case 
of a fluid moving through small passages 
is this: Resistance is proportional to the 
velocity. Accordingly, we are led to the 
conclusion that the resistance encountered 
by our electric stream should be propor- 
tional to its velocity, that is, other things 
being equal, proportional to the absolute 
temperature at the part of the conductor 
considered. Now we know that in pure 
metals this is the general law of resistance, 
and the fact that this law finds an explana- 
tion in a conception of the electric current 
formed without any reference to electrical 
resistance adds considerable weight to the 
argument in favor of that conception. 


Epwin H. HaAtu. 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 


THE ALAMOGORDO DESERT.* 
THE desert of southern 
New Mexico lies immediately west of the 


Alamogordo 


* Address by the vice-president and chairman of 
Section G for 1904. Philadelphia, Pa. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 525. 


106th meridian, west, and approximately 
between thirty-two and thirty-four, north. 
It is bounded on the north by the Oseuro 
range of mountains, on the east by the 
Sacramentos, on the south by the Jarillas 
and the Organ mountains, on the west by 
the San Andreas. As here defined, there- 
fore, the desert is of comparatively limited 
area, one hundred or one hundred and 
twenty-five miles from north to south, and 
perhaps thirty-five to fifty from east to 
west; a very convenient little desert, easily 
manageable, one might suppose, for any 
naturalist, who, with inborn love of ad- 
venture, starts out in search of the wilder- 
ness to find scenes and pastures new. 

A year ago in this presence, it may be 
recalled, the present speaker, by aid of 
photographie illustrations, attempted to 
sketch the relations obtaining, as would 
appear, between the geology of the desert 
and its flora; in the present paper it is 
intended briefly to resume the earlier argu- 
ment with such added reflections as may 
be suggested by present conditions and by 
recent renewed acquaintance with the prob- 
lem. 

The desert of Alamogordo or Tularosa 
is a great plain, not unmarked, however, 
by singular topographic inequalities later 
on to be deseribed. Only the most casual 
geologic examination is sufficient to show 
that the plain floor corresponds strati- 
graphically with the beds in some places 
exposed at or near the tops of the sur- 
rounding mountains, in any case far up 
their flanks. On the east especially lime- 
stones of carboniferous age rise sheer some 
1,000 feet or more straight up from the 
desert floor, and are again capped by other 
strata only at length, perhaps 1,000 feet 
higher, surmounted by materials corre- 
spondent with those in the level of the 
plain. 

On the west the same thing is true; but 
more emphasized still is the difference in 


JANUARY 20, 1905.] 


level between segments of corresponding 
strata. Here the weird Organ mountains 
break the horizon by upthrust spires and 
pinnacles of granite which to some early 
voyageur crossing these dusty plains sug- 
gested the pipes and architecture of some 
far-off organ, and the mountains were so 
named; but upturned granite means that 
the sedimentary rocks are here further up- 
lifted still than on the eastern side, so that 
we quickly find ourselves in presence of 
vast parallel faults and our desert hes thus 
between their giant walls. It is as if half 
the region between this city and New York 
should suddenly sink two or three thou- 
sand feet, or what is the same thing, it is as 
if the several thousand feet of difference in 
level were brought about by the depression 
of the included area, and the simultaneous 
elevation of the sides. At any rate, the 
desert plain of the Alamogordo or Tularosa 
sands is simply the upper surface of a 
migantic block of the earth’s crust that 
sank some time subsequent to the deposi- 
tion of the Jura-Trias and the earlier 
eretaceous strata of this western world. 
These strata include, as we know, the 
famous ‘red beds’ which tinge the moun- 
tains of half the continent, the red beds 
with all their gypsums, marls and salts of 
every description. Accordingly, as a re- 
sult of this faulting, our desert has for its 
foundation everywhere great fields of gyp- 
sum, often for long distances wide-exposed, 
sometimes thinly veiled by loosened sand, 
sometimes deep buried by vast deposits of 
wine-red marls and clays, or covered anon 
by the products of erosion, whether by 
water or by wind. The waters from the 
mountain snows have brought their débris; 
the winds of the desert have come with 
their burden, but nowhere has such trans- 
portation traversed the desert borders, at 
least in recent times; there are to-day no 
excurrent nor percurrent streams; the 


SCIENCE. ot 


winds die along the mountain walls and 
the waters sink in the desiccated sands, 

But this is not all. This great sunken 
block of earth’s crust seems itself to have 
been cracked again and again; there are 
secondary faults, and along the line of one 
of these thinner or weaker places the sub- 
terranean energies of the world have some 
time found emergence. Floods of lava 
welled up in the midst of the desert, and 
fountains of fire streamed along the 
eround, following existent topography for 
miles and miles, now narrowing to dimen- 
sions measured by rods between low ranges 
of hills, now widening for miles across the 
broader valleys, only to lie at last a vast 
field of blackened cinder, slowly disin- 
tegrated by the desert storms. This is one 
of the most peculiar topographic features 
of the whole desert. As things terrestrial 
go, this is a recent phenomenon. The age 
of the lava may be measured by centuries, 
a few thousand years, it would seem, at 
most. The surface over which it poured 
was a friable, marly soil. As the floods 
cooled, the mass cracked and gaped in every 
direction. Rains descending upon the sur- 
face sank to the ground below and shaped 
for themselves channels. The lava so un- 
dermined has fallen into a tumbled ruin 
of weirdness and confusion, indescribable, 
impassable. 

The lava constitutes one of the features 
of this remarkable desert; there is yet an- 
other. Along the western border, partly 
uncovered by erosion, partly by the west- 
ern winds, great bodies of gypsum lie ex- 
posed. As this slowly disintegrates the 
wind gathers the particles set free and 
bears them eastward, the famous white 
sands, covering township after township 
with drifted mineral white as snow. Vast 
windrows shifting slowly with every storm, 
and forever reinforced by the unceasing 
contributions of the west, mark the land- 
scape over several hundred square miles, 


92 SCIENCE. 


unique, intact, forever changing, yet the 
same forever. 

Added to these peculiar and special topo- 
graphic details of this surprising desert 
we have, of course, those less noteworthy, 
the common every-day features of desert 
make-up: we have mountain slope, rocky 
fields and hillsides, eroded valleys, marshy 
sinks, where lose themselves the vanishing 
torrential streams; wide plains of marly 
clay, belts of sand-dunes, red sands, yellow 
sands, also shifting and moving, but, better 
subservient to the vegetation of the region, 
these present simply vast fields of low 
hills or hummocks ten to twenty feet in 
height, separated on every side by tortuous 
valleys, winding in labyrinthine fashion, 
wind-swept, hard and bare. 

One other topographie feature must yet 
be added to complete our picture. The 
forces of erosion even along the mountain 
walls have kept pace fairly well, at least, 
with the changes in level. Great canons 
break back even through the hard, eneri- 
nitic limestones, dividing again and again 
where the waters have carved the rugged 
pathway by which the explorer may reach 
the mountain summit. The result of this 
erosion forms a wide talus around the 
desert, spreading great fan-shaped deposits 
at the mouth of the cafon, where immense 
blocks and boulders choke the exit, suc- 
ceeded by ever smaller rocks and pebbles 
farther out, until at length only the finest 
silt is swept along from the widened mar- 
gin far across the almost perfectly level 
plain. 

Now it is evidently needless to say to 
every wisest man in an ecologically minded 
such as this, that every one 
of these peculiar topographic features, 
whether special or not, will display its 
own peculiar flora. True, this is not 
always the ease; this desert must be studied 
in its entirety, and it will require months 
of patient research to even sketch its far- 


audience 


[a.S. Vor. XXI. No. 525. 


reaching problems. As a whole the fiora 
may be said to be that of our western arid 
regions generally, and yet, after all, it is 
not just like that of any other region, north, 
south, east or west; not that it has peculiar 
species, perhaps, but that it has its own 
particular groups of species. 

Two factors, and two alone, as it seems to 
me, determine the phytology of this desert; 
the one, difference in the constitution of 
the soil, referable to its geologic history; 
the other difference in level, referable to 
the same initiative. Thus there is a pecul- 
iar flora on the sands whether white or 
red; another on the silted plains less liable 
to transportation by the wind; another 
where the salts emerge, whether in briny 
springs and fountains or as_crystals whit- 
ening the surface of the ground; another 
for the mountain shelves; and still another 
for their far-off summits. 

The El Paso Northeastern Railway passes 
the desert on its eastern side. There are 
two stations on the line where for several 
miles in every direction the surface is a 
red-brown sand. One of these stations has 
been by the railroad people appropriately 
named Desert, the other is Esecondida. The 
level of the two stations is the same, 4,000 
feet, and the flora is identical, although 
the points are thirty miles apart. Each, 
however, is by itself unique and entirely 
separate from the other. The dominant 
species is Yucca radiosa, so much so that 
these points are called the yucea desert. 
Of course, the almost ubiquitous mesquite 
is there and Atriplex canescens and Arte- 
misia —— sp.? There are other species, to 
be sure, such as forms of Chrysothamnus 
and Ephedra, but the plants first named 
give to the plain its character as far as 
vegetation goes, and in topography as well; 
they not only thrive here and come to 
abundant flower and fruit, but they hold 
these peculiar sands otherwise driven about 
the world by desert winds. 


-with comparative ease. 


---UARY 20, 1905.] 


Now it is a remarkable fact that the 
white sands, thirty or forty miles off to the 
northeast, exhibit an almost identical flora. 
The student hastens across the intervening 
desert to meet that shining wall, expecting 
to find all things new; but, behald, the 
white sands are sands first of all rather 
than anything else. Whatever their chem- 
istry, and they have their peculiar prob- 
lem for the chemist, only a vegetation that 
can endure a moving, shifting terrene can 
flourish here. The white sands form, ac- 
cordingly, part of the yueca desert. Their 
relation to vegetation is almost purely 
physical, but they exhibit some peculiar- 
ities. They are gypsum, as everybody 
knows,* but while they move as other sands, 
they must be compared with wet sands; 
the vast drifts, thirty to fifty feet in height, 
are moist often to within a few inches of 
the surface, and are so compactly driven 
that one may walk upon the solid surface 
A white wall like 
to the appearance of marble is moving 
slowly eastward, whelming all vegetation 
as it goes, some of which, able to grow 
through the encroaching mass, persists, so 
that all the plants now appearing on the 
surface, so far as examined, are anchored 
by lengthened stems or roots to the under- 
lying older soil. The same yueea that 
appears at Escondida here emerges some- 
times by green tips from a snow-white 
drift twenty feet in height, or anon, seems 
to crown triumphantly some lower mound. 
The mesquite holds on, in some places a 
desperate fight, and certain species ef Rhus 
—R. aromatica and R. trilobata, perhaps— 
maintain a perilous existence out over the 

*The following analysis of this material has 
been kindly furnished me by Dr. L. W. Andrews 


of the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, St. Louis: 
Calcium sulphate, CaSO,........ 77.64 per cent. 


“tt 10) rr 20.55 ss 

Calcium carbonate, CaCO,....... 0.95 a 

Silica and undetermined, SiO., ete. 0.86 os 
100.00 


SCIENCE. 95 


whole region, sometimes even on the sum- 
mits of the highest knolls. These sumacs 
are the characteristic species of the white 
sands. 

But let us turn north. <A journey of 
fifteen or twenty miles brings us to the 
black wall of the lava flow. This is a fear- 
ful region. The Mexicans eall it mal pais, 
“bad country’; giant floods whose waves are 
stone, fields and fissures, caverns, holes, pits 
and wells, alternating with tilted slopes, 
knife-edge culms and ridges, make a topog- 
raphy weird, impassable, fascinating be- 
cause so unapproachable. Yet the mcl 
pais is covered with vegetation. Of course, 
the vegetation changes, but by no means as 
one might easily suppose. Here is no new 
species, no variety of a species when the. 
desert is studied as a whole. The change 
is correspondent to a change in level. The 
lava beds are high, and they are crowned 
with the flora of their own altitude. We 
shall meet it on the foothills of all the 
mountains we presently ascend. Here is 
no alteration of soil, for the only soil is 
that deposited by the wind, the lava itself 
being perfectly intractable. Here are the 
familiar mountain cedar, Juniperus occi- 
dentalis; cholla, sometimes twelve or fifteen 
feet high, where, springing in some ragged 
well-hole, it seems to peer out above the 
sooty walls that hem it in; here is the 
mountain barberry. Even the nut pine, 
Pinus edulis, has mistaken these pitechy 
steeps for the clayey flanks of its usual 
mountain fastness, and now and then rivals 
the cedar in its hold upon the jagged up- 
turned edges of these flinty sheets. Even 
the lava beds have not apparently affected 
the general character of the desert flora. 

At the south end of these black fields, 
however, emerge great springs. Here all 
the plain is saturated with salt and alkali, 
and here is a peculiar flora conditioned by 
this fact. The waters emerge almost from 
the edge of the lava sheets, and tufts of 


D4 SCIENCE. 


Suada and Allenrolfia are set close against 
the lava wall. This is ideal; this we should 
expect and here it is. 

The sands and the lava lie in the middle 
of our desert. If we take these as a start- 
ing-point and move toward the summit of 
the mountains, the successive belts of vege- 
tation gradually shape themselves so that 
we learn presently to identify them by 
their color. A plain below the general level 
is gray, grass-covered, with here and there 
a bunch of Ephedra or nopal, no yuecas, 
no Atriplex, no other forms of cactus. As 
the terrene rises to the silt plain, thickets 
of cholla alternate with mesquite and the 
crucifixion thorn; not that other species do 
not occur, but these are dominant, give to 
the belt its character and color. A little 
further mountainward and we reach the 
Covillea tridentata, ever in bloom, which 
hes as a girdle of green and gold around 
the whole base of the mountain range, vis- 
ible for miles and marking for us the limits 
of the talus’: with an exactness that is re- 
markable. Beyond the Covillea belt come 
the cacti as the terrene becomes more 
rocky; Mamillaria, with its species numer- 
ous and varied, the unique but widely dis- 
tributed ocatillo, the prickly pear, often in 
giant form—all these cover the rocky slopes 
that lead up to the steeper walls of paleo- 
zoie rocks. Sometimes, where a shelf oc- 
curs, and the bare limestone forms a flat, 
mesa-like field, the yuecas come back, but 
not the Escondida form, with Agave parryi, 
and abundant oecatillo, while in the rocky 
defile below, locked amid gigantic boulders, 
now on their tardy journey to the talus 
plain, the creamy flowers and fruit of 
Dasylirion lift their glorious spikes, the 
envy and vexation of the photographer. 

The of the carboniferous 
limestones now confront us; crystalline, 
and exceedingly hard, 
often hundreds of feet sheer up and down. 
3ut these dry walls likewise have their 


strata lower 


encrinitie rising 


EN.S. Wore: el, Noza2b: 
flora. Mamillaria micromeris matches with 
its hoary spheres the weathered stone or 
lights it up betimes with scarlet bloom, and 
Notholena innata fills with somber tufts 
every shattered crevice. 

But the upper members of the earbon- 
iferous are much softer and, amenable to 
erosion, present a gentler, flowing topog- 
raphy. These slopes are everywhere 
clothed with oak, not trees indeed; far 
from it; low dense shrubs, the so-called 
shin-oak, Quercus gambellii and Quercus 
gunison. These two species form pale 
green belts around the mountains, and are 
recognized easily, distinguishable for miles. 
These species indeed form a sort of phyto- 
graphic border land; all below is desert; 
all above is forest; for above stands, or 
lately stood, one of the fairest bits of wood- 
land in the United States, and that means 
in the world. But this forest is again in 
large measure conformable to geologic 
structure, its distribution determined by . 
the history of what hes beneath. 

As we ascend the mountain, passing all 
the carboniferous limestones, sands, chalk- 
beds and shales, we presently encounter the 
‘red beds’ already mentioned, the most re- 
markable geological horizon in the country, 
familiar to every student of our central 
mountains, noted even by the ordinary 
tourist, the same wherever found—in Utah, 
Colorado, the Black Hills of South Dakota, 
and here again in these far-off mountains 
of the Mexican border, the same vast gyp- 
sum-burdened deposits of clay and shale 
and sand. The red beds yield easily to 
erosion. The washings from their wasted 
flanks have tinged the desert far below, 
and reddened the walls of every rocky 
canon on the way. Sloping terraces and 
flat-topped hills afford a soil rocky but not 
infertile, supporting once more its own pe- 
euliar vegetation. Here are still the shin- 
oaks, it is true, but all overshadowed by 
other nobler trees; here is Berberis trifolio- 


JANUARY 20, 1905.] 


lata, the Texan barberry; here is Pinus 
edulis, Engelmann’s nut pine, and most 
characteristic and perfect of all, here 
stands Juniperus pachyphleaum, the moun- 
tain juniper, great forests of it, ancient 
trees betimes, all comparatively low, but 
with giant trunks six or eight feet in diam- 
eter; these time-defying cedars are the trees 
of the red beds. With the junipers, espe- 
cially as we pass their upper limits and 
cone out upon the calcareous cretaceous 
swells and plains, occurs another oak or 
two. The soils are now remarkably rich in 
lime. The waters that fall on the higher 
mountain levels escape above the red-bed 
shales, but so impregnated with lime that 
they actually form a new stony deposit often 
for a distance of many rods about the point 
of exit. On these calcareous soils stands 
now the forest, along the very summit of 
the mountain, nine thousand feet above sea 
level, a magnificent forest of spruce and 
pine and fir: Pseudotsuga douglasu, the 
Douglas spruce, five or six feet in thick- 
ness; Abies concolor; Pinus ponderosa in 
beautiful perfection of its immortal youth; 
Pinus flexilis at its very best; a typical 
Oregon forest six or eight miles wide and 
some twenty long, crowning the summit of 
this isolated mountain peak in the midst 
of the deserts of southern New Mexico, for, 
as everybody knows, these are in general 
species of the forest of the far Pacific coast. 
As one stands now at last thus at the very 
summit of his problem, and from some 
promontory rock of vantage looks out upon 
the vast plain thus mountain-girt, the in- 
deseribable beauty of the scene must first 
impress him. Far to the west le the San 
Andreas, the Organ and the Oscuro ranges, 
a long low wall, gray and solid, its serrate 
summits indentured in the azure sky; be- 
low, the plain, brilliantly lighted, soft and 
brown and lucid, save as the mal pais 
stretches its blackness as a bar sinister 
across the northern end, while away to the 


SCIENCE. . 95 


south the gypsum desert seems a cloud of 
snow beneath our feet, more brilliant than 
that evanescent whiteness that floats in the 
deep blue far above—the one the strange 
counterpart of the other; all is so silent, 
so changeless and so fair! 

But just now we heed not the beauty of 
the landseape; other thoughts come crowd- 
ing upon the observer, all equally insistent 
and impressive. Evidence of enormous 
physical change thrusts itself upon our as- 
tonished attention; not the sunken desert 
itself alone, that great block already de- 
scribed, but the denuded and sundered 
mountain walls, the great cafions that 
stretch back for miles, cut down through 
even the solid limestones at the mountain 
base—a process vast and old. Once the 
eretaceous sea rolled here, and when it re- 
treated here were beds of limestones hun- 
dreds of feet thick. Where are they now? 
Only here and there a remnant on the 
mountain summit; the desert is covered 
with their débris almost to distant sea. 

No less is one impressed by the slowness 
of all this topographic change. There is 
evidence of violence, suddenness, nowhere, 
save in the mal pais, which is loeal, recent, 
and does not affect the general problem. 
The moving currents of the air, the soft 
ministrations of the summer shower, the 
melting winter snows, have carved these 
mountains, are sculpturing them to-day. 
Those columnar whirlwinds that even now 
like dancing dervishes chase each other 
across the plain, are shaping anew the 
desert ; that thin cloud that hangs yonder 
like a banner from the mountain top is a 
rainstorm, changing even now the general 
altitude of the range. 

But once again; as we look out thus from 
the summit of our problem we are im- 
pressed with still another fact more far- 
reaching, more splendid still. The whole 
living covering of the world, the vegetative 
garment of the desert and the mountain, 


96 SCIENCE. 


conforms exactly to the surface, to soil and 
level, no doubt with an exactness that we 
have only begun to guess or understand. 
There is a mathematical line that limits the 
distribution of every plant, but the area 
forever shifts and varies. The topog- 
raphy varies, except the mal pais, by 
changes so slight, so delicate, as to be im- 
pereeptible to eyes unskilled, and with the 
topography varies its covering of life. Let 
us say first that these topographic changes 
will change the limits of distribution. Once 
the sands cover the silt plains, and the 
grasses will vanish while yueea and arte- 
misia succeed. Widen the talus and 
eovillea will stretch farther its golden 
scepter. But the problem runs far deeper 
than this. As the face of the world under- 
goes these delicate, subtle changes, the 
plant responds in something far more than 
shifting distribution. A plant, as every 
student of botany well knows, is the most 
plastic sort of an organism in the world, 
responding in every sort of way to its 
environment. We who study the micro- 
scopic structure of the humblest plants 
understand the limitless possibilities here. 
When we reflect that the suppression of a 
single cell at the critical moment may 
change the direction of the axis or alter the 
contour of a leaf, it is hard to set too high 
an estimate upon the possible response 
made by a simple plant to environmental 
variations, however delicate. We who 
study the physiology of the plant, peer into 
its changing cells and strive in imagination 
to reproduce the marvelously intricate re- 
actions, physical, chemical, that forever 
shift and play within those narrow limits— 
we need not be told that every vegetable 
cell has in it opportunities a thousandfold 
to match and meet all the subtle changes 
suggested by the slow-creeping but implac- 
able forces that work out the physiognomy 
of this time-worn earth. A little more eal- 
cium here, a little more phosphorus there, 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 525. 


sulphates, nitrates and the rest, and the 
thing is done. Nay, when we even think 
of the form in which all energy comes 
from yon distant sun, and the delicate 
machinery on which it plays, we need seek 
no further oceasion for the intervention of 
every sort of outer cosmic force. Not a 
tree on all the Iowa prairies but shows in 
its every lineament, in its very expression, 
a response to the lowa environment; and so, 
we may be sure, every desert plant records 
in its present form and stature all the af- 
firmations, all the responses it has made in 
all the centuries to the bidding, the silent 
bidding, the most gentle coaxing, of the 
world external. For, note you, the call for 
change at any given instant has not been 
great; the slow upheaval of these moun- 
tains, their peaceful, gentle removal by the 
winds and rain; that is all; but that has 
changed and is changing the living world. 
Where the terrestrial call is rude or sud- 
den, response there is none. The lava beds 
show no single characteristic species. Their 
flora is simply that of their own rocky 
level. Nor could here any sudden initia- 
tive on the part of the plant avail. The 
adaptation is absolute now, and to vary 
save as the environment varies would sim- 
ply invite disaster. As well the tadpole 
suddenly assume lungs or the lizard put 
on feathers. 

Nor is this all—our desert as it lies 
shining here before us is but a fraction of 
that wider, vaster desert that covers all the 
south and west. Across the Organ and 
San Andreas yonder is another desert ex- 
actly comparable to that we study; all 
Arizona, southern California, Sonora, Chi- 
huahua, much the same; here and there a 
mountain summit tufted with forest, west- 
ern in type, high slopes thinly elad with 
stunted juniper, benches of covillea, wide 
low plains covered with mesquite, with 
yueea and eactus and all the less noble 
plants that stand between; and our prob- 


JaNuARY 20, 1905.] 


lem widens, becomes vast as the continent, 
and any answer that we make must be far- 
reaching as the flora of a world. 

Our desert lies shining here before us; 
but not one of these plants except the cac- 
tus is in broader sense unique; each has its 
kin rising in happier fields to fairer for- 
tune. The yueeas are lilies, but lilies 
bloom in Bermuda and in Teneriffe, and in 
every most fertile garden of the world. 
The mesquite is a Prosopis, but the Prosopis 
genus shows many a handsome forest tree, 
and even the mesquite in the Arizona val- 
leys, where conditions are less hard, rises a 
forest with trees fifty feet in height. The 
eactus, as I read it, with undifferentiated 
floral leaves and abundant sporophylls, is 
an ancient adaptation to an ancient desert, 
possibly pre-cretaceous, and takes posses- 
sion of the world just so fast as the world 


becomes desert ; unstable in cultivation, not - 


because new, but because reversionary. 

I do not mean to say necessarily that the 
Alamogordo desert flora has had its origin 
where it stands, although such a contin- 
gency is not impossible of thought. Had this 
been the only desert on the continent its 
flora is as might have been expected. But 
there are a hundred similar intra-montane 
regions whose geologic history is the same. 
These have in similar fashion originally 
shaped a flora each for itself. No doubt 
once similar conditions are set up in re- 
gions at first unlike, an exchange of species 
may take place. American cacti are at 
home in the deserts of Europe and the 
Russian thistle flourishes on Dakota plains. 

The desert lies shining here before us, 
changing forever, but all its changes are 
of imperceptible delicacy and_ slowness. 
Its methods would seem not different from 
those by which nature has from the first 
essayed the education of the vegetable 
world. Between salt water and fresh all 
conditions offer by infinitesimal shadings 
where the rivers meet the sea, thus green 


SCIENCE. 97 


plants first emerged from ocean; all con- 
ditions from shore-line low-water mark to 
dry land, thus the plants at length sat on 
the shore, wet only by tides or by the gentle 
rain; all conditions,of level by which the 
plants occupy the kingdom of the upper 
air: all conditions of spore-union by which 
they meet at length the problem of aerial 
fertilization : so that while sports there may 
be among plants outside the pale of cultiva- 
tion, nevertheless, they must always be 
within limits set as result of more gentle 
changes effected by the slow, and for the 
most part exquisitely delicate, transforma- 
tions which make up the history of the 
planet. Given a desert flora, a cactus flora, 
for instance, and there may be endless spe- 
cies-making, by sport, if you will, or other- 
wise, but in every case a cactus; but the 
eactus itself is the child of continental 
movements which brought about some old- 
time, perhaps cretaceous desert. 

Our desert lies shining before us; it is old 
and silent: would you know its secret, read 
the rocky records that lhe behind, around, 
beneath, and be assured that once the story 
of yesterday were understood, the facts of 
to-day would ask no wider explanation. 
The physical forces of this world still drive 
the loom that weaves the web of life. Be- 
fore the loom the unseen weaver. sits, guid- 
ing her web that passes to an endless roll, 
changing withal the width, the pattern, as 
conditions rise. Changes her arabesque, it 
is for cause, changes it not, it is alike for 
cause; and if at intervals, as we watch, 
anon new figures rise, may it not be but the 
return of some earlier triumphant cycle 
that here begins anew, evident enough in 
cause and feature were once that giant 
seroll unrolled, or were her watchers more 
patient, more enduring. Alas! in presence 
of this mighty loom what fleeting, evanes- 
cent interpreters are we! 


Tuomas H. MaAcBrIpDe. 


98 SCIENCE. 


FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE 
AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL 
ASSOCIATION. 


THe fourth meeting of the American 
Philosophical Association was held in Phil- 
adelphia, December 28-30, 1904, attended 
by about sixty members. In addition to 
the president’s address, which was delivy- 
ered on the evening of the twenty-ninth by 
Professor Ladd on the general subject, 
‘The Mission of Philosophy,’ and which 
contained an able and eloquent plea for 
philosophy as a comprehensive and organ- 
ized Weltanschawung, thirty papers were 
either actually read or read by title at the 
five sessions of the meeting. Two of the 
sessions were of special interest, that com- 
memorative of the centenary of the death 
of Kant held on the afternoon of the first 
day of the meeting, and the joint session 
with the American Psychological Associa- 
tion held the following morning. At the 
Kant session, in which the newly formed 
Southern Society for Philosophy and Psy- 
cuology was represented by its secretary, 
Professor E. F. Buchner, of the University 
of Alabama, who read a paper, based on a 
eareful comparison of passages, on ‘Kant’s 
Attitude towards Idealism and Realism,’ 
one naturally looked to see what estimate 
American philosophers now put on the 
work of the most influential philosophical 
thinker of the past century. Five papers 
were read dealing with as many aspects of 
Kant’s philosophy. The general impres- 
sion which they made on the mind of at 
least one hearer was that, in the opinion 
of the careful students, Kant is 
neither to be ignored, nor belittled, nor 
‘outflanked,’ nor, on the other hand, to be 
unduly exalted, but to be critically studied, 
and that he still counts, if not as the para- 
mount, at least as one of the most potent 
influences in the philosophical thinking of 
Perhaps the widest divergence 
from Kant’s teaching appeared in Pro- 


most 


our time. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 525. 


fessor Royce’s paper on ‘Kant’s Doctrine 
of the Basis of Mathematics.’ Royce 
held that the certainty of mathematical 
science is rightly no longer regarded as 
depending on constitutionally predeter- 
mined forms of perception. And yet in 
another respect he held Kant to have been 
unquestionably right, so far, namely, as he 
declared that constructive synthesis and 
observation of its ideal results are both 
necessary for mathematics, an insight 
which has profoundly influenced the prog- 
ress of mathematical sctence. The nearest 


‘approach to a eulogy of Kant was in Pro- 


fessor Caldwell’s paper on the ‘Present 
Significance of Kant’s Ethies.’ Professor 
Caldwell contended that Kant’s teaching 
had been misunderstood, and in particular 
that it was not open to the charge of mere 
formalism commonly brought against it: 
that the significance of Kant’s ethies lay in 
his spiritual philosophy of human nature, 
a philosophy implied in all recent attempts 
to treat moral judgment as one of valua- 
tion, in recent epistemological assumptions 
about personality and in the theory of sov- 
ereignty or autonomy in the ethies of social 
democracy ; that his emphasis on the stand- 
ard as the law of personal dealing in a 
social realm frees us from many of the 
difficulties in the teleological moral philos- 
ophy of the present; and that his version 
of the standard is the one most consonant 
with a true theory of moral progress. Pro- 
fessor Tufts read a paper on the ‘Signifi- 
cant and the Non-Essential in Kant’s As- 
theties,’ a part of his philosophy which 
was held to contain, perhaps, as large ele- 
ments of permanent value as anything he 
ever wrote, and Professor G. W. Knox gave 
an interesting address on the ‘Influence of 
Kant on Theology,’ calling attention espe- 
cially to the affinities between Kant’s nega- 
tive criticism of the ontological argument 
and the primacy he assigned to the prac- 
tical reason and the theology of the school 


JANUARY 20, 19Cu.] 


of Ritschl. It is to be regretted that no 
more time was allowed for the discussion 
of these papers. 

The first paper in the joint session with 
the Psychelogical Association, presided 
over by Professor W. James, was a criti- 
eism of Wundt’s theory of feeling by Pro- 
fessor M. F. Washburn, of Vassar. The 
main point of the criticism was that the 
complexes of strain, excitement, etc., as- 
sumed by Wundt as feeling fusions really 
belong to an intermediate realm between 
sensation and feeling, and only ordinarily 
go unanalyzed because the organism has 
never needed to analyze them; but prac- 
tical introspection reveals them as com- 
plexes of organic sensations. Two papers 
followed, one by Dr. D. 8S. Miller with the 
title, ‘The Isolation of Minds,’ the other 
by Professor Woodbridge on ‘The Nature 
of Consciousness,’ which had this in com- 
mon, that consciousness, as distinct from 
what we are conscious of, was regarded as 
merely a relation of contents. But while 
in the one ease this conception was elab- 
orated to show that the co-experienced 
eroup of elements which constitute the con- 
tents of a consciousness at any moment 
had nothing in common with those belong- 
ing to any other consciousness, which lat- 
ter, whether attributed to myself or an- 
other, were for the former only ejects, in 
the case of Professor Woodbridge it led 
to a suggestion of a realistic metaphysies 
hardly distinguishable from that which has 
commonly been called ‘naive.’ Professor 
Ladd reported a case of nerve anastomosis 
in which. the distal end of the facial nerve 
was united with the central end of the 
accessory nerve of the shoulder. By per- 
sistent efforts at voluntary control the sub- 
ject was able at the end of about nine 
months to control the movements of the 
face without associated movements of the 
shoulder cr contraction of other facial 
muscles. Analysis of the phenomena was 


SCIENCE. 99 


held to contribute additional evidence dis- 
erediting both the idealistic and the psy- 
chophysical parallelistie theories of the re- 
lation of body and mind and confirming 
the theory of interaction. 
terberg gave an outline of the ‘System cf 


Professor Miins- 


Values’ which he is intending to elaborate 
in a book. ‘The aim was to classify our 
absolute values and to one 
principle controls the whole system. The 
values themselves were classified as valid- 


see whether 


ity, perfection, achievement and complete- 
ness, each relating to a particular sphere 
of experience and subdivided according as 
the value is given or created and refers to 
the outer world, to fellow-men or to self. 
The all these 
classes of value was found to be the eate- 
gory of identity. This paper, of which it 


one category common to 


is impossible to give here any but the 
barest suggestion, was generally felt to be 
the most important contribution to philos- 
ophy made at the meeting. It was so large 
in secpe, implying, as it did, a whole sys- 
tem of philosophy, and so novel in matter 
that only the finished book itself can lead 
to a just appreciation of its significance, 
while it is certain that when the book does 
appear, it will provoke widespread interest 
and discussion. 

Of the other sessions it is enough to 
speak briefly. At the opening session four 
papers were read of logical import, one by 
Dr. Marvin, limiting the field of epistemol- 
ogy to completely rationalized knowledge ; 
one by the Rev. E. S. Steele, finding in 
judgment the unit of thought rather than 
in the idea, which was treated as only one 
of its elements; one by Dr. G. R. Mont- 
gomery, applying the mathematical notions 
of caleulus to represent the mobility and 
functional interdependence of concepts, 
and one by Dr. W. H. Sheldon, defining 
the universal as a conerete fringe of the 
image or response suggesting further sim- 
ilar images or responses. In the afternoon 


100 


session following the joint session, Pro- 
Dearborn read a paper on ‘Con- 
sciousness in the Brutes,’ in which he held 
that the structure and metabolism of pro- 
toplasm in general, rather than that of the 
nervous system, was the physical basis of 
consciousness. Professor J. A. Leighton, 
in a paper in the ‘Psychological Self and 
the Actual Personality,’ contended that 
psychology, neither in its structural nor in 
its functional analysis dces justice to the 
actual personality, which is manifested and 
realized in the constructions of historical 
culture. Dr. William T. Harris read a 
characteristic paper on ‘Primary and Sec- 
ondary Phases of Causality,’ maintaining 
that natural science was founded on the 
latter and theclogy cn the former. The 
other papers put down for this session were 
read by title, Professor Newbold’s inter- 
pretation of a passage in Aristotle relating 
to mental synthesis being unfortunately 
crowded out for lack of time. 

At the closing session on the morning of 
the thirtieth, Dr. Woodbridge Riley read 
an interesting chapter from a forthcoming 
book on deism in America, Professor F. 8. 
Hoffman discussed the probability for im- 
mortality, Professor H. G. Lord discussed 
the nature and moral character of ‘Gam- 
bling as Play.’ This last was something of 
a surprise, for after seeking to determine 
the nature of gambling in general and of 
gambling as play in particular, Professor 
Lord, in the second part of his paper, which 


fessor 


was a search for some solid basis for the 
moral judgment of gambling as play, ar- 
rived at the conclusion that there was no 
justification for its almost universal con- 
which no one 
Two other 
papers of merit on ethical subjects were 
read at this session, both by members from 
Cornell. Dr. H. W. Wright read on ‘Eth- 
ical Method,’ suggesting an evolutionary 
interpretation of morality, moral develop- 


demnation, a conclusion 


present seriously disputed. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 525. 


ment being treated as a process of organ- 
ization unified by purposive activity, the 
different virtues being regarded as neces- 
sary stages in the process. Dr. T. de 
Laguna read an admirably clear paper on 
the stages in the discussion of ‘Evolu- 
tionary Ethies,’ of which he distinguished 
five, partly contemporaneous: the first be- 
ing concerned with a supposed conflict be- 
tween ethics and evolution; the second 
setting up evolutionary laws as a standard 
for morality; the third treating ethical 
problems in terms derived from the theory 
of organic evolution; the fourth asserting 
the distinctive nature of social and of 
specifically moral evolution: and the fifth 
concerned with questions of method. The 
last paper read was by Dr. Perey Hughes, 
seeking an answer to the question, Is there 
a distinet logic of historical construction ? 
The answer was affirmative; it was con- 
tended that a clear perception of action as 
the coneept of historical construction 
would bring about important results. 

At the business meeting of the associa- 
tion the following officers were elected: 

President—John Dewey (Columbia). 

Vice-President—J. A. Leighton (Hobart). 

Secretary-Treasurer—J. G. Hibben (Princeton). 

Members of the Executive Committee for two 
years—H. N. Gardiner (Smith) and R. B. Perry 
(Harvard). 

It was voted to hold the next meeting, 
at the invitation of Professor Miinsterberg 
and the members of the Harvard Philo- 
sophical Department, at Cambridge, in con- 
nection with the inauguration of the new 
Emerson Hall of Philosophy, and to invite 
to meet with the association the Western 
Philosophical Association and the Southern 
Society for Philosophy and Psychology. 
A vote of thanks was passed for the hospi- 
tality accorded to the association by the 
University of Pennsylvania. A vote was 
also passed in recognition of the services 
of the retiring secretary. Seven new mem- 


JANUARY 20, 1905.] 


bers were elected. The association was 
well represented at the dinner of the 
naturalists and affiliated societies on the 
evening of the twenty-eighth, and the next 
night, following the president’s address, 
an enjoyable smoker was held in conjune- 
tion with the Psychological Association. 
H. N. GARDINER. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

An Introduction to the Modern Theory of 
Equations. Ftortan Casort. New York, 
The Maemillan Company. 1904. Pp. ix —-- 
239. $1.75 net. 

The present work falls into two nearly equal 
parts. The first 103 pages treat the following 
topies: Elementary properties and transforma- 
tions of equations; location and approximation 
of the roots of numerical equations; solution 
of cubic, biquadratic, binomial and reciprocal 
equations; the linear and ‘Tschirnhausian 
transformations. The remaining 120 pages 
are devoted to substitution groups and Galois’s 
theory of the solution of algebraic equations. 

The work has much that may be praised; 
in particular, its very moderate size, its choice 
of topics, copious references for further study, 
and a large number of illustrative examples 
and problems. 

We mention now a few points which we 
believe might be improved in a later edition. 

The definition of algebraic and transcen- 
dental functions in §1 is not quite satisfac- 
tory. The author really defines explicit al- 
gebraic functions, and the reader might easily 
infer that all other functions were trans- 
cendental. 

Would it not be well to give a mathematical 
definition of continuity of a function in § 25? 
The reader would then have a clearer idea of 
the import of the theorem of this section. 

In § 26 the author assumes that a continu- 
ous function which has opposite signs in an 
interval must vanish in this interval. This 
requires demonstration unless an appeal to 
our intuition is allowed. If so, the demon- 


stration the author gives, that every equation 


has at least one root, might well be replaced 
by a simpler one which rests on the property 


SCIENCE. 


101 


that a continuous function attains its ex- 
tremes. 

In § 65 the author makes use of continued 
fractions to prove the relation mb—na= 
+1 where m, n are relative prime. It seems 
preferable, because more elementary, to prove 
this by means of the algorithm of the greatest 
common divisor. 

In §70 the assumption is made that nu- 
merator and denominator of a symmetric 
rational function are also symmetric. The 
definition of incommensurable in § 53 might 
be improved; we would also suggest the repre- 
sentation of complex numbers by points and 
not by vectors, as in § 22. 

Let us turn now to the second half of the 
book which deals with Galois’s theory. As 
the author tells us, he follows the exposition 
given by Weber. We must, however, in justice 
to Weber, note that the latter’s treatment is 
not only more general, but is also free from a 
lack of precision of statement whieh mars the 
work under review and which is at times quite 
provoking. 

The author restricts himself to equations 
whose coefficients are either constants or in- 
dependent variables; why, we are unable to 
see. Certainly not because a greater sim- 
plicity is gained. 

But this restriction once made, the reader 
should have clearly in view whether the coef- 
ficients of the equation dealt with in a given 
case are constant or variable. For results true 
when they are variable may be false when 
these coefficients are supposed constant. We 
regret to say the author is extremely careless 
in this important particular. Thus in chapter 
XI. we are informed in a footnote that the 
coefficients in this chapter are variables. In 
chapter XIII. we are left entirely in doubt; 
yet the theorems of Exs. 1, 2, § 119, which 
are used in a later chapter, may be incorrect 
if the coefficients are not independent vari- 
ables. 

This lack of explicitness is manifest in 
other parts of the book, e. g., in the chapter 
on cyclic equations. The casual reader might 
well believe that the results established here 
are true for all cyclic equations. This, how- 
ever, is not the intention of the author, for in 


102 


one of the examples he informs the more care- 
ful reader that a large class of equations are 
excluded from consideration. This is, indeed, 
necessary, as otherwise the reasoning of § 172 
may become illusory by the vanishing of 
[w, a], as simple examples will show. But 
even with this restriction it must be shown or 
assumed that this expression does not vanish. 

Another point which we believe has not been 
sutheciently emphasized relates to the equality 
or inequality of rational functions of the roots. 
How often in Galois’s theory do we have to 
decide whether a rational function of the roots 
has or has not been changed or altered by a set 
of substitutions. The only explanation of this 
fundamental and delicate matter we have 
found is in a footnote on page 124. 

Would it not be well to restrict the term 
general equation to one whose group is the 
symmetric group? The author follows well- 
established usage in calling a general equation 
one whose coefficients are independent vari- 
ables. Because algebraicists thought a cen- 
tury ago that these equations represented the 
general case is no reason to perpetuate a term 
which is sure to produce confusion in the 
mind of the beginner. Apropos of these equa- 
tions we must express our regret that the 
author has allowed the demonstration given in 
§ 158 to pass muster; it is a demonstration 
which does not demonstrate. 

JAMES PIERPONT. 

YALE UNIVERSITY. I 


La contagion mentale. Dr. A. Vicouroux et 
Dr. P. Juquevimr. Paris, 1905. Pp. 250. 
This is one of the volumes in the French 

Bibliotheque internationale de psychologie ex- 

périmentale, normal et pathologique. Mental 

contagion is the name here given to what is 
generally known as imitation in the narrow 
sense, 7. e., unconscious imitation. The proc- 

ess is unconscious on the part of both the imi- 

tator and the person imitated. Thus contagion 

excludes voluntary imitation and personal sug- 
gestion. The first half of the book deals with 
normal contagion and the second half with 
abnormal. 

Assuming that the reflex are is the funda- 
mental type of neural action, and that the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 525. 


impulse may enter a given sensori-motor 
circuit from any sense and at any point in 
the cireuit, we may trace a physiological ex- 
planation for all the contagious acts, e. g., 
yawning, laughing, crying, coughing, dancing, 
marching, ete. Then, on the theory that every 
emotion tends to express itself in muscular ad- 
justment, that this adjustment may be trans- 
mitted by contagion, and that a given emo- 
tional expression creates the emotion, the same 
explanation accounts for the contagion otf 
emotional states e. g., fear in a panic, anger 
revolution, the soldier’s adoration of 
Napoleon, the schools of art and the havocs 
of intellectual bias. The same principle may 
also be extended to ideas because all ideas aie 
more or less fused with feeling, e. g., belief, 
scientific theory, dogma. The idea is con- 
tagious in proportion to the feeling present. 
Good analytic and genetie accounts 
parallel to this mode of explanation, and 


in a 


Tun 


special emphasis is laid on the social condi- 
tions and significance of mental contagion. 
The second part of the book cons’sts largely 
of citation and classification of cases. The 
less normal the individual or the group, the 
more liable to contagion. Like the microbe, 
the mental contagion may be either beneficent 
or noxious. 

A practical lesson from this book is pre- 
eninent: mental contagion is preventable. If 
insanity and crime are contagious, that prin- 
ciple should be recognized in our penal and 
corrective institutions; and society may take 
steps to prevent epidemics of fanaticism and 
crime. To-day science is interested in the 
physical microbes of disease; in the near 
future there will be a similar interest in the 
facts of mental contagion. 

C. E. SEASHORE. 

University or Iowa. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


The American Journal of Science for Jan- 
uary contains the following articles: ‘ Sub- 
marine Great Canyon of the Hudson River,’ 
by J. W. Spencer; ‘ Radioactivity of Under- 
ground Air, by H. M. Dadourian; ‘ Types of 
Limb-Structure in the Triassie Ichthyosauria,’ 


| 
| 


vANUARY 20, 1905.) 


by J. ©. Merriam; ‘Interaction of Hydro- 
chloric Acid and Potassium Permanganate in 
the Presence of Ferrie Chloride, by J. Brown; 
“Crystal Drawing,’ by S. L. Penfield; ‘ Ane- 
miopsis Californica (Nutt.) H. ea A.: An 
Anatomical Study,’ by T. Holm. 


Tue December number of the Journal of 
Nervous and Mental Diseases opens with an 
article by Dr. J. Grinker on a case of juvenile 
tabes in a family of neuro-syphilitics, inelu- 
ding careful investigations of the family his- 
tory, and supplemented by a report of a rather 
unusual case of precocious tabes without evi- 
dence of syphilitic infection, with an excep- 
tionally long course and with fragilitas os- 
sium. Dr. Max Schlapp and Dr. J. J. Walsh 
unite in presenting a case of subcortical cyst 
and fibroma due to trauma producing Jack- 
sonian epilepsy, cured by operation; and the 
original articles for the month close with a 
short paper by Dr. James Burnett on the 
therapeutic action of veronal. 
ines of the Boston Society of Psychiatry and 
Neurology, May 19, 1904, are reported, and also 
the proceedings of the New York Neurological 
Society, May 4, 1904. The ‘ Periscope’ gives 
abstracts of the Journal of Mental Science, 
Nouvelle Iconographie de la Salpetriere, Jour- 
nal de Neurologie, and Archives de Neuwrol- 
ogie. Books reviewed are: ‘ Unconscious 
Therapeutics,’ by Dr. Alfred Schofield; ‘ Jahr- 
esbericht tiber die Leistungen und Fortschritte 
auf dem Gebiete der Neurologie und Psy- 
chiatrie, by E. Flateau, E. Mendel and L. 
Jacobson, and ‘ Lehrbuch der speziellen Psy- 
chiatrie fiir Studierende und Aerzte,’ by Dr. 
Alexander Pilcz. 


The proceed- 


The Popular Science Monthly for January 
contains the following articles: ‘Some Ex- 
periments of Luther Burbank,’ by David Starr 
Jordan, giving some of the results of his 
labors in producing new plants; ‘The Present 
Problems of Paleontology,’ by Henry Fairfield 
Osborn; ‘Social and Political Effects of Im- 
migration,’ by Allan McLaughlin; ‘ Galileo,’ 
by Edward S. Holden; ‘ Radio-activity and 
Matter,’ by the late Clemens Winkler; ‘ Edu- 
cational Problems,’ by the Lord Bishop of 


SCIENCE. 


105 


Ifereford; some interesting facts about ‘ The 
United States Pharmacoperia,’ by H. C. Wood; 
and ‘The Mosquito Investigation in, New 
Jersey, by John B. Smith, which shows the 
very important results secured during the last 
three years. There are very interesting brief 
articles in ‘The Progress of Science.’ 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 


NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
MEETING, DECEMBER 19, 1904. 


ANNUAL 


Tu academy convened for the annual meet- 
ing at 7:30 p.m., on December 19, at the Hotel 
Endicott. 
B. Wilson, occupied the chair. A formal ses- 


The president, Professor Edmund 
} ’ 


sion for the transaction of the regular busi- 
ness of the academy was first held, and this 
was followed by a dinner at which sixty-six 
members and their friends were present. 

The accompanying reports of the corre- 
sponding secretary, recording secretary, treas- 
urer, librarian and editor were read and placed 
on file. The report of the treasurer’ was 
formally referred to the finance committee for 
audit. 

The academy then proceeded to the election 
of officers for the year 1905; Professors Hovey 
and Lloyd were appointed tellers, ballots pre- 
pared by the council according to the provi- 
sions of the by-laws were distributed, and the 
votes were counted. The following officers 
were declared elected: 


President—James F. Kemp. 

Vice-Presidents—Edmund O. Hovey (Section of 
Geology and Mineralogy), Ernest R. von Nardroff 
(Section of Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry), 
W. M. Wheeler (Section of Biology), F. J. E. 
Woodbridge (Section of Anthropology and Psy- 
chology). 

Corresponding Secretary—Richard FE. Dodge. 

Recording Secretary—Hermon C. Bumpus. 

Treasurer—Charles F. Cox. 

Librarian—Ralph W. Tower. 

Editor—Charles Lane Poor. 

Councilors (to serve three years) 
MeMillin and F. H. Wiggin. 

Finance Committee—John H. Hinton, C. A. 
Post, H. F. Osborn. 


Emerson 


The following eminent men of science were 
elected honorary members, being presented to 


104 SCIENCE. 


the academy for election by fellows engaged 
in scientific work similar to their own: 


Hugo de Vries, professor of plant anatomy and 
physiology in the University of Amsterdam, The 
Netherlands. Presented by Professor Britton. 

G. Johnstone Stoney, M.A., D.Se., F.R.S., pro- 
fessor of natural philosophy in the late Queen’s 
University, Dublin, Ireland. Presented by Pro- 
fessor R. E. Dodge. 

W. C. Brégger, director of the mineralogical 
institute, Christiania, Norway. Presented by Pro- 
fessor Kemp. 

Karl von der Steinen, professor of ethnology in 
the University of Berlin. Presented by Professor 
Boas. 

Ferdinand Zirkel, professor of mining and 
geognosy in the University of Leipzig. Presented 
by Professor Stevenson. 

Dr. Frederic A. Lucas was elected a fellow 
of the academy, being presented by the record- 
ing secretary. 

Professor J. McKeen Cattell then proposed 
the health of Professor R. S. Woodward, a 
past-president of the academy, recently elected 


to the presidency of the Carnegie Institution. 


The president of the academy, Professor 
Edmund B. Wilson, then delivered his address 
upon ‘The Problem of Development,’ at the 
close of which a vote of thanks was tendered 
to him. 

The academy then adjourned. 

Henry E. Crampton, 
Recording Secretary. 


Report of the Recording Secretary. 
During the year 1904 the academy met in 
business session on eight occasions, and the 
several sections held thirty meetings, at which 
seventy-six stated papers and lectures were 
presented upon the following subjects: 


Papers. Lectures. 


AStTONOMIVA fier ceri one aiai 2° 1 
| ed th 4.) jaar otra bo cep hioweo » Does 11 
Chemistry <1. a2-e eerie els z 

SOUAIUV este) heya smear dete someon 5 
Paleontology Fevers -v-s-1-/euntoner ne 2 
SAN Oa on nono Ao pat Sascue 10 
(E70) (ofa tee Oe Adda eae. 6 
Mineralogy, «.'..5 +, omit. snspinee 2 
Phiysioprapliy. Wii seie ae eet 2 2 


Anthropology and Archeology.. 8 
Peychology. <, cut: clin ete ene 16 
Povlosophy Wai. «areca 6 1 
BIOORADNY © ites rem sees ] 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 525. 


Particular mention must be made of the 
lecture upon the ‘ Physiography of the Alps’ 
by Professor Albrecht Penck, an honorary 
member of the academy. 

At present there are 278 active members, 
of whom 132 are fellows; the election of one 
fellow is pending. During the year two mem- 
bers have died, six have resigned, while six 
have been dropped on account of non-payment 
of dues. As five new members have been 
elected during the same period, there has been 
a net loss of nine. 

In accordance with a recommendation of- 
fered by the library committee a more per- 
manent union of the libraries of the academy 
and the American Museum of Natural His- 
tory has been effected, to their mutual advan- 
tage. In regard to publications, it may be 
stated that the former method, according to 
which papers presented before the academy 
could be published in journals other than the 
Annals with the financial support of the acad- 
emy has been set aside. In the future, as in 
earlier years, a volume of the Annals, to con- 
sist of three or four parts, will be issued 
during a calendar year. 

Particular attention is now being given by 
the council to the matter of membership, and 
efforts are to be directed in the near future 
towards increasing the list of active members. 
As stated above, there has been a loss of nine 
during the year, although the members that 
resigned exceed the new members by one only. 
Maintenance, however, is not progressive de- 
velopment unless in the face of adverse con- 
ditions. The situation that confronts us is 
in some respects a difficult one, though not pe- 
culiar to the academy. The special societies, 
each dealing with some restricted branch of 
science, will tend more and more in the fu- 
ture, as they have in the past, to draw away 
active workers from general bodies such as 
the academy. Support for the academy may, 
therefore, be sought with a fairer prospect of 
success from those upon whom demands are 
not made by professional duties, that their 
activities shall be centered in the special or- 
ganizations for scientific work. With such 
support, publication as one of our two main 
objects may be furthered. Efforts should 


a Ps 


aly Pe 


JANUARY 20, 1905.] 


none the less be made to draw into the acad- 
emy the younger men in active work, who 
must carry forward the activities of a scien- 
tific nature in the future, thus subserving the 
second purpose of the society. 

One other subject of general interest must 
be mentioned. The council has decided that 
the routine work connected with the several 
offices of the academy shall be performed by a 
clerical assistant, with an office at the Amer- 
ican Museum of Natural History, who shall 
be under the general supervision of the re- 
cording secretary. This arrangement pro- 
vides for a still further centralization of the 
activities of the academy in the museym, 
where the library is already housed, and where 
the scientific meetings are now being held. 

Henry E. Crampton, 
Recording Secretary. 


THE SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY 
MEDICINE. 


AND 


Tue ninth regular meeting of the Society 
for Experimental Biology and Medicine was 
held in Professor C. A. Herter’s laboratory, at 
819 Madison Avenue, New York, on Wednes- 
day evening, December 21, 1904. Dr. S. J. 
Meltzer presided. 

Members present—Atkinson, Auer, Burton- 
Opitz, Dunham, Ewing, Flexner, Gies, Herter, 
Jackson, Lee, Levene, Levin, Lusk, Mandel, 
Meltzer, Murlin, Park, Richards, Salant, 
Wadsworth, Wallace, Wolf. 

Members elected—John Auer, F. G. Bene- 
dict, Ludwig Hektoen,.G.°C. Huber, H. 8S. 
Jennings, Jacques Loeb, Leo Loeb, A. B. Mac- 
Callum, J. H. Pratt, Torald Sollmann, J. C. 
Torrey. 

Scientific Program.* 

Radium, and some methods for its thera- 
peutic application, with demonstrations: 
Huco Lreser. [By invitation.] 

Mr. Lieber gave an interesting account of 
the discovery of radium by Mme. and Pro- 


*The abstracts presented in this account of the 
proceedings have been greatly condensed from ab- 
stracts given to the secretary by the authors 
themselves. The latter abstracts of the reports 
may be found in current issues of American 
Medicine and Medical News. 


SCIENCE. 


105 


fessor Curie, and demonstrated many radio- 
active phenomena. Special attention was 
drawn to recently discovered facts bearing on 
radium emanation, which show that radium 
discharges primarily emanations and alpha 
rays only, but that the emanations soon dis- 
integrate, with the resultant production of 
beta and gamma rays. Because of their nearly 
negative penetrative power, the alpha rays as 
well as the emanations are practically unavail- 
able for therapeutic purposes when the radium 
is used in glass tubes or in similar containers. 

Various observers have noted beneficial 
therapeutic effects of radium, especially on 
diseased tissues, as in cancer. Germicidal re- 
sults have also been obtained. On the other 
hand numerous therapeutic failures have been 
recorded. The author believes that in all 
probability many of these disappointments 
have ensued solely because the practitioner 
has not had available, in such cases, just those 
radiations of radium which are required for 
therapeutic effects. 

This opinion of past therapeutic failures 
led the author to conduct some experiments 
designed to discover a method of applying 
radium more advantageously. Such a method 
seemed to require (a) a disposition of the 
radium in very thin layers, so as to yield the 
Maximum proportions of alpha rays and 
emanations, and (b) its application in a con- 
tainer permeable by the rays and the emana- 
tions. These experiments finally led to the 
production of what the author terms ‘radium 
coatings.’ 

The preparation of the coatings may be 
illustrated by their application to celluloid 
rods. The 


solvent such 


radium salt is dissolved in a 


as aleohol. The rod is then 
dipped into this solution. 
the radium solution adherent to the rod 


quickly evaporates, when the radium is de- 


On its withdrawal, 


The celluloid is 
somewhat softened temporarily by the alcohol, 
a fact favoring superficial incorporation of 
the radium. Accidental removal of the 
radium may be effectually prevented by dip- 
ping the radium-coated rod into a proper col- 
lodion solution, quickly withdrawing it, and 


posited in a very thin layer. 


106 


allowing the collodion to deposit in a thin 
film by evaporation. An anilin dye, when 
added to the radium and collodion solutions, 
shows the exact situation and extent of the 
coating. f 

The thin collodion covering is permeable to 
both the alpha rays and the emanations. Such 
coatings produce beautiful scintillations, on 
zine sulfid screens. Very small areas, such 
as the tips of delicate rods, coated in the man- 
ner described, compare very favorably in dis- 
charging the electroscope, with 1 gram prepar- 
ations of radium bromid of 10,000 activity 
in giass tubes, or with 10 milligram prepara- 
tions of radium bromid of 1,000,000 activity 
in thin aluminium tubes. When air is blown 
over the radium coatings the air carrying the 
emanations discharges the electroscope. These 
facts were demonstrated by the author. 

The radium coatings make it possible to 
apply radium directly to practically every part 
of the body. The radium thus applied would 
be practically equivalent in radioactive effects 
to the same amount of uncovered radium in a 
layer of equal thinness. Any instrument can 
be conveniently coated with radium at a de- 
sired place by the method indicated. 

The author demonstrated a tubular appa- 
ratus, containing an inner radium coating and 
designed to convey radium radiations into the 
lungs, for experiments on the destruction of 
the tubercle bacillus. The same apparatus 
would be useful in other connections for direct 
treatment of diseased tissues. It was also 
shown that the radium coatings are not de- 
stroyed by sterilization. The activity of a 
strip of celluloid with a radium coating was 
undiminished after vigorous boiling. 

The availability of the radium coatings for 
many kinds of biological investigation is so 
obvious that nothing need be said here regard- 
ing it. 


Some of the physical phenomena of muscle 
fatigue, with demonstration of tracings. 
Freperic S. Ler. 

The investigation of the subject has been 
continued by the employment of a method by 
which the isotonic curves of all the contractions 
of an excised non-curarized muscle stimulated 


SCIENCE. 


(N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 525. 


at regular intervals, are superimposed upon a 
recording surface. The differences which were 
previously pointed out in the mode of fatigue 
of the muscles of the frog, the turtle and a 
mammal, have been confirmed. Lohmann’s 
work, in which a frog’s gastrocnemius on being 
heated to a mammalian temperature shows a 
course of fatigue similar to that of mam- 
malian muscle, has been repeated and found 
in general correct. But the turtle’s coraco- 
radialis profundus, similarly heated, con- 
tinues to give its characteristic curve of 
fatigue. 

Kaiser’s method for determining the point 
on the isotonic curve where the contractile 
stress terminates, has been employed for the 
frog’s gastrocnemius, and it has been found 
that as the height of the curve diminishes in 
the course of fatigue, the contractile stress 
terminates at progressively lower and lower 
points. The lowering of the latter does not, 
however, seem to keep pace with the lowering 
of the summit of the curve. Hence the two 
points seem to approach one another. 


A new form of float for water or alcohol 
manometers, with demonstration: Haven 
Emerson. [By invitation. ] 

The float consists of an aluminium cylinder 
with very thin wall, supporting a writing arm 
of fine aluminium wire. For manometer tub- 
ing of nine thirty-seconds inch inside diam- 
eter, three sixteenths or one fourth inch light 
aluminium tubing about two and one half 
inches long is used. In the upper end is 
forced a solid cap of aluminium, with a small 
hole in the center into which the wire for the 
writing lever is driven. The lower end is 
plugged with cork. A coating of paraffin 
prevents leaking. The value of the float 
consists in its cheapness, ease of construction, 
shght inertia and delicacy. 


Gelatin as a substitute for proteid in the food. 

J. R. Muruin. 

In a series of experiments on dogs, the 
nitrogen requirement of the body was deter- 
mined by fasting periods. Varying amounts 
of gelatin containing from one fourth to two 
thirds of the required nitrogen were fed, the 
remainder of the nitrogen being supplied in 


JANUAR¥ 20, 1905.] 


meat proteid. The calorific requirement was 
estimated from Rubner’s tables and was fully 
covered in each experiment with fats and 
carbohydrates. Results show an equal spar- 
ing of the body proteid with one fourth, one 
third and one half gelatin nitrogen, the coin- 
cident sparing of fats and carbohydrates being 
the same. When the coincident sparing of 
proteid by non-nitrogenous food is increased 
by feeding a larger percentage of carbohy- 
drates and less fat, two thirds of the nitrogen 
requirement may be given in gelatin and per- 
fect nitrogenous equilibrium maintained at 
the starvation level. The same result was 
obtained on man. 


The reductions in the body in fever, with 
demonstrations: C. A. Herter. 

Dr. Herter demonstrated that elevation of 
the body temperature greatly accelerates the 
rate of reduction in the tissues. - This was 
shown by means of an intravital infusion of 
methylene blue in a rabbit whose body tem- 
perature had been raised to 42° C. by the 
external application of heat. Simultaneously 
with this infusion anothér injection was made 
in a rabbit, of approximately equal weight, in 
which the temperature was maintained at 
about 39° C. Otherwise conditions in the 
two animals were practically the same. At 
the close of the infusions, the organs of the 
rabbit of normal temperature showed more 
color than those of the one in which the tem- 
perature had been elevated. The differences 
in the nervous system and the muscles were 
particularly striking. 


The measurement of the reducing processes of 
cells in vitro, with demonstrations: C. A. 
Herren. 

An apparatus was demonstrated which had 
been devised for the purpose ef measuring the 
reducing processes of the different kinds of 
cells in vitro. Definite quantities or organ pulp 
were placed in specially constructed tubes and 
anaerobic conditions were established by the 
passage of nitrous oxid gas. Definite quan- 
tities of methylene blue of known strength 
were then added. The rate of reduction was 
indicated by the disappearance of the blue 
color owing to the reduction of the animal 


SCIENCE. 


107 


cells. It was shown that in vitro the influence 
of temperature is the same as that observed 


in the living organism. The influence of 
alkali in aecelerating reduction was also 
shown. The action of salts and various 


poisons is at present the subject of investiga- 
tion. 


Some medical applications of the naphtho- 
quinon sodium mono-sulfonate reactions, 
with demonstrations; C, A. Hmrrer. 

Dr. Herter demonstrated the reactions of 
this compound with anilin, various amins, 
nicotin, conin, piperidin, indol, skatol and 
pyrrol. Colored condensation products re- 
sulted. The reactions with indol, skatol and 
pyrrol possess unusual physiological and chem- 
ical interest and will form the subjects of 
future publications. The reaction with 
pyrrol, which is highly characteristic and 
should prove of special service to chemists, 
oeeurs in the cold and is evidenced by the 
deepening red which, on the addition of alkali, 
changes to purple, violet, blue and _ finally 
reddish brown. ‘The addition of acid to the 
red solution obtained without alkali is fol- 
lowed by the development of a green and 
finally a brown color. 

Among the biological and medical applica- 
tions of these reactions, Dr. Herter mentioned 
the study of various aromatic compounds in 
the organism, the occurrence of certain intra- 
vital syntheses, the detection in the urine of 
organic compounds such as para amido phenol, 
and the development of a method of staining 
the bile capillaries by means of intravenous 
infusion of the derivatives of the naphtho- 
quinon compound. Dr. Herter also stated 
that these substances facilitate the study of 
the relation between the chemical constitution 
and distribution of poisons in the body. 


On the rate of absorption from intramuscular 
lissue, with demonstrations; S. J. MELrTzER 
and Joun AUER. 

The authors tested a previous observation 
that absorption muscles is very 
much more rapid and efficient than from the 
subeutaneous tissue. Adrenalin, curare, mor- 
phin and fluorescein were used in the tests. 

In the case of adrenalin, for example, it 


from the 


108 


was found that when quantities of about 0.5 
c.e. per kilo or even less were injected intra- 
muscularly they at once caused (1) marked 
increase of blood pressure, (2) dilation of the 
pupil on the side from which the superior 
ganglion had been removed and (3) general 
prostration. When the same quantities of 
adrenalin were injected subcutaneously how- 
ever, they were almost invariably without ap- 
preciable effect in any of these connections, 
or, when similar phenomena were produced, 
they were much less marked and their onset 
was greatly delayed. 

Similar differences in absorption velocity 
and efficiency were shown in the cases of 
curare, morphin and fluorescein. 

Wituram J. Grins, 
Secretary. 


NORTH CAROLINA SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 
CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 


Tue regular fall meeting of the section was 
held on December 3, 11 a.m., in the office of 
the state chemist, Raleigh, N. C., with pre- 
siding officer, A. S. Wheeler, in the chair. 

Preceding the presentation of papers a 
short business meeting was held and the fol- 
lowing officers were elected for the ensuing 
year: 

President—C. B. Williams, Raleigh, N. C. 

Vice-president—J. E. Mills, Chapel Hill, N. C. 

Secretary-treasurer—C. D. Harris, Raleigh, N. C. 

Councilor—A. S. Wheeler, Chapel Hill, N. C. 

Reporters—Chas. Walker, West Raleigh, N. C., 
and E. V. Howell, Chapel Hill, N. C. 

The following papers were presented and 
discussed : 


Some Problems in the Cellulose Field (presi- 
dential address). A. S. Wuereter, Univer- 
sity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C. 
(Will be published by the section.) 


The Action of Metals on Various Aqueous 
Solutions. G. McP. Smiru, A. & M. Col- 
lege, Raleigh, N. C. ; 

Molecular Attraction. J. FE. Minus, Univer- 
sity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C. 
The article was a summary of work already 

published (Journal of Physical Chemistry, 

June, 1904) and of work along the same line 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Wot: Se Nesaze: 


yet to be published. An equation was deduced 
based upon the idea that the so-called cohesive 
forces between the molecules of a liquid could 
be entirely and quantitatively accounted for 
on the supposition of an attractive force be- 
tween the molecules, the force varying in- 
versely as the square of the distance apart of 
the molecules. The deduced equation was 
tested by an examination of twenty-five liquids 
over wide ranges of temperature and pressure. 
The measurements used, were, for the most 
part, those made by Drs. Ramsay and Young 
and Dr. Young. The result undoubtedly 
allows the conclusion to be drawn that the 
intramolecular forces obey a law exactly 
similar to the law of gravitation, 7. e., the 
attraction between the molecules of any liquid 
varies inversely as the square of the distance 
apart of the molecules, does not vary with the 
temperature and is a function of the number 
of molecules (mass) considered. 

The results also point to the conclusion that 
the so-called molecular association, as in the 
case of water, is caused by this same molecular 
attraction and not by another force such as 
chemical affinity. 


On Crompton’s Equation for the Heat of 
Vaporization. J. E. Minus, University of 
North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C. 

An equatfon proposed by Mr. Crompton 

(Proc. Chem. Soc., Vol. 17, 1901), 


L=2RT log. a/D 


(L is heat of vaporization, R is the constant 
of the gas equation, PV = RT, T is the ab- 
solute temperature, d and PD are the densities 
of liquid and vapor respectively) was ex- 
amined. It was shown that the latent heats 
so calculated were invariably and usually very 
considerably too high at low temperatures 
where the vapor pressure is small, but at high 
pressures as the critical temperature of the 
liquid is approached the results are in excel- 
lent agreement with the true heats of vapor- 
ization. Some important results following 
from this equation were pointed out. The 
article is to be published in the Jour. Phys. 
Chem., December, 1904. 


JANUARY 20, 1905.] 


Some Notes on the Determination of Crude 
Fiber. J. M. Picxen, Department of Agri- 
culture, Raleigh, N. C. 

A Method for the Extraction of Salicylic and 
Benzoic Acids and Saccharine in Food 
Products. W. M. Auten, Department of 
Agriculture, Raleigh, N. C. 

On Biot’s Formula for Vapor Pressure. J. E. 
Mis, University of North Carolina, 
Chapel Hill, N. C. 

It was shown that Biot’s formula for the 
vapor pressure of a liquid, 


log P= A + bd‘ + cB¥, 


does not exactly represent the true vapor pres- 
sure of a liquid in the immediate neighborhood 
of the critical temperature. The article is 
not suitable for abstraction and will shortly 
be published in full. 


Note on the Law of Dulong and Petit. J. E. 
Mitts. University of North Carolina, 
Chapel Hill, N. C. 

Collected data for the specific heats of the 
metals were exhibited in the form of curves. 
The results show that the law of Dulong and 
Petit in its present form has but slight basis 
in fact. 


On the Chemical Combination of Hydrogen 
and Oxygen when Subjected to the Action 
of Radium Radiations. CHartes W. Ep- 
Warps, Trinity College, Durham, N. C. 

I desire to announce to the North Carolina 
Section of the American Chemical Society the 
discovery of the synthetic action of radium 
radiations in its chemical effects. Numerous 
effects have been observed and _ published 
wherein compounds have been decomposed into 
elements or transformed into simpler com- 
pounds. For instance, radium bromide dis- 
solved in water produces H and O, it produces 
ozone in the air, and helium is produced by 
the radium emanation. 

Certain investigations of a negative result 
earried out last year in England concerning 
the effect of ionization by ultra-violet light 
on gaseous mixtures led me to attempt the 
same problem, using radium as the ioniz ng 
agent. This I was able to do, thanks to the 
kindness of Dr. Bergen Davis and Dr. G. B. 


SCIENCE. 109 


Pegram, of Columbia University, and of the 
department of physics in various ways, espe- 
cially in the loan of five milligrams of pure 
radium bromide worth at present about $350. 

The amount of chemical combination was 
measured by the change in volume of the gas 
exposed to the radiations. The saturation 
current was measured by the electrometer 
method and the following data are based on 
those measurements. I am now taking the 
current by a ballistic method and measuring 
volumes more accurately, so will soon have 
more accurate results. I will reserve the de- 
tails for a later paper, but will state now a few 
results. 

The quantity of gas converted to water was 
18 & 10° ce. per second. In one cubic centi- 
meter there are 4 10” molecules, hence the 
number of molecules cf gas that disappeared 
was 


n= 4><10!9& 18 & 10-7 = 7.2 X 103 per sec. 


three molecules of the mixed gases. If M = 
number of molecules of water formed per 
second 

Mian oO x<el 3458 ><a OL: 


If N = number of physical ions produced, then 
in this case N = 7.32 10°. 
Hence 


M 4.8X103 
N 7.32 109 Got: 


From this it appears that 6,500 molecules of 
water were formed for each ion produced by 
the radium radiations—a result far in excess 
of expectations or theoretical predictions. 

After the program the visiting chemists 
were the guests of the resident chemists at a 
table d’héte dinner at Giersch’s café. 

C. D. Harris, 
Secretary. 


SCIENCE CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
MISSISSIPPI. 

Tue first meeting of the Science Club of 
the University of Mississippi for the current 
session was held September 30, Professor 
J. W. Johnson preserting a paper on ‘The 
Teaching of Physics.’ 

At the October meeting Professor R. W. 


A10 


Jones led in a discussion of the subject, ‘ The 
Training of Chemists,’ reviewing a _ recent 
paper by Sir William Ramsay. 

Dr. P. W. Rowland followed with a state- 
ment of his views on the treatment of the 
opium habit. According to his theory some- 
thing is manufactured in the fluids of the 
body of an opium eater which acts as an anti- 
toxin—something positive is developed which 
counteracts or the morphine. 
These opposing forces approximate a condition 
of equilibrium, thus enabling the victim to 
ever-increasing doses. This partial 
equilibrium is lost when the morphine is with- 
held. It was considered possible to produce 
an antitoxin, and it was suggested that the 
club undertake an investigation to this end. 
Dr. Rowland thought that some lower animal, 
say the horse, could be rendered immune to 
poisonous doses of opium or morphia by re- 
peated injections of the substance, and that 
the serum thus obtained would probably con- 
tain the antitoxin in the case of the habitué 
of morphine or opium. 

The next meeting of the club was _ held 
December 2. Dr. J. B. Bullitt, the leader for 
the evening, after some introductory remarks 
on immunity to drug influences, addressed 
himself more particularly to the closely allied 
subject ‘Immunity from Disease.’ Atten- 
tion was called to the fact that the lower ani- 
mals are immune to certain diseases to which 
the human race is subject, and vice versa. It 
was also noted that some divisions of the 
race enjoy immunity where others show 
peculiar susceptibility. Natural and arti- 
ficial immunity were discussed. The history 
of the various theories of immunity, with a 
brief statement of each, was given, and special 
emphasis was laid on the ‘side-chain’ theory. 

ALFRED HuMeE, 
Secretary. 


antagonizes 


take 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
AN EXAMPLE IN NOMENCLATURE. 
Mer. Davi Wuire has published in the 


‘Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections’ 
(Quarterly Issue), Vol. XLVII., Pt. IIL, pp. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 525. 


322-331, pl. xlvii, xlviii, a paper on ‘The 
Seeds of Aneimites.? He shows that he has 
specimens of the foliage of that genus with 
seeds attached, also an abundance of detached 
seeds. He names the species bearing these 
seeds Aneimiles fertilis n. sp. But he says 
that he discovered the seeds before he could 
be certain that they belonged to Aneimites, 
and had contemplated giving them the name 
Wardia, that he had even gone so far as to 
give them that name in a manuscript in 
preparation, but that he had postponed publi- 
cation ‘in the hope that further study * * * 
would yield * * * evidence bearing either 
on the internal organization of the fruits or 
on the structure of the fronds.’ Such eyi- 
dence he subsequently found and established 
to his satisfaction that the ‘ fruits’ belong to 
the genus Aneimites, a supposed fossil fern, 
thus adding one more to the rapidly growing 
list of Paleozoic seed plants. 

On page 323, where the species is described, 
he ealls it “ Aneimites (Wardia) fertilis n. sp., 
but in other places Aneimites fertilis. He, 
however, constantly refers to the seeds as 
Wardia, and in at least one place (p. 329) he 
calls them Wardia fertilis. He does not pre- 
tend that they belong to a different genus from 
Aneimites fertilis, and, indeed, proves that 
they are the same, and the specific name is the 
same for both combinations. What he has 
done is to take a name from an unpublished 
manuscript of his own and publish it for the 
first time as an exact synonym of the name 
that he gives to the species. The name Wardia 
fertilis is, therefore, stillborn, or at least 
strangled at its birth, and has no validity 
whatever. 

Now why should he thus cumber an over- 
burdened literature with another worthless 
synonym? Such a proceeding in the present 
state of science is a recognized crime. As Mr. 
Bather said in discussing a similar case some 
time ago, what does the scientific world care 
for his private excogitations over material too 
imperfect for publication ? 

But the name Wardia was preoccupied 
anyhow, for that name was given by 
Harvey and Hooker in 1836 to a genus of 


JANUARY 20, 1905.] 


mosses from the Cape of Good Hope,* dedi- 
cated to N. B. Ward, Esq. The genus and 
one species, W. hygrometrica, were fully de- 
seribed and figured. If it be said in ex- 
tenuation that the work in which it occurs 
is somewhat difficult of access, this can not be 
said of Endlicher’s ‘Genera Plantarum,’ which 
is in all libraries, and where (p. 1345) the 
genus is redescribed and is duly entered in the 
index. The author of this two-fold achieve- 
ment is a member of the Committee on Botan- 
ical Nomenclature! Lester F. Warp. 


DELUC’S ‘ GEOLOGICAL LETTERS.’ 


To tHE Eprror or Scrtence: With all due 
respect for the opinions of Dr. Emmons and 
Sir Archibald Geikie, I am unable to see why 
von Zittel was not serupulously exact in his 
handling of facts when crediting Delue with 
prior use of the term ‘ geology’ as compared 
with de Saussure. The latter uses it but 
twice, defining it as ‘la Théorie de la Terre,’ 
in the earliest edition of his work, published 
in 1779. The second authorized edition of 
Delue’s ‘ Letters’ (it had already been pirated) 
appeared also in 1779, the term ‘ geology’ oc- 
curring in the body of the work an equal 
number of times (vol. I., pp. 4, 5), and again 
in a footnote on p. 7, where it is observed that 
the word ‘ cosmology’ is more generally used 
im an equivalent sense. 

It is worth noting that this footnote, which 
purports to be of identical+ tenor with the first 
edition, scarcely justifies the assertion that 
Delue ‘could not venture to adopt the term 
geology because it was not a word in use.’ 
More to the point is a passage where the au- 
thor expressly designates the work in hand as 
a treatise on geology: ‘Je vis que je faisois 
un Traité, et non une esquisse de Géologie.’ 


**Wardia: a New Genus of Mosses, discovered 
in Southern Africa,’ by W. H. Harvey and W. J. 
Hooker; Companion to the Botanical Magazine, 
Vol. II., London, 1836, pp. 183-184, pl. xxv. 

7 The text reads as follows in the 1779 edition: 
“ Je répéte ici, ce que j’avois dit dans ma premiére 
Preface, sur la substitution du mot Cosmologie A 
celui de Géologie: * * * c’est que Vusage ordi- 
naire a consacré le premier de ces mots, dans le 
sens oti je l’emploie.” 


SCIENCE. . 


111 


He constantly refers to it later under the ab- 
breviated title of ‘ Lettres Géologiques,* and 
intitulated another of his productions ‘ Traité 
élémentaire Géologie. It appears, there- 
fore, that beginning with 1778, a year before 
de Saussure’s work saw the light, and con- 
tinuously thereafter, Delue employed the term 
geology in its modern sense; hence he is en- 
titled to generous consideration for having 
helped bring the name our science now bears 
into familiar use. Deluc, in pointing out the 
etymological propriety of ‘ geology’ no doubt 
furnished a suggestion which de Saussure 
immediately caught at, since he twice em- 
ploys the term, as Dr. Emmons has said, 
‘without any explanation or apology,’ and al- 
ludes also to ‘the geologist,’ as is natural. 
Von Zittel seems to me to have exercised very 
eandid judgment in this matter, and one must 
be a very ‘strict constructionist’ indeed who 
ean deny Delue’s claims to priority. 

Almost simultaneously with the authors just 
considered, the celebrated Werner appears to 
have been instrumental, to some extent, in 
popularizing the term geology. Werner’s defi- 
nition of this and cognate words is given by 
one of his distinguished pupils, d’Aubuisson, 
from whose ‘ Traité de Géognosie’ we extract 
the following (vol. I., p. 2): “ Werner re- 
marque, en outre, que les noms composés de 
logos, tels que zoologie, minéralogie, ete., dé- 
signent Vuniversitalité de nos connaissances 
sur un objet; et, d’aprés cela, la géologie com- 
prend, selon lui, non seulement la géognosie, 
mais encore la géographie, V’hydrographie, la 
géogenie, etc.” 

CO. R. HastMan. 

December 29, 1904. 


UNIVERSITY REGISTRATION STATISTICS. 

To tHe Eprror or Science: On reading the 
article ‘University Registration Statistics’ 
(Science, N. S., Vol. X-X., No. 552, December 
30, 1904), it occurred to me that it would be 
interesting to know the average number of 
students to each teacher, in the institutions 
mentioned. The ‘Total Registration’ (not 
including the ‘Summer Sessions’), divided by 


* Compare, for instance, his frequent correspond- 
ence in the Journal de Physique. 


112 


the number of officers gives the results as 
shown in the last vertical column of the table 
appended. The figures in the second and 
third columns are transcribed from the article 
referred to above. 


| 
\) 
| 
| 
| 


Sa 38 SEES 

Institution. a Se sece 

AS AS as To) 

Californias i....s+sas<- eer 3,130 330 9.48 
Chicagols..c..cesccesssses 2,218 184 12.54 
Columbia, soc-cssces sees 4,056 551 | 7.36 
Cornell i ieacateese-s-aes 3,364 451 | 7.45 
Harvard),.......0..-.05-- | 4,516 534 | 8.45 
TM inote:ts.Sece seers econ | 3,233 365 | 8.85 
Indiana sescsccccesccssees 882 72 | 12.25 
Johns Hopkins......... 740 156 4.74 
Leland Stanford Jr... 1,420 130 =| 10.92 
Michiganta.---ceee one ee 3,667 270 | 13.58 
Minnesota’......-.......: | ex (izal 197 18.63 
MASSOURI beseesecnes cece | 1,536 88 | 17.46 
Nebraska. ......00...005 | 2,414 173 | 13.95 
Northwestern.........., 2,806 | 846 | 8.10 
Ohio State............... 723 143 12.04 
Pennsylvania ........... | 2,940 330 | &90 
Princetoneyensssee 20 1,385 114 | 12.14 
SYTACUSE ssn scsecn-cyereee | 2,419 201 =| = 12.03 
Wiroiniderccsss.8-s.ceese 691 45 | 15.35 
Wisconsin ............... | 2,668 243 =| 10.97 
VAl@..co50bistotedesccese 2,995 330 | 9.07 


Winuiam B. ScHoser. 
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY, 
January 5, 1905. 


SCHOOLS OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE UNIVERSITY. 


To tne Eprror or Science: In connection 
with the proposed combination of the Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology with Har- 
vard University, the following authoritative 
statement of foreign opinion (translated from 
Zeitschrift des Vereines deutscher Ingenieure 
of September 24, 1904) is of interest: 


At a meeting of the Union of German Engineers, 
held at Munich September 12, with the partici- 
pation of thirty eminent representatives of tech- 
nological schools and universities, as well as of 
other schools and of industries, the following reso- 
lutions were adopted: 

1. It is not advisable, so far as can be foreseen, 
to attempt to meet the need of new technological 
schools by the addition of technological faculties 
to universities, but rather by the establishment 
of independent institutions; for the technological 
schools would be hindered in their independent 
development by attaching them to universities. 
This separation should not, however, impede the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 525. 


welcome development of intellectual good will 
between the two institutions. The attachment to 
universities would also in no way involve eco- 
nomies of consequence. 

2. The Union of German Engineers stands now, 
as before, by its expression of 1886, as follows: 
“We declare that the German engineers have the 
same needs and will be subjected to the same 
judgment as to their general culture as the repre- 
sentatives of other professions based on higher 
scientific education.” In this view we rejoice 
as the conviction more and more gains ground that 
a considerably greater significance is to be at- 
tributed than before to mathematical and natural 
science as a means of culture. Knowledge of these 
branches is becoming more and more an indispen- 
sable constituent of general education. The pre- 
dominantly linguistic education now received by 
the majority of our gymnasium graduates does 
not satisfy the demands which must be made on 
the leading classes of our people, in particular, 
in respect to the increasing significance of eco- 
nomic questions. 

TrecH GRADUATE. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


PROPOSED INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC CONFERENCE 
TO ADOPT A UNIVERSAL ALPHABET.* 


I wisH to call your attention to a circular 
recently issued by Boston University, inviting 
opinions on the proposal to hold an interna- 
tional conference for the purpose of adopting 
a universal alphabet. In the Roman alphabet 
we already have a practically universal alpha- 
bet. A comparatively slight effort will suffice 
to make it perfect and quite universal. Who- 
ever has looked into the subject knows that it 
is perfectly practicable to introduce such 
modifications in the Roman alphabet as to 
make it perfectly phonetic and yet leave the 
spelling in such condition that it shall be 
readily legible to people who know only the 
Roman alphabet in its present form. 

I need not dilate on the advantages to be ex- 
pected from the use of an alphabet which would 
enable every child to read as soon as it knew 
the letters, and which would, furthermore, 
enable any one to pronounce foreign languages 
correctly at a glance, because their spelling, 

* Read before the Comparative Philology Sec- 


tion of the Language Group of the Congress of 
Arts and Science at St. Louis, September 21, 1904. 


JANUARY 20, 1905.] 


apart from a few special sounds, would be the 
same as in his own language. It is easy to 
see how this would promote pleasant inter- 
course and mutual understanding among the 
nations, by facilitating the acquisition of for- 
eign languages. All the leading languages 
would thus tend to expand and to become cos- 
mopolitan; but most of all would this be true 
of English, which is more hindered in its ex- 
pansion by its spelling than any other lan- 
guage. It is, perhaps, not too much to say 
that the universal alphabet will confer on the 
English language the patent of universality. 

To prepare such an alphabet is a compara- 
tively easy task. The real problem is how to 
get it accepted by the public. Scores of such 
alphabets exist already, but not one of them 
possesses sufficient authority to compel its 
universal use. How shall such authority be 
secured ? 

To this question the cireular recently issued 
by Boston University seeks to obtain an an- 
swer. It invites opinions on the plan to hold 
an international conference for the purpose 
of adopting a universal alphabet to be used 
first of all as a key to pronunciation in all 
dictionaries of the leading languages. IJ may 
state at once that the replies received from 
the editors and publishers of the great Amer- 
ican dictionaries are highly encouraging. 
They state with practical unanimity that, if 
a universal alphabet were drawn up by a com- 
mission composed of the foremost experts, 
and invested with the requisite authority by 
scientific bodies of high standing, they would 
introduce that alphabet as a key to pronun- 
ciation in future editions of dictionaries, 
primers, readers, grammars and language 
manuals as fast as practicable. 

It is evident that, if the dictionaries adopt 
this universal alphabet, a large part of the 
rising generation will become familiar with it. 
It will be used by everybody who wishes to 
indicate pronunciation. It is even probable 
that the entire rising generation will soon 
grow accustomed to it, for the following rea- 
sons: Experiment has proved that children 
beginning with a phonetic alphabet learn to 
read in a few weeks and master even the or- 
dinary spelling more rapidly than by the 


SCIENCE. 


113 


present method. The reason is evident. The 
essential part of the art of reading consists 
in the ability to recognize the outline of a 
word at a glance, without having to spell out 
the letters. Having in a few weeks acquired 
the ability to recognize words in the phonetic 
spelling, children will recognize them also in 
the traditional spelling, because the difference 
in the outline will in most cases not be great. 
We see this daily illustrated by the ease with 
which school-bred immigrants learn to read 
English, though accustomed at home to a 
totally different spelling. Having acquired in 
their own language the ability to recognize 
whole words at a glance, they soon begin to 
recognize also English words whose meaning 
they have learned from conversation. 

When the universal alphabet has been 
adopted in the dictionaries, it is certain that 
the experiment of beginning with it in the 
primary schools will be made in many parts 
of the country, for the movement has many 
friends among educators. When the results 
of these experiments become generally known, 
it will not be long before all the schools begin 
with the universal alphabet. For some time 
they will doubtless use it merely as an easier 
method to teach the traditional spelling; but 
when it is found that children, after two 
months of schooling, are able to read any 
book printed in the phonetic spelling, the 
question will soon be raised why they should 
be forced to spend another year or more in 
learning another spelling. 

It will be noted that the acceptance of the 
universal alphabet by the dictionaries was 
made subject to an if. They are willing to 
use this alphabet if it is presented to them 
invested with a sufficient degree of authority. 
Nothing should be neglected that can add to 
this authority. Hence the commission which 
is to prepare the universal alphabet must ful- 
fil four conditions: 

1. It should be composed of the foremost 
experts in phonetics. 

2. They should be invested with representa- 
tive power by learned bodies of the highest 
standing. 

3. They should receive their final commis- 
sions from the various governments. 


114 


4. They should conduct their work not 
merely by correspondence, but should have at 
least one meeting, preferably several meetings, 
occupying an adequate length of time. 

The scholars able to do the work exist; it 
only remains to enable them to organize. For 
this purpose, the circular issued by Boston 
University is to serve as a preliminary step. 
Its aim is to obtain the opinion of the learned 
public. Thus far it has been sent only to 
the members of the Philological Association, 
and it may be stated that out of 67 replies 
received up to September 16, only 4 questioned 
the utility of the conference, the great ma- 
jority being emphatic and even enthusiastic 
in its advocacy. In a few weeks the circular 
will be sent to every university professor in 
the United States and Canada. 

The question has several times been asked, 
why a conference of the English-speaking na- 
tions alone would not suffice. The answer 
may be gathered from what has been said 
above. The supreme need of the phonetic 
alphabet, in order to secure its adoption by 
the public, is authority; and of course the 
authority of a universal alphabet, adopted by 
an international commission, would far exceed 
that of an alphabet devised for one language 
only. It is desirable to secure the use of the 
alphabet by the largest possible number of 
persons at once, in order to impart to it the 
requisite momentum to carry it into popular 
use. Evidently the momentum of an inter- 
national alphabet will be incomparably greater 
than that of a merely national alphabet. 
Above all, it must be remembered that the 
sounds of the leading European languages are 
for the most part nearly identical, and that 
all the nations are striving to adopt phonetic 
alphabets. If now each nation does this for 
itself, we shall be confronted with the dilemma 
that either needless differences will be per- 
manently established between the languages, 
or, if there is to be identity of writing to 
with the practical identity of 
sounds, certain nations will be forced to aban- 
don their laboriously constructed systems in 
order to conform to the system of another 
nation. The obvious remedy, the reasonable, 
neighborly, courteous method is an agreement 


correspond 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXL No. 525. 


by the common consent of all the nations con- 
cerned, and now is the time to secure it, while 
as yet none of the national phonetic alphabets 
have found any notable degree of acceptance. 
The realization of the conference is simply 
a matter of expense. It means that a dozen 
or a score of the most eminent scholars shall 
be enabled to devote the requisite time to it. 
If the replies to the circular demonstrate that 
the great majority of the learned public favors 
the plan, it seems entirely probable, in view 
of the importance of the subject, that the 
requisite funds will be forthcoming. 


Ropert Stern. 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 


AWARDS TO THE COLLECTIVE EXHIBIT OF 
THE LAND-GRANT COLLEGES AND 
THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 

Tue collective exhibit of the American col- 
leges of agriculture and mechanic arts and the 
experiment stations at the St. Louis Exposi- 
tion, illustrating special features of the in- 
struction work of these institutions and the 
methods and results of the agricultural ex- 
periment stations, was awarded 27 grand 
prizes, 37 gold medals, 35 silver medals and 
35 bronze medals, a total of 135 awards, aside 
from those made to individual exhibitors. The 
collective exhibit as a whole received a grand 
prize; and similar awards were made to the 
sections of agronomy, in charge of Mr. J. I. 
Schuite, of the office of experiment stations; 
of horticulture and forestry, in charge of Pro- 
fessor S. B. Green, of Minnesota; of economic 
entomology, in charge of Professor C. P. Gil- 
lette, of Colorado; of mining engineering, in 
charge of Professor S. B. Christy, of Cali- 
fornia; of architecture, in charge of Professor 
W. H. Lawrence, of Massachusetts; of mech- 
anical engineering, in charge of Professor W. 
F. M. Goss, of Indiana; of drawing and shop 
practice, in charge of Professor F. P. Ander- 
son, of Kentucky; and of technical chemistry, 
in charge of Dr. W. H. Walker, of Massa- 
chusetts; to the dairy laboratory, in charge 
of Professor E. TI. Farrington, of Wisconsin; 
the sugar laboratory, in charge of Dr. W. C. 
Stubbs, of Louisiana; and the plant laboratory, 


JANUARY 20, 1905.] 


in charge of Dr. W. H. Evans, of the office of 
experiment stations. 

Gold medals were awarded to the sections 
of animal husbandry (2), in charge of Dr. 
H. P. Armsby, of Pennsylvania, and Pro- 
fessor Thomas F. Hunt, of New York; of 
fertilizers, in charge of Dr. EK. B. Voorhees, 
of New Jersey; of plant pathology, in charge 
of Mr. F. C. Stewart, of New York; of rural 
engineering, in charge of Dr. Elwood Mead, 
of the office of experiment stations; and of 
veterinary medicine, in charge of Dr. D. 8S. 
White, of Ohio; and to the soils laboratory, in 
charge of Professor M. F. Miller, of Ohio. 

Awards of silver medals were made to the 
section of biological sciences, in charge of Dr. 
G. E. Stone, of Massachusetts, and that illus- 
trating the inspection work of the stations, in 
charge of Director M. A. Scovell, of Ken- 
tucky; and bronze medals to the sections of 
home economics, in charge of Miss Maude 
Gilchrist, of Michigan, and of rural economy, 
in charge of Professor F. W. Card, of Rhode 
Island. 

Awards were also made to institutions rep- 
resented in the exhibit as follows: Grand 
prizes to the Alabama, Connecticut State, 
Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri (2) 
New York State, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin 
experiment stations; to the agricultural col- 
leges of Missouri and Wisconsin universities ; 
to the College of Mining, University of Cali- 
fornia; to the bureau of education, and to the 
office of experiment stations, Department of 
Agriculture. Gold medals to the Arizona, Oali- 
fornia, Connecticut State, Connecticut Storrs, 
Maine, New Jersey, New York State (3), Ten- 
nessee, Washington and Wyoming (2) Experi- 
meut Stations; to the Colleges of Agriculture 
at Cornell University, the universities of Ili- 
nois, of Minnesota, of Missouri and of Ohio, 
and Purdue University; the agricultural col- 
leges of Michigan, North Dakota, Texas, Utah 
and Virginia; to the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology and the engineering depart- 
ments of the Mississippi, New Mexico and 
South Carolina Agricultural Colleges, and the 
Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. 
Silver medals were awarded to the Arkansas, 


SCIENCE. 


115 


Connecticut State, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, 
New Jersey, New Mexico, New York Cornell, 
North Carolina, Utah, Vermont (2) and Wis- 
consin (2) Experiment Stations; to Hampton 
Normal and Agricultural Institute; the Kan- 
sas (2), Michigan, Rhode Island and Utah 
agricultural colleges; and the agricultural col- 
leges at the Universities of Maine, Minnesota, 
Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin; the Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology, mining de- 
partment of Nevada State University, depart- 
ment of architecture of Cornell University, 
Sibley College of Cornell University and Penn- 
sylvania State College. And awards of bronze 
medals were made to the Connecticut state, 
Connecticut Storrs, Florida, Hawaii, Ken- 
tucky, Louisiana, Missouri, New York state 
(2) and Pennsylvania experiment stations, 


“and the office of experiment stations; to the 


agricultural colleges of South Carolina (2), 
Towa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan and 
Oregon; the agricultural colleges connected 
with Cornell University, and the universities 
of Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Ne- 
braska, Ohio (2), Purdue (2), Wisconsin and 
Wyoming; to the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, and the engineering department 
of the University of Tennessee. 

The exhibit was made with a special appro- 
priation from congress of $100,000, which was 
expended under the general supervision of the 
government board. Its preparation was in 
charge of a committee appointed by the Asso- 
ciation of American Agricultural Colleges 
and Experiment Stations, to whose labors, 
supported by the generous collaboration of the 
colleges and stations, its success was due. It 
was by far the most comprehensive and typical 
exposition of the work of instruction and 
research at these institutions which has ever 
been brought together, and its location in the 
Palace of Education secured for the agricul- 
tural departments of the colleges and the 
experiment stations a recognition of their 
place among the great educational efforts of 
the nation. It impressed itself upon intel- 
ligent observers as a worthy and consistent ex- 
position of certain features of education and 


116 


- 


research in the relations of science to agricul- 
ture and the mechanic arts. 
E. W. ALLEN. 
OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS, 
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


Proressor Ernest Rutuerrorp, of McGill 
University, has been appointed Silliman lec- 
turer at Yale University for 1905. The previous 
Silliman lecturers have been Professor J. J. 
Thomson, of Cambridge University, and Pro- 
fessor Charles 8. Sherrington, of Liverpool 
University. 

Tuer newly elected officers of the American 
Physiological Society are: President, Professor 
Wm. H. Howell, of Johns Hopkins University; 
Secretary, Professor Lafayette B. Mendel, of 
Yale University; Treasurer, Professor Walter 
B. Cannon, of Harvard University. Addi- 
tional members of the council are Professor 
R. H. Chittenden and Dr. S. J. Meltzer. 

At the seventh biennial convention of the 
Society of the Sigma Xi, held in Philadelphia, 
December 29, 1904, the following officers were 
elected: President, Professor Edward UL. 
Nichols, Cornell University; Vice-President, 
Professor T. H. Macbride, Iowa State Uni- 
versity; Recording Secretary, Professor Will- 
iam Missouri Botanical Garden; 
Corresponding Secretary, Professor H. B. 
Ward, University of Nebraska; Treasurer, 
Professor L. M. Underwood, Columbia Uni- 


versity. 


Trelease, 


Tue Royal Danish Geographical Society 
has conferred its gold medal on Captain 
Robert F. Scott, R.N., the leader of the re- 
cently returned Antarctic Expedition. 


Tue council of the Geological Society of 
London has this year made the following 
awards of its medals and funds: The Wol- 
laston medal to Mr. J. J. H. Teall, director of 
the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom; 
the Murchison medal to Mr. E. J. Dunn, 
director of the Geological Survey of Victoria; 
the Lyell medal to Dr. Hans Reusch, director 
of the Geological Survey of Norway; the 
Bigsby medal to Dr. J. W. Gregory, lately 
professor at Melbourne and now professor of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No..525. 


geology in Glasgow University; the Wol- 
laston fund to Mr. H. H. Arnold Bemrose for 
his researches in the geology of Derbyshire; 
the Murchison fund to Mr. H. L. Bowman for 
his mineralogical work, while the Lyell fund 
is divided between Mr. E. A. N. Arber, in rec- 
ognition of his work in paleobotany, and Mr. 
Walcot Gibson for his geological work in the 
Midland Counties of England. 


Present Exiot, of Harvard University, has 
been elected a corresponding member of the 
Academy of Moral and Political Sciences of 
the Institute of France. 


Str Norman Lockyer has been elected a 
corresponding member of the St. Petersburg 
Academy of Sciences. 

Dr. GreorcEe A. Dorsey, of the Field Colum- 
bian Museum, and Dr. Alex Hrdlicka, of the 
U. S. National Museum, have been elected 
corresponding members of the Society of An- 
thropology of Paris. 

Sir Joun Burpon-SaNpERsSOoN, who recently 
retired from the regius professorship of medi- 
cine at Oxford, celebrated his seventy-sixth 
birthday on December 21. 


Mr. Jonn F. Crowe, director of the 
Buffalo Botanical Garden, will visit Panama 
during February and March as an agent of 
the New York Botanical Garden, which will 
undertake botanical explorations in coopera- 
tion with the engineers of the Panama Canal 
Commission, 

Reuter’s AGENcy is informed that Mr. J. J. 
Harrison has left London for Khartum on his 
second expedition to the Congo. He intends 
to travel along the west side bordering on the 
Nile and Ituri district. He hopes to be able 
to secure an okapi in the forest region. Mr. 
Harrison has obtained leave in Brussels to 
bring home some pygmies. 


AssociATE Prorrssor FREDERICK Starr, of 
the Department of Sociology and Anthropol- 
ogy, of the University of Chicago, returned 
on December 28 from three months in Mexico. 
It was his fifteenth journey to that country. 


Proressor Russert H. Cnirrenpnen, director 
of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale Uni- 
versity, has just announced the make-up of 


- the sun, at Mt. Wilson, Cal. 


JANUARY 20, 1905.] 


the Thirty-Ninth Sheffield Lecture Course for 
1905, as follows: 


January 20: ‘A Journey in Turkestan,’ Pro- 
fessor William M. Davis. 

January 27: ‘Reconnaissance Methods of Ex- 
ploration in a Mountainous District, Mr. Howard 
W. DuBois, M.E. 

February 3: ‘Powerful Discharges of Elec- 
tricity,’ Professor John Trowbridge. 

February 10: ‘ Bahaman Bird-Life, with special 
reference to the Nesting Habits of the Flamingo,’ 
Mr. Frank M. Chapman. 

February 17: ‘The Relation of the Engineer to 
Society,’ Colonel Henry G. Prout. 

February 24: ‘The Destruction of Pompeii as 
interpreted by the Cataclysm of Martinique,’ Pro- 
fessor Angelo Heilprin. 

March 3: ‘ Alchemy,’ President Ira Remsen. 

March 10: ‘Impressions of Spanish America,’ 
Dr. Rudolph Schwill. 

March 17: ‘ Inféctious Disease and Immunity,’ 
Dr. Simon Flexner. 

March 24: ‘The Physical Constitution and 
Properties of the Earth,’ Professor Robert S. 
Woodward. 


Tue thirty-second annual meeting of the 
American Public Health Association was held 


last week in Havana under the presidency of 
Dr. Carlos J. Finley. 


Dr. Arruur V. Meics has been elected presi- 
dent of the College of Physicians of Phila- 
delphia. 


THE twenty-ninth anniversary of the 
foundation of the Johns Hopkins University 
will be celebrated on February 22, when Dr. 
William Osler will deliver the principal ad- 
dress. 


In a recent issue we stated that Professor 
Barnard, of the Yerkes Observatory, was to 
spend the next few months in photographing 
The observatory 
is primarily for solar research, but Professor 
Barnard’s work will be the photography of 
the milky way and the different nebulosities in 
the heavens, for the observation of which the 
Bruce photographic telescope is especially 
designed. 


Ar the annual meeting of the board of man- 
agers of the New York Botanical Garden, held 
last week, a report on behalf of the scientific 


SCIENCE. 


117 


directors was presented by Professor L. M. 
Underwood, chairman, which recommended 
the erection of four life-size statues on the 
piers at the front entrance of the museum 
building, as provided in the original plans of 
the architect. These statues are to commem- 
orate the work of Samuel Latham Mitchell, 
David Hosack, John Torrey and John Strong 
Newberry as the pioneers of botanical science 
in New York city. The recommendation was 
approved, and the making of arrangements to 
carry it into effect was referred to a committee 
composed of Mr. Charles F. Cox, chairman; 
Judge Addison Brown and Professor Under- 
wood, 


Proressor JAMES Weir Mason, professor of 
mathematies at the College of the City of 
New York from 1879 to 1903, died on January 
10 at the age of sixty-nine years. 


THE trustees of the Elizabeth Thompson 
Seience Fund announce that income for 
grants is now available. Applications should 
reach, before February 14, 1905, the Secre- 
tary of the Board of Trustees, Dr. C. S. 
Minot, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 
Mass., U. S. A. The trustees are disin- 
clined, for the present, to make any grant 
to meet ordinary expenses of living or to pur- 
chase instruments such as are found com- 
monly in laboratories. Decided preference 
will be given to applications for small amounts, 
and grants exceeding $300 will be made only 
under very exceptional circumstances. 


Tue U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces an examination on February 15, 1905, 
to fill two vacancies, at $1,000 to $1,200 per 
annum each, in the position of hydrologic aid, 
Geological Survey, and vacancies as they may 
oceur in any branch of the service requiring 
similar qualifications. 


The New York Medical Record states that 
the commission appointed by Harvard Uni- 
versity, under the terms of the bequest of 
$100,000 by Mrs. Caroline Brewer Croft, to 
study cancer has prepared a report of its 
labors during the past four years. This re- 
port, which is now in the hands of the printer, 
will, if the advance statements of its contents 
are correct, contain little that is new. Its 


118 


conclusions are said to be that cancer is 
neither hereditary nor contagious, that it is 
not of parasitic origin, and that excision is the 
only cure except in the case of certain super- 
ficial growths which may be cured by radio- 
therapy. 


Tue British postmaster-general has made 
arrangements with the Marconi Company for 
the acceptance and prepayment at telegraph 
offices of telegrams for transmission from wire- 
less stations on the coast to ships at sea. 


Presipent Roosevett has sent a message 
to congress urging the passage of the bill, now 
before that body, for the reorganization of the 
medical corps of the army. He says he is 
satisfied that the medical corps is much too 
small for the needs of the present army, and 
therefore very much too small for its success- 
ful expansion in time of war. 


Tue local chamber of commerce at Grenoble 
has opened an industrial museum or perma- 
nent exposition of the special products and 
diverse industries of this region. This is to 
be supplemented later by an agricultural mu- 
seum and bourse to show the progress of sei- 
ence as applied to soil cultivation and the best 
implements for field work, and to facilitate 
business transactions on the part of farmers 
and cultivators. 


A CORRESPONDENT writes to the London 
Times: The Carnegie Dunfermline trustees 
have endeavored to provide secondary and tech- 
nical education at cheap rates, yet of a quality 
equal to that supplied in the largest educa- 
tional centers, and by means of bursaries to 
bring university education within the reach 
They 


have appointed a musical director, Mr. David 


of all capable and diligent students. 


Stephen, who superintends the arrangement 
of concerts and directs the study of music 
both in the schools and by supplementary 
classes. They have also charge of a gym- 
nasium and public baths, built at a cost of 
between £40,000 and £50,000, especially staffed 
and equipped for the development of physical 
culture. The trustees engage lecturers of 
repute and award prizes for the best-kept gar- 
dens. They have acquired by purchase the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 525. 


old parish glebe adjoining the southeastern 
extremity of the Pittencrieff, and have thus 
foreshadowed the construction of a new ap- 
proach to the glen. By arrangement with the 
Crown they have taken charge of the palace 
ruins, the pathways to which they have greatly 
improved, and the superintendence of Queen 
Margaret’s Cave Oratory has been transferred 
to them by the town council. So far the only 
building contemplated by the trustees is a 
library with a museum, the present Carnegie 
library being defective as regards accommoda- 
tion. 


Tue secretary of agriculture says in his an- 
nual report that “during the past year the 
main building of the Weather Bureau Observa- 
tory has been completed, while the power plant, 
the building from which balloon ascensions and 
kite flights are to be made, and the magnetic 
building are being constructed. The physical 
laboratory for electrical and radioactive effects 
is being planned, the erection of which will 
take place in another year. Finally, a compre- 
hensive physical observatory for photograph- 
ing the sun directly and through the spectrum, 
for measuring radiation energy by actinometry 
and bolometry, with their allied equipment, 
will be required. This complex institution 
must grow up slowly as plans can be matured 
along the best modern lines. When the equip- 
ment is ready we shall make and send out 
apparatus for the exploring of the atmosphere 
to altitudes of from 3 to 10 miles. It is 
probable that many balloons will be simul- 
taneously liberated from different stations so 
as to get records of storms and cold waves 
from their four quadrants. With observations 
from the magnetic, the electric and the solar 
physies observatories, opportunity for study 
will be given to those who believe that the 
eyeclonie and anticyclonic whirls that consti- 
tute storms and cold waves are mainly the 
result of changes in the amount or intensity 
of some form of solar radiation. It is the 
purpose to make the research at Mount 
Weather catholic in its broadness.” 

Tne London Times states that the annual 
conversazione of the Royal College of Science 
and Royal School of Mines was held at the 
college in South Kensington, on December 21. 


JANUARY 20, 1905.) 


These annual social gatherings are organized 
by the Students’ Union, of which Professor 
Gowland is the president, and they form a 
kind of reunion for old students, many of 
whom were present at the gathering, which, 
notwithstanding the fog, was attended by 
about 500 guests. The company included 
Sir Norman Lockyer, Sir Arthur Riicker, Mr. 
Morant, Professor Judd (the dean), Professor 
Tilden, Professor Perry, Professor Callendar, 
Professor Gowland and Mr. G. W. C. Kaye 
(secretary). There were many interesting ex- 
hibits in the various departments in chemistry, 
physics, astrophysics, mechanics, metallurgy, 
mining, geology and biology, under the direc- 
tion of their respective professors. -The Solar 
Physics Observatory was open by permission 
of Sir Norman Lockyer, and a cinematograph 
exhibition was given, while the college com- 
pany of the Corps of Electrical Engineers 
showed a searchlight. Dr. W. Watson, F.R.S., 
delivered a lecture during the evening on 
‘Radium and 20th-Century Alchemy,’ and this 
was followed by a concert. 

We learn from the London Times that the 
committee appointed by the British Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science to con- 
sider the probability of ankylostoma (miner’s 
worm) becoming a permanent inhabitant of 
coal mines in the event of its introduction 
has presented an interim report. The com- 
mittee consists of Messrs. G. H. F. Nuttall, 
M.D., Ph.D., F.R.S. (chairman), G. P. Bidder, 
M.A. (secretary), A. E. Boycott, M.D., J. S. 
Haldane, M.D., F.R.S., and A. E. Shipley, 
M.A., F.R.S. The following is the summary 
of the committee’s report:—There are many 
channels by which ankylostoma might be in- 
troduced into British coal mines. The condi- 
tions found underground in these mines are 
such that the worm would, in many cases at 
any rate, probably become firmly established. 
In view of the expense and difficulty of eradi- 
cating the worm from any mine in which it 
has become established, it is of the greatest 
importance that preventive measures should 
be undertaken without delay. Complete 
eradication does not yet appear to have been 
ever accomplished. The necessary prevention 
is best accomplished by the provision of proper 


SCIENCE. 


119 


sanitary accommodation in the main roads un- 
derground and at the pit’s mouth, by regula- 
tions to prevent pollution of the pit by human 
feces, and by the establishment of a limited 
quarantine system for workpeople from in- 
fected areas, with compulsory notification of 
cases to the home office. 


ALTHOUGH only ten years had elapsed since 
Messrs. Whitman Cross and R. A. F. Penrose, 
Jr., of the United States Geological Survey, 
made a careful study of the geology of the 
Cripple Creek district of Colorado, the people 
of that state were last year so strongly im- 
pressed with the economic importance of a 
scientific examination of the ground opened 
by mining operations during that period that 
they urgently requested a resurvey, agreeing 
to bear half the expense of the work. The re- 
examination began accordingly with a thor- 
ough revision of the topographic map of 
Cripple Creek by Mr. R. T. Evans, who acted 
under the supervision of Mr. E. M. Douglas. 
The study of the geology and mines of the 
district was undertaken jointly by Messrs. 
Waldemar Lindgren and Frederick Leslie Ran- 
some, who were assisted by Mr. L. C. Graton. 
The examination began in June, 1903, and the 
field work was concluded in April, 1904. Prac- 
tically every accessible mine in the district 
was examined in greater or less detail. <A 
preliminary report on the work, prepared by 
Messrs. Lindgren and Ransome, has just been 
published. It is issued in advance of the 
final laboratory examinations and is a sum- 
mary of those facts that bear upon the eco- 
nomic development of the region and are of 
immediate importance to the miners. 


Tue Medical Record states that the con- 
struction of the new government laboratory 
building at Manila has advanced sufficiently 
far to permit of its being occupied by a num- 
ber of branches of the Bureau of Government 
Laboratories. The bureau is composed at 
present of the following divisions: (1) A 
serum laboratory at which are manufactured 
vaccine virus, rinderpest serum, ete. (2) A 
library in which are to be stored and ecata- 
logued all the scientific books in possession of 
the government. (3) A well-appointed chem- 
ical laboratory. (4) An entomological divi- 


120 


sion, which has already done good work in the 
study of the insects which were destroying the 
cacao plants of the islands. (5) A biological 
laboratory, which gives much promise for the 
future. (6) A botanical division. The large 
number of plants which remain unidentified 
gives this division a large field in which to 
work. There are a number of other branches 
of this bureau, but they can searcely be digni- 
fied by the name of division, as for instance 
the braneh which takes the photographs for all 
departments of the government. It has also 
been proposed to incorporate a division of 
weights and measures, the necessity for which 
has already been felt. 

Mr. Epncar Speyer, the chairman of this 
fund, which carries on its work in the Na- 
tional Hospital for the Paralyzed and Epilep- 
tic, having been asked by the Hon. Stephen 
Coleridge, on behalf of the National Anti- 
Vivisection Society, whether the researches 
involve experiments on living animals, has 
sent the following reply :—“ Dear Sir,—<As you 
are already aware, the National Hospital is 
not a place licensed under the Act for experi- 
ments on living animals. JI am informed, 
nevertheless, that your society endeavored to 
prevent subscriptions being sent to it on the 
ground that some members of the medical staff, 
in their private capacities, are licensed under 
the Act. The Nervous Diseases Research 
Fund is an endeavor to provide funds for re- 
search into the origin and cure of those dis- 
It will be conducted in the hospital 
under the advice of the medical staff. That 
being so, your past treatment of the hospital 
shows that it has nothing to expect from your 
society in the way of support. As this re- 
moves the only locus standi you might other- 
wise have to interfere, I do not think it neces- 
sary to enter further into the subject of 
your letter. Yours truly, Edgar Speyer. 
December 14, 1904.” 


eases. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 

Ivy is announced that Mr. Andrew Carnegie 
has given $100,000 to Tufts College for the 
erection of a library building and $50,000 to 
St. Lawrence University at Canton, N. Y., 


for a science building. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 525. 


At the convocation of the University of 
Chicago on December 20, President Harper 
announced that Mr. John D. Rockefeller had 
signified his willingness to- contribute to the 
University for the year beginning July 1, 
1905, the sum of $245,000 for current expenses, 
this being the same sum that he has contrib- 
uted during the present year. Mr. Rocke- 
feller has also contributed this year $60,000 
for the enlargement of the heating plant of the 
university. 


By the will of Mr. Henry Norris, of Phila- 
delphia, the University of Pennsylvania, the 
University Hospital and Haverford College 
each receive $5,000. 


Tue will of Macy S. Pope of Brookline 
gives $25,000 each to the Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology and the Washington Acad- 
emy of East Machias, Me. 


Mr. MicuarL JENKINS, of Baltimore, has 
given to the board of directors of the Maryland 
Institute a site on Mount Royal Avenue, 200 
feet wide and 250 feet deep, for the erection 
of the building. It will be remembered that 
Mr. Andrew Carnegie agreed to give $263,000, 
equal to the assets of the institute, for a 
building, provided the city supplied the site. 


Mr. Evcene G. Buackrorp has bequeathed 
to the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences 
$5,000, together with his apparatus and books 
on zoology. 


Tue Rev. Albert Watson, fellow of Bras- 
enose College, Oxford, has bequeathed £4,000 
to the college. 


Iv is said that Harvard University and the 
University of Berlin have practically arranged 
a method by which a temporary exchange of 
professors will occur. It is further reported 
that a similar arrangement has been made be- 
tween the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology and the Berlin Institute of Technology. 


Mr. W. E. ALien, professor of biology in 
Epworth University, Oklahoma City, has 
resigned to accept a graduate fellowship in 
zoology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. 


SCIENCE.—ADVERTISEMENTS. 


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FRAY, JANUARY, 27, 1905. 


CONTENTS: 


The American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science :— 


Cooperation among American Geographical 
Societies: PRoressor IsRAEL C. RUSSELL. . 


Section E—Geology and Geography: Dr. 
MRINUGN DIOLS) ELOVEY,. <2 <j oe einaia s oes 


LiLoyp 


Scientific Books :— 
Zoology in the International Catalogue of 
Scientific Literature: Proressor Henry B. 
WarpD 


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


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Chemical Society: Dr. F. H. Poucu. The 
Torrey Botanical Club: Epwarp W. Berry. 
The Science Club of Northwestern Univer- 


Be RICOND! RIMDD So a.c ce csc cea die beats 150 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


The Bpidiascope: Proressor A. D. Mrap.. 152 


, Quotations :— 


Another Cancer Serum 153 


Special Articles :— 
A Model illustrating Hittorf’s Theory of 
the Migration Velocities of Ions: Dr. Frep- 
ERICK H. GETMAN 


The George Washington University and the 
George Washington Memorial Association. 155 


The Porto Rico Experiment Station........ 156 
The Eighteenth Session of the Marine Bio- 


Begical Laboratory .... 6.6... ee eee e ees 176 
Scientific Notes and News................. 157 
University and Educational News.......... 160 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
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Son-on-Hudson, N, Y. 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 
COOPERATION AMONG AMERICAN 
GRAPHICAL SOCIETIES.* 
In considering the many ways in which 
the science having as its special province 
the study of the earth’s surface can be 
enhanced and its service to mankind ren- 
dered more efficient through the agency of 
geographical societies, five subordinate 
themes present: themselves for. considera- 
tion. These are: The scope and aim of 
geography; the methods of gathering and 
distributing geographical knowledge; the 
functions of geographical societies; the 
present status of the geographical societies 
in America; and in what ways can the geo- 
graphical societies of this country increase 
their influence and enlarge their useful- 
ness ? 


GEHO- 


THE SCOPE AND AIM OF GEOGRAPHY. 


The proportions of a great mountain 
seem to vary according to the point of 
view of the beholder, and the impressions 
it makes on various minds also vary, as 
may be said, in reference to their sensitive- 
ness to thought-waves of different length. 
To the dweller in a vale at a mountain’s 
base, its sublime slopes do not present the 
same picture that is beheld by the traveler 
on a neighboring plain; the impressions its 
weathered battlements awaken in the mind 
of the untutored savage have but a faint 
resemblance to the train of thought started 


* Address of the vice-president and chairman of 
Section E—Geology and Geography, Philadelphia, 
December, 1904. 


122 


into activity by the same stimulus in the 
brain of the geographer. When the name 
of the mountain is spoken, all of. its attri- 
butes and all of its subjective influences 
may be conceived as being embodied in the 
word used. 

In a similar way the word geography 
has many shades of meaning, according to 
the point of view and the training of the 
person using it. ‘To the child at school, to 
the poet, the painter, the man of affairs, 
the scientific geographer, ete., the word 
does not have the same significance, and, in 
fact, in the different connections just sug- 
gested, might be thought to refer to widely 
different subject-matter. To some persons 
the mountain of earth-lore is far distant— 
a mere cloud on the horizon—while to other 
persons it is near at hand, overshadowing 
in its immensity, awe-inspiring in its mag- 
nificenee, and its rugged slopes inscribed 
with the history of ages, while its summit 
is veiled from view in the cloud-land of 
the unknown. 

The multiple interpretations that may be 
given to the word geography demand atten- 
tion, but in order to learn the scope and 
aim of geography as a science, we turn to 
the explorers and investigators who have 
aided in its development. Answers to the 
question: What is geography? by several 
of its learned expounders were summarized 
by Charles R. Dryer,* and a conerete defi- 
nition extracted from them which reads: 
Geography is the science which deals with 
the distribution of every feature and the 
environment of every creature on the face 
of the earth. The meaning of this erys- 
tallized statement is more fully shown in 
the admirable address referred to by enu- 
merating the several subordinate parts of 
which geography is the symmetrical whole. 
These are: 

*Charles R. Dryer, ‘What is Geography?’ An 
address before the Southern Illinois Educational 


Council at Carbondale, October 23, 1903, Teachers’ 
Journal, Marion, Ind. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 526. 


1. The earth as a planet: its form, di- 
mensions, motions and relations to the sun. 

2. The land: its outline and relief; the 
distribution of its surface forms, including 
streams and lakes. 

3. The sea: its outline, depth and con- 
tents; the properties and movements of sea- 
water. 

4. The atmosphere: its properties, con- 
ditions and movements, and their results 
as manifested in climate. 

5. Plants and animals; their distribution. 

6. Man: the distribution and movements 


of peoples; human conditions, industries, : 


structures and, to some extent, institutions. 

While it is no doubt necessary to divide 
and subdivide the science of the cosmos, 
both for convenience of study and in order 
to bring the magnificent whole within the 
range of human comprehension, the rigid 
lines established for these and kindred pur- 
poses, it should always be remembered, are 
artificial and nearly always indefinite. 
There is no inter-science law, correspond- 
ing with international agreements, which 
fixes their bounds. Every student of na- 
ture must feel that he can visit his neigh- 
bor’s fields without being considered a tres- 
passer, and be at lberty to pluck the 
flowers of truth growing there without be- 
ing branded a thief. From the hard, dry 
formulas cited above—although fully ap- 
preciating the logical plan for earth-study 
outlined by them—I would remove the im- 
plied limitations as to space and time and 
introduce perspective. Not only the study 
of the distribution of land and water, of 
plants and animals, ete., at the present day 
should be free to the geographer, but the 
many combinations of conditions and proe- 
esses which have led to the present order of 
things should come within the range of his 
vision. The ‘life history’ of every feature 
of the earth’s surface, and the ‘life-work’ 
of every process by which those features 


have been fashioned, together with the 


EE 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


changes still in progress, as well as glimpses 
into the future, are to be numbered among 
the fascinating problems geography has to 
present. To the study of the earth’s sur- 
face may well be added the light, color and 
motions which give that surface its beauty 
and variety. 1 would have the geographer 
feel that the thoughts of a poet greater 
than Milton, who ‘with no middle flight 
intends to soar,’ are interwoven with the 
bare statement that the study of earth in- 
cludes its form, dimensions, motions and 
relation to the sun. The picture these 
words outline in the mind reveals a mighty 
globe, without visible support, revolving in 
space, and an orderly ebb and flow of its 
surface waters, in obedience to the same in- 
tangible power, of gravity; the silent daily 
change from light to shadow; the pulse-beat 
of the seasons; the advance and retreat of 
secular changes in each of these orderly 
revolutions—all this and more, so magnifi- 
cent and so inspiring that it can searce be 
thought, much less spoken, is by inherit- 
ance the right of the geographer and should 
not be denied him. The earth, like the 
wayside flower, has a life history, and a 
search for the records of its birth and 
growth is of interest to the geographer, 
even if not included in the strict time limits 
granted him, and he should have freedom 
to follow his thoughts wherever they lead. 
Nor is this all; the geographer who no 
middle course intends to take, must reach 
out for the sun and all his attending plan- 
ets, and search the realm of distant space 
for meteors, nebule, star-clusters and cos- 
mic mists, which in any way may aid in 
interpreting the story of the earth’s evolu- 
tion. So also in the study of the land, the 
sea, the atmosphere, and the relation of 
these to life, and to human history, I would 
bid the geographer remember that the 
earth’s surface is not fixed and rigid, a 
dead, motionless thing, but ever changing 
im response perhaps to the fall of a rain- 


SCIENCE. 


123 


drop or an eruption of Krakatoa, and that 
it is clothed with beauty of both form and 
eolor, and whispers with a_ thousand 
tongues to the admirer who inelines a 
listening ear. 

What then is geography? The study of 
the distribution of earth features and of 
the environment of living things, to be 
sure, but also the reading of the fasci- 
nating story of the development of those 
features, and a search for the complex 
antecedent conditions which gave birth to 
the present marvelously delicate adjust- 
ment of life to its environment. Illumin- 
ating this temple not made by hands are 
pictures of the earth-beautiful, and the 
many charms that are imparted to nature- 
study by all that is lovely in form and 
eolor, and fascinating by reason of sound 
or motion on the still developing earth’s 
surface with which man’s life is linked and 
of which his body is a part. 

GATHERING AND DISTRIBUTING GEOGRAPHICAL 
KNOWLEDGE. 

The chief aim of the geographer being 
to gain all possible knowledge of the earth’s 
surface as it exists to-day, and of the his- 
tory of the changes which resulted in the 
present order of things, the question pre- 
sents itself: How is this knowledge to be 
acquired, and what is to be done with the 
harvest when reaped ? 

The popular idea in reference to meth- 
ods of acquiring geographical knowledge 
is, no doubt, to traverse unknown lands, 
make voyages in Arctic and Antarctic seas, 
and scale mountains never before pressed 
by human foot. Such enterprises, how- 
ever, although laudable and commendable 
in themselves, can not be considered as the 
most noble or most fruitful of geographical 
explorations. “eographical advances are 
to be made not only by crossing ice-fields 
and climbing mountains, but by excursions 
into the realm of ideas as well. A modern 
phase of the science consists in tracing the 


124 


successive changes various features of the 
earth’s surface have passed through, and 
in noting the orderly sequence of events 
produced by the moving agencies still ac- 
tive in modifying and molding the earth’s 
features. This search culminates in the 
study of the relation of life, and particu- 
larly of man to surrounding physical con- 
ditions. While the explorer of new lands 
gathers facts, the philosophical geographer 
arranges those facts in orderly sequence, 
interprets their meaning and deduces from 
them hypotheses, which have for their pur- 
pose the discovery of the laws of nature. 
It is the formulating and elucidating of 
these laws which constitutes the noblest 
aim of geographical science. This philo- 
sophical stage in the growth of geography 
has but recently been entered upon, and is 
the one which is to claim the greatest share 
of attention in the future. 

From this as yet not generally recog- 
nized point of view, it appears that fresh 
fields for exploration surround us on every 
hand. Some of the most important ad- 
vanees in geography yet made can be 
claimed as the fruits of home study rather 
than resulting from explorations in new 
lands, although based on and supported by 
extensive field investigations. 

Illustrations of this thesis are: the base- 
level idea, which was given concrete shape 
and stamped with a name by Powell, the 
important principle embodied in the term 
geographical cycle, coined by Davis, and 
the laws of stream erosion, transportation 
and deposition so admirably formulated by 
Gilbert. These and other far-reaching and, 
as it seems, universal and everlasting doc- 
trines render transparent the clouds which 
before shadowed familiar scenes and im- 
part to them new significance. The lands 
to be explored by the scientific geographer 
encompass us on every hand, and the sea 
has only just begun to yield up its secrets. 

The gaining of geographical knowledge 


SCIENCE. 


(N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 526. 


at first hand, or geographical research, 
consists, then, of both journeying and 
thinking, and the two are inseparable in 
order to secure the highest results. 

To the question: What is to be done with 
the fruits of geographical studies when 
gathered? I could answer curtly: Give 
them away. Sow the seeds of knowledge 
broadeast in the minds of men, with faith 
that some of them will germinate there 
and multiply a thousandfold. In the har- 
vest of the future, as we may be assured 
from the principle termed mutation by 
biologists, every seed will not have repro- 
duced its kind, but new species will appear 
and rank among the discoveries of the 
future. 

As to methods of geographical research 
pertaining to individuals, or combinations 
of individuals, as in organized expeditions 
or surveys, and the various ways of pub- 
lishing the results of such undertakings, 
attention is here invited to only one phase, 
namely : 


THE FUNCTIONS OF GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETIES. 

Aids to Exploration and Research.—As 
shown by the histories of geographical so- 
cieties and most prominently by the records 
of the Royal Geographical Society of Lon- 
don, the mother of them all, they have been 
most sympathetic to the adventurer and 
explorer, and have aided in many instances 
not only directly from their treasuries, but 
perhaps still more efficiently through their 
influence on legislation, in starting indi- 
vidual travelers on their way and equip- 
ping exploring expeditions. Incident to 
such direct material aid have been more 
or less successful attempts to train ex- 
plorers for this work and furnish them 
with instructions as to ways of conducting 
it. The word ‘unexplored’ has not as yet 
been erased from our globes, and many 
mountain peaks are as yet unconquered; 
the privilege of assisting in such tasks is 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


still open to geographical societies, and by 
some persons may even now be considered 
as the chief aim they should have in view. 

With the change from traversing un- 
known areas to exploring the domain of 
ideas, which made geography a science, 
the sphere of usefulness of the geograph- 
ical society has been vastly enlarged and 
new duties placed upon it. Thus far, how- 
ever, geographical societies do not seem to 
have awakened to the full realization of 
the dignity of this new life, and the vast 
possibilities it opens for their own growth 
and elevation. It needs no argument to 
show that it is a duty of a society having 
the study of the earth’s surface for its 
chosen field, to foster and encourage geo- 
eraphical research in the laboratory and 
library, in cultivated fields, and amid hills 
and valleys, just as truly as it is to aid the 
African explorer or encourage the moun- 
taineer who would scale Mount Everest. 

To be reckoned among the functions of 
geographical societies, is the search for the 
exceptional man, not only he of strength 
of limb who can climb mountains, and of 
great endurance who can brave the perils 
of ice-fields or tropical jungles, but the 
man of broad philosophical ideas and log- 
ical mind, who ean correlate the facts ex- 
plorers gather, supplement them by his 
own field-studies, and deduce from them 
the laws that have governed the earth’s 
development and still control the winds, 
the streams, the glaciers and other agen- 
cies by which the earth’s surface is being 
modified and changed. 

The corner-stone of every geographical 
society should, therefore, be geographical 
research, under which term systematic en- 
deavor to enhance any branch of geograph- 
ical knowledge is included. 

Diffusion of Geographical Knowledge.— 
While an increase in knowledge should be 
the leading ambition of geographical so- 


cieties, their greatest activity and chief ex-- 


SCIENCE. 


125 


ertion, as shown by their histories, has been 
in the direction of spreading or dissemi- 
nating knowledge already acquired. Ac- 
tivity in this direction is highly commend- 
able and should be encouraged, as it is a 
most important function; but it is an out. 
come of research and occupies a lower 
plane. The means for disseminating 
knowledge available for geographical so- 
cieties, as is well known, are: Both popular 
and scientific meetings, public lectures, 
field excursions, joint sessions of two or 
more societies, international congresses, 
together with the printing and distributing 
of journals, proceedings, magazines, ete. 
Intimately connected with the distribu- 
tion of a special kind of knowledge from 
a given center, is the gathering together at 
that center the records pertaining to the 
specific aim in view distributed from other 
centers. One function of a geographical 
society is, therefore, to maintain libraries 
of books, maps, charts, and, also, in these 
later days, of photographs. Necessitated 
by this and other functions is the owner- 
ship or control of a building suitable for 
library purposes, places of meeting, ete. 
Individual Conferences.—All the fune- 
tions of geographical societies have not 
been stated, however, when the aids they 
offer to exploration and study, and their 
various means of publication are reviewed. 
There is an important and wide-reaching 
influence which results from the personal 
contact and friendly exchange of ideas and 
experiences between persons engaged in the 
same or similar lines of work. It is seem- 
ingly this phase of the social instinet of 
mankind, more than any other element in 
scientific cooperation, which leads to the 
organizing of geographical societies, and 
serves to hold their members to a common 
purpose. The importance and value of 
the contact of man with man, while de- 
pendent mainly on the personalities, 
breadth of experience and richness of 


126 


ideas of the men themselves, also influ- 
enced in a favorable way by an increase 
in the number, and a widening of the 
geographical range, of the persons of the 
same cult who are thus affiliated. In gen- 
eral, it may be said of the gatherings of 
geographers, and of those interested in 
their work, that the good resulting in- 
creases in more than a simple ratio with 
increase in numbers and with a broaden- 
ing of habitat. The trustworthiness of 
these statements finds support in the suc- 
cess of the several international geograph- 
ical congresses that have been held, and is 
illustrated by the results of the recent In- 
ternational Congress of Arts and Science 
assembled at the Universal Exposition at 
St. Louis. 

Awakening Interest in Geography.—Still 
another important function of geograph- 
ical societies is the influence they exert in 
awakening and stimulating interest con- 
cerning the wonders and beauties of the 
earth in the minds of the people forming 
the communities where they are located. 
By thus catering to the curiosity cf pecple 
they ‘may be led to inquire more closely 
This fune- 
tion is analcgous to the process of creating 


into the aims of geceraphers. 


a demand in the commercial world, and is 
not beneath the dignity of a geographical 
society. Agencies in this direction and 
exhibitions ef maps, photographs, ete., of 
countries on which publie attention is cen- 
tered, be it South Africa or Manchuria; 
collections illustrating the industries of 
such countries, or a similar gathering to- 
vether of antiquities, ete. The most com- 
mon of such exhibits is the placing on the 
platform at a popular gathering, of an 
explorer or traveler, who, it may be whis- 
pered in some instances, awakens greater 
curiosity personally than for the additions 
he has made to geography. 

Influence on Legislation.—Among_ the 
fmetions of geographical societies is also 


SCIENCE. . 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 526. 


included the influence they exert or should 
possess in reference to advising legislative 
bodies concerning the aid they are asked 
to extend to expeditions, surveys and re- 
search along various geographic lines, in 
order that public funds available for such 
purposes may be wisely expended. The 
recognition of the public importance of 
several European geographical societies is 
expressed in their names. One of the 
functions of the National Academy of Sei- 
ences of the United States, in which geog- 
raphy is represented, is to advise congress 
in reference to scientific ‘matters which 
have a bearing on legislation or demand 
legislative enactments. Geographical so- 
cieties, however, which have no organi¢ 
connection with governments, may influ- 
ence their action and lead them to foster 
and promote geographical work, either di- 
rectly by means of petitions, or indirectly 
through the personal exertions of their 
members, as well as by means of the public 
press, and in cther ways. In the exercise 
of this function also, large membership 
and an extensive habitat, greatly enhance 
the good a geographical society ean do, and 
increases in more than a simple ratio with 
increase in its membership and the breadth 
of the region from which its members are 
recruited. 

To summarize: The principal functions 
of geographical societies are: The encour- 
agement of exploration and research; the 
holding of meetings for the presentation 
of information on geographical matters, 
and eliciting discussion; publie lectures; 
field excursions, ete.; publication of in- 
structive geographical reports, essays, 
maps, ete.; maintenance of libraries; fa- 
cilitating personal conferences between 
men engaged in like explorations or investi- 
gations; the stimulating of public interest 
in matters geographical ; and the education 
of legislators as to the relation of geog- 
raphy to human advancement. 


Even this — 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


suggestive summary does not exhaust the 
subject in hand; the recognition of work 
well done, as when a geographical society 
bestows a medal on an explorer; the as- 
sumption of the duties of an executor, as 
when such a society administers a legacy ; 
the opening of halls for the exhibition of 
loan collections of various kinds, ete., show 
that the functions of geographical societies 
are still wider and more varied than can be 
discussed at this time. 

In connection with this summary, I de- 
sire to emphasize the fact, as has already 
been done in part, that in the exercise of 
several, if not all its functions, the power. 
of a geographical society to do good and 
enhance the welfare of mankind increases 
both with the growth of its ideals and with 
its increase in numbers. 

That the importance and influence of 
such a society of necessity increase with 
the lengthening of its roll of members may 
not be true, but as even the laymen in a 
society have expressed by the act of be- 
coming members their interest in the ideals 
for which it stands, and furnish the prin- 
cipal part of the audience to which its pro- 
fessional members address their talks and 
writings, they furnishing a desirable means 
for disseminating knowledge, and in this, 
if in no other way, aid in the fulfilment 
of the tasks geographical societies under- 
take. The mere fact that persons inter- 
ested in geography unite to form societies 
is, in itself, evidence that by means of such 
cooperation something is gained which is 


denied the isolated individual, and so far 


as experience suggests there is no upper 
limit to the number that ean to advantage 
unite their efforts in this manner. 


THE PRESENT STATUS OF GEOGRAPHICAL SO- 
CIETIES IN NORTH AMERICA. 

The leading functions of geographical 

societies being, as all persons will, I think, 

coneede, the inerease and diffusion of geo- 


SCIENCE. 127 


graphical knowledge, the inquiry comes 
home to us: How well are the geographical 
societies of America fulfilling the purposes 
for which they exist? 

After considerable exploration—analo- 
gous to that involved in traversing a new 
land—but greatly assisted by a recently 
published paper on the ‘Geographical So- 
eieties of America,’ by J. Paul Goode,* I 
find that in North America at the present 
time there are not less than seventeen so- 
cieties, associations and clubs which have 
geography in some form as the chief bond 
which unites their members. A list of 
these several organizations, together with 
certain data concerning them, is presented 
on the next page. 

The distribution of these societies, as 
is indicated in the table, includes in an 
east and west direction, Boston and San 
Francisco, and its range in latitude is 
from Washington to Quebee on the east, 
and from San Francisco to Seattle on the 
west. In view of the fact that geography 
is coneerned with the distribution and en- 
vironment of living things, the narrow belt 
as measured in latitude inhabited by our 
geographical societies is suggestive. What 
are the climatie and other conditions pe- 
euliar to this belt of nine degrees, which 
make it prolific in geographical societies, 
while the vast region to the north and a 
nearly equal extent of land to the south 
are barren in this particular? 

Of the organizations referred to, there 
are perhaps ten which, as declared by their 
constitution and made evident by their 
work, can reasonably claim recognition as 
eeographical societies; the remainder are 
of the nature of social clubs, with geo- 
graphical features, rather than societies 
having for their leading aim an earnest de- 


*The Journal of Geography, Vol. II., 1903, pp. 
343-350; Vol. III., 1904, p. 44. 

+ Quoted from the article by J. Paul Goode, 
cited above. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 


or 
bo 
a 


LIST OF GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETIES, 


| § g 5° |B ae 
Name. Location. | ‘S 4 gs = 8 = 
fos ee an z z s 
a" 34 Ca pee e 
Alaska Geographical Societyt .............- Seattle. Nap le 20017; nwecacteconeasssaemeisen 200) | corm om. ecll eee eaeme 
: : | (Organization 
American Alpine Club...................0000- | incomplete. ) | Baer Bonet niscelote oaemeeeaaee 5.00 | cescreree | steeeeeee 
American) Climatological A'ssociation\...<)) a..-0. «sesessc's<ecas]| MLO eeaeetteet seen rosary eee 7.00) |DLOOL | Measacceas 
: : : . ~ 40,000 books. , 
American Geographical Society............ New York. | 1,300 | 12,000 maps. \ OLOON Recceetees $100.00 
: : | 2,000 books. | 
Appalachian Mountain Club............... | Boston. 1,500 1,500 maps. \ 4.00, 4.00 50.00 . 
| New York.. | 
BixplorersOlubeeccesscnsscnseestesncie | (Organization | 
caesar |. “imeommplee. Ju | (occie: Pete eer tear ceercrea eater area 
Geographical Society of Baltimoref...... Baltimores) 7 |) (1G (25. isences cs stenenetcael eee MOO) 3.52 teens leeteeeeree 
Geographical Society of California......... San Francisco. | 2 SU || soasedons 100.00 
Geographical Society of Chicago ......... Chicago. (3) | ooaccossnosasen: aagecony 2003) Batesees 25.00 
| | 
Geographical Society of the Pacific ...... | San Francisco. | 2 oie \ ee —— 
Geographical Society of Philadelphia.... Philadelphia. | 587 900 books. BiOO\ aes sees 50.00 
Harvard Travelers’ Club .............+.00++ \Cambridge,Mass.| 140 |........ s...cs000 esos 2.00 5.00 25.00 
| | 
Mazama Mountain Club .......ses0sseeeeee | Portland, Ore. | 100 | Sete 200), eee 25.00 
National Geographic Society............... | Washington. | 3,370 1,500 books. 200) eenapeeees 50.00 
1 = ( Organization 
Bele! @lutb)-:cacccaseteeecameecs oouveceseeone: nearer ineomaieie) | wanaden, lsgondecscencuscesecaeiecl|eetces ccs] tase seeeen Mleeneeeena 
Quebec Geographical Society f ..........+. Quebec. 200 | cascccasis sates cacieveesl| Hestswete|l eeee neon eeeeeeeem 
Sierra Club;. 555m. Rosen eee | San Francisco. HOO) | scatnseesccsteeereseee 3500 iieessesease 50.00 


sire to inerease and diffuse geographical 


knowledge. 


The combined active member- 


ship of what may be termed bona fide geo- 
eraphical societies is over nine thousand. 
This number in itself is significant of a 
wide popular interest in geographical mat- 
ters, particularly among the people of the 


United States. 


The condition next in im- 


portance to interest in geography, which 
leads to the organization of geographical 
societies, is evidently concentration of pop- 


ulation. 


Each of our geographical socie- 
ties has its home in a large city. 


It is 


probable, however, that there are many, 
many thousands of people outside the cities 
in which the societies referred to are lo- 
eated, who would join similar organiza- 
tions if it were practicable for them to at- 


tend their meetings. 


In planning for the 


extension of geographical societies in the 
future this great but widely scattered de- 
mand needs to receive serious attention. 


As is no doubt familiar to most of my 
readers, our geographical societies have ex- 
tended important aid to exploration, and 
in the case of at least two societies, namely, 
the American Geographical Society and the 
National Geographic Society, the record in 
this respect is an honorable one. 

In reference to aid extended to geograph- 
ical research, when not directly associated 
with or forming a part of the work of an 
expedition, I have inquired in vain for 
evidence that our societies have either ex- 
pended money directly or by awarding 
medals or by other similar means recog- 
nized the labor of those who have striven 
diligently and successfully to explore the 
domain of philosophical geography.* Here 
again an extensive field for enlarging the 
usefulness of our societies makes itself 


* An exception should here be made in recogni: 
tion of the Elisha Hunt Haner Medal of the Geo- 
graphical Society of Philadelphia, founded ‘for 
encouragement of geographical research.’ 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


manifest. As shown by a considerable 
body of evidence that has been gathered, 
and as is a matter of current knowledge, 
the greatest efforts our societies have made 
have been in the direction of disseminating 
geographical information and attracting 
popular attention to the results explorers 
and travelers have brought home. During 
the year 1903 our geographical societies, 
clubs, ete., held a total of over 60 home 
meetings, in part scientific and in part 
popular; conducted not less than 44 public 
lectures, and engaged in about 16 field 
meetings. In addition to these direct 
methods of spreading information, mostly 
by addresses and lectures, our societies 
- publish on an average approximating 2,000 
octavo pages of printed matter each year. 
These statistics certainly make a favorable 
showing, and furnish hopeful signs by 
which to judge of the possibilities of the 
future. : 

The net results just referred to, however, 
pertain to quantity, not quality. The 
quality of the work our geographical so- 
cieties are doing is difficult of even ap- 
proximate determination, since there is no 
generally accepted standard of measure- 
ment available. This is also a delicate 
matter to discuss, for the reason that local 
pride and personal ambition are involved. 
Certain general conclusions, in this connec- 
tion, however, seem too evident to be in 
danger of challenge. 

The quality of a popular lecture may be 
said to be good, when its theme is enter- 
taining and instructive, its presentation 
clear and foreeful, and so adjusted to the 
audience addressed as to hold its attention 
and lead to logical and consecutive thought 
concerning the ideas presented. Since a 
popular lecture has for its principal aim 
the dissemination of knowledge, its success 
depends in a large measure on the number 
of persons who hear it. Judged from this 
composite standard, the lectures delivered 


SCIENCE. 


129 


under the auspices of our geographical so- 
cieties must in general be adjudged good 
and their influence wide reaching. 

The quality of a scientific session of a 
geographical society for the purpose of 
presenting and discussing the results of 
exploration or the conclusions obtained by 
painstaking research, may be said to be 
good when the subject-matter is a contribu- 
tion to previous knowledge. Added to this 
quality there should be intelligent and sug- 
gestive discussion, bringing to the front 
various points of view, and showing inci- 
dentally whether or not the principal 
speakers have presented their ideas clearly 
and logically. The success of a scientific 
meeting is also to be judged, to a consider- 
able extent at least, by the number of per- 
sons in attendance, since one aim, and in 
general the main desire, is the diffusion of 
knowledge. Judged by these standards 
the meetings of our geographical societies 
must be accredited with having added im- 
portant truths to the world’s store of 
knowledge and to have exerted a beneficent 
influence on thought and methods of think- 
ing. In large part, however, the degree of 
success in the case of the meetings in ques- 
tion has been less than could have been 
desired, owing to the small measure of en- 
couragement extended by our geographical 
societies to research, lack of adequate prep- 
aration on the part of the audience, and as 
an element necessary to the dissemination 
of knowledge, the smallness of the assem- 
blies usually in attendance when questions 
bearing on scientific geography are dis- 
cussed. 

Suecess in the ease of the publications 
of geographical societies hes mainly in two 
directions, one the importance of the addi- 
tions made to knowledge, and the other the 
extent to which knowledge is distributed. 
The pages printed are in the main either 
popular or scientific, but the highest ideal, 
as I think may justly be claimed, is at- 


130 


tained when both of these properties are 
combined in an individual production. 
Enhancing the value and usefulness of the 
publications referred to is their degree of 
perfection as books, the facility with which 
they can be had for reading or reference, 
and the wideness of their distribution. 

Turning to the publications of our geo- 
graphic societies with these ideas in mind, 
we find less ground for congratulation than 
in reference to the lectures and the meet- 
ings held under their auspices. Without 
attempting to illustrate by specific exam- 
ples, it can, I think, be claimed by an im- 
partial critic that the publications of our 
geographical societies, when judged as 
attempts to popularize geographical knowl- 
edge, in general lack literary merit, are 
merely descriptive and do not consistently 
and with subtlety of purpose lead the read- 
er on to think for himself. As contribu- 
tions to geographical research the publica- 
tions referred to clearly contain a few 
papers that are direct and first-hand addi- 
tions to science, but the number of such 
papers is few. Our leaders in geographical 
research do not as a rule seem to consider 
the publications of our geographical socie- 
ties favorable places for putting their re- 
sults on record. 

In reference to the publications under 
consideration, as specimens of the book- 
makers’ art, they, as a rule, fall below the 
standard of the better class of literary 
magazines. Their appearance is in general 
not attractive, the illustrations in many 
instances have not been wisely chosen, and, 
in general, have been poorly reproduced. 

As to the distribution and accessibility 
to the publications under consideration, it 
is evident that they are not widely known, 
and although exchanged with scientific so- 
cieties in this and other lands, they do not 
find their way into public, collegiate and 
private libraries to the extent that could be 
wished. In part, this lack of what may 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 526. 


be termed efficiency comes from the com- 
paratively large number of journals, mag- 
azines, proceedings, ete., issued, the lack of 
demand for the kind of information they. 
contain, and the fact that they are too 
weak to win their way and attract readers 
in the face of the competition of scientific 
writings printed in more attractive and 
convenient forms. In brief, the efforts of 
our geographical societies in the direction 
of publication are widely scattered, in 
large part the bulletins, ete., issued appear 
at irregular intervals, are repellant rather 
than attractive in dress, and in large part 
are weak when considered as either literary 
or scientifie productions, and do not attain 
the standard that may reasonably be de- 
manded. 

As a summary of the defects of our pres- 
ent system I venture to insist that our geo- 
graphical societies are not only lacking in 
unity of purpose, but are antagonistic 
rather than cooperative. Their influence 
in each ease is loeal, and their aims narrow 
and ill defined. In no ease has research, 
the true foundation of geography as a sci- 
ence, been made a prominent feature, and 
never, so far as I have been able to learn, 
has it received direct financial aid or pop- 
ular recognition. Owing to the local char- 
acter of the societies in question and the 
narrowness of their respective habitats, the 
facilities they furnish for men to become 
acquainted with their fellow workers are 
much less than could be desired. But the 
most glaring failures are evident in the 
general weakness of the publications issued, 
and the inefficiency of the means employed 
for their distribution. 

This unsatisfactory but perhaps some- 
what biased summary brings me to the last 
subdivision of my theme, namely, the in- 
quiry — 


HOW CAN THE EFFICIENCY OF OUR GEO- 
GRAPHICAL SOCIETIES BE ENHANCED? 


JANUARY 27, 190v.] 


The chief defects in the present status of 
our geographical societies being as it ap- 
pears lack of cooperation, low standards 
in reference to geographical research and 
inefficiency in publication, efforts at im- 
provement should be mainly in these direc- 
tions. 

The proposition has been made that by 
organizing a strictly scientific society with 
geographical or, as it seems, more precisely 
physiographical research as its chief aim, 
membership to be restricted to what may 
be termed professional geographers, all 
that can be hoped for in the direction of 
assisting in the study of the earth’s surface 
in this country by means of such coopera- 
tion might be attained. It is at once ap- 
parent, however, that such a course would 
be the adding of one more to the already 
long list of American geographical socie- 
ties, thus tending not only to render still 
more diffuse the amount of energy avail- 
able for geographical work, but to elim- 
inate the more advanced students of geog- 
raphy from the existing geographical 
societies, and thus deprive them of the 
leaven, as it were, which is essential to 
their progress. The new society having 
research for its chief end, could not be 
expected to make exertions in the direction 
of popularizing geography, and thus aid- 
ing in the diffusion of geographical knowl- 
edge, which is the chief purpose of many of 
our existing geographical societies. It can 
be reasonably claimed, I think, that a geo- 
graphical society will attain the largest 
measure of success when it carries on the 
work of adding to geographical knowledge 
and the task of popularizing and distribu- 
ting such knowledge at the same time, as 
one branch of the operation assists and 
stimulates the other. Then, too, the pro- 
posed society, having research in geog- 
raphy as its chief function, and not being 
open to non-professional geographers, 
would, of necessity, be small in numbers, 


SCIENCE. 


15] 


and the expense of maintaining it would 
fall entirely on geographical investigators 
whose financial resources, as is generally 
understood, are meager. 

It may also be mentioned in the above 
connection that the Geological Society of 
America welcomes technical papers per- 
taining to most geographical subjects, and 
will give them a place in its bulletin. Sim- 
ilar courtesies are also freely extended by 
The Journal of Geology and several other 
scientific periodicals. This greatly lessens 
the demands of skilled geographers for op- 
portunities to make their results known. 

Another plan which contemplates the re- 
organization of our geographical societies, 
providing it can be satisfactorily adjusted 
to the interests of all concerned, has for its 
chief feature the union of all the geograph- 
ical societies of North America with the 
oldest in the list, namely, the American 
Geographical Society. Under this plan 
each society effecting such a union would 
become a chapter of the home society, but 
retain its own organization and its own 
property, but unite with the parent society 
in holding annual meetings and in publish- 
ing a monthly magazine. This plan has 
many commendable features when followed 
out in detail, and differs but little in its 
aims from the alternative plan proposed 
below. The general bearings of each of 
these schemes for enhancing the welfare of 
our geographical science will be considered 
later. 

The alternative plan just mentioned is 
for the several geographical societies now 
in existence, and such other similar socie- 
ties as may be organized in North America, 
while retaining their individual names and 
autonomy, to unite in a brotherhood of 
societies to be designated by some appro- 
priate name, as, for example, The League 
of American Geographical Societies, which 
should provide for one general meeting or 
congress each year, at such centers of geo- 


132 SCIENCE. 


graphical interest as may be decided on, 
and assume the duty for publishing for all 
of the affiliated societies. Suggestions more 
in detail which point the way for securing 
such cooperation are here presented, it be- 
ing understood that the first step would be 
the holding of a convention, at which rep- 
resentatives of each society which might 
desire to join the league should be present 
and assist in framing a constitution and 
by-laws. 

A preliminary plan for the organization 
of such a league as just suggested can at 
least be outlined at the present time and 
be made a subject for discussion. 

Let the president of each affiliated so- 
ciety be ex officio a vice-president of the 
league. Let each affiliated society elect a 
member of the council of the league for 
each 500 of its members in excess of 1,000. 
Such councilors, together with the vice- 
presidents, to elect each year a president, 
secretary, editor and treasurer from the 
members of the affiliated societies not of 
their own number. The president, vice- 
presidents, secretary and elected councilors 
to constitute an executive council for trans- 
acting all business relating to the manage- 
ment of the league. 

The functions of the league would be the 
holding of an annual congress open to all 
the members of the affiliated societies for 
the purpose of reading and discussing 
papers, ete., and the publishing of a month- 
ly magazine or other journal to take the 
place of the publications previously issued 
by the several affiliated societies. The ex- 
pense of each annual congress to be borne 
by the members in attendance, and the cost 
of the magazine to be shared by the affili- 
ated societies in proportion to their active 
membership. 

The executive council referred to should 
have the power to receive into the league 
additional societies as it sees fit, and to 
arrange for the enrollment of members who 


[N.S. Vou. Xt. No. 526. 


are not on the list of any affiliated society. 

Under either of the plans just proposed, 
namely, a union of various societies in one 
American geographical society, or a league 
of societies, the leading advantages to be 
expected are such as would flow from, (1) 
an annual congress of American geograph- 
ers in addition to our present local meet- 
ings, and (2) concentration of publications. 

1. The advantage of an annual congress, 
as may be predicted, would be large audi- 
ences with wide geographical representa- 
tion, favorable opportunities for personal 
conferences and the cementation of friend- 
ships, and the encouragement that large 
and representative gatherings would ex- 
tend to explorers and investigators to pre- 
sent the best fruits of their labors. To 
these gains should be added the stimulus 
such a congress would have in the home 
cities of the affiliated societies, at which 
sessions would be held, thus tending each 
year in an important way to extend the 
influence and enlarge the membership of 
some one local society. The greater influ- 
ence on legislation to be expected from the 
combined voices of many societies over the 
efforts of any single, local society, suggests 
a practically new field of usefulness to the 
geographers of America. 

The chief objections that arise in refer- 
ence to holding an annual congress of 
American geographers are two in number: 
First, the large number of similar meetings 
now held each year, with which many geog- 
raphers are more or less closely identified. 
Whether it is desirable to endeavor to pro- 
mote still farther this plan of scientific de- 
velopment is indeed a serious question, and 
one that calls for discussion. The second 
objection is, that owing to the wide geo- 
eraphical distribution of our geographical 
societies, the proposed annual meetings 
would be but meagerly attended by the 
members of the affiliated societies located 
at a distance from the chosen places of 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


meeting. Owing to the conditions existing, 
there would no doubt be a tendency to 
divide the annual congress into two sec- 
tions, as has been done in the ease of the 
Geological Society of America; one to hold 
its meetings on the Pacific and the other 
on the Atlantic coast. Such a division 
would lessen the influences for good, for 
which the congress would be organized, and 
demands eareful consideration. 

2. The gains to be expected from a con- 
centration of publications are, to a marked 
degree, expressed by the fact that the pro- 
posed magazine, in ease all of our geo- 
eraphical societies united in its support, 
would start with a circulation in excess of 
ten thousand, not ineluding libraries or 
subseribers not members of the affiliated 
societies. With such a vigorous start rapid 
erowth and a constantly widening influ- 
ence for many years to come may reason- 
ably be predicted. In the list of advan- 
tages is to be mentioned also the desirabil- 
ity of having a large body of correlated 
information in one series of volumes, in- 
stead of in many series, thus securing 
ready reference, and conferring a blessing 
on future generations of geographical 
workers. Perhaps the greatest gain to be 
hoped for, however, is in the direction of a 
higher tone and better preparation, that a 
widely recognized, well edited, well printed 
and well illustrated magazine would have 
over the for the most part obscure and in- 
differently printed proceedings, journals, 
magazines, bulletins, ete., now issued. An- 
other and important advantage which the 
proposed magazine would have over several 
of the publications which it would replace, 
would be the securing of the services of a 
competent editor, who should receive ade- 
quate compensation for his labor. Again, 
it may reasonably be expected that an at- 
tractive geographical magazine would re- 
place to a considerable extent the popular 
literary magazines of to-day, and secure a 


SCIENCE. 


1338 


large number of readers outside of the 
societies from which it derived its main 
support. A magazine having for its aim 
the diffusion of all branches of geograph- 
ical knowledge would be weleomed by tens 
of thousands of our school teachers and 
other intelligent people in isolated com- 
munities who are debarred from oral in- 
struction by leaders in geographical ex- 
ploration and research. 

In reference to the financial aspect of 
the proposed scheme, it seems self-evident 
that at least as great a sum of good as is 
now attained could be secured at less ex- 
pense, since duplication of reviews, news 
items, lists of new books, maps, ete., and, 
to a considerable extent, of matter con- 
tained in leading articles, could be avoided ; 
and, also, because one editor would take the 
place of several editors. Again, the new 
magazine, by having a wider circulation 
than any one, and, as may reasonably be 
expected, in excess of all the publications 
it would replace, would be enabled to se- 
eure an important revenue from advertise- 
ments. 

One reason for the failure of our present 
geographical publications to secure a wide 
circulation outside the immediate members 
of the respective societies issuing them is, 
as it seems, lack of business management, 
coupled with the fact that the enterprise 
in hand in most instances is too small to be 
worth energetic exploiting. The publica- 
tions referred to are not brought before the 
public in the manner in which literary 
magazines are promoted, or advertised in 
the various ways familiar to book publish- 
ers. With the proposed concentration of 
publications there would also be a concen- 
tration of effort in the direction of market- 
ing the products of the several affiliated 
societies, which all persons interested in 
the matter must agree could not fail to be 
far more efficient than the present method, 
or rather want of method, in that direction. 


154 


In this connection, it may be suggested 
that some plan for having the proposed 
magazine issued by an influential publish- 
ing house demands careful consideration. 

An objector to the proposed plan of con- 
centrating geographical publications may, 
perhaps, say that the standard of the new 
magazine with its world-wide field and 
high aims, would tend to discourage the 
modest student who has his maiden paper 
to present, and could not afford space for 
the ambitious amateur who desires to see 
his name in print. For one, I would meet 
these objections by admitting their truth- 
fulness, but claim that in the end good 
would result. The new magazine should 
be under rigid censorship, in reference to 
the scientific quality and literary merit of 
the matter presented. While these safe- 
guards would demand greater care and 
more serious effort than at present on the 
part of contributors, they would not debar 
any one whose work had merit, but serve 
rather to stimulate all geographers who 
desire to put the results of their labors on 
record to strive for high ideals. 

From the point of view of the existing 
eeographical societies, it may be claimed 
that they have developed in response to 
certain local demands, are adjusted to the 
conditions that gave them birth, and serve 
the communities in which they are located 
better than could be expected if they were 
more or less merged in a larger organiza- 
tion. Such contentions are no doubt true 
except perhaps as to the validity of the last 
clause. The proposed change does not re- 
quire of any local society or club the ob- 
literation of its individuality. Under the 
plan for uniting all or a large number of 
our local societies in one truly American 
geographical society, there would, of course, 
be a change of name. If a league were 
organized present names could be retained 
and simply another process of publication 


initiated. The aim in either ease should 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 526. 


be to maintain the individuality of each 
affiliated society, and an endeavor to make 
it if possible even better adapted to local 
needs than at present. An important aid 
in this direction .(as already suggested) 
would result from the influence of the gen- 
eral meetings that would be held at the 
homes of the various chapters or affiliated 
societies. Such meetings, as may Le judged 
from the history of the American Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science, would 
stimulate interest in the local chapters to 
a high degree. 

Then, too, a strong, well written and 
well edited and well illustrated geograph- 
ical magazine, by presenting a wide view 
of geography and of its many contacts 
with other interests, may reasonably be 
expected to exert a wider influence even 
in the home city of an affiliated society 
than any strictly home journal. 

In addition to the richer harvest to be 
expected from an annual congress of 
American geographers and a jointly pub- 
lished magazine as just considered, earnest 
and active cooperation among our geo- 
graphical societies, as may reasonably be 
expected from such concentration of en- 
ergy, should lead to their taking the ini-. 
tiative in several other directions. Among 
such hopes of the future is the securing of 
a map of North America on a scale of 
1/1,000,000, as a contribution to the map 
of the world in the completion of which 
certain European societies are interested. 
Another desirable undertaking would be 
the publication of detailed instructions for 
the use of travelers and others, as to how 
and what to observe, in reference especially 
to the securing of the best possible illus- 
trations of the results of known physio- 
eraphie processes, and the recording of 
facts which are likely to lead to the dis- 
covery of new laws. Again, time and 
money might well be expended in pre- 
paring and publishing a dictionary of 


JANUARY 27, 1905,] 


geographical terms; a bibliography of geo- 
graphical literature; in assembling a li- 
brary of photographs, particularly of re- 
gions where geographical changes are most 
active, and in yet other directions. 

Beyond the immediate and individual 
interests of a geographical society, or, what 
is more strictly true, perhaps, in most in- 
stances, the personal ambitions of a few of 
the members of such a society, is the broad- 
er and nobler aim of-~-increasing man’s 
knowledge of his dwelling place, and of 
widely diffusing such knowledge. In order 
to cultivate this larger field, the local so- 
ciety may reasonably be asked to relin- 
quish, if necessary, some of its local pre- 
rogatives and look for compensation in the 
general advance that would be facilitated 
thereby. Among such restrictions the fact 
is to be recognized that should a society 
cease to publish directly, its returns from 
an exchange of publications with other so- 
cieties would cease. Compensation for 
such losses might perhaps be looked for in 
a decrease of expenses for editing and 
printing, and might be made good by 
placing all the ‘exchanges’ received in re- 
turn for the proposed magazine in the 
eustody of some one society and thus stri- 
ving to maintain one complete geographical 
library, which could be consulted directly, 


or its books, maps, ete., loaned to indi- 


vidual students. 

In proposing the application of modern 
business methods in the concentration of 
geographical factories, as our societies may 
be termed, I wish to direct attention to the 
fact that geography more than any other 
science is best adapted for the purpose of 
general or popular education. Added to 
the fascinations of exploration we now 
have the equally absorbing results of sci- 
entific physical geography, pertaining to 
the fields through which we walk, the brook 
whose murmurs have appealed to us since 
childhood, the waves that beat on the shore 


SCIENCE. 


135 


where we perhaps spend our vacations, and 
many other equally familiar scenes. The 
ability to read the history of the earth at 
first hand should be within the reach of 
every civilized man, woman and child. It 
is in order to secure to all the people in 
North America this means of public educa- 
tion, coupled with never ending pleasure 
and a constantly expanding mental hori- 
zon, that our geographical societies are 
asked to unite their efforts. 
IsraEL C. RUSSELL. 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. 


SECTION E—GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY. 

GEOLOGY and geography together oc- 
cupied a large share of the attention of 
the members of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science at the 
third Philadelphia meeting of the associa- 
tion, which was held at the University of 
Pennsylvania, December 28-31, 1904. Sec- 
tion E, ‘Geology and Geography,’ of the 
association held its regular meeting on De- 
eember 28, the principal feature of which 
was the address of the retiring vice-presi- 
dent, Professor Israel C. Russell, of Mich- 
igan University, on ‘Cooperation among 
the American Geographical Societies. The 
following delegates were appointed to rep- 
resent the societies named, in the considera- 
tion of Vice-President Russell’s address: 
for the American Geographical Society, 


Cyrus C. Adams, of New York; for the 


Chicago Geographical Society, Professor J. 
P. Goode, of Chicago; for the American 
Climatological Association, Dr. W. F. R. 
Phillips, of Washington, and Dr. J. C. 
Wilson, of Philadelphia; for the American 
Alpine Club, Professor Angelo Heilprin, 
of Philadelphia; for the Harvard Travel- 
ers’ Club, Professor W. M. Davis, of Cam- 
bridge; for Mazamas, Dr. T. Brook White, 
of Washington; for the Pelé Club, Pro- 
fessor Robert T. Hill, of New York. 

The general program was introduced by 


136 


Professor A. P. Brigham, of Colgate Uni- 
versity, with a paper on ‘Early Interpre- 
tations of the Physiography of New York 
State,’ in which were recounted some of 
the views expressed concerning physical 
features of the empire state in the early 
decades of the nineteenth century, and the 
years preceding. Among the travelers who 
placed themselves on record was Timothy 
Dwight, president of Yale College. He 
and others discussed the origin and retreat 
of Niagara Falls in ways that forcibly sug- 
gest views held to-day. In observing the 
waters of the Great Lakes and their con- 
necting streams, the tendency toward grade 
and the base-level was recognized, though 
not of course in the terms or with the full 
consequences of modern doctrines. The 
gorge of the highlands, the deposits in the 
Hudson valley, and the features of Little 
Falls, received much notice, and the older 
writers were quite familiar with the ex- 
tension of Lake Ontario which we now eall 
Lake Iroquois. On the whole the proph- 
ecies of modern views are numerous and 
full of interest. 

In a paper on ‘The Menace to the En- 
trance of New York Harbor,’ Professor 
Lewis M. Haupt diseussed the projects 
which have been and are now being earried 
on by the general government for improv- 
ing the channels of the Lower Bay. Up 
to 1886, the ruling depth on the bar was 
23.3 feet at mean low water, which per- 
mitted the passage at high water of a vessel 
drawing 27 feet. At the meeting of the 
American Association at Buffalo in the sum- 
mer of that year (1886), Professor Haupt 
read a paper on the method of improving 
this entrance by natural forces, but the 
government concluded, notwithstanding 
the unanimous report of one of its boards 
of engineers, to resort to dredging to create 
a 30-foot channel, 1,000 feet wide, which 
has been secured and maintained after the 
removal, up to October, 1891, of 4,875,079 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 526. 


eubie yards at a cost to date of $1,967,- 
111.82. These depths not meeting the re- 
quirements of the port, facilities are now 
being increased by the opening of the Am- 
brose channel, seven miles in length, cross- 
ing the central part of the bar, by dredging 
therefrom 42,500,000 cubic yards, provided 
it shall not cost more than $4,000,000, or 
less than ten cents per yard. 

By means of charts covering a period of 
125 years, it was shown that the inlet to 
Jamaica Bay has moved westwardly seven 
miles in that time and that the deposits 
which were formerly arrested in that bay 
have now drifted past and are rapidly ap- 
proaching the outer scarp of the New York 
bar. This one bank of sand contains some 
65,000,000 eubie yards, while, on the other 
flank, the spit at Sandy Hook has advanced 
about a mile and is now moving into the 
bay, where it deposits a half million yards 
on the point every year, to say nothing of 
the sand held in suspension and which has 
been removed by dredging. The great 
quantities of drift thus advancing steadily 
into the entrance are becoming a serious 
menace to the harbor. 

The remedy which Professor Haupt pro- 
poses consists of a single reaction training 
wall extending along the southerly side of 
the Ambrose channel to concentrate the ebb 
eurrents and the arresting of the littoral 
drift which will so soon convert Coney 
Island and Manhattan Beach into interior 
lagoons. The cost of this work would be 
less than one half of the present contract 
which guarantees no channel, as it is filling 
up even where dredged far below the 
requisite depths. 

Dr. J. W. Spencer, of Washington, D. C., 
submitted a communication on ‘The Sub- 
marine Great Cafon of the Hudson River,’ 
in which he collated the results of sound- 
ings which have been made during a period 
of more than a century, but especially 
those of the last forty years. Professor 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


J. D. Dana first recognized the submarine 
channel of the Hudson as evidence of late 
continental elevation. Lindenkohl first 
perceived the canon-like character of the 
outer portion of the channel near the border 
of the continental shelf, where the channel 
suddenly becomes a gorge 2,400 feet deep in 
the submerged plain. Lindenkohl thought 
that the canon was terminated by a bar, 
but Dr. Spencer has determined that no 
bar exists and that the cafion cuts through 
the edge of the continental bench about 
eight miles farther. It then widens to a 
valley which can be readily recognized for 
an additional twelve miles and to a depth 
of 9,000 feet at a distance of 71 miles from 
' the head of the submarine channel near 
Sandy Hook. The eafion is double, the 
upper part being four miles wide while the 
inner, lower, more sinuous portion is less 
than two miles across. The period of great 
elevation, amounting to about 9,000 feet, 
coincides with that of the early pleistocene. 
Since that tine there has been a subsidence 
to somewhat below the present level, fol- 
lowed by a re-elevation of 250 feet as seen 
by the shallow channels of the continental 
shelf. The region is now sinking at the 
rate ef two feet a century and is under- 
going other and less important changes. 

In a second paper on ‘The Improbability 
of Land in the Vicinity of the North Pole,’ 
Dr. Spencer said in part: 

When Dr. Nansen discovered the deep 
Polar Basin, sharply defined by a conti- 
nental shelf, 300-350 miles wide, north of 
Siberia, with this continuing to Spitz- 
bergen, situated in its very edge, it was 
proof that no land was to be expected ris- 
ing out of the basin until the continental 
Shelf on the American side should be 
reached. The broad Siberian shelf con- 
tinues even north of Bering Straits, and 
there are soundings which suggest the loca- 
tion of its approximate border. Alaska 
encroaches upon this shelf apparently to 


SCIENCE. 


Iheasil 


near its border, thus reducing its breadth 
to probably 50 miles. Beyond into Beau- 
fort Sea, the Mackenzie River empties by 
a fjord known to a depth of more than 
1,140 feet and another from behind Bank’s 
Land of 1,836 feet, not far from its own 
head far within the line of the islands. 
Among the islands another of the discoy- 
ered fjords reaches to more than 2,400 feet. 
All of these features prove that the archi- 
pelago of high mountains is only a dissected 
plateau, now sunken and with drowned 
valleys between the islands, which valleys 
incise the continental shelf in such manner 
as to indicate that the shelf itself can not 
extend fat beyond the outer line of the 
known islands. A sounding about 30 miles 
north of Grinnell Land, with a depth of 
432 feet further suggests that the edge of 
the shelf is being approached, for the outer 
margin of this seems to be limited by a 
depth of about 300 feet beneath sea level. 
From these submarine topographic fea- 
tures, which are the very best guide, the 
author supposes that no important islands 
exist beyond the line of the known archi- 
pelago, and that the deep polar basin 
reaches for 300 or 350 miles from the pole, 
aproaching the American continental shelf 
north of Grinnell Land. 

The formal sessions of Section E closed 
with the reading of the following papers 
by title in the absence of their authors: 
‘The Structure of the Central Great 
Plains,’ by N. H. Darton; ‘Typical Desert 
Deposits of Eastern Persia,’ by E. Hunt- 
ington; ‘Interpretation of certain Lami- 
nated Glacial Clays, with Chronologie De- 
ductions,’ by C. P. Berkey; ‘The Fossili- 
ferous Beds of Sankaty Head, Nantucket, 
and Their Age,’ by Myron L. Fuller; ‘On 
the Jagersfontein Tiffany (Excelsior) 
Diamond, Weight 9713 Carats,’ by George 
F. Kunz; ‘On Some Pegmatyte Veins of 
California,’ by T. C. Hopkins; ‘The Petro- 
eraphy of Belvidere Mountain, Vermont,’ 


138 


by V. F. Marsters, and ‘Evolution of some 
Devonie Spirifers,’ by A. W. Grabau. 

The sessions of the succeeding days of 
the general convention were given over to 
the Geological Society of America. The 
vice-president and chairman for section E 
for the next annual meeting of the associa- 
tion is Professor Wiliam North Rice, of 
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. 
The secretary of the Philadelphia meeting 
holds over, by constitution. 

Epmunp Otis Hovey, 
Secretary. 


SECTION G—BOTANY. 

DurInG the recent meeting of this sec- 
tion at Philadelphia, the following items 
of business of public interest were trans- 
acted. 

Professor C. R. Barnes, University of 
Chicago, Professor F. C. Neweombe, Uni- 
versity of Michigan, Dr. D. T. MacDougal, 
New York Botanical Garden, Professor H. 
M. Richards, Barnard College, and Dr. 
Burton E. Livingston, University of Chi- 
cago, were appointed a committee to con- 
fer with a like committee from the Society 
of Official Agricultural Chemists on the 
meaning of the expression ‘Plant Food.’ 

The council of the association appointed 
as delegates to the International Botanical 
Congress, to be held at Vienna during the 
coming summer, Professor C. R. Barnes, 
University of Chicago, Mr. C. L. Shear, 
U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Dr. 
H. C. Cowles, University of Chicago. 

Dr. Erwin F. Smith, U. 8. Department 
of Agriculture, was elected vice-president 
and chairman of this section for 1905. 

A joint session was held with the Myco- 
logical Society on Friday afternoon. 

The following are the abstracts of papers 
offered : 

Stages in the Development of Sium cicuta- 
folium: Grorce HARRISON SHULL. 

There is great range of variation in the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 526. 


leaves of Situm cicutafolium, the first 
nepionic leaf being the most variable and 
the bracts in the region of the umbel least 
variable. The juvenile leaves and the 
senescent leaves, which have been inter- 
preted as atavistic, are shown to disagree 
with each other in almost every particular. 
The only cases in which the ancestry of a 
species is definitely known indicate that 
whatever change of structure gives rise to 
new adult characters also results in 
changed juvenile and senescent characters. 


The relative simplicity of the juvenile and , 


senescent leaves is due to physiological 
causes having no essential bearing on the 
phylogeny of the species. Sium is meso- 
phytic, hydrophytic and xerophytie at dif- 
ferent periods of its development and these 
structural differences are associated with, 
but appear to be independent of, their 
appropriate environmental conditions. 
They are not a direct effect of the environ- 
ment, but are due to the peculiar mechan- 
ism of the protoplasm. Rejuvenescence is 
the process by which protoplasm is changed 
from the senescent to the juvenile condi- 
tion. This may result through sexual re- 
production or may be brought about in 
other ways. In Sium it oceurs regularly 
in the lateral buds at the base of the stems 
and may, under special conditions, occur in 
any other vegetative bud or even in the 
flower buds. In passing from less complex 
to more complex leaves the new characters 
consist in incisions or indentations above 
the base of the leaf, so that, in pinnate 
leaves, the proximal pairs of leaflets are 
homologous, and other pairs which are of 
like order counted from the proximal pair 
are likewise homologous. 

Alternation of Generations in Animals, 
from the View-point of a Botanist: 
CHARLES J. CHAMBERLIN. 

This is an attempt to show that the egg 
with its three polar bodies, and also the 
primary spermatocyte with the four spores 


JANUARY 27, 1905., 


which it produces, constitute sexual gener- 
ations comparable with the gametophytic 
generation in plants. The argument is 
based upon: (1) The gradual reduction of 
the gametophytie generation in plants with 
the gradually lessening interval between 
the reduction of chromosomes and_ the 
process of fertilization, and (2) upon the 
phenomena of chromatin reduction in both 
animals and plants. 

The theory has no bearing whatever 
upon relationships and it does not con- 
template any homologies between any or- 
gans of animals and plants. 
Anatomy of  Foliaceous 

FRANCIS RAMALEY. 

Foliaceous cotyledons occur in many 
species of dicotyledons, yet in form and 
structure they are never exactly like the 
true leaves of the same plant. Any 
cotyledon, however, which is of herbaceous 
texture and has a lJeaf-like form may be 
described as ‘foliaceous.’ The term is 
especially well applied to those cotyledons 
which increase greatly in size after leaving 
the seed and act as photosynthetic organs 
for a long time. In the many species of 
both temperate and tropical plants thus 
far studied certain rather constant differ- 
ences between leaves and cotyledons have 
been noted. The lamina of the cotyledon 
has usually a looser palisade than the leaf; 
it has stomata on both surfaces even in 
those cases where the leaf has them only 
on the under side. Stomata are, however, 
not so closely placed as in the leaf. Vascu- 
lar tissue is less well developed in the 
cotyledon, as may be easily seen by exam- 
ination of cross-sections of cotyledon stalk 
and leaf petiole. In the former the 
bundles are smaller than in the latter, also 
fewer and differently arranged. Stereom 
is usually not developed in the cotyledon 
stalk. 


Cotyledons: 


The Botanical Institute at Buitenzorg: 
Francis RAMALEY. 


SCIENCE. 


139 


The Botanical Institute at Buitenzorg 
has the best facilities to be found anywhere 
for the study of tropical botany.  Prac- 
tically all the trees in the large garden are 
arranged according to plant families, so 
that it is possible to get, in a short time, 
a good idea of the members of any partic- 
ular group. The similarity of the flora of 
Java to that of the American East Indies 
makes Buitenzorg especially attractive to 
our countrymen who expect to do botanical 
work in the Philippines. The excellent 
library, the well-equipped laboratory, and 
the large staff of investigators all go to 
make the place worth visiting. And more 
than this—the director, Dr. Treub, is 
anxious to have visitors to the gardens and 
does everything to make their work profit- 
able to them. The botanist, no matter 
what. his specialty, will find here always 
ready and at hand an abundance of ma- 
terial for observation and study. Prob- 
ably nowhere else can he learn so much in 
so short a time. 


Polyembryony in the Genus Pinus: J. W. 

T. DUVEL. 

The occurrence is reported of two or 
more fully developed embryos in each of 
the following species of pines: Pinus 
coulteri Lamb., Coulter’s pine; flexilis 
James, limber pine; jeffreyi ‘Oreg. Com.,’ 
Jeffrey pine: lambertiana Dangl., sugar 
pine; murrayana ‘Oreg. Com.,’ lodgepole 
pine; ponderosa Laws., bull pine; radiata 
Don., Monterey pine; rigida Mill., pitch 
pine. 


Observations on the Teratology of the Pine- 
apple: Meu T. Coox. 

The term ‘teratology’ is used with a very 
indefinite meaning. It is very probable 
that a careful study of teratology will be 
of some service in taxonomy and morphol- 
ogy. Thirteen types of variation on the 
smooth ‘cayenne’ variety described. Many 
have been caused by the character of the 


140 


stock, the method of cultivation or the 
character of the fertilizer. 


The Development of the Microspores of 
Vallisneria spiralis: Ropert BRADFORD 
WYLIE. 

The staminate flowers of Vallisneria 
spiralis are borne in clusters, each con- 
taining often as many as two thousand 
flowers surrounded by a spathe. This 
group of flowers crowded upon the short 
conical axis is homologous with the single 
pistiliate flower found within its spathe. 
The individual flowers are very small, sim- 
ple, and contain usually less than one 
hundred pollen grains. The staminate 
flower may therefore be considered as a 
polien carrier since the microspores are not 
shed, but are lost to the stigmas by the 
pollen producing flowers. In their de- 
velopment the upper flowers on the axis 
develop earlier than do the lower ones; the 
terminal one is conspicuously more ad- 
vaneed than those adjacent to it. The 
mature flower always shows four pollen 
saes, but a study of their devlopment shows 
that each of these may arise from a single 
sporangium or by the fusion of two 
sporangia. It follows that the single (?) 
stamen may have from four to eight 
sporangia; the number seems to vary in- 
differently even in flowers of the same 
cluster. The microspores have a single 
coat which is thin and slightly spinous. 
The male cells are developed while the 
spores are still in the sporangium. The 
male structures clearly show their mor- 
phology as cells rather than as nuclei only, 
and remain joined end to end while in the 
pollen grain. 


Note on the Morphology of the Cyperacee: 

Amon B. PLOWMAN. 

Queva, in his study of the anatomy of 
certain monocotyledons (Lille, Travaux & 
Memoires, No. 22, 1899), has described the 
occurrence of concentric or amphivasal 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 526. 


fibro-vascular bundles in the nodes of 
Gloriosa, and has concluded that these 
bundles are the result of the anastomotic 
conditions attending the transition of the 
bundles from the main axis to the axillary 
branch. Among the Cyperacee it has been 
found that amphivasal bundles occur in 
practically all nodes of plants bearing well- 
developed leaves, whether branches are 
produced or not; while, on the other hand, 
in those forms of which the leaves are 
rudimentary, no amphivasal bundles are 
present, even in nodes where branches of 
considerable size are given off. Hence it 
appears that the occurrence of amphivasal 
bundles in this group is related to foliar 
rather than to ramular differentiation of 
the stelar structures. 

Dictamuus Albus L. (D. Fraxinella Pers.), 

Gas Plant: W. J. BEAu. 

This is an herbaceous perennial of the 
rue family (Rutacee). 

The pistil is compound, deeply lobed, 
consisting of five carpels, each containing 
two to three seeds, ‘each carpel, when ripe, 
splitting into two valves,’ which divide 
into an outer and an inner layer. In other 
words, when mature, a considerable portion 
of the endocarp separates from the exocarp 
and at onee each half begins to make the 
attempt to twist in opposite directions, 
much in the manner of the ripe half carpels 
of a vetch or pea. In this operation the 
half endocarps press the apical portion of 
the carpel wide open. A slight ridge on 
the inner edge of each margin of the carpel 
prevents for a time the escape of the twist- 
ing endocarp. The placenta separates into 
another thin trough-like piece, the margins 
of which are inside of the endocarp. The 
two seeds separate from the placenta, 
which sets loosely over the seeds, prevent- 
ing them from falling out in ease the 
branch bends down toward the ground. 
Seeds are torn off the placenta as this dries, 
shrinking away in the central portion and 


e_-NUARY 27, 1905.] 


lastly at the ends, which approach each 

other slightly. Each half endocarp resem- 

bles in a general way the capital letter J. 

The apical portion of the endocarp presses 

outward, while the basal portion tends to 

twist inward. When dry enough, and the 
carpel spreads open well, if the stems are 
jarred against each other by wind or ani- 
mal, or the carpel pressed laterally or from 
each extremity, a sharp explosion follows 
as the half endocarps complete their twist- 
ing, thus liberating the thin placenta and 
throwing out the seeds. When left to 
themselves in a quiet place where there is 
no artificial pressure, the tension of the 
endocarp at length forces its way out, 
sometimes sending one or both seeds seven- 
teen feet, possibly in some cases aided some- 
what by the wind. Next to an examina- 
tion of the parts as they develop, is to see 
models shaped like ripe pistils. The black, 

smooth seeds are nearly spherical, with a 

short neck. The seed is nearly 4.5 mm. 

long, by 3 mm. or more in transverse di- 

ameter. In size they are much hke those 

of Vicia satiwa. 

The Value of the Diatoms in Determining 
the Direction of Ocean Currents and the 
Origin of Sea-bottoms: ALBERT MANN. 
The investigation of the Diatomacee 

contained in the United States sea-dredg- 

ings and hydrographie soundings has 
brought out the fact that these organisms 
are a sure and the only sure index of the 
origin of sea-bottoms and incidentally of 
the extent and direction of sea-currents. 

This comes from four facts: (1) The in- 

destructibility of diatom frustules, (2) 

their extreme minuteness, lightness and 

hence transportability, (3) their enormous 
numbers in genera and species, (4) the 
great differences between recent and fossil 
diatoms; between fresh-water and marine 
diatoms; between tropical, temperate and 
arctic diatoms. Illustrations of the fore- 
going facts from the dredgings and sound- 


SCIENCE. 


141 


ings examined; need of this work, espe- 
cially in classifying and tabulating the 
characteristic diatoms of the different sea- 
bottoms. 


Economic Methods in Restocking White 

Pine Forests: F. WM. RANE. 

At present white pine lumber is getting 
searee and hence its value is increasing. 
There is no lumber that can be depended 
upon to take its place and the economic 
problem of growing this tree for future 
lumber is deserving of much study and 
experimentation. This paper gives the 
data obtained from experiments in util- 
izing natural seedlings, showing that by 
their use much economy ean be practised in 
restocking waste lands and in reconverting 
pine forests into new forest growth. By 
utilizing these seedlings, which at present 
have little or no value, the whole expense of 
restocking lands to forests can be accom- 
plished at less expenditure than the orig- 
inal cost of the plants themselves when 
purchased from a nursery. Experiments 
outlined show that one thousand three- 
year-old seedlings can be dug. and trans- 
planted at a cost of one dollar and twenty- 
five cents a thousand. The nursery price 
varies with various sections and the quan- 
tity purchased, but it is safe to say that 
the first cost of seedlings from this source 
is much larger than the total expenditure 
of digging and setting in the former. 


The Principles of Phytogeographical No- 
menclature: PEHR OLSSON-SEFFER. 

(1) Clearness and conciseness are the 
main’ requisites for a system of terminol- 
(2) Each technical term should have 
(3) In ease of doubt- 
ful terms consult the proposer of the name. 
If the conception it represents is not abso- 
lutely clear, the name has no status in 
nomenclature. (4) If a term has been 
commonly used and understood in another 
sense than the original author proposed, it 


ogy. 


only one meaning. 


142 


should be retained, but only in ease there 
can be no doubt as to its interpretation. 
(5) If a conception has already received 
a name and there is no obvious reason to 
diseard that name, an author has no right 
to propose a new term. (6) A law of pri- 
ority is practicable, we think, only so far 
as the principles laid down in the previous 
pages of this article will admit. (7) A 
name, the conception of which has ma- 
terially changed in the course of time, 
naturally has no standing. (8) A tech- 
nical term should be associated in our mind 
with the idea it represents. (9) A tech- 
nical term should be clearly defined so as 
to leave no doubt as to its significance. 
Authors should, therefore, desist from pro- 
posing new terms in mere catalogues. (10) 
A new term should be published in some 
work accessible to seientifie workers. (11) 
Vernacular names should not be excluded 
from phytogeographic nomenclature, but 
they must in every ease be definite and 
give rise to no ambiguity. (12) An inter- 
national committee of phytogeographers 
should be appointed by the Vienna con- 
gress, to continue the work on a proposed 
code of rules. (138) This committee should 
consider what kinds of technical terms are 
needed; how they should be classified, f. 7., 
with regard to distribution, abundance, 
elevation, phenological phenomena, ete. 
(14) The result of the work of the com- 
mittee already existing, and of the suecceed- 
ing one, should be published at an early 
date, so as to give the public ample time to 
discuss the various phases of the question 
before the following congress assembles. 
The Cycadofilices: Davin WHITE. 

The ‘eyeadofilices’ (Pteridospermez ) 
comprise a group of Paleozoie fossil plant 
genera which, as the name implies, are in- 
termediate between ferns and gymno- 
sperms. The structure of the stems, roots 
and petioles shows a mingling of filical 
with eyeadean characters; the fronds are 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 526. 


typically filicoid, as also would seem to be 
the little-known microsporangia; but the 
seeds, definitely recognized in but three 
genera, appear to agree in their main fea- 
tures with the primitive (fossil) gymno- 
sperms. The paper describes the more im- 
portant or striking characters as yet dis- 
covered in these remarkable types, which, 
in general, antedated the cyeads. 


Suggestions from the Study of Dairy 

Fungi: CHARLES THOM. 

The demands of certain economic prob- 
lems emphasize the necessity of finding 
more certain and more uniform means 
of describing and determining common 
saprophytic fungi. The intimate connec- 
tion between most of these problems and 
bacteriological questions suggests the desira- 
bility of seeking such methods of descrip- 
tion in their physiological and morpholog- 
ical relations to well-known eculture-meth- 
ods and media. <A dairy problem would 
indicate the methods of the dairy bacteri- 
ologist as to some extent necessary to make 
the work of practical value. Following 
these suggestions a series of dairy fungi 
have been cultivated upon such media 
through many generations. Certain spe- 
cies of Penicillium have been grown in hun- 
dreds of cultures to ascertain the compara- 
tive value of the observations made upon 
several substrata. In spite of wide varia- 
tions on different substrata a remarkably 
constant series of characters have been 
secured which recur regularly upon the 
media used. These results suggested the 
utility of a diagrammatic summary upon 
the general plan used by the bacteriologists 
which should be useful for contrasting the 
characters of different species. The char- 
acters found of value in the genus Penicil- 
lium are reaction to litmus-media, lique- 
faction of gelatine, variations in color of 
colony, structures appearing at the margin 
of the rapidly growing colony, general sur- 
face effect of the colony, the relations cf 


JANUARY 27, iJ€d.] 


the conidiphore and conidial fructification, 
the description of the. conidia themselves, 
with occasional unique characters which 
identify special forms—such as the forma- 
tion of sclerotia. Cultures, diagrams and 
eard descriptions of species of Penicillium 
were presented to illustrate the charac- 
ters mentioned. 


The Asciferous Stage of Gleosporiwm 
Psidu: JoHn L. SHELDON. ’ 
By means of artificial cultures and in- 

oculations, Dr. Sheldon was able to study 
the life-history of Glawosporium Psidu G. 
Del., a fungus which causes the ‘mummy 
disease’ of the guava. The Gla@osporium 
stage of the fungus closely resembled the 
Glaosporium stage of the ‘bitter-rot’ fun- 
eus (Glomerella) of the apple as deter- 
mined by himself and other investigators. 
In old cultures on apple-agar, masses of 
perithecia were produced which resembled 
those of Glomerella both in shape and in 
structure, and also in the size and shape of 
the ascospores. The results indicate that 
the two fungi may be identical, although 
there were certain characteristics of the 
two that were not quite the same. The 
investigation will be continued. 


Cytological Studies of Sapromyces and 
Rhipidium: Cyrus A. Kina. 
Sapromyces and Rhipidium both belong 

to the Septomelacex, which family is placed 

by Schroeter in the Saprolegniineex. 

In zoospore formation the individuals are 
separated by the severing of connecting 
cytoplasmic meshes. This process begins 
on the interior if there is a vacuole present. 
In some eases, at least, there is an indirect 
nuclear division in the zoosvorangium of 
Sapromyces. In the oogonia of Sapromyces 
there is one mitosis and there is probably 
one in Rhipidium also. In both forms dur- 
ing oogenesis the supernumerary nuclei 
migrate to the periphery where they are 
eut off in a periplasm. This periplasm in 


SCIENCE. 


143 


Sapromyces is very rudimentary. The 
fertilization tube in Rhipidium is of 
oogonial origin, although it is possibly of 
antheridial origin in Sapromyces. A con- 
spicuous differentiated region correspond- 
ing to the oocentrum of Trow is seen in 
Rhipidium. The reticulations on the 
oospore wall of Rhipidium are probably 
homologous with the radiating walls be- 
tween the peripheral cells of Acosospora. 
The structure of the oogonium and the 
processes in oogenesis show this group to 
be related to the Peronosporinee and it is 
suggested that they be placed in this cohort 
as follows: Peronosporinee— Albuginacee, 
Peronosporacee, Septomelacer, Saproleg- 
niinee—Saprolegniaceex. 


A Study of the North American Coleo- 
sporiacew: J. C. ARTHUR. 

A list of twenty-four species is presented, 
some of them now described for the first 
time. The presentation chiefly deals with 
the method employed in discriminating be- 
tween the species, their degree of relation- 
ship, and their distribution. 


Nomenclatorial Type Specimens of Plant 

Species: A. 8. HitcHcock. 

In systematic botany there is an increas- 
ing tendency to base species upon definite 
specimens. Older authors did not do this. 
It becomes necessary to decide upon rules 
for selecting the specimen upon which spe- 
cies should be based when these are not 
definitely indicated. The present paper is 
a discussion of such rules. 


Cultures of Wood-Inhabiting Fungi: Prr- 

LEY SPAULDING. 

It has been found easier to make cultures 
of wood-rotting fungi from actively grow- 
ing mycelium than from the spores. Agar 
made from infusions of the species of wood 
which the fungus is found upon, usually 
serve to start growth of the mycelium at 
first. They can then be transferred to 
tubes of sterilized green wood of the suit- 


144 


able species. Cultures of Lenzites sepiaria 
and Schizophyllum commune have yielded 
fruiting bodies, the latter in about five 
weeks’ time. The spores of the former 
were germinated in a very weak cane sugar 
solution, but failed totally to germinate in 
water or in weak salt solutions. Inocula- 
tions with mycelium of Lenzites have given 
no parasitic action, but in eut timber they 
have produced fruiting bodies in less than 
five months. 


The Effect of Climatic Conditions on the 
Vitality of Seeds: J. W. T. Duvet. 
This paper is a preliminary report on 

experiments undertaken to determine the 

effect of climatic conditions on the vitality 
of seeds when stored in the ordinary seed 
packages and in air-tight containers. 

In December, 1902, seeds were distributed 
to sixty stations throughout the United 
States, including Alaska, Hawaii, Porto 
Rico and the Phihppines. In addition 
seeds were also stored in Newfoundland, 
Canada, Isle of Pines, Cuba, Jamaica, St. 
Kitts, Dominica, Barbados and Trinidad. 
At the expiration of six months and one 
year respectively two complete sets from 
each of the sixty stations were returned and 
tested for vitality. The results of the 
germination tests show a great deterioration 
in the seeds contained in paper packages 
which were stored in places having a warm, 
humid atmosphere, while the seeds put up 
in air-tight containers preserved their vital- 
ity much better under these conditions. 
Seeds from places having comparatively 
dry climates showed no appreciable loss in 
vitality from either the paper packages or 
the air-tight containers. 


The Germination of Sceds as affected by 
Soil Temperatures: Epcar Brown. 
A brief description of observations on 
the temperature of the upper layers of soil 
and the effects of soil temperatures on the 


germination of seeds. From March 26 to 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 526. 


June 30 planting of twenty different kinds 
of seeds were made at intervals of from 
two to three days, and records were kept of 
the total germination and appearance of 
first sprouts. 

Readings of soil thermometers at depths 
varying from one fourth inch to two feet 
and of air and solar radiation thermom- 
eters, were made from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. 
at intervals of fifteen minutes. Great 
variations in germination resulted. Let- 
tuce germinated well in the early part of 
the season when the temperature was com- 
paratively low, but poorly later as soil be- 
came warmer. ‘The reverse was true of 
corn and many other seeds. 

The time between planting and the ap- 
pearance of first sprouts was generally in- 
versely proportional to the per cent. of 
germination. Seeds of low vitality germi- 
nate much more slowly than seeds of high 
vitality. Seeds of low vitality are much 
more affected by unfavorable conditions 
than seeds of high vitality. 


The Relation of Transpiration to other 

Functions: Burton E. Livineston. 

The subjects for study were wheat plants 
grown in soils and nutrient solutions. The 
respective amounts of water lost by trans- 
piration during a period of two or three 
weeks in a synchronous series of cultures 
in different soils or in different solutions 
appeared to be a good eriterion for judging 
the relative values of these different media. 
To test this more rigidly, total transpira- 
tion was compared in a large number of 
series with the weight of the leaves and 
with their area. It was found that through 
a wide range of treatments transpiration is 
proportional to leaf area. The relation of 
transpiration to leaf weight seems not to be 
quite so simple, although by this criterion 
the different treatments in a series would 
fall in the same order as by that of trans- 
piration. In other words, transpiration 
per unit area is quite generally uniform 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


throughout a series, while that per unit 
weight varies slightly. The amount of 
variation in the last case is far too small, 
however, to interfere with the use of 
transpiration as a eriterion for estimating 
relative leaf weight. The conclusion from 
these tests is simply that soils or solutions 
may be compared, in respect to their power 
to support growth, by means of total 
transpiration of the plants growing therein. 

A number of studies were presented of 
the relation of transpiration to absorption 
of salts in water cultures. In a series of 
cultures with identical treatment excepting 
for the use of different solutions, transpira- 
tion (since it is proportional to area and 
weight of the leaves, and therefore to 
erowth of the plant) is found to be propor- 
tional to the amounts of salts absorbed. 
But when one culture is grown in a moist 
air and another in a relatively dry one this 
relation fails. A moist air (such as that 
in a bell-jar), as is well known, checks 
transpiration to a marked degree. It 
checks absorption of salts to a very slight 
degree, often not at all. 


Further Notes on the Physiology of Stige- 
octonium: Burton E. Livingston. 

The alga is the same as that on which 
the author has studied the effects of ex- 
ternal osmotic pressure, drying and the 
presence of cations. The three above- 
named conditions cause filaments to assume 
the palmella form. It is now found that 
the effect of low temperature (2° to 10° C.) 
is nearly identical with that of the mineral 
poisons. Thus the palmella form is pro- 
duced from filaments but zoospores are not 
inhibited, although there was no stimula- 
tion of zoospores observed. 

In sea-water the alga lives and grows 
slowly as the palmella form. In sea-water 
diluted with distilled water to one hundred 
times its volume the same response occurs, 
showing that, although natural sea-water 


SCIENCE. 


145 


has an osmotic pressure high enough to 
produce the change, yet: there is present a 
poison which will produce the same effect 
without the physical stimulus. It is ap- 
parent from the studies on metals that this 
poison must be either anionic or organic in 
its nature. 

Further, water from peat bogs, although 
it has no appreciable osmotic pressure, 
eauses the alga to change from the fila- 
mentous to the palmella form. It is prob- 
able that here we are dealing with an or- 
ganic substance in small quantities. The 
observation is of special interest in con- 
nection with the xerophytie structures of 
bog plants, seeming to suggest very 
strongly that the explanation of such struc- 
tures hes in the presence in the bog water 
of some organic poison. The toxic prop- 
erty of this water is not proportional to its 
acidity. 


The Salt Water Limits of Wild Rice: Caru 

S. SCOFIELD. 

Wild rice (Zizania aquatica L.) is nat- 
urally a fresh-water plant, and abounds in 
streams flowing into salt water along the 
Atlantie coast. An investigation was made 
to determine the salt-water limits of the 
plant. Three delta regions were surveyed, 
and the water both inside and outside the 
wild rice field was tested by an electrical 
conductivity method. It was found that 
where the water surrounding the plants is 
more saline than the equivalent of 0.031 
normal solution of sodium chloride, the 
growth of wild rice is nearly or quite in- 
hibited. 


Notes on the Vegetation of Onondaga Lake: 

J. E. Kirkwoop. 

Onondaga Lake is situated in central 
New York and is known chiefly through 
the existence of certain salt springs on its 
shore. These springs impart a salinity to 
a considerable area of the marshy lowlands 
about the lake and a conspicuous holophytie 


146 


vegetation has sprung up. The plants 
thus far observed which are characteristic 
of salt marshes and maritime situations are: 
Ruppia maritima, Triglochin maritima, 
Scirpus vrobustus, Juncus Gerardi, Sali- 
cornia herbacea, Tissa maritima, Aster 
subulatus, Senecio viscosus. Analyses of the 
salt soils show saturated soils to contain 
solutions varying in concentration from 
.957 per cent to 7.32 per cent. A strongly 
saline sample of soil bearing Tissa, Sali- 
cornia, ete., yielded the following figures : 
20 grams of fresh soil contained 6.56 grs. 
water (by evaporation to constant weight 
in laboratory at room temperature), .479 
ers. water soluble salt, 2.489 grs. acid sol- 
uble material, 1.896 grs. volatile materia] 
and residual water, and 8.576 gers. solid 
residue after ignition. 


Spermatogenesis and Behavior of Pollen 
Tube in Some of the Cucurbitacee. J. E. 
KirK woop. 

The forms studied were Fevillia cordi- 
folia, Melothria pendula, Cucurbita Pepo, 
Micrampelis lobata, Cyclanthera explodens. 

In the organogeny of the flower, the 
sepals, where present, arise first, followed 
by the petals on an inner circle and alter- 
nating with the outer members. Stamens 
appear about the same time as the petals, 
with which they alternate in Fevillea. The 
archesporial series of cells is hypodermal 
in the outer angles of the anthers and 
divides to furnish primary tapetal and 
primary sporogenous cells. In Fevillea 
the latter multiply by repeated divisions to 
form a mass of pollen-mother-cells. Cyto- 
plasmic phenomena in the mitosis of the 
pollen-mother-cells of Micrampelis are in- 
teresting as revealing the evolution of cer- 
tain darkly staining masses, which are re- 
garded as the extranuclear nucleoli of other 
writers. These appear to arise, before the 
dissolution of the nuclear membrane, from 
kinoplasmic strands of the cytoplasm. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. . on. XX1. No. 526. 


The pollen tube, in some of the forms 
examined, requires about forty-six hours to 
reach the embryo-sac. Its course is mostly 
intercellular. Where starch is present in 
the tube it was not found in the conducting 
tissue and where found in the conducting 
tissue none appeared in the tube. Evi- 
dence points to the secretion of peptones in 
the one case and of sugars in the others 
as the directive stimulant, and to the en- 
dosperm nucleus as the center for the 
elaboration of such stimulant in the em- 
bryo-sae. 


Fasciation of Field Peas: F. H. Buopeert. 

Carelessness in selecting seed often re- 
sults in direct loss in the quality or quan- 
tity of a crop, but this loss is not always as 
distinetly evident as was recently the case 
in fields of peas grown for cannery pur- 
poses, near Baltimore. The peas in ques- 
tion were grown from seed secured through 
a feed dealer, who knew nothing apparent- 
ly of their pedigree, and who could not 
guarantee the quality of the seed as the 
regular seedsmen do. The observations 
were made especially upon two fields of 
approximately fifteen acres from which no 
crop was harvested and probably not more 
than five per cent. of a crop formed. The 
lack of pedigree establishing good qualities 
on the part of seed parents was made evi- 
dent in the growth of the peas early in the 
season. 

The soil conditions were a light sandy 
loam abundantly enriched with city ma- 
nure, upon which the large amount of 
moisture and high temperatures worked 
together to produce a very vigorous growth 
of vine, but which from its very vigor, was 
abnormal. The vine instead of setting 
pods became fasciated, forming tubular or 
flattened stems bearing large numbers of 
flowers at the upper end, which set prac- 
tically no seed. The stems had the appear- 
ance of two tubes, the inner one tapering 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


downward to a point and united to the 
upper cylindrical portion by the common 
rim, along which the flower. clusters were 
developed. The two tubes were practically 
free from any connection with each other, 
except at the end and each bore upon its 
exposed surface leaves and branches, the 
inner one, of course, in a lesser degree. 
Many of these branches were hollow and 
often somewhat flattened or fasciated. 

The cultural conditions in the locality 
are such that the pea vines are almost a 
complete loss in the absence of stock to 
which it could be fed, the only use possible 
being to turn them under as green manute. 
The loss to the grower was total and was 
measured by the cash outlay, not only for 
the seed in the first instance but for all 
labor upon the field, and the maintenance 
of the force of pickers, for a number of 
days in anticipation of a possible crop. 
Seed of known parentage will hereafter be 
used in the locality where the above ob- 
servations were made. FF. E. Luoyp, 

Secretary. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 
International Catalogue of Scientific Litera- 
ture. First Annual Issue. N—Zoology. 

Part I., Author Catalogue. Part II., Sub- 

ject Catalogue. London, Harrison & Sons. 

1904. Pp. xvi+ 1528. 

This work is planned to include the zoolog- 
ical literature for the year 1901, although one 
is compelled to analyze the preface in order 
to determine the period covered, since no 
record of its extent appears on cover or title 
page of either part. According to informa- 
tion printed on the cover the manuscript of 
this volume was completed in August, 1903, 
and the printed copy is dated February, 1904, 
although the work seems not to have been gen- 
erally distributed until some months later. 

Part I. contains the general explanations 
with the scheme of classification and an index 
thereto in English; and this matter is repeated 
in French, German and Italian. Following 
these the author catalogue fills 260 pages and 


SCIENCE. 


147 


lists 5,918 titles. Part II., which is about 
three times as voluminous, contains at the close 
a list of journals with abbreviated titles and 
the topographical classification. More than 
1,100 pages are filled with the subject refer- 
ences proper. The system used has been the 
subject of extended discussion in Science and 
calls for no further notice here. The addition 
to each phylum of a list of names of new 
genera and species will commend itself to all 
as a most desirable feature. 

Such bibliographic work is not new in the 
zoological field, and several of the similar en- 
terprises already in existence have achieved 
noteworthy success. The oldest of these is 
the Zoological Record, which is especially full 
along taxonomic lines, while the Zoologischer 
Jahresbericht manifests a confessed morpho- 
logical bias. Both of these, but more espe- 
cially the latter, include an analysis of the 
subject matter of publications cited, whereas 
the admirable literature lists of the Zoolog- 
ischer Anzeiger only hint at the contents of 
a publication by its classification. The Bib- 
liographia Universalis of the Concilium Bib- 
liographicum forms a subject catalogue com- 
parable directly with the publication under 
consideration. A comparison of this volume 
with the results achieved by the other agencies 
noted will constitute a fair test of its value 
to workers in zoology. 

In respect to promptness in appearance the 
‘International Catalogue’ is certainly at an 
abnormal disadvantage in the first year of its 
history; whether this is sufficient excuse for 
its publication from one to two years later 
than the same material was available through 
the other agencies will depend upon individual 
judgment. At least its belated appearance 
should enable it to equal the results of other 
bibliographies. A close approximation of 
titles listed gives over 6,600 for the Zoological 
Record, over 8,000 for the Zoologischer 
Anzeiger and over 8,400 for the Concilium 
Bibliographicum as against the 5,918 entries in 
author list of the ‘International Catalogue.’ 

The character of the subject catalogue has 
been tested both topically and taxonomically. 
On the taxonomic side Professor Weltner, of 


148 


Berlin, has called attention in a recent article* 
to the treatment of the sponges, where only 
27 papers are included out of 82 which ap- 
peared during the year 1901. Among those 
omitted are some of first importance, while 
even of the references given the entries under 
special headings are incomplete and erroneous. 
The reports on Porifera in the Zoological 
Record and in the Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte 
appeared in advance of the date given for the 
completion of this manuscript, and yet the 
latter is much less satisfactory. 

He might also have added that the insuffi- 
cieney of the work on Porifera goes to show 
governmental red tape in this enterprise and 
lack of real control on the part of the scien- 
tifie staff, since, according to the title page, 
the very man stands sponsor for this volume 
who had already published one of the ad- 
mirable bibliographies cited by Weltner as 
worthy of emulation. 

Dr. T. Wayland Vaughan has published in 
Scrence}+ a comparison of the work on Celen- 
terata here with the ecards of the Concilium 
Bibliographicum, and the Zoological Record, 
He found that “the Concilium Bibliograph- 
icum procured 70 per cent. of the references, 
the Zoological Record for 1901, 63 per cent., 
and the ‘International Catalogue’ 40 per 


cent.” “Works of importance published in 
practically every country are left out.” 
Promptness in appearance was in inyerse 


ratio to completeness. 

A further analysis of the subject catalogue 
yielded interesting and important results for 
its evaluation. Under the heading 0020 
‘Periodicals, Reports of Institutions, Socie- 
ties, Congresses, ete.,’ are entered half a dozen 
reports of individual journeys, excerpted from 
publications of learned societies and certainly 
not appropriately classified in this subdivision, 
while at the same time the leading zoological 
journals are omitted. Furthermore, such 
journals as are concerned with single groups 
merely are entered here in some cases instead 
of under the fitting special heading, e. g., 
Philadelphia, Pa., Students’ Entomological 

* Zool. Anzeiger, July 26, 1904, Vol. 27, No. 25, 
p. 788. 

+N. 8., Vol. X1IX., No. 492, p. 860. 


SCIENCE. 


[...S. Vou. XXI. No. 526. 


Association, or International Congress of 
Ornithology in Paris, 1900. In fact, the tech- 
nical periodicals seem also to have fared ill in 
this catalogue for the leading ornithological 
and entomological journals do not appear in 
any of the lists. 

Such inappropriate entries also occur among 
individual publications, e. g., the Sequence 
of Plumages & Moults entered under general 
treatises, the Reproduction of the Protozoa, 
and Entomological Field-work cited under ad- 
dresses. Open to even more serious criticism 
are such entries as a Collective Investigation 
of Indian Culicide and Studies on Eocene 
Mammalia under 0060 ‘ Collections.’ Under 
the same numeral the subheading ‘ Economies’ 
is also inconsistently and very incompletely 
treated; but this is, no doubt, a difficult topic 
to limit precisely. The same can not be said, 
however, of 0070 ‘ Nomenclature (Principles 
of)’ in which important references are lack- 
ing, while 0090 ‘Technique’ has a total of 
only 14 titles, some of which belong under 
microscopy or biology, whereas the real list 
of appropriate references under this heading 
can not be reduced to less than fifty or 
seventy-five titles, and the Concilium Biblio- 
graphicum gives 110 cards with the date 1901. 
It should also be noted that the titles given 
in the ‘International Catalogue’ have no 
claim at all to preeminent importance, for 
trivial items are included and weighty papers 
omitted. The analysis might be pursued with 
similar results through the other headings of 
the catalogue. It is evident that the work has 
not been done by persons at all familiar with 
the subject matter. This feature is strik- 
ingly shown in the omission of a paper on 
certain insects entitled, ‘ Encore quelques mots 
sur ’élevage des Bacilles,’ although two other 
papers by the same author and in the same 
journal are duly cited. One ean not help 
wondering whether the missing paper will 
turn up under botany or bacteriology! 

In order to test the accuracy and complete- 
ness of the subject references for technical 
purposes, I chose as a topic the fauna of New 
Guinea and took for comparison the cards of 
the Concilium Bibliographicum under the 
same heading. There were 36 of these cards 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


as against 8 references in the ‘ International 
Catalogue’ and one title was lacking from the 
ecards, whereas 29 were not entered in the 
‘International Catalogue. A further study 
of the author catalogue in the latter showed 
that in reality but four titles were lacking and 
one other was incorrectly entered. Of the 
titles missing from the subject catalogue six 
were entered under more general headings, 
since the bibliographer had doubtless fol- 
lowed the error in the titles of the papers; two 
were entered incorrectly under other geo- 
graphic divisions, and twenty-one were not 
listed under any faunistic subdivisions, al- 
though seven of these gave positive evidence 
and two others bore some indication in the 
title that this region was treated. An an- 
alysis of parthenogenesis made in the same 
way showed nine titles wanting from the ‘ In- 
ternational Catalogue, and from the cards 
only two, both of which were Russian. 

A similar test was made in the subject of 
parasites, where the publications are sufficient- 
ly numerous, the notes and references suffi- 
ciently hidden, and the places of publication 
so dispersed as to test very sharply the char- 
acter of any bibliographic enterprise. Twenty- 
four references were lacking among the cards 
of the Concilium Bibliographicum, ninety- 
three from the subject lists of the ‘ Interna- 
tional Catalogue’; and of these latter forty- 
eight bore distinct evidence in the title that 
they treated of parasites of specific groups of 
animals. 

The list of names for new genera and species 
constitutes, as already noted, an important 
and most desirable feature of the ‘ Catalogue.’ 
Here the method of entry is distinctly faulty 
in that the type is not noted, the locality is 
not given, the page of first record is not en- 
tered and the original form is not cited in con- 
nection with those designated as new names. 
On reviewing the parasitic forms I was able 
to find many names of new genera and species 
omitted, even from the papers listed; in all 
were noted as wanting among Protozoa two 
new genera and four new species; among flat- 
worms one new genus and eighteen new 
species; among Nematoda two new genera and 
ten new species; among parasitic Crustacea 


SCIENCE. 


149 


I do 
not doubt that the actual number wanting is 
decidedly greater than the figures given. 
Some tests were also made to determine the 
accuracy of the work, both in citation and in 
the elaboration of the material used. In 


two new genera and four new species. 


addition to such as are evident mistakes in 
printing, there is the usual number of errors 
of a purely mechanical type, such as reversing 
the names in a paper of joint authorship, en- 
tering papers by two authors of somewhat 
similar name under a single heading, or as- 
eribing publications to a different author of 
the same family name. In some instances 
also papers are included which, according to 
other authorities, fall within 1900 or 1902. In 
the one instance, which could be checked here, 
the ‘International Catalogue’ is apparently 
in error. Even in work done by our own 
countrymen one finds the Washington Acad- 
emy of Sciences referred to as the National 
Academy. 

As regards accuracy in handling the ma- 
terial treated, I have to record without fur- 
ther comment the chance discovery that among 
the papers in the Quarterly Journal of 
Microscopical Science two in the March 
(1901) number are omitted and also two in 
the May (1901) number. A more extensive 
test could not be made for lack of time; yet 
missing titles were noted from several prom- 
inent journals. 

A lack of uniformity in treatment is very 
noticeable in the work done by different 
nations. Thus the English bibliographers 
have entered chapters in text-books under 
special headings and also reviews of various 
articles. Had this been done by other nations 
it would have added largely. Very likely 
some such references should be included, and 
that when they contain valuable critical mat- 
ter by some specialist on the group under 
consideration; but it is equally patent that 
only such a specialist can pass upon the value 
of such items. From the standpoint of a 
bibliographer the treatment of these matters 
must be uniform. The lack of uniformity is 
further shown by the inclusion of a single 
article on Bacillus icteroides which probably 


150 


owed its selection to the occurrence in the 
title of the phrase ‘ cold-blooded animals.’ 

It would require undue space to demonstrate 
here what the individual observer can easily 
verify, namely, that there are characteristic 
differences in the method of treatment given 
the material by different national bureaus. 
Some have clearly over indexed, others have 
been as distinetly deficient. Among German 
references it was difficult to find errors in 
classification, while among those of some other 
nations they were all too frequent. 

As a result of a most careful study of this 
work one is forced to conclude: 

1. With respect to promptness, completeness 
and accuracy the results are distinctly inferior 
to those already achieved for zoology by sev- 
eral bibliographic agencies. 

2. A subsidy for any one of the existing 
agencies equal to a fraction of the amount 
spent on this part of the ‘ International Cata- 
logue’ would yield much greater results in 
giving the investigator actual control of the 
literature in zoology. 

3. The effort to construct a bibliography 
from materials furnished by numerous na- 
tional bureaus will not result in the production 
of a consistent work. 

4. A useful bibliography in this field can 
not be prepared by mere cataloguers, however 
expert they may be, and however great the 
means at their disposal for the prosecution of 
the work. 

5. The contention of Weltner and others is 
abundantly justified that only the specialist 
in zoology can make a satisfactory analysis of 
zoological publications, and only he should be 
allowed to control such work. 

6. It is most important to add to the mere 
record of titles a brief critical annotation re- 
garding the subject matter of each paper. Ad- 
ditional subsidies should be devoted to the 
improvement of existing agencies rather than 
to the creation of new organizations. 

Henry B. Warp. 


UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 
The Museums Journal of Great Britain for 
December has an excellent article ‘On Colors 


SCIENCE. 


~ [N.S. Von. XX. No. 526: 


in Museums,’ by Hans Dedekam, dealing at 
some length with the question of what are the 
best colors for backgrounds for various ex- 
hibits. The balance of the number is devoted 
to reviews and notes, and includes a good re- 
view of Dr. Meyer’s recent memoir. 


THE contents of the January number of 
the American Journal of Mathematics is as 
follows: 

“Some Properties of a Generalized Hypergeo- 
metric Function,’ by F. H. Jackson. 

‘Relation between Real and Complex Groups 
with Respect to their Structure and Continuity, 
by Dr. S. E. Slocum. 

‘Determination of all the Characteristic Sub- 
groups of any Abelian Group,’ by G. A. Miller. 

‘Collineations whose Characteristic Determi- 
nants have Linear Elementary Divisors with an 
Application to Quadratic Forms,’ by A. B. Coble. 

‘Concerning Certain Elliptic Modular Functions 
of Square Rank,’ by John A. Miller. 

*Minors of Axi-symmetric Determinants, by E- 
J. Nanson. 

‘On the Forms of Sextie Scrolls having a 
Rectilinear Directrix, by Virgil Snyder. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 


THE NEW YORK SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 
CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 


A REGULAR meeting of the New York Sec- 
tion of the American Chemical Society was 
held at the Chemists’ Club, Friday night, De- 
cember 9. The following councilors were 
elected from the New York Section: Messrs. 
Leo Baekeland, F. D. Dodge, T. J. Parker, 
W. J. Schieffelin and Hugo Schweitzer. 

The regular program of the evening was 
then taken up and the following papers pre- 
sented: 


The Art of Sizing Paper with Rosin Soaps. 

Martin L. Grirrin. 

The subject is introduced by some general 
considerations pertaining to sizing paper, but 
deals principally with the claims frequently 
made, that acid or free rosin sizes are most 
desired, and that it is the free rosin that is 
the effective sizing agent in paper. 

The author has made a large number of 
experiments, sizing paper stock in different 
ways with different reagents, showing conclu- 
sively that this is not the case, that free rosin 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


is a poor sizing agent, and that the base of 
the precipitating agent plays a very important 
part in sizing paper. Incidentally he shows 
that any reagent whose base is alkaline will 
not effectually size paper, no matter how com- 
pletely the rosin may be precipitated in com- 
bination with it. 


The Tensile Strength of Bronzes. 

Bancrort. 

The tensile strength of the copper-tin 
bronzes containing more than 92 per cent. 
copper varies relatively little with the different 
heat treatments. With bronzes containing 
75 to 92 per cent. copper the strength is much 
greater if the alloy is quenched from above 
500° than if it is quenched from below 500°. 
The extreme effect is to be found with the 
79 per cent. bronze, which has a_ tensile 
strength, of over 70,000 pounds per square 
inch if quenched from low red heat and a 
strength of only about 30,000 pounds per 
square inch if quenched from 400°. Similar 
results were obtained with the ductility meas- 
urements, though the maximum ductility does 
not occur at the same concentration as the 
maximum strength. The bronze containing 
90 per cent. copper gives a 40 per cent. elon- 
gation if quenched from 540°, and only a 
10 per cent. elongation as cast. This work 
has been made possible by a grant from the 
Carnegie Institution. 


WIvper D. 


The Production and Modern Uses of Carbonic 

Acid. Joun C. Minor, JR. 

The paper describes the causes leading to 
the development of the carbonic acid industry, 
taking up the different methods of production, 
viz., calcination, acid treatment of carbonate, 
fermentation, the coke process, and the meth- 
od used at Saratoga Springs for securing CO, 
from the natural mineral waters there. The 
treatment of the gas after production and the 
eylinders for holding it under high pressure 
are discussed. Among the commercial uses 
for CO, described at some length are men- 
tioned: the manufacture of carbonated bever- 
ages, the extinguishing of fires on shipboard, 
the drawing of beer, the use in breweries for 
replacing the secondary fermentation, refrig- 
eration, the operation of block signals, and the 


SCIENCE. 


151 


extraction of logwood. The therapeutic uses 
of CO, are also indicated. 
F. H. Poucu, 
Secretary. 


THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 
Tue regular meeting of the club was held 


‘December 13 at the College of Pharmacy, 


Dr. H. H. Rusby in the chair, eleven members 
present. 

The first paper on the program was by Pro- 
fessor F. E. Lloyd, who spoke of the Desert 
Botanical Laboratory at Tucson, Ariz. He 
pointed out that there were four characteristic 
types of desert visible with great regularity 
from the car window westward from FE] Paso, 
as the train passed from mesa to hill country 
or vice versa. 

The character plants of these four deserts, 
which are remarkably distinct and pure, are 
the Yucca, Ephedra, Mesquite, Parkinsonia 
and Fouquieria in abundance. Professor 
Lloyd spoke in some detail of the vegetation 
in the vicinity of Tucson, illustrating his re- 
marks with numerous excellent photographs, 
including several good pictures of Cereus gi- 
ganteus in bloom and in fruit. 

It was remarked that the plants with motile 
leaves, such as Cassia, Acacia and Parkinsonia, 
all faced the stn at sunrise, but did not follow 
its course during the day. Fouquierta was 
deseribed in detail, attention being called to 
its short-lived primary leaves and curious 
spines, which were cited as an example of 
direct metamorphosis, the rosettes of secondary 
leaves appearing in the axils of the latter. 

The primary object of Professor Lloyd’s stay 
at the laboratory was the determination of 
the relation between stomatal action and trans- 
piration. Numerous experiments were made, 
the results of which are to be reported in de- 
tail later. 

The second paper, by George V. Nash, was 
on the vegetation of Inagua. Mr. Nash re- 
cently spent four weeks in collecting there. 
Inagua includes a large and a small island 
located some sixty miles northeast of Cuba, 
and with a total area of between five and six 
hundred square miles of mostly low land, the 


152 


highest point reaching only 132 feet above the 
sea. 

The flora is poor, embracing some 350 or 
400 species, the relatively numerous cacti in 
the genera Opuntia, Cactus, Melocactus and 
Pilocereus emphasizing the desert-like condi- 
tions prevailing on the islands. Five plant 
areas were differentiated: (1) That of the 
strand; (2) the scrub, where nearly all the 
endemic species of the islands have been 
found; (3) the white sand or white land, as 
it is called locally, characterized by a species 
of Coccothrinax; (4) the salinas, characterized 
by the shrub Avicennia nitida Jacq., and (5) 
the savannas, where Conocarpus sericea Forst. 
is the characteristic shrub and Sporobolus vir- 
ginicus the common grass. In the numerous 
salt holes is found the only fern of the islands, 
Acrostichum aureum. 

Excellent photographs were exhibited show- 
ing the dwarfing effect of the sharp winds of 
the southern coast, where the vegetation, else- 
where six or eight feet tall, is reduced to a 
foot or two in height and becomes widely 
spreading. 

One of the results of Mr. Nash’s trip was 
the extension of the range of Pseudophenix 
sargentii about 350 miles to the southward; 
another the collection of a number of new 
species. 

Numerous photographs, and specimens from 
each of the plant areas, illustrated the speak- 
ers’ yarious points. 

Epwarp W. Berry, 
Secretary. 


THE SCIENCE CLUB OF NORTHWESTERN 
UNIVERSITY. 

Tue Science Club of Northwestern Univer- 
sity held its regular monthly meeting Friday 
evening, January 6, 1905. 

The program was furnished by the depart- 
ment of mathematies of the university, Dr. W. 
M. Strong, of Chicago, presenting a paper 
on ‘Some Points of Interest in Mortality 
Tables,’ 

Froyp Frevp, 
Secretary. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 526. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE EPIDIASCOPE. 

To tHE Eprror or ScreNcE: With reference 
to Professor Todd’s query in the last issue of 
Science, ‘Who saw the Epidiascope at St. 
Louis?’ I am happy to say that the apparatus 
has recently been installed in the anatomical 
laboratory of Brown University, a much ap- 
preciated gift from physicians of Providence 
and other cities. I had an opportunity of see- 
ing the epidiascope in operation at Jena in 
1903 through the usual courtesy of the Carl 
Zeiss management. 

In actual use in the laboratory it surpasses 
expectations both in respect to convenience in 
handling and to range of capabilities. Lantern 
slides or other transparent objects up to about 
twelve inches in diameter and microscopic 
slides are projected with good effect. The 
new feature which especially distinguishes the 
apparatus—the projection of opaque objects— 
is of course the most remarkable. In this as 
in other respects we find that the claims put 
forth in the prospectus are, indeed, very 
modest. The color, texture, motion and third 
dimension of objects are beautifully repro- . 
duced. Colored lithographs in bound period- 
icals or reprints may simply be placed upon 
the carrier of the machine while the book is 
held open with the hand, and the whole page 
appears with the colors and lines of the figures 
perfectly reproduced. It is a great advantage 
that the image is not reversed. A manuscript 
or page of text can be read from the screen 
directly. Original water color or oil paint- 
ings are reproduced altogether too faithfully, 
for the effect is that received when standing 
close to the picture. Insects of various kinds 
have been tried; they lose nothing in the re- 
production. The metallic luster and irides- 
cence of the beetles show better because of the 
brilliant light than when viewed directly. On 
the other hand, moths or butterflies with 
bright colors and soft texture appear with as 
much naturalness as do the beetles. Such 
natural objects of course do not suffer from 
the magnification of details. A small adder 
and a newt when placed on the carrier ap- 
pear on the screen as a boa constrictor and 
a gianf salamander. Embryos or dissected 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


specimens in water or in alcohol give good 
images. A pithed frog, cut open, shows, the 
beating of the heart and the peristaltic move- 
ments. Furthermore, the demonstrator can 
not only point to the parts on the object itself, 
but can further separate the organs with the 
‘forceps and each movement may be distinctly 
observed by all in the room. 

It is obvious that the apparatus is of the 
highest value in demonstrating before an audi- 
ence a great variety of solid or opaque objects 
which could not be shown by lantern slides 
even were the time and money for preparing 
them available. A. D. Mean. 

ANATOMICAL LABORATORY, 

Brown UNIVERSITY, 
January 10, 1905. 


QUOTATIONS. 
ANOTHER CANCER SERUM. 


THE newspapers last week reported, with 
scare heads, photographs, photomicrographs, 
and editorial comments, a new cancer dis- 
covery from the Gratwick Pathological Labo- 
ratory at Buffalo. It is asserted that a num- 
ber of cures of cancer in mice have been 
effected by means of a serum prepared at the 
laboratory and the hope is suggested that the 
treatment will be equally efficacious in man. 
According to the New York Herald the can- 
cerous mice used for the experiments were 
‘obtained from Professor Jensen of Copen- 
hagen. They survived the Atlantic voyage, 
but expired between here and Buffalo. The 
cadayera were preserved and inoculations from 
one of them ‘took’ on several live mice, and 
by repeated transplantation a large number 
of the animals with cancer became available 
for further experimentation. Many of these 
mice recovered spontaneously, and the experi- 
menters conceived the idea that this fortunate 
result was brought about by the elaboration 
of an antitoxin. Having in mind the possi- 
bility of a successful serum treatment of 
cancer, they conducted a series of experiments 
which they think have proved beyond question 
that the blood of mice which have recovered 
from cancer possesses an antitoxic quality. 


This blood, when injected into mice suffering ° 


with cancer, arrested the growth, and when 


SCIENCE. 


153 


the tumors were not too large caused their 
disappearance. 

We have no reason to doubt the accuracy of 
the observation of the workers at the Buffalo 
laboratory as regards the fact of the disap- 
pearance of the tumors in mice treated with 
serum, and we earnestly hope they may be able 
to develop their discovery so that it may be- 
come applicable toman. But the plans of mice 
and men are proverbially uncertain in their 
outcome, and it is deplorable that the secular 
press should have prematurely reported these 
incomplete results. Even if the highest hopes 
of the experimenters are eventually realized 
the announcement of their discovery at this 
time can but do much harm by inducing many 
present sufferers to cast away the plank of 
surgical excision to grasp at what is yet but 
the straw of serum therapy. Schmidt, Doyen, 
Adamkiewicz and others whose names we have 
forgotten have elaborated antitoxic cancer 
sera, and they have failed to cure. This, of 
course, is no argument against the possibility 
of the Buffalo serum being efficacious, but in 
a matter of such momentous importance to 
mankind it behooves one to proceed with ex- 
treme caution and not to ignore the lessons 
of the past and the present even while dream- 
ing of a glorious future. Many mountains 
have been in labor at various times, but, alas, 
many little white mice have been born.— 


New York Medical Record. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


A MODEL ILLUSTRATING HITTORE’S THEORY OF 
THE MIGRATION VELOCITIES OF IONS. 

As an aid in explaining the conception of 
Hittorf* the model shown in Fig. 1 has been 
found so satisfactory that a brief deseription 
is here given in the hope that it may be of 
service to those teaching the mechanism of 
electrolysis. 

Upon a base-board, 50 cm. 7 cm., two 
upright supports, FF (8 em.x«1 em.—15 
em.), are fastened. Through these supports 
pass two cylindrical wooden rods, HH, 6 mm. 
in diameter and 47 em. long. Upon these 


= Pogg..Ann. 895 li7; 98, 1; 103; Vs 106, 337, 
513. 


154 SCIENCE. 


rods are placed sixteen wooden balls, eight on 
each rod as shown in the sketch. Across the 
top of the supports is fastened the horizontal 
seale, SS. This scale is divided into sixteen 
equal parts, the value of each division being 
the same as the diameter of a ball, or 28 mm. 
Between the third and fourth divisions, and 
between the twelfth and thirteenth divisions 
are placed two light strips of wood as shown 
at BB and CC. From the eighth division to 


B 


BEE hp 


a ae ee) ee ee a ee ee ee pee 
SESS —LSSE SS Ee | | ESSE LEE 


pm 5 
d0ade 00 —= 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 526. 


To make its use clearer let us take a con- 
crete case. Suppose the anion of the elec- 
trolyte to have a velocity twice as great as 
the velocity of the kation. Placing the balls 
as shown in Fig. 1 with the wire DD bisecting 
the two rows, we move the middle of the lower 
row, the anions, from division 8 to division 10. 
We then move the upper row from division 8 
to division 7... We have thus imparted a ve- 


locity to the anions twice as great as that 


e 
Ss 


(a Ss ee | | 


on sak eee 
aa aa eB ee PS 


COO 


Figs 2s 


the base-board is stretched a vertical wire, DD, 
1 mm. in diameter. The upper row of balls 
are painted black and are chosen to represent 
kations; the lower row are painted white and 
represent anions. The strip BB is painted 
black, representing the kathode, and the strip 
CC is painted white, representing’ the anode. 
The wire DD represents the trace of an im- 
aginary plane of reference through the solu- 
tion. 

With this arrangement it is possible to dem- 
onstrate to a class Hittorf’s theory as ex- 
plained by Ostwald.* 


**Tehrb. d. Allg. Chem.,’ IT., 595. 


imparted to the kations. Now let three mole- 
cules discharge, the ions assuming the atomic 
or molecular condition. To represent this we 
move the three end ions beyond the electrodes 
BB and CC, when we have the condition’ rep- 
resented in Fig. 2. It is obvious that the 
ratio of the kathode loss to the total number 
of molecules electrolyzed is 2:3, and the ratio 
of the anode loss to the total number of mole- 
cules electrolyzed is 1:3. These two values 
bear the same relation to each other as the 
velocities of anion and kation. 


By varying the conditions it is possible to 


— 


JANUARY 27, 1905 ] 


illustrate in a very satisfactory manner the 
mode of ion transference. 


Freperick H. German. 
COLLEGE OF THE CiTy or New YoRK. 


GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 
AND THE GEORGE WASHINGTON 
MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION.* 

THe annual meeting of the George Wash- 
ington Memorial Association was held at 
Rauscher’s on Wednesday, December 14. The 
president, Mrs. Archibald Hopkins, opened the 
meeting with an address recalling the events 
of the year, dwelling especially on the agree- 
ments of the association with the Columbian 
University, whereby the university changed 
its name from Columbian to the George Wash- 
ington University and the association pledged 
itself to raise the sum of $500,000 to construct 
the central building of the proposed new uni- 
versity group in Van Ness Park. This build- 
ing, the administration building of the uni- 
versity, was to receive the name of ‘ The 
George Washington Memorial Building.’ 
The president laid stress upon the need in 
Washington of such a building, which should 
contain an auditorium for meetings of inter- 
national tribunals and of scientific organiza- 
tions. 


THE 


The executive committees of the university 
and of the George Washington Memorial Asso- 
ciation have already designated the architects 
who were to compete for the memorial build- 
ing. The park commissioner, the committee 
for Greater Washington, Mr. McKim, Mr. St. 
Gaudens, Mr. Olmstead, and Mr. Burnam, 
with whom is associated Mr. Bernard R. Green, 
have consented to act as jury of award, and 
the date of the competition will be fixed as 
soon as the program, which was being pre- 
pared by Professor Perey Ash, of the univer- 
sity, should be finished and submitted to the 
jury. 

The most vital problem, therefore, which the 
association had to solve was the raising of 
funds for the Memorial Building. Fifty 
thousand dollars were already in the possession 
of the association, and the association desired 
to raise fifty thousand more before March, 


*From the Bulletin of the University. 


SCIENCE. sts) 


1905, so that the building could then proceed. 

The president felt justified in saying that 
the outlook was most encouraging. The 
enthusiasm of California and of Utah had 
been rekindled by the recent visits of Dr. Need- 
ham; in Ohio and South Dakota interest was 
reviving, and Virginia, Maryland, Pennsyl- 
vania and New York were organizing meetings 
to be held in January and February. Mean- 
while, literature was being prepared, plans 
carefully considered and state organizations 
perfected. All was as yet tentative; yet, in 
view of the work of the past year, the evident 
reawakening of interest, and the hearty co- 
operation of the George Washington Univer- 
sity, the future of the George Washington 
Memorial Association seemed to be full of 
promise. The president then called upon Dr. 
Needham. 

In his address Dr. Needham laid especial 
emphasis on the national and scientific char- 
acter of the governing board of the George 
Washington University, and gave a_ brief 
sketch of the organization of the university, 
which had in view primarily graduate and pro- 
fessional studies, but grouped about this higher 
university work, as feeder to it, the organiza- 
tion provides for a number of independent col- 
leges for undergraduate students, governed by 
their own distinctive boards. The first of 
those, Columbian College, which embraced all 
the undergraduate work now being done in the 
university, has now 401 students, this organ- 
ization combining the essential features of the 
English idea, of Oxford and of Cambridge, 
with the American idea of a university. 

Dr. Waleott congratulated the association 
upon the firm relations established during the 
past year with the George Washington Univer- 
sity. Some fear, he continued, had been enter- 
tained that the Carnegie Institution, estab- 
lished for scientific research and for graduate 
work, would materially interfere with the 
prosperity of the university. This appre- 
hension, however, had been removed, for, by 
the election of Dr. Woodward as its president, 
the Carnegie Institution definitely limited its 
sphere purely to scientific research. The com- 
mittee on nominations having presented the 
names of the officers of 1903-04 for re-election, 


156 


these officers were unanimously re-elected by 
the association for the year 1904-05. 


PORTO RICO EXPERIMENT STATION.* 

THe work of the Porto Rico experiment 
station has been considerably enlarged during 
the past year, partly with the aid of an ap- 
propriation of $2,700 made by the insular 
legislature and nearly $1,200 received from 
the sale of farm products. 

Many permanent improvements have been 
made on the station farm. <A small tile ma- 
chine was purchased and drain pipes were 
manufactured on the farm. Practically all 
the river bottom or alluvial land on the sta- 
tion farm has been drained. This is the first, 
under-drainage ever undertaken in Porto Rico, 
and it is believed that it will not only greatly 
enhance the producing power of the station 
property, but will also serve as a valuable 
object lesson to the planters of the island. 
An experimental irrigation system has also 
been installed on this farm. 

A preliminary survey of the principal to- 
bacco districts of the island has been made by 
a tobacco specialist in the employ of the sta- 
tion, and a report on these investigations is 
being prepared. 

The investigations on different methods of 
pruning, shading and fertilizing coffee plants 
have been continued. In an attempt to ex- 
terminate the coffee-leaf miner by hand pick- 
ing the leaves proved the impracticability of 
this method of repressing this pest. The en- 
tomologist of the station has also been investi- 
gating the possibility of combating this insect 
by means of parasites, and reports the dis- 
covery of an effective parasite which, it is 
believed, by careful propagation and distribu- 
tion, will aid very materially in keeping in 
check this insect, which is by far the most 
serious enemy to coffee cultivation now upon 
the island. 

A special study of the diseases of coffee and 
other plants was made by the botanist of the 
Connecticut State experiment station, who 
was temporarily in the employ of the Porto 
Rico station. 


* From the Report of the Secretary of Agri- 
culture. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor, XXI. No. 526. 


Much attention is being given to the propa- 
gation of citrous fruits, especially with a view 
of obtaining better stock for growing in the 
orchards of Porto Rico. A bulletin on the 
methods of production and marketing of 
oranges, with special reference to Porto Rico 
conditions, has recently been issued. A large 
number of tropical fruits, including mango, 
alligator pear, soursop, nispero, guava and 
many others, have been brought together in a 
tropical fruit orchard. 

The tea, rubber and cacao plantations men- 
tioned in my last report are flourishing and 
are being extended. Among the tropical vege- 
tables which enter into the variety tests are 
the yautia, taro, edible canna, arrowroot, cas- 
sava, yams and sweet potatoes, all of which 
have thus far done well. 

Experiments are being carried on with a 
number of fiber plants. Among these maguey 
and sisal have thus far given very promising 
results. The station has thus far conducted 
no careful experiments with cotton, but the 
industry has been extended throughout the 
island to a considerable extent during the 
past year, and the station officers report that 
the results seem to indicate that it is possible 
to profitably produce a medium grade of Sea 
Island cotton in Porto Rico. 

The report of the Bureau of Soils on the 
soil survey from Arecibo to Ponce, made by 
that bureau in cooperation with the Porto 
Rico station, has been reprinted in both Eng- 
lish and Spanish for distribution on the island. 
Several other bulletins and cireulars in both 
languages have been issued during the year. 


EIGHTEENTH SESSION OF THE MARINE 
BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 1905. 

Tue eighteenth season of the Marine Bio- 
logical Laboratory opens under favorable 
auspices. For the first time the laboratory is 
in a position to welcome investigators at any 
season of the year; a large stone building has 
been purchased and equipped with heating 
apparatus, running fresh and salt water, and 
the usual laboratory supplies. Two private 
rooms for investigators have been furnished 
in this building and are ready for occupancy. 
Mr. Gray, curator of the supply department, 


: 
7 
‘ 


| 
| 


ae ee 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


and two assistants are in residence through- 
out the year and are prepared to furnish ma- 
terial and supplies to investigators. Natural- 
ists who wish to carry on research in the 
winter and spring at Woods Hole should ap- 
ply for accommodations to the director of the 
Marine Biological Laboratory, Professor C. 
O. Whitman, or to the assistant director, Pro- 
fessor Frank R. Lillie, University of Chicago, 
Til. The regular season for investigators 
opens in June when the summer laboratories 
will be ready for occupancy. 

The Carnegie Institution has subscribed for 
twenty rooms for the season of 1905. Avppli- 
eants for the use of these rooms should ad- 
dress the president of the Carnegie Institu- 
tion, Washington, D. C., stating the general 
character of the work they propose to do, and 
the period for which the room is desired. Ap- 
plications should be made as early as possible, 
as the rooms are generally all in use during 
July and August. Thirty-five other private 
rooms are reserved for investigators. Appli- 
cations for these rooms should state the time 
of desired occupaney and any special needs, 
and should be sent to the director before May 
1. All private rooms are supplied with re- 
agents, glassware, etc., and carry with them 
the usual privileges in regard to supplies and 
aquaria and assistance in collecting material. 

The regular session for students will begin 
on Wednesday, June 28, and will continue for 
six weeks. Courses in invertebrate zoology, 
in the life histories of marine animals, in 
physiology and in botany are offered. The 
annual announcement for 1905 will be ready 
on or before March 1, and may be procured 
from Professor Frank R. Lillie, the University 
of Chicago, Ill. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


Proressor RapHarL PuMpreLiy was elected 
president of the Geological Society of Amer- 
ica at the recent Philadelphia meeting. 

THE officers of the American Anthropolog- 
ical Association for the ensuing year are: 
President, Professor Frederic W. Putnam, 
of Harvard University; Secretary, Mr. George 
Grant MacCurdy, of Yale University; T’reas- 


SCIENCE. 


157 


urer, Mr. B. T. B. Hyde, of New York; 
Editor, Mr. F. W. Hodge, of the Smithsonian 
Institution. 

Tue annual meeting of the National Geo- 
graphic Society was held at Washington on 
January 13. Eight members of the board of 
managers were elected to serve for three years 
as follows: Alexander Graham Bell, Alfred H. 
Brooks, Henry Gannett, General A. W. Greely, 
Gilbert H. Grosvenor, Angelo Heilprin, O. H. 
Tittmann and General John M. Wilson. The 
report of the secretary, Hon. O. P. Austin, 
showed that the present membership of the 
society is 3,400, of whom 1,125 are residents 
of Washington and 2,275 distributed through- 
out the United States, Alaska, Philippines, 
Europe, Asia and Africa. The net gain in 
membership for 1904 was 789. During 1904 
the society held twelve scientific meetings, 
sixteen special meetings, and four field meet- 
ings. 

Proressor EH. Warpure, director of the phys- 
ical laboratory of the University of Berlin, has 
been appointed president of the Reichsanstalt. 


Dr. Livincston Farranp, professor of an- 
thropology at Columbia University, has been 
placed in charge of the work of the National 
Association for the Study and Prevention of 
Tuberculosis. 


Dr. Mitton J. GREENMAN, assistant director 
of the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biol- 
ogy of the University of Pennsylvania, has 
been elected director to succeed Dr. Horace 
Jayne. 


Tue Russian Geographical Society has con- 
ferred its Count Liithe medal on Sir John 
Murray. 

Proressor WinuiAmM H. Burr and Mr. Will- 
iam Barclay Parsons, members of the Isth- 
mian Canal Commission, have sailed for 
Panama on the steamer Orizaba. 


Dr. CHartes M. Cuinp, of the department 
of zoology of the University of Chicago, is 
spending the winter quarter in research at 
Hopkins Seaside Laboratory of Stanford Uni- 
versity, Pacific Grove, Cal., and at the San 
Diego Laboratory of the University of Cali- 
fornia. 


158 


Dr. G. R. Pargry has returned to superin- 
tend the election of Rhodes scholars for 1905 
throughout the United States and Canada. 


Proressor Boyce and the members of the 
malarial expedition who left Liverpool for 
West Africa some time ago are returning on 
a steamer, which left Sierra Leone on January 
8 for Liverpool. 

Proressor Frieprich Braver, director of 
the Zoological Department of the Natural 
History Museum at Vienna, and Professor 
T. H. Fuchs, director of the Geological and 
Paleontological Department, have retired. 


Ar a meeting of the Institution of Civil 
Engineers, on January 10, Sir William White 
gave an account of the visit paid to the United 
States and Canada by the institution last 
year during his term of office as president. 

A CONFERENCE on school hygiene has been 
arranged by the Royal Sanitary Institute to 
be held under the presidentship of Sir Arthur 
Riicker in the University of London from 
February 7 to 10. 

Dr. Westsrook, of Minneapolis, was elected 
president of the American Public Health 
Association at the recent Havana meeting. 


Dr. Hans H. Meyer, professor of pharma- 
cology in the University of Vienna, has ac- 
cepted an invitation to deliver the second 
course of Herter lectures at the Johns Hop- 
kins Medical School next October. 


Mr. JosepH CHAMBERLAIN will preside at the 
banquet of the Liverpool School of Tropical 
Medicine to be held on May 10. 

Dr. L. Courvotstgr, assistant in the observa- 
tory near Heidelberg, has been appointed ob- 
server in the Royal Observatory at Berlin. 


Tue deaths are announced of Dr. Carl Otto 
Weber, an authority on the chemistry of india- 
rubber; of Mr. George H. Harris, an agent 
of the Division of Entomology, U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture; of E. G. T. Lueder, a 
botanist, and of Professor Frank A. Leach, 
a teacher of science. 

Tue deaths are reported of Dr. Anton 
Miittrich, professor of physics at the School 
of Forestry at Eberswalde, at the age of 
seventy-one years, and of Dr. Jacob Walz, pro- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 526. 


fessor of botany at Odessa, at the age of sixty- 
three years. 


WE learn from Nature of the deaths of Mr. 
G. W. Hemming, a mathematician, at the age 
of eighty-four years, and of Mr. Robert Harris 
Valpy, geologist, at the age of eighty-five 
years. 


Tue French government has recommended 
an appropriation of $200,000 for the Interna- 
tional Congress of Tuberculosis to be held 
shortly in Paris. 


Tue third International Congress of Philos- 
ophy will be held at Heidelberg in 1908. 


Aw International Association of Anatomists 
will be established at a meeting to be held at 
Geneva from August 7 to 10 of the present 
year. The initiative has been taken by the 
anatomists of the Swiss universities and has 
the support of the anatomical societies of 
Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and 
America. 


Tue German Astronomical Society offers a 
prize of 1,000 Marks for the most exact cal- 
culation of the next appearance of Halley’s 
comet. The paper may be written in English 
and need not be presented until the end of the 
year 1908. 


Tue Henry Saxon Snell prize was founded 
to encourage improvements in the construc- 
tion or adaptation of sanitary appliances, and 
is to be awarded by the council of the Royal 
Sanitary Institute at intervals of three years, 
the funds being provided by the legacy left 
by the late Mr. Henry Saxon Snell. The first 
prize, which will consist of £50 and a medal of 
the institute, is offered in the year 1905 for 
an essay on ‘Domestic sanitary appliances, 
with suggestions for their improvement.’ 


Tue U. 8S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces examinations on January 30 for posi- 
tions under the Isthmian Canal Commission, 
including those of assistant civil engineer at 
salaries of $200, $225 and $250 per month. 


AccorpinG to Terrestrial Magnetism and At- 
mospheric EHlectricily, the efforts of Professors 
Beattie and Morrison towards securing mag- 
netic data in South Africa are receiving ade- 
quate recognition. The magnetic survey was 


JANUARY 27, 1905.] 


originally started by them in the summer of 
1897-8 at their own expense. Since then 
grants have been received from various sources 
and assistance has been rendered by various 
organizations and persons. ‘The work has been 
zealously prosecuted so that there are now 
362 stations distributed over Cape Colony, 
Transvaal, Orange River Colony, Natal and 
Rhodesia. There still remained, however, the 
northwest of Cape Colony and for the com- 
pletion of this work the Cape government 
voted for the current year £200 and the Royal 
Society of London £250. 


Tue library of the American Museum of 
Natural History has been given the private 
scientific library of Professor H. C. Bumpus, 
the director of the museum, amounting to 
more than three hundred volumes and twenty- 
seven hundred pamphlets. This collection is 
especially rich in works in comparative anat- 
omy and brings to the library many valuable 
works and rare reprints not heretofore owned 
by the museum. 

MepicaL papers state that with the advance 
of the cold weather, plague is again growing 
worse in Upper India. For the week ending 
December 3 the United Provinces had 4,425 
deaths, an increase of 1,000 on the total of the 
previous week; the Punjaub, 2,446, an increase 
of 400; Mysore, 1,157, an increase of nearly 
600; Hyderabad State, 768, an increase of 200. 
In the Bombay Presidency there were 6,770 
deaths, an increase of 300. Elsewhere 
throughout India the disease remains about as 
before. 


At Cornell University, January 17, before 
the conference or seminary of the department 
of neurology and vertebrate zoology, Mr. A. 
H. Wright, ’04, gave an account of his collec- 
tions and observations as to the fish fauna of 
Monroe County during the past two summers. 
Notwithstanding a previous survey, Mr. 
Wright has added eight species to the seventy- 
four already known from the Ontario basin, 
and thirty-two to the forty-two previously re- 
corded for Munroe County. There was shown 
a combined table and diagram exhibiting, for 
a single creek eleven miles long, the varying 
conditions, mile by mile, as to the depth of 


SCIENCE. 


159 


the water, the contour and nature of the bot- 
tom, the rapidity of the current, and the range 
of the twenty-six species found in it. It ap- 
peared that in a given stream the lower, more 
sluggish and muddy portions are frequented 
by the larger and less active fish, while the 
smaller and more active live in the ‘upper por- 
tions where the current is swifter and the 


bottom gravel or sand. 


Mr. Morris K. Jesup, president of the 
Peary Arctic Club, by order of the board of 
directors, has issued the following appeal for 
funds to aid in the equipment of the new 
expedition which is to start under command 
of Commander Peary next summer: 


There is an opportunity, offering strong prob- 
abilities of success, of securing for the country 
and this city, the honor and enduring fame of 
accomplishing a work of large and world-wide 
interest and value. 

The Peary Arctic Club has been incorporated 
under the laws of the State of New York, for the 
purpose of aiding Commander Peary in his per- 
sistent efforts to complete the geographical con- 
quest of the large unknown area of the North 
Polar basin, and secure for this country, if pos- 
sible, the honor of attaining the extreme top of 
the earth. 

The club has had subscribed, principally from 
its own membership, about $55,000, and, in order 
to avoid delay which would be fatal, has assumed 
the responsibility of contracting for, and is now 
building, a special ship of exceptional strength 
and powerful engines, to be completed about 
March 1, 1905. : 

This ship is the first ever constructed in this 
country for Arctie discovery. 

Additional funds to the amount of $100,000 
are necessary for the completion of the ship and 
equipment of the expedition, and it is not believed 
that the public-spirited men of means in this 
great country, and particularly this city, from 
which the expedition will start, will permit so 
broad and laudable an enterprise to fail for 
lack of so comparatively small an amount of 
money. The club cordially invites your coopera- 
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contribute to the funds needed. Subscriptions for 
any amount will be gladly received. 

Very respectfully, 
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President Peary Arctic Club. 


160 


Tue American Forest Congress, which met 
at Washington from January 2 to 6, passed 
resolutions as follows: Urging on Congress 
and all legislative bodies full protection and 
preservation of the forest, especially protection 
from fire; advising reduction of taxation on 
lands held for forest reproduction, so as to 
induce forest conservation; urging the repeal 
of the timber and stone act; advising the 
guarded sale of timber growing on public 
lands; favoring in case of lieu land selections 
an exchange for lands of equivalent value or 
of similar condition of forest growth; advo- 
cating the immediate consolidation of all gov- 
ernment forest work, including the adminis- 
tration of the National Forest Reserves, in 
the Department of Agriculture; favoring the 
passage of a law which will authorize the sale 
of all non-mineral products of the forest re- 
serves, the proceeds to be applied to the 
management and protection of the reserves 
and to road and trail construction within 
them; that Congress appropriate adequate 
sums for the promotion of forest education 
and experiment work in all agricultural col- 
leges and experiment stations in the United 
States; that opportunities be increased for 
general forest education in schools and col- 
leges, and for professional training in post- 
graduate schools; urging the establishment of 
national forest reserves in the Southern Ap- 
palachians and in the White Mountains; that 
Congress declare forfeited all right-of-way 
permits not exercised promptly on issuance, 
and secure to all industries engaged in lawful 
business and which will promptly use their 
permits, the possession of necessary rights of 
way similar to those of railroads and irriga- 
tion companies, reasonable payment to be ex- 
acted for the use of rights of way on forest 
reserves and other public lands; that all state 
legislatures provide laws and financial aid to 
consolidate the rural schools in units suffi- 
ciently large that forestry, agriculture and 
home economics may be successfully taught 
by precept, example and practical work; and 
protesting against the attempted reduction of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. .No. 526. 


the area of the Minnesota National Forest 
Reserve. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


Mr. Hiram W. Siptey, of Rochester, has 
given $5,000 to Hobart College. 


By the will of the late W. H. Baldwin, Jr., 
Harvard University receives $2,000 and 
Tuskegee Normal Industrial Institute $1,000. 

A CHINESE viceroy has provided five scholar- 
ships for Chinese students at the University of 
California. 

McGiitut University, Montreal, received dur- 
ing 1904 from a friend resident in the United 
States renewal of his donation of $400 for a 
fellowship in electricity. 

Tue University of Missouri has issued a 
bulletin showing the growth of the university 
from December 31, 1890, to December 31, 1903. 
The statistical summary is as follows: 


1890. 1903. 

Seminary fund (endowment)................. $540,000 $1,240,000 
From U.S. Government (yearly) ......... $29,150 $38,438 
Annual income (for all purposes)......... $122,255 $479,835 
Buildings, books, and equipment......... $360,000 $1,600,000 
Students enrolled..............c..ccccenecearessees 510 1,649 
Professors, Assistant Professors, and 

EMStLUCLOUSss.cesecncanseraracerseenarscckareorncesed 38 100 


Dr. JAMES B. ANGELL, president of the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, has presented his resigna- 
tion to the regents of the university, but they 
have unanimously declined to accept it and 
offer to supply him with such assistance as 
he may need. Dr. Angell, celebrated his 
seventy-sixth birthday on January 7. 

Dr. Paut L. Srrret has been appointed to 
an assistant professorship of mathematics at 
the College of the City of New York. 


Proressor G. BopLAnprEr, of the Technolog- 
ical Institute of Brunswick, has been called 
to the chair of physical chemistry at Gdt- 
tingen, vacant by the removal of Professor 
Nernst to Berlin. 

Proressor Josep Parrscu, professor of 
geography at Breslau, has been called to 
Leipzig. 

Dr. Emit Wiechert has been promoted to a 
professorship of geophysics at Gottingen. 


SCIENCE.—ADVERTISEMENTS. V 


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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. 


Fripay, Fresruary 3, 1905. 


CONTENTS: 


The National Bureau of Standards and its 
Relation to Scientific and Technical Labora- 


tories: PRoressor Epwarp B. Rosa....... 161 

The American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science :— 

Section A—Mathematics and Astronomy: 

Proressor LAENAS GIFFORD WELD........ 174 
Albatross Expedition to the Eastern Pacific: 

PUHEXANDOR AGASSIZ. s.:.5.262ee csc c eee ee 178 
Scientific Books :— 

Halsted’s Rational Geometry: PROFESSOR 

ARTHURS. HATHAWAY. West on the British 

Freshwater Alge: Dr. Grorce T. Moore.. 183 
Scientific Journals and Articles............. 185 
Societies and Academies :— 

Biological Society of Washington: WILFRED 

H. Oscoop. Section of Geology and Min- 

eralogy of the New York Academy of Sci- 

ence: Dr. AMADEUS W. GRABAU. The Sci- 

ence Olub of the University of Wisconsin: 

PREM MDVVOU  cieravie sss eis cece site oe oi nce oe 186 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

A Biological Station in Greenland: Dr. 

feMieie OLSSON-SEFFER.......---0-s0eee00e 189 
Special Articles :— 

The Dexter, Kansas, Nitrogen Gas Well: 

Proressor ErRASMUS Hawortu, D. F. Mc- 

FarLAND and Proressor H. L. Farrcnimp.. 191 
The Teaching of Agriculture in South Caro- 

cork? 12.86 NID eee eee 193 
Scientific Notes and News...............+- 195 
University and Educational News.......... 199 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of SCIENCE, Garri- 
§9n-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS 
AND ITS RELATION TO SCIENTIFIC 
AND TECHNICAL LABORATORIES.* 

THE dedication of a large and well-ap- 
pointed building to be devoted exclusively 
to instruction and research in physics is a 
notable event in the history of a college. 
In this instance it is the realization of a 
hope long cherished by many, and by none 
more than by the present speaker. That so 
splendid a building has been deemed neces- 
sary for, the work to be done in physics 
suggests two things. First, the high stand- 
ard which Wesleyan is setting for herself 
in this as in other departments of work, 
and, second, the rapid development which 
has oceurred in recent years in physics, 
rendering imperative an equipment for ex- 
perimental work of an entirely different 
order of magnitude from that thought suf- 
ficient a generation ago. So great has been 
the demand for the best instruments and 
standards to be used in experimental work, 
both in pure and in applied physies, that 
the government has been led to establish at 
Washington a national laboratory, one of 
whose functions is to cooperate with scien- 
tifie and technical institutions and manu- 
facturers in the work of improving instru- 
ments and standards and developing meth- 
ods of measurement. It, therefore, seems 
not inappropriate that something be said 
on this oceasion concerning this work of 
the national government, so recently in- 


* An address delivered at the opening of the 
John Bell Scott Memorial Laboratory of Physical 
Science, at Wesleyan University, Middletown, 
Conn., December 7, 1904. 


162 


augurated as not to be generally known. 

The bureau of standards was established 
by act of congress in response to a de- 
mand for such an institution on the part 
of many scientists, engineers, manufac- 
turers and representatives of the national 
government. The high order of accu- 
racy required in modern engineering prac- 
tise and in scientific research made it more 
than ever. necessary that manufacturers 
of scientific and engineering instruments 
should possess correct standards of length, 
mass and volume, as well as electrical, op- 
tical and thermometrie standards, and be 
able to have them reverified from time to 
time. It was also important that any one 
engaged in scientific or engineering work 
could have his instruments and standards 
tested whenever, necessary. The office of 
weights and measures, at Washington, had 
been equipped to do some of the work re- 
quired in the verification of length, mass 
and volume for many years, but it was 
uecessary to send electrical standards, 
thermometers and pyrometers and many 
other kinds of apparatus to Europe to be 
tested when results of the highest accuracy 
were desired. As this was both expensive 
and time consuming the consequence was 
that only infrequently were these more ac- 
curate tests obtained. The United States 
held a creditable position among the na- 
tions of the earth in physical science, and 
had some of the best physical laboratories 
in the world; it was leading the world in 
the manufacture of electrical machinery 
and some kinds of electrical instruments. 
To’ be obliged to ask the German imperial 
or other foreign laboratories to do our 
testing for us, because we lacked a well- 
equipped national laboratory for doing such 
work, was clearly a situation that ought to 
be corrected, and congress acted promptly 
when the importance of the matter was 
brought to its attention. Appropriations 
were made for laboratory buildings and 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527. 


equipment and for a director and a small 
scientific staff, and the bureau began its 
work July 1, 1901. President McKinley 
appointed as director Professor S. W. 
Stratton, of Chicago University, to whom 
more than to any one else is due the credit 
for, the establishment and the success of 
the bureau. A careful study of the Physi- 
kalisch Technische Reichsanstalt and of 
other European laboratories was made in 
connection with the designing of the labo- 
ratory buildings and the selection of the 
equipment, and many valuable suggestions 
were derived therefrom. The laboratories 
have, however, been constructed after Am- 
erican rather than European models, al- 
though in their equipment it has been 
found necessary to draw very heavily upon 
European instrument makers. 

The bureau began its work in temporary 
quarters and has been developing methods, 
building and acquiring apparatus and do- 
ing testing for the government and the 
public while the laboratory buildings have 
been under construction. The larger of 
the two buildings was only recently com- 
pleted and the bureau is just now moving 
into it, the first building having been occu- 
pied nearly a year ago. We now find our- 
selves, about three and a half years from 
the organization of the bureau, in posses- 
sion of buildings and equipment costing 
about $600,000, with a personnel carefully 
selected through the civil service and num- 
bering altogether seventy-one, maintained 
by annual appropriations amounting to 
nearly $200,000, and, judged by the magni- 
tude and importance of the output of test- 
ing and investigation, ranking second only 
to the great German Reichsanstalt among 
the government laboratories of the world 
doing this kind of work. 

After this brief epitome of the history 
of the bureau let me state more particu- 
larly something of its work and of its rela- 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


tion to the scientific and technical labora- 
tories of the country. 

The work of the bureau may be briefly 
specified under three separate heads as 
follows: 

1. To acquire and preserve standards of 
measure and to certify copies of the same, 
and to test and investigate measuring in- 
struments and to determine the properties 
of materials. 

2. To conduct researches and to investi- 
gate and develop methods of measurement ; 
to improve instruments and apparatus for 
physical measurements and to devise new 
apparatus, especially for use in testing and 
in precise measurements. 

3. To distribute information regarding 
instruments and standards to manufactur- 
ers, state and city sealers of weights and 
measures, scientific and technical labora- 
tories, and to any and every one applying 
for such information. 

These three functions of the bureau are 
closely interdependent. To acquire a 
standard in some cases involves an elab- 
orate investigation and the independent 
determination of the value of the stand- 
ard; and to preserve it may involve subse- 
quent redeterminations of its value to 
ascertain whether any change has occurred. 
A new kind of test often involves the in- 
vestigation of methods of measurement, or 
the determination of new standards or the 
construction of a new instrument. Thus 
research and testing are intimately con- 
nected in most of the work of the bureau. 

The distribution of information, the 
third function of the bureau, is accom- 
plished through correspondence and the 
cireulars and bulletins issued by the bu- 
reau, and also by the personal visits of 
people seeking such information. 

The three fundamental standards of 
measure are those of length, mass and time. 
The oldest of these is the unit of time, the 
second. This ancient unit has successfully 


SCIENCE. 


163 


withstood every attempt to replace it by a 
decimal submultiple of the day. The earth 
itself is our fundamental timepiece, every 
revolution upon its axis counting off 86,400 
sidereal seconds, from which we immedi- 
ately derive our standard second. No 
clock is so perfect a timepiece as the earth 
and all the standard clocks in the world 
are corrected by it. What the astronomer 
does in determining the time by astro- 
nomical observations, is to read off the 
time of day or night by means of a tele- 
scope on the starry face of the celestial 
clock. The telescope corresponds to the 
hour hand of a 24-hour dial (there is no 
minute hand), and the stars mark the sub- 
divisions of the dial. The best made clocks 
of human invention go fast or slow by at 
least some fraction of a second each day, 
but there is no proof to show that the ter- 
restrial clock deviates by so much in a 
thousand years. Thus the unit of time is 
a natural unit, easily obtained direct from 
nature and universally employed the world 
over. 

The Bureau of Standards does not in- 
tend to make independent time observa- 
tions, but will correct its standard clocks 
from the observations made at the neigh- 
boring Naval Observatory. 

The unit of length has a very different 
history. The foot has been the most wide- 
ly used measure of length, both in ancient 
and in modern times. It was derived, as 
the name suggests, from the length of the 
human foot and is thus a natural unit like 
the second; but, owing to the multiplicity 
of human feet and their varying dimen- 
sions, this unit has varied greatly in differ- 
ent countries and in different ages, its 
leneth ranging all the way from the an- 
cient Welsh foot of nine inches to the Pied- 
mont foot of twenty inches. In modern 
times it has varied from the Spanish foot 
of less than eleven inches to the Venice foot 
of over thirteen inches, almost every coun- 


164 


try using a foot of different length. The 
confusion resulting from this lack of uni- 
formity prompted the French in 1799 to 
adopt a new unit of length, and remember- 
ing how surely and elegantly the unit of 
time is fixed by the rotation of the earth, 
they sought to make the meter, the new 
standard of length, permanent and inflex- 
ible by basing it upon the dimensions of 
the earth. The meter was chosen to be one 
ten-millionth part of the distance from 
the equator to the pole of the earth at a 
particular meridian, and was fixed in con- 
erete form as the length of a platinum bar, 
which has been carefully preserved in 
Paris. Subsequent and more accurate 
measurements have given a slightly differ- 
ent value for the circumference of the 
earth, so that the meter is known not to be, 
as originally intended, just one ten-mill- 
ionth of a particular quadrant of the 
earth. The meter has, however, not 
been changed, its value being fixed by the 
length of the platinum standard and not 
by the earth. Thus the platinum bar has 
become the primary standard of length, 
instead of a secondary standard as was 
originally intended. This is a happy re- 
sult, for the difficulties of comparing a 
meter with the dimensions of the earth is 
too great to make the dimensions of the 
earth of any value as a standard of length. 
The original standard meter has been 
reproduced many times in platinum and 
iridio-platinum, and many of the civilized 
nations of the earth possess such duplicates. 
We have two of them at the bureau of 
standards in Washington, one of which was 
recently taken to Paris by Mr. Fischer, and 
recompared with the standards of the inter- 
national bureau. The results showed al- 
most perfect agreement with the compari- 
son made fifteen years previously, the dif- 
ference, if any, being not greater than 
about 0.5 of a micron, that is, 1/50,000 
inch. This is one part in 2,000,000 of the 


SCIENCE. 


(N.S. Vor. XXT. No. 527. 


length of the bar and represents about the 
limit of accuracy obtainable in comparisons 
of this nature, although the computed 
probable error of the observations was only 
.02 of one micron, or less than a millionth 
of an inch. 

The third fundamental unit, that of mass, 
has likewise varied in different countries 
and in different ages. The most widely 
used unit was the pound, and before the 
metric system came into use there were hun- 
dreds of different pounds in use in Europe, 
differing from country to country and from 
province to province, and varying also ac- 
cording to the commodity to be measured. 
The ancient Roman pound was equivalent 
to a little less than twelve of our avoirdu- 
pois ounces, and from it were derived the 
various Italian pounds, varying in value 
from the Venice light pound, equivalent 


to about eleven of our avoirdupois ounces, — 


and the Naples silk-pound and the Milan 
light pound of about twelve ounces to the 
Piedmont pound of about thirteen ounces 
and the Venice heavy pound of about sev- 
enteen ounces. There were silk pounds, 
and chocolate pounds, and table pounds, 
and goldsmith pounds and _ medicinal 
pounds; there were lght pounds, and 
heavy pounds, and half-heavy pounds and 
extra-heavy pounds. There were pounds 
of 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 2ay 
30 and 36 ounces, and the ounces had vary- 
ing values in different countries and in 
different provinces of the same country. 
To remedy this distressing confusion the 
French, in 1799, at the same time the meter 
was chosen, adopted the kilogram as the 
unit of mass, fixing it concretely in a cylin- 
drical mass of platinum, which was intend- 
ed to be equal to the mass of a eubie deci- 
meter of water at the temperature of its 
maximum density. This, lke the meter, 
was designed to be a natural unit that 
could be derived originally at any subse- 
quent time and in any country. But, as 


Fresruary 3, 1905.] 


in the ease of the meter, later determina- 
tions showed that the kilogram was not 
exactly equal to the mass of a cubie deci- 
meter of water as was intended, and hence 
the platinum secondary standard was 
adopted as a primary standard of mass and 
no further attempt made to make it a nat- 
ural unit. All other countries using the 
metric system use carefully constructed 
copies of this original kilogram as their 
standards cf mass. ‘The process of weigh- 
ing is even more accurate than the com- 
parison of lengths, so that the standard 
kilograms of the various countries of the 
world are practically perfect duplicates of 
the original and of each other. 

In 1875 a conference of the representa- 
tives of seventeen nations was held in Paris 
and a permanent international bureau of 
weights and measures was established and 
is still maintained. It is located at Sévres, 
near Paris, and is supported jointly by the 
participating nations. Its duties are to 
eare for the fundamental standards of 
length and mass, to furnish accurately ad- 
justed copies of the same, and to compare 
standards which may be returned from 
time to time. Some other testing is done, 
including the calibration of thermometers. 
The work is of the highest order of accu- 
racy and leaves little to be desired so far 
as standards of length and mass are con- 
cerned. The metric system has been adopt- 
ed by nearly all the civilized nations of 
the world, excepting Great Britain and her 
colonies and the United States, and is uni- 
versally used throughout the world for sci- 
entific purposes. The electrical units are 
all based on the metric system and hence 
electrical engineers employ the metric sys- 
tem almost exclusively, even in this coun- 
try. The gain to science and commerce due 
to the adoption of the metric system can 
searcely be overestimated and it is to be 
hoped that it will scon be adopted by the 
English-speaking countries of the world. 


SCIENCE. 


165 


The avoirdupois standard for the United 
States was defined in 1830 as 7000/5760 
of the Troy standard pound of the mint, 
which in turn was a copy of the British 
Troy pound, derived from the standard of 
Queen Elizabeth made in 1588. The latter 
was derived from the standard of Edward 
IIl., and this is said to have come from 
the city of Troyes, France, hence the name, 
Troy pound. The metrie system was legal- 
ized in the United States in 1866, and the 
meter was declared to be equivalent to 
39.37 inches and the kilogram to 2.204 
pounds. The international bureau began 
its work in 1879. The iridio-platinum 
prototypes cf the metric standards were 
received in this country in 1889. These 
were so much superior as standards to the 
brass standard pound and _ the 
yard, that in 1893 the metric standards 
were adopted as fundamental standards by 
the United States and the pound and yard 
were defined in terms of them. Thus the 
metrie system is not only legalized in this 
country, but our fundamental standards 
are the meter and kilogram and all our 
weights and measures are derived from 
these metric standards using the legal 
equivalents. 

Few people, perhaps, realize how need- 
lessly complex our system of weights and 
measures really is. Instead of a single 
unit of weight and of length with multiples 
and submultiples having ratios of ten, and 
a unit of volume simply related to the unit 
of length, as is the case in the metric sys- 
tem, we have a multiplicity of units and all 
kinds of odd ratios for the multiples and 
submultiples. I beg your indulgence for 
a moment while I remind you of some of 
the absurdities of our system. But first 
recall how much simpler and more con- 
venient our decimal coinage is than the 
English coinage. Nothing could be simpler 
than the expression of values in dollars 
and cents; the use of pounds, shillings and 


bronze 


166 


pence, to say nothing of guineas, crowns 
and farthings with their odd ratios, being 
cumbersome in But our 
weights and measures are far more cum- 
bersome and complicated than the English 
coinage. We weigh most merchandise by 
avoirdupois weight, gold and silver by troy 
weight, medicines by apothecaries’ weight, 
diamonds by diamond carat weight. We 
have dry quarts and liquid quarts, long 
tons and short tons, and a hundredweight 
is not 100, but 112 pounds. Coal is usually 
purchased at wholesale by the long ton and 
retailed by the short ton. A bushel some- 
times means 2,150.4 cubic inches and some- 
times it means a certain number of pounds 
weight of a commodity. The American 
bushel is derived. from the old English 
Winchester bushel, but the legal English 
bushel of the present day is larger by 69 
cubie inches. On the contrary, the Eng- 
lish gallon is much larger than the Amer- 
ican gallon, the difference amounting to 
about 20 per cent. We measure wood by 
the cord, stone by the perch, earth by the 
cubie yard. Moreover, among the different 
states of the union are considerable differ- 
ences in custom and in legal equivalents. 
We are, of course, much better off than the 
countries of Europe were a century ago, 
but the difference is all too small. 

Our medieval system of weights and 
measures is, however, too deeply rooted to 
be easily displaced. But the metric system 
is being used in this country more than is 
generally realized and our rapidly grow- 
ing foreign trade is bringing it more than 
ever to the attention of merchants and 
manufacturers. In England a strong ef- 
fort is being made to adopt the metric 
system, with the hope that ultimately a 
decimal system of currency may also be 
adopted. The English colonies are even 
more progressive than the mother country, 
and strong influences are at work to secure 
the decimal system throughout the British 


comparison. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527. 


empire. It will be greatly to the advan- 
tage of the United States to keep abreast 
of this movement, and not to be the last 
among the civilized nations of the world 
to throw off the ineubus of an incoherent 
system of weights and measures, whose 
chief claim lies in the fact that it is in 
general use. 

The testing of lengths and masses con- 
stitutes one of the most important branches 
of the work of the bureau. As I have said, 
this work has been done by the government 
for many years, but the facilities for the 
work are being immensely improved by 
the bureau so as to extend the range and 
imerease the accuracy of the work. The 
new laboratories will contain many new 
balances and comparators and every pre- 
caution is being taken to secure the most 
favorable conditions possible for precision 
work. When the installation is completed 
it will probably be the best of the kind in 
the world. 

I have said that the three fundamental 
units of measure are those of length, mass 
and time, or the meter, kilogram and sec- 
ond. From these are systematically de- 
rived various other units, all forming what 
is often called the centimeter-gram-second 
system, or, more briefly, the ¢.g.s. system. 
It is not my purpose to enumerate the vari- 
ous derived units which are employed in 
scientific and technical work, but rather to 
describe briefly some of those employed in 
the testing and research work of the bu- 
reau. And first let me speak of the work 
in heat and thermometry. The testing of 
thermometers is one of the most important 
branches of the work of the bureau. This 
work is under the charge of Dr. Chas. W. 
Waidner, who is personally known to some 
of you. Dr. Waidner and his assistants 
have devoted a great deal of effort to the 
acquisition of reliable standard thermom- 
eters and to the investigation of instru- 
ments and methods. In this they have 


Fepruary 3, 1905.] 


availed themselves of the results of the 
magnificent work that has been done in 
this field in Europe, more especially at the 
Bureau Internationale and the Reichsan- 
stalt, and by the thermometer makers of 
France and Germany. For our present 
purpose thermometers may be conveniently 
grouped as follows: (1) Precision mereury 
thermometers, to be used as standards or 
for scientific purposes. They are calib- 
rated very elaborately and are capable of 
high accuracy. (2) Ordinary mercury 
thermometers and clinical thermometers. 
We test clinical thermometers by the thou- 
sand and we hope before long that they 
will come to us by the tens of thousands. 
Clinical thermometers often change if grad- 
uated new, and hence they ought always to 
be aged, tested and certified to insure their 
eecuracy. (3) High temperature mercury 
thermometers of hard glass, with nitrogen 
under pressure above the mercury column, 
reading up to 550° C. (or about 1000° F.). 
(4) Platinum resistance thermometers, 
thermocouples and other forms of pyrom- 
eters suitable for measuring furnace tem- 
peratures up to 1600° C. (about 2900° F.). 
Such instruments are used in many manu- 
facturing processes, as well as in research 
problems and hence are found both in 
scientific and in technical laboratories. (5) 
Optical pyrometers for measuring the tem- 
peratures of the hottest furnaces and, ap- 
proximately, even the temperature of the 
electric are, the highest temperature attain- 
able by any known means, namely, about 
3950° C. (or 7150° F.). An investigation 
on this subject at the bureau has recently 
been published by Drs. Waidner and Bur- 
gess. (6) Low temperature thermometers, 
for temperatures below the freezing point 
of mereury, even down to the temperatures 
of liquid air and of liquid or solid hydro- 
gen. Such thermometers use pentane or 
toluene; or a copper-constantan thermo- 
couple is employed. For the very lowest 


SCIENCE. 


167 


temperatures helium gas is used, helium 
being the only gas not liquefied at the tem- 
perature of solid hydrogen, namely, about 
16° above absolute zero, or 257° C. (or 
430° F.) below the freezing point of water. 

The bureau has done more or less testing 
in all these lines except the last, but hopes 
soon to add this to the list of tests which 
are made. 

From the temperature of solid hydrogen 
to that of the electric are is a wide range, 
indeed, and a very considerable equipment 
of apparatus and machinery is necessary 
to produce and to measure any tempera- 
ture throughout this range. For the high- 
er temperatures numerous gas and electric 
furnaces are required. For the lower tem- 
peratures a refrigerating plant and appa- 
ratus for liquefying carbon dioxide, air and 
hydrogen are required. The bureau has 
recently purchased the low temperature 
plant which was operated as an exhibit by 
the British government at the St. Louis 
Exposition. This was one of the most in- 
teresting exhibits of the entire world’s fair. 
Liquid hydrogen was produced in larger 
quantity by this plant than had ever been 
done before, more being made and used in 
publie demonstrations during the season 
than the total amount that has been pro- 
duced since hydrogen was first liquefied. 
Solid hydrogen is also produced by the 
apparatus. 

The optical work of the bureau is not so 
fully established as the work in weights 
and measures and heat and thermometry, 
but three well-trained specialists are de- 
voting themselves to it and a fourth is soon 
to be appointed. The work of research 
and testing in this section, which has been 
taken up or is soon to be begun, includes 
the investigation of the optical properties 
of instruments and of materials; the appli- 
eation of interference and other optical 
methods to linear and angular measure- 
ments; the investigation of the spectra of 


168 


vacuum tubes and other phenomena in con- 
nection with the passage of electricity 
through gases at reduced pressure; and 
the investigation of questions connected 
with the polariscopic analysis of sugar and 
the testing of polariscopes. 

The latter subject is of special impor- 
tanee on account of the use of polariscopes 
in determining the duty on sugar imported 
into the United States. The bureau has 
undertaken, at the request of the Treasury 
Department, to supervise the work of polari- 
seopie analysis of sugar in all the custom- 
houses of the country. Sugar is the chief 
source of revenue among articles imported, 
the duties .collected by the government 
amounting to over $60,000,000 per annum. 
The duty on each importation is deter- 
mined by the angle through which a beam 
of polarized light is rotated when passed 
through a solution of a sample of sugar, 
the percentage of pure sugar being shown 
by a specially prepared table when the 
angle of rotation has been determined. 
For some years a difference has existed be- 
tween the experts of the government and 
those employed by the sugar interests as to 
the effect of temperature upon the indica- 
tions of the polariscope, and although the 
difference is only a fraction of one per 
cent., it amounts to a large sum when ap- 
plied to the hundreds of millions of dol- 
lars paid in duty during the last few years. 
The question is being contested in the 
courts and in the meantime the bureau is 
making some careful investigations on the 
subject in the interest of the government. 

Another line of the bureau’s work not 
yet fully established is the testing of gas 
and water meters, pressure gauges and 
manometers for high and low pressures, 
engine indicators and the determination of 
the strengths of materials including cem- 
ents and other building materials. This 
will probably develop into a very impor- 
tant branch of our work, in which we can 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527. 


be of much service to scientific and tech- 
nical laboratories, as well as to the govern- 
ment and the public. 

The official testing of scales, measures 
of length and volume, gas, water and elec- 
tricity meters and other instruments by 
which the commodities purchased by the 
people are measured is not done in this 
country as thoroughly as it ought to be. 
In very few cities do the sealers of weights 
and measures go about systematically test- 
ing the instruments employed for measur- 
ing merchandise. England surpasses us in 
looking after the interests of the people in 
this particular. One of the functions of 
the bureau is to educate the public to the 
importance of this work. A step in this 
direction is the national convention of 
sealers of weights and measures to meet 
next month in Washington in response to 
a call issued by the bureau of standards. 

The various lines of testing and research 
which have so far been mentioned, namely, 
weights and measures, heat and thermom- 
etry, hight and optical instruments, and en- 
gineering instruments, are included in the 
first division of the work of the bureau of 
standards. The second division includes 
electricity and photometry. In the early 
days of its development electricity was es- 
sentially a qualitative science; its modern 
history has seen it become distinctly quan- 
titative, and its wonderful development has 
been largely, if not mainly, due to the use 
of measuring instruments in studying and 
applying it. The three fundamental units 
of measure are the ohm, the unit of resist- 
ance; the ampere, the unit of current; and 
the volt, the unit of electromotive force. 


These are so related by Ohm’s law that — | 


when two are defined the third becomes 
fixed and can be determined by the use of 
the other two. These units are not arbi- 
trarily chosen, but are determined by ex- 
perimental investigation. Their magni- 
tudes depend upon the fundamental units 


}EBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


of length, mass and time, and these having 
been selected (namely, the centimeter, 
eram and second), the definitions or speci- 
fications of the electrical units follow log- 
leally, but their conerete expression in 
actual standards that can be employed in 
electrical measurements ean only be at- 
tained after most painstaking researches 
in what are called absolute measurements. 
The two of these three units which have 
been so determined are the ohm and the 
ampere. As all other electrical units are 
based upon these, it is of the greatest im- 
portance that they be determined with the 
utmost exactness. At the International 
Electrical Congress at Chicago, in 1893, 
they were redefined in accordance with the 
results of the best determinations made up 
to that time. The ohm is specified in terms 
of the resistance of a column of mercury 
106.3 em. long, having a cross-section of 
one square millimeter; the ampere in terms 
of the quantity of pure silver it will de- 
posit electrolytically per second from a 
solution; the volt in terms of the electro- 
motive force of the standard Clark cell. 
An immense amount of work has been done 
by numerous investigators in various coun- 
tries of the world in the determination of 
the values of these electrical units, and the 
figures adopted in the definitions un- 
doubtedly come very near the truth. 
Nevertheless, we know from subsequent 
work that at least two of these units are 
very slightly in error, and one of the most 
important problems before the bureau of 
standards is the redetermination of these 
fundamental units. The error in ques- 
tion is small, so small as to be of no eonse- 
quence in engineering and commercial 
work. But scientifically it is important, 
and as instruments and methods are im- 
proved year by year, any small discrep- 
ancies in our fundamental units become 
of more and more significance. The Na- 
tional Physical Laboratory of England, 


SCIENCE. 


169 


the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt 
of Germany and the National Bureau of 
Standards, as well as a few private investi- 
gators in this country and abroad, are all 
working in the same direction. The recent 
International Electrical Congress at St. 
Louis provided for the formation of an in- 
ternational commission, whose function it 
shall be to foster and in some degree direct 
and coordinate researches of this character. 
This commission will probably organize and 
enter upon its work during the coming 
year. The difficulties to be overcome are 
so great that only the most elaborate re- 
searches carried out under the most favor- 
able circumstances ean be expected to 
bring us appreciably nearer the desired 
goal. - Two researches at the bureau of 
standards during the past year gave re- 
sults of value preparatory to the rede- 
termination of the ampere in absolute 
measure. Orte was by Dr. Wolff, showing 
how to overcome one of the defects of the 
standard cell; a new method of preparing 
the mercurous sulphate yielding a erystal- 
line product which gives cells of more uni- 
form electromotive foree than formerly. 
Professor Carhart, of Ann Arbor, who has 
been engaged upon this subject for some 
time, arrived independently at the same 
result even earlier, the results being an- 
nouneed by both men at the same meeting 
in Washington in April last. The other 
investigation was by Dr. Guthe, who, after 
carefully studying all the various forms of 
silver voltameters which have been pro- 
posed, showed that although different 
kinds gave slightly different results, cer- 


tain ones when properly handled, gave 


practically identical results, and hence 
could be depended upon for measuring 
eurrent to a very high order of accuracy. 
Dr. Wolff is continuing his work on stand- 
ard cells and Dr. Guthe is now engaged in 
the absolute measurement of current, by 
means of a new electrodynamometer. 


170 


I have been engaged, with the assistance 
of Mr. Grover, Dr. Lloyd and several other 
members of the bureau, in the absolute 
measurement of electric capacity and in- 
ductance and in the investigation of elec- 
trical measuring instruments, more espe- 
cially for the precise measurement of al- 
ternating current, voltage and energy. 
These investigations have involved the con- 
struction of much new apparatus, as well 
as the thorough study of some well-known 
instruments. One of the practical prob- 
lems in connection with the accurate meas- 
urement of capacity or inductance is the 
determination of the frequency of the in- 
terrupter or of the alternating current em- 
ployed. This usually amounts to obtain- 
ing the speed of some kind of motor, often 
an electric motor. For some kinds of work, 
to be within one per cent. is considered suf- 
ficiently accurate. For other cases one 
tenth of one per cent. is none too good. 
In still others one hundredth of one per. 
cent. is deemed necessary. In this work 
we sought to get the frequency to a thou- 
sandth part of one per cent. This re- 
quired a very perfect control of the speed, 
and yet by attention to all the sources of 
disturbances, and by the use of a very 
sensitive indicator, the desired result was 
obtained and an important additional step 
taken in absolute measurements. 

Many other interesting and important 
questions are being investigated, and work 
enough for years is already before us. 
These particular examples of the work at 
the bureau have been cited, not because I 
presume that you are especially interested 
in the problems themselves, but rather to 
illustrate the kind of research work we are 
doing. 

The work of testing is being carried on 
at the same time. Resistance standards, 
current standards, standard cells, wheat- 
stone bridges, potentiometers, magnetic in- 
struments, current instruments, voltmeters, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527. 


wattmeters, condensers, inductances and 
many other electrical instruments have 
come to us from manufacturers, universi- 
ties, technical laboratories and departments 
of the national government. To be abie 
to get reliable standards and to have in- 
struments calibrated at a nominal cost is 
a boon to all careful experimentalists. 
Heretofore it has often happened that the 
burden of the work in a given investigation 
has been to calibrate the instruments em- 
ployed, and often the facilities at com- 
mand were insufficient to yield results of 
high accuracy. Within the last three years 
(that is, since the bureau has been testing 
instruments) there has been a marked im- 
provement in the quality of some kinds of 
electrical instruments made in this coun- 
try. It is now so easy to determine whether 
a resistance box guaranteed by the maker 
to be correct to one fiftieth of one per cent. 
fulfils the guarantee, that the maker is 
compelled to use correct standards and to 
adjust his resistances carefully in accord- 
ance with the same. 

Probably the most interesting collection 
at the St. Louis Exposition from the stand- 
point of physical science was the magnifi- 
cent exhibit of scientific instruments made 
by Germany. There was a time not so 
very long ago when France and England 
surpassed Germany in the production of 
scientific instruments. But the giant 
strides which Germany has made in the 
last twenty years has left other countries 
in the rear, and this wonderful progress 
has been largely due to the wise encourage- 
ment and assistance offered to instrument 
makers by the German government. This 
assistance has taken various forms, but the 
principal factor has probably been the work 
of the Reichsanstalt and the Normal Aich- 
ungs Kommission, the two government 
laboratories doing the work which the bu- 
reau of standards aims to do in the United 
States. They have set a high standard for 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


scientific instruments, and have not only 
shown how defects could be corrected, but 
have developed the theory and the design 
of many new instruments. All this has 
occurred so recently that it is not gener- 
ally known in the United States, and Ger- 
man instruments are not as largely used as 
they deserve to be. We hope that the next 
few years may witness a similar impetus in 
the production of scientific instruments in 
this country, and that the United States 
may come to hold the same enviable posi- 
tion with respect to scientific instruments 
in general that she now does with respect 
to tools and labor-saving machinery and 
to certain special classes of scientific in- 
struments. 

The advantage of having instruments 
and standards of high accuracy for engi- 
neering and research work is obvious and 
needs no proof. I wish, however, to point 
out the advantage of using such instru- 
ments as far as practicable for purposes of 
instruction, especially in the more ad- 
vanced laboratory courses. If the appa- 
ratus is not accurately adjusted the careful 
student and, perhaps, his instructor as well, 
is prone to lose valuable time in trying to 
locate errors that are inherent in the appa- 
ratus, or in striving for a degree of accu- 
racy which is unattainable with the instru- 
ments employed. On the other hand, when 
the apparatus is known not to be correct 
it is so easy to attribute to the instruments 
any discrepancies in the results that care- 
fess reading and hasty work may possibly 
be encouraged. It isa great delight to the 
real lover of quantitative experimental 
work, of whom a great many are to be 
found in almost any college class, to do a 
piece of work with precision instruments 
and obtain an accurate result, duly checked 
by proper variations of the experiment. 
The educational value of such work is cer- 
tainly greater than when only roughly 
done; the pleasure derived is incomparably 


SCIENCE. 


pba 


greater. It is by no means necessary that 
all the instruments of a laboratory be sent 
away to be tested. If only the laboratory 
possesses correct standards and suitable 
comparing apparatus, the calibration or 
adjustment of most of the other instru- 
ments furnishes excellent experimental 
work for the students and assistants of the 
laboratory. 

Another important section of the work 
of the bureau is photometry. This is really 
optical rather than electrical, but owing to 
the fact that the chief work is with electric 
lamps and a very considerable electrical 
equipment is required, it is grouped with 
the electrical in our organization. The 
standards employed in photometric testing 
are less satisfactory than in most other 
branches of physical measurements. The 
quantity of light emitted by a given source 
is usually expressed in candle power; the 
ordinary ineandescent electric lamp, being 
approximately equivalent to sixteen stand- 
ard candles, is called a sixteen candle- 
power lamp. The candle as a standard of 
measure has passed out of vogue, but hght 
is still expressed in candle power. Various 
sources of light have been proposed as 
standards, the Hefner lamp burning amyl- 
acetate, being most used as a primary 
standard. As working standards specially 
prepared incandescent lamps are generally 
used, and are quite satisfactory. Greater 
progress has been made in recent years in 
developing photometers and the auxiliary 
apparatus for comparing lamps than in 
perfecting a primary standard of illumina- 
tion. Although the initial equipment of 
the bureau for this work is not yet com- 
plete, we have already done considerable 
testing, especially in rating lamps to be 
used as standards by manufacturers and 
others, and in testing lamps purchased by 
the various departments of the govern- 
ment. Millions of incandescent lamps are 
sold each year on carefully drawn specifi- 


cations, and it is a matter of considerable 
importance to know whether the conditions 
of the contracts are met by the manufac- 
turers. 

In addition to the exhibit made by the 
bureau of standards in the government 
building at the St. Louis exposition, an 
electrical laboratory was equipped and 
the electricity building. 
This was done at the request of the exposi- 
tion management, the object being twofold; 
first to exhibit a working electrical labora- 
tory, and, second, to do electrical testing 
for the jury of awards, for the railway 
test commission, and other electrical in- 
terests at the fair. The laboratory build- 
ing, which was within the palace of elec- 
tricity, and extended along one of its walls 
for a distance of about 175 feet, was di- 
vided into six rooms. Notwithstanding the 
fact that it was a temporary structure the 
laboratory possessed many of the appoint- 
ments of a permanent installation; and, 
although many disadvantages and limita- 
tions were experienced in doing scientific 
work amid such surroundings, we succeed- 
ed in doing a good deal of satisfactory 
work, including both research and testing. 
So complete a laboratory has never been 
installed in any previous world’s fair, and 
it proved to be of considerable interest 
both to visitors and to those electrical in- 
terests which availed themselves of its fa- 
cilities for testing instruments. <A refrig- 
erating machine, installed adjacent to the 
laboratory as an exhibit, furnished refrig- 
eration for experimental purposes and also 
for controlling the temperature and re- 
ducing the humidity of the atmosphere 
the laboratory. This proved not 
only a great convenience in doing experi- 
work, but also a comfort to the 
workers, and the cool office of the bureau 
favorite retreat for the electrical 
jury in the hottest days of the jury period. 

The third division of the work of the 


maintained in 


within 


mental 


Was a 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXL. No. 527. 


bureau is the chemical division, in charge 
of Professor W..A. Noyes. The develop- 
ment of this work has waited on the com- 
pletion of our laboratory buildings. The 
installation of the equipment of the chem- 


ical laboratory is, however, now in progress 


and chemical work will be well under way. 
before the end of the present fiscal year. 
The work in chemistry will consist in part 
in cooperating in certain lines of physical 
research, and in part in serving the chem- 
ical interests of the country. This will be 
done partly by research and partly by 
testing. 

The bureau has already done consider- 
able testing of apparatus used in volu- 
metric analysis. The American Chemical 
Society, through its committee, has been 
cooperating with the bureau in fixing the 
limits of tolerance for such apparatus and 
in defining the specifications to be followed 
by the manufacturers. Another commit- 
tee of the American Chemical Society has 
proposed a plan whereby standards of 
purity of chemical reagents shall be set, 
after careful investigation of the subject, 
and specific labels selected to indicate def- 
inite degrees of purity of such reagents. 
The bureau of standards, according to this 
plan, is to cooperate with the society in 
securing conformity to these standards on 
the part of manufacturers. I will not 
undertake to give details of the proposi- 
tion; the work is of great importance and 
promises to bring the bureau of standards 
into close relations with the manufac- 
turing and analytical chemists of the coun- 
try. Another subject in which the bureau 
has been invited to cooperate with the 
American Chemical Society is in the mat- 
ter of securing uniformity in technical an- 
alyses. Too great discrepancies are found 
in the results obtained by different public 
and other chemists when analyzing por- 
tions of the same sample. ‘This is largely 
due to the different methods of analysis. 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


It is proposed to investigate thoroughly 
the various methods employed, and to se- 
leet certain of the best as standard, with 
the expectation that, using the best re- 
agents, the results found by different an- 
alyses may be more concordant and more 
accurate. Other lines of research and test- 
ing are contemplated, and will be under- 
taken as the facilities permit. i 

The field of chemistry, as well as physics, 
has so expanded in recent years that the 
two now overlap over large areas.  In- 
deed, it is often impossible to say that a 
given problem belongs to one or the other, 
the fact being that it pertains to both 
fields. Hence, the physicist frequently 
comes to the point where he needs the re- 
sources of a chemical laboratory to carry 
him through a problem supposed to be 
purely physical, and conversely the chem- 
ist, not only in electro-chemistry and phys- 
ical chemistry, but in analytical chemistry 
as well, requires very many of the facili- 
ties of a well-equipped physical laboratory. 
Hence we have so planned our laboratories 
that all the facilities of the entire equip- 
ment may be brought into service on any 
problem, whether it originates on the phys- 
ical side or on the chemical. This we be- 
heve will prove of great advantage to the 
work of the bureau. 

There are three chemists in the chemical 
division at present and the number will be 
increased as the work develops. 

It is the aim of the bureau not only to 
conduct investigations through its mem- 
bers, but also to afford facilities for re- 
search by others who may come as scien- 
tifie guests. It often happens that a pro- 
posed investigation requires apparatus or 
other facilities not at the command of the 
person proposing the investigation, and 
no university can, perhaps, offer him the 
necessary facilities and assistance. The 
bureau of standards hopes to encourage in- 
vestigation by providing such facilities 


SCIENCE. 


173 


and assistance, but can do so only 
to a limited degree until the laboratory 
space is increased by additional buildings. 
There are scores and perhaps hundreds of 
ambitious physicists, young and old, en- 
gaged in teaching in the colleges and tech- 
nical schools of the country who are de- 
terred from doing valuable research work 
by lack of facilities and assistance. It is 
believed that a generous policy of assist- 
ance through the bureau of standards will 
be greatly appreciated by such workers, 
and that the output of original research 
from America will be materially increased 
thereby. A summer’s work under favor- 
able circumstances might yield as much as 
a full year’s effort under adverse condi- 
tions, and a year, enough to amply repay 
the sacrifice it might involve. But, as I 
have already said, the full realization of 
this plan lies in the future. For the pres- 
ent all our laboratory space is required to 
meet our own pressing needs, although we 
do have just now one scientific guest with 
us, about to begin some interesting investi- 
gations. 

I have tried to show briefly some of the 
work which the bureau of standards is do- 
ing and is preparing to do, to fulfill its 
functions as the American National Phys- 
ical Laboratory, using the word physical in 
a liberal sense, as its work includes both 
chemistry and engineering. The national 
government is doing a large amount of 
scientifie work, through the various bu- 
reaus and departments. That money ex- 
pended in this direction is well invested, 
the Department of Agriculture, the Coast 
and Geodetie Survey, the Geological Sur- 
vey and other bureaus have already abun- 
dantly proved. Their function and ours is 
to contribute something to the advancement 
of human knowledge and to serve the pub- 


- lie. We hope not only to be of service to 


scientific and technical laboratories in the 
various ways I have tried to explain, but 


174 


also to serve in many ways the larger gen- 
eral publi. 

It is a peculiar pleasure to me to be 
present to-day. at the dedication of the 
John Bell Seott Physical Laboratory. It 
is a beautiful building, a fit representative 
of the splendid science to which it is dedi- 
eated; a notable addition to the equipment 
of Wesleyan, testifying eloquently to the 
generosity and loyalty of the donors; a 
worthy memorial to the unselfish hfe of 
the noble young man after whom it is 
named. The good it will do in the future 
years is immeasurable. 


Epwarp B. Rosa. 
NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS. 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 
SECTION A, MATHEMATICS AND 
ASTRONOMY. 
Vice-President—Professor Alexander Ziwet, Uni- 
versity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 
Secretary—Professor Laenas G. Weld, Univer- 
sity of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. 
Member of the Council—Professor J. R. East- 
man. 


THE 


O}, Jal. 
Professor Alex- 


Sectional 
Tittmann, 


Committee—Superintendent 
Vice-President, 1904; 


ander Ziwet, Vice-President, 1905; Professor L. 
G. Weld, Secretary, 1904-1908; Dr. J. A. 
3rashear, one year; Professor J. R. Eastman, 


two years; Professor Ormond Stone, three years; 
Professor E. B. Frost, four years; Professor E. O. 
Lovett, five years. 

Member of the General Committee—Professor 
G. B. Halsted. 

Press Secretary—Professor J. F, Hayford. 

Dr. W. S. Eichelberger, of the U. S. 
Naval Observatory, was elected vice-presi- 
dent for the next meeting. 

The Astronomical and Astrophysical So- 
ciety of America met in affiliation with 
Section A, the two organizations holding 
alternate sessions on December 28, 29 and 
30. 

The vice-presidential program was pre- 
sented on the afternoon of Wednesday, 
December 28. In accordance with the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 527. 


recommendations of the Committee on the 
Policy of the Association this program was 
given a broader scope than heretofore and 
included the address of the retiring vice- 
president, Superintendent O. H. Tittmann, 
upon the subject ‘The Present State of 
Geodesy,’ and a paper by Professor Josiah 
Royce, of Harvard University, entitled 
‘Symmetrical and Unsymmetrical Relations 
in the Exact Sciences.’ The former of 
these has been published in Science for 
January 13, and the latter will appear in 
an early number of the same journal. 

The following papers were presented at 
the regular meetings of the section: 


Synchronous Variations in Solar and Me- 
teorological Phenomena: Mr. H. W. 
CLoueH, U. S. Weather Bureau, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

The portion of the paper relating to 
meteorological phenomena is_ essentially 
an extension of Professor Briickner’s re- 
searches on the 35-year cycle of variation 
in terrestrial climates. Definite epochs 
have been assigned for the variations of 
the several meteorological elements and the 
results of Briickner have been supplement- 
ed by investigations of various minor me- 
teorological relations and the prices of 
grain. The probable value of the period 
length is found to be 36.2 years, instead of 
34.8 years, Briickner having used in eal- 
culating the latter value an extra oscilla- 
tion in the sixteenth century, which should 
be regarded as a secondary variation. 
Briickner traced the cycle as far back as 
1000. A. D. by means of historical accounts 
of several winters. Comparison of the 
epochs in different latitudes discloses an 
apparent retardation in low latitudes. 
This may indicate that the influence effi- 
cient in producing these variations is 
experienced mainly in high latitudes. 
Periods of excessive precipitation follow 
by about five years those of deficient tem- 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


perature. These cold, wet periods are 
characterized by a more rapid atmospheric 
circulation and a lower average latitude 
of storm tracks. Investigation of grain 
prices in England from about 1265 shows 
variations in a eycle of 36 years, high 
prices corresponding with cold, wet periods. 

Wolfer’s epochs of maximum and mini- 
mum sunspots from 1610 show that the so- 
called 11-year period is a variable interval, 
ranging from 8 to 16 years. These vary- 
ing intervals have a periodicity of about 
36 years and it is found that periods dur- 
ing which the sunspot interval is at a mini- 
mum are characterized by maximum sun- 
spot and auroral manifestations. This 36- 
year cycle in solar phenomena has been 
traced back to about 1000 A. D. by util- 
izing the ‘probable maxima’ of Fritz. The 
sun may, therefore, be regarded as a varia- 
ble star, whose mean period of variation 
undergoes a cyclical variation in length. 

Comparing the solar and meteorological 
epochs in the 36-year cycle from 1050 to 
1900, the epochs of maximum solar ac- 
tivity, as evidenced by a decreased length 
of the sunspot period, are shown to precede 
the epochs of low terrestrial temperatures 
by from seven to ten years. 

A long-period variation of about 300 
years is shown by variations in solar spot- 
tedness, in the ratio a: b, and in the length 
of the 36-year cycle; the ratio a:b and the 
length of the cycle decreasing with increas- 
ing solar activity. This cycle of 300 years 
is traced in solar variations during the past 
thousand years and is also apparent in 
meteorological variations, as shown by the 
records of the time of vintage of Dijon, 
France, since 1400. 

Tables showing solar and meteorological 
epochs were exhibited. 


Temperature Corrections of the Zenith 
Telescope Micrometer, Flower Astronom- 
ical Observatory: Professor C. L. Doo- 
LITTLE, University of Pennsylvania. 


SCIENCE. 


175 


Results from Observations of the Sun, 
Moon and Planets for 26 Years: Pro- 
fessor J. R. Eastman, Andover, N. H. 
The only continuous and complete set of 

observations of the sun, moon and planets, 

in this country, was made at the Naval Ob- 

servatory from January, 1866, to June 30, 

1891. This work was continuous with the 

observations of the standard and miscel- 

laneous stars, and most of the results were 
found to be affected by the same errors that 
modified the results for the stars, and also 
by errors peculiar, to observations of bodies 
presenting in the telescope large disks, hke 
those of the sun and the moon, smaller ones 
like those of major and minor planets. The 
errors pertaining to the stars were dis- 
cussed in the introduction to the ‘Second 

Washington Catalogue of Stars’; and more 

in detail in a paper read at the last Boston 

meeting of this association. 

The second class of errors mentioned 
above was considered and it was shown 
that there is a high probability of the pres- 
ence of peculiar errors in solar, lunar and 
planetary observations with all large in- 
struments where measures are made of 
both coordinates. 


Determination of the Solar Rotation Period 
from Flocculi Positions: Mr. Puitie Fox, 
Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, Wis. 
This determination is based upon meas- 

urements of floceuli positions on spectro- 

heliograms obtained at the Kenwood 

Observatory during the spot-maximum of 

1892—’93-’94. The method of measure- 

ment devised by Mr. Hale, that of project- 

ing the plate upon a globe whose surface is 
ruled in degrees of longitude and latitude, 
proved to be accurate and rapid. Motions 
for proper orientation of the image upon 
the globe were provided. The results ob- 

tained from measurements of about 1,000 

points have been grouped in zones 5 wide 

and are exhibited in the following table: 


176 

0to 5 24.56 days. 
5 to 10 Bas O ce 
10 to 15 25103e ae 
15 to 20 PARA) 
20 to 25 PAayelisy Se 
25 to 30 25.99 

30 to 35 Zool 


Determination of all Non-divisible Groups 
of Order p™:q which Contain an Abelian 
Subgroup of Order p™ and Type 
ee Aameer Be] to m units]: Mr. O. BK. 
GLENN, University of Pennsylvania, 
Philadelphia. 

Burnside remarks, at the beginning of 
Chapter XV. of his ‘Theory of Groups,’ 
that the most general problem of finite 
group theory is the determination and an- 
alysis of all distinct types of groups whose 
order is a given integer. The author sug- 
gests as a more comprehensive problem the 
generalization of all types belonging to a 
given integer. In the paper is given a de- 
termination of the sets of defining relations 
which include as special cases all groups of 
order pq, pq, and a family of the known 
eroups of order p*q. 

When q is a proper divisor of p” — 1, G 
is defined by the relations 


Po = Oi — Sei Pi OO er 
(Sree pea On We Goo oth) 
Q— PQ = Pil—D™1 p,(—1) "23 (Aap... a)... 


Pun- 1 2AM) Pp ZA), 


dX being a mark of the G:-F(p”) and a 
primitive root in that field of the con- 
Pruence 

74 =1(mod p). 


In case p = 1 (mod. q) the group is de- 
fined by 


Pr=Q—1, P:Pj=—P,Pi,O- he 


a’ =1(mod. p). 


LEON (faim |) 


The first set of relations represents a single 
type. The number of types in the second 


set is given by 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527. 


1 p@-Dq-1) 
v= [ x EON 2, 3 g—2ynto— 9], 


m pal 
P being Cayley’s form of the partition 
symbol and yw a determinate function of 
mand q. 


A Note on Groups of Order 2™ which Con- 
tain Self-conjugate Groups of Order 
2n-*; Dr. G. H. Hatuert, University of 
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. 

In the list of groups of the character in- 
dieated above which is given in Burnside’s 
‘Theory of Groups,’ there are six types. 
There appears to be a simple type of group 
which is non-isomorphie to any one of these 
six groups. The object of the paper is to 
set up the defining relations of this type, 
vizZ., 

Prt=1, - C= = giro re 

Biology and Mathematics: PRoressor G. B. 
Hatstep, Kenyon College. Gambier, O. 
In Professor Halsted’s paper attention 

was called to certain analogies which have 
been assumed to exist between the mathe- 
matical doctrine of continuity and the evo- 
lution of new species through natural selee- 
tion. He then proceeded to show that the 
analogy between mathematics and biology 
is much closer if we emphasize, on the one 
hand, the idea of discontinuity as it ap- 
pears in modern mathematics and, on the 
other, those phases of the process of evo- 
lution supposed to be more readily ex- 
plained by the theory of mutations. 


The Path of the Shadow of a Plummet 
Bead: Professor ELLEN Hayes, Wellesley 
College, Wellesley, Mass. 

The equation to the path of the shadow 
of a plummet bead was derived, and dis- 
eussed for various latitudes and for dif- 
ferent seasons of the year. 

The interest and value which this 
gnomon conic possesses as an observation 
exercise for beginners in elementary prac- 
tical astronomy were made apparent. 


Fresruary 3, 1905.] 


The Computation of the Deflections of the 
Vertical due to the Topography Sur- 
rounding the Station: Professor J. F. 
Hayrorp, Coast and Geodetic Survey, 
Washington, D. C. 

The computation of deflections of the 
vertical depending upon the topography 
surrounding a station is of fundamental 
importance in connection with new investi- 
gations of the figure of the earth. Such 
computations have been available in but 
few cases beeause of the difficulty of mak- 
ing them. The method now in use by the 
Coast and Geodetic Survey was fully 
shown. Such computations by this method 
have already been made at 250 astronomical 
stations in the United States, in each of 
which account is taken of the topography 
within a cirele surrounding the station 
having a radius of more than 2,500 miles. 


Extension of a Theorem due to Sylow: 
Professor G. A. Mmuer, Stanford Uni- 
versity, Cal. 

Every group G of order p”, p being any 
prime number, contains at least p invariant 
operators. This fundamental theorem, 
due to Sylow, is included in the following: 

Every non-abelian group of order p” 
contains at least p invariant commutator 
operators, and its commutator quotient 
group is always non-eyelic. The paper is 
devoted to a proof of this theorem and the 
following closely related theorems: 

It is possible to construct a non-abelian 
group having any arbitrary abelian group 
as a commutator quotient group. 

Every non-cyclie abelian group of order 
p* is the commutator quotient group of 
some non-abelian group of order p”. 


On Inversions: Professor J. J. QuINN, 
Warren, Pa. 
Mr. Quinn exhibited and explained a 
number of new linkages for describing the 


right line, in each of which the principle 


of inversion was applied. 


SCIENCE. 17% 


On Systematic Errors in Determining 
Variations of Latitude: Mr. FRANK 
SCHLESINGER, Yerkes Observatory, Wil- 
hams Bay, Wis. 

Observations for the variation of lati- 
tude seem to be subject to certain sys- 
tematic errors. In this paper two con- 
temporaneous series made near Honolulu 
in 1891 and 1892 are discussed and com- 
pared. The method of separating the sys- 
tematie errors common to both series from 
the accidental is indicated, the conclusion 
being that there is present some source of 
error common to both observers and there- 
fore probably beyond their control. This 
result is shown to be independent of any 
assumption regarding the variation of lati- 
tude during the period under discussion. 


Some Experiments on the Distortion of 
Photographic Films: Mr. FRANK SCHLES- 
INGER, Yerkes Observatory, Williams 
Bay, Wis. Read by title. 


Bibliography and Classification of Mathe- 
matical and Astronomical Literature at 
the Inbrary of Congress: Mr. J. D. 
THompson, Library of Congress, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

Attention was called to the printed ecards 
issued by the Library of Congress for 
books and pamphlets on mathematics and 
astronomy in its collection and it was ex- 
plained how these may be used to great 
advantage in the special libraries of the 
mathematical departments of universities 
and of observatories. The classification 
scheme used at the Library of Congress was 
also explained. This paper will be printed 
by the Library of Congress. 


On an Optical Method of Radial Adjust- 
ment of the Axes of the Trucks of a 
Large Observatory Dome: Professor 
Daviv Topp, Director Amherst College 
Observatory, Amherst, Mass. 

The larger dome of the new observatory 
of Amherst College is mounted on fourteen 


178 


trucks, fitted with twin rings of double ball 
bearings of the Chapman type. The treads 
of the wheels are coned to the exact angle 
which will make their apexes all coincide 
with the point at the center of the plane of 
the cireular trucks. Ease of revolution of 
the dome depends very largely upon the 
accuracy with which this adjustment is 
made and maintained. The necessary con- 
dition has been secured by attaching a 
small galvanometer mirror to the axis of 
each truck, and adjusting it normally. <A 
theodolite mounted at the center of the 
dome then gave the reflections of its ob- 
jective exactly centered on the cross wires, 
when the axis of the truck was brought to 
the proper. direction. 


An Exhibition of a New Form of Frame 
for Straight Line Mathematical Models: 
Professor. C. A. Waupo, Purdue Univer- 
sity, Lafayette, Ind. 

A new form of thread model for ruled 
surfaces was exhibited by Professor Waldo, 
the frame for the model being conformed 
to the surface of a sphere, thus permitting 
location of the points of attachment of the 
threads with much greater ease than in the 
ordinary forms in which the limiting sur- 
face is discontinuous, The method of con- 
struction was also explained. 


The Application of Mayer’s Formula to 
the Determination of the Errors of the 
Equatorial: Professor L. G. Wetp, State 
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Ia. 

Let the polar axis of the equatorial be 
rigidly clamped with the telescope first to 
the east and then to the west of the pier 
and the transits of three stars observed in 
each of these positions of the instrument. 
The clock correction being assumed known, 
the errors of azimuth, level (of declination 
axis) and collimation (in right ascension) 
may be obtained for each position by the 
use of Mayer’s formula. From the two 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527. 


sets of errors thus made known the mean 
azimuth error of the polar axis and the 
angle between this axis and the de¢lination 
axis may be determined. The method is 
independent of the accuracy of the hour 
circle and may be used in correcting the 
setting of this circle upon the polar axis. 
When the hour circle is delicately gradu- 
ated the data may also be used to determine 
the flexure of the declination axis. 
LAgENAS GirrorpD WELD, 
Secretary. 


ALBATROSS EXPEDITION TO THE EASTERN 
PACIFIC.* 

Tuer Albatross, under command of Lieut.- 
Commander L. M. Garrett, left San Fran- 
cisco on the sixth of October and arrived 
at Panama on the twenty-second. I am 
fortunate in having as assistant for this 
trip Professor C. A. Kofoid, who has had 
great experience in studying the protozoa 
both in fresh water and at sea; he has been 
given charge of the collection of radio- 
larians and diatoms and of other minute 
pelagic organisms; and he will prepare a 
report on the results of that branch of the 
expedition. On the way along the coast 
Professor Kofoid took advantage of the op- 
portunity for making surface hauls with 
the tow nets as well as vertical hauls, gen- 
erally to a depth of 300 fathoms. A large 
amount of pelagic material was thus col- 
lected, not at a great distance from the 
coast, however. Off Mariato Point the 
Albatross made two hauls in the vicinity 
of the stations where in 1891 she found 
‘modern green sand,’ in about 500 and 700 
fathoms. It was interesting to find the 
green sand again, as the specimens collected 
in 1891 were lost in transit to Washington. 

Immediately on reaching Panama the 
vessel was coaled and provisioned. On my 

*Extract from a letter of Mr, Alexander 


Agassiz to Hon. George M. Bowers, U. S. Fish 
Commissioner, dated Lima, November 28, 1904. 


J 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


arrival there on the first of November I 
found her ready for sea, and on the second 
we left for Mariato Point to make a few 
‘additional trawl hauls in the region of the 
green sand. In both the hauls made off 
Mariato Point green sand was found, but 
not in the quantity obtained in 1891. 
From Mariato Point we made a straight 
line of soundings towards Chatham Island 
in the Galapagos, intersecting the ring of 
soundings we made northeast of the islands 
in 1891. The deepest point of the line 
(1,900 fathoms) was found about 100 miles 
southwest of Mariato Point. The bottom 
then continued to show about 1,700 fathoms 
for nearly 200 miles and then shoaled very 
gradually to 1,418 fathoms about 80 miles 
from Chatham Island. From there it 
sloped quite rapidly, the 1,000-fathom line 
being not more than 60 miles from Chat- 
ham Island. We ran a short line south of 
Hood Island and found a somewhat steeper 
slope to that face of the Galapagos, reach- 
ing over 1,700 fathoms in a distance of less 
than 50 miles; the bottom then remained 
comparatively flat, attaining a depth of 
2,000 fathoms about 100 miles further 
south. This depth we carried eastward on 
a line to Aguja Point; about half way the 
soundings had increased to over 2,200 
fathoms, and remained at about that depth 
to within 60 miles of the coast, when the 
depth rapidly shoaled. From Aguja Point 
we ran a line of soundings to the southwest 
to a point about 675 miles west of Callao; 
on this line the depths gradually increased 
from 2,200 fathoms, 100 miles off the point, 
to nearly 2,500 fathoms. On running east 
to Callao the depth soon increased to about 
2,600 fathoms, and at a distance of about 
80 miles off Callao we dropped into the 
Milne-Edwards Deep and found a depth of 
over 3,200 fathoms. We spent a couple of 
days in developing this deep, making 
soundings of 1,490, 2,845, 458, 1,949, 2,338 
and 3,120 fathoms; showing a great irregu- 


SCIENCE. 179 


larity of the bottom within a comparatively 
limited area of less than sixty miles in 
diameter. Thus far all our soundings have 
been made with the Lucas sounding ma- 
chine. 

In the Panamie Basin to the northeast 
of the Galapagos we trawled only off Mari- 
ato Point, but we occupied ten stations 
with the tow nets, hauling both at the sur- 
face and at 300 fathoms, and vertically 
from that depth; we also continued this 
pelagic work at nearly all the stations (35) 
from the Galapagos to Callao. 

When off Chatham Island we began to 
trawl, and used the tow nets regularly, 
occupying 20 stations. The nets were in 
charge of Mr. F. M. Chamberlain. The 
pelagic collections, as a whole, are remark- 
ably rich. They are especially noteworthy 
for the great variety and number of pelagic 
fishes obtained inside the 300-fathom line 
at a considerable distance from shore, from 
300 to 650 miles. Many of these fishes had 
been considered as true deep-sea fishes, to 
be obtained only in the trawl when dredg- 
ing between 1,000 and 1,500 fathoms or 
more. On one occasion the tow net 
brought up from 300 fathoms, the depth 
being 1,752 fathoms, no less than 12 species 
of fishes; of some species of Myctophum we 
obtained 18 specimens, of another 37, of a 
third 45; in all nearly 150 specimens. On 
other occasions it was not uncommon to 
obtain 8 or 10 species, and from 50 to 100 
specimens. Among the most interesting 
types obtained in the tow net I may men- 
tion as coming from less than 300 fathoms 
Stylophthalmus and Dissomma, both of 
which Chun considers as deep-sea fishes, 
found in depths of 600 to 4,000 meters; also 
a species of Hurypharynx obtained for the 
first time in the Pacific. Stylophthalmus 
I had also caught in the tow net in 1900, 
during the tropical Pacific expedition of 
the Albatross, in depths of less than 300 
fathoms. In the lines we ran across the 


180 SCIENCE. 


vreat northerly current which sweeps along 
the coasts of Peru and Chili and is de- 
flected westward at the easterly corner of 
the Galapagos Islands, we obtained with 
the tow nets an unusually rich pelagic 
fauna at depths less than 300 fathoms. 
We collected a number of schizopods, 
among them many beautifully colored 
Gnatheuphausix, pelagic macrurans; huge, 
brilhant red copepods, as well as many 
other species of blue, gray, mottled and 
banded copepods. Lucifer and Sergestes 
were abundant in many of our hauls. 
Many species of amphipods were collected, 
hyperids without number, especially where 
the surface hauls were made among masses 
of Salpw, which, on several occasions, 
formed a jelly of tunicates. Several spe- 
cies of Phronime also occurred constantly 
in the tow nets. Sagitte were very nu- 
merous, a large orange species being note- 
worthy. Several species of Tomopteris, 
some of large size and brilliantly colored, 
violet or carmine with yellow flappers, and 
two species of pelagonemerteans, were 
Two species of orange-colored 
«stracods were also common, one having a 
carapace with a long spiny appendage. 
We obtained several species of pelagic 
cephalopods, Cranchia and Taonius among 
them. Two species of Doliolum also oc- 
curred, but they were never as abundant 
as the Salpez, two species of which often 
constituted the whole contents of the net. 

In the surface and deeper tows we pro- 
cured a number of acalephs. We have 
thus far collected more than 50 species of 


taken. 


meduse and siphonophores, many of which 
have been figured by Mr. Bigelow, differing 
from those of the 1891 expedition. Atollee 
and other deep-sea meduse were common 
within the 300-fathom line. 

The Salpwe guts gave us, in addition to 
the finer tow nets, immense collections of 
radiolarians, diatoms and Dinoflagellata, 
many of which have been considered to live 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527. 


at great depth and upon the bottom. The 
number of diatoms found in this tropical 
region is most interesting. They have 
usually been considered as characteristic of 
more temperate and colder regions. On 
several occasions the surface waters were 
greatly discolored by their presence, and 
the extent of their influence on the bottom 
deposits is shown by the discovery of a 
number of localities where the bottom saim- 
ples at depths from 1,490 to 2,845 fathoms 
in the track of the great Peruvian current 
formed a true infusorial earth. 

The tow nets also contained many species 
of Hyalea, Cymbulium, Styliolus, Cleo- 
dora, Tiedemannia, Clio and the like. On 
one oceasion the mass of the pelagic hauls 
consisted entirely of small brown copepods, 
the contents of the tow nets looking like 
sago soup. Another time Sagitte, Salpe, 
Doliolum and Liriope, all most transparent 
forms, formed the bulk of the tow net’s 
eatech. Still another time, Firoloides and 
Carinaria constituted the bulk of the haul. 
These catches, coming on successive days 
or interrupted with hauls of more than 
mediocre quality, show how hopeless it is 
at sea to make any quantitative analysis of 
the pelagic fauna and flora at any one 
station within the influence of such a great 
oceanic current as the Chili and Peruvian 
stream. 

Hauls of the trawl made at the western 
extremity of our lines brought us within 
the area of the manganese nodules, with its 
radiolarian ooze mud, cetacean earbones 
and beaks of cephalopods; nothing could 
stand the damaging action of these nodules 
in grinding to pieces all the animal life the 
trawl may have obtained. Down to the 
depth of 2,200 fathoms or so the bottom 
was constituted of globigerina ooze, its 
character. being more or less hidden when 
near the coast by the amount of detrital 
matter and terrigenous deposits which have 
drifted out to sea. 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905. ] 


North of the Galapagos we found vege- 
table matter at nearly all the stations, and 
between the Galapagos and Callao such ma- 
terial was not uncommon in the trawl. 

Beyond the line of 2,200 fathoms dead 
radiolarians became quite abundant on the 
bottom, as well as in the mud of the man- 
ganese nodules, though among the nodules 
it was not uncommon to find an oceasional 
Biloculina. Many of the dead radiolarians 
obtained on the bottom Mr. Kofoid found in 
the guts of Salpe swimming near the sur- 
face or within the 300-fathom line in the 
tow nets sent to that depth. The same is 
the ease with many of the Dinoflagellata 
which have been considered as deep-sea 
types. In our tow nets from 300 fathoms 
we found very commonly Tuscarora, Tus- 
carosa, Aulospira and others. In depths 
of 300 fathoms to the surface the tow net 
was rich in Tintinnide, either dead or 
moribund Planktionelle, and Dinoflagel- 
lata. Among the Dinoflagellata there were 
10 species of Ceratium, 9 of Peridinide, 
Gonaulix, Phalacrona, Pyrocystis, Cyttero- 
cyla, Undella and Dictiocystus. On the 
surface Planktionella sol predominates, 
with Asteromphale, Bidolphia and Sunidia 
thalassothriz ; among the Dinoflagellata we 
obtained 12 species of Ceratium, 5 of Peri- 
dinium and 22 species of other Peridinide ; 
among the Tintinnide were a number of 
Sticholonga; among the Acantheriw were 
especially to be noticed Acanthometra, 
Acanthostaurus, Amphilonche, Collozoum, 
Thalassicola, a number of Chirospira mur- 
rayana and a few Challengeride. 

Our trawls brought up from the bottom 
many interesting fishes, among which I may 
mention Bathyterois, Ipnops, and a few 
bat-fishes, all thus far described by Mr. 
Garman from the 1891 expedition. I may 
mention also a Chimera, different from the 
Chili species. The fishes have been ad- 
mirably eared for by Dr. J. C. Thompson, 
i S.N. 


SCIENCE. 


13] 
Among the crustacea Inthodes, 
Munidopsis and many macrurans, all well- 
known species of the 1891 expedition. We 
found a few mollusks and a few interesting 
genera of tubiculous annelids. Compared 
with the 1891 expedition, few starfishes and 
brittle stars were obtained, and still fewer 
sea urchins, only one species of Aceste and 
one of Aerope, a marked contrast to the 
numerous echini collected in the Panamic 
Basin in 1891. We obtained, however, a 
magnificent collection of holothurians, 
nearly every species occurring in the Pan- 
amie Basin being found in numbers in our 
track south of the Galapagos, in the wake 
of the great Chili-Peruvian current and at 
considerable depths. On one oceasion, at 
station 4647, in 2,005 fathoms, we obtained 
no less than 16 species of holothurians, 
among them brilliantly colored Bentho- 
dytes, Psychropotes, Scotoplanes, Euphron- 
ides and the like. At station 4670, in 3,209 
fathoms, we obtained 6 species of holothu- 
rians. At station 4672, in 2,845 fathoms, 
we also obtained very many specimens of 
three species of Ankyroderma, a_ large 
Deima, 2 species of Scotoplanes, 2 of Psy- 
chropotes, with a number of young stages 
of that genus; repeating thus the experi- 
ence of the Challenger, which found holo- 
thurians in abundance at great depth, not 
only in the number of specimens, but also 
of the species, though the Challenger did 
not at any locality obtain as many as we 
did at station 4647. Mr. Westergren made 
a number of colored sketches of the species 
which were not obtained in the 1891 expe- 
dition. We also collected in the trawl a 
number of deep-sea actinians, none differ- 
ent, however, from genera found previously 
in the Panamie district. We also obtained 
a few pennatulids, gorgonians and anti- 
pathes, and a very considerable number of 
silicious sponges, usually associated with 
the holothurians found in deep water in 
the track of the Peruvian current. In the 


were 


182 SCIENCE. 


track of the current at not too great dis- 
tances from the coast we invariably 
brought, even from very considerable 
depths, sticks and twigs and fragments of 
vegetable matter. On two occasions we 
brought up in the trawl specimens of Oc- 
tacnemus; the trawl had been working at 
2,235 and at 2,222 fathoms. Both Moseley 
and Herdman described this interesting 
ascidian as attached to the bottom by a 
small peduncle. While the presence of 
the peduncle can not be denied, yet its at- 
tachment, if attached at all, must be of the 
slightest, its transparent shghtly translu- 
cent body, with its eight large lobes, sug- 
gesting rather a pelagic type than a seden- 
tary form. This ascidian was discovered 
by the Challenger west of Valparaiso. 

Mr. Chamberlain made two daily obser- 
vations of the density of the water, and 
found the same discrepancies between our 
observations and those of 1891, with those 
given by the Challenger and in the German 
Atlas of the Pacific Ocean. Whenever we 
took a serial temperature, he also deter- 
mined the density at 800 fathoms. We oc- 
cupied six stations for the serial tempera- 
tures, two on the western termini of the 
lines normal to the coast across the great 
Peruvian current, two in the center of the 
current, and two at a moderate distance 
from the coast. These serials developed 
an unusually rapid fall in the temperature 
between the surface and 50 fathoms— 
nearly 12° at the western extremity of the 
northern line, the temperature having 
dropped from 71.7° at the surface to 59.2°. 
At 200 fathoms it was 51°, and at 600 
fathoms it had dropped to 40.7°, the bot- 
tom temperature at 2,005 fathoms being 
36.4°. The temperature of the station in 
the central part of the current in 2,235 
fathoms agreed with the western series. 
At the eastern part of the line, in 2,222 
fathoms, with a bottom temperature of 
36.4°, the surface being only 67°, we found 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527~ 


again a close agreement at 50 and 100 
fathoms, the lower depths at 400 and 600 
fathoms being from one to two degrees 
warmer than the outer temperatures. On 
taking a serial from the surface to 100 
fathoms, we found that the greatest drop 
in temperature took place between 5 and 
30 fathoms. 

The temperatures of a line running due 
west from Callao showed a very close agree- 
ment both at the western end of the line, 
about 780 miles from the coast, and in the 
central part of the line, as well as in the 
shore station about 80 miles from the coast 
in 3,209 fathoms. The bottom temperature 
in nearly all the depths we sounded was 
36°, a high temperature for that depth. I 
do not at present make any comparison with 
the serials taken in the Panamie district in 
1891, but wait until we shall have comple- 
ted our lines to the south and to the west. 

We leave for Easter Island on the third 
of December, where we shall coal, and from 
there go to the Galapagos, and thence to 
Manga Reva and Acapulco, where we ought 
to arrive in the early days of March. 

The changes made in the working ap- 
paratus of the Albatross under the super- 
intendence of Lieutenant Franklin Swift, 
U. S. Navy, have proved most satisfactory. 
The alterations in the main drum and the 
device for preventing the piling of the 
wire on the surging drum and the accom- 
panying shock, have greatly reduced the 
risk of breaking the wire rope when trawl- 
ing at great depths. The wire rope has 
proved an excellent piece of workmanship, 
and has served admirably in the compara- 
tively deep water, in which most of our 
trawling has been done thus far. A new 
dredging boom has also been installed, and 
everything relating to the equipment of the 
Albatross has been carefully overhauled. 

Lieut.-Commander L. M. Garrett has beer 
indefatigable in his interest for the expedi- 
tion; the officers and crew have been de- 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


voted to their work; and the members of 
the scientific staff have carried out most 
faithfully their duties of preparing and 
preserving the collections thus far made. 
We hoped to be docked at Callao, but 
owing to the prolonged occupation of the 
dock by a disabled steamer and the uncer- 
tainty of its becoming free within reason- 
able time, we decided to proceed without 
further delay to Easter Island and con- 
tinue the expedition as we are. 
ALEXANDER AGASSIZ. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


Rational Geometry. By Grorck Bruce Hat- 
step. New York and London, John Wiley 
and Sons. 1904. Pp. viii + 285. 

For over two thousand years there has been 
only one authoritative text-book in geometry. 
‘No text-book,’ says the British Association, 
‘that has yet been produced is fit to succeed 
Euclid in the position of authority!’ There 
is, in fact, little improvement to be made in 
Euclid’s work along the lines which he adopt- 
ed, and among the multitude of modern text- 
books, each has fallen under the weight of 
criticism in proportion to its essential devia- 
tion from that ancient author. 

This does not mean that Euclid is without 
defect, but starting from the discussion of his 
famous parallel postulate, the modern develop- 
ment has been in the direction of the exten- 
sion of geometrical science, with the place of 
that author so definitely fixed that the system 
which he developed is called Huchidean geom- 
etry, to distinguish it from new developments. 
The defects of Euclid arise out of a new view 
of rigorous logic whose objections seem finely 
spun to the average practical man, but which 
are based upon sound thought. The key to 
this modern criticism is the doubt which the 
mind casts upon the reliability of the intui- 
tions of our senses, and the tendency to make 
pure reason the court of last resort. Thus, 
the sense of point between points, the percep- 
tion of greater and less and many other tacit 
assumptions of the geometrical diagram, are 
the vitiating elements on which modern criti- 
cism concentrates its objections. 


SCIENCE. 


183 


As an evidence of the ease with which the 
senses can be made to deceive, take a triangle 
ABC, in which AC is slightly greater than 
BC. Erect a perpendicular to AB at its 
middle point to meet the bisector of the angle 
C in the point D. From D draw perpen- 
diculars to AC, BC, meeting them respectively 
in the points H, F. Let the senses admit, as 
they readily will in a free-hand diagram, that 
FE is between A and 0, and F between B and 
C; then from the equal right triangles AHD 
— BHD DEC DEC, we find AH BF, 
HC = FC, and, by adding, AC = BC, whereas 
AC is in fact greater than BC. 

Are we to take our eyes as evidence that 
one point lies between two other points, or 
how are we to establish that fact? This 
query alone lets in a flood of criticism on all 
established demonstrations. The aim of mod- 
ern rational geometry is to pass from premise 
to conclusion solely by the force of reason. 
Points, lines and planes are the names of 
things which need not be physically conceived. 
The object is to deduce the conclusions which 
follow from certain assumed relations between 
these things, so that if the relations hold the 
conclusions follow, whatever these things may 
be. Space is the totality of these things; its 
properties are solely logical, and varied in 
character according to the assumed funda- 
mental relations. Those assumed relations 
which develop space concepts that are appar- 
ently in accord with vision constitute the mod- 
ern foundations of Euclidean space. 

Mr. Halsted is the first to write an element- 
ary text-book which adopts the modern view, 
and in this respect, his ‘ Rational Geometry ’ 
is epoch-making. It is based upon founda- 
tions which have been proposed by the German 
mathematician, Hilbert. In point of fact, the 
book contains numerous diagrams, and is not 
to be distinguished in this respect from or- 
dinary text-books, but these are simply gratui- 
tous and not necessary accompaniments of the 
argument, designed especially for elementary 
students whose minds would be unequal to the 
task of reveling in the domain of pure reason. 
Also, in opening the book at random, one does 
not recognize any great difference from an 
ordinary geometry. In other words, those as- 


184 SCIENCE. 


sumed relations are adopted which lead to 
Euclidean geometry. In this respect the au- 
thor is appealing to the attention of element- 
ary schools, where no geometry other than 
the practical geometry of our world has a 
right to be taught. 

The first chapter deals with the first group 
of assumptions, the assumptions of associa- 
tion. Thus, the first assumption is that two 
distinct points determine a straight line. This 
associates two things called points with a thing 
called a straight line, and is not a definition 
of the straight line. The definition of a 
straight line as the shortest distance between 
two points involves at once an unnamed as- 
sumption, the conception of distance, which is 
a product of our physical senses, whereas the 
rational development of geometry seeks the 
assumptions which underlie and are the 
foundations of our physical senses. In the 
higher court of pure reason, the testimony of 
our physical senses has been ruled out, not as 
utterly incompetent, but as not conforming to 
the legal requirements of the court. However, 
there is no objection to shortness in names, 
and a straight line is contracted into a 
straight, a segment of a straight line, to a 
sect, ete. 

In the second chapter we find the second 
group of assumptions, the assumptions of be- 
tweenness, which develop this idea and the 
related idea of the arrangement of points. In 
the next chapter we have a third group, the 
assumptions, of congruence. This chapter 
covers very nearly the ordinary ground, with 
respect to the congruence of angles and tri- 
angles, and all the theory of perpendiculars 
and parallels which does not depend upon 
Euclid’s famous postulate. This postulate 
and its consequences are considered in chapter 
IV. 

All the school propositions of both plane 
and solid geometry are eventually developed, 
although there is some displacement in the 
order of propositions, due to the method of 
development. Numerous exercises are ap- 
pended at the end of chapters, which are num- 
bered consecutively from 1 to 700. 

Undoubtedly the enforcement upon logie of 
a blindness to all sense perceptions introduces 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527. 


some difficulties which the ordinary geometries 
seem to avoid, but as in the case of our con- 
ception of a blind justice, this has its com- 
pensation in the greater weight of her de- 
cisions. It seems as if the present text-book 
ought not to be above the heads of the average 
e'ementary students, and that it should serve 
to develop logical power as well as practical 
geometrical ideas. Doubtless, some progress- 
ive teachers will be found who will venture 


to give it a trial, and thus put it to the tests . 


of experience. At least, the work will appear 
as a wholesome contrast to many elementary 
geometries which have been constructed on 
any fanciful plan of plausible logic, mainly 
with an eye to the chance of profit. 
ArtuHur S. Harnaway. 
Rose PoLyTecunic INSTITUTE. 


A Treatise on the British Freshwater Alga. 
By G. S. West, M.A., A.B-.C:S., ELS: 
Cambridge, The University Press. 1904. 
Certainly there is no book upon any phase 

of eryptogamic botany for which there has 
been so much need, and for which the demand, 
in recent years, has been so great, as one deal- 
ing comprehensively with the fresh-water 
alee. It is nearly twenty years since any 
work of the kind has appeared in English, 
and whatever may have been said in favor of 
the works of Cooke and Wolle when they were 
published, there can be no question about their 
having been out of date for a long time. 
Indeed, the tremendous strides made in algol- 
ogy during the last ten years has made it diffi- 
cult for any one but the specialists to keep 
informed regarding the physiology, phylogeny 
and morphology of this group, to say nothing 
of the new genera and species. Of the fresh- 
water alge alone, approximately one fourth of 
the genera now recognized have been described 
since the appearance of Engler and Prantl’s 
classification in 1890. Consequently, nearly 
all of the important literature upon the alg 
has been in periodicals and separates, often 
difficult to obtain, the result being that the 
general student of botany has, of necessity, 
been many years behind in his ideas regard- 
ing this most important and interesting group 
of plants. 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


G. S. West is well known as a contributor 
to journals upon algological subjects, notably 
the Conjugatee, and for many reasons the 
author of ‘ British Freshwater Alge’ is par- 
ticularly well qualified to write such a book. 
One can not but regret, however, that he saw 
fit to confine himself to British species. <A 
treatise of this kind, so long waited for, should 
be as complete as possible, and when one looks 
in yain for Pleodorina, Platydorina and many 
other important genera which fit in so per- 
fectly with the forms previously described, it 
leaves this treatise upon the fresh-water algz 
in an unsatisfactory condition that hardly 
seems necessary. The fact that none of the 
Temnogametacee or Pyxisporee have been 
found in Great Britain seems a poor reason 
for excluding a discussion of these important 
groups in a book by West. Perhaps it is un- 
grateful to criticize a book which contains so 
much more than any previous one of its kind, 
for not containing all upon the subject, but 
the satisfactory way in whieh the included 
forms have been discussed makes it the greater 
pity that the plan of publication or other con- 
siderations made it necessary to confine the 
scope of the book to the British forms alone. 

A good general discussion of the methods 
of multiplication and reproduction in alge, 
together with a reference to the question of 
polymorphism and a rather full exposition of 
the particular theories of the author regarding 
phylogeny, precedes the specific treatment of 
the six classes, Rhodophycer, Phxophyceex, 
Chlorophycese, Heterokontex, Bacillariex and 
Myxophycesre. These classes, with their in- 
cluded genera, constitute an arrangement very 
different from that found in the average text- 
book or even in more pretentious publications, 
and offers a wide field for discussion. While 
in the main following the suggestions of Borzi, 
Blackman, Bohlin and others, there are certain 
divergences for which there does not always 
seem to be justification. On the other hand, 
long experience with certain groups has en- 
abled Professor West to adopt what seems to 
be a more natural and satisfactory disposition 
of some forms than that followed by either 
Bohlin or Blackman and Tansley. On the 
whole, the classification is based upon the re- 


SCIENCE. 


135 


sults of careful observations of the plants 
themselves, rather than a mere theoretical ar- 
rangement. Whether the author is justified, 
by the evidence at hand, in including the 
rather heterogeneous Syngenetice under the 
Pheeophycee, or whether the Conjugates may 
not after all be regarded as a unicellular order 
which has come from the Volvocacez, with 
other disputed points, will probably require 
more facts before they can hope to be defi- 
nitely settled. Nevertheless, it would be diffi- 
cult to produce a system of classification which 
in the present state of our knowledge would be 
more satisfactory to a large number and at 
the same time recognize at least most of the 
investigations of recent years calculated to 
throw light upon the subject. 

Attempts to revise the nomenclature for the 
purpose of putting the names of the principal 
genera upon a more stable and satisfactory 
basis have been made, not always, however, 
with suecess. That is, the rules adopted at 
one place seem to have been disregarded in 
another, resulting in a lack of consistency 
which can not but weaken any attempt to 
modify the names of well-established genera 
and species. 

The book is fully illustrated and too much 
can not be said for the successful effort to 
secure new and accurate drawings of not only 
the more recently described genera, but for 
the older forms as well. It certainly is re- 
freshing to be able to look through a book of 
this kind without seeing all of the old cuts of 
algz that have done service since there began 
to be any literature upon the subject. 

The need for a treatise upon the fresh- 
water alge has been referred to; that this 
book will come as near to filling such a need 
as one of its scope, written by one man, could 
possibly be expected, is all that is necessary 
to say regarding its worth. 

Gerorce T. Moore. 

BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 

Tuer December number (volume 11, number 
3) of the Bulletin of the American Mathe- 
matical Society contains’ the following ar- 
ticles: Report of the October Meeting of the 


186 SCIENCE. 


American Mathematical Society, by F. N. 
Cole; ‘The Fundamental Conceptions and 
Methods of Mathematics,’ by Maxime Bécher; 
‘The History of Mathematics in the Nine- 
teenth Century,’ by James Pierpont; ‘De 
Séguier’s Theory of Abstract Groups’ (Re- 
view of de Séguier’s Eléments de la Théorie 
des Groupes Abstraits), by L. E. Dickson; 
Shorter Notices (Cajori’s Introduction to the 
Modern Theory of Equations, by L. E. Dick- 
son; Annuaire. Astronomique pour 1905, by 
E. W. Brown); Notes; New Publications. 
The January number of the Bulletin con- 
tains the following articles: ‘The Group of a 
Tactical Configuration, by L. E. Dickson; 
‘Application of the Theory of Continuous 
Groups to a Certain Differential Equation,’ 
by J. E. Wright; ‘On the Quintic Scroll 
having a Tacnodal or Osenodal Conic,’ by 
Virgil Snyder; ‘On the Deformation of Sur- 
faces of Translation,’ by Burke Smith; Re- 
port of the International Congress of Mathe- 
maticians at Heidelberg, by H. W. Tyler; 
Report of the Sectional Meetings of the 
Heidelberg Congress, by EF. B. Wilson; Notes; 
New Publications. 


Tue contents of the December issue of the 
Journal of Terrestrial Magnetism and At- 
mospheric Electricity are as follows: 


Portrait of Ettrick W. Creak, Frontispiece. 

F. BmLineMAteR: ‘Ueber den Einfluss der 
Torsion bei den Ablenkungen eines hiingenden 
Magneten.’ 

L, A. BAvER and G. W. LITTLEHALES: ‘ Pro- 
posed Magnetic Survey of the North Pacific 
Ocean by the Carnegie Institution.’ 

W. SuruHeRLAnND: ‘On the Cause 
Karth’s Magnetism and Gravitation.’ 

L. A. Bavrr: ‘The Physical Decomposition 
of the Earth’s Permanent Magnetic Field. No. 
V.: Systems of Magnetic Forces Causing the 
Secular Variation of the Uniform Portion of 
the Earth’s Magnetism.’ 

Biographical Sketch of Ettrick W. Creak. 

Letters to Editor: Interruptions to Telegraph 
Lines in New South Wales, Australia, as ob- 
served from the Chief Office (Sydney), on Octo- 
ber 31, 1903, O. J. Klotz; Principal Magnetic 
Disturbances recorded at Cheltenham Magnetic 
Observatory, Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, 1904, W. F. 
Wallis; Some Observations of the Diurnal Varia- 


of the 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527. 


tion of the Magnetie Declination at Cuajimalpa, 
Mexico, M. Morenoy Anda. 

Notes, Abstracts, Reviews, and list of recent 
publications. 


The Journal of Infectious Diseases (Vol- 
ume 2, No. 1) contains the following articles: 


Davin J. Levy: ‘Some Physical Properties of 
Enzymes.’ 

Maximitian Herzoc: ‘Fatal Infection by a 
Hitherto Undescribed Chromogenic Bacterium, 
Bacillus Aureus Feetidus.’ 

E. O. JonpAN and Mary HeErreran: ‘ Observa- 
tions on the Bionomics of Anopheles.’ 

GrorcE H. WeaAveER, R. M. Tunnicuirr, P. G. 
HEINEMANN, May Micuart: ‘Summer Diarrhea 
in Infants.’ 

ALBERT WOELFEL: ‘ Identification of Alcohol- 
Soluble Hemolysins in Blood Serum.’ 

Ricuarp P. Srrone: ‘ Protective Inoculation 
against Asiatic Cholera.’ 

L. Hexrorn and G. F. Ruepicer: ‘Studies in 
Phagocytosis.’ 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


Tue 392d regular meeting was held Decem- 
ber 5, 1904. G. K. Gilbert spoke briefly of 
observations of the marks of the claws of bears 
and other animals upon the bark of the aspen 
in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. 
Photographs of the trunks of trees so marked 
and specimens of the bark were exhibited. 

Henry Oldys, under the title ‘Some New 
Bird Songs,’ gave an account of interesting 
songs noted by him in the spring of 1904. 
Most of these offered additional evidence of 
the use by birds of rules of construction that 
govern human music. The speaker reproduced, 
among others, several chewink songs, all of 
which were sung by one chewink. ‘Two songs 
of a wood thrush, which were given, the 
speaker declared the most remarkable songs 
he had heard in years of experience. Each 
followed a form common in the modern four- 
line ballad and each was a model of melody. 
Hitherto, this four-phrase form had been 
found only in the morning and evening song 
of the wood pewee and in the usual song of the 
summer tanager, and neither had the melodic 
beauty that characterized the two wood thrush 


Fesruary 3, 1905.] 


songs. These are of such interest as to be 
worthy of reproduction as follows: 


William H. Dall read an abstract of the 
results of the study of the non-marine mollusk 
fauna of Alaska and the adjacent parts of 
Asia and North America, in which the rela- 
tions of the east Siberian fauna to that of 
Europe, China and Japan; and of the Hudson 
Bay territorial fauna to that of eastern 
Canada, the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific 
slope were shown, and those of all the fore- 
going to the fauna of Alaska as at present 
known. He regarded the probability of many 
new forms being found in these regions as 
very small, for though still very imperfectly 
explored, the conditions on the whole are very 
uniform, and in some portions of the area 
quite thorough collecting has been done. 

B. W. Evermann spoke of ‘A Trip to 
Mount Whitney,’ giving account of personal 
experiences while on a trip with the pack 
train into the region of Mount Whitney, Cali- 
fornia, in search of the golden trout of Vol- 
eano Creek. 


Tue 393d regular meeting was held De- 
cember 17, 1904. Dr. E. L. Greene spoke on 
“The Earliest Book of Systematic Botany,’ 
discussing the absence of everything approach- 
ing a natural classification of plants in an- 
cient and medieval botanical works, following 
with a statement of the principles first enun- 
ciated by the Italian Cxsalpinus in his book 
“De Plantis’ (1583), that plants and trees 
admit of a natural arrangement by consider- 
ing the characteristics of their fruit and 
seeds; thus inaugurating the era of systematic 
botany. A cursory review of this book was 
given and statements made of that imperfect, 
though in general very natural sequence of 
genera which it exhibits. 

A. B. Baker spoke briefly of ‘Animals Re- 
cently Received at the National Zoological 
Park from Abyssinia and South America.’ 


SCIENCE. 


187 


Among those mentioned were the animals re- 
ceived through President Roosevelt, to whom 
they were presented by King Menelek, of 
Abyssinia. Most interesting of these are the 
Somali ostrich, probably the only one of its 
kind in this country; the Grevy zebra, per- 
haps the handsomest of zebras; and two pe- 
culiar gelada baboons. He also spoke of ani- 
mals received from South America through 
the U. S. Consul at Asuncion and by exchange 
with the Zoological Garden of Buenos Aires. 
These included a jaguar, guanacos, peccaries, 
capybaras, rheas, tinamous and a _ crested 
screamer. : 

Dr. Hugh M. Smith gave an account of the 
Japanese ayu or sweet-fish (Plecoglossus alti- 
velis), which in some respects is one of the 
most remarkable of fishes. It is one of the 
Salmonide, but differs markedly from the 
salmons and trouts, and has been made the 
basis of a separate subfamily by Dr. Theodore 
Gill. The ayu is an annual fish, the entire 
eycle of its life from the egg to its death 
covering not more than a year. In dying 
after once spawning, it resembles the Pacific 
salmons. The eggs, laid in fall in rivers, are 
attached to stones, and hatch in a much short- 
er time than those of any other member of 
the family. The migrations are very peculiar, 
embodying a combination of anadromous and 
catadromous which is unparalleled; strictly 
speaking, however, the fish is neither ana- 
dromous nor catadromous, for it does not as- 
cend the streams to spawn, and when it runs 
down the streams to spawn it does not go to 
sea. When young the ayu subsists on animal 
food, but after entering fresh water it feeds 
almost exclusively on algx, which it scrapes 
from stones in mountain streams by means of 
curious chitinous papille which develop on 
the lips. The method of catching the ayu 
with trained cormorants was described and 
illustrated by lantern slides. 

Witrrep H. Oscoop, 
Secretary. 


NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: SECTION OF 
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 

Tue meeting of January 9, 1905, was called 

to order by the chairman, Dr. E. O. Hovey; 


188 
twenty-eight persons present. The minutes of 
the last meeting were read and approved. 

Dr. George F. Kunz read a paper on the 
‘ Jagersfontein or Excelsior-Tiffany Diamond,’ 
the largest diamond ever found up to the pres- 
ent time. It weighed 970 carats, and was a 
gem of most marvelous purity. This diamond 
was most expertly cleaved into pieces, and 
from it were cut ten gems weighing from 13 
to 68 carats each; a total of 340 carats; and 
these were imported into the United States. 
Mr. Kunz also stated that carbon silicide had 
been detected in the meteorite from the Cafion 
Diablo by Dr. Henri Moissan, of Paris, to- 
gether with transparent diamond and black 
diamond. As carbon silicide has been made 
artificially with the electric furnace by Messrs. 
Cowles, Acheson and Moissan heretofore, and 
was first determined in nature by Professor 
Moissan, if agreeable to Professor Moissan, he 
would suggest the name moissanile for this 
compound. 

The paper was illustrated by models and 
photographs. It was discussed by Professors 
Stevenson, the chairman, and 
were made by Dr. 


and 
3rief 


Kemp 
others. 
Kunz. 


replies 


Professor J. J. Stevenson read a paper en- 
titled, ‘Recent Advances in our Knowledge 
of the Composition of Coals.’ He said that 
the coals of Spitzbergen, according to Na- 
thorst, are in great’part of Jurassic age. The 
mining operations are confined to Advent Bay, 
a branch of the ice fiord of West Spitzbergen, 
where coal has been opened on both sides of 
the bay. The deposit has been followed 
northwardly for about ten miles, and for an 
equal distance westwardly. 

The chief enterprise is on the easterly side 
of the bay, where the bed is somewhat less 
than five feet thick. The coal from the upper 
part is splint-like, while that from the lower 
part is brilliant and somewhat prismatic. The 
divisions show a notable difference in the per- 
centage of volatile, the upper containing about 
ten per cent. more than the lower. The coal 
shows no tendeney to coke, and that from the 
lower portion is attacked energetically by 
caustie potash. 

The 


coal was compared with that from 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXII. No. 527. 


other localities in which the benches show 
notable difference in volatile. The results of 
tests with caustic potash made upon a number 
of coals appeared to show that non-coking 
coals are attacked promptly, while coals yield- 
ing a firm coke are not affected even after 
prolonged boiling. The speaker promised to 
give at a future meeting the results of an 
extended series of tests. 

The paper was discussed by Professor Kemp 
and others. 

The last speaker was Professor J. F. Kemp, 
upon ‘New Sources of the Supply of Iron 
Ores.’ Emphasis was first placed upon the 
enormous demands made by the iron industry 
of to-day upon the mines of the United States, 
Great Britain and Germany. The conviction 
was held by many that within fifty years the 
local American sources of rich ores of whose 
existence we now know would be exhausted 
and the iron masters would be compelled to 
seek new deposits. The following possible 
new districts were passed in review: the 
Labrador prospects discovered by Mr. A. P. 
Low, of the Canadian Geological Survey, 
which might also ship to Europe; Adirondack 
areas of reported magnetic attraction and 
possible lean ores, the Temagami district and 
the Michipicoten range, Ontario; the southern 
continuation of the Marquette range beneath 
the drift; the southern half of the Mesabi 
probable syncline beneath the swamps north- 
west of Duluth, as suggested by C. P. Berkey; 
the Baraboo range; the deposits in Jron 
County, Utah, and in the Wasatch Mountains; 
the magnetites of southern California and the 
prospects in Washington and along the coast. 
The speaker emphasized the important re- 
serves in the titaniferous magnetites and their 
great quantity. 

Passing to Europe the new developments 
in Sweden at Gellivara and Kirunavaara were 
reviewed and the possibilities at Routivaara; 
also the Dundeland valley in Norway and the 
similar deposits farther north. Their rela- 
tions to the smelting centers in Great Britain 
and Germany were explained and their com- 
parative amount with the ‘minette’ ores of 
France, Luxemburg, and Germany brought 
out. Other deposits in Spain, Algiers, Ven- 


| 
| 
. 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


ezuela, India, Australia and Shan-si in China 
were mentioned. 

The necessary connection between the coal 
fields and any great development of the iron 
and steel industry was emphasized and the 
future of the three great producers of to-day 
forecast as involved in the permanency of the 
eoals. The reserves of coal are greater in 
Germany and America than in Great Britain. 
The province of Shan-si, China, having rich 
stores of both coal and iron, seems to be the 
one possible new location of the future great 
iron industry. 

After a lengthy discussion, the meeting ad- 
journed. A. W. Grapau, 

Secretary. 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 

NEw York City, 


THE SCIENCE CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
WISCONSIN. 

Tue third regular meeting of the club for 
the year 1904-5 was held on December 13 at 
7:30 p.m. in the physical lecture room of sci- 
ence hall. The lecture of the evening was 
delivered by Professor B. W. Snow, head of 
the department of physics of the university, 
on the subject, ‘ Electrons, Radio-activity, and 
the Electrical Theory of Matter.’ 

F. W. Wott, 


ecretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
A BIOLOGICAL STATION IN GREENLAND. 

To tue Eprror or Science: The establish- 
‘ment during recent years of biological stations 
in various parts of the world has proved to 
be of the greatest importance in furthering 
the progress of science. The great station of 
Naples has now a worthy competitor at Wood’s 
Hole, and the botanical laboratory at Buiten- 
zorg is aptly represented in this country by the 
Carnegie Desert Laboratory. The already 
large number of lesser institutions of similar 
nature is rapidly increasing, both in this 
country and abroad, and all add to the oppor- 
tunities available for the working biologist. 

Up to the present time the foundation of 
such stations has been confined, however, to 
regions with temperate or tropical climate, 


SCIENCE. 


139 


and no attempt has been made to establish 
a permanent station for biological research 
within the Arctic, until recently. A Danish 
botanist, Morten P. Porsild, has proposed to 
his government the appropriation of funds for 
such a station, to be located on the southern 
eoast of Disko Island in North Greenland, 
not far from the colony Godhavn (lat. 69° 15’ 
N.). The proposal is well worth the atten- 
tion and support of American scientists, and 
I shall here briefly review Mr. Porsild’s plan, 
according to information supplied by himself. 

Danish naturalists have, during the last 
twenty-five years, systematically explored 
Greenland; more than fifty scientific expedi- 
tions have been sent to that country, and the 
results are comprised in a series of about 
thirty volumes (‘ Meddelelser om Groénland’). 
It is with pardonable pride Mr. Porsild points 
to the fact that this has been accomplished 
at a cost not greater than the expense for one 
of Peary’s expeditions. 

The estimated cost for the establishment of 
the proposed station reaches the very mod- 
erate amount of $9,400, which would cover 
the erection of building, purchase of a motor 
launch, boats, sledges, tents and other material 
for shorter expeditions, instruments, books, 
ete. The running expenses, including salary 
for a resident investigator and native assist- 
ants, are estimated at $2,960. Mr. Porsild 
has asked the Danish government for this 
sum, and in the interest of science it is sin- 
cerely to be hoped that his request will be 
granted. If that is done, Mr. Porsild expects 
to have the station in working order before 
next summer, and its doors will then be thrown 
open for investigators from any country. The 
geographical position of Greenland, and the 
similarity of conditions there with those of 
the northernmost part of this continent must 
necessarily appeal to Americans, and until the 
time arrives when a permanent biological sta- 
tion can be established in a suitable locality 
in Alaska, those engaged in arctic work will 
find the now proposed institution a place of 
interest. For reasons which will be given 
Greenland will always be the classical ground 
for certain lines of research, and, as Mr. Por- 
sild says, there is no other place in the Arctic 


190 


that offers such favorable conditions as the 
region in which he proposes to establish his 
station. The southern coast of Disko has the 
richest flora and the most luxuriant vegetation 
in northern Greenland. It is the northern- 
most point where all the different plant for- 
mations of Greenland are represented. Creta- 
ceous and Tertiary formations with rich de- 
posits of fossils occur, and botl» gneiss and 
basalt rock formations are here represented. 
The inland ice and the high mountains are 
easily accessible, glaciers in all stages, fjords 
and rivers, and the open sea give an excellent 
opportunity for investigations. All the main 
features of arctic climate are found here. 
The sun does not rise over the horizon for 
over six weeks, and for a still longer period 
of the summer it does not go down. The col- 
ony Godhavn is the center of commercial life 
in northern Greenland, and it has regular 
communication with Copenhagen. 

The station will be in charge of a resident 
investigator, and accommodation will be pro- 
vided for two visitors, who will have the use 
of all facilities the laboratory can offer, free 
of charge. By the establishment of this sta- 
tion the total expense to a visiting scientist 
will be reduced to about one third of previous 
cost. It is estimated that a stay for a sum- 
mer will cost $375, this sum covering the fare 
both ways between Copenhagen and Green- 
land. A prolonged sojourn will add propor- 
tionally a small sum only. 

Among the researches which should be ear- 
ried on partly by the resident investigator, 
partly by visiting biologists, Mr. Porsild draws 
attention to the following general problems: 
What environmental factors cause the pe- 
culiar aspect of arctic plants and plant com- 
munities? What internal and external quali- 
ties make it possible for arctic plants to exist 
under conditions too severe for any other 
plants? These two headings necessarily in- 
clude a great number of special inquiries into 
structure, nutrition, growth, respiration, trans- 
piration, variation and adaptation, flowering 
and propagation of plants, development, com- 
petition and succession of plant communities, 
problems for the solution of which the condi- 
tions in the arctic regions are especially favor- 


SCIENCE. 


able, but which require detailed experiments 
and observations, covering a long period of 
time. In the preface to his principal work, 
‘Plant Geography upon a Physiological Basis,’ 
the late Professor A. F. W. Schimper (1898) 
suggests the foundation of a botanical station 
such as now proposed by Mr. Porsild, when he 
says: “It is to be hoped that a counterpart 
to Buitenzorg may soon be established in the 
arctic zone; for an arctic laboratory, with a 
modest equipment corresponding to the poy- 
erty of the flora and the relative simplicity of 
the problems to be solved would be of great 
service.” Only a few problems of plant physi- 
ological interest may here be mentioned as 
subjects for investigation at a botanical labora- 
tory in the Arctic. It has recently been shown 
that a great number of arctic plants are sup- 
plied with mycorrhiza. The question has 
arisen to what extent ready prepared food 
material is absorbed by means of this sym- 
biotic relation under the prevailing light con- 
ditions in the arctic region. The process of 
photosynthesis in green plants must neces- 
sarily be retarded by the insufficient light. 
It is generally supposed that the long arctic 
day is a compensation to the plants for the 
short period of growth. This has not yet been 
proved, however, by real evidence. We do not 
know, as yet, how small amount of light is 
necessary to bring about absorption of carbon- 
dioxide in the green plants of the Arctic. We 
have no data, except occasional observations 
by travelers, as to the peculiar results on vege- 
tation of the Arctic temperatures. Such facts 
as willows flowering and budding as soon as 
they reach over the surface of the snow, while 
their lower parts are still frozen, are, as yet, 
unexplained. Similarly the phenomenon of 
plants growing and flowering on steep moun- 
tain sides, where they are exposed to a tem- 
perature of 30° ©. in daytime and several 
degrees under zero at night, and to extremely 
low temperatures in winter without any snow- 
covering. The adaptations in arctic plants 
for conservation of the water supply or min- 
imizing the transpiration are still imperfectly 
known. The ecology of roots of arctic plants 
is hardly studied at all. . The succession of 
plant communities on new soil, left bare by 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No: 527- 


an 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


the ice, is a problem which can not be studied 
to advantage anywhere better than in Green- 
land, where similar conditions now prevail as 
once obtained in the glaciated area of both the 
northern and the southern hemisphere. These 
are only a few of the most important botanical 
questions which have to be solved at an arctic 
station. 

The resident investigator should make de- 
tailed meteorological observations. - Near the 
proposed site for the laboratory are mountains 
2,000 to 3,000 feet high, and easily accessible. 
Mr. Porsild proposes to place self-registering 
instruments in a hut on the top of the moun- 
tain, so that simultaneous readings could be 
had from near sea level and from the high 
mountain—a matter of great consequence. In 
this connection also phenological observations 
would be taken. 

Among the problems of geological interest, 
for the study of which Greenland offers special 
advantages, may be mentioned the study 
of glaciation, and of the extremely rapid 
erosion, that takes place in the northern 
part of the country. Certain parts of 
the coast are known to be sinking, in the 
basaltic regions of north Greenland earth- 
quakes are not infrequent, and a trained ob- 
server, living in the country the whole year 
round and supplied with necessary instru- 
ments, could do good service by obtaining 
data on these phenomena. Large collections 
of plant fossils have already been brought 
home from these regions, but still much re- 
mains to be done in paleontological research. 

Of zoological subjects especially plankton 
studies could be undertaken, and a series of 
observations of the periodicity of plankton, to- 
gether with data on salinity and temperature 
of the sea water would be of considerable in- 
terest for an understanding of the animal life 
in the high arctic seas. 

Mr. Porsild, who is now connected with the 
botanical department of the University of 
Copenhagen, has already done good work in 
the study of arctic plant life, and if he un- 
dertakes the work of the resident investigator, 
it can be taken for granted that results of 
permanent value to biological science will fol- 
low the founding of the new institution. The 


SCIENCE. 


191 


plan of establishing an arctic biological sta- 
tion in north Greenland, as proposed by Mr. 
Porsild, has received the endorsement of all 
the scientific institutions in Denmark, and 
the hearty approval of scientists in northern 
Europe. It now remains to be seen whether 
the Danish government is aware of the impor- 
tance of this proposal and willing to take the 
necessary steps for its realization. 
Prur OLsson-SErrer. 
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CAL., 
December 5, 1904. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


THE DEXTER, NITROGEN GAS WELL.* 


During the first half of 1903 parties drilling 
for oil or gas at Dexter, Kansas, came into 
a gas sand at a depth of about 400 feet which 
yielded a large amount of gas. It was soon 
closed in and an attempt was made to burn it, 
as natural gas is usually burned, for genera- 
ting steam for drilling purposes. Much to the 
surprise of parties interested, it would not 
burn. Later it was found that when a fire 
was already kindled in a fire box or an engine 
and the gas turned on, as is usually done with 
natural gas, it would begin to burn, and would 
develop sufficient heat to generate steam 
moderately well. But as soon as the coal or 
other fuel in the fire box was consumed the 
gas would no longer burn. A cylinder of the 
gas was shipped to the University of Kansas 
later during the summer and was partially ex- 
amined by different members of the chemical 
and geological departments. 

This peculiar gas obtained from the ground 
in a manner similar to the way natural gas 
is ordinarily obtained, and in a region where 
gas might reasonably be expected, at once be- 
came an object of great interest. The owners 
of the well, who had spent their money in de- 
veloping it, did not wish it given great pub- 
licity. But newspaper men wrote it up and 
oil and gas men generally spoke of it as a well 
of ‘hot air.’ Accordingly, the state geologist 
deemed it of sufficient interest to warrant a 
careful investigation. On his advice the well 


KANSAS, 


* Presented in abstract at the meeting of the 
Geological Society of America at Philadelphia, 
December 30, 1904. 


192 


was opened up and allowed to flow freely 
through an 84-inch pipe for eleven days, and 
then through a 38-inch pipe three days more. 
The gas was again tested by trying to burn it 
in boilers, stoves and other places. But it was 
found to have practically the same character 
as when first obtained. During this long flow 
the well ‘drilled itself in’ to a considerable 
extent; that is, the escaping gas broke the 
upper part of the gas-bearing sandstone, blew 
the particles out through the casing and 
thereby deepened the hole. The static pres- 
sure of the gas at present is 120 pounds, and 
the flowage capacity, measured by the ordinary 
method using the pitot tube and Robinson’s 
tables, is reported to be seven million cubie feet 
per twenty-four hours. These measurements 
have not been verified by the state survey, but 
the parties making them are so well known it 
is safe to assume they are approximately cor- 
rect. 

An ordinary gas-receiving cylinder with an 
opening at each end was now shipped down to 
the well and was filled with gas by the ordinary 
replacement method, the cylinder first being 
filled with water. The full pressure of the 
well was admitted to the cylinder, the valves 
securely closed, and the same shipped to 
Lawrence for analysis. The analysis of the 
gas was made by the junior author of this 
article and gave results as follows: 


Oxygen 2. Rpaee ene eter eeneree operons 0.20 
Canbon-dioxider eee ene eee 0.00 
Carbon monoxide) cesses ee 0.00 
Methane; '\CHa seen tone roe 15.02 
Hydrogen: .aemo nscale aeterrocrot 0.80 
Nitrogen: 1262 otee.scueiegste Sestenetei atone 71.89 
Inert \residtie:s.2cyc caterers atone 12.09 

Ota: sex ach cee Ree 100.00 


The analysis was carried out chiefly by 
means of the well-known methods given in 
Hempel’s ‘Gas Analysis.’ 

Methane was determined by combustion of 
the gas with pure oxygen and measurement of 
the resulting contraction, and also of the ecar- 
the combustion. 
Hydrogen was absorbed in a palladium tube; 
carbon dioxide was tested for with a potas- 
sim hydrate pipette and carbon monoxide 


bon dioxide formed in 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Voz. XXI. No. 527. 


with ammoniacal cuprous chloride solution. 
For the determination of oxygen a phosphorus 
pipette was used. The residual gas left un- 
absorbed after all the above operations was 
treated by the method used by Ramsay and 
Rayleigh in the separation of argon from 
atmospheric nitrogen (Journal of London 
Chemical Society, 1897, 181). The residue 
was mixed with an excess of pure oxygen and 
confined in a tube over mercury. A small 
quantity of a strong solution of potassium 
hydroxide was introduced into the tube over 
the mereury and a spark from an induction 
coil was passed through the mixture for about 
sixty hours. The nitrogen peroxide formed 
in the operation was absorbed by the solution 
of potassium hydroxide. The sparking was 
continued for several hours after all contrac- 
tion in the volume of the gas had ceased, and 
the residue was then removed from the tube 
and passed into a phosphorus pipette filled 
with fresh phosphorus. Here it was kept for 
several hours to insure the complete absorp- 
tion of the excess oxygen. The residue which 
failed to be absorbed was then measured. This 
constitutes the portion which is designated in 
the analysis as inert residue. No examina- 
tion into the constitution of this residue has 
yet been made, because of lack of time, and 
until this is done nothing can be said con- 
cerning its composition, save that there is a 
possibility of its containing argon or other 
inert gaseous elements which have been found 
in atmospheric air. 

The investigation of the inert gases will be 
carried out as soon as time will permit, 

Geologically the mouth of the well is in the 
Permian, and the gas-bearing sandstone is 
close to the division line between the Upper 
Coal Measures and the Lower Permian. No 
caves or underground caverns of any impor- 
tance ever have been found in this part of the 
state, The formations are a mixture of 
alternating beds of limestone and shale, with 
comparatively small amounts of sandstone 
found here and there in the shale. The gas 
itself, it should be remembered, oceurs in sand- 
stone in the same manner that ordinary nat- 
ural gas occurs in other sandstones farther 
east. Naturally one is led to inquire whence 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


this large amount of nitrogen which has 
already flowed from the well, an amount equal 
to not less than 125 million cubic feet meas- 
ured at atmospheric pressure. <A little farther 
east in the state there are hundreds of natural 
gas wells which produce a natural gas similar 
to that of Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. 
For comparison a few analyses from different 
places in the state are here added, made by 
Professor E. H. S. Bailey, of the University 


of Kansas, years ago. 


CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF KANSAS NATURAL GAS. 
EXPRESSED IN PER CENTS. 


Pee olyer |e les 
a | sitet | "sé | 5 a 
Components of Gas. | S| s & s | B | Be 
Ay z Is Oil cet eer 

| iz la 1s [4 

* |_° sae | | 
Hydrogen, H......... 0.00, 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 
Oxypren, O)..........06. 0.45 trace 0.45 0.22 0.12 trace 
NTETOPEN «05... 060 2.34) 0.60 7.76 5.94) 2.21) 3.28 
Carbon m-oxide,CO.) 1.57. 1.83 1.23 1.16 0.91 0.33 
Carbon dioxide, CO,) 0.33 0.22 0.90) 0.22) 0.00) 0.44 
Ethylene series, | 

OREAG Cb Cece tse -nk 0.11, 0.22 0.00 0.00, 0.35) 0.67 


Marsh gas, CH... 95.20 97.63 89.66 92.46 96.41 95.28 


It will be seen from the above table that 
oxygen is present in small quantities in almost 
all the samples analyzed and that nitrogen is 
present in all of them, reaching to a little 
over seven per cent. in gas from Iola. It is 
possible, of course, that a small amount of air 
was left in the gathering flask, but not prob- 
able. If so the amount of oxygen present 
would correspond to a proportionate amount 
of nitrogen, much less than is given in the 
table. Therefore, we may conclude that traces 
of nitrogen are usually present in Kansas 
natural gas. Carbon monoxide and carbon 
dioxide also are present in small quantity, but 
almost all the volume is marsh gas, CH,, 
which reaches 97.63 per cent. in one sample. 
But in the Dexter gas no oxides of carbon 
could be found. 

If we assume that the Dexter gas represents 
a volume of air which in some way was em- 
bedded hundreds of feet beneath the surface, 
then a number of interesting inquiries are 
presented, such as: What became of the 
oxygen? If it was consumed or absorbed by 
organic matter then why is the gas totally 


SCIENCE. 


193 


void of the oxides of carbon which are found 
present in small quantities in almost all nat- 
ural gases? Is it possible that ground water 
absorbed the oxygen from a mass of air, leay- 
ing large quantities of nitrogen unabsorbed? 
Under ordinary conditions the ratio of absorp- 
tion for oxygen and nitrogen by water is dif- 
ferent from the ratio between the two gases in 
the atmosphere. It is possible that ground 
water simply absorbed the oxygen, leaving a 
residue of nitrogen unabsorbed. It must be 
confessed this hardly looks probable. But 
even if it is possible the most important ques- 
tion yet remains, namely, how did so large a 
volume of air become entombed in the ground ? 
The writers hereof are unable to advance any 
views on this phase of the subject. 

Erasmus Hawortu, 

D. F. McFaruanp. 


COM MENT. 


Under the view that the earth’s atmosphere 
and hydrosphere represent volatile matter 
forced out from the interior of the shrinking 
globe, the Dexter nitrogen supply is simple 
and natural. It is one of many indications 
that the interior supply of gases is not ex- 
hausted and that the atmosphere is still grow- 
ing. H. L. Famrcuinp. 


THE TEACHING OF AGRICULTURE IN 
SOUTH CAROLINA. 

CLemson AGRICULTURAL CoLLEece of South 
Carolina has recently completed a commodious 
building for the purpose of teaching the sci- 
ences related to agriculture. This building 
was dedicated to its use on August 9, by ap- 
propriate exercises. On that occasion Hon. 
J. E. Tindal, of South Carolina, delivered an 
address and dedicated the building to the 
prosecution of agricultural sciences. There 
was present a large audience of farmers and 
prominent men from different portions of 
South Carolina and neighboring states. The 
following is a synopsis of Mr. Tindal’s speech: 

The dedication of the building, he said, 
marks the seeming completion of the college. 
This building was put up last because the 
work of agriculture could be earried on better 
than could the work of other departments 


194 SCIENCE. 


without separate buildings. The money was 
not available to erect all buildings at once. 
Those in greatest demand were built first. 
The college is now complete with six depart- 
ments. These six departments represent the 
great industrial forces of our great state. We 
are making a new era, but that era did not 
begin with reconstruction. South Carolina 
University was abolished and the South 
had nothing to do with that monstrosity. It 
began with 1876. The old South Carolina 
College was established. The negroes were 
given a college at Orangeburg, and the citadel 
was given to the whites at Charleston. But 
the old classical education,” while good and 
while still good, did not go far enough. 

The wonderful advance along industrial 
lines has wrought a revolution in all depart- 
ments of life. These new forces of nature 
have been applied to all professions and trades. 
No edueation can be adequate that does not 
take these forces into consideration. Clemson 
College was founded to meet the very neces- 
sities of the times in which we live. 

No individual can master the whole of the 
knowledge of this generation. But a man 
may master the world’s thought in his own 
particular vocation. If a state has men who 
do this, then that state stands at the very 
forefront of progress. For a long time agri- 
culture was neglected. But the learned men 
of Europe soon saw that the business of the 
world would collapse unless attention was 
given to agriculture. So experiment stations 
have been established where learned men 
pry into the secrets of nature as they affect 
human life. If any new discovery is made 
in any department of science, your professor 
of that particular line gets it and gives the 
benefit to our state. 

Knowledge has so multiplied that men must 
specialize. The man who does so gains dis- 
tinction and wealth and is a benefactor of the 
race. A man who masters the forces of 
nature and applies them to his vocation de- 
serves respect. He deserves it when he is 
a farmer just as much as when he follows any 
other calling. When farmers begin to special- 
ize then we shall have diversified farming. 

You claim that we spend too much money. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527. 


Why, we don’t spend an infinitesimal part of 
what we ought to spend to bring our state 
abreast the times. Japan, though not much 
larger than South Carolina, has 175 experi- 
ment stations. 

Clemson has awakened thought in our state. 
The farmers are beginning to realize that 
there is something to learn besides what they 
already know. It has got them out of ruts. 

The success of this college depends on you. 
If you have a bright boy and want him to be- 
come a doctor, you send him to college; so if 
you want him to become a lawyer. But if he 
is to farm you turn him loose in ignorance. 
Why not educate him too? 

South Carolina depends on you. This land 
is your inheritance. It should be the in- 
heritance of your children. If it is to be, 
you must get the best knowledge obtainable. 

Here Captain Tindal addressed himself to 
the faculty of the college, impressing upon 
them the responsibilities that rested upon 
them, and complimenting them upon what 
they had done. He spoke of the contribution 
the other departments of the college had made 
to the nation, but the state must look largely 
to the agricultural department. 

Captain Tindal’s speech was scholarly and 
forceful and was listened to with interest. 

The agricultural hall contains thirty labo- 
ratories and lecture rooms. The sciences 
have been well provided for—general agri- 
culture, geology and mineralogy, veterinary 
science, botany and bacteriology, horticul- 
ture, entomology and zoology, animal hus- 
bandry and dairying. The state experiment 
station is also located in this building. The 
board of trustees have endeavored to furnish 
these laboratories and lecture rooms with the 
best apparatus and appliances so that the 
teaching and experiments may be conducted 
in accordance with modern requirements 
There is also a large room in this building set 
aside for a museum, where the different divi- 
sions and departments will display for the 
use of the students scientific specimens which 
will also be of value to the casual observer, 
and to the man who is investigating some 
special topic in his line. The structure con- 
sists of three floors, and’is built of the best 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


material available, finished in pressed brick 
and stone trimmings. 

The work of Clemson Agricultural College 
in the line of agriculture has been greatly ad- 
vanced within the last several years because of 
the active demand on the part of the farmers 
for information concerning their profession. 
They assemble here each year in large numbers 
during the middle of the summer, and spend a 
week with the professors of the institution and 
distinguished experimenters from other sec- 
tions of the country, in the study of sciences 
relating to agriculture. The erection of this 
building, therefore, has been in accordance 
with this demand. The board of trustees are 
endeavoring to meet the requirements of the 
situation, and there is great desire on their 
part to give all the facilities, so far as the 
income of the college will allow, not only for 
the purpose of teaching agriculture, but at the 
same time for encouraging original research 
on the part of the gentlemen who have charge 
of the various divisions in the department. 
There seems to be a considerable awakening 
on the part of the people all over the state for 
knowledge in scientific agriculture, and in 
other lines of industry, and the erection of 
this building with its modern facilities will 
go far towards encouraging this awakening on 
the part of the industrial classes of the state. 

The college was established in 1889 by an 
act of the state legislature, and opened for the 
admission of students in 1893. The first 
elass graduated in 1896, and the college has 
sent out a total number of 295 graduates. 
The total number of students enrolled for 
session 1904-5 is 641, and the total number 
of the faculty is 44. 

The college is engaged in work in the fol- 
lowing lines of scientific and industrial ac- 
tivity—agriculture, mechanical engineering, 
electrical engineering, civil engineering, 
textile engineering, chemical science and_ the 
subjects of general literature necessary for an 
educational foundation. 

The college is located on the estate of John 
C. Calhoun, his mansion being situated in the 
center of the campus. Mr, Thos. G. Clemson, 
son-in-law of John C. Calhoun, donated the 
_ property to the state for the purpose of a col- 


SCIENCE. 


195 


lege of this character, giving 800 acres of land 
and $58,539 in securities. The state has added 
to the land so that it now amounts to 1,136 
acres. The board have spent in the fifteen 
years since the college was founded $656,721 
in the preparation of the grounds, the instal- 
lation of electric lights, water works, sewerage 
system and the erection of nine large build- 
ings, 86 smaller structures for college pur- 
poses and 57 residences for the faculty. The 
departments are well equipped with appliances 
and apparatus for the prosecution of work 
along the lines required in modern colleges. 
The income of the college is from several 
sources and amounts to $150,287. Besides the 
educational work, the college is required by 
law to carry on experiments in agriculture 
for the benefit of the farmers of the state and 
is in charge of the inspection of fertilizers, 
plants and animals, and is conducting elabo- 
rate courses of farmers’ institute work. It 
will thus be seen that Clemson College is en- 
deavoring to do for the industrial classes of 
South Carolina advanced and valuable work. 
The limit of age for admission to the col- 
lege is sixteen years. Every year the author- 
ities are compelled to turn off a large number 
of applicants for the lack of the facilities to 
take care of the students who are striving for 
the scientific education given by colleges of 
this character. 12%, Jel, Whit. 
CLEMSON COLLEGE, S, C. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 
Tue city of Berlin has arranged a compe- 
tition for plans for a monument to Rudolf 
Virchow. It is to be placed at the intersec- 


tion of Karl and Luisen Streets, a square 
which will henceforth be known as Virchow 


Platz. 


Proressor ‘Lewis Boss, astronomer of the 
Dudley Observatory of Albany, N. Y., has 
been awarded the medal of the Royal Astro- 
nomical Society. 


Tue Botanical Society of America elected 
the following officers at the recent Philadel- 
phia meeting: President, Professor R. A. 
Harper; Vice-President, HK. A. Burt; Secre- 
tary, Dr. D. T. MacDougal; Treasurer, Dr. 


196 SCIENCE. 


Arthur Hollick; Councilors, Professors L. M. 
Underwood and William Trelease. 

Tue famous singing master, Manuel Garcia, 
of London, who invented the laryngoscope 
fifty years ago, will be 100 years old March 
17, 1905. The London Laryngological Society 
is collecting subscriptions for a present to be 
given to him on that occasion. 

Dr. L. P. Kannicurt, the head of the chem- 
ical department of the Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute, has been appointed by President 
Roosevelt one of the commissioners to examine 
and test the fineness and weight of the coins 
reserved by the several mints of the United 
States during the calendar year 1905. 


Proressor H. Marsuaut Warp has_ been 
elected president of the Cambridge Philosoph- 
ical Society. 

Mr. R. V. AnpeErson, a student in the de- 
partment of geology of Stanford University, 
has sailed from San Franciseo for Japan, 
where he will make a special study of geolog- 
ical conditions. 

AssISTANT Proressor Leonarp E. Dickson, 
of the department of mathematics of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, has completed his investi- 
gations as research assistant to the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington for 1904. 

Captain Joun Donnextit Smiru, of Balti- 
more, has given to the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion his private herbarium consisting of more 
than 100,000 mounted sheets and his botanical 
library of nearly 1,600 bound volumes. Cap- 
tain Smith’s collection is probably the largest 
private herbarium in America, being very rich 
in tropical plants. As is well known Captain 
Smith has long been a student of the flora of 
the Central American countries, having pub- 
lished many systematic papers on the flora 
of Costa Rica and Guatemala. He proposes 
to continue these studies, and for this reason 
will retain for the present the custody of the 
greater part of his herbarium. This gift is 
the most important of the kind ever received 
by the Smithsonian Institution. 

Tue Research Laboratory of Physical Chem- 
istry of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology has received from the William E. Hale 
Research Fund a second grant of $1,000, which 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527. 


is being applied to an investigation upon the 
conductivity of fused salts carried out by Mr. 
R. D. Mailey under the direction of Professor 
H. M. Goodwin. The Carnegie Institution 
has also renewed the grant of $2,000 to Pro- 
fessor A. A. Noyes for the purpose of pro- 
moting the researches in progress in the labo- 
ratory upon the conductivity of salts in aque- 
ous solutions at high temperatures, which are 
being executed by Professor W. D. Coolidge, 
Mr. A. C. Melcher and Y. Kato. Additional 
investigations are being carried on by four 
other research associates or research assistants 
as follows: upon the rate of decomposition of 
minerals by water by Dr. W. Boéttger; upon 
the migration and coagulation of colloids by 
Dr. J. C. Blake; upon the physico-chemical 
properties of the solutions of metals in liquid 
ammonia by Mr. C. A. Kraus; and upon the 
dissociation relations of phosphoric acid by 
Mr. G. A. Abbott. Other researches—upon 
the dissociation-relations of sulphuric acid, 
upon the solubility of salts in water above 


100°, upon the heat of solution of substances 


in relation to their dissociation, and upon the 
qualitative detection of certain rare metals— 
are being pursued by candidates for the Ph.D. 
degree. 

ResearcH work in chemistry at the Uni- 
versity of Michigan’ is represented among 
University organizations by the Chemical 
Colloquium, which meets twice “a month 
through the year. Reviews are presented of 
recently published important researches, and 
reports are made upon investigations carried 
on in the university laboratory. All instruc- 
tors of the department are members of the 
colloquium, and graduate students and those 
advanced in chemistry are also eligible to 
membership. The following topics have been 
discussed at the meetings this year: October 
24, 1904—Professor Edward D. Campbell, ‘A 
Review of Clifford Richards’ Work on the 
Constitution of Portland Cement.’ Novem- 
ber 7—Dr. William J. Hale, ‘ Condensations 
with Nitromalonie Aldehyde.’ November 21 
—Professor S. Lawrence Bigelow, ‘A Review 
of Some Recent Articles on Colloidal Solu- 
tions.’ December 5—Assistant Professor Al- 
fred H. White, ‘The Decomposition of Am- 


Qe = 


; 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


monia by Heat’; a report of experimental 
work. December 19—Assistant Professor 
George A. Hulett, ‘ Revolving Electrodes and 
Electro-analysis” January 16, 1905—Pro- 
fessor Moses Gomberg, ‘A Review of the 
Literature in Tetravalent Oxygen.’ 


We learn from The Botanical Gazette that 
the Botanical Society of America, the Society 
for Plant Morphology and Physiology and 
the American Mycological Society, through 
committees of conference, have agreed upon 
certain general principles, upon the basis of 
which they will fuse into one national society 
under the name of The Botanical Society of 
America. For some years the names of all 
the societies will appear upon official publica- 
tions until the union is thoroughly known. 
There are to be two classes of membership, 
members and associates, the distinction being 
placed upon published work. The fees are to 
be $5 a year. Grants for research are to be 
made from the income. Meetings are to be 
annual with no permanently organized sec- 
tions, but free opportunity for local meetings 
or temporary sections in charge of committees. 
A joint committee has been formed to prepare 
a constitution for the united societies, which 


shall embody the principles agreed to, and 


complete the reorganization. 


A CABLEGRAM to the New York Herald says 
that Professor Curie has sent through the 
Austrian ambassador, a tube of radium to the 
. Vienna Hospital for use in the cure of lupus. 
The gift is a recognition of the act of the 
Austrian government in furnishing Professor 
Curie with pitchblende for his original re- 
searches. 


THE government of the northwest territories 
of Canada is establishing a new bacteriologic 
and pathologic laboratory and has appointed 
Dr. George Charlton, formerly of the McGill 
University pathologic department, chief of the 
laboratory. 


Tue department of geology of the American 
Museum of Natural History has recently re- 
ceived a series of fossils from the beds of Hud- 
son River age near Cincinnati; Ohio. All the 
specimens are in beautiful condition and many 


SCIENCE. 


197 


rare forms, especially of Echinoderms, are 
represented by several specimens. 


Tue king of Italy has given $20,000 towards 
the expenses of the exhibition to be held in 
Milan in 1906 in celebration of the opening 
of the Simplon tunnel. 


Aone the recent contributions received by 
the Imperial Cancer Research Fund are the 
following: the Duke of Bedford, £1,000 (third 
instalment of £38,000); Mr. J. A. Mullens, 
£100; the Clothworkers’ Company, £50 and 
Mr. Archibald Walker, £50. - 


Dr. W. Bett Dawson, the engineer in 
charge of the Tidal and Current Survey of 
Canada, has been awarded the Gay prize of 
1,500 franes, by the Academy of Sciences of 
Paris. This prize was offered for the best 
determinations of mean sea level on the coasts 
of the North Atlantic Ocean. Such determina- 
tions serve either to detect any gradual change 
of the land elevation relatively to the ocean, 
or to establish a plane of reference for general 
levels throughout the country. Although this 
is additional to the direct work of the Tidal 
and Current Survey as a marine undertaking, 
Dr. Dawson has evidently given special atten- 
tion to this matter. As there are yet no gen- 
eral geodetic levels throughout Canada, he 
has established independent bench-marks at 
all the more important harbors and other. 
localities where tidal observations have been 
obtained. These are at widely separated 
points, from Labrador to Nova Scotia, and 
from the St. Lawrence to Newfoundland. 
The resulting tide levels are described in 
his recent paper in the ZJ'ransactions of the 
Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, entitled 
“Tide Levels and Datum Planes in Eastern 
Canada.’ It is the work there detailed, and 
explained in his other reports and papers on 
tidal subjects, that formed the basis of the 
award of the prize referred to. 


Mr. S. Harserrt Haminton announces that he 
has sold to the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, 
Pa., the famous W. W. Jefferis collection of 
minerals, with the understanding that it is to 
be known in perpetuity as the ‘W. W. Jefferis 
Mineral Collection of the Carnegie Museum.’ 


198 


Mr. Jefferis began the collection of minerals 
more than seventy years ago. Living, as he 
did, at West Chester, Chester County, Pa., he 
had unusual opportunities of collecting choice 
specimens from the ancient gneiss, serpentine 
and limestones, as well as the trap rocks, of 
eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New 
York. Mining was then carried on more ex- 
tensively than now in this region. Mr. Jef- 
feris’s exertions were not confined by any 
means, for he traveled in northern New York, 
Canada and Europe in search of minerals. 
He conducted exchanges with collectors all 
over the world, sending out hundreds of boxes 
of minerals. He also spent as lavishly of 
his means as he did of his time in building 
up a marvelous collection with the eye of 
a connoisseur, so this which now goes 
to Pittsburgh is one of the finest private 
American collections. Mr. Jefferis, although 
primarily a collector, was also a discoverer 
and contributor to science. He furnished 
Geo. Brush, J. Lawrence Smith, C. U. Shep- 
ard, F. A. Genth, J. P. Cooke, J. D. Dana, 
F. W. Clark and many other investigators 
with material, as the files of original letters 
which go to Pittsburgh abundantly testify. 
Aquacreptite (Shepard), Euphyllite (Silli- 
man, Jr.), Jefferisite (Brush), emerald nickel 
= Zaratite, Melanosiderite (Cooke), Roseite 
(Jefferis) were all discovered by Mr. Jefferis. 
In addition to new minerals Mr. Jefferis aided 
largely in extending the distribution of known 
species and in furnishing material for the 
reexamination of old and poorly known ones. 
Dana drew largely from Mr. Jefferis’s notes 
and specimens, some of which were figured for 
his System of Mineralogy. Genth’s ‘ Min- 
eralogy of Pennsylvania’ is also greatly in- 
debted to Mr. Jefferis’s labors in the field. 
Miss JuniA A. Lapoam has been appointed 
chairman of the recently organized Land- 
Committee of the Wisconsin State 
Federation of Woman’s Clubs. Under her 
leadership the ladies of the state are taking 
an active interest in the movement for the 
preservation of the animal effigy mounds and 
other prehistoric monuments and landmarks 
of Wisconsin. Miss Lapham lives at Ocono- 
mowoe and is the daughter of the late Dr. 


marks 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXT. No. 527. 


Lapham, the pioneer authority on the archeol- 
ogy of Wisconsin. It will be remembered 
that it was the women of Boston who saved 
the Serpent Mound of Ohio. 


Tue books of the engineering library at the 
University of Michigan, which have hitherto 
been shelved in the general library, are soon 
to be transferred to a room set apart as a 
library in the new engineering building. The 
collection will be recatalogued and regarded 
hereafter as a department library. Miss Olive 
C. Lathrop has been appointed assistant libra- 
rian in charge of the collection. 


Durinec the past summer Mr. C. W. Puring- 
ton, a mining engineer of Denver, accom- 
panied by Mr. Sidney Paige as assistant, 
journeyed through Alaska, investigating, for 
the U. S. Geological Survey, the costs and 
methods of gold-placer mining in the terri- 
tory. For the purpose of making compara- 
tive observations, he also visited the Atlin 
district of British Columbia and the Klondike 
gold fields of the Yukon territory. In study- 
ing the conditions which affect placer mining 
in our northern possessions, he was impressed 
with the present inadequate means of com- 
munication between the different parts of the 
territory. The gold mining which has been 
done in the interior of Alaska has been con- 
ducted in spite of difficulties of transportation 
which seem hardly credible. Mr. Purington 
advocates the appointment of a civil-service 
officer who shall be general superintendent of 
road construction in Alaska, and believes that 
there should be appointed, under the general 
superintendent, properly qualified road over- 
seers in each district of Alaska. He also in- 
dorses the recommendation made by Mr. A. 
H. Brooks, geologist in charge of the division 
of Alaskan Mineral Resources, U. S. Geolog- 
ical Survey, that an appropriation of $1,000,- 
000 be spent for wagon roads in Alaska. He 
thinks it probable that for this sum 900 miles 
of roads—800 of the Dawson standard wagon 
type and 600 for sleds—could be built in those 
parts of the country which would be most 
assisted by their construction. 


Mr. Ricuarpson, of Alabama, introduced in 
the House of Representatives, on January 23, 


~@, 


FEBRUARY 3, 1905.] 


a bill which is sufliciently curious to deserve 
partial quotation. It begins: “ Be it enacted 
by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury 
be, and he is hereby, authorized and empowered 
and directed to pay, out of any money in the 
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, a sum 
not exceeding five hundred thousand dollars, 
for the organization and maintenance of an 
expedition, to be known as physical-phenomena 
association for the promotion of science ex- 
pedition, the purpose of which shall be to seek, 
discover and investigate facts connected with 
the deep sea, the temperature, pressure, chem- 
ical properties, fauna, vegetation, character of 
the deep-sea bottom, voleanic disturbances and 
any and all phenomena relative to the ocean, 
for the cause and advancement of physical 
science generally. To facilitate the purpose 
of the expedition the Secretary of the Navy 
is authorized, immediately after the passage 
of this bill, to equip a ship suitable for said 
purpose, and to employ a first-class crew for 
the management of said ship. Immediately 
after the passage of this bill, or as soon there- 
after as practicable, the President shall, with 
the concurrence of the Senate, appoint four 
chemists, who are learned in the science of 
chemistry, at a salary of three thousand dol- 
lars each per year; two geologists, who are 
learned in the science of geology; two astron- 
omers, who are learned in the science of as- 
_tronomy; two naturalists, who are learned in 
the science of natural history; two botanists, 
who are learned in the science of botany; two 
zoologists, who are learned in the science of 
zoology; and ten other scientists, if deemed 
practicable by the President, who are respect- 
ively learned in the sciences for which they 
are chosen, each at a salary of two thousand 
and five dollars per annum each. The Presi- 
dent shall also appoint two persons, who are 
interested in the sciences generally, from each 
State, upon the recommendation of the Sen- 
ators from each State, at salaries of three 
thousand dollars each, all of whom, after they 
shall have been appointed and confirmed as 
aforesaid, shall be members of the said expedi- 
tion.” 


SCIENCE. 


199 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 

Tue trustees of the Peabody Education 
Fund met at Washington on January 20 and 
voted to dissolve their trust. An appropria- 
tion of $1,000,000 for the George Peabody 
School for Teachers in Nashville, Tenn., was 
made by a unanimous vote, the state, county 
and city having together appropriated an 
equal sum for the school. This appropriation 
leaves a fund of approximately $1,200,000, 
which will be distributed later among other 
educational institutions, probably at the next 
annual meeting, which will be held next Oc- 
tober in New York. The trustees have au- 
thority to distribute two-thirds of the fund in 
the south, and the remainder in the north, 
but it is probable the entire fund remaining 
will be devoted to southern institutions. 


Av the midwinter meeting of the trustees 
of Syracuse University it was voted to con- 
struct, with the bequest made to the university 
by the late John Lyman, which is said to 
aggregate more than $200,000, a building to 
be known as the John Lyman Laboratory of 
Natural History. 


Mr. ANDREW CarNEGIE has promised Oberlin 
College a gift of $125,000 for the erection of 
a library building, conditional on the raising 
of $100,000 for endowment by the citizens. 


Mr. Apotpu Lewisoun, of New York, has 
given $5,000 for the reconstruction of the 
chemical laboratories at Dartmouth College. 

Tue New York Post-Graduate Medical 
School and Hospital has received an anony- 
mous gift of $5,000. 


Emperor WiLuiAm has directed the German 
ambassador to the United States to lay before 
President Roosevelt in official form the sug- 
gestion for an exchange of professors between 
German and American universities, which he 
made to the American ambassador on New 
Year’s day. The German ambassador, who 
sailed on the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, on 
January 25, only carries an outline of the 
project, for which the president’s approval and 
cooperation in making a workable plan will be 


asked. 


Tue Baltimore Association for the Pro- 
motion of the University Education of Women 


200 


is prepared to offer a fellowship of the value 
of $500 for the year 1905-1906. This fellow- 
ship will be available for work at either an 
American or a foreign university, and prefer- 
ence will be given to women from Maryland 
and the south. Application should be pre- 
sented before April 12. Blank forms for ap- 
plication may be obtained from Miss McLane, 
No. 1101 North Charles Street, Baltimore. 


Tur president of the British board of edu- 
cation has appointed the Right Hon. R. B. 
Haldane, K.C., M.P., to be chairman of a de- 
partmental committee “To inquire into the 
present working of the Royal College of Sci- 
ence, including the School of Mines; to con- 
sider in what manner the staff, together with 
the buildings and appliances now in occupa- 
tion or in course of construction, may be 
utilized to the fullest extent for the promo- 
tion of higher scientific studies in connection 
with the work of existing or projected institu- 
tions for instruction of the same character in 
the metropolis or elsewhere; and to report on 
any changes which may be desirable in order 
to carry out such recommendations as they 
may make.” 


We noted last week that the regents of the 
University of Michigan, had refused to accept 
President Angell’s resignation. Dr. Angell’s 
communication to the board of regents was 
as follows: 


To the Board of Regents: 

I beg to tender you my resignation of the presi- 
dency of the university, to take effect Oct. 1, next. 
Although I have been graciously favored in the 
preservation of my health and strength, I am im- 
pressed with the belief that it will be advan- 
tageous to the university if you call a younger 
man to take my place. 

I desire to express my sincere thanks to you 
and to your predecessors on the board for the 
kind consideration with which I have been treated 
by you and by them during my long term of 
service. ss 

Should you so desire, I should be willing to con- 
tinue to give instruction in international law. 

Yours very respectfully, 
JAMES B. ANGELL. 


The following resolution was immediately 
drawn up and unanimously adopted by the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 527. 


regents. Instead of being marked ‘ passed’ 
as is customary with routine resolutions, it 
was submitted to each member and received 
his signature: 


Resolved, That the Board of Regents respect- 
fully decline to consider Dr. Angell’s resignation 
of the presidency of this university. The mem- 
bers of this board are unanimous in the conviction 
that no other person, young or old, can take Presi- 
dent Angell’s place either in value of service to 
the university and to the state, or in the love of 
the people. 

If at any time in the judgment of President 
Angell, he should need assistance in his work, 
the Board of Regents will most cheerfully furnish 
such assistance in such form as he may wish. 


Mr. Louis Roumuion, adjunct professor of 
manual training in Teachers College, Colum- 
bia University, and director of the night 
schools of the Mechanics’ Institute, has been 
given leave of absence in order to enable him 
to accept the appointment of chief inspector 
of technical education for Ireland. 


Ar the recent meeting of the board of trus- 
tees of the Iowa State College, Professor S. A. 
Beach, horticulturist to the New York Ex- 
periment Station, was elected professor of 
horticulture, and horticulturist to the Iowa 
Experiment Station. This position has been 
vacant during the past year, due to the resig- 
nation of Professor H. C. Price, who resigned 
to become dean of the College of Agriculture 
of the Ohio State University. Professor 
Beach is an alumnus of the Iowa Institution 
and has been connected with the New York 
station for a number of years. He is now 
engaged in the publication of an important 
work on the pomology of New York for which 
the legislature made a special appropriation 
of $20,000. At the same meeting of the board 
Mr. A. T. Erwin, an assistant in the depart- 
ment, who has been the acting head during 
the past year, was elected associate professor 
ot horticulture. 


Mr. Tuomas Case, Waynflete professor of 
moral and metaphysical philosophy, Oxford, 
and fellow of Magdalen, has been elected 
president of Corpus Christi College, in suc- 
cession to the late Dr. Fowler. 


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A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 
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Fripay, Fresruary 10, 1905. 


CONTENTS: 
The Carnegie Institution of Washington..... 201 
Mathematical Progress in America: Pro- 
mESSOR THOMAS S. FISKH...........5...% 
The American Mathematical Society: PRo- 
EON Nis CODE, sareps so -.siareyst «cis ' fonste cs digs ots 
The Geological Society of America: Dr. 
MUNDI OUTS ELOVIEN sf. ols ne ee ee ee ee we 
Scientific Journals and Articles............. 
Societies and Academies :— 
The Geological Society of Washington: Dr. 
Gro. Otis SmitH. The Botanical Society 
of Washington: Dr. H. J. Wesser. The 
Chemical Society of Washington: Dr. A. 
SEELL. North Hastern Section of the 
American Chemical Society: Dr. ARTHUR 
M. Comry. The Wisconsin Academy of 
Sciences, Arts and Letters: Dr. E. B. 
SKINNER. The Science Club of the Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin: Proressor F. W. Wott. 
The Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society: Pro- 
PESSOR ALVIN §. WHEELER..:....:....... 4 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 
The Biting Position of Anopheles: Pro- 
FEssor F, L. WASHBURN. University Reg- 
istration Statistics: Proressor RupoLE’ 
Pirates CWMEN Faas eee foo ct sropeb sic ois) syaisvtva (Sele wisi ae Sais 228 
Special Articles :— 
Generic Names of Soft-shelled Turtles: Dr. 
Lronwarp StesneceR. A New Field for 


Language Study: Dr. FRaAncIS E. NIPHER.. 228 
Quotations :— 

Salaries at Harvard University........... 230 
Current Notes on Meteorology :— 

Kite Meteorology over Lake Constance; 

Wind Charts of the South Atlantic; Sun- 

spots and Rainfall; Notes: Proressor R. 

2 UAE) oi 4 pee 231 
Bugene G. Blackford: PRroressor BAsHrorD 

LILA oo 3 Se eee a 232 
Whois River Plankton... 0.06.6. ccc cc eee 233 
The Missouri Botanical Garden............. 234 
The National Geographic Society........... 234 
Scientific Notes and News................. 235 
University and Educational News.......... 240 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
son-on-Hndson, N. Y. 


THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF 
WASHINGTON.* 
MINUTES OF SECOND MEETING OF THE BOARD 
OF TRUSTEES. [| ABSTRACT. | 

THE meeting was held in Washington, at 
the New Willard Hotel, on Tuesday, De- 
cember 13, 1904, at 10 o’clock am. At 
12:55 a recess was taken until2 p.m. The 
chairman, Mr. Billings, occupied the chair. 
The secretary called the roll, and the fol- 
lowing trustees responded: Messrs. Bil- 
lings, Cadwalader, Dodge, Frew, Gilman, 
Hay, Higginson, Hitchcock, Hutchinson, 
Langley, Lindsay, Low, MacVeagh, Mills, 
Mitchell, Morrow, Root, Waleott, White 
and Wright. Absent: Messrs. Agassiz, 
Howe, Gage and Spooner. Letters were 
received from Messrs. Agassiz, Gage and 
Howe regretting their inability to be pres- 
ent. 

The minutes of the last meeting of the 
board were presented, and on motion full 
reading was dispensed with and they were 
approved as per abstract furnished each 
member. 

The president presented his resignation, 
as follows: 


CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON, 
December 13, 1904. 
To THE TRUSTEES OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION. 

Gentlemen: At your meeting, on December 8, 
1903, I presented a letter saying: 

** When I had the honor of being chosen the first 
president of the Carnegie Institution, I said to 
the trustees that from the nature of the case my 
tenure of office must be short, for, having passed 
the age of seventy years, I was looking forward to 
a release from serious official responsibilities. 


* From Year Book, No. 3. 


202 


The term of five years was fixed in the by-laws, 
and three of them will have passed at the next 
annual meeting of the board. It is my intention 
at that time to resign the office of president, and 
this early notice is given in order that the trus- 
tees may be prepared then to take such action as 
may seem to them wise.” 

In accordance with this intimation, I now resign 
the office of President of the Carnegie Institution, 
and, as the title of the chief executive may, per- 
haps, be changed, I will add that I am not a 
candidate for reappointment under any other 
designation. 

In taking this step, I beg leave to assure the 
board of my continued interest in the development 
of this institution according to the purposes of the 
founder; and I express to the members of the 
board, collectively and individually, my highest 
respect. 

It has been an honor and a privilege to be so 
closely associated as I have been with the organ- 
ization and progress of an institution which bids 
fair to be a most potent factor in the advancement 
of knowledge and in the encouragement of scien- 
tific men. 

I am, gentlemen, very respectfully yours, 

DANIEL C. GILMAN. 


The following motion was then offered 
and passed : 


Resolved, That the resignation of President 
Gilman be accepted; and in thus severing the har- 
monious relations which have existed between the 
president and the board and the president and the 
executive committee the trustees desire to ex- 
press their full appreciation of the prestige that 
the retiring officer has brought to the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington by his presidency. 


The secretary referred to various details 
of business and submitted the cash state- 
ment and financial statement as shown 
below. 

The secretary also reported that since 
October 31, 1904, he had collected on sales 
of publications $589.01, and expended $31,- 
895.21, leaving a cash balance on hand of 
$438,654.97 to date. 

The consideration of the by-laws was 
next taken up. 

After discussion and various suggestions 
as to the qualifications needed by a presi- 


SCIENCE. 


LN.S. Von. XXI. No. 528. 


dent of the Carnegie Institution at Wash- 
ington, a ballot resulted in the election of 
Dr. Robert 8S. Woodward, dean of the sci- 
entific faculty of Columbia University, 
New York. 

The election of members of the executive 
committee to fill the vacancies caused by 
the expiration of the terms of Messrs. Bill- 
ings and Walcott resulted in their reelee- 
tion to the class of 1907. 

On submission of the report of the ex- 
ecutive committee the chairman and secre- 
tary made a general statement of the plan 
of work and financial outlook. After dis- 
cussion and some minor changes, resolu- 
tions were passed making the following 
general appropriations: 


Reservefangd. g. sci; deeeknssccemceeee ee oeeeeee $ 50,000 
Publication fund, to be continuously available. .....-. 40,000 
Administration (2s. oss c-ceencsescnee has eee eae 50,000 
Grants for departments and large projects .......... 310,000 
Grants for miscellaneous researches.................- 168,000 


At 4:50 p.m. the board adjourned. 


Financial Statement. 


Dr. Cr. 
Endowments: vs ances os 2 ceaekise shoe eee meee $10,000,000 
Reserve MUNG: cpiasctcinecnicer niece eilssiey eee cena 200,000 
Investments : 
U.S. Steel Corporation Bonds, 
Dh cavaccseectecesscuee waceseee $10,000,000 
$100,000 Atch., Topeka and S. 
Fe Ry. Co. Gen’! Mtg. 4% 100- 
year Gold Bonds, Oct. 1, 1995. 100,112 50 
$100,000 N, Pac. Ry. Co. Prior 
Lien Ry. and Land Grant 
Gold Bonds, Jan. 1, 1997, 44%... 101,800 
$50,000 Northern Pacific-Great 
Northern 4% Joint Bonds, 
Chicago, Burlington and Q. 
collateral, July 1, 1921........ 46,500 
$50,000 Lake Shore and Mich, 
Southern 4% D. Bonds........ 48,222 22 
Interest: Reserve fund invest- 
MENT oticlevesiaciecteeteemenr coe 10,000 
Other investments.... ............; 380 69 
Sales of publications.))...c..c-sersae nna 102 03 
Grants': Tiare ccssjcjnas ate sel steer nee coat om meen 69,321 24 
Specialy. 2. ~.- stacey ace ata pe saeeatereeee 13,250 80 
a HUI) Pana Ape GOs ooSOSne Moo SSodde jens 77,174 13 
Publication. -..\i2. ntc+ctemeh sete one” heels 67,470 65 
Administrations; 5 05. dh: stadia. Peak’ eetuman cee 25,630 08 
MUTTITUNG .:<js/0:csiolsieic cis ccckle miclereie mind ciate iota ts talent 1,065 51 
Bea] ...cicicvin csinpunaldnislen vine ost ae Ce oeatee nee 1,500 
CBSE Ss icasec aa satan inge seein cieieate 469,961 17 
Available fund oi iis ccageseepeotecs. pentaee rane 300,700 76 


$10,766,595 89 $10,766,595 89 


Fepruary 10, 1905.] SCIENCE. 203 
Receipts. | Amount. Disbursements. | Amount. 
1903. Investments : 
UPA ET ES em ESALANICO so <.a:c.¢,atesleosre.c cine vcs 016 vi0\0)0 0 0% $445,471 69 $50,000 N. Pacific-Gt. Northern 
Interest ; AsE'JOINE, BONGH 5 oo steiesia sk ore oe $ 46,500 
U.S. Steel Corporation. $500,000 $50,000 N. Pacific Ry. Co. Prior 
Atchison, Topeka and L. Ry. and L. Grant 4’s........ 51,312) 50 
RHPA el COns cn... ens 5,000 $50,000 Atchison, Topeka and S. 
N. Pacific Ry. Co....... 4,500 Fe. Ry. Co. G. Mtg. 4’s 50,125 | 
N. Pacific-Gt. Northern 2,500 $50,000 Lake Shore and Mich. | 
Lake Shore and Mich- Southern 4% D. Bonds ........ 48,222 22 
igan Southern........ 2,000 ——_-——— $196,159 72 
Deposit U. S. Trust Co. 18,926 87 MATES STANESS ferwie's oce.steeies ois seisie = sleeve 49, 848 46 | 
Deposit Am. Sec. and | NEITVONNP TAMSIN gets serch cs nse ale ecto aialare 187,634 53 
MUSES COs wc oc esoe50 39 | SPeClal praia tS eer -eicteeiniet- leita areets 29, 749 20 
$533,004 26 —— | 267,232 19 
Sales of publications: PATI CRULOT te ate elem isjertic le wisie esi s(arslaloisyeleteivreysivie basse | 11,590 82 
Index Medicus......... 2,370 47 | 
WeHTOBOOK.<.s...v--s-0. 52 85 Adiministrat] onteerereercne st etesecresitnsn cas sees: | 36,967 15 
Other publications.... 12 75 —— 
2,436 07 511,949 88 
RESON IAMOT GS sin'c ive cisvieevccececcvecaccs 829 33) U. S. Trust Co.,N. Y. 461,902 46 
Marine Biol. Lab., Tortugas, Fla. : Balance< Nat’! City Bank, N. Y. 7,746 67 
PCB V OD lc clen, scie;avcis cis soie)»{ejo\stesa\e,sis!sie 669 70 Am. Sec. and Trust Co. 312 04 | 
—— | 536,439 36 ——__—_——| 469,961 17 
981,911 05 | 9819 oe 05 


_ REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ON THE 
WORK OF THE YEAR, 


The executive committee began consid- 
eration of the various directions and au- 
thorizations given by the board of trustees 
immediately after the adjournment of the 
board, December 8, 1903; also of matters 
recommended by the committee and ap- 
proved by the board. 

The work of the committee and its 
recommendations for the fiscal year 1904— 
1905 are shown in this report. 

During the fiscal year the committee held 
eight meetings. Its organization continued 
the same as for the fiscal year 1902-1903. 
Mr. Gilman acted as chairman and Mr. 
Walcott as secretary. 


APPROPRIATIONS. 


At the annual meeting of the board, De- 
eember 8, 1903, the following appropria- 
tions were made for large projects: 


mropica)l Pacificexploration. ....:...0.sseesvecesesees *40,000 
Department of Experimental Biology... 70,000 
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism 20,000 
Trans-Caspian Expedition, archeological exploration 18,000 
BCOPNYVSICAIITCSCAICH. .... 00.0 0es cee senses snsteececcs 25,000° 
Investigation of mineral aaron and solution 
ELC OTOL OSSULT Gass os icie1s sieves « altieretarsiaiaiajetein'alc oie $50 ,012 


* It being impracticable to secure the services of 
the person whom the executive committee expected 
to take charge of this work, the project was 
abandoned and the appropriation not drawn upon. 


CHAS. D. WALcorTT, 
Secretary. 


Study of elasticity and plasticity of solid 
bodies upon finite deformation. ... ...... 
Preparation of a bibliography of geophysics 
Department of Economics and Sociology.. .......... 30,000 
Bureau of Historical Research...................0-++- 


$211,500 
REPORTS ON LARGE PROJECTS. 
DEPARTMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY. 


The subject of research in zoology was 
before the executive committee at its earli- 
est meetings, and was under consideration 
for nearly two years before the specific 
recommendations for any large projects 
directly in charge of the Carnegie Institu- 
tion were presented to the board of trus- 
tees. In Year Book No. 1 the special ad- 
visory committee on zoology made several 
recommendations of a broad bearing, one 
of them being that of establishing a per- 
manent biological laboratory as a central 
station for marine biology in general. In 
the same Year Book there were printed 
two schemes for the establishment of bio- 
logical experiment stations for the study 
of evolution—one by Dr. C. B. Davenport, 
who favored Cold Spring Harbor, Long 
Island, and a second by Professor Roswell 
P. Johnson, who favored a protected ma- 
rine shore near fresh-water ponds. The 
executive committee consulted with many 
experts and carefully investigated the feasi- 
bility of making the Marine Biological 


204 


Laboratory, at Woods Hole, Mass., a central 
station. This was found to be impractic- 
able, and the executive committee stated in 
its report to the board of trustees for 1903 
that it had concluded that the best mode 
of dealing with this important field of re- 
search was to organize a biological experi- 
mental department, to which could be re- 
ferred all questions and problems of evolu- 
tion, specific differentiation, heredity, ete. 
This was to include the establishment of an 
investigating station at Cold Spring Har- 
bor, where ground and some buildings were 
offered, and also the establishment of a col- 
lection and experimental marine biological 
station at the Dry Tortugas. 

The above conclusions were accompanied 
by a recommendation that the department 
be established and allotments made to begin 
the work. The board of trustees approved 
the recommendations. 

The department of experimental biology 
was organized by the appointment of Dr. 
Charles B. Davenport as director of the 
Station for Experimental Evolution at 
Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, and 
Dr. Alfred G. Mayer as director of the 
Marine Biological Laboratory at the Dry 
Tortugas, Florida. 

A grant of $34,250 was made to the sta- 
tion at Cold Spring Harbor, and of $20,000 
to the Marine Bfological Laboratory at the 
Dry Tortugas. 


DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY. 


For the present purposes of the depart- 
ment the following named eleven divisions 
have been established, and the gentlemen 
whose names appear have been placed in 
charge of them, respectively : 

Division 1. Population and Immigration.— 
Professor Walter F. Willcox, Cornell University, 


Ithaca, N. Y. 

Division 2. Agviculture and Forestry, includ- 
ing Public Domain and _ Irrigation.—President 
Kenyon L. Butterfield, Rhode Island College of 


Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, Kingston, R. I. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 528. 


Division 3. Mining.—Mr. E. W. Parker, Geo- 
logical Survey, Washington, D. C. 


Division 4. Manufactures——Hon. 8S. N. D. 


‘North, Census Office, Washington, D. C. 


Division 5. Transportation.—Professor W. Z. 
Ripley, Newton Centre, Mass. 

Division 6. Domestic and Foreign Commerce. 
—Professor Emory R. Johnson, University of 
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 


Division 7. Money and Banking.—Professor 


Davis R. Dewey, Institute of Technology, Boston, 
Mass. 

Division 8. The Labor Movement.—Carroll D. 
Wright, 1429 New York Avenue, Washington, 
D. C. 

Division 9. Industrial Organization.—Professor 
J. W. Jenks, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 

Division 10. Social Legislation, including Provi- 
dent Institutions, Insurance, Poor Laws, ete.—Pro- 
fessor Henry W. Farnam, 43 Hillhouse Avenue, 
New Haven, Conn. 

Division 1]. Federal and State Finance, in- 
cluding Taxation.—Professor Henry B. Gardner, 
54 Stimson Avenue, Providence, R. I. 


TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM, 

The subject of an international magnetic 
bureau is fully presented by Dr. L. A. 
Bauer in ‘ Year. Book’ No. 2, accompanying 
papers, pp. 203-212. The executive com- 
mittee recommended to the board of trus- 
tees that a grant of $20,000 be made for 
magnetic research by the Carnegie Institu- 
tion, it being proposed not to take up such 
magnetic work as is already well provided 
for by national bureaus, but only such as 
lies outside the proper sphere of activity 
of these bureaus, the nature of whose ap- 
propriations usually limit their work with- 
in the confines of their countries. Further- 
more, the purpose is to gather together and 
unite in one harmonious whole all existing 
knowledge and facts, so that the directions 
in which future work can most profitably 
be accomplished will be set forth. The 
investigations promise not only to have sci- 
entific utility, but to reach results of great 
practical importance, e. g., the determina- 
tion of the magnetic data necessary for 
safe navigation at sea. 


FEBRUARY 10, 1905.] 


The favorable action of the trustees at 
the annual meeting in December, 1903, and 
the reference of the project to the execu- 
tive committee resulted in the formation 
of a department of international research 
in terrestrial magnetism, with Dr. L. A. 
Bauer as director, and with authorization 
to begin work April 1, 1904. The first al- 
lotment was $20,000. 


TRANS-CASPIAN ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION, 


(Raphael Pumpelly, Newport, R. I., in charge. 


$18,000. ) 

In Year Book No. 2, pages 271-287, 
there is a brief report of Professor Raphael 
Pumpelly’s first expedition to the Trans- 
Caspian region. The second expedition 
was for the purpose of archeological in- 
vestigations in special areas noted on the 
first expedition. The following report is 
an indication of the character of the re- 
sults obtained. The final report will be 
prepared as soon as practicable. : 

Professor Pumpelly left America in De- 
eember, 1903. A week was passed in Ber- 
lin, where he engaged as archeologist Dr. 
Hubert Schmidt, of the Museum fiir Volk- 
erkunde. Dr. Schmidt had excavated at 
Troy under Doérpfeld, and is an expert in 
prehistoric pottery. A month was passed 
in St. Petersburg in getting permission to 
excavate in Turkestan. 

On the twenty-fourth of March work 
was begun at Anau, near Askhabad. The 
members of the party were Dr. Hubert 
Schmidt, archeologist; Ellsworth Hunting- 
ton, R. W. Pumpelly; Langdon Warner, 
Hildegard Brooks, Homer Kidder, volun- 
teer assistants. 


SECONDARY GRANTS. 

The following is a record of the grants, 
not already mentioned, made under the al- 
lotment of $200,000 for minor grants. <A 
few reports on grants made in 1902-1903 
are included, as the work under them was 
continued into the fiscal year 1903-1904: 


SCIENCE. 


205 


ANTHROPOLOGY. 

GeorGE A. Dorsey, Field Columbian Museum, 
Chicago, TIIl. For ethnological investigation 
among the tribes of the Caddoan stock. $2,500. 

Witt1AM H. Howtmes, director of Bureau of 
American Ethnology, Washington, D. C. For 
obtaining evidence relative to the history of early 
man in America. $2,000. 


ARCHEOLOGY. 


FREDERICK J. Biss, New York, N. Y. For ex- 
cavations in Syria and Palestine. $1,500. 

GrorcEe F. Kunz, New York, N. Y. To investi- 
gate the precious stones and minerals used in 
ancient Babylonia, in connection with the investi- 
gation of Mr. William Hayes Ward. $500. 

W. Max Mutter, Philadelphia, Pa. For in- 
vestigating monuments of Egypt and Nubia. 
$1,500. 

WILLIAM Hayes Warp, New York. For a 
study of the oriental art recorded on seals, etc., 
from western Asia. $1,500. 


ASTRONOMY. 

Lewis Boss, Dudley Observatory, Albany, N. Y. 
For astronomical observations and computations. 
$5,000. : 

W. W. CaAmppett, Lick Observatory, Mount 
Hamilton, Cal. For pay of assistants in re- 
searches at Lick Observatory. $4,000. 

HerMan S. Davis, Gaithersburg, Md. For a 
new reduction of Piazzi’s star observations. 
$1,500. 

Grorce EK. Hate, Yerkes Observatory, Williams 
Bay, Wis. For measurements of stellar paral- 
laxes, solar photographs, ete. $4,000. 

Simon Newcoms, Washington, D. C. For de- 
termining the elements of the moon’s motion 
and testing law of gravity. $2,500. 

W. M. Reep, Princeton Observatory, Princeton, 
N. J. For pay of two assistants to observe vari- 
able stars. $1,000. 

Sotar OpservAtory, Mount Witson, Cat., Dr. 
George E. Hale, director. $15,000. 

Mary W. Wuirnery, Vassar College, Pough- 
keepsie, N. Y. For measurement of astronomical 
photographs, ete. $1,000. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Robert FrLetcner, Army Medical Museum, 
Washington, D. C. For preparing and publishing 
the Index Medicus. $10,000. 

Ewatp FiLtcer, Stanford University, Cal. For 
the preparation of a lexicon to the works of 
Chaucer. $7,500. 


206 


HERBERT PurNAM, Washington, D. C. For pre- 
paring and publishing a handbook of learned so- 
cieties. $5,000. 

BOTANY. 

Desert BorantcaAL LABoratory. Frederick V. 
Coville, Washington, D. C., and D. T. MacDougal, 
New York, N. Y., advisory committee. $5,000. 

Burton E. Livrneston, University of Chicago, 
Chicago, Ill. For investigations of the relations 
of desert plants to soil moisture and to evapora- 
tion. $400. 

E. W. Ouive, University of Wisconsin, Madison. 
For researches on the cytology of certain lower 
plants. $1,000. 

V. M. Spauprne, Tucson, Arizona. For investi- 
gation of absorption and transpiration of water 
by desert shrubs. $600. 


CHEMISTRY. 
Joun J. Apet, Johns Hopkins University, Balti- 


more, Md. For study of the chemical composition 
of the secretion of the supra-renal gland. $500. 
WitperR D. Bawncrorr, Cornell University, 


Ithaca, N. Y. 
of alloys. $500. 

Cuas. BASKERVILLE, College of the City of New 
York, New York City. For investigations of the 
rare earths. $1,000. 

Grecory T. BAxTer, Cambridge, Mass. For re- 
search upon the atomic weight of manganese. 
$500. 

Moses GomBerG and Lee H. Cong, Ann Arbor, 
Mich. For study of triphenylmethyl and anal- 
ogous compounds. $500. 

H. C. Jones, Johns Hopkins University, Balti- 
more, Md. For investigations in physical chem- 
istry. $1,000. 

W. L. Mitier, University of Toronto, Toronto, 
Canada. For the study of electric migrations in 
solutions of weak acids. $500. 

H. N. Morse, Johns Hopkins University, Balti- 
more, Md. For development of a method for the 
measurement of osmotic pressure. $1,500. 

A. A. Noyes, Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology. For researches upon: (1) Electrical con- 
ductivity of salts in aqueous solution at high 
temperatures; (2) Ionization of weak acids and 
bases and hydrolysis of their salts in aqueous 
solution at high temperatures; (3) Transference 
determinations in aqueous solutions of acids. 
$1,000. 

Tuomas B. Osporn, New Haven, Conn. For re- 
search on chemical substances yielded by proteids 
of the wheat kernel when decomposed by acids. 
$1,500. 


For a systematic chemical study 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 528. 


THEODORE W. RicHaRrps, Harvard University, 
Cambridge, Mass. For investigation of the value 
of atomic weights, ete. $2,500. 

Henry 8S. WASHINGTON, Locust, N. J. For the 
chemical investigation of igneous rocks. $1,200. 


ENGINEERING. 

W. F. Duranp, Stanford University, California. 
For experiments on ship resistance and propulsion. 
$4,120. : 

W. F. M. Goss, Purdue University, Lafayette, 
Ind. For a research to determine the value of 
high steam pressures in locomotive service. $5,000. 


EXPERIMENTAL PHONETICS. 

E. W. Scripture, Yale University, New Haven, 
Conn. For researches in experimental phonetics. 
$2,700. 

GEOLOGY. 

T. C. CHAMBERLIN, University of Chicago, Chi- 
cago, Ill. For study of fundamental principles of 
geology. $6,000. 

Battey WIx11s, U. S. Geological Survey, Wash- 
ington, D. C. For geological exploration in east- 
ern China. $12,000. 

GEOPHYSICS. 

Frank D. ApAms, McGill University, Montreal, 
Canada. For investigation on flow of rocks. 
$1,500. 

G. K. Givpert, Washington, D. C. For prepar- 
ing plans for investigating subterranean tempera- 
tures. $1,000. 


HISTORY. 

ANNIE HELOISE ABEL, New Haven, Conn. For 
investigating the early Indian policy of the United 
States. $150. 

WILLIAM Wirt Howe, New Orleans, La. For 
preliminary inquiry into the subject of an investi- 
gation on legal history and comparative juris- 
prudence. $1,000. 


MATHEMATICS. 4 


Derrick N. LeHMeErR, Berkeley, Cal. For pay 
of assistants to make the entries in a table of 
smallest divisors. $500. 

E. J. WitczynskI, Berkeley, Cal. 
gation of ruled surfaces, ete. $1,800. 


For investi- 


PALEONTOLOGY. 


Otiver P. Hay, American Museum of Natural 
History, New York, N. Y. For monographing the 
fossil chelonia of North America, $3,000. 

G. R. WIELAND, Yale University, New Haven, 
Conn. For continuation of researches on living 
and fossil eyeads, and illustration of memoir on 
the structure of the latter. $2,300. 


Fepsruary 10, 1905.] 


PHYSICS. 

S. J. Barnert, Stanford University, Cal. For 
research on the electric displacement induced in a 
certain dielectric by motion in a magnetic field. 
$250. 

WILLIAM CAMPBELL, Columbia University, New 
York, N. Y. For research on the heat treatment 
of some high-carbon steels. $1,500. 

H. S. Carnart, University of Michigan, Ann 
Arbor, Mich. For preparation of material for 
standard cells, etc. $500. 

C. D. Curitp, Colgate University, Hamilton, 
N. Y. For investigation of the ionization in the 
neighborhood of a mercury arc in a vacuum. $50. 

Henry Crew, Evanston, ll. For study of cer- 
tain are spectra. $1,000. 

GeorcE E. Hare, Mount Wilson, Cal. For ex- 
periments on the use of fused quartz for the con- 
struction of optical mirrors. $3,000. 

E. Percivar. Lewis, University of California, 
Berkeley, Cal. To investigate vacuum-tube 
spectra of gases and vapors. $500. 

A. A. MicHetson, University of Chicago, Chi- 
eago, Ill. For aid in ruling diffraction gratings. 
$1,500. 

R. W. Woop, Johns Hopkins University, Balti- 
more, Md. For research, chiefly on the theory of 
light. $500. 

PHYSIOLOGY. 

W. O. Atwater, Wesleyan University, Middle- 
town, Conn. For investigations in nutrition. 
$7,000. 

Russert H. CuirrennEN, Sheffield Scientific 
School of Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 
For a study of the minimal proteid requirement 
of the healthy man. $1,500. 

ArTHUR GAMGEE, Montreux, Switzerland. For 
preparing a report on the physiology of nutrition. 
$6,500. 

Hipryo Nocucut, University of Pennsylvania, 
Philadelphia, Pa. For continuation of the studies 
on snake venoms. $1,700. 

Epwarp T. ReEIcHERT and Amos P. Brown, Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. For 
research on the crystallography of hemoglobin. 
$1,000. 

ZOOLOGY. 

A. J. Cartson, Stanford University, Cal. For 
research on the physiology of the invertebrate 
heart. $100. 

W. E. Caste and BE. L. Marx, Museum of Com- 
parative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. 
mental studies in heredity. $500. 

Hewry E. Crampton, Columbia University, New 
York, N. Y. For determining the laws of varia- 


For experi- 


SCIENCE. 


207 


tion and inheritance of certain lepidoptera. $500. 

J. E. Durrven, University of Michigan, Ann 
Arbor, Mich. For continuation of investigation 
on the morphology and development of recent and 
fossil corals. $1,500. 

Cart H. EI1GeENMANN, University of Indiana, 
Bloomington, Ind. For investigation of blind 
fishes in Cuba. $1,000. 

L. O. Howarp, Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C. For preparing a report on 
American mosquitoes. $2,500. 

C. E. McCrune, Kansas University, Lawrence, 
Kans. For making a comparative study of the 
spermatogenesis of insects, etc. $500. 

WittiAmM Parren, Hanover, N. H. For studies 
relating to the origin of vertebrates. $500. 

RayMmonp Peart, University of Michigan, Ann 
Arbor, Mich. For an investigation by statistical 
methods of correlation in variation. $500. 

W. L. Tower, University of Chicago, Chicago, 
Ill. For an investigation of the potato beetles of 
Mexico. $445. 

H. V. Witson, University of North Carolina, 
Chapel Hill, N. C. For morphology and classifi- 
cation of deep-sea sponges. $1,000. 

N. Yartsu, Columbia University, New York. 
For experimental studies of the Nemertine egg. 
$300. 

MARINE BrioLoGgicAL LABORATORY, Woods Hole, 
Mass. J. Blakely Hoar, treasurer. 
tenance of 20 tables. $10,000. 

NAPLES ZOOLOGICAL STATION, Naples, Italy. For 
maintenance of two tables. $1,000. 


For main- 


RESEARCH ASSISTANTS. 


The policy in relation to research assist- 
ants, as outhned in Year Book No. 2, pp. 
xlvi—xlviii, was continued, and the persons 
below named conducted investigations in 
the branches of science indicated : 


C. E. Allen, Madison, Wis. For a study of the 
homologies of the gametophyte and sporophyte, 
ete. $1,000. 

A. F. Blakeslee, Cambridge, Mass. For an 
investigation of sexuality in the lower fungi. 
$1,000. 

W. W. Coblentz, Cornell University, Ithaca, 
N. Y. For investigating infra-red emission and 
absorption spectra. $1,000. 

A. L. Dean, New Haven, Conn. For investi- 
gating the proteolytic enzymes of plants. $1,000. 

L. E. Dickson, University of Chicago, Chicago, 
Ill. For certain mathematical 
$1,000. 


investigations. 


208 


H. W. Doughty, Johns Hopkins University, 
Baltimore, Md. For an investigation of cam- 
phoric acid, under the direction of Professor A. A. 
Noyes. $1,000. 

©. B. Farrar, Towson, Md. For psychological 
experiments at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt 
Hospital. $1,000. 

William Jones, New York, N. Y. 
gating the religion of the central 
Algonkian Indians. $1,000. 

A. S. King, Bonn, Germany. For the produc- 
tion and study of emission spectra at high tem- 
peratures. $1.000. 

P. A. Levene, New York, N. Y. For researches 
along the line of determining points in the con- 
stitution of proteids. $1,000. 

R. S. Lillie, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 


For investi- 
group of 


Nebr. For a study of the relation of ions to the 
various forms of protoplasmic movement. $1,000. 
G. D. Louderback, San Francisco, Cal. For a 


study of the glaucophane and associated schists. 
$1,300. 

F. E. Lutz, Bloomsburg, Pa. For study of 
organic evolution at Station for Experimental Evo- 
lution, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. $1,000. 

U. B. Philips, University of Wisconsin, Madi- 
son, Wis. For a study of the influence of planta- 
tion in political and social history of the south. 
$300. 

F. E. Ross, Washington, D. C. For astronom- 
ical investigation, under Professor Simon New- 
comb. 

L. S. Rowe, University of Pennsylvania, Phila- 
delphia, Pa. For a study of Mexican constitu- 
tional system. $1,200. 

P. E. Sargent, Cambridge, Mass. For an in- 
vestigation in comparative neurology. $1,000. 

G. W. Scott, Philadelphia, Pa. For a study of 
private claims against foreign nations to which 
the United States has been a party. $1,200. 

I. S. Shepherd, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. 
Y. For a systematic study of alloys, with especial 
reference to brasses and bronzes. $1,000. 

G. H. Shull, University of Chicago, Chicago, Il. 
Yor an investigation in heredity, hybridization, 
variation, mutation, ete. $1,000. 

Mary Roberts Smith, Palo Alto, Cal. For 
studying the history and social conditions of the 
Chinese immigration in California. $1,000. 

Nettie M. Stevens, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn 
Mawr, Pa. For an investigation of problems re- 
lating to sex determination, etc. $1,000. 

J. B. Whitehead, Johns Hopkins University, 
Baltimore, Md. For study of the magnetic effect 
of electrical displacement. $1,200. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 528. 


E. J. Wilezynski, Berkeley, Cal. For an in- 
vestigation of ruled surfaces, ete. $1,800. 
Fritz Zerban. Munich, Germany. For an in- 


vestigation of rare earths, under the direction of 
Professor C. Baskerville. $1,000. 
PUBLICATIONS. 

The following publications have been is- 
sued during the year: 

Year Book No. 2, 1903. Octavo, 371 pages. 

“Report of Committee on Southern and Solar 
Observatories.’ Extracted from Year Book No. 2. 
Octavo, 170 pages. 

“Desert Botanical Laboratory of Carnegie In- 
stitution.’ Publication No. 6. By F..V. Coville 
and D. T. MacDougal. Octavo, 58 pages 29 plates. 

“New Method of Determining Compressibility.’ 
Publication No. 7. By T. W. Richards and W. N. 
Stull. Octavo, 45 pages, 5 text figures. 

‘Contributions to Stellar Statistics. First 
paper. On the Position of the Galactic and other 
Planes toward which the Stars tend to Crowd. 
Publication No. 10. By Simon Newcomb. Quarto, 
30 pages. 

‘Production of Sex in Human Offspring.’ 
lication No. 11. By Simon Newcomb. 
34 pages. 

‘The Action of Snake Venom upon Cold Blooded 
Animals.’ Publication No. 12. By Hideyo 
Noguchi. Octavo, 16 pages. 

“The Influence of Grenville on Pitt’s Foreign 
Policy, 1787-1898.’ Publication No. 13. By 
hk. D. Adams. Octavo, 79 pages. 

“Guide to the Archives of the Government at 
Washington.’ Publication No. 14. Octavo, 250 
pages. 

‘Fecundation in Plants.’ Publication No. 15. 
By D. M. Mottier. Octavo, 187 pages. 

‘Contributions to the Study of the Behavior of 
the Lower Organisms.’ Publication No. 16. By 
H. S. Jennings. Octavo, 256 pages. 

‘Traditions of the Arikara.’ Publication No. 
17. By G. A. Dorsey. Octavo, 202 pages. 

‘Researches on North American Acridiide.’ 
Publication No. 18. By Albert P. Morse. Oc- 
tavo, 56 pages, 8 plates. 

The following are in press: 

‘Coloration in Polistes.’ Publication No. 19. 
By Wilhelmine M. Enteman. Octavo, 88 pages, 
6 colored plates. 

‘The Coral Siderastrea radians.’ Publication 
No, 20. By J. E. Duerden. Quarto, 144 pages, 
1] plates. 

‘Mythology of the Wichita.’ Publication No. 
21. By G. A. Dorsey. Octavo, 353 pages. 


Pub- 
Octavo, 


FEBRUARY 10, 1905.] 


‘The Waterlilies.. Publication No. 22. By 
H.S. Conard. Quarto, 280 pages, 30 plates. 

‘Bacteria in Relation to Plant Diseases.’ By 
Erwin F, Smith. Quarto. 

‘Explorations in Turkestan.’ By R. Pumpelly, 
R. W. Pumpelly, W. M. Davis and Ellsworth 
Huntington. Quarto. 

‘Collected Mathematical Works of G. W. Hill’ 
It is estimated that these works will make four 
quarto volumes. Volume I. is in type. 

‘Catalogue of Double Stars. By S. W. Burn- 
ham. 350 pages in type. 

The following are authorized: 

‘fvolution, Racial and Habitudinal, controlled 
by segregation.’ By J. T. Gulick. 

‘Chimera—a Memoir on the Embryology of 
Primitive Fishes. By Bashford Dean. Manu- 
script not received, but plates are prepared. 

‘ Bibliographic Index of North American Fungi.’ 
By W. G. Farlow. Will make five octavo volumes. 
250 pages in type. 

“Results of Investigations of Poison of Serpents.’ 
By Drs. Simon Flexner and Hideyo Noguchi. 
Manuscript not received. 

‘Heredity of Coat Characters in Guinea Pigs 
and Rabbits... By W. E. Castle. 

“Mutants and Hybrids of the Oenotheras.’ By 
D. T. MacDougal. 

‘Astronomical Manuscript.’ 
Peters. 

“Memoir on Fossil Cycads.’ By G. R. Wieland. 

“Deseription of the New Oxygen Apparatus 
Accessory to the Calorimeter.’ By W. O. Atwater. 

“Rotation of the Sun as Determined from Mo- 
tion of the Calcium Floceuli. By G. E. Hale and 
Philip Fox. 


ley Og sly =1a6 


LIST OF ACCOMPANYING PAPERS. 


‘A Study of the Conditions for Solar Research 
at Mount Wilson, California.’ By George E. Hale. 

“The Southern Observatory Project.’ By Lewis 
Boss. 

‘Methods for Promoting Research in the Exact 
Sciences.’ By Dr. Simon Newcomb, Professor 
H. H. Turner, Karl Pearson, Lord Rayleigh, G. H. 
Darwin, Arthur Schuster, Edward C. Pickering. 

‘Fundamental Problems of Geology.’ By T. C. 
Chamberlin. 

‘Plans for Obtaining Subterranean Tempera- 
tures.’ By G. K. Gilbert. 

* Proposed Magnetic Survey of the North Pacific 
Ocean.’ By L. A. Bauer and G. W. Littlehales, 
Capt. E. W.Creak, Superintendent O. H. Tittmann. 

“Geological Research in Eastern Asia.’ By 
Bailey Willis. 


SCIENCE. 


209 


MATHEMATICAL PROGRESS IN AMERICA.* 

in the remarks that follow I shall limit 
myself to a brief consideration of progress 
in pure mathematics. This I may do the 
more appropriately inasmuch as one of my 
predecessors, Professor R. 8. Woodward, 
at the annual meeting of 1899 gave an 
account of the advances made in applied 
mathematics during the nineteenth century. 
In his address, which was published in the 
Bulletin of the American Mathematical So- 
ciety, for January, 1900, is included a 
description of the more important advances 
made by Americans in the field of applied 
mathematics. 

In tracing the development of pure 
mathematics in America it seems con- 
venient to recognize three periods. The 
first period extends from colonial days up 
to the establishment of the Johns Hopkins 
University in 1876; the second period ex- 
tends from the establishment of the Johns 
Hopkins University up to 1891, when the 
New York Mathematical Society took on a 
national character and began the publica- 
tion of its Bulletin; the third period ex- 
tends from 1891 up to the present time. 

The most valuable source from which 
the general reader may secure information 
in regard to the first period mentioned 
above is a work entitled ‘The Teaching and 
History of Mathematics in the United 
States.’ This work, written by Professor 
Florian Cajori, was published in 1890 by 
the United States Bureau of Edueation.t 

Before the founding of the Johns Hop- 
kins University there was almost no at- 
tempt made to prosecute or even to stimu- 
late in a systematic manner research in the 
field of pure mathematics. Such mathe- 
matical journals as were published were 
scientifically of little importance and as a 


* Presidential address delivered at the annual 
meeting of the American Mathematical Society, 
December 29, 1904. 

+ Circular of Information No. 3, 1890. 


210 


rule lived but a year or two. The only 
exception that we need mention was the 
Analyst edited by Dr. J. E. Hendricks and 
published at Des Moines, Ia., from 1874 
to 1883; and the publication of this 
journal began practically at the close of 
the period referred to above. 

However, there was a certain number of 
men, for the most part self trained, who 
were eminent among their fellows for their 
mathematical scholarship, their influence 
upon the younger men with whom they 
came in contact, and their eapacity for 
independent investigation. Of these the 
most conspicuous were Adrain, Bowditch 
and Peiree. Adrain is known for his ap- 
parently independent discovery of the law 
of distribution of errors; Bowditch is 
known for his translation of Laplace’s 
‘Mécanique Celeste’ accompanied by a 
commentary of his own; and Peirce is now 
known chiefly for his classical memoir, 
‘Linear Associative Algebra,’ which was 
the first important research made by an 
American in the field of pure mathematies. 

With the arrival of Professor Sylvester 
at Baltimore and the establishment of the 
American Journal of Mathematics, began 
the systematic encouragement of mathe- 
matical research in America. Professor 
Sylvester drew about him a body of deeply 
interested students, and through his own 
untiring efforts and his inspiring personal- 
ity a most powerful stimulus was exerted 
upon the mathematical activities of all who 
were associated with him. His work here, 
however, continued only six years. In 
1884 he returned to England to take the 
chair offered to him by Oxford University. 

The first ten volumes of the American 
Journal of Mathematics, published from 
1878 to 1888, contained papers contributed 
by about ninety different writers. Of 
these thirty were mathematicians of foreign 
Almost one third of the remain- 
ing sixty were pupils of Professor Syl- 


countries. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 528. 


vester; the others were mathematicians 
some of whom had come under the influence 
of Benjamin Peirce, some of whom had 
been students at German universities and 
some of whom were in large degree self- 
trained. They seemed to need only the 
opportunity of publication and a circle of 
readers to induce them to rush into print. 
In fact, several of them had already sent 
papers abroad for publication in foreign 
journals. Among the contributors to early 
volumes of the American Journal of Mathe- 
matics we should especially mention New- 
comb, Hill, Gibbs, C. 8. Peirce, Johnson, 
McClintock, Story, Stringham, Craig and 
Franklin. 

We must at this point give some atten- 
tion to the rapidly increasing influence of 
the German universities upon American 
mathematical activity. For some time a 
considerable number of young Americans, 
attracted by the superior opportunities 
offered by the German universities, had 
been going abroad for the study of the 
more advanced branches of mathematics. 
The lectures of Professor Klein, of Gdét- 
tingen, were in particular the Mecea sought 
by young Americans in search of mathe- 
matical knowledge. I think that it may be 
said safely that at the present time ten 
per cent. of the members of the American 
Mathematical Society have received the 
doctorate from German universities, and 
that twenty per cent. of its members have 
for some time at least pursued mathemat- 
ical studies in Germany. It is not sur- 
prising that as a result a large portion of 
the American mathematical output shows 
evidence of direct German influence if not 
of direct German inspiration. 

In 1883, as we have already indicated, 
the publication of the Analyst was discon- 
tinued. In the following year a new 
journal, the Annals of Mathematics, under 
the editorial management of Professor 
Stone, of the University of Virginia, be- 


FEBRUARY 10, 1905.] 


gan publication. This journal was of a 
somewhat less ambitious character than the 
American Journal of Mathematics. It is 
interesting to note in connection with it 
that to a considerable extent its pages were 
given to papers on applied mathematics. 
In 1899 the Annals passed into the edi- 
torial control of the Mathematical Depart- 
ment of Harvard University. Since that 
time it has been largely expository or 
didactic. It has not sought to publish 
new investigations of an extended char- 
acter, although it has not hesitated to 
publish brief papers announcing new re- 
sults. 

Let us now turn to a brief review of the 
history of the society which brings us to- 
gether on this occasion. 

At a meeting held November 24, 1888, 
six members of the department of mathe- 
matics of Columbia University formed a 
society, which was to meet monthly for the 
purpose of discussing mathematical topies 
and reading papers of mathematical in- 
terest. At the meeting held a month later 
they resolved to call their society the New 
York Mathematical Society and to invite 
the cooperation of all persons living in or 
near New York city who might be pro- 
fessionally interested in mathematics. By 
the end of the year 1889 the membership of 
the society had increased to sixteen. By 
the end of 1890 it had increased to twenty- 
two. A 

At the meeting held in December, 1890, 
the first president of the society, Professor 
J. H. Van Amringe, retired from office, 
and Dr. Emory McClintock was elected his 
successor. At the same meeting it was 
proposed that the society publish a mathe- 
matical bulletin. The officers of the so- 
ciety a month later made a report in which 
they recommended that the bulletin, if 
established, should not seek to enter into 
competition with existing mathematical 
journals, but that it should be devoted 


SCIENCE. 


211 


primarily to historical and critical articles, 
accounts of advances in different branches 
of mathematics, reviews of important new 
publications, and general mathematical 
news and intelligence. They showed at 
the same time that the expense connected 
with such a publication would necessitate 
an extension of the membership of the so- 
ciety together with an increase in the an- 
nual dues. It was suggested, accordingly, 
that a general circular be issued, describing 
the aims of the society and inviting suit- 
able persons to become members. 

After hearing the report, the society 
authorized the secretary to undertake a 
preliminary correspondence with a few of 
the principal mathematicians of the coun- 
try with a view to determining whether 
their favor and assistance might be secured 
for the proposed enterprise. A month 
later the secretary reported that.he had 
received favorable responses from Pro- 
fessor Simon Newcomb, Professor W. Wool- 
sey Johnson, Professor Thomas Craig and 
Professor H. B. Fine. As a result of these 
favorable responses the society decided to 
approve and adopt the plan recommended 
by the officers of the society for the ex- 
tension of its membership and for the pub- 
lication of a historical and critical review 
of pure and applied mathematics. <A 
eireular letter of invitation such as had 
been recommended was issued shortly there- 
after. The proposals which it contained 
seemed to meet with general favor, and by 
June, 1891, the membership of the society 
had increased to one hundred and seventy- 
four. The first number of the Bulletin 
was issued in October, 1891. Its appear- 
ance seemed to increase the interest already 
excited, and by the summer of 1892 the 
membership of the society had risen to two 
hundred and twenty-seven. 

Professor Klein and Professor Study, 
who visited the United States in 1893 for 
the purpose of attending the International 


212 SCIENCE. 


Mathematical Congress held in Chicago, 
were present at the meeting of the society 
held in October of that year. They both 
delivered addresses before the society and 
expressed great interest in its work. 

By the spring of 1894 it was felt gen- 
erally that the operations of the society had 
assumed a national character, and a new 
constitution was adopted providing for a 
change of name from the New York Mathe- 
matical Society to the American Mathemat- 
ical Society. In June of the same year 
the society undertook to provide means for 
the publication of the papers read at the 
Chicago congress the preceding year, and 
arrangements were made for holding a 
‘summer meeting’ in conjunction with the 
Brooklyn meeting of the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science. 

At the annual meeting held December, 
1894, Dr. Emory McClintock retired from 
the presidency, being succeeded by Dr. 
George W. Hill. At this meeting Dr. Me- 
Clintock delivered an address which was 
published in the Bulletin for January, 
1895. It was entitled ‘The Past and Fu- 
ture of the Society’ and contains an ac- 
count of the society during the first six 
years of its existence. Upon the oceasion 
of Dr. MeClintock’s retirement from the 
presidency the society adopted a resolution 
expressing its appreciation of the great 
services that he had rendered while pre- 
siding officer, and its recognition of the 
fact that largely to his initiative were due 
the broadening of organization and exten- 
sion of membership which made the society 
properly representative of the mathemat- 
ical interests of America. 

The next event of special importance in 
the history of the society occurred in 1896. 
Immediately after the summer meeting of 
that year, which was held in connection 
with the Buffalo meeting of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence, the society’s first ‘colloquium’ took 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 528. 


place. Interesting and instructive courses 
of lectures were delivered by Professors 
Bocher and Pierpont, and at the close of 
the colloquium those participating in it 
recommended that similar arrangements be 
made periodically in connection with sub- 
sequent summer meetings. In the same 
year, for the regular October meeting of 
the society was substituted a special meet- 
ing at Princeton in connection with the 
sesquicentennial celebration of Princeton 
University. At that meeting the society 
was addressed by Professor Klein and Pro- 
fessor J. J. Thomson. 

In the spring of 1897 the Chicago see- 
tion of the society was established. At the 
same time, it was determined to replace the 
nieetings held monthly in New York by 
meetings held four times a year at inter- 
vals of two months. The summer meeting 
of 1897 was held at Toronto in connection 
with the meeting of the British Association 
for the Advancement of Science. It was 
attended by a number of visitors from 
Great Britain, among whom were Pro- 
fessors Forsyth, Greenhill and Henrici. 

A colloquium was held in the summer 
of 1898 at Harvard University. There was 
much discussion among those attending it 
in regard to the need of larger and better 
facilities for the publication of mathemat- 
ical researches. The following winter the 
society proposed to the Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity that the American Journal of Math- 
ematics should be enlarged and issued more 
frequently, and that the society should 
be given a share in the editorial control 
of the Journal. The society was, however, 
unable to reach an agreement with the 
Johns Hopkins University, and in April, 
1899, the society determined to establish 
an organ of its own for the publication of 
the more important original papers pre- 
sented at its meetings. The financial re- 
sources of the society were not sufficient to 
earry on the work already begun and at 


Fresruary 10, 1905.] 


the same time to provide for the new publi- 
cation; but it was found possible to secure 
assistance from ten colleges and universities 
which promised to join in support of the 
undertaking. The new publication, known 
as the J'ransactions of the American Mathe- 
matical Society, made its first appearance 
in January, 1900. 

Simultaneously with the meeting held 
by the society in October, 1899, was held 
the first meeting of the newly organized 
American Physical Society. On this oc- 
casion the Mathematical Society met with 
the Physical Society for the purpose of 
listening to the address of President H. A. 
Rowland of the Physical Society. Again, 
two months later, on the occasion of the 
annual meeting of the American Mathe- 
matical Society, the two societies met in 
joint session for the purpose of listening 
to the presidential address of Professor R. 
8S. Woodward, of the Mathematical Society. 
In this connection it may be of interest to 
recall that the organization of the Ameri- 
ean Physieal Society was modelled, in a 
general way, after that of the Mathematical 
Society. The two societies have many 
members in common and have uninter- 
ruptedly enjoyed the most cordial relations. 

In 1901 the Mathematical Society was 
compelled to turn its attention to the care 
of its rapidly growing library. An agree- 
ment was made with Columbia University 
whereby that institution undertook to bind 
and catalogue the books belonging to the 
society and to make the arrangements 
necessary for the loan of the books to mem- 
bers. In return therefor the university is 
able to make use of the society’s collection 
in the way of a reference library. In Oc- 
tober, 1901, the American Physical Society 
met again in joint session with the Mathe- 
matical Society for the purpose of listening 
to a paper by Professor Hadamard, who 
was visiting America as a delegate to 
Yale’s bicentennial celebration. 


SCIENCE. 


213 


In May, 1902, the San Francisco section 
of the society was established. In Decem- 
ber of the same year Professor E. H. Moore 
delivered his address as president of the 
society. Very largely as a result of this 
address, the influence of the society was 
exerted to bring about the organization of 
associations of teachers of mathematics 
with a view to improving the methods of 
mathematical teaching. The Association 
of Teachers of Mathematics in New Eng- 
land was organized in April, 1903. The 
Association of Teachers of Mathematics in 
the Middle States and Maryland was or- 
ganized in November of the same year. 
Several similar associations have been or- 
ganized more recently in various sections 
of the country. 

Two events have occurred during the 
year now closing which are of sufficient im- 
portance to deserve mention here. One 
is the determination of the society to pub- 
lish in book form the mathematical lectures 
delivered at the colloquium held in Boston 
in 1903. The other is the meeting held 
last summer in connection with the Inter- 
national Scientific Congress at St. Louis. 

In connection with this brief outline of 
the society’s history it is, perhaps, desir- 
able to indicate in figures the growth of 
the society and its work. During the past 
ten years the membership of the society 
has doubled, rising from about 250 in 1894 
to almost 500 at the present time. Ten 
vears ago the number of papers presented 
each year at the meetings of the society 
was in the neighborhood of 30, of which — 
about a dozen were subsequently published. 
During the year 1903-04 the number of 
papers presented at meetings of the society 
was 154 and the number of papers pub- 
lished by members after presentation was 
85. In January, 1902, when the present 
administration of the society’s library be- 
gan the number of volumes in the library 
was 121, while at present it is almost 2,000. 


214 


If any one wishes to have pass before 
him in review the scientific activities of the 
Mathematical Society he has only to con- 
sult two pamphlets issued a few months 
ago. I refer to the general index to the 
first thirteen volumes of the society’s Bul- 
letin, compiled by Dr. Emilie N. Martin 
and to the index to the first five volumes 
of the Transactions compiled under the 
direction of the editor-in-chief of the 
Transactions. The American Mathemat- 
ical Society to-day serves to bring together 
into a harmonious whole all the mathemat- 
ical activities of America. It is only infre- 
quently that a mathematical paper of im- 
portance is published without having been 
read previously at a meeting of the society. 
To give an account of the present condition 
of the society is practically the same as to 
give an account of the present condition of 
American mathematies. 

Nothwithstanding the great progress re- 
cently made in America by our science, we 
are far from being in a position that we 
ean regard as entirely satisfactory. We 
have only to look about us in order to see 
that improvement is not only possible but 
necessary in almost every direction. 

In the first place, the most pressing de- 
mand, perhaps, is that those engaged in lec- 
turing on the more advanced branches of 
mathematics at American universities 
should be given greater opportunities for 
private study and research. At present 
the time of almost every university pro- 
fessor is taken up to a very large extent 
with administrative matters connected with 
the care of comparatively young students. 
Discussions in regard to admission require- 
ments, the courses of study, discipline and 
the control of athletics absorb a large part 
of the time and strength of the faculty of 
every university. It is possible that this 
situation will in the course of the next 
twenty years be greatly relieved by a 
change, which many consider is already in 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 528. 


sight. This change is nothing more or 
less than the relegation of the first two 
years of the ordinary college course to the 
secondary school and the establishment. of 
university courses that will begin with the 
present third year of the college. The 
progress made in recent years by the public 
high schools makes it plain that before long 
they will be able without difficulty to 
duplicate the first two years of the present 
college course, and as more highly trained 
teachers take up the work of these schools 
there is no doubt that there will be a con- 
stantly inereasing effort to take up this 
work. If this be done, not only will the 
condition of the secondary schools be 
greatly improved, but our university 
teachers will secure the relief so greatly 
needed for the advancement of the highest 
interests of our science. 

In the second place, it is of the greatest 
importance that the mathematical journals 
already established in this country—the 
Bulletin of the American Mathematical So- 
ciety, the Annals of Mathematics, the 
American Journal of Mathematics and the 
Transactions of the American Mathemat- 
ical Society—should all be encouraged and 
assisted to extend their influence and in- 
crease their efficiency. It is the duty of 
every member of the society to interest 
himself to the greatest possible extent in 
the work of each of these journals. It is 
important also that we should strive to 
secure for these journals more adequate 
financial support. In other countries it is 
not unusual for the government itself to 
give financial support to such publications. 

In the third place, we must have im- 
proved methods of teaching, better text- 
books and more good treatises on advanced 
subjects. The members of the society, 
working as individuals, ean do much along 
these lines. The society as a whole, let us 
hope, will some day be able to render im- 
portant assistance in the publication of 


FEBRUARY 10, 1905.] 


mathematical works of the best type. It is 
quite possible that in some cases direct 
translation from foreign languages would 
be highly beneficial. Many of the most 
important mathematical works published in 
German, French or Italian are at once 
translated so as to be accessible in all three 
of these languages. Is there no lesson in 
this for us? An Enelish translation of the 
new ‘Encyclopedia of Mathematics’ would 
probably do much to spread throughout 
this land of seventy-five million inhabitants 
a knowledge of and an interest in advanced 
mathematics. 

Finally, we must not relax our efforts to 
increase and improve the opportunities 
offered those interested in mathematics to 
meet one another for the purpose of ex- 
changing their views upon mathematical 
topics. The society must encourage, even 
to a greater extent than hitherto, the hold- 
ing of mathematical colloquiums, sectional 
meetings, largely attended general meet- 
ings, and international congresses. 

THomas §S. FIsKE. 


THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. 


THe eleventh annual meeting of the 
American Mathematical Society was held 
at Columbia University on Thursday and 
Friday, December 29-30. The attendance 
at the several sessions included forty-nine 
members. The retiring president, Pro- 
fessor T. S. Fiske, occupied the chair. 
The council announced the election of the 
following persons to membership in the 
society: Mr. G. I. Gavett, Stanford Uni- 
versity; Mr. M. E. Graber, Heidelberg 
University, Tiffin, Ohio; Mr. E. B. Lytle, 
University of Lllinois; Professor R. E. 
Moritz, University of Washington; Dr. B. 
L. Newkirk, University of California. 
Fourteen applications for membership 
were received. A committee was appointed 
to arrange for the summer meeting. 

At the opening of the afternoon session 


SCIENCE. 


215 


on Thursday, President Fiske delivered 
his retiring address, the subject being 
‘Mathematical Progress in America.’ The 
address, published in the present issue 
of Science, dealt with the general devel- 
opment of mathematics in this country and 
especially with the powerful influence ex- 
erted by the society since its organization 
in 1888. Professor Fiske was himself one 
of the founders of the society, which owes 
much to his initiative and valuable services 
as secretary, editor of the Bulletin and the 
Transactions and in other official capacities 
culminating in the presidential office. 

At the annual election, which closed on 
Friday morning, the following officers and 
members of the council were chosen: 

President—W. F. Osgood. 

Vice-Presidents—K. W. Brown and James Pier- 
pont. 

Secretary—F. N. Cole. 

Treasurer—W. 8S. Dennett. 

Librarian—D, KE. Smith. 

Committee of Publication—F. N. Cole, Alex- 
ander Ziwet, D. E. Smith. 

Members of the Council to serve until December, 
1907—E, R. Hedrick, T. F. Holgate, E. O. Lovett, 
L. A. Wait. 


An informal dinner on Thursday even- 
ing, attended by about thirty-five of the 
members, added much to the pleasure of 
the meeting. 

The Annual Register of the society, this 
year a book of 76 pages, including the cata- 
logue of the library, has just been pub- 
lished. The total membership is now 473, 
of whom 32 are life members. The num- 
ber of papers presented during the year 
1904 was 118. The treasurer’s report 
shows a balance of $3,884.28 on hand De- 
cember 27, 1904. The library now con- 
tains over 2,000 volumes. 

The following papers were read at the 
annual meeting: 


Max Mason: ‘The doubly periodic solutions 
of Poisson’s equation in the plane.’ 

VirRGIL SNYDER: ‘On the forms of sextie scrolls 
having no rectilinear directrix.’ 


216 


A. B. CoBLE: 
in the theory of forms.’ 

L. E. Dickson: ‘The group of a tactical con- 
figuration.’ 

T. S. Fiske: Presidential address, ‘ Mathe- 
matical progress in America.’ 

Maurice Fr&cner: ‘Sur les 
linéaires (deuxiéme note).’ 

F. Mortey: ‘On an inversive relation between 
five points of a plane.’ 

J. E. Wricut: ‘ Application of the theory of 
continuous groups to a certain differential equa- 
tion.’ 

Epwarp KASNER: point cor- 
respondences: osculating homographies.’ 

C. H. S1sam: ‘On septic scrolls.’ 

E. V. Huntineton: ‘Note on definitions of 
groups, abelian groups, and fields.’ 

E. V. Huntineton: ‘A set of postulates for 
ordinary complex algebra.’ 

BurKeE SmitH: ‘On the deformation of sur- 
faces of translation.’ 
L. E. Dickson: 

braic numbers.’ 

A. B. Coste: ‘The similar projective groups 
of a cubic space curve and a quadric surface.’ 

E. H. Moore: ‘On a definition of abstract 
groups.’ : 


‘Some applications of a theorem 


opérations 


‘Geometry of 


“A general theorem on alge- 


The Chicago Section of the society met 
at Chicago, on December 30-31. The next 
meeting of the society will be held on 
February 25. The San Francisco Section 
will meet on the same date. 

F. N. Coue, 
Secretary. 


THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA. 

THE seventeenth annual meeting of the 
Geological Society of America was held at 
the University of Pennsylvania, Philadel- 
phia, December 29-31, 1904, under the 
presidency of Professor John C. Branner, 
of Stanford University. Sixty-one papers, 
divided among eight branches of the sci- 
ence, were presented for reading, and about 
one hundred members of the society were 
in attendance, making the convention one 
of the largest in its history. The report of 
the council for the year 1904 shows that in 
all respects the affairs of the society are in 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 528. 


a highly satisfactory condition. The net ae- 
tive membership of the society was reported 
as being 259, and 15 new members were 
elected at the Philadelphia meeting. Dur- 
ing the past year, five members have been 
removed by death, Professor C. E. Beecher, 
J. B. Hatcher, Henry McCalley, W. H. 
Pettee and Charles Schaffer. Memorials 
of these members were read at the first ses- 
sion of the Philadelphia meeting. 

The report of the treasurer showed that 
the society had a balance in the treasury, 
December 1, 1904, of $1,973.68 and in- 
vested funds amounting to $8,300. The 
volume of the Bulletin of the society com- 
prises 636 pages of text, with 75 illustra- 
tions, the articles being divided among nine 
branches of the science, of which strati- 
graphic geology occupies about ene half. 
The lbrary of the society, which is de- 
posited with the Case School of Applied 
Science in Cleveland, now comprises some 
2,600 numbers, of which 1,400 are bound 
volumes. 

Professor Branner chose as the subject 
of his presidential address, ‘Geological and 
Geographical Studies on the Northeast 
Coast of Brazil,’ and illustrated his paper 
by means of numerous photographs and 
charts. The most peculiar feature of this 
coast is the series of hardened sandspits 
occurring at the mouths of most of the 
rivers. These spits consist of quartzose 
sand which has been cemented together into 
a hard solid rock by means of calcium ear- 
bonate brought down in solution by the 
rivers and precipitated by contact with the 
waters of the ocean, which here possess a 
high degree of salinity. This hardening 
extends to a depth of several feet and, in 
many instances, has been of great economic 
importance through the formation thereby 
of natural breakwaters, forming safe har- 
bors, as at Pernambuco. The spits contain 
many fossils, all of which are of living spe- 
cies. A second coast feature of importance 


FEBRuARY 10, 1905.] 


is the series of coral reefs which alternate 
or. which are associated with the sandspits 
in certain localities. These reefs seem to 
be comparatively thin, but many of them 
are wide. That the coast has remained 
stationary for a considerable time is indi- 
cated by the fact that these reefs reach to 
the upper limit of coral growth, where they 
show broad areas of dead coral within the 
fringe of living animals. 

In the restricted space of a summary 
report like the present it will not be pos- 
sible to do more than briefly outline the 
contents of the more important of the 43 
papers which were actually read, leaving 
out of account those which were read only 
by title. 

Dr. Robert Bell, director of the Geolog- 
ical Survey of Canada, read a somewhat 
detailed paper on the geology of the region 
in the vicinity of the Great Slave Lake, 
and illustrated his remarks by maps and 
sections made for the Canadian Survey. 

Professor E. R. Cumings, of the Indiana 
State University, discussed the develop- 
ment and morphology of Fenestella, and 
showed that this Devonian bryozoa is re- 
lated genetically to the eyclostomata. In 
a paper concerning new evidences of the 
geographical differences of fossil faunas of 
the same age, Professor H. S. Williams, of 
Cornell University, stated that extended 
study of the Devonian rocks of the eastern 
United States pointed to the conclusion that 
geological faunas once thoroughly estab- 
lished probably possessed a geological range 
far greater than is indicated by the actual 
range in any particular section. 

The petrographic and economic papers 
were introduced by Professor James F. 
Kemp, of Columbia University, in a paper 
detailing observations made along the gar- 
net contact zones and associated copper 
ores at San José, Tamaulipas, Mexico. 
These contact zones are the result of the 
action of an intruded bed of andesite upon 


SCIENCE. 


217 
the surrounding Cretaceous limestone. 
Geologically the formation of garnets has 
been the most important feature and has 
resulted from the rearrangement and re- 
erystallization of the materials present in 
the limestone. The chalcopyrite, which is 
the important ore, is a later phase of the 
contact phenomena. In another communi- 
cation Professor Kemp described his meth- 
od of ‘Geological ‘Bookkeeping,’ which is 
a system of taking notes in the field and of 
locating the observations upon the field 
map, based upon a series of definite and 
invariably subdividing squares. This leads 
to a compilation book in which the observa- 
tions of scattered seasons are entered upon 
pages which correspond in their enumera- 
tion to the series of squares on the field 
map. It is believed that the system pos- 
sesses advantages in affording permanency 
and intelligibility of records even though 
the latter be made at widely diverse times 
and by different individuals. 

In a paper on the occurrence and dis- 
tribution of celestite-bearing rocks, Pro- 
fessor E. H. Kraus, of Michigan State Uni- 
versity, stated that the mineral occurs 
widely throughout central New York and 
southern California. The percolating 
waters have leached out the crystals to a 
considerable extent, forming the so-called 
‘vermicular’ limestones of New York and 
the ‘gashed’ and ‘acicular’ dolomites of 
Michigan. Precipitation of the material 
from these waters is the source of the large 
deposits of celestite which oceur at Put-In 
Bay, the Maybee Quarry, Monroe County, 
Mich., and elsewhere. 

Professor T. C. Hopkins, of Syracuse 
University, described the closely crystal- 
line, fine, fossiliferous, metamorphic lime- 
stones of central and southern California 
which contain the wonderful deposits of 
tourmaline and other gems which have been 
obtained within the past few years from 


218 


Eldorado County southward to the national 
boundary. 

According to Dr. G. P. Merrill, of the 
National Museum, the so-called asbestos 
(fibrous serpentine) of the Thetford Mines, 
Canada, and elsewhere, fills cavities which 
were made by the shrinkage of the massive 
serpentine in which the fibrous material 
occurs, and he advances arguments to prove 
that the filling process is due to erystalliza- 
tion from the walls of the cavities inward. 

Messrs. Ralph Arnold and A. M. Strong, 
of the California State University, de- 
seribed at length the erystalline rocks of 
the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, 
Cal. The last of the petrographical papers 
was by Dr. G. M. Murgoci, of Bucharest, 
Roumania, and concerned the origin of the 
peculiar rock known as riebeckite granite, 
suggesting that the change from normal 
granite was due to heavy pressure com- 
bined with motion. 

Five papers on physiographical geology 
were presented, three of which were read 
in full. Professor N. M. Fenneman, of 
the University of Wisconsin, in a paper 
on the control of the form of contact sur- 
faces by marine denudation, laid down 
the principles that the nature of a surface 
of unconformable contact between strata 
is determined by two factors: (1) the 
topography of the early land surface, and 
The 
first element would preserve the former 
land-surfaees in the subsequent beds, while 


(2) cliff erosion during submergence. 


the dominance of the second element would 
make the contact surface in every case a 
plane. 

Professor R. S. Tarr, of Cornell Uni- 
versity, described some drainage features 
of southern central New York showing the 
relation of the pre-glacial valleys to the 
present surface. In many instances along 
the divide between the Susquehanna and 
St. Lawrence drainage system there is a 
condition of lowered divides, across some of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 528. 


which, as in the Tioughnioga valley, east 
of Cortland, and Cayuta Creek valley, west 
and south of Van Etten, the present drain- 
age passes. Three theories may be ad- 
duced to account for these phenomena: 
glacial erosion, erosion by ice-fed stream 
and head-water erosion during rejuvena- 
tion. Evidence from valley form, glacial 
deposits and hanging tributary valleys is 
presented to prove that these drainage fea- 
tures are in many eases, if not in all, due 
to changes of earlier date than the advance 
of the Wisconsin ice sheet. While the 
influence of possible earlier ice advances, 
of which no evidence has been found in 
this region, is not eliminated, the facts so 
far discovered favor the hypothesis of re- 
juvenation rather than of glacial action 
during earlier ice advance. 

The next paper pertained to hanging 
valleys and was by Professor Israel C. 
Russell, of the University of Michigan. 
He recognizes four classes of such valleys, 
each of which contains several varieties. 
The author considers that too much stress 
has been laid upon the existence of lateral 
glaciated hanging valleys on the sides of 
glaciated troughs and he advances evidence 
to show that in certain instances at least 
such valleys are not due in a conspicuous 
manner to differentiation of glacial erosion. 
The study of glaciated hanging valleys is 
intimately connected with a still greater 
problem, namely, the origin of the leading 
features in the relief of such mountains as 
the Sierra Nevada range and the Cascades. 
There is good reason for thinking that 
these two ranges were deeply stream-sculp- 
tured prior to the glacial epoch. 

Under the head of physical and strue- 
tural geology twelve papers were read. 
Professor C. K. Leith, of the University 
of Wisconsin, discussed in masterly fashion 
the present state of knowledge of the sub- 
ject of rock cleavage, with special reference 
to recent publications by Dr. Becker and 


FEBRUARY 10, 1905.] 


himself. The author has devised a piece of 
apparatus which mechanically illustrates 
his theories in a remarkable manner. Pro- 
fessor E. H. Kraus, in a paper on the 
origin of the caves of the island of Put-In 
Bay, Lake Erie, stated that in all prob- 
sability the folding of the Lower Helder- 
berg limestone of the region was caused by 
hydration of anhydrite, since large de- 
posits of gypsum have been encountered in 
sinking wells in the immediate vicinity. 
The increase in volume caused by such 
hydration may be as high as sixty per cent. 
and the energy developed in the process 
would be sufficient to account for the re- 
sults observed. Subsequent leaching out 
of the gypsum by percolating waters would 
account for the existence of the caves, and 
the collapse of the roofs of the cavities 
would account for the step-like form of the 
ceiling. 

Mountain growth and mountain strue- 
ture was the subject of a communication 
from Mr. Bailey Willis, of the United 
States Geological Survey. The study of 
peneplains at various altitudes with refer- 
ence to sea level, in North America and 
Eurasia, demonstrates that elevations of 
the earth’s surface have resulted from 
deformation which produced warping of 
previously levelled-off surfaces. In gen- 
eral this process has been a recent one, 
post-Mesozoie in time, and it may be held 
that mountains are youthful features of 
the earth. The structures which have been 
discovered in mountain masses are such as 
are developed under a considerable load, 
and consequently at notable depths in the 
earth’s mass. Study of the relation be- 
tween structure and form leads to the con- 
clusion that modern mountains are not the 
effects of the forces which produce the 
structure, a conclusion which euts at the 
foundation of older systems of classifica- 
tion. 

Professor Florence Bascom, of Bryn 


SCIENCE. 


219 


Mawr, brought out by means of detailed 
maps the nature of the formation and the 
structure of the Piedmont region of Penn- 
sylvania, giving the results of extended 
field work carried on for the United States 
Geological Survey. Her paper was fol- 
lowed with one on the Piedmont of Mary- 
land in correlation with that of Pennsyl- 
vania by Professor E. B. Mathews, of 
Johns Hopkins University. The latter. 
author afterward read a paper on the 
Cockeysville marble, in which he gave the 
results of much very close field study by 
himself and W. J. Miller, of Baltimore, 
into the concrete problem in Piedmont 
structure, the area concerned occupying 
approximately 300 square miles and lying 
north of the city of Baltimore. 

Mr. N. H. Darton, of the United States 
Geological Survey, in discussing overlap 
relations along the Rocky Mountain front 
range, described features which have been 
traced by him through Wyoming and Col- 
orado into New Mexico, mainly for the pur- 
pose of correlating the different forms. 
He finds that the Paleozoic and Mesozoic 
rocks of the region present frequent varia- 
tion in character, occurrence and varieties. 
In the course of his field work, Mr. Darton 
visited the Zuni salt lake, forty miles north 
of the Indian pueblo of Zuni. At this 
locality there is in the plain a circular 
depression about a mile in diameter, con- 
taining a salt lake and two cinder cones. 
The depth of the depression is about 200 
feet and its walls are of Cretaceous sand- 
stone, capped on one side by a lava flow. 
All around the rim there is a wide low 
ridge of voleanic ejecta which has been 
laid down in water. The history of this 
remarkable feature is not clear. 

Professor Frank C. Adams, of MeGill 
University, presented the results of an in- 
vestigation made by himself and Mr. E. J. 
Coker into the ecubie compressibility of 
rocks and certain phases of rock flow. The 


220 


apparatus employed was an improvement 
of that which had been used by Professor 
Adams in some remarkable experiments, 
the results of which were published five 
years ago. In the present experiments, 
nickel-steel tubes have been used and the 
compressibility of fourteen typical rocks 
determined, and the deformation of the 
rock-making minerals concerned were care- 
fully studied by means of the microscope. 

Mr. E. O. Hovey, of the American Mu- 
seum of Natural History, presented three 
papers upon the Caribbean voleanic islands. 
He described the Soufriére of St. Lucia as 
being the result of waning voleanie activity 
manifested along ancient fissures, but not 
within any recognizable crater. The Boil- 
ing Lake of Dominica is considered to 
‘be within an ancient broken-down crater 
from the southern portion of which there 
was a superficial eruption of dust and fine 
lapilli in 1880. The third of these papers 
pertained to the present condition of Mont 
Pelé, which was stated to be in a condition 
of intermittent mild activity; the dome, 
which has formed as a feature of the erup- 
tions which began in 1902, is still under- 
going modifications, elevation and subse- 
quent destruction by explosion being nearly 
balanced. The great spine was destroyed 
more than a year ago. 

The six papers upon glacial geology 
which were read gave rise to much discus- 
The first of the series was by Pro- 
fessor R. S. Tarr, upon the moraines of 
the Seneca and Cayuga Lake valleys. Dur- 
ing the recession of the Wisconsin ice sheet 
a stand was made near the heads of the 
two lake valleys—Cayuga and Seneca. 
This major ice stand consisted of a series 
of minor halts in the receding ice which 
projected lobes up the two lake valleys, and 
minor lobes into the side valleys. By rea- 
son of the irregularity of topography and 
the several minor halts, a complex series of 
moraines was accumulated, both as lateral 


sion. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 528. 


and terminal deposits, the latter being de- 
veloped with especial intensity in the two 
major valleys south of the heads of the 
lakes. 

The drumlins in the Grand Traverse 
region of the northwestern part of the 
southern peninsula of Michigan have been 
studied recently by Mr. Frank Leverett, of 
Ann Arbor, Mich., who contributed a paper 
on them which, in the absence of the au- 
thor, was read by Professor Russell. Par- 
ticular attention was devoted to modes of 
development, since more than one mode 
appears to have been operative; some 
drumlins have been sculptured from earlier 
deposits at the last ice advance, and some 
built up during that advance from material 
contained in the ice. Attention was called 
incidentally to heavy deposits of nearly 
pebbleless laminated clay, apparently laid 
down in interglacial lakes, for this clay has 
been molded to some extent into drumlin 
forms by a subsequent ice invasion. Large 
valleys excavated in this interglacial clay 
were briefly discussed and shown to ante- 
date the production of the drumlins, the 
latter being in some eases built upon the 
valley bottom. 

A second paper upon the drumlin areas 
of Michigan was delivered by Professor 
Russell. It deseribed with some detail two 
regions in the northern peninsula of Mich- 
igan, in which drumlins form the most 
conspicuous features of the topography. 
One of these areas includes Les Cheneaux 
Islands and a part. of the adjacent main- 
land, on the north shore of Lake Huron; 
and the other area is situated principally 
in Menominee County, to the west of Green 
Bay. The drumlins are for the most part 
smooth-surfaced, half-cigar-shaped hills of 
the normal type, but in a few instances 
instructive irregularities are present. 
Among these irregularities are: A fiatten- 
ing of a portion of the normally elliptical 
ground-plan, as if a marginal portion of a 


FEBRUARY 10, 1905.] 


well-shaped drumlin had been removed by 
erosion, leaving an abnormally steep slope; 
deep transverse trenches at right angles to 
their longer axes; straight or curved 
trenches extending from their summits 
down their sides; irregular pits in their 
normally smooth surfaces; and, in one in- 
stanee, a terrace-like shelf with a convex 
longitudinal profile, parallel with the crest- 
line of the drumlin on the side of which it 
occurs. In the valleys between the drum- 
lins there are several eskers. From the 
evidence the conclusion is drawn that the 
drumlins of the Menominee area were pro- 
duced by ice erosion from a previously 
deposited till sheet. 

The drumlins of central New York State 
were the subject of a brief paper by Pro- 
fessor H. L. Fairchild, of the University of 
Rochester, who also summarized the more 
important glacial problems in the state. 
A third paper by Professor Fairchild took 
up the thesis that the theory of erosion by 
ice is a fallacy, in amplification of a paper 
presented by him at the preceding annual 
meeting of the society. The author gave 
arguments for arriving at the conclusion 
that deep ice-erosion of living rock has 
never been proven, and that it is practically 
impossible of accomplishment. In New 
York State there seems to be positive proof 
that there has been no effective excavation 
by ice in the valleys of the Finger Lakes, 
the field study thus sustaining the theoret- 
ical consideration of the question. 

The stratigraphical section of the pro- 
gram showed the largest number of titles 
of papers offered and read. Professor 
W. G. Miller, of Toronto University, dis- 
cussed the pre-Cambrian rocks in the vicin- 
ity of Lake Temiskaming, Ontario, not 
only from a stratigraphiecal, but also from 
an economic, point of view. The region in 
question shows at the base a complex as- 
semblage of igneous rocks, including gran- 
ite. Erosion of this complex has given 


SCIENCE. 221 


rise to conglomerate and _ finer-grained 
slate-like rocks. Afterwards ensued a sec- 
ond period of erosion during which arkose 
and quartzite were deposited on the sur- 
face of the older two series. Finally each 
of these three series is intersected by dykes 
of pre-Paleozoic age. The second group 
or series, the conglomerate and slate, is of 
economic interest on account of the occur- 
rence therein of fissure veins carrying im- 
portant amounts of silver and of cobalt 
and nickel ores and smaller quantities of 
other ores. 

In a paper on the paleogeography of St. 
Peter time, Dr. C. P. Berkey, of Columbia 
University, showed by means of charts and 
sections the probable varying distribution 
of land and water during the formation of 
the St. Peter sandstone of Minnesota. The 
rock was interpreted as of marine origin 
where early deposited. The region then 
became a land area with the production of 
sand-dune phenomena, after which there oc- 
eurred another period of submergence. In 
the discussion which followed the reading 
of the paper the fact was brought out by 
Professor Gilbert van Ingen that rounded 
sand grains are not necessarily an indica- 
tion of arid conditions of deposition, since 
they are found in coastal sand-dunes to- 
day. Dr. Berkey’s second paper was upon 
the stratigraphy of the Uinta Mountains 
and announced the discovery of an erosion 
interval in the section, which favored the 
reference of the great basal Weber quartz- 
ite to Cambric age, rather than to Carbonie, 
as held by King, or to Devonie, as contend- 
ed by Powell. 

Professor A. W. Grabau, of Columbia 
University, in a paper on the relative areas 
of the Oneida and Shawangunk conglom- 
erates advaneed the theory that these beds 
represent different portions of a basal con- 
olomerate in the transgressing Siluriec sea. 
In another paper, Professor Grabau dis- 
cussed Helderberg seas and the interrela- 


222 


tionships of lower Devonic strata in the 
eastern United States. Charts were used 
in showing the long narrow Cumberland 
sea as this body of water is called. Mr. 
C. A. Hartnagel then, in some notes on the 
Ontarie (Siluric) section of eastern New 
York, traced the comparative sections to 
the west and to the east of the Helderberg 
Mountains and showed the continuous char- 
acter of the Cobleskill beds. On the east 
the formation immediately beneath this is, 
probably, Salina in age, down to and 
through the Shawangunk conglomerate as 
the basal member of the Salina group. 

The age of the Morrison formation of 
the Rocky Mountain region was the theme 
discussed by Mr. N. H. Darton, who has 
earried on extensive field work along the 
outerops. It has been found that the 
Morrison formation is of wide extent in the 
Rocky Mountain region, from Montana to 
New Mexico, but evidence as to its age is 
Abundant mammalian remains 
occur, but the paleontologists do not agree 
as to the horizon, some investigators re- 
garding them as Jurassic and others as late 
Cretaceous. The meager fresh-water mol- 
luscan fauna is not definitive. Some time 
avo, Mr. Willis T. Lee found evidence that 
Morrison shales give place to Comanche de- 
posits in western Oklahoma, and the author 
has found similar relations in the Two 
Butte uplift in southeastern Colorado, and 
coneludes that the Morrison strata are of 
and that 
representing both the 
Lakota and the Dakota sandstones of the 
Black Hills region. 

In a paper on the classification of the 
Upper Cretaceous formations of New 
Jersey, Professor Stuart Weller, of Chi- 
cago University, reviewed the schemes pro- 
posed by the state survey at various times, 
and, by means of fossils, substantiated the 
subdivision which had been made by Knapp 
and Kiimmel on Jithologie grounds alone. 


meager. 


Comanche (Lower Cretaceous) 


sandstones oceur 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 528. 


Professor Weller then went on to discuss 
in detail in a second paper the fauna of the 
Chiffwood, N. J., clays, which form the 
most notable example of marine sedimenta- 
tion in New Jersey during Raritan time. 

The fossils of Cook’s Inlet and the 
Alaska peninsula have been made the sub- 
ject of careful study by Messrs. T. W. 
Stanton and G. C. Martin, of the United 
States Geological Survey. The section 
shows a great thickness of beds which are 
well provided with fossils. The beds seem 
to be closely related to the Jurassic strata 
of Russia. The scientific program was 
closed by Professor G. H. Perkins, of Ver- 
mont University, with a paper on the Ter- 
tiary lignite of Brandon, Vermont, and its 
fossil fruits. These historic beds were 
worked for fuel during the anthracite coal 
strike and as a result many specimens of 
fossil fruits were found, most of which are 
described now for the first time. 

The following papers were read by title 
only : ‘Occurrence of Gem Minerals in San 
Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino 
Counties, Cal.,’ by George F. Kunz; ‘Rocks 
from Mt. Desert Island, Maine,’ by Persi- 
for Frazer; ‘Plumose Diabase and Pala- 
gonite from the Holyoke Trap Sheet,’ by 
B. K. Emerson; ‘Determination of Brucite 
as a Rock Constituent,’ by Alexis A. Ju- 
lien; ‘Origin of Leached Phosphate,’ by 
C. H. Hitcheoek; ‘Serpentine Deposits of 
Belvidere Mountain, Vermont,’ by V. F. 
Marsters; ‘The Shifting of the Continental 
Divide at Butte, Montana,’ by Walter H. 
Weed; ‘Nantucket Shorelines, III. Muske- 
get,’ by F. P. Gulliver; ‘The Dexter, Kan- 
sas, Nitrogen Gas Well,’ by Erasmus Ha- 
worth; ‘Relation of Lake Whittlesey to the 
Arkona Beaches,’ by Frank B. Taylor; 
‘New Geological Formation in the Eo- 
Devonian of Annapolis County, Nova Sco- 
tia,’ by H. M. Ami; ‘Age of the Marine 
Limestones of West Bay, near Parrsbor- 
ough, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia,’ 


FEBRUARY 10, 1905.] 


by Hl. M. Ami; ‘Upper Trias of the Lander 
Basin, Wyoming,’ by 8. W. Williston; ‘The 
““Red Beds’’ of Southwestern Colorado,’ 
by Whitman Cross and Ernest Howe; 
‘Pleistocene History of Fishers Island, N. 
Y.,’ by Myron L. Fuller; ‘Pleistocene of 
the Chesapeake and Delaware Basins,’ by 
A. Bibbins; ‘The Loess of the Lower Mis- 
sissippl,’ by G. Frederick Wright; and 
‘The Loess and Associated Interglacial 
(Post-glacial) Deposits,’ by B. Shimek. 
- The following candidates were elected 
to fellowship in the society: Nevin M. Fen- 
neman, University of Wisconsin; Charles 
N. Gould, University of Oklahoma; Mark 
S. W. Jefferson, Michigan State Normal 
College; Benjamin L. Miller, Bryn Mawr 
College; Cleophas C. O’Harra, South Da- 
kota School of Mines; Albert H. Purdue, 
University of Arkansas; Solon Shedd, 
Washington Agricultural College; Bohumil 
Shimek, Iowa State University; Gilbert 
Van Ingen, Princeton University; Ralph 
Arnold, U. S. Geological Survey; John A. 
Bownocker, Ohio State University; Regi- 
nald W. Brock, Canadian Geological Sur- 
vey Department; Hiram D. McCaskey, 
Chief of the Mining Bureau of Manila; 
Henry Montgomery, Trinity University, 
Toronto; Arthur E. Seaman, Michigan Col- 
lege of Mines. 

The officers of the society for the ensuing 
vear are: 


President—Raphael Pumpelly, of Dublin, N. H. 

First Vice-President—Samuel Calvin, of Iowa 
City, Ia. 

Second Vice-President—W. M. Davis, of Cam- 
bridge, Mass. 

Secretary—H. L. Fairchild, of Rochester, N. Y. 

Treasurer—I. C. White, of Morgantown, W. Va. 

Editor—J, Stanley-Brown, of New York City. 

Librarian—H. P. Cushing, of Cleveland, O. 


Epmunp Otis Hovey. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 
The American Naturalist for November- 
December contains the following articles: 
‘The Embryological Development of the 


SCIENCE. 


223 


Skeleton of the Head of Blatta, William A. 
Riley; ‘The Arboreal Ancestry of the Mam- 
malia,’ W. D. Matthew; ‘ Localized Stages in 
Common Roadside Plants, Joseph A. Cush- 
man; ‘An Arrangement of the Families and 
Higher Groups of Birds,” R. W. Shufeldt; 
‘Observations on Hearing and Smell in 
Spiders,’ Annie H. Pritchett; ‘Amitosis in 
the Embryo of Fasciolaria, H. L. Osborn; 
‘The Transplanting of Trout in the Streams 
of the Sierra Nevada,’ D. S. Jordan; ‘A New 
Species of Diaptomus from Mexico,’ A. S. 
Pearse; ‘ Hyla andersoni and Rana virgatipes 
at Lakehurst, New Jersey,’ W. T. Davis. 
There are also notes, reviews and lists of pub- 
lications. 


Annals of the Carnegie Museum, Vol. IIL., 
No. 1, contains the following papers: ‘ Minute 
(or Order) Book of the Virginia Court Held 
for Ohio County, Virginia, etc.,’ edited by 
Boyd Crumrine; ‘The Tropidoleptus Fauna 
at Canandaigua Lake, New York, with the 
Ontogeny of Twenty Species,’ Perey EK. Ray- 
mond; ‘Two (new) Species of Turtles from 
the Judith River Beds of Montana,’ O. P. Hay 
(Baéna callosa and Aspideretes beechert), and 
‘A Preliminary List of the Hemiptera of 
Western Pennsylvania,’ P. Modestus Wirtner. 


The Zoological Society Bulletin, of New 
York, for January contains accounts of the 
newly erected ostrich house and small mam- 
mal house, a note on ‘ Wild Animal Photog- 
raphy,’ a description of ‘A Mosquito Object- 
Lesson at the Aquarium’ and other interest- 
ing and valuable information regarding the 
work of this very active society. 


The American Geologist for December con- 
tains as the leading artiele a paper by Charles 
S. Prosser assisted by Edgar R. Cumings, en- 
titled ‘The Waverly Formations of Central 
Ohio,’ illustrated by three plates of half-tone 
views of the formations described. The re- 
gion considered, which is near Columbus, had 
never been carefully described; but on investi- 
gation it affords the most satisfactory ex- 
posures of the Waverly formations to be 
found in central Ohio. Mr. N. Mistockles 
continues his serial on ‘The Untenableness 
of the Nebular Theory’ and Professor Hobbs 


224 


has the concluding chapter on the ‘ Tectonic 
Geography of Eastern Asia.’ G. P. Grimsley 
contributes a paper entitled ‘A Theory cf 
Origin for the Michigan Gypsum Deposits,’ 
in which he supposes that they were deposited 
in an interior sea, and in explanation of the 
localization of the deposits compares it with 
the present Caspian Sea. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


Tur 161st meeting of the society was held 
on Wednesday evening, January 11, 1905. 
The regular program comprised the following 
communications : 


Undulations of Certain Layers of the Lock- 
port Limestone: Mr. G. K. GiBert. 

Mr. Gilbert exhibited photographic views of 
two structures affecting beds near the top of 
the Lockport limestone. These had been pre- 
viously described and figured by Hall, in his 
report on the geology of the fourth district of 
New York. One structure is a system of 
domes or arches oceupying the whole surface 
of the rock and separated by narrow synclines. 
They are usually several feet in diameter, and 
are repeated downward through a series of 
The other structure is a mammilla- 
tion somewhat resembling ripple marks, and 
with a diameter of about one inch. The two 
structures occur in the same strata. The 
photographs were made in a new railroad cut- 
ting within the city of Niagara Falls, in a 
quarry three miles east of the city, and in 
water channels temporarily exposed at the 
Dufferin Islands, on the Canadian side. Mr. 
Gilbert was not satisfied with Hall’s charac- 
terization of the structures as concretionary, 
but suggested no alternative. He thought 
them contemporary with the deposition of the 
strata, and not subsequent. 


The Great Fault of the Bitterroot Mountains: 

Mr. W. Linpcren. 

The Bitterroot Mountains in the western 
part of Montana rise for a distance of eighty 
miles like a long narrow block above the gen- 
eral level of a greatly dissected plateau or 
peneplain which extends over a large area in 
central Idaho and a part of the adjacent state 


strata. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 528. 


of Montana. On the east the Bitterroot 
Mountains descend from an elevation of 9,000 
feet to the level of the wide Bitterroot valley. 
From one end of the range to the other this 
slope is remarkably even and gentle, having 
an average declivity of twenty degrees. Its 
face consists of a zone of granite schist, per- 
haps averaging 1,000 feet thick, in which 
pressing and deformation of the crystals are 
intimately associated with numberless slipping 
planes with striation parallel to the slope of 
the front plane. The predominant rock of 
the range is a quartz monzonite with transi- 
tions into granite. These facts are inter- 
preted as meaning that the frontal slope is 
formed by a great flat fault of normal char- 
acter, along which both molecular and molar 
movement has occurred. The horizontal com- 
ponent would be at least 15,000 feet, the ver- 
tical at least 4,000. The depth below the sur- 
face at which this zone of schistosity was 
formed can scarcely have been more than 2,000 
to 4,000 feet. The age of the uplifted pene- 
plain is believed to be late Mesozoic and the 
fault is probably but little later. Slight 
faulting movements seem to continue along 
it up to the present time. 

Artesian Water in Crystalline Rocks: Mr. 

Gro. Ors Sanrn. 

The presence of artesian water in an area 
of crystalline rocks in the vicinity of York, 
Me., presents a hydrologie problem little dis- 
cussed in geological literature. With closely 
folded and thoroughly indurated rocks the 
water circulation in the deeper rock zone must 
be along schistosity partings and joint open- 
ings rather than through pore openings in a 
gently inclined porous stratum. The im- 
pervious cover essential to the artesian type 
of supply of ground water is furnished by 
the greater degree of cementation of the nat- 
ural openings in the rock near the surface. 
It thus follows that the pressure under which 
the water circulates in the rock becomes in- 
sufficient to overcome the internal friction 
near the surface, and upward escape is pre- 
vented. When a free vertical channel is 
provided by a well, the water rises in the well 
and in three cases cited overflows at the sur- 
face. The results of this hydrologic investi- 


Fesruary 10, 1905.] 


gation will be presented in the forthcoming 
‘Contributions to Hydrology in the Eastern 
United States.’ 


Some Erratic Boulders in Middle Carbonif- 
erous Shale in Indian Territory: Mr. J. A. 
Tarr. 

Mr. Taff described the occurrence of erratic 
boulders of limestone, dolomite, chert and 
quartzite, of Silurian, Ordovician and prob- 
ably Cambrian ages occurring in Middle Car- 
boniferous shales several thousand feet above 
the base of the Carboniferous section in the 
Ouachita Mountains from the west end almost 
to the Arkansas line, a distance of nearly a 
hundred miles. The boulders range in size 
from an extreme length of sixty feet to small 
fragments and are promiscuously distributed 
in the shale. Some of them are angular while 
others are round as if water worn. No rocks 
in the Ouachita Mountains can be compared 
with the erratic boulders except probably some 
of the Ordovician cherts which occur 10,000 
feet beneath the boulder bearing shale. The 
Arbuckle Mountains lie southwest of the Oua- 
chita range in southwestern Indian Territory 
and trend nearly S. 60° W. almost at right 
angles to the bearing of the folds of the Oua- 
chitas. The Arbuckle uplift extended south- 
eastward beneath the Cretaceous will pass 
twelve to fifteen miles south of the west end 
of the Ouachita Mountains. The identity, 
lithological and paleontological, of a large 
part of the Ordovician and Silurian strata, 
in the Arbuckle uplift, with the erratic boul- 
ders in the Carboniferous shale of the Oua- 
echita Mountains, and the local relations of 
the uplifts press toward the conclusion that 
the erratics had their sources in a range or 
group of mountains in the region now occu- 
pied by southern Indian Territory and north- 
ern Texas. The size of the boulders and 
their disposition in the marine shales show 
that without any reasonable doubt they were 
floated by the medium of ice from a moun- 
tainous land into a Carboniferous sea now 
occupied in part at least, by the Ouachita 
Mountains. The hypothesis of ice transpor- 
tation is supported by the occurrence of cer- 
tain scored or striated chert and limestone 
boulders found with other erratics in the 


SCIENCE. 


225 


shale. The cause of the scorings found in 
the chert boulders is a problem now receiving 
further study. A fuller discussion concern- 
ing the occurrence and characteristics of these 
erratic boulders will be published at an early 
date in some geological journal. 
Geo. Oris Smiru, 
Secretary. 


THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 

Tue twenty-third regular meeting of the 
Botanical Society of Washington was held 
Saturday evening, October 16, 1904. The foi- 
lowing papers were presented: 


Vitality of Buried Seeds: Dr. J. W. T. Duvet. 

A review was given of the results of the 
germination tests of 112 different samples of 
seed which had been buried in a heavy clay 
soil for one year. The seeds were buried at 
the three different depths of 6-8, 18-22 and 
36-42 inches. 

The majority of the seeds retained their 
vitality better the deeper they were buried. 

With but few exceptions, the seeds of culti- 
vated plants had either decayed or germinated 
and afterward decayed, at all depths. 

Weed seeds, in some cases, retained their 
vitality remarkably well. The results indi- 
cate that the preservation of the vitality of 
weed seeds when buried in the soil is directly 
proportional to the noxiousness of the plants 
producing them. 


Drug Plant Investigations in the Department 
of Agriculture: Dr. Ropney H. True. 

The present organization of this line of 
investigations includes two different lines of 
work. Field investigations are now being 
carried on in Vermont, at Washington, D. C., 
in South Carolina and in Texas, where areas 
of land of from four to twenty acres are re- 
served for use in this connection. 

In South Carolina experiments on a com- 
mercial seale are in progress, several thousand 
pounds of drugs having been marketed last 
fall. 

The laboratory investigations are carried on 
chiefly at Washington in three laboratories: 
the laboratory of histology, where questions of 
structural and plant physiological nature are 
under investigation; the laboratory of phar- 


226 


macognosy, where the study of improved proc- 
esses of handling the products is given espe- 
cial attention; and in cooperation with poison- 
ous plant investigations, laboratory of phar- 
macology, where the physiological action of 
drug plants and products is tested. In addi- 
tion to these laboratories, for all routine 
chemical work, cooperation with the bureau 
of chemistry is afforded. 

Among the problems under investigation 
are, first, the domestication and cultivation 
of valuable native drug plants now being de- 
pleted, such as hydrastis and cascara sagrada; 
second, the cultivation of drug plants furnish- 
ing products now exclusively or chiefly pro- 
duced abroad and imported, as, for example, 
belladonna, licorice, capsicum, opium poppy 
and many others; third, a careful scientific 
study of processes involved in curing and 
fermentation or in otherwise treating the 
fresh material in order to bring it in best 
condition to the market. 


Do Segregations of Character Pairs Occur at 
Other Points in the Development of Organ- 
isms than the Maturation of Germ Cells: 
Professor W. J. SprnuMAN. 

The speaker pointed out that the distribution 
of color on spotted animals could be explained 
on the assumption that the color potentialities 
separate in cell divisions concerned only in the 
somatic development of the animal, and that 
bud variation might possibly be due to the 
same thing. If such separations do occur, 
very distinct cases of mutation might arise in 
consequence thereof. In this connection it 
is interesting to note the conclusions of biolo- 
gists who have investigated the subject of 
embryology. They conclude that in some em- 
bryos the cells resulting from the first one or 
two divisions in the embryo have almost iden- 
tically the same inheritance, and that a single 
one of these cells is capable of developing 
into a complete embryo, usually, however, 
dwarfed in character. In other embryos, if 
one of the two cells resulting from the first 
division is destroyed, the other cell develops 
into a portion of the embryo, presumably that 
portion that would have developed from that 
cell if the other cell had lived, indicating that 
in the first division a separation of characters 


SCIENCE. 


[N. S. Vou. XXI. No. 528. 


was made that gave the two cells a different 
inheritance. 
H. J. Wesser, 
Corresponding Secretary. 


THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


Tue 155th regular and twenty-first annual 
meeting of the society was held Thursday 
evening, January 12, in the assembly hall of 
the Cosmos Club. The business of the even- 
ing consisted in the presentation of the an- 
nual reports of the secretary and treasurer 
and of the election of officers for the ensuing 
year. The election resulted as follows: 

President—S. S. Voorhees. 

First Vice-President—L. M. Tolman. 

Second Vice-President—Allan Wade Dow. 

Secretary—Atherton Seidell. 

Treasurer—Fred. P. Dewey. 

Four additional members of the Executive Com- 
mittee—Messrs. E. T. Allen, Frank K. Cameron, 
Edwin A. Hill and L. 8. Munson. 


Professor F. W. Clarke was nominated on 
behalf of the Chemical Society as vice-presi- 
dent of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 

At the conclusion of the election of officers, 
Dr. W. A. Noyes, of the National Bureau of 
Standards, delivered an address upon ‘ The 
Work of the Bureau of Standards.’ 

A. SEIDELL, 
Secretary. 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
EASTERN SECTION. 


NORTH- 


Tue fifty-sixth regular meeting of the sec- 
tion was held Friday evening, December 16, 
in the Lowell building, Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology, with President Norris in 
the chair. About 150 members and guests 
were present. 

Professor Edwin J. Bartlett, of Dartmouth 
College, gave an address entitled ‘An Even- 
ing with the Alchemists,’ in which he de- 
seribed the processes and apparatus used by 
the alchemists, and showed a large number of 
lantern slides of contemporaneous pictures of 
alchemical utensils and interiors of the labo- 
ratories of the middle ages. 

Artuur M. Comey, 
Secretary. 


FEBRUARY 10, 1905.] 


THE WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS 
AND LETTERS. 

Tue thirty-fifth annual meeting of the 
academy was held at Milwaukee, December 28 
and 29. The program contained twenty-six 
titles as follows: 


JAMES Davie Butter: ‘Charles Kendall 
Adams—His Place in Three Universities.’ 

C. S. Sticurer: ‘The Specific Capacity of 
Wells.’ (By title.) 

J. H. Fartry: ‘The Concept of Motion.’ 

J.S. RoEsELER: ‘ The Present Status of the Wis- 
consin Industrial School for Boys—Its Mechanism 
and Methods.’ 

E. B. Skinner: ‘The Determination of the 
Value of the Right of Way for Wisconsin Rail- 
roads.’ 

E. B. Hurcurns, Jr.: ‘A Contribution to the 
Chemistry of the Tellurates.’ 

F. L. Surnn: ‘On the Electrical Conductivity 
of Vapors.’ (By title.) 

Louis KAHLENBERG and HERMAN SCHLUNDT: 
‘On the Evolution of Hydrogen During the Action 
of Sodium on Mercury.’ 

Louis KAHLENBERG: 
Osmotic Pressures.’ 

Epwarp Kremers: ‘On Classification of Car- 
bon Compounds, II.’ 

Wn. H. Hosss: 
Networks.’ 

Dr. SIGMUND GRAENICHER: ‘The Relations of 
the Andrenine Bees to the Entomophilous Flora of 
Milwaukee County.’ 

R. H. DENNISTON: 
and Vicinity.’ 

GrorcE M. REED: 
with Hrysiphe Graminis.’ 


‘On the Measurement of 


“Some Examples of Fault 


‘The Russulas of Madison 


‘Infection Experiments 


VALENTINE FERNEKES and C. E. Brown: ‘The 
Fungi of Milwaukee County and Vicinity.’ (By 
title.) 

R. A. HARPER: ‘Spore Formation in Cordyceps 


Herculea Schw.’ 

8S. P. Nicnots: ‘The Nature and Origin of the 
Binucleated Cells in Certain Basidiomycetes.’ 

A. H. CuristMAN: ‘Observation on the Win- 
tering of the Grain Rusts in Wisconsin.’ 

W. D. Frost and E. V. McComs: ‘Soil Bac- 
teria in the Vicinity of Madison.’ 

W. D. Frost, C. G. Davies and H. F. Hretm- 
HOLTZ: ‘The Viability of Bacterium Diph- 
therie.’ 

GrorcE W. and ELIZABETH G. PECKHAM: 
Attide of Borneo.’ (By title.) 


‘The 


SCIENCE. 


227 


W. S. MARSHALL: 
fly Larve.’ 

GEORGE WAGNER: 
Physa Ancillaria,’ 

M. V. O’SuHeA: ‘The Psychology of Linguistic 
Development in the Individual.’ 


‘Experiments with Caddis- 


“Notes on the Behavior of 


C. E. Brown: ‘The Fluted Stone Axes of Wis- 
consin.’ 
A. G. Larrp: ‘The Greek and Persian Armies 


at Thermopyle.’ (By title.) 


The attendance was not large, but the ses- 
sions were marked by strong interest on the 
part of all present, and the papers were, as a 
rule, freely discussed. 

The meeting was noteworthy on account of 
the inception of plans for strengthening the 
work of the academy. Steps were taken look- 
ing toward the publication of the Transac- 
tions in series instead of in a single volume 
of two parts as heretofore. A committee was 
appointed to see what may be done in the way 
of increasing the exchange list and filling 
gaps in the library. Five hundred dollars 
were appropriated for the work of this com- 
mittee. The academy has already a valuable 
library, consisting almost entirely of trans- 
actions of learned societies from all parts of 
the world. 

Part 2 of Vol. XIV. of the Transactions 
was issued in September, 1904. 

E. B. SKINNER, 
Secretary. 


THE SCIENCE CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
WISCONSIN. 

Tue fourth meeting of the club for the year 
1904-05, was held on January 24. The fol- 
lowing papers made up the program of the 
evening: 

The Panama Canal—a symposium: 

F. E. TurNnreAvre: ‘ Engineering Features.’ 

W. A. Scorr: ‘The Economie Aspects.’ 

W. D. Frost: ‘The Hygienic Problems.’ 

¥F, W. Wott, 
Secretary. 


THE ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 
Tue 157th meeting of the Elisha Mitchell 

Scientific Society of the University of North 

Carolina was held in the chemical lecture 


228 


room, Tuesday, January 10, 7:30 p.m., the 
following program being rendered: 
Proressor WILLIAM CaIN: ‘The Theory of 
Metal or Reinforced Concrete Domes.’ 
Proressok J. H. Pratt: ‘Steel 
Metals.’ 


Hardening 


Atvin S. WHEELER, 
Recording Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE BITING POSITION OF ANOPHELES. 

Ir is a curious fact, as shown by Dr. J. B. 
Smith’s communication in ScreNcE for Jan- 
uary 13, 1905, that no observer, from the 
number cited, has noted the exact position of 
this mosquito when biting. The writer, in 
his communication in the December 2, 1904, 
issue, based his statement upon observations 
made in 1903 in the northern woods of Minne- 
sota, where a number of individuals of A. 
maculipennis were allowed to fill themselves 
with blood from the hand, in an endeavor to 
see how long a time was required by them to 
digest a full meal (page 170 Eighth Annual 
Report of the State Entomologist of Minne- 
sota). As I recall the experiment, my im- 
pression is that these mosquitoes, when biting, 
took a position somewhat resembling their 
resting position, with body and beak more 
nearly in line, and not at right angles as seen 
in Culex. I shall have to include myself in 
the army of non-observants to the extent of 
saying that I am not absolutely sure of this. 
This was made clear in my communication 
on page 170 of the issue of Science referred 
to, where I said, ‘ While we may be mistaken, 
we are under the impression that this genus, 
in biting, ete’ As Dr. Smith very rightly 
says in his letter ‘I do not understand him 
(Washburn) to say positively that the figure 
is inaccurate, only that it had been his belief 
that the biting position resembled the resting 
position more nearly.’ 

As I remember the chart at St. Louis taken 
from an illustration of Nuttall & Shipley, the 
biting Anopheles is shown with body horizon- 
tal. This may be correct, but I note that Dr. 
Herbert Johnson, who worked on Anopheles 
for Dr. Smith, and who is quoted in the lat- 
ter’s communication, says with reference to 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 528. 


the position of the body of Anopheles when 
biting, ‘It is always somewhat oblique. It 
was, I believe, this horizontal position with 
beak at right angles, which caught my eye in 
looking at Dr. Smith’s most complete and ex- 
cellent exhibit. 

At the same time it will possibly occur to 
many that there may be individual variations 
in the position of biting mosquitoes, due to 
different configurations, greater or smaller, of 
the surface at the immediate point where the 
insect is working. The time is not far dis- 
tant when this feature in the activities of 
Anopheles can be put beyond question. In 
the meantime it is to be hoped that some more 
observant workers, following Dr. Smith’s sug- 
gestion, will let us hear from them on this 
point. F. L. WasHBurn. 

MINNESOTA STATE EXPERIMENT STATION, 

January 19, 1905. 


UNIVERSITY REGISTRATION STATISTICS. 


To tHe Eprror or Science: The registrar 
of the University of Wisconsin has called my 
attention to a discrepancy that occurs in the 
figures furnished by him for the article on 
‘University Registration Statistics,’ published 
in Science, December 30, 1904. In former 
years the short course and dairy students, 
who do not enter the university until De- 
cember 1, were reported, whereas they were 
not included in the 1904 table. Four hun- 
dred and thirty-nine short course and dairy 
students were enrolled on December 1, 1904, 
and inasmuch as none attended the summer 
session of 1904, 489 should have been added 
to the total, giving a grand total for the 
University of Wisconsin of 3,370 instead of 
2,931, and consequently showing a normal in- 
crease instead of the decrease represented by 
the figures in the table. These additional 
students were reported a fortnight after the 
appearance of the article, but it seems only 
fair to call attention to the omission. 

Rupotr Tomso, JR. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 
GENERIC NAMES OF SOFT-SHELLED TURTLES. 


In a recent paper ‘On the Existing Genera 
of the Trionychide’ (Proc. Amer. Philos. 


FEBRUARY 10, 1905.] 


Soc., XLII, pp. 268-274) Dr. O. P. Hay, 
among other questions, endeavors to show 
that Wagler’s Aspidonectes must stand for 
the large genus of soft-shelled turtles typified 
by the species Testudo triunguis, and that 
Amyda must be regarded as a synonym of the 
former. As I shall show below, the case must 
be reversed so that Aspidonectes becomes a 
synonym of Amyda. 

Dr. Hay proceeds from the assumption that 
Wagler (1830) was the first author to sub- 
divide the genus Trionyx, and if that were 
_the case his reasoning would undoubtedly hold 
good. Unfortunately the subdivision was un- 
dertaken as early as 1816 by Oken. In his 
‘Lehrbuch der Zoologie,’ volume II., p. 348, 
the latter divided the genus in two, one con- 
taining the majority of the species, which he 
called Amyda, and one for the single species 
T. granosus, which he expressly calls Trionyx 
granosus, thus evidently reserving the generic 
term T'rionyx in a restricted sense for this 
species. He thus anticipated Wagler by 
fourteen years in limiting Trionyx to the 
genus which afterwards has been currently 
known as Hmyda. The part of Dr. Hay’s 
argument which relates to the latter is, there- 
fore, not affected by Oken’s action. But 
Amyda and Aspidonectes are not exactly co- 
extensive, inasmuch as Oken does not defi- 
nitely place T. subplanus in either of the two 
genera, being uncertain as to its affinities and 
referring to it both as Amyda subplana and 
as Trionyx subplanus. Consequently it can 
not with any show of reason be made the type 
of any of these genera. 

The next man to adopt Oken’s name Amyda 
was Fitzinger, who in 1835* restricted it to 
three species, viz., T. subplanus, T. muticus 
and T. euphraticus. As shown above, T. sub- 
planus can not be Oken’s type, neither can 
T. muticus, which was described long after 
Oken. There remains consequently for type 
T. euphraticus. 

It thus becomes unnecessary to discuss 
Bonaparte’s subsequent employment of Amyda 


* There is no reason for quoting his paper in the 
first volume of Annalen des Wiener Museums from 
1836. It was certainly published before Bona- 
parte’s ‘Tabula analytica,’ as he quotes Fitzinger 
throughout. 


SCIENCE. 


229 


in 1836, but it may not be out cf the way to 
observe that his arrangement can not be made 
to differ from Fitzinger’s of the previous year, 
inasmuch as it is a paraphrase pure and 
simple of this author using his characters 
verbatim and quoting all the subgeneric names 
as ‘ Aspidonectes, Fitz.,’ ‘ Platypeltis, Fitz.,’ 
‘ Pelodiscus, Fitz. and ‘Amyda, Fitz.,’ the 
only difference being that Bonaparte does not 
mention more than one of the species Fitz- 
inger included. 

As Dr. Hay has clearly shown, the type of 
Wagler’s Aspidonectes by elimination is A. 
triunguis. He does not mention in his article 
in which genus he would place T. euphraticus, 
but I think there can be but little doubt that 
the two species are strictly congeneric, and 
that consequently Aspidonectes 
synonym of Amyda. 

Ti T. subplanus is generically distinct it 
must retain the name Dogania given it by 
Gray in 1844. Dr. Hay considers it congen- 
eric with Aspidonecles (now Amyda), but I 
wish to call attention to the fact that it is 
not only unique in having all the pleuralia 
separated by the neuralia, but also in lacking 
the median process of the hypoplastron, as 
shown recently by Dr. Siebenrock. Altogether 
it possesses so many peculiar characters that 
it seems more worthy of separation than the 
North American species which Dr. Hay would 
recognize as Platypeltis. 

LroNHARD STEJNEGER. 

U. S. NationaL Museum, 

January 19, 1905. 


becomes a 


A NEW FIELD FOR LANGUAGE STUDY. 

Tue latest form of instrument in which a 
spoken language is magnetically recorded in 
a steel piano wire, was shown to the members 
of Section B at the recent meeting of the 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Science at Philadelphia. 
ried on two spools driven electrically, and can 
be reeled from either to the other. During 
this operation the wire passes between the 


The wire is ear- 


poles of a small magnet, and by magneto- 
induction the spoken words are reproduced in 
the receiving instrument. If the motion of 
the wire is direct you hear the words as they 


230 


are ordinarily heard in conversation. If the 
wire is reversed, you hear the same sounds 
presented in reverse order. You hear what 
you would hear if you were to follow the 
sound waves after they have passed the ear, 
traveling through them in a radial direction 
with twice the velocity of sound. The re- 
versed words are perfectly definite in char- 
acter, and constitute a new language related 
in a simple mathematical way to that orig- 
inally spoken. One might learn to pronounce 
a sentence of this language, thus derived from 
an English sentence, impress it upon a fresh 
wire, and the instrument on reversal would 
translate it into English. This new language 
might be called the Hsilgne. It is related 
to the English language in a way that may be 
roughly represented by the equation 

Hsilgne = English X cos 180°. 


This word forming the first member of the 
equation is not the English spelling of the 
word English when pronounced backwards. 
In order to properly typify the relation be- 
tween the two languages, not only should the 
order of the letters be reversed, but each 
letter should be reversed as to right and left, 
as when the word is seen by reflection from a 
mirror. 

The ear may, however, be supposed to tra- 
verse the system of sound waves produced by 
an orator, in any one of an infinite variety of 
directions. The path traversed by the ear, 
and a radial line drawn to the mouth of the 
speaker, may make any angle a between 0° 
and 180°. If the velocity of the ear be cor- 
respondingly varied, we shall have in the 
above case a great spectrum of languages 
lying between Hsilgne and English. The 
variable language will in general be repre- 
sented by the equation 


Language X = English X cos a. 


As the angle a approaches 90°, the variable 
language becomes more barbarous and inar- 
ticulate. When a—90°, the ear would be 
moving parallel to the wave fronts, and noth- 
ing would be heard. The conditions realized 
are analogous to those which hold in a pho- 
tographic the fog line is ap- 
proached, separating the negative from the 


plate when 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 528. 


positive picture. It would be very interest- 


ing to determine whether there is any radical ~ 


difference between the positives and the cor- 
responding negatives of a spoken language. 
Each language, corresponding to a given value 
of a with English as a base, would have a 
corresponding negative, where the angle is 
a+180. The Poulsen instrument is now 
perfectly adapted to the study of the relation 
of any language to its negative, if either be 
placed on record in the wire. Of course in 
such a reversal as the Poulsen instrument 
gives, the grammatical construction is also 
reversed. Some of the difficulties that would 
be met in learning to talk Hsilgne can be 
realized by reading this communication back- 
wards, beginning with the last word and end- 
ing with the first. In such a reading the 
words themselves are not reversed, but the 
order in which they are presented to the ear 
is that which would hold in the negative 
language. Francis E. Nipuer. 


QUOTATIONS. 
SALARIES AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 

SPEAKING roughly, the rule may be said to 
be that a full professor in Harvard College 
receives $4,000 a year, an associate professor 
$3,000, an assistant professor $2,000, an in- 
structor $1,000, and an assistant from $250 
to $400. In the last academic year there were 
in the college 51 full professors, 2 associate 
professors, 38 assistant professors, 7 lecturers, 
1 tutor, 88 instructors, and 87 assistants. Of 
the professors, 14 received $5,000; 1, $3,600; 
10, $3,500; 3, $3,000; 4, $2,000; and 1, $1,000. 
This showed a total item of salaries of about 
$227,000. The actual average, based on the 
exact figures, which are not those given here, 
was $3,984, which confirms the impression that 
the Harvard professor is a $4,000 man. 

The incomes of the other classes of instruc- 
tors show similar variations. The two asso- 
ciate professors receive $3,500; but salaries of 
the assistant professors range from $3,000 
down to $500; the average being $2,160. The 
lecturers average $781 each, while the compen- 
sation of instructors ranges from $2,000 to 
$100, with an average of $999. The assistants 


Fresruary 10, 1905.] 


receive anywhere from $1,200 down to $20, 
the average last year being $328; thus it is 
seen that a large part of the teaching force of 
Harvard College is composed of men who re- 
ceive salaries that would not tempt men to 
become conductors and motormen on a street 
railway, and Harvard (miserabile dictw) is 
probably better off than any other American 
college. 

These salaries from the point of view of 
prosperous Harvard graduates are positively 
startling, especially if one considers the kind 
of people with whom a teacher necessarily rubs 
elbows, if he holds a position in the service of 
a college. Of course, men don’t teach at Har- 
vard or at any other American college of high 
standing for the mere sake of money. Any- 
body who is competent to be a full professor 
at Harvard is capable of securing several times 
the income of his professorship in some other 
line of work. The list of teachers contains 
the names of countless men of world-wide 
reputation, who by merely signifying that they 
would accept better positions could step at 
once into places with a pecuniary return of 
three, four or even five times what they now 
obtain. 

As has been said, it is probably true that in 
Colonial days the Harvard teacher was virtu- 
ally on a financial level with the successful 
lawyer and the prosperous butcher or baker, 
as to-day he certainly is not. Until recently, 
too, the level of salaries in Harvard college 


rose somewhat rapidly from generation to gen- ~ 


eration, though never keeping pace with the 
advances in the emolument of the other pro- 
fessions and trades which college graduates 
enter.—The New York Hvening Post. 


CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 


KITE METEOROLOGY OVER LAKE CONSTANCE. 


Iy a recent note under the above heading, 
reference was made to the observations car- 
ried on by Dr. Hergesell ‘during the years 
1900, 1902 and 1903’ on the Lake of Con- 
stance. The compiler of these ‘ Notes’ de- 
sires to correct that statement, for the reason 
that rio observations were made in 1900.. The 
following quotation from Dr. Hergesell’s re- 
port to the International Meteorological Com- 


SCIENCE. 


231 


mittee in 1903 makes the situation clear: “ In 
July, 1900, I had the idea of using the speed 
of a boat to correct the wind conditions, and 
I made some experiments with a motor boat 
(on the Lake of Constance), but without rais- 
ing an instrument. In the month of August, 
1901, Mr. Rotch, in America, was the first to 
lift an instrument in nearly calm weather by 
using a steamboat which he could manceuver 
at will. The proposal of Mr. Rotch * * * 
led me to recommence my experiments on 
the Lake of Constance (in June, 1902).” 


WIND CHARTS OF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC. 


Tue Hydrographic Department of the Brit- 
ish Admiralty has recently published a volume 
of monthly wind charts of the South Atlantic 
Ocean, prepared by the marine branch of the 
Meteorological Office. The region embraced 
by these charts extends from the equator to 
latitude 65° south. Nearly a million sets of 
observations were used in the compilation. 
The results are shown by means of wind roses 
in 5° squares. Isobars and isotherms are also 
drawn, and numerous notes concerning the 
climatic features along the coast of Africa 
and of South America are included. It may 
here be noted that fogs seldom occur north of 
latitude 30° except near land, and that the 
southwestern part of the ocean is the only 
region in which ice is ordinarily found. 


SUNSPOTS AND RAINFALL. 

Mr. H. I. Jensen, of Sydney, New 
South Wales, discusses the relations be- 
tween solar and terrestrial phenomena in the 
Proceedings of the Royal Society of New 
South Wales, Vol. 38. In general the author 
agrees with the results obtained by Sir Nor- 
man and Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer regarding the 
connection existing between solar and meteor- 
ological variations, but he inclines to the opin- 
ion that the epochs of sun-spot maxima are 
generally the periods of excessive rainfall. 
One point—an important one—upon which 
Mr. Jensen insists is the need of laying more 
emphasis upon geographical position when the 
meteorological conditions of any place are 
considered. 


232 


NOTES. 

Mons. J. Vatior has recently sent to his 
correspondents a reprint from the Revue I[I- 
lustrée for July 1, 1904, containing a fully 
illustrated account of his scientific work on 
Mont Blane, with views of his meteorological 
observatories, and a bibliography of his pub- 
lications. 

A RELATION between sunspots and thunder- 
storm frequency at Vienna is set forth by G. 
Walter, in Das Wetter for December, 1904. 
The author believes that a year with few 
thunderstorms almost always precedes a year 
of sun-spot maximum. These results do not 
agree with those obtained some years ago by 
von Bezold; in fact, there is a very consider- 
able diversity of opinion in regard to almost 
all the relations between solar and meteor- 
ological phenomena. R. DeC. Warp. 


BUGENE G. BLACKFORD. 

Eucrenre G. Brackrorp, who died recently, 
was known to American zoologists for his 
many-sided and practical contributions to the 
study of fish and shell-fish. He was for a 
long time associated with the United States 
Commission of Fisheries, and was a supporter 
of Professor Baird in his efforts to create the 
national commission: he was Commissioner 
of Fish and Fisheries of the State of New 
York from 1879 to 1892, and it was under his 
administration that many measures were 
taken with regard to the stocking of waters 
and the protection of fish. The survey and 
renting of the state oyster-grounds, it may be 
mentioned, was due to his initiative. He de- 
voted himself particularly to applying scien- 
tific results to practical purposes, and his 
efforts in promoting fish-hatching, in introdu- 
cing new and serviceable species of fish, in 
stocking waters, and in devising new methods 
for catching, preserving, shipping, and storing 
fish, had a permanent effect upon the markets 
of the country; he frequently brought to the 
consumer fish which were new to him, some- 
times even new to science, such, for example, 
was the red snapper, Lutjanus blackfordi. In 
1881 he was instrumental in founding the 
state fish hatchery at Cold Spring Harbor; in 
1890 he established there, under the auspices 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 528. 


of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 
a biological station, which developed success- 
fully and has recently been adopted by the 
Carnegie Institution. As early as 1877* he 
mooted the establishment of a New York 
aquarium and he later designated the Battery 
building as a suitable nidus for its growth. 
He was the first, as far as I am aware, to 
make this practical suggestion, and to his 
efforts and influence no small part of the suc- 
cess is due in creating the present institution. 
He was most influential in supporting the es- 
tablishment of the museum-of the Brooklyn 
Institute of Arts and Sciences, and in the 
latest time he took a prominent part in creat- 
ing in Brooklyn a teaching museum for 
children. 

The following are the more important of 
Mr. Blackford’s publications : 

1876. ‘On the Need to Obtain Statistical 
Studies of Fish Catches in the United States.’ 
Report of American Fish Culturists’ Associa- 
tion, V. meeting, p. 5. 

1877. ‘Reference to the Length of Time 
Milt of Salmon Could be Kept Successfully.’ 
Ibid., VI. meeting, p. 99. 

1877. ‘Introduction of Pompano into the 
Northern Markets.’ Jbid., p. 124. 


1878. ‘Peculiar Features of the Fish 
Market.’ Jbid., VII. meeting, p. 77. 
1879. ‘Whitebait in American Waters.’ 


Ibid., VIII. meeting, p. 11. 


1882. ‘Report on the Merits of the Rain- 
bow Trout.’ Jbid., XI. meeting, p. 23. 
1883. ‘On the Size of Marketable Lobsters.’ 


Ibid., XII. meeting, p. 414. 

1883. ‘A Few Facts in Relation to the 
Food and Spawning Season of Fishes on the 
Atlantic Coast.’ Jbid., XIII. meeting, p. 5. 

1883. ‘Regarding the Pollution of the 
Water of New York Bay.’ JIbid., p. 73. 

1884. ‘Is Legislation Necessary for the 
Propagation of the Ocean Fisheries.’ Jbid., 
XIII. meeting, p. 60. 


* He referred to the ‘necessity of an aquarium 
in New York City’; and he expressed the hope 
‘that a public enterprise might be started which 
would be a free public institution.’ ‘Report of 
the Am. Fish Culturists’ Association,’ 1877, p. 107. 


Frsruary 10, 1905.] 


1885. ‘The Oyster Beds of New York.’ 
Ibid., XIV. meeting, p. 85. 

1885. ‘Report of the Commissioner of 
Fisheries of the State of New York in Charge 
ot Oyster Industry,’ pp. 70. 

1886. Jbid., II. report, pp. 28. 

1886. ‘Report of the Commissioner of 
Fisheries of the State of New York.’ XIV. 
report, p. 7. 

1887. Ibid., ‘Oyster Industry.’ 
port, pp. 27. 

1887. Ibid., XV. report, pp. 17. 

1888. Jbid., XVI. report, pp. 30. 

1899. ‘On the Spawning Season of the Eel.’ 
Science, N. S., Vol. IX., p. 741. 


Basurorp DEAN. 


IIL. re- 


CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 
January 25, 1905. 


ILLINOIS RIVER PLANKTON. 


Tue Illinois State Laboratory of Natural 
History has published, as Article II. of the 
sixth volume of its Bulletin, a report on the 
results of a virtually continuous study of the 
minute plant and animal life, or plankton, of 
the Illinois River and its tributary waters, 
carried on for five successive years by the staff 
of the Illinois Biological Station. This makes 
a volume of 534 pages, illustrated by 2 maps, 
11 half-tone plates, and 87 full-page diagrams. 

Opening with an elaborate description of 
the Illinois River and its drainage basin, this 
report treats of the effect of variations of 
temperature and peculiarities of chemical con- 
dition on the life of the stream, and presents 
at length and in detail a comparative study 
of 630 plankton collections made from the 
river at Havana, from one of its tributaries 
which empties into it at that point, and from 
five bottom-land lakes of various character 
and variously related to the main stream. 
These collections were so made, at regular 
intervals, with identical apparatus, and by a 
un form method, that they can be compared 
with each other quantitatively, and may be 


used as the basis of general conclusions con- 


cerning the system of minute life in these 
waters, from season to season and from year 
to year. 

It appears from these studies that the 


SCIENCE. 


233 


plankton is distributed in the main stream 
of the Illinois River about as evenly as it is 
in the stationary waters of a lake, and that 
generalizations based on an examination of a 
small part of it are consequently as reliable 
as those concerning that of a lake. The ratio 
of the plankton of the river, year in and year 
out, was 2.7 parts per million of the water in 
the stream, and its total average amount mov- 
ing down stream past any given point reached 
the astounding aggregate of 75,000 tons per 
annum, or 8.5 tons an hour. This is about 
15 times the total weight of the fish taken 
from the river in a year. , 

The production of the plankton falls to its 
minimum, as a rule, in January and Febru- 
ary, and reaches its maximum in April, May, 
and June. Floods, of course, dilute it, and 
falling waters concentrate it, but, on the 
other hand, a season of general high water 
increases its total quantity, and a season of 
general low water decreases it. Light and 
heat favor its development, and it is conse- 
quently more abundant, other things being 
equal, in a season during which clear and 
warm weather preponderates than in a cold 
and cloudy one. The freezing of the river 
does not seriously affect it, unless the ice-sheet 
continues until the water becomes foul with 
the gases of decay. The addition of sewage 
to the river water greatly increases the pro- 
duction of this minute life by increasing the 
supply of available food, although an excessive 
amount of sewage may render the water too 
foul for it at the point of discharge. 

The production of plankton is less in short 
streams with relatively swift current than in 
long streams with slow current, and short 
tributaries consequently tend to dilute the 
plankton of the main stream. On the other 
hand, the stagnant and relatively permanent 
waters of shallow lakes bear a more abundant 
plankton than the temporary waters of flow- 
ing streams, and the outflow from such lakes 
hence enriches the plankton of the river. 
Parts of a stream with many small tributaries 
will contain less plankton than those with 
which numerous lakes are connected. 

The bottom-land lakes differ widely in the 
amount of plankton which they contain, this 


234 


being least in those with an abundance of 
coarse submerged water plants, and greatest 
in those virtually free from such vegetation. 
The reasons for this difference seem not well 
established in this paper, but they are pos- 
sibly connected with differences of light and 
heat already referred to. The most produc- 
tive body of water examined was a large per- 
manent pond, with neither inlet nor outlet at 
a low stage of water, and with bottom and 
shores of bare mud. 

The conditions which favor a large annual 
production of this minute aquatic life also 
seem to favor a large catch of fish, but no 
direct connection of cause and effect is here 
made out. The plankton is, however, an in- 
dispensable element in the food of fishes, the 
young of nearly every species in our waters 
being absolutely dependent upon it at some 
period of their lives, and adult fishes of sey- 
eral species making large use of it during the 
season of its greatest abundance. 

No study of the minute life of a river sys- 
tem has heretofore been made of equal extent, 
thoroughness, and scientific character with 
that reported in this paper, and a knowledge 
of the facts contained in it is indispensable 
to an understanding of some of the problems 
of a scientific fish-culture in fresh-water situ- 
ations. 

The work here reported is a part of that 
of the biological survey of Illinois. It was 
planned, established, and equipped by Dr. S. 
A. Forbes, director of the State Laboratory, 
and was done under the immediate superin- 
tendence of Professor Frank Smith, of the 
University of Illinois, during the first fifteen 
months, beginning with April, 1894, and of 
Dr. C. A. Kofoid, superintendent of the sta- 
tion, the writer of this report, during the 
remainder of the five-year period. 

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 

REPORT. 

ApvaNnce galleys of the administration re- 
port of this well-known institution, for which 
we are indebted to its director, show the cus- 
tomary progress. In 1904 the number of spe- 
cies and varieties of plants cultivated was in- 
creased from 11,357 to 14,207, an addition of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 528. 


25 per cent. The herbarium was enlarged 
from 465,205 to 489,310 specimens, an increase 
of a little over 5 per cent., and the total of 
books and pamphlets in the library was raised 
from 42,262 to 45,892, or something over 8 
per cent. 

The world’s fair recently held in St. Louis 
raised the visitors to the garden to over three 
times the customary number, a total of 316,- 
747, or about 2 per cent. of the entire paid 
admissions to the exposition. That these 
visitors were of an unusually intelligent and 
interested class is noted from observation and 
inferred from their purchase of a little hand- 
book of the garden, the sales of which amount- 
ed to 1.51 per cent. of the number of visitors 
in contrast with an earlier average of .246 of 
1 per cent. 

The report also contains information as 1o 
the school of botany, the gardening course, 
the research work at the garden and the testa- 
mentary flower sermon, banquets, and flower 
show, all of which latter were influenced by 
the holding of the St. Louis exposition, at 
which the garden met with recognition in the 
form of two grand prizes and several minor 
awards. 

The financial report of the trustees shows 
that street improvements, sewers, property ex- 
penses and the like have wiped out their 
savings of the past fifteen years, on which 
needed buildings and enlargements have been 
planned by the director, and it is evident that 
unless unexpected aid is rendered the garden 
by some public-spirited citizen these improve- 
ments must necessarily be deferred for at 
least ten years, although the maintenance of 
the establishment on its present scale is not 
in doubt, and there is assurance in its unen- 
cumbered endowment of some $3,000,000 that 
gradually it will enlarge to an importance and 
usefulness equaling the most sanguine ex- 
pectations of its friends. 


THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY. 


Proressor Witus L. Moorr, chief of the 
U. S. Weather Bureau, was elected president 
of the National Geographic Society, at the 
last meeting of the board of managers, at 
Washington. Professor Moore has been ac- 


FEBRUARY 10, 1905.] 


tively identified with the society for many 
years and has served on the board of man- 
agers since 1897. At the same meeting Mr. 
Henry Gannett, chief geographer of the U. S. 
Geological Survey was elected vice-president 
of the society. Mr. Gannett was one of the 
incorporators of the society in 1888, and has 
served continuously on the board since that 
date. At the same meeting Hon. O,. P. 
Austin, chief of the Bureau of Statistics, was 
elected secretary, Mr. John Joy Edson, presi- 
dent of the Washington Loan and Trust Co., 
was elected treasurer; Gilbert H. Grosvenor, 
editor; and Miss Eliza R. Scidmore, foreign 
secretary. 

The society is now entering upon its eight- 
eenth year. It has a total membership of 
8,400, of whom 1,125 are residents of Wash- 
ington, and 2,275 distributed throughout every 
state in the union and in nearly every country 
in the world. Its object is the increase and 
diffusion of geographic knowledge which it 
accomplishes: 

1. Encouraging worthy plans for explora- 
tion. The society has sent one expedition to 
Alaska, another to Mont Pelée, Martinique, 
and La Souffriére, St. Vincent, and has been 
associated with several Arctic and other expe- 
ditions. At present its representative has 
direction of the scientific work of the Ziegler 
Polar Expedition, and is second in command. 

2. By publishing an illustrated monthly 
magazine, the National Geographic Magazine 
and many large maps. 

3. By an annual series of thirty addresses 
delivered in Washington by prominent men. 
The speakers this year have included Hon. 
John W. Foster, Wm. E. Curtis, Baron 
Kentaro Kaneko. Charles Emory Smith, F. H. 
Newell, Gifford Pinchot, G. K. Gilbert, ete. 

4. By the maintenance of a library. 

The society has now been established in its 
handsome new home, Hubbard Memorial Hall, 
for nearly a year. It was erected as a me- 
morial to the first president of the society by 
the family of Mr. Hubbard. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


Arrer twenty years of service as United 
States commissioner of labor, Dr. Carroll D. 


SCIENCE. 


230 


Wright retired from that office on January 31, 
and went to Worcester, Mass., to assume the 
presideney of Clark College. His successor, 
Dr. Charles P. Neill, took charge of the 
Bureau of Labor on February 1. 


Fish ComMissioNeR Grorce M. Bowers has 
been notified of President Roosevelt’s desire 
that he remain at the head of the Bureau of 
Fisheries during the next 
The president has several times expressed his 
approval of the manner in which the affairs 
of the bureau were being conducted, and it is 
reported that he recently reiterated his satis- 
faction, remarking that all he asked for the 
next four years was a continuance of the 
energetic and zealous work which has char- 
acterized Commissioner Bowers’s seven years 
of service. 


administration. 


Prorressor A. Auwers, the eminent astron- 
omer of Berlin, has been elected an honorary 
member of the St. Petersburg Academy of 
Sciences. 


THE cross of officer of the Legion of Honor 
has been conferred by the French government 
on Dr. Otto Nordenskjéld for his South Polar 
explorations. 


Tue Société Nationale d’Agriculture de 
France has awarded to Professor Wm. B. 
Alwood, of Charlottesville, Va., a diploma and 
silver medal for his recent work in pomology, 
especially as relates to the fermentation of 
by-products from apples. A gold medal was 
also awarded the exhibit on Ginological Tech- 
nology prepared by Professor Alwood for the 
St. Louis Exposition. 


Mr. N. H. Darron, of the U. S. Geological 
Survey, has been awarded a gold medal for his © 
geological model of the Black Hills, exhibited 
by the South Dakota Commission at their 
section in the Mines and Mining building, at 
the St. Louis Exposition. 


Dr. G. B. Haustep’s ‘ Rational Geometry,’ 
reviewed in Scrence last week, is being trans- 
lated into French by Professor C. Barbarin, 
president of the Société des sciences physiques 
et naturelles de Bordeaux. His address on 
the ‘Message of the Non-Euclidean Geom- 
etry,’ given as vice-president of the American 


236 


Association last year, will be translated into 
Japanese by Yoshio Mikami. 

Dr. N. L. Brrrron, of the New York Botan- 
ical Garden, accompanied by Mrs. Britton and 
Dr. Marshall A. Howe, of the garden, and Dr. 
C. F. Millspaugh, of the Field Columbian 
Museum, are at present conducting botanical 
explorations in the Bahamas. ‘They expect 
to return at the end of the month. 

Dr. L. A. Bauer left for Europe on Febru- 
ary 1, to be gone five weeks on business con- 
nected with the department of terrestrial mag- 
netism of the Carnegie Institution. 

Assistant Proressor Harry G. WEtt3s, of 
the department of pathology and bacteriology, 
of the University of Chicago, is spending a 
year in Europe in the study of physiological 
and pathological chemistry. He is at present 
in Berlin. 

Miss Ciara E. Cummines, professor of bot- 
any at Wellesley College, sailed on February 
1, for Jamaica, where she will spend several 
months in the study of the flora—particularly 
the lichens. Part of the time will be spent at 
the laboratory at Cinchona maintained by the 
New York Botanical Garden. 

Durine holiday week Professors Gould and 
Woodruff, of the Department of Geology, 
University of Oklahoma, conducted a fossil 
collecting party into the Arbuckle Mountains 
of Indian Territory. The party secured about 
2,000 specimens, among which are a large 
number of rare Camerocrinus. Most of these 
will be for ‘exchange. 

Mr. Cuas. T. Bruges, now with the Bureau 
of Entomology of the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, has been appointed curator of 
invertebrate zoology in the Milwaukee Public 
Museum. Mr. Brues’s address will change 
from Washington to Milwaukee on March 1. 

Dr. Emanuet Kusy, Ritter von Dubrav, 
has been appointed head of the sanitary de- 
partment of the Austrian Ministry of the 
Interior. 

Mr. R. H. Lock has been appointed assist- 
ant curator of the herbarium at Cambridge 
University, succeeding Mr. Yapp, who was 
some time ago elected professor of botany at 
Aberystwyth. 


SCIENCE. 


[N:S. Vou. XXI. No. 528. 


Mr. Battey Wiis, of the U. S. Geological 
Survey, delivered two lectures at the Johns 
Hopkins University on January 18 and 19 on 
the results of his recent work in China under 
the auspices of the Carnegie Institution. Pro- 
fessor Wm. M. Davis, of Harvard University, 
will give in February a course of sixteen lec- 
tures on geographic subjects to the students 
of the geological department. 


Tue following members of the assay com- 
mission, named by the President and Secre- 
tary of the Treasury for 1905, will meet in 
Philadelphia on February 8 to test the re- 
served coins of the various mints for the year 
1904: Hon. Ellis H. Roberts, treasurer of the 
United States; Hon. W. B. Ridgely, comp- 
troller of currency; Hon. J. H. Southard, 
M.C.; Hon. J. B. McPherson, judge, Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania; Dr. Herbert Torrey, 
U. S. Assay Office, New York; Milo M. Pot- 
ter, Los Angeles, California; O. W. Thomp- 
son, Vermillion, South Dakota; Benjamin S. 
Hanchett, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Hon. 
Warren Truitt, Moscow, Idaho; Charles S. 
Winslow, Chicago; W. A. Blair, Winston- 
Salem, N. C.; Col. E. R. Sharp, Columbus, 
O.; L. A. Fisher, Bureau of Standards, Wash- 
ington; Dr. John A. Mathews, Syracuse, N. 
Y.; Dr. Francis H. Smith, University of Vir- 
ginia; Dr. Leonard P. Kinnicut, Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute; Dr. Edgar F. Smith, 
University of Pennsylvania; John Birkinbine, 
Philadelphia; Edward F. Stotesbury, Phila- 
delphia; and W. H. Anderson, Grand Rapids. 


Nature states that Sir James Dewar has 
presented the proceeds of the Gunning prize, 
amounting to one hundred guineas, recently 
awarded to him by the Royal Society of Edin- 
burgh, as a contribution to the fund for the 
encouragement of research, now being founded 
in the University of Edinburgh in memory 
of the late Professor Tait. 


Mr. Witiram SeExLuers, well known as a me- 
chanical engineer and manufacturer of ma- 


chine tools, has died at Philadelphia, at the- 


age of eighty-one years. Mr. Sellers was a 
member of the National Academy of Sciences 
and of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science. 


FEBRUARY 10, 1905.] 


M. Paut Henry, the French astronomer, 
died on January 4, as a result, it is said, of 
cold in the Alpine Observatory on Grand- 
Montrouge. This was also the cause of the 
death of his brother, Prosper, who died in 
1903. The brothers are well known for the 
work that they carried on together in astro- 
nomical photography especially in connection 
with the great international chart of the 
heavens. 

Proressor Ernst Asse, of Jena, well known 
for his important improvements in the micro- 
scope and other optical instruments, which he 
constructed in partnership with Karl Zeiss, 
died on January 16, at the age of sixty-four 
years. 

Mr. Tuomas W. Snore, a British geologist 
and archeologist, died on January 15. 

Mr. J. M. Bacon, known for work in astron- 
omy, acoustics and meteorology, and espe- 
cially for his balloon ascents, died on De- 
cember 25, at the age of fifty-eight years. 

Tue Department of Health of New York 
City has decided to establish a research labo- 
ratory in the new laboratory building which is 
being erected. 

Tue budget of the ministry of the interior 
of the German empire includes an item of 
$37,500 for research work on tuberculosis. 

Tue restored pterodactyl, with a spread of 
wings of twelve feet, first exhibited at the St. 
Louis exposition, has been set up for exhibi- 
tion in Peabody Museum of Yale University. 

Bird-Lore for February contains the an- 
nual report of the National Committee of 
Audubon Societies, a document of some eighty 
pages. The report summarizes the history of 
the Audubon movement and gives most en- 
couraging details of the year’s progress. So- 
cieties are now established in thirty-five states, 
and a model bird law has been passed in 
twenty-eight states. Thirty-four wardens to 
guard colonies of nesting birds are employed, 
and the societies cooperate with national and 
state game officials. President Roosevelt, who 
is in hearty sympathy with Audubon work, 
has set aside certain government lands as per- 
petual breeding places for birds, and the 
Lighthouse Board has lent its powerful aid in 


SCIENCE. 237 


protecting sea-birds along the coast. The 
National Committee, which acts as an execu- 
tive body for all the state societies, has re- 
cently become incorporated and proposes to 
attempt to raise an endowment fund of one 
million dollars, of which one hundred thou- 
sand dollars has already been promised. 
Buuuetin No. 79 of the New York State 
Museum gives a comprehensive account of the 
mosquitoes occurring in New York State, with 
special reference to methods of control. Some 
55 species are treated, the larve or wrigglers 
of 43 being described, with accounts of their 
habits and life history. Tables for the sepa- 
ration of adults and larve are given, and the 
value of the work is enhanced by over 100 
original line drawings and 57 process plates 
reproduced from the author’s photomicro- 
graphs. The keys and illustrations should 
enable physicians, and in fact almost any 
person having a fair microscope at his dis- 
posal to identify most of the common forms 
either in the adult or larval stage. This bul- 
letin should also appeal to teachers interested 
in nature study since no group of insects lends 
itself more readily to class room conditions. 
AccorpinG to the British Medical Journal 
the medical profession is fairly well repre- 
sented in the senate of Canada as well as in 
the Canadian House of Commons. There are 
nine in the former and fifteen in the latter 
body. In the United States Senate there are 
only two, while there are none in the House 
of Representatives. France is still the coun- 
try where medical men are most prominent in 
politics; in the Senate there are thirty-nine, 
and in the Chamber of Deputies fifty-one. 
Tue Geographical Journal states that an 
important expedition for the purpose of ex- 
ploring the interior of Dutch New Guinea, 
organized under the auspices of the Nether- 
lands Geographical Society, started early in 
1904. The leader is Mr. R. Posthumus Mey- 
jes, who has with him various assistants, in- 
cluding Dr. Koch as natural history collector. 
On the way out to the East, Mr. Meyjes 
stopped at Florence, where he met and con- 
sulted with Sir W. MacGregor, the naturalist ; 
travelers Beceari and Loria, and Professor 
Giglioli. After the arrival at Batavia, some 


238 - 


time was taken up in preparations, including 
arrangements for coolies, military escort, and 
so forth. Arriving at Merauke (New Guinea) 
on April 5, Mr. Meyjes did some preliminary 
work in the way of surveys and observations 
on the south coast of New Guinea, making a 
trip also to Thursday Island in order to con- 
nect his surveys with previously fixed posi- 
At the date of his last letter, Mr. Mey- 
jes had returned to Surabaya and Batavia to 
make the final arrangements for the main ex- 
pedition. 


tions. 


Tue Scottish Geographical Magazine is in- 
formed by Mr. W. S. Bruce that the Argentine 
relief ship Uruguay sailed from Buenos Ayres 
for the South Orkney Islands, to relieve the 
meteorological party at the station there about 
the middle of December. We may therefore 
expect the arrival of Mr. R. C. Mossman about 
the end of February. Progress is being made 
with the working out of the collections by 
various specialists, amongst whom may be 
named Professor J. Arthur Thomson, who is 
doing the Aleyonaria; Professor Hepburn, 
the histology of the Weddell seal; Dr. Waters- 
ton, penguin development; Mr. W. Eagle 
Clarke, the birds; Mr. R. M. Clark, the plank- 
ton; Mr. T. V. Hodgson, Pyenogonids and 
Isopods; Sir Charles Eliot, Nudibranchs. 

Reurer’s AcGEncy is informed by the Pacific 
Cable Board that by an arrangement between 
the Washington and Sydney Observatories, 
with the cooperation of the telegraph ad- 
ministrations concerned, time signals were 
sent on New Year’s Eve from the Wash- 
ington Observatory to the Sydney Observa- 
tory. Mr. Lenahan, of the Sydney Ob- 
servatory, reports as follows: “The first set 
of signals were received satisfactorily, the 3 
P.M. contacts being recorded here at 3 hr. 0 
min. 3/57 see. The second set, only 30 sig- 
nals, were received altogether, the 4 p.m. sig- 
nal reaching here at 4 hr. 0 min. 3/66 see. 
The third set was satisfactory, the 5 P.M. sig- 
nal reaching here at 5 hr. 0 min. 2/76 see. 
The fourth set was satisfactory, the 6 p.m. 
signal reaching here at 6 hr. 0 min. 2/55 sec., 
the final mean being 3/14 sec. Cutting out 
the second set, the mean gives 2/90 sec. This 
concludes the arrangements at present exist- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXL. No. 528. 


ing, and the rapid time in sending the great 
distance separating Sydney and Washington, 
over 12,000 miles, is a triumph to the elec- 
trical departments of the states concerned. 
With many thanks and every good wish for 
the new year.” The signals through the Van- 
couver-Fanning cable, the longest cable span 
in the world (3,457.76 nautical miles), were 
sent by automatic apparatus, and were re- 
corded, as they passed, at the Vancouver sta- 
tion on an instrument placed in the artificial 
line which balances the cable for the purpose 
of duplex working. The signals consisted of 
second contacts, omitting the 30th and last 
five of each minute, except the last minute of 
the hour, when the 30th and all after the 50th 
second were omitted, the circuit closing with 
a long dash on the even hour. The signals 
were sent for five minutes before the hour 
from 3 p.M. to 6 p.m., Sydney time, equivalent 
to midnight to 3 a.m. Washington time. 


Ir is stated in Nature that the committee 
for the scientific exploration of Lake Tang- 
anyika (consisting of Sir John Kirk, Dr. 
Sclater, Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer, Professor 
Lankester, Dr. Boulenger and Mr. J. E. S. 
Moore) has lately received news of the progress 
of its envoy, Mr. W. A. Cunnington, who left 
England in March, 1904, under directions to 
continue the researches carried out by Mr. 
J. E. S. Moore during his two expeditions to 
Lake Tanganyika. Proceeding by the Zambesi 
and Shiré route, Mr. Cunnington was most 
kindly received at Zomba by Sir Alfred 
Sharpe, who granted him the assistance of two 
native collectors. Mr. Cunnington had in- 
structions to devote his special attention to 
the lacustrine flora and fauna of Lake 
Tanganyika, and, as he passed up Lake 
Nyassa, began his investigations in that lake, 
in order to be able to compare its products 
with those of Tanganyika. On Lake Nyassa 
Mr. Cunnington was able to get a good num- 
ber of tow-nettings from different parts of the 
lake’s surface, and obtained, on the whole, a 
large quantity of its characteristic phyto- 
plankton, besides a considerable amount of 
zoo-plankton, consisting mostly of Copepoda, 
Cladocera and insect-larve. The tempera- 
ture of the water of Lake Nyassa was observed 


FEBRUARY 10, 1905.] 


to fall seldom below 70°, while the tempera- 
ture at 76 fathoms below the surface was as- 
certained to be about three degrees higher. 
Mr, Cunnington arrived at Karonga, at the 
head of Lake Nyassa, at the end of June, 
1904, and traveled on to Tanganyika by the 
ordinary route of the Stevenson road. His 
last letters from Tanganyika are dated at 
Vua, on October 29, 1904. He had obtained 
a dhow from Ujiji, which enabled him to make 
his stay at different places on the lake longer 
or shorter according as he found much or 
little to collect. A good series of fishes had 
been preserved, and many freshwater crusta- 
ceans. As regards the vegetable life, Mr. 
Cunnington had been much struck by the near 
resemblance of all the forms obtained in 
Tanganyika to those which he had collected 
in Nyassa, though he could not say that they 
were specifically identical. From Vua, Mr. 
Cunnington had arranged to cross to the east 
coast of the lake, and to go some distance 
further north before returning to the western 
shore. Mr. Cunnington may be expected to 
return to England before the end of the year. 

THE annual general meeting of the Asso- 
ciation of Teachers in Technical Institutes 
was held at London on January 18. Accord- 
ing to the London Jimes, the chairman, in 
opening the proceedings, said that the associa- 
tion had been constituted in October, when a 
committee had been formed for the purpose 
of drafting a constitution and rules. The 
purpose of the present meeting was to consider 
the constitution and rules which had now been 
drafted, and to elect officers for the associa- 
tion. ‘They were all agreed upon the necessity 
for some association which should form a 
union of teachers in polytechnics and technical 
institutes of all kinds. Two hundred mem- 
bers had already joined; and he believed that 
when they had made a start and the associa- 
tion had become a national one they would 
have a very large number of members, and 
their body would play an important part in 
organizing tertiary education in this country. 
After the chairman’s address, the members 
ballotted for the election of officers with the 
result that Mr. W. J. Lineham was elected 
chairman, Mr. J. B. Coleman, Mr. C. Harrap 


SCIENCE. 


239 


and Mr. 8. G. Sterling, vice-chairmen, and Mr. 
J. Wilson, secretary. The following are the 
objects of the association, which were drawn 
up by the provisional committee, and agreed 
to after discussion: (a) The advancement of 
technical education generally; (d) the inter- 
change of ideas regarding the methods of 
technical teaching; (c) the promotion and 
safeguarding of professional interests in such 
matters as tenure, salaries, pensions, registra- 
tion, training and qualification of teachers, 
schemes of examination and inspection; (d) 
to lay the views of technical teachers before 
the various. educational authorities and the 
public; (e) to enable teachers in technical in- 
stitutes to cooperate as a body with other edu- 
cational or scientific associations where de- 
sirable; (f) to render legal advice and assist- 
ance to members wherever possible and desir- 
able; (g) to institute an employment bureau; 
and (i) to create a benevolent fund for needy 
members as soon as the society shall be strong 
enough to do so. It was further agreed that 
all teachers in technical institutes should be 
eligible for membership with the exception of 
those who are engaged solely in secondary 
school work, a technical institute being de- 
fined as any institution existing mainly for 
the teaching of science or art as applied to in- 
dustries or crafts. 

Tue London Times prints daily an extract 
from its issue of a hundred years ago. The 
first extract of a scientific character that we 
have noticed is from the issue of January 23, 
1805, and reads as follows: “It is not long 
since we heard, from Prussia, of a variety of 
experiments for extracting sugar from the 
beet-root (beta of the pentandria digynia of 
Linneus). We were told, that a square plot 
of twenty-four miles, in the dominions of 
Frederic William, were to be devoted to this 
produce; and that the kingdom, ever after, 
would be rendered perfectly independent of 
the West India Islands, for a supply of the 
saccharine material. Whether the controversy 
of P. Terentius, and Varro Atacinus, on the 
antiquity of the use of this commodity, be 
of any importance, we will not affect to de- 
termine, but we may venture to assert, that 
the discovery of M. Achard, for the prepara- 


240 


tion of sugar from the vegetable we have 
named, deserves not only the attention of the 
chemist, but of the politician, considering the 
expanded interests of Europe and Africa as 
connected with the state of the Western Archi- 
pelago. The method of M. Achard is as fol- 
lows: The roots are first carefully cleansed 
from all impurity; they are then cut into 
small pieces, and exposed to the bearing of a 
powerful press. The sugar under this process 
exudes from the vegetable mass, and in this 
state it appears glutinous, and of a dark color. 
Besides the saccharine matter, it abounds with 
albumen, extractive matter, and other sub- 
stances, which must be separated from it; and 
the only difficulty attending the operation, is 
the exclusion of these impure and redundant 
ingredients. To effect this, he mixes in a 
cauldron of tin, or of tinned copper, one hun- 
dred pounds of the extract, in the state we 
have described, with three ounces and six 
drams of the sulphuric acid diluted in about 
a pint of water. The ingredients are after- 
wards poured over into vessels, to remain for 
the space of twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four 
hours. Twelve hours is a competent interval 
for ordinary purposes, but twenty-four is more 
beneficial, and the acid prevents the sugar 
itself from undergoing any pernicious altera- 
tion. The next step is, to separate the sul- 
phuric acid from the extract; and this is done, 
by incorporating with the sugar seven ounces 
and a half of wood ashes, and afterwards two 
ounces and six grains of slacked lime. By 
these means, the sulphuric acid will disunite 
from the albumen, and the ashes with the 
lime will separate the acid, which will appear 
in the state of an insoluble salt. The appli- 
cation of lime is not at all new in our sugar 
refineries, indeed, it is constantly employed 
to assist the crystallization. The only thing 
requisite to complete the process of obtaining 
sugar from the beet root, is to clarify the 
saccharine residuum, and this part of the op- 
eration is so generally understood, that no 
explanation is necessary.” 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


Tue Union Theological Seminary of New 
York City, one of the few theological schools 


SCIENCE. 


[N. 8S. Vou. XXI. No. 528. 


of university standing, has received an an- 
onymous gift of $1,100,000, which includes a 
site adjacent to Columbia University, where 
new buildings will be erected for the seminary. 


Mr. Braprorp Merritt, of the New York 
World, has made a statement on behalf of 
Mr. Joseph Pulitzer in regard to the school of 
journalism established by him at Columbia 
University. It appears from this statement 
that Mr. Pulitzer has decided that the school 
shall not be established until after his death. 
Mr. Merrill says: “ To avoid all uncertainties 
or misconception, I may add that the endow- 
ment of the college is absolutely irrevocable, 
and its establishment beyond a shadow of 
doubt. The first million is already in the 
actual possession of Columbia University. 
The second million is legally provided for, 
as well as a still further voluntary sum not 
mentioned in any agreement. Even the nom- 
ination of the advisory board is made in an 
instrument that will take effect instantane- 
ously at Mr. Pulitzer’s death.” 


Mr. AnprREw Carnecin’s gift of $125,000 
to Oberlin College for the erection of a library 
building, which we recently noted, was con- 
ditioned upon the raising of $100,000 for en- 
dowment. The gift of Mr. Carnegie makes 
up $300,000 of the $500,000 necessary to se- 
cure the $100,000 given by an anonymous 
Boston donor. To secure the latter, $200,000 
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Fripay, Frsruary 17, 1905. 


CONTENTS: 


The Theory of Respiration: Proressor CHAS. 
REM AURINE Settee gegeuat ha pscaltv7 feiss tinicnorh ae eis ds) e Sai 241 


The American Chemical Society and Section 
C of the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science: C. BE. WATERS, PRo- 
FESSOR CHARLES L. PARSONS............ 252 


Section IF'—Zoology of the American Associa- 
tion: PRorEssor C. JupSON HERRICK...... 263 


Scientific Journals and Articles............ 271 


Societies and Academies :— 
The New York Section of the American 
Ohemical Society: F. H. PouaH.......... 271 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
‘Beryllium’ and ‘ Glucinum’: 
CHARLES LATHROP PARSONS. 


PROFESSOR 
The Hnglish 
Sparrow as Embryological Material: Pro- 
FESSOR ALBERT M. REESE. JDeluc versus 
de Saussure: Dr. S. F. EMMONS......... 273 


Special Articles :— 
Note on the Variation of the Sizes of Nuclei 
with the Intensity of the Ionization: Pro- 
ES SOR ee CARES DARUSH ctrl, csc avis 6scsioi anse 275 


Current Notes on Meteorology :— 
London Fog Inquiry; Mosses, Trees and 
Points of the Compass; The Monthly 
Weather Review; Notes: PRoressor DEC. 


PSM DMMP acces cha ice Poke. aFysr4 © Wiel swe ein aber vs 276 
Scientific Notes and News................. 207 
University and Educational News.......... 280 


MSS. intended for publication and ‘books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
8on-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE THEORY OF RESPIRATION.* 

I ask you to consider with me a topic 
which is of fundamental interest to physi- 
ologists, whether they concern themselves 
primarily with animals or with plants. I 
take it the basal identity of the living mat- 
ter in all organisms and of its metabolism 
needs neither demonstration nor emphasis 
at my hands. Nor do I need to lay stress 
upon the importance of respiration as one 
of these metabolic phenomena, since it has 
been recognized from the earliest period as 
indispensable to life. The phlogiston the- 
ory of the composition of the atmosphere 
had searcely disappeared below the scien- 
tific horizon, before the fact was discovered 
that there occurs, in animals and in plants 
alike, an intake of oxygen and an output 
of carbon dioxide which is intimately re- 
lated to their existence. This became ob- 
vious to man, of course, in his own experi- 
ence, a very superficial study of the com- 
position of the air inspired and expired 
from the lungs showing that -it had lost 
oxygen and gained CO,. This much of 
respiration was early recognized to occur 
also with the larger animals, and a few 
years later like observations were made 
upon plants by Priestley, and more aceu- 
rately by Lavoisier and Ingenhouss. Even 
this knowledge of respiration was not pos- 
sible before Priestley’s discovery of oxygen 
in 1774, and the very remarkable revolu- 
tion in chemistry that followed in the clos- 
ing years of the eighteenth century. Yet 


* Address of the retiring president before the 
Botanical Society of America, Philadelphia, De- 
cember 28, 1904. Published simultaneously in 
the Botanical Gazette. 


242 SCIENCE. 


this disappearance of oxygen and forma- 
tion of earbon dioxide are only the external 
indication of respiration, as has been long 
recognized. 


RESPIRATION IN ANIMALS. 

Upon undertaking a special consideration 
of this topic, I found it needful to examine 
the recent literature of respiration in ani- 
mals, the aspect of the general subject with 
which I felt myself least familar. I 
found, to my very great surprise, that ani- 
mal physiologists have concerned them- 
selves very little with the essential prob- 
lems of respiration. They seem to have 
been diverted to the study of the mechan- 
ism of gas movements in the higher ani- 
The lungs, with their intricate strue- 
ture of lobes, lobules, atria and air ‘cells’; 
the box in which the lungs are located, with 
its complex muscular mechanism, and the 
very complicated mechanism of innerva- 
tion for the voluntary and involuntary 
movements which it executes; the blood, 
and the physico-chemical relation of the 
gases that enter and leave it in the lungs, 
of those that come into it from the tissues 
and of those it gives up to the tissues— 
these are the tepics that one finds exploited 
at leneth when he turns to the text-books. 
I diligently examined the most modern and 
most thorough text-books on animal physi- 
ology ; such bocks as Foster’s ‘Physiology,’ 
Stewart’s ‘Manual of Physiology,’ the 
‘American Text-book of Physiclegy’ and 
Schaefer’s ‘ Text-book of Physiology,’ but 
in them I found no treatment whatever, 
indeed no mention whatever, of the real 
problems of respiration, that is, of what is 


mals. 


happening in the tissues, the processes of 
which these external phenomena are the 
sign. Yet this much-studied respiratory 
mechanism, which is so striking in the 
higher animals, is entirely wanting in the 
lower animals and in plants. 

Not finding even a elue to the literature 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 529. 


in the text-books, it was only after much 
search that I was able to discover. that any- 
thing at all had been done; and it is so little 
that it is almost a negligible quantity. 
There is an obvious reason for this, besides. 
mere interest in the more striking phenom- 
ena. Iam intending, however, neither ar- 
raignment nor excuse, but a bare statement 
of what were to me rather surprising facts. 


RESPIRATION IN PLANTS. 
’ The knowledge cf respiration in plants 
began about the same time—the close of the 
eighteenth century—and advanced rapidly 


on account of the notable revolution in 


chemistry which took place about this time. 
Ingenhouss, the Dutch naturalist, really as- 
certained and published in 1779 the chief 
external facts of respiration; at least he 
was able to state them essentially as they 
were known for. twenty-five years after his 
time. In 1804 DeSaussure showed that 
growth is dependent on respiration; that 
respiration is more active in growing parts 
than elsewhere; that it is the cause of the 
loss of weight to which plants are con- 
stantly subject; and later, that the heat set 
free in flowers is related to the absorption 
of oxygen. Not until 1833 was respira- 
tion treated comprehensively, when Da- 
trochet expounded the subject, comparing 
the respiration of animal and plant and 
showing it to be fundamentally alike in 
both. 

Now at this point there began two re- 
markable misconceptions. One was the 
confusion that arose between respiration 
and the manufacture of carbohydrates, 
which Dutrochet called ‘diurnal respira- 
tion.’ Of that I shall not speak, save to 
say that the great weight of Liebig’s au- 
thority made this error persist for half a 
century. 


RESPIRATION AND COMBUSTION. 
The other misconception was engendered 
by the comparison of respiration to com- 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


bustion. It had been observed by Lavoisier 
that the heat of the animal body was de- 
pendent upon respiration; the heat of the 
plant body was shown by DeSaussure to be 
related to a disappearance of oxygen; com- 
bustion consumes oxygen and _ produces 
heat; therefore, respiration is a sort of 
combustion. So the argument ran. 

It is quite impossible to overestimate the 
influence that this conception has had on 
the study of respiration. The mischief it 
has wrought depends chiefly, perhaps 
wholly, upon a misconception of the actual 
mechanism of combustion, a process that 
has ever been the béte noire of chemistry, 
as the history of the ‘phlogiston’ theory 
well shows. To our changed conceptions 
of combustion I shall return later. 

The idea of combustion, however, which 
dominated the argument I have cited, was 
that oxygen combined with carbon to form 
CO, and with hydrogen to form H,O. It 
was most natural, therefore, to conceive 
that the food taken up by the organism 
stood to it in the same relation as does the 
fuel to the engine, and that what happens 
is an actual oxidation of the food imme- 
diately and directly ; in fact, a process pre- 
cisely parallel to the burning of the same 
food outside the body. 

One evident outcome of that idea is the 
current classification of foods into plastic 
and dynamogenous, those which are useful 
in building up the body and those that are 
useful in producing heat within the body; 
into ‘fattening foods’ and ‘heat-producing’ 
foods. You are doubtless familiar with 
these phrases. 

But if foods are ‘burned’ in the body it 
must be important to know how much oxy- 
gen enters it, and how much earbon dioxide 
and water leave it, so as to discern the 
ratio which exists between them. Plainly 
a basis for this must be a comparison of 
the differences between the combustion of 
foods outside the body and their ‘combus- 


SCIENCE. 


243 


tion’ within the body. Yet, strangely, this 
has not been made until recently. Without 
giving the full tables let me show the re- 
sults arrived at by two observers, regard- 
ing two of the most common plant foods, 
olucose and tartaric acid. These observers 
assume, you will notice, that the processes 
are comparable. The results are stated as 
ratios of CO,/O,. 


By com- | By respiration. 

Has pustionas (eee ules z 

* | Diakonow.) Purjewicz. 

a =| : [eseares ez oe 
Glucose eroGS ele Loo 100 
Tart. acid iso) || i838 106 


Diakonow’s whole series shows that in 
combustion the carbon dioxid was always 
less than in respiration; Purjewiez found, 
with the exception of tartaric acid, and 
even there the difference between his re- 
sults and Diakonow’s is in the same direc- 
tion, that it was always greater, his results 
being absolutely different in significance 
from Diakonow’s. And this is a good type 
of the results to be found in examining the 
literature! I am not now concerned in 
determining which set of results is correct, 
inasmuch as I believe both are valueless, 
since on the assumption upon which they 
are based neither can be interpreted. 


RESPIRATORY RATIO. 


Long before this sort of comparison was 
made, however, a voluminous literature 
arose which was concerned only with the 
ratio between the carbon dioxid given off 
and the oxygen consumed, and how this 
ratio was influenced by temperature, by 
light, by this kind of food or that, by mere 
hunger, or by starvation. This ratio, the 
so-called respiratory ratio or respiratory 
quotient, the plant physiologists really in- 
herited from the animal physiologists, by 
whom it was devised with reference to the 
gaseous exchange that occurs in the lungs. 
This respiratory ratio has proved a ver'- 


244 


table will-o’-the-wisp, leading investigators 
into a bog where their labors and their 
thinking were alike futile. For as a sign 
of what is going on within, the respiratory 
quotient is absolutely valueless, however 
interesting the facts in themselves may be. 
I could cite an indefinite number of in- 
vestigations to indicate this. I select a few 
cases. 

As long ago as 1885 Rubner showed* 
that the respiratory ratio varied in resting 
muscles at different temperatures. 


co, 
Ri CGO Pim ae eae Rene —? —= 3.28 
O, 
OBOE ot cn an Oe cul cee eee 1.01 
BBG) cat. 8 oa ee 1.18 
SoH: tee Gate Me eene Tee ASS Minit oiG noe 0.91 


Von Frey and Grubert showed that in a 
dog’s muscle, with artificial circulation, 
contractions are accompanied by an in- 
crease in the carbon dioxid added to the 
blood, but they found this inerease variable 
(46-10 per cent.) and less than the corre- 
sponding absorption of oxygen, so that the 
respiratory ratio became lowered during 
contraction. Tissott showed that the pro- 
duction of earbon dioxid in excised mus- 
cles was increased if the muscle were killed 
by heat or were fatigued by prolonged 
stimulation. The output of carbon dioxid 
in such cases was not related to the rate 
of absorption of oxygen. 
Fletcher,§ using Blackman’s apparatus, 
the most intricate and accurate apparatus 
yet devised for 


Six years ago 


following gaseous ex- 
changes, showed that the evolution of ear- 

**Versuche iiber den Einfluss der Temperatur 
auf die Respiration des ruhendes Muskels.’ Du- 
Bois-Reym. Archiv, fiir Physiol. 1885: 38-66. 

7‘ Versuche iiber den Stoffwechsel des Muskels.’ 
DuBois-Reym. Arch fiir Physiol. 1885: 533-562. 

‘Recherches sur Ja respiration musculaire,’ 
Arch. de Phys. norm. et Path. V. 6: 838-844. 
1894. Also ‘ Variation des echanges gazeux d’un 
muscle extrait du corps.’ Op. et ser. cit. 7: 641- 
653. 1895. 

§‘Survival respiration of 
Physiol. 23: 10-99. 1898. 


muscle.’ Jour, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 529. 


bon dioxid from excised frog’s muscles is 
independent of the amount of oxygen taken 
up during the period. He distinguished 
in the production of carbon dioxid, first, 
a short period (about six hours), which he 
thinks dependent upon the presence of oxy- 
gen; and second, a long continued evolu- 
tion of carbon dioxid ‘due to chemical 
processes occurring spontaneously within 
the muscle, in which complex molecules are 
replaced by simpler ones, with the con- 
spicuous results of the appearance of [sar- 
eolactic] acid and of free carbon dioxid.’ 
He adds: ‘Under suitable conditions the 
occurrence of active contractions in-an ex- 
cised muscle is nof accompanied by an in- 
crease in the rate at which carbon dioxid 
is ylelded by the muscle,’ though oxygen is 
abundantly supplied then by the blood. 
He does find, however, an increased forma- 
tion of other decomposition products. 

Chauveau and Kaufmann, as long ago as 
1887, found that the output of carbon 
dioxid from the levator muscle of a horse’s 
upper lip was greater during activity than 
during rest, and contained more oxygen 
than that absorbed in same time.* 

A great number of researehes of the 
same tenor ean be found in botanical lit- 
erature. A single example must suffice. 
In an elaborate paper Purjewicz showst 
that the variations in the carbon dioxid 
produced and the oxygen absorbed during 
a given period under various conditions 
are not parallel, the amount of carbon di- 
oxid ranging within far wider limits than 
the oxygen. Thus, the carbon dioxid va- 
ried from — 14 to 120 per cent. of the 
average; the oxygen varied from 0 to 48 
per cent. of the average. Purjewiez, in- 
deed, expresses his conviction that the res- 


** Le coefficients de l’activité nutritive et respira- 
toire des muscles.’ Compt. Rend, Acad. Sci. France 
104: 1126-1132. 1887. 

7‘ Physiol. Unters. iiber Pflanzenatmung.’ Jahrb. 
wiss. Bot. 35: 573-610. 1900. 


nag 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


piratory ratio has no value as indicating 
the actual course of respiration, and would 
separate the taking up of oxygen and the 
production of carbon dioxid as two proc- 
esses only indirectly related. 

It is clear that such results as have been 
cited became difficult to reconcile with the 
idea that respiration is combustion, and so 
an attempt was made to evade the force of 
the facts, while maintaining the compari- 
son, by introducing a qualifying term and 
speaking of respiration as ‘physiological 
combustion. ’ 
blinks the difficulty ; it does not remove it. 

Before passing from this part of my sub- 
ject I may mention another false concep- 
tion, which is more or less directly de- 
pendent on the notion that respiration is 
combustion. One often finds respiration 
described as a gaseous exchange—the taking 
up of oxygen and giving off of carbon di- 
oxid—a trade between the atmosphere and 
the body. Clearly this is another case of 
transferring the superficial interpretation 
of our own physiological processes to other 
organisms. The exchange that takes place 
between the tissues and the blood, between 
the blood and air in the lungs, gives the 
foundation, and the unessential phenomena 
of respiration become substituted for the 
essential. It would be quite as correct to 
describe photosynthesis as ‘an exchange of 
gases,’ for carbon dioxid is taken up and 
oxygen is eliminated. Yet no one ever 
thinks so superficially of this process. 


ANAEROBIC RESPIRATION. 


For three quarters of the last century it 
was supposed that the evolution of carbon 
dioxid could only occur when free oxygen 
was available. But in the early seventies 
Pfiiiger discovered what seemed a peculiar 
form of respiration. He found that a frog 
put into a vacuum continued to give off 
earbon dioxid; and presently the same 
phenomenon was observed by Pfeffer and 


SCIENCE. 


This modification, however, — 


245 


others in plants. So firmly had the con- 
ception of combustion fastened itself upon 
physiologists, that when this anaerobic 
respiration came to be explained, it was 
supposed that certain molecules of organic 
matter within the cell gave up their oxygen 
to others, that they might thus be burned in 
the body furnace to yield energy. Hence 
arose the term intramolecular respiration. 

The study of anaerobic respiration, mis- 
leading as this early interpretation of it 
was, has thrown in late years a very great 
light upon normal or aerobic respiration. 
Here is a process which results in the evolu- 
tion of energy, and gives rise to one im- 
portant end-product of aerobic respiration, 
viz., carbon dioxid; yet it early became 
evident that it could not be counted a proe- 
ess of combustion, at least in any sense in 
which combustion was then understood. 
Plainly the changes that were going on 
within the organism which enabled it to 
give off carbon dioxid when no free oxy- 
gen was to be had could only be a rear- 
rangement of atomic groups within the 
molecule and the formation of products 
which were simpler than those from which 
they arose. 

FERMENTATION. 


The process of fermentation, first thor- 
oughly explored by Pasteur, whose results 
have been much extended by the brilliant 
researches of Hansen and many others, are 
evidently related to those of respiration by 
the nature of the end products and the 
conditions under which the processes occur. 
Indeed when one compares the end prod- 
ucts of respiration and of alcoholic fer- 
mentation he finds them to be identical in 
all respects. Other sorts of fermentation 
likewise yield many substances that are 
found originating in the metabolism of the 
higher plants. 


We have, then, three modes of energy re- 
lease, which are evidently closely related 


246 


if not identical; aerobic respiration, anae- 
robie respiration and fermentation. Their 
relations, so far as was known in 1898, were 
stated by Pfeffer in his ‘Pflanzen-physiol- 
ogie’ and need not be reviewed. 
THE COURSE OF RESPIRATION. 

. In translating that work Ewart wrote 
(p. 519): ‘‘The actual course of respira- 
tion within the protoplast is quite obscure.”’ 
Pfeffer himself says (p. 551) : ‘‘Our knowl- 
edge of the inherent protoplastic mechan- 
ism is too incomplete to afford a sound 
basis for. any theory concerning the phe- 
nomena of respiration.’’ Fortunately, 
knowledge in the last six years has broad- 
ened, and I believe that it is possible now 
to see pretty clearly what the actual course 
of respiration is. Perhaps you will say, 
to foresee rather than to see—but hypothe- 
sis must outrun demonstration. The ad- 
vances to which we are indebted for deeper 
insight are in three fields: (1) the chem- 
istry of proteids; (2) the course of com- 
bustion, especially at low temperatures; 
and (3) the nature of anaerobic respira- 
tion, and its relation to aerobic respiration. 
Let me speak of these in order. 


CHEMISTRY OF PROTEIDS. 


A knowledge of the proteids, complex as 
they are, could only be obtained by a study 
of their. decomposition products. Now 
there is a very remarkable uniformity in 
these decomposition products. No matter 
what the organism from which they are de- 
rived, no matter how simple they are or 
how complex, when broken up by the proce- 
ess of digestion, or by boiling with acids, 
they yield invariably a series of products 
which have become in the last few years 
much better known. These are amino- or 
amido-acids; such substances as leucin, 
tyrosin, arginin, glutamin, glycocoll, ete. 
Materials of this kind are invariably pres- 
ent, and certain ones are so invariably 
present that they can be used as the basis 


SCIENCE. 


(N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 529. 


of distinctive tests for the occurrence of 
digestion or similar decompositions of pro- 
teids. This gave a clue to the nature of 
proteids which was followed by several ob- 
servers, notably by Kossel, in the study of 
what are believed to be the very simplest 
proteids, because of the fewness and uni- 
formity of the fractions into which they 
break up. These are the protamines. It 
has become clear from the study of these 
sunple proteids that they are made up in 
somewhat the same way as the polysaccha- 
rides, that is by condensation, in this case 
hnking together a series of the amido- 
acids. This is possible because the amido- 
acids have a peculiar construction. They 
are, so to speak, different on different sides. 
On one side is an acid group and on the 
other a basic group; and so the amido-acids 
can hang together in chains, or even be con- 
densed or polymerized to make a simple 
proteid. Among the amido-acids, as in the 
carbohydrates, there are certain atomic 
groups, like CH,, CH,, CHOH, CH,OH, 
COOH, ete., which recur again and again, 
and in such groups the possibility of re- 
placing a hydrogen atom or a hydroxyl 
radicle by some other atomic group is very 
great. 

Note, for instance, the comparatively 
simple acetic acid, CH, - COOH. If we 
replace one of the three H atoms by the 
amido group, NH., we have at once an 
amido-acid, glycocoll, CH,(NH,)— COOH, 
which is one of the sorts of material out of 
which proteids can be made. Out of an 
aleohol or out of a sugar we may get just 
the groups CHOH, CH,OH, etc., from 
which these amido-acids may be construct- 
ed when nitrogenous substances are present 
to supply the amido group NH,. Thus the 
mode of construction of the proteids has 
been found to show a likeness to that of 
the complex carbohydrates, and it has long 
been known that the carbon groups were 
very much alike in both. It further ap- 


Fresruary 17, 1905.] 


pears that when the proteids are digested 
by any organism they break down into 
these fragments, of one sort and another, 
the amido-acids, the amides, ete., which 
may be put together again in new form to 
constitute the peculiar proteids of that par- 
ticular organism. We may thus get one 
proteid out of any other by the breaking 
up of the complex molecule and the rear- 
rangement of its constituent fragments. 
This fragmentation is readily accomplished 
by the proteolytic enzymes, which probably 
act on these bodies as the diastases do on 
carbohydrates. 
OXIDATION. 

The second important line of progress 
has been in the study of the oxidation of 
carbon compounds at low temperatures. 
For our purpose the important facts which 
have only recently been developed are that 
the oxygen of the air does not combine 
directly with carbon or with carbon mon- 
oxide to form CO, or with hydrogen to 
form H,O, as has heretofore been supposed. 

As long ago as 1893 Dixon’s researches* 
on explosive gases showed that molecular 
oxygen was by far the most effective of the 
atmospheric gases in retarding combustion. 
This surprising result could not be inter- 
preted then, and only in the light of 
Traube’s theory and the studies of Bone 


and otherst on the oxidation of gases like ° 


methane and ethane at low temperatures 
has it been possible to picture the mechan- 
ism of such combustion. This has been 
done by Armstrong,t who (with Traube) 
claims that the substances do not undergo 


**The rate of explosion in gases.’ Phil. Trans. 
Roy. Soc. London A. 184: 97-188. 1893. 

7 Bone and Wheeler, ‘The slow oxidation of 
methane.’ Trans. Chem. Soc. London 81: 535-545. 
1902; 84: 1074-1087. 1903. Bone and Stockings, 
“Slow combustion of ethane. Trans. Chem. Soc. 
London 85: 693-727. 1904. 

£‘ Retardation of combustion by oxygen.’ Chem. 
News 90: 25. 1904. ‘Mechanism of combustion.’ 
Trans. Chem. Soc. London 83: 1088. 1903. 


SCIENCE. 


247 


direct oxidation, but hydroxylation, 7. ¢., 
its hydrogen atoms are successively re- 
placed by hydroxyl radicles, with conse- 
quent splitting into various intermediate 
products, such as carbon monoxid and 
hydrogen peroxid, carbonic acid and water 
being the end products. Armstrong says: 


There is little reason to suppose that changes 
take place at high temperatures in rapid combus- 
tions in ways very different from those in which 
they occur at lower temperatures. The 
effective operation is not the mere blow due to im- 
pact or the vibration caused by this in the mole- 
cule, but the conjunction of compatible mole- 
cules and the consequent formation of composite 
systems within which change can occur. In so 
far as temperature influences the formation of 
compatible systems, either as regards their char- 
acter or the rate at which they arise, temperature 
has an influence, but probably not otherwise. 


* * % 


I ask you to notice, then, that the process 
of combustion is now being interpreted in 
the ight of changes like those which have 
long been known in organisms under the 
name of hydrolysis, and are the character- 
istic mode of action of enzymes. Thus, 
when starch is acted upon by diastase it is 
probably by repeated reactions between 
water, dissociated into hydrogen and hy- 
droxyl groups, and oxygen, in other words 
by continued hydroxylation that it becomes 
ready to fall apart into a series of dextrines 
and finally into maltose. Diastase in some 
way facilitates this dissociation. Maltase 
takes up the task, and maltose, further 
hydroxylized, cleaves into two molecules of 
glucose. Then zymase may lend its aid 
and hydrolyze the glucose molecule into 
lactic acid, breaking the latter still further 
into earbon dioxid and alcohol. 

The mechanism of the digestion of starch 
is not known in detail, though the various 
intermediate products have been fairly well 
studied. The usual assumption made is 
merely that water combines with the starch 
under the action of diastase. I have ecar- 
ried the theory a little further into detail, 


248 SCIENCE. 


as seems warranted by the studies of com- 
bustion. It is worthy of note also that the 
late steps in the process, the hydrolysis of 
glucose by zymase, have been designated by 
the term fermentation. The combustion of 
starch has likewise not been examined, but 
as the end products are identical with those 
of digestion, it is not at all improbable that 
the intermediate steps are the same, though 
they sueceed one another too fast to be fol- 
lowed by means at present available. 

I need hardly remind you that our pres- 
ent ideas of the dynamics of chemical reac- 
tions forbid us to believe that such dissocia- 
tion does not go on slightly at low tempera- 
tures, even when unaided. But it is so 
slow as to be ordinarily beyond our meas- 
urement. The enzymes seem to be mere 
accelerators of the several processes, per- 
haps preparing ‘compatible systems,’ as 
high temperature may do in combustion ; 
perhaps entering into union with the sub- 
stance they act on and forming compounds 
which are dissociable at ordinary tempera- 
tures in appreciable amounts. 

The clue to an understanding of respira- 
tion has been found, therefore, not by com- 
paring it to combustion, which was so long 
misleading, but by assimilating combustion 
to respiration. We may hope that chemists 
will restrict the term combustion or intro- 
duce a new one that will make more obvious 
the mode of action. Physiologists at least 
will do well to drop ‘combustion’ altogether 
from their vocabulary, as neither the past 
conception of it nor its probable use in the 
future conduces to clearness of thought. 


NATURE OF ANAEROBIC RESPIRATION. 


The third line of advance has been in a 
study of the relations of fermentation and 
anaerobic respiration. The first step was 
that long-sought discovery by Buchner, 
that the process of fermentation by yeast 
is brought about by the action of an enzyme 
which breaks up certain hexose sugars into 


[N.S. Vor. XXII. No. 529. 


earbon dioxid and alcohol. But a fur- 
ther step in advance has lately been taken. 
It appears from the work of Buchner and 
Meisenheimer* that the alcoholic fermenta- 
tion is not direct, but that it occurs always 
in indirect fashion, as shown below. 


Tae on ONE COOH OH co, 
| 
ee ioe CHOH H CH,OH 
CHOH a CH, H dur, CH, 
ee oe ra OH COOH OH* CO, 
ee eee CHOH H CH,OH 
| | 
CH,0OH = CH, CH, CH, 
glucose water hypo- 2 mols. carbon 
thetical lactic acid dioxid 
substance and ethy! 
alconol 


Stépanék has reached the same con- 
clusion,t and Mazét has found acetic acid 
as an intermediate product in aleoholic fer- 
mentation by a different yeast. The in- 
terest of the discovery that inactive ethyl- 
idene lactic acid is the intermediate sub- 
stance in this process of fermentation les 
in the fact that one of the two acids of 
which that is composed, namely, d-ethyl- 
idene lactic acid or sarecolactic acid, is 
formed as a product of respiration when 
proteids break down in the working, fa- 
tigued, or dying muscle. Fletcher ob- 
served this as a more prominent product 
of contracting muscles than carbon dioxid 
itself. Thus a regular product of fermen- 
tation is also formed in the ordinary course 
of respiration. 

The analogy between anaerobic respira- 
tion and fermentation had been suggested 
early —even by Pasteur—and has thus been 
erowing closer with each added bit of 
knowledge. But the precise way in which 
the destruction of the living substance went 
on in anaerobie respiration was still un- 


**Die chemischen Vorgiinge bei alcoholischen 
Giirung.’ Ber. Deutsch. Chem. Gesells. 37: 419- 
428. 1904. 

+‘ Ueber die aerobe und anaerobe Atmung der 
Kier.’ Centralbl. Physiol. 18: 188-205. 1904. 

¢‘ Utilization du carbone ternaire. Ann. Inst. 
Pasteur. 18: 277-303. 1904. 


7 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


known. Fermentation had been shown to 
be due to an enzyme. Was anaerobic res- 
piration also due to an enzyme? | 

Of course enzymes are known to be pres- 
ent in a great many of the parts of plants, 
and the oxidizing enzymes seemed to be the 
sort to be sought. But none seemed to 
answer the conditions. At last, however, 
the object appears to have been attained. 
Stoklasa, in a series of papers published in 
various journals* but all dealing with the 
same general problem, declares he has 
found in various tissues of animals and in 
considerable number of plants an enzyme 
analogous to Buchner’s zymase, and like it 
glycolytic. This enzyme he reports in 
leaves and roots of beet, tubers of potato, 
seeds, seedlings and young plants of pea, 
seedlings of barley, and entire plants of 
Paris quadrifolia. Confirmatory results 
have (naturally enough) been obtained by 
several students or assistants who have evi- 
dently been engaged upon portions of the 
problem under the guidance of Stoklasa. 
It is only fair to say that Mazé has strongly 
eriticized Stoklasa’s methods from the bac- 
teriological side and declares himself un- 
able to secure like fermentation under 
aseptic conditions; though Stoklasa claims 
to have guarded carefully against infection 

* Stoklasa, 


‘Tdentitiit anaerob. Atmung  u. 


Giirung. Ocsterr. Chem. Zeit. 1903. (Not 
seen. ) 
Stoklasa, Jelinek and Vitek, ‘Der anaer. 


Stoffwechsel der héh. Pfl. und seine Beziehung z. 
alcoh. Giirung.’ Beitr. 2. Chem. Physiol. w. Path, 
3: 460. 1903. 

Stoklasa and Cerny, ‘Tsolierung des die anaer. 
Atmung der Zelle der héh. org. Pfl. und Tiere 


bewirk. Enzymes.’ Ber. Deutsch Chem. Gesells. 
36: 622-634. 1903. 

“Ueber die anaer. Atm. der Tierorgane u. 
ueber die Isolierung eines giirungserregenden 


Enzymes aus dem Tierorganismus.’ Zentralbl. 
Physiol. 16: 652-658. 1903. 
Stoklasa, ‘Ueber die Atmungsenzyme.’ 
Deutsch. Bot, Gesells. 22: 358-361. 1904. 
Various papers in Annales Inst. Pasteur 18: 


1904. 


Ber. 


SCIENCE. 


249 


and to have rejected contaminated cultures. 
Independently, Mazé has found what he 
calls zymase, in connection with pea seed- 
lings, Aspergillus, and Eurotiopsis. He 
declares it ‘an enzyme normal to all plants, 
arising like all the other enzymes during 
vegetative (aerobic) life.’ In the higher 
plants, however, and in most fungi it ‘is 
oxidized with the greatest ease, so that one 
never finds more than a trace of it.’ 

Mazé and Stoklasa interpret their results 
somewhat differently, Mazé holding the 
process of fermentation to be a nutritive 
one,* sugar only being assimilable when 
fermented and the nascent alcohol thus 
made available, while Stoklasa believes 
fermentation to be merely anaerobic respi- 
ration and essentially a process for the 
immediate release of energy. 

Confirmation comes also from another 
source, for Godlewski,t with 
lupines, finds similar products, and econ- 
eludes that their ‘anaerobic respiration is 
identical with alcoholic fermentation, or at 
least in essence dependent on it.’ 

Moreover Kostytschew{ and Maximow§ 
have found in Aspergillus an enzyme which 
is analogous to zymase and is responsible 
for the formation of CO,, whether in aer- 
obie or anaerobic respiration. 

Thus several independent observers are 
testifying to the rather widespread occur- 
rence of an enzyme which brings about a 
disruption of plant substance, under most 
varied external conditions, whether the 


working 


* Twanowsky in 1894 propounded the theory that 
alcoholic fermentation is a pathological case in the 


nutrition of yeast, called forth by the abnormal 


composition of the nutritive medium, 

+‘ Weiterer Beitr. z. Kennt. der intramol. 
Atmung.’ Bull. Acad. Sci. Cracovie 1904: 115-158. 
See also his earlier paper with Polzeniusz, Bull. 
cit., April, 1901. 

{ ‘Ueber Atmungsenzyme der Schimmelpilze.’ 
Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesells. 22: 207-215. 1904. 

§ ‘Zur Frage iiber die Atmung.’ Ber. Deutsch. 
Bot. Gesells. 22: 225-235. 1904. 


250 


plant be fed on one food or another,* this 
dissociation resulting in the formation of 
carbon dioxid and of various other prod- 
ucts. 


THE MECHANISM OF RESPIRATION. 


Let us now focus the light coming from 
the chemistry of proteids, the mechanism 
of combustion, and the physiology of res- 
piration, to form a picture of what goes 
on in the body. 

First: We should conceive of the respira- 
tory dissociation as taking place in the 
living material of the body and not in a 
food still unassimilated. Experiments 
with a wide range of foods have shown 
that they affect the intake of oxygen and 
the output of carbon dioxid in the most 
diverse ways, whence it has been assumed 
that the respiratory ratio varies because of 
the way in which the given food is oxidized. 
I do not say that it is not possible for the 
protoplasm to decompose a sugar directly 
or to oxidize a fat. But it must be remem- 
bered that in no case has it been experi- 
mentally proved that the food is directly 
attacked, and that all the facts can be ex- 
plained on the other assumption, and some 
of them very much better than on the 
theory of direct oxidation. Moreover, the 
lability of proteids which have been raised 
to the life-level is their most striking char- 
acteristic as contrasted with their ordinary 
stability. 

In such labile material the second step is 
easily conceivable. There occurs a shift- 
ing of the atomie groups within the mole- 
cule, perhaps as a result of the last step in 
their anabolism—the addition of hydroxyl 
groups from the water everywhere present. 

*See a paper by Kostytschew which has just 
come to hand (‘ Ueber die normale und die anae- 
robe Atmung bei Abwesenheit von Zucker’ 
Jahrb. Wiss. Bot. 40: 563-592. 1904), showing 
the erroneousness of Diakonow’s idea that anae- 


robie respiration is only possible when sugar is 
supplied. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 529. 


Dissociation follows necessarily ; very slow’ 
perhaps, at ordinary temperatures and 
with a scanty supply of water, yet suffie- 
ient evidently for the maintenance of life. 
Such conditions may very well be those ob- 
taining in resting organs, spores and seeds. 
But normally this cleavage may go on at 
a measurable rate, without anything more 
than the inevitable dissociation when hy- 
droxylation has progressed to a certain 
point. It seems, however, that there is 
generally—perhaps always—a hastening of 
this process, and that the highly unstable 
protoplasm is dissociated so rapidly that it 
liberates not only the energy immediately 
utilized in growth, movement, ete., but 
also an excess sufficient to be easily meas- 
ured by so coarse an instrument as the 
thermometer. Catalytic agents like the 
enzymes are certainly (I think I may be 
permitted so strong an assertion) the usual 
accelerators. And it is highly probable 
that an enzyme identical with zymase or at 
least analogous to it, is an active though 
secondary agent in this acceleration. It 
may very well be also that those changes 
outside the protoplast (whether without 
the organism or not) that are called stimuli 
aecelerate still further the katabolism, even 
to an explosive speed in some eases. 

This primary dissociation may plainly 
be independent of free oxygen, though it 
is hardly conceivable that there will not be 
some oxygen present unless the plant has 
grown under .most unusual conditions, 
which one can searcely realize experi- 
mentally. The products of this decom- 
position are not sufficiently known, nor is 
their precise character important for our 
discussion. Among them are certainly the 
more complex amido-acids, carbon dioxid 
and aleohol. 

Third: Up to this point the respiratory 
processes are quite alike whether the plants 
grow in the air or apart from it. If suffi- 
cient oxygen be not present the disruptive 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


processes may reach an equilibrium, just 
as an electrolyte practically ceases to pass 
a current of electricity unless a depolarizer 
be present. So in the hydroxylation of 
proteids, there is needed some substance to 
disturb constantly, in one direction or an- 
other, the equilibrium that tends to be 
reached. The common agent in this is 
oxygen. Of course oxygen can hardly be 
the only depolarizer that can promote fur- 
ther action. Thus, Mazé found the pres- 
ence of levulose conduced to the continued 
evolution of carbon dioxid in the absence 
of oxygen, and it is quite possible that 
levulose took up the rdle of depolarizer, 
though Mazé does not so interpret his ob- 
servation. 

In anaerobic respiration insufficient oxy- 
gen is suppled. Its products that have 
been most observed and are therefore 
(though doubtless groundlessly) counted 
its characteristic products, are carbon di- 
oxid and aleohol. Indeed, lactic acid seems 
an equally characteristic though transient 
product. The fact that hydrogen has also 
been often recognized among them supports 
the interpretation of the function of oxygen 
just suggested, and accords thoroughly with 
the theory of hydroxylation. In that proc- 
ess hydrogen atoms from the dissociation 
of water would be left free in case there 
was insufficient oxygen to form H,O,. 

Fourth: But if the organism can get an 
adequate supply of oxygen, the katabolism 
continues, some of the most complex pre- 
vious products breaking up by hydroxyla- 
tion and thermal cleavage. Among the 
fragments are undoubtedly some that lose 
in part those very groups in which sugars, 
alcohols, fatty acids, ete., are peculiarly 
rich. These are rebuilt at the expense of 
such foods, which therefore disappear as a 
result of respiration. That ethyl alcohol 
does not persist when oxygen is present 
may mean either that it is decomposed, or 
that in its nascent state it is assimilated in 


SCIENCE. 


251 


the rebuilding of proteids, for we have seen 
how easily acetic acid, one of its oxidation 
products, can be converted into an amido- 
acid, glycocoll, and be thus in direct line 
for reconstructive metabolism. 

This in its fundamental features is the 
theory I have presented in lectures to ad- 
vaneed students since 1898, though always 
as more or less a speculation. For various 
details I am indebted to the recent litera- 
ture already cited. Because it is capable 
of explaining the observed facts, which are 
sufficiently numerous to demand a coherent 
explanation, I conceive it to be entitled to 
the dignity of a theory. Time forbids the 
discussion of details, and many points have 
been considered that can not be here pre- 
sented. 

This theory maintains the direct relation 
of aerobie and anaerobic respiration, whose 
genetic connection was long since advocated 
by Pfeffer. Anaerobic respiration is the 
primary process in all organisms. Whether 
aerobie respiration occurs or not depends 
upon the availability of oxygen. The rela- 
tion of fermentation to the process is not 
wholly clear; for although fermentation 
gives rise to the same products as anaerobic 
respiration, this may depend in part upon 
respiratory decomposition, such as has been 
described, and in part upon digestion, 
which, as Iwanowsky and Mazé think, ren- 
der the aleohol from sugars available for 
assimilation. I am inclined to believe that 
in fermentation we deal with an exag- 
gerated anaerobic respiration, the active 
ferments being plants in which zymase is 
produced in such amounts that it can at- 
tack sugars outside the organism and thus 
secure sufficient energy with a minimum 
destruction of the protoplasm. 


ENERGESIS. 
Finally, I may suggest that for didactic 
purposes it is desirable to have a word other 
than respiration to designate the disruptive 


252 


processes by which energy is released, leav- 
ing respiration to designate the more super- 
ficial phenomena of aeration with which 
plant physiologists are little concerned, 
Perhaps the word respiration is already too 
firmly imbedded in literature to be so 
limited. It will at least do no harm to 
propose that the terms aerobic and anaer- 
obie energesis be considered, to which fer- 
mentative energesis may be added if neces- 


sary. CHARLES R. BARNES. 
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. 


SECTION °C OF THE AMERICAN ASSO- 
CIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT 
OF SCIENCE. 

THe meetings were held in the John 
Harrison Laboratory of Chemistry of the 
University of Pennsylvania, with the ex- 
ception of those of the Section of Agricul- 
tural, Sanitary and Physiological Chem- 
istry, which were held in the Dental Hall 
of the university. On Wednesday morn- 
ing, December 28, there was a short meet- 
ing of Section C for organization. It was 
presided over by Professor L. P. Kinnicutt. 
The following officers were elected to serve 
during the meeting. 

Councilor—James Lewis Howe. 

Member of General Committee—H. P. Armsby. 

Member of Sectional Committee, 1905-1909— 
Wm. McPherson. 

Local Press Secretary—J. M. Mathews. 

Following the meeting of Section C there 
was held the first session of the Chemical 
Society. President Arthur A. Noyes was 
in the chair. 

J. A. Parker read a resolution opposing 
the passage of the Mann Bill, now before 
Congress. The resolution was referred to 
the Committee on Patents and Patent 
Legislation, and was amended to read as 
follows: 

Resolved: That the present patent law is 
sufficient protection to American inventors 
and American industries provided that it 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 529. 


be so amended as to require that, in order 
to secure protection for the legal period, 
the inventor must operate his process or 
manufacture his product in the United 
States on a commercial scale within two 
years after the issue of his patent, and 
must continue to do so during the life of 
the patent. 

Professor Edward Hart then read a 
paper on ‘Some Present Problems in In- 
dustrial Chemistry. ’ 

He first described the Louisiana sulphur 
deposits which reeently began to yield sul- 
phur at the rate of 16,000 tons monthly 
at a cost of less than three dollars per ton. 
He then took up in detail the imports, ex- 
ports, production. and consumption of the 
important heavy chemicals and showed 
that much progress has been made in the 
recent past in supplying our own markets 
with the domestic products. This progress 
was most marked in metal products, of 
most of which we are now the largest pro- 
ducers. Among instances of recent prog- 
ress the discovery of Mr. Gayley that dry 
air gave much more economical results in 
the iron blast furnace was cited and it was 
shown that at the most moderate computa- 
tion this meant an addition to our national 
income of nine million dollars. Among 
the problems to be attacked by the chemist 
the following were cited: (1) A cheaper 
method for burning cement, (2) a cheap 
substitute for rubber, (3) an artificial 
cheap nitric acid, (4) extraction of potash 
from feldspar, (5) utilization of titanium 
compounds, (6) the home manufacture of 
coal tar products. 

The speaker was of the opinion that 
great progress had been made in chemical 
industry in quality as well as quantity of 
product, and that we should soon lead the 
world in this branch of industry. 

After this Professor James Lewis Howe 
read a paper on ‘Recent Progress in Inor- 
ganic Chemistry.’ This appeared in the 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


January number of the Journal of the 
Chemical Society, page 62. 

F. W. Clarke, as a member of the Inter- 
national Committee on Atomic Weights, 
and of the corresponding committee of the 
society, gave an account of the changes 
made in the atomic weights during the 
year. The report of the International 
Committee is published in the January 
number of the Journal of the society. It 
was discussed by W. A. Noyes, W. D. Ban- 
eroft, A. A, Noyes and R. C. Wells. 

At the afternoon meeting, the address of 
Wilder D. Bancroft, the retiring vice-presi- 
dent of Section C, on ‘Future Develop- 
ments of Physical Chemistry,’ was listened 
to with great interest. It was published in 
Science, January 13, page 50. 

On Thursday morning there was another 
general meeting of the society, at which the 
following papers were read: 


The Atomic Weights of Sodium and 
Chlorine: THEoporE W. RicHaArps and 
R. C. WELLS. 

Very careful analyses and syntheses of 
sodium and silver chlorides, made with 
purest materials from many sources, were 
made by several methods. These furnished 
convincing evidence of weighable traces of 
impurity in Stas’s silver, and minor errors 
in his methods of work. Many observa- 
tions were made which must be considered 
in any investigation of the highest ac- 
curacy, concerning the occlusion of im- 
purities by precipitates, and the solubility 
of precipitates. Nearly a hundred quanti- 
tative experiments were made, and of these 
thirty ranked as final determinations. The 
result for the atomic weight of sodium was 
23.008, and for the atomic weight of 
chlorine 35.473, if silver is taken as 
107.930; but evidence was obtained show- 
ing that this value for silver is slightly 
too large. Further investigations, con- 
nected with and suggested by this work are 
in progress. The authors are greatly in- 


SCIENCE. 


258 


debted to the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 
ington for pecuniary assistance. 

The paper will be published in the ‘Pub- 
heations of the Carnegie Institution of 
Washington’ and also in the Journal of the 
American Chemical Society. 


The Present Condition of Analytical Chem- 
istry: W. F. HILLEBRAND. 

The author refers to the evidence that 
has accumulated during the past years, 
showing a condition in technical analysis 
in this country which ealls-for the earnest 
attention of chemists, and particularly of 
instructors of chemistry. An _ opinion 
seems to be gaining ground that faulty in- 
struction is at the bottom of much of the 
trouble. This view the author is forced 
to regard as not unfounded, though he 
thinks the faults are more commonly those 
of omission than of commission. He re- 
gards it as of the greatest importance that 
students should be made to think at every 
step of what they are doing and why they 
are doing it, that they should be made to 
test their distilled water and reagents as 
a matter of course, both as to quality and 
quantity of contamination, so as to have 
definite knowledge regarding the magni- 
tude of the errors in their work aseribable 
to these impurities; that they should be 
obliged to check the accuracy of their work 
by analyzing some fairly complex material 
like a limestone, cement or slag, the exact 
composition of which has been carefully 
ascertained. The committee on uniformity 
in technical analysis of the American 
Chemical Society will soon be ready to send 
to all applicants a standard limestone of 
known composition, so that instructors 
may test their own or their students’ skill 
as analysts, and employers that of their 
employees. No good work can be done un- 
less the workman has good tools and knows 
how, when and why to use them. Full 
recognition is given of the adverse condi- 
tions confronting many, if not most, chem- 


254 


ists in technical laboratories, but the claim 
is made that the thoroughly grounded stu- 
dent will be better able to secure satisfac- 
tory results, even under adverse conditions, 
than the one who is taught only the quick 
methods of the mill or smelter, without any 
adequate knowledge of the pitfalls in his 
path and of the proper means of avoiding 
them. The one who is thoroughly ground- 
ed in the minutie of a few complex analyt- 
ical procedures will be the better fitted to 
use and apply short-cut methods with 
judgment. An appeal is also made to 
chemists to aid the committee of purity of 
reagents of the American Chemical Society 
in securing a better quality of reagents. 


Diet in Tuberculosis: Harvey W. WILEY. 

The physician should select a menu 
adapted to each patient. The oils, espe- 
cially eod-liver and olive oil, are most bene- 
ficial. Aleohol has a food value, and is, 
besides, a stimulant. Whiskey, brandy 
and other beverages have often been used 
to great advantage. Easily digested foods, 
such as milk, eggs, soups, rare meats, fruits 
and vegetables furnish a variety of palat- 
able dishes. The great value of a correct 
diet is in helping the physician to earry the 
patient over a crisis by giving strength to 
overcome the predatory character of the 
disease. 


Proper Diet for the Tropics: Harvey W. 

WILEY. 

Less food is needed in the tropics than 
in temperate climates because less animal 
heat is required. Tropical fruits are per- 
haps the best general diet. Any large 
excess of protein is to be avoided. 


The Ripening of Peaches: W. D. BigkLow 
and H. C. Gore. 

A study was made of the composition of 
six varieties of peaches, including both 
early and late and of varying texture and 
flavor. Samples were taken at three pe- 
riods, and, when possible, at four periods of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 529. 


their growth. First, just after the June 
drop; second, at the time of hardening of 
the stone; third, at the time of market ripe- 
ness; fourth, the time of full ripeness. 
The results were expressed both as percent- 
age composition of the peaches and as 
grams per peach. The results obtained 
were compared with those obtained by the 
same writers in the study of the ripening 
of the apple. Unlike the apple, the peach 
has practically no starch and apparently 
no reserve material, at least in appreciable 
amount, which will inerease sucrose after 
the peach is separated from the tree. Un- 
like the apple, therefore, there is no increase 
of sucrose after picking. There seems to 
be some inversion of the cane sugar with 
the formation of invert sugar, but such 
changes are not nearly so marked as in the 
case of the apple. Between the time of 
the June drop and the time of market ripe- 
ness the flesh of the peach is increased on 
the average about ten times, while the 
weight of the stone increases about seventy 
per cent., and the weight of the embryo 
ninety-five per cent. The total solids in 
the flesh increase about ten times in 
weight, the mare increases about three 
times in weight, although the percent- 
age of mare in the ripe peaches was 
much less than in the green peaches. In 
the percentage composition of the peach 
the reducing sugar decreases throughout 
the life history, whereas the sucrose in- 
creases. The acid also increases from the 
time of the June drop until the peaches 
become ripe. The nitrogenous bodies, both 
in the form of albuminoids and in the form 
of amido bodies, decrease in percentage and 
increase in grams per peach. There ap- 
peared to be no evidence of the change of 
proteids into the simpler amides, or vice 
versa. 

A fuller account of this work will be 
given in a Bulletin of the U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, Bureau of Chemistry. 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


The Liberation of Hydrogen during the 
Action of Sodium on Mercury: UL. 
KAHLENBERG and H. ScuuunptT. (Read 
by title.) 

The results of the annual election were 
then announced, the following officers hav- 
ing been chosen for 1905. 

President—F. P. Venable. 

Secretary and Editor—Wm. A. Noyes. 

Treasurer—Albert P. Hallock. 

Councilors—W. F. Hillebrand, C. F. McKenna, 
H. P. Talbot, J. M. Stillman and E. H. Miller. 

The reports of the treasurer, secretary, 
librarian and the different committees were 
then read. 

At present the total number of members 
is 2,675, exclusive of 124 who have been 
elected but have not yet qualified. The 
net gain for the year is 247. The balance 
of current funds is $1,187.90. The com- 
mittee on publications received 209 papers, 
of which all but 39 were accepted. The 
increase of about 300 pages in the Journal 
represents original work mainly. 

The committee on duty-free importations 
stated that new and very favorable rulings 
had been obtained in regard to imports. 
The report of the committee on patent legis- 
lation has already been mentioned. 

On Thursday and Friday the different 
sections of the society held meetings, at 
which the following papers were read: 


PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. 


Arthur A. Noyes, chairman. 

Freezing-point Depressions of Aqueous 
Solutions of Some Benzene Derivatives: 
E. H. Loomis. 


The Behavior of the Bronzes: W. D. Ban- 

CROFT. 

Copper-tin bronzes containing more than 
92 per cent. copper show no inversion tem- 
perature. Bronzes containing 75-92 per 
cent. copper show an inversion temperature 
at about 500°. The tensile strength and 
ductility of the first group of bronzes is 


SCIENCE. 


250 


affected but little by heat treatment, while 
heat treatment has a very great effect for 
the second group. The strongest bronze 
has a composition of about 80 per cent. 
copper and a tensile strength of about 
72,000 pounds per square inch. It is com- 
posed of B erystals with just a small 
amount of a erystals. The most ductile 
bronze has a composition of about 90 per 
cent. copper and gives a 40 per cent. elonga- 
tion for a rod one centimeter in diameter. 
It consists of a erystals with just a small 
amount of 8 erystals. This work is being 
earried on under a grant from the Carnegie 
Institution. 


Hydrochloric Acid Concentration Cells: 
W. D. BANcrRoFT. 
Sodium amalgam concentration cells 


have abnormally high electromotive forces 
but this has been shown to be due to the 
heat of dilution and not to a dissociation of 
sodium in sodium amalgam. Hydrochloric 
acid and sodium chloride concentration 
cells with calomel electrodes have abnor- 
mally high electromotive forces; but only a 
relatively small portion of this discrepancy 
ean be attributed to the heat of dilution. 
The balance must, therefore, be due to 
electrolytic dissociation. 


Electrical Conductivity of Aqueous Solu- 
tions at High Temperatures: A. A. 
Noyes and H. C. Cooper. 


Electrolysis of Chromic Chloride Solutions: 

H. R. Carveru. 

The writer has studied the electrode- 
position of the metal from chloride and sul- 
phate solutions and finds that the current 
efficiency depends upon the amount of the 
chromous salt present. The nature of the 
anode solution has a very marked influence 
on the efficiency; this is partly explained 
by the reaction between the diffusing ano- 
lyte and the chromous salt in the cathode 
chamber. Attention is also directed to a 
number of important factors which have 


256 


not hitherto been carefully controlled, al- 
though they affect the yield very materi- 
ally. 

The Efficiency of Centrifugal Purification: 

T. W. RicHarps. 

The very great gain in time, labor and 
material effected by centrifugal draining 
and washing during the purification of 
erystals was demonstrated by quantitative 
experiments, and simple forms of appa- 
ratus were suggested which secure these 
advantages to the organic chemist or to the 
worker with small quantities of precious 
material. 


Electro-stenolysis and Faraday’s Law: 

T. W. Ricuarps and B. 8. Lacy. 

It was demonstrated by quantitative ex- 
periments that the deposition of large 
quantities of silver electro-stenolytically in 
the middle of an electrolytic cell had no 
effect on the weight of the depesit of silver 
at the cathode, and, therefore, that Fara- 
day’s law still holds true under these 
peculiar conditions. This is of interest in 
its relation to the porous cup coulometer, 
although it is true that no electro-stenolytie 
deposits are observed on the cup under 
ordinary conditions. 

These two papers will appear in the 
Journal of the society. 


The Mercury Sulphocyanate Complexes: 
M.S. SHerritt and 8. SKOWRONSKI. 
The paper is published in full in the 

January, 1905, number of the Journal of 

the society. 

The Solubility of Calcium Sulphate in 
Solutions of Ammonium Salts and of 
Certain other Salts: F. K. CAMERON and 
B. E. Brown. 

It is shown that the solubility curve for 
calcium sulphate-ammonium chloride has 
a maximum value corresponding to about 
225 grams of the more soluble salt per liter, 
and about 10.9 grams per liter of calcium 
sulphate. From this point on, with in- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 529. 


creasing concentration of ammonium chlo- 
ride, the solubility of calcium sulphate de- 
creases, until in a saturated solution there 
is only 7.4 grams per liter calcium sulphate. 
The ammonium nitrate curve is similar to 
the ammonium chloride curve, the solu- 
bility being somewhat higher. Here again, 
with high concentrations with respect to 
the more soluble salts the solubility de- 
creases until in a saturated solution of am- 
monium nitrate it is only about half as 
soluble as it is at the maximum point. 

The authors give the data they obtained 
with a concentration of the solution with 
respect to calcium sulphate and other more 
soluble salts, such as the chlorides, nitrates 
and sulphates of sodium, magnesium and 
ammonium. 


The Action of Water upon Calcium Phos- 
phates: F. K. CAMERON and A. SEIDELL. 
(Read by title.) 


The Action of Solutions of Potassium 
Nitrate upon Tricalcium Sulphate: F. K. 
CAMERON and J. G. SMITH. 

The authors studied the action of solu- 
tions of various concentrations with respect 
to potassium nitrate upon tri-caleium phos- 
phate at a temperature of 20°, for various 
lengths of time and for various proportions 
of solid to solution. It was shown that 
increasing the concentration of potassium 
nitrate inereased both the phosphorie acid 
and the caleium going into solution, but 
that the ratio of calcium to phosphoric acid 
steadily decreases until in saturated solu- 
tions of potassium nitrate the ratio is ap- 
proximately that required by the formula 
of tri-caleium phosphate. It appears, 
therefore, that increasing the amount of 
potassium nitrate in the solution reduces 
the hydrolizing action of water, although 
the solubility of the substance steadily in- 
creases. 


Molecular Attraction: J. E. Mus. 
The article was a summary of work 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


already published (Journal of Physical 
Chemistry, June, 1904, and December, 
1904) and of work along the same line yet 
to be published. An equation was de- 
duced based upon the idea that the so-called 
cohesive forces between the molecules of a 
liquid could be entirely and quantitatively 
accounted for on the supposition of an at- 
tractive force between the molecules, the 
force varying inversely as the square of 
the distance apart of the molecules. The 
deduced equation was tested by an ex- 
amination of twenty-five liquids over wide 
ranges of temperature and pressure. The 
measurements used were, for the most part, 
those made by Drs. Ramsay and Young 
and Dr. Young. The result undoubtedly 
allows the conelusion to be drawn that the 
intramolecular forces obey a law exactly 
similar to the law of gravitation, v. e., the 
attraction between the molecules of any 
liquid varies inversely as the square of the 
distance apart of the molecules, does not 
vary with the temperature, and is a func- 
tion of the number of molecules (mass) 
considered. 

The results also point to the conclusion 
that the so-called molecular association, as 
in the ease of water, is caused by this same 
molecular attraction and not by another 
foree such as chemical affinity. 


On Crompton’s Equation for the Heat of 

Vaporization: J. KE. Mis. 

An equation proposed by Mr. Crompton 
(Proc. Chem. Soc. (London), Vol. 17, 
AOL), L=2kT lor ¢ d/D (L is heat of 
vaporization, Rk is the constant of the gas 
equation, PV =- RT, T is the absolute tem- 
perature, d and D are the densities of 
liquid and vapor, respectively) was ex- 
amined. It was shown that the latent 
heats so caleulated were invariably and 
usually very considerably too high at low 
temperatures where the vapor pressure is 
small, but at high pressure, as the critical 
temperature of the liquid is approached, 


SCIENCE. 


257 


the results are in excellent agreement with 
the true heats of vaporization. Some im- 
portant results following from this equa- 
tion were pointed out. The article was 
published in the Journal of Physical Chem- 
istry, for December, 1904. 


AGRICULTURAL, SANITARY AND PHYSIOLOG- 
ICAL CHEMISTRY. 


Wm. P. Mason, chairman. 


Interpretation of a ‘Water Examination’: 
Wm. P. Mason. 
The paper will be published in Science. 


The Water of Utah Lake: F. K. CaAmMEron. 

In this paper comparisons are made of 
analyses of Utah Lake water covering a 
period of twenty years. It is shown that 
the mineral content of the water is con- 
tinually increasing, the water containing 


‘about 300 parts of total solids in 1883 


against over 1,400 parts per million of solu- 
tion at the present time. This increase is 
mainly due to sodium chloride introduced 
by the seepage waters from the surround- 
ing irrigated areas, which areas have been 
brought under eultivation since the first 
analyses were made; second, by the diver- 
sion, for irrigation purposes, of mountain 
streams formerly entering the lake; and 
third, by the relatively large evaporation 
from so shallow a body of water. 


Determination of Oxygen consumed in 

Water Analysis: L. P. Kinnicurv. 

The amount of oxygen consumed by a 
given water depends on the method used 
for determining this factor. Analyses of 
many samples of water and sewage show 
that the results obtained by the two Eng- 
lish four hour methods, the ‘English 
official’ and the ‘Manchester,’ agree very 
closely with each other. 

The results obtained by the four modifi- 
cations of Kubel’s method, which are used 
in this country, are not only very different 
from the results obtained by the English 


258 


methods, but give varying results, depend- 
ing on the modification used. 

We are able to make a rough comparison 
between the results obtained by the English 
methods, with those obtained by the modi- 
fications of Kubel’s process, and compare 
with each other the results obtained by the 
four modifications of Kubel’s process. To 
compare results obtained by the English 
methods with Palmer’s modifications of 
Kubel’s process, thirty minutes at 100° C., 
with potable waters multiply the former 
by two and one half; to compare with 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Science method ten minutes at 100° C., 
potable waters multiply by two, with 
sewage multiply by four; to compare with 
Public Health Association method, five 
minutes at 100° C., with potable waters no 
change, with sewage multiply by two and 
a quarter; to compare with Massachusetts 
State Board of Health method, two 
minutes at 100° C., with potable waters no 
change, with sewage multiply by two. 

To compare in the same way with each 
other the results obtained by the modifica- 
tions of Kubel’s process the following table 
ean be used, taking the results obtained by 
the M. S. B. H. method as unity. 

M.S.B.H. A.P.H. A.A.A.S. Palmer’s 


Potable waters.. 1 1.25 Weg) 2 
Sewacen tacit ot 1.50 2 2.50 


Standard Methods to be used in the Sani- 
tary Analysis of Water: L. P. Kinnt- 
CUTT. 

A paper showing that the results ob- 
tained in the sanitary analysis of water 
depend to a large extent on the method of 
procedure by which the various determina- 
tions are made, and that at the present 
time there is no conformity among chem- 
ists as to the method of procedure. A 
variation of one hundred per cent. in cer- 
tain determinations, depending on _ the 
process used, is not uncommon, The only 
way of obtaining results which shall be 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 529. 


comparable is to follow the lead of the 
official agricultural chemists of this coun- 
try and adopt standard methods to be used 
in the analyses of potable waters and 
sewage. 


Determination of Nitrites in Water: R. §. 
WESTON. 

Biochemistry of Sewage Purification, the 
Bacteriolysis of Peptones and Nitrates: 
S. D. GAGE. 

In the treatment of sewage by modern 
biological methods, a great variety of chem- 
ical reactions occur, all of which are caused 
directly or indirectly by the action of bae- 
teria. It was shown that bacteria common 
in sewage disposal are able to produce am- 
monia from organic matter, to reduce 
nitrates to nitrites, to ammonia and prob- 
ably to elementary nitrogen, to liberate 


-nitrogen from solutions of organic matter 


and also to fix atmospheric nitrogen. Many 
sewage bacteria also probably produce the 
lower oxides of nitrogen as reduction pro- 
ducts of nitrates, which oxides may play an 
important part in the further decomposi- 
tion of the organic matter in solution either 
through eatalytie action or by direct chem- 
ical reaction. The amount of ammonia 
and the amount of nitrates reduced vary 
widely with different classes of bacteria, as 
does also the character of the reduction 
products of the nitrates. It has been found 
that a majority of the bacteria common in 
sewage and in sewage disposal systems re- 
duce nitrates and form ammonia from or- 
ganic matter, although these two functions 
are not always synonymous with the same 
species. Furthermore, it was found that 
there was a close relation between the 
ability of bacteria to peptonize insoluble 
organic matter and the ability to reduce 
nitrates and to ammonify this organic mat- 
ter, although many exceptions have been 
noted to this rule. 

The paper will be published in the 
Journal of the society. 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


An Apparatus for the Rapid Estimation of 

Urea in Urme: F. C. Roprnson. 

A Comparison of Organic Matter in Dif- 
ferent Soil Types: F. K. CAMERON. 

A comparison is made of soils with dif- 
ferent organic content and soils of various 
textures, colors, ete., and the conclusion is 
developed that the organic matter con- 
tained in soils is not a general type char- 
acteristic. Within any soil type, however, 
the content of organic matter can be corre- 
lated to color and other properties of the 
soil, and is an important characteristic. 
Availability of Nitrogen in the Soil: G. 8. 

Fraps. (Read by title.) 

Homicide by Acontte Poisoning and the 

Quantitatiwe Estimation of Aconite in 

the Human Body: H. C. Care.. 


INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY. 

Edward Hart, chairman. 

Wood Turpentine: W. C. CARNELL. 

Spirits of turpentine has, for many 
years, been made by the distillation of the 
refuse wood of the southern long-leaf pine 
tree. As much of it was made in a crude 
way and put on the market poorly refined, 
it is now almost generally regarded as some- 
thing different from spirits of turpentine 
and has received such names as wood 
spirits, spiritine, turpentine substitute, 
stump turpentine, ete. 

When this refuse wood is distilled by 
steam and the temperature kept sufficiently 
low, a product is obtained which ean be 
refined by one redistillation and having all 
the physical and chemical properties of 
spirits of turpentine made in the regular 
way. Its color is water white. Odor, when 
first made, is somewhat characteristic; 
when several months old same as regular 
spirits of turpentine. Specific gravity, 
0.862 to 0.876 at 15° C. Distillation, 90 
per cent. comes over between 160° and 
180° ©. Evaporation at 100° C.  Resi- 
due, 1.13 per cent. 


SCIENCE. 


259 


If properly made the product obtained 
from the refuse is identical with the dis- 
tillate from the turpentine dip. 


The Detection of Rosin in Varnishes: A. 
H. Gmu. (Read by title.) 


Best Method for the Analysis of Refined 
Copper: G. L. Hearu. 

The Education 
I. A. PALMER. 
The average good man who enters a 

commercial laboratory from one of our 
technical schools is deficient in an under- 
standing of the elementary principles of 
chemistry and in a knowledge of the ordi- 
nary methods of analysis. Most of the 
manuals are of little assistance, and the 
rule of thumb man fails when required to 
devise new methods to meet certain condi- 
tions. The technical chemist should be a 
man of broad education, and as such stands 
a far better chance of promotion than one 
of poor training. Technical schools should 
require more rigid qualifications for en- 
tranee, and should not permit lax scholar- 
ship. The attempt to imitate commercial 
practice is of doubtful utility, for there is 
no time for it, and the ideas carried away 
by the students are often wrong ones. The 
technical school should give a broad educa- 
tion in the principles of applied science, 
with just sufficient laboratory and shop 
practice to illustrate these principles. The 
training of the head as well as the hand 
should be the object sought. 


The Utilization of Fine Ores, Flue Dust, 
Stove Dust, Down-comer Dust, etc., in 
the Blast Furnace: J. C. Arvrx. 

At large furnace plants vast quantities 
of these materials accumulate, especially 
where the furnace burden is made up 
largely of Mesaba or other fine ores or con- 
eentrates. Many plans have been devised 
for working these fine materials and quite 
a number patented. 

Some of the materials used have been 


of Technical Chemists: 


260 


tar, glue, molasses, lime, asphalt and 
cement, all of which have practically been 
abandoned. 

The method here used is to mix the fine 
materials with soft coal in varying propor- 
tions of from 124 per cent. to 50 per cent. 
by weight, and then coke the coal. The 
coal in coking thoroughly incorporates the 
fine materials, and when charged into the 
furnace carries them down beyond where 
they can be earried over mechanically by 
the blast, and down to the zone of reduction 
or fusion, making a self-fueling and in 
many instances a self-fluxing ore. The 
plan is applicable at any plant running 
three or more stacks, or wherever the by- 
produet ovens are used, or wherever the 
coke is made at or near the furnace. 


INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 
James L. Howe, chairman. 


The Effect of Water on Rock Powders: 

A. 8S. CUSHMAN. 

The results of investigations on the effect 
of water on rock powders, which have been 
carried on in the Division of Tests of the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, were 
given. It has been found that wet grinding 
increases the binding power or tendency 
of the particles to cement together. This 
effect seems to be accompanied with direct 
decomposition of certain constituents of 
the rock magma, which results in forming 
colloidal films on the particles. The word 
‘pectoid’ is suggested to describe this con- 
dition. Most rock powders that have been 
eround wet show an alkaline reaction to 
indicators, but if the water is filtered out 
the reaction is not usually shown. This ob- 
servation is in line with the well-established 
fact that coagulated inorganie colloids have 
the power of occluding the bases from solu- 
tions of neutral salts. The analogy be- 
tween the reactions that take place when 
Portland cement, powdered glass and rock 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 529. 


powders are acted on by water was pointed 
out. 


On the Complexity of Thorium: Frirz 

ZERBAN. 

The work done by Chas. Baskerville on 
the elementary nature of thorium was re- 
peated under similar conditions and his 
results were confirmed. 

In addition, the acetylacetonates of the 
three new constituents were prepared ac- 
cording to Biltz’s method. The three sub- 
stances obtained show all the same melting 
point, viz., 171° C.; by mixing them to- 
gether, the melting point is not lowered. 
(Biltz made similar observations in the 
cases of neodymium and praseodymium. ) 
But the acetylacetonates of berzelium, caro- 
nium and new thorium differ in their 
chemical behavior towards alcohol. De- 
terminations of the atomic weight which 
were carried out with the acetylacetonates 
by Biltz’s method, assuming the formula 
Me(C,;H,0,),, resulted in 225 for berze- 
lum and 239 for carolinium. 

The metanitrobenzoates of carolinium, 
berzelium and new thorium, prepared by 
Neish’s method, could not be obtained in 
erystalline form. 

Thorium from Brazilian monazite sand 
was fractioned into three constituents in 
the same way previously applied to thorium 
from North Carolina monazite sand; the 
percentage of berzelium and carolinium, 
however, appeared to be smaller. 


On the Detection of Hydronitric Acid 
and Hydrazine in their Inorganic Com- 
pounds: A. W. BROWNE. 

A blood-red coloration is produced when 
ferric chloride is added in excess to a 
neutral or very slightly acid aqueous solu- 
tion containing free hydronitric acid or its 
salts, or holding in suspension the compar- 
atively insoluble lead, silver and mercurous 
compounds.* The color is destroyed by 


*See Dennis and Browne, Jour. Am. Chem. 
Soc., 26, 577 (1904). 


Fresruary 17, 1905.] 


acids, and to some extent by salts of or- 
ganie acids. With the exception of sul- 
phates, salts of the mineral acids in general 
have no effect. One part of N, in 100,000 
parts of solution may be detected. Trini- 
trides must be separated from sulpho- 
eyanates and acetates, should these be pres- 
ent, before the addition of the ferric 
chloride takes place. 

Hydrazine may be detected by making 
use of either of the following facts con- 
cerning its inorganic salts: (1) When 
heated with nitric acid they are oxidized, 
yielding hydronitric acid; (2) when treated 
with silver nitrite under proper conditions 
they yield silver trinitride. 

Tungsten Hexabromide: F. F. Exner. 
- (Read by title.) 


Reaction between Zinc and Copper Sul- 
phate: A. J. Hopkins. (Read by title.) 

Non-Existence of Copper Hydroxide: A. J. 
Hopkins. (Read by title.) 


Notes on the Absorption of Hydrochloric 
Acid as a Basis for Standard Solutions: 
A. T. LINcoLN. 

The author described a simple method, 
in which the amount of hydrochloric acid 
absorbed in a given quantity of water is 
determined by weighing, and gave results 
obtained by his students in using the 
method. 


A New Burette Holder: A. T. Lincoun. 


A New Method of Determining the Oxygen 
in the Arr: I. W. Fay. 

The apparatus consists of a stout glass 
tube, twenty-one inches long and an inch 
in diameter, sealed at one end and ground 
evenly at the other. Rods of phosphorus 
eleven inches long and one eighth inch in 
diameter are held in place at the closed end 
by a perforated rubber diaphragm one 
half inch thick. A paper scale, eight 
inches long and divided into 200 divisions, 
is glued to the tube so that the 200 mark is 
at the open end. The tube is kept full of 


SCIENCE. 


261 


water when not in use. For a determina- 
tion, pour out the water down to the zero 
mark, close with a glass plate and invert 
in a small vessel of water. When the 
oxygen has been removed, replace the plate, 
turn the tube upright and read the volume 
of gas. Correct for the reduced tension 
of the gas when the tube is inverted. Then 
two divisions on the seale are equivalent 
to one per cent. of oxygen. 


A Modified Westphal Balance for Use with 
Solids: F. N. WILu1AMs. 


Reactions in Liquid Ammonia: 

FRANKLIN. 

Liquid ammonia resembles water in many 
of its properties, such as high specific heat, 
heat of volatilization, critical temperature 
and pressure, and high dielectric constant. 
Both are associated liquids, both eombine 
with many salts, and both are good ionizing 
solvents. The reactions of acid and basic 
amides dissolved in liquid ammonia are 
closely analogous to the reactions between 
bases and acids in water, as shown by the 
general equations : 


Hae: 


MNH, + AcNH, = AcNHM + NH,, 
and 
2MNH, + AcNH, = AcNM, + 2NH;. 


Reactions of the types below were also 


studied : 

AgNO, + KNH, = AgNH, + KNO,, 

Pb(NO;).-+ 2KNH, = PbNH + 2KNO, + NH,, 

and 

Bil, + 3KNH, = BiN + 3KI + 2NH,. 
It was further shown that salts of mercury, 
arsenic, ete., when dissolved in ammonia 
undergo ‘ammonolysis’ in much the same 
way that they are hydrolyzed in water. 
A number of other points of resemblance 
were given. The article will appear in the 
Journal of the society. 


ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 
James F. Norris, chairman. 


262 


Laboratory Instruction in Organic Chem- 
istry: JAMES F. Norris. 

An account of the methods used by the 
author. Great stress is laid on the work 
in the laboratory, instead of spending too 
much time on lectures. An important 
part of the work is the identification of 
unknown pure substances and mixtures by 
a systematic study of class reactions and 
the determination of physical constants. 


The Detection of Palm Oil when used as 
a Coloring for Fats and Oils: C. A. 
CRAMPTON and F. D. Simons. 

Methods are given for the identification 
of the presence of palm oil in cotton-seed 
oil which is to be used in the manufacture 
of oleomargarine. Also two colorimetric 
tests are given for its detection in oleo- 
margarine itself. 


The Detection of Renovated Butter: C. A. 

Crampton and F. D. Simons. 

In this paper the difficulties attending 
the identification of this product were dis- 
cussed. Notes were given concerning sev- 
eral recent and promising methods for its 
detection. 


A Method for the Rapid Analysis of Sugar 
Beets: Daviw L. Davouu, Jr. (Read by 
title. ) 

The Rapid Detection of ‘Beading Oil’ in 
Whiskeys: O. S. MarckwortH. (Read 
by title. ) 

A Rapid Gasometric Method for the De- 
termination of Formaldehyde: G. B. 
FRANKFORTER and RopNEY West. (Read 
by title.) 

The Action of Permanganate and Sodium 
Peroxide upon Formaldehyde, with a De- 
termination of the Heat of Combustion: 
G. B. FranKrorter and RopNEy WEsT. 
(Read by title.) 


Firpene, a Terpene and its Comparison 
with Pinene: G. B. FRANKFORTER and 
Francis Frary. (Read by title.) 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S° Vor. XXI. No. 529. 


The Crystalline Alkaloid of Calycanthus 
Glaucus: H. M. Gorpin. (Read by title.) 


The Hydrocyanic Acid Content and Some 
Other Properties of Cassava: C. C. 
Moore. 


Methylamine as a Solvent: H. D. Grpps. 
(Read by title.) 


The Ow of Thymus Vulgaris: W. O. 

RICHTMANN. 

Investigated the influence of soil on oil 
of thyme (Thymus vulgaris). Plants 
grown on light sandy soil, well drained and 
somewhat elevated, yielded 0.20 per cent. 
of red oil containing 45 per cent. of thymol. 
Other plants grown on heavy clay soil, 
poorly drained, near the river level yielded 
0.22 per cent. of oil. It contained 42 per 
cent. of thymol. 

On Thursday evening Professor Arthur © 
A. Noyes, the retiring vice-president of 
Section C, gave a most interesting address 
on the ‘Preparation and Properties of 
Colloidal Solutions,’ illustrated with many 
experiments. It was a valuable summary 
of the work that has been done in that field, 
and will be published in the February num- 
ber of the Journal of the society. 

On Friday morning there was a general 
session of Section C, presided over by L. P. 
Kinnieutt. The report of the committee 
on indexing chemical literature was pre- 
sented by Dr. James Lewis Howe, and was 
referred to the council with the request 
that it be printed. The following papers 
were presented : 


The Nature of Amorphous 

ALEXANDER SMITH. 

It was shown by consideration of the 
change in mobility, the solubility, the 
dilatation and the absorption of heat, that 
there are two liquid states of sulphur. 
That forming the greater part of the liquid 


Sulphur: 


- phase up to 160.1° is pale yellow, and 


mobile, its coefficient of expansion dimin- 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


ishes and its solubility in triphenylmethane 
increases as the temperature rises. This 
state is named S,, The form which con- 
stitutes the greater part of the liquid from 
160.1° onward is deep-brown in color and 
very viscous. Its coefficient of expansion 
increases and its solubility in triphenyl- 
methane diminishes as the temperature 
rises. This state is named Sy. Amorphous 
sulphur is supercooled Se 


On the Constitution of Portland Cement 
and the Cause of its Hydraulic Prop- 
erties: CLIFFORD RICHARDSON. 

The paper was read before the Associa- 
tion of Portland Cement Manufacturers, 
June, 1904, and has been published in 
pamphlet form. 

Bivalent Carbon: James F. Norris. 

An attempt to prepare compounds of 


the type cnet analogous to CO, in which 


the radicals, R, will have the same energy 
as oxygen in carbon monoxide. In this 
way it is hoped to avoid polymerization 
into R,C = CR,. 


The Need of Action Regarding the Adulter- 
ation of Foods and Drugs: Lron lL. 
WATTERS. 

A brief review of the subject, in which 
the need of legislation was illustrated by 
examples that had come under the notice 
of the author. 

The members of Section C and of the 
society were invited to visit numerous 
manufacturing establishments. A list of 
these was published in Science, for Janu- 
ary 6, page 5. 

The visiting chemists unanimously tend- 
ered a vote of thanks to the University of 
Pennsylvania, and especially to Professor 
Edgar F. Smith, his associates, and to the 
proprietors of the establishments men- 
tioned. 

Dr. C. F. Mabery was nominated by the 
sectional committee to be vice-president of 


SCIENCE. 


263 


Section C for the New Orleans meeting 
and was elected by the general committee. 
C. E. WATERS, 
Press Secretary. 
Transmitted by 
Cuarues L. Parsons, 
Secretary of Section C. 


SECTION F, ZOOLOGY, OF THE AMERICAN 
ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE- 
MENT OF SCIENCE. 

Section F met for organization on De- 
cember 28, but no papers were read until 
after the adjournment of the sessions of 
the American Society of Zoologists. The 
officers for the St. Louis meeting were as 

follows: 


Vice-President—C. Hart Merriam, U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. 

Secretary—C. Judson Herrick, Denison 
versity. 

Councilor—C. B. Davenport, Carnegie Institu- 
tion. 

Member of General Committee—C. H. Eigen- 
mann, Indiana University. 

Sectional Committee—C. Hart Merriam, E. L. 
Mark, C. Judson Herrick, H. F. Osborn, S. H. 
Gage, C. H. EHigenmann, H. B. Ward, Frank 
Smith. 


Uni- 


For the New Orleans meeting H. B. 
Ward was elected vice-president and W. E. 
Ritter member of the sectional committee. 

The sectional address by E. L. Mark, 
entitled, ‘The Bermuda Islands and the 
Bermuda Biological Station for Research,’ 
was not read on account of the absence of 
the author. Nineteen communications were 
presented. 


Natural and Artificial Parthenogenesis: 
ALEX. PETRUNKEVITCH, Harvard Uni- 
versity. 


Heredity of Coat Characters in Guinea- 
Pigs and Rabbits: W. E. Castur, Har- 
vard University. 

1. Albino coat and angora coat are re- 
cessive Mendelian characters in heredity in 
eulinea-pigs and rabbits. 


264 


2. Rough, or ‘Abyssinian,’ coat is in 
guinea-pigs dominant over normal or 
smooth coat. 

3. The three coat characters mentioned 
are independent of each other. Each may 
exist either apart from or associated with 
one or both of the others. 

4. Accordingly, eross-breeding involving 
the three pairs of alternate characters re- 
sults in the production ultimately of eight 
visibly different classes of individuals, but 
of twenty-seven really different classes. 

5. The principle of gametie purity is 
realized in a general way but not abso- 
lutely, for cross-breeding induces variabil- 
ity in the intensities of characters. 

6. The gametes formed by certain reces- 
sive individuals are prepotent. This pre- 
potency is hereditary. 


Tropical American Fresh-Water Fishes: 
C. H. E1g—ENMANN, Indiana University. 

The Early Development of Chordates im 
the Light of the Embryology of Ascid- 
ians: BE. G. ConKuIN, University of Penn- 
sylvania. 

Owing to the high degree of differentia- 
tion of the egg and early cleavage stages 
of ascidians, the small number of cells pres- 
ent during gastrulation and organogeny 
and the known cell-lineage of the principal 
organs of the larva, the ascidian egg is the 
most favorable in the whole phylum of the 
Chordata for an exact study of the early 
development. Under these circumstances 
it is worth while to compare the develop- 
ment of ascidians with that of other chor- 
dates, whatever may be thought of their 
phylogenetie position in the phylum. 

In ascidians the animal (maturation) 
pole of the egg finally comes to occupy a 
position between the anterior and ventral 
poles of the larva and the chief axis of the 
egg is antero-ventral and postero-dorsal in 
direction. In other chordates the axial 
relations of the egg and larva are not cer- 
tainly known, but there is considerable evi- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 529. 


dence that Amphiorus and the frog are 
hike the ascidians in this respect. 

In ascidians, the frog and possibly in 
Amplhioxus also the spermatozoon either 
enters the egg at the posterior pole or 
moves to this pole after its entrance; in 
the two former classes the copulation path 
of the sperm within the egg lies in the 
future median plane, though in the case of 
the ascidians this plane is not determined 
by the path of the sperm, but is already 
established before fertilization. 

In ascidians the cleavage of the egg is 
bilaterally symmetrical; the same is the 
case with several other classes of chordates; 
the resemblances between ascidians and 
Amphioxus being especially close. Prob- 
ably in all chordates with holoblastic 
cleavage the third cleavage plane cuts off 
four ectodermal cells at the animal pole; 
in ascidians the four cells at the vegetal 
pole are endodermal, mesodermal and neu- 
ral plate cells. 

In ascidians and amphibians the blastula 
and gastrula are bilaterally symmetrical 
and the closure of the blastopore takes 
place chiefly by the overgrowth of the 
dorsal lip; probably the same is also true 
of Amphiozus. 

Among ascidians the chorda and neural 
plate arise from a erescent of chorda-neuro- 
plasm which surrounds the anterior side of 
the egg and gives rise to the dorsal lip of 
the blastopore. In many respects this 
crescent resembles the ‘gray crescent’ of 
the frog’s egg and it seems not unlikely 
that here and in Amphiozus also the chorda 
and neural plate arise as in ascidians. In 
all of these classes the neural plate comes 
from the outer layer of cells of the dorsal 
lip, while the chorda comes from its inner — 
layer. In ascidians and the frog the an- 
terior limit of the neural plate reaches 
about one third of the way from the equator 
to the animal pole; the same is probably 
true of Amphioxus also. 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


The mesoderm of ascidians comes from a 
crescent of mesoplasm which surrounds the 
posterior side of the egg just dorsal to the 
equator. The substance of the crescent is 
later. infolded in the posterior and lateral 
lips of the blastopore and its anterior por- 
tion lies alongside of the notochord. There 
are no mesoblastice teloblasts here, but with 
this exception this condition closely re- 
sembles Hatschek’s account of the origin 
of the mesoderm in Amphiorus. The 
method of origin of the mesoderm in the 
ascidians supports Rabl’s theory that the 
peristomal mesoderm is primary, the gas- 
tral secondary, and that the latter is de- 
rived from the former. 


The Skin, Lateral-Line Organs and Ear 
as Organs of Equilibration: G. H. Par- 
KER, Harvard University. 

Equilibration, as exemplified by the up- 
right position of man, is in part carried 
out through the eye, the ear, the sense of 
touch and probably other senses such as 
the muscle sense. It is a reflex involving 
sense organs and muscular response ; hence 
the term ‘sense of equilibrium’ is inappro- 
priate. The lateral-line organs of fishes 
have been supposed to be organs of equi- 
bration. Lee has shown that when the 
central end of the cut lateral-line nerve in 
the dogfish is stimulated, compensating 
movements occur in the fins; but these 
movements can also be ealled forth by stim- 
ulating the skin in regions where no lateral- 
line organs oceur. Hence the skin is as 
much an organ of equilibration as the 
lateral-line organs. Both skin and lateral- 
line organs are, however, inferior to the 
eye and the ear as organs of equilibration. 
The lateral-line organs are stimulated by 
water vibrations of low rate, 7. ¢., six per 
second. 

The ear of the squeteague consists of a 
utriculus with three semicircular canals 
and a sacculus containing a large otolith. 
The cavities of the utriculus and of the 


SCIENCE. 


265 


sacculus do not communicate with each 
other. When the utriculus and its semi- 
circular canals are destroyed, the fish shows 
equilibration disturbances, but no loss of 
hearing. When the otoliths of the sacculi 
are made motionless by pinning them 
against the lateral (non-nervous) walls of 
the cavities in which they are, equilibrium 
remains normal but hearing is for the most 
part lost. In the fish ear the utriculus is 
the organ of equilibration, the sacculus 
that of hearing. 

The skin, lateral-line organs and ears 
represent, figuratively speaking, three gen- 
erations of sense organs. The oldest is the 
skin stimulated by varying pressures, such 
as are produced by irregular currents, 
and capable of initiating equilibration re- 
sponses. From the skin have been derived 
the lateral-line organs stimulated by water 
vibrations of low rate, and also significant 
for equilibration. Finally, from the lateral- 
line organs have come the ears stimulated 
by water vibrations of a high rate and im- 
portant for equilibration. The ear, unlike 
the skin and lateral-line organs, is differen- 
tiated for its two functions, the sacculus 
for hearing, the utriculus for equilibra- 
tion. 

Comparison of the Habits and Mode of 
Life of Amphiorus and Ammocates: S. 
H. Gags, Cornell University. 

1. Both Amphioxus and Ammocetes live 
in the sand completely covered. If the 
head is projected or the entire animal re- 
mains out in the water on top of the sand, 
it is a sign of insufficient oxygen, too great 
heat, or illness on the part of the animal. 

2. By repeated and continuous observa- 
tion day and night I am led to believe that 
when in good condition the two forms re- 
main constantly under the sand day and 
night; they change their position in the 
sand from time to time, however. 

3. In entering the sand from the water 
there is a swimming motion until a consid- 


266 


erable part of the body is covered, then 
there is a snake-like movement in the sand 
and the animal quickly draws itself com- 
pletely under. With the Ammocetes the 
process of entering the sand is performed 
slowly enough to enable one to see all the 
steps. With Amphiorus and Asymmetron 
the movement is so rapid in vigorous indi- 
viduals that one can not see the details. 
They seem to enter the sand like an arrow. 
When the animal becomes weakened from 
any cause or weary by much swimming and 
entering the sand, the movements become 
sufficiently slow to enable one to follow the 
steps. 

4. Ammocetes always enters the sand 
head first. Amphioxus usually goes head 
first, but may enter the sand tail first. 

5. Both forms feed continuously, the 
food being derived from the respiratory 
stream entering the common_ branchio- 
esophageal chamber. In Amphioxus the 
respiratory stream is produced by ciliary 
action. In Ammocetes the stream is pro- 
duced mostly by muscular action on the 
two folds of the velum. 

6. From the manner of feeding in nature 
it is easy to carry on feeding experiments. 
Any food, if finely enough divided to pass 
the sieve guarding the hood or oral en- 
trance, will find its way into the digestive 
tube. 

7. While both these forms live normally 
under the sand, each has a free life—the 
Amplioxus in its beginning or larval stage, 
and Ammocetes in its adult or terminal 
stage. 

8. Method of Capture.—With Amphioxus 
in Bermuda the animals live most abun- 
dantly in places where there is a current. 
The depth of the water is not, apparently, 
of great importance, as they were obtained 
in depths of a few inches up to a depth of 
thirty to sixty feet. It is only necessary 
to serape up some of the sand with a dredge 
or dipper and look over the sand. When 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 529. 


exposed to the air the animals wriggle 
vigorously and then are easily seen. If 
they remain quiet, they are seen with diffi- 
culty, they look so much like the sand. 
Ammocetes is taken in the same way. It 
usually lives on the edge of a stream and 
it is easy to shovel up the sand and mud 
and look it over. The wriggling movement 
helps here also, as the coloration of the 
animal and that of the sand are almost 
identical. 

9. Hardiness of the Two Forms.—Both 
are very hardy, and hence it is easy to keep 
them in the laboratory. Food will be sup- 
plied by the water, or one may feed them 
any desired food, as cooked flour, finely 
divided yolk of hard boiled egg, ete. 

10. It was found possible to keep Ammo- 
cates in the laboratory from four to six 
months without doing more than change 
the water. occasionally. Amphiorus and 
Asymmetron were captured the middle of 
August in Bermuda, taken to Ithaca in 
fruit jars of sand and sea water, and in 
this way some of them lived until the first 
of December. This experiment shows, I 
think, that it is entirely practicable to have 
living Amphiorus for study and experi- 
ment in our northern and inland labora- 
tories. 

Vitality of Mosquito Eggs: JouN B. SmiruH, 

Rutgers College. 

The salt marsh mosquito, Culex sollici- 
tans, lays its eggs in the soft mud on salt 
meadows and these eggs may remain for 
months, losing nothing of their vitality. 
After lying dry for a long time a large 
percentage hatches within a few hours after 
becoming covered with water. The re- 
mainder lie dormant for a period long 
enough to enable the first lot to reach full 
erowth and then, if they are yet water cov- 
ered, most of them hatch. A few eggs of 
each brood lie over until the year follow- 
ing, and all the eggs of the last brood 
hibernate. The first spring brood of these 


Fresruary 17, 1905.] 


mosquitces is the largest of the season be- 
cause it contains the accumulation of all 
the eggs remaining unhatched for any rea- 
son from the summer previous. Migrating 
adults of this first brood live until Sep- 
tember and the additions from later broods 
give the impression of large summer broods, 
whereas, in fact, the late broods are less 
numerous than the earlier. 

Light Organs of the Firefly, Photinus mar- 
ginellus: ANNE B. TowNsEeNpb, Friends 
Select School, Philadelphia. 
Investigations of physicists have shown 

the light of the firefly to be the most per- 
fect known; not more than one one-thou- 
sandth of the energy expended is converted 
into heat. The nature of the process of 
photogeny has not been conclusively de- 
termined, although the theory which has 
most eredence is that the light is caused 
by the oxidation, in alkaline media, of 
some substance produced by the photo- 
genic cells. Radziszewski has found carbon 
compounds, similar to those found in living 
organisms, which are luminous under such 
conditions. 

The purpose of the author’s study has 
been to find what light the structure of the 
organs throws upon these theories. The 
light organs of the male Photinus margin- 
ellus are two plates lying directly upon the 
hypodermis of the fifth and sixth abdom- 
inal segments. These organs are made up 
of two clearly defined layers: the dorsal, in 
which the cells are filled with a dense con- 
tent of opaque granules, and a transparent 
ventral, the truly photogenic layer. With- 
in the ventral layer the trachee branch 
profusely in an arborescent manner. The 
vertical tracheal trunks with their branches 
are surrounded by cylinders of transparent 
tissue. Between the cylinders are paren- 
chyma cells, irregular in size and outline, 
and containing fine granules. At the pe- 
riphery of the cylinders the trachee send 
out fine tracheoles, without ehitinous in- 


SCIENCE. 


267 


tima, which anastomose, thus forming a 
close network of thin-walled air capillaries. 
When fresh tissue is studied under a mi- 
eroscope in the dark room the light is 
found to be uniformly distributed through 
the area of this tracheolar network, the 
eylinders appearing as non-luminous spots. 
Crushed light organs placed in oxygen re- 
spond instantly with inerease of brillianey. 
The light extinguished by CO, reappears 
instantly when the tissue is placed in oxy- 
gen. Experiments with a _ ctenophore, 
Mnemiopsis leidyi, show similar results 
with oxygen. ‘Tissue in alkaline solutions 
becomes brilliantly photogenic under the 
influence of oxygen. The light is wholly 
extinguished when tissue is placed in acid 
solutions and does not reappear when oxy- 
gen is introduced. When the acid solution 
is made alkaline, the tissue again becomes 
photogenie. 

Color Nomenclature: R. M. Strona, The 

University of Chicago. 

The color terms used in biology are 
neither logical nor precise. An attempt to 
reduce color terminology to something like 
a precise system was made by Ridgway in 
‘A Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists 
* * * (1886). This publication was use- 
ful, particularly among ornithologists, in 
securing more uniformity in the naming of 
colors, but it employed the color terms in 
common usage among artists, dye-makers, 
ete. There is no general agreement con- 
cerning the spectral positions of these col- 
ors, and samples taken from various sources 
show very great variations. 

The color system advocated by Milton 
Bradley in his ‘Elementary Color’ (1895) 
is both logical and precise. It is founded 
upon six standards with definite spectral 
positions. These are red, orange, yellow, 
green, blue and violet. All other ‘pure’ 
colors are obtained by combining these; 
thus we get ‘blue-green,’ ‘violet-red,’ ete. 
Dull or ‘broken’ colors and shades and 


tints of the so-called ‘pure’ colors are pro- 

duced by adding varying amounts of black 

and white. Mr. Ridgway has _ himself 
adopted this system and is elaborating it 
for practical work in biology. 

Popular Knowledge of Common Birds: 
Epwarp L. Rice, Ohio Wesleyan Uni- 
versity. 

Statistics showing the number of com- 
mon birds known by students electing work 
in bird study in Ohio Wesleyan University 
during the years 1902-1904. Data have 
been collected for 71 women and 55 men, 
both before and after the course. For ease 
in comparison a limited list of 75 species of 
birds has been used, the list containing all 
the very common birds except the Eng- 
lish sparrow. The number of birds known 
at the beginning of the course was start- 
lingly small, the average for the whole 
class being 21. The average record of the 
men (27) was decidedly above that of the 
women (17). About 12 per cent. of the 
students (14 women and 1 man) knew 10 
birds or Jess. The lowest number reported 
was 4. No bird was known by all students, 
the robin (known by all but one) heading 
the list. Bob-white, crow, hummingbird, 
blue jay, red-headed woodpecker, bluebird, 
mourning dove and eardinal followed in 
order named. The record at the close of 
the course showed the following averages: 
for women, 45; for men, 56; for all stu- 
dents, 50. 


Noles and Queries as to: (a) The Cerebral 
Commissures of the Elephant Shrew, 
Macroscelides; (b) The Brain and Heart 
of a Manatee, and what is believed to be 
the Smallest Known Sirenian Fetus; (c) 
The Brains of various ‘Fishes,’ including 
the Rare Japanese Shark, Mitsukurina; 
(d)The Swallowimg of a Young Alli- 
gator by a Frog: Burr G. Witprer, Cor- 
nell University. 

In the African Macroscelides G. Elliot 

Smith has deseribed and figured the eal- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 529. 


losum as long, but the splenium as term- 
inating in a point without the usual contin- 
uity with the mesal or commissural part of 
the fornix; his specimen was not perfectly 
preserved and the only example examined 
by the speaker has not enabled him to de- 
termine the facts; the apparent condition 
is unprecedented and difficult to explain; 
well hardened brains should be carefully 
sectioned. Just the reverse condition is 
presented by the brain of a manatee that 
was hardened within the cranium in 1885 
by the continuous injection of alcohol; not 
only do the callosum and the fornicommis- 
sure constitute a single continuous area, 
but there is no sign whatever of the pseudo- 
cele (‘fifth ventricle’ or ventriculus septi 
pellucidi) ; other unusual features are the 
great size, especially the height, of the 
paraceles (‘lateral ventricles’), the caudal 
extension that may, perhaps, represent the 
posteornu, and the decided ental elevation 
that converts the deep lateral (Sylvian?) 
fissure into a ‘total’ fissure. The heart may 
not differ materially from those previously 
examined, but its preparation by continuous 
alinjection displays to advantage the inde- 
pendence of the ventricular apexes which 
is characteristic of the sirenians. The fetus 
has the tail at less than a right angle with 
the trunk and the head is strongly flexed; 
between the two curvatures it measures 
about 55 mm., a little over 2 inches; it was 
figured and described in the American 
Journal of Science, in August, 1875, but 
has been commented upon only by Murie; 
the minute papilla on the ventral side of 
the tail has not yet been interpreted. The 
brain of Mitsukurina is probably now seen 
for the first time; most of the features are 
like those of other low sharks, but the 
olfactory crura are very long; the spiracles 
are far ventrad of the eyes, and not as 
figured in Jordan’s example. The speaker 
has already published papers respecting the 
‘fish’ brains exhibited, the Polyodon in 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


1875, the Chimaera in .1877, and the 
Ceratodus in 1887. Contrary to supposed 
conditions at the first date, the speaker now 
believes that in teleosts the olfactory bulbs 
are always solid, and that their hollowness 
in ganoids is a diagnostic character. Some 
progress has been made upon the peculiar 
conditions presented in the chimeroids, but 
much remains to be done with specimens 
specially prepared. Attention was again 
called to the ventral extension of the cere- 
bral hemispheres in the dipnoans, and to 
their remote affinities with the ganoids. If 
the account by T. J. Parker of Scymnus 
(or Scymnorhinus) in 1882 is correct, that 
shark presents a nearer approximation to 
the ideal type of the vertebrate brain than 
any other form, but more specimens should 
be studied. There was submitted a 
dichotomous arrangement of the vertebrates 
above the lampreys, differing in some re- 
spects from that published in the Proceed- 
ings for 1887, and in the American Nat- 
uralist, Vol. 21, 913 and 1033. It is based 
mainly upon encephalie and cardiac char- 
acters. For the first time stress was laid 
upon the absence from all the holocephala 
of the rectal pouch which is a constant and 
peculiar feature of all sharks and rays. 


The Feeding and Other Reactions of 
Actinian and Coral Polyps: J. E. 
DuERDEN, University of Michigan. 

The paper describes the reactions of 
actinian and coral polyps to mechanical and 
chemical stimuli, founded upon experi- 
ments conducted in the Hawaiian Islands 
during a recent visit of the writer under 
the auspices of the Carnegie Institution. 
Studies similar to those of Loeb, Parker, 
Torrey and Nagel were carried out upon 
two species of. actinians (Cribrina), pre- 
liminary to those upon the corals Fungia 
and Favia. The principal results are a 
demonstration of the important part played 
by mucus in the feeding and other processes 
of the two groups of polyps, the conditions 


SCIENCE. 


269 


governing the inhalent and exhalent cur- 
rents of the stomodeum, and the move- 
ments of small and large particles over the 
dise. They may be summarized as follows: 

1. Small, non-nutritive particles falling 
on the dise and tentacles become embedded 
in a superficial layer of mucus always pres- 
ent. They may remain there for some time, 
dependent upon the state of activity of 
the polyp. In the end the mucus is broken 
up into shreds or patches and, with the 
embedded particles, is wafted away by ex- 
halent currents from the stomodzum. 

2. Nutritive substances lead to an open- 
ing of the mouth, the establishment of an 
inhalent stomodeal current, and a more 
rapid secretion of mucus, surrounded by 
which the substances are indrawn into the 
digestive cavity. An inhalent current be- 
ing established, objects are indrawn inde- 
pendently of their nutritive value. 

3. In actinians the transference of food 
to the mouth is largely assisted by the move- 
ments of the tentacles, disc, and upper 
part of the column; but in corals the 
stomodzal currents, assisted by the secre- 
tion of mucus, are the principal agents. 
A complex system of mucous streams is 
beautifully shown in compound corals. 

4. The movement of heavier particles 
over the dise is largely due to thigmotactic 
or recovery reactions on the part of the 
polyp. Attention is drawn to the impor- 
tance of this in the conditions under which 
many actinians and corals live. 

5. The correlation of the various reac- 
tions with the anatomical structure of 
polyps is considered, and comparison is 
instituted between the reactions of polyps 
as fixed radiate organisms with those of 
free bilaterally symmetrical animals. 


Celosporidium blattelle, sp. n., a Sporo- 
zoan Parasite of Blattella germanica: 
Howarp Crawtey, Wyncote, Pa. 

The parasite lives in the Malpighian 

tubules of the host. It originates as a 


270 


minute cell with a few nuclei. There is no 

definite body form. Development follows 

the neosporidian type; 7. ¢., nuclear multi- 

*plication and spore formation proceed pari 

passu with vegetative growth. There are 

two developmental cycles, resulting in the 
production of ‘round bodies’ and of spores. 

The ‘round bodies’ are 1.5 to 2 mierons in 

diameter and contain a very irregularly 

shaped nucleus. The spores are ellipsoidal, 

5 microns long and contain a round, oval 

or dumb-bell shaped nucleus. The parasite 

occurs In enormous numbers, but does not 
appear to exert a deleterious influence on 
the host. 

Descriptions of a New Genus of Tanaide 
and a New Species of Tanais, both from 
Monterey Bay, California: Warrier 
RicHARDSON, Smithsonian Institution. 


Isopods from the Alaska Salmon Investiga- 
dion: Harrier RIcHARDSON, Smithsonian 
Institution. 


An Unnoticed Organ of the Sand-dollar, 
Echinarachnius parma: Emiry Ray 
GreGorY, Wells College. 

A study of the morphology of the sand- 
dollar has shown the presence of a blind- 
ending diverticulum of the intestine which 
passes around the body-cavity, giving off 
branches on the outer side. In the young 
animal it is frequently distended with 
sand, but‘ generally only a few grains of 
sand are found in it in the adult. The 
organ appears to be of most importance to 


the young animal, but whether its chief - 


value is in removing sand from the in- 
testine at this time or in carrying it to the 
different parts of the body cavity, has not 
been determined. 


Physiological and Morphological Changes 
during 860 Generations of Oxytricha 
fallax: LoraAnpe Loss Wooprurr, Co- 
lumbia University. 

A culture of Oxytricha fallax was ear- 
ried on from October, 1901, to its death in 


SCIENCE. 


(N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 529. 


July, 1903, at the 860th generation. A 
record of the daily rate of division of the 
four lines of the culture was kept, and 
showed that the organism, when subjected 
to a uniform diet of hay-infusion, passes 
through marked periods of greater and less 
dividing activity. The first period of great 
loss of vitality oceurred at about the 230th 
generation and the culture was on the verge 
of extinction, when it was ‘rejuvenated’ by 
the use of extract of beef. The second de- 
pression-period resulted in the death of the 
culture. A study of some two hundred 
permanent preparations of individuals 
showed that morphological changes occur 
during the life-cycle. A vacuolization of 
the cytoplasm appears first, and then dis- 
tortion and fragmentation of the macro- 
nucieus, and reduplication of the micro- 
nuclei beyond the normal number when the 
vitality is at the lowest ebb. A similar 
study was made on four other cultures of 
hypotrichous ciliata and the results com- 
pared. 

The Groups and Distribution of the North 
American Species of Diaptomus: C. 
Dwicut Marsu, Ripon College. 
Diaptomus is a genus of considerable in- 

terest, as it forms the greater part of the 

plankton that is available for food for fish. 

It is assumed that the genus is derived 

from marine ancestors, but it has no very 

close relatives. Thus far no attempt has 
been made even to arrange the American 
members of the genus in groups. <A study 
of the distribution of the species with our 
present knowledge throws some light on 
the probable phylogeny of the group. 
There are now known thirty species. The 
distribution is in general one of latitude, 
with the greatest number of species in the 
mountain region of the west. A study of 
the distribution, with a comparison of 
structural characters, leads to a grouping 
of the species under four heads, the 
tenuicaudatus group, probably, being the 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


most primitive. The most important fac- 
tors in the development of the various 
forms are temperature and isolation. 


A Preliminary Note on the Snake’s 
Tongue: Evira M. Brace, Western 
Maryland College. 

The chief function of the snake’s tongue 
seems to be connected with a sense of feel- 
ing that does not require the stimulus of 
contact, and may be a finer development of 
the sense that enables some people to avoid 
obstacles in the dark without touching 
them. The bifid tip and the numerous 
folds that he behind the forking of the 
tongue serve to greatly increase the sur- 
face exposure. Beneath the epidermis 
and extending out into the folds there is a 
deep nerve plexus composed of multipolar 
cells whose ends are frayed out into ex- 
tremely fine fibrils that interlace in every 
direction. From this plexus nerve fibers 
extend out between the cells of the epi- 
dermis. C. JuDSON HERRICK, 


Secretary. 
DENISON UNIVERSITY. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


Palewontologia Universalis—The third fas- 
ciculus of this important republication of old 
or obscure species of fossil organisms has ar- 
rived. These three parts of 75 species, figured 
and deseribed on 161 sheets. This completes 
the first annual subscription, which is eight 
dollars. The first fasciculus of the second 
series will soon appear, and _ subscriptions 
should be sent to G. E. Stechert and Co., 129- 
183 West 20th Street, New York City. The 
editorial work is in the hands of D.-P. Cthlert, 
of Laval, France, secretary to the Inter- 
national Commission appointed by the Inter- 
national Geological Congress, at its eight 
meeting. CHARLES SCHUCHERT. 


THE contents of The Journal of Compara- 
tive Neurology and Psychology, for January, 
_ is as follows: 

*On the Areas of the Axis Cylinder and Medul- 
lary Sheath as seen in Cross Sections of the Spinal 


SCIENCE. 


271 


Nerves of Vertebrates.’ 
and G. W. Hoke. 

‘On the Number and Relations of the Ganglion 
Cells and Medullated Nerve Fibers in the Spinal 
Nerves of Frogs of Different Ages.’ 


By Henry H. Donaldson 


By Irving 


Hardesty. 
Editorial: ‘Psychology and Neurology,’ ‘ The 
International Commission on Brain Research.’ 


Literary Notices. 

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

THE NEW YORK SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 

Tue New York Section of the American 
Chemical Society held its fourth regular meet- 
ing of the season at the Chemists’ Club, Fri- 
day evening, January 6. The following papers 
were presented before the section: 

The Application of Bismuth Ammonium 
Molybdate to Gravimetric Analysis: F. V. 
D. Crusrer and E. H. Minter. 

Portions of a standardized bismuth nitrate 
solution were precipitated by acid ammonium 
molybdate, under varying conditions. In or- 
der to get the solution barely acid, the use of 
congo red was found to be preferable to methyl 
orange. In washing the precipitate of bis- 
muth ammonium molybdate, ammonium ni- 
trate gave better results than ammonium sul- 
phate. It was found that bismuth may be 
determined correctly by the ignition of bis- 
muth ammonium molybdate to Bi,O, : 4MoO,, 
when the temperature of ignition is kept below 
a dull red heat, and that this method gives as 
good results as those obtained by the reduction 
and re-oxidation of the molybdium by potas- 
sium permanganate. 

In determining bismuth by the evaporation 
of a nitrie acid solution of bismuth nitrate, 
the operation must be conducted in porcelain, 
otherwise some bismuth trioxide is reduced by 
unburned gases passing through the platinum. 


Recent Progress in the Chemical Department 
of the Geological Survey: F. W. Criarke. 


The Work of the Bureau of Standards: W. A. 

Noyes. 

The work of the National Bureau of Stand- 
ards is organized under three divisions and 
the first two of these divisions are subdivided 
into six sections each. The bureau is, first of 


272 


all, custodian of the legal standards of weights 
and measures for the United States, these be- 
ing, in accordance with an act of Congress 
passed in 1893, a standard meter and a stand- 
ard kilogram. In addition to the verification 
of weights and measures for state and United 
States officials and for private parties, a large 
amount of testing of thermometers, of pres- 
sure, gas and air meters, of electrical instru- 
ments for measuring resistances and other 
electrical quantities, and of electric lamps, is 
done. In connection with this work many 
researches are necessary, and the most impor- 
tant of those now in progress pertain to meth- 
ods of measuring high and low temperatures, 
the development of standard sources of mono- 
chromatic light for use with the interferom- 
eter, the study of polarimeters with refer- 
ence to their use in examination of sugars 
imported into the United States, the study of 
the Clark and Weston cells as standards of 
electromotive force, the study of the silver 
voltameter and electro-dynamometer for an 
absolute measurement of electrical currents, 
the measurements of inductance and capacity 
in their bearing upon the measurement of 
alternating currents, and the development of 
an integrating photometer for the measure- 
ment of mean spherical illumination by elec- 
tric lamps. The chemical division expects to 
take up the subjects of standards of purity for 
chemical reagents and of standard methods of 
technical analysis. 


Last Year's Work and Future Plans of the 

Bureau of Chemistry: H. W. Witey. 

The lines of investigation relating to prob- 
lems connected with the applications of chem- 
istry to agriculture were pursued with little 
change during the year ending June 30, 1904. 
In order to secure economy as well as effi- 
ciency in this work an endeavor has been 
made for many years to collaborate with other 
scientific investigators in the problems which 
are under consideration. This has been par- 
ticularly true in connection with investiga- 
tions undertaken to determine the effect of 
environment upon chemical composition in 
sugar-producing plants. This work was con- 
fined for a long time to the evolution of a 
sorghum plant containing a high content of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 529. 


sugar and a low content of melassigenic sub- 
stances. Later the same lines of investiga- 
tions were applied to the sugar beet in a gen- 
eral way. 

For lack of funds similar experiments 
authorized by Congress in the study of the 
effect of environment upon the composition of 
the cereal grains have not been pushed as 
vigorously as could be hoped. Nevertheless, 
numerous comparative determinations have 
been made of the effect of the environment 
on the protein content of wheat. These data, 
which have been collected over a period of 
several years, have for their chief purpose to 
indicate the general character of the study 
necessary to determine more accurately those 
conditions which affect so seriously the com- 
position of the wheat kernel. The purposes 
which should be kept in view in the growth 
of wheat include those relating to the possi- 
bilities of panification. While it is generally 
true in the case of wheat that the gluten con- 
tent increases pari passu with the content of 
protein, such is not always the case. The 
causes which disturb the equilibrium existing 
between the gluten and the protein are worthy 
of serious and careful study. The ultimate 
object of the studies which the bureau has 
now in hand is to indicate the conditions 
which are favorable to the production of a 
grain of any desired quality. 

During the past year the demand which 
has been made upon the Bureau of Chem- 
istry for information in regard to technical 
problems of a chemical character relating 
to the production of paper and leather has 
been very great. The diminishing sup- 
ples of raw material in the production of 
paper and the consequent increase in price 
have made the agricultural problem of the 
production of this material one of great im- 
portance. Forests suitable for the production 
of paper pulp are rapidly disappearing and the 
deficiency of the material which arises from 
this cause must be supplied from other agri- 
cultural sources. The fibers of many plants 
which have heretofore been used only as waste © 
material offer promising sources of supply. 
Among these may be mentioned the Indian 
corn stalk, the cotton stalk, and the bagasse 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


resulting from the manufacture of sugar and 
syrup from sugar cane. The importance of 
the supply of tanning materials and of the 
study of leathers in regard to strength, ap- 
pearance and durability is also growing, and 
constant demands are made upon the Bureau 
of Chemistry for information on these points. 

Most important of the new work which was 
undertaken during the past year is the in- 
spection of imported food products. Prob- 
lems connected with the use of artificial colors, 
glucoses and preservatives have also been 
studied with a view of making the law more 
efficient. In the food laboratory important 
studies have been made during the year on 
the composition of tropical fruits and fruit 
products. 

In the road material laboratory extensive 
tests have been made of all the materials used 
in road construction, both physical and chem- 
ical. The relations of colloidal structure to 
plasticity have been made the subject of espe- 
cial research, the results of which were com- 
municated to the society at the Philadelphia 
meeting by Dr. Cushman. 

In the insecticide and agricultural water 
laboratory investigations of insecticides and 
fungicides, in connection with the Division of 
Entomology and the Bureau of Plant Industry, 
have been continued and an elaborate investi- 
gation of the character of mineral waters 
offered for sale has been partially completed. 
The work on the arsenic content of papers 
and fabrics sold on the American market has 
been completed and published as Bulletin No. 
86. F. H. Poucu, 

Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
“BERYLLIUM’ OR ‘ GLUCINUM.’ 

THERE is apparently little difference of 
opinion between Dr. Howe and myself as to 
the facts upon which a claim to priority of 
‘beryllium’ over ‘glucinum’ as a name for 
the element under discussion is based, and I 
am willing to leave the interpretation of those 
facts to chemists at large. 

It has, I think, been supposed, by those of 
the profession who have not personally looked 
into the matter, that the oxide was named 


SCIENCE. 


273 


‘olucine’ by Vauquelin himself. I under- 
stand that Dr. Howe in his reply to me in 
Science, for January 6, admits that Vauquelin 
did not name the element or the oxide; that 
he in fact would probably have liked to name 
it ‘beryllia, really adopting glucine in his 
fourth publication under virtual protest, and 
that the clause ‘la terre du Béril’ used by 
Vauquelin in place of a name was literally 
translated into German as ‘ Berylerde,’ be- 
coming a definite name, used to this day, before 
Vauquelin consented to the use of ‘ glucine.’ 
I think also that he will not question the fact 
that when it came to the actual use of the 
terms themselves Wohler separated and de- 
scribed ‘beryllium’* before Bussy prepared 
‘elucinium’t although they were but a few 
weeks apart. With this summary I am per- 
fectly willing to leave the question of priority 
to the ‘ninety and nine’ who are already 
using the more preferable term. 

As to usage, it is quite evident that Dr. 
Howe’s closing remarks are intended as a 
pleasantry, as I hardly think he wishes to 
give the impression that kalzium, kolumbium, 
ete., are the custom in German chemical lit- 
erature. He does not question that the major 
part of the literature is German nor that the 
Germans, Swedes, Danes, Russians, Dutch 
and Italians use ‘beryllium’ exclusively. 
Next to the Germans the French have the 
most articles to their credit and ‘use ‘ glu- 
cinium’ exclusively, but the impression which 
Dr. Howe seems to wish to convey, that this is 
the customary term in England and America, 
is not correct. He made a lucky find in the 
index of the Journal of the Chemical Society 
(London) for 1903, which does read ‘ Beryl- 
lium,see Glucinum,’ for some unknown reason, 
for the one abstract to which it refers uses 
‘beryllium’ solely both in title and in sub- 
ject matter, and ‘glucinum’ does not appear 
in this journal in index or abstracts on the 
subject for several years previously, although 
the abstracts are frequently from the French. 
This journal apparently leaves the matter to 
the wishes of the author, for Pollock in 1904 


uses again ‘glucinum.’ For at least five years 


* Ann. der Phys., 13, 577. 
+ Journal de chim. medical, 4, 453. 


274 


the term ‘ beryllium’ has been used exclusive- 
ly in the index of the Journal of the Society 
of Chemical Industry and, so far as I have 
noticed, in the subject matter as well. On the 
other hand, the Chemical News uses the two 
words interchangeably in its articles, abstracts 
and index, part of its articles being indexed 
under one head and part under the other, and, 
unfortunately, without any attempt at cross 
reference. In America only one original ar- 
ticle has appeared on the subject in many 
years which has used ‘glucinum.’ The Amer- 
ican Chemical Journal has used ‘ beryllium.’ 
The American Journal of Arts and Sciences 
for some years has used ‘beryllium’ and it is 
here that some of the best articles have ap- 
peared. The Journal of Physical Chemistry 
uses ‘beryllium. The Journal of the Amer- 
ican Chemical Society has allowed its con- 
tributors to choose, and one article and two 
abstracts have appeared on ‘glucinum’ since 
its publication. 

To play on Dr. Howe’s own words, I think 
that with American, English, German, Swed- 
ish, Danish, Dutch, Russian, Italian, ete., 
journals and chemists using ‘ beryllium,’ we 
can afford to let the French cling to ‘ glu- 
cinium’ (not ‘glucinum’) a little while 
longer. 

It is true that the committee appointed by 
the American Association on the Spelling and 
Pronunciation of Chemical Terms did recom- 
mend ‘glucinum,’ and so far as I can find its 
members are about the only American chem- 
ists loyal to the term. I think it highly un- 
fortunate that their recommendations as to 
spelling and pronunciation have not been more 
generally adopted in our chemical literature 
and language, but it is true they have not and 
in regard to ‘glucinum’ it is my humble 
opinion that they were wrong. 

Cartes Larirop Parsons. 

New HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE, 

January 23, 1905. 


THE ENGLISH SPARROW AS EMBRYOLOGICAL 
MATERIAL. 

DovusrLess many readers of Science who 
conduct courses in vertebrate embryology, in 
which the chick is one of the forms studied, 
have spent laborious hours in mounting serial 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 529. 


sections of embryos of from five to cight days’ 
development. The chick embryo of this age 
has reached so considerable a size that, even 
though the sections be cut comparatively thick, 
a complete series will fill a large number of 
slides. Of course type sections may be 
selected, and slide-room thus saved, but it 
takes nearly as long to prepare such a selected 
series as it does to mount the entire series. 

A convenient substitute for the later chick 
embryos may be found in the ubiquitous and 
generally disliked English sparrow. There are 
probably few localities where the nests of this 
little pest may not be found; frequently they 
are so numerous that a large number of eggs 
may be obtained without difficulty. 

So far as size is concerned, the sparrow, 
even at the time of hatching, is small enough 
to section without especial difficulty, and at 
the stage corresponding to the eight-day chick 
it is so small that a complete series may be. 
mounted on a comparatively small number of 
slides. 

Many teachers have probably made use of 
this source of supply of material to illustrate 
some of the phases in avian development that 
are usually read about in the text-books with- 
out being studied in the laboratory, but there 
may be some who have not thought of this 
method of procuring material and at the same 
time of helping to reduce the English sparrow 
population. 

The idea is not original with the writer, but 
he is sure that it is not patented. 

ALBERT M. REESE.. 

SyRACUSE UNIVERSITY. 


DELUC VERSUS DE SAUSSURE. 


To tHe Eprror or Science: In his letter of 
December 29 (Science, 525, p. 111), Dr. East- 
man, returning to the question as to whom 
priority in the use of the term ‘ geology’ prop- 
erly belongs, says: 

I am unable to see why Von Zittel was not 
scrupulously exact in his handling of facts when 
crediting Delue with prior use of the term geology 
as compared with De Saussure. 


His letter bears internal evidence that, like 
me, Dr. Eastman has been unable to obtain 
the 1778 edition of Deluc’s letters, which alone 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


can be assumed to prove that priority. If this 
is the case, he is not justified in assuming that 
his quotation from the edition of 1779 is iden- 
tical in wording with the original statement 
in the preface of 1778. This quotation is: 
‘L’usage ordinaire a consacré le premier des 
ces mots (cosmologie) dans le sens ou je ’em- 
ploie.’ 

Geikie’s statement with regard to the 1778 
edition is: “ The proper word he admits should 
have been geology, but he could not venture 
to adopt it because it was not a word in use.” 

Eastman, assuming that the statement in 
the second edition was word for word the same 
as that in the first edition, says that Geikie’s 
rendering is not justified. 

I reply that his assumption is unfounded, 
for so prolific a writer would be more likely 
than not to vary the wording of his phrases 
on a second writing. But even if the assump- 
tion were correct, Kastman’s own rendering, 
“the word cosmology is more generally used 
in an equivalent sense’ is as free in one di- 
rection as Geikie’s in another. 

Entirely aside from this question, which is 
somewhat on the hair-splitting order, it is to 
be observed that my statement was, that De 
Saussure was the first geologist (in the mod- 
ern sense, as Dr. Eastman kindly added for 
me) to use the word geology in speaking of 
his science. There is no question that De 
Saussure was such a geologist. Let us see, 
then, what authorities like Von Zittel and 
Geikie think of Deluc in this regard. 

Von Zittel qualifies him as a remarkably 
busy but flighty observer, and a fantastic 
seribbler whose publications have, for the most 
part, fallen into deserved oblivion. His use 
of the term geology he says is first suggested 
in the preface to a volume containing four- 
teen letters addressed to Queen Charlotte of 
England, whom he served for many years as 
reader and traveling companion. This pref- 
ace, he says, makes the pompous announce- 
ment that the book will contain the ground- 
work of a cosmology or earth history, but 
when examined the letters are found to be 
mostly filled with long-winded descriptions of 
the lands and peoples visited and very little 
of what the preface promises. 


SCIENCE. 


275 


Geikie classes him with Richardson, the 
believer in fossiliferous basalt, Kirwan and 
others of that ilk, and says: 


But though these men wielded great influence 
in their day their writings have fallen into de- 
served oblivion. They are never read save by the 
curious student who has leisure and inclination 
to dig among the cemeteries of geological litera- 
ture. G 
S. F. Emmons. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


NOTE ON THE VARIATION OF THE SIZES OF NUCLEI 
WITH THE INTENSITY OF THE IONIZATION. 

1. I shall use the word fog-limit, to denote 
the difference (8p) of pressure between the 
outside (constant pressure) and the inside of 
the fog-chamber, to which sudden exhaustion 
must be carried in order that condensation 
may just occur in dust-free air saturated with 
moisture. It is obvious that if the fog-limit 
is to be used as a criterion, the result depends 
in all cases (ext. par.) on the particular type 
of fog-chamber used and all statements are to 
refer to a given type. 

2. Nuclei of any size may be produced in 
dust-free moist air by varying the time and 
the intensity of the exposure to X-ray or other 
similar radiation. <A particular fog-limit and 
hence a particular size of nucleus is reached 
for each case until the fog-limit vanishes. 
Thus in my experiments for 


Dust-free air (radium at infinity) 8p — 24.5 
Radium (10,000 <, in thin sealed glass tube) 
at 200 cm. from fog-chamber, 21.5 
at100cm. ‘* 0 208 
at 45cm. “ * 20.2 
Radium, do., within the fog-chamber 19 
X-ray bulb 
at 35 em. from fog-chamber, exposure 2 min. 6p —19 
atl0cm. ‘“ se ae ee 18 
atl0cm. ‘“ es Ui 4 4“ 17 
at 2cm. ‘ a ui 2e& 15.5 
at 2cm. ‘“ pf Li 4. ts 10 
ab ziem.,. /<* a u 10 ‘* vanishing 
at 2 cm. (stronger radiation) a On ks 5 
at 2 cm. (still stronger radiation) “ 5 below 4 


To these may be added the fog-limits corre- 
sponding to the more gradual decay of excited 
radio-activity (radium 10,000 , in thin her- 
metically sealed aluminum tube placed for 15 
or 380 minutes within the fog-chamber). 


276 
Radium present in fog-chamber 6p = 18.5 
Radium removed. 3.5 hours after removal, 2L 
“a 91 “fe oe “ 92 
29 oe ve e 23 


On leaving the fog-chamber for hours with- 
out interference, the fog-limit for the excited 
activity was found to be lower, the coronas 
(cet. par.) larger than if but a few minutes 
elapse between the condensations. Thus it 
takes time for the induced activity to saturate 
the air within the fog-chamber with nuclei, 
and more time as its activity is weaker. Per- 
sistence in case of the larger (X-ray) nuclei 
must be reckoned in hours. 

A little imduced activity was obtained 
through the hermetically sealed glass tube 
(walls say .5 millimeter thick) vanishing com- 
pletely in about fifteen minutes, to the fog- 
limit of dust-free air. The same radium in 
the hermetically sealed aluminum tube (walls 
say .1 millimeter thick) left an excited activ- 
ity behind in the fog-chamber, vanishing in 
about forty hours gradually to the fog-limit 
of dust-free air. It seems, therefore, as if 
something besides beta and gamma rays passed 
through these relatively thick tubes. Leaving 
this for further examination* I need merely 
instance here the adaptability and sensitive- 
ness of the condensation method for the pres- 
ent purposes, where, moreover, the coronas 
will indicate the numbers of nuclei produced 
under any given conditions. 

2. The general facts of the preceding para- 
graph are inferred objectively if an X-ray 
bulb is placed near one end of a long con- 
densation chamber of waxed wood and the 
effect of sudden exhaustion viewed broadside 
through plate glass windows. The coronas 
obtained after short exposure are all roundish, 
but taper in diameter from a large size near 
the bulb to a vanishing diameter (apex) near 
the middle of the chamber, with all inter- 

* An important question is here confronted: 
Can an induced activity having any period of de- 
cay (within limits) be produced by successive 
filtering of the contents of the sealed tube con- 
taining radium, through walls of different thick- 
ness of density. In such a case the induced ac- 
tivity (supposing that no emanation escapes) 
would be a kind of phosphorescence. 

+ Am. Journal, Vol. 19, February, p. 175, 1905. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 529. 


mediate gradations of aperture in correspond- 
ing intermediate positions. All lie within 
two oblique lines symmetrically inclined to 
the horizontal axis and meeting near the 
middle. The pressure difference used is thus 
more and more in excess of the fog-limit as 
the line of sight is nearer the bulb. Beyond 
the apex, the pressure difference used is be- 
low the fog-limit. The number of nuclei 
within the given range of condensation, 7. e., 
above a certain lower limit of diameter, in- 
creases with the intensity of the ionization. 
Smaller nuclei occur throughout the chamber 
and particularly within the reentrant region 
left blank after condensation. 

3. If the number of nuclei ( per cu. em.) 
is mapped out in relation to the correspond- 
ing pressure difference, 8p, the initial slopes of 
the curves obtained are steeper as the fog- 
limit is lower. Thus per increment of $p of 
one cm. of mereury above the fog-limit of the 
ionized medium, and decidedly below the fog- 
limit of dust-free air, I observed with 
Radium in sealed aluminum tube within fog-chamber, 


6n = 12,000 


Radium in sealed glass tube within fog-chamber. 6,000 


Radium in sealed glass tube, 45 em. from fog- 

chamber, Outside .... ..... Sepetolseravaet ie aes ore reale 
Do., 200 em. from fog-chamber...............-.... 
Dust-free air (6p above 24.5 em., radium at in- 
4,000 


Hence, effectively, the gradation of nuclei is 
more even, finer, 7. e., with fewer gaps, as the 
fog-limit is low and the maximum size of 
nucleus larger; while for sparse distributions 
the steps from one nucleus to the next in the 
order of average size are relatively large. For 
a different medium, dust-free air, for instance, 
the gradation is characteristically different. 


Cart Barus. 
Brown University, R. I. 


CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 
LONDON FOG INQUIRY, 1901-3. 

Tue ‘ Report of the Meteorological Council 
upon an Inquiry into the Occurrence and 
Distribution of Fogs in the London Area, 
during the Winters of 1901-2 and 1902-37 
has been issued, and is summarized in Nature 
for January 12, 1905. The investigation was 
carried on with the aid of the Metropolitan 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


‘Fire Brigade, at thirty of whose stations daily 
temperature observations were made at fixed 
hours. The majority of the fogs are found 
to be due to radiation during calm, clear 
nights. Others are due to the passage of 
warm air over a cooled surface, and a third 
group is identified as ‘cloud’ fog. Some fogs 
eould not be included in any of these cate- 
gories. These fogs were accumulations of 
combustion products in an almost calm at- 
mosphere, and were termed ‘smoke’ fogs. <A 
fog scale, based on the extent to which traffic 
is impeded by land, river and sea, has been 
established as a result of this inquiry. As a 
first step in the direction of greater precision 
in fog forecasts, a night service at the Meteor- 
ological Office is recommended. Forecasts is- 
sued at 5 a.m. would have a much greater 
chance of being verified than is the case with 
those now issued at 6 p.m., for fogs are chiefly 
eaused by nocturnal radiation. Radiation 
depends largely on the state of the sky, and 
an observation of the state of the sky in the 
early morning would make it possible to give 
several hours’ warning. The present fore- 
casts rarely, if ever, contain any indication 
of the intensity of the fog to be expected. A 
detailed study of the distribution of tempera- 
ture within the London area during fogs 
shows that the thickest fog is usually to be 
found in the coldest region. 


MOSSES, TREES AND POINTS OF THE’ COMPASS. 


A RECENT number of Ciel et Terre (Decem- 
ber 16,1904) contains a note on the orientation 
of moss growths on trees. It has been stated 
that mosses grow so much more frequently on 
the north sides of trees that a traveler who 
has lost his way in a forest can by this means 
determine the points of the compass. Lately, 
further investigation of this matter shows that 
the mosses grow by preference on the sides of 
the trees which, for one reason or another, are 
least likely to lose their moisture. On hori- 
zontal branches, the mosses usually grow on 
the upper side, because the water remains 
there most readily. The bases of the trunks 
are more moss-covered because they receive a 
larger quantity of water. The unequal dis- 
tribution of light also plays a part. 


SCIENCE. 


ZAR 


MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 


THE October, 1904, Monthly Weather Re- 
view (dated December 22) contains the fol- 
lowing original articles and notes: ‘ Studies 
of Raindrops and Raindrop Phenomena,’ by 
W. A. Bentley, illustrated by photographic 
reproductions; ‘The Advancement of Meteor- 
ology,’ by T. H. Davis; ‘Thunderstorms at 
Tampa, Fla.,’ by J. Bily, Jr.; ‘Mount Tsu- 
kuba Meteorological Observatory,’ by S. T. 
Tamura; ‘September Floods in the South- 
west’; ‘Royal Meteorological Society’; ‘ Long- 
Range Forecasts,’ by H. B. Wren; ‘ Seasonal 
Rainfall Régimes in the United States,’ by 
V. Raulin; ‘Tropical Storm of October 10- 
20, 1900’;.‘The Dechevrens Anemometer: 
Cold Waves.’ 

NOTES. 

Tue Bulletin of the Philippine Weather 
Bureau for July, 1904, just received, gives 
details of a remarkable rainfall which oc- 
curred on the eleventh to the fifteenth of that 
month. Between 8 a.m. of the twelfth and 
11 a.m of the thirteenth the total fall at the 
Manila Observatory was 17.19 inches, a quan- 
tity much greater than the normal rainfall 
for July (14.89 inches), which is also the 
normal monthly maximum for the year. 
Three half-tone views show the character of 
the inundations in the city of Manila. 

R. DeC. Warp. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

At the meeting of the Society of American 
Bacteriologists, held in Philadelphia on De- 
cember 28, 1904, the following officers were 
elected: President, Professor E. O. Jordan; 
Vice-President, Professor S. C. Prescott; Sec- 
retary and T'reasurer, Professor E. P. Gor- 
ham; Council, Professor F. G. Novy, Dr. 
Erwin F. Smith, Professor F. D. Chester, 
Dr. J. J. Kinyoun; Delegate to the Couneil 
of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, Professor W. H. Welch. 

Orricers for the Society for the Promotion 
of Agricultural Science have been elected as 
follows: President, Dr. H. P. Armsby, State 
College, Pa.; Secretary and Treasurer, Pro- 
fessor F. Wm. Rane, New Hampshire College, 
Durham, N. H.; Hxecutive Committee, Dr. J. 


278 SCIENCE. 


C. Arthur, Purdue University, Lafayette, 
Ind.; Dr. W. J. Beal, Agricultural College, 
Mich.; Professor F. M. Webster, University 
of Illinois,. Urbana, Ill. 


Tue following eminent foreign physiolo- 
gists have been elected honorary members of 
the American Physiological Society: Th. W. 
Engelmann, professor of physiology in the 
University of Berlin; A. Dastre, professor 
of physiology at the Sorbonne, Paris; J. 
N. Langley, professor of physiology, Cam- 
bridge University; C. S. Sherrington, pro- 
fessor of physiology, University of Liverpool; 
Fr. Hofmeister, professor of physiological 
chemistry at the University of Strasburg; J. 
P. Pawlow, director of the Physiological Labo- 
ratcry at the Imperial Institute for Experi- 
mental Medicine, St. Petersburg. 


M. L. Troost, honorary professor of chem- 
istry at the University of Paris, is this year 
president of the Academy of Sciences in suc- 
cession to M. E. L. Mascart, professor of 
physics at the Collége de France. 


At the recent annual meeting of the Torrey 
3otanical Club Judge Addison Brown re- 
signed the presidency after fifteen years of 
Dr. H. H. Rusby, of the College of 


Pharmacy, was elected as his successor. 


service. 


A caBLeGRAM to the New York Sun states 
that Ambassador Choate on February 10 at- 
tended the annual meeting of the Royal As- 
tronomical Society to receive the society’s 
gold medal on behalf of Lewis Boss, director 
of the Dudley Observatory at Albany, N. Y. 
Professor Herbert Turner, who presided, paid 
He added that 
at present a feature of the world’s astronom- 


a tribute to Professor Boss. 


ical research was the steady work done in the 
United States. It was a pleasure to the so- 
ciety for the third time in five years to recog- 
nize this work. Mr. Choate suitably acknowl- 
edged the gift on behalf of the recipient. 


Ir is said that Professor Francis G. Pea- 
body, Plummer professor of christian morals, 
has been selected by the University of Berlin 
to be Harvard’s first lecturer under the ar- 
rangement recently entered into between Har- 
vard and Berlin to exchange professors. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 529. 


Mr. Ropert T. Hitt, accompanied by Dr.- 


EK. O. Hovey, of the American Museum of 
Natural History, and a corps of assistants, 
has left upon an expedition for the purpose of 
studying the geography and geology of the 
Western Sierra Madre of Mexico. The party 
expects to do valuable reconnaissance work 
inthis interesting field in continuance of the 
investigations upon the mountains and deserts 
of the Southern Cordilleras, which Mr. Hill 
earried on for many years while associated 
with the Geological Survey, and of Professor 
Hovey’s studies of volanie phenomena. The 
expedition is fully equipped for topographic, 
photographie and _ geologic work. Las 
financed by an anonymous New York cap- 
italist. 

Mr. Watter H. Griipert, chief clerk in the 
president’s office of Columbia University, has 


been appointed assistant secretary of the Car- — 


negie Institution. 

Dr. W. M. WuHeeEteEr, curator of inverte- 
brate zoology at the American Museum of 
Natural History, will give, at Columbia Uni- 
versity, during March, a series of lectures on 
the social insects—wasps, bees and ants. 

Sir Witiiam TuiseLtron-Dyer, director of 
the Royal Botanic Gardens, at Kew, took 
the chair at the opening lecture of the year, 
delivered, at the West India Committee- 
rooms, London, on January 25, by Mr. 
W. G. Freeman, superintendent of the 
Colonial Economic Collections at the Imperial 
Institute, on ‘The West Indian Fruit In- 
dustry.’ 

We learn from The British Medical Journal 
that the Danish government has issued a 
stamp bearing the head of the late Professor 
Finsen with the object of placing within 
reach of the poorer classes a means of sub- 
scribing to the national monument by which 
it is proposed to commemorate the work of 
the Danish investigator. On the occasion of 
the Christmas and New Year holidays the 
Danish postmaster-general also issued four 
million illustrated posteards. The profits on 
the sale of these posteards are to form the 
basis of a fund for the erection of a sanato- 
rium for indigent consumptives. 


EE 


FEBRUARY 17, 1905.] 


Dr. Lupwic von TerMaser, professor of 
technical mechanics in the Technical Institute 
of Vienna, died on January 31. 


Dr. Aureus S. Packarp, professor of 
zoology and geology at Brown University, 
died on February 14, at the age of sixty-six 
years. 

Five hundred dollars will be awarded by 
the College of Physicians of Philadelphia to 
the author of the best essay submitted in 
competition on or before March 1, 1906, on 
“The Clinical and Pathological Diagnosis of 
Sarcoma.’ Further information may be ob- 
tained by addressing Dr. Francis R. Packard, 
College of Physicians, Philadelphia. 


Tue Colorado Experiment Station has re- 
cently purchased additional land, to extend its 
farm facilities and to use for the horse-breed- 
ing experiments to be carried on with the 
cooperation of the U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture. The short course in agriculture at 
the college has proved successful, over one 
hundred students being in attendance. It 
lasted for two weeks. 

Tne case brought by Kansas against Colo- 
rado is now being heard before the U. S. 
Supreme Court through a commissioner. The 
case involyes the situation where fhe customs 
‘applicable to one set of conditions have been 
found to be inapplicable to those of another, 
for the riparian doctrine of England and the 
East is in conflict with the necessity to divert 
water for irrigation. 

THe state of Vermont, following the state 
of Connecticut, has passed an act making it 
obligatory to examine each year the eyes and 
ears of publie school children. 


The British Medical Journal gives further 
details in regard to the celebration of the hun- 
dreth birthday of Senor Manuel Garcia, which 
oceurs on Mareh 17. The anniversary is to be 
made the oceasion of a great demonstration in 
his honor by laryngologists of every nation- 
ality, who will at the same time celebrate the 
jubilee of their specialty. The program, as 
far as at present arranged, is as follows: At 
midday a ceremonial meeting will be held 
at the rooms of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical 
Society, Hanover Square. The Spanish am- 


SCIENCE. 


279 


bassador will attend to congratulate the illus- 
trious centenarian in the name of the gov- 
ernment of his native country, and addresses 
will be presented by the Royal Society, before 
which Senor Garcia read his paper entitled 
‘Physiological Observations on the Human 
Voice’ just fifty years ago; by delegates of 
the Berlin, South German, French, Dutch 
and Belgian Laryngological Societies; by 
musical societies and by old pupils of the 
famous maestro. In order not to overtax the 
strength of Senor Garcia, the addresses will 
for the most part be only formally presented, 
and the whole duration of the proceedings will 
not exceed one hour. The meeting will con- 
clude with the presentation to Senor Garcia 
of his portrait painted by Mr. John Sargent, 
R.A., at the request of admirers throughout 
the world, together with an album containing 
the names of the subscribers. In the after- 
noon a scientific meeting will be held in the 
same place for the purpose of giving foreign 
specialists an opportunity of 
methods of work and results of their British 
brethren. In the evening there will be a 
dinner, probably at the Hotel Cecil, at which 
ladies will be present, and it is expected that 
Senor Garcia will make a speech. Notwith- 
standing his great age, he is still fairly 
vigorous in body, and he was able to attend 
the annual dinner of the Laryngological So- 
ciety on January 13. His mental powers are 
absolutely undimmed by age. 


seeing the 


In Massachusetts numerous spring waters 
have been developed in the vicinity of large 
cities. The population of the state is largely 
concentrated in towns, and in all the larger 
municipalities water systems are maintained. 
Lake, stream and spring supplies are all util- 
ized, although where the first two are used 
great precautions are necessary to prevent 
pollution. In the rural districts of the west- 
ern or more hilly half of the state springs 
constitute in many instances the commonest 
source of water supply, but their use is by no 
means confined to that region. In fact, be-— 
cause of the absence of other satisfactory sup- 
plies, they are often of far greater economic 
importance in the eastern part of the state, 
where many of the waters are used in bever- 


280 SCIENCE. 


ages, or bottled or sold in bulk as table waters. 
It is because of the economic value of the in- 
dividual springs that the eastern counties are 
so well represented in the spring records kept 
by the United States Geological Survey and 
published in Water Supply and Irrigation 
Paper No. 102, entitled ‘ Contributions to the 
Hydrology of Eastern United States, 1903.’ 
Analyses are given of spring waters at South 
Wellfleet, Danvers, Arlington, Chelmsford, 
Coldspring, Framingham, Quincey, Sharon, 
Hanson, Hingham, Marshfield, Norwell, 
Scituate, Whitman and Hubbardston. Many 
interesting details are also added regarding 
the characteristics of these various waters. 
Owing to the cooperation of Mr. F. A. 
Champlin, a driller, the records of Massa- 
chusetts wells are also unusually complete. It 
is hoped that other drillers in this state and 
other states may care to keep a record of the 
wells they drill, and be willing to supply the 
survey with data showing the date on which 
each well was drilled, the situation of the 
well, how the water was obtained, the depth 
of the open portion of the well, the depth of 
the drilled portion, the total depth of the well, 
the depth to water, the depth to rock, the 
supply per minute, the use to which the water 
is put, and the cost of the work. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 

In his last report President Eliot recom- 
mends the collection of $2,500,000 as an en- 
dowment for the college of Harvard Univer- 
sity, and it is said that the alumni are making 
efforts to collect this sum before the next com- 
mencement day. ‘The class of 1880 expects 
to contribute $100,000 on the occasion of its 
twenty-fifth anniversary. 


Mr. ANprREw Carnecie has given to the 
Polytechnic Institute at Troy 
$125,000 toward rebuilding the main building 
which was burned last June. He has also 
given $100,000 to Tufts College for the erec- 
tion of a library building. 


Rensselaer 


Tue trustees of Stevens Institute of Tech- 
nology in Hoboken have decided to proceed 
with the construction of the proposed Morton 
Memorial Chemical Laboratory as soon as 
The sum of $91,000 has been raised 


possible. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 529. 


and $4,000 is available in unpaid subserip- 
tions. It had been planned to spend $100,- 
000 for the building and site. The proposed 
building will contain a memorial room in 
which will be placed souvenirs of the late 
president and other members of the faculty 
who have died. 


CotumpBiA Uwniverstry has established a 
course in chemical engineering leading to 
the degree of chemical engineer. The uni- 
versity has received a gift of $10,000 to equip 
a laboratory of electro-chemistry. 

Mr. Epwarp Wuitrtey, of Trinity College, 
Oxford, has given £1,000 to the university 
towards the endowment of a chair of pathol- 
ogy. 

Tue Johnston Scholarships, founded at the 
Johns Hopkins University by the late Mrs. 
Harriet Lane Johnston, in memory of her 


husband and two sons, have been awarded for 


the current academic year as follows: The 


Henry E. Johnston scholarship to Solomon ~ 


Farley Acree, B.S. (Texas), Ph.D. (Chicago), 
in chemistry; the James Buchanan Johnston 
scholarship to Henry S. Conard, A.M. (Haver- 
ford), Ph.D., in botany; the Henry E. Johns- 
ton, Jr., scholarship to Isaac Woodbridge 
Riley, A.B., Ph.D. (Yale), in philosophy. 
The stipend of each of these scholarships is 
the income of $30,000. They are offered pri- 
marily to young men who have given evidence 
of the power of independent research, and 
the holders are expected to deyote themselves 
to advanced study and to research in the Johns 
Hopkins University. 

Mr. Omar Ray Gutiion has resigned his 
position as assistant in physiology at the Uni- 
versity of Missouri to:aecept an instructorship 
in pharmacology at Cornell University. 


Tur University of Wisconsin will next year 
give instruction in meteorology under Mr. 
James L. Bartlett, observer at the University 
station of the U. S. Weather Bureau. 


Tue new chairs of helminthology and proto- 
zoology at the London School of Tropical 
Medicine have been filled by the appointment 
of Mr. Robert Thomson Leiper to the former 
and Mr. W.S. Perrin to the latter. 


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The Policy of France toward the Mississippi Valley in 
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Improvising a Government in Paris in July, 1789. 

Henry E. Bourne. 

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The Equilibrium Pressure of a Vapor of a Curved 
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On the Coefficient of Expansion of Quartz 
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gives instructions for transplanting, not only 
trees, but the shrubs, flowers, and vines from 
woods and meadowlands for an attractive 
“‘wild garden.’’ There isa long chapter on 


lilies and iris, their varieties, their periods of 
blooming and their culture, giving some at- 
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CONTENTS: 
The Problem of Development: PRoressor Ep- 
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The American Paleontological Society—Sec- 


tion A—Vertebrata: O. P. Hay.......... 294 
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THE PROBLEM OF DEVELOPMENT.* 


THE selection of such a subject as the 
problem of development for a general ad- 
dress to this academy as a whole suggests 
a word of explanation. Within the 
privacy of our sectional meetings we are 
permitted to dig and delve as much as we 
please among the dry bones of specializa- 
tion; but on this occasion a righteous tradi- 
tion imposes upon the president the duty 
of laying aside his special tools in order to 
address the whole scientific body over 
which he has for a time had the honor to 
preside. In offering a brief general dis- 


* Annual address of the president, New York 
Academy of Sciences, December 19, 1904. The 
critical reader will, I hope, be willing to bear in 
mind the conditions under which this address was 
delivered. My endeavor was to convey to a scien- 
tific body, composed only in part of biologists, 
some individual impressions of a student of em- 
bryology and cytology regarding the general bear- 
ings of recent researches in his special field. It 
was not consistent with this purpose to give a 
critical résumé for biologists, nor could author- 
ities be cited in detail. The general conception 
here developed will recall certain views contained 
in Driesch’s ‘ Analytische Theorie der organischen 
Entwicklung, published in 1894 (themselves 
traceable to earlier conclusions of de Vries), but 
afterwards rejected by him in favor of an explicit 
theory of vitalism. The rediscovery of Mendelian 
inheritance, the newly produced evidence, on the 
one hand, of morphological and_ physiological 
diversity among the chromosomes; on the other, 
of protoplasmic prelocalization in the egg, have, 
however, placed the whole problem in a new light. 
I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to Pro- 
fessor Whitman’s fine essays on the questions that 
center in Bonnet’s doctrines, published in the 
*“Wood’s Hole Biological Lectures,’ for 1893, which 
suggested the quotation from Huxley. 


282 


eussion of some latter day problems of em- 
bryology and cytology I shall endeavor not 
to violate the spirit of this tradition. The 
task is not an easy one, owing to the com- 
plexity of the data and their strangeness 
to those who have not closely followed the 
details of modern biological work; yet I 
am encouraged to make the attempt by the 
belief that the problem of development be- 
longs to those larger scientific questions 
that are of enduring interest to all students 
of nature. It is only fair to point out, 
however, that a consideration of recent ad- 
vances in this subject necessarily and 
speedily leads us into a region that hes 
remote from everyday experience, sur- 
rounded by arid wastes of technical de- 
tail, and inhabited by folk who speak an 
uncouth foreign tongue. With the best 
of intentions, therefore, the native guide 
and interpreter has need of some forbear- 
anee on the part both of his countrymen 
and of the outlanders whom he attempts 
to lead. 

I need not dwell on the absorbing, almost 
tantalizing, interest with which the prob- 
lem of development has held the attention 
of naturalists from the earliest times. 
Twenty centuries and more have passed 
since Aristotle first endeavored to trace 
something like a rough outline of its solu- 
tion. The enormous advances of our 
knowledge during this long period have 
taken away nothing of the interest or fresh- 
ness of the problem; they have left it, in- 
deed, hardly less mysterious than when the 
father of science wrote the first treatise on 
generation. I will not dwell on the epoch- 
making work of Harvey, Wolff and von 
Baer, or the curious, almost grotesque con- 
troversies of the eighteenth century, when 
embryology invaded the field of philosophy 
and even of theology. I will only point out 
that even at that time, when embryology 
was almost wholly limited to the study of 
the hen’s egg, embryologists were already 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 530. 


occupied with two fundamental questions, 
which still remain in their essence with- 
out adequate answer, and though metamor- 
phosed by the refinements of more modern 
observation and experiment still stand in 
the foreground of scientific discussion. 
The first of these is the question of pre- 
formation versus epigenesis—whether the 
embryo exists preformed or predelineated 
in the egg from the beginning or whether 
it is formed anew, step by step, in each 
generation. The second question is that of 
mechanism versus vitalism—whether de- 
velopment is capable of a mechanical or 
physico-chemical explanation, or whether 
it involves specific vital factors that are 
without analogy in the non-living world. 
It is especially to some modern aspects of 
these two questions that I invite your at- 
tention; and I shall also consider briefly 
their relation to recent conclusions affect- 
ing our theories of heredity and evolution. 

Let us first seek to define more clearly the 
meaning of our terms. The embryologists 
of the pre-Darwinian period, unhampered 
by historical conundrums, fixed their atten- 
tion on the single objective problem of the 
nature of the germ and its mode of develop- 
ment. The hen’s egg contains something 
which, though not visibly a bird or even 
an embryo, will when maintained at a tem- 
perature of about 37° C. for 21 days cause 
a living chick to step forth from the shell. 
What is that something and what manner 
of machinery (if machinery it be) is set 
in motion to work such a marvel? The 
early embryologists found no real answer 
to this question. They determined the fact 
that at the beginning the egg contains 
nothing even remotely resembling a bird; 
that as early as the second day a rudely 
fashioned embryo is visible in the egg; and 
that day by day, as the incubation proceeds, 
this embryo becomes more complex. The 
bird appears to be progressively created out 
of something that is without form and void 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


of visible structure. Its development, 
said Harvey and Wolff, is essentially a pro- 
cess of ‘epigenesis’—a successive formation 
and addition of new parts not previously 
existent as such in the egg. This conclu- 
sion, roughly outlned by Aristotle, was 
apparently established on an irrefragable 
basis of observation,. long afterwards, by 
Harvey and Wolff. In its superficial as- 
pects the doctrine of epigenesis is no more 
than a statement of universally admitted 
fact. When followed to its logical end, 
however, this conception has failed, and 
will always continue to fail, to satisfy the 
mind; and some of the most acute of 
modern embryologists have expressed the 
opinion that no thoroughgoing hypothesis 
of epigenesis can be so framed as to be 
logical, or even conceivable. Even in the 
eighteenth century this doctrine was met 
by the opposing one of preformation and 
evolution. Advocated by such men as 
Malpighi, Haller and Leibnitz, this con- 
ception underwent its fullest development 
in the hands of the eminent Swiss natural- 
ist Bonnet. Developed with great logical 
acuteness and set forth with captivating 
literary skill, Bonnet’s theory was based on 
the fundamental assumption that the em- 
bryo, though invisible, really exists pre- 
formed in the egg before development be- 
gins. The preformed germ was not con- 
ceived to be an exact miniature model of 
the adult. On the contrary, Bonnet 
thought of the germ of the fowl, for ex- 
ample, as differing widely in form and pro- 
portions from an actual bird, still the 
original preformation was assumed to be 
composed of parts that correspond, each 
for each, to the parts of the chick. De- 
velopment, accordingly, was conceived to be 
only the unfolding and transformation of 
a preexisting structure, not the successive 
formation of new parts—a process of ‘evo- 
lution,’ not of epigenesis. In this partic- 
wlar form the doctrine of preformation was 


SCIENCE. 


283 


conclusively overthrown by Wolff; but the 
principle underlying it has repeatedly and 
persistently reappeared in later specula- 
tions on development, and still contests the 
field of discussion with its early antagonist. 

Hand in hand with this controversy has 
gone one of still more general scope be- 
tween the two opposing conceptions that 
I have referred to as mechanism and vital- 
ism. Is development at bottom a mechan- 
ical process? Is the egg a kind of com- 
plex machine, wound up like a piece of 
clockwork, and does development go for- 
ward like the action of an automaton, an 
inevitable consequence of its mode of con- 
struction? Or, on the other hand, does de- 
velopment involve the operation of specific 
vital entelechies or powers that are without 
analogue in the automaton and are not in- 
herent in any primary material configura- 
tion of the egg? This question, I hardly 
need say, is included in the larger one, 
whether the vital processes as a whole are 
or are not capable of mechanical explana- 
tion. As a problem of embryology it is 
very closely connected with that of prefor- 
mation or epigenesis, and in point of fact 
the two have always been closely associated. 
Evidently, by its very form of statement, 
any theory of preformation or prelocaliza- 
tion in the germ assumes at least a mechan- 
ical basis for development, 7. ¢., a primary 
material configuration upon which the 
form of development in some measure de- 
pends. With theories of epigenesis the 
case is not so clear; for such theories may 
or may not be mechanical. Without fur- 
ther preamble I now ask your attention to 
certain facts which will place clearly before 
us the form in which these time-honored 
problems appear to us to-day. 

It is a familiar fact that development 
begins with the progressive segmentation 
or division of the egg into cells, which, con- 
tinually increasing in number, finally build 
up the body of the embryo. Until com- 


284 


paratively recently it was not suspected 
that the cells thus formed in the earliest 
stages had any constant and definite rela- 
tion to the parts of the future body. The 
fact has how been established, however, 


We 


Oda § 


90 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 530. 


instance, the first cleavage-furrow passes 
pretty accurately through the future me- 
dian plane of the, body, and the two cells 
thus formed give rise respectively to the 
right and left sides of the embryo. In a 


Oca 


Fic. 1.—Development of entire eggs and of isolated blastomeres of two-cell stage. A, 
Dentalium; at the left, development of the whole egg; at the right, development of the iso- 


lated first two cells, producing two defective larve. 


B, Amphioxus; the corresponding ex- 


periment, isolated cells producing two perfect dwarfs. 


that in a large number of forms (though 
apparently not in all) such a definite rela- 
tion exists, both the form of division and 
the prospective values of the cells being 
constant. In the egg of the ascidian, for 


snail’s egg the relation is a different one, 
but is no less definite and constant; in the 
four-cell stage, for instance, the material 
that will produce the shell and foot is lo- 
cated, mainly at least, in one of the four 


‘a 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


cells. Again, in a worm’s egg, after its 
segmentation into sixteen or more cells, we 
know very exactly how the materials for 
the head, the segmented trunk-region, the 
digestive tract, the muscles and the ganglia, 
are distributed among these cells. In all 
such cases the embryo seems comparable to 
a piece of mosaic-work, each cell apparently 
having its own inherent particular char- 
acter, and its own specific réle to play. 

These facts place very conspicuously be- 
fore us a modern form of the problem of 
preformation which we may conveniently 
eall the problem of ‘germinal prelocaliza- 
tion.’ Does this mosaic-like character of 
the early embryo mean that the cells are in- 
herently different? Are they in any de- 
eree individually predestined for their fu- 
ture development; and if such be the ease, 
ean this predestination be traced back to 
protoplasmic regions in the egg before it 
has divided into cells? In other words, 
does the egg, or does it not, contain pre- 
localized, predetermined areas that have 
any necessary or causal relation to the parts 
of the future embryo? This is the first 
guise in which the old question of prefor- 
mation presents itself to us to-day. I ask 
you to glance at the results of a few very 
simple experiments designed to test this 
question. They will give apparently quite 
contradictory results. 

Experiments on the eggs of certain ani- 
mals, such as etenophores or mollusks, 
seem to give an unequivocal answer to our 
questions. If, for example, the cells of 
the segmenting egg of the mollusk Den- 
taliwm or Patella be separated from one 
another, at the two-cell stage or any later 
period, they continue to develop and pro- 
duee living, actively swimming structures; 
but these creatures are not completely 
formed whole embryos, but monsters that 
in many respects resemble pieces of a single 
embryo (Fig. 1, A). It is true that the 
wounds usually close and heal; but these 


SCIENCE. 


285 


structures, nevertheless, remain monstrous 
and defective, and if they are carefully 
studied it is found that only when taken 
collectively can they be said to constitute 
a single whole embryo. ‘The cells are thus 
proved to be in some measure inherently 
different, and to this extent the cell-mosaic 
is shown to be a real mosaic. If we now 
extend our operation to the undivided egg, 
a result in harmony with this is reached. 
If certain portions of the egg of Dentalium 
be artificially cut off, the remaining por- 
tion, upon fertilization, regularly gives rise 
to a defective and monstrous creature that 
is not a whole embryo, but resembles a piece 
or fragment of an embryo. It is evident 
that this experiment seems to show pretty 
clearly that even before the egg has begun 
to divide into cells the parts of the future 
embryo are in some measure definitely pre- 
localized and predetermined in its different 
protoplasmic regions; and evidently, if 
this be the case, we seem further to have 
good ground for the mechanistic assump- 
tion that the undivided egg contains some 
kind of structural or material configura- 
tion upon which the character of the de- 
velopment depends. 

But let us not on this account too hastily 
accept a theory of preformation or pre- 
localization. Let us first look at the re- 
sults of an exactly similar experiment per- 
formed on the egg of certain other species 
of animals, for example, Amphioxus, a sea- 
urchin, or a nemertine worm. Separate 


-here the first two or four cells, and each 


develops, not into an abortive monster, but 
into a perfectly formed though dwarf larva 
(Fig. 1, B). Thus it is possible to pro- 
duce from a single egg from one to four 
perfect animals; and in ease of certain spe- 
cies (hydromeduse) it is theoretically pos- 
sible by a similar method to produce from 
a single egg as many as eight or even six- 
teen perfect dwarfs. Again, in some of 
these cases, for instance in the nemertine, 


286 


the undivided egg may be eut to pieces in 
any planes taken at random; yet every 
piece, if of sufficient size, may upon fertil- 
ization develop as if it were a whole egg 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 530. 


velopment, if we hold such a theory? 
Neither the cells nor the regions of the egg 
seem to have any predestination such as is 
shown in the mollusean egg. 


It is the es- 


Fic. 2.—Diagram of protoplasmic zones and their distribution at the first cleavage in dif- 


ferent forms. 
stuffs. ge, 
division of the chromosomes. 
the lower zone isolated in one cell. 
division of the zones. 
cleavage. 


and produce a perfect dwarf. Here is an 
astounding contrast to the results of our 
first experiment. What becomes of our 
theories of prelocalization here, and what 
becomes of our mechanical theory of de- 


A, immature egg, assumed to have no definite segregation of protoplasmic 
B, mature egg, with protoplasmic zones of horizontal stratification. 
D, E, F, different types of two-cell stage. 
E, Amphioxus, nemertine, or echinoderm type; equal 
I’, hypothetical type with complete separation of two zones at the first 


CO, first cleavage, 
D, Dentalium type, 


sence of a machine or automaton that its 
operation is due to its structural configura- 
tion. Impair or destroy that configuration 
and the action ceases. But from these eggs 
we may take away any of the parts, or the 


Fesruagy 24, 1905.] 


whole may be cut to pieces, yet there is no 
impairment of action, but only a readjust- 
ment to form smaller systems like the orig- 
inal whole. The egg, therefore, says the 
vitalist, can not be an automaton and its 
development is inexplicable upon a me- 
chanical theory. 

Such is the paradoxical result to which 
a superficial comparison of these two cases 
leads us—a kind of embryological anti- 
nomy, as it were, which at first sight may 
seem to take away all hope of finding law 
or. order in these phenomena. I will un- 
dertake to show you speedily that the ap- 
parent contradiction is easily explicable. 
I have placed the two eases side by side 
because each seems to demonstrate the truth 
of one side of an ancient embryological 
controversy; and we shall presently find 
reason for the conclusion that each of the 
opponents, like the two knights and the 
shield, have recognized but a part of the 
truth. 

The probable explanation of the differ- 
ence of the behavior between the eggs of 
Dentalium and of Amphioxus is a very 
simple one. When we closely study eggs 
of this type we find that they do not con- 
sist of homogeneous protoplarm, but of 
different kinds of protoplasmic materials 
or stuffs that are at the outset arranged, 
roughly speaking, in horizontal bands or 
strata, as indicated in the diagram (Fig. 2, 
B), where the number of strata is arbi- 
trarily assumed to be four. Now, an ex- 
amination of the manner in which the egg 
divides gives strong reason for the conclu- 
sion that in such forms as Amphioxus the 
first division bisects these stuffs, so that 
each of the first two cells receives one half 
of each stratum (Fig. 2, C, FE). In the 
egg of Dentalium, on the other hand, this 
is demonstrably not the case, for the lower 
stratum passes over bodily into one of the 
cells and is quite excluded from the other 
(Fig. 2, D). The symmetrical division in 


SCIENCE. 


287 


Amphioxus, the sea-urchin, or the nemer- 
tine, gives the immediate possibility of pro- 
ducing two smaller systems similar to each 
other and to the whole egg. The symmet- 
rical or qualitative division in Dentalium, 
on the other hand, does not give such an 
immediate possibility, for it produces two 
different systems neither of which is iden- 
tical with that of the entire egg. It is 
highly probable that we find here a proxi- 
mate explanation of the fact that each of 
the two cells in Amphioxus may produce a 
perfect dwarf, while in Dentalium neither 
produces ,such a larva. Facts like these 
are leading us to the conclusion that the 
immediate determining causes of develop- 
ment are to be sought in specific proto- 
plasmic stuffs, or organ-forming materials, 
that are distributed to the cells in a definite 
way during division. These materials, defi- 
nitely arranged, are sometimes plainly vis- 
ible in the undivided egg. I have, for in- 
stance, been able to show that the egg of 
Dentalium contains an area of protoplasm 
at the lower pole that has a causal connec- 
tion with the formation of the foot and 
shell, and probably also of the principal 
part of the mesoblast structures; for if 
this area be cut off from the unsegmented 
ege the resulting embryo regularly lacks 
these structures. In like manner, Pro- 
fessor Conklin has recently been able to 
recognize in the protoplasm of the unseg- 
mented egg of a species of ascidian the 
material of the future tail-muscles of the 
larva; and though no necessary connection 
between this material and the muscles has 
thus far been experimentally proved, my 
experiments on Dentalium leave by analogy 
little doubt that such a causal connection 
exists. We do not in the least know how 
these protoplasmic stuffs or materials act. 
We can hardly imagine how it is that one 
kind of stuff involves the development of 
muscles, others that of nerves, ciliated cells, 
or shell-secreting cells. We may guess that 


288 


these stuffs may be analogous to the so- 
walled internal secretions, formed in the 
adult organism by such organs as the thy- 
roid or the sexual glands, which are known 
tto produce quite specific morphological ef- 
feets on the body. A second guess is that 
the formative stuffs may be related to the 
soluble ferments or enzymes, which in other 
ways play so great a role in the economy 
of plants and animals. 

But, aside from this question, the evi- 
dence is steadily increasing, I think, that 
such stuffs exist, that they have a definite 
arrangement in the egg, and that in cases 
where the form of cleavage is constant 
they are distributed in a definite way to 
the cells into which the egg splits up. 
The cleavage-mosaic is accordingly to be 
conceived as an actual mosaic of different 
materials that are somehow causally con- 
nected with the development of particular 
parts. When these materials are equally 
distributed by the earlier divisions, as in 
Amphioxus, each of the resulting cells 
may upon isolation produce a_ perfect 
Jarva; when they are unequally distributed, 
as in Dentalium, the cells are no longer 
equivalent, and upon being isolated pro- 
duce the structures corresponding to the 
particular stuffs allotted to them.* These 
facts will presently bring us to our first 
general conclusion. First, if the proto- 
plasm contain such stuffs, grouped and dis- 
tributed in a definite way, to just this ex- 
tent may development receive a mechanical 
interpretation—that is, be conceived as the 
result of an antecedent material configura- 
tion in the egg-protoplasm. We have as 

*Tt will appear in the sequel that even in the 
latter case the potentiality of producing a com- 
plete embryo may still be present in the nucleus. 
It is important to distinguish between such 
primary or original nuclear potentiality, which 
may be common to all the cells, and the secondary 
or immediate potentiality determined by proto- 
plasmic specification. The relation between these 
is still an unsolved problem. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 530. 


yet no very distinet idea regarding the de- 
gree of complexity of this initial proto- 
plasmie configuration, though there are 
facts that indicate that it may not be very 
great, 7. e., that the prelocalization is of a 
somewhat general character. This question 
appears, however, to be of relatively minor 
importance in view of an additional con- 
clusion given by detailed studies on the 
formation, maturation and early develop- 
ment of the egg. These studies leave no 
doubt that the grouping of materials ob- 
served at the time the egg begins its process 
of division is not, in some eases at least, a 
primary or original one, but is of secondary 
origin. They indicate further that early 
in the development the egg contains ofly 
a few of these specific stuffs, at the very 
beginning possibly none, and that as devel- 
opment goes forward new stuffs are pro- 
gressively formed and distributed. Now, if 
this conclusion is well founded, the actual 
progressive development of the protoplasm 
must be conceived as a process of epigen- 
esis, not of preformation and evolution. 
This is the first general result that I desire 
to emphasize; and it is in harmony with 
the fact, on which all embryologists have 
been agreed, since the time of Wolff, that 
in its obvous features development is by 
the formation and addition of new parts 
not previously existent as such in the egg. 
The embryo is not actually preformed or 
even predelineated in the protoplasm from 
the beginning. The protoplasmic stuffs 
appear to be only the immediate means or 
efficient causes of differentiation; and we 
have still to seek its primary determina- 
tion in causes that lie more deeply. We 
are thus led to a brief consideration of the 
question of the physical basis of heredity, 
which will direct our attention to an ele- 
ment that has hitherto been disregarded, 
namely, the nucleus, and bring us to a 
second general result. 

It was long since suggested by Nagel. 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


that there is a particular substance or 
‘idioplasm’ peculiar to each species of 
plant or animal that is transmitted in the 
germ-cells and has the power to determine 
the development of the egg according to its 
nature. Later research has given very 
strong reason to accept this view in prin- 
ciple, and for the further conclusion that 
this physical basis is represented by a 
substance contained within the nucleus and 
known to eytologists as ‘chromatin.’ Pass- 
ing over the cogent, and I believe steadily 
accumulating, evidence on which this con- 
clusion rests, let us ask how the idioplasm 
is to be conceived. Some of those who have 
accepted the general conception of the idio- 
plasm have endeavored to think of it as a 
very complex but still single and homo- 
geneous substance—the frog’s egg, for ex- 
ample, might be conceived as containing 
a frog-determining substance, the human 
verm a man-determining substance, and so 
on. The most recent researches are, how- 
ever, continually strengthening the ground 
for a quite different conception, indicating 
that the chromatin does not operate as a 
simple substance, but is built into a com- 
plex fabric having a definite architecture. 
We are not here concerned with the par- 
ticular form of this conception developed 
by Weismann in his well-known work on 
the Germ-plasm, and elsewhere. I am re- 
ferring to more recent results of observa- 
tion and experiment which are giving new 
and more concrete evidence that the nu- 
cleus possesses a complex organization, and 
apparently one that must be conceived as a 
kind of primary or original preformation, 
which bears a certain analogy to that as- 
sumed by Bonnet, though quite distinct 
from it. 

We may perhaps most readily approach 
the grounds for this conclusion by econsid- 
ering, first, an example of the indirect evi- 
dence drawn from recent experiments on 
inheritance. I give a single example, 


SCIENCE. 


289 


typical of a large number of known eases, 
of the heredity of single or unit characters 
in the so-called Mendelian inheritance. If 
pure gray mice be crossed with pure white 
albino forms, the hybrid offspring are all 
eray without visible trace of white. But 
if these gray hybrids be now paired with 
each other, both parents being gray, ap- 
proximately 25 per cent. of their progeny 
are pure white without a trace of gray, and 
they continue to produce pure white off- 
spring thereafter. Many similar cases are 
known,.the same proportion of approxi- 
mately 25 per cent. of the ‘recessive’ char- 
acter in the third generation holding true, 
sometimes with great precision. What 
does this prove? First, that the white 
character is not really absent in the gray 
hybrids but only masked or concealed—‘ re- 
cessive,’ in Mendel’s terminology ; secondly, 
that the latent white character may in 
the following generation be completely dis- 
entangled or extracted from the gray; 
thirdly, since the proportion is definite, that 
the extraction takes place by means of some 
definite mechanism. We are at present, 
I think, unable to imagine an explanation 
of these truly astonishing facts save by the 
assumption that the gray and white char- 
acters are borne in the egg by correspond- 
ing discrete bodies or entities of some kind, 
that may be mixed and unmixed without 
fusion, shuffled and unshuffled like cards in 
a pack. The evidence is so far wholly in- 
direct, though I think none the less cogent. 
But now, bearing in mind that the case of 
the gray and white mice is but a single 
example of a widespread phenomenon, let 
us ask whether we can actually find any 
definite structures in the egg, and particu- 
larly in the nucleus, that may be assumed 
to represent such entities. One of the most 
significant and remarkable discoveries of 
modern biology is the fact that such enti- 
ties exist, though it is important not to 
forget that their significance in heredity is 


: i 


Ith 
= 


a Lee 


SCIENCE. 


an 
; 4 


CER 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 530. 


Ts 


Fic. 3.—Relations of the chromosomes; formation and distribution of protoplasmic stuffs in 
later stages. A, union of the germ nuclei (each assumed to have four chromosomes). B, CO, 
division of the chromosomes, with equal distribution of the paternal (1) and maternal (92) 
products. D, scheme of nucleus at any later stage, with four paternal and four maternal 
chromosomes (corresponding or homologous chromosomes connected by dotted lines). 4, 
actual outline (after Mead) of egg of Amphitrite consisting of upwards of 64 cells (nuclei 
schematized). Entoblast-cells unshaded, primary mesoblast cross-hatched, trochoblasts 
(ciliated cells) dotted, cells of ventral plate (ventral nervous system, etc.) black; the other 


cells belong to the ectoblast, 


as yet only an assumption, not a completely 
demonstrated fact. 

These entities are bodies known as 
‘chromosomes,’ and are represented in the 
diagrams by the rods in the nuclei.* I 


*In point of fact the chromosomes are, as a 
rule, only distinctly visible at the period of cell- 


can not within the limits of this address 
attempt to do more than touch on a few 
of the discoveries of recent years regarding 
the chromosomes, though I think they may 
division. In the diagram they are represented 


quite schematically, as if visible in the resting 
nuclei. 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


fairly be claimed to constitute one of the 
most brilliant chapters in the whole history 
of biology. The number of the chromo- 
somes is constant in each species and, with 
only a few exceptions of such a kind as to 
emphasize the rule, the number in sexually 
produced organisms is always an even one. 
It has been proved that during the fertil- 
ization of the egg one half of the chromo- 
somes are derived from the father and one 
half from the mother (Fig. 3, A), and the 
still more suggestive fact has been estab- 
lished—with probability through the study 
of normal development, with almost com- 
plete demonstration through the study of 
hybrids—that at every division of the egg 
the chromosomes also divide (Figs. 2, C, 
3, B, C) in such a manner that their prog- 
eny are distributed in equal number, step 
by step, to all the cells of the body. The 
remarkable conclusion is thus reached that 
the fertilized egg, and all the cells derived 
from it, contain a double set of chromo- 
somes, paternal and maternal (Fig. 3, D). 
The no less interesting result has been ex- 
perimentally reached that either set—pa- 
ternal or maternal—is sufficient for com- 
plete development (at least as far as the 
larval stages) ; for the egg may be caused 
to develop without the paternal chromo- 
somes, while conversely the paternal chro- 
mosomes alone will suffice for the develop- 
ment of an egg from which the maternal 
nucleus has been removed. Here for. the 
first time we catch a glimpse of the prob- 
able physical explanation of the phenomena 
of dominance and recession that have of 
late so greatly aroused the interest of ex- 
perimenters on inheritance; but above all, 
here is found our first definite basis of ob- 
servation for the assumption that the nu- 
clear organization is not merely a chemical 
or molecular one, but represents beyond 
this some kind of definite material con- 
figuration of the nuclear substance. 


SCIENCE. 


291 


The time will not allow me to do more 
than touch on the very recent work that 
has confirmed and extended this conclu- 
sion. It has been found, first, that in some 
species the chromosomes show constant dif- 
ferences of shape and size, which points 
towards the conclusion that they may pos- 
sess specific individual characters. But 
beyond this indirect evidence, and quite 
independently of it, Boveri has shown by 
direct experiments of great ingenuity and 
beauty that qualitative physiological dif- 
ferences among the chromosomes actually 
exist; for complete development is only 
possible in the presence of a particular 
combination of chromosomes. Hence the 
conclusion becomes probable that there is a 
definite causal relation of some kind be- 
tween the individual chromosomes and the 
development of corresponding characters 
or groups of characters; or, in other words, 
that the hereditary characters are in some 
manner distributed among the chromo- 
somes which form their physical basis in 
the egg. We do not yet know in precisely 
what form this conclusion should be for- 
mulated. We do not know, for instance, 
whether a single unit-character, such as 
color, is determined by a single chromo- 
some, or by a combination of chromosomes, 
or whether this may vary in different cases. 
In this direction we have taken but the first 
uncertain steps towards a new horizon of 
discovery. But the point I wish to em- 
phasize is that if we admit such a distribu- 
tion of characters among the chromosomes 
in any measure and in any form, to just 
this extent have we admitted the principle 
of preformation as applied to the nuclear 
substance or idioplasm. To this extent do 
we admit, for example, that the physical 
basis of inheritance in a frog’s egg is not 
simply a frog-determining substance, but 
is, in close analogy with Bonnet’s concep- 
tion, a kind of original preformation or 
microcosm, in which the individual frog- 


292 SCIENCE. 


characters are in some unknown manner 
represented by corresponding chromosome- 
characters. We can hardly imagine at 
present how this is possible; and it must be 
freely admitted that such a conclusion has 
an appearance of artificiality and crudeness 
that almost inevitably creates a certain feel- 
ing of scepticism. Nevertheless, to a con- 
clusion similar in principle to this the facts 
seem to be pretty definitely pointing. 

And now, finally, let us see how this con- 
ception, if accepted, is to be united with 
that of specific protoplasmic stuffs, as al- 
ready outlined. We do not know in any 
positive way, but we may roughly present 
the facts to our minds by a kind of artifi- 
cial hypothesis—somewhat as Ehrlich and 
his followers endeavor to present the side- 
chain theory of immunity by means of 
rough and erude diagrams. Let us assume, 
for example, that the specific protoplasmic 
stuffs are formed one after another by 
means of substances like enzymes that em- 
anate from corresponding chromosomes.* 
Putting the matter in the sharpest and 
erudest way, let us assume that each of 
the chromosomes in our diagram is re- 
sponsible for the formation of the stuff 
correspondingly shaded. <A few of these 
stuffs, formed and distributed as the egg 
ripens, determine the initial stages of de- 
velopment. In later stages other stuffs are 
formed by other chromosomes and progres- 
sively distributed to the cells by division. 
Thus the cleavage-mosaic grows progres- 
sively more complex and definite as devel- 
opment advances. Each nucleus still con- 
tains the germ or potentiality of the whole 
organism, but the cells assume _ specific 
characters according to the protoplasmic 
stuffs allotted to them (Fig. 3, £). 

This attempt to portray briefly the modus 
operandi of development is doubtless an 
excessively naive mode of formulating a 

*Cf.  Driesch’s 
Theorie, pp. 87-92. 


‘Ferment-Fiktion, Analyt. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 530. 


highly complex and subtle process, con- 
cerning the real nature of which we still 
know very lttle. Even if literally correct 
it would still leave quite out of account 
some of the most important elements of our 
problem. I do not offer it as a well-estab- 
lished or fully rounded conclusion, but 
rather, as a convenient way of placing be- 
fore you one fundamental result, towards 
which I believe the drift of recent research 
is tending. This is that the germ consists 
of two elements, one of which undergoes a 
development that is essentially epigenetic, 
while the other represents an original con- 
trolling and determining element. The 
first is represented by the protoplasm of 
the egg. The second is the nucleus, which, 
as I have attempted to show, must appar- 
ently be conceived as a kind of microcosm 
or original preformation, consisting of ele- 
ments which correspond, each for each, to 
particular parts or characters of the fu- 
ture organism. The actual development 
of the embryo, which is manifested by pro- 
eressive changes in the protoplasm, is by 
epigenesis, as Harvey and Wolff main- 
tained. Its primary determination is by 
means of a preformed apparatus, handed 
on to the egg from preceding generations 
in the nucleus, which, though not in any 
sense a miniature model of the adult, yet 
somehow embodies in infinitesimal com- 
pass, the heritage of the race. And thus the 
most recent discoveries in this difficult field 
of research are bringing us to a position 
which can hardly be better stated than in 
the words written by Huxley more than 
thirty years ago: ‘‘The process which in 
its superficial aspect is epigenesis appears 
in essence to be evolution, * * * and de- 
velopment is merely the expansion of a 
potential organism or original preforma- 
tion according to fixed laws.’’ We should 
not, with the advantage of our present 
standpoint, read into these words of Hux- 
ley’s a meaning which it was impossible 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


that he should have had in mind in writing 
them; yet without yielding to this tempta- 
tion we may fairly pay our humble tribute 
of admiration and homage to a scientific 
insight that was capable of reaching such 
a conclusion in the far away prehistoric 
period when chromosomes and Mendelism 
were unsuspected, when the nature of fer- 
tilization was unknown, and the internal 
mechanism of development was a wholly 
unsolved riddle. 

I will in conclusion add only a few 
words on the question of vitalism and 
mechanism in the light of the foregoing 
results. In so far as development may be 
conceived as the outcome of an original 
material configuration in the nucleus, and 
a secondary configuration in the proto- 
plasm, it may be conceived as a mechanical 
process. But it must be admitted that 
this conception leaves quite unsolved cer- 
tain fundamental elements of our problem 
—such, for instance, as the manner and 
order in which the protoplasmic stuffs are 
formed and assume their characteristic 
configuration, whether in the whole egg or 
in the isolated blastomere or egg-fragment ; 
or again, how the wonderful phenomena of 
the regeneration of lost parts in the adult 
organism can be explained. We have at 
present no positive data for an answer to 
these questions. But it ean hardly be dis- 
puted that we have already made a con- 
siderable advance towards a mechanical 
solution of the problem, and if this be so, 
by what right does the vitalist demand 
that we shall adopt his hypothesis for the 
portions still unsolved? Let us seek an 
answer to this question in the answer to 
a broader one. What is the object of the 
study of development? I should state this 
object somewhat as follows: First, to ob- 
Serve and to describe as completely and 
simply as possible the actual phenomena of 
development; secondly, to determine to 
what extent, from its beginning in the egg 


SCIENCE. 


293 


to its completion in the adult organism, 
the process can be formulated in terms of 
the elementary laws of matter and of mo- 
tion. But this is only a different way of 
stating that our object is to ascertain in 
what measure the operations of develop- 
ment, under given external conditions, are 
the result of an original configuration of 
material particles in the egg. Now, I do 
not need to say that even the approximate 
accomplishment of these aims is still very 
remote, their complete accomplishment im- 
possible. I am fully in accord with the 
neo-vitalists in their assertion that the phe- 
nomena of development and of life gener- 
ally have not yet been reduced to a me- 
chanical basis, that they can not at present 
be fully described in physico-chemical 
terms. It is certain that living beings ex- 
hibit structures more complex than any 
existing in the inorganic world, and differ- 
ent from them in kind. It is possible, 
probable I believe, that living bodies may 
be the arena of specific energies that exist 
nowhere else in nature. I admit fully that 
the interpretation of development I have 
endeavored to outline does not exclude, but 
in some ways actually suggests, the exist- 
ence of such energies. I should, therefore, 
even admit that the vitalists are wholly 
right in their contention that the vital 
processes are not at present explicable as 
the direct result of such energies as are 
observed in the non-living world. To pre- 
judge this question would set up a dog- 
matie barrier to progress, not only in biol- 
ogy, but also in chemistry and physies. If 
this be vitalism there are probably many of 
us who must be enrolled as ‘vitalists,’ how- 
ever doubtfully we may regard the honor 
of bearing such a title. But if the word 
‘vitalism’ be used in any other sense than 
as a convenient phrase, an « by which to 
designate an unknown quantity, if it be 
taken in a positive sense to imply in the 
living organism any negation of the funda- 


294 


mental laws of matter and of motion, the 
existence of any distinctive entity, or prin- 
ciple that does not fall within the chain of 
physical causation or that contravenes the 
general laws of physics, then, I protest, to 
accept ‘vitalism’ as a principle of interpre- 
tation is deliberately to abandon the scien- 
tific method in biological study. 
Epmunp B. WILSON. 


THE’ AMERICAN PALEONTOLOGICAL SO0- 
CIETY. SECTION A—VERTEBRATA. 

Section A of the American Paleontolog- 
ical Society held its third annual meeting 
in common with the other societies on De- 
-eember 27, 28 and 29, and greatly enjoyed 
the admirable arrangements made by the 
officers of the University of Pennsylvania, 
especially by Professor Conklin. The 
President, Professor Henry F. Osborn, 
presided. At the close of the meeting Pro- 
fessor W. B. Scott was elected president 
and Dr. Marcus S. Farr secretary, both of 
Princeton University. 

The meeting included a series of eighteen 
papers presented in person or in manu- 
script by Messrs. Osborn, Eastman, Sin- 
clair, Case, Lull, Patten, Brown, Gidley, 
Hay, Loomis, Farr, Scott, Petersen, Doug- 
lass, Williston, Matthew and Granger. 
These were presented on Tuesday afternoon 
and on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. 
On Wednesday forenoon the president de- 
livered his annual address, entitled ‘Ten 
Years’ Progress in Mammalian Paleontol- 
ogy.” In this address, which will be 
printed in full elsewhere, the history of the 
science during the last decade was followed 
in detail, and the principal advances, in 
the discovery of new forms, principles, 
and methods of work, were outlined. On 
Thursday morning the principal feature 
was the discussion of the phylogeny and 
classification of the Reptilia, in which 
Messrs. Osborn, Williston, MeGregor and 
Hay participated. In this discussion Pro- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXTI. No. 530. 


fessor Osborn opened with a general re- 
view, pointing out the gradual develop- 
ment of the idea of a double grouping of 
the reptiles, beginning with Baur’s phylog- 
eny published in 1889 and continued in the 
phylogenies and discussions of Cope, Smith 
Woodward, Broom, Nopesa, Williston, 
Boulenger, Osborn and McGregor. The 
following table is that of Osborn, 1904. 

The chief differences of opinion at 
present relate to the position of the 
Ichthyosauria, Sauropterygia and Testu- 
dinata, some authors placing the Ichthyo- 
sauria as intermediate between the two 
groups, others placing them frankly with 
the descendants of the rhynchocephaloid 
reptiles, as suggested by Baur. Boulenger 
derives both the Sauropterygia and the 
Testudinata from the rhynchocephaloid, 
or diapsidan, group; whereas all other au- 
thors take them off from the synapsidan 
group. 

Professor Williston continued the dis- 
cussion, speaking especially of the Saur- 
opterygia. He first stated that he consid- 
ered the Sauropterygia and Testudinata as 
fundamentally separate groups, all their 
points of likeness being due to analogous 
evolution, while their points of difference 
are fundamentally distinctive. He consid- 
ered the Triassic plesiosaurs Nothosaurus 
and Lariosaurus, as not ancestral to the 
Jurassic and Cretaceous plesiosaurs, but 
as representing an independent- offshoot. 
He maintained that the Proganosauria, rep- 
resented by the Permian genera Mesosaurus 
and Stereosternum, were certainly not an- 
cestral to the plesiosaurs, as held by Seeley 
and Boulenger. The Testudinata are also 
widely separated from the Placodontia, 
and are probably of direct Cotylosaurian 
origin. The points of convergence are 
partly correlated with the large size of the 
paddles of plesiosaurs and turtles, the short 
tail being correlated with the long pro- 
podials in the plesiosaurs, whereas in the 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


SCIENCE. 


295 


Subclass SYNAPSIDA Osborn 1903. Order 
Cotylosauria Cope 1880 (Pareiasauria See- 
ley 1889). 


Superorder ANOMODONTIA Owen 1860. (Ther- 
omorpha Cope 1878, in part.) 
Order Theriodontia Owen 1876. Suborder 


Therocephalia Broom 1903. 
Suborder Cynodontia Owen 1861. 
Order Dicynodontia Owen 1860. 
Order Placodontia auct. ex H. von Meyer 
1863 Incerte Sedis. 
Order Sauropterygia Owen 1860. Suborder 
Simosauria auct. ex Gervais 1845. 
(Nothosauria Seeley 1882.) 
Suborder Plesiosauria auct. ex Quenstedt 
1852. 
Order Testudinata auct. ex Shaw 1802. 
Suborder Pleurodira auct. ex Duméril and 
Bibron 1835. 
Suborder Cryptodira auct. ex Duméril and 
Bibron 1835. 
Suborder Trionychia auct. ex Pictet 1853. 


Subclass DIAPSIDA Osborn 1903. 
Superorder DIAPTOSAURIA Osborn 1903. 
{ Order Procolophonia Seeley 1867. 
Order Protorosauria Seeley 1887. 
Order Proganosauria Baur 1887. 
Order Gnathodontia Owen 1680. 
(Rhynchosauria Osborn 1903). 
Order Pelycosauria Cope 1878. 
Order Choristodera Cope 1877. 
| Order Rhynchocephalia Giinther 1868. 
Order Parasuchia Huxley 1875. 
Suborder Aétosauria Nicholson and Lydek- 


ker 1889. 
Suborder Phytosauria Baur 1894 ex 
Jaeger 1828. 
Order Ichthyosauria Blainville 1835 ex 


Jaeger 1824. 
(Ichthyopterygia Owen 1860.) 

Order Crocodilia Wagler (7?) 1830. 
Suborder Mesosuchia Huxley 1875. 
Suborder Eusuchia Huxley 1875. 
Suborder Thalattosuchia Fraas 1901, 

Superorder DINOSAURIA Owen 1840. 
Order Theropoda Marsh 1881. 
Suborder Megalosauria ex Fitzinger 1843. 
(Thecodontia Owen 1860.) 
Suborder Symphypoda Cope 1867. 
(Compsognatha Huxley 1870.) 
Order Opisthocelia Owen 1860. 
(Sauropoda Marsh 1881.) 
Order Orthopoda Cope 1866. 
(Predentata Marsh 1894.) 
Superorder SQUAMATA Oppel 1811. 
Order Lacertilia Owen 1839. 
| Order Mosasauria auct. ex Gervais 1845, 
Order Ophidia Brogniart 1802. 
Order Pterosauria auct. ex Kaup 1834. 


ichthyosaurs the long tail is correlated with 
short propodials. In both plesiosaurs and 
turtles the ilium is directed downward and 
forward, in correlation with the backward 
thrust of the paddles; in-both, the scapula 
acquires secondarily a proscapular process. 
The fundamental characters distinguishing 
the two groups may be summarized in the 
table given below. 

Continuing the discussion, Dr. J. H. 
McGregor maintained and expanded his 
previous argument for the derivation of 
the Ichthyosauria from the Diapsida, and 


for the probably secondary nature of the 
closed condition of the temporal arch region 
of the skull. 


Turtles. | Plesiosaurs. 


Vomer (parasphenoid) un- 
paired. | 

No posterior parasphenoid | A separate parasphenoid., 
process. | 

Opisthotic separate 

Cervicals eight. Cervicals 13-76. 

Ribs intercentralinattach- | Ribs diapophysial in attach- 
ment, | ment. 

Ten dorsals. | Twenty dorsals. 


| Paired prevomers. 


Opisthotic not separate. 


Dr. O. P. Hay pointed out the now con- 
vineing evidence that the original Testudi- 
nata had a closed, or solid, temporal roof 


296 


to the skull, as seen in the primitive Am- 
phychelydia, and persisting in the Che- 
loniidw; in other words, the production of 
an open temporal roof is secondary, in the 
more primitive families it is less reduced, 
in the lowest families it is still closed. 
From this original condition reduction has 
taken place in most forms from behind; in 
others, as some pleurodires, from below. 
There is thus no true supratemporal fossa. 
The parieto-squamosal arch in some pleuro- 
dires is proof of the presence originally of 
a solid roof. The turtles have been de- 
rived from the Cotylosauria, possibly 
through the Chelydosauria. With the 
Cotylosauria the turtles agree in possessing 
eight cervical and ten dorsal vertebre. He 
pictured the primitive turtle as having a 
short, broad head, with overroofed tem- 
poral region and a short supraoceipital; a 
short neck eonsisting of eight vertebra, 
with short neural spines, long transverse 
processes and biccelous centra; a distinet 
proseapular process representing a procora- 
eoid; caudal vertebre with chevrons; a 
dermal armature consisting of plates of 
bone overlying the ribs and neural arches, 
and above this a mosaic of small bones em- 
bedded in the skin; a plastron consisting of 
the clavicles and interclaviele and the lat- 
eral elements of a parasternum, outside of 
which was a dermal armor of small plates. 
He maintained further that the turtles 
and the plesiosaurs are so different that 
they should be placed in different sub- 
classes. 

Dr. F. B. Loomis read a paper on ‘The 
Amherst College Expedition to the 
Wasatch and Wind River Basins in 1904.’ 
A rich collection of Wasatch forms will 
supplement of the less known 
species. One Hohippus in which the para- 
conid is bifid, and a tiny Anaptomorphus, 
only two thirds the size of A. homunculus, 
The beds are 2,180 


In the Wind River basin a new 


several 


are among the species. 
feet thick. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S."VoL. XXI. No. 530. 


and rich locality was found, six miles above 
the mouth of Bridger Creek. There were col- 
lected at least three species of Hyopsodus, 
four of Notharctus, one of Anaptomorphus, 
three of Paramys, one of Oxyana, one of 
Esthonyx and two of Coryphodon. The 
latter is represented by teeth and a nearly 
complete skeleton. 

Mr. O. A. Petersen sent a paper entitled 
‘Suggestions Regarding the Probable 
Origin of Demoneliz.’ It has been re- 
garded as a plant, but the author ecencludes 
that it represents the burrow of the extinct 
rodent Sieneofiber. In his exploraticns 
he found, in the materials filling the bur- 
rows, portions of skeletons of the rodent 
mentioned. 

Mr. Earl Douglass presented a paper on 
‘A New Monotreme-like Mammal from the 
Lower White River Beds.’ The skull was 
deseribed and drawings of it shown. While 
presenting numerous resemblances to the 
monotremes the author expresses some 
doubts on the relationships. 

Professor W. B. Seott, referring to re- 
cent work of Roth on the South American 
Ungulates, held that the ordinal term 
Notoungulata suggested by Roth should 
include three grand divisions and _ sub- 
divisions as follows: 


I. Toxodontia. 
Toxodontia. 
Homalodontotheria. 
Typotheria. 

Il. Astrapotheria. 

III. Litopterna, 


Among the common characters are the 
following: 

1. The double ankle joint. 

2. The pillar on the inner side of the 
posterior erescent in the lower molars, the 
homologies of which are at present obscure. 

Division J., including the Toxodontia, 
Typotheria and Homalodontotheria is es- 
pecially distinguished by (1) swollen audi- 
tory region, (2) zygomatie arch ending on 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


the top of the skull. The Astrapotheria 
stand apart in the enlargement of the 
canines, showing analogies with the Amy- 
nodontide, which are, however, deceptive. 
Like the Litopterna they lack the auditory 
expansion. All these ungulates are fur- 
ther distinguished by being entirely horn- 
less. 

Dr. O. P. Hay read a paper ‘On the 
Group of Fossil Turtles known as the 
Amphichelydia.’ The author’s studies are 
based on a very complete skeleton of the 
Jurassic Compsemys plicatula in the Amer- 
ican Museum and several fine specimens of 
Buena, collected in the Bridger beds of 
Wyoming. In the members of this super- 
family the temporal region is roofed in, 
there are nasals and a lachrymal bone; the 
pterygoids exclude the quadrate from con- 
tact with the basisphenoid; the cervical 
vertebree may be biconcave or one or both 
ends may be convex; the neck short and 
adapted for motion in all planes, but more 
like that of the Pleurodira; the pelvis not 
suturally articulated with the shell. The 
eroup has evidently given origin to the 
Cryptodira and the Pleurodira, the former 
retaining the skull structure, the latter 
eroup retaining the neck and shell struc- 
tures. 

Papers were also read by Mr. W. J. Sin- 
elair on ‘The Marsupials of the Santa Cruz 
Formation’; by Dr. Wm. Patten, ‘On the 
Structure of the Ostracoderms’; by Dr. M. 
S. Farr, ‘On Mammals from the Fort 
Union Beds.’ 

Professor Wm. Patten described the 
structure of Bothriolepis, based on the 
study of a large number of well-preserved 
specimens recently obtained by him in New 
Brunswick. Many specimens were ex- 
hibited which illustrated and confirmed the 
most important features of the description. 
The structure of the mouth parts, the posi- 
tion of the gills, anus, anal fin and other 
organs indicate that the Ostracoderms must 


SCIENCE. ; ZO 


be separated from all other known sub- 
divisions of the Chordata and raised to 
the dignity of a separate class. 

Professor S. W. Williston reported on an 
important new loeality for Triassic verte- 
brates on the east side of the Wind River 
range, near Lander, Wyo., yielding the 
most important remains which have yet 
been found in the American Triassic. The 
collections, which as yet have not been pre- 
pared and studied, represent four great 
groups, as fellows: The Labyrinthcdontia 
are represented by very large forms aliied 
to Metoposaurus, of Wurtemberg, but gen- 
erically distinct from it. The Dieynodontia, 
or Anomodontia, heretofore not represented 
in America, are apparently represented in 
portions of a skeleton, including a humerus 
resembling that of Platypodosaurus, and 
a_ pelvis suggesting that of 
Tapinocephalus. The teeth named Palaoc- 
tonus by Cope and referred to a dinosaur, 
probably belong to members of this group, 
the affinities of which still require further 
study. The third group is widely distinct, 
including an animal with a slender hu- 
merus, a scapulo-coracoid with very promi- 
nent glenoid fossa, the blade of the scapula 
being placed at right angles to the lower 
portion of the arch, the humerus without 
entepicondylar foramen; the resemblances 
are rather with the Pterosauria than any 
other group. The fourth great group is 
the Phytosauria; here no less than four 
skulls of the Belodontia were found, all 
different, probably representing four 
genera, differing in the elongation of the 
snout and position of the nostrils, and 
adding substantially to our knowledge of 
this group. The author incidentally re- 
marked that he had positively determined 
that the Hallopus Beds near Canon City, 
Colorado, are of Triassic and not Jurassic 
age; these beds contain labyrinthodonts 
and erocodiles which belong to a higher 
horizon than that discovered near Lander. 


remotely 


298 


The author further stated that he placed 
the Como beds as equivalent to the 
Wealden, and as representing either the 
upper or middle part of the Lower Cre- 
taceous. 

Dr. E. C. Case read on ‘Characters of the 
Chelydosauria.’ 

The Permian genus Diadectes was shown 
to be a member of the order Chelydosauria 
of Cope. This order was founded on the 
genera Otocelus and Conodectes and was 
considered as ancestral to the turtles. 

The discovery that Diadectes is a mem- 
ber of this order permits a more complete 
description of its characters from espe- 
cially perfect specimens collected by the 
author of the paper. 

The members of the Chelydosauria 
(Diadectide and Otoccelide) differ from 
the Cotylosauria (Pareiasauride, Parioti- 
chide, Elginide(?)) by the following char- 
acters; and in the same characters approach 
the Testudinata. 

1. There are three pairs of openings 
through the roof of the skull instead of 
two; the extra pair being the openings of 
the meatus auditus externus. 

2. The palate is very degenerate and the 
transverse bone is lost or nearly so. 

3. The form of the quadrate and its rela- 
tions to the surrounding bones are directly 
comparable to those of the turtles. 

4. There are no teeth on the pterygoids 
and palatines. 

5. There is no anterior process (para- 
sphenoid) on the basisphenoid bone and 
correlated with this. 

6. There are no prevomers but a single, 
anteriorly placed vomer (parasphenoid ?). 

7. The internal carotid arteries do not 
penetrate the lower surface of the basi- 
sphenoid, as in the Rhyncocephalia, but en- 
ter from the side as in many turtles. 

8. The presence of paired descending 
plates from the under side of the parietal 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. Nu. 530. 


and the possible absence of the epiptery- 
goid. 

9. The presence of dorsal plates over- 
lying the dorsal ribs and the presence of 
eighteen presacral vertebre (the last com- 
mon to Cotylosauria). 

There is no trace of a beginning plastron. 

It is concluded that the characters of the 
skull establish the validity of the order 
Chelydosauria and indicate the direct 
origin of the turtles from the Cotylosauria. 
On Eocene Insectivora and on Pantolestes 

in particular: W. D. MaTrrHew. 

The genus Pantolestes Cope, variously 
referred to the Primates, Creodonta and 
Artiodactyla, turns out to be a fossorial in- 
sectivore of an archaic and peculiar type. 
A well-preserved skull and jaws and a 
large part of the skeleton were obtained by 
the American Museum Expedition in the 
Bridger Basin last summer. The teeth 
resemble those of the most primitive 
ereodonts, the skull is most like that of the 
Centetide, and unlike the ereodont or con- 
dylarth skulls; the limbs and feet are 
specialized for digging, more than in the 
badger but less than in the moles; the tail 
is long and very massive, the postsacral 
vertebre being larger than the presacrals. 
Palewosinopa Matthew is the Lower Eocene 
ancestor of Pantolestes; Pentacodon Scott, 
of the Basal Eocene, appears to be a related 
genus. The addition of the Pantolestidz 
and of some undescribed genera recently 
discovered, and also, if Wortman’s asser- 
tion is supported by evidence, of the 
Hyopsodontide, to the lst of Eocene In- 
sectivora, greatly increases the importance 
of that order among the Mammalia of the 
early Tertiary. The present distribution 
of the Insectivora indicates that they must 
onee have been an abundant and varied 
group; but fossil insectivores have hitherto 
been quite rare and for the most part 
nearly related to the three common living 
families, the hedgehogs, moles and shrews. 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


We now recognize the order as an impor- 
tant group in the Kocene, including a con- 
siderable variety of primitive types, and 
showing relationship on the one hand to 
the Primates, on the other to the Creodonta. 
Trigonolestes Cope, of the Lower Eocene, 
is not related to Pantolestes but is a true 
artiodactyl. 

Dr. R. 8. Lull read a paper on ‘ Footprint 
Interpretation’ of which this abstract is 
given. The first dinosaur was found in 
the Connecticut Valley at New Windsor 
in 1818; but not until the civil war was a 
specimen brought to light of sufficient per- 
fection to be considered in footprint inter- 
pretation. Even then little was known 
of the true nature of these forms other 
than that they were saurians. Marsh’s 
restorations, based upon further material 
discovered at New Windsor, gave the first 
opportunity for a correlation of the osseous 
remains with the footprints. The tracks 
fall into three classes—truly bipedal forms; 
those of bipedal gait and quadrupedal rest- 
ing posture; and finally true quadrupeds. 

Of the first group the track genus An- 
chisauripus may be correlated with the 
family of Dinosauria known as the An- 
chisauride ; Gigandipus has resemblances 
to Allosaurus, though a somewhat smaller 
form having a sinuous tail trace; in Gral- 
lator the feet are very small, with limbs of 
great proportionate length, representing a 
group of aberrant compsognathoid dino- 
saurs probably of habits similar to the 
wading birds. These genera were all 
Theropoda, or carnivorous dinosaurs. 
Eubrontes includes truly bipedal forms, 
large, bluntly clawed, probably of herbiv- 
orous habits; hence a predentate dinosaur. 

The occasionally quadrupedal creatures 
were as truly bipedal types as those of the 
first group while moving, but always 
brought the hands in contact with the 
ground while resting. The most impor- 
tant genus is Anome@pus, an herbivorous 


SCIENCE. 


299 


dinosaur whose proportions suggest Hypsi- 
lophodon; while Otozowm, a huge creature 
with a plantigrade foot, having a shelf-like 
extension of skin around it presumably to 
support the great weight of the animal in 
soft mud, has no counterpart among known 
dinosaurs; and one can form no conception 
of its probable appearance. Except for 
its bipedal gait it presents some interesting 
points of comparison with Chirotherium of 
the Bunter. 

Quite a host of quadrupedal tracks are 
known which must include both Amphibia 
and Reptilia, but one genus only, Batra- 
chopus, can with any degree of certainty 
be correlated with known types. Stegomus 
longipes, a small Aétiosaur from Long- 
meadow, Mass., seems to show proportions, 
size and length of limb which would make 
its relationship with Batrachopus fairly 
assured. In this track genus the stride is 
extremely long and the trackway narrow, 
implying a form with high stilted limbs 
and a gait like a cursorial mammal. 

Thus far only can we at present interpret 
fossil footprints with any degree of assur- 
ance. ; 

Dr. C. R. Eastman sent a paper entitled 
‘Fossil Bird Remains from Armissan.’ 
This paper, which is in course of publica- 
tion by the Carnegie Museum, discusses the 
paleontological history of gallinaceous 
birds, and offers a description of a new 
species of Taoperdiz, a form related to ex- 
isting pheasants, and noteworthy as ap- 
pearing as early as the Upper Eocene. 
From the type species it differs chiefly in 
the relative proportions of mandible and 
wing-bones. The original is preserved in 
the Carnegie Museum at Pittsburgh, and 
has been courteously loaned by Dr. W. J. 
Holland. 

Also a paper on ‘ Anaximander, Earliest 
precursor of Darwin.’ The doctrine of 
evolution, far from being a purely modern 
conception, was anticipated in its essential 


300 


features by Ionian philosophers of the sixth 
century B. C. Writers, however, are dis- 
agreed as to which of these may properly 
be considered as the earliest evolutionist. 
A eollation of the extant fragments of 
Anaximander, with critical interpretation 
of the same, reveals an acuteness and sug- 
gestiveness on the part of their author 
such as entitle him to high estimation 
amongst the founders of the main theory. 

A paper entitled ‘Recent Exploration. of 
a Pleistocene Fissure in Northern Ar- 
kansas,’ by Mr. Barnum Brown, describes 
what might be termed a bone mine from 
which nearly ten thousand identifiable 
bones were taken. 

It is shown that a large number of the 
animals entombed here have been dragged 
in by weasels, which are actually found in 
their lairs in the wall of the fissure. Other 
carnivorous animals, such as the saber- 
toothed tigers, probably inhabited this 
fissure and brought in the remains of deer 
and hogs. 

Thirty-four genera and fifty-five species 
are recognized. A new genus of skunks, 
Brachyprotoma, is deseribed ; also nine new 
species of different animals. 

The fauna is compared with recent and 
fossil forms and tends to show that the 
fossil forms are boreal types and that the 
climate at this latitude was much colder 
during the Pleistocene period than at pres- 
ent. 

Although many of the fossil species can 
not be separated from living forms, the 
large number of extinct species places the 
age of this fauna at some time prior to the 
middle Pleistocene. O. P. Hay, 


Secretary. 


THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN GEOG- 
RAPHBRS. 

Association of American Geog- 

was organized in Philadelphia, 

December 29, 30, with about fifty members, 


THE 
raphers 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No, 530. 


of whom about twenty-five were present. 
The following officers were elected : 


President—W. M. Davis, Cambridge, Mass. 

Vice-Presidents—G. K. Gilbert, Washington; A. 
Heilprin, Philadelphia. 

Secretary and Treasurer—A. P. Brigham, 
Hamilton, N. Y. 

Councillors—R. 8. Tarr, Ithaca, N. Y.; Cyrus 
C. Adams, New York; H. C. Cowles, Chicago. 


The object of the association is “‘The 
cultivation of scientific geography in all its 
branches, especially by promoting ac- 
quaintanee, intercourse and _ discussion 
amongst members, by encouraging and 
aiding geographical exploration and re- 
search, by assisting the publication of geo- 
graphical essays, by developing better con- 
ditions for the study of geography in 
schools, colleges and universities, and by 
cooperating with other societies in the de- 
velopment of an intelligent interest in 
geography among the people of North 
America.’’ No regular publication will 
for the present be issued by the association, 
it being the opinion of its members that 
existing geographical journals afford suffi- 
cient opportunity for bringing out their 
essays. The annual meetings of the asso- 
ciation will ordinarily be held in connection 
with the winter meetings of the American 
Association; but it is probable that the 
meeting next year will be held in New 
York city. A summer field meeting is in 
consideration. : 

The desire of the organizers of the asso- 
ciation is to bring together the investigating 
geographers of the country, and to lead 
those who are working on the organic and 
inorganic sides of geography on the human, 
economic, zoological, botanical, climatic, 
oceanographie and geologic sides of this 
many-sided subject—to present their re- 
sults in each other’s presence. While full 
membership is limited to those who have 
already accomplished some original work, 
it was suggested that inquiry be made to 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


learn whether others who have specialized 
less in geography would eare to take asso- 
ciate membership. In any ease the meet- 
ings of the association will be open to all 
interested persons, and a special welcome 
will be given to those whose further work 
would naturally lead them into the asso- 
ciation. 

The program of the meeting in Phila- 
delphia included the following papers, all 
of which were presented by the authors, 
except where stated as read by title. 


BAILEY WILLIS: 
China.’ 

F, E. Ciements: ‘The Interaction of Physiog- 
raphy and Plant Successions in the Rocky Moun- 
tains.’ Read by title. 

EK. Huntineton: ‘The Seistan Depression in 
Eastern Persia.’ 

L. STEJNEGER: ‘The Distribution of the Dis- 
coglossoid Toads, in the Light of Ancient Land 
Connections.’ 

A. P. BricgHam: ‘The Development of the 
Great Roads across the Appalachians.’ 

R. W. PuMPeELLY (by invitation): ‘ Physio- 
graphy of the Northern Pamer.’ : 

R. S. Tarr: ‘Some Instances of Moderate 
Glacial Erosion.’ : 

D. W. Jounson: ‘The Distribution of Fresh- 
water Faunas as Evidence of Drainage Modifica- 
tions.’ 


‘Some Physical Aspects of 


H. C. Cowies: ‘The Relation of Physiographic 
Ecology to Geography.’ 
R. A. Daty: ‘The General Accordance of 


Summit Levels in a High Mountain Region: the 
Fact and its Significance.’ 

I. Bowman (by invitation): ‘Partly Sub- 
merged Islands in Lake Erie.’ Read by title. 


Cyrus ©. Apams: ‘The Improvement of 
American Maps.’ Read by title. 
R. E. Dover: ‘The Journal of Geography and _ 


its Purpose.” Read by title. 

F. E. Matrues: ‘The Study of River Flow.’ 

L. G. WESTGATE (by invitation): ‘The Geo- 
graphic Features of the Twin Lakes District, Colo- 
rado.’ 

N. H. Darton: ‘Geologie Expression in Con- 
tour Maps.’ Read by title. 

H. F. Rew: ‘The Forms of Glacier Ends.’ 
Read by title. 

F. P. GULLIVER: 
bolo.’ Read by title. 


“Muskeget a Complex Tom- 


SCIENCE. 


HO1 


W. Lipsey: ‘The Physical Characters of the 
Jordan Valley.’ Read by title. 
W. M. Davis: ‘A Chapter in the Geography 


of Pennsylvania.’ Read by title. 

G. IX. Grrgert: ‘ Moulin Sculpture.’ 

G. W. Lirrtenates: ‘A New and Abridged 
Method of Finding the Locus of Geographical 
Position, and Simultaneously therewith the True 
Bearing.’ Read by title. 


In addition to the above, Professor W. M. 
Davis, in assuming the presidency of the 
association, presented a brief address on 
‘The Opportunity of the Association of 
American Geographers’; this paper will be 
printed in the Bulletin of the American 
Geographical Society. Most of the papers 
were accompanied by lantern illustrations, 


-and it should be stated that most of the 


authors were present, whose papers were 
read by title, the papers being withheld 
from presentation for lack of time. 
Extracts were read from a letter sent 
by Professor E. de Martonne, announcing 
that an international association of Euro- 
pean geographers would probably be 
formed next spring. It was voted to send 
to Professor de Martonne the best wishes 
of the American Geographers for the form- 
ation of the European association. 
Following is a list of the original mem- 
bers of the Association of American Geog- 
raphers: C. Abbe, Jr., Washington; Ch. C. 
Adams, Ann Arbor; Cy. C. Adams, New 
York; O. P. Austin, Washington; R. L. 
Barrett, Chicago; A. P. Brigham, Hamil- 
ton, N. Y.; A. H. Brooks, Washington ; 
H. G. Bryant, Philadelphia; M. R. Camp- 
bell, Washington; H. C. Cowles, Chicago; 
J. F. Crowell, Washington; R. A. Daly, 
Ottawa, Can.; N. H. Darton, Washington; 
W. M. Davis, Cambridge; R. E. Dodge, 
New York; C. R. Dryer, Terre Haute; N. 
M. Fenneman, Madison, Wis.; H. Gannett, 
Washington; M. K. Genthe, Hartford; G. 
K. Gilbert, Washington; J. P. Goode, Chi- 
eago; H. E. Gregory, New Haven; F. P. 
Gulliver, Southboro, Mass.; C. W. Hall, 


302 


Minneapolis; R. A. Harris, Washington; 
A. Heilprin, Philadelphia; R. T. Hill, 
Washington; E. Huntington, Milton, 
Mass.; M. S. W. Jefferson, Ypsilanti; 
Emory R. Johnson, Philadelphia; Wm. 
Libbey, Prineeton; G. W. Littlehales, 
Washington; C. F. Marbut, Columbia, Mo. ; 
F. E. Matthes, Washington (Camb.); W J 
McGee, Washington; R. Pumpelly, New- 
port, R. I.; H. F. Reid, Baltimore; W. W. 
Rockhill, Washington; R. D. Salisbury, 
Chicago; E. C. Semple, Louisville; G. H. 
Shattuck, Baltimore; L. Stejneger, Wash- 
ington; R. 8. Tarr, Ithaca; R. DeC. Ward, 
Cambridge; B. Willis, Washington. 
ALBERT PERRY BRIGHAM, 
Secretary. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS, 


Technical Mechanics. By Epwarp R. Maurer, 
professor of mechanics in the University of 
Wisconsin. New York, John Wiley & Sons. 
1903. 

Elements of Theoretical Mechanics. By AwEx- 
ANDER ZIWET, junior professor of mathe- 
matics in the University of Michigan. Re- 
vised edition of ‘An Elementary Treatise 
on Theoretical Mechanics, especially de- 
signed for students of engineering. New 
York, The Macmillan Company. 1904. 

Die Technische Mechanik. Elementares Lehr- 
buch fiir Mittlere Maschinentechnische 
Fachsehulen und Hilfsbuch fiir Studierende 
Hoherer Technischer Lehranstalten. Von 
P. Srepuan, Regierungsbaumeister, Lehrer 
an der Kgl. Héheren Maschinenbauschule 
in Posen. Erster Teil: Mechanik Starrer 
Korper. Leipzig und Berlin, B. G. Teub- 

1904. 

The teacher of mechanics who undertakes 
to write a text-book for students of engineer- 
ing is confronted with a difficult problem: 
He is compelled to recognize the justice of 
the demand that the course shall be practical, 
while resisting the tendency to interpret the 
practical too narrowly. While a rather ex- 
tensive course seems to be demanded by the 
manifold applications of mechanics in engi- 


ner. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 530. 


neering, his experience in the class-room em- 
phasizes strongly the limitations imposed by 
restricted time and lack of maturity of stu- 
dents. It will scarcely be questioned that the 
matter of first importance to the student is a 
clear understanding of principles rather than 
an assortment of special rules for solving par- 
ticular problems. The presentation of prin- 
ciples in a sound and intelligible manner 
should, therefore, be the chief aim of a text- 
book, and methods of presentation and illus- 
trative examples should be chosen primarily 
with reference to this aim. 

The success with which this requirement is 
met by the three books under review will be 
differently estimated by different teachers. 
Each possesses merit of a high order, and 
there is little room for adverse criticism ex- 
cept such as implies a fair difference of opin- 
ion as to what methods of treatment are to be 
regarded as best. It will here be attempted 
only to indicate the character and scope of 
each of the books, and to make some general 
observations regarding methods of presenting 
the principles of mechanics in an elementary 
text-book. 

As a sound and practical text-book for the 
use of students of engineering Professor 
Maurer’s book possesses high merit. The ex- 
position is nearly always concise—indeed, this 
is perhaps often carried to a fault—but the 
soundness of the logic is rarely open to ques- 
tion. The author shows close sympathy with 
the point of view of the beginner, and appre- 
ciation of the fact that at certain points the 
conventional treatment of fundamental prin- 
ciples fails to meet the needs of the ordinary 
student. 

Professor Ziwet’s book is an excellent in- 
troduction to the science of analytical me- 
chanics. His exposition is in general sound 
and logical, and the book will be read with 
pleasure and profit by a student of mathe- 
matical tastes and ability who has the requisite 
mathematical training. The maturity and 
mathematical equipment required for reading 
it at all easily appear to be greater than are 
possessed by most of those who take up the 
subject in the second or third year of the 
ordinary four-year course in engineering, but 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


the book will doubtless prove effective in the 
hands of a teacher who is in sympathy with 
the methods and point of view of its author. 

Stephan’s book is admirable for the sim- 
plicity with which elementary principles and 
methods are presented. If written in English 
it would probably find favor with many teach- 
ers in America who desire a text-book not pre- 
supposing calculus. It should be said, how- 
ever, that while calculus notation is not em- 
ployed by Stephan, he does employ the concep- 
tions of both differential and integral calculus. 
The fundamental conceptions of the calculus 
are, of course, necessarily employed in any 
sound presentation of the principles of me- 
chanics, and it may be doubted whether real 
simplicity is gained by avoiding its notation. 

The three books are all designed for stu- 
dents of engineering, and each aims to be 
practical by including many numerical exer- 
cises and illustrative examples of the kind 
met in engineering practise, but each is a text- 
book of theoretical, rather than applied, me- 
chanics. All have much the same scope, cov- 
ering the statics, kinematics and kinetics of 
particles and of rigid bodies. Two of the 
books—those of Maurer and Stephan—agree 
somewhat closely in order of treatment, be- 
ginning with statics and following with kine- 
matics and kinetics. Ziwet, on the other 
hand, begins with geometry of motion and 
kinematics, follows with an introduction to 
dynamics (statics being treated as a special 
case) and concludes with kinetics. In all the 
treatment is mainly restricted to the simpler 
force systems and the simpler cases of motion. 
Of the three books that of Stephan is the most 
elementary in treatment, while that of Ziwet 
would probably be the most difficult reading 
for the average student beginning the subject 
in its usual place in a course in engineering. 

As features of Maurer’s book may be men- 
tioned the emphasis everywhere given to the 
vector nature of the quantities dealt with, the 
parallel treatment of graphical and analytical 
methods in statics, the admirable chapter on 
work and energy, and the satisfactory treat- 
ment of the subject of units. Professor Ziwet 
also gives prominence to vector notions, and 
also includes graphical methods in statics, 


SCIENCE. 


303 


though less fully than Maurer. His book con- 
tains no systematic presentation of the theory 
of energy, though the main features of the 
theory may be gathered from detached pas- 
sages. His treatment of kinematics and kin- 
etics 1s throughout more elaborate on the 
theoretical side than that of Maurer or of 
Stephan, and more use is made of general 
analytical methods. Stephan does not use 
the language of vectors. In statics he makes 
free use of graphical methods, but does not 
give the student the aid which comes from 
the use of Bow’s notation for the designation 
of forces. His treatment of kinematics and 
of kinetics is relatively brief, and only the 
merest introduction to the theory of energy is 
given, potential energy not being mentioned. 

Dimensional equations and the theory of 
units are explained by both Maurer and Ziwet, 
the former devoting to this subject an ap- 
pendix of six pages. In Professor Ziwet’s 
book (Art. 58) occurs an erroneous illustra- 
tion which is likely to confuse the student: 
‘* * * we have of course the proportion: 30 
miles an hour is to one mile an hour as 44 
feet per second is to one foot per second.’ 
Both gravitational and kinetic systems of 
units are explained in each of the three books. 
The simple treatment of the engineers’ kinetic 
system adopted by Maurer and Stephan should 
effectually clear away the traditional haziness 
surrounding the equation m=—W/g. The 
unit mass is taken as a derived unit, and de- 
fined as the mass to which the gravitation 
unit force (the pound-force or kilogram-force) 
gives unit acceleration; this unit mass is thus 
equal to g pounds or g kilograms, and the 
equation expresses the reduction from one 
unit mass to another. The usefulness of a 
name for the unit thus defined will be agreed 
to even by those who hesitate to adopt the 
names geepound and geekilogram suggested by 
Maurer. 

In considering the general question as to 
the best method of presenting the fundamental 
principles of mechanics in an elementary text- 
book, two requirements must be kept in view, 
soundness and intelligibility. Critics are by 
no means agreed as to what constitutes a 
sound formulation of the laws of motion. 


304 


Newton’s laws have long held their place in 
the majority of English and American books, 
and in spite of the fact that the philosophical 
validity of the Newtonian system has been 
seriously questioned by able erities, this sys- 
tem, properly understood, still appears to fur- 
nish substantially the best foundation. It 
does not follow, however, that a literal transla- 
tion of Newton’s words is the best formula- 
tion of the laws of motion for the purpose of 
elementary instruction. That Newton’s for- 
mulation is not easily understood by the be- 
ginner is tacitly recognized by most writers, 
much space being ordinarily devoted to ex- 
planations of the meaning of Newton’s lan- 
guage. Without here attempting a full an- 
alysis, it may be profitable to suggest certain 
points in regard to which students may be 
aided by a departure from the usual method 
of stating and explaining the fundamental 
laws. 

(1) Recognizing force as a fundamental 
quantity whose nature is known roughly, at 
least, from ordinary experience, its definition 
should be so stated as to include the fact that 
a force is exerted by a body. This should also 
be embodied in the statement of the first law, 
which might take the form ‘a body uninflu- 
enced by other bodies would move uniformly 
in a straight line or remain at rest.’ It should 
also be embodied in the statement of the law 
of action and reaction: ‘When one particle 
exerts a force upon another the latter exerts 
one upon the former, and the two forces are 
equal, collinear and opposite.’ 

(2) The full explanation of the second law 
should be preceded by a clear explanation of 
the meaning of acceleration as a vector quan- 
tity. The law itself might be stated as fol- 
lows: ‘A force acting alone upon a particle 
gives it an acceleration whose direction is that 
of the force and whose magnitude is propor- 
tional directly to that of the force and in- 
versely to the mass of the particle.’ 

(3) The parallelogram law should receive 
explicit statement: ‘Two forces acting simul- 
taneously upon a particle give it an accelera- 
tion which is the vector sum of the accelera- 
tions which would be due to the forces acting 
separately.” ‘Two forces acting simultane- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 530. 


ously upon a particle are equivalent to a single 
These state- 
ments are seen to be equivalent by virtue of 
the second law. An experimental statical 
proof of the parallelogram Jaw is instructive, 
but its acceptance as an exact law rests on the 
same basis as that of the rest of the laws of 
motion—the apparent exact agreement of these 
laws with all experience. 

Without entering into a detailed acecunt of 
the treatment of the laws of motion in each 
of the three books under review, it is of inter- 
est to notice the different methods of defining 
and explaining force. Maurer’s treatment is 
in close agreement with that here suggested; 
the point emphasized in (1) is explicitly stated 
at the outset, and the above statement of the 
law of action and reaction is in Maurer’s 
words. Stephan gives the common but vague 
definition of force as the cause of a change of 
motion, the elementary but important fact 
that a force is always exerted by a body being 
explicitly stated only at the end of the three 
pages devoted to the preliminary explanation 
ot force and of the law of action and reaction. 
In Ziwet’s book the treatment of force oscil- 
lates between two different points of view. 
Force is defined mathematically as the product 
of the mass of a particle into its acceleration, 
and the author evidently agrees with those who 
regard force as a fiction, while he does not find 
it easy or advisable to diseard the conception 
of force as a cause of motion in explanations 
addressed to beginners. The definition of 
force as the product of mass into acceleration, 
and the denial of force as a physical reality, 
are in harmony with what is, perhaps, the 
prevailing view among philosophical critics. 
Such a view is, however, wholly meaningless to 
the beginner, and it must be insisted that the 
treatment of force in an elementary text-book 
should build upon common notions and every- 
day experience. 

Although, in an elementary text-book, log- 
ical rigor is not to be too strictly insisted upon, 
it is important to avoid false logic, and espe- 
cially the appearance of logically proving 
what is really assumed. At certain points 
many current expositions of the principles of 


force equal to their vector sum.’ 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


mechanics appear to be open to criticism on 
the ground of false or defective logic. 

Consider, for example, Stephan’s treatment 
of the law of composition of forces, which is 
substantially identical with that found in 
many text-books. In Art. 69 is the statement: 
‘Tf several forces act simultaneously upon a 
particle, the acceleration which each force i1m- 
parts to the particle is independent of the 
existing velocity and of the action of the other 
forces. For the explanation of simultaneous 
accclerations and of the method of combining 
them reference is made to Art. 66. But this 
explanation relates to a particle having a cer- 
tain motion with respect to one base of refer- 
ence, while this base is itself in motion with 
respect to a second base, so that the two 
“simultaneous accelerations’ refer to different 
bases or axes of reference. This throws no 
light on what is meant by simultaneous ac- 
celerations of a particle when only a single 
base of reference is in question. In the com- 
position of forces we are not concerned with 
moving axes,* and in the analysis of motion 
with respect to any single base it is only by an 
arbitrary use of language that a particle can 
be said to have at the same time two different 
accelerations. Its actual acceleration may, of 
course, be expressed as the vector sum of com- 

ponents, but this may be done arbitrarily and 
in any number of ways; in choosing a partic- 
ular set of components and associating each 
with a force we are merely assuming the 
parallelogram of forces. 

From a logical standpoint the treatment of 
the theory of energy is an unsatisfactory fea- 
ture of many text-books. Commonly energy 
is defined as the ‘capacity of a body to do 
work,’ or as the ‘ quantity of work a body can 
do,’ while the meaning of work as done by a 
body is nowhere explained, work being de- 

*It is worth while to emphasize the argument 
by remarking that the accelerations of a particle 
with respect to two different sets of axes are not 
related by a simple parallelogram law unless the 
relative motion of the two bases is a translation. 

A full logical analysis of the laws of motion, in- 
cluding the parallelogram law, must include a 
consideration of the meaning of absolute and rela- 
tive motion—a question which may well be 


omitted from an elementary book and which will 
not be entered into here. 


SCIENCE. 


305 


fined only as done by a force. Another logical 
defect is to make 4mv”* the definition of kinetic 
energy instead of proving from a_ general 
definition of energy that a particle possesses 
by virtue of its motion the quantity of energy 
dmv’. Of the three books under review, that 
of Professor Maurer is the only one that in- 
cludes a logical and systematic presentation 
of the theory of energy. 

Although the discussion of questions of 
terminology often seems fruitless, it may be 
worth while to refer to certain of these because 
of their importance as affecting the acquire- 
ment of sound notions by the beginner. That 
there has been little progress toward general 
agreement in the use of such terms as stress, 
centrifugal force, inertia force, is unfortu- 
nately due in part at least to the fact that 
discussions over them have involved more 
than mere questions of terminology. 

The word stress is too often used vaguely, 
without attempt at exact definition. ~ Among 
writers whose usage is clear, two definitions 
are current, which were formulated by 
Rankine and by Maxwell respectively. Ran- 
kine defined as stresses the forces which the 
particles of a body exert upon one another to 
resist strain (7. e., departure from the ‘ nat- 
ural’ configuration). By Maxwell the action 
and reaction between any two portions of 
matter was called stress.* The usage of engi- 
neers, so far as it is definite, usually conforms 
more or less closely to the former definition, 
while the latter has been adopted in a number 
of works on both theoretical and applied me- 
chanics. There are reasons in favor of each 
of these definitions, but it is to be regretted 
that the writer of a text-book should depart 
from both. Professor Ziwet apparently uses 
stress to designate any pair of equal and op- 
posite forces in the same line, whether consti- 
tuting an action and reaction or not. ‘This 
sacrifices the chief value of Maxwell’s defini- 
tion, which is that it keeps clearly before the 
mind the fact that every force has its reaction 
and that action and reaction act upon different 

*See Rankine’s ‘Miscellaneous Scientific 
Papers,’ p. 120; Maxwell’s ‘Matter and Motion,’ 
Chapter III. It should be said that neither author 


used the word in a uniform sense throughout his 
writings. 


306 


portions of matter. One of the most common 


and vicious errors is that action and reaction’ 


are counterbalancing forces. This error will 
inevitably be made if stress is defined as ac- 
tion and reaction, and then used to designate 
a pair of counterbalancing forces. Professor 
Maurer’s usage, while departing from both the 
above definitions, is clear and consistent. He 
defines stress as any force whose place of appli- 
cation is a surface. 

Most present-day text-books, including the 
three before us, define centrifugal force as the 
reaction which a particle constrained to de- 
scribe a curved path, or a rigid body con- 
strained to rotate about a fixed axis, exerts 
upon the constraining body. This definition 
is clear, and would be satisfactory if it were 
not inconsistent with general usage in the 
only class of problems in which the term is 
really needed—i. e., problems in which motion 
is referred to rotating axes. It is convenient 
in such cases to give the equation of motion 
of a particle the same form as if the axes were 
fixed, introducing such fictitious forces as 
would produce the accelerations actually due 
to the motion of the axes. One component 
of the fictitious force for each particle is the 
centrifugal force, which is thus not a reaction 
exerted by the particle but a force assumed to 
act upon it. This must be regarded as the 
legitimate use of the term centrifugal force. 
Inconsistency in the use of this term in ele- 
mentary text-books is responsible for much 
confusion in the mind of the student. An 
example of this inconsistency occurs in 
Stephan’s book, pp. 279, 281. Centrifugal 
force is defined as the reaction exerted by a 
particle upon the body which deflects it from 
a straight path. But in the discussion of the 
belt and pulley an element of the belt is said 
to ‘experience’ a centrifugal force. 

So much confusion of thought has been 
shown in discussions of ‘ inertia-force’ that it 
seems desirable to drop the term entirely. 
Those who use it often appeal to the authority 
of Newton; but it is well known that Newton 
did not restrict the word force to its present 
specialized meaning, and that which he meant 
by force of inertia is not force at all in the 
present meaning of the word. Professor 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 530. 


Ziwet defines force of inertia of a particle as 
the reversed effective force, 7. ¢e., a force — mj, 
m being the mass of the particle and j its 
acceleration; and he explains that this force 
is exerted not on the particle but by it, being 
the reaction to the force which acts upon the 
particle to produce its acceleration. A stu- 
dent who compares this statement with the 
following (p. 160) is likely to be somewhat 
bewildered: “ The fact that any change of mo- 
tion in a physical body is affected by its mass 
is sometimes ascribed to the so-called ‘ inertia,’ 
or ‘force of inertia,’ of matter, which means, 
however, nothing else but the property of pos- 
sessing mass.” This latter statement is prac- 
tically Newton’s explanation of force of in- 
ertia. 

The preceding definition (also given by 
Stephan) is sanctioned by various writers of 
high authority. It may, however, be doubted 
whether there is any real need of a term to 
designate the reversed effective force — mj; 
at all events the term inertia-force used in 
this sense seems inappropriate and misleading. 
The nature of the action to which we give the 
name force does not depend upon whether the 
body exerting it has or has not acceleration. 
Suppose, for example, that a particle is acted 
upon by two bodies only, A exerting a force P 
upon it and B a force Q, and let R be the 
vector sum of P and Q. The particle reacts 
upon A with a foree —P and upon B with a 
foree —Q; there is no body upon which it 
exerts a foree —mj—=—R. The ‘ inertia- 
force’ is thus merely the vector sum of two 
forces exerted by the particle upon different 
bodies. There is nothing peculiar about these 
forces, and no reason why either of them 
should be attributed to the ‘inertia’ of the 
body. If P and Q become equal and opposite, 
the so-called inertia-force becomes zero, but 
the nature of the forees P and Q and of the 
reactions to them is unchanged. Neither is 
the nature of P or of its reaction changed if 
Q ceases to act; there is no more reason in this 
case than in the preceding for attributing the 
force exerted upon A to the inertia of the 
particle. 

L. M. Hoskrys. 


STANFORD UNIVERSITY. 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


Tue November-December number of The 
Journal of Geology, which is the final one of 
Vol. XII., contains as the leading article Pro- 
fessor Wm. M. Davis’s address before the De- 
partment of Earth Sciences in the World’s 
Congress of Science and Arts at St. Louis on 
‘The Relations of the Earth Sciences in View 
of their Progress in the Nineteenth Century.’ 
Dr. S. W. Williston contributes a ‘ Notice of 
Some New Reptiles from the Upper Trias of 
Wyoming’ which were secured by the Uni- 
versity of Chicago paleontological expedition 
of last summer. Four new genera and spe- 
cies are described. Messrs. S. R. Capps and 
E. D. K. Leffingwell describe the ‘ Pleistocene 
Geology of the Sawatch Range, near Lead- 
ville, Colo” Professor Rollin D. Salisbury 
describes ‘ Three New Physiographic Terms’ 
which are topographic unconformity, topo- 
graphic adjustment and superimposed youth. 
O. W. Wilcox has an article ‘On Certain 
Aspects of the Loess of Southwestern Iowa’ 
and Miss I. H. Ogilvie describes ‘The Effect 
of Superglacial Débris on the Advance and 
Retreat of some Canadian Glaciers.’ The 
conclusion is ‘that the débris covering, and 
that alone, is responsible for the advance, 
and indeed for the continued existence, of 
the glaciers of the eastern Rockies.’ 


The American Geologist for January con- 
tains a ‘Biographical Notice of William 
Henry Pettee’ with plate by Professor Israel 
C. Russell. Mr. George F. Becker’s address 
before the Geophysical Section at the Inter- 
national Congress of Arts and Science at St. 
Louis on the ‘Present Problems of Geo- 
physics’ is published. Professor J. F. White- 
aves contributes an article entitled ‘ Notes on 
the Apical End of the Siphuncle in some 
Canadian Endoceratid, with Description of 
Two Supposed new Species of Nanno,’ which 
is illustrated by two plates. ‘The Progress 
of Vertebrate Paleontology at the American 
Museum of Natural History, New York,’ is 
reported by Mr. O. P. Hay. ‘The Compara- 
tive Accuracy of the Methods for Determin- 
ing the Percentages of the Several Com- 
ponents of an Igneous Rock’ is discussed by 
Mr. Ira A. Williams. Mr. W. C. Morgan con- 


SCIENCE. 


307 


siders ‘ The Origin of Bitumen,’ and from the 
discovery of a fossil egg partly filled with 
asphalt concludes that ‘natural conditions are 
thus demonstrated to be sufficient to trans- 
form animal matter into bitumen during long 
periods of time without the aid of heat.’ 
There are also given abstracts of papers pre- 
sented at the Philadelphia meeting of the 
Geological Society of America by Professors 
Cumings, Tarr and Willis and Mr. Fuller. 

The Popular Science Monthly for February 
contains the following articles: ‘An Address 
on Astrophysics, W. W. Campbell; ‘The 
Metric System of Weights and Measures,’ E. 
A. Kennelly; ‘A Botanical Laboratory in the 
Desert,’ Francis E. Lloyd; ‘ How Immigrants 
are Inspected,’ Allan McLaughlin; ‘On the 
Relations of the Land and Fresh-Water Mol- 
lusk-Fauna of Alaska and Eastern Siberia,’ 
William Healey Dall; ‘ Examinations, Grades 
and Credits, J. McKeen Cattell. In ‘The 
Progress of Science’ are to be found accounts 
of ‘Convocation Week,’ ‘The American Asso- 
ciation,’ with portraits of the vice-presidents, 
“The Presidential Address’ and ‘The Affli- 
ated Societies.’ 


Bird-Lore for January-February has ‘A 
New Year’s Suggestion’ on nesting trays for 
robins, by Mabel Osgood Wright; ‘ Nesting 
Boxes ’—illustrated—by E. H. Forbush; Nest- 
Box Suggestions; ‘On the Construction of 
Houses for the Purple Martins, J. Warren 
Jacobs; and Nest-Box Notes. There is Bird- 
Lore’s Fifth Christmas Bird Census and the 
eighth paper on ‘ The Migration of Warblers ’ 
by W. W. Cooke. The number contains the 
Report of the National Association of Audu- 
bon Societies, which includes a History of the 
Audubon Movement, Report of the National 
Committee for 1904 and the State Reports. 


The American Museum Journal for Janu- 
ary bears the subtitle Fossil-Carnivore Num- 
ber, over one half its sixty pages being de- 
voted to a synopsis of fossil carnivores, mar- 
supials and small mammals in the American 
Museum of Natural History. The article, 
which is by W. D. Matthew, is well illustrated 
and accompanied by a list of important books 
of reference. The number contains a de- 
scription of ‘The Cape York Meteorites,’ 


308 


notes on the additions in various departments 
and lists of the various lecture courses. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. SECTION 
OF ASTRONOMY, PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY. 


Tue regular monthly meeting of the section 
was held at Fayerweather Hall, Columbia 
University, on Monday evening, November 7, 
with Professor Charles L. Poor in the chair. 
Abstracts of the papers which were presented 
before the section are as follows: 

The Relation of Kathode Resistance to the 
So-called Saturation Current in the Dis- 
charge through Gases: F. L. Turrs. 

In this paper it was pointed out that the 
so-called saturation currents obtained by Wil- 
son and other investigators of the phenomena 
of electrical conduction through flame gases 
were not true saturation currents, but only 
apparently so, owing to the development at 
the kathode of a high resistance when the 
impressed electromotive forces were over a 
few volts. By the use of a kathode coated 
with calcium oxide and heated by a separate 
flame it was shown that the resistance of a 
flame connecting this with the anode remained 
practically constant; that is, the current 
through the connecting flame increased directly 
as the potential gradient for gradients rang- 
ing from a few tenths of a volt to the centi- 
meter, up to gradients of as much as fifty 
volts to the centimeter. 

Experiments were made with the ordinary 
luminous gas flame as well as with flames 
rendered non-luminous by the admixture of 
air, and the relation between current and 
potential gradient was found to be the same 
for both kinds of flames. 


The Duration of the Afterglow Accompanying 
the Electrodeless Discharge at Low Pres- 
sures, Effect of Temperature: C. C. Trow- 
BRIDGE. 

The purpose of the investigation was to de- 
termine the nature of the glow that often ap- 
pears after the cessation of the electrodeless 
discharge in gases at low pressures. Measure- 
ments made thus far on the duration of the 
glow in air show a sharp maximum of dura- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. -Von. XXI. No. 530. 


tion between .1 and .05 millimeter pressures 
and that this maximum point varies with the 
electrical conditions of the experiment. It 
was also determined that there is a critical 
point between .7 and .3 millimeter pressures 
where the glow is only occasionally formed, 
after which as the pressure is further reduced, 
the duration of the glow increases rapidly to 
the maximum. The electrodeless discharge 
was also made to take place at liquid air tem- 
perature and it was found that the afterglow 
accompanying the discharge was diminished 
considerably in duration and intensity at the 
low temperature of about — 186° C. 

The officers of this section for 1905 were 
then elected and are as follows: 


Chairman—Ernest R. van Nordroff. 

Secretary—Charles C. Trowbridge. 

THE next regular meeting of the section was 
held on Monday, December 5, with Professor 
William Hallock in the chair in the absence 
of Professor Poor. 

The papers of the evening were as follows: 


The Combination of Ions with the Solvent in 

Solutions: C. W. Kanoxr. 

The object of Dr. Kanolt’s investiga- 
tion was to determine whether or not the 
ions of a salt in solution are combined with 
the solvent. The method used was the elec- 
trolysis of a salt dissolved in a mixture of 
two solvents, with the subsequent analysis of 
the portions of the solution around the two 
electrodes. If the ions are combined with 
either of the solvents, this solvent will be 
carried from one electrode to the other, and 
changes in the proportions of the two solvents 
are to be expected. Positive results were ob- 
tained with silver nitrate dissolved in a mix- 
ture of pyridine and water, indicating that 
pyridine was combined with the silver ions. 
With the same salt in a mixture of alcohol . 
and water only negative results have so far 
been obtained. Other salts are being in- 
vestigated. 


Chemical Combination of Knall-gas under 
the Action of Radium: Brrcrn Davis and 
C. W. Epwarps. 

The experiments described relate to the 
chemical combination of hydrogen and oxygen 


I 
FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


under the action of radium rays. The gases 
were enclosed in a vessel in such a way that 
a small change of pressure could be observed. 
About four milligrams of radium bromide 
were dissolved in aleohol and deposited on the 
surface of a small sheet of platinum which 
was placed in the vessel. 

By means of electrodes the amount of ion- 
ization produced in the gas by the radium was 
measured. While the rate of formation of 
water was quite slow, yet the number of 
molecules of water formed for each physical 
ion produced was very large. The experi- 
ments are being continued by Professor Ed- 
wards. 

C. C. Trowsripcr, 
Secretary. 


THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
Ar the 598d regular meeting, the 34th an- 
nual meeting, held December 24, 1904, the fol- 


lowing officers were elected: 


President—G. W. Littlehales. 

Vice-Presidents—Cleveland Abbe, J. G. Hagen, 
A..L. Day, L. A. Bauer. 

Treasurer—Bernard R. Green. 

Secretaries—Charles K. Wead, Lyman J. Briggs. 

General Committee, besides those named above 
—W. A. De Cundry, H. M. Paul, J. Winston, L. A. 
Fischer, R. A. Harris, E. B. Rosa, C. G. Abbott, 
Kx. E. Guthe, W. S. Eichelberger. 


The secretaries’ and treasurer’s reports 
showed that the society is in a prosperous con- 
dition, having had a considerable increase of 
membership during the past year. 

THe 594th regular meeting was held Jan- 
uary 7, 1905. 

The first paper was by Mr. E. P. Hyde, of 
the Bureau of Standards, by invitation, on 
‘Some Problems of Photometry.’ These re- 
lated mainly to the rating of electric incan- 
descent lamps, and to practical methods of 
obtaining the mean spherical illumination ap- 
plicable to the various forms of lamps with 
their widely differing filaments and distri- 
bution curves. In the Matthews photometer 
there are a number of pairs of mirrors, the 
centers of one set lying in a meridian of the 
lamp and throwing the rays to the mirrors of 
the other set, whence they go to the screen. 


SCIENCE. 


309 


The lamp is rotated about 180 times per sec- 
ond. The speaker had determined the angular 
position of the mirrors of the first set that 
would give theoretically accurate results for 
three extreme eases of distribution, and then 
found an average position that reduces ma- 
terially the small errors of the Matthews in- 
strument. 

Mr. W. J. Spillman, in charge of the forage 
plant investigations of the Department of 
Agriculture, then spoke on ‘ Utilizing the 
Desert,’ dealing with the cactus and its uses, 
and showing many slides. 

It has been found that the cactus plant 
possesses considerable value as feed for cattle, 
sheep and hogs. It is universally used by 
Mexican freighters in southwest Texas for 
their work oxen, and in famine years it is 
used by stockmen generally to tide over the 
dry periods, and for this purpose it possesses 
great value. The possibility of 
cactus frequently saves the wiping out of vast 
herds of cattle in time of famine. Several 
methods are in vogue for getting rid of the 
spines preparatory to feeding cactus. One 
of the most common is to scorch off the spines 
over a brush fire. A modification of the 
plumbers’ torch is more or less extensively 
used for treating cactus in place. Many stock- 
men use a specially constructed cutting ma- 
chine which pulps the cactus and abrades the 
spines so that the juices of the plant quickly 
render the spines innocuous. The pulped ma- 
terial is readily eaten. Some steam the 
cactus in large vats, which so softens the 
spines that they become harmless. 
varieties of cactus will thrive with one rain 
a year; and averaging a period of years an 
acre of cactus is equal to an acre of ordinary 
forage plants. 

At the 595th meeting, January 21, 1905, 
Dr. Guthe exhibited a bar of Heusner’s alloy 
composed of 60 per cent. copper, 27 per cent. 
manganese and 13 per cent. aluminum, which 
is strongly magnetic, though none of its con- 
stituents is so. 

Mr. Abbott exhibited and described ‘ A Com- 
parator with Planimeter Attachment’ espe- 
cially devised for reading ordinates, abscisse 
and areas of curves on 10-inch by 24-inch 


utilizing 


Some 


310 


photographic plates. In connection with the 
spectrobolographie determinations of the solar 
constant of radiation at the Smithsonian Ob- 
servatory, it is desired to know the variations 
in ordinates of bolographic curves correspond- 
ing with the intensity of rays of different 
waye-lengths in the solar spectrum, and fur- 
ther to sum up the areas included under such 
curves corresponding to the total energy of 
radiation reaching the bolometer. 

The machine shown was constructed after 
Mr. Abbott’s general design by Warner & 
Swasey, and consists, like the ordinary com- 
parator, of a microscope moved by screws in 
ordinates and abscisse, but this is here com- 
bined with a cone and rolling disk. The disk 
moves horizontally along the elements of the 
cone as governed directly by the position of 
the microscope in ordinates, while the num- 
ber of revolutions of the cone is proportional 
to the motion of the microscope in abscisse. 
Accordingly the number of rotations of the 
disk is proportional to products of ordinates 
and abscisse, and by passing along the con- 
tour of the curve between given abscissx, and 
back over the zero line to the original starting 
point, the difference in reading of the disk 
counter yields the area. 

As constructed, the machine is best suited to 
areas of more than ten square centimeters, 
but a smaller machine would doubtless be 
equally successful. The accuracy of meas- 
urement actually reached with the instrument 
shown is 0.1 square centimeter, and numerous 
measurements of circles and other areas to 
this degree of accuracy were cited. 

Mr. F. E. Fowle, Jr., also of the Smith- 
sonian Observatory, then discussed ‘ The Dis- 
crepancy between Solar-Constant Measures 
by the Actinometer and by the Spectro-Bolom- 
eter.’ He referred to Mr. Langley’s proof that 
actinometric extrapolation by Bouguer’s for- 
mula gives necessarily too low values for the 
extra-atmospheric solar radiation. It is, how- 
ever, found by comparison with spectro- 
bolometric determinations that the discrep- 
ancy is nearly constant and is about 14 per 
cent. for such atmospheric conditions as exist 


at Washington, when Angstrom’s actinometer 
is used. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 530. 


Further refinements to the correction may 
later be determined as functions of the slope 
of the actinometer curve, the humidity and 
the air masses serving for the extrapolation. 

Cuarues K. WEeap, 
Secretary. 


THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


THE 395th regular meeting was held at the 
Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club or Jan- 
uary 14, 1905, with President Knowlton in 
the chair and forty-six persons present. 

Dr. A. D. Hopkins showed specimens of 
what are undoubtedly fossil borings, probably 
by some beetle of the family Cerambycide. 

Professor W. P. Hay renewed a discussion 
from a previous meeting, and stated that 
proper credit is given in the scientific world 
to Cesalpinus for the discovery of what we 
commonly know as the circulation of the 
blood. 

Mr. C. O. Townsend presented a paper on 
the ‘Distribution and Development of the 
Sugar Beet Industry,’ in which he ealled at- 
tention to the difference between the sugar 
beet and the beet sugar industries. Of the 
latter he illustrated by lantern slides some of 
the largest beet sugar factories, the largest 
being in southern California. He then showed 
a very instructive series of slides dealing with 
the sowing, cultivation, harvesting and ship- 
ping of the sugar beet crop, including views 
of the workers employed, machinery used and 
results gained. 

Mr. A. C. Veatch discussed ‘The Question 
of Origin of the Natural Mounds of Louisi- 
ana, Arkansas and Texas’ (illustrated with 
photographs). Of the many theories of origin 
suggested for these mounds three deserve the 
most careful attention: (1) the spring and gas 
vent theory, (2) the dune theory, and (3) the 
ant hill theory. 

In the spring and gas vent theory it is 
argued that the gas produced by the decay of 
the large amount of vegetable matter buried 
in the coastal plain strata- has, with the ar- 
tesian water associated with it, brought to the 
surface fine sand and built up low cones. 
Small cones are now forming in this manner 


‘at many points in the coastal plain, and they 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


were pointed to as proving this hypothesis. 
The fatal objection to this theory is that en- 
tirely identical mounds are found in Indian 
Territory on flat plains underlaid by higher 
inclined carboniferous shales and sandstones, 
where the substructure clearly lacks the ele- 
ments required by this hypothesis. 

The dune theory is based on the resemblance 
of these mounds to the low dunes which col- 
lect in the semi-arid region of the west about 
clumps of low vegetation. The objection to 
this theory is the great irregularity of wind- 
made features and the very notable uniformity 
in size and exact resemblance, one to another, 
of these natural mounds of the south central 
United States over an area at least 300 miles 
wide and 500 miles long. It would seem that 
in so large an area a wind origin would in- 
volve a greater variation in size than has been 
observed, and necessitate the presence of occa- 
sional dunes, or lines of dunes, of noteworthy 
size, whose origin could not, in any way, be 
doubted. 

In the ant hill theory two possible lines of 
development were suggested: (1) that the 
mounds are the work of the atta, or leaf-cut- 
ting ants, (2) that they are the remains of 
hills of the mound-building variety of white 
ants, the termites. According to Professor 
W. M. Wheeler, atta hills in western Texas 
reach a diameter of forty to fifty feet and 
height of one to two feet; and Mr. E. A. 
Schwarz, of the National Museum, reports 
that the atta hills in Cuba often reach a 
height of ten to twelve feet and a diameter 
several times as great. These occurrences 
add greatly to the possibility of an ant origin. 

Regarded as the work of mound-building 
termites, which are now restricted to the trop- 
ical regions, these mounds suggest a warmer 
and moister climate. Modifications such as 
those which permitted large elephants, camels 
and animals of the sloth and armadillo fam- 
ilies to live in this region would also have 
permitted these, now similarly restricted 
mound-building termites, to do the same; and 
the causes which resulted in the extinction of 
the larger animals would also, though at a 
later date, have destroyed the mound-building 
termites. 


SCIENCE. 


d11 


Of the theories of origin yet suggested none 
are entirely satisfactory, and the dune and 
ant hill theories are the only ones well sup- 
ported. If either of these hypotheses is cor- 
rect the mounds are indications of important 
climatic changes in very recent time. It was 
suggested that the matter should be approached 
by the careful excavation of a number of these 
mounds at widely different points in order to 
fully determine the relation of the mounds to 
the beds which underlie them and to the soil 
surrounding them. 

The last paper of the evening was by Mr. 
A. S. Hiteheock on ‘The Twigs of Woody 
Plants with Deciduous Tips.’ Woody plants 
in our latitude ordinarily form well defined 
winter buds at the time of elongation of the 
season’s growth in late spring or early sum- 
Such growth is often referred to as 
definite or determinate. In some plants such 
as the willow the growth of the twigs con- 
tinues during the season and is retarded and 
finally stopped by the advent of winter. Some 
plants have the habit of casting or sloughing 
off the terminal portion of the young twig at 
a definite point much as a leaf is cast in 
autumn. Such twigs present a scar at the 
end and, instead of a terminal bud, as in 
hickories or walnuts, the uppermost lateral 
bud continues the growth of the stem. Ex- 
amples of this method are the elms, basswood 
and many other woody plants with two-ranked 
leaves. The tip of the twig is usually cast 
in the summer when the buds are formed. 
The speaker called attention especially to the 
twigs of the common sumac (Rhus glabra) 
gathered in December which showed remark- 
ably long terminal portions of the twigs still 
attached but with the well-defined delimiting 
layer separating the healthy ripened wood 
from the dead terminal portion (five or six 
inches) which would be cast off during the 


winter. E. L. Morris, 
Recording Secretary. 


mer. 


THE ONONDAGA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 


THE Onondaga Academy of Science held 
its January meeting in Lincoln Hall of the 
high school building, at Syracuse, on the 
evening of the twentieth. Dr. John M. Clarke 


312 


delivered an able address on the subject, 
‘Niagara Falls of the Future.’ 

The speaker, disclaiming any purpose of 
antagonizing the splendid industrial develop- 
ment at Niagara, invited attention to the 
paramount claim of the world to this famous 
spot as against the commercial claim which 
threatens to convert it into dollars, and by so 
doing make an end of the American Falls. 
The recent comment of Lord Kelvin, that the 
falls would have to be absorbed to meet in- 
dustrial demand, was criticized as the ex- 
pression of the sterile sentiment which has 
permitted the destruction of the classic Falls 
of Lodore and has already half ruined the 
Falls of Montmoreney. The speaker insisted 
that industrial progress must leave something 
to the higher life, to the play of the finer 
emotions, and from such a view point no justi- 
fication or compensation can be found for the 
destruction of such a stupendous display of 
nature’s power. 

Though it seems to the casual observer that 
nothing man can do could abate the enormous 
volume of waters descending in this cataract, 
and accomplished hydraulic engineers have 
been known to deride the possibility that the 
falls would be injured, yet the menace to the 
perpetuity of the American Falls is imme- 
diate and imminent. The volume of water 
descending at Niagara has been measured on 
several occasions with slightly divergent re- 
sults giving as an average which has been 
accepted in the calculations of the engineers 
224,000 cubie feet per second. This falling 
an average of 150 feet is equivalent to a 
potential horse-power of 3,800,000, not of be- 
tween five and six millions as is constantly 
stated in the estimates and reports of the 
engineers. 

The legislature of New York has chartered 
nine companies for the development of ‘power 
at this place, all but two to take water from 
above the falls and return it below, one of 
these two proposing not to return it to the 
river at all, but to carry it to Lake Ontario 
by another passage, the other purposing to 
take advantage alone of the fall in the gorge 
below the cataract. Of these nine companies, 
no one of which is required to pay a francise 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 530. 


to the state for its tremendously valuable 
privileges and some of which are permitted to 
take unlimited water for their purposes, but 
two are now actively producing power, and it 
is believed that but one other is now preparing 
to do so. The two producing companies are 
limited by law in the amount of water they 
may consume, the last named is not. The 
producing companies are far within their 
limitations at the present, but in both the 
waste of water and of power is appalling. 
The series of small cataracts which cover the 
American bank just below the steel arch 
bridge, which are the waste discharges from 
the power canals and the unused fall of the 
power tunnel which discharges near the same 
spot, indicate that but a fraction of the 
potential power of the water now taken from 
the American river is utilized. The salvage 
of this wasted power, however, has begun, and 
its utilization will be continued by the build- 
ing of factories along the edge of the water 
beneath the cliff. To save the wasting power 
of these companies the place must be even 
worse disfigured than it is at present. 

The Canadian companies, three in number, 
have now in part completed their installment ; 
in so doing, however, they have taken from 
the river great sections of the stream for their 
forebays and permanent construction. These 
companies when working will pay a_ sub- 
stantial annual return to the commissioners 
of the Queen Victoria Park. 

The immediately contemplated abstraction 
of water by the six active companies is: 


Cu. ft. per 
Second 
Two American companies................ 16,300 
Three Canadian companies.............. 32,100 
; 48,400 

It is estimated that the third active Ameri- 
can company will consume............. 10,000 
58,400 


The Canadian engineers have proposed four 
additional power works with a total ab- 
straction solawabenOleee 4. eeie cee eee 29,996 


88,396 

The following abstractions from this drainage 

basin are assumed as constants and are not here 
taken into consideration. 


Chicago, drainage (canal o. ce sate iets 6,000 
Proposed barge canal. c-\-ictelerrere retro e 1,200 
Welland: ‘camailiewy. . oabrcuy: renee eres __ 600 


> 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.) 


It is a matter of measurement that but one 
fourth of the water in the Niagara River 
passes over the American Falls. The sill of 
the falls is ten feet higher on the American 
side than on the Canadian. How easily the 
water is driven entirely out of the American 
channel is seen by the ice dams of the past 
few years, which, gorging the stream from the 
upper end of Goat Island to the American 
side, have turned the water from that channel 
so that one can cross the bed of the river 
dry-shod. Let then, from one fourth to one 
third of the water be permanently abstracted 
from the river, and the American Falls will 
be permanently dry. The production of power 
actual and immediately contemplated by the 
five companies within their charters will con- 
sume 48,400/224,000 of the water, or 1/5 —. 
With the estimated abstraction of water by 
the sixth (American) company this fraction 
becomes 58,400/224,000 or 1/4—. Should the 
proposed additional Canadian plans be effected 
the proportion will become 88,396/224,000 or 
1/3—. In any one of these cases the danger 
limit is reached and the perpetuity of the 
American Falls now hangs by the slender 
thread of improbability that these companies 
shall produce to their statutory limitations 
or find a market for their product. 

It is authentically stated that 800,000 tour- 
ists visit Niagara annually, bringing an 
enormous revenue to the place. As soon as 
the world learns that New York and Canada 
have shorn this famous place of its beauties, 
this source of industrial prosperity will be 
gone. While these magnificent schemes of 
power development are putting to shame a 
sentiment of proper pride which should be 
national rather than local, unlimited horse- 
power lies idle in the region where these 
companies hope to find their market and in 
the development of this none of the finer 
manifestations of natural power and none of 
the finer sentiments of mankind would be as- 
sailed. 

The address was a strong presentation of 
the subject and the press of the city joined in 
the protest against the destruction of the falls. 

J. E. Kirxwoop, 
Corresponding Secretary. 


SCIENCE. 


313 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
CONSULTING EXPERTS IN LIBRARIES. 

To Tue Eprror or Science: Dr. Francis B. 
Sumner’s letter, published in Scrmmncr, Jan- 
uary 13, seems to offer an appropriate oppor- 
tunity for calling attention to certain note- 
worthy developments at the Library of Con- 
gress during the administration of Dr. Her- 
bert Putnam. Dr. Sumner urges the desira- 
bility of employing, in connection with one 
of our great libraries, ‘a staff of consulting 


_experts, men of the rank of college professors, 


whose duty it should be to furnish definite bits 
of information in response to legitimate ques- 
tions, or, at least, to guide the seeker on his 
way * * * the establishment of a sort of hu- 
man encyclopedia as an adjunct to the library.’ 

While this ideal has not yet been attained 
at the Library of Congress, a remarkable de- 
velopment in this direction has taken place 
during the last few years. It is the function 
of the Division of Bibliography, established 
in 1900, not only to prepare and publish lists 
of references on special topics, principally 
those of current political interest, but also 
to supply bibliographical information in reply 
to inquiries received by mail. The reference 
work of this character has been mainly in the 
fields of social and political science and his- 


_tory. 


As, however, the collection of scientific lit- 
erature has recently been reclassified and is 
now in process of being recatalogued, it has 
become possible to undertake similar work in 
science. There are on the staff of the library 
at the present time several specialists repre- 
senting different sciences, and it is always 
possible to consult others associated with va- 
rious branches of the government service. 
Furthermore, it being part of the policy of 
the Librarian of Congress to make the collec- 
tion of bibliographies, indexes, library cata- 
logues, etc., as complete as possible, unusual 
resources in the way of bibliographical tools 
are available at the library. A Science Sec- 
tion of the library, in charge of the under- 
signed, has accordingly been organized re- 
cently and one of its functions is to carry on 
the reference work in this field, both for in- 
vestigators at the scientific bureaus in Wash- 


314 


ington and in answer to legitimate inquiries 
by mail. 

Under these circumstances it seems that the 
facilities now offered by the Library of Con- 
gress meet the need indicated in Dr. Sumner’s 
letter to a very considerable extent, and fur- 
ther advances in this direction will occur if 
it appears that valuable service can be ren- 
dered. 

I conclude by inviting the readers of ScinNCE 
to make use of these new facilities whenever 
the library resources to which they have access 
are inadequate to the needs of the investiga- 
tions which they have in hand. Communica- 
tions should be addressed to the Librarian of 
Congress, and should be marked ‘ Science 
Section’ if they are-inquiries referring to the 
mathematical, physical or natural sciences. 

J. Davin THompson. 


THE STORAGE OF MICROSCOPIC SLIDES. 


To tHe Epiror or Science: In your issue 
of December 30 you published an article by 
C. L. Marlatt, of the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, describing a method of storing 
and indexing microscopic slides. 

The Bausch and Lomb Optical Company 
have designed and are selling an excellent 
cabinet with card system which has all the 
advantages claimed by Mr. Marlatt for his 
and lacking only the envelopes, which I can 
not but think must be somewhat inconvenient. 

These cabinets are made in three sizes, hold- 
ing 500, 1,500 and 3,000 slides respectively. 
Tiers of trays, each running in its own groove, 
are constructed to take slides of various sizes. 
At the bottom are drawers (one, two or three) 
containing separate cards for every slide, on 
each of which is printed a form for register- 
ing the slide: Tray No.—Series No.—Name 
of Slide—Stain—Mounted in— and two lines 
for other data. There are also printed guide 
cards from A to Z. 

The objects being recorded on separate 
ecards, the removal of slides necessitates 
simply the removal of its corresponding card, 
while the addition of slides requires only the 
filling out and insertion of new cards. Olassi- 
fication thus, it will be seen, becomes exceed- 
ingly simple. The slides may be rearranged 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 530. 


and the collection increased or diminished 
with the least possible amount of trouble. 
JOSEPHINE SHATZ. 
RocHESTER, N. Y., 
January 8, 1905. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 
DOPPLER’S PRINCIPLE AND LIGHT-BEATS. 


THERE is a beautiful lecture experiment in 
illustration of Doppler’s principle due, I be- 
lieve, to Koenig. A vibrating tuning fork 
of high pitch, say 2,000 vibrations per second, 
is moved to and fro near, and at right angles 
to, a reflecting wall. The waves coming from 
the fork and (virtually) from its image back 
of the wall are changed in length by the op- 
posite motions of fork and image with the 
result that very audible beats are heard. With 
a fork of the pitch mentioned, a speed of 
three feet per second gives beats at the rate 
of about eleven per second. Although special 
forks are made for this experiment, they are 
quite unnecessary. An ordinary © 512 fork 
of Koenig’s pattern gives a very shrill tone 
when strongly bowed near the shank and 
answers the purpose admirably. If the fork 
is held stationary and the reflecting surface 
is moved, the effect is the same on account of 
the motion of the fork’s image. 

Attempts to secure visible beats by means 
of light waves of slightly different wave-length 
have met with no success, partly on account 
of rapid changes of phase, and partly because 
of the difficulty of securing two sources whose 
vibration frequencies are nearly enough equal. 
Thus if we assume (what is most likely not 
true) that the failure to observe interference 
fringes with differences of path greater than, 
say, 30 em. indicates a change of phase, this 
would indicate 10° or more changes of phase 
per second. On the other hand, should we 
take the two D lines as sources there would 
be about 10” beats per second. It is evidently 
almost hopeless to attempt to secure visible 
light-beats in this manner. If we consider 
Doppler’s effect, however, the case is quite 
otherwise. The second form of Koenig’s ex- 
periment, viz., that in which the reflector is 
moved, is in principle almost exactly anal- 
ogous to Professor Michelson’s interferometer. 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


In this instrument the alternations in bright- 
ness at any point in the field when the slide 
is moved are beats due to the Doppler effect 
just as truly as are those heard in the second 
form of Koenig’s experiment. 
ALBERT B. Porter. 
CHICAGO, 
January 14, 1905. 


NOTE ON THE BROAD WHITE FISH. 


In the Proceedings of the American Philo- 
sophical Society of Philadelphia, XLIIL, 
1904, p. 451, plates VIII. and IX., I have 
wrongly identified the broad white fish, or 
Coregonus kennicotti Jordan and Gilbert, as 
the humpback, or Coregonus nelsonii Bean. 
My error was due largely to lack of material, 
ignorance of the species from autopsy, and 
the fact, as I have since discovered, that C. 
nelsonit does not always exhibit the well-de- 
veloped hump like that of the type. Possibly 
when the Siberian forms are carefully studied 
the nomenclatures of these fishes will be more 
stable. 

Henry W. Fow ter. 

ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, 

PHILADELPHIA, February 5, 1905. 


RECENT ZOOPALEONTOLOGY.* 


Durine the past thirteen years great ad- 
vances have been made in our knowledge of 
the ancient mammalian life of North Amer- 
ica, especially through the explorations in the 
Rocky Mountain region carried on by the 
Carnegie, Field Columbian and American 
Natural History Museums. The long Ter- 
tiary period has been clearly subdivided into 
a series of stages and substages. This enables 
paleontologists to record more accurately than 
ever before the time of arrival and departure 
of the larger and smaller quadrupeds from 
North and South America, Asia, Europe, Af- 
rica, and to determine more precisely when the 
connection of North and South America was 
interrupted by a gulf flowing between the 
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and when the 
connection was again made by the elevation 


* Abstract of a lecture delivered by Professor 
Osborn before the Society of Naturalists at the 
Philadelphia meeting. 


SCIENCE. 


o15 


of the Isthmus of Panama; this demonstrates 
also that a very much closer connection existed 
between the animal life of Europe and of 
North America through continuous intermi- 
gration over the broad land area now sub- 
merged beneath the Behring Straits. <A series 
of six world maps prepared by Dr. W. D. 
Matthew clearly exhibit this submergence and 
emergence of the isthmuses between these 
great continents. 

Of especial interest is the recent discovery 
by the Geological Survey of Egypt that the 
whole race of mastodons and elephants orig- 
inated in Africa, entered Europe in the mid- 
dle of the Tertiary and soon afterward found 
their way into North America and somewhat 
later into South America. We have now been 
able to fix very positively the date of actual 
arrival of these animals in North America. 
It appears probable that successive waves of 
migrations of European and Asiatic species 
of elephants and mammoths came to this 
country. In the meantime there survived 
here from one of the earliest African migrants. 
the eastern American forest mastodon which 
lived until comparatively recent times. 

The theory of multiple races or polyphyletic 
evolution not only of elephants but of horses, 
rhinoceroses, camels and titanotheres appears 
to be clearly established through these recent 
discoveries. It was formerly believed, for 
example, that the modern horse had a single 
line of ancestors extending back into the 
Eocene period; now it appears that in North 
America there were always four to six entirely 
different varieties of the horse family living 
contemporaneously, including slow-moving, 
forest-living horses with broader feet, and 
very swift plains-living horses with narrow 
feet fashioned more like the deer. Interme- 
diate between these arose the variety which 
survived and gave rise to the true modern 
horse. Furthermore, it appears that the mod- 
ern horses separated from the asses and zebras 
at a much more remote period than has been 
generally supposed, and we are now endeayor- 
ing to ascertain accurately when this separa- 
tion occurred. 

The same discovery of multiple races has 
been made among the rhinoceroses. In Eu- 


316 


rope and in North America instead of forming 
a single line of evolution there were at least 
seven or eight nearly contemporary but dis- 
tinct lines of rhinoceros succession, some of 
which can be traced back as far as the base of 
the middle Tertiary. The truly American 
rhinoceroses which appear to have branched 
out into several water-living, forest-living and 
plains-living types, were reinforced by the 
sudden appearance of the extremely short- 
limbed rhinoceroses which had evolved in Eu- 
rope and came over to this country simultane- 
ously with the earliest elephants or mastodons. 

Another remarkable feature of this law of 
multiple evolution is that even where these 
varieties have evolved quite separately and 
independently, they still have inherited from 
remote common ancestors certain tendencies 
or potentialities of evolution which were latent 
but not expressed in the ancestral forms but 
which find a more or less simultaneous ex- 
pression in the derived forms. Thus, among 
the rhinoceroses and titanotheres the rudi- 
ments of horns begin to appear more or less 
simultaneously in several of these multiple 
independent races or varieties, indicating a 
hereditary predisposition toward the develop- 
ment of certain organs quite unsuspected in 
the earlier evolutionary writings of Lamarck 
and Darwin. This predisposition to evolve 
certain structures tends to establish the idea 
that the laws of development are not con- 
trolled solely by the survival of the fittest as 
according to the original Darwinian theory, 
nor by the inherited effects of use and disuse 
as according to the Lamack-Spencer theory, 
but represent the budding out or expression 
of certain innate or inherited ancestral tend- 
encies. 

Among the greatest surprises in recent dis- 
covery has been the finding of armadillo-like 
edentates in the Rocky Mountain region near 
Ft. Bridger, Wyo., from rocks of the lower 
Tertiary period. These armadillos certainly 
bore a leathery if not a bony shield. Some 
ossicles indicating the presence of the bony 
shield are reported to be present in the collec- 
tions of the Yale Museum; the remains thus 
far found by the American Museum exploring 
parties show a provision for the shield in the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 530. 


structure of the backbone but do not exhibit 
the bony elements of the shield itself. 

Almost equally surprising results of ten 
years’ exploration are the tracing back of the 
dog family into the Lower Eocene, of the saber- 
tooth tiger family into the Middle Eocene, 
of the camel family into the Upper Eocene, 
of the hedge-hogs (now extinct in this coun- 
try) into the Lower Oligocene, of the raccoons 
into the Lower Miocene. The camel family, 
like the horses and the rhinoceroses, branched 
out into a great many varieties, short- and 
long-limbed, most remarkable among the lat- 
ter being the girafte-camel (Alticamelus), 
which, although a true camel, was closely 
similar in build to the giraffe. With these 
discoveries the names of Scott, Wortman and 
Matthew are honorably associated. 

It has long been known that the deer, bear, 
moose, the oxen and sheep families did not 
appear in this country until very late in geo- 
logical times, shortly before the Ice Age. 

Among the many difficult and still unsolved 
problems is the cause of the total extinction 
of the horse in North and South America 
while it survived and multiplied in Europe, 
Asia and Africa. Just before the time of the 
extinction of the horse, America exhibited the 
greatest beauty and variety in the develop- 
ment of this family. As studied by Gidley, 
there were horses exceeding in size the enor- 
mous Percherons of to-day and there were also 
varieties smaller than the most diminutive 
Shetlands. Yet with all this wide range of 
variation all became extinct. 

The elephants also exhibited three great 
varieties, the true mammoth (F. primigenius) 


‘to the north, the Columbian elephant in the 


central states, and the gigantic Imperial mam- 
moth to the south, forms shown to be quite 
distinct by Lucas and undoubtedly adapted to 
various kinds of climate; yet all died out with 
the great wave of death which swept off the 
camels, horses and the giant.South American 
sloths, just before or during the first advance 
of the Glacial period. 1S ey 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


THE senate of the University of Edinburgh 
has voted to confer its honorary doctorate of 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


laws on Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, of Wash- 
ington, and on Dr. W. W. Keen, professor of 
surgery at Jefferson Medical College, Phila- 
delphia. 

Dr. S. Weir Mircuent, the eminent physi- 
ologist, physician and author, celebrated his 
seventy-fifth birthday on February 15. Dr. 
Weir Mitchell will present candidates for hon- 
orary degrees at the celebration of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania on February 22. De- 
grees will be conferred on President Roose- 
velt and on the Emperor of Germany. 


On the occasion of the opening of the new 
public health laboratory of the Victoria Uni- 
versity, Manchester, honorary doctorates of 
science were conferred upon Professor Cal- 
mette, Lille University; Professor Perroncito, 
Turin University; Professor Salomonsen, Co- 
penhagen University, and Captain R. F. Scott, 
R.N. 

Proressor K. Mosius has retired from the 
directorship of the Berlin Museum of Natural 
History. The position has been offered to 
Professor H. H. Schauinsland, director of the 
museum at Bremen. 


Dr. FrizpricH PAuLsen, professor of philos- 
ophy at Berlin and known also for his works 
on education, will lecture at Harvard Univer- 
sity during the first half of next year in ac- 
cordance with the plan for an exchange of 
professors. As already noted, Professor Fran- 
cis G. Peabody will lecture at Berlin. 


Vicr-ApmMiraL Human has been elected 
president of the French Society of Geography. 


Dr. Grorcr Bruce Hausrep has been made 
foreign associate and honorary professor of 
mathematics in the popular university of 
Tempio, Italy, and a fellow of the Royal As- 
tronomical Society. 


“Tue Relation of Graduate Study to Gen- 
eral Culture’ was the subject of a lecture, 
given on February 3, at the University of 
Chicago, by Professor Josiah Royce, of Har- 
vard University. 


A CONFERENCE on school hygiene, arranged 
by the Royal Sanitary Institute, was held in 
the University of London, under the presi- 
dency of Sir Arthur W. Riicker, on February 
7-10. 


SCIENCE. 


317 


Dr. Mureoct, professor of geology at Buch- 
arest, is carrying on research work in Cali- 
fornia. 

Dr. Burron E. Livryeston, of the depart- 
ment of botany of the University of Chicago, 
has been appointed to the staff of the Bureau 
of Soils in the United States Department of 
Agriculture, and will begin his new work at 
the close of the winter quarter. 


Dr. D. T. MacDoucat has started on an 
expedition to lower Colorado and the upper 
portion of California to collect botanical 
specimens for the New York Botanical Gar- 
den and to study the flora of that region. 


Miss Vera K. CHartes, scientific assistant 
in the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture, has recently returned 
from the Isle of Pines, where she was col- 
lecting in the interest of the herbarium con- 
nected with the office of vegetable pathological 
and physiological investigations. 


Tur SamuEt D. Gross prize of the Phila- 
delphia Academy of Surgery, for the year 
1905, amounting to $1,200, has been awarded 
to Dr. James Homer Wright, of Boston, Mass., 
for his essay, ‘The Biology of the Micro- 
organism of Actinomycosis.’ 

Tue Wilde medal of the Manchester Liter- 
ary and Philosophical Society has _ been 
awarded to Professor ©. Lapworth, F.R.S., 
professor of geology at Birmingham. 


Tue St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences 
has awarded the Lomonosoft prize of $500 to 
Professor N. A. Menschutkin for his re- 
searches in theoretical chemistry, and the 
Ivanoff prize to Professor P. N. Lebedeff, of 
Moscow, for his experimental researches on 
the pressure of light. 


Ar a meeting of the trustees of the Perey 
Sladen fund, held recently at the rooms of the 
Linnean Society, London, grants were made 
to Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant towards the ex- 
penses of a collector for the British Museum 
in Central Africa; to Miss Alice L. Emble- 
ton to enable her, to continue her investiga- 
tions in insect cytology; and to Mr. J. Stanley 
Gardiner towards the expenses of an expedi- 
tion to the Indian Ocean. 


318 


Tue Carnegie Institution of Washington 
has recently made a grant of $2,500 to Pro- 
fessor C. F. Burgess, of the department of 
applied electro-chemistry of the College of 
Engineering of the University of Wisconsin, 
to aid him in carrying out investigations upon 
the properties of pure iron and its alloys. 
During the past three years Professor Burgess 
has developed a method of producing iron 
electrolytically of a very high degree of purity, 
in a manner similar to that employed in the 
refining of copper. Previous to this work pure 
iron has been obtained only in very small 
quantities and at excessive cost, but Professor 
Burgess is now able to produce comparatively 
large quantities at a small cost, using for this 
purpose a cheap grade of steel. Careful an- 
alysis of this product fails to show the pres- 
ence of any foreign element, with the excep- 
tion of hydrogen, which ean readily be driven 
off by heat. There is already a considerable 
demand for this iron for scientific purposes, 
and about half a ton has been made. 

AccorpInG to the New York Hvening Post 
the grants made by the Carnegie Institution 
for scientific research include the following to 
Cornell: Professor Wilder D. Bancroft, for 
chemical study of alloys, $500; W. W. Cob- 
lentz, for study of infra-red emission and ab- 
sorption spectra, $1,000; E. S. Shepard, for 
study of brasses and bronzes as alloys, $1,000. 

We learn from Nature that an international 
committee has been formed in Heidelberg, 
under the presidency of Dr. A. Freiherr von 
Dusch, minister of education, of the Grand 
Duchy of Baden, with the object of honoring 
the memory of the late Professor Carl Gegen- 
baur, who for nearly thirty years was the 
director of the Anatomical Institute of Heidel- 
berg. The committee has decided upon a life- 
size bust of Gegenbaur, to be executed in 
marble by Professor C. Seffner, Leipzig. The 
bust will be placed in the vestibule of the 
Anatomical Institute, probably in the early 
summer, at a date not yet fixed. The com- 
mittee invites former pupils of the deceased 
master, and all those who have benefited from 
his epoch-making works on human and com- 
parative anatomy, to send contributions, with 
their addresses and titles, to Professor ‘M. 


SCIENCE. 


‘ 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 530. 


Fuerbringer or to Professor E. Goeppert, both 
in Heidelberg. Every contributor will receive 
a picture of the bust, and casts may be ob- 


tained, on special application, from Professor 
C. Seffner. 


A MEMORIAL service in honor of the late 
Professor Alpheus S. Packard was held at 
Brown University on February 18. 


Dr. Grorce Bonn Howes, F.R.S., Huxley’s 
successor as professor of zoology at the Royal 
College of Science, London, known for his 
contributions to vertebrate morphology, died 
on February 4, at the age of fifty-one years. 


Tue Rev. Thomas Arthur Preston, who 
founded the Marlborough Natural History 
Society and Museum and who did much to 
promote nature-study in England, died on 
February 6, at the age of seventy-one years. 


Dr. Jutius Scripa, professor of surgery at 
the University of Tokio and the author of 
contributions on anthropology and botany, has 
died at the age of fifty-five years. 


Tue United States Civil Service Com- 
mission announces that in view of the very 
small number of applications filed for the 
examination for assistant in the Philippine 
service, on March 1-2, this examination has 
been postponed to April 5-6, 1905, and will 
be held in different parts of the country, 
to secure eligibles from which to make cer- 
tification to fill a large number of positions 
in the grades of clerk and teacher in the 
Philippines. As a result of this examination 
it is desired to secure 140 college graduates, 
including 20 polytechnic and 20 agricultural 
graduates, at a salary of $1,200 per annum, 
and 60 normal school graduates at a salary of 
$1,000 per annum. Many of the appointees 
will be required in the position of teacher, 
while some will be required in the various 
clerical and administrative offices in the 
islands. Excellent opportunities for promo- 
tion are afforded for well-qualified appointees. 
For positions requiring college graduates 
students who graduate in 1905 will be accept- 
able. 


Tuer United States Civil Service Commis- 
sion announces an examination on March 8, 
1905, to secure eligibles from which to make 


FEBRUARY 24, 1905.] 


certification to fill a vacancy in the position of 
botanist (male) at $75 per month, in the 
National Museum, and vacancies as they may 
occur in any branch of the service requiring 
similar qualifications. The commission also 
invites attention to the examination for sci- 
entific aid, applications for which may be 
filed at any time. Eligibles are particularly 
desired at this time to fill a vacancy in the 
position of scientific aid (male) qualified in 
animal husbandry; in the Bureau of Animal 
Industry, Department of Agriculture, at $480 
per annum, and other similar vacancies as 
they may occur in that department. For the 
specific vacancy mentioned, only such applica- 
tions will be considered as are filed with the 
Commission at Washington prior to the hour 
of closing business on March 8, 1905. 


Tue N. Y. State Civil Service Commission 
will hold an examination on March 1, to fill 
the position of geologist in the State Museum 
at a salary of $1,500, and of taxidermist in 
the Museum at a salary of $900. 


Tue Court of Appeals of Maryland has just 
rendered a decision which establishes the con- 
stitutionality of the State Aid Highway Law 
of the last legislature, the administration of 
which has been by law placed under the con- 
trol of the Maryland Geological Survey. The 
state survey has maintained a highway divi- 
sion during the past eight years, but has now 
placed at its disposal $400,000 annually, de- 
rived half from the state and half from the 
counties, for the construction of improved 
highways. The law becomes operative at once 
and surveys on a large scale will begin imme- 
diately. 


Tue Argentine gunvessel Uruguay has re- 
turned to Buenos Ayres after her long voyage 
in the Antarctic seas, having failed to obtain 
any news of the French Antarctic expedition 
under Dr. Charcot. 


Mr. Davin Syme, of Melbourne, has given 
$15,000 to found a prize for the encourage- 
ment of original research in science. <A prize 
of $500 and a medal will be annually awarded 
by the University of Melbourne. 

Tue London Times states that it received 
the following letter for publication from a 


SCIENCE. 


319 


correspondent who is a graduate of an Eng- 
lish university, but presumably did not spe- 
cialize in scientific subjects: ‘The Amount 
of Coal.—To the Editor of The Times.—Sir, 
—The amount of coal which has been dug out 
of the earth must be now so considerable as 
to make an appreciable diminution of the 
weight of our globe. Is it conceivable that 
in time this might cause an interference with 
the working of the solar system. All of the 
coal that remains behind is a small proportion, 
in ashes; the only addition that is made to 
the weight of the earth is by increase of popu- 
lation, and is infinitesimal. JI am, Sir, yours 


faithfully, W. C. B.” 


Mr. Antonio OtynrHo, Brazilian commis- 
sioner to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 
has, by order of his government, investigated 
the organization and work of the division of 
hydrology of the U. S. Geological Survey. 
The underground water resources of Brazil, 
which are as yet almost entirely undevel- 
oped, are said to be immense. It is the 
wish of the Brazilian government to encour- 
age their development, and to this end it is 
proposed to organize a division of hydrology 
similar to that maintained by the U. 8. Geo- 
logical Survey. The investigation and de- 
velopment of artesian waters is of particular 
interest to the Brazilians. As compared with 
the work of bureaus in other countries, the 
investigations carried on by the U. S. Geo- 
logical Survey of both surface and under- 
ground waters takes high rank, as is attested 
by the frequent calls from other governments 
for information and assistance. During the 
past year, the Colonial Office of Bermuda has 
sought advice from our Survey in regard to a 
water supply for that island, and the govern- 
ment of Peru has borrowed a hydrologist, who 
is organizing a bureau which is investigating 
the underground waters of that country in the 
special hope of obtaining supplies for the 
nearly rainless The bureau which 
Brazil proposes to establish will be modeled 
after the survey’s division of hydrology, the 
plan of which was furnished the commissioner 
from Brazil by Mr. Myron L. Fuller chief of 
the eastern section. The work in Brazil will 
differ, however, in one important particular 


coast. 


320 SCIENCE. 


from that in the United States. The drilling 
of test wells by the government survey has 
seldom been practicable here, but the govern- 
ment of Brazil, like that of Peru, expects to 
actually drill for water, and drilling outfits 
have accordingly been purchased in this coun- 
try for that purpose. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


Tue University of Pennsylvania has asked 
from the state an appropriation of $650,000 to 
be used as follows: (1) University hospital— 
maintenance, $140,000; new building, $75,000; 
clinical amphitheater and laboratories for dis- 
pensary buildings, $35,000; (2) university— 
$175,000 for general maintenance, construc- 
tion of buildings, and the purchase of appa- 
ratus; (8) veterinary department—$100,000 
for the erection of a suitable building and 
equipment; (4) free museum of science and 
art—$125,000 for the construction and equip- 
ment of a building for the expansion of the 
department. 


Mr. Cuartes H. Hacxkury, of Muskegon, 
Mich., has made public bequests, as follows: 
To the Hackley Manual Training School of 
Muskegon $250,000 is given, which, added to 
$360,000 already given by Mr. Hackley, makes 
the school’s total endowment $610,000; as an 
endowment for the Hackley Hospital, $300,- 
000, less any sum given during Mr. Hackley’s 
lifetime for this purpose; for the maintenance 
of the Hackley Public Library, $200,000; for 
the purchase of pictures for this library, $150,- 
000. 


Mount Hotyoke Counce will receive $172,- 
000 as the residuary legatee of Edmund K. 
Turner. 


Tue Drapers’ Company have voted a further 
sum of £400 a year for five years towards the 
statistical work and higher teaching of the 
department of applied mathematics, and the 
Mercers’ Company have voted £1,000 to the 
chair of physiology, in University College, 
London. 

We learn from The Experiment Station 
record that W. C. Stubbs, who has been since 
1885 professor of agriculture in the Louisiana 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 530. 


State University and director of the experi- 
ment stations, has voluntarily retired. He is 
succeeded by Professor W. R. Dodson, who be- 
comes, by virtue of his office as professor of 
agriculture at the university, director of the 
three stations in the state, director of the 
State Geological Survey, official chemist, ete. 


Mr. THorne M. Carpenter has resigned his 
position as assistant chemist and assistant in 
the investigations with the respiration eal- 
orimeter, of the Agricultural Station of the 
Pennsylvania State College to accept a 
similar position in connection with the in- 
vestigations on human nutrition at Wesleyan 
University. The vacancy has been filled by 
the promotion of Mr. N. C. Hamner, and Mr. 
W. A. Smith, a graduate of the college in 
1901, has been appointed assistant chemist. 
Mr. J. B. Robb, of the Maryland Agricultural 
College, who has assisted in the respiration 
calorimeter investigations during the past 
three winters, has been temporarily engaged 
for the same purpose for the present season. 


Me. F. L. Suinyy, assistant in physical chem- 
istry at the University of Wisconsin, has just 
accepted a call to the University of Indiana, 
as assistant professor of physical chemistry. 


M. Jonatuan Ricpon, fellow of Clark Uni- 
versity, has been appointed instructor in phi- 
losophy in Clark College. 


Mr. H. H. Hicpsr, assistant in mechanical 
engineering at Columbia University, has been 
appointed instructor in the University of 
Michigan, and Mr. L. F. Parr has been ap- 
pointed to fill the vacancy at Columbia Uni- 
versity. 

Mr. Encar Scuuster, M.A., New College, 
Oxford, has been appointed to the Francis Gal- 
ton research fellowship in national eugenics. 


Mr. I. L. Tuckert, M.A., of Trinity College, 
Cambridge, has been appointed demonstrator 
in physiology. 

M. Micuart-Ltvy has been nominated by 
the Paris Academy of Sciences for the chair 
of inorganic chemistry at the Collége de 
France, vacant by the death of M. Fouqué. M. 
Cayeux is named as the second choice of the 
academy. 


Le 


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THE HISTORIANS’ HISTORY OF THE WORLD 


Published by The Outlook, New York and the History Association, London 


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Capt. F. Brinkley, R. A., Tokio 


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CONTENTS: 
Applied Botany and its Dependence on Scien- 
tific Research: Dr. Grorce T. Moore...... 321 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science :— 
Section B—Physics: PRoressor Dayton C. 
IMUM TTSTE, el becren et eh IISc COO eS een on ee 338 


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Haven Mercarr. Section of Biology of the 

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EIU IIOUIIS MA eet te Sao cites icc cheuc aleve chev treleh as 349 
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APPLIED BOTANY AND ITS DEPENDENCE 
UPON SCIENTIFIC RESHARCH.* 

UNFORTUNATELY for me, the time for 
this address before the Society for Plant 
Morphology and Physiology comes so far 
along in the twentieth century that there 
is opportunity for neither a retrospective 
nor a prospective view of botany, even 
were I competent to assume the role of an 
historian or a prophet. I had, therefore, 
thought of presenting a somewhat general 
discussion of some of the problems involved 
in soil bacteriology, but, fortunately for 
you, this has recently been done before an- 
other society by another investigator, so 
that there is no reason for digging over the 
same soil here. On the other hand, the 
discussion of some purely technical botan- 
ical subject connected with my particular 
field of work seems more properly to be- 
long to that part of the program devoted 
to scientific papers. Consequently, by this 
process of elimination, the only question of 
general interest occurring to me seems to 
be that one which most of us have grown 
tired of answering and yet, because of the 
tendency of this age, is the one which we 
have to answer more often than any other, 
namely, Of what good is botany? Why 
do we teach it? and above all, Why have 
we as men and women allied ourselves with 
such a profession? Far be it from me to 
attempt to defend botany against all who 
are now engaged in its pursuit. These are 
matters for one’s own conscience, but for 


those of us here, members of the Society 

* Address of the president of the Society for 
Plant Morphology and Physiology, Philadelphia, 
December, 1904. 


322 


for Plant Morphology and Physiology and 
other societies in good and regular stand- 
ing, I think, perhaps, it may be well to dis- 
cuss for a short time the importance and 
significance of botany as a science and a 
profession, in order that those who are un- 
familiar with the situation may realize that 
we have as distinct a part in the world’s 
work as a banker, an engineer, or a brick- 
layer. 

So hard pressed have scientific men some- 
times been for an excuse for their existence, 
that I know of at least one instance where 
the reply of Cuvier to the practical jokers 
trying to frighten him by impersonating 
the devil, has been given as a legitimate 
reason for being acquainted with certain 
facts regarding the structure of animals. 
Perhaps you are not familiar with the 
story. It seems that Cuvier while a young 
man incurred the enmity of certain of his 
colleagues, who decided to give him a severe 
fright by dressing one of their number in 
the conventional garb of Satan and making 
a midnight call upon him. It is presum- 
able that being aroused from a sound sleep, 
Cuvier was duly impressed with the figure 
before him and that some of the threats 
made were having the desired effect. But 
finally, in a last effort to overwhelm him, 
the devil threatened to eat the young scien- 
tist. This was a fatal mistake, for Cuvier, 
at once reassured, eyed the grotesquely-clad 
figure from head to toe and exclaimed, 
‘*What, horns and hoofs and carnivorous! 
Never!’’ He then rolled over and went to 
sleep. 

Now, I can not maintain that the study 
of botany will enable one to detect the real 
devil from an impostor; neither do I con- 
sider that the botanist has any need for 
such knowledge. The particular use of 
the story, however, well illustrates, I think, 
how great has been the necessity at times 
for resorting to any means calculated to 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 5a:. 


demonstrate the value of pure science to a 
certain class of people. 

The test, of course, which nowayears is 
apphed to any science or profession by a 
large part of the world is: What is it worth ? 
How much money does it infiuence? 
What industries has it created? The money 
value of botany to those engaged in it, 
I will pass over in silence, it being impos- 
sible to say so little that a fair proportion 
would be maintained between the words 
and the compensation. But to those not 
teaching or studying it, those who have 
eriticized botany and botanists for their 
lack of efficiency, and to the world in gen- 
eral, the value of our profession is so great 
that we may well feel proud to be among 
its numbers. 

It may be regarded as an admission of 
weakness to even discuss the practical side 
of botany. But we who daily come in con- 
tact with the results obtained from our 
knowledge of plants are apt to forget that 
the large part of those engaged in other 
professions still look upon botany as it 
was considered fifty years ago, the whole 
function of which was so aptly deseribed 
in the word to teachers by Mrs. Lincoln in 
1845. She says: ‘‘In the first meeting of 
a botanical class, after some explanation as 
to the nature of the study they are about 
to commence, each member shall be pre- 
sented with a flower for analysis.’? That 
this was the chief object of all subsequent 
meetings seems to have been taken for 
granted by many who have never had an 
opportunity of belonging to a class in 
botany. Perhaps it will be worth while to 
quote still further from this same book 
which served as an introduction to the sub- 
ject for more than one of the sturdy 
pioneers whose names shall ever stand high 
on the roll of botanical achievement; for 
it is well to know how much foundation 
there is for certain opinions now held by 
the uninformed. In the introduction to 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


Mrs. Linecoln’s ‘Botany’ you will find the 
following, ‘The Study of botany seems 
peculiarly adapted to females,’ and then, 
as if to justify this statement, she adds: 
‘*A peculiar interest is given to conversa- 
tion by an acquaintance with any of the 
natural sciences, and when females shall 
have more generally obtained access to 
these delightful sources of pure enjoyment, 
we may hope that scandal, which oftener 
proceeds from a want of better subjects, 
than from malevolence of disposition, shall 
cease to be regarded as a characteristic of 
the sex. It is important to the cause of 
this science that it should become fashion- 
able; and as one means of effecting this, the 
parlors of those ladies, who have advan- 
tages for intellectual improvements, should 
more frequently exhibit specimens of their 
own scientific taste. The fashionable et 
cetras of scrap books, engravings and 
albums do not reflect upon their possessors 
any great degree of credit. _ To paste pic- 
tures or pieces of prose or poetry into a 
book; or to collect in an album the wit and 
good sense of others are not proofs of one’s 
own acquirements; and the possession of 
elegant and curious engravings, indicates a 
full purse rather than a well-stored mind; 
but herbariums and books of impressions 
of plants, drawings, etc., show the taste and 
knowledge of those who execute them.’’ 
We have here one result of the effect of 
botanical pursuits, which perhaps accounts 
for the well-known fact that botanists are 
freer from gossip and kindred vices than 
other scientists, and when we remember 
(if we may be allowed to quote once more) 
that this science is ‘especially recommended 
to strengthen the understanding and im- 
prove the heart,’ many things are made 
plain. But, seriously, the fact must be 
acknowledged that even at the present time 
there are altogether too many fair-minded 
people who have the idea that botany is a 
somewhat effeminate calling, and that while 


SCIENCE. 


O20 


it does very well for ministers who have 
lost their voice, or for others who are un- 
fortunately disabled, the taking up of the 
subject by an able-bodied man necessitates 
an explanation which is not always com- 
plimentary. 

By hard work it has been possible within 
recent years to emphasize the pedagogical 
importance of botany, and the fact that ac- 
curacy, observation, discipline, ete., are in- 
culeated by this subject has helped to raise 
it to something lke the place it deserves in 
many curricula. But even here the strug- 
gle to differentiate botany from that all- 
containing, but often little-meaning term 
biology has usually resulted in most of the 
eredit going to the animals instead of the 
plants. For while the improvement has 
been most encouraging in the last few 
years, it must be confessed that the propor- 
tion of botany to zoology in many biological 
courses is as that of copper sulphate to 
water in a reservoir treated for the exter- 
mination of alge. But even after botany 
has received all credit due her from the 
purely educational standpoint, there is a 
vast majority who are still unconvinced of 
its worth and who think that the time of 
both student and instructor would much 
better be spent in some line that ‘fits one 
for being of some account.’ It is admitted 
by authorities that there are some subjects 
now taught whose only real claim for being 
maintained in schools and colleges is their 
pedagogical value. Botany is fortunate in 
having additional causes for its importance, 
and for this reason, if for no other, it 
should not rest its entire claim for existence 
upon purely educational grounds. 

That botany has a definite practical field 
aside from distinguishing deadly from 
edible mushrooms, or being able to tell 
poison ivy when you see it, is usually some- 
thing entirely new to that most impractical 
of persons, the so-called practical man, and 
the assertion that years spent in looking 


324 


through the microscope or in the scientific 
investigation of problems concerning plants 
could ever add to the world’s wealth or be 
elassed as a productive pursuit, is often 
quite beyond his comprehension. Because 
botanists generally want the interest of 
this class of men, would like their advice 
occasionally, and under all circumstances 
need their money, it is well perhaps that 
now and then the utilitarian side of the 
study of plants be emphasized, even though 
it may shock a few of those who seem to 
have associated themselves with the pro- 
fession because they consider it so abso- 
lutely ineapable of being turned to account. 
For it must be confessed that there still 
persists a small class of botanists who look 
upon anything practical connected with 
the subject in much the same way that a 
physician regards advertising. Just why 
it should be a disgrace to undertake a prob- 
lem which has a definite industrial applica- 
tion is a little difficult to understand, but 
there can be no question that some investi- 
gators need no further inducement to drop 
a piece of work than to have it intimated 
that possibly it may result in some good. 
It is to such members of the profession 
that we owe, in part, at least, the com- 
paratively low place botany takes to-day 
as one of the applied sciences. 

It is also true that the indifference of 
many of the earlier botanists to those prob- 
lems, the solution of which promised to be 
of actual service to mankind, has made it 
necessary for other more enterprising scien- 
tists to undertake work not strictly within 
their province and has resulted in the 
credit accruing to their particular field 
rather than to botany, where it belonged. 
It is a fact to be regretted, but which can 
not be denied, that systematic botany so 
occupied the attention of the early students 
of plants that it was necessary for physi- 
cians and chemists to make nearly all the in- 
vestigations carried on in plant physiology 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 531. 


and similar branches of the subject. This 
naturally led many to consider that there 
was nothing to botany except the analyzing 
of flowers and recording their names, and 
although this branch of the subject con- 
tributed its share to the establishment of 
applied botany, it was not sufficient of 
itself to bring the profession to the high 
position it deserves as an industrial science. 
Even now the old order of things is so 
strong upon some of us that there still ex- 
ists a kind of feeling that any investigation 
carried on with plants, other than their 
systematic determination, is not pure bot- 
any and should be relegated to the chemist 
or physicist. While this is unfortunate, 
it is not of so much consequence as at one 
time. Such a condition, however, tends to 
prevent a proper estimate of the value of 
our science in comparison with others, and 
makes it possible for such statements as the 
following, recently made in a public ad- 
dress, to go unchallenged: ‘‘ Practically all 
forms of productive activity from the culti- 
vation of the soil for the growth of cotton 
to the finished tinted fabric, from the dig- 
ging of the ore to the engines which dis- 
tribute our commerce in its most varied 
ramifications, rest upon chemical phe- 
nomena.’’ I think it is about time for the 
botanist to begin to assert himself, at least 
to demonstrate by his work and the results 
obtained that botany has fully as large a 
place in productive activity as any of the 
other sciences, and that much more eredit 
is due to the student of plants than is ordi- 
narily supposed. ’ 

Another reason why botany has not taken 
first rank among the applied sciences is 
that when investigation has shown the 
study of certain plants to be of vast eco- 
nomic value, the results have been of such 
importance that that particular line of 
work has soon assumed the proportions of 
an independent science, and consequently 
the parent has often been lost sight of in 


| 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


the admiration for the child. I imagine 
the members of the Society of American 
Bacteriologists would be somewhat sur- 
prised if they were asked or expected to 
merge with other botanical societies and 
form a section in any large botanical or- 
ganization. And yet this is the only logical 
place for them, and in the time of Cohn 
and DeBary there would have been no 
question abcut it had the bacteria been 
considered cof sufficient importance to war- 
rant a separate section. It will not be 
long, if indeed the time has not already 
arrived, when forestry will cease to give 
any credit to botany for the practical re- 
sults being obtained by this rapidly devel- 
eping profession, and other examples might 
be given to illustrate the general tendency 
to magnify the industrial branch of a sci- 
ence at the expense of the main body from 
which it originally, at least, obtained its 
strength. 

Part of this diversification in botany is 
due to the fact, of course, that as a science 
it does not involve certain methods as in 
the case of chemistry or physics. It is 
usually a simple matter for the average 
person to recognize the benefits derived 
from either of the two last-named sciences, 
because they are definitely associated with 
test tubes and balances, reagents and 
dynamos, and other well-known objects. 

This recognition of the method is ear- 
ried to such an extent as to result, in uni- 
versity catalogues at least, in such hybrids 
as ‘chemical-engineering,’ ‘chemical-min- 
eralogy,’ ‘mathematical-geology,’ ‘mathe- 
matical-biology,’ ete. An investigation 
into what is usually taught under such 
heads shows that it would be fully as legiti- 
mate to establish courses in botanical-archi- 
tecture because of the knowledge of woods 
required, or zoological-engineering since the 
power is reckoned in horses. As well try 
to assign all work involving retorts and 
reagents to chemistry, to eall everything 


SCIENCE. 320 


botany or zoclogy which requires the use 
of a microscope, cr claim for physics the 
exclusive privilege of developing all in- 
dustry involving light or heat or motion, 
as to maintain that because a method orig- 
inated in one science it can not be applied 
in another without uniting the two, or even 
losing the problem involved in the econtem- 
plation of the tools to be used in solving it- 
There are certain definite lines of research 
which appear to all fair-minded investiga- 
tors as belonging@ to certain fields. The 
question to be answered is either chemical, 
zoological, botanical or whatever the case 
may be. <A dozen sciences may contribute 
to its solution, but the fact should always 
stand out preeminently as to its real origin. 
This has not always been the case in botan- 
ical problems, and it may be a matter cf 
some time before workers in general recog- 
nize this principle. Nevertheless, I think 
it extremely necessary that botanists do 
not fail to call attention to such eases and 
that in the future no opportunity be lest 
to obtain all proper and legitimate credit 
for our science and profession. The time 
for modestly sitting in the background and 
seeing our best fields for work appropriated 
by other sciences should have passed. 

It may seem as though I were a long 
time coming to the second part of my sub- 
ject, but the ignorance regarding the in- 
dustrial importance of botany, as compared 
with the other applied sciences, seems to 
eall for some explanation, and I have 
sought to point out, very imperfectly I will 
admit, a few of the reasons which have oe- 
curred to me as accounting for this peculiar 
situation. 

To attempt to give even an outline of 
the many botanical achievements which 
have been of economic importance is mani- 
festly impossible in the time at my dis- 
posal. Neither is it necessary to submit 
a catalogue of the work accomplished 
by those most eminent in our profession. 


32) SCIENCE. 


I do think, however, that any evidence 
ealeulated to enhance the importance of 
pure investigation (that most necessary 
source of practical results in botany) 
should be referred to frequently, because 
there is no use in attempting to conceal the 
fact that the average man of the world 
looks with contempt upon the general sub- 
ject of scientific research as undertaken in 
botany and similar fields. That certain 
so-ealled scientific investigations carried on 
in the name of research are far from being 
in any way a contribution to science must 
be admitted; but so much good work is be- 
ing done that it is time that we make a 
little more of an effort to have it receive 
proper recognition. Perhaps the day will 
eome when research work will appeal to 
ihe world upon its merit. Certainly the 
last ten or fifteen years have seen a great 
advance in this line, but at present there is 
no question but that the best and quickest 
way to obtain the recognition and reward 
due to pure botanical research is to show 
how practical results are obtained by this 
means, which years of blind groping along 
applied lines have failed to produce. 

If I may be allowed to take an example 
or two from my own experience, I will 
refer to the investigations leading up to the 
solution of the problem involving the pre- 
vention of bad odors and tastes in drinking 
This disagreeable effect, due to 
the growth of alge, has been one which 
has baffled the efforts of engineers, chemists 
and bacteriologists for years. And well 
it might, for why should a question of this 
kind, involving the life history of a certain 
small group of eryptogamic plants, be re- 
ferred to any other profession than botany 
for its answer? 

There is not a state in the union which 
has not reported difficulty from these algal 
growths, and in some communities the odor 
and taste during certain months of the year 
have rendered the water absolutely unfit 


water. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 531. 


for use. In a few eases the strong odor 
has even necessitated the giving up of the 
use of the water for sprinkling the streets 
and lawns. One water commission in New 
England considered the trouble due to 
alge of so much importance that they were 
willing to expend about four million dollars 
upon devices, by no means certainly effect- 
ive, in order to try and prevent such diffi- 
culties. A city in the far west spent over 
one million dollars securing new sources of 
supply so that the algal-polluted reservoirs 
might be abandoned. In the south we have 
a case where the alg led the local author- 
ities to take steps to cause the franchise of 
the water company to be forfeited, on the 
ground that they were: not furnishing a 
potable water. The company had spent 
thousands of dollars in mechanical filters 
and other devices, without results, and 
there was no alternative but to install a new 
supply at a cost of double the one already in 
use. There is no necessity for multiplying 
examples. Those of you who are familiar 
with the question of furnishing pure water 
in this country know how many millions of 
doliars have been lost owing to the presence 
of alge in water, to say nothing of the 
great inconvenience caused by the odor and 
taste and for which there did not exist an 
adequate remedy. It is needless to say 
that a question of so much financial impor- 
tance has been investigated exhaustively 
from the so-called practical side, and 
various recommendations made, all of little 
or no effect. Finally, the difficulty was 
relegated to the botanists, who took hold of 
the problem from the purely scientific 
standpoint and showed how certain plants 
were the specific cause of the trouble. It 
was then a comparatively simple matter, by 
applying the knowledge gained years ago 
by Naegeli and others in botanical research, 
to find a remedy for the difficulty. The 
only wonder is that it was not thought of 
before. Within the last six months the 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


method of destroying or preventing the 
growth of algxz in water supplies, as devised 
by the Department of Agriculture, has been 
used with marked success in over fifty water 
supplies throughout the country, on a scale 
running into the hundreds of millions of 
gallons, and causing a saving in money 
difficult to estimate. In fact, there is now 
on file a list of testimonials from hard- 
headed, practical, business men which 
should make systematic algology and plant 
physiology hold up their heads with pride. 
The whole matter has created a demand for 
trained botanists able to tell the difference 
between Volvox and Uroglena, which can 
not be supplied, and there is no doubt but 
that within the next few years the leading 
water companies will consider an algologist 
as important a member of their staff as the 
bacteriologist, and under certain conditions, 
of much more practical necessity than a 
chemist. It is difficult to prophesy what 
will be the future of this method which ap- 
plies our knowledge of plant physiology in 
such a simple manner. Physicians and 
health officers are making use, in a number 
of different ways, of this piece of botanical 
investigation, and the employment of cop- 
per in one form or another, as an efficient 
means of fighting typhoid, cholera and 
similar diseases is undoubtedly destined to 
become of the utmost importance. I have 
referred somewhat in detail to this example 
because it seems to me to offer a very strong 
argument in favor of the ability of scien- 
tifie research to furnish the solution for 
some problems which ordinarily might not 
be considered as falling under its influence. 
Here we have a long history of failure, due 
to the lack of scientific information. I am 
sure no one can realize how complete and 
absolute that failure has been until! he has 
had an opportunity of examining the re- 
ports made by the practical men who have 
been attempting to solve the difficulty. It 
is no wonder that it was not until the in- 
vestigation was transferred from _ the 


SCIENCE. 


327 


reservoir to the laboratory that the remedy 
was found. 

Perhaps no branch of botanical research 
seems farther removed from the practical 
side of life than that usually referred to as 
eytology. The killing and fixing, staining 
and cutting of plant and animal tissue, 
seem to be an operation calculated to re- 
sult in but small good to mankind, how- 
ever much it may add to its store of in- 
formation. But it is not beyond the range 
of possibility that these very cytological 
investigations of Farmer and other botan- 
ists may be destined to throw much light 
upon what may be termed the most im- 
portant unsolved problem in medicine. 
Most of the diseases in the world are the 
result of filth, or imprudence, or some con- 
dition which could be prevented if we 
would. Tuberculosis, diphtheria, typhoid 
fever and similar contagious forms can 
generally be prevented and are most cer-— 
tainly curable, if we but use the knowledge 
that scientific research has given us. But 
cancer remains as the one dread disease, 
about which authorities are in dispute even 
as to its origin. Ask any up-to-date physi- 
cian, thoroughly familiar with the results 
of research in laboratories at home and 
abroad, what is the most baffling, the most 
hopeless disease, the one thing he oftenest 
meets for which he has no remedy, and 
there will be no hesitation in his reply of 
eancer. That the cytological investigations 
of Farmer and others, concerning the ab- 
normal growths occurring on ferns, may 
lead to the ultimate solution of the cause 
and cure for cancer, we can only hope; 
but certainly they have been able to throw 
a flood of new light upon the nature of 
mahgnant growths. in man which ean not 
but be of practical value. 

The application of facts obtained from 
pure research in that most practical line 
of botany—plant breeding—is well known 
to all of you. Of the utmost theoretical 
importance, this braneh of botanical in- 


328 


vestigation makes it possible to increase the 
yield of wheat and corn a definite measur- 
able number of bushels which the farmer. 
can appreciate at once. It is useless to 
enumerate the fruits, grains, fibers, etc., 
that have been improved by this means. 
It has been said that in the breeding of 
plants we have a practise unconsciously 
carried on for centuries, and that the or- 
dinary selection of the farmer results in 
as great improvement as can be obtained 
from the application of scientific knowl- 
edge as to the strains best adapted for 
crossing and selecting. If this be true, 
why is it that all these centuries have not 
given rise to the results, easily obtained in 
one generation by the scientifie way? No 
one would for a moment wish to dispute the 
great good that has resulted from the use 
of the knowledge gained from experience 
in the raising of plants for commercial 
purposes, but when one has witnessed the 
immediate benefit of the application of 
science to the traditional practises of the 
farmer and horticulturist, he ean no longer 
deny that the combination is more prac- 
tical and more efficient, and results in re- 
turns vastly in excess of those obtained 
when the methods are separated by preju- 
dice or ignorance. 

It is always easier to estimate the value 
of any piece of work when it is possible to 
base it upon what has been actually gained, 
rather than upon any loss whieh it pre- 
vents. Consequently, the vast saving to this 
country because of the investigations made 
upon plant diseases is usually overlooked. 
No line of botanical research has resulted 
in a greater practical benefit to the farmer 
and those engaged in the growing of plants 
for profit, and yet it is seldom that the 
tedious and necessary investigations carried 
on by the mycologist, upon which all in- 
telligent remedial work is based, receive 
due eredit. 

If we turn to the realm of beneficial bae- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 531. 


teriology and, mycology, there are, of 
course, innumerable instances of the direct 
results obtained from botanical research, 
not only in those processes having to do 
with the growing of crops for man and 
beast, but also in increasing the value and 
importance of numerous industries. See 
how necessary the trained mycologist has 
become to the brewer! No industry is 
more scientific in its methods, and it re- 
quired but the investigations of Hansen 
and Jorgensen to place the business upon 
a plane of absolute security, scarcely en- 
joyed by a manufacturer depending upon 
the most mechanical and routine processes. 
By the pure yeast cultures the brewer has 
everything under his control, for the mash 
is sterilized by boiling and the addition of 
the hops prevents the growth of deleterious 
bacteria which might be added subsequent- 
ly. Thus, there is no reason why the beer 
made a year hence should not be precisely 
the same as that made to-day. 

The maker of wine has not been so quick 
to take advantage of the information fur- 
nished by botanical research, and in many 


cases the results of his labors are lost, or at 


most, the product is often far from what 
it might have been had the proper plant 
furnishing the proper enzyme been speci- 
fically added, instead of its being left to 
chance. While it is true that there may 
be difficulties attending the sterilization of 
the grape must, which, of course, is laden 
with wild yeasts and moulds, to say noth- 
ing of the bacteria, it seems more than 
probable that by proper attention to the 
acidity of the must and by adding the pure 
yeast in considerable quantity so as to 
overcome the objectionable forms, most 
beneficial results may be obtained. Cer- 
tainly, the only way in which the making 
of wine is to be placed upon the same pre- 
cise and satisfactory basis as that of malt 
liquors, is by investigations concerning the 
purely scientific processes involved and not 


Marcu 3, 1905.) 


by a continuation of the old hit-or-miss, 
inaccurate methods developed centuries ago 
before there existed any botanical research. 

It is not necessary to refer here at length 
to the wide influence research has had upon 
the dairy industry. Slow as we are to 
abandon long-established custom, the in- 
troduction of the pure ‘starter’ for the 
production of a standard type of butter is 
coming more and more into use, and the 
certainty with which it is now possible to 
obtain an agreeable and pleasant aroma in 
butter, with no danger of spoiling the 
product, is what has made possible the vast 
ereameries of the present day. 

While it is probable that the part played 
by bacteria is not so important in the ripen- 
ing of cheese as formerly supposed, the 
necessity for the lactic bacteria in acidi- 
fying the milk for the production of a good 
curd is well recognized. We also know 
that in some kinds of cheese moulds are 
essential to produce the characteristic fla- 
vor so much relished by some. In addi- 
tion, the supplying of certain bacteria, 
known as ‘langvey’ in Holland, plays a 
most important part in preventing the de- 
terioration of the cheese, owing probably 
to these organisms keeping down the 
growth of objectionable forms by exhaust- 
ing certain necessary food products. This 
latest discovery is likely to open up a new 
field in the dairy industry, as, in a sense, 
it does away with the necessity of keeping 
out all deleterious organisms, and permits 
a good product under conditions which 
otherwise would make it impossible to 
manufacture cheese at all. 

The debt owed by the tiller of the soil 
to the vast number of purely botanical 
investigations of so much money value to 
the farmer, is but seldom recognized or 
acknowledged. To admit oneself a scien- 
tifie farmer is to at once invite a deluge of 
almanae and comic weekly jokes that have 
been accumulating against this class since 


SCIENCE. 


329 


Adam began to work for his living. And 
yet, barring conditions beyond the control 
of man, the only way in which the most 
profit can ever be obtained from a farm is 
by adhering rigidly to the information 
based on pure science, much of which has 
been discovered in the botanical laboratory. 
It is quite true that certain wild specula- 
tions, masquerading as scientific research, 
have resulted in unjustly causing many 
practical men to look upon botanical in- 
vestigation as being the last thing to prove 
beneficial to those who grow plants for 
profit. But the farmer is beginning to 
distinguish between the real and the false, 
and it will not be long until it is recognized 
that the only man who fails to make a sue- 
cess out of his land is the unscientific one, 
who either can not or will not take advan- 
tage of the practical facts put at his com- 
mand by the investigator in the laboratory, 
who may not know the difference between 
a double shovel and a dise harrow. 

It is also interesting to note that our 
science ean no longer be disregarded by the 
judge and the lawyer as being without their 
sphere, for it has been possible for the bot- 
anist to invade the field of expert testimony 
in a most practical fashion, and the num- 
ber of cases demanding the knowledge 
which ean only be properly furnished by 
a student of plants are constantly multi- 
plying. In one instance, an increase from 
$9,000 to $25,000 in the damages asked, 
was due directly to the evidence submitted, 
depending entirely upon plant histology 
and physiology. And the basis upon which 
a verdict of $20,000 and costs was finally 
rendered was the possibility of demon- 
strating damage by the discussion of such 
strictly botanical subjects as cross-sections 
of rose leaves, cambium, photosynthesis, 
root pressure, ete. That the result would 
have been different had the attorney for 
the defendant possessed a little botanical 
knowledge is perhaps a question, but there 


330 


is no doubt but that his examination and 
eross-examination were sadly confused for. 
the want of a few correct ideas about 
plants. 

After all, it is not so important to dwell 
upon what scientific research has done in 
the past for practical botany and related 
subjects, as to emphasize what it may do 
in the future. Fortunately, botany is not 
yet at the place where she desires to stop 
and contemplate her achievements in a 
spirit of self-satisfaction or contentment. 
The unsolved or uncompleted problems of 
the industrial world waiting for help from 
the botanists are many, even more, perhaps, 
than the botanist himself realizes. No one 
man could enumerate them and any at- 
tempt to more than suggest the opportuni- 
ties in a few lines with which I am most 
familiar would be presumptuous. There- 
fore, I hope it will be understood that my 
idea in mentioning the possibilities of sci- 
entific investigation in one or two specific 
cases is not intended as an indication of 
what I myself may hope to accomplish in 
this way, or as suggestions to others who 
are engaged in more important work. I 
merely wish to indicate to those not famil- 
iar with botanical research how we realize 
that much remains for us to do. 

To begin with a very homely example, 
the investigation of the bread yeasts offers 
a fertile field for some botanist desiring 
to be of service to his fellow-man by im- 
proving one of the most necessary and im- 
portant manufacturing processes carried on 
in domestic life. An examination of many 
‘of the yeast cakes upon the market will 
show that they usually are as rich in bac- 
teria as in yeast cells, no particular care 
having been taken to maintain the purity 
of the yeast. While we have had some 
investigations pointing out the bad effect 
of certain of these bacteria upon the bread 
sponge, it is more than likely that other 
bacteria may be of great importance in 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXTI. No. 531. 


converting the starch to sugar; at any rate, 
definite scientific knowledge is necessary 
before we can hope to get the best practical 
result. The possibility of improving the 
bread yeast itself is also a piece of work 
which I am not aware has yet been under- 
taken. When it is remembered that the 
source of most bread yeast is a beer yeast 
and the function of the two is not by any 
means the same, it would appear that some 
eareful cultural work would be caleulated 
to greatly improve the ease and certainty 
with which good bread might be made. 
Another possible point of improvement lies 
in the fact that the bread yeasts on the 
market are generally selected because of 
their rapidity of multiplication. Since it 
is now known that this function generally 
varies inversely as the gas forming power, 
it would seem more than likely that by no 
means the most efficient type of yeast was 
now being used for bread-making purposes. 

Tanning, flax and hemp retting, and 
other similar industries dependent upon 
fermentations set up by various micro-or- 
ganisms, all offer most inviting possibilities 
for the utilization of the results of pure 
botanical research. Because certain opera- 
tions, worked out by experience and many 
failures, have been carried on for centuries 
with a fair measure of success, is no argu- 
ment against the scientific investigation of 
the fundamental processes underlying the 
results obtained. It is more than probable 
that by the discovery of the precise organ- 
ism involved, and the elimination of the 
undesirable, if not harmful, forms intro- 
duced accidentally, certain industries in 
this country can be revived and put upon a 
paying basis undreamed of by the practical 
man. At any rate, if improvement is to 
come, it must be as the result of informa- 
tion acquired by means of the scientist 
working in his laboratory, rather than 
through the efforts of the business man 
and manufacturer in the shop. 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


The possibility of large practical results 
from botanical investigations along agri- 
cultural lines seems to be particularly 
promising at the present time, probably 
because so many botanists are directing 
their attention in this direction. What 
the future has in store for the farmer of 
this country, because of the researches now 
being carried on in plant pathology, plant 
physiology, soil bacteriology and _ other 
branches of botany, can only be conjec- 
tured, but that much of real value will be 
forthcoming there can be little doubt. In 
no other field are the opportunities so 
great; in no other way are the practical 
returns of botanical investigation so sure. 

When the farmer is made to realize that 
the soil upon which he is so dependent is 
not dead and inert, but a living, changing 
thing, the laboratory in which some of 
nature’s most wonderful miracles are per- 
formed, he will be more ready to accept 
help and advice from a man who may not 
know how to plant and reap, but who 
understands the nature of the growing and 
the fruiting and the factors controlling 
them, as only one who has given himself 
to searching for botanical truths can know 
them. And when such knowledge applied 
by the farmer means all the difference be- 
tween success and failure, an increase of 
one hundred to one thousand per cent. in 
his crops, the growing of new plants in 
new ways, the successful combating of 
ruinous diseases, the conservation of the 
real worth in the manure pile instead of 
allowing all its fertilizing power to be 
wasted into the air—these and many other 
practical results will at no distant day es- 
tablish botanical research as one of the 
most necessary and beneficial aids to the 
most important industry in the world. 

Before I conclude, it may be well, per- 
haps, to inquire into the nature of the re- 
Search now being carried on in botany 
under the name of scientific investigation. 


SCIENCE. dol 


Is it always scientific, or, indeed, even 
botanical? Does it in every ease result, 
not necessarily in creating value where 
waste and worthlessness existed, but in that 
real addition to knowledge and the clarifica- 
tion of the subject which is supposed to be 
its function? I am sure you will agree 
with me that nothing so tends to prevent 
the advance of any science as for it to be 
loaded down with a vast weight of undi- 
gested facts, which are published and re- 
published by man after man in the fond 
belief that they are ‘contributions to knowl- 
edge.’ Such a practise can not always be 
prevented, but it behooves botanists to 
realize their responsibility and to do all 
in their power to elevate their science and 
the character of the work being done under 
their direction. It does not necessarily 
follow that because a man has just taken 
his bachelor’s degree that he is qualified 
to carry on the investigation of some real 
problem in botany, even though his in- 
structor does give him the subject. Far be 
it from me to advocate in any sense of the 
word a commercial test for botanical in- 
vestigation. There are many problems in 
botany which all of us want answered, but 
which probably will never be capable of an 
industrial application, and no one wants 
them to be. Furthermore, it is net given 
to us to determine the outcome of any par- 
ticular line of work, and those fields which 
have seemed furthest removed from utility 
have often yielded results the most bene- 
ficial. I do wish, however, that the test 
always applied to scientifie work which has 
a practical application might also be used, 
at times, at least, in judging all botanical 
investigation. There ean be little doubt 
about the wide difference in the scrutiny 
given a paper prepared on some technical 
subject, upon which the writer is no doubt 
able to speak with authority, but which wil 
at most provoke a controversy between some 
half dozen others in the world who are 


332 SCIENCE. 


likewise authorities, cr think they are, upon 
the same subject; and in promulgating a 
theory or a method of economic value 
which will be tried by thousands with no 
regard for your feelings, if it fails to ac- 
complish all you have claimed for it. 

If this proving of our botanical work, 
by the rules and regulaticns of a prac- 
tical world, accomphshed nothing else, it 
would certainly tend to make the general 
character of scientific investigaticn a little 
more exact and definite than it has always 
been in the past. A clock striking the half 
hours near midnight does not always give 
the information you wish. It may be half- 
past twelve, or one, or half-past one, and 
in spite of the number of times it makes 
itself heard it is of no more value and not 
nearly so satisfactory as a clock not strik- 
ing so often, but telling the time when it 
does strike. We make many claims for the 
high ground upon which scientifie research 
stands, but I am inclined to think that the 
motive behind part, at least, of the botan- 
ical investigation of this country is no 
further removed from eriticism than if it 
were undertaken for the mere dollars and 
cents involved in a commercial proposition. 
It is a fine point in ethics to determine 
whether the reward of a degree, a fellow- 
ship, or a teaching position for a piece of 
scientific research, places the work and the 
worker upon a higher plane than when 
similar investigations are undertaken for 
the purpose of solving a problem of defi- 
nite money value which, unfortunately, for 
this reason alone are apt to be more ac- 
curate and more complete. 

And here I think it may not be out of 
place to felicitate those who have been so 
instrumental in building up the true bot- 
anical research of this country (and those 
who have had the good fortune of being 
under their instruction are also to be con- 


gratulated), .upon the very high place 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 531. 


Americans have come to occupy among the 
botanists of the world. 

Not long ago, while visiting the labora- 
tory of a noted German botanist, I asked 
if he had any American students. ‘‘No,”’ 
he said, ‘‘I do not expect to have any more. 
There is no need for you Americans to 
come to Germany any longer. You have 
the men and the laboratories. One needs 
only to come to Europe for the language 
or to look at specimens.’’ Is it not time 
that the botanists of this country began to 
let it be known that even the Germans are 
recognizing our worth and our facilities, 
and that when a student goes abroad it is 
no longer because no one in this country 
is capable of teaching him, but for the 
language, the experience, the travel? In- 
deed, if it did not sound too vain-glorious, 
I would have no hesitation in saying that, 
in certain lines, at least, we have so far 
exceeded the foreign teachers and labora- 
tories that it can not be long until the tide 
turns in the other direction and the most 
anti-American botanist will be forced to 
come to us for information. 

The day is easily within the memory of 
some men now teaching chemistry, when 
this science had no more standing as an 
economie subject than botany has now. 
I believe, if botanists but realize the neces- 
sity of calling the attention of the world 
to the practical results already accom- 
plished, and will maintain the standard of 
true scientific research at its highest point, 
that, botany will very soon take the fore- 
most place among the applied sciences. 
Further, I am of the opinion that the unit- 
ing of all those professionally engaged in 
the study of plants into one efficient, active 
organization could not but hasten this day, 
and that it would not be long until chairs 
of applied or industrial botany would be 
as necessary in a thoroughly equipped uni- 
versity as they are now considered for cer- 
tain other sciences. We have seareely more 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


than begun the scientific investigation of a 
field which offers the widest opportunities 
for results. Not only does it seem probable 
that practically new lines of business are to 
be created by botany, but the improvement 
in old methods which have been maintained 
for centuries simply because ‘our fathers’ 
did that way, has already demonstrated to 
the most conservative that the scientific 
botanist, true to type, is a man of immense 
practical value to the farmer, the manu- 
facturer, the engineer and the world at 
large. 

May we none of us, by our work or our 
words, retard the rapid advance now being 
made, along both pure and practical scien- 
tifie lines, of our chosen science—botany. 


GrorGE T. Moore. 
BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 


AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD- 
VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 
SECTION B, PHYSICS. 

THE annual meeting of Section B, Phys- 
ies, of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, in affiliation with 
the American Physical Society, was held 
in Philadelphia on December 28, 29 and 
30, 1904. , The attendance was represen- 
tative in an unusual degree of the physi- 
cists of the entire country, including not 
only those from many important institu- 
tions of the east, but also from the south, 
the west, and from California. The av- 
erage attendance was nearly one hundred. 

The retiring vice-president, Edwin H. 
Hall, introduced the presiding officer, Pro- 
fessor W. F. Magie, of Princeton Univer- 
sity, the vice-president of Section B. The 
other officers of the section who were in 
attendance were Dayton C. Miller, seere- 
tary; Henry Crew, councillor; A. W. Good- 
speed, member of the general committee; 
and the following members of the sectional 
committee, W. F. Magie, E. H. Hall, D. C. 


SCIENCE. 33 


Miller, E. L. Nichols, F. E. Nipher, G. F. 


Poole, .G. Webster, D. B. Brace: 


For the next meeting, to be held in New 
Orleans, beginning December 29, 1905, the 
presiding vice-president is Professor Henry 
Crew, of Northwestern University. The 
other officers for the New Orleans meeting, 
so far as now determined, are: 

Retiring Vice-President—W. F. Magie. 

Members of the Sectional Committee—Henry 
Crew, W. F. Magie, D. C. Miller, EK. L. Nichols, 
F. E. Nipher, G. F. Hull and A. G. Webster. 

Seeretary—Dayton C. Miller, Case School of 
Applied Science, Cleveland, Ohio. 

On Thursday the retiring vice-president, 
Professor E. H. Hall, of Harvard Univer- 
sity, gave an address on ‘A Tentative The- 
ory of Thermoelectric Action.’ This im- 
portant paper, which is printed in full 
otherwhere in this journal, was listened to 
by an unusually large audience. 

Twenty-two papers were read before Sec- 
tion B, all of which were of such impor- 
tance that it was generally expressed that 
this meeting was one of the most valuable 
that Section B has ever enjoyed. The sub- 
jects may be classified as follows: on light, 
nine papers; on electricity, five; on meteor- 
ology, two; and on general subjects, six 
papers. Papers on related subjects were 
grouped together more than had been usual 
before, and ample time was allowed for 
discussion. This arrangement added to the 
value, as well as to the enjoyment, of the 
sessions. 

Beginning on Friday, December 30, the 
sessions were in charge of the American 
Physical Society; a large number of valu- 
able papers were read, an account of which 
is given in the report of the Physical So- 
ciety. 

The abstracts of the papers read before 
Section B are given below. 


Note on the  Mirror-Telescope-Scale 
Method: Grorcr F. Strapiinc, Manual 
Training Sehool, Philadelphia. 


304 


Let a ray of light of fixed direction fall 
upon a mirror turning about a vertical 
axis. The reflected ray is received upon 
a plane. If the incident ray passes 
through the vertical axis, and this axis les 
in the plane of the mirror, and the plane 
on which the reflected ray falls is parallel 
to the mirror-plane, the curve traced by 
the spot of light as the mirror turns is a 
hyperbola. Discussion of another case. 


Some Convenient Laboratory Apparatus: 
Horace ©. Ricuarps, University of 
Pennsylvania. : 

I. An Apparatus for Quickly Washing 
and Filling Vessels with Small Openings. 
—It consists of a small glass cylinder 
mounted on a suitable stand and provided 
with three outlets, one leading to the vessel 
which is to be filled, one to that containing 
the liquid, and the third to an aspirator 
through a trap. The liquid is first drawn 
up into the eylinder and then, by inter- 
mittent working of the aspirator, is driven 
into the vessel. A similar process empties 
the vessel and carries the liquid over into 
the trap. For mercury, ete., the form is 
slightly modified so as to prevent loss of 
the quid. 

II. A Simple Automatic Mercury 
Washer.—Mereury is raised by an as- 
pirator into a vessel placed above a vertical 
tube filled with dilute nitric acid. When 
the vessel is filled, the aspirator is auto- 
matically shut off and at the same time 
air is admitted by a pair of valves operated 
by a float. The mereury then filters 
through a small valve in the bottom of the 
vessel and falls in small drops through the 
column of acid. It is then returned to the 
reservoir from which it was drawn and so 
is passed around through the acid as often 
as is desired, the aspirator being set in 
action again when the upper vessel is 
nearly empty. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 531. 


The Double Suspension Pendulum for De- 
termining the Absolute Value of the 
Acceleration of Gravity: R. S. Woop- 
WARD, Carnegie Institution. 

This paper describes an apparatus spe- 
cially designed to avoid the difficulties 
presented by knife-edge pendulums and to 
secure a degree of precision in absolute 
measures of the acceleration gravity com- 
parable with the precision already attained 
in relative measures. 


Heat Insulation of Observatory Domes, 
Laboratories and Other Buildings. 
Davin Topp, Amherst College. 

To prevent excessive heat accumulation 
in the new observatory domes at Am- 
herst waste granulated cork is put in be- 
tween the interior galvanized iron sheath- 
ing and the exterior wood boarding on 
which the copper roof is fastened. One 
and one half to two inches of cork is suffi- 
cient to keep interior iron always cool to 
the touch, no matter how hot the copper 
gets when the sun is shining normally 
upon it. Mineral wool would be nearer 
fire-proof and equally good insulation, but 
adds more weight. Numerical tests will 
be submitted. 


The Relation Between Air Pressure and 
Velocity. Francis E. NriPHer, Washing- 
ton University. To be published in 
the Transactions of the Academy of Sci- 
ence of St. Louis. 

The paper describes a method of de- 
termining the constant in the equation 
P =kv? when the air blows into the open 
end of a tube collector. The tube was 
bolted to a small pulley on a shaft which 
could be run at various speeds. The open 
end was 36 inches from the center of the 
pulley, and the plane of the opening could 
be set at any angle with the cireular path 
which it deseribes. When at right angles 
to the path the air within the tube is found 
to be in equilibrium during rotation. The 


Marcu 3, 1905.) 


pressure required to balance the outward 
radial tendency is equal to the pressure 
due to the wind at the open end of the 
tube. When this condition is imposed in 
the equation the value of & is obtained in 
terms of temperature, barometric pressure 
and velocity. The value is practically in- 
dependent of wv for velocities less than 100 
miles per hour. 


The Temperature and Drift of the Avr at 
Great Heights above the American Con- 
tinent, Obtained by Means of Registra- 
tion Balloons. (Preliminary Report.) 
A. Lawrence Rotcs, Director of Blue 
Hill Meteorological Observatory. 
Although the meteorological conditions 

of the lower two or three miles of air have 

been investigated by means of kites at Blue 

Hill Observatory during the past ten years, 

no observations have been made at greater 

heights in this country. Through coopera- 
tion with the management of the St. Louis 

Exposition, the author obtained such ob- 

servations by means of ballons-sondes; 

fourteen of these balloons carrying self- 
recording instruments were despatched 
from St. Louis and all were recovered with 
ten records of barometric pressure and air 
temperature. From the barometric rec- 
ords the maximum height attained was 
found to be about 51,000 feet, where the 
temperature was 68° F. below zero on 

September 23. At a height of about 45,500 

feet (the maximum of the second series of 

experiments) the temperature was —72° 

F. on December 2, the lowest temperature, 

—76°, occurring at a height of about 

33,000 feet on November 26. The direc- 

tion and velocity of the upper air currents 

were indicated approximately by the places 
and times at which the balloons fell. The 
velocity twice exceeded 100 miles an hour 
and all the balloons (excepting one which 

did not rise out of the surface current) 

drifted towards the east, in general diverg- 


SCIENCE. 335 


ing from the areas of low barometric pres- 
sure at the ground. 

An account of these experiments will 
be published in full in the Annals of the 
Harvard College Observatory, Vol. LVIIL., 
Part II. 


Optical Refraction in the Lower Atmos- 
pheric Strata, as Affected by the 
Meteorological Conditions. (Prelimi- 
nary Report.) A. LAwRENcE RotcH, 
Director of Blue Hill Meteorological Ob- 
servatory. 

The variation in refraction has generally 
been attributed to the differences in the 
temperature of superposed strata of air, 
but there have been few investigations 
upon the effect of the daily changes in 
meteorological conditions. Accordingly, 
during two years, observations were made 
three times a day with a precise level, on 
the summit of Blue Hill, of the apparent 
angular depression of a lighthouse in Bos- 
ton harbor, fourteen miles distant and 
550 feet below the hill, the temperatures 
here and over the water being known. 
Since the temperature of the air over the 
ocean is more uniform than that over the 
land, there is a large annual period in their 
difference, but no relation between these 
vertical gradients and the observed refrac- 
tion is evident, nor do the monthly ex- 
tremes appear to be éonnected with the 
corresponding gradients of temperature. 
This indicates that there are other con- 
trolling influences and these are now being 
sought. The investigation will be pub- 
lished in Vol. LVIII., Part II., of the 
Annals of Harvard College Observatory. 


Experimental Study of the Use of Weston 
Instruments for Ballistic Magnetic Test- 
ing. ALBERT F, Ganz, Stevens Institute 
of Technology. 

At various times it has been either 
claimed or disputed that a damped gal- 
vanometer in which the damping force is 


3936 


proportional to the velocity of the moving 
system may be used for ballistic magnetic 
testing. In the Physical Review, of March, 
1903, there is an article by O. M. Stewart 
in which it is shown mathematically 
that such a damped galvanometer con- 
forms to the ordinary law of the undamped 
ballistic galvanometer. It is also stated 
in this article that an ordinary Weston 
ammeter without its shunt or a Weston 
voltmeter without its series resistance may 
be used for determining permeability and 
hysteresis curves by the ballistic method. 
The experiments to be described in this 
paper were undertaken last spring by two 
senior students, Mr. E. E. Greve and Mr. 
A. R. Barkus, under the direction of the 
writer, for the purpose of comparing the 
permeability and hysteresis curves ob- 
tained by means of ordinary Weston in- 
struments, with the curves obtained by 
means of a slow-period undamped ballistic 
gvalvanometer. It was found that the 
eurves for a laminated iron ring obtained 
with an ordinary Weston instrument fell 
about three per cent. below the curve ob- 
tained with the ballistic galvanometer. It 
was also found that the permeability curve 
for a solid iron ring (cross-section 1 sq. in. 
mean diam. 7 in.) obtained with an or- 
dinary Weston instrument fell over ten per 
cent. below the curve obtained with the bal- 
The cause of this fall- 
ing below is undoubtedly that the time of 
the first swing of the ordinary Weston in- 
strument is too short to take account of all 
the change in the magnetic flux which oe- 
The Weston Instrument Co. then 
constructed a special instrument having a 
sreater moment of inertia and more mag- 
netic damping than their ordinary instru- 
ments, and having, therefore, also a much 
longer time for its first swing. This new 
instrument was found to give a permea- 
bility curve for the laminated ring which 
agreed exactly with the curve obtained 


listic galvanometer. 


curs. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No, 531. 


with the ballistic galvanometer. For the 
solid ring the permeability curve was still, 
however, several per cent. below the curve 
obtained with the ballistic galvanometer. 
In order to make a direct reading magnetic 
flux meter out of this instrument ten yards 
of flexible cord were taken to be used for a 
secondary coil, and a resistance was added 
to the instrument, and this was adjusted 
so that the instrument would indicate the 
flux in kilomaxwells changed per turn 
using this secondary. This instrument 
was, therefore, called a ‘Weston Maxwell 
meter.’ This Maxwell meter has been con- 
siderably used in the laboratory of 
Stevens Institute for obtaining magnetiza- 
tion curves, measuring leakage coefficients, 
ete., and has been found extremely useful. 
The Weston Co. are now constructing a 
second special instrument having a still 
slower period, which is expected to give 
accurate results as well for solid iron sam- 
ples as for laminated ones, and this will 
be a direct reading, portable and perman- 
ent Maxwell meter having a uniform scale, 
which will be generally useful for all kinds 
of magnetic testing and which can be used 
directly without previous calibration. 
Owing to the slow period of these special 
instruments the extent of their first throws 
can be very accurately noted. 


Measurement of the Thompson Thermo- 
electric Effect in Iron. Epwin H. Hatt, 
Harvard University. 


Description and Demonstration of the 
Poulsen Telegraphone. Z. B. Bassirt, 
New York; Introduced by Arthur W. 
Goodspeed. 

The principles involved in the Poulsen 
telegraphone and the practical construction 
of the apparatus were explained. The re- 
production of human speech was then — 
demonstrated. 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


Circular Dichroism in Natural Rotary 
Solutions. D. B. Brace and W. P. 
McDowetu, University of Nebraska. 


Electric Double Refraction in Liquids Un- 
der Low Electric Stresses, and also at the 
Boiling Point. D. B. Brace, G. W. 
Eumen and L. B. Morse, University of 
Nebraska. 


The. Electromagnetic Theory and the 
Velocity of Inght. Henry T. Eppy, 
University of Minnesota. (To be pub- 
lished in the Physical Review.) 

Mr. Mills has recently published a 
paper* in which he has given the results 
of measurements made by him of the in- 
crease in the velocity of cireularly polar- 
ized light in bisulphide of carbon along 
the lines of force in a magnetic field. Em- 
ploying circularly polarized light, he was 
successful in obtaining a difference of one 
or more wave-lengths between two rays 
circularly polarized in opposite senses, 
one ray having its velocity increased while 
the other was decreased, and this was ob- 
tained with apparatus with which no dif- 
ference whatever was observable in case 
of plain polarized rays. 

The apparatus mentioned is a form of 
interferometer devised by Professor Mor- 
ley and paid for by a grant made by the 
American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science for the purpose of investi- 
gating certain points to which the present 
writer had taken exception in the theory of 
the Faraday effect as developed by Pro- 
fessor Rowland,+ who had attempted to 
account for the twisting of the plane of 
polarization of plane polarized light while 
being propagated along the lines of force 
in a magnetically active medium by the 
action of the Hall effect in the medium. 
As just stated, the present writer found 
himself unable to agree with that part of 


* Phys. Rev., Vol. XVIII., p. 65, Feb., 1904. 
j Am. Jour. Math., Vol. 3, p. 109, 1880. 


SCIENCE. 


331 


Professor Rowland’s most valuable theo- 
retical treatment of the Hall effect which 
related to rotary polarization. After a 
full presentation of the theoretical ques- 
tions involved at the Toronto meeting of 
the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, in 1889, the apparatus 
was constructed, and after many delays a 
final report was presented to the American 
Association for the Advancement of Scei- 
ence, at the Boston meeting, August, 1898. 
The report was duly published* and con- 
tains, first, the present writer’s theoretical 
developments and computations as to the 
possible inerease or decrease in velocity to 
be looked for in case of magnetic twisting 
of the plane of polarization, and second, 
a full deseription by Professor Morley of 
his apparatus and a detailed account of 
the experimental work by Professors Mor- 
ley and Miller, who worked in ecollabora- 
tion. No experimental change in the 
velocity of plane polarized light could be 
detected with this apparatus, and the 
numerical computations just mentioned 
showed in fact the possible change in the 
velocity to be too minute to be detected by 
the apparatus as used. Although such is 
the fact with plane polarized light, the ex- 
periments of Mr. Mills show that such is 
not the fact with cireularly polarized light. 
Moreover, it will be shown theoretically 
that in ease of circularly polarized light 
the amount of change in velocity due to 
the magnetic field is expressible as a lower 
power of small quantities, than in ease of 
plane polarized light, and consequently the 
magnitude of the change in the former 
ease is large compared with the latter, and 
in fact varies as the square of the latter; 
and while the latter may be quite beyond 
the range of observation, the former may 
be well within it, as the experiments of 
Mr. Mills have proven. 

In view of this it is the aim of this paper 

* Phys. Rev., Vol. VII., p. 282, December, 1898. 


338 


in the first place to rediscuss the questions 
at issue and point out more in detail than 
heretofore how, according to elementary 
theory, the velocities of plane and circu- 
larly polarized rays in any optically or 
magnetically active medium must be neces- 
sarily related to each other, and how, ac- 
cording to elementary theory, it is impos- 
sible that Professor Rowland’s equations 
ean represent a twisted plane polarized 
ray. 

In the second place, it will be shown 
how these velocities in the magnetically 
active field are related to the velocity in 
zero field according to the several pro- 
posed hypotheses. Were it possible to 
make this comparison experimentally, we 
should have a test as to the validity of 
the proposed hypotheses, but such test is 
as yet beyond reach by reason of the small- 
ness of their differences. 

An attempt is made, in the third place, 
to show that a moderate degree of absorp- 
tion would exert a negligible influence in 
modifying the results already developed 
for perfectly transparent media. 

The conclusions arrived at in this paper 
may be briefly stated as follows: 

1. The increase or decrease in the veloc- 
ity of cireularly polarized light observed 
by Mr. Mills, and previously by Professor 
Brace, are perfectly in accord with and a 
necessary consequence of the elementary 
trigonometrical equations expressing the 
propagation of twisted plane polarized 
light, and the phenomenon is independent 
of any hypothesis, electromagnetic or other- 
wise, as to the manner in which the twisting 
is produced. 

2. The equations given by Professor 
Rowland to express the propagation of 
twisted plane polarized light are not suit- 
able for that purpose, for they in fact ex- 
press the propagation of a uniformly and 
continuously rotated plane polarized ray, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 531. 


such as is at present unknown to experi- 
mental physics. 

3. The velocity of a twisted plane polar- 
ized ray is so related to the velocities of 
the right and left circularly polarized rays 
of which it is composed that its reciprocal 
is the arithmetical means of the reciprocals 
of its components; and the velocity of Pro- 
fessor Rowland’s rotating plane ray is the 
arithmetical mean of the velocities of its 
right and left circularly polarized com- 
ponents. 

4, The differential equation based on two 
different electromagnetic hypotheses as to 
the action of the medium in producing 
rotation or twisting of plane polarized light 
in a magnetic field involves an equation 
expressing the relation of the velocity of 
this kind of light at zero field to its velocity 
in the given field. On the hypothesis of or- 
bital motions of charged ions the differ- 
ential equations show that the field would 
cause a decrease in the velocity of plane 
polarized light during the twisting; while 
on the hypothesis of charged ions having a 
motion of translation across the field, the 
differential equations show that the field 
would cause an increase in the velocity by 
an amount one-third as great as the de- 
erease just mentioned. This increase or 
decrease is of the second order of small 
quantities, and is so minute as to be at 
present beyond the range of observation, 
varying as it does as the square of the 
observed change produced by the field in 
the velocity of circularly polarized rays. 

5. MacCulloch’s differential equations 
involve practically the same decrease of 
velocity by the medium as those based on 
orbital motions of charged ions. 

6. A moderate amount of absorption in 
the medium would not practically modify 
the conclusions true for perfectly trans- 
parent media on either hypothesis. 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


On the Theory of Experiments to Detect 
Aberration of the Second Degree. Ep- 
warp W. Morury, Western Reserve Uni- 
versity, and Dayton C. Miuurr, Case 
School of Applied Science. (To be pub- 
lished in the Proceedings of the Amer- 
ican Academy of Science, and in the 
Philosophical Magazine.) 

In this paper there is a reconsideration 
of the simple theory of aberration of the 
second degree as given by Michelson and 
Morley in 1887, and of the general theory 
as given by Hicks. The effects due to aber- 
ration of the first, second and higher de- 
grees have been computed, and the results 
are shown in curves. The conclusion is 
that the original theory was correct and 
sufficient, and that the modifications pro- 
posed by Hicks are effective in aberration 
of the third or fourth degree only, or are 
(in two instances) due to errors in his 
theory. 


Report of an Experiment to Detect Change 
of Dimension of Matter Produced by its 
Drift through the Ether. Epwarp W. 
Moruey and Dayton C. Miturr. (To 
be published in the Proceedings of the 
American Academy of Science, and in 
the Philosophical Magazine. ) 

The paper describes a large interferom- 
eter designed for the measurement of ether 
drift, and for the determination of any 
differential change in the dimension of 
matter, resulting from such a drift. The 
support of the optical parts is a steel truss- 
pattern cross, which is cireumseribed by 
a Square with diagonals fourteen feet long. 
By repeated reflections the optical path of 
the light is lengthened to two hundred and 
eleven feet. The whole interferometer is 
floated on mercury to render observations 
possible in all azimuths. The distanees 
apart of the mirrors are determined by in- 
terchangeable rods, which may be of any 
suitable material. Experiments have been 


SCIENCE. Sky 


made using pine distance pieces, which give 
results in accordance with those of the 
original experiment made by Michelson 
and Morley in 1887 in which the distances 
were determined by sandstone. 

The theory given in the preceding paper 
indicates a displacement of the interference 
fringes due to ether drift amounting to 
1.53 wave-lengths, as the apparatus is 
rotated. The observations from 260 rota- 
tions show that the displacement is less 
than 0.015 wave-length. As the latter 
quantity is as small as the errors of obser- 
vation, the conclusion is that there is no 
drift of the ether at the place where the 
interferometer is mounted. 


Recent Experiments and Theories on the 
Ether Drift. D. B. Brace, University 
of Nebraska. 


The Elimination of Gas Action in Exper- 
ments on Light Pressure. G. F. Huu, 
Dartmouth College. (To be published 
in the Philosophical Magazine and in the 
Physical Review.) 

When light is thrown on one vane of a 
torsion system suspended in a_ partial 
vacuum, the ‘Crookes effect’ or gas action is 
eliminated, leaving only light pressure 
effective, in the following ways: (1) By 
making the vane accurately vertical; (2) 
by enclosing the absorbing or reflecting sur- 
face; (3) by making the vane a cylindrical 
surface having its axis coincident with the 
suspending fiber; (4) by using inclined 
surfaces and polarized light. 

Experiments are described and data 
given showing that the gas action is elimi- 
nated through large ranges of air pressure 
varying from about half an atmosphere up 
to a few millimeters of mercury. 

A simple lecture room experiment is de- 
seribed for demonstrating that light pres- 
sure on a reflecting surface is greater than 
that on an absorbing surface in the ratio 


3 £0 


of 1+ 7,:1-+-7,, where 7, and r, are the 
reflection coefficients of the two surfaces. 


The Distribution of Energy in the Visible 
Spectrum. Epwarp L. Nicuous, Cor- 
nell University. (To be published in the 
Physical Review.) 

This paper gives definite numerical and 
graphical data for the variation of in- 
tensity with wave-length in the visible 
spectrum of various sources of light such 
-as the Hefner lamp, the ordinary gas flame, 
‘the petroleum flame, the acetylene flame, 
tthe Nernst filament, the lme lght, the 
magnesium light and the earbon are light; 
also in the spectrum of ineandescent bodies 
such as carbon, platinum and zine oxide at 
known temperatures. 

Hitherto our knowledge of these spectra 
has been relative, each being compared with 
some other taken as a reference standard. 
It is now possible, however, to reduce all 
sspectrophotometrie comparisons to absolute 
measure. 


A Note on Interference with the Bi-Prism. 
Wm. McCuenuan, University of Penn- 
syivania. 

The condition that diffraction and inter- 
ference lines obtained by means of the bi- 
prism shall be seen separately, depends on 
the relative positions of the screen prism 
and slit, and the angle of the prism. The 
writer has taken several photographs to 
illustrate the various fields which may be 
obtained from the same prism. 


The Evolution of Hydrogen from the 
(Cathode in Gases and its Association with 
‘Cathode Rays. CLARENCE A. SKINNER, 
‘University of Nebraska. 


Exhibit of Liquid Air Machine in Opera- 
tion. ArtHuR W. GoopsPEED, Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania. 

Dayton C. MILLER, 
Secretary of Section B. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 531. 


THE CONVENTION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES 
AND EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 

Tuer eighteenth annual convention of 
this association was held in the Chamberlain 
Hotel, at Des Moines, Iowa, November 1-3. 
It was the first meeting under the new con- 
stitution, which reduces the number of sec- 
tions from five to two; and the advantage 
of the new plan was very marked in en- 
abling delegates to follow the discussions 
more closely, and in concentrating the delib- 
erations upon questions of administration 
and methods of work. The two sections 
under the present constitution are (1) on 
college work and administration, and (2) 
experiment station work. 

The general sessions were presided over 
by Dr. W. O. Thompson, of the University 
of Ohio, who delivered the customary presi- 
dential address. This dealt with ‘Some 
Problems in the Colleges of Agriculture 
and Mechanic Arts,’ and gave special 
attention to the agricultural phase of their 
work. Among the problems noted were the 
conditions in the agricultural communities, 
the much-diseussed tendency away from the 
farm, and the frequent lack of opportunity 
on the part of the farmer’s boy for indi- 
vidual initiative. It was urged that farm 
life must not be the refuge of necessity, 
that not all farmers’ sons are suited to be 
farmers any more than all lawyers’ sons 
are suited to that profession, and that 
marked changes in farming have taken 
place in recent years which eall for special 
aptitude and training quite as much as any 
other work in life. It was pointed out that 
intelligent operation of the farm is now 
necessary for any margin of profit, and the 
fallacy that unintelligent men ean make 
successful farmers or satisfactory farm 
laborers was denounced. ‘We need to 
know that intelligence on the farm will 
produce results just as surely as elsewhere,’ 


Maren 3, 1905.] 


and this leads to the requirement for agri- 
eultural education. 

It was pointed out that the agricul- 
tural colleges and the agricultural depart- 
ments cf these institutions have been work- 
ing under the disadvantage of too little 
money, and that there has been a lack of 
appreciation that agricultural education 
must necessarily be a very expensive form 
of education, calling for extensive equip- 
ment which must be maintained at consid- 
erable outlay, and other items not com- 
monly met with in laboratory work. A 
plea was made for the introduction of agri- 
eulture into the rural schools, and for an 
extension department of the college to 
stimulate interest in agricultural education 
in the rural communities. The agricul- 
tural colleges should furnish the inspiration 
and initiative for these movements, and 
there is need of conducting a propaganda 
in their interest, since agriculture differs 
from other industries in that it will not 
take care of itself. The speaker held that 
‘the problem of agricultural education will 
not be solved until the agricultural colleges 
have been brought into close and vital rela- 
tions to the agricultural populations.’ 

The report of the executive committee, 
submitted by Dr. H. C. White, chairman, 
described the efforts of the committee in 
behalf of the bills for establishing mining 
schools at the land-grant colleges, and for 
the further endowment. of the experiment 
stations, now pending in congress; and the 
conferences of the committee with the seere- 
tary of agriculture and other officials of 
his department relative to cooperation be- 
tween the department and the experiment 
stations. The report led to the discussion 
of ihe relations of the experiment stations 
and their work to the department of agri- 
culture. ‘ 

In the course of the discussion upon this 
subject, a resolution was introduced by Dr. 
W. H. Jordan, of New York, recognizing 


SCIENCE. 


341 


the mutually advantageous relations which 
have existed between the department and 
the experiment stations of the several states, 
but recording the belief of the association 
that the continuation and development of 
these relations and the maintenance and 
progress of efficient research in agricultural 
science ‘demand that the autonomy and 
paramount position of the stations as insti- 
tutions of research and experimentation be 
invidlably maintained within their respect- 
ive states, in accordance with the terms 
and spirit of the Hatch Act.’ The resolu- 
tion instructed the executive committee to 
request a hearing before the proper com- 
mittees of congress, for the purpose of 
presenting the work and claims of the ex- 
periment stations, in order that congress 
may be properly informed as to the work 
of these institutions and its value to agri- 
cultural practise; and, furthermore, to 
continue conferences with the secretary of 
agriculture relative to cooperation between 
his department and the stations. This 
resolution was adopted by the association. 

The committee on the collective exhibit of 
the agricultural colleges and experiment 
stations at St. Louis, through its chairman, 
Dr. W. H. Jordan, presented a progress 
report, briefly enumerating some of the fea- 
tures relating to the exhibit and noting the 
awards granted to it. 

There were the usual reports of the bib- 
liographer, by Dr. A. C. True, and of the 
committee on indexing agricultural litera- 
ture, both of which enumerated the bibliog- 
raphies and indexes to agricultural science 
which had appeared during the year; and 
the committeé on methods of teaching agri- 
culture presented a report on ‘The Teach- 
ing of Agriculture in the Rural Schools,’ 
with a syllabus of an elementary course in 
agriculture. 

The report of the committee on graduate 
study reaffirmed the plan of conducting a 
eraduate summer school of agriculture un- 


342 


der the auspices of the association, and rec- 
ommended that the school be held in future 
every two years, beginning, if possible, with 
the coming summer. The committee was 
empowered to arrange for the holding of 
such schools, and each agricultural college 
was requested to make an annual contribu- 
tion of $25 to aid in their maintenance. 

The committee on uniform fertilizer and 
feeding stuff laws submitted a brief re- 
port, through its chairman, Dr. H. J. 
Wheeler, which dealt in part with the ques- 
tion of nomenclature in reporting the re- 
sults of analysis: this matter was subse- 
quently referred to a special committee, to 
cooperate with a similar committee of the 
Association of Official Agricultural Chem- 
ists. 

The committee on rural engineering re- 
ported, through Dr. W. E. Stone, the 
progress which has been made during the 
year in developing courses in agricultural 
engineering and farm mechanics at the 
land-grant colleges, and enumerated some 
of the benefits of instruction and investi- 
gation carried on by these departments. 
The need of a central ageney in the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture was emphasized, to aid 
these new departments of the colleges, to 
carry on original research, and to establish 
laboratories for practical tests of imple- 
ments, ete. 

The committee on animal and plant 
breeding, through Professor W. M. Hays, 
reviewed the activity in research along 
these lines, and described the formation of 
the American Breeders’ Association. 

Resolutions paying an eloquent tribute 
to the late Major Henry E. Alvord, a 
former president and member of the execu- 
tive committee of the association, were pre- 
sented by President James K. Patterson, of 
Kentucky. These recorded the high esteem 
and affection in which Major Alvord was 
held by the association, and testified to his 
eminent services to agriculture in the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 531. 


various public and private capacities in 
which he served. 

‘The Social Phase of Agricultural Edu- 
cation’ was discussed in a paper by Presi- 
dent Kenyon L. Butterfield, of Rhode 
Island. He laid down the broad proposi- 
tion that the agricultural college should 
serve as a social agency in helping to solve 
all phases of the rural problem, and pointed 
out that this was not merely a matter of 
technic, but a problem of economic, polit- 
ical and social significance. The present 
courses of study at the agricultural colleges 
were shown to deal almost exclusively with 
the technical phase, and the training of 
the individual to become a highly special- 
ized expert. The introduction of rural 
economics and the spirit which it stands 
for was stated to be far more than the 
adding of two or three subjects of study 
to the agricultural course, but involved the 
socializing of the whole spirit and method 
of the college. The greatest need of Amer- 
ican agriculture to-day was declared to be 
social leadership. It was argued that the 
college should assume this leadership and 
should train men and women for the serv- 
ice. A great enlargement of extension 
work among the farmers was advocated in 
order to teach the people who can not come 
to the college. 

An address was delivered by Director 
William Saunders, of the Central Experi- 
mental Farm at Ottawa, Canada, on ‘The 
Upbuilding of Agriculture.’ This reviewed 
the development of agricultural education 
and experimentation in the United States 
and in Canada, and noted many of the 
material results of the experimental work 
in Canada and British Columbia, especially 
in the introduction and improvement of 
cereals by selection and breeding. 


ON COLLEGE WORK AND ADMINIS- 
TRATION. 


SECTION 


The program of this section included 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


some of the problems of lvest interest to 
the land-grant colleges, and the discussion 
served to clarify the views on a number of 
important points. 

The question as to how far the land- 
grant institutions should engage in teach- 
ing elementary subjects not generally recog- 
nized as belonging to the collegiate curricu- 
lum, was opened by a paper by President 
W. O. Thompson, who justified bringing 
the elementary instruction quite low down, 
on the ground of the lack of proper train- 
ing in the rural schools, and also com- 
mended the short courses. Dr. R. H. Jesse, 
of Missouri, took the opposite view, and 
maintained that the remedy for the condi- 
tion lay in the improvement of the public 
school system by the introduction of agri- 
cultural studies. While this was acknowl- 
edged to be the long way, as changes of 
this sort are slow of realization, he be- 
heved it to be the right way, which would 
justify itself in the long run. He disap- 
proved of the establishment of agricultural 
high schools or preparatory departments 
for the agricultural colleges, but thought 
that the college of agriculture should rest 
on the public school system. Professor L. 
H. Bailey, of Cornell University, took a 
middle ground upon this question, holding 
that while these forms of elementary in- 
struction do not properly belong in the col- 
lege and are a temporary expediency, they 
are entirely warranted by the fact that the 
land-grant colleges do not at present ar- 
ticulate with the common schools. He be- 
lieved that the final issue would be to pre- 
pare the public schools to prepare for the 
land-grant ‘colleges, as they now prepare 
for the colleges of arts and sciences; but 
as this will occupy many years, perhaps a 
generation, he believed that the pressing 
problems of to-day must be taken care of, 
and on that ground defended the short and 
low-grade courses as temporary expedients. 

Other speakers presented the local diffi- 


SCIENCE. 


343 


culties in confining the instruction to a 
four-year course, and maintained that the 
short courses had first aroused genuine in- 
terest and confidence in agricultural edu- 
cation, and that the more elementary 
grades of work did not obscure the college 
course. Under present conditions there is 
a large body of young men who are not and 
can not be prepared to enter the regular 
college course, and for these young men, 
who come to the college in increasing num- 
bers, elementary and short courses were 
demanded. 

The discussion of this question was con- 
tinued in a paper by President J. L. 
Snyder, of Michigan, upon the subject 
“What Can and Should be Done to Increase 
the Interest in and Appreciation for the 
Agricultural Side of Technical Training.’ 
President Snyder urged that the courses in 
agriculture must be technical, and that the 
agricultural department must have equal 
advantages in the way of equipment, teach- 
ing force and buildings, with the other de- 
partments of the college or university. 
Short courses were advocated for those un- 
able to take the longer courses. The speak- 
er described what was done in Michigan to 
arouse interest in the agricultural work by 
maintaining close relations with the public 
schools, advertising the institution in vari- 
ous ways, and running excursions to the 
college during August, which the past year, 
were attended by about 8,000 people. 

Dean Davenport, of the University of 
Illinois, urged the need of differentiation 
of the subject of agriculture, and a larger 
number of instructors to cover different 
phases of the subject. Great progress has 
been made in this direction at a number of 
the institutions, but in many eases the 
teaching force was thought to be entirely 
inadequate. He made the point clear that 
the number of men to be taught should not 
be the unit in manning the staff of the agri- 
cultural department, as it has often been 


344 


in the past, but that the true unit should 
be the subject itself. He pointed out that 
the University of Illinois now has more 
teachers in agriculture than it had students 
five years ago, and that as soon as the num- 
ber of instructors was doubled the number 
of students doubled. He expressed the 
belief that the interest in agriculture on 
the part of the students was usually about 
in proportion to the number of instructors 
in that subject, and that greater differen- 
tiation and increased provision for teach- 
ing the various branches of agriculture 
would meet with the same result every- 
where that it did at his institution. 

A discussion of the degrees which should 
be given on the completion of the under- 
graduate courses in agriculture in the land- 
grant colleges, led by President G. A. 
Harter, of Delaware, brought out consid- 
erable difference of opinion, some contend- 
ing for the B.S. and B.A. degrees, while 
others advocated the degrees B.Agr. and 
B.S.A. for the agricultural students, as 
more definitely expressing the courses 
which they had pursued. 

The question as to the intent and pur- 
pose of the Morrill Act in regard to mili- 
tary instruction was introduced by a paper 
by President M. H. Bueckham, of Vermont. 
The special interest in this subject has 
grown out of General Order 65 issued by 
the War Department, which prescribes the 
amount of military instruction which the 
officers detailed to the land-grant colleges 
for this duty are expected to require. 
Some of the institutions have found them- 
selves unable to comply with these require- 
ments, and as a result the detail has been 
withdrawn. President Buckham suggested 
that less emphasis be placed on the manual 
and technical branches of military: training 
and more upon the intellectual topics in 
the military art, since the students at these 
land-grant colleges ‘take military tactics 
as a part of a liberal education, not to fit 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXT. No. 531. 


them to serve as enlisted men.’ The quite 
lengthy discussion following this paper 
showed that with the general advocacy of 
the importance of military instruction 
ealled for by the Morrill Act, there was a 
quite general dissent from the present re- 
quirements of the War Department; and 
the executive committee of the association 
was finally instructed to present the views 
of the association to the authorities at 
Washington. 

SECTION ON EXPERIMENT STATION WORK. 

This section considered the general sub- 
ject of the breeding and improvement of 
plants and animals, and held a conference 
on the question of the amount of teaching 
which it is desirable for station workers 
to do. 

The development of knowledge regarding 
methods of breeding plants and animals, 
and the working out of some of the under- 
lying principles, were presented in a paper 
by Professor W. M. Hays, who expressed 
a strong belief in the importance of sys- 
tematic work in breeding and its great com- 
mercial application. 

Dr. T. L. Lyon, of Nebraska, spoke upon 
‘Improvement in the Quality of Wheat,’ 
describing the methods which he is working 
out in this line as distinguished from selee- 
tion for yield alone. Since a high yield 
and high nitrogen content do not neces- 
sarily go together, it was pointed out that 
there is danger in selecting wheat for yield 
alone that the quality will be injured, and 
hence it was maintained that the quality 
should be taken account of in breeding or 
selecting for yield. 

Professor H. Snyder, of Minnesota, 
called attention to the difference in value 
of wheat for various purposes, and the lack 
of standards; and on his motion a com- 
mittee of three was appointed on standards 
for determining the value of cereals. 

In a paper on ‘Animal Breeding,’ Pro- 
fessor C. F. Curtiss, of Iowa, reviewed the 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


work which is now being undertaken in 
animal breeding at the experiment stations 
of this country, and made some suggestions 
for work in that line. 

In the conference upon the subject of 
‘How Much Teaching, if Any,is it Desirable 
that a Station Worker Should Do?’ there 
was a lively discussion and a free expression 
of opinion, which seemed to be very largely 
in one direction. In opening the discussion 
Dr. H. P. Armsby, of Pennsylvania, showed 
that according to the latest statistics about 
54 per cent. of the experiment station work- 
ers now do more or less teaching in the 
agricultural colleges, and that the tendency 
seemed to be toward an increase. THe ex- 
pressed doubt as to the advantage to the 
station man of doing college work, and he 
held that. at all events it should be small 
and of advanced character. He believed 
that in this agricultural work a man should 
be chiefly either a teacher or an investiga- 
tor, and maintained that, to a certain ex- 
tent, the two kinds of work eall for a dif- 
ferent attitude of mind and the use of a 
ditferent set of faculties. 

Dr. W. H. Jordan held that the ad- 
vantage of teaching, from the standpoint of 
the station man, depended quite largely 
upon the kind of teaching to be done, which 
in the case of the agricultural colleges is 
very largely the teaching of fundamentals. 
Such teaching he held to be of no advantage 
to the investigator, although he conceded 
that a small amount of teaching of an ad- 
vaneed character, along specialties with 
which the investigator is dealing, might 
prove advantageous. 

Ii developed from the discussion that the 
plan of requiring this dual service from 
station men was regarded as largely one of 
expediency, and that the requirement of 
too much teaching from men holding impor- 
tant positions on the station staff had an 
unfavorable effect upon the general char- 
acter of the station work. It was urged 


SCIENCE. 


O45 


that the teaching should be so arranged on 
the college schedule as to interfere as little 
as possible with the time of the station 
worker, and that the tendency should be in 
the direction of restricting the amount of 
teaching and limiting it to advanced work. 
The discussion served to enunciate anew 
the true function of the experiment station 
as an institution primarily for the higher 
grades of experimentation and research, 
and emphasized more strongly than ever 
before the great need of a sharper differen- 
tiation of its work and its corps of workers 
from the instruction department of the 
college. 

The extent to which specialization and 
equipment for agricultural instruction and 
investigation are being carried was exempli- 
fied at the Iowa State College at Ames, 
where the convention spent an interesting 
and profitable half-day as the guests of the 
institution. Here the large amount of live 
stock kept primarily for instruction pur- 
poses (over thirty head of horses of various 
breeds and types), the new pavilion for 
stock and grain judging, the well-equipped 
new department of farm mechanics, the 
commodious soils laboratory, the new dairy 
building in process of construction, and the 
plans for the new agricultural building to 
cost from $250,000 to $300,000, as well as 
the other departments of longer standing, 
were typical of the rapid advancement 
which is making in the material equipment 
for agricultural education, which will place 
that department on a par with engineering 
at the better institutions. 

The officers of the association elected for 
the ensuing year were as follows: 

President—E. B. Voorhees, of New Jersey. 

Vice-Presidents—J. C. Hardy, of Mississippi; 
K. L. Butterfield, of Rhode Island; C. D. Woods, 
of Maine; BE. R. Nichols, of Kansas, and E. Daven- 
port, of Illinois. 


Secretary and Treasurer—J. lL. Hills, of Ver- 
mont. 


346 


Bibliographer—A. C. True, 
DIC: 

Baecutive Committee—H. C. Whitc, of Georgia; 
J. L. Snyder, of Michigan; W. H. Jordan, of New 
York; C. F. Curtiss, of Iowa, and L. H. Bailey, 
of New York. 

Section on College Work and Administration— 
Chairman, R. W. Stimson, of Connecticut; Sec- 
retary, K. L. Butterfield, of Rhode Island. 

Section on Experiment Station Work—Chair- 
man, H. J. Patterson, of Maryland; Secretary, 
M. A. Scovell, of Kentucky. 


of Washington, 


EK. W. ALLEN. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


The American Natural History, A Founda- 
tion of Useful Knowledge of the Higher 
Animals of North America. By WitiiaAM 
T. Hornapay. New York, Charles Scrib- 

1904. 8yvo. Pp. xxv -+ 449. 
The object of this book is to make nature 

available to laymen; it is also particularly 

addressed to teachers and parents. It is in- 
tended to be plain, practical and direct, 
as well as systematic and scientific. The 
author has evidently striven (generally with 
good effect) to make his exposition simple and 
lucid, his diagrams and synopses mnemonic, 
his illustrations life-like, his style lively and 
He has a proper abhorrence of 
mere closet naturalists as such, and much of 
the information presented he has won at first- 
hand during many years’ experience as a field 
naturalist in America and the far east, and 
as director of the New York Zoological Park. 

Accordingly, we find here much practical ,and 

economic zoology, invaluable matter on the 

extinction of American species, and the set- 
ting right of many ancient and silly myths. 

As the field covered includes all the principal 

types of vertebrates found in North America, 

it is not to be wondered at that slips are to 
be detected here and there; and in regard to 
the author’s ideas on classification we shall 
offer a few criticisms. © 

Clear exposition is exhibited in many sec- 
tions of the book, notably in the chapter on 
the rodents. The genera and species are 
sketched in a manner that should be easily 
intelligible to the layman and useful to the 
general zoologist. The chapter dealing with 


ner’s Sons. 


personal. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 531. 


the ruminants is also noteworthy. There are 
numerous excellent synopses arranged in 
brackets, and for each class of vertebrates 
there is a chart of the different orders. Ad- 
mirable charts show the distribution of moun- 
tain sheep, elk, ete., and a convenient map 
of North America appears on the inner back 


. cover. 


The drawings, while of uneven merit, are 
full of life and action and have good teach- 
ing value. Many of them, as, for example 
that which represents the harpooning of a 
twenty-foot eagle ray, will surely arouse the 
enthusiasm of young readers. 

Certain groups, e. g., the ducks, are illus- 
trated with great fullness. There are many 
photographs from life, among those of es- 
pecial merit being the well-known photo- 
graph by Umlauff of an old male gorilla, the 
photograph by Professor Nathorst of a herd 
of wild musk oxen, the photographs of the 
white-tailed deer, bison, owls, pelicans, flamin- 
gos, condors, etc., and several of crocodiles; 
a most remarkable one is that by Beck show- 
ing a great multitude of the marine iguanas 
of the Galapagos gathered together on a rocky 
shore. There are excellent photographs of the 
principal snakes; and among Amphibians one 
photograph shows the northern tree frog with 
the voeal sack protruded. 

The author aims to amuse as well as to in- 
struct, as shown in the following typical pas- 
sage: 

Whenever you see a brown-coated burrowing 
animal, the length of a small rat, but twice as 
thick, with a big pouch in the skin of each cheek, 
a swinish appetite, a set of long claws like 
burglars’ tools on each fore foot and a most vil- 
lainous countenance and temper you may know 
that it is a pocket gopher. The pockets in his 
cheeks are to enable him to carry extra large 
quantities of stolen potatoes and seeds. 


It is regrettable that in the endeavor to be 
popular the author repeatedly ascribes human 
characteristics to those animals, such as pikes, 
for example, which, so far as we know, are 
utterly unlike man in their psychic constitu- 
tion. The same straining for popularity also 
leads in a number of passages to sensational- 
ism and ‘ rhetoric.’ 


Marcn 3, 1905.] 


Of the author’s numerous first-hand obser- 
vations of great value we may cite only the 
following: 

An alligator seized a fighting enemy by one 
leg, and using his tail as a propeller, whirled 
himself round and round like a revolving shaft, 
until in about five seconds the leg was twisted 
off, close up to the body! 

Very noteworthy is the incident of the en- 
tombed live frogs in Ceylon, which were dug 
up in the dry bed of what in wet weather was 
a shallow brook. 

Of melancholy interest are the full ac- 
counts of the extinction of the bison, and of 
other species of birds and mammals, and 
of the threatened extinction of the moun- 
tain sheep, bighorn, antelope, ete., for the 
preservation of which the author gives prac- 
tical suggestions. Fishing and the fishery 
industries receive considerable attention. 

Many popular fallacies and myths are set 
right. Bats never ‘get in your hair.’ Certain 
bats, birds and rodents suspected of injuring 
the farmer are shown to be his best friends. 
The gila monster is not ferocious and its bite 
is not necessarily fatal. No snakes are slimy; 
the tongue of a snake is never capable of in- 
flicting a wound or conveying poison. Rattle 
snakes add more than one joint a year to their 
rattles. The gavial and mugger crocodiles of 
India are harmless to man, and so are the 
American crocodiles and alligators. 

Of the errors, misstatements, misinterpre- 
tations and omissions observed we may note 
the following: The ‘ Missing Link’ question is 
discussed, without any reference to the Pithe- 
canthropus erectus. Now, whatever may be 
thought of this remarkable fossil, it should at 
least have been mentioned. The flippers of 
the manatee are described as ‘ well-nigh use- 
less,’ except to a limited extent in assisting to 
convey the food to the mouth. But the mana- 
tees in the New York Aquarium may be. seen 
any day using their flippers to good effect in 
swimming about leisurely. The manatee is 
further said to be compelled to live on aquatic 
plants because its molar teeth are weak—but 
this is probably ‘putting the cart before the 
horse.’ The unique horizontal action of the 
upper lip of the manatee when pulling food 


SCIENCE. 


d47 


into the mouth is not mentioned. Good op- 
portunities to teach the very simplest and 
most interesting facts of comparative anatomy 
are neglected. For example, it is nowhere 
pointed out that birds’ wings are modified 
reptilian hands, bearing long feathers—a fact 
which might easily have been mentioned in 
the references to Archwopteryx—that in the 
several groups of aquatic mammals the flip- 
pers represent modified hands and feet; that 
in hoofed mammals, for purposes of speed, ete., 
the ancient five-toed foot has been, as it were, 
made over and cut down into the odd-toed 
and the even-toed types (the use of the term 
‘divided hoofs’ simply confirms a common 
misconception); that the hoofs of ungulates 
are really highly improved nails, ete. 

The female kangaroo is stated to transfer 
the young at birth to her pouch by means of 
her paws instead of by her lips as stated by 
Owen and other observers. The monotremes 
are regarded (p. 359) as bridging over the 
chasm between the classes of birds and mam- 
mals, a thoroughly discredited notion. The 
African ostrich is described as a worthy de- 
scendant of the moa. Apteryz is stated to be 
“absolutely without wings,’ although Owen, 
T. J. Parker and Pycraft have all described 
the wings in great detail; the wings are vestig- 
ial, it is true, but they retain an elaborate 
musculature, spiny remiges and an alar claw. 
The gills of Ceratodus (p. 381) are stated to 
be small and imperfect and ‘of little use.’ 
But this is quite contrary to the observations 
of Semon.* 

Throughout the book a curiously artificial 
importance is placed upon so-called ‘zoological 
rank,’ whether ‘high’ or ‘low.’ The Cetacea 
(perhaps the most complexly organized of 
mammals) are considered to be ‘low’ because 
they lack hair and are fish-like in form. 
The Dipnoi, we are told, are the ‘highest’ 
among fishes because most like amphibians; 
the eels are very low because they lack scales 
and paired fins! 

In classification the author apparently does 
not trouble himself to distinguish similarities 
due to analogous, parallel or convergent evolu- 
tion from similarities due to blood kinship. 

*¢Tn the Australian Bush,’ pp. 92, 93. 


348 


Thus he finds it convenient to separate prob- 
ably related groups such as the Pinnipedia and 
the Carnivora, Polyodon and the sturgeons, 
but, on the other hand, he thinks the orders An- 
seres, Steganopodes, Tubinares, Longirostres, 
Pygopodes, Impennes ‘might well stand as a 
subelass—the web-footed swimmers.’ What- 
ever mnemonic value there may be in his 
classification of the fishes (which is based 
chiefly upon visible external characters), it 
must be admitted that the scheme is arbi- 
trary, not expressive of kinships and far from 
representing the present state of ichthyology. 
The physostomous and physoclistous orders 
are scattered about indiscriminately the elec- 
tric eel (Symbranchus, which is almost cer- 
tainly an eel-like offshoot of the characines) 
is cited as a typical example of the order 
Apodes; the Pediculates are widely separated 
from the spiny-finned group and placed next 
to the ‘foot of the subclass of bony fishes,’ 
which place of slight esteem is assigned to 
the eels and to the sea-horse group! 
W. K. Grecory. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 

Tue February number of the Botanical 
Gazette contains ‘The theory of respiration,’ 
by C. R. Barnes, being an address as retiring 
president of the Botanical Society of America, 
and published also in Science of February 17. 
—H. N. Whitford has begun a discussion of 
the forests of Flathead Valley, Montana, be- 
ing the results of his work as a collaborator 
in the U. 8. Bureau of Forestry. The paper 
discusses the conditions that determine the 
appearance and nature of the forests of that 
region, and inferentially the nature of the 
conditions of forest development in other re- 
gions.—Theo. Holm publishes a study of Mun- 
roa squarrosa, both from the standpoint of its 
general characters and its anatomy.—C. J. 
Chamberlain presents the view of a botanist 
as to alternation of generations in animals, 
his theory being that the egg with the three 
polar bodies constitutes a generation com- 
parable with the female gametophyte in 
plants; that the primary spermatocyte with 
the four spermatozoa constitute a generation 
comparable with the male gametophyte in 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. VoL. XXI. No. 531. 


plants; and that all other cells in the animal 
constitute a generation comparable with the 
sporophyte in plants. His lines of evidence 
are the gradual reduction of the gametophyte 
in plants, with the constantly diminishing in- 
terval between the reduction of chromosomes 
and the process of fertilization; and the phe- 
nomena of chromatin reduction in both ani- 
mals and plants.—W. F. Ganong, in continu- 
ing his descriptions of new precision-appli- 
ances for use in plant physiology, describes 
an autographic transpirometer, an adjustable 
leaf clasp, and a leaf-area cutter. 


Tue February number of the Journal of 
Nervous and Mental Disease opens with an 
article by Dr. Morton Prince, of Boston, on 
the course of the sensory fibers in the spinal 
cord as evidenced by a case of section of the 
cord. Dr. Prince discusses the function of 
the posterior columns with a leaning toward 
the view that they are largely for the con- 
duction of muscular rather than tactile sense, 
and that at least one of the paths of conduc- 
tion of tactile sense is in the lateral part of 
the cord. He goes over the reports of various 
experiments on animals, and then presents 
very carefully the case in point, resulting 
from a brawl] between a couple of Italians and 
amounting practically to a vivisection experi- 
ment on a human being. Lack of space pre- 
vents giving his conclusions in full, but among 
them might be noted: It is proved that tactile 
sensations are conducted by other paths than 
the posterior columns, and this is probably 
although not positively true of pain as well. 
A path for sensibility must cross the cord. 
In the second article Dr. Frank R. Fry, of 
St. Louis, reports two cases of syphilitic dis- 
ease of the cervical spine, belonging to a type 
characterized by a stiff neck with one or more 
points of tenderness on deep pressure, severe 
neuralgie pains, often not sharply localizable, 
no objective sensory changes, and no paralysis. 
Dr. F. X. Dereum, of Philadelphia, reports a 
case of trauma of the foot of the second frontal 
convolution, followed by ataxia, nystagmus 
and epilepsy, which improved after surgical | 
interference. The October meeting of the 
Philadelphia Neurological Society and the 
November meeting of the New York Neuro- 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


logical Society are reported. The ‘ Periscope’ 
includes abstracts of the following period- 
icals: Neurologisches Centralblatt, Journal de 
Neurologie, Allgemeine Zeitschrift fiir Psy- 
chiatrie, Journal of Mental Science, Archives 
de Neuwrologie, and selected articles from 
miscellaneous journals. T. S. Clouston’s 
‘Clinical Lectures on Mental Diseases’ and 
‘“Traité de Medicine, Vol. IX., Diseases of 
the Nervous System, are reviewed. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
The Red Beds of Southwestern Colorado: 

Wuirman Cross and Ernest Howe. 

During the areal mapping of the Ouray 
quadrangle, on the north side of the San Juan 
Mountains last season, a notable angular un- 
conformity was observed immediately below a 
peculiar limestone conglomerate which has 
long been known to carry fragmentary re- 
mains of dinosaurs and crocodiles, with occa- 
sional plant and invertebrate forms, all of 
Triassic types (see Telluride and La Plata 
folios). Within a distance of two or three 
miles this Triassic conglomerate is seen to 
transgress the edges of 1,200 feet or more of 
unfossiliferous conglomerates, sandstones and 
shales, of typical Red Bed character, and sey- 
eral hundred feet of the Hermosa formation— 
Pennsylvanian Carboniferous. The Triassic 
beds are here but 50 to 200 feet thick, the La 
Plata Jurassic sandstone resting unconform- 
ably upon them. 

This unconformity below the Trias shows 
that the major portion of the Red Beds section 
of the San Juan country is Paleozoic and the 
authors provisionally refer that portion to the 
Permian, and propose the name Cutler For- 
mation for it, the Triassic Red Beds retaining 
the name Dolores, in accordance with the 
original ‘definition of that formation. 

The significance of this unconformity in 
interpreting the Red Beds sections of other 
parts of Colorado and the western plateau 
_ country was briefly discussed. This paper 
was read by title at the winter meeting of the 
Geological Society of America and will be 
offered for publication in full in the Bulletin. 


SCIENCE. 


349 


Cause and Periods of Earthquakes in the New 
Madrid Area, Missouri and Arkansas: 
Myron L. Fuuier. 

The term New Madrid earthquake is ap- 
plied to a series of shocks beginning late in 
1811 and continuing to the early part of 1813, 
constituting one of the most remarkable ex- 
amples of incessant quaking in a region far 
from any voleano for a period of many months. 
The shocks, though felt throughout nearly 
the whole of the country then settled, were 
most severe in southeastern Missouri, north- 
eastern Arkansas and western ‘Tennessee. 
Along the Mississippi there is said to have 
been a broad dome-like uplift of some twenty 
feet, while both to the east and west the land 
was depressed, forming the broad ‘sunk land’ 
districts. The uplift resulted in the drainage 
of many lakes and bayous, while the depres- 
sion gaye rise to basins into which waters 
flowed, killing the existing timber. Among 
other characteristic features of the earth- 
quake was the opening of immense cracks, 
often several feet across and many feet in 
depth, and the formation of craterlets, through 
both of which large amounts of lignite-bear- 
ing sands were ejected, probably giving rise 
to the broad areas known as sand-slews where 
the surface, even to-day, is in places a barren, 
sandy, timberless waste, upon which only 
weeds will grow. The submerged stumps, 
slews, craterlets and cracks were still visible 
in 1904 when a trip was made to the region by 
Professor FE. M. Shepard, C. B. Bailey and 
the speaker. Professor Shepard, who gave 
much attention to the cause of the earthquake, 
believes that the conditions are such as 
would result from the undermining action of 
ground waters under artesian pressure and 
which are thought to have escaped in the 
past, as possibly at present, along some of the 
streams by springs bringing up sand and 
lignite. The equilibrium being destroyed by 
a readjustment of some Ozark or other fault, 
eracks were formed and sand and water 
ejected in large amounts, permitting the set- 
tling described. The speaker, however, be- 
lieves that there was no preliminary under- 
mining, but that the sinking was brought about 
because of the extrusion at the time of the 


300 


quake of large amounts of the quicksand un- 
derlying the clay, which, when saturated with 
water, flows almost as readily as water alone. 
Observation on the ages of trees in the cracks 
brought out the fact that some fissures were 
formed a hundred years or more before the 
recorded quake, while inquiry of the inhabit- 
ants shows that earthquakes are still of almost 
annual occurrence and are accompanied by 
similar but less pronounced phenomena than 
those accompanying the quake of 1811, indi- 
cating that the latter was simply an acute 
stage of a readjustment which has long been 
going on and is still in progress. 


Some Crystalline Rocks of the San Gabriel 
Mountains Near Pasadena, 
RatpH ArNowtD, Washington, D. C., and 
A. M. Srrone, Independence, California. 
The San Gabriel Mountains, comprising an 

area of about twelve hundred square: miles, 

extend for fifty miles in a west-northwesterly 
direction from Cajon Pass in San Bernardino 

County, to the Santa Clara River in Los 

Angeles County. Considerable divergence of 

opinion regarding the age of the chain has 

prevailed among previous writers, but it is 
probable that it received at least the greater 
part of its. elevation during late Eocene or 

Oligocene time. 

The southern range of the chain, the Sierra 
Madre, is composed principally of granodiorite 
and gneiss, with some associated quartz- 
monzonite and gabbro and intruded aplite, 
quartz-hornblende-porphyrite and diabase por- 
phyry. The central portion of the mountains 
consists of somewhat coarser grained granites 
and granodiorites with intruded aplite, micro- 
pegmatite, ete. 

The granites described are of the biotite 
variety and are found in the central part 
of the chain. The granodiorites consist of 
two facies, a fine-grained hornblende-bearing 
variety from the Sierra Madre and a some- 
what coarser grained variety containing por- 
phyritie orthoclase from the central mass. 
These granodiorites differ from those found 
in the Sierra Nevada of central California 
by being on the average finer grained and 
having less quartz, titanite and zircon. 


SCIENCE. 


California:- 


(N.S. Vou. XXL No. 531, 


Gabbro, consisting mostly of hornblende, but 
also containing a little plagioclase, is found 
in small masses or dikes throughout the whole 
area. Aplite is found over the whole region 
in question, while micropegmatite was found 
only in the central portion of the chain. 
Quartz-hornblende-porphyrite and diabase por- 
phyry occur in dikes in the southern range. 
Of the metamorphic rocks, hornblende-diorite- 
gneiss is by far the commonest. It and some 
biotite-granite-gneiss are associated with the 
granodiorites and quartz-monzonites of the 
Sierra Madre. Hornblende-schist and gar- 
netiferous schist, found by the writers only 
in the southern range, complete the list of 
crystalline rocks described. 

The Question of the Origin of the Natural 

Mounds of Louisiana: A. C. VEatcu. 

Of the many theories of origin suggested 
for these mounds three deserve the most care- 
ful attention: (1) the spring and gas vent 
theory, (2) the dune theory and (3) the ant 
hill theory. 

In the spring and gas vent theory it is 
argued that the gas produced by the decay of 
the large amount of vegetable matter buried in 
the coastal plain strata has, with the artesian 
water associated with it, brought to the sur- 
face fine sand and built up low cones. Small 
cones are now forming in this manner at 
many points in the coastal plain, and they 
were pointed to as proving this hypothesis. 
The fatal objection to this theory is that en- 
tirely identical mounds are found in Indian 
Territory on flat plains underlaid by highly 
inclined carboniferous shales and sandstones, 
where the substructure clearly lacks the ele- 
ments required by this hypothesis. 

The dune theory is based on the resemblance 
of these mounds to the low dunes which col- 
lect in the semi-arid region of the west about 
clumps of low vegetation. The objection to 
this theory is the great irregularity of wind- 
made features and the very notable uniformity 
in size and exact resemblance one to another 
of these natural mounds of the south central 
United States over an area at least 300 miles 
wide and 500 miles long. It would seem that 
in so large an area a wind origin would in- 
volve a greater variation in size than has been 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


observed, and necessitate the presence of occa- 
sional dunes, or lines of dunes, of noteworthy 
size whose origin could not in any way be 
doubted. 

In the ant hill theory two possible lines of 
development were suggested: (1) That the 
mounds are the work of the Afia, or leaf- 
cutting ants, (2) that they are the remains 
of hills of a mound-building variety of white 
ants, the termites. According to Professor 
W. M. Wheeler, Aééa hills in western Texas 
reach a diameter of forty to fifty feet and a 
height of one to two feet; and Mr. E. A. 
Schwarz, of the National Museum, reports 
that the Atta hills in Cuba often reach a 
height of ten to twelve feet and a diameter 
several times as great. These occurrences are 
considered to add greatly to the possibility of 
an ant origin. 

Regarded as the work of mound building 
termites, which are now restricted to the 
tropical regions, these mounds suggest a 
warmer and moister climate. Modifications 
such as those which permitted large elephants, 
camels and animals of the sloth and armadillo 
families to live in this region would also have 
permitted these now similarly restricted 
mound-building termites to do the same; and 
the causes which resulted in the extinction of 
the larger animals would also, though at a 
later date, have destroyed the mound-building 
termites. 

Of the theories of origin yet suggested none 
are entirely satisfactory, and the dune and 
ant hill theories are the only ones well sup- 
ported. If either of these hypotheses is cor- 
rect the mounds are indications of important 
climatic changes in very recent time. It was 
suggested that the matter should be ap- 
proached by the careful excavation of a num- 
ber of these mounds at widely different points 
in order to fully determine the relation of the 
mounds to the beds which underlie them and 
to the soil surrounding them. 

H. F. Bai, 
Secretary. 


CLEMSON COLLEGE SCIENCE CLUB. 
Tue fiftieth regular meeting of the club 


was held Friday, December 16. By way of 


SCIENCE. 


dol 


special observance of the occasion, Professor 
M. B. Hardin, the first president of the club, 
gave informally a brief account of the organ- 
ization and early days of the club, and re- 
counted some of the more interesting of the 
former programs. 

Professor T. G. Poats discussed ‘ Recent 


_ Advances in Astrophysics,’ dwelling particu- 


larly upon those made possible by the use and 
improvement of the spectro-heliograph. 

Professor Harmon Benton, under the head 
of ‘Economic Possibilities of the May-pop,’ 
gave an account of his preliminary experi- 
ments in improving the wild may-pop (Passi- 
flora incarnata L.) by increased fertility of 
soil, selection and crossing upon the edible 
species of Passiflora. Results to date indi- 
cated that the plant responded readily to im- 
provement, and its development into an eco- 
nomic fruit can be predicted with no little 
certainty. These experiments will later be 
published as a bulletin of the South Carolina 
Experiment Station. 

Dr. P. H. Mell gave an account of the Des 
Moines meeting of the Association of Ameri- 
ean Agricultural Colleges and Experiment 
Stations and Professor ©. E. Chambliss re- 
ported on the boll-weevil convention at Shreve- 
port. 

The fifty-first regular meeting on Friday, 
January 20, was given up to reports from 
those who attended the Philadelphia meeting 
of the American Association: Dr. P. H. Mell, 
Professor P. T. Brodie, Professor C. FE. Cham- 
bliss and Dr. Haven Metealf, reporting on the 
work of the sections and affiliated societies in 
geology, engineering, entomology and botany, 
respectively. Haven Metoatr, 

: Secretary. 


THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
OF BIOLOGY. 

Art the January meeting Dr. W. M. Wheeler 
assumed the chairmanship for the year 1905. 
Papers were presented by Dr. Esther F. 
Byrnes and Dr. Wheeler. 

Dr. Byrnes described ‘ Transitional Stages 
and Variations in some Species of Cyclops.’ 
The species C. signatus occurs sexually ma- 
ture in morphologically incomplete stages. It 


SECTION 


352 SCIENCE. 


is then characterized by eleven antennal seg- 
ments instead of the adult number, seventeen; 
and is comparatively small in size and pale in 
color. Large numbers of adults of the type 
C. viridis show striking variations in the 
armature of the swimming feet. Similar an- 
tenn and fifth feet are correlated in one type 
of individual with the swimming feet of C. 
parcus; in another form with (. viridis (var. 
Americanus) and in another with C. brevi- 
spinosus. Occasionally serial and _ lateral 
variations combine the swimming feet of C. 
parcus and C. brevispinosus in the same indi- 
vidual. These facts, together with the fre- 
quent replacement of sete by spines, the con- 
stant association of the forms and their occa- 
sional sequence in small aquaria, indicate a 
very close relationship among the species ob- 
served and suggest that they are transitional 
forms in the development of a single species. 

Dr. Wheeler described the structure and 
ecology of many ‘ants that raise mushrooms,’ 
giving special attention to the species of Texas 
and Mexico, where his own studies of these 
ants were made. Numerous lantern slides 
illustrated this lecture; and at its close many 
slides from photographs of ants kept in cap- 
tivity by Miss Adele M. Fielde were exhibited. 

M. A. BicEtow, 
Secretary. 


THE ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 


Tue 158th meeting of the Elisha Mitchell 
Scientific Society of the University of North 
Carolina was held in’ the chemical lecture 
room, Tuesday evening, February 14, at 7:30 
o'clock. The program was as follows: 

Dr. R. H. Wuirenrap: ‘Mode of Infection of 
the Hookworm Disease.’ 

PROFESSOR ARCHIBALD 
Mystic Hexagram.’ 

Proressor C. L. Raper: ‘ Statistics of Cotton 
Manufacturing in the South.’ 

Atyin S. WHEELER, 
Recording Secretary. 


HENDERSON : * The 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
MONT PELGE SIVE MONT PELf. 
Ir is a curious coincidence that geologists 
who affect the title of ‘Mont Pelé’ in prefer- 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 531. 


ence to the formal appellation of Pelée, should 
have associated, so far as identity of names 
is concerned, the tutelary divinity of volcanoes 
amongst ancient Hawaiians with the island of 
Martinique. We are assured, however, that 
the innovation has not been made with the idea 
of reverencing the goddess, but out of regard 
for rules of gender, Pelée being considered an 
adjective adopted from the Spanish, as one 
contributor to Scrence has it, or from Carib 
speech, according to another. Admitting 
either of these explanations, it is easy to see 
that Spaniards or Caribs must also have had 
a hand in christening an island by the same 
name off the coast of France. 

In reality, Pelée has continued to be a 
word of good and regular standing in the 
French language since the time of the Nor- 
man Conquest, the expression of ‘une verge 
pelée’ occurring in the ‘ Chanson de Roland,’ 
supposed to be of the early eleventh century. 
Strictly speaking, the word is a past parti- 
ciple of peler, which, with the co-derivatives 
of pelare in Italian, pelar in Spanish, and peel 
in English, comes from the Latin pilare. Now 
it happens that large numbers of past parti- 
ciples have become preserved in modern French 
as substantives, some masculine, but the ma- 
jority feminine—as for instance, allée, mélée, 
gelée, fumée, ete. And we have the authority 
of La Fontaine, in his ‘ Fables,’ to say nothing 
of colloquial usage both in French and Ger- 
man, for considering the word meaning bald 
as a noun. 

Applying this principle to place names, 
Pelée may be regarded as having acquired the 
force of a substantive, like our own ‘ Rockies.’ 
It is true that Rocky and Bald may connote 
the character of mountains, but the adjective 
force of these words becomes lost when they 
stand for geographical appellations. Indeed, 
names like Big Sandy, Vera Cruz, Jungfrau, 
Sacré-Ceur, and so on, are nouns pure and 
By treating Pelée as a noun, we shall 
have the advantage of an invariable termina- 
tion, thus doing away with a dual orthog- 
raphy, or the possibility of a triple, in case 
we were writing in German. 

As regards the question of gender it may be 
remarked that in the case of geographical 


simple. 


Marcy 3, 1905.) 


nouns this is extremely <rbitrary; and, more- 
over, in all inflected languages, words very 
often undergo transformation in gender dur- 
ing course of time. Le Péloponnése, for in- 
stance, has a feminine termination, but is of 
the masculine gender; and Galilée may be of 
either gender. Val, feminine in the Latin 
vallem, and still feminine in French proper 
nouns, has become masculine by common 
usage, taking the plural vaux by analogy with 
mal, cheval, ete. Some words, like sang, are 
masculine in certain combinations, and femi- 
nine in others. Finally it can hardly be 
claimed that the form ‘Mont Pelée’ does 
violence to a language which authorizes us to 
place the feminine article before bon-bec, and 
the masculine before a variety of words like 
rouge-gorge, rouge-queue, cent-garde, grand’ 
croix, patte-pelu, ete. 
C. R. Eastman. 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 


THE METRIC FALLACY. 

To tHe Eprror or Science: In a recent 
article in Sctmnce on the discussion of the 
metric question in the House of Lords, Dr. 
Seaman repeats with approval the claim as 
to the great saving of time that would be 
accomplished in school by the use of the 
metric system. This claim has been one of 
the chief supports of the metric cause for 
generations, and has remained practically un- 
challenged except by a general denial. The 
forms in which is was presented in the House 
of Lords last February and in the report of 
our House Committee on Ooinage, Weights 
and Measures in 1902, are so typical of this 
claim that both are given here: 

Lord Belhaven, in House of Lords, February 23: 
“There is a great waste of time in the education 
of children, through the learning of the arithmet- 
ical tables and their application. 
school-masters consulted, 212 replied. One hun- 
dred and ninety-seven stated that there would be 
a considerable saving of time if the metric system 
were introduced; of these, 161 estimated the say- 
ing at one year; 30 estimated it at two years; and 
six went so far as to estimate it at three years.” 

Report of the Committee on Coinage, Weights 
and Measures to the House of Representatives, 
April 21, 1902: “‘ Estimates made by the Depart- 


Out of 221° 


SCIENCE. 353 


ment of Education and others show that tne work 
of at least two thirds of a year in the life of 
every child would be saved by the adoption of the 
metrie arithmetic. ~ * * Teachers and _ pupils 
alike unanimously testify as to the ease with 
waicu the system is taught and learned and tue 
facility with which it is applied to the problems 
which in ordinary arithmetic are complex and 
difficult to solve. When we consider that there 
are over 15,000,000 school children .n the United 
States being educated at a public cost of not less 
than $200,000,000 per year, the enormity of the 
waste will be appreciated. In the lifetime of a 
single generation nearly $1,000,000,000 and 40,- 
000,000 school years are consumed in teaching a 
system which is in harmony with that of no other 
nation of the world.” 


This argument has been reiterated with so 
much emphasis and with such a show of au- 
thority that it has unquestionably carried 
conviction to the minds of thousands. The 
opinions of experts regarding their own trade 
are ordinarily accepted by others. If edu- 
eators say the metric system would effect a 
saving of one to three years in the school life 
of a child, why should it not be accepted as 
true? 

Within a few weeks Frederick A. Halsey 
has applied the scientific method to the school 
children argument, and, in view of its gen- 
eral acceptance, with startling results. It is 
to him that I am indebted for the data on 
this point. In the report of the course of 
study for elementary schools, dated May 27, 
1903, the board of education of New York 
city gave a time schedule for each study for 
the eight years. This schedule is based on 
1,500 minutes per week, and the time allotted 
for all branches of mathematics amounts to 
341 weeks for the eight years. No reliable 
data is available as to the proportion of this 
time occupied in the study of weights and 
measures; 20 per cent. of the text-book on 
arithmetic, however, is occupied by the chap- 
ters on compound numbers, weights and meas- 
ures. In order to be liberal to the metric 
cause we will apply this rate, 20 per cent., to 
the whole time, including that occupied with 
algebra and geometry. The total time de- 
voted to the study of compound numbers, 
weights and measures during the eight years 


304 


of school life by this liberal estimate amounts 
to 6.8 weeks, from which the introduction of 
the metric system is to save from one to 
three years. 

It would seem as if absurdity in advocating 
the metric system could go no farther. The 
exposure of this metric fallacy is not an occa- 
sion for ridicule, directed at Lord Belhaven, 
the House Committee on Coinage, or others 
who have accepted it in good faith. It is 
rather a cause of humiliation that such an 
absurd pretence regarding education should 
have been spread broadeast, not only without 
dissent from the schools, but with their enthus- 
iastic approval. lave our educators become 
so accustomed to receiving and imparting in- 
formation by mere authority that they have 
lost the power of analysis? 

Dr. Seaman refers to the English system as 
“the complex, irregular and barbarous system 
now in yogue.’ Again, Professor J. H. Gore, 
of the Society for the Promotion of the Metric 
System, is thus quoted in School Science: 

We send consular representatives to every quar- 
ter of the globe for the express purpose of making 
possible an extension of our foreign commerce, 
and then busy ourselves in an attempt to make 
such commerce impossible, and retain a system of 
weights and measures which adds to our own 
difficulties and makes us mere barbarians to the 
more progressive nations. 

The metric advocates, while accepting the 
wild and extravagant claims for the metric 
system, treat our own system with contempt. 
Nevertheless; the scientific method that ex- 
poses the hollowness of their claims also proves 
that the English system is intrinsically the 
best and, as far as uniformity is desirable, 
the most uniform system on earth. It is the 
standard of the richest portion of the earth’s 
surface; of the two most enlightened, populous 
and powerful nations on earth; and of the 
only nations that control vast unsettled re- 
gions to accommodate the inerease of their 
population. It is the standard of the past 
and present, and the world trend points to it 
as the standard of the future. 

Dr. Seaman states that: 

Any one who will take pains to inquire of any 
of the thousands of immigrants that come among 
us, will convince himself that the metric system is 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 531. 


the principal system in actual use in trade and 
commerce in European countries. 

For two years I have been taking pains to 
do this very thing, and have been convinced 
by it that the European immigrants know 
very little about the metric system. A few 
typical examples: An Italian from Naples 
was acquainted with the ‘kil,’ but knew noth- 
ing about the meter, his ideas of length being 
based on the can, which he informed me was 
something less than eight feet. A Swede said 
that while the metric system was used in the 
stores in his country, the tunland and hemend 
were used for measuring land. An Austrian 
was ignorant of metric measures, but was 
familiar with the pfund and zoll. An edu- 
cated German informed me that the metric 
system was the only one used in Germany, 
but added: “ Aber das Volk braucht die alten 
Masse.” A Greek had heard that the ‘kil’ 
was used in Italy, but did not know what the 
metric system was. His standard of weight 
was the oka. Greek land, he said, was meas- 
ured by the stremma. When asked how cloth 
was measured in Greece, his wife replied: 
“ By the pzk.” 

With all it was the same story, ignorance 
of metric units, familiarity with their old 
standards. None expressed any ideas of meas- 
ure to conform with those of any other nation- 
ality until I talked with a Russian. Seratch 
a Russian and you will find an Englishman— 
in measures. His standards of linear meas- 
urement are either the same as or commen- 
surable with the English inch. His duim is 
our inch; his archin is 28 inches; his ver- 
schock is 12 inches; his sagen is 7 English 
feet; and his verst is 3,500 English feet. ‘Two 
hundred years ago, Peter the Great, while in 
Holland, was impressed by the superiority of 
the English vessels that visited the Dutch 
ports. This led him to visit England, where 
he worked as an ordinary carpenter in the Eng- 
lish shipyards. When he returned to Russia 
he took back with him four mast makers, four 
boat builders, two sail makers, and about 
twenty other workmen to teach their trade to 
his people. Thus without coercive laws, but 
peacefully and naturally, the English system 
was introduced into Russia, and to-day is the 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


basis for all linear measurements throughout 
that vast empire. The inch carried by the 
English settlers to Jamestown in 1607, and 
that taken by the English carpenters to St. 
Petersburg in 1698 were the same; and the 
Russian emigrant, landing in America in 
1905, finds the linear measurements of his 
new home commensurable with those of the 
land he has left. s 

Compare this uniformity of popular usage 
with the chaos of incommensurable standards 
wherever the metric system has been forced 
by law into conflict with the old standards 
of the people. One is the result of English 
evolution; the other, of French revolution. 

Samuet S. Date. 
Boston, MAss., 
January 17, 1905. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 
DETERMINATE MUTATION. 


Amone the significant results obtained by 
Professor de Vries in his breeding of 
(@nothera lamarckiana, and by Dr. Mac- 
Dougal breeding the same species in the New 
York Botanical Garden, there is one feature 
which seems to have attracted less attention 
than it deserve. Most of the seven 
mutants observed by de Vries, and of the 
thirteen seen by MacDougal, have appeared 
more frequently than would be natural were 
the mutations wholly fortuitous and indeter- 
minate. 

In the Amsterdam garden the mutant 
albida appeared in four different generations 
from lamarckiana parents, previous to 1902, 
15 albida appearing in one generation, 25 in 
another, 11 in another and 5 in another. 
Nanella appeared 5 times in one generation, 
and in other generations, respectively, 3, 60, 
49, 9, 11 and 21 times. Lata, oblonga 
rubrinervis and _ scintillans appeared  fre- 
quently. 

In the fourth generation along with 14,000 
lamarckiana plants there appeared 41 gigas, 
15 albida,- 176 oblonga, 8 rubrinervis, 60 
nanella, 63 lata and 1 scintillans, all bred 
from lamarckiana seed. In the fifth genera- 
tion, similarly bred from pure lamarckiana 
seed, among 8,000 lamarckiana plants were 


may 


SCIENCE. Boo 


found 25 albida, 135 oblonga, 20 rubrinervis, 
49 nanella, 142 lata and 6 scintillans. In 
the fourth generation one plant in 80 was 
oblonga. In the fifth generation one plant 
in 60 was oblonga. De Vries himself says: 
“A species, therefore, is not born only a single 
time, but repeatedly, in a large number of in- 
dividuals and during a series of consecutive 
years.” 
De Vries writes of @nothera oblonga: 


Meist etwa sechsten Blatte sind die jungen 
Pfliinzchen dieser Art mit Sicherheit zu erkennen, 
also etwas spiiter als O. lata und O. nanella, und 
wesentlich friiher als O. rubrinervis und O. 
seintillans. Die Blatter sind schmal, lang 
gestielt, ziemlich scharf vom Stiele abgesetzt, mit 
breiten, blassen, auf der Unterseite oft réthlichen 
Nerven. In Aussaaten sind die 0. oblonga nur 
bei sehr weitem Stande friih und gleichzeitiz 
zu erkennen, aber wenn man in den Versuchen 
von Zeit zu Zeit die unzweifelhaften oblonga- 
Exemplare auszieht, so zeigen sich die Merkmale 
bald in weiteren und weiteren Individuen, ohne 
dass diese dazu viel Raum brauchten. 

In den ausgepflanzten Rosetten erhilt sich die 
angegebene typische Blattform. Einige Exem- 
plare treiben Stengel, andere werden zweijiihrig. 
In beiden Fiillen bleiben die Pflanzen niedrig, 
erreichen kaum 1 m Hohe und sind auffallend 
kleiner, als die in derselben Weise cultivirten 
Exemplare von O. Lamarckiana. Die einjiihrigen 
verzweigen sich wenig. Die Zweige bleiben meist 
kurz, Die Aehren sind dicht mit Bliithen und 
Knospen besetzt; die Bliithen kleiner als bei O. 
Lamarckiana, sehr arm an Bliithenstaub und nur 
ganz winzige Friichtchen mit 
aussetzend. Die zwweijiihrigen verzweigen sich 
kriiftiger und sind mit Pollen reichlich wersehen ; 
sie bilden zwar kurze, aber dicke Friichte, welche 
eine reiche Samenernte geben. 


wenigen Samen 


Bei fortschreitender Bliithe erkennt man 
die oblonga-Exemplare schon von Weitem an 
den dichtgedriingten, aber kleinen unreifen 
Friichten. 


This mutant, therefore, differs from the 
parent species, lamarckiana, not in a single 
feature, but in an elaborate complex of char- 
acters. The other mutants likewise are distin- 
guished from lamarckiana by a complex of 
characters rather than by a single feature. 
Speaking of the contrast between reversions 
and progressive mutations, de Vries says: 


306 


* * * ordinarily they [reversions] deviate from 
the species in but a single character * * * 
Quite different from this are the mutations of 
@nothera. Recognizable as seedlings, as rosettes 
differing in shape, edge and color of the root- 
leaves, and later with stems differing in structure 
and mode of branching, agreeing in the flowers, 
varying in the fruits, they possess a type entirely 
their own * * * < 

The mutations can hardly be entirely 
fortuitous if, for several generations, out of 
every thousand offspring of pure lamarckiana 
parents, there appear more than ten plants 
marked by the particular complex group of 
characters which designate oblonga. Were 
oblonga demarcated from lamarckiana by but 
a single character it would be remarkable to 
find it appearing repeatedly and in such num- 
bers. When we remember that it is defined 
by an extensive series of characters differ- 
entiating it from lamarckiana and from all 
the other mutants observed, are we not led to 
the conclusion that mutation in (Wnothera 
lamarckiana is not wholly fortuitous, but is 
to a degree predetermined; that there is some 
tendency to the production of the oblonga and 
other types in numbers much greater than 
would be secured by purely fortuitous and 
indeterminate mutation ? 

It seems of much interest that the evidence 
from paleontology in favor of determinate 
variation (or mutation) should be borne out 
by such careful observations as those of de 
Vries in so different a field of research. 

I confess I do not quite understand Pro- 
fessor De Vries’s statement—‘ In my experi- 
ments the mother species mutates in all direc- 
tions [italics mine], in nearly all organs and 
characters, as well as for better or worse.” 
I can not see that the published descriptions 
of his observations do show mutation in all 
directions. They seem to show rather the 
continued reappearance of but a few (7) dis- 
tinet types of mutation. To be sure, Mac- 
Dougal finds thirteen instead of seven of 
these mutants from (Mnothera lamarckiana, 
but this is far from mutation in all directions. 
De Vries apparently meant merely to urge 
that the mutations were in several different 
directions and were such as could hardly be 
due to direct environmental influences, and 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 531. 


not to claim that the mutations were purely 
fortuitous and indeterminate. 
Maynarp M. Mercatr. 
THe WoMAN’s COLLEGE OF BALTIMORE, 
January 18, 1905. 


CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 
THE TEACHING OF METEOROLOGY. 


Proressor CLEVELAND ABBE, of the U. S. 
Weather Bureau, delivered an address upon 
‘The Introduction of Meteorology into the 
Courses of Instruction in Mathematics and 
Physics,’ before the Physics and Mathematics 
Section of the Central Association cof Science 
and Mathematics Teachers, on November 26 
last. This address has now been reprinted, 
and constitutes a strong plea for more instruc- 
tion along meteorological lines in various 
courses in mathematics and physics in which 
meteorological problems could well be dealt 
with. Professor Abbe regards meteorology 
‘not so much a matter of observation and 
generalization as matter of deductive reason- 
ing,’ and rightly believes that our meteorolog- 
ical studies have approached—he does not say 
reaclied—the limit of what is likely to be dis- 
covered as the result of inductive processes. 
He does not suggest the introduction of a 
new study into the already overcrowded ecur- 
riculum of schools and colleges, but he would 
have problems in mathematics and physics 
selected from among the many phenomena of 
the ‘atmosphere which need _ investigation. 
Thus, among a few special subjects which are 
enumerated, we find the simpler applications 
of trigonometry in the determination of cloud 
heights and velocities, by means of the simpler 
methods, such as Lambert’s and Feussner’s, 
and by the use of the theodolite, photogram- 
meter and nephoscope; the theory of the wet 
bulb thermometer; the hypsometric formula 
of Laplace; thermometer corrections; the for- 
mation of a waterspout by Weyher’s method; 
and the study ef the wind velocity, pressure, 
temperature and dimensions of the cloud 
column. Professor Abbe’s paper-is suggest- 
ive, and points the way toward a considerable 
possible extension of sound meteorological 
education by utilizing the mathematical and 
physical machinery already in operation. 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


LABOR AND HEALTH ON THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA, 


Hon. Joun Barrett, American Minister to 
Panama, discusses ‘The Panama Canal and 
its Problems,’ in the Review of Reviews for 
February. He points out what is well known 
to all who have made any study of the matter 
at all, viz., that ‘the average white laborers 
of the United States can not possibly stand 
the tropical climate,’ and favors the plan of 
securing Jamaica negroes to do the work on 
the canal. Up to the present time the goy- 
ernor-general of Jamaica has insisted on con- 
ditions, under which alone these Jamaicans 
ean go, that have not commended themselves 
to our Secretary of War and to the chief 
engineer of the canal. It is stated that the 
Jamaicans themselves are anxious to secure 
work on the canal. 
eussed for bringing in Porto Ricans, Chinese 
and Japanese, and there is said to be a grow- 
ing feeling on the isthmus that the Chinese 
may be the laborers upon whom the Canal 
Commission will have to depend. Unless we 
are mistaken, however, the Chinese laborers 
imported by the French engineers to work on 
the canal did not prove satisfactory. 

Under the lead of Col. Gorgas, who made a 
brilliant record as health officer at Havana, 
splendid efforts are being made to kill the 
mosquito-carriers of yellow fever and ma- 
laria, but both sufficient money and an ex- 
tended organization to prosecute the work 
are lacking. During the past six months 
there have been about fourteen cases of yel- 
low fever. 

NOTE. 


A paper on the ‘ Geography of Manchuria,’ 
in the Journal of Geography, for January, 
1905, contains a brief discussion of climate. 
The author is Professor N. M. Fenneman, of 
the University of Wisconsin. 

R. DEC. Warp. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


Sm Micuart Fosrer has decided to offer 
himself for reelection to the next parliament 
as member for the University of London. He 
seeks reelection as a representative of science 
and higher education; if reelected he will take 


SCIENCE. 


Plans are also being dis- — 


307 


his seat as a member of the liberal party. A 
committee, with Sir Thomas Barlow as chair- 
man, has been formed to promote his election. 


Tuer Prussian Academy of Science has 
awarded its Helmholtz medal to Professor 
Ramén y Cajal, professor of neurology at 
Madrid. 


Tue Munich Academy of Sciences has 
awarded the Liebig medal for researches in 
agricultural chemistry to Dr. Adolf Frank, 
of Charlottenburg. 


Tue Royal Astronomical Society has award- 
ed its Jackson-Gwilt bronze medal to Mr. 
Tebbutt, who for many years has carried on 
alone astronomical research in an observatory 
at his home in New South Wales. 


M. Janssen, director of the observatory at 
Meudon, and M. Moissan, professor of chem- 
istry at the Sorbonne, have been elected mem- 
bers of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sci- 
ences. 


Proressor Svante A. ArrRHENIUS, of Stock- 
holm, Professor W. F. P. Pfeffer, of Leipzig, 
and Professor W. Spring, of the University of 
Liége, have been elected honorary members of 
the German Chemical Society. 


THe Physical Society of Frankfort has 
elected Professor E. Bamberger, of Zurich, 
and Professor J. Briihl, of Heidelberg, to 


honorary membership. 


M. Vicer bas been elected president of the 
French Society of Horticulture. 


M. Rapavu has been appointed president of 
the French Bureau of Longitude. 


The Journal of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation calls attention to the fact that the new 
French Cabinet contains two physicians, Dr. 
A. E. Gauthier, who is at the head of the de- 
partment of public works which includes rail- 
roads, ete., and Dr. J. Dubief, minister of com- 
meree. The latter was chief of the Marseilles 
Insane Asylum, 1886-1898, and then of the 
Rhone Asyluin until elected deputy a year or 
so later. He has been a member of the com- 
mittee on labor since 1902. The under-secre- 
tary of finance is also a physician, Dr. Merlou, 
who has served as deputy since 1889. 


358 


Dr. Grorck Birrer, docent in botany at 
Miinster, has been appointed director of the 
Botanical Garden at Bremen. 


Dr. H. Lupwic, of Bonn, has declined a call 
to the directorship of the zoological museum 
of the University of Berlin. 


Dr. MicueLe CaNnTone, professor of physics 
in the University of Pavia, has been appointed 
director of the Physical Institute at Naples. 


Dr. Ropert Stem has been transferred 
from the U. S. Geological Survey to the 
Bureau of Statistics, Department of Com- 
merce and Labor. 


Mr. Atsert F. Woops, chief pathologist and 
physiologist of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 
United States Department of Agriculture, has 
been designated delegate on the part of the 
United States to the Second International 
Botanical Congress to be held at Vienna, June 
next. This action was taken by the secretary 
of agriculture through the secretary of state 
in response to a request from the government 
of Austria-Hungary to the government of the 
United States for official representation. 

Tue*Carnegie Institution has continued for 
two years in the future its annual grant for 
the payment of salaries to computers on the 
‘New Reduction of Piazzi’s Star Observa- 
tions.’ But the work is much retarded by the 
lack of competent computers and suitable en- 
vironment for their maintenance. 

Proressor Amapeus W. Grasau, of Colum- 
bia University, has received an extensive col- 
lection of fossils from the limestone region of 
Michigan, including many new types. He is 
to prepare a monograph on them for the State 
of Michigan. 

Mr. Watter Maunper, who has conducted 
the astronomical department of Knowledge 
since the death of Mr. A. C. Ranyard in 1894, 
has resigned his connection with that journal. 

Ir is proposed to erect a monument at 
Laibach, in Austria, to the memory of Vega, 
author of the well-known table of logarithms. 

Tne Paris Mint has struck a medal in honor 
of Dr. B. Teissier, who died at the age of 23 
from the consequences of an official medical 
mission to Egypt. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou, XXI. No. 531. 


Proressor ALBERT B. Prescorr, professor of 
organic and applied chemistry, dean of the 
school.of pharmacy and director of the chem- 
ical laboratory of the University of Michigan, 
died on February 26 in his seventy-third year. 

WE regret also to record the death of Dr. 
Hermann Landois, professor of zoology at 
Miinster, at the age of seventy years; of Dr. 
Paul Uhlich, professor of geodesy of the Acad- 
emy of Mines at Freiberg, at the age of forty- 
five years; and of Guido Hauck, professor of 
geometry in the Technical Institute of Berlin. 


Tue next meeting of the Central Branch 
of the American Society of Naturalists and 
affiliated societies, the Central Branch of the 
American Society of Zoologists and the Bot- 
anists of the Central States, will be held at 
the University of Chicago on Friday and Sat- 
urday, March 31 and April 1, 1905. Titles of 
papers should be sent, together with abstracts 
of the same, to F. R. Lillie, secretary of Zoolo- 
gists, or to H. C. Cowles, secretary of Botan- 
ists. A more extended notice of the program 
will be published in Sctence shortly before the 
meeting. 


Tue general meeting of the American Phil- 
osophical Society will be held at Philadel- 
phia on April 12, 13 and 14. Members intend- 
ing to present papers are requested to send the 
titles to the secretaries without delay, so that 
they may be inserted in the preliminary pro- 
gram, which will be issued about March 10. 


Tue January meeting of the Physico-Chem- 
ical Club of Boston and Cambridge was held 
at the Harvard Union, and papers were read 
by Professor T. W. Richards, Dr. H. A. Tor- 
rey and Dr. G. P. Baxter, all of Harvard. 
The subjects were respectively, ‘The Atomic 
Weights of Sodium, Strontium and Chlorine,’ 
‘The Dissociation of Phenoquinone and Quin- 
hydrone’ and ‘ The Oxidation of Oxalie Acid 
by Permanganate in the Presence of Hydro- 
chlorie Acid.’ 


Tue annual general meeting of the Neuro- 
logical Society of Great Britain was held on 
February 16, when the presidential address 
was delivered by Sir John Batty Tuke. The 
subject of the address was the relation of the 
lunacy laws to the treatment of insanity. 


Marcu 3, 1905.] 


THe proceedings of the American Forest 
Congress, held at Washington, D. C., January 
2-6, under the auspices of the American For- 
estry Association, will be issued in book form 
on March 15. The volume will contain about 
400 pages, and will be bound in cloth. It will 
contain the complete addresses by President 
Roosevelt, Secretary Wilson and fifty other 
speakers who were on the program, including 
not only those prominent in state and national 
forest work, but the leaders in the railroad, 
lumbering, mining, grazing and irrigation in- 
dustries. It will be published for the Amer- 
ican Forestry Association by the H. M. Suter 
Publishing Company, Washington, D. C. 

Tue seventh Australasian Medical Congress 
will be held in Adelaide, South Australia, from 
September 4 to 9, 1905, under the presidency 
ot Dr. E. C. Stirling. 

THE Massachusetts Zoological Society ac- 
knowledges gifts amounting to $12,900 towards 
the establishment of a zoological garden. 

A TELEGRAM has been received at the office 
ot the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition 
in Edinburgh announcing the safe arrival at 
Buenos Ayres of Mr. R. C. Mossman, who was 
left in charge of the meteorological station at 
Scotia Bay, South Orkneys, last February. 
Mr. Mossman has spent two continuous years 
in the Antarctic regions. 

Tur Adams prize for 1904 has not been 
awarded by Cambridge University. The sub- 
ject for the prize for 1906, which is open to 
the competition of all persons who have at any 
time been admitted to a degree in the univer- 
sity, is ‘The inequalities in the moon’s mo- 
tion due to the direct action of the planets.’ 
The essays must be sent to the vice-chancellor 
on or before December 16, 1906. The value 
of the prize is about £225. 


Tue British Ornithologists’ Club has started 
an inquiry into the migration of birds. In- 
formation will be gathered from the keepers 
of lighthouses and lightships on the southern 
and eastern coasts of England, and informa- 


tion from observers in each county of Eng- 
land and Wales. 


Tue New York State Commissioner of Agri- 
cluture Weiting has submitted to the senate a 


SCIENCE. 


309 


report on the operation of the pure food law. 
With the appropriation of $10,000, voted in 
1904, the department has examined 780 sam- 
ples of food and discovered 134 violations of 
the statute, sixty-four of which have been re- 
ferred to the attorney general for prosecution. 

TuroueH the courtesy of the Hydrographic 
Office of the Navy Department, and more par- 
ticularly of Captain H. M. Hodges, hydrog- 
rapher, and Mr. George W. Littlehales, the 
National Geographic Magazine, of Washing- 
ton, D. C., publishes as a supplement to the 
February number a chart of the world on 
Mereator’s projection, showing the submarine 
cable lines and their connections and ocean 
routes. Cable and telegraph lines are printed 
in red and ocean routes in blue. The latest 
cable lines are shown—as, for instance, the 
Alaskan cables of the U. 8. Signal Corps and 
the wireless connection across Norton Sound. 
The tables of distances printed on the bottom 
of the chart will be found convenient. One 
table tells at a glance the comparative dis- 
tances of New York and Shanghai, or Yoko- 
hama by the Panama, Suez and Cape of Good 
Hope routes. Another table gives the dis- 
tances of our Gulf ports from the Atlantic 
end of the Panama Canal (Colon), and also 
from each other. The chart can be detached 
from the magazine and hung on the wall for 
more convenient use. 


The British Medical Journal states that 
Professors Czerny, Erb, Hegar, Baumler and 
other distinguished representatives of medical 
science have lately with sanction of the gov- 
ernment of the Grand Duchy of Baden, formed 
a committee at Karlsruhe with the object of 
discovering means of effectively combating the 
inerease of cancer. On the proposal of Pro- 
fessor Ozerny, who is the chairman of the 
committee, it has been decided to issue a circu- 
lar to medical practitioners for the purpose 
of collecting complete statistics as to cancer 
cases occurring within the duchy. The cases 
will then be fully investigated. Special at- 
tention will be given to the question of the 
possible connection of cancer with local causes, 
its regional distribution, and the relative fre- 
quency of its occurrence among persons of 
various occupations. On the basis of informa- 


360 


tion thus obtained it is hoped that it may be 
possible to devise measures which may check 
the spread of the disease. 

THe report of progress of stream measure- 
ments for the calendar year 1903 has been pub- 
lished by the U. S. Geological Survey in four 
parts, all of which are now available. During 
1903 the number of regular stations for stream 
measurements was steadily increased, so that 
at the close of the year systematic measure- 
ments were being taken at 521 stations. These 
are so distributed as to cover the needs of the 
various states and territories. New York 
stands at the head of the list, with 70 stations, 
Colorado comes next with 34, California fol- 
lows with 32, Michigan has 25, Montana 20, 
Georgia 18, Texas and Wyoming each 17, 
Washington 16, Kansas 15, and all the other 
states less. Oklahoma has only 2 stations, the 
least number in any state or territory, and 
Indiana, Mississippi and New Hampshire 
claim only 3 apiece. This expansion of the 
work is the result of the constantly increasing 
demand from the general and the engineering 
public for the stream data collected by the 
survey. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 

Ir is said that the late James C. Carter, 
the eminent New York lawyer, has bequeathed 
$200,000 to Harvard University. 

Ir is reported that Mr. Andrew Carnegie has 
offered to give $500,000 to the University of 
Virginia on the condition that the authorities 
of the institution raise a similar amount from 
other sources. 

Tue Board of Trustees of Princeton Uni- 
versity has appointed a committee of fifty to 
raise an endowment fund of $2,500,000. The 
purpose is to establish a tutorial system which 
President Woodrow Wilson has advocated for 
some time past. Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge, 779, 
of New York, is chairman of the committee. 


OOMPTROLLER Grout has announced that a 
bill will be introduced at Albany incorporating 
a University of Brooklyn. It is proposed to 
give the university land owned by the city and 
to make an appropriation for building and 


equipment. The plan is to unite in the uni- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 531. 


versity the Brooklyn Institute, the Public 
Library, the Polytechnic Institute, Adelphi 
College, the Packer Institute and the Long 
Island Medical College. 


PuaNs are being drawn for the erection of 
five new buildings for the School of Educa- 
tion, the University High School and the Chi- 
eago Manual Training School at the Univer- 
sity of Chicago. The buildings will contain 
a workshop, an assembly hall, a museum, gym- 
nasium and a hall for recitation purposes. 
Ground has been reserved for them in the 
School of Education group. It is expected 
that the total cost will reach $1,000,000. 


Ar the first of the winter convocations of 
the George Washington University cn Wash- 
ington’s Birthday, a gift of property, esti- 
mated to be worth $100,000, was announced 
for the establishment of a chair and course of 
graduate study on the history of civilization. 
The name of the donor is withheld for the 
present. Various sums of money raised by 
the trustees and alumni association, aggre- 
gating $275,000, were also announced. 


Tue Mercers Company has voted a sum of 
£1,000 for the promotion of the study of physi- 
ology at University College, London. 

A Buur-Book has been issued containing 
reports from the fourteen colleges which par- 
ticipated during the year ended March 31, 
1904, in the annual grant, amounting to £27,- 
000, made by the British Parliament for ‘ Uni- 
versity Colleges in Great Britain,’ and from 
the three colleges in Wales, which receive a 
grant of £4,000 each. 

THE senate of Durham University has de- 
cided that German may be offered as an al- 
ternative subject for Greek in the preliminary 
examination for the degrees of doctor in medi- 
cine and master in surgery. 

Dr. Bracuet, of Liége, has been appointed 
professor of anatomy in the University of 
Brussels. 

Proressor N. J. ANprusson, of the Univer- 
sity of Dorpat, has been appointed professor 
of paleontology and geology at the University 
of Kiew. 

Dr. R. Crepner, of Greifswald, has been 
called to Breslau as professor of geography. 


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Heat of Vaporization of Liquid Air, 
R. C. FENNER and F. K, RICHTMYER. 
The Coefficient of Expansion of Nickel at its Critical 
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An Address on Astrophysics. Professor W. W. Camp- 
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The Metrie System of Weights and Measures. Pro- 
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A Botanical Laboratory in the Desert. Professor 
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How Immigrants Are Inspected. DR. ALLAN Mc- 
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On the Relations of the Land _ and Fresh-Water 
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Shorter Articles and Correspondence: 
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Some Present Problems in Technical Chemistry- 
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Simple Bacteriology for the Public Schools. LILLIAN 
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Succ Sbeedanansene dane Professor GEORGE T. LADD 


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Ulalker Prizes in Watural Mistory 


BY the provisions of the will of the late Dr. William Johnson Walker two prizes are annually offered by the 
Boston Society of Natural History for the best memoirs written in the English language on subjects proposed 
by a committee appointed by the Council. 

For the best memoir presented a prize of $60 may be awarded ; if, however, the memoir be one of marked merit, 
the amount may be increased to $100, at the discretion of the Committee. 

For the next best memoir a prize not exceeding $50 may be awarded. 

Prizes will not be awarded unless the memoirs presented are of adequate merit. 

The competition for these prizes is not restricted, but is open to all. 

Attention is especially culled to the following points: 

1. In all cases the memoirs are to be based on a considerable body of original and unpublished work, accom- 
panied by a general review of the literature of the subject. 

2. Anything in the memoir which shall furnish proof of the identity of the author shall be considered as de- 
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SUBJECTS FOR 1905. 


1. The life history of any parasitic fungus. 2. Contribution to our knowledge of the physiology of plants. 3. 
Contribution to the development of some group of fossil organisms. 4. Study of hybrids in animals or plants. 
5. Critical study of geographical distribution of species. 6. A laboratory research in experimental geology. 7. A 
field study of the mechanism of baselevelling (peneplanation). 8. A research in mineral physics. 9. A contribu- 
tion to geological correlation in the United States. 


SUBJECTS FOR 1906. 


1. An experimental field study in ecology. 2. A contribution toa knowledge of the nature of competition in 
plants. 3. A physiological life history of a single species of plant. 4. Phylogeny of a group of fossil organisms. 
5. A study in stratigraphy. 6. Aresearch in mineral physics. 7. A study of entecticsin rock magmas. 8. A study 
in river capture. 


Boston SOcIETY OF NATURAL HIsToRY, GLOVER M. ALLEN, Secretary. 


Boston, Mass., U. 8S. A. 


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CONTENTS: 
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THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 

THE MODERN ‘DROIT D’AUBAINE.* 

OnE of the dark spots in the dark and 
middle ages is the treatment of foreigners. 
Was a ship wrecked upon the French 
coast? What was saved was saved for the 
seigneur who owned the shore, or his over- 
lord, the king. The lading and the crew 
were alike his, to dispose of as he would. 
If the sailors were uncivil enough to set up 
a claim to the wreckage, he could kill them. 
If he preferred, he could sell them as 
slaves. It was his right—the droit de 
naufrage. 

It was on the same principle that down 
to modern times, if a man happened to die 
while traveling or living abroad, his estate, 
in many countries of Europe, was seized 
and kept by the lord of the manor or the 
sovereign of the land. His will was dis- 
regarded. His natural heirs, unless born 
on the soil or naturalized citizens, were set 
aside. All that he left belonged to the 
governing power. 

Quite naturally, as trade between nations 
became more considerable, the countries 
which retained this droit d’aubaine in its 
full vigor and severity found few mer- 
chants ready to bring cargoes to their ports. 
The result was successive modifications of 
the system. Certain trading centers were 
exempted from its operation. Naturaliza- 
tion was to be easily had by traders, and 
when obtained relieved them from subjec- 


* Address of the vice-president and chairman of 
Section I., American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, at Philadelphia. 


362 


tion to it. Government securities held by 
any foreigners passed to their natural 
successors or by will. * 

The interest of the government called for 
such relaxations of its so-called right, and 
the king who relaxed it most, because he 
saw most clearly that it was for his ad- 
vantage so to do, found the foreign trade 
of his dominions grow most rapidly and 
settle itself upon the most stable footing. 

The droit de naufrage was the first to 
disappear. The humaner law of the Chris- 
tian emperors of Rome,; followed by the 
Visigoths in Spain in the seventh century,f 
and enforced in the twelfth by the laws of 
Oleron, appealed successfully to the awak- 
ening conscience of the modern world. 

Anything in the nature of a droit 
d’aubaine had also been denounced in the 
Corpus Juris of Roman law.|| As time 
went on, its range became more and more 
contracted, and by the close of the middle 
ages it had become, so far as personal prop- 
erty was concerned, generally softened in 
practise to what was called a jus de- 
tractus,§ except in ease of those dying 
intestate and without known heirs. 

As respects real estate in one country 
owned by citizens of another the sovereign 
of the former might still claim it as his 
own; but it was because political consider- 
ations were deemed to require it. In a 
nation whose constitution of government 
or family institutions rest on a landed 
electorate or aristocracy, it is right to de- 
bar foreigners from holding what might 


*Merlin, ‘Répertoire de Jurisprudence, Au- 
baine, No. VII. 

+ Code, XI., iii., 5, de naufragiis, 1. Cf. Digest, 
XLIX., xv., de captivis et de postliminio, 5, 2. 

+ V., 5, Corpus Juris Germanici, 2001. 

7 Art. 25, 26. 1 Peters’ Admiralty Decisions, 
xli., note. 

| Code, VI., lix., Communia de Successionibus, 
10. 

{ Fiore, Droit International 
liminaries, ch. II. 


Privé, I., Pre- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 
4 


enable them to influence directly the con- 
duct of government. This is the defence 
of the system of escheats under the common 
law of England, abolished there in 1870,* 
but which still lnmgers on in many of the 
United States. 

It took the flames of revolution to burn 
the droit d’aubaine out of the institutions 
of France, and for a time, under Napoleon, 
it was restored as respects citizens of any 
nation which yet might retain it.+ 

Under the jus detractus, the sovereign 
within whose dominions a _ foreigner 
chanced to die no longer claimed title to all 
his goods, unless no will and no next of 
kin were anywhere to be found.{ He was 
content with part, and, after making this 
‘detraction,’ or, as we should say, ‘sub- 
traction,’ gave up the rest to the natural 
heirs, or those to whom it might have been 
bequeathed by will. 

So if a subject of his own should die, 
leaving a will in favor of foreigners, or 
having only foreign heirs, they were ad- 
mitted to the succession, subject to a de- 
traction of the same kind. 

The percentages retained, in either case, 
as time went on, became more and more 
moderate. Reciprocal conventions between 
different nations for their regulation in 
this respect were not uncommon. Five 


* With a proviso that an alien acquiring land 
should gain no political rights thereby. 

+ Civil Code, Arts. 726, 912; Law of July 14, 
1819. 

t+ If there be no better claim, that of the 
sovereign within whose territory property left 
by the dead is found is clearly good. The lead- 
ing powers of continental Europe at their Con- 
ference held at the Hague in 1904, agreed (sub- 
ject to the principle ef reciprocity) to the mutual 
recognition of this right and the denial of any 
other in the nature of escheat or aubaine. ‘ Pro- 
jet dun Convention sur les conflits de lois en 
matiére de succession et de testaments,’ Art. I1., 
Revue de Droit International Privé, VI., 348. 
Sixteen European powers and also Japan agreed 
to and signed this project, June 7, 1904. 


Marcu 10, 1905.] 


per cent., which was the duty imposed in 
the first inheritance tax law of Rome—the 
vicesima hereditatum et legatorum decreed 
by Augustus—became not an unusual rate 
to fix by such an agreement in the latter 
half of the eighteenth century.* 

So far as concerns such a tax on for- 
eigners who come to take away what forms 
part of the wealth of a nation, it is, if the 
rate be moderate, in no sense inequitable. 
But for one sovereign to tax what belongs 
to the wealth of another bears a different 
aspect. It is the droit d’awbaine in a new 
dress and a politer form. It even asserts 
itself over a larger field. 

The ancient droit d’aubaine was exerted 
almost exclusively in the case of foreigners 
dying within the realm; never except over 
tangible property found within it, belong- 
ing to their estates. The modern droit 
d’aubaine fastens upon all their property 
so found, whether tangible or intangible, 
and this whether they died within the 
realm or in their own country, out of 
which, perhaps, they had never set foot. 

In the first of the treaties of the United 
States with foreign powers their right to 
do even this, with respect to estate left 
within their jurisdiction by an American 
citizen, was excluded, provided a reciprocal 
exemption were assured in return. This 
was that negotiated with France in 1778 
(and abrogated by Congress in 1798), Art. 
XI. of which read thus: 


The subjects and inhabitants of the said United 
States, or any one of them, shall not be reputed 
aubains in France, and consequently shall be ex- 
empted from the droit d’aubaine, or other similar 
duty, under what name soever. They may by 
testament, donation, or otherwise, dispose of their 
goods, moveable and immovable, in favour of 
such persons as to them shall seem good, and their 
heirs, subjects of the said United States, residing 
whether in France or elsewhere, may succeed them 
ab intestat, without being obliged to obtain letters 
of naturalization, and without having the effect 

*See Merlin, ‘Répertoire de Jurisprudence,’ 
Détraction. 


SCIENCE. 


363 


of this concession contested or impeded under 
pretext of any rights or prerogative of provinces, 
cities, or private persons; and the said heirs, 
whether such by particular title, or ab intestat 
shall be exempt from all duty called droit de 
detraction or other duty of the same king, saving 
nevertheless the local rights or duties as much 
and as long as similar ones are not established 
by the United States, or any of them. The sub- 
jects of the Most Christian King shall enjoy on 
their part, in all the dominions of the said 
States, an entire and perfect reciprocity relative 
to the stipulations contained in the present arti- 
cle but it is at the same time agreed that its 
contents shall not affect the laws made, or that 
may be made hereafter in France against emigra- 
tions, which shall remain in all their force and 
vigour, and the United States on their part, or 
any of them, shall be at liberty to enact such laws 
relative to that matter as to them shall seem 
proper. * 

Among our later treaties with lke or 
broader provisions may be mentioned those 
with Sweden of 1783, with Wiirtemberg of 
1844, with Saxony of 1845,+ with France 
of 1853, with Germany of 1876 and with 
Great Britain of 1900. The exemptions 
secured by those of the older type related 
only to property left in or subject to the 
control of one country by citizens of the 
other, at the time of their decease. They 
did not extend to interests of citizens of 
one in succession to estates of citizens of 
the other, which are in course of admin- 
istration in the courts of the latter.f The 
later conventions do extend to these.§$ 

The provision in the Constitution of the 
United States, securing to citizens of one 
state the ordinary privileges common to 
citizens of any other into which they may 
20, gives to our people a somewhat similar 
measure of security. But it has not pre- 
vented the building up, slowly at first, 
rapidly of late, of a network of state tax- 


*2 U.S. Rev. Stat., 206. 

7 lbid., 723, 809, 690. 

{ Frederickson v. Louisiana, 23 Howard’s Re- 
ports, 445. 

2 Geofroy v. Riggs, 133 United States Reports, 


258. 


364 


laws, imposing succession duties on prop- 
erty left within the state by deceased citi- 
zens of other states, without regard to 
whether their representatives have already 
paid similar duties at home, and so are 
subjected to a double burden for a single 
privilege. 

Within limits no economist will question 
the propriety of laying taxes on bequests 
and inheritances. They are collected with 
ease and reasonable certainty. They fall 
upon something which the taxpayer has 
never yet enjoyed and the diminution of 
which he therefore does not fully miss. 
The goose, to follow Colbert’s maxim, is 
plucked so as to get the most feathers with 
the least squealing, and almost with none. 
Live goose feathers, indeed, are not re- 
quired. The real victim is dead. 

As to whether the form to be preferred 
is that of a probate duty, a stamp duty, a 
tax on the privilege of transmission, or a 
tax on the privilege of receiving what is 
transmitted, opinions may fairly differ. 

Death duties were first imposed in Great 
Britain towards the close of the eighteenth 
century. Under the system developed 
there the movable property, wherever sit- 
uated, of a person dying domiciled in the 
kingdom is subject to them, but not such 
property left in the kingdom by one who 
died domiciled in any other country.* 

What is taxed is not the interest in prop- 
erty to which some person succeeds because 
of the death of its former owner, and not 
property at all, but the interest in prop- 
erty which the former owner lost upon his 
death and which would have ceased to 
exist altogether had not the state seen fit 
to prolong it in favor of those whom it 
recognizes as entitled to the succession. 

It is this prolongation or revival of an 


* Cross v, United States Trust Co., 131 N. Y. 
643. As to probate duties, the statutes make a 
different provision. Fernandes’ Executors’ Case, 
5 Chancery Appeals, 314. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 532. 


estate which death has destroyed—a pro- 
longation by foree of no natural law, but 
only of the will of the political sovereign, 
that justifies a succession tax.* 

The earliest American succession duties 
were levied by Congress in 1797, and took 
the form of a stamp tax on receipts for 
legacies. 

Pennsylvania was the first state to im- 
pose them. She did this in 1826, but the 
law did not extend to goods of those not 
inhabitants of the state, which had been 
temporarily left there.t They were left 
untouched, in deference to the ancient 
maxim of private international law, 
mobilia personam sequuntur. 

It was this maxim that had always been 
the chief measure of the jurisdiction of 
courts over the settlement of the estates of 
the dead. The estate had been treated as 
a kind of a survival of the person who 
once held and administered it. It there- 
fore had its principal seat in the place 
which had been his home. Transfers of 
goods inter vivos, founded on contract, 
may be regulated by the law of the place 
of transfer; but transfers of the whole of 
a man’s goods, upon his death, by force or 
permission of law, must, in fairness to all 
concerned, be regulated by the law to 
which he was subject. In England and 
America it is settled that this is the law 
of his domieil. 

Those to whom that law gives them ac- 
quire a good title the world over. There 
is but one succession to a dead man’s goods, 
and that takes place once for all when he 
dies and where he dwelt.{ This law, which 
protected him while they were his, and 


* Orcutt’s Appeal, 97 Pa. State Reports, 179. 

+ Knowlton v. Moore, 178 U. 8. Reports, 41, 
49, 55. 

t Wharton’s Private International Law, §§ 80, a, 
Reports, 330; 30 Northeastern Reporter, 125; 
Frothingham v. Shaw, 175 Mass. Reports, 59; 55 
Northeastern Reporter, 623. 


Marcu 10, 1905.] 


directs the course of their devolution when 
he is no more, may justly tax those who 
benefit by their devolution, irrespective of 
the place of their residence, or of that 
where the goods may chance to be found. 

Our American succession taxes, lke 
those of England, are everywhere, when 
imposed by the state where the deceased 
had his home, measured by a percentage 
of the value of all his goods, wherever 
situated, and all his real estate situated 
within the state, subject to some exemption 
of moderate amount. 

But during the last twenty or thirty 
years the states have begun to go farther 
and charge a like percentage on all goods 
of a non-resident, which may be subject 
to their power. 

There is no legal objection to this. 

It is not double taxation within the 
meaning of any constitutional prohibition. 
In law, double taxation occurs only when 
the same sovereign taxes the same thing 
twice. But aside from this, a law of the 
kind now in question does not tax the 
same thing which had been taxed before. 
The sovereign of the domicile only can tax 
the succession to goods, because the suc- 
cession takes place, once for all, under his 
laws and in his territory. What the 
sovereign of the situs of goods left by a 
foreign decedent taxes is not the succession 
to them, and not the goods themselves, 
but the privilege of taking them away, 
under the title derived from that succes- 
sion.* The title is unquestionable, and 
unquestioned, but the right of the owner 
to avail himself of it in foreign territory 
depends on the comity of the foreign 
sovereign, who if he permits a transfer can 
prescribe the terms.t 


* Foelix, Droit International Privé, I., § 9. 
j Magoun v. Illinois Trust and Savings Bank, 
170 U. S. Reports, 283, 288; Dammert v. Osborn, 


141 N. Y. Reports, 564; 35 Northeastern Reporter, 
407. 


SCIENCE. 


365 


Nor is a tax so imposed any infringe- 
ment of the privileges and immunities of 
citizens of other states, for they are treated 
precisely as those of the state by authority 
of which the tax is laid. 

It is an infringement of a maxim of pri- 
vate international law; but such maxims 
may be set aside by any political sovereign 
who thinks it for his interest to disregard 
them. Our courts, in the absence of legis- 
lation to the contrary, treat the doctrines 
of private international law as part of 
the common or unwritten law, but it is 
only in the absence of legislation to the 
contrary. A statute can always abrogate 
unwritten law. 

Not only is it lawful, but in many cases 
it seems not unjust, for a sovereign to 
tax the succession on goods within his 
dominions, left by a foreigner. If they 
were not simply in transit, but had been 
there so long as to become part of the 
wealth of the realm and to share in the 
settled protection of the government, they 
were subject to taxation for it when the 
owner was alive; and as the new successors 
must come there for possession, and can 
only dispossess those in whose hands they 
may be left by force of this sovereign’s 
laws, and if need be, by process from his 
courts, they can not seriously complain if 
he asserts a right to tax them for what 
they get. 

So it is also in the ease of intangible 
property when that has been long placed 
by the owner in the hands of agents in a 
foreign country to manage and invest.* 

But while such successions ean be taxed 
by a sovereign of the domicil and taxed 
again by the sovereign of the situs, it is 
quite another question whether they should 
be. 


* New Orleans v. Stempel, 175 U. S. Reports, 
309; In re Lewis’ Estate, 203 Pa. State Reports, 
211; 52 Atlantic Reporter, 205; In re Romaine, 
127 N. Y. Reports, 88; 27 Northeastern Reporter, 
759; 12 Lawyers’ Reports Annotated, 401. 


366 


Had we adhered inflexibiy to the uni- 
versal maxim of ancient law—mobilia per- 
sonam sequuntur—the results would un- 
questionably have been far better. Every 
state laying a succession tax lays as 
high a one as it deems best to impose. It 
selects a certain subject for taxation and 
presumably exacts all that it ean fairly be 
made to yield. For another state to tax 
the same subject again, therefore, is to 
impose a heavier burden than it ought to 
bear. 

If the state in which the decedent’s 
estate is settled collects the only duty, 
and this were the universal rule, nothing 
in the long run could be lost by any other 
state. On the average one would profit 
as much as another by uniformity of rule. 
While every state would let the citizens of 
another withdraw the property of the dead 
untaxed from its territory, its own citizens, 
as heirs or legatees, would bring back 
with equal freedom property of the same 
kind from all the rest. 

As a matter of fact and history our 
legislatures in this matter have claimed the 
benefit of the rule mobilia personam 
sequuntur whenever it served their pur- 
pose to invoke it, and set it aside when- 
ever it served their purpose to disregard it. 

The test of taxability, as respects a suc- 
cession to intangible property of a non- 
resident, may be said to be this: Whatever 
may be its form, if it have a money value 
and, although it may be fully owned by 
and fully transferable by the successor, 
ean not be enforced or converted into 
money contrary to the will of the person 
against whom the right of property exists, 
without coming into the state imposing the 
tax, then it is property within that state 
and taxable as such.* 


*In re Whiting’s Estate, 150 N. Y. Reports, 
27; 44 Northeastern Reporter, 715; 34 Lawyers’ 
Reports Annotated, 322; 55 Am. States Reports, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


If a citizen of Texas die, having money 
on deposit in a New York bank, a succes- 
sion tax may be levied on it by New York 
as well as by Texas.* If he leave bonds 
in his box in the vaults of a New York Safe 
Deposit company, and they are due from 
a citizen or corporation of New York, both 
states can exact the same percentage on 
these. If the bonds are those of a person 
or corporation of a third state, they may 
be subject to three taxes. The state where 
he lived lays a succession tax on their full 
value because he was subject to its power. 
The state in which the bonds are deposited 
for safe-keeping lays a tax of the same, or 
perhaps greater amount, on their full 
value, because the bonds are in its hands, 
and it will not let them go without receiy- 
ing it. The state where the debtor who 
signed the bonds belongs can also levy as 
large a tax, because it can refuse any 


remedy in its courts for their collection — 


except on such terms as it may itself lay 
down. So in the ease of corporation stocks, 
the shareholder’s estate pays one succes- 
sion tax to the state of which he was a 


‘ eitizen, and those who succeed to him pay 


another to the state chartering the corpora- 
tion, and possibly a third to a state in 
which the stock certificates were kept ;+ for 
by holding on to them till such tax were 
paid it could put a serious obstacle in the 
way of their sale and transfer. 

It is to be remembered also that there is 
no constitutional limit to the rate of taxa- 
tion. In Holland in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, collateral successions falling to the re- 
moter kindred were subject to a deduction 


640; In re Houdayer’s Estate, 150 N. Y. Reports, 
37; 44 Northeastern Reporter, 718; 34 Lawyers’ 
Reports Annotated, 235; 55 Am. State Reports, 
642; Buck v. Beach Indiana Reports, 71 North- 
eastern Reporter, 962. 

* Blackstone v. Miller, 188 U. S. Reports, 189. 

+ In re Bronson, 150 N. Y. Reports, J; 44 
Northeastern Reporter, 707. 


ea Bite eee 


Marcu 10, 1905.] 


in favor of the state of thirty per cent.* 
Three such taxes would leave of the oyster 
little but the shell. 

In 1898, during the war with Spain, 
Congress also levied an inheritance tax, 
and the burden or the suecession was 
heavier still until the repeal of that 
“measure a few years afterwards. It did 
not, however, apply to personal property 
here passing on the death of the owner to 
citizens of another country.+ 

The results of this condition of multiple 
taxation are rapidly becoming apparent. 

Capitalists are beginning to center their 
investments at home. They prefer to put 
their money in domestic stocks and securi- 
ties, for these, upon their death, will be 
taxable but onee. They are inquiring in 
which states, out of their own, it is safest 
to make or maintain investments; that is, in 
which states there are either no inheritance- 
tax laws or no inequitable ones. They are 
organizing corporations, which never die, 
to hold their property. They are taking 
title jointly with their wives or children, 
so that death leaves the survivor the sole 
owner. — 

It has been said that a country should 
never tax anything of value which, if not 
taxed, would be likely to find its way there, 
and which, if taxed, would be able to 
escape from its power. 

The American people are quick-witted. 
It will not take long for all of them to 
learn in which of the states they can and 
in which they ean not do business without 
subjecting their property, in case of 
death, to what is practically double taxa- 
tion. 

Wall Street is to-day the financial center 
of a great stretch of American territory. 

* Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, III., Book 
V., 326. 

} Eidman v. Martinez, 184 U. S. Reports, 578. 


{See David A. Wells on Taxation, ‘Cyclop. of 
Political Science,’ ad fin. 


SCIENCE. 


367 


The trust companies, the banks and the 
safety deposit vaults of New York City 
hold vast amounts of moneys, bonds and 
commercial paper belonging to residents of 
other states, who have left them there for 
security, or to use them for investment or 
reinvestment. Their owners are taxable 
on them where they live. Their estates 
are taxable on them there, if they die. Let 
those men once fully understand that their 
estates would be also taxable on them in 
New York, and it will not be long before 
their investments take a new shape or 
are put under different keeping. 

An inheritance tax by a state upon 
what is left by its own inhabitants is right 
and just. It is right and just to place it 
upon real estate situated within its terri- 
tory and belonging to an estate of a dead 
man. It may be not unfair and not im- 
politic to place it upon tangible personal 
property of such an estate which has been 
statedly kept within its territory, and on 
which no such tax is imposed in the state 
or country to which its former owner 
belonged. But to tax it twice; to wring 
from widow or children or creditors, who 
have already paid one inheritance tax to 
the state under whose laws the estate is 
in course of settlement, another of a like 
kind, if not unfair, is certainly impolitic. 
It contravenes the settled conceptions of 
private international law—conceptions 
that, through long ages of unbroken tradi- 


‘tion, have worked their way into the 


popular mind and become identified with 
those of social justice and economic law. 

“ Ein tiefer Sinn wohnt in den alten Briiuchen. 

Mann muss sie ehren.” 

According to these, the succession to a 
dead man’s goods is to be determined by 
the law either of the country of which he 
was a citizen or of that—generally the 
same—in which he had his home; and 
through that law it is to be worked out to 
the last detail. 


368 


As death comes but once to every man 
and is the one event on the happening of 
which the devolution of his estate takes 
place, so that devolution, to work justice, 
must, as far at least as his personal prop- 
erty may be concerned, follow one single 
course of law. 

During the last few years the principal 
nations of continental Europe have held 
four successive conferences at The Hague, 
to regulate the rights of the citizens of 
each with respect to acts and transactions 
that may come under consideration in the 
courts of the rest. On several points they 
have reached a definite agreement, in the 
shape of reciprocal conventions, ratified 
by the leading powers. A new convention 
was proposed by the last conference, held 
in June, 1904, on the subject of succession 
to the dead. It secures its regulation ac- 
cording to the law of the country of which 
the former owner was a citizen or subject. 

England and the United States have 
thus far adhered to the view that the law 
of the land in which he had his home 
should govern. But under either rule the 
same end is secured—unity of administra- 
tion. A single succession is to be regu- 
lated by a single law. 

Our new American practice must ope- 
rate as a divisive force within the Ameri- 
ean Union. 

It attacks the prosperity of the country 
at a vital point. The United States have 
grown great and rich because of the prin- 
ciple of absolute free trade between the 
states so far as anything in the nature of 
a tariff is coneerned, and absolute free 
trade in all respects, except'so far as Con- 
gress may see fit to legislate to the con- 
trary. It was the change to this policy 
that of the pre-constitutional era 
made the United States a living 
nationality. Under the Articles of Con- 
federation each of the thirteen equal 
scyereions could tax and often did tax the 


from 
that 


SCIENCE. 


(N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. J 


products of the others. In May, 1784,* 
for instance, Connecticut laid a duty on 
all goods imported from any other state, 
except such as had been previously im- 
ported from abroad by a eitizen of Con- 
necticut for use or sale in Connecticut. — 
This law was expressly made applicable 
even to the baggage of passengers arriving 
by water. To such legislation the Consti- — 
tution of the United States opposed an ; 
effective bar, and in go doing benefited — 
every state to the injury of none. 

A recent statement from the Bureau of 
Statistics at Washington shows that the 
total value of the goods dealt in last year 
throughout the United States in their in- 
ternal trade, based on what they cost the 
first consumer, was twenty-two billion dol- 
lars. This is nearly fifteen times as great 
as that of the goods which we export; 
nearly twice that of all the goods imported 
during the same year in international trade 
throughout the world, and more than twice 
that of the whole world’s exports for the 
same period. Much of this home trade is 
purely domestic; but much also is trade 
between the states. 

Anything which impedes the free trans- 
mission of money or moneyed securities 
from one state to another so far unstrings 
the sinews of this commerce between the 
states. To tax their transmission when — 
they pass in a mass, by the event of the — 
owner’s death, is to create an impediment 
to their transmission by him during his 
life which the public are fast learning to 
regard as very serious. ; 

This evil first arose during the closing — 
years of the nineteenth century. How : 
shall it be remedied in the twentieth? 

Could Congress treat it as so far affect-_ 
ing commerce between the states (and with 
foreign nations, for the double burden falls 
often on foreign heirs and Jegatees) as to- 


justify a statute of the United States pro- } 
* Statutes, Ed. 1784, 271. 


' 
, 


| 
} 


= 


ee ee 


Marcy 10, 1905.] 


viding that such a tax, as regards any one 
estate or any one item of property belong- 
ing to an estate, could be laid but once? 

If so, it would be to advance the powers 
of the nation a step farther than they have 
ever yet gone, and weaken correspondingly 
the sovereignty of the states. If, on the 
other hand, Congress has no such power, 
does it not naturally lead to the conclusion 
that the states have? Certainly a remedy 
more in accordance with our constitutional 
traditions than an act of Congress would 
be concerted action to the same end by the 
states under the principle of reciprocity. 

From the beginnings of American his- 
tory, neighboring English colonies were 
accustomed, at times, to send delegates to 
mutual conferences on matters of common 
interest. When they became states, the 
same practise was continued. Agreements 
were made in such conventions while the 
Articles of Confederation were in force, 
affecting matters of importance, although 
some of the statesmen of the day viewed 
them with disfavor as contrary to the 
spirit of the confederated government and 
tending to disintegrate the Union.* 

This led to the provision in the Consti- 
tution of the United States (Art. I., See. 
10) that no state should ‘ enter into any 
Treaty Alliance or Confederation’ nor 
* * * “without the consent of Congress 
* * * enter into any Agreement or 
Compact with another state or with a for- 
eign power.’ 

The courts have construed these pro- 
visions so as to make them detract as little 
as may be from the sovereignty of the 
states. 

Three principles may be considered as 
settled with regard to them: 

1. They do not refer to any agreements 
not affecting the political relations of a 
state to another state or to the United 


**Madison’s Introduction to his Journal of the 
Federal Convention’ (Scott’s ed.), 47. 


SCIENCE. 


369 


States.* It was their object to prevent the 
formation of any combination of states 
that might encroach upon the supremacy 
of the United States.+ 

2. No agreement or compact between 
states is to be deemed of that nature, unless 
it is clearly such.} 

3. Agreements or compacts’ between 
states of a political nature, although made 
without asking or obtaining the consent of 
Congress are not invalid if Congress after- 
wards should ratify them.§ 

In practise the states from the first have 
regarded this section of the constitution 
as not precluding arrangements and agree- 
ments between any of them of a business 
character which they might deem of mu- 
tual advantage. 

They have by concurrent grants of 
charters similar in form created interstate 
corporations, which are as much at home 
in one state as another, and have in each 
the same powers and rights under the 
same name and with the same members.|| 

Interstate commissions have been con- 
stituted by appointments made by neigh- 
boring states to ascertain and mark the 
boundary between them.) 

Statutes to promote freedom of inter- 
course and exchange of business between 
states, have been passed by one state in 
favor of non-residents, conditioned on the 
existence of like legislation in the state of 
which they may be citizens. 

* Virginia v. Tennessee, 148 U. S. Reports, 503, 
519. 

{+ Williams v. Bruffy, 96 U. S. Reports, 176. 

{ Baltimore and Ohio R. R. Co. v. Harris, 12 
Wallace’s Reports, 65, 82. 

2, Green v. Biddle, 8 Wheaton’s Reports, 1. Cf. 
21 U. S. Statutes at Large, 351; Wharton v. 
Wise, 153 U. S. Reports, 155. 

|| Two Centuries’ Growth of American Law, 279; 
Graham v. Boston, Hartford and Erie R. R. Co., 
118 U. S. Reports, 169, 170; ‘Report of the 
American Historical Association for 1902, I., 268. 

4‘ Papers of the New Haven Colony Historic J 
Society,’ III., 284, 286. 


370 


Since the introduction of automobiles 
statutes have been passed in some states 
requiring them to be registered and num- 
bered, and the number, with the first letter 
of the name of the state, to be displayed 
on the vehicle, but with a provision that 
this shall not apply to automobiles coming 
into the state from another in which they 
have been registered and numbered under 
a similar law, and which make a similar 
display of the letter and number required 
there.* 

Foreign insurance companies are often 
prohibited by statute from entering a 
state to do business, unless they fulfill cer- 
tain prerequisites, with an exception in 
favor of those coming from a state or 
country where no such conditions are ex- 
acted from companies of the state enacting 
such statute; So they are often sub- 
jected to certain taxes or fees, if and only 
so long as such taxes or fees are required 
by the state of their charter from com- 
panies created by the state by which the 
statute is passed. 

Reciprocity with reference to foreign 
countries is also a feature of some of our 
state statutes for the removal of the com- 
mon law disability to hold real estate. It 
is removed as respects citizens of countries 
imposing no such disability on American 
citizens who may seek to acquire lands 
within their jurisdiction.§ 

Statutes have been passed by one state 
to promote the administration of justice 
in certain others, or in all others, on con- 
ditions of reciprocal legislation on their 
part. 

Thus in the first half of the nineteenth 

**Publie Acts of Connecticut,’ 1903, 73. 

+See ‘General Statutes of Connecticut,’ 
§§ 3,508, 3,544, 3,652. 

{‘ Public Statutes of Rhode Island,’ Rev. of 
1882, p. 396, Sec. 396; ‘New York Revised 
Statutes,’ 9th ed., IL, 1146. 

% See ‘Texas Civil Statutes,’ L., 
statute passed in 1854). 


Art. 9 (2 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


century New Hampshire enacted a statute 
to the effect that if one of her inhabitants 
were wanted in any other state as a wit- 
ness for the prosecution in a case of felony, 
a subpeena requiring him to repair thither 
to testify at the trial might issue from a 
New Hampshire court on the request of 
the judicial authorities of the other state. 
Proper compensation for the expenses of 
the journey was to be tendered, and if, 
after such tender to the person whose pres- 
ence was desired, he failed to appear at the 
trial, he was to be liable to a forfeiture of 
$300. Maine then adopted a similar 
statute except that it apphed only to prose- 
eutions pending in a New. England state. 
Massachusetts followed in the same line, 
except that she confined the remedy to 
neighboring states, and to Maine, and in 
1902 New York did the same with respect — 
to bordering states, but on condition of 
the enactment on their part of reciprocal 
legislation of similar effect. Connecticut 
and Pennsylvania have since passed laws 
on this subject of the same general pur- 
port.* 

In some similar way the states of the 
United States may yet come to a mutual 
understanding, and reciprocal justice be- 
come the rule in dealing with successions, 
whether by will or by inheritance. 

A suggestion to that end was made in 
1901 by the Buffalo Conference on Taxa- 
tion. This body, composed of representa- 
tives of about thirty states, appointed by 
their respective governors, unanimously 
adopted this resolution : 


WHEREAS, modern industry has overstepped the 
bounds of any one State, and commercial interests 
are no longer confined to merely local interests; 
and whereas, the problem of just taxation can not 
be solved without considering the mutual relations 
of contiguous states; be it 


** Public Statutes of New Hampshire,’ ed. 1842, 
p. 382; of Maine, ed. 1871, p. 876; of Mass., ed. 
1882, p. 986. ‘ Public Acts of Connecticut,’ 1903, 
57; ‘General Laws of N. Y.,’ 1902, p. 328. 


Marcu 10, 1905.] 


Resolved, That this conference recommend to 
the states the recognition and enforcement of the 
principles of interstate comity in taxation. These 
principles require that the same property should 

not be taxed at the same time by two state juris- 
dictions, and to this end that if the title deeds or 
other paper evidences of the ownership of property, 
or of an interest in property are taxed, they shall 
be taxed at the situs of the property, and not 
elsewhere. These principles should also be ap- 
plied to any tax upon the transfer of property in 
expectation of death, or by will, or under the laws 
regulating the distribution of property in case 
of intestacy.* 

The Massachusetts Tax Commission in 
1897 reported a bill to carry out the same 
principle, though on somewhat different 
lines. + Ft 

Machinery to facilitate a concert of ac- 
tion for the accomplishment of some such 
result, has for some years been in existence 
and active operation. This is the annual 
Conference of Commissioners of States on 
Uniform Legislation, held in connection 
with the meetings of the American Bar 
Association, and now representing a large 
majority of all the states. Its office is to 
frame and recommend to the states for 
adoption bills for suitable laws on subjects 
of common concern which ought to be regu- 
lated everywhere in the same way. The 
result of its labors may be seen in the 
existence of identical laws in the statute 
books of a number of states, which have 
been adopted on its initiative, the most 
conspicuous instance being that of the 
Negotiable Instruments Act. 

It may well be doubted whether the form 
of reciprocity recommended by the Buffalo 
Conference is the best. It is not that 
naturally suggested by the Anglo-Ameri- 
can rules of private international law. 
These would favor adhesion to the law of 
the state where the succession occurred— 
that of the last domicil of the deceased 
owner. On the other hand, the plan so 

** Judson on Taxation,’ p. 547 note. 

7 ‘Report of the Commission,’ p. 191. 


SCIENCE. 


371 


proposed might be more answerable to the 
demands of modern society. It would 
serve to pay for protection to property 
actually received, in contradistinction from 
protection theoretically imputed. 

But the only question to which the limits 
of an address like this permit me to eall 
your attention is the larger one of the pos- 
sibility and expediency of any reciprocal 
arrangements looking in this direction. 

Could they or could they not be re- 
garded as varying the public relations of 
the states concerned? Would or would not 
each stand towards the other in the atti- 
tude of a favored nation, since its citizens 
would be freed from a burden remaining 
upon those of other states? Is or is not a 
statutory grant of an exemption from taxa- 
tion in favor of those belonging to another 
sovereignty, conditioned on the concession 
of a similar privilege by the latter to the 
citizens of the state enacting the first 
statute, and followed by such a concession, 
in substance a political compact between 
the enacting powers? 

If there be any such constitutional bar, 
it could be easily removed. 

The arrangement could hardly be deemed 
to stand on the footing of a treaty, alliance, 
or confederation. If not that, the consent 
of Congress would avoid any possible ob- 
jection. There is no reason to doubt that 
this would be gladly given. Congress 
could hardly fail to weleome any proposi- 
tion from states, looking towards concur- 
rent legislation of the description named. 
Not only would it remove what is not un- 
likely to prove a serious impediment to free 
commercial intercourse between the states, 
but it would remove it in the interest of 
fair dealing and equal rights. 

It may be suggested that even with the 
authority of Congress no such exclusive 
reciprocity could be established between 
two states by reason of the further consti- 
tutional provision (Art. IV., See. 2) that 


372 


the citizens of each state shall enjoy the 
privileges and immunities of citizens in 
the several states. 

The purpose of this section, however, is 
to prevent discrimination by one state 
against the citizens of another. Can it be 
said that a statute makes such a discrimi- 
nation if it leave them entitled to the same 
privileges and immunities as those pos- 
sessed by the citizens of the state making 
the enactment? The citizens of that state 
being required to pay a succession tax, 
can the citizens of another state, coming 
there to receive an inheritance or bequest, 


complain if they are subjected to the same ~ 


burden, even if those of a third state may 
not be?* Is not the discrimination which 
the constitution prohibits one in favor of 
residents against non-residents, rather than 
one between non-residents who are citizens 
of different states? 

The supreme court of the United States 
in 1831 had before it a cause which showed 
the complications as to state sovereignty 
over dead men’s estates existing even under 
the established principles of private in- 
ternational law. A citizen of Virginia 
died in Pennsylvania, leaving personal 
property in the District of Columbia. A 
local administrator was appointed in Wash- 
ington, and the question was whether the 
local law there or the law of Virginia 
should govern the distribution of the 
Washington assets. The court held that 
as the District of Columbia had the fund in 
its power, its law must control its disposi- 
tion. ‘‘Whether,’’ it added in its opinion, 
‘“it would or would not be politie to es- 
tablish a different rule by a convention of 
the states, under constitutional sanction, is 
not a question for our consideration. But 
such an arrangement could only be carried 
into effect by a reciprocal relinquishment 

*Paul v. Virginia, 8 Wallace’s Reports 168, 


180; Blake v. McClung, 172 U. S. Reports, 239, 
248, 257. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No, 532. 


of the right of granting administration to 
the country of the domicil of the deceased 
exclusively, and the mutual concession of 
the right to the administrator so consti- 
tuted to prosecute suits everywhere in 
virtue of the power so locally granted him; 
both of which concessions would most ma- 
terially interfere with the exercise of sov- 
ereign right, as at present generally as- 
serted and exercised.’’* 

The convention here suggested, no doubt, 
was one to be called by Congress, under 
Article V. of the constitution of the United 
States, to propose amendments to it. There 
had then been but one instance of the con- 
voeation of any other kind of convention 
of representatives of states since 1789. 
That was the Hartford Convention of 1814, 
of delegates from three states, and it had 
been generally and unsparingly denounced 
as an unconstitutional assemblage for 
illegal purposes. t 

Since that time, however, another of a 
more imposing character, and equally polit- 
ical in its objects, has been held at Wash- 
ington—the peace convention of 1861—in 
which twenty-one states participated, and 
which was officially recognized by the presi- 
dent of the United States. The public 
were satisfied that this body accomplished 
a useful work in bridging over the passage 
of power from one party to another at a 
time when every day of continued peace 
was of the highest national importance, and 
although its right to act or indeed to exist 
was vigorously denied upon the floor by 
some of its own members,{ the verdict of 
history must be in its favor. 

Since then, besides many conferences or 
conventions from time to time of represen- 
tatives of states under executive appoint- 

*Smith, Adm’r v. Union Bank of Georgetown, 
5 Peters’ Reports, 518, 526. 

y+ Adams, ‘New England Federalism,’ 245, 256. 


{ ‘Debates and Proceedings of the Peace Con- 
vention of 1861,’ 129, 134, 415. 


Marcu 10, 1905.] 


ment, the National Conference of Commis- 
sioners on Uniform Legislation, to which 
reference has been made, has become a 
standing institution of unquestioned au- 
thority. That authority, indeed, is only 
to deliberate and to recommend. It makes 
no agreements between states. But it does 
initiate action by the states, through which, 
on some points, they are brought by the 
legislative action of each into a position of 
agreement. 

Should it be able to agree on the recom- 
mendation of a definite, equal and con- 
sistent policy as to the subject which has 
been under our consideration, expressed in 
the form of an identical statute for general 
adoption in each of the states which it 
represents, it is not impossible that, one 
after another, the states would fall into 
line and follow the plan proposed.* 

The tendencies of the time make for such 
a movement. Individualism and state-iso- 
lation are each giving way at every point 
of material contact to collectivism. The 
time-spirit and the world-politics of the 
twentieth century alike point to reciprocal 
governmental action on a great scale, for 
the prevention of international or inter- 
state complications and collisions, as the 
true basis of national prosperity. 

SmeEon E. BaLpwin. 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 
OF ZOOLOGISTS. SECOND ANNUAL 
MEETING OF THE BASTERN 
BRANCH. 


THE second annual meeting of the East- 
ern Branch of the American Society of 


* One state has already made a move in this 
direction. Connecticut prior to 1903 had not 
taxed goods of non-resident decedents by means 
of a succession duty. In 1903 she laid such a tax 
on them, but with a waiver of its enforcement in 
case of a succession to decedents belonging to a 


state or country not exacting such a duty upon” 


personal property left within its jurisdiction by 
Connecticut decedents. Public Acts of Conn. for 
~1903, 43, See. 2. Gallup’s Appeal, 76 Conn. Re- 
ports, 627; 57 Atlantic Reporter, 699. 


SCIENCE. 313 


Zoologists and the fifteenth annual meeting 
of the society since its establishment as the 
American Morphological Society, was held 
in the laboratory of physiology and pathol- 
ogy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadel- 
phia, Pa., on December 27, 28 and 29, 1904. 

The committee on the invitation to the 
International Zoological Congress to meet 
in this country reported that a formal in- 
vitation signed by all the members of the 
joint committee was personally presented 
at the recent meeting of the congress in 
Berne by Dr. Charles S. Minot and Dr. 
Ch. Wardell Stiles, members of the com- 
mittee. The congress voted unanimously 
to accept the invitation and to hold its next 
meeting in Boston during the month of 
August, 1907. The congress further elect- 
ed Mr. Alexander Agassiz president of the 
congress for the Boston meeting, and 
agreed to intrust the general arrangements 
for the meeting to the representatives of 
the American Society of Zoologists. It 
was voted that the appointment of a com- 
mittee to make the necessary arrangements 
be left with the executive committee of the 
Eastern Branch acting with the executive 
committee of the Central Branch of the 
society. 

The committee on zoological require- 
ments for admission to college presented 
its report, which was approved. This re- 
port was published in Science, N. S., Vol. 
XX., December 16, 1904, pages 850-853. 

It was voted that the matter of the pub- 
heation of proceedings and abstracts be 
referred to a committee composed of the 
retiring secretary and the newly elected 
president and secretary. The officers elect- 
ed for the ensuing year and those with 
unexpired terms are as follows: 


President—William E. Castle. 

Vice-President—William Patten. 

Secretary and Treasurer—Henry S. Pratt. 

Additional Members of the Executive Com- 
mittee—Hermon C. Bumpus, Herbert S. Jennings 
and Ethan A. Andrews. 


374 


The followimg are abstracts of papers 
presented at the meeting: 


Correlation and Variation in the Honey 
Bee: Evererr F, Puiuurrs, University 
of Pennsylvania. 

This work is a continuation of the work 
done by the writer with Dr. D. B. Casteel.* 
The usual statistical methods have been 
used and the material used was uniformly 
Italian stock, each lot numbering 500. 
Workers, drones from drone cells and 
drones from worker cells were examined 
and characters of the wings were measured, 
the veins m and m, and the hooks on the 
hind wing. In every character examined 
the drones showed the greater variability, 
although they come from parthenogenetic 
egos, while the workers come from fertil- 
ized eggs. The abnormalities of venation 
are also more numerous in drones. 

In preparation for this work two queens 
(sisters) were introduced to colonies of 
bees, one of which had no drone comb, while 
the other had. In both cases drones were 
produced in abundance. In the hive having 
only worker cells the drones showed a re- 
duction of 9.13 per cent. in the mean of 
the character compared, showing that the 
size of the bee is influenced very greatly by 
the cell in which it grows. . Since just such 
cases appear in nature, the variation is in- 
fluenced greatly by environment. The 
same difference in the size of the cell occurs 
in the development of female eggs into 
workers or queens, but here a difference in 
the food also enters into the consideration. 

Several correlations were computed and 
there is a high degree of symmetry of the 
two sides of the body but a very low cor- 
relation between fore and hind wings. The 
veins m and m, which join each other show 
no correlation. 

* «Comparative Variability of Drones and Work- 


ers of the Honey Bee,’ Biol. Bull., December, 1903, 
pp. 18-37. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


The full tables ana- computed results of 
this work will be published elsewhere in 
the near future. 


Correlation in Development: O. C. GLASER, 

Johns Hopkins University. 

In the development of Fasciolaria a 
process of cannibalism takes place during 
which six or eight embryos swallow their 
less fortunate comrades, and all the un- 
fertilized eggs in each capsule. <A fully 
gorged cannibal may contain over 300 eggs. 
Correlated with this habit, which taxes to 
the utmost the assimilative and excretory 
powers, are the external kidneys. In addi- 
tion to their activity as renal organs, they 
present two other correlations with canni- 
balism. In Fulgur they originate simul- 
taneously with and behind the velum; in 
Crepidula they originate after the velum 
and behind it; but in Fasciolaria, probably 
because of the need for them, they orig- 
inate before the velum appears. This 
earlier origin conditions a change in ulti- 
mate position, for being just below the 
place where the velum originates, this on 
growing latterly carries the exeretory or- 
gans with it. Finally they hang down 
from its under surface. Thus cannibalism 
has affected the origin of these organs and 
the structure of the veliger. 

Accessory excretory organs, and amitosis 
in the endoderm of the veliger are also cor- 
related with cannibalism. 

Why are so many eggs infertile? This 
seems to be due to ovogenetic processes. 
These may possibly be analogous to those 
oceurring in the spermatogenesis of Palu- 
dina, for as Fasciolaria has ‘oligopyrene’ 
and ‘eupyrene’ spermatocytes which yield 
corresponding spermatozoa, it may also 
have ‘oligopyrene’ and ‘eupyrene’ ovocytes 
which would mature into corresponding 
eges. If this prove true a far-reaching 
correlation exists between maturation and 
the whole life history. 


Marcu 10, 1905.] 


Whether this particular correlation exist 
or not, Fasciolaria illustrates how remote 
processes may affect the hfe of an organ- 
ism, and how habits, apparently so useless 
as the manufacture of infertile eggs and 
imperfect spermatozoa, may be perpetu- 
ated, since such habits may have indirect 
results which, like cannibalism, are useful 
to the species. 

The ‘Great Forceps’ of the Lobster: 
Francis H. Herrick, Western Reserve 
University. 

In the higher orders of crustacea the 
chief weapons of both attack and defense, 
as well as for rending the prey, are the 
pineers or ‘forceps,’ borne on the first pair 
of massive periopods. In both American 
and European species two types of claw 
are developed, irrespective of sex, on either 
the right or left sides, the more primitive 
toothed or lock-forceps, and the larger, 
secondarily modified crushing claw. 

In a fuller paper I shall be able to offer 
for the first time a complete history of the 
curious periodic sequence (first noticed by 
Starr in 1898), which occurs .in the spines 
of the toothed claw, and which is apparent- 
ly unique among animals—as well as of 
the development of the two types of claw, 
their structure, physiology and the changes 
which ensue in molting. 

In the more slender lock-forceps the 
teeth are arranged in a linear series, in 
periods of eight. About midway in the 
serrated margin of the ‘hand’ or larger 
joint is a stout displaced spine of the first 
order, which forms the ‘lock’ to the claw. 
Upon closing, the dactyle falls on this spur, 
and its teeth slide under those of the pro- 
podus. It is thus firmly locked in ‘this 
position, so that no lateral motion is pos- 
sible. To meet this adjustment the tips 
of the claw are bent so that the dactyle is 
overlapped; the spines of the two joints are 
further inclined in opposite directions and 
aligned in a reversed manner. 


SCIENCE. 


37D 


When perfect, the formula for each pe- 
riod is as follows: 1:4:3:4:2:4:3:4:=8. 
About four periods occur between the tip 
of the claw and the lock spine. The pri- 
mary spines (1) are the first to arise, and 
are consequently the oldest, as they are the 
largest in the series. The primary spines 
alone are developed as the first larval stage, 
and tend to increase in geometrical ratio, 
by the regular interpolation of new spines 
between those already formed, in a linear 
series. There is even a tendency to ad- 
vance to the fourth progression, which if 
effected would give periods of sixteen. 
Spines of the second and third order begin 
to appear in the third larva, while in the 
fourth stage usually at least one eight- 
period series is developed. 

During the larval stages tegumental 
glands open by capillary ducts on the 
proximal side of each spine, near its tip. 
The tips of the claws develop like sets or 
‘hairs.’ 

At the fourth stage both large claws are 
similar and of the toothed type. Differ- 
entiation of the crushing claw begins at 
about the eighth molt, the large tubucles 
being formed by a fusion of periodic teeth. 

The chele abound in tufts of tactile 
hairs, especially in early life, but show no 
other peculiar sense-organs. The ‘fine 
meat’ of the tips of the claws is a sponge- 
work of involuntary muscle-fibers, to which 
blood has access, and is adapted to meet 
the needs of the molting period, when great 
local changes in blood-pressure are de- 
manded. 

The periodic sequence of the teeth in the 
toothed type of claw may be regarded as of 
incidental significance only, in increasing 
the efficiency of a nicely adapted prehensile 
tool and weapon. Cases of symmetry 
which occasionally occur may represent a 
reversion to the primitive and larval type, 
in an incomplete stage in the reversal of 
asymmetry, and therefore concerned with 


376 


regeneration, like the phenomena observed 
by Przibram in Alpheus, 


Jorsion in the Crustacean Limb: FRANCIS 
11. Herrick, Western Reserve University. 
In erayfishes and lobsters the dactyles of 

the great claws face, and, therefore, open 
inward and in a nearly horizontal plane, 
while the smaller chele open upward and 
outward in a plane which is nearly vertical. 
In the lobster at birth, however, the chele, 
legs, great and small, all have the same form 
and position, that is, the laterally com- 
pressed claws all open vertically with an 
inclination outward. It, therefore, follows 
that the position of the great ‘forceps’ has 
been reversed by a rotation through 90°, in 
consequence of which their inner or an- 
terior faces have become their under sides. 
With ecrayfishes, in which the metamor- 
phosis is far more abbreviated, the adult 
form is already acquired at birth, so we 
may infer that this change has occurred in 
the embryo, for otherwise we should have 
to assume that the ancestors of the cray- 
fish possessed another type of claw, which 
is not the case. 

In the crayfish about one quarter of the 
weight of the animal is represented by the 
great chelipeds, while the proportional 
weight in the lobster is one half. The 
acquisition of size and strength in these 
limbs, and in Homarus the remarkable dif- 
ferentiation into toothed and crushing 
forceps of right or left sides, have been at- 
tended by a permanent torsion, which has 
chiefly affected the carpodite or fifth point. 
As can be clearly shown, however, this 
twisting is entirely independent of the 
form or weight of the claw. Meanwhile 
the eight slender legs have remained sta- 
tionary, retaining their larval form and 
position. 

The rotation of the chela in the lobster is 
completed at the fourth molt, which marks 
the most striking leap in the history of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


development. The change is unquestion- 
ably of very ancient origin, and is probably 
older than autotomy, which precedes regen- 
eration in certain limbs, since fusion of the 
second and third joints does not occur until 
after the fifth stage. It was already per- 
fected during the Liassic period in the 
Erymoid ecrustacea, which are regarded as 
the direct ancestors of modern crayfishes 
and lobsters. 

Torsion in the crustacean limb can not 
be explained on Lamarckian principles, 
since, owing to the peculiar structure of the 
segmented limb, with its fixed hinge joints, 
the muscles of a given segment can deliver 
only straight pulls on the next distal seg- 
ment, which could not produce a torsion of 
the joint in which the muscles are lodged. 

The theory of natural selection fares no 
better, for it is impossible to suppose that 
the torsion could have arisen gradually, 
through successive fractions of a degree, 
each position being more favorable than 
the last, and especially since in hundreds 
of crabs and prawns the claws open upward 
and outward. It seems more probable that 
the condition was acquired suddenly as a 
discontinuous variation, which has become 
adaptive in a minor degree. 


The Growth of the Tail of the Japanese 
Long-tailed Fowl: C. B. DAVENPORT, Sta- 
tion for Experimental Evolution, Cold 
Spring Harbor, N. Y. 

A preliminary report on the anatomy of 
the tail of the fowl and the morphologic 
basis of the long tail. A comparison of 
the tails of two brothers, one of which has 
had the tail feathers regularly stroked, the 
other not. 


A Problem in Degeneration: CHARLES B. 
Wiison, State Normal School, Westfield, 
Mass. 

The group of parasitic copepods affords 
one of the very best opportunities for 


P a le eee BOAO 4 


Marcw 10, 1905.] 


studying degeneration and the problems 
connected with it. For the phenomena are 
not exhibited here as isolated examples, but 
as a continuous series in which every step 
ean be traced clearly. This, supplemented 
by a study of the life histories of the dif- 
ferent species, gives a first knowledge of 
factors and conditions which aids greatly 
in the drawing of rational conclusions. 

One of the problems is that which con- 
cerns the cause, or rather the causes of de- 
generation. Parasitism, while serving as 
a stimulus or ultimate cause, can not oper- 
ate directly in producing degenerative 
changes. There must be other more im- 
mediate causes which operate in connection 
with it. 

These immediate causes have been studied 
but very little; most writers are content 
with the mere statement that the disuse of 
a part or organ is what leads to its deterior- 
ation and ultimate loss. But evidently 
there must be some reason for the disuse, 
and then if its effects are to be permanent, 
and to go on accumulating until they re- 
sult in the entire disappearance of the part, 
they must be capable of inheritance. 

As a contribution towards the settlement 
of this and other vexed questions a careful 
study of the conditions and phenomena of 
degeneration has been undertaken in con- 
nection with the study of the morphology 
and habits of these parasites, 

At present the study has extended over 
the family Argulide and the subfamily 
Caliginz, with the following results: 

1. The Argulide show no signs of de- 
generation; there are many modifications 
of organs in adaptation to new conditions, 
but nothing that could be called a deterio- 
ration. The reason for this is found in the 
fact that they do not carry their eggs in 
cases but deposit them upon some con- 
venient surface. An act so important to 
the preservation of the species calls for a 


SCIENCE. 


377 


complete preservation of all the powers pos- 
sessed by free-swimming forms. 

2. Of the Caliginz, some show as little 
evidence of degeneration as the Argulide, 
while others furnish excellent examples 
Of 16. 

The first step in this degeneration is a 
loss of the lunule, or sucking disks, on the 
frontal plates. Many causes contribute to 
produce this effect. The @ggs are carried 
in cases and so retard locomotion; they are 
aerated by the movements of the host and 
so do not require movement on the part of 
the female; the best food supply is situated 
where there is the best aeration, so there 
is no incentive to movement. 

3. The second step in degeneration is the 
assumption of a fixed position; here again 
several causes may be found. The larve 
are attached to the host by a frontal fila- 
ment and after maturing have no incentive 
for moving about. On the disappearance 
of the lunules the second antenne and sec- 
ond maxillipeds are enlarged and their 
claws serve for attachment organs. Claws 
can not be attached and loosened readily, 
but when once fastened securely there is a 
tendency to retain the hold. 

The driving in of the claws makes a 
wound and eauses a flow of blood, the food 
of the parasite; it is easier to lacerate the 
old wound than it is to make a new one; 
and again the deeper the wound the more 
plentiful the blood-supply. 

4. The third step in degeneration is the 
modification of some part or organ in con- 
sequence of the fixed position. For each 
of these changes there are separate causes. 


Notes on the Development of the Gill in 
Mytilus: Epwarp lL. Rice, Ohio Wes- 
leyan University. 

The early development of the gill of 
Mytilus was worked out by Lacaze-Duthiers 
in 1856. To his account of the develop- 
ment of the earlier filaments the present 


378 SCIENCE. 


writer has nothing to add. As deseribed, 
a papilla is formed, grows downward from 
the gill axis, and is reflexed on itself, giv- 
ing rise to the familiar U-shaped filament. 

Later filaments follow a very different 
scheme, there being no such bending of an 
originally simple filament. At the pos- 
terior end of the curiously curved gill axis 
a series of thin transverse ridges are de- 
veloped. At first the edge of each ridge 
is entire; but growth is early checked in 
the center, so that the ridge is divided into 
two flat, rounded lobes, corresponding re- 
spectively to a. filament of the outer and 
one of the inner gill plate. As each lobe 
elongates it becomes perforated at its prox- 
imal end, thus being resolved into the two 
branches of a U-shaped filament, identical 
in form with those first developed. 

An interesting parallel is seen in the 
development of the interlamellar connec- 
tions. The interlamellar connection, in its 
finished form, is a simple bar, containing a 
blood channel, and connecting the two 
branches of one filament. In an early 
stage of development the two branches of 
the filament are connected by a continuous 
plate of tissue, extending from the bend of 
the filament upward for a short distance. 
This stage is closely comparable with the 
adult condition in Modiola and Arca. 
Later a perforation appears in this plate, 
and the portion isolated above the perfora- 
tion is transformed into the characteristic 
bar-like connection. The results derived 
from the study of isolated filaments have 
been confirmed by the study of sections. 


The Effect of a Freezing Temperature on 
the Development of the Frog’s Egg: 
T. H. Morecan, Columbia University. 
No abstract. 


Latent Characters and Reversion: W. E. 
CastLE, Harvard University. 
1. The coat of the wild guinea-pig con- 
{ains at least two pigments, black and 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 532, 


yellow, on the same hairs. In eertain 


varieties of domesticated guinea-pigs occur © 


(a) black only, (b) yellow only or (ec) 
neither pigment (albino variety). 

2. These color types obey Mendel’s law 
in heredity. In the order named (wild, 
black, yellow, albino), each type dominates 
all which follow it and is recessive to all 
which precede. 

3. A recessive character disappears when 
brought into the same zygote with the 
corresponding dominant, but reappears dis- 
tinct in half the gametes formed by the 
hybrid zygote. Hence recessive characters 
may exist unseen in individuals apparently 
dominant, but are bound to reappear if 
hybrid dominants are bred iter se. 

4. Dominant characters also may exist 
unseen in recessive individuals, but the 
conditions of their reappearance are quite 
different. Such unseen (not recessive) 
characters may be called latent. Mating 
of recessives which contain latent dominant 
characters ordinarily produces only reces- 
sive individuals. Cross breeding with the 
dominant type is usually necessary to bring 
latent characters into activity, though in 
some cases where the latency was partial 
only, ecross-breeding of two different re- 
cessive stocks has accomplished this result. 

5. Albino guinea-pigs, mice and rabbits, 
transmit latent specific pigment characters 
(as black or yellow). This can be demon- 
strated by ecross-breeding. Smooth-coated 
guinea-pigs may contain, in a condition of 
almost if not complete latency, the domi- 
nant rough or rosetted coat. 

6. Reversion (or atavism) is a name 
which has been given to the reappearance 
in a race of lost ancestral characters. The 
matter has always been more or less mys- 
terious, but would seem to consist in large 
part, if not exclusively, in the becoming 
active of characters which are latent. For 
this process eross-breeding seems normally 
to be essential, its function being either to 


| 


| 
. 
5 


Marcu 10, 1905.] 


stimulate dormant potentialities into ac- 
tivity, or to bring together the isolated 
elements of a character which in its com- 
plex form has been lost. 


Artificial Parthenogenesis in Thalassema 
mellita: George Lerrvre, University of 
Missouri. 

An investigation of artificial partheno- 
genesis in Thalassema mellita has shown 


that the eggs of this worm ean be induced . 


to develop into actively swimming trocho- 
phores, in the absence of sperm, by immer- 
sion for a few minutes in very dilute solu- 
tions of acids both inorganie and organie. 
Nitric hydrochloric, sulphuric, carbonie, 
acetic and oxalic acids were used success- 
fully, and in favorable experiments 50-60 
per cent. of the eggs developed into swim- 
ming larve that could searcely be distin- 
guished from normal trochophores of a 
corresponding stage. 

An egg membrane invariably forms 
shortly after removal from the acid solu- 
tions, and maturation, identical with the 
normal process, frequently oceurs. In a 
number of cases, however, polar bodies were 
not extruded, but the eggs divided and 
eventually gave rise to trochophores with- 
out any external indication of maturation. 
On sectioning such eggs it has been deter- 
mined that the maturation process occurs 
internally, the polar mitoses taking place 
below the surface and without accompany- 
ing cytoplasmic division. The result is 
that, in some eases at least, four resting 
nuclei are formed in the cytoplasm of the 
egg which represent the egg-nucleus and 
the nuclei of the three polar bodies. These 
four nuclei then come together and fuse to 
form a cleavage-nucleus, which, therefore, 
contains, in addition to the chromatin of 
the ege-nucleus, all the chromatin that 
would have passed into the polar bodies, 
had they been extruded. 

The egg-centrosome disappears after the 


SCIENCE. 


o19 


formation of the second polar body, and 
the cleavage-centrosomes arise de novo. 

It has frequently been observed that the 
polar bodies continue to divide, with the 
result that they form a morula-like cluster 
of minute cells. 

Cell-divisions take place mitotically, and 
in many eases the early cleavage is per- 
fectly normal, although a great variety of 
abnormal cleavages also occur. 

The larvew arising parthenogenetically are 
strikingly normal in appearance and struc- 
ture and exhibit the usual differentiations 
characteristic of the normal larve of a cor- 
responding stage of development, digestive 
tract and mouth, prototrochal band, apical 
plate and flagella, ete. 


Further Experiments on Self and Cross 
Fertilization in Ciona: T. H. Morean, 
Columbia University. No abstract. - 


A Few Words on What is to be Understood 
by ‘Good’ Fixation: ALEXANDER Pkr- 
TRUNKEVITCH, Harvard University. 

The question of what is to be understood 
by ‘good’ fixation is of both theoretical and 
practical value. Authors disagree as to 
how much of what we observe under the 
microscope is artefact and consequently as 
to the trustworthiness of the conclusion 
drawn from it. In my opinion, as fixed 
material consists in artefacts only, we 
should learn to eliminate errors by com- 
parison. Two errors are especially to be 
shunned: mistaking for true, (1) struc- 
tures which result from a dislocation of 
cell-organs, (2) those created by the use of 
injurious agents. Pauli placed the alveolar 
structure of protoplasm in the latter group, 
demonstrating that colloids show no separa- 
tion into two ‘phases’ when a normal solu- 
tion of urea is added to the fixing liquid. 
I repeated his experiments with a great 
variety of agents, some of them never used 
before. The results are the opposite of 
those obtained by Pauli. 


380 


A good fixing liquid ought to have the 
following qualities: (1) to produce no dis- 
locations, (2) rapid penetration, (3) to 
cause no overhardening, (4) not to impair 
staining capacity. 

As a fixing liquid for general use which 
fulfills these requirements I recommend 
the following mixture: 


Aleohol absol......... 200 
WSKER tic, Gasper cleeays Geran 300 
Glac. acetic acid...... 90 
Nitric ac. pure cone... 10 


Corrosive sublimate... 55 (saturated). 

The objects are put in this hquid for a 
period of from 6 to 24 hours, then washed 
in 70 per cent. aleohol with iodine which 
must be frequently renewed; after this 
they can be kept indefinitely in 70 per cent. 
alcohol. 


The Formation and Behavior of the Mi- 
crozooids of Hematococcus pluvialis: 
FLORENCE PEEBLES, Woman’s College. 
Under normal conditions the resting cells 

of Hematococcus produce more macro- 
zooids than microzooids. If, however, the 
dead leaves and other objects upon which 
they live are subjected to frequent periods 
of rapid desiccation the number of micro- 
zooids formed is greatly increased. These 
microzooids can be obtained in large quan- 
tities if the mother cells are subjected, in 
the early stages of division, to cold and 
then suddenly changed to a warm tempera- 
ture; or, if kept at first in the dark, and 
then placed in direct sunlight. They are 
positively heliotropie and gather in swarms 
on the side of the vessel that is nearest the 
light. 

After escaping from the mother cell a 
microzooid swims about for twelve to 
forty-eight hours and then comes to rest, 
loses its flagella, develops a cell wall and 
begins to grow. After a day or two, the 
first cell wall is cast off and a new one 
forms. A large number of microzooids 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


have four flagella, others two. Those with 
four have exactly the same shape but are 
larger than those with two. Many double 
individuals have been observed, and these 
after a short time fuse into one normal 
spore. Although no two microzooids have 
been found in the first stage of conjugation, 
it seems highly probable that they are 
gametes, and that under certain conditions 
conjugation takes place, and that the zooids 
with four flagella are zygospores. 


The Evolution of Color-producing Struc- 
tures in Birds: R. M. Strone, University 
of Chicago. 

The colors of feathers from between 
seven and eight hundred birds were 
studied. The causes of colors in feathers, 
the nature of color characters and the evo- 
lution of color in birds were considered. 

The material studied argues strongly in 
favor of the orthogenetic theory of evolu- 
tion of color pattern by continuous varia- 
tion, advocated by Professor Whitman. A 
great many peculiar modifications in strue- 
ture and pigmentation occur in birds. 
Some of these produce color phenomena 
which often seem, at first, to be unrelated 
to other colors found in birds. These 
studies have demonstrated, however, that a 
perfect continuity exists between color 
characters. Complete series of intergrad- 
ing conditions occur in single feathers, at 
the margins of color areas, and in allied 
species. 

Extreme developments, like the phenom- 
enon of iridescence, occur very generally 
in bird feathers, but often in incipient 
stages not observable except with the aid 
of the microscope. Colors involving com- 
plete differentiations in structure and pig- 
mentation sometimes appear in amounts too 
small to effect the total color impression 
received by the unaided eye. These color 
phenomena are ordinarily perceived only. 
when they are produced by a large propor- 


Marcu 10, 1905.] 


tion of the feather elements for a given 
area on the feather. 

New color characters first appear at the 
extreme distal end of the feather, and they 
may move proximally, encroaching upon 
other characters. Likewise new characters 
appear first at the distal ends of the bar- 
bules. 


The History of the Germ-Cells in Pedicel- 
lina americana: Louris I. Dusuin, Co- 
lumbia University. = 
In this study the attempt was made to 

work out as fully as possible the history of 

both egg and sperm, with especial reference 
to the chromatin, and to compare this with 
the character of the chromosomes in the 
various somatic tissues—thus covering the 
entire life history of the individual. The 
number of chromosomes is twenty-two. 

These are, in the various somatie cells and 

in all but the last generation of oogonia 

and spermatogonia, distinct Vs in shape. 

In this last generation, however, the chro- 

mosomes are converted into rods and from 

the size relations, it is very probable that 
these have arisen through the extension of 
the angle in the preceding Vs to 180°. 

These rods split in the metaphase and pass- 

ing to the poles give rise to eleven, or the 

reduced number of new Vs. From the 
rather full evidence, more particularly in 
the sperm history, it is beyond question 
that these new figures have arisen by the 
end to end union of the rods at the telo- 
phase of the last spermatogonial and 
oogonial divisions. This is for Pedicellina 
the true synapsis, and the conversion of the 
chromosome form from Vs to rods is in 
preparation for it, thus strikingly confirm- 
ing the results of Montgomery and Sutton. 

The eleven loops thus formed grow rapidly, 

split longitudinally and then become ex- 

tended into nearly straight thin parallel 
threads, the synaptic point being at the 
middle. The chromosomes now contract 


SCIENCE. 


381 


and form themselves into double rods, el- 
lipses and rings, and as such enter into the 
first maturation spindle. From the com- 
plete history of the individual chromosomes 
up to this point and the ease with which 
the synaptic point may be followed this 
division is undoubtedly the reducing one, 
separating the chromosomes which had 
united at the synapsis. The second divi- 
sion is longitudinal and the maturation 
processes are completed. 


Color Changes in Anolis: G. H. Parker 
and 8. A. Srarratr, Harvard University. 
Anolis carolinensis, according to Carl- 

ton, changes in the dark from brown to 

green in about twenty-five minutes, and in 
the light from green to brown in about 
four minutes. Temperature, however, was 
found to influence this rate. Thus in the 
dark at 10° C. the lizards remained brown; 

at 20° they changed to green in about 20 

minutes; at 25° in about 13 minutes; at 

30° in about 11 minutes; at 35° in about 

15 minutes; and at 40° and 45° they were 

always green. In the light at 10° they 

also remained brown; at 20° they turned 
brown in a little over 4 minutes; at 25° 
in about 3.5 minutes; at 30° in a little 

over 3 minutes; at 35° in about 2.8 

minutes; and at 40° and 45° they were 

always green. Thus a low temperature 
induces brown and a high one. green and 
both are independent of illumination. 

The changes from green to brown and 
the reverse take place at temperatures 
where light is an effective stimulus when 
the lateral eyes and the pineal eye are arti- 
ficially covered. A beam of light about a 
millimeter in diameter and thrown upon 
the skin is all that is necessary to induce 
the change from green to brown. The 
nerves of the skin of Anolis must, there- 
fore, be sensitive to light. 


Organ-forming Substances in the Eggs of 
Ascidians. Illustrated by Photomicro- 


382 


graphs of Living Eggs by Katharine 

Foot and Ella C. Strobell: Epwin G. 

ConkKLIN, University of Pennsylvania. 

Three very different kinds of protoplasm 
may be observed and photographed in the 
living ovoeytes and unsegmented eggs of 
Cynthia partita; these are the yellow meso- 
plasm which later enters into the meso- 
derm, the gray endoplasm which gives rise 
to the endoderm, and the transparent ecto- 
plasm which becomes ectoderm. Three 
additional differentiations are visible and 
have been photographed before or imme- 
diately after the first cleavage, viz., the 
mesoplasm is differentiated into a deep 
yellow substance, the myoplasm, which 
gives rise to the muscles of the larva and 
into a light yellow material, the chymo- 
plasm, which becomes mesenchyme; there 
is also recognizable an area of light gray 
material, the chorda-neuroplasm, which 
develops into the chorda and neural plate 
of the larva. 

As early as the close of the first cleavage 
all of these substances are localized in the 
egg in positions corresponding to those 
which they will oceupy in the embryo or 
larva; the mesoplasm forms a yellow cres- 
cent around the posterior side of the egg 
dorsal to the equator, the chorda-neuro- 
plasm takes the form of a gray crescent 
around the anterior half of the egg, the 
endoplasm les between these two crescents 
at the dorsal (vegetal) pole of the egg, the 
ectoplasm occupies the ventral (animal) 
hemisphere. The dorsal border of the yel- 
low crescent consists of light yellow proto- 
plasm (chymoplasm), which gives rise to 
the mesenchyme of the trunk, while a sim- 
ilar area of light yellow or clear chymo- 
plasm les at the middle of the crescent 
behind and ultimately forms the caudal 
mesenchyme of the larva. All of these 
areas and substances can be followed with 
ease and certainty throughout the develop- 
ment until they enter into the principal 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


organs of the larva, a fact which is beauti- 
fully shown by the photomicrographs. 


Experimental Studies on the Ascidian Egg: 
Epwin G. Conxuin, University of Penn- 
sylvania. 

That the various areas and substances of 
the ascidian egg are actually organ-form- 
ing ones may be demonstrated by experi- 
ment. Operations on the unsegmented egg 
inhibit development, but when certain blas- 
tomeres of the cleavage stages are killed 
or injured the ensuing development of the 
uninjured blastomeres is strictly partial; 
in no ease do sueh blastomeres give rise to 
other organs than those which they would 
have produced under normal conditions. 
Conversely, if the cells which contain the 
myoplasm are destroyed the resulting larva 
has no muscle cells; if the cells containing 
the chorda-neuroplasm be removed there 
will be no chorda nor neural plate in the 
resulting monster; the same is also true of 
the ectoplasm and endoplasm. 

Since all these substances are divided 
bilaterally at the first cleavage, each of the 
first two blastomeres contains one half of 
all of the organ-forming substances, and 
inasmuch as isolated blastomeres of the 
ascidian egg produce rounded masses of 
cells which tend to close over the injured 
part, it frequently happens that the half 
embryo or larva bears a superficial resem- 
blance to a whole one; however, a study of 
their cell-lmeage and later development 
shows that they are still half embryos and 
larve. When the egg is injured along any 
other plane than the median one nothing 
even remotely resembling a normal larva is 
ever produced. 


Prophases of the First Maturation Spindle 
of Allolobophora fatida: KATHARINE 
Foor and E. C. StroBELL. 

At the end of the growth period, the 
chromatin granules which are distributed 


Marcu 10, 1905.] 


throughout the germinal vesicle segregate 
into an extremely fine spireme. ‘This 
spireme becomes shorter and thicker, and 
shows a distinct longitudinal split. It 
then divides transversely into eleven bi- 
valent chromosomes, 7. €., in each case two 
univalent chromosomes remaining attached 
end to end. There is no conjugation of 
univalent chromosomes; it is merely a ques- 
tion of two univalent chromosomes already 
attached in the spireme remaining so, this 
causing the numerical reduction to half the 
somatic number. 

The two univalent chromosomes of each 
of the eleven bivalent chromosomes are still 
attached end to end at the metaphase of 
the spindle, and the longitudinal split seen 
in the spireme of the earlier stage persists 
until this period, causing typical tetrads, 
i. €., bivalent chromosomes with a longi- 
tudinal and a transverse furrow. These 
chromosomes separate along the line of the 
transverse furrow (which indicates the 
point of attachment of two univalent chro- 
mosomes). Allolobophora thus supports 
the observations of Korschelt in the annelid 
Ophryotrocha, and Montgomery and others 
who maintain that the first division sepa- 
rates univalent chromosomes and is, there- 
fore, a.reducing division. 

There are two nucleoli in each germinal 
vesicle, the relatively large principal nu- 
cleolus, and the smaller accessory nucleolus, 
and neither appears at any time to be a 
storehouse for thé chromatin which forms 
the chromosomes. The principal nucleolus 
disappears before the spindle is formed, but 
the accessory nucleolus may persist until 
much later. 

We interpret the accessory nucleolus as 
the precocious appearance of the nucleolus 
of the oocyte of the second order. If, as 
held by a number of investigators, the 
chromosomes of one division are in some 
manner related to the nucleolar substance 
of the following rest stage, may not this 


SCIENCE. 


383 


take place at an earlier period, and the 
accessory nucleoli of the germinal vesicle 
be a precocious appearance of the nucleoli, 
which are so conspicuously absent between 
the first and second maturation spindles, 
the processes involved in the rest stage oc- 
curring before instead of after the first 
division, and the origin and growth of the 
accessory nucleolus being part of them? 
The second division precociously foreshad- 
owed in the four-part chromosome of the 
germinal vesicle suggests a precedent for 
this interpretation. 


A Quantitative Study of Holothuria atra 
Jiger and the Reestablishment of Holo- 
thuria floridana Pourtalés (= Holothuria 
mexicana Ludwig): CHARLES LINCOLN 
Epwarps, Trinity College, Hartford, 
Conn. 

Jager, 1833, described H. atra from 
Celebes. Pourtalés, 1851, described H. 
floridana from Florida. Semper, 1868, 
gave H. floridana as a synonym of H. atra 
and since then all authors have followed 
Semper. Ludwig, 1875, described H. mex- 
icana. Clark, 1901, gave Porto Rican 
specimens as H. mezicana. Ten of 
these specimens identified by Clark are 
included in my statistics and they are 
H. floridana as defined in this paper. 
Statistical analyses of 138 specimens, 20 
from the Sandwich Island-Mozambique 
and 118 from the Florida-Caribbean re- 
gion clearly demonstrate that H. floridana 
Pourtalés should be reestablished as a 
species distinct from H. atra Jager, and 
that H. mexicana Ludwig is a synonym 
of H. floridana. In general, biometry of- 
fers a most important method in taxonomy 
for determining the extent of variation and, 
therefore, of the best (least variable) spe- 
cific characters and their proper definition, 
together with the separation of growth 
from adult characters. The following com- 
parison gives in brief résumé the chief dif- 
ferential characters: 


2E 
384. 
< H. floridana (= H. mexi- 
H. atra. cana). 
Color mostly uniform seal- | Colorvery variable. Shades 
brown. of brown like seal, clove, 


Vandyke, ete., and of gray, 
cream, buff, etc. Often beau- 
tifully marbled. Youug gen- 
erally lighter. 

‘Warts,’ each a heap of 
| spicules usually surmounted 
by a conical papilla, gener- 
ally present, especially in 
young. No ‘pits.’ 

Skin firm, 2-5 mm. thick. 
80 per cent. of dorsal append- 
ages are pedicels; of the 
remainder not all are true 
papille. Much larger per- 
centage of well developed 


‘Pits’ in skin. No ‘warts.’ 


Skin flaccid. 1-1.5 mm. 
thick. 25 per cent. of dorsal 
ambulacral appendages are | 
pedicels; the rest papille. 5 
types of calcareous end-plates 
from large, well developed, | 

associated with the cylindri- | end-plates, only 1 case of the 
* eal pedicelsto small, vestigial | fourth and none of the fifth 
with the conical papille. type. 

Calecareous rosettes like Caleareous rosettes stel- 
crosses; central rod elon- | late; central rod _ short; 
gated. Longer, broader and | branches blunt. Twice as 
more delicate. thick as those of H. atra. 
Growth stages of the perfor- 
ated plates. 

Special types of 4- and 8- 
hole plates, together with 
other incomplete plates, are 
growth stages of the fully 
developed plates which have 
4-31 holes; mean 13-14 holes. 


Of 300 rosettes 2 had 3 holes, 
4 had 2 holes and 19 had 1 
hole. No well developed 
plates. 


The number and length of polian vesicles 
and of stone-canals increase with age. 
Seventy-one per cent. of the young 4H. 
floridana have only 1 polian vesicle, while 
in the adult the number ranges from 1 to 
92. The total number of stone-canals in 
H. floridana ranges in the young from 2 
to 25; in the adult, from 5 to 149. 


On Some Points in the Natural History of 
the Oyster: Ramsay WricuHt, University 
of Toronto. 

The author, who has been directing the 
Marine Biological Station of Canada at 
Malpeque, Prince Edward Island, during 
the last two summers, exhibited some pho- 
tographs in illustration of his paper. The 
first showed that the kidney is a much more 
conspicuous system of branched tubes, at 
least during the spawning season, than is 
generally supposed. The tubes extend in- 
to the pericardial wall, and into the mantle 
in the neighborhood thereof. 

Photographs of the male and female 
genital duets showed that it is possible in 
ripe individuals to recognize the sexes with- 
out examining the genital products. It 
was stated that while in oysters of three 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


or four years’ growth the sexes are equally 
divided, 90 per cent. of one year old oysters, 
which are already sexually mature, are 
males, a circumstance which seems to point 
to the protandry which has been asserted 
of the American oyster. A more exhaust- 
ive study of this point is required. 

The occurrence of Urastoma (better, 
Urostoma) cyprinw, Graff, a commensal 
turbellarian, was recorded from the oyster. 
It has hitherto been observed in Cyprina 
islandica from the Baltic, Mytilus edulis 
from the White Sea, and in Solen vagina 
from Trieste. 


Diversity in the Scutes and Bony Plates of 
Cheloma:* R. E. Coker, Johns Hopkins 
University. 

I. Scutes._There is a remarkable degree 
of diversity in the number and arrange- 
ment of the scutes of the carapace and 
plastron of certain species of Chelonia, 
notably Malaclemmys centrata (Latr.) and 
Thaiassochelys caretta (.). Of 244 speci- 
mens of Malaclemmys, 109 were abnormal 
in seutes; 20 per cent. had either more or 
less than the typical number of carapace 
scutes. About one half of the abnormal 
specimens were asymmetrical. 

Neither in observations on Malaclemmys 
nor in those on 26 embryos from a single 
nest of Thalassochclys, was support found 
for Gadow’s theory of ‘orthogenetie varia- 
tion.” For example, the embryos averaged, 
per carapace, a fraction less than the typ- 
ical number of seutes. 

Rare instances are found of a peculiar 
form of variation that may be termed 
‘orthogenetie.’ : 

IL. Correlation.—The normal correlation 
of scutes and plates is, roughly, a modified 
alternation, the alternation being especially 
simple in the marginal series. The corre- 

* Presented with the permission of Hon. Geo. 


M. Bowers, U. S. Commissioner of Fish and 
Fisheries. 


ee ee ee eee ti eee oe eh 


cae ae 


Marcw 10, 1905.) 


spondence of marginal plates with sutures 
between seutes is retained in several shells 
abnormal in the marginal region. In the 
costal series the seventh forms an excep- 
tion: but it harmonizes with the others fall- 
ing into the alternating series, and bearing 
the triradiate impression of scute sutures in 
several specimens that have a supernum- 
erary neural in the posterior region. In 
shells abnormal as regards scutes, the nor- 
mal eondition of correlation may tend to 
be preserved by associated (correlated) ab- 
normalities in bony plates. 

The presence, in correlation with super- 
numerary scutes, of a ninth costal plate 
may be an atavism. In such cases observed, 
the tenth rib, instead of as normally anchy- 
losing with the ninth rib and eighth costal 
plate, enters into the ninth costal plate; so 
that each dorsal rib, except the first, forms 
part of a plate. 

More complete results, with drawings 
and photographs, are in preparation for 
publication. 


On the Nature and Behavior of the Mor- 
phogenous Substances in the Egg of 
Chetopterus: Frank R. Linum, Uni- 
versity of Chicago. 

Eggs of Chetopterus may be stimulated 
to undergo differentiation of certain kinds 
without the process of cleavage by a 
variety of methods. Such unsegmented 
ova develop cilia and swim about actively. 
The protoplasm is vacuolated like that of 
the normal Jarve and the yolk is aggre- 
gated in a manner resembling that in the 
normal development. 

Careful examination of this mode of 
development, however produced, showed 
that it proceeds by the segregation and 
ditferentiation of substances readily dis- 
tinguished by their optical properties and 
by their behavior. The sequence of events 
is somewhat obscured and complicated by 
amceboid movements of the protoplasm, but 


SCIENCE. 


385 


is essentially the same in all ova. Five 
separate substances may be readily distin- 
guished, arranged like a series of strata, 
prior to the appearance of the cilia; one 
of these overflows the remainder and cilia 
develop from this layer alone, which is 
characterized by the presence of peculiar 
granules. 

The same substances may be recognized 
in the normal unsegmented egg where they 
have a different arrangement, and they 
may be followed in the normal develop- 
ment. They thus appear to be specific in 
their morphogenic properties, both in the 
normal and in the modified development. 
Morphologically these substances are distin- 
cuishable only by differences in the size, 
arrangement and microchemical reactions 
of the larger spherules, and not at all by 
local differentiation of the microsomes or 
ground substance of the protoplasm. The 
conclusion appears inevitable that in 
Chetopterus at least, the differences be- 
tween specific morphogenic substances are 
dependent, certainly in part, on the nature 
of the spherules contained. 

The observations led to the conclusion 
that these spherules exhibit attractions and 
repulsions among themselves, which may, 
to a great extent, explain their segregation 
and arrangement. 

The spherules have all been lumped to- 
gether as ‘yolk’ in the egg of Chetopterus. 
In other animals, also, is the so-called yolk 
really a mixture of various substances? 
It is in any event certain that we have no 
precise criterion of yolk in holoblastic eggs, 
and one is badly needed. 


The Structure of Bothriolepis, with Exhibi- 
tion of Specimens of Devonian Fishes of 
Canada: Witu1AM PatTTeN, Dartmouth 
College. 

This paper was based on a large collec- 
tion of new material recently acquired by 
the author from New Brunswick. Numer- 


386 


ous specimens illustrating the mode of life 
and especially the structure of the mouth- 
parts were exhibited. 


The Color-Pattern of Nanemys guttata 
Schneider (a preliminary report): Ros- 
ERT M. YERKES, Harvard University. 

1. The young of this species of tortoise 
usually have a single yellow spot on each 
plate of the carapace, except the marginals. 
With age the number of spots increases, 
they appear, on the marginal plates also, 
and their arrangement becomes irregular. 

2. The epidermal layer is transparent 
immediately over the mass of yellow pig- 
ment in the outer bony layer, hence, 
window-like regions in the outer portion of 
the shell. 

3. Although the females are slightly 
smaller than the males they usually have 
about 15 per cent. more spots on the cara- 
pace. The average number for the males 
is 60, for the females 69. This would seem 
to indicate that the brightly colored spots 
serve as both sex and species marks. Prob- 
ably they serve to render the females con- 
spicuous. 

4. Statistics indicate a greater number 
of spots on the left side of the carapace 
than on the right in both males and fe- 
males. It is possible that this is to be cor- 
related with right-handedness and _ right- 
eyedness. 


Chromosome Vesicles in the Maturation of 
Nudibranchs: W. M. SMAuuLwoop, Syra- 
cuse University. 

Between the anaphase of the first matu- 
ration and the prophase of the second the 
chromosomes pass through some important 
changes. The first indication of the pres- 
ence of vesicles is noted at about the time 
that the young amphiaster of the second 
maturation figure is forming and moving 
into a radial position. At this time a dis- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


tinct membrane appears around each chro- 
mosome, which les so close to the chromo- 
some as to be overlooked in some instances. 
It frequently happens that one chromo- 
some vesicle contains two or more chromo- 
somes, in which case the chromosomes are 
united by narrow strands of chromatin. 

The chromosomes do not always pass into 
vesicles, but go through the well-known 
changes as described for other molluses, 
annelids, ete. 

During the prophase of the second matu- 
ration the solid chromosomes enclosed in 
vesicles may lose their reaction to basic 
stains almost entirely, with the result that 
each vesicle represents in miniature a nu- 
cleus having chromatic granules, linin 
threads and an achromatic substance. 
After this condition the granule, or gran- 
ules, within the chromosome vesicle in- 
creases in size until it has the normal ap- 
pearance of a chromosome lying in the 
cytoplasm. It is an open question as to 
the fate of the surrounding vesicle. 

The fibers constituting the second matu- 
ration spindle are formed in part of the 
eges from the cytoplasm after the spindle 
has taken a radial position and the centro- 
somes are fully differentiated into centriole 
and centroplasm. 

The chromosomes which pass into the 
first and second polar cells may each have 
a separate vesicle or, all of the chromosomes 
may pass into one vesicle. All combina- 
tions between these two extremes occur. 

These and similar results on Haminea 
suggest that the chromatin passes through 
a liquid state during maturation, at which 
time there may be a complete chemical re- 
arrangement of the molecules in the chro- 
mosome, which, if it were true, would inter- 
fere to some extent with the theory of the 
qualitative division of the chromosomes. 

The complete paper will appear in the 
Morphologisches Jahrbuch, Bd. XX XIII. 


Marcu 10, 1905.) 


Experimental Studies of Adaptation and 
Selective Elimination in Fishes: FRANCIS 
B. Sumner, College of the City of New 
York. No abstract. 


Habits and Reactions of Crabs bearing 
Actinians in their Chelipeds: J. E. Durr- 
DEN, University of Michigan. 

Mobius in 1880 first made known the 
fact that the crab, Melia tessellata Latr., 
has the remarkable habit of carrying a liv- 
ing actinian in each claw. The polyps are 
carried about in front of the crab, held in 
a kind of defensive attitude, and it is as- 
sumed that the actinians, by means of their 
stinging threads, may be useful to the crab 
for purposes of offense and defense, while 
the activity of the crab may serve to bring 
the actinian into the neighborhood of more 
prey. During a recent visit of the writer 
to the Hawaiian Islands, under the auspices 
of the Carnegie Institution, two specimens 
of Melia, both bearing an actinian in each 
claw, were collected, and observations made 
upon their habits and reactions. These 
may be summarized as follows: 

1. The commensalism is not restricted to 
a single species of actinian. One crab car- 
ried a Bunodeopsis and the other a Sagar- 
tid. The species are interchangeable, and 
the crabs will dislodge a small polyp to take 
up a larger. Apparently the crab is not 
aware of the presence of an actinian until 
it comes in actual contact with it; dislodg- 
ment of a fixed actinian is brought about 
by means of the first pair of ambulatory 
limbs. 

2. When irritated the crab moves its 
chelipeds so as to place the actinians in 
such a position as to best serve as a means 
of defense. Food given the polyps is ab- 
stracted by the crab by means of its first 
pair of walking limbs, the stimulus to ac- 
tivity being probably derived from the 
diffusion of the meat juices. 

3. Melia has lost the direct use of its 


SCIENCE. 387 


chelipeds as organs of defense and offense, 
or for grasping objects other than the ac- 
tinians; in correlation with this the func- 
tions of the first ambulatory appendages 
have become largely modified. 

4. A second species of crab, Polydectus, 
was also found which bears an actinian, 
Phellia, in its chelipeds. ° 


On the Structure of the Larval Oyster and 
its Occurrence in the Plankton: JosEPH 
S. Srarrorp, McGill University. Read 
by title. 


A Statistical Study of Correlation and 
Selection im Lepidoptera: Henry E. 
CrAMPTON, Barnard College. Read by 
title. Henry S. Pratt, 

Secretary. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


Vorlesungen tiber Pflanzenphysiologie. 
wic Jost. Jena, Gustav Fischer. 
Pp. xiii + 695; 172 figures. 

In the form of forty odd lectures the au- 
thor presents a comprehensive view of the 
whole field of plant physiology. In the pref- 
ace he states that it is his purpose to supply, 
in this volume, a book for the student, which 
will fill the gap between Pfeffer’s exhaustive 
treatise and the short accounts found in va- 
rious general text-books. In this he has suc- 
ceeded and has filled a long-felt want for the 
reader who wishes a full, but not too detailed, 
account of the important facts and problems 
of plant physiology. There is a departure 
from the usual mode of treatment, in that the 
subject is divided under three main heads, 
instead of two. The first of these concerns 
the chemistry and nutrition of the plant and 
occupies somewhat less than half of the book. 
The rest is about equally divided between a 
section entitled ‘ Formwechsel,’ treating of 
growth and reproduction, and another en- 
titled ‘ Energiewechsel,’ which has to do with 
movements of both growth and locomotion. 

In general the treatment of nutrition does 
not differ materially from that of many other 
books, except that it is fuller. Under the 
general term assimilation is considered both 


Lup- 
1904. 


383° 


photo-synthesis and the assimilation of nitrog- 
enous substances. This is to be regretted, 
for it fails to bring out the essential differ- 
ences between these forms of chemical activity 
within the plant. This is especially true since 
the author follows the fate of the nitrogenous 
products up to the point of the final construc- 
tion of albuminous material and even con- 
siders the processes of digestion before a word 
has been said about respiration and the ac- 
companying phenomena. It is true that in 
the following section, on dissimilation, as the 
author terms it, the phenomena connected 
with respiration are spoken of from the stand- 
point of the release of kinetic energy, but the 
importance of this in the upbuilding processes 
in nitrogen assimilation is not sharply brought 
out. The first part, on nutrition, closes with 
a cleverly constructed diagram which brings 
out the origin and fate of the various sub- 
stances connected with nutrition processes. 
In the already noted division of the balance 
of the book into two parts, it is not altogether 
evident that there is much advantage over the 
more usual plan. The problems connected 
with the change in form, in short the growth 
of the plant, are in many ways intimately con- 
nected with growth curvatures, yet in the 
arrangement followed the former are included 
under ‘ Formwechsel,’ the latter under ‘ En- 
ergiewechsel.’ If this treatment tends to draw 
the attention of the student from the relation 
of expenditure of energy to ordinary growth 
phenomena, or if thereby growth curva- 
tures—tropism—are separated too sharply 
from unmodified growth responses, it seems to 
hinder rather than help the proper apprecia- 
tion of the question as a whole. Some sub- 
division is certainly an advantage, but it 
might have been better if the title ‘ Energie- 
wechsel’ had been used for both of the sec- 
tions and suitable subtitles devised to indicate 
more adequately the different phenomena. 
Aside from such points, which are, perhaps, 
after all, but matters of opinion, there can be 
no question but that the book is an excellent 
one. It is clear, concise, fairly up to date as 
regards the literature, and, moreover, written 
in a style which makes it attractive and inter- 
esting reading. One can but regret that there 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


is not a book in the English language so suit- 
able for the student; it is to be hoped that a 
translation will appear. 

CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. H. M. Ricwarps. 
Cleiocrinus. By Frank Sprincer. Memoirs 

Mus. Comp. Zoology, Harvard College, Vol.. 

XXYV., No. 2, January, 1905. 

A few years ago the Museum of Compara- 
tive Zoology brought out Mr. Springer’s beau- 
tiful and exhaustive account of Uintacrinus, 
and now we have before us a similarly com- 
plete paper on one of the oldest of known 
Crinoid genera—Cleiocrinus. This genus was 
deseribed by E. Billings in 1856, from speci- ~ 
mens found in the Lower Silurian at Ottawa, 
Canada. It has been discussed by various 
authors, who have had great difficulty in 
placing it in the system of classification, 
owing partly to its anomalous character, and 
partly to the condition of the specimens. In 
1886 Messrs. Wachsmuth and Springer wrote: 
‘Tf certain parts were better known, we 
should make it the type of a new family, but 
at present, having no positive knowledge of 
the basal regions, nor even of the arms, we 
are not in a position to give a satisfactory 
definition of the group.’ Mr. Springer does 
not now establish the family Cleiocrinide, in 
so many words, but it is evident that the ex- 
pectations of 1886 have been more than real- 
ized. The story of the discovery of the new 
characters is so dramatic that it is worth 
quoting nearly in full: 

It was apparent, however, that no further in- 
formation was to be obtained, unless we could 
find some means of seeing what is underneath the 
column. My examination of the specimens gave 
no hope of being able to detach the column in 
either of them; but after a very careful study 
of specimen B [one of Billings’s types borrowed 
from the Geological Survey of Canada], under a 
strong magnifier, I came to the conclusion that 
it might be possible to get at the imside of the 
base by removing a part of the plates above it. 
* * * * The small size of the specimen and 
the uncertainty as to how the fractures might run, 
rendered the operation a delicate and risky one 
to undertake with a type specimen; but I thought 
the benefit to be gained in case of success would 
warrant the risk. I accordingly laid the matter 
fully before Dr. Whiteaves, and requested his 


Marcu 10, 1905.] 


authority to undertake it. This he gave without 
hesitation, and in the most liberal manner, leaving 
me free to act with the specimen as if it were my 
own. * * * The work of removing the necessary 
plates and debris from above the base of the 
specimen was tedious and difficult, being performed 
entirely under a ten-power microscope, with tools 
specially fashioned out of needles and fine steel 
pens. It was completely successful, however, 
without any mishap, and disclosed a structure 
most extraordinary and anomalous, unlike any 
of the previous suppositions, and wholly at vari- 
ance with that of any other known crinoid. 


It is finally concluded that the genus is 
intermediate between the great groups of 
Flexibilia and Camerata; nearest, apparently, 
to the Reteocrinide. The memoir is illus- 
trated by a beautiful plate of drawings by 
K. M. Chapman and E. Ricker, showing not 
only all aspects of Cleiocrinus, but also Reteo- 
crinus and Glyptocrinus for comparison. 

; tte IDs ANe CL 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


Tue Journal of Experimental Medicine es- 
tablished by Dr. W. H. Welch, of the Johns 
Hopkins University, will hereafter be pub- 
lished under the auspices of the Rockefeller 
Institute for Medical Research, and will be 
edited by Drs. Simon Flexner and Eugene L. 
Opie. The scope of the Journal will suffer 
no alteration by reason of the change of man- 
agement, and it is hoped that it may continue 
to cover, as heretofore, the field of experi- 
mental medicine. It is proposed to issue 
numbers of the Journal at bimonthly intervals, 
six numbers to constitute a volume, which will 
contain not less than six hundred pages. 


THE opening (January) number of volume 
6 of the Transactions of the American Mathe- 
matical Society contains the following papers: 

-P. F. Smiru: ‘On the linear transformations of 
a quadratic form into itself.’ 

E. V. Hunrineton: ‘A set of postulates for 
real algebra, comprising postulates for a one- 
dimensional continuum and for the theory of 
groups.’ 

W. A. Mannine: ‘On the primitive groups of 
class 3p.’ 

L. E. Dickson: ‘The minimum degree +r of 
resolvents for the p-section of the periods of 
hyperelliptic functions of four periods.’ 


SCIENCE. 


389 


G. A. Mitter: ‘ Determination of all the groups 
of order 2” which contain an odd number of 
cyclic subgroups of composite order.’ 

E. D. Ror: ‘On the coefficients in the quotient 
of two alternants.’ 

K. J. Winczynsxi: ‘General theory of curves 
on ruled surfaces.’ 

O. VEBLEN: ‘Theory of plane curves in non- 
metrical analysis situs.’ 

The Museums Journal of Great Britain for 
January contains the second part of an article 
on ‘ School-Children and Museums,’ by Henry 
Coates and Alex. M. Rodger, and ‘ The School 
Nature-Study Union,’ under which is given a 
list of the museums, zoological and botanical 
gardens, in and about London and the facili- 
ties they afford teachers and students. There 
are a description of the Liverpool Museum as 
now arranged and a large number of notes 
about museums. Like Nature the Museums 
Journal is particularly strong in its notes, 
which form a most important portion of any 
scientific journal. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
THE NEBRASKA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 


Tue fifteenth annual meeting of the Ne- 
braska Academy of Sciences was held in the 
Hall of Mechanic Arts, State University, Lin- 
coln, January 27-28, and included a business 
session, sessions for the reading of papers and 
a social session on the evening of the latter 
date. 

The following papers were presented: 

Prorressor H. B. DuNcANSON: President’s Ad- 
dress: ‘The Relation of the State to Scientific 
Investigation.’ 

Dr. H. H. Waits: ‘The Duty of the State to 
the Public in the Prevention of Certain Diseases.’ 

DEAN H. B. Warp: ‘Some Observations on the 
Biological Conditions of Elevated Lakes’ (with 
lantern). 

Proressor O. V. P. Stout: ‘ An Economical De- 
sign for Measuring Flumes.’ 

Dr. G. E. Conpra: ‘ The Possible Development 
of Nebraska’s Stone-quarrying Industries.’ 

Proressor F. D. Heatp: ‘ Preliminary Note 
on a Black Rot of Apples.’ 

Dr. R. H. Wotcorr: ‘A New Mite Affecting 
Greenhouse Plants.’ 

Proressor B. E. 
Cobalt Solutions.’ 


Moore: ‘A Color Study of 


390 


Proressor L. Bruner: ‘Some New Nebraska 
Orthoptera.’ 

PRoFEssoR G. E. CHaTBuRN: ‘The Quality of 
Nebraska Timber.’ 

DeEAN Cuas. Forpyce: ‘ Additional Notes on the 
Cladocera of Nebraska.’ 

Proressor F. D. Heat: 
cubator for Student Work.’ 

Proressor W. A. WitLARD: ‘The Zoology of 
the Bermudas’ (with lantern). 

Proressor W. W. Hastines: ‘A Preliminary 
Report on the Respiratory Function.’ 

Mr. F. D. Barker: ‘Some New Avian Para- 


“A Convenient In- 


sites’ (with lantern). 

Proressor F. D. Heap: ‘A Disease of the 
Cottonwood.’ 

Proressor G. R. CHatTBurRN: ‘Thoughts on 


Highway Improvement.’ 

Dr. S. R. Towne: ‘ How Typhoid is Spread.’ 

Proressor J. H. Powers: ‘Causes of Color 
Variation in the Amblystoma.’ 

Dean C. E. Bessey: ‘ Observations on Planted 
Forests in Europe.’ 

Mr. G. A. Lovetanp: ‘ The Effect of the Rota- 
tion of the Earth on Wind Direction.’ 

DEAN E. W. Davis: ‘ How the Wind Changes its 
Direction.’ 

Mr. A. E. SHetpon: ‘Some Prehistoric Indian 
Fire-places in the Bad Lands’ (with lantern). 

Dr. R. H. Woxtcotr: ‘Some Observations on the 
Fauna of Nebraska’ (with lantern). 

Mr. E. E. BLackmMan: ‘ New Types of Nebraska 
Flint Implements’ (with lantern). 

Dr. G. E. Conpra: ‘ Delimitation of Nebraska’s 
Coal-bearing Formations’ (with lantern). 


Aside from the routine business which was 
transacted, resolutions were offered and passed 
endorsing legislation for the protection of non- 
injurious large game and other animals and 
also approving of the setting aside of forest 
and game reserves under government control. 

The following officers were elected for the 
ensuing year: 


President—Dr. R. H. Wolcott, University of 
Nebraska, Lincoln. 

Vice-President—Dr. S. R. Towne, 
State Board of Health, Omaha. 

Secretary—Professor F. D. Heald, University of 
Nebraska, Lincoln. 

Treasurer—Mr. A. BE. Sheldon, Lincoln. 

Directors—Mr. William Cleburne, Omaha; 
Dr. James B. Hungate, Weeping Water; Professor 
G. R. Chatburn, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; 


Nebraska 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


Professor G. A, Loveland, University of Nebraska, 
Lincoln. Rosr. H. Wo.xcorr, 
Secretary. 
THE NORTHEASTERN SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 
CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 


Tue fifty-seventh regular meeting of the 
section was held Friday evening, January 27, 
at the ‘Tech Union,’ Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, with President Norris in the 
chair. About sixty members were present. 

Professor Frank H. Thorp, of the Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology, gave a paper 
entitled ‘Some Notes upon Recent Foreign 
Literature of Chemical Technology.’ 

Mr. Arthur D. Little gave an eulogistice ad- 
dress on the ‘ Life and Work of the late Dr. 
Carl Otto Weber’ Artruur M. Comey, 

Secretary. 


THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 

Tue 163d meeting of the society was held 
on Wednesday evening, February 8, 1905. 
Messrs. David White, M. L. Fuller and W. T. 
Schaller presented informal communications, 
and the regular program was as follows: 


Notes on the Fossils of the Bahamas: Mr. W. 

H. Dat. 

The rocks of the Bahamas, apparently all 
Pleistocene, are of two kinds, marine sedi- 
mentary and wolian calcareous sands. The 
former contain the common marine West In- 
dian shells now living about the Bahamas, 
with no extinct species. The wxolian rocks 
proved to contain quite a fauna of land shells, 
especially characterized (like the recent land 
fauna) by the profusion of Cepolis and Cerion. 
In this respect it recalls the Oligocene land 
shell fauna of the Tampa silex beds, of which 
the Bahama Pleistocene shells are an analogue 
but not a derivative. The latter unexpectedly 
proved to contain a number of extinet species, 
doubtless the ancestors of the present fauna. 
Curiously enough, these ancestral forms are 
more like existing species of Haiti and Cuba 
than they are to their actual descendants, 
which may be accounted for on the hypothesis 
that a great increase in variability accom- 
panied their invasion of the newly elevated 


Marcu 10, 1905.] 


land where there were no competitors, while 
the Haitian and Cuban forms from which 
they sprang have been kept true to type by 
the competition of the rest of the fauna by 
which they are surrounded. If there were 
any way of determining approximately the 
time which has elapsed since the elevation of 
the Bahamas above the sea in the Pleistocene 
epoch, we should have a means of determining 
the rate at which evolution and specific differ- 
entiation may proceed in such an assemblage 
of pulmonate mollusks placed in a suitable 
environment and not subjected to serious com- 
petition. 


Pre-Cambrian Rocks of the Franklin Furnace 

Quadrangle: Mr. A. C. SpEncrr. 

The view held by Rodgers, Cooke and Brit- 
ton that the gneisses of the New Jersey High- 
lands are mainly metamorphosed sediments, 
has not been seriously challenged up to the 
present time, though two of the more recent 
investigators of the field (Nason in 1890 and 
Wolfi in 1896) have left the way open for 
accepting an igneous origin for these banded 
feldspathic rocks. Field work in the vicinity 
of Franklin Furnace carried on during the 
summer of 1904 warrants the conclusion that, 
so far as this particular field is concerned, the 
only sediments are the white limestone and a 
few patches of quartzite, the several types of 
gneiss being undoubtedly igneous and in large 
part demonstrably intrusive. For the purpose 
of the geologic map five divisions of the pre- 
Cambrian rocks will be recognized: (1) the 
Franklin white limestone; (2) a complex of 
diorites and granites showing more or less 
gneissic structure; (3) black hornblende or 
pyroxene gneiss; (4) white granite gneiss, and 
(5) coarse granite or pegmatite. 

Age relations have been established as fol- 
lows: The pegmatites cut all the other rocks; 
the white gneiss cuts (2) and (3); the black 
gneiss cuts (1) and both phases of (2); and 
finally the granite phase of (2) cuts the lime- 
stone (1). The relation of the diorite phase 
of (2) to the limestone has not been observed. 


Consanguinity in the Eruptive Rocks of 
Cripple Creek: Mr. L. C. Graton. 
Mr. Graton showed that three magmatic 


SCIENCE. 


do 


groups may be distinguished, of which the 
most important is the series of rocks from the 
Cripple Creek voleano. All the rocks of this 
group possess certain characteristics in com- 
mon and are of particular interest in having 
a constant ratio of silica to alumina—a proof 
of their derivation from a single magma. By 
making certain assumptions based on the field 
observations, the relative volumes of these 
rocks were computed, and by that means an 
analysis was obtained which was considered 
to approximate the composition of the total 
product from the magma reservoir, 7. e., the 
average rock of the Cripple Creek volcano. 


The Big Sink on the Lucin Route across 
Great Salt Lake: Mr. J. M. Boutwett. 
Mr. Boutwell described the construction of 

the long trestle extending across Great Salt 

Lake, and presented observations which have 

an important bearing on the question of the 

character and depth of the intermontane rock 
basins beneath the Pleistocene sediments. The 
author will later communicate a more com- 
plete statement to SCIENCE. 

Gro. Oris SmirH, 
Secretary. 
THE SCIENCE CLUB OF NORTHWESTERN UNIVER- 
SITY. 

Tur Science Club of Northwestern Univer- 
sity held its regular monthly meeting in the 
physical lecture room of Science Hall, on 
Friday evening, February 3, 1905, at 7:30 p.m. 
Papers were presented by J. W. Goldwait on 
‘Post-glacial Land Movements in New Eng- 
land, and by Professor U. 8. Grant on ‘ Re- 
cent Contributions to Metamorphism.’ 

Frioyp Fietp, 
Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
A NEMATODE DISEASE OF GRASSES. 


In Europe there have been known for many 
years certain diseases of grasses, including 
wheat, caused by nematodes, which penetrate, 
in the larval state, the ovaries of the flowers 
and there reach maturity and lay their eggs. 
The resulting larve reach a certain degree of 
development and then, with the drying up of 


392 


the host plant, coil up and dry out themselves. 
In this dried-out condition they may remain 
motionless but alive for years. On falling 
to the ground the affected seeds absorb mois- 
ture and the worms uncoil, bore their way out 
to freedom and, finding new grass plants, enter 
them and ascend to the flower, thus completing 
the circle of development. 

The affected seeds are usually shorter, some- 
times, however, much longer than the normal 
seeds and are incapable of germination. The 
glumes are much enlarged and the spikelets 
stand out at a different angle from, and are 
often more crowded on the axis. In fact, the 
affected plants may appear to be specifically 
distinct, and one case is known in America 
where a diseased plant was actually described 
as a new species, the presence of the nematodes 
having escaped the notice of the investigator. 

Although known in Europe for a long time, 
practically no attention has been paid to this 
type of nematode disease in America. On 
behalf of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, the writer 
has resumed his work, interrupted four years 
ago, on the nematode diseases of plants. He 
has found the disease in question in grasses 
from Texas, Oregon and Alaska, in the genera 
Chetochloa, Agropyron, Elymus, Calama- 
grostis and Trisetum. Two, possibly three, 
species of nematodes were found, all belonging 
to the genus Tylenchus. Cultural experi- 
ments are now under way to determine, if 
possible, whether any of them are identical 
with JT. tritici of wheat in Europe. In the 
meantime, the writer would be very glad to 
receive all specimens of grasses and other 
plants suspected of harboring nematodes in 
their parts above ground as he wishes to de- 
termine what plants are affected and which 
species of nematodes cause the diseases. 


Ernst A. Bessey. 
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 
THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA OF WASHINGTON. 
A visir of five weeks in western Washington 
in 1902 gave opportunity for the following 
~ notes on a region as yet almost unexplored. 
The Olympic Peninsula forms the extreme 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


northwest corner of the United States, and, as 
may be seen from any map, is almost cut off 
by water on every side. The climate is mild, 
temperatures ranging at sea level from 22° F. 
in winter to 86° F. in summer. The annual 
precipitation amounts to 120 inches at Neah 
Bay. Rain falls gently, and is to be expected 
for ten months of the year. In July and 
August there is usually no rain at all, so that 
the forest litter becomes very dry, and serious 
fires sometimes occur. Snow is only occa- 
sional at sea level, but at high elevations all 
of the precipitation is in the form of snow. 

The peninsula is mostly occupied by the 
Olympic Mountains, an irregular group, radi- 
ating out from Mt. Olympus, 8,150 feet. 
Many other peaks rise from 7,000 to 8,000 
feet, and large areas lie above 6,000 feet. As 
the whole tract is only sixty miles wide from 
east to west, and one hundred miles long, the 
hills and valleys are extremely rugged and 
precipitous. “Glaciers and snow-fields are 
numerous in the central parts of the moun- 
tains ” (Dodwell and Rixon). Persons some- 
times speak of the Olympics as volcanic, but 
we saw no sign of volcanism either in the 
rocks or in the pebbles of the Quiniault or 
Queets rivers. Along the coast a soft, green, 
marly, Cretaceous sandstone lies in gentle 
folds, each crest jutting out to sea as a steep 
headland 150 to 500 feet high. Rivers occupy 
the synclines. In the sandstone many fossils 
are found. Especially noticeable were stumps, 
logs and fragments of wood at different levels 
and in various stages of transition to lignite. 
Capping this stratum is a layer of recent yel- 
low gravel, varying from ten to forty feet in 
thickness, and also enclosing logs and stumps. 
Below Point Granville the beach is low and 
sandy, but north of this steep cliffs rise di- 
rectly from high water line. At various 
points (Copalis, Klaylock Creek) government 
inspectors have found indications of petro- 
leum, but no other valuable minerals are 
known. 

The vegetation of the Olympic Peninsula 
is truly remarkable. Below 5,000 feet is the 
great northwestern forest, which must be seen 
to be appreciated. Douglas fir, tideland 
spruce and ‘red cedar’ (Thuja plicata) reach 


at space hee 


ra 


> == a0 —eh ee 


Marcu lJ, 1905.) 


gigantic proportions. The available timber 
per township runs from ‘3,000 feet B. M. 
amid the high mountains, up to 59,000 feet 
B. M. in the northwest corner’ (Dodwell and 
Rixon). What with fallen timber and under- 
growth of ferns and shrubs the forest is a 
veritable jungle. By hard work one can 
travel a quarter of a mile an hour off the 
trails! 

Salal-berry (Gaultheria shallon) and species 
of Rubus, Vaccinium and Ribes contribute 
largely to the denseness of the jungle, and 
furnish abundant food for man and _ beast. 
The matted tree tops admit only a gloomy 
light below, and the darkness is deepened by 
great blankets of Selaginella (S. oregana) and 
bearded lichen (Usnea) depending from the 
branches. A thick bed of moss covers all the 
ground and swathes the bases of the tree 
trunks. Above 2,000 feet, however, the forest 
is quite open, but travel is impeded much 
more seriously by the impassably sharp hog- 
backs and steep canyon walls. The moun- 
tains slope more gently southward than on 
other sides, and it is believed that Mt. Olym- 
pus could be reached from the valley of the 
Quiniault River. The major part of the 
peninsula is held as the Olympic Forest Re- 
serve. Two reports on this by Dodwell and 
Rixon (1, U. S. Geol. Surv., 21st Ann. Report, 
Part V., 1900; 2, ditto,. Professional Paper 
No. 7, 1902) with maps and illustrations give 
the best accounts yet available concerning the 
region. 

The fauna is equal to the flora in richness. 
Black bears, panthers, wild cats and wolves 
are numerous. A few squirrels and the moun- 
tain beaver are found. Deer and elk are 
plentiful. The garter snake is the only rep- 
tile. Wild duck and pheasants are occasional, 
and the familiar robin is seen about the 
houses. Salmon and trout of several kinds 
abound in all streams that are large enough. 
Quiniault salmon is said to be the finest on 
the coast. The report of the expedition from 
the Field Columbian Museum on the mam- 
mals of the Olympic Peninsula is the only 
record of its fauna. 

In each river valley a distinct tribe of In- 
dians originally made its home. The Makah 


SCIENCE. 393 


at Cape Flattery were studied by Swan, and 
are an extremely interesting group. ‘The 
Quillayutes and Quiniaults would equally re- 
pay an immediate investigation; but their old 
habits are rapidly vanishing before the gov- 
ernment schools. Whites began to settle the 
Quiniault Valley in 1892, but the movement 
is very slow on account of the difficulty of 
clearing land and of getting produce in and 
out. It is estimated to cost $200 an acre to 
remove the timber enough for farming op- 
erations. 

Here, then, is almost virgin soil for any 
kind of scientific investigation. Just enough 
has been done to enable the student to start 
intelligently and progress without interrup- 
tion on any phase of this interesting region. 

Henry S. Conarp. 

JOHNS Hopkins UNIVERSITY, 

February, 1905. 


° es 


QUOTATIONS. 
DR. OSLER ON THE PERIODS OF A TEACHER’S LIFE.* 


I am going to be very bold and touch on 
another question of some delicacy, but of 
infinite importance in university life, one that 
has not been settled in this country. I refer 
to a fixed period. for the teacher, either of 
time of service or of age. Except in some 
proprietary schools, I do not know of any in- 
stitutions in which there is a time limit of, 
say 20 years’ service, as in some of the London 
hospitals, or in which a man is engaged for 
a term of years. Usually the appointment is 
aut vitam aut culpam, as the old phrase reads. 
It is a very serious matter in our young uni- 
versities to have all of the professors growing 
old at the same time. In some places only an 
epidemic, a time limit, or an age limit, can 
save the situation. 

I have two fixed ideas well known to my 
friends, harmless obsessions with which I 
sometimes bore them, but which have a direct 
bearing on this important problem. The first 
is the comparative uselessness of men above 

*From his valedictory address at the Johns 
Hopkins University, given at the annual com- 
memoration exercises on February 22, and printed 
in the Journal of the American Medical Associa- 
tion. 


394 


40 years of age. This may seem shocking, 
and yet read aright the world’s history bears 
out the statement. Take the sum of human 
achievement in action, in science, in art, in 
literature—subtract the work of the men above 
40, and, while we should miss great treasures, 
even priceless treasures, we should practically 
be where we are to-day. It is difficult to 
name a great and far-reaching conquest of the 
mind which has not been given to the world 
by a man on whose back the sun was still 
shining. The effective, moving, vitalizing 
work of the world is done between the ages of 
25 and 40 years—these 15 golden years of 
plenty, the anabolic or constructive period, in 
which there is always a balance in the mental 
bank and the credit is still good. 

In the science and art of medicine there has 
not been an advance of the first rank which 
has not been initiated by young or compara- 
tively young men. Vesalius, Harvey, Hunter, 
Bichat, Laennee, Virchow, Lister, Koch—the 
green years were yet on their heads when their 
epoch-making studies were made. To modify 
an old saying, a man is sane morally at 30, 
rich mentally at 40, wise spiritually at 50— 
or never. The young men should be encour- 
aged and afforded every possible chance to 
show what is in them. If there is one thing 
more than another upon which the professors 
of the university are to be congratulated, it 
is this very sympathy and fellowship with 
their junior associates, upon whom really in 
many departments, in mine certainly, has 
fallen the brunt of the work. And herein lies 
the chief value of the teacher who has passed 
his climacteric and is no longer a productive 
factor; he can play the man midwife, as 
Socrates did to Thesetetus, and determine 
whether the thoughts which the young men 
are bringing to the light are false idols or 
true and noble births. 

My second fixed idea is the uselessness of 
men above 60 years of age, and the inealcul- 
able benefit it would be in commercial, polit- 
ical and in professional life if, as a matter 
of course, men stopped work at this age. 
Donne tells us in his ‘ Biathanatos’ that by 
the laws of certain wise states sexagenarii 
were precipitated from a bridge, and in Rome 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


men of that age were not admitted to the 
suffrage, and were called depontani because 
the way to the senate was per pontem and 
they from age were not permitted to come 
hither. In that charming novel, the ‘ Fixed 
Period,’ Anthony Trollope discusses the prac- 
tical advantages in modern life of a return 
to this ancient usage, and the plot hinges on 
the admirable scheme of a college into which 
at 60 men retired for a year of contempla- 
tion before a peaceful departure by chloro- 
form. That incalculable benefits might fol- 
low such a scheme is apparent to any one who, 
like myself, is nearing the limit, and who has 
made a careful study of the calamities which 
may befall men during the seventh and eighth 
decades! 

Still more when he contemplates the many 
evils which they perpetuate unconsciously and 
with impunity! As it can be maintained that 
all the great advances have come from men 
under 40, so the history of the world shows 
that a very large proportion of the evils may 
be traced to the sexagenarians—nearly all the 
great mistakes politically and socially, all of 
the worst poems, most of the bad pictures, a 
majority of the bad novels, and not a few of 
the bad sermons and speeches. It is not to 
be denied that occasionally there is a sexa- 
genarian whose mind, as Cicero remarks, 
stands out of reach of the body’s decay. Such 
a one has learned the secret of Hermippus, 
that ancient Roman, who, feeling that the 
silver cord was loosening, cut himself clear 
from all companions ‘of his own age, and be- 
took himself to the company of young men, 
mingling with their games and studies, and so 
lived to the age of 153, puerorum halitw re- 
focillatus et educatus. And there is truth in 
the story, since it is only those who live with 
the young who maintain a fresh outlook on 
the new problems of the world. 

The teacher’s life should have three periods 
—study until 25, investigation until 40, pro- 
fession until 60, at which age I would have 
him retired on a double allowance. Whether 
Anthony Trollope’s suggestion of a college 
and chloroform should be carried out or not, 
I have become a little dubious, as my own 
time is getting so short. 


Marcu 10, 1905.] 


REPORT OF THE COAST AND GEODETIC 
SURVEY FOR 1904. 

Tue report of the Coast and Geodetic Sur- 
vey for 1904 is a record of manifold labors 
and results which have for their theater of 
action an area practically coterminous with 
that of the United States and all its island 
possessions. The main body of the report con- 
tains a detailed account of the wide range of 
important duties devolving upon this bureau, 
and in the appendices we have a presentation 
of discussions and results which must prove 
of great economical value and interest to sur- 
yeyors, engineers, navigators and physicists. 

The resurveys and developments impera- 
tively required to show the changes in harbors 
and approaches, due to works of improvement 
or the ceaseless action of natural causes along 
the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts of the 
United States, and to meet the ever-increasing 
demands of our commerce and navy for up-to- 
date charts, particularly of the waters of 
Alaska, Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Philip- 
pines, gave constant employment to the eleven 
vessels available for these duties. The hy- 
drography was prosecuted within the limits of 
the waters of sixteen states and territories and 
the topography was carried on in nine. 

In Alaska the work included the continua- 
tion of the survey of Prince William Sound, 
the survey of Controller Bay and a deep-sea 


examination from the Strait of Juan de Fuca 


to Prince William Sound, preliminary to the 
laying of a deep-sea cable from Seattle to 
Valdez. The Porto Rico work was continued 
in certain bays and harbors as well as in the 
development of the conditions in the off-shore 
waters. In the Philippine Archipelago the 
survey has secured the cooperation of the 
insular government and a detailed résumé 
shows a most satisfactory progress of the tri- 
angulation, hydrographic, topographic, mag- 
netic and astronomical operations. By utiliz- 
ing native assistance in the Manila sub-office 
twenty-one charts were prepared for publica- 
tion during the year, and the outcome of the 
experience with Filipinos as draftsmen, com- 
puters and engravers is the gratifying demon- 
stration that they will prove equally as com- 
petent as the Hindoos have been found in the 


SCIENCE. 


395 


British Indian operations and the Malagassys 
have proved themselves in the French sur- 
veying work in Madagascar. 

The reconnaissance for the primary triangu- 
lation along the 98th meridian was completed 
to the Canadian border and a scheme was ex- 
tended eastward connecting this work with 
the triangulation of the Mississippi River 
Commission. The execution of the primary 
triangulation in the Dakotas and Texas was 
prosecuted at a rate which surpassed even the 
notable record which had already secured an 
enviable reputation for the geodetic operations 
along the 98th meridian, the total extension 
amounting to 300 miles (500 kilometers). An 
equal distinction must be accredited to similar 
work in California and Oregon whereon re- 
markable progress has been made in connect- 
ing the transcontinental are work with Puget 
Sound. 

The progress of the magnetic work is shown 
in detail in Appendix No. 3, which includes a 
table of results of the magnetic declinations, 
dip and intensity of force observed on land 
and sea during the year, this being supple- 
mented with full descriptions of the magnetic 
stations occupied and meridian lines observed. 
A new feature is the inclusion of the observa- 
tions of the three magnetic elements at sea 
by the Coast and Geodetic Survey vessels in 
the course of their regular surveying opera- 
tions. The paper is replete with matters of 
interest to the surveyor, the mariner, the 
geographer and the geologist. Thus compre- 
hensive examination has been made of certain 
locally disturbed areas, as for example, in 
Douglas Island, Alaska, in the region of the 
local magnetic pole found in 1900; and the 
completion of the magnetic survey of Louis- 
lana in cooperation with the state geological 
survey revealed interesting and important re- 
sults as regards both the magnetic distribution 
and the secular variation. 

The table contains the magnetic results at 
384 land stations distributed over 24 states and 
territories and 2 foreign countries. The table 
of sea results contains 52 entries of magnetic 
declination, 34 dips and 32 values of the 
total intensity of the magnetic force in the 
Atlantic and in the Pacific Oceans. The 


396 


methods and instruments adopted for the sea 
work, which have thus far proved successful, 
are described in detail. In a general retro- 
spective consideration of the work of the past 
five years it is pointed out that in this period 
observations have been made at 1,636 stations 
of which about one eighth are points previously 
occupied by the survey and since used for 
observations to secure data for ascertaining 
the secular change of the magnetic elements. 
The work in about a dozen states has been 
practically completed except for special in- 
vestigations and secular change observations. 
During the year a bureau of international re- 
search in terrestrial magnetism has been 
created by the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 
ington, with the inspector of the magnetic 
work of the coast survey in charge as director, 


and the cooperation thus ensured is certain to 


prove extremely profitable in results. 

The determination of the longitude of 
Manila from San Francisco, thus completing 
the first longitude circuit of the earth, was one 
of the astronomical events of the year, and in 
Appendix No. 4 is a comprehensive illustrated 
report on the various instruments and opera- 
tions used in the undertaking with a com- 
parative résumé of the various links and re- 
sults from which the longitude of Manila had 
been determined from the westward. The 
generous cooperation of the Commercial Cable 
Company, through whose patriotic enterprise 
the work was made feasible, is gratefully ac- 
knowledged. The results of the determina- 
tions from the eastward and westward differ 
only by 08.006 or about 8.8 feet. The other 
results of this expedition are the determina- 
tions by the telegraphic method of the longi- 
tudes of Honolulu, and Midway and Guam 
Tslands. 

The third attempt at representing the tide 
for the world at large, the first having been 
made by Whewell and Airy and the second by 
Berghaus, is described in Appendix No. 5. 
The advancement in recent years of the gen- 
eral use of the harmonic analysis and the 
greatly improved tidal data that are now ob- 
tainable for such a great part of the globe 
coordinate to make a new presentation of this 
subject very opportune. The theoretical dis- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


cussion of the problems involved, the wide 
range of data and authorities consulted and 
referred to, the graphic presentation of the 
cotidal lines, the results presented and the 
conclusions deduced make a most suggestive 
paper and one which will be highly interesting 
to all students of the subject. 

The results of the precise leveling operations 
for the year are published in Appendices Nos. 
6 and 7, which submit them in a detail that 
makes them immediately available for the re- 
quirements of surveyors and engineers. These 
extend the precise level net, as previously pub- 
lished, six hundred miles to the westward, 
from Red Desert, Wyoming, to Owyhee in east- 
ern Idaho; and from Holland, Texas, two 
hundred miles southwest, to Seguin, Texas. 
An interesting feature is an account of the 
change in the manner of support for the level- 
ing rods, with the comparative discussion of 
the old and the new methods and the conse- 
quent confirmation of the importance of the 
new system. 

The account of operations submitted by the 
assistant in charge gives the story of the work 
of the various computing, drawing, engraving 
and chart divisions of the office, in which the 
results of the field work are discussed or pre- 
pared for the publications and charts wherein 
they are placed at the service of the public. 

A full account of the first recording transit 
micrometer devised for use in the telegraphic 
longitude determinations of the Coast and 
Geodetic Survey is submitted in Appendix No. 
8, with an account of the exhaustive tests it 
was subjected to and a recapitulation of the 
results of experience with this form of instru- 
ment, mainly in Europe, during the last thir- 
teen years. The results of these experiments 
indicate that with the transit micrometer the 
accuracy of telegraphic longitudes may be 
considerably increased, if desirable, or the 
present standard of accuracy may be main- 
tained at much less cost than formerly. 

The results of all triangulation in California 
south of the latitude of Monterey Bay are 
printed in the concluding appendix in full, in- 
cluding descriptions of stations, as well as 
their latitudes and longitudes and the lengths 
and azimuths of the lines joining them. In 


| ie 


peel he 


Marcu 10, 1905.) 


compact and convenient form there is given 
aul the information in regard to this triangula- 
tion that is needed by an engineer or surveyor 
who wishes to utilize the results in controlling 
and checking surveys or in constructing maps 
or charts. The locations of more than 1,300 
points are accurately fixed by this triangula- 
tion. 

The report, in addition to the details of the 
foregoing operations and results, contains a 
record of a wide range of important work for 
which the aid of a survey was sought because 
of the special training of its officers. The 
superintendent attended the Fourteenth Gen- 
eral Conference of the International Geodetic 
Association as delegate for the United States 
and maintained direction of the observatories 
at Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Ukiah, Cali- 
fornia, supported by the International Geo- 
detic Association for the purpose of measuring 
the variations of latitude; he was also detailed 
for duty in connection with the presentation 
of the case of the United States before the 
Alaska Boundary Tribunal being assisted by 
one of the officers of the survey. As commis- 
sioner of the United States he continued the 
work of remarking the boundary line between 
the United States and Canada from the Rocky 
Mountains westward, two of the officers of the 
survey being employed in the field; and as 
commissioner of the United States in the In- 
ternational Delimitation Commission he in- 
augurated the work of marking the boundary 
between Alaska and Canada, one of the parties 
being under the direction of an assistant of 
the survey. One officer continued on duty as 
a member of the Mississippi River Commis- 
sion. One officer having completed the field 
work of the survey of Mason and Dixon’s line, 
the boundary between Maryland and Penn- 
sylvania, was then detailed to prepare the 
maps and report showing the results of the 
work. Another officer, at the application of 
the municipal authorities, remained in charge 
of the triangulation of the Greater New York 
territory, and one representative of the survey 
in cooperation with the Louisiana Oyster 
Commission continued the survey of the 
natural oyster beds and reefs for the state of 
Louisiana. 


SCIENCE. 


O97 


THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICAN 
ANTIQUITIES. 

At a joint meeting of the committees on 
preservation of American antiquities of the 
Archeological Institute of America and the 
American Anthropological Association, held 
at the Cosmos Club in Washington, on the 
evening of January 10, the subject of pending 
legislation was considered. It was decided 
that a memorandum should be prepared em- 
bodying such provisions from pending meas- 
ures, as in the judgment of the joint commit- 
tee should be incorporated into law, and the 
same presented to the House of Representa- 
tives’ Committee on Public Lands, with the 
request that a bill should be prepared by this 
committee based on these suggestions. 

Present: For the Archeological Institute of 
America, Dr. Seymour, Chairman, Dr. Put- 
nam, Mr. Holmes, Mr. Bowditch, Dr. Kelsey, 
Dr. Carroll; for the Anthropological Associa- 
tion, Mr. Holmes, Chairman, Dr. Putnam, 
Miss Fletcher, Professor Saville, Dr. Gordon, 
Mr. Culin, Dr. Kroeber, Mr. Hewett. 

The memorandum was submitted by the 
committee at the hearing before the Public 
Lands Committee on Wednesday, the eleventh. 

At the meeting of this committee held on 
the sixteenth instant it was ordered to strike 
out all except the enacting clause of S. 
5603 (the act known as the Lodge-Rodenburg 
bill which passed the senate last April) and 
insert instead “an amendment in the form of 
a substitute”; said substitute being, with a 
few minor amendments, the memorandum 
prepared by the joint committe above referred 
to. The bill as reported back, referred to the 
House Calendar, and ordered printed, is as 
follows: 

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House 
of Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled: That for the purpose of 
preserving and protecting from despoliation the 
historie and prehistoric ruins, monuments, archeo- 
logical objects and other antiquities, on the public 
lands of the United States, all said historic and 
prehistoric ruins, monuments and other objects of 
antiquity are hereby placed under the care and 
custody of the Secretary of the Interior. 

Sec. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior may 
make temporary withdrawals of the land on 


398 


which such historic and prehistoric ruins, monu- 
ments, archeological. objects and other antiquities 
are located, including only the land necessary for 
the preservation of such ruins and antiquities, 
and may make permanent withdrawals of tracts 
of land on which are ruins and antiquities of 
especial importance, not exceeding six hundred 
and forty acres in any one place. 

See. 3. That the Secretary of the Interior be, 
and is hereby authorized to permit examinations, 
excavations and the gathering of objects of in- 
terest within such reservations by any institution 
either domestic or foreign which he may deem 
properly qualified to conduct such examinations, 
excavations or gatherings, subject to such rules 
and regulations as he may prescribe: Provided, 
That the examinations, excavations and gather- 
ings are undertaken for the benefit of some repu- 
table museum, university, college or other recog- 
nized scientific or educational institution with a 
view to increasing the knowledge of such objects, 
and that the gatherings shall be made for perman- 
ent preservation and not for commercial purposes. 

Sec. 4. That of all excavations and explorations 
made under a permit granted by the Secretary of 
the Interior, a proper written and photographic 
record with plans shall be made at stated periods, 
and transmitted for preservation to the United 
States National Museum. 

See. 5. That the Secretary of the Interior shall 
make and publish from time to time such rules 
and regulations as he shall deem expedient and 
necessary for the purpose of carrying out the 
provisions of this act. 

Sec. 6. That all persons who shall with- 
out permission appropriate, injure or destroy any 
public property therein, or injure or destroy any 
caves, ruins, or other works or objects of an- 
tiquity therein, or commit unauthorized injury or 
waste, in any form whatsoever, upon the lands or 
objects referred to in this act, or who shall violate 
any of the rules or regulations prescribed hereun- 
der, shall, upon conviction, be fined in a sum not 
more than five thousand dollars, or be imprisoned 
for a period not more than twelve months, or 
shall suffer both fine and imprisonment, in the 
discretion of the court. 

Epear L. Hewett, 
Secretary. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

At the recent commemoration ceremonies 
at the University of Pennsylvania, the degree 
of Doctor of Science was conferred on Dr. R. 
S. Woodward, president of the Carnegie Insti- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


tution. The colleagues of Dr. Woodward at 
Columbia University will join in giving a 
dinner in his honor on the evening of April 4. 

Dr. WiLtuiAM Os Ler gave a farewell address 
at the commemoration exercises at Johns Hop- 
kins University on February 22. The degree 
of Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by 
the university. 

Dr. Hans Lannout, professor of chemistry 
at Berlin, has been awarded the gold medal 
for science of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. 

Dr. Paut Enruicu, director of the Institute 
for Experimental Therapeutics at Frankfort, 
has been appointed honorary professor in the 
University of Gottingen. 

Dr. Cart Moestius, professor of zoology at 
Berlin, celebrated his eightieth birthday on 
February 7. 

Dr. Herricu Limpricut, professor of chem- 
istry at Greifswald, has celebrated his jubilee 
as university professor. 


Proressor Harry ©. Jones, of the Johns 


‘Hopkins University, has been awarded $1,000 


by the Carnegie Institution, with which to 
continue his work, on the nature of concen- 
trated solutions, during the year 1905-1906. 
This is a renewal of the grant that he now 
holds for the same amount and for the same 
investigation. Dr. H. P. Bassett, who received 
his Ph.D. under Professor Jones in June, 
1904, has been reappointed as his assistant. 


Tue Committee on Science and the Arts, 
of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, has 
recommended to the Board of City Trusts 
that Dr. Persifor Frazer be awarded the John 
Scott legacy premium and medal for his ‘ sys- 
tem of quantitative colorimetry, for deter- 
mining the genuineness of exhibits of hand- 
writing. 

Mr. Henry M. Towne, president of the 
Yale and Towne Manufacturing Company, 
Stamford, Connecticut, and past-president of 
the American Society of Mechanical Engi- 
neers, gave on February 24, an address before 
the faculty and students of Purdue Univer- 
sity. His subject was ‘ Industrial Engineer- 
ing. The university has also announced lec- 
tures at an early date by Mr. William Barclay 
Parsons and Mr. Frederic A. C. Perrine. 


Marcu 10, 1905.) 


To perpetuate the memory of C. L. Herrick 
in the scientific world and among the friends 
of Denison University, and as a tribute 
of gratitude for his services, the Den- 
ison Scientific Association has appointed a 
committee to secure a fund to be known as 
‘The C. L. Herrick Memorial Fund.’ The 
first purpose of the committee is to secure for 
Denison University Dr. Herrick’s scientific 
library, which his family is obliged to dispose 
of. It is hoped, however, that only a portion 
of the fund will be used in procuring the 
library and that an adequate principal may 
be set aside, the income of which will be avail- 
able in maintaining the serials represented in 
the library and in otherwise fostering the in- 
terests of science. A friend of the institution 
thas promised to duplicate all subscriptions 
made for this purpose before July first next. 


Subscriptions may be sent to Professor Frank. 


Carney, Denison, Ohio. 


WE regret to record the death of M.S. J. P. - 


Folie, honorary director of the Observatory of 
_ Brussels, on January 29, at the age of seventy- 
one years; of Dr. Eduard Richter, professor of 
geography at Graz; and of Professor T. Ber- 
telli, the Italian astronomer. 


THe U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces an examination on March 29 to se- 
cure eligibles from which to fill a vacancy in 
the position of cement expert at $2,400, and 
another at $1,500 per annum, in the Reclama- 
tion Service, Geological Survey, and vacancies 
as they may occur in any branch of the service 
requiring similar qualifications. It is ex- 
pected that in the near future there will be 
additional vacancies at salaries between $1,500 
and $2,400 per annum. 


TuHeE sixteenth session of the Biological 
Laboratory of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts 
and Sciences will be held at Cold Spring 
Harbor, Long Island, beginning July 5, 1905, 
lasting for six weeks. The usual courses of 
field zoology by Drs. Davenport and Breed, 
comparative anatomy by Drs. Pratt and 
Casteel, embryology by Drs. Crampton and 
Moenkhaus, cryptogamic botany by Dr. John- 
son and Mr. Chivers, plant ecology by Mr. 
Shreve and Miss Knox and _ microscopic 
methods by Mrs. Davenport are offered. 


SCIENCE. 


399 


Those receiving instruction pay a fee of $30, 
but independent investigators may be _ re- 
ceived at the laboratory at any time upon ap- 
plication to the director, Dr. C. B. Daven- 
port, Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., from whom 
the announcement just issued may be ob- 
tained. 


Tue legislature of North Dakota has passed 
a comprehensive irrigation code which fol- 
lows closely the provisions of the suggested 
state irrigation code drawn up last summer 
by Mr. Morris Bien of the U. S. Reclamation 
Service. This is the first effective legislation 
on the subject in North Dakota, and will put 
irrigation investigation upon a well estab- 
lished and permanent basis, so that it is now 
possible to secure the exclusive services of a 
competent man as a state engineer. ‘The first 
state engineer, Professor E. F. Chandler, who 
began that work last season and has been 
carrying it on in addition to his work as 
resident hydrographer for the U. S. Geological 
Survey and to his regular duties in the state 
university, now transfers the office to Mr. A. 
L. Fellows, of Denver, Colo., who has been 
for the past two years district engineer for 
Colorado of the U. S. Reclamation Service, 
and who now under the new law is appointed 
by Governor Sarles state engineer of North 
Dakota. 


THE trustees of the University of North 
Carolina have set aside the Shepard bequest 
of $5,000 as an endowment fund for the l- 
brary of the chemical department of the uni- 
versity. 


A RECEPTION was held in the Germanic Mu- 
seum of Harvard University on February 28, 
at which Dr. Theodore Lewald, German im- 
perial commissioner at St. Louis, presented to 
the university the collection of maps, charts 
and models on behalf of the German emperor 
for the sociological museum in Emerson Hall. 
Professor Miinsterberg received the gift on be- 
half of the university. 


In connection with the International’ Ex- 
position to be held at Liége, Belgium, from 
April to November during the present year, 
it is proposed to hold an International Con- 
gress of Childhood from September 17 to 20 


400 


inclusive. The purpose of the congress is to 
consider the best means of promoting the 
physical, intellectual and moral development 
of youth in the home, the school and society. 
The congress will be organized in four sec- 
tions, as follows: (1) Education of children; 
(2) study of children; (3) care and training 
of abnormal children; (4) parents’ associa- 
tions, mothers’ clubs, and other supplementary 
agencies for the improvement of youth. 

Senator ArMstTRONG has introduced a bill 
in the New York legislature which provides 
for the establishment of a biological survey 
of the potable water of the state to prosecute 
a scientific study of aquatic organisms, their 
structure, their habits, food, distribution and 
variations. Jt is planned to consider such 
sanitary problems of a biological character as 
may arise in regard to the waters used by and 
available for the cities, villages and towns of 
the state. The sum of $5,000 is appropriated 
for the educational department of the state 
for apparatus and equipment and the sum ‘of 
$10,000 for salaries of employees. If the bill 
becomes a law the work will be under the di- 
rection of Professor Clarke. 

Tue complete collection of monographs pos- 
sessed by the late Professor Gerhardt has been 
purchased and presented to the library of the 
Academy of Medicine by Dr. A. Jacobi. 

Tue Times states that Sir H. A. Blake, 
governor of Ceylon, announced at a meeting 
of the Asiatic Society that Sinhalese medical 
books of the sixth century described 67 varie- 
ties of mosquitoes and 424 kinds of malarial 
fever caused by mosquitoes. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


Tue sad death of Mrs. Jane Lathrop Stan- 
ford will not greatly affect the administration 
or resources of the Leland Stanford Junior 
University. It will be remembered that for 
a long time her estate was tied up by litiga- 
tion, but that in 1901 Mrs. Stanford made 
over to the trustees of the university practi- 
cally all her property, including stocks con- 
servatively appraised at $18,000,000 and real 
estate valued at least at $10,000,000. 

Ir is announced that a new recitation build- 
ing for Princeton University, to be’ known as 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 532. 


McCosh Hall, will soon be erected behind the 
university chapel, at a cost of $100,000. The 
names of the givers are withheld. 


Harvarp University has received an anon- 
ymous gift of $5,000, the income of which is 
to be used for the assistance of meritorious 
students in the Medical School. 


By the will of the widow of the late George 
P. A. Healy, the medical library collected by 
the late artist is bequeathed to Rush Medical 
College. 

Tue University of Berlin has established 
an academic information bureau for the use 
of students, both native and foreign. It is 
prepared also to supply information on scien- 
tific subjects to visitors to Berlin. 


Proressor WILLIAM James, of Harvard Uni-- 
versity, has accepted the acting professorship 
of philosophy at Stanford University. He 
will lecture at Stanford during the second 
half of the next academic year and will organ- 
ize a department of philosophy for the uni- 
versity. 

On account of illness, Professor C. R. 
Sanger, of Harvard University, is spending a 
few weeks in Cuba. During his absence, Pro- 
fessor Sanger’s direction of the chemical labo- 
ratory is assumed by Professor T. W. Rich- 
ards, in addition to the latter’s regular duties 
as chairman of the chemical department. Dr. 
G. P. Baxter has temporarily taken full charge 
of chemistry 1, and has therefore been relieved 
of his course in gas analysis by Dr. R. C. 
Wells. 

M. Henri Bercson has been appointed pro- 
fessor of modern philosophy in the Collége de 
France, in the room of the late Gabriel Tarde. 

Dr. Orro Lummer, of the Reichsanstalt and 
docent at Berlin, has been appointed professor 
of physics at Breslau. 

Dr. K. Katsertinc, docent and custodian of 
the pathological museum at Berlin since 1901, 
has been made professor. : 

Dr. Lupwic Cuatson, professor of chemistry 
at Kiel, has been called to Berlin. 

Dr. Franz Hormann, associate professor of 
physiology at Leipzig, has been called to a 
professorship at Innsbruck. 


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THE STORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 
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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, 


Fripay, Marcy 17, 1905. 


CONTENTS: 


Alpheus Spring Packard: Prorressor J. S. 
Kinestry, PRoressor CARL BARUS....... 


The Astronomical and Astrophysical Society 
of America: Dr. FRANK B. LITTELL....... 


Scientific Books :— 
Die Moore der Schweiz: Prorrssor W. F. 
GANONG 


CC er te ey 


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


Societies and Acadenvies :— 
The New York Academy of Sciences, Sec- 
tion of Geology and Mineralogy: PROFESSOR 
A. W, GRABAv. The Philosophical Society 


of Washington: CHARLES K. WEAD....... 425 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


Recent Washington Rhizobia Experiments: 


PROFESSOR ALBERT SCHNEIDER........... 428 


Special Articles :— 


A New Oode of Nomenclature: Dr. J. A. 


SRILBN 35 ORG ORDO Den Oe DEE TE ene 428 


Current Notes on Meteorology :— 


Meteorological Results of the Blue Hill 


Kite Work: Proressor R. DeC. Warp.... 433 


Meeting of the British Association in South 
ALPHOT 96h PCRS PR EROS CCIE CTCRO OCD CRF TRANS 


Joint Announcement of Summer Field Courses 
PEG ECOLOGY Miche (Nsicve oyeyee crettis wa, «5:6 Saree are 


Scientific Notes and News................. 


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


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


ALPHEUS SPRING PACKARD. 


ALPHEUS SPRING Packarp, for twenty- 
six years professor of zoology and geology 
in Brown University, died at Providence, 
February 14, 1905. He was born at Bruns- 
wick, Maine, February 19, 1831. His 
father, for whom he was named, was for 
over sixty years connected with the Bow- 
doin College faculty, and his grandfather, 
the Rev. Dr. Appleton, was one of the early 
presidents of the college. 

At the age of eighteen he entered Bow- 
doin and there came under the infiuence 
and instruction of the late Paul Ansel 
Chadbourne, who fostered and encouraged 
his natural inclination towards zoological 
work. Dr. Chadbourne at this time was 
also connected with Williams College and 
it was through him that Packard became a 
member of the Williams College expedi- 
tion of 1860 to Greenland and Labrador, 
with which he went only as far as Labrador, 
where he spent two months collecting, get- 
ting back to college in time for the studies 
of senior year. In the senior vacation he, 
with several other Bowdoin students, went 
on a dredging trip to the Bay of Fundy. 

Immediately after graduation in 1861 
he accepted the position of entomologist to 
the newly established scientific survey of 
Maine and in this capacity he traveled 
through a large part of the northern wil- 
derness of the state. On this expedition he 
made the first discovery of Silurian fossils 
in the northern part of Maine and obtained 
material for several articles which were 
published in the first two reports of the 
survey. 


402 


He had now decided on his life work 
and after the season in the field, went to 
Cambridge to’ study with Agassiz. Here 
he devoted himself largely to the study of 
insects for the three years that he retained 
his connection with the Museum of Com- 
parative Zoology, but in his spare time he 
read medicine and each winter he attended 
the lectures in the Maine Medical School 
connected with Bowdoin, from which he 
was graduated with the degree of doctor 
of medicine in 1864. 

In the summer of that year he made a 
second trip to Labrador, where, with his 
enlarged experience, he was able to add 
greatly to the knowledge acquired on his 
former trip. As a result, besides several 
smaller papers, he published a large me- 
moir on the geology and zoology of that 
region. Later this material was worked 
over and formed the basis of his book on 
‘The Labrador Coast.’ 

On his return from this second trip to 
Labrador he enlisted for three years as 
assistant surgeon and accompanied the first 
regiment of Maine Veteran Volunteers to 
Virginia, where he served until the end of 
the war. These ten months included the 
whole of his medical practise. After be- 
ing mustered out he acted for a time as 
librarian and custodian of the Boston So- 
ciety of Natural History, remaining there 
until 1866 when with several of his former 
fellow students—Hyatt, Morse, Putnam 
and Cooke—he accepted a position in the 
museum of the Essex Institute at Salem, 
at that time one of the most active scientific 
societies in the country. 

Then came the founding of the Peabody 
Academy of Science in Salem. To it the 
Essex Institute transferred its collections 
and the scientific corps went with them, 
Packard being appointed curator of inverte- 
brates and in 1876 director of the academy. 
Here he remained until 1878, when he ac- 
cepted the position at Brown which he held 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 533. 


for the rest of his life. While at Salem he 
held various other positions. He was for 
three years state entomologist of Massa- 
chusetts, lecturer for several years in ento- 
mology at the Amherst and Orono Agricul- 
tural Colleges, and for two or three years 
upon zoology and comparative anatomy at 
Bowdoin College. He also worked for 
two summers on the Bache and Blue Light, 
dredging for the U. S. Fish Commission 
in the Gulf of Maine. He was connected 
for a time with the Kentucky Geological 
Survey, when he made a zoological explo- 
ration of Mammoth Cave and laid the 
foundation of his later work on eave life. 
From 1875 to 1877 he was one of the zool- 
ogists of the U. S. Geological Survey under 
Hayden. 

In 1873 Agassiz inaugurated the Ander- 
son School of Natural History on the 
island of Penekese, the first summer school 
of biology in America. Here for two years 
Packard gave the instruction in insects 
and ecrustacea, and when with Agassiz’s 
death the school was given up, Packard 
started a similar but smaller summer labo- 
ratory at Salem under the auspices of the 
Peabody Academy of Science which he con- 
ducted until his removal to Providence. 
This work was later taken up by the late 
Professor Hyatt at Annisquam, Mass., and 
continued until the establishment of the 
Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods 
Hole. In 1876 he was appointed by the 
President a member of the U. S. Entomo- 
logical Commission which was to devise 
ways and means of checking the ravages 
of the Rocky Mountain locusts in the trans- 
Mississippi country. Later the scope of the 
commission, which lasted for five years, 
was enlarged so that it might deal with 
other insect pests. On this service he made 
two trips to the west, one taking him to the 
Pacifie coast. 

Besides these trips he spent the winter 
of 1869-70 in Florida, stopping on his re- 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


turn at Beaufort, N. C., from which place 
he brought back large collections of inver- 
tebrates. The next winter he spent at 
Charleston, S. C., where he’studied the de- 
velopment of numerous marine inverte- 
brates and especially of the crustacea, and 
where he collected the tertiary molluscs 
made known by F. 8. Holmes. In 1872 he 
visited Europe, studying the collections of 
insects in the large museums and paying 
especial attention to Walker’s types of 
lepidoptera in the British Museum. In 
1885 he visited Mexico and in 1898 again 


spent a year in Europe and northern. 


Africa. 

Dr. Packard was a most indefatigable 
worker, the list of papers which came from 
his pen being numbered by hundreds. 
Only a few of these can be mentioned here. 
His first article was upon the army worm 
and was published by the Maine Scientific 
Survey. The years at Cambridge were 
chiefly spent in study, but some of the notes 
then made were incorporated in numerous 
later works, although large numbers of ob- 
servations made in these early years re- 
mained unpublished at his death. His first 
large work was the monograph of the geo- 
metrid moths published by Hayden’s Sur- 
vey, and scarcely less imposing was his 
account of the Bombycide issued by the 
National Academy. His embryological 
work, which included studies on the devel- 
opment of the lower insects, appeared in 
the ‘Memoirs’ of the Peabody Academy of 
Science and in minor papers elsewhere, 
while his memoir on the development of 
the horseshoe crab remained for years the 
chief source of our knowledge of that in- 
teresting animal. This work was all done 
before the days of sections and was based 
entirely upon surface views and optical see- 
tions, a fact for which allowance should be 
made when his mistakes are recalled. His 
papers on the geology and natural history 
of Labrador and on the cave animals have 


SCIENCE. 


403 


already been alluded to. Possibly his best 
article was the ‘Monograph of the Phyllo- 
pod Crustacea’ published in the last report 
of Hayden’s Survey. 

Packard was possibly best known for, his 
text-books. The earliest of these was his 
‘Guide to the Study of Insects,’ which for 
years served as the vade mecum of hun- 
dreds of budding entomologists. Then 
came his ‘Life Histories of Animals,’ which 
was the first attempt since the day of Agas- 
siz’s Lowell Institute lectures to summarize 
the facts of embryology, a work which was 
early superseded by Balfour’s admirable 
treatise. Then came his ‘Zoology,’ the first 
attempt to give American students a truly 
scientific text-book in which morphology 
and classification were given equal promi- 
nence. This was followed by several small- 
er and more elementary works for lower 
schools, some of which have had a large 
sale. Later came a second work on ento- 
mology, in which the morphological side of 
the subject was strongly emphasized. 

Packard, along with his friends Cope 
and Hyatt, must be regarded as one of the 
founders and chief supporters of the so- 
called Neo-Lamarckian school of evolution, 
and his writings in advocacy of these views 
are numerous. His studies in this direc- 
tion led him to study deeply the writings 
of Lamarck and later to bring together all 
the known facts in the life of this early 
apostle of evolution. In fact his second 
trip to Europe was largely for the purpose 
of ascertaining everything possible concern- 
ing the man. 

In speaking of Dr. Packard one should 
not forget the services he rendered to sci- 
ence as one of the founders and for twenty 
years as editor of the American Naturalist. 
Almost as soon as he reached Salem the 
magazine was launched and while one by 
one the other editors dropped out Packard 
remained in charge. In these days of nu- 
merous natural history magazines one can 


404 


hardly realize the boon the establishment of 
this journal was to the naturalists of the 
country, and few know its financial vicis- 
situdes and the sacrifices of its editor dur- 
ing its early days. 

Personally, Dr. Packard was one of the 
most companionable of men. He was al- 
ways ready to aid and assist the young in 
their natural history studies to the extent 
of his powers. He was critical of the lan- 
guage in which they clothed their facts and 
the pages of the Naturalist have profited by 
his revision. He rarely indulged in con- 
troversy, and although he could say sharp 
and eutting things, one may look in vain 
in his published works for any traces of 
polemics. 

Dr. Packard was married in 1867 to 
Elizabeth Derby, the daughter of the late 
Samuel B. Walcott, of Salem, who, with 
four children, one a rising naval architect, 
survives him. 


J. S. KInesiey. 
TurtTs CoLLEGE, MAss. 


ALPHEUS SPRING PACKARD.* 


I have not known Professor Packard as 
long, nor as intimately, as many of my col- 
leagues; and where they have spoken I 
should remain silent. Neither am I quali- 
fied to discuss his more immediate scientific 
work. I can, however, in response to the 
President’s suggestions, speak of him in the 
light in which one scientific man sees an- 
other, older and wiser than himself; but I 
do so with diffidence. I have, therefore, 
written down with some care the things 
which I would not otherwise venture to 
express. 

It seems an ungracious confession to 
make, but it is nevertheless true, that it was 
through Professor Packard that many of 
us in Washington, twenty or thirty years 

* Address given at the memorial exercises at 


Brown University. Printed in Science at the 
request of the editor. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 533. 


ago, became aware of the existence of scien- 
tifie activity at, Brown University. For 
age had wearied the enthusiasm of Alexis 
Caswell twenty years earlier. Yet it was 
not by his presence that Packard repre- 
sented her; at least in the years in which 
I knew him, he was not a frequent attend- 
ant at scientific meetings remote from 
Providence. It was his untiring and re- 
markably pervasive industry that con- 
fronted us. The president of the National 
Academy, the director of the Geological 
Survey and others in authority all felt the 
force of it; and at one time there were dis- 
mal mutterings in the high places of legis- 
lation asking why the public printer’s time 
should be spent in bringing out the elab- 
orate researches of one who stood remote 
from public office. How did this come 
about? Certainly a man of Professor 
Packard’s singular modesty, of his almost 
morbid habit of self-depreciation, was the 
last to find his way through the mazes of a 
government lobby. His transparent sin- 
cerity would have been infinitely removed 
from all this. And yet there was no mys- 
tery about it. It was a mere force from 
within breaking its way. The power of 
Professor Packard’s intellect bearing on 
subjects of natural history, the scope and 
accuracy of his learning and the purity of 
his scientific ideals were his only resources; 
and wherever institutions needed the fruits 
of ripe scholarship to dignify their own 
scientific activities, these were the first to 
feel the influence of Professor Packard’s 
productive zeal, as they were compelled to 
guide its progress. And so our unobtru- 
sive colleague taxed the people of the whole 
United States to publish his magnificent 
memoirs—because he was genuine. 

The same facts appear in a different 
way, in the further story of Professor 
Packard’s life. I am the last man to speak 
lightly of the young vigor and the promise 
of our American institutions, or of our 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


learned societies. But it is nevertheless 
true that in comparison with the famous 
academies of the old world we are as yet 
mere children. In a history of the essen- 
tials in the progress of science, there is but 
rare need of the mention of American ac- 
complishments. We have much of the 
practise, and we show a degree of inde- 
pendence in our imitations; but we lack 
the philosophic depth, the intuitions and 
the profound originality. It is to the law- 
giver of science that the true academy is 
born, and it is by her lawgivers again that 
it must be nurtured. To men of exquisite 
genius no climate within the whole range 
of our immense country has yet been con- 
genial. ‘ 

We are apt to smile at the Englishman 
for the letters which decorate his name. 
We laugh at the German for his titles and 
at the Frenchman for his ribbons and his 
uniform. We smile because to us such 
insignia mean nothing; and it is to our 
shame. We forget that these symbols voice 
a sentiment of almost religious purity. We 
have not yet learned to constitute nor even 
to revere a tribunal so august as to be in- 
compatible with pettiness. We never ask 
why the F.R.S. is inseparable from the 
names of Lord Kelvin, of Lord Lister, even 
in their age and amid the splendors of their 
glory. To make the French Academy, 
even on its scientific side, required: the 
brains of Cuvier, of Lamarck, of St. Hil- 
aire, of Buffon, of the brothers Jussieu, of 
Pasteur ; it required Laplace, Lavoisier and 
Lagrange, Carnot and Cauchy, Fresnel and 
Fourier, Ampére and Arago, Poisson and 
Poinsot, to mention only a few; and the 
dictum of the academy arbitrates with the 
authority of these tremendous names. 

Precisely to such bodies of inexorable 
eritics did the intrinsic strength of the 
work of Professor Packard ultimately ap- 
peal. And it was from the judgment of 
his confréres, from the men who had them- 


SCIENCE. 


405 


selves traversed the same intellectual terri- 
tory and knew it, that he reaped his su- 
preme honors. From these alone could the 
reward have come; for below the decisions 
of his peers, there was no other guide but 
conscience. 

Few of us realize how difficult it is, what 
persistent convictions, what sturdy vigil- 
ance is required to enter seriously into 
competition with the whole world, as Pack- 
ard did; indeed one might say to enter 
handicapped, against a world richer in its 
traditions, more refined in its higher intel- 
lectual atmosphere, more bountiful in its 
opportunities, than our young country. It 
takes courage to press forward alone, self- 
reliant, misunderstood, at peace only with 
one’s own convictions. Did we think of 
this in Packard’s case? Did we look at his 
Linnean and other honors in this hght? 
Did even our corporation feel that the 
cause of which it is the supreme guardian, 
had in Packard been awarded with the most 
cherished tokens of the world’s approval? 

Packard was not lacking in his reverence 
for art, for literature, for music; but his 
soul cried out for science. He felt instinet- 
ively that the handiwork of man, however 
sublime, can not be more than human; and 
that a finite brain has fashioned all its eul- 
tures. Nature is the offspring of omnis- 
cience. He realized what the world was 
so slow to realize, what only within the last 
few hundred years has come like a tumul- 
tuous awakening, that the universe was 
wrought in the workshops of God, and that 
she alone is ultimately divine. He felt too 
that her true poetry is not written in rhet- 
orie but in mathematics and in the stern 
logie of science. For all our natural phi- 
losophies are but an attempt at a picture. 
We find no adequate symbols in our efforts 
to restate her methods; our analogies, our 
metaphors, are gross; we have to shift, to 
approximate, to neglect. But nature neg- 


406 


lects nothing! To her the infinitely large 
and the infinitely small on the boundaries 
of which we live are alike finite among her 
infinities. Touch her at any point and 
your contact is with the eternal. 

To contemplate the prolific labors of Pro- 
fessor Packard is to stand face to face with 
the attributes of genius. I do not wish to 
make an over-statement. True, there is 
an order of genius among the geniuses, but 
there is none in whose heart the sacred fire 
does not burn. There can be no holier joy 
than the joy of creative work, and yet it is 
a joy akin to terror. What is it which pos- 
sesses a man even in early youth, which 
impels him despite all obstacles and re- 
straint to strive evermore, intellectually 
alone, without approval, profitlessly after 
an unattainable ideal; whose spell grows 
more potent as his years ripen, as his toil 
increases, as the world grows caustic in its 
rebuke; and that leaves him only with 
death? Do not suppose that the poet or 
the sculptor or the martyr alone have it. 
It burns to-day with subdued passion but 
with all its pristine and unmitigated fierce- 
ness in the life of every true student of 
nature. 

What is it that can sustain a man when 
every new avenue of thought discovered is 
but the approach to countless avenues be- 
yond; when to finish, be it after years of 
labor, is only to be ready to begin; what 
encourages him when the unknown looms 
with greater vastness as the known is more 
profoundly mastered; when the very pin- 
nacle of attainment is the sublime con- 
sciousness of ignorance, and when to be 
most renowned is to be most devoutly 
humble? It is the inspiration which il- 
lumined the life of our friend, our eol- 
league, our teacher. Long may his ideals 
guide us at Brown! 

Cari Barus. 

Brown UNIVERSITY. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI.. No. 533. 


THE ASTRONOMICAL AND ASTROPHYSICAL 
SOCIETY OF AMERICA. 

Tue sixth meeting of the society was 
held December 27-30, 1904, at Philadel- 
phia, Pa., during convocation week, in 
affiliation with the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science. 

Three sessions of the society for the read- 
ing and discussion of papers and the trans- 
action of business were held in room 106, 
College Hall, University of Pennsylvania, 
on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 
afternoons. The number of members pres- 
ent at some time during the meeting was 
thirty-six and the average attendance was 
about fifty. 

A pleasant social feature connected with 
the meeting was an informal dinner at the 
Hotel Walton, Thursday evening, at which 
twenty-six members and friends were pres- 
ent. Through the courtesy of Director 
Doolittle, a number of the members had the 
pleasure of examining the equipment of 
the Flower Observatory of the University 
of Pennsylvania at Upper Darby, and by 
the courtesy of Professor Snyder the ex- 
tensive astronomical equipment of the 
Philadelphia Observatory was inspected by 
a considerable party. 

During the meeting five new members 
were elected. 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 1905: 
President—Simon Newcomb. 
First Vice-President—George E. Hale. 
Second Vice-President—W, W. Campbell. 
Treasurer—C. L. Doolittle. 
For 1905-6: 
Councilors—W. S. Eichelberger, Ormond Stone. 


On account of the contemplated absence 
from the country of G. C. Comstock for the 
ereater part of the year 1905, W. S. Eichel- 
berger was elected by the council as acting 
secretary. 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


W. 8S. Eichelberger and C. L. Doolittle 
represented the society in the council of 
the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science. 

By request of a committee of the Na- 
tional Academy of Sciences appointed to 
secure international cooperation in solar re- 
search, a committee from this society was 
appointed by the president during the 
preceding summer to cooperate with the 
committee of the National Academy. The 
council has made this a standing committee 
of the society. 


PAPERS PRESENTED. 


C. L. DoorirrLe: ‘The Constant of Aberration.’ 

JouHn F. Hayrorp: ‘A Test of, The Transit 
Micrometer.’ 

Eric DooritrLe: ‘ Remeasurement of the Hough 
Double Stars.’ 


D. P. Topp: ‘ Novel Design for Rotating Dome 
Track.’ 


Epwarp 8. Kine: ‘A Study of the Driving 
Worms of Photographic Telescopes.’ 

C. L. Dooritrte: ‘The Reflex Zenith Tube.’ 

Annie J. Cannon: ‘ Variations of the Bright 
Hydrogen Lines in Stellar Spectra.’ 

Henrietta S. Leavitt: ‘ Variable Stars in 
Large Nebulous Regions.’ 

PercivAL Loweti: ‘ Planetary Spectrograms, 
the Work of V. M. Slipher and C. O. Lampland.’ 

PercivAL Lowey: ‘The Canals of Mars: An 
Investigation of Their Objectivity.’ 

Frank H. Bicretow: ‘Note on Three Solar 
Periods.’ 

Joun A. ParkuHurst: ‘The Coordination of 
Visual and Photographie Star Magnitudes.’ 
. Heper D. Curtis: ‘The Quadruple System of 
Alpha Geminorum.’ 

Haroitp Jacosy: ‘ Use of the Method of Least 
Squares to decide between Conflicting Hypotheses.’ 

Harorp JAcosy: ‘Tables for the Reduction of 
Astronomical Photographs.’ 

Epwarp C. Pickrerine: ‘ Recent Researches of 
the Henry Draper Memorial.’ 

Ormonp Stone: ‘ Calibration of a Photographic 
Photometer Wedge.’ 

J. G. Haaren: ‘ Note on Two Variable Star Cata- 
logues. 

‘Useful Work for a Small Equatorial” A 
proposed discussion. To be opened by Edward C. 
Pickering. 


SCIENCE. 


407 


ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS. 


The Constant of Aberration: C. L. Doo- 

LITTLE. 

The systematic observation for variation 
of latitude was begun by the author De- 
cember 1, 1889. This work has been kept 
up with some interruptions since that time. 
In 1896 was begun at the Flower Observa- 
tory a series which it was proposed to con- 
tinue on a uniform plan for a period of 
seven years. This design was carried out 
with but little departure from the original 
program. Observation on this series was 
terminated December, 1906. 

Work is now in progress on a more com- 
prehensive plan, two instruments being em- 
ployed, viz., the 54-inch zenith telescope 
and the 8-inch Wharton reflex zenith tube. 

The close of the former series seems to 
mark the proper time for bringing together 
the values of aberration constant which 
have been obtained, and for combining 
them to form a mean which may be con- 
sidered final so far as may be shown by 
these observations. 

The different values found are as fol- 
lows: 


SAYRE OBSERVATORY, SoUTH BETHLEHEM, 


Date. Aberration. | No. Pairs.| Wt. 
1889 Dec. 1—1890 Dec. 13 | 207.448+014 | 1479 0 
1892 Oct. 10—1893 Dec. 27 | 20 .551+009 | 2900 1 
1894 Jan. 19—1895 May 16 20 .587+014 1989 1 


FLOWER OBSERVATORY, PHILADELPHIA. 


1896 Oct. 19—1898 Aug. 16 


a = = 
207,580 +008 


2009 1 

1898 Oct. 8—1899 Nov. 27} 20 .540+010 1503 2 
1900 May 5—1901 Aug. 30} 20 .561+008 | 1994 2 
1901 Oct. 38—1902 Dec. 1] 20 .518+009 | 1935 2 
2 


1903 Jan. 22—1903 Dec. 7)| 20 .524+009 1554 


The reasons which have led to assigning 
the wt. 0 to the first determination will be 
found fully set forth in connection with 
the published results of this series.* For 
various reasons which are fully explained 
elsewhere the first series at the Flower Ob- 
servatory is not thought to be as reliable 


* Transactions of the American Philosophical 
Society, Vol. XX., p. 318. 


408 


as the following ones. It has accordingly 
‘been assigned the wt. 1, the four remaining 
walues being given the wt. 2. Combining 
according to these weights, we find for the 
mean, 


I wish this to be regarded as the defini- 
tive value of this constant as derived from 
the zenith telescope observations extending 
from December, 1889, to December, 1903. 


The Test of a Transit Micrometer: JoHN 

F.. Hayrorp. 

When, in connection with an astronom- 
ical transit as used for time observations, 
a transit micrometer and chronograph are 
substituted for a system of fixed lines in 
the diaphragm, a telegraphic key and a 
ehronograph, the observer is relieved of 
the necessity of operating the key at, or as 
soon as possible after, each of the several 
instants of transit of the star across the 
fixed lines. Instead; he is required simply 
to keep the star image bisected continuously 
iby the movable micrometer line during its 
progress across the field of view. In the 
new process of thought the element of time 
enters only in an indirect manner. Hence, 
with a transit micrometer the personal 
equation becomes so nearly zero, and its 
variation so nearly zero, that it is difficult 
to prove that they are not both absolutely 
zero. The personal equation is one of the 
most serious sources of error in all time 
determinations and determinations of right 
ascension. The destiny of the transit 
micrometer is to produce a decided increase 
in accuracy in this class of observations 
without inerease of effort or cost. 

‘The observation of star transits by means 
“of a movable transit line was first suggested 
in 1865 by Director Carl Braun of the 
Kalocsa Observatory. He believed that 
it was necessary to have the movable line 
‘driven by clockwork. He failed to con- 
struct a satisfactory apparatus. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 533. 


Repsold, the well-known  instrument- 
maker, was the first to suggest in print, in 
1889, that no elockwork is required. He 
constructed a hand-driven transit microm- 
eter with which excellent results were se- 
cured. 

The Prussian Geodetie Institute put the 
Repsold hand-driven transit micrometer 
into use on portable instruments in making 
telegraphic longitude determinations in 
1891, and has continued its use to the pres- 
ent time. In all, it has been used in ten 
longitude determinations. 

Utilizing the published past experience 
with transit micrometers Mr. E. G. Fischer, 
chief of the Instrument Division, Coast 
and Geodetie Survey, designed and con- 
structed in the winter of 1903-4 the tran- 
sit micrometer which is before you, and 
which is adapted for use on the transits 
ordinarily used in longitude determina- 
tions. 

It is a hand-driven transit micrometer. 

It is so well designed and constructed 
that in the extensive tests, to which I will 
refer in a moment, it never required the 
slightest change in adjustment, not even of 
the pressure of the contact spring, and not 
a single record was ever lost on account of 
any failure of the transit micrometer to 
operate properly. 

A peculiar and important feature of 
this transit micrometer is an automatic 
switch which operates, without the slight- 
est attention from the observer, in such a 
manner that a record is made on the 
chronograph for the middle four turns of 
the field, and for those turns only. This 
positively identifies those four turns, keeps 
the chronograph sheet clear, and enables the 
observer to practise following the star dur- 
ing the earlier part of its transit without 
affecting the chronograph sheet in any 
way. 

In Mareh, April and May, 1904, this in- 
strument was tested by 75 time sets on 18 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


nights at the Coast and Geodetic Survey 
office. Sixteen observers took part in this 
test. The observers were purposely se- 
lected so as to include some with little or 
“no experience in any kind of observation, 
some with long experience in astronomic 
observations and in handling various in- 
struments of precision, and some of various 
erades between these two extremes. Two 
observers worked at the same time, observ- 
ing alternate stars, and thus obtaining a 
determination of their relative personal 
equation. One of the sixteen observers 
was in the test continuously, became thor- 
oughly accustomed to the instrument and 
method of observation, and served as an 
intermediary through which all the other 
observers could be compared with each 
other. 

The tests show that for a practised ob- 
server with such a transit micrometer, the 
total error for a star, including errors 
which are constant for all the records as 
well as the accidental errors of bisection, 
is nearly the same for stars of all declina- 
tions if expressed in angular measurement. 
This is what should be expected if the 
errors concerned are of the same nature as 
if the object pointed upon were stationary 
instead of moving. 

The accidental errors of bisection are 
nearly the same expressed in angular meas- 
ure for stars of all declinations up to 59°, 
and are probably somewhat less for stars 
of greater declination. This is an indi- 
cation that the accidental errors of bisec- 
tion are of the same nature as if the image 
pointed upon were stationary, the indica- 
tion being partly contradicted by the 
smaller errors for stars of declination 
ereater than 58°. 

Good observations can be secured at once 
with the transit micrometer without pre- 
vious practise. Practise simply reduces the 
accidental errors by about 25 per cent. 
I feel that I may speak with assurance on 


SCIENCE. 


409 


this topic, for each of the sixteen observers 
was foreed to begin observing on the first 
star that appeared in his field of view, 
with no previous experience whatever. 
This point is emphasized for the reason 
that I had been led to expect that long 
practise would be necessary before an ob- 
server could be sent to the field with a 
transit micrometer. ‘The accidental error 
of a single record with the transit microm- 
eter is about the same as that of a single 
record with a key. 

During the first half of the tests the 
driving heads were geared to make one 
turn in 28.4, when observing an equatorial 
star. During the last half of the tests the 
driving heads were geared to turn one half 
as fast, namely, one turn in 48.8. This ex- 
treme change in speed produced surpris- 
ingly little effect on the accuracy of the 
result. With this instrument the speed of 
45.8 per turn, or possibly a slightly slower 
speed, is believed to be most favorable to 
accuracy. 

The tests show that the relative personal 
equation between any two observers with 
the transit micrometer is so small as to be 
masked by the accidental errors of observa- 
tion. This is equivalent to saying that it 
is probably less in every case than 8.05, and 
is, as a rule, much smaller than this. The 
relative personal equation with a transit 
micrometer is certainly not more than one 
tenth as large, upon an average, as with a 
key. This conclusion as to the relative 
personal equation applies to inexperienced 
as well as experienced observers. 

The literature of the transit micrometer 
shows abundant corroboration of these con- 
clusions as to the relative personal equa- 
tion. 

It is diffieult to detect constant or sys- 
tematie errors of any kind in transit mi- 
erometer observations. All the errors 
seem to belong to the accidental class. 


410 


This is far from being true of key observa- 
tions. 

The transit micrometer is about to be 
put into use in the regular longitude work 
of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

I predict, basing my prediction upon the 
general experience with transit micrometers 
as well as on these particular tests, that 
with a transit micrometer three nights of 
observations without an exchange of ob- 
servers will give as great accuracy as has 
been secured in the past from ten nights 
of observations with a key, including an 
exchange of observers. This is a predic- 
tion of which the truth cr falsity can only 
be proved conelusively by field experience. 
I rely upon such experience to be gained 
within the next five years to verify the 
prediction. 

I venture to predict also that the evi- 
dence in favor of the transit micrometer 
wil! accumulate to such an extent in the 
next ten years in fixed observatories, as 
well as with portable instruments, that the 
astronomer who uses a key in 1914 for 
accurate time determinations or determina- 
tions of right ascension will have difficulty 
in furnishing adequate explanation of his 
conduct. 

An illustrated description of the Coast 
and Geodetic Survey transit micrometer, 
with a full report of the tests referred to 
above, and a brief résumé of a part of the 
literature of the transit micrometer, is now 
being printed as an appendix to the Coast 
and Geodetic Survey Report for 1904. 
Remeasurement of the Hough Double 

Stars: Eric DoouiTt.e. 

The catalogues of new double stars pub- 
lished by Professor Hough comprise 622 
pairs, of which 77 are closer than 3” and 
143 closer than 1”; in those pairs in which 
the distance is greater than 5” the com- 
panion is usually excessively faint; in fact, 
there are few of the stars which would not 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 533. 


be difficult with a telescope of much less 
than 18 inches aperture. 

The measurement of this fine series of 
doubles seems to have been strangely 
neglected. On a few of them, which are 
of the type of close pairs of equal magni- 
tude, as 98, 260 and 296, there are a num- 
ber of rather discordant measures, but the 
creat majority have received no attention 
except from the discoverer himself. Thus 
there are but 87 pairs which have been 
measured in two different years, and on 
no less than 358 there is but a single prior 
measure. 

The entire list was, therefore, added to 
the observing list for the 18-inch refractor 
of the Flower Observatory. Thus far, 360 
pairs have been measured on three or more 
nights and many of the remaining 262 are 
partially measured; a single night’s meas- 
ure consists in each case of at least four 
measures of position angle and four of the 
double distance. 

Change has been found in 16 of the close 
pairs, and among the wider ones there is in 
33 instances indication of proper motion. 

It is the intention, when the work is com- 
pleted, to publish a catalogue of these stars, 
including about twenty new pairs which 
Professor Hough has discovered since his 
last list was issued. 


A Study of the Drwing-worms of Several 
Photographic Telescopes: Epwarp §. 
KING. 

In following a star with a photographie 
telescope we must have for the period of 
the exposure a clock the hour hand of 
which will indicate the elapsed time on a 
scale graduated to seconds or less. We 
must have the equivalent of being able to 
determine the time by measuring the posi- 
tion of the hour hand with a micrometer. 
If any periodic error occurs in the train 
of the driving mechanism, causing the tele- 
scope to be first in advance of, and then 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


behind, its proper position, the stellar im- 
ages will be elongated into lines having a 
length dependent upon the amount of the 
oscillation. If the telescope follows the 
star only at one extremity of the oscilla- 
tion, we shall have a series of images sepa- 
rated by trails, or, if the rate of the tele- 
scope is changed more, we shall have a trail 
with dark knots appearing at regular inter- 
vals. The number of the knots determines 
the frequency of the oscillation, and almost 
invariably indicates the driving-worm or 
endless screw as the offending member. 

Such a periodie error, as shown by slide 
1, is present in nearly all telescopes driven 
in this manner. This fact is not anything 
new, but has been recognized for years. 
The first example that I know of personally 
occurred in 1888 with the Boyden thirteen- 
inch telescope. In 1896 the director 
asked me to determine the periodic error 
of two of our photographic telescopes. 
Several series of measures were made of 
the eight-inch and the eleven-inch Draper 
telescopes. The method was to view a 
point of the tail-piece through a fixed mi- 
eroscope fitted with a micrometer. After 
each release of the detent by means of the 
signals given by hand, the position of the 
point was read and recorded. The reduc- 
tion of these measures shows that the oscil- 
lation for the eight-inch Draper telescope 
was about 1 second, and for the eleven-inch 
Draper telescope about 0.2 second. These 
figures correspond to trails of less than 
0.01 em. on the plate. Within a few years 
Dr. Hartman has studied the periodic 
error of the Potsdam refractor and pro- 
vided a very ingenious method of correc- 
tion. <A full account of his work will be 
found in the Astronomische Nachrichten, 
No. 3,769, page 2. 

Nothing further was done here until the 
present year, when one of the small 
cameras was provided with a new mount- 
ing. The images proved to be lines lying in 


SCIENCE. 


411 


the direction of the clock’s motion, and 
might, therefore, be affected by a periodic 
error. I proceeded to investigate the dif- 
fieulty by a photographic method. The 
polar axis of the instrument was displaced 
in azimuth by a large amount. Such a 
displacement would cause equatorial stars, 
particularly when near the meridian, to 
move over the plate in declination. If 
an oscillation occurred, it would appear in 
the sinuous character of the trail. Slide 
2, which is enlarged ten times from the 
original plate, shows the result, permit- 
ting no doubt as to the nature of the error. 
The numerous elongated objects are im- 
ages of stars obtained on the same plate in 
the ordinary way. It is seen that the 
elongation of the images corresponds to 
the amplitude of the oscillation as exhibited 
by the vertical trail. The number of the 
oscillations was fifteen per hour, which 
fixes the responsibility upon the worm. A 
similar experiment made with a worm 
which had given satisfactory images is 
shown in slide 3. A slight irregularity is 
seen, but does not prove injurious. The 
same experiment made with the eleven-inch 
Draper telescope did not show anything 
definite, due probably to the smallness of 
the error. It is possible that it could be 
brought out by attaching an enlarging ap- 
paratus to the instrument and this will be 
tried soon. 

The defective worm and several others 
were also tested visually. A telescope of 
about four feet focal length and having 
an eye-piece provided with a crosswire, 
was lashed to the camera and directed 
to a scale graduated to millimeters and 
placed at a distance. I was thus able 
to record the position of the telescope ac- 
curately. After every ten beats given by 
hand to the driving mechanism, the posi- 
tion was read for a period covering more 
than a revolution of the worm, which oc- 
curred in 240 seconds. The readings at 


412 


the beginning and the end of the revolution 
determined the average rate from which 
were found the positions which the tele- 
scope should have oceupied for the inter- 
mediate times. A comparison with the ob- 
served positions gave the periodic error. 
It was possible for the worm to be defective 
either in the thread itself or in the mount- 
ing. Rowland makes the remark that the 
correct mounting of a screw is more diffi- 
eult than making the screw. It seemed 
to be so in the present case. If the screw 
was mounted eccentrically, we might ex- 
pect a great improvement if it were allowed 
to engage only lightly with the R. A. wheel, 
being held in position by a strong spring. 
Slide 4 exhibits the resulting curves. It 
is seen that when the worm was adjusted 
to engage only lightly with the R. A. wheel, 
the oscillation extended through nearly 
eight seconds, but that, when brought into 
contact, the range was hardly two seconds. 
Thus the error of this particular worm was 
eccentricity. 

A further test was made to determine 
if any intermediate adjustment of the 
worm with respect to the R. A. wheel would 
be advantageous. Slide 5 gives a set of 
curves for the various settings, beginning 
with the position in contact and ending 
with the worm very lightly engaged. Curve 
1 is best and curve 3 is worst. That the 
position in contact is not always best is 
shown by slide 6, giving results for the 
worm that proved satisfactory. In this 
ease the action was quite erratic when the 
worm was in contact. 

A further test was made of the eleven- 
inch Draper telescope to determine the 
best adjustment of the worm with respect 
to the R. A. or sector wheel. Slide 1, 
which has already been seen, shows the ap- 
pearance of the trails at what may be con- 
sidered an average adjustment. Im slide 
8 we have the result when the worm is in 
contact, and in slide 9 when the position is 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 533. 


adjusted to give the least error, found by 
trial. Probably in all instruments, one 
may, without any process of reconstruc- 
tion, find by experiment where the periodie 
error is much decreased. 

The foregoing has been in the nature of 
an abstract of an investigation in progress 
rather than a detailed account of work 
complete. It is possible that a careful 
study of curves representative of the ac- 
tion of the driving-worm will suggest an 
improvement in cutting the thread. As 
the experiments are easily made, I hope 
that other observers will test their instru- 
ments. A comparison of the results ob- 
tained with a greater variety of instru- 
ments would be of interest and might lead 
to a better understanding of the entire 
subject. 

The Reflex Zenith Tube: C. L. DoouittLe. 

In 1851, or thereabout, the instrument 
having this designation was installed at 
Greenwich. The maker was Mr. Simons, 
the designer Mr. J. B. Airy. The immedi- 
ate object in view was the observation of 
y Draconis, a star which has been followed 
at Greenwich with some kind of zenith in- 
strument since the time of Bradley. 

The principle is briefly as follows: The 
telescope is fixed permanently, with its 
axis vertical as nearly as may be. Below 
the objective at a distance nearly half 
that of the focal length is placed a basin of 
mereury. The rays from a star at the 
zenith after passing through the objective, 
are reflected from the mercury surface 
and brought to a focus immediately in 
front of this objective. By means of a 
micrometer, the frame of which is firmly 
attached to the ceil of the objective, with 
the plane of the reticule passing through 
the focus, the zenith distance of a star 
culminating within ten or fifteen minutes | 
of the zenith may be measured. Finally 
a diagonal reflector brings the ray to the 


Marcu 17, 1905.) 


ocular, which is at right angles to the axis 
of the objective. 

In practise the observation is made by 
_ bisecting the star, then quickly reversing by 
turning the objective with the micrometer 
attached through 180°, then making a sec- 
ond bisection. One half the difference of 
the micrometer readings will evidently be 
the measure of the star’s zenith distance. 
Obviously both bisections can not be made 
with the star on the meridian. This makes 
necessary a small correction easily deter- 
mined. 

An instrument involving these principles 
'.has recently been installed at the Flower 
’ Observatory. So far as I am aware this 
is the second to be constructed. In detail, 
it differs in a number of particulars from 
the Greenwich instrument. The optical 
parts are by Brashear, and the instrumental 
parts by Warner and Swasey. The aper- 
ture of the objective is eight inches, the 
foeal length one hundred inches. In the 
Greenwich instrument this cone of light 
after reflection passes a second time 
through the glass of the objective. In 
this case a hole one and one half inches in 
diameter is bored through the objective; 
through this hole a short tube passes, at- 
tached above to the micrometer box. When 
not in use this tube is closed by a shutter 
which presses up against its lower end, 
thus protecting the reticule from dust and 
moisture as completely as in the ordinary 
form of telescope. The construction may 
be likened to that of an ordinary telescope 
with the tube cut in two near the ocular, 
this end being passed through a hole 
through the middle of the objective. 

Another matter of importance is this. 
It is evident that unless the plane of the 
reticule passes through one of the principal 
points of the objective, any change in the 
inclination of the apparatus will shift the 
zero point of the micrometer with respect 
to the vertical. This makes necessary a cor- 


SCIENCE. 


413 


rection depending on the level readings— 
the very thing which we wish to avoid. For 
this purpose Dr. Hastings, who computed 
the curves of this objective, so designed it 
as to bring the first principal point in 
front of the upper surface, 0.155 inch. It 
was a simple matter to place the plane of 
the reticule at this same distance. These 
peculiarities introduced into the problem 
some technical and mechanical difficulties, 
all of which were successfully overcome, 
the optical performance being entirely 
satisfactory. 

A solid cast-iron pillar, weighing several 
hundred pounds, formed the tube of the 
telescope. The focal adjustment is made 
by raising or lowering the mereury sur- 
face, this arrangement offering no diffi- 
culties. 

As is usually the case with a new design, 
in part experimental, varicus unforeseen 
delays have occurred. All previous diffi- 
culties have apparently been overcome, 
and regular observations are now in prog- 
ress. At present observations are carried 
on simultaneously with this instrument and 
the zenith telescope; four groups are em- 
ployed as heretofore. In this program 
each group contains eight zenith stars to 
be observed with the reflex tube, and ten 
latitude pairs for the zenith telescope, with 
one wide pair for temperature investiga- 
tion; the time required for these nineteen 
observations being on the average approxi- 
mately two and one half hours. It is 
hoped that in the course of two or three 
years these observations may furnish data 
tending to throw light on a number of ob- 
secure problems. 

The star y Cygni, magnitude 2.5, 
minates within less than one minute of 
the zenith of the instrument. Although 
at present it differs in right ascension from 
the sun by only 1230™, it is an easy ob- 
ject to observe. There will be no diffi- 
eulty in following it during the greater 


eul- 


414 


part of the year. As an indication of the 
performance of the instrument the latitudes 
resulting from a preliminary reduction of 
the observations made on this star are here 
given. 


° ut 

1904, Dec. 6, ¢ = 39 58 1.83 
Uf 1.95 

8, 1.85 

9, 1.86 

13; 1.81 

14, 1.79 

16, 1.84 

18, 1.92, 

ols 1.79 

GY, diehg Al 2.00 


Variations of the Bright Hydrogen Lines 
in Stellar Spectra: ANNIE J. CANNON. 
Stars whose spectra are of the Orion 

type, having also one or more bright hydro- 
gen lines, form a most interesting peculiar 
class whose position in the scheme of stellar 
evolution is enigmatical. The Harvard 
photographs show that the bright hydrogen 
lines are variables in the following six 
of these stars, » Centauri, x’ Apodis, v 
Sagittaru, « Capricorm, J Velorum and 27 
Canis Majoris. So far as known, no varia- 
tion in the light of any of these stars has 
ever been observed, although the changes 
in their spectra point either to great at- 
mospheric upheavals or to movements of 
two or more revolving bodies. 

The most important changes in the 
spectrum of 7 Centauri may be summarized 
as follows: In 1897 all lines were dark and 
Hf was nearly as intense as Hy. In 1898 
and 1899 HB was very faint and appeared 
as a dark line superposed on a faint bright 
band. In 1901 a most striking change had 
taken place, for HB had become a strong 
bright line, having considerable shift 
towards the violet when compared with the 
dark Hf present in 1897. Hy was dark 
with a bright band towards the violet. 
Photographs taken in 1902 recorded the re- 
appearance of the dark line on the edge of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 533. 


greater wave-length of bright Hf, and both 
lines were of moderate intensity. In 1903 
the spectrum was similar to that of 1898. 
The period of these changes is probably 
several years in length. 

The changes in the spectrum of x’ Apodis 
are somewhat similar to those of » Centauri. 
It appears that both these stars are spectro- 
scopic binaries, one component of each be- 
ing a bright line star. The spectrum of v 
Sagittarti presents another difficult spectro- 
scopic problem, perhaps on the order of 
B Lyre. The spectrum of v Sagittarii 
always appears to be composite. The prin- 
cipal lines seem to be due to two bodies, one 
having a spectrum like B Orionis and the 
other like « Auriga. The spectrum of B 
Orionis was strongly predominant on seven 
photographs, but frequently the two spectra 
seemed to be equally intermingled. Per- 
haps the most curious phenomenon is that 
on twenty-three photographs, on which the 
helium lines were very strong, those of 
hydrogen were unusually weak. Hf was 
invisible, appearing neither as a line of 
emission nor of absorption, while line 4,922 
was clearly seen. Hy and Hé were respect- 
ively much less intense than the adjacent 
helium lines at 4,387.8 and 4,120.5. It is 
possible that a third body, having bright 
hydrogen lines, might explain these ap- 
pearances. 

Eleven photographs of the spectrum of 
e Capricorm, taken in 1903, showed HB 
to be a faint but distinct bright line lying 
on the edge of greater wave-length of an 
equally faint dark line. On earlier photo- 
graphs, H®@ was dark and of varying in- © 
tensity. Some faint lines, including sev- 
eral due to iron, are also subject to change 
in this spectrum. 

It is possible that varying atmospheric — 
conditions may account for the changes in 
the spectra of J Velorum and 27 Canis 
Majoris. On June 2, 1893, the dark HB 
and Hy in J Velorwm had a fine bright line 


Marcu 1/, 1905.] 


superposed. In the spectrum of 27 Canis 
Majoris; bright hydrogen was present in 
March, 1890, April, 1895 and October, 
1897. Numerous photographs of both 
these spectra on other dates showed all the 
lines to be wholly dark. 

It is evident that a large field of investi- 
gation lies open to the spectroscopist among 
these bright-line stars. 


Variable Stars in Large Nebulous Regions: 

Henrietta §. Leavitt. 

Since last March a special study of the 
distribution of groups of variable stars has 
been in progress at the Harvard College 
Observatory. As one result of this investi- 
gation, four hundred and fourteen new 
variables have been discovered and an- 
nounced. Seventy-three of these are in 
Orion, one hundred and fifty-two in the 
Large Magellanic Cloud, fifty-seven in the 
Small Magellanic Cloud, one hundred and 
five in Scorpius, ten in Carina and seven- 
teen in Sagittarius. The results of this 
study up to the present time may be sum- 
marized as follows: 

First, as regards distribution, it has be- 
come evident that groups of variable stars 
are strongly localized. Of the ninety-nine 
confirmed variables at present known in the 
constellation of Orion, south of the equator, 
eighty-nine are within the limits of Bond’s 
map of the region surrounding the Nebula 
of Orion, and of these all but four are 
found in less than half this area. The en- 
tire region thus finally limited is nebulous. 
The large number of variables discovered 
in the two Magellanic Clouds is in marked 
contrast with the small number found in 
the surrounding regions. The neighbor- 
hood of the Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius is 
noticeably poor in variable stars, and so 
also is the neighborhood of the nebula 
about » Carinw. Yet these are two of the 
most densely crowded regions of the Milky 
Way. In Scorpius, after subtracting 


SCIENCE. 


415 


thirty-three variables which were found in 
the cluster Messier 4, there are still left 
more than four times as many variables as 
were found in an area in Sagittarius ap- 
proximately equal in extent and far richer 
in stars. 

Secondly, a certain order of brightness 
appears, on the whole, to prevail among the 
variable stars of each group, those in the 
central condensation of the Large Magel- 
lanie Cloud being the faintest, and those 
in’ Seorpius the brightest. 

Finally, it is probable that different 
types of variability prevail in different re- 
gions. In both of the Magellanic Clouds, 
a large proportion of the variables appear 
to have very short periods, while in 
Scorpius the reverse may prove to be the 
ease. Many of the variables in the Nebula 
of Orion remain faint during the greater 
part of the time, but occasionally show a 
striking inerease of brightness. Whether 
these flashes of brillianey occur regularly 
is not yet known. 

The researches here described supple- 
ment the remarkable discovery by Professor 
Bailey, of large numbers of variable stars 
in clusters. They are similar to these ear- 
ried on by Professor Wolf, of Heidelberg, 
who has announced lists of new variables 
in Orion, Aquila and Vulpecula.  Evi- 
dently a further study of the distribution 
of groups of variable stars will be intensely 
interesting in its bearing upon the problems 
of stellar evolution. 


Planetary Spectrograms: Prercivau LOWELL. 

These spectrograms were made by Mr. 
V. M. Slipher and the lantern slides of 
them by Mr. C. O. Lampland, both of the 
Lowell Observatory staff, and were pre- 
sented by the director, Professor Lowell. 

1. Solar spectrum, photographed Novem- 
ber 30, 1903—59 dark lines can easily be 
counted between G and Hy. 

2. Spectrum of e« Pegasi, photographed 


416 


September 20, 1904—expcsure 25 15”. 
Iron and chromium comparison spectrum. 
About 59 dark lines ean be counted between 
G and Hy. 

3. Speetrum of Venus, photographed 
March 9, 1903. This is one of the set from 
which Mr. Slipher determined the rotation 
of the planet not to be of twenty-four 
hours or thereabouts, but very long—iron 
comparison spectrum. 

4. Spectrum of Mars, photographed 
Mareh 7, 1903—iron comparison spectrum. 
One of the plates of the set made on Mars 
by Mr. Shpher to test the measure of pre- 
cision of the Venus set. The Mars plates 
gave 25" 10™ + for the planet’s rotation. 
The true value is 24" 37™. As the pre- 
cision possible on Mars ig only half that 
possible for Venus the results speak for 
the decisiveness of the Venus set. 

5. Spectrum of Jupiter, photographed 
November 21, 1903—iron comparison spec- 
trum. The tilt of the lines shows a rotation 
in 9550" +, which is exactly the true rota- 
tion period as determined by Spots. 

6. Spectrum of Saturn, ball and rings, 
photographed September 7, 1904, on a 
Cramer ‘crown’ plate—iron comparison 
spectrum. The tilt of the lines of the ball 
in one direction and that of the lines of the 
rings in the other are well shown, demon- 
strating that the rings are formed of dis- 
erete particles, as proved mathematically 
by Peirce in part and Clerk-Maxwell in 
whole and first shown spectroscopically by 
Keeler. 

The spectroscope used in these researches 
was constructed by Brashear as powerful 
as possible, especially for the determination 
spectroscopically of the rotation period of 
Venus. 


The Canals of Mars. An Investigation of 
Their Objectivity: PerctvAL LOWELL. 
A new and striking proof of the objectiv- 

ity of the double canals of Mars has re- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 533. 


cently come to me in a comparison of 
the width of the doubles obtained by 
Schiaparelli in 1888 and by me in 1903. 
The unintentional character of the cor- 
roboration is one of its strongest points. 
Not only at the time of my observaiicns 
was his work not in my mind, but not 
even after the fact had I proposed to com- 
pare it. 

The following table summarizes the re- 
sults obtained in 1888 and in the May-June 
presentation of 1903. 


CANALS DRAWN DOUBLE BY SCIITAPARELLI, 1888. 


Times Seen. Width. 
uphraites! fr sierra 4 5.1 
Phisone mii: acer eee 4 3.9 
Astaboras eos c eo eee 3 2.9 
Protonilus, 2... -ce ore 4 2, 
Pyerus” occ Serceee 1 eee 4 2.4 


Canals drawn single by Schiaparelli: 
Astusapes, Python, Xenius, Rhysius, Apis, 
Typhon, Hiddekel, Callirrhoe, Deuteronilus. 

Two canals, Arnon and Kison, were 
drawn convergent to the north. 


CANALS DRAWN DOUBLE BY LOWELL, 1903. 


Times Seen. Width. 
° 
Euphrates) .....:-< 2.2: ence lal 4.0 
IPDISON: Geet aerssasee oe 12 ak 
AAStODONAGE Sano eraeee 9 Bw 
Protonilustesssc umes 8 2.8 
Piers; Aes sete eee ce 2 2.1 
DIGACMS) ead) een cee 12 3.6 


Canals drawn single by Lowell: Astu- 
sapes, Python, Rhysius, Aroeris, Cadmus, 
JEgyptus. Hiddekel generally single, Cal- 
lirrhoe generally a broad line. 

Arnon sometimes convergent to the 
north, sometimes double. Kison suspicious 
of convergence to the north. 

For both observers the direction of the 


canal had nothing to do with its single or 


double appearance. 
The conspicuous doubles are the same in ~ 
the drawings of both observers. ‘ 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


The conspicuous singles are the same in 
the drawings of both observers. 

The Arnon and Kison are convergent in 
both and in the same direction. 

Only the faint or very close doubles show 
differences at the two presentations. 

The double canals, then, declare their 
own objectivity on three counts, each more 


compelling than the one before: (1) The 


fact of showing double, (2) the relative 
width of the double, (3) the absolute width 
of the double; and they do this precisely 
as a real object would, the certainty in- 
ereasing with the ease of observation. The 
determination of the absolute width is very 
difficult, and here we find the probability 
for reality strong but not expressible; the 
relative width is easier to determine and 
the probability for reality is 24 to 1; lastly 
the determination of the fact of being 
double, the easiest cbservation of all, shows 
the probability that it is real to be 128 to 1. 


Note on Three Solar Periods: Frank H. 

BIGELOW. 

The mean period of rotation of the solar 
photosphere at the equator is about 26.68 
days, as determined by solar observations. 
There is a mean period of about 25.98 days 
indicated by terrestrial, magnetic and 
meteorological observations, which has been 
regarded as a period of solar rotation. The 
relative frequency of the solar prominences 
and the annual variations in the earth’s 
atmosphere show that there is a_ short 
eyele of about 1,004 days. These are ap- 
parently related together by the equation, 

— + ear == — (approximately ). 
Some discussion is given of a_ possible 
physical cause for this condition, as found 
in the interior circulation of the sun’s mass. 


The Coordination of Visual and Photo- 
graphic Star Magnitudes: Joun A. 
PARKHURST. 


SCIENCE. 


ALT 


The importanee of stellar photcme!ry 
among the departments of modern astron- 
omy arises from the fact that the magni- 
tude of a star bears immediately on the 
star’s physical condition and changes. 
That this is of growing importance is wit- 
nessed, among other things, by the numer- 
ous discoveries of new variable stars, over 
three hundred in the present year; show- 
ing that variability must be reckoned with 
as a factor in stellar evolution to an extent 
that would net have been imagined a de- 
eade ago. ‘The relation lately shown toa 
exist between stellar variability and sun- 
spct phenomena adds at once to the inter- 
est of the problem and the possibility of its 
solution. 

The photometric catalogues published 
within the last few years by the Harvard 
and Potsdam observatories furnish a se- 
eure basis for visual photometry, their re- 
sults agreeing reasonably well except the 
discordanees arising from differences in the 
star colors. No such basis for photo- 
graphic magnitudes now exists, therefore 
to be useful and intelligible, magnitudes 
must be reduced or reducible to the visual 
system. But the extension of photometric 
work demanded by the present needs of 
astronomy is possible only by photographie 
means; hence the pressing need of finding 
some method of harmenizing visual and 
photographic results for stars differing in 
type of spectrum and, therefore, in color. 
The usefulness of such a method will vary 
somewhat in proportion as it enables us to 
utilize the photographic magnitudes al- 
ready obtained. 

That the great accuracy of photcgraphie 
methods applied to the astronomy of posi- 
tion has as yet no counterpart in the astron- 
omy of magnitudes, is due to the one dis- 
turbing factor of star color. It is well 
known that a colored star will affect dif- 
ferently the eye and the photographic plate, 
but it is not so well appreciated that equal 


418 


differences arise in the visual estimates of 
eolored stars by different observers or by 
the use of telescopes of different apertures. 
The ‘color correction’ amounting to one or 
two magnitudes for a red star in the photo- 
graph, is no greater than the difference be- 
tween the simultaneous Harvard and 
Rousdon visual estimates of the brightness 
of such stars. In fact, we find diserep- 
ancies of the same kind and similar in 
amount between different observers, dif- 
ferent telescopes, visual and photographic 
results, and different brands of plates in 
photography. If the statement is made 
that no known relation exists between 
visual and photographic magnitudes, the 
retort can be made that a normal visual 
scale does not exist. 

The advantages arising from the use of 
orthochromatie plates have long been rec- 
ognized, but Scheiner dismisses them with 
the statement that they can never yield 
visual magnitudes. The suggestion was first 
(as far as I am aware) made by Schwarzs- 
child that the difference between the magni- 
tudes of a colored star on ordinary and 
orthochromatie plates can be taken as a 
measure of the star’s color. If this dif- 
ference is a function of the color it only 
remains to find the form of the function, 
and then complete allowance can be made 
for the effect of color and that troublesome 
factor can be eliminated, making possible 
the reduction of photographic magnitudes 
to visual, or vice versa. Two methods are 
available for finding the form of the func- 
tion. First, by trial on known stars of 
different color (spectral type). To fix our 
ideas, suppose, for example, that a star of 
eolor 5 on Chandler’s decimal scale was 
7.0 magnitude visually, but photographed 
8.0 magnitude on an orthochromatic plate 
and 9.0 magnitude on an ordinary plate. 
For such a star the orthochromatic plate 
gives half the color correction. It is evident 
that by such experiments with standard 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 533. 


stars of known magnitude and color, the 
form of the function can be found. This 
work is being done by the writer, under a 
grant from the Carnegie Institution, using 
Cramer isochromatic plates in connection 
with ordinary plates, on the 24-inch re- 
fleeting telescope of the Yerkes Observa- 
tory. Provisional results thus far obtained 
are very promising. An independent 
method which will also be used for finding 
the form of the function, consists in com- 
paring the intensity curves of the spectra 
of stars of different types with the in- 
tensity curves of the solar spectrum on the 
two kinds of plates used. It is evident 
that the photographic effect is the integral 
of the product of these two curves. 

If the objection is urged that the diffi- 
culty of coordinating the results obtained 
with different brands of ordinary and or- 
thochromatie plates, will be equal to the 
difficulty of harmonizing the visual and 
photographie systems, it may be met by 
the suggestion that any brands of plates 
used should be calibrated by observations 
of a carefully selected list of standard 
stars, including each spectral type. 

No less important than the choice of 
plates is the kind of telescope to be used. 
It seems to the writer that the reflector is 
the only telescope suited for this work, since 
by it the rays of all wave-lengths are 
brought to the same focus. 

Emphasis is needed on two further 
points in regard to the adaptability of the 
reflector to this work. When extreme 
ratios of aperture to focal length are 
avoided, first, the field is very nearly fiat; 
second, the action is very rapid, so that 
the work can be extended to faint stars. 
This flatness of field has been denied, both 
from theoretical reasons and from so-called 
measures of reflector plates; but it should 
be stated that the theory is incomplete, not 
taking proper account of the distribution 
of light in the ‘blurred’ image; also that 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


the measures published by Plummer and 
Poor were not made on the original nega- 
tives, and can not, therefore, be properly 
called measures. The only real measures 
so far published, to my knowledge, have 
been those of the Eros plates taken with 
the Crossley refiector, and measured at Co- 
lumbia and Lick. <A few of these measures 
discussed by Hinks showed distortions 
giving anomalous results near the edge of 
the plate, but these anomalies are matched 
on the plates taken at Algiers with the 
standard photographic refractor, and no- 
ticed on the following page of Hinks’s 
paper. It should also be stated that the 
aperture ratio of the Crossley was large, 
about 1 to 6. 

For this work a diaphragm twelve inches 
in diameter has been used on the 24-inch 
reflector, and as the focal length is 93 
inches, the ratio is a little greater than 1 to 
8. Allowing for the area cut out by the 
flat, the clear aperture of the mirror is 
equivalent to 104 inches. The exposures 
have been timed to give good measurable 
images of all the stars on Hagen’s charts 
which extend to twelfth or thirteenth 
magnitude; in good seeing this requires 
ten minutes with ordinary plates and fif- 
teen minutes on the isochromatic plates. 
The magnitudes have been deduced by 
measurements of disk diameters, the in- 
crease per magnitude being nearly uniform 
and amounting to about 0.025 mm. As the 
diameters are measurable with a probable 
error of 0.001 mm., corresponding to 0.04 
of a magnitude, the results are comparable 
with the best visual measures. 

This work has some similarity to the 
spectral photometry of the Draper cata- 
logue, each taking account of the intensity 
curve of the spectrum; but differs from it 
in two respects: It is not confined to the 
bright stars, but can reach to the faintest 
visible; also, taking account of the entire 


SCIENCE. 


-419 


spectrum, its results will harmonize with 

visual magnitudes. 

The Quadruple System of Alpha Gemi- 
norum: HEBER D. CurTIs. 

The well-known binary star a Geminorum 
was pronounced by Sir John Herschel to 
be the largest and finest of the double stars 
in the northern portion of the sky. Meas- 
ures, of a very rude character, were made 
of this pair as early as 1718 by Bradley 
and Pond, so that this system has been un- 
der observation for nearly two hundred 
years. In spite of this fact some of the 
elements of the orbit are still quite uncer- 
tain, particularly the eccentricity and the 
period. Values of the eccentricity have 
been derived, ranging from 0.32 to 0.80, 
with corresponding periods of 1,001 to 232 
years. In recent years the distance be- 
tween the two components has commenced 
to decrease, with the result that the ele- 
ments have become rather more deter- 
minate, and Doberek (A. N., 3970) has re- 
cently expressed the hope that through this 
decrease in the distance it will be possible 
to fix the orbit with considerable accuracy 
within the next ten or twenty years. 

Doberek has derived the following sets 
of elements, of which he regards the sec- 
ond as the most probable and most in agree- 
ment with recent measures. 


Elements of Castor. 


Q 29° 29° 33° 56’ 42° 34’ 

aN 84 44 82 26 118 11 

a 73 3 63 37 61 56 

e 0.7513 0.4409 0.2321 
Period 268 years 347 years 502 years 

Ai 1,936.65 1,969.82 1,963.30 

a 7.326 5’.756 6.467 


Retrograde. 


In January, 1896, Belopolsky at Pulkova 
discovered that the fainter of the two stars 
forming this system is itself a rapid 
spectroscopic binary.* The period of this 

* Bull. Acad. St. Petersburg, December, 1896. 


Astrophysical Journal, January, 1897. Mem. 
Acad. St. Petersburg, XI., 4, January, 1900. 


420 


component is very well determined, being 
close to 2.934 days. Belopolsky finds, how- 
ever, certain irregularities in the observa- 
tions of successive years which are best ex- 
plained by the assumption that the line of 
apsides rotates in about 1,400 days. 

Recent spectrograms taken with the re- 
mounted Mills spectrograph show that the 
brighter component is also a spectroscopic 
binary, and that the system of a Geminorum 
is in reality a quadruple one. Since the 
discovery of this interesting fact in Novem- 
ber of this year a number of plates of both 
stars have been secured. At present four- 
teen plates are available for a rough pre- 
liminary determination of the period, which 
seems to be about 27 days. Two early 
plates of the bright component are rather 
poor, so that their value in determining the 
period is somewhat impaired and more 
plates will be necessary before a more ac- 
curate determination of the period can be 
derived. 

Both stars are given in the Draper 
Catalogue as of type A, and in the later 
Harvard classification as type VIIIa. H 
Gamma is rather broad and has not been 
used in the measures. The line at A 4,481 
due to magnesium is very good and there 
are quite a number of other metallic lines, 
rather broad and quite faint in the spec- 
trum of the brighter component, and some- 
what easier of measurement in the fainter. 
Helium is apparently absent. There are a 
number of lines due to titanium and iron, 
most of the latter being enhanced lines; 
two lines seem to be due to chromium. 
With proper exposure (about sixteen min- 
utes) from fifteen to twenty-five measur- 
able lines are found. The total range in 
the radial velocity is about twenty-one 
kilometers, and the preliminary determina- 
tion of the velocity of the center of mass 
of the system is approximately + 5 km. 
per second. The corresponding constant 
for the fainter component is given by Belo- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 533. 


polsky in his latest paper as — 4.1 km. per 
second. It is well known that where the 
elements of the visual orbit of a binary and 
the relative radial velocities of its com- 
ponents are both known it is possible to 
derive an accurate value of its parallax. 
Assuming the relative radial velocity to be 
nine kilometers and using the period of 
347 years and the corresponding elements 
which Doberck regards as the most prob- 
able, we find a parallax of 0.03. Using 
the other orbits given above, however, we 
should get values differing widely from 
this. It is evident that such results are 
meaningless till the elements of the visual 
orbit are known more definitely. 
In the star a Geminorum we have a well- 

established quadruple system, and it is 
hoped that the more detailed investigation 
which the writer has in progress will give 
a definite determination of the relative 
radial velocity of the two systems, so that 
with the improvement of the visual orbit 
we may in time have a relatively very ex- 
act knowledge of the distance, mass and 
orbital dimensions of this complex star. 


Use of the Method of Least Squares to de- 
cide between Conflicting Hypotheses: 
Haroutp JACOBY. 

In 1901 the writer published* a theorem 
concerning the application of least squares 
when it is necessary to choose between two 
different methods of reducing observations. 
The theorem was doubtless well known, 
but the writer was unable to find it in 
print. Since then, Mr. Midzuhara, of the 
Tokyo Astronomical Observatory, has writ- 
ten three interesting articlest in which, 
among other things, he gives a different 
proof of the writer’s theorem, and also ob- 
tains another analogous one. The object 
of the present note is to point out a very 
important divergence between Mr. Midzu- 

* Astr. Jour., 514. 

j Astr. Jour., 521, 535, 568. 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


hara’s conclusions and the writer’s; and 
also to show how one of the former’s most 
interesting results can be obtained in a 
manner different from that used by him. 
The writer’s theorem is: ‘‘Let there be 

given two series of observation equations 
as follows: 

a,x + by + e2z+...4-7=9, } (1) 

Ge + boy + 02-4... - ny, = 0, 


az + byt+ez+...+ pw+...+m4=—9, (2) 
age + boy + cz +... + pxw+... +n, =—0, 


the equations being identical in the two 
series except for the addition of one or 
more new unknowns w, -*: in (2). Let 
each of these series of equations be solved 
by the method of least squares, and let: 
[vv],, be the sum of the squares of the 
residuals resulting from the solution of 
equations (1); [vv]., be the sum of the 
squares of the residuals resulting from the 
solution of equations (2); then, no matter 
what may be the law of the coefficients 
D1, Po, **3, and even if these coefficients are 
assigned at random, [vv],, is always 
larger than [vv],.’’ 

The conclusion drawn by the writer from 
this theorem is as follows: 

““The method of least squares is used 
ordinarily to adjust series of observation 
equations so as to obtain the most probable 
values of the unknowns. But there is a 
subtler, and perhaps more important use 
of the method; when it is employed to 
decide which of two hypothetical theories 
has the greater probability of really being 
a law of nature; or to decide between two 
methods of reducing observations. In 
such cases, astronomers not infrequently 
sive preference to the solution which brings 
out the smallest value of [vv], the sum of 
the squared residuals. But in the light of 
the above theorem, it becomes clear that 
the mere diminution of [vv] alone is in- 
sufficient to decide between two solutions, 


SCIENCE. 


421 


when one involyes more unknowns than 
the other. To give preference to the sec- 
ond solution, it is necessary that the dim- 
inution of [vv] be quite large, and that 
the additional unknowns possess a decided 
a priori probability of having a real ex- 
istence.”’ 

In his paper in Astr. Jour., 521, Mr. 
Midzuhara says: ‘‘This conclusion, per- 
haps, depends on the author’s misappre- 
hension of the principle of probability. 
For I believe that to compare the prob- 
abilities of the two solutions we must neces- 
sarily take 

- a 
oe a are 
where m expresses the number of observa- 
tions, and p, and p, are the numbers of 
the unknown quantities in the first’ and 
second solutions, respectively.’’ 

In other words, Mr. Midzuhara takes as 
the criterion for deciding between the two 
solutions the quantity ordinarily called 
‘mean error of one equation,’ instead of 
the sum of the squared residuals. When 
the number of unknowns in the two solu- 
tions is different, these two eriteria may 
give opposite results; the one indicating the 
first solutions as the more probable, the 
other, the second solution. 

It is evident that practise of astronomers 
varies in this matter. Mr. Midzuhara, for 
instance, and doubtless other astronomers, 
too, use [vv] /m — » as the criterion. On 
the other hand, Bessel was in the habit of 
using |vv]. A good example is to be found 
in his classic paper on the parallax of 61 
Cygm. He there* reduces his observations 
with parallax terms, and again without 
them. He decides in favor of the reality 
of his parallax terms solely on account of 
the diminution of [vv] ; and not until after 
this is decided does he compute the mean 
error V[vv]/m—p. This quantity he 
ealeulates for the parallax solution only, 

* Astr. Nach., No. 366, p. 87. 


422 


not for both solutions. So far is he from 
using it as a criterion. 

It would, indeed, appear that very sim- 
ple reasoning indicates [vv] as the right 
criterion. If we consider observation 


equations of the general form: 


(2, Y, % ---, 2, ) = 0, 


the ordinary solution determines 2, y, 2, °*’, 
so as to make [vv] a minimum. If there 
exists a doubt as to whether the form of 
the function ¢ should be either ¢, or ¢., 
this fact simply transfers ¢ to the list 
of unknowns, and we must so determine 
, 2, Y, 2 ***, aS to make [vv] a minimum. 
We shall do this if we make two ordinary 
least squares solutions for ¢, and ¢,, the 
only possible values of ¢, and prefer that 
solution which gives the smaller [vv]. 
Since the other criterion may give an op- 
posite result, that other criterion must be 
wrong. 

It may be of interest to add to the above 
a remark concerning the attractive result 
obtained by Mr. Midzuhara in his equa- 
tion (13).* This result is: 


[vv], — [rv], = w* Pr, (13) 


where w is the value of the new unknown, 
obtained in the solution of our equations 
(2) and P,, its weight from the same solu- 
tion. Mr. Midzuhara gives a somewhat 
extended demonstration of this equation 
(13) ; it may, however, be obtained almost 
directly from a principle demonstrated by 
Gauss in ‘Elementis Ellipticis Palladis.’t+ 
It is there shown that if » be the number 
of unknowns, and if the normal equations 
are solved by the Gaussian method of 
elimination : 
[w] = [nn- 1], 

where [nn-p] denotes the usual Gaussian 
auxiliary. In the present case, if there 
are p unknowns in equations (1), and 


* Astr. Jour., 568. 
t‘ Werke,’ Vol. 6, p. 22. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 533. 


»#--1 in equations (2), we shall have, at 
the end of our Gaussian elimination: 


[pp-#]w + [pn-u]=—0, 
[nn - 4] - 
tun-(“ + 1)]. 


But, according to Gauss’s principle: 


[nn - 4] =[w)},, 
[nn - (w+ 1)] = [wl], 


and, as usual: 


[nn- (4+ 1)] =o Gh 


[pp ¥] 
Therefore: 
lc Toi Lele 
[wv], [vv], = [pp: 4] 
But: 
cee 
[pp] 
and: 


[ pp: #] = Pw = weight of w, 
so that: 
[vv], — [vv], = w*Pro. 


This is Mr. Midzuhara’s equation (13). 


Tables for the Reduction of Astronomical 

Photographs: Haroup Jacospy. 

In 1895 the writer published a paper en- 
titled ‘On the Reduction of Stellar Photo- 
graphs, with Special Reference to the 
Astro-Photographie Catalogue Plates.’* As 
indicated in the title, the method there de- 
seribed was intended primarily for the re- 
duction of large series of plates made at 
the same declination. But ordinary stellar 
photographs intended for star-cluster cata- 
logues, solar or stellar parallax, ete., usu- 
ally involve so few plates of a single 
declination that it is not economical to pre- 
pare the kind of special tables suitable for 
a photographic catalogue of the whole 
heavens. Moreover, Contribution 10 of the 
Columbia Observatory has long been out 
of print, so that it is now impossible to 
supply copies to those asking for them. 


** Contrib. from the Obs. of Columbia Coll.’ No. 
10; and in French, Bull. Com. Perm., Tome III. 


Marcu 17, 1905.) 


For these reasons, the writer has pre- 
pared the present modification of his 
method, and has added tables suitable for 


the reduction of isolated groups of plates 


made at any declination distant more than 
15° from the pole. 

The tables will appear in a short time as 
one of the Columbia ‘Contributions.’ 
Recent Researches of the Henry Draper 

Memorial: Epwarp C. PICKERING. 

A photograph was shown of the spectrum 
of X Cephei, which has a spectrum closely 
resembling that of ¢ Puppis and contains 
the second series of lines probably due to 
hydrogen. A method of observing occulta- 
tions photographically was explained and 
a printed enlargement of a photograph of 
the emersion of » Virginis, on December 
28, 1904, was shown, which had been taken 
by Mr. Edward S. King. <A rotary motion 
was given to the plate-holder so that the 
star gave a continuous trail, the time being 
indicated by a motion given to the plate at 
regular intervals. It appeared that the 
star increased in light during emersion for 
about a third of a second. The principal 
portion of the paper was devoted to the 
study of the distribution of the stars ac- 
cording to their spectra. The results were 
based upon an examination of the Draper 
plates by Mrs. Fleming. About 6,000 
plates have been inspected, each showing 
on the average the spectra of a thousand 
stars, with small dispersion, and on these 
all that were peculiar were noted. Using 
a larger dispersion, about thirty thousand 
stars have been classified and catalogued. 
Visual counts of the number of stars in 
different parts of the sky have little value 
owing to the uncertainty of the magnitudes. 
The same might be said of a classification 
of photometric magnitudes of the stars 
taken as a whole. It was shown that stars 
of each class of spectrum should be con- 
sidered by themselves, as the distribution 
differs widely. Thus, the Milky Way ap- 


SCIENCE. 423 


pears to consist wholly of stars of the first 
type. The helium or Orion stars have a 
different distribution, forming a Milky 
Way of their own, mainly in Orion and 
Argus. It was shown that the classifica- 
tion of the variable stars, proposed by the 
writer in 1880, was confirmed by their 
spectra, and that the latter formed a means 
of determining the class, in some eases, 
even better than the light curve. 


Note on Two Variable Star Catalogues: 

J. G. HAGEN. 

Father Hagen presented to the meeting 
some specimen pages of two Catalogues of 
Variable Stars, now in preparation, one by 
the Astronomische Gesellschaft and the 
other by Professor E. C. Pickering. Of 
the former catalogue seven pages had been 
printed for presentation at the astronom- 
ical congress in Lund, last September. A 
copy had been sent to Father Hagen in time 
for the Philadelphia meeting, but Dr. 
Mueller’s report at Lund came, unfortu- 
nately, too late. For this reason only those 
features of the catalogue could be men- 
tioned that presented themselves to the 
reader of these seven pages. 

More definite explanations could be given 
on the other catalogue, since Professor 
Pickering was himself present, and had 
shown one specimen page previously to 
several friends. His catalogue will be a 
‘Bibliography of the Variable Stars,’ with 
the lists of the known maxima and minima, 
and the sources from which they were 
taken. Father Hagen brought out the 
fact that the two catalogues will supple- 
ment one another. The catalogue of the 
Astronomische Gesellschaft will give exact 
positions and elements of light variations, 
with very condensed references to all ac- 
cessible publications, on each variable star. 
Professor Pickering’s ‘Bibliography’ will 
give fuller details of the spectra of the 
variables stars from the rich material at 


424 


the Harvard College Observatory, and will 
put the lists of known maxima and minima 
in the convenient shape of tables. While 
the former catalogue will make a volume 
of about 500 pages (quarto size), the latter 
will only have one third of this bulk. Both 
catalogues will be a very valuable accession 
to our literature on this subject. 


Useful Work for a Small Equatorial—A 

Proposed Discussion. 

The discussion was opened by Professor 
Edward C. Pickering. He stated that 
measurements of wide double stars might 
be useful, but that the positions of stars 
much more than 5” apart could be better 
determined by photography, while closer 
stars required a large telescope. The 
brightness of stars can now be readily and 
inexpensively determined with a wedge 
photometer, and the relative lght of the 
components of close doubles by a polarizing 
photometer. The Herschel-Argelander 
method could be usefully applied to faint 
stars, especially to the components of coarse 
clusters, and to Durchmusterung zones, 
inserting all stars brighter than a fixed 
magnitude. Variable stars of long period 
ean be usefully followed by inexperienced 
observers, since the range is large. Obser- 
vations of suspected variables, of Algol, 
and other short period variables, are likely 
to be of little value, except when made by 
observers having long experience. But 
little useful work could be done with 
spectroscopes attached to small telescopes. 
A search for new stars in the Milky Way, 
and an examination of known nebulz to see 
if they are gaseous, as was, perhaps, first 
done by Col. John Herschel, might prove 
of value. Observations of Jupiter’s satel- 
lites, comets, sunspots and solar promi- 
nences were also mentioned as useful fields 
of work for instruments of this class. 

Frank B. Litre, 
For the Council. 


SCIENCE. 


_ pages). 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 533. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

Die Moore der Schweiz, mit Beriicksichtigung 
der gesamten Moorfrage. Von Dr. J. Frin 
und Dr. C. Scurorer. (Beitriige zur Geol- 
ogie der Schweiz, herausgegeben von der 
geologischen Kommission der Schweiz, na- 
turforschenden Gesellschaft, geotechnische 
Serie, III Lieferung.) Bern, 1904. 4°, 
pp. xvili-+ 751. 45 text-cuts, 4 plates and 
a map. 

Probably every person seriously interested 
in peat-bogs (or, as we may better call them, 
peat-moors), whether it be from a geological, 
a phyto-ecological or an economic standpoint, 
has known that the present work was in prep- 
aration and has eagerly anticipated its appear- 
ance. The authors are well known as among 
the foremost authorities upon the subject, and 
their work now before us fully satisfies our 
high expectations. While primarily devoted 
to the study of the Swiss moors, the authors 
nevertheless discuss every question also from 
the general or world standpoint, so that the 
work as a whole is in reality a study of peat- 
moors based upon those of Switzerland as 
types. It is divided into two parts, a first 
devoted to Moor-questions in general (435 
pages), and a second given to a systematic 
description of those of Switzerland (310 
Under the first part is discussed, the 
general nature and place of moors, peat-build- 
ing plant-groups (a modern ecological study), 
peat and its nature, geology of moors, geo- 
graphical distribution of moors, a geomorpho- 
logical classification of the moors of the world, 
nomenclature in relation to physical features, 
agricultural conditions of the Swiss moors, 
post-glacial vegetation history and its recon- 
struction through moors. Every chapter is 
characterized by exhaustive but clear treat- 
ment, by copious citation of literature, in- 
cluding that of this country, and by appro- 
priate illustration. Among the illustrations 
are many of those diagrammatic vegetation 
cuts now coming -into vogue in ecological 
works, while the plates include two typical 
photographic moor-scenes, of which we could 
wish there were many more. It is impossible 
here to particularize farther, and it must suf- 
fice to say that this work is incomparably the 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


most exhaustive, authoritative and generally 
excellent treatise upon its subject which has 
yet appeared, and that it must form the 
foundation-work for all future studies upon 
matters connected with peat-moors. 

W. F. Ganonc. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 

Tue January number of the Bolanical 
Gazette contains a paper by Rodney H. True 
and C. S. Oglevee giving the results of studies 
on the effect of such insoluble substances as 
sand, starch grains, filter paper, etc., upon the 
toxic action of electrolyte and non-electrolyte 
poisons in aqueous solution. It appears that 
the insoluble body adsorbs the poison solute, 
thus diminishing the effective concentration of 
the latter as though it were taken out of solu- 
tion.—Burton KE. Livingston describes the 
types of soil and of vegetation in the north- 
central part of the southern peninsula of Mich- 
igan (Roscommon and Crawford counties), 
and discusses the influence which the soil has 
in determining the distribution of the various 
plant societies. He concludes that the amount 
of soil moisture, determined largely by fineness 
of soil particles, is the main controlling factor 
here.—A. D. E. Elmer describes a number of 
new and noteworthy Californian plants.— 
Edgar W. Olive discusses the morphology of 
Monascus purpureus, taking up the accounts 
of Barker and Ikeno and giving certain results 
of his own observations.—B. M. Davis dis- 
eusses fertilization in Saprolegniales based 
upon a recent paper by Trow; and also the 
sexual organs and sporophyte of Rhodophycee 
based upon a recent paper by Wolfe. 


The Journal of Nervous and Mental Dis- 
ease for January opens with a paper by Dr. 
F. X. Dereum, giving an exhaustive and care- 
ful report of three cases, one being illustrated, 
which bear upon the question of the relation 
of syphilis to spastic spinal paralysis and also 
indirectly upon the question of Erb’s form of 
spinal syphilis. Dr. 8. D. Ludlum contributes 
an article on the ‘Possible Relationship of 
Neuro-fibrillar Changes to Insanity.’ ~°He 
summarizes the literature bearing on the sub- 
ject, and reports a series of experiments con- 


SCIENCE. 


425 


ducted at Friends’ Asylum which leads to the 
hypothesis of a close relationship between 
fibrils and mental manifestations. 
esting case of tumor of the occipital lobe with 
an unusual clinical history is reported by Dr. 
Philip Zenner; also one of carcinoma of the 
spine following carcinoma of the breast, the 
spinal disease being characterized by a phe- 
nomenally long course, possibly due to re- 
moval of the ovaries some four years before 
the patient’s death. The October meetings of 
the New York Neurological Society and the 
Boston Society of Psychiatry and Neurology 
are reported. The ‘ Periscope’ for the month 
contains abstracts of the following journals: 
Monatsschrift fiir Psychiatrie und Neurologie, 
Brain, Neurologisches Centralblatt, Revue de 
Psychiatrie et de Psychologie Hxpérimentale, 
Centralblatt fiir Nervenheilkunde und Psy- 
chiatrie, American Journal of Insanity, Jour- 
nal de Neurologie, Archives de Neurologie, 
and selected articles from miscellaneous 
periodicals. The books reviewed in this num- 
ber are ‘ Epilepsy and its Treatment,’ by Dr. 
W. P. Spratling; ‘La Mimica del Pensiero 
Studi e Ricerche,’ by Dr. Sante de Sanctis; 
two volumes of ‘The Doctor’s Recreation 
Series,’ edited by C. W. Moulton; ‘ Manuel 
pour l’Etude des Maladies du Systéme Ner- 
veux,’ by Dr. Maurice de Fleury; ‘A Manual 
of Psychology, by G. F. Stout; ‘ Trattato 
delle Malattie Mentali,’ by Professor KE. Tanzi; 
‘Lehrbuch der Nervenkrankheiten fiir Aerzte 
und Studierende, by Professor H. Oppen- 
heim; ‘ Essentials of Nervous Diseases and 
Insanity,’ by Dr. J. C. Shaw; ‘ Nietzsche,’ by 
P. J. Mobius; ‘ Mental Defectives, their His- 
tory, Treatment and Training,’ by Dr. M. W. 
Barr, and ‘ The Physician’s Visiting List for 
1905-1906. The issue closes with two pages 
of ‘News and Notes.’ 


An inter- 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
SECTION OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 

Ar the meeting of the section held on Feb- 
ruary 6 the following papers were read by 
title: 

Moissanite, a Carbon Silicide from the Canon 

Diablo Meteorite: Grorce F. Kunz. 


426 


On Zirkon from Lawton, Oklahoma: Grorce 

F. Kunz. 

On Monazite Sand from Idaho: Grorce F. 

Kunz. 

A paper entitled ‘ The Serpentine and Asso- 
ciated Asbestus Minerals of Belvidere Moun- 
tain, Vermont,’ was presented by V. F. Mar- 
sters, of Columbia University. 

Belvidere Mountain lies approximately along 
the line between the counties of Orleans, 
Lamoille and Franklin. It is a sharp crested 
ridge with a maximum elevation of some 
2,100 feet above Eden Corners at its southern 
termination. Three topographic elements are 
prominent, a sharp crested ridge forming the 
upper 900 feet of the mountain, a crescentic 
plateau with a flat top 1,200 feet above the 
valley floor and rimming the end of the moun- 
tain, and lastly a steep lower slope composing 
the foot of the plateau and extending to the 
valley bottom. 

The upper part with steep slopes is composed 
of amphibolite. In addition to the hornblende 
which makes up seventy-five per cent. of the 
rock, there is also present an inconsiderable 
amount of epidote and a non-pleochroie color- 
less mineral regarded as -zoisite, together with 
magnetite and pyrite. Towards the base, 
garnet becomes a prominent constituent, suffi- 
cient to make a well-defined garnet zone. In 
nearly all cases observed, the garnet is largely 
altered to penninite, a variety of chlorite. 
Along the garnet zone the hornblende has also 
undergone marked alteration in part to serpen- 
tine. The nose-like projection forming the 
plateau is composed of serpentine. In this 
rock occur the so-called asbestus deposits re- 
cently prospected and worked for this product. 
In thin sections the serpentine appears to be 
made up largely of a felty and fibrous mass, 
apparent only under cross nicols. It is typical 
fibrous serpentine. In thin sections from the 
upper part of the plateau and in close prox- 
imity to the overlying amphibolite, there ap- 
pear shredded masses presenting the original 
structure of hornblende as seen in the am- 
phibolite, but mineralogically altered to a 
fibrous mass with the optical characteristics of 
anthophyllite. It is not improbable, moreover, 
that a portion of the hornblende has altered to 


SCIENCE. 


tremolite. These fibrous constituents form 
the so-called ‘ slip-fiber.’ 

The serpentine belt has also been subjected 
to peculiar faulting and crushing. The cracks 
thus produced, even on a microscopic scale, 
have been filled with these fibrous constituents, 
and then the whole mass submitted to further 
slipping. This has caused the slickensiding 
phenomena on the fracture planes and a con- 
sequent stretching of the fibrous content; 
hence the term ‘slip-fiber.? ‘ Cross-fiber’ or 
true chrysotile is to be found in this area. It 
is best developed along lines of maximum 
fracture and minimum lateral thrust. There 
appears to be two bands of maximum fracture, 
one extending along the upper portion of the 
plateau and not far from the garnet zone, the 
second along the foot of the plateau and best 
shown on the property of Judge Tucker. 

The next paper was by Dr. Charles P. 
Berkey, on the ‘Interpretation of Certain 
Laminated Clays with their Bearing upon 
Estimates of Geologic Time.’ 

Laminated clays of glacial and post-glacial 
age are abundant in many districts of the 
northern states and Canada. They are espe- 
cially abundant about the head of Lake 
Superior where their origin is intimately re- 
lated to the closing fluctuations and final with- 
drawal of the Wisconsin ice sheet. 

One of these deposits, at Grantsburg, Wis., 
exhibits a remarkable uniformity of structure 
and is so clearly bounded by other accumula- 
tions of known significance that its history is 
readily interpreted. From a detailed analysis 
of the laminated structure it is argued that 
this deposit was about 1,700 years in accu- 
mulating. 

A like interpretation of the similar isolated 
deposits following the retreating ice sheet 
would give data for time estimates from an 
entirely new standpoint. In some areas lami- 
nated clays occupy interglacial position and 
it may be possible to apply the same method to 
them. 

The last paper of the evening was by Pro- 
fessor A. W. Grabau, on the ‘ Evolution of Some 
Devonie Spirifers.’ Spirifer mucronatus (Con- 
rad) is a Linnean species comprising a large 
number of mutations. A remarkable fact is 


[N.S. Vou. XX1. No. 533: 


Nien. im 


i 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


that all mutations pass through a mucronate 
stage such as is charactéristic of the adult 
mutation after which the species is named. 
(The term mutation is here used in the sense 
in which it was originally proposed by 
Waagen, and not in that in which it was sub- 
sequently used by de Vries, 7. e., for the re- 
sult and not for the process.) A still earlier 


- stage in development (nepionic) shows the 


non-mucronate features of the ancestral species 
similar to S. duodenarius of the Onondaga. 
The mucronate feature is carried to excess in 
a number of mutations of the Lower Hamilton 
group. It is especially persistent in the Mich- 
igan region. This type of outline is accom- 
panied by a rib in the median sinus and a 
depression in the fold. In Ontario the prim- 
itive mucronate type gives rise upward to a 


‘number of mutations which are especially 


characterized by progressive increase in height 
without corresponding lengthening of the 
hinge. The median plication and depression 
quickly disappear. 

Acceleration and retardation in development 
are the chief principles which explain the de- 
velopment of the great number of mutations. 
For the principle of retardation the term 
bradygenesis (from padic, slow) was pro- 
posed, corresponding to the term tachygenesis 
proposed by Hyatt for acceleration. 

In the New York province the primitive 
mucronate type gives rise to high and short- 
hinged mutations, but these retain the median 
rib and depression. In form these are tachy- 
genetic; in respect to the surface features, 
bradygenetic. In the arenaceous beds of the 
later Hamilton in eastern New York, a muta- 
tion with many ribs and moderate mucrona- 
tions exists. This is in many respects a 
bradygenetic type. Side by side with ex- 
tremely accelerated or tachygenetic types in 
all horizons (7. e., very short-hinged, non- 
mucronate, high and thick mutations) occur 
slightly retarded or bradygenetic types which 
retain in the adult the mucronate character 
which is typical of the young of all the muta- 
tions. 

A. W. Grapau, 


Secretary. 
CoLuMBIA UNIVERSITY. 


SCIENCE. 


427 


THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 

Tuer 596th meeting was held February 4, 
1905. 

Mr. J. F. Hayford, chief of the Computing 
Division of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, 
reported briefly on the completion of the reduc- 
tions of the leveling between Seattle and 
several points on the Atlantic coast; the ap- 
parent difference of level between the two 
oceans is 187 mm., 0.6 foot. The levels run 
at Nicaragua gave a difference of zero. 

Mr. Bernard R. Green then spoke on ‘ Publie 
Buildings in Washington,’ presenting many 
lantern views, and outlining the problems that 
have been forced on his attention during the 
many years he has been connected with the 
erection of such buildings. Attention was called 
to the peculiar far-sighted plan of the city, 
with its two centers at the Capitol and White 
House, marked by monumental buildings. The 
majority of the government buildings, he held, 
should be expressive of their use and so be 
of the workshop or office type rather than 
monumental, and should be well scattered. 
The future buildings of the monumental class 
will probably be of the modified classical type, 
massive, of stone, and relatively low, e. g., 
eighty feet. The cost of these is high; the 
State, War and Navy Building cost $1.06 per 
cubic foot, the Library of Congress sixty-three 
cents, including decorations. Buildings of the 
other class may be of the columnar type, a 
steel skeleton structure which carries the outer 
walls, and costs twenty-five to thirty cents per 
cubic foot. 

Mr. S. W. Stratton, director of the Bureau 
of Standards, then spoke on ‘The Archi- 
tectural and Engineering Features of Scien- 
tific Laboratories, exhibiting many views of 
such buildings and especially the new ones 
of the Bureau of Standards. The most im- 
portant conditions to be secured are freedom 
from vibration and jars, and perfect control 
of the ventilation and temperature of the 
rooms. An excavated basement is a great source 
of trouble; the heating and power-plants and 
machinery should be in a separate building. 
Substantial reinforced conerete floors render 
piers unnecessary in the first story, while in the 
second story wall-brackets are generally better 


428 
than floor supports for apparatus. Numerous 
other details were considered. 

The subject of stability was further dis- 
cussed by several of the physicists and astron- 
omers present. 

Crartes K. Weap, 
Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 


RECENT WASHINGTON RHIZOBIA EXPERIMENTS.” 

In 1902 Dr. Geo T. Moore published a paper 
in which he gave a brief outline of the history 
of the study of the free nitrogen-assimilating 
microbes of leguminous plants.t In this paper 
the author outlines a method for increasing 
the nitrogen-assimilating power of rhizobia by 
growing them upon artificial nitrogen-free 
media, which is said also greatly to increase 
their tubercle-forming power. According to 
the paper by Grosvenor, Dr. Moore has con- 
tinued his experiments along the same line 
and has patented the process, giving the patent 
rights over to the government for the sole 
benefit of the farmer. It is stated that by the 
use of these nitrogen-hungry rhizobia the yield 
of any leguminous crop may be increased very 
greatly (from 40 to 400 per cent.). The re- 
sults are said to be far superior to those ob- 
tainable from the use of the ‘ Nitragin,’ pat- 
ented by Nobbe and Hiltner of Germany. In- 
stead of bottling the cultures (of nitrogen- 
hungry rhizobia) in a dry pulverulent state, 
as did Nobbe and Hiltner, Dr. Moore infil- 
trates absorbent cotton with the cultures and 
dries it, whereupon it is ready for shipment 
to the farmer, at a nominal cost. 

Jf the claims of the paper can be verified by 
further, tests, Dr. Moore deserves credit for 
having accomplished a work which will prove 
to be of great benefit to farmers. -It will of 
course not do away with the necessity of crop 
rotation. 

It is regrettable that Dr. Moore did not see 
fit to contribute the article himself and that 

*Gilbert 4H. Grosvenor, ‘“Inoculating the 
Ground: A Remarkable Discovery in Scientific 
Agriculture,” The Century Magazine, 68: 831-839 
(October) , 1904. 

+ Geo. T. Moore, ‘ Bacteria and the Nitrogen 
Problem,’ Year-book of the Department of Agricul- 
ture, pp. 333-342, 1902. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 533. 


it did not appear in some scientific publica- 
tion rather than a literary magazine. This is 
not at all intended as.a criticism of Mr. Gros- 
venor’s presentation of the work done by Dr. 
Moore, only the custom prevails for those who 
do the actual scientific work to also present it 
to the world first-hand, nor are we in the habit 
of looking for reports of research work in 
publications devoted almost wholly to fiction. 
ALBERT SCHNEIDER. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 
A NEW CODE OF NOMENCLATURE. 


In The Condor for January, 1905 (Vol. 
VIL., pp. 28-30), is an abstract of a new code 
of nomenclature, “which will shortly appear 
under the joint authorship of Doctors Jordan, 
Evermann and Gilbert, * * * entitled ‘ Nom- 
enclature in Ichthyology. A Provisional Code 
Based on the Code of the American Ornitholo- 
gists’ Union.’” It is said: 

The recent preparation of numerous papers in 
systematic ichthyology has necessitated the re- 
consideration of many problems of zoological 
nomenclature, and as some of these are not coy- 
ered by any canon in any recognized code, and 
again, as certain canons in the best considered of 
the various codes of nomenclature, that of the 
American Ornithologists’ Union, are not available 
in the study of fishes, we have ventured to draw 
up a code for our own use in ichthyology. * * * 
The different canons in this code are based on 
those composing the code of the American Ornith- 
ologists’ Union, and so far as possible the lan- 
guage of that admirable document has been fol- 
lowed. We have, however, omitted certain mat- 
ters which may be considered as self-evident, and 
we have omitted all reference to groups of higher 
than family rank. 


The points in which the ichthyological code 
differs from the ornithological are then stated; 
the text of these parts of the new code is given 
apparently in full, and relates to six of the 
canons of the earlier code. As the perfect 
code has not as yet been devised, all improve- 
ments on preceding codes should, of course, be 
welcomed, but changes from well-established 
methods of procedure should carry convincing 
evidence that they are improvements in order 
to secure adoption. 

Not many months 


ago the American 


Marcu 17, 1905.) 


botanists issued a new ‘Code of Botanical 
Nomenclature,’* they having found the Paris 
Code of 1867 out of date and unsatisfactory. 
This code does not depart essentially from the 
A. O. U. Code, but on some points it is fuller 
and more explicit, and at the same time more 
concise. As said in another connection: 


The A. O. U. Code was a pioneer in innovations 
which have now become very generally accepted, 
but which then (1886) required argument and ex- 
tended illustration. * * * Provision is made for 
a few points not covered by the A. O. U. Code, 
but the spirit and principles of this code are 
Eee closely followed. *~ * * 'f 


In the Ichthyological Code the new rulings 
principally relate: (1) To competitive specific 
names published simultaneously; (2) to com- 
petitive generic names published  simul- 
taneously; (3) to the determination of a 
generic type in cases where no type has been 
indicated by the author; (4) to the admissi- 
bility of orthographic variants of generic 
names. 

The primary purpose of all codes of nomen- 
elature is stability of names; how best to ac- 
complish this under complicated conditions is 
still an open question. The points on which 
leading authorities still differ are mainly those 
above stated, and respecting which a new de- 
parture is proposed. - These may be taken up 
briefly in sequence. 

1. Specific Names Published Simultane- 
ously—* Canon VI. Of competitive names 
otherwise tenable, given by the same} author, 
that one is to be preferred which stands first 
in the text. In case of competitive names 
otherwise tenable, given by different authors 
of the same actual date, so far as ascertain- 
able, the one standing on the earlier page of 
its publication must be chosen.” 

To this ruling there is no objection, pro- 
vided authors will uniformly adhere to it. 
This method was considered in framing the 
A. O. U. Code, but was deemed too arbitrary, 


* Bulletin Torrey Botanical Olub, Vol. XXXI., 
No. 5, May, 1904, pp. 249-290. 

t Auk, Vol. XXT., July, 1904, pp. 404, 405. 

{ The italics in these quotations are not in the 
original, but are used here to draw attention to 
special points. 


SCIENCE. 


429 


as the author publishing a large book, with 
new names introduced in the middle portion 
or toward the end, would have no chance 
against the man publishing new names in a 
small book or in a short pamphlet, however 
superior his accompanying diagnoses might be. 
For this reason the A. O. U. Code (Canon 
XVII.) proposed alternatives, perhaps better 
applicable in ornithology than in some other 
branches of zoology. Thus preference is to be 
given, first, to the name founded on the male 
to that founded on the female; second, to 
that founded on the adult to that founded on 
the young; third, to that founded on the nup- 
tial condition to that on the pre- or post- 
nuptial condition. 

2. Generic Names Published Simultane- 
ously—* Canon VII. In ease of competitive 
generic names otherwise tenable, published in 
the same work, preference shall be given to 
the one standing first in the work. Of com- 
petitive generic names of the same actual or 
ostensible date (no exact date being ascertain- 
able) given by different authors, that one is 
to be taken which is proposed on the earlier 
page of the volume in which it appears. When 
the same generic name is given to two distinct 
genera of animals at the same date (as far as 
ascertainable), the name appearing on the 
earlier page shall be deemed to have pre- 
cedence.” 

Here again the ruling is rigidly arbitrary 
as between earlier and later pagination in 
different publications. The A. O. U. Code 
(Canon XVIII.) provides, under such con- 
tingencies, that: “1. A name accompanied 
by the specification of a type takes precedence 
over a name unaccompanied by such specifica- 
tion. 2. If all, or none, of the genera have 
types indicated, that generic name takes pre- 
cedence the diagnosis of which is most perti- 
nent.” 
decision as against arbitrary rule, but the 
cases are extremely few where the proper 
course of action is not evident. 

3. The Determination of Generic Types.— ~ 
Canon X. of the Ichthyological Code relates to 
the fixing of the type of a genus, when no 
type has been indicated by the author. On 
no nomenclatorial question is there greater 


Here comes in the element of personal 


430 


diversity of usage or greater strenuosity of 
opinion than on this, although the tendency 
is, or was formerly, to follow one of two 
courses, either to take the first species as the 
type, or to determine the type by the prin- 
ciple of elimination, under certain reasonable 
restrictions. Of late the latter has been the 
course favored by the greater part of those 
systematists who have any special regard for 
rules of nomenclature. Two qualifications of 
the strict rule of determining the type by 
elimination have been widely accepted. One 
is that when a genus containing a number of 
species is divided, and the name of one of the 
species is chosen as the name of a new genus, 
the type of that genus shall be the species the 
name of which has been selected as the name 
of the genus—a perfectly logical, unequivocal 
proceeding, open to no reasonable objection. 

A second exception is that of the A. O. U. 
Code, which provides that if a “genus con- 
tains both exotic and non-exotic species—from 
the standpoint of the original author—and 
the generic term is one originally applied by 
the ancient Greeks and Romans, the proc- 
ess of elimination is to be restricted to the 
non-exotie species.” In this way the name is 
retained in nearly its ancient sense, and its 
transference to an irrelevant association is 
prevented. This exception comes in mainly, of 
course, in connection with Linnean and Bris- 
sonian names, and is akin to that other rule, 
more or less tacitly held in the minds of many 
systematists, that the type of a Linnzan genus 
should be the best known European or officinal 
species originally included within it. 

Canon XXI. of the A. O. U. Code is: 
“When no type is clearly indicated the author 
who first subdivides a genus may restrict the 
original name to such part of it as he may 
judge advisable, and such assignment shall not 
be subject to subsequent modification.” This 
was not a new rule when announced by the A. 
O. U. in 1886, but was a part of the British 
Association Code originally promulgated in 
1842, and reaffirmed by nearly every later code 
down to 1905, when three revolutionary ichthy- 
ologists came forward with the following as 
their Canon X.: “ The type of a genus can be 
indicated by the original author only. * * * 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 533. 


In every case, the determination of the type 
of a genus shall rest on evidence offered by 
the original author, and shall be in no wise 
affected by restrictions or modifications of the 
genus in question introduced by subsequent 
authors, nor shall the views or the dates of 
subsequent authors be considered as affecting 
the assignment of the type of a genus”! For 
such a reactionary and far-reaching proposi- 
tion there should certainly be most convincing 
and satisfactory reasons, for it involves the 
overthrow of the consistent usage of the 
majority of systematists for the last half cen- 
tury, and invites at least temporary chaos 
in the place of what seemed permanent sta- 
bility. The proposed new ruling should leave 
nothing to personal opinion, but should pro- 
vide a rule of unquestionable applicability to 
all cases. 

The argument for the new proposition is as 
follows: “It is believed that the principle that 
a generic name must be fixed by its original 
author is one of vital importance in nomencla- 
ture. All processes of fixing types by elimina- 
tion or by any other resting on subsequent 
literature, lead only to confusion and to the 
frittering of time on irrelevant questions. 
The method of elimination can not be so 
defined as to lead to constant results in dif- 
ferent hands. In general it is much more 
difficult to know to what types subsequent 
authors have restricted any name than to know 
what the original author would have chosen 
as his type. Most early writers who have 
dealt with Linnzan species have consciously 
or unconsciously encroached on the Linnzan 
groups rather than made definite restrictions 
in the meaning of the generic names.” 

In determining types and the tenability of 
names it is notorious that the systematist is 
and must be guided by what an author has 
done and not by what he may have intended 
to do, no matter how evident the unaccom- 
plished intention may be. Rules, to be effect- 
ive, must be rigidly enforced, regardless of 
personal preference in favor of some particu- 
lar result. But the foregoing is a proposition 
to override rules and usages that have brought 
nomenclature to a reasonable condition of 
stability respecting a wide class of cases it is 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


now proposed to reopen and subject to a new 
decision based largely on personal caprice. 
How is thus stated: “This may be done by 
direct statement [on the part of the author] 
that a certain species is a type species [a 
statement at present always respected and 
welcomed], the leading species, the ‘chef de 
file’ or by other phraseology conveying the 
same idea [information always weleomed and 
in these days earnestly searched for and re- 
garded]; it may be indicated by the choice of 
a Linnean or other specific name as the name 
ot a genus [also, as said above, recognized as 
a guiding principle], or by some statement 
which shall clearly indicate an idea in the 
author's mind corresponding in fact, if not in 
name, to the modern conception of the type of 
a genus. [Here, unfortunately, is the loop- 
hole for diversity of opinion as to whether the 
author had such an idea, and, if so, which of 
several species best meets the author’s unex- 
pressed conception. The decision of one 
author, in many instances, is likely, in the 
nature of the case, to be different from that of 
another, and the firm ground absolutely neces- 
sary for the proposed revolutionary procedure 
is wanting. Finally,] The type of a Linnean 
genus must be, in the phraseology attributed 
to Linnzeus, ‘ the best known European or offi- 
cinal species,’ included by that author within 
the genus [—an injunction already in force].” 

We have here then several sound principles, 
which are not new but already in force, and 
a new proposition to enable an author who is 
in too much of a hurry or too indolent to find 
out what other authors have done under the 
principle of elimination toward fixing the type 
of a genus not otherwise determined, to fix the 
type offhand for himself on the basis of his 
own conception of what the author’s idea was 
as to the type of his group, when, in a large 
proportion of cases, the author almost unques- 
tionably never gave the matter a thought, or 
even entertained the idea of a type in the 
modern sense. What he may have thought is, 
in most cases, purely a matter of guesswork. 

It is not quite true, as said in the new 
ichthyological code, that ‘ the method of elimi- 
‘nation can not be so defined as to lead to con- 
stant results in different hands.’ The results 


SCIENCE. 


431 


will vary somewhat with the experience and 
qualifications of the user of the method, if the 
conditions of the question are especially com- 
plicated and perplexing; but my experience 
has been that experts in such cases rarely 
reach different conclusions, especially if they 
are able to confer and discuss the case. 

Canon XI. of the new code is in line with 
Canon X. It reads: “In case a genus requir- 
ing subdivision or medification contains as 
originally formed more than one species, and 
the author of the genus does not in any way 
clearly indicate the type, the first species 
named in the text by the author as certainly 
belonging to the genus shall be considered as 
its type.” The enforcement of this rule would 
obviously, in some instances at least, lead to 
the gratuitous displacement of generic names 
which have long since reached a stable equilib- 
rium under the principle of the determination 
of the generic type by elimination—the dis- 
turbance of simple cases universally accepted 
as settled, and, therefore, a well nigh wanton 
proceeding. 

4. The Recognition of Variants of Generic 
Names.—Modern codes of nomenclature are 
practically unanimous in ruling that a generic 
name is untenable ‘ which has been previously 
used for some other genus in the same king- 
dom.’ It has been so generally understood 
that ‘name’ is to be taken in the philological 
sense of a district word, that no ruling ap- 
pears to have been deemed necessary as to 
what really constitutes a name in a nomen- 
clatorial sense; but usage—one may almost 
say universal usage—shows that words varying 
merely by endings denoting gender, or com- 
pound words differing only in the connective 
vowel, or in which certain consonants, notably 
l and r, are used single or double, or, in cer- 
tain words of Greek origin, the retention or 
elimination of the aspirate, or the use of 7 in 
place of y, or vice versa, ete., do not constitute 
distinct words or ‘names’ in a nomenclatorial 
sense. In other words, it is held that names 
of genera must be etymologically distinct, 
however similar they may be in form or pro- 
nunciation. This is affirmed by the uniform 
practise of systematists for a century. 

In view of the discovery in recent years of 


432 


the double employ of such a multitude of 
names in zoology, and the consequent whole- 
sale elimination of those preoccupied though 
often of long currency; and also in view of the 
wide acceptance of the A. O. U. rule that 
names, generic or specific, ‘are not to be re- 
jected because of barbarous origin, for faulty 
construction, for inapplicability of meaning, 
or for erroneous signification,’ and can be 
changed only to correct typographical errors, 
there has arisen a tendency to extend the rule 
of priority to the form of words, and to adopt 
names that vary to the extent of a single letter 
as tenable, whether etymologically the same 
or not. The first outbreak of this tendency, 
however, in code form, is furnished by the 
new ichthyological code, of which Canon XI., 
as given in T'he Osprey, reads: 

“As a name is a word without necessary 
meaning, and as names are identified by their 
orthography, a generic name (typographical 
errors corrected) is distinct from all others 
not spelled in exactly the same way. Ques- 
tions of etymology are not pertinent in case of 
adoption or rejection of names deemed pre- 
oecupied.” The explanatory note following 
states that this canon “permits the use of 
generic names of like origin but of different 
genders or termination to remain tenable. All 
manner of confusion has been brought into 
nomenclature by the change of names because 
others nearly the same are in use. Thus the 
Ornithologists’ Union sanction the cancella- 
tion of Hremophila because of the earlier 
genus Hremophilus, of Parula because of the 
earlier Parulus, and of Helminthophaga on 
account of Helminthophagus. On the other 
hand, Pica and Picus are allowed.* In orni- 
thology this matter has been handled by a 
general agreement on the relatively few cases 
concerned. But in other groups, the matter 
is by no means simple, and every degree of 
similarity can be found.” 

*In this exceptional case of Pica and Picus, 
so often cited as an inconsistency, these two 
words are not gender forms of one name, but 
etymologically distinct words, used by the ancient 
classical writers as the names of two widely dif- 
ferent birds, just as they are still used in ornitho- 
logical nomenclature. Furthermore, it is a unique 


case. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 533. 


This is the ‘ one-letter rule’ par excellence, 
of which there have been mutterings of late 
in various quarters. Its promoters have good 
intentions, and high hopes, no doubt, that it 
will prove a panacea for an admitted evil. 
Possibly a beneficial compromise may result. 
When we reflect, however, that two forms of 
the same name, differing only by a single 
letter, sometimes occur in the same class, and 
often in the same branch, and that the same 
name when used for the same genus is cur- 
rent in several forms, differing sometimes 
more radically than by a single letter, and 
that, in many cases, the author of a name has 
himself used it at different times in all three 
genders, and sometimes in more than one 
gender in the same paper, and that many au- 
thors have in the past, and some still con- 
tinue to exercise their own judgment or prefer- 
ence as to the correct gender of names, it 
seems hopeless to expect such a radical inno- 
vation to meet with general acceptance. By 
a slip of the pen or other lapsus even authors 
the most careful in such matters are sometimes 
caught using one form when they intended to 
use another. Many generic names have four 
to six variants that have been used for the 
same genus, while some of them may also have 
been current for wholly different genera. This 
seemingly should be enough to lay the goblin 
of the ‘ one-letter rule,’ but it evidently is not, 
even with otherwise level-headed naturalists. 

It would take too much space to illustrate 
the confusion and inconvenience that would 
arise from its serious adoption. For the full- 
fledged systematist illustration by concrete ex- 
amples would seem to be superfluous. 

It is a grievous inconvenience to have to 


abandon a long-current bird name or fish name * 


for which one has almost formed an attach- 
ment as a household word, because some one 
has discovered that it had a prior use, per- 
haps only in a closely similar form, for some 
other genus of animals, perhaps insects, or 
mollusks, or ceelenterates, which had never be- 
fore come within his horizon. In early days 
it was held that the same generic name could 
not be used for both animals and plants. The 
codes later ruled that there was no necessary 
connection between botanical nomenclature 


Nay: EL UM a 
See cer NE 


RIYA! DRA Sit 0 camp: 


2 1 yn > o 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


and zoological nomenclature, and that the 
use of a generic name in the one kingdom 
did not debar its use in the other. The dif- 
ferent branches of zoology have now become 
so extended and specialized that the same rule 
of divorce might well be extended to the dif- 
ferent branches of zoology. Little, if any, con- 
fusion could arise to ornithologists, or mam- 
malogists, or ichthyologists, if a bird name, 
a mammal name, or a fish name should have 
eurrency for a genus of insects, or mollusks, 
or crustaceans, or echinoderms, or in each of 
these branches. If it could be agreed—and 
I am aware of no opposition—that the same 
generic name may hold good in different 
branches of the animal kingdom, but must not 
be used twice in the same branch (as in 
vertebrates, for example), it would result in 
the restoration of not a few familiar names 
that have had to give way under the animal 
kingdom priority rule, and lessen, if not quite 
do away with the present incipient call for an 
impracticable ‘ one-letier rule.’ 

5. The Authorily for Names.—lIt is diff- 
cult to see the reason for Canon X XIX., which 
appears not to be published in full in The 
Condor. It is contrary to current usage and 
to other modern codes, that the authority for 
a name, given in manuscript on a museum 
label, is to be cited as the proper authority 
for such names when published by another 
author, who supplies the description and as- 
sumes the responsibility for the species. This 
canon says: “If a writer ascribes one of his 
species to some one else, we must take his 
word for it. Thus the manuscript species of 
Kuhl and Van Hasselt in the Museum of 
Leyden, although printed by Cuvier and 
Valenciennes, should be ascribed to Kuhl and 
Van Hasselt.” This is not only a confusion of 
responsibility, but is bibliographically mis- 
leading, tending to throw the investigator off 
the track in looking for the original descrip- 
tion of the species. Unless the publishing 
author endorses the supposed new species, he 
simply ignores the manuscript name and takes 
the responsibility for its suppression, just as 
in the other case he takes the responsibility 
for its publication and supplies the necessary 
description. If the author of a manuscript 


SCIENCE. 


435 


name supplies a description to accompany it, 
which only rarely happens, and the publishing 
author uses it as inedited manuscript, then 
the author of the name is also the author of 
the deseription and is to be cited as the au- 
thority for the species. In the other case, the 
name should be eited, in synonyny, as Cuvier 
(ex Kuhl, MS.), and otherwise as simply 
Cuvier. In the case of inedited matter, the 
citation would be Kuhl (in Cuvier, ete.), and 
otherwise as Kuhl. This, like the other points 
eriticized above, is a singularly retrograde 
step. 
J. A. ALLEN. 


CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 


METEOROLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE BLUE HILL 
KITE WORK. 


Tue meteorological work done at the Blue 
Hill Observatory by: means of kites has so 
often been alluded to in these ‘ Notes’ that no 
comments on the value of this work are neces- 
sary at this time. The latest publication in 
this connection is a valuable report by H. H. 
Clayton, entitled ‘The Diurnal and Annual 
Periods of Temperature, Humidity and Wind 
Velocity up to Four Kilometers in the Free 
Air, and the Average Vertical Gradients of 
these Elements at Blue Hill’ (Annals Astron. 
Obs: Harv. Coll., UNIT. Pt. 1, 1904). Al- 
though some of the results herein discussed 
have already been brought forward in previous 
publications by Mr. Rotch and Mr. Clayton, 
the compact and careful summary now issued 
will be welcomed as giving a definite and com- 
plete presentation of the principal conclusions 
which have been reached through the well- 
known, extended and laborious series of scien- 
tifie kite flights—a field of investigation in 
which Blue Hill has taken a front rank. 

A study of the sources of error in the in- 
struments and methods precedes the discussion 
of the results. Six possible sources of con- 
stant error are recognized as influencing the 
records, and also one source of error, not con- 
stant, which arises from temporary local dif- 
ferences of condition, and from the fact that 
the kites do not rise vertically. A glance at 
these preliminary pages will show with what 
extreme care the observations have been treat- 


434 


ed before being employed in obtaining any 
definite results. 
of the sources of error must also bring up 
many doubts concerning the accuracy of re- 
sults obtained by observers who exercise less 
eare. It may be noted that, in Mr. Clayton’s 
opinion, the excessive temperature gradients, 
greatly exceeding the adiabatic rate, which 
have several times been referred to in various 
publications, are probably due, for the most 
part, to the fact that the observations in ques- 
tion were not made simultaneously at the two 
levels (p. 14). Temporary local differences of 
temperature may also explain gradients which 
exceed the adiabatic rate (p. 15). 

The interest which attaches to all reliable 


meteorological data obtained in the free air is’ 


so great as to warrant the inclusion, in the 
pages of Science, of the following summary 
of the most important points contained in 
Mr. Clayton’s report. 

Diurnal Period of Temperature at Different 
Heights—On several occasions observations 
were obtained during many hours at heights 
of about 3 kms., but there was no evidence 
of any change of temperature due to a diurnal 
period. On June 18-19, 1900, for example, 
the temperature at a height of 2,900 ms. was 
recorded at intervals throughout twenty-four 
hours, and although there was a general fall 
under the influence of some general atmos- 
pheric. change, there was no appreciable di- 
urnal period (Fig. 3, p. 16), in spite of the 
fact that there were only a few cirrus clouds 
to obscure a small portion of the sky. At 
1 km. there is a diurnal period of tempera- 
ture, as is evidenced by numerous records, but 
with a tendency to a secondary maximum at 
night as well as by day. A marked feature 
is also a sudden fall of temperature after sun- 
rise (about 9 A.M. in summer), the evidence 
from the movements of the kites at this time 
being to the effect that the diurnal convec- 
tional currents from the ground reach the 
kites then. This ‘chilling’ of the air at a 
height of about 1 km. is explained by Mr. 
Clayton as due to the rise of the ascending 
currents, on account of their inertia, to an 
altitude greater than their point of equilib- 


rium. ‘The ascending air is cooled by adia- 


SCIENCE. 


Mr. Clayton’s thorough study - 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 5332 


patie expansion below the temperature of the 
air into which it penetrates; hence, at the tops 
of convectional currents of this kind, rising 
irom the ground, there ought to be a belt of 
chilled air, above which there must be a higher 
temperature. Such an inverted temperature 
gradient is usually found above cumulus 
clouds. The diurnal change of temperature 
at the greatest altitude reached by the ascend- 
ing currents must, therefore, be the opposite 
of that at the ground, z. e¢., the temperature is 
lower by day than by night. The records of 
May 1, 1902, show clearly that an inversion of 
tle march of the diurnal temperature does 
occur at the top of convectional currents rising 
from the warm ground (Fig. 4, p. 20), for 
while at 500 and 1,000 ms. the afternoon maxi- 
mum is well marked, the temperature curve 
becomes inverted at 1,230 ms. At 2,000 ms. 
there is no perceptible diurnal period. This 
cooling at the tops of convectional currents 
begins nearer the earth’s surface early in the 
11orning, and reaches a maximum altitude 
about the warmest part of the day. The di- 
urnal period of temperature at different 
heights is graphically summarized in Fig. 5 
(p. 25), and verbally, on p. 29. 

The Diurnal Period of Relative Humidity 
at Different Heights—In general, the diurnal 
period in relative humidity is the inverse of 
that of the temperature at all levels up to and 
including 1,500 meters. 

The Diurnal Period in Wind Velocity at 
Different Heights—Mr. Clayton finds the 
well-known explanation, given by Espy and 
Képpen, of the diurnal variation in wind 
velocity only a partial one, for at night the 
air from 300 to 1,000 ms. above sea level does 
not merely resume a velocity of movement 
proportional to its height, but increases in 
velocity until its movement is more rapid 
than that of the air strata above or below the 
given level. Some other forces must, in Mr. 
Clayton’s opinion, be called into play besides 
the retardation of the upper currents by as- — 
cending currents from below. It is suggested 
that, as the atmosphere is trying to maintain 
a mean yelocity of flow having a constant — 
value for the vertical section above any given ~ 
point on the earth, if in any given part of ; 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


the section the velocity is diminished, the air 
must flow faster in some other portion. This 
theory seems to explain satisfactorily the in- 
creased velocity between 3800 and 700 ms. at 
night. The retardation of the air between 
900 and 700 meters during the day, due to 
ascending currents, results in an increased 
velocity near the ground, and, as this is not 
sufficient compensation, also in the section of 
air between 1,000 and 2,000 meters. Hence, 
at the latter height, the velocity has a maxi- 
mum by day and a minimum by night, as is 
the case at the ground. 

Vertical Gradients of Temperature, Humid- 
ity and Wind Velocity—At night the tem- 
perature rises with increase of altitude up to 
about 500 meters, and not until a height of 
over 1,000 meters is reached is the tempera- 
ture in the free air as low as at the ground. 
During the day the temperature decreases 
with altitude nearly at the adiabatic rate for 
dry air up to 500 meters. Above that height 
the rate decreases, probably owing to frequent 
inverted gradients and to cloud formation. 
Between 500 and 1,500 meters the temperature 
decreases more rapidly by night than by day. 
The decrease is most rapid in summer and 
least in winter. During the day the rate of 
decrease diminishes to 2,000 meters, and then 
increases again. From 0 to 500 meters the 
rate is at a maximum by day and a minimum 
by night, but between 1,000 and 1,500 meters 
this condition is reversed, owing to the inver- 
sion of the diurnal period. An important 
point, noted on page 50, concerns the mean 
vertical temperature gradient, about which 
much has been written. Gradients which are 
the mean of two opposing conditions may not 
occur at all. The most frequent gradients 
which actually occur are (J.) an increase of 
temperature with increase of altitude, between 
+0°.1 and +1°.0 (C.) per 100 meters, and 
(II.) the adiabatic gradient, 1°.0 (C.) per 100 
meters. Some gradients exceeding the adia- 
batie rate have been observed, chiefly between 
9 a.M.-and 3. p.m. On the average, the rela- 
tive humidity increases during the day up to 
about 1,000 meters, and then decreases to 
about 2,500 meters. During the night the 
relative humidity diminishes rapidly up to a 


SCIENCE. 435 


height of 500 meters, and then more slowly, 
to a height of about 2,500 meters. Above 
2,500 meters the relative humidity increases 
slowly again. There is a very rapid increase 
of wind velocity at night to a maximum at 
500 meters, a slight decrease between 500 and 
1,000 meters, and then an increase becoming 
more rapid with increasing height. There is 
a relatively rapid increase of wind velocity by 
day from the ground to 500 meters; a slower 
decrease from 500 to 1,500 meters, and almost 
no change from 1,500 to 2,000 meters. 
R. DEC. Warp. 


MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 
IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

Tue British Association will hold its meet- 
ing this year in South Africa. In these ex- 
ceptional circumstances, the general officers of 
the association requested the council to ap- 
point a strong committee to cooperate with 
them in carrying out the necessary arrange- 
ments. ‘This ‘South African Committee’ has 
held frequent sittings; and its work is so far 
advanced that the London Times is now able 
to make the following announcements: 

Although the annual circular and program 
have not yet been issued, pending the receipt 
of information from South Africa, many mem- 
bers have already intimated their intention of 
being present at the meeting. The ‘ official 
party’ of guests invited by the central execu- 
tive committee at Cape Town, and nominated 
in the first instance by the council of the 
association, numbers upwards of 150 persons, 
comprising members of the council, past and 
present general officers and sectional presi- 
dents, the present sectional officers, and a cer- 
tain proportion of the leading members of each 
section. To this list has yet to be added, on 
the nomination of the organizing committee, 
the names of representative foreign and 
colonial men of science, the total number of 
the official party being restricted to two hun- 
dred, including the local officials. It is hoped, 
however, that many other members of the asso- 
ciation will also attend the meeting. 

The presidents-elect of the various sections 
are as follows: 


436 


A. Mathematical and Physical Science.—Pro- 
fessor A. R. Forsyth, M.A., Se.D., F.R.S. 

B. Chemistry.—T. Beilby. 

C. Geology—Professor H. A. Miers, M.A., D.Sc., 
F.R.S. 

D. Zoology—G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S. 

E. Geography.—Admiral Sir W. J. L. Wharton, 
K.C.B., F.R.S. 

F. Economie Science and Statistics—Rev. W. 
Cunningham, D.D., D.Se. 

G. Engineering.—Colonel Sir Colin Scott-Mon- 
erieff, G.C.S.I., K.C.M.G., R.E. 

H. Anthropology—aA. C. Haddon, M.A., ScD., 
F.R.S. 

I. Physiology—Colonel D. Bruce, M.B., F.R.S. 

K. Botany.—Harold Wager, F.R.S. 

L. Educational Science—Sir Richard C. Jebb, 
Litt.D., M.P. 


The vice-president, recorders and secretaries 
of the eleven sections have also now been ap- 
pointed. 

In view of the numerous towns to be visited 
by the association, and in which lectures or 
addresses will be given, the number of lecturers 
appointed is much larger than usual. The list 
of these, as at present arranged, is as follows: 

Cape Town.—Professor Poulton, on Burchell’s 
work in South Africa; and Mr. C. V. Boys, on a 
subject in physics. 

Durban.—Mr. F. Soddy, on radioactivity. 

Maritzburg.—Professor Arnold, on compounds 
of steel. 

Johannesburg.—Professor Ayrton, on distribu- 
tion of power; Professor Porter, on mining; and 
Mr. G. W. Lamplugh, on the geology of the 
Victoria Falls. 

Pretoria (or possibly Bulawayo).—Mr. Shipley, 
on a subject in zoology. 

Bloemfontein.—Mr, Hinks, on a subject in as- 
tronomy. 

Kimberley.—Sir William Crookes, on diamonds. 


As the wish has been conveyed to the council 
from South Africa that a few competent in- 
vestigators should be selected to deliver ad- 
dresses dealing with local problems of which 
they possess special knowledge, a geologist, a 
bacteriologist and an archeologist have been 
invited to undertake this work, involving in 
two cases special missions in advance of the 
main party. Whilst Colonel Bruce, F.R.S., 
will deal with some bacteriological questions 
of practical importance to South Africa, Mr. 


~ 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 533. 


G. W. Lamplugh (by the courtesy of the Board 
of Education) will be enabled to investigate 
certain features in the geology of the Victoria 
Falls, particularly as regards the origin and 
structure of the canon; and Mr. D. R. Mac- 
Iver, who is at present exploring in Nubia, 
will proceed in March to Rhodes in order to 
examine and report on the ancient ruins at 
Zimbabwe and also Inyanga. 

Most of the officials and other members of 
the association will leave Southampton on 
July 29 by the Union-Castle mail-steamer 
Saxon, and arrive at Cape Town on August 
15, the opening day of the meeting; but a 
considerable number will start from South- 
ampton on the previous Saturday, either by 
the ordinary mail-boat or by the intermediate 
steamer sailing on that date. 

The sectional meetings will be held at Cape 
Town (three days) and Johannesburg (three 
days). Between the inaugural meeting at the 
former and the concluding meeting at the 
latter town opportunities will be offered to 
members to visit the Natal battlefields and 
other places of interest. Subsequently a party 
will be made up to proceed to the Victoria 
Falls, Zambesi; and, should a sufficient num- 
ber of members register their names, a special 
steamer will be chartered for the voyage home, 
via Beira, by the East Coast route, as an alter- 
native to the return through Cape Town by 
the West Coast route. Thus all the colonies 
and Rhodesia will be visited by the associa- 
tion. The tour will last seventy days via 
Cape Town, or a week longer vid Beira (all 
sea), leaving Southampton on July 29, and re- 
turning thither on October 7 or 14. 

A central executive committee has been con- 
stituted at Cape Town, with Sir David Gill 
as chairman and Dr. Gilchrist as secretary, 
while local committees have been formed at 
Johannesburg and other important centers. 

Professor G. H. Darwin, F.R.S., is the 
president-elect ; and among the vice-presidents- 
elect are the following: The Right Hon. Lord 
Milner, the Hon. Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson, 
Sir Henry McCallum, the Hon. Sir Arthur 
Lawley, Sir H. J. Goold-Adams, Sir David 
Gill and Sir Charles Metealfe. 

Sir David Gill, Mr. Theodore Reunert and 


4 


Marcu 17, 1905.] 


others have taken a prominent part in the 
initial work. The South African Association 
for the Advancement of Science is cordially 
cooperating in the local organization, and will 
join with the British Association in attending 
the meeting. 

The aim of the council has been to secure 
the attendance of a representative body of 
British men of science, including specialists 
in various lines of investigation; and that, 
along with the generous support of the people 
and authorities in South Africa, should go far 
to insure the success of the meeting and to 
stimulate local scientific interest and research. 


JOINT ANNOUNCEMENT OF SUMMER FIELD 
COURSES IN GEOLOGY. 

A pampuHtet has lately been issued contain- 
ing a brief account of the field courses in geol- 
ogy offered for the summer of 1905 by several 
universities in various parts of the United 
States. The number of courses offered and 
the professors, from whom information about 
them may be obtained, are as follows: 

Intercollegiate Appalachian Course, Professor 
W. B. Clark. 

University of Chicago, five courses, Professor 
R. D. Salisbury. 

Columbia University, one course, Professor A. 
W. Grabau. 

Harvard University, three courses, Professor 
J. B. Woodworth. 

Johns Hopkins University, one course, Professor 
W. B. Clark. 

University of Kansas, one course, Professor E. 
Haworth. 

University of Minnesota, two courses, Professor 
C. W. Hall. 

University of North Carolina, one course, Pro- 
fessor C. Cobb. 

Ohio State University, one course, Professor 
C. S. Prosser. 

Stanford University, two courses, Professor J. 
C. Branner. 


University of Wisconsin, one course, Professor 
W. H. Hobbs. 

In order to encourage the taking of summer 
field courses, the following colleges and uni- 
versities have agreed to give credit, under cer- 
tain conditions, to any of their students, who 
thus spent part of the vacation in scientific 


study: 


SCIENCE. 


437 


Amherst College, University of Missouri, Beloit 
College, University of North Carolina, University 
of Chicago, Northwestern University, Colgate 
University, Oberlin College, Columbia University, 
Ohio Wesleyan University, Hamilton College, 
University of Rochester, Harvard University, 
Syracuse University, Johns Hopkins University, 
University of Toronto, University of Kansas, 
Vanderbilt University, Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, Wesleyan University, McGill Uni- 
versity, Western Reserve University, University 
of Michigan, Williams College, University of Wis- 
consin, University of Minnesota, Yale University. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


Proressor Simon Newcome celebrated his 
seventieth birthday on March 12. Professor 
Newcomb is at present engaged in an impor- 
tant investigation, under the auspices of the 
Carnegie Institution, for determining the ele- 
ments of the moon’s motion and for testing 
the law of gravity. 

Proressor Henri Motssan, of Paris, and 
Professor Wilhelm Ostwald, of Leipzig, have 
been elected corresponding members of the 
Berlin Academy of Sciences. 


Tue following candidates have been selected 
by the council of the Royal Society to be 
recommended for election into the society: 
John George Adami, William Arthur Bone, 
John Edward Campbell, William Henry 
Dines, Arthur Mostyn Field, R.N., Martin 
Onslow Forster, Edwin S. Goodrich, Frederick 
Gowland Hopkins, George William Lamplugh, 
Ernest William MacBride, Francis Wall Ol- 
iver, David Prain, George F. C. Searle, Robert 
John Strutt and Edmund Taylor Whittaker. 


CAMBRIDGE UNIversITy will confer its doc- 
torate of science on Dr, E. B. Taylor, F.R.S., 
professor of anthropology at Oxford. 


On the occasion of the opening of the new 
public health laboratory of the Victoria Uni- 
versity, Manchester, honorary degrees were 
conferred upon Professor Calmette, Lille Uni- 
versity; Professor Perroncito, Turin Univer- 
sity; Professor Salomonsen, Copenhagen Uni- 
versity, and Captain R. F. Scott, R.N. 

Proressor K. Mosius has retired from the 
directorship of the Berlin Museum of Natural 
History. The position has been offered to 


438 


Professor H. H. Schauinsland, director of the 
museum at Bremen. 

Dr. D. T. MacDoueat, of the New York 
Botanical Garden, started on March 9 for 
Mellen, Arizona, and plans to make an ex- 
amination of the deserts contiguous to that 
stream and the Gulf of California, and to 
obtain living material for the New York Bot- 
anical Garden. Mr. E. A. Goldman, of the 
Biological Survey of the Department of Agri- 
culture, will accompany the expedition for the 
purpose of extending the field surveys of the 
department, and of obtaining material for the 
study of the fauna of the region. 


Proressor T. A. Jaccar, of Harvard Uni- 
versity, will lead a geological expedition to 
Iceland during the summer. On or about 
May 25 the party will leave Boston for Liver- 
pool. On June 10 it will leave Leith, Scot- 
land, by steamer and will make a circuit of 
the island, stopping at places of interest on 
the coast, and finally landing at Reykjavik, 
whence a trip will be made northward over 
the island on foot or horseback. The party 
will return by steamer to Reykjavik and then 
to Leith after an absence of about forty days. 


Mr. J. Maxweti Miter, Rhinehart scholar 
of the Peabody Institute, has modeled a bust 
in plaster of President Ira Remsen and pre- 
sented it to the Johns Hopkins University. 


A sust of Dr. William Osler, to be executed 
in marble by Mr. Hans Schuler, has been pre- 
sented to the Johns Hopkins University. It 
is said that Dr. Osler will leave for England 
on about May 17. 

Dr. Vicror HeENsEN, professor of histology 


and embryology at Kiel, celebrated his seven- 
tieth birthday on February 10. 


Mr. W. H. Maw has been elected president 
of the British Astronomical Association. 


Tuer Isaac Newton studentship of £250 for 
encouragement of study and research in as- 
tronomy has been conferred upon Mr. F. J. M. 
Stratton, B.A., scholar of Gonville and Caius 
College, Cambridge University. 

Tue Prix Lacaze, of the value of 10,000 
francs, awarded every four years by the Paris 
Faculté de Médecine to the author of the best 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 533. 


work concerning tuberculosis, has been given 
to Dr. André Jousset. 


Dr. ALEXANDER MACFARLANE will give at 
Lehigh University a course of lectures on Brit- 
ish mathematicians of the nineteenth century 
as follows: 

April 7, 11:30 a.w.—‘ Sir George Biddel Airy 
(1801-1892). 

April 8, 11:30 a.m.—‘John Couch Adams 
(1819-1892) .’ 

April 11, 5:00 p.m.—‘ Sir John Frederick Will- 
iam Herschel (1792-1871).’ 

April 13, 5:00 p.m.—‘ Isaac Todhunter (1820- 
1884) .’ 

April 14, 11:30 sa.a.—‘ Duncan Farquharson 
Gregory (1813-1844),’ ‘George Green (1793- 
1841).’ 

April 17, 5:00 -p.a.—‘ George Salmon (1819-).’ 
Conclusion, 

THE secretary of war, the Hon. Wm. H. 
Taft, has accepted the invitation of the 
National Geographic Society at Washington 
to address the society on the Philippines. The 
address will be given during the first week of 
May and is the last of ten addresses on the 
far east which the National Geographic So- 
ciety arranged for 1905. The other addresses 
are: ‘China,’ by Hon. John W. Foster, ex- 
Secretary of State; ‘ Japan,’ by Baron Kentaro 
Kaneko, of the House of Peers of Japan; 
‘Russia,’ by Hon. Charles Emory Smith, 
formerly minister to Russia and ex-Post- 
master General; ‘ Manchuria,’ by Col. W. S. 
Schuyler, who has recently returned after 
eight months with the Russian armies in 
Manchuria; ‘The Evolution of the Russian 
Government,’ by Dr. Edwin A. Grosvenor, of 
Amherst College; ‘ Recent Observations on the 
Russo-Japanese War, in Japan and Man- 
churia, by Dr. Louis Livingston Seaman; 
‘The Japanese Side of the War,’ by William 
E. Curtis; ‘The Panama Canal,’ by Rear Ad- 
miral Colby M. Chester, U. S. N., superin- 
tendent of the U. S. Naval Observatory; ‘ The 
Commercial Prize of the Orient and its Rela- 
tion to the Commerce of the United States,’ 
by Hon. O. P. Austin, chief of the Bureau of 
Statistics. These addresses are published in 
the journal of the society, The National Geo- 
graphic Magazine. 


Marcu 17, 1905.) 


Mr. Matcotm Morris was expected to de- 
liver the Harveian lecture before the Harveian 
Society of London on March 9, the subject 
being some modern therapeutic methods in 
dermatology, with exhibition of cases treated 
by the X and Finsen rays. 


Dr. Davin Murray, professor of mathe- 
matics and astronomy at Rutgers College from 
1863 to 1873 and subsequently adviser to the 
imperial minister of education at Japan and 
secretary of the board of regents of the Uni- 
versity of the State of New York, died on 
March 2, aged seventy-five years. 


Dr. Aucust BorntRAGErR, associate professor 
of chemistry at Heidelberg, has died at the 
age of eighty-five years. 


Harvarp Universiry and New York Uni- 
versity again unite with the Bermuda Natural 
History Society in inviting zoologists and 
botanists to spend six weeks in the temporary 
biological station located, as during the past 
two years, at the Flatts, Bermuda. It is ex- 
pected that the date of sailing from New York 
will be July 1. Those who desire to take ad- 
vantage of the opportunities offered by the 
station should send applications as early as 
possible, and not later than May 1, either to 
Professor E. L. Mark, 109 Irving Street, Cam- 
bridge, Mass., or to Professor ©. L. Bristol, 
New York University, University Heights, 
New York City. 


Tue Albatross, of the Bureau of Fisheries, 
has returned to California after four months 
of deep sea explorations of the South Pacific, 
under the direction of Mr. Alexander Agassiz. 


Tue forestry department of the University 
of Michigan, through the kindness of Dean O. 
Worcester, secretary of the interior, Philip- 
pine Islands, who was a graduate of the uni- 
versity in 1889, has received a collection of 
herbarium specimens of the forest flora of the 
islands, which will form study material and 
assist in preparing some of the students of 
the forestry department for the Philippine 
Service. 


Aw expedition from Indiana University, in 
charge of John A. Miller, professor of me- 
chanics and astronomy, and W. A. Cogshall, 


SCIENCE. 


439 


assistant professor of astronomy, will go to 
Spain to observe the total solar eclipse that 
occurs on August 80. At some point in north- 
eastern Spain, on a favorable site chosen by 
Professor A. F. Kuersteiner, of the depart- 
ment of romance languages, who is now in 
Spain, they will install their instruments. 
This temporary observatory will include a 
horizontal photographic telescope about sev- 
enty-five feet long, having an aperture of 
eight inches. Into this telescope the sun’s 
rays will be reflected by a mirror moving at 
such a rate that it will reflect rays in a con- 
stant direction. This telescope, with one ex- 
ception, will have greater photographic efii- 
ciency than any telescope that has hitherto 
been used to photograph the sun during a total 
solar eclipse, and is designed to secure photo- 
graphs of the corona on a very large scale. 


Fietp CotumsBiAN Museum, Chicago, has ar- 
ranged a course of nine lectures upon science 
and travel, on Saturday afternoons in March 
and April, at three o’clock, as follows: 


March 4.—‘ The Explanation of Indian Cere- 
monies,’ Dr. G. A. Dorsey, curator, department of 
anthropology, Field Columbian Museum. 

March 11.— Giant Reptiles of North America,’ 
Mr. E. S. Riggs, assistant curator, division of 
paleontology, Field Columbian Museum. 

March 18.—‘ Extinct Mammals of North 
America, Mr. E. S. Riggs, assistant curator, 
division of paleontology, Field Columbian Mu- 
seum. 

March 25.— Aims and Methods of Bird Study,’ 
Dr, N. Dearborn, assistant curator, department of 
ornithology, Field Columbian Museum. 

April 1.—‘ Hawaiian Cruise of the Albatross, 
Professor C. C. Nutting, professor of zoology, 
University of lowa. 

April 8.— The Fertilization of Flowers by In- 
sects, Dr. F. H. Snow, professor of systematic 
entomology, University of Kansas. 

April 15.—‘ Geographic Factors Involved in the 
Rise of Chicago, Dr. J. Paul Goode, assistant 
professor of geography, University of Chicago. 

April 22—‘ How Rivers and Lakes became 
Stocked with Fishes,’ Dr. 8. E. Meek, assistant 
curator, department of zoology, Field Columbian 
Museum. 

April 29.—‘The Basketry of California,’ Dr. 
J. W. Hudson, assistant in the department of 
anthropology, Field Columbian Museum. 


440 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


By the death of Mrs. George L. Littlefield, 
widow of George L. Littlefield, of Pawtucket, 
R. I., Brown University becomes the recipient 
of the bulk of the Littlefield estate, estimated 
at $500,000. The will provides that the cor- 
poration shall apply the money as it sees fit, 
except that $100,000 shall be used for the 
establishment of the George L. Littlefield pro- 
fessorship of American history. 


By the will of William F. Milton, of New 
York, his estate will go to Harvard University 
on the death of Mrs. Milton. The daily papers 
state that it is worth between one and two 
million dollars. 

Cotumpra University has recéived $100,000 
from Mr. Jacob H. Schiff to endow a chair of 
social work, and the new professorship has 
been filled by the appointment of Dr. Edward 
T. Devine, general secretary of the Charity 
Organization Society, director of the School 
of Philanthropy and editor of Charities. This 
endowment makes possible the close affiliation 
between the School of Philanthropy and Co- 
lumbia University. 

THE contest of the will of Mrs. Josephine 
L. Newcomb, who left more than $2,000,000 
for the endowment of a college for women in 
connection with Tulane University, New Or- 


leans, has so far resulted favorably to the 


interests of the college. 

THE regents of the University of Nebraska 
have recently voted $50,000 for the erection of 
the first wing of a building to accommodate 
the department of geology and the State Mu- 
seum. The condition of the’ department at 
present is so overcrowded and is so subject to 
loss by fire that the curator has boxed and 
removed fifty tons of material during the past 
school year. This has been lowered for safe 
keeping in an unused steam tunnel running 
under the campus. In the hope and full ex- 
pectation that the legislature of Nebraska will 
act favorably upon this recommendation of 
the regents, the Honorable Charles H. Morrill, 
founder and patron of the Morrill geological 
expeditions of the University of Nebraska, has 
offered the department an additional thousand 
dollars annually with which to pursue geolog- 
ical investigations both within and beyond the 


SCIENCE. 


7 


(N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 533. 


limits of the state. This will make it pos- 
sible for the first time in several years to again 
resume the annual Morrill geological expedi- 
tions which were so fruitful of results from 
1891 to 1901. 


WituiaMs CoLuece will ultimately receive 
$12,500 by the will of Mrs. Harriet A. Jones, 
of Chicago. 

Mr. E. Wuittey has given $5,000 towards 
the endowment of a chair of pathology at 
Oxford. 


THe Cambridge University convocation has 
voted to retain compulsory Greek in the ‘ little 
go’ or entrance examination, the vote being 
1559 to 1052. It is understood that a ma- 
jority of the resident teachers preferred to 
make Greek optional, but the vote of convoca- 
tion is largely decided by the country clergy 
who have qualified for the M.A. 

Dr. E. O. Lovert, professor of mathematics 
of Princeton University, has been elected pro- 
fessor of astronomy to succeed Dr. C. A. 
Young, who has become professor emeritus. 

Mr. Harotp L. Mapison has been appointed 
instructor in zoology in Brown University. 

Dr. C. S. Gacer, assistant in the. labora- 
tories of the New York Botanical Garden, is 
acting as instructor in botany at Rutgers Col- 
lege for the last half of the collegiate year. 


Mrs. CorNnELIus STEVENSON, president, and 
several other members of the board of man- 
agers of the Free Museum of Science and Art 
of the University of Pennsylvania have re- 
signed owing to friction connected with crit- 
icism of some of the discoveries of Professor 
Herman V. Hilprecht. 


Dr. CuHartes G. Rockwoop, Jr., professor 


of mathematics at Princeton University, has 


resigned. 

Dr. Sportiswoop—E CAMERON has been ap- 
pointed professor of public health at Leeds. 

Dr. A. R. Cuseny, of the University of 
Michigan, has been appointed professor of 
pharmacology and -materia medica in Uni- 
versity College, London. 

Proressor L. V. Vernon-Harcourt has re- 
signed the chair of civil engineering in Uni- 
versity College, London. 


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NICHOLS, Edward L., and William 8. FRANKLIN, Cornell University. 
The Elements of Physic. A College Text-Book. In Three Volumes. Vol- 
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10+290 pp.  8vo, cl., $1.90 net. 


RIGHI, Augusto, University of Bologna. Authorized Translation by Auaustus TROWBRIDGE, 
University of Wisconsn. Modern Theory of Physical Phenomena. 


Radio-Activity, lons, Electrons. 13+165 pp. 12mo, cl., $1.10 net. 
RUTHERFORD, E., McGill University, Montreal, 
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ALLBUTT, T. Clifford, University of Cambridge. 
System of Medicine and Gynaecology. Complete in nine volumes. 
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BOTTOME, S. R. 
Radium, and All About it. 96 p. 12mo, il., paper 35 cts., nit. 


BOYNTON, William Pingry, University of Oregon. 
Applications of the Kinetic Theory of Gases, Vapors, Pure 
Liquids, and the Theory of Solutions. 10+288 pp. 8vo, cl., $1.60 nev. 


DEXTER, Edwin Grant, University of Illinois. 
Weather Influences, An Empirical Study of the Mental and Physiological 
Effects of Definite Meteorological Conditions. With Inirvduction by Cleveland Abbe, 
LL.D. 314286 pp. 8vo, cl., $2.00 net. 


GIBBONS, Edward E., University of Maryland, Baltimore. 
The Eye: its Refraction and Diseases. The Refraction and Func- 
tional Testing of the Eye, Complete in Itself, in Twenty-eight Chapters with Numerous 
Explanatory Cuts and Diagrams. 
9+ 472 pp. 4to, il., cl., $5.00 net, half morocco, $6.50 net. 


HASTINGS, William W. 
A Manual for Physical Measurements. For use in Normal Schools, 
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from Five to Twenty Years and Vitality Coefficients. 
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METCALF, Maynard M., Woman's College of Baltimore. 
An Outline of the Theory of Organic Evolution. Witha Descrip- 
tion of Some of the Phenomena which It Explains. 17+204 pp. 8vo, il., cl., $2.50 net. 


NICHOLS, Edward L., and William 8. FRANKLIN, Cornell University. 
The Elements of Physic. A College Text-Book. In Three Volumes. Vol- 
ume I.—Mechanics and Heat. Third edition, rewritten with additions. 
10+-290 pp. 8vo, el., $1.90 net. 


RIGHI, Augusto, University of Bologna. Authorized Translation by Auaustus TROWBRIDGE, 
University of Wisconsn. Modern Theory of Physical Phenomena. 


Radio-Activity, lons, Electrons. 13+165 pp. 12mo, cl., $1.10 net. 
RUTHERFORD, E., McGill University, Montreal, 
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SHEARER, John §., Cornell University. 
Notes and Questions in Physics. New edition. 
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Testing of Electro-Magnetic Machinery and other Apparatus. 
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A Synoptic Text-book of Zoology. For Colleges and Schools. 
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A Treatise on the Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rig- 
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WILLIS, J. C., Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon. 
A Manualand Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and Ferns. 
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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. 


Fripay, Marcu 24, 1905. 


CONTENTS: 


The American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science: 


Section H—Anthropology: GrorcE H. 
LUOPDIPTID «6% Gig eaeeopec eg ener re ket OL re aan at a 441 
Section I—Social and Economie Science: Dr. 
JOHN FRANKLIN CROWELL................ 446 
The Saint Petersburg Conference on the Explo- 
ration of the Atmosphere: Dr. A. LAWRENCE 

AECL OEM ae ret eles cial cere ay a Sete. 4 Vareph ty hive gasiou dye 461 
Scientific Books :— 

Leach’s Food Inspection and Analysis: Dr. 

Wn. Frear. Angell’s Psychology: Pro- 

FESSOR Epwarp L. THORNDIKE............ 465 
Scientific Journals and Articles............ 469 
Societies and Academies :-— 

The New York Academy of Sciences, Sec- 

tion of Anthropology and Psychology: PRo- 

FESSOR R. 8. WoopwortH. The Torrey Bo- 

tanical Club: Epwarp W. Berry. The Sci- 

ence Club of the University of Wisconsin: 

TP AW) AVOID gin eee re 469 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

Blunders in the Scientific Record: Dr. 

LEONARD STEJNEGER. The Metric Fallacy: 

Henry B. Heprick. A Request for Ma- 

terial: PRoFESSOR Harris HAwTHORNE 

TELIDBI) 96, 6 6 SERENE ERC ee en 472 
Special Articles :— 

Elliptical Human Erythrocytes: Dr. MELVIN 

Pe «A wie kp e ha Las aisle as Oo 473 
Quotations: 

Compulsory Greek at Cambridge.......... 475 
Students of the German Universities........ 476 
The Geographical and Geological Survey of 

BDU ACEP LOM on 20) 255i rdc ysl Sed & as Soyep re 476 
The Program of Studies of Columbia College 476 
Scientific Notes and News.................- 477 
University and Educational News.......... 480 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of SCIENCE, Garri- 
80n-on-Huison, N. Y. 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 


ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 
SHOCTION H. ANTHROPOLOGY. 

Section H of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science held its 
regular sessions at the fifty-fourth meeting 
of the association, which was in progress 
in Philadelphia, Pa., during convocation 
week. The American Anthropological As- 
sociation and the American Folk Lore So- 
ciety affiliated with Section H. 

The officers for the meeting were as fol- 
lows: 

Vice-President—Walter Hough. 

Secretary—George H. Pepper. 

Member of Council—C. B. Moore. 

Sectional Committee—M. H. Saville, vice-presi- 
dent, 1904; George H. Pepper, secretary, 1904; 
Walter Hough, vice-president, 1905; George H. 
Pepper, secretary, 1905-08; F. W. Hodge, W J 
McGee, Alice C, Fletcher, George Grant MacCurdy, 
Ales Hrdlicka. 

Member of General Committee—B. T. B. Hyde. 

Press Secretary—Secretary of Section. 

Officers of the American Anthropological Asso- 
ciation— President, W. H. Holmes in the absence 
of W J McGee. Secretary, George Grant MacCurdy. 

Officers of the American Folk Lore Society— 
President, George A. Dorsey in the absence of 
George Lyman Kittredge. Secretary, W. W. 
Newell. 


The address of the retiring vice-presi- 
dent of Section H, Marshall H. Saville, 
entitled ‘Mexican and Central American 
Archeology,’ was delivered Friday after- 
noon. 

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28. 

The afternoon session began with the 
paper on ‘Anthropometric Work at the St. 
Louis Exposition: (a) Sense Tests of Vari- 


442 


ous Races, (b) Physical Measurements of 
Philippine Groups,’ by R. 8. Woodworth 
and Frank G. Bruner. 

Over a thousand individuals, belonging 
to twenty-two groups and nine races, were 
measured, and most of these were subjected 
also to sensory and mental tests. Among 
the results may be mentioned: the superi- 
ority of some groups, especially the Fili- 
pino, in eyesight, and the inferiority of 
others, the Ainu, Negrito and African 
pigmy ; the presence of red-green blindness 
among Filipinos to about the same extent 
as among whites; the general inferiority of 
other. races to the white in fineness of color 
perception, but no special deficiency in per- 
ception of the violet end of the spectrum. 

A comparison of the height, cephalic, 
facial and other indices of several Filipino 
groups was obtained which showed that, on 
the whole, the population of the islands is 
remarkably uniform in physical measure- 
ments. 

After the presentation of Professor 
Woodworth’s paper, the society adjourned 
to attend the discussion on ‘Mutation 
Theory of Evolution,’ in Dental Hall. 


THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29. 

The meeting was opened by the vice- 
president, Walter Hough. The first paper 
was, ‘The Story of a Shield,’ by James 
Mooney. 

Professor Mooney said in part: 

In the old days all men between twenty- 
five and fifty years of age, in the Kiowa 
tribe, had shields. They were the personal 
property of the mounted warriors and, on 
the plains, this object was the most prized 
possession of the Indians. When a warrior 
was killed his shield was usually buried 
with him. Each shield had a distinct 
origin, although a number might be made 
of the same form and from the same dream. 
Out of 300 Kiowa shields there might have 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 534. 


been 50 shield origins. One man might 
make many shields, which came from a 
dream, and the wearers would form a small 
elan-like body. One of the old shields was 
that of the buffalo. Its origin was from the 
buffalo and it had buffalo medicine. It 
was worn by the medicine men who knew 
how to eure arrow and gun-shot wounds. 
As shields were used in warfare, they could 
be made for no other purpose. 

The bird shield was of special interest 
to the speaker, as he had been more closely 
associated with it than with any other. A 
story was related of a Kiowa boy who en- 
deavored to get medicine from a water 
monster formed like a horned alligator. 
He approached a pool and looked into the 
water. He heard the voice of a boy who 
finally invited him to his father’s tent. 
The young man went in. He saw seven 
men seated against the wall of the tent. 
These men turned into birds. Each had 
a shield which was fastened above his 
head. They told the young man that they 
had heard his longings and that they would 
give him medicine. They would give him 
a shield. They also gave him nine songs. 
The shrike gave him the song that was to 
be sung when he went into battle. The 
call of each bird was to be used in battle 
in connection with the proper shield and 
accompanying the song of the particular 
bird. 

A model of the original bird shield was 
shown. It had a rainbow, the sunlight and 
dots representing the ashes thrown down 
by the old men in the sky. These objects 
were considered to be great medicine. The 
inside of the shield contained the secret 
medicine known only to the owner. This 
was revealed at the moment that the owner 
made a charge in battle. Each shield had 
a number of taboos, the breaking of which 
was a misfortune; there were, however, 
many ways of propitiation and thereby 
overcoming the harm that had been done. 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


Themistology. Epwarp LInpsay. 

An important branch of the study of 
man is the science of institutions. Of hu- 
man institutions one of the most important 
is law. Law has been defined as any re- 
straint of the individual by the group 
which is backed by physical force. This 
overlooks the idea of rules for the adjust- 
ment between individuals of the rights in- 
hering in them by reason of their status in 
the social organization, which are the 
ereater part of law. Different terms for 
these two concepts are needed; the first 
may be called Nomos, the second Themis. 
The science of themistology would investi- 
gate that portion of the law of all peoples 
embraced within the concept Themis. Eth- 
nologists have determined that there are 
various forms of social organization which 
have existed at different periods and among 
widely separated groups, and from the 
study of these have distinguished succes- 
sive stages in the evolution of society. In 
the same way we should examine other 
themal concepts, as marriage in its various 
forms, contract, ete., and, after collecting 
all available facts, study them and deter- 
mine whether there are ideas recurring 
generally among different groups which 
pass through a stated course of develop- 
ment. By this use of the scientific method 
may be obtained a true science of law. 
This subject is urged on the attention of 
anthropologists because the facts must be 
largely collected among primitive peoples. 
To distinguish between the two different 
classes of facts included under the term 
law, however, is essential to an intelligent 
collecting of material. 


Recent Investigations in the Somatic An- 
thropology of the Brain of Distinguished 
Persons, of Indwiduals of Various Races 
and of Criminals. Epwarp ANTHONY 
SPITZKA. 

A discussion of the doctrine of cerebral 
localization, of the significance of brain- 


SCIENCE. 


443 


weight and of surface morphology in their 
relations to the intellect and to race, and 
of the question of brain-heredity. Inci- 
dentally the alleged relations of brain 
structure and crime as maintained by Lom- 
broso and his followers were viewed in the 
light of recent researches. In the report 
of the author’s studies on the brains of 
notable men (eleven in all) some interest- 
ing results concerning the weight of the 
brain, the ‘concept area,’ the cerebro-cere- 
bellar ratio and the redundancy of the eal- 
losum were presented in detail. 


The Physical Resemblance of Twins.  Ep- 

WARD L. THORNDIKE. 

Measurements were taken of thirty-nine 
pairs of twins, the results showing that 
there were always striking resemblances. 
Various tests were made and tabulated, 
including physical and mental observa- 


tions. 


The Color Sensibility of the Peripheral 
Retina. J. W. Bairp. Read by title. 


THURSDAY AFTERNOON, DECEMBER 29. 

At the meeting with the American An- 
thropological Association, Professor W. H. 
Holmes, vice-president of the affiliating 
association, presided. 


Medicai Notes on the Southwestern In- 
dians. ALES HRDLIcKA. 

The results of five trips to the southwest 
were presented. These expeditions were 
made possible through the interest of Dr. 
F. E. Hyde, B. T. B. Hyde and F. E. 
Hyde, Jr. 

The physical work was reviewed and 
tables presented showing pulse averages, 
respiration and temperature. The follow- 
ing tribes were visited and representative 
individuals measured: The Navajos, La- 
gunas, Zunis, Hopis, Majaves, Papagos, 
Pimas, Maricopas, Yumas, Yaquis, Apa- 
ches, Tarahumaris, Huicholes, Otomis, Tar- 
aseans and Aztecs. 


444 


A Tale of the Hudson River Mohican Lan- 
guage. J. DyNuEY Prince. Read by 
title. 


The Settlement and Transfer of Upper 
Lowsiana. Paut BeckwitH. Read by 
title. 


The Use of Study of Anthropology im 
School. Amos W. FarNHAM. Read by 
title. 

After the reading of the foregoing titles 
the meeting was turned over to the Amer- 
ican Folk-Lore Society, the paper by Will 
S. Monroe having been placed on their list. 

Dr. George A. Dorsey presided at the 
meeting. 

A ‘Report of the Committee on Officers’ 
was read by W. W. Newell. The following 
officers were elected for 1905: 

President—Alice C. Fletcher, Washington, D. C. 

First Vice-President—Roland B, Dixon, Har- 
vard University. 

Second Vice-President—William A. Neilson, Co- 
lumbia University. 

Councilors—Franz Boas, New York; J. W. 
Fewkes, Washington; James Mooney, Washing- 
ton; A. N. Tozzer, Harvard University. 


Disenchantment by Decapitation. Address 
of the retiring president, GkEorGE LyMAN 
KirrrepGe. Read by W. W. Newell. 


Influence of European Contact on Aborig- 
inal Institutions. ALEXANDER F'. CHAM- 
BERLAIN. Read by title. 


The Kiowa Supernatural. JAMES Mooney. 

A very instructive paper concerhing the 
interrelation between the known and the 
unknown. The making of medicine and 
its importance to the tribe. One case cited 
of the Ute Indians killing a Kiowa who was 
a medicine man. They saw by the painted 
design on his body that he was a great man. 
They took his medicine and hoped to profit 
by it. The Kiowas learned later that the 
house in which it was kept was struck by 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 534, 


lightning. The new owners then disposed 
of the medicine. : 

Mr. W. W. Newell ealled attention to 
the presence of Miss Mary Speers, a lady 
who had collected negro songs. He asked 
that she be allowed to sing some of these 
southern melodies. In preparing these 
songs she demonstrated the need of study- 
ing the tone of the singer-as well as the 
notes of the song. Four selections were 
rendered. 

Superstitions of School Children. Win 

S. Monroe. 

Mr. Monroe has been collecting the su- 
perstitions and games of children for sey- 
eral years. One thousand children were 
questioned concerning good and bad luck. 
The predominating good luck charm among 
the girls was a pin; among the boys, a 
horseshoe. The number of superstitions 
among the members of both sexes at differ- 
ent ages were noted and tabulated. These 
consisted of arrival of company supersti- 
tions of which there were twenty-three; 
those concerning the weather, love and 
marriage, sickness and death, and the num- 
ber thirteen. He found that the thirteen 
superstition does not figure to any extent 
and was not found in children under ten 
years of age. 

The Tale of Three Wishes. Wiu1amM W. 

NEWELL. 

A negro story of a man who had three 
wishes. One should have been for salva- 
tion. Other wishes are made and he is 
given to the devil. When he is being ear- 
ried away he begs the devil to pick a pear 
for him. He is so insistent that the devil 
finally climbs the tree to obtain the fruit. 
One of the wishes that the man had made 
was to the effect that any one caught steal- 
ing his fruit would have to stay in the tree; 
thus he had the devil in his power. A 
second time he gets the devil into his purse 


es 


————= 


Ra 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


in the form of a'ten-cent piece. In thus 
using his wishes the man succeeded in keep- 
ing out of hell. 

This tale was compared with other wish- 
stories in which similar details appear. 


Influence of the Sun on the People of the 
Hopi Pueblos. J. WAuTER. FEWKES. 
The epitome of the history of the Pueblos 

is shown by their ruins. 

The earliest forms were on the plains. 
The second period brought them to the base 
of the mesas, the third and last to the level 
tops of the table lands. 

The inclination of the house groups on 
the mesa tops is in two directions—toward 
the highest point, to obtain the greatest 
security possible, and on exposures where 
the maximum sunlight may be obtained. 
The houses ofttimes form two lines, the 
direction being northeast and southwest. 
This peculiarity was first noted by Cosmos 
Mindeleff. The reason for this uniformity 
was not estheticism but the position of the 
sun. This occurs in all of the Hopi Pueb- 
los but two. There are three specific causes 
for this: (1) the growth of the family, (2) 
the growth of the house group, (3) the 
position of the sun. 

Among the Pueblos there are only two 
places where additions to the paternal 
home can be made, that is on the northeast 
and southwest of the nucleus or home 
group. The reason for this is that the 
additions must not cut off the sun from the 
house already built. These additions to 
the home continue as daughters are born 
and marry. 

When a new clan comes to a pueblo it is 
given a new position which will not conflict 
with the sun supply of the first group. 
The growth of these clan houses is a cel- 
lular one in which the family is the initial 
cell. This explains the form of most of 
the modern pueblos. Some of these are 
rectangular, which is the form of many of 


SCIENCE. 


4405 


the old ones. This may be explained by 
the fact that a number of clans partici- 
pated in the work of buwilding—both in 
planning and in earrying out the details 
of construction, in which ease the form of 
the town was probably prearranged. Even 
in this form of pueblo the terraces and 
door entrances were usually toward the 
sun. 

The clans have been a great factor in the 
formation of the house groups. They are 
responsible for whatever peculiar features 
may be in evidence in both the ancient and 
the modern pueblos. The clan problem is 
a most interesting one. Its solution can be 
accomplished in no way save by a thorough 
study of the migrations cf-each, and its 
relationship to the pueblo. It is one of the 
most interesting phases of anthro-geog- 
raphy or psycho-geography in the scuth- 
west. 


The Work of the Unwersity of California. 

ALFRED L. KROEBER. 

A general résumé of the anthropological 
work done by the university was given. 
Results of former expeditions were pointed 
out and the present policy cf the depart- 
ment outlined. Work is being carried on 
in Peru by Dr. Uhle; in California, espe- 
cially among the Hupa, by Dr. Goddard, 
and linguistic and general ethnological 
work in the same state by Dr. Kroeber. 
These investigations are under the direc- 
tion of the departmental head, Professor 
KF, W. Putnam. 


FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30. 

Historic and Prehistoric Ruins 

Southwest. Epaar L. Hrewert. 

Professor Hewett has devoted several 
years to the study of the remains of the old 
sedentary tribes of the southwest. He has 
mapped large groups and presented data 
to the department of the interior in an en- 
deavor to have certain areas containing 
ruins set aside as national parks. 


of the 


446 


His latest work has been the preparation 
of changes in and amendments to the bills 
that have been drawn up for the protec- 
tion of remains on the public domain. This 
work enabled Professor Hewett to handle 
the subject in a very comprehensible way. 

The groups of ruins were described, the 
labor expended .in each, and what should 
be done in the way of preserving them for 
future scientific work. The various bills 
for the preservation of ruins were ex- 
plained, and the objectionable features of 
each pointed out. Reports of the commis- 
sioner of the general land office, and a 
monograph by the speaker were given to 
members of the section in order that a bet- 
ter comprehension of existing conditions 
might be obtained. 


The Election at Jemez Pueblo. 
B. REAGAN. Read by title. 


ALBERT 


Prehistoric Surgery: A Neolithic Survival. 

GEORGE GRANT MacCurpy. 

This paper dealt with a certain type of 
neolithic surgery having certain points in 
common with trepanning, and which has 
been brought to light during the past 
decade. The type oceurs in France over 
a limited area lying to the north of Paris 
between the Seine and the Oise. The ci- 
catrice is usually in the shape of a T, the 
antero-posterior branch following the line 
of the sagittal suture; and the transverse 
branch, encountered in the region of the 
obelion, descending on either side to a point 
back of the parietal protuberances. In 
addition to the T-shaped lesion, one skull 
was marked by two oval perforations, one 
quite large, and two pits large enough to 
lodge the tip of the finger. The eight or 
nine specimens already described are all 
from prehistoric sepultures known as dol- 
mens. In the opinion of Professor Man- 
ouvrier the lesions were produced by cau- 
terization, an opinion which was recently 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 534, 


confirmed by the discovery of quotations 
from ancient texts describing the treatment 
for melancholia, hypochondria, epilepsy, 
etc., as prescribed by the surgeons of the 
Dark Ages. The paper will appear in the 
American Anthropologist. 


FRIDAY AFTERNOON, DECEMBER 30. 


Mexican and Central American Archeol- 
ogy. Address of Vice-President SAVILLE. 


The Bat-eared God of the Zapotecs. H. 

N. WARDLE. 

The paper presented a résumé of the 
knowledge of this god from the pottery 
urns that have been found and from repre- 
sentations in the old codices. 

Officers of Section H for the ensuing 
year: 


Vice-President—George Grant MacCurdy. 
Secretary—George H. Pepper. 


GrorGE H. PEPPER, 
Secretary. 


AMERICAN MuseuM oF NATURAL HISTORY. 


SECTION I, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC 
SCIENCE. 

Section I is in some respects ideally con- 
stituted. It has a smaller body of experts 
in its membership who plan its programs 
and work out its policy. The larger num- 
ber of members represent business experi- 
ence and practical social effort. It thus 
combines in its programs the scientifie dis- 
cussion and methods of the expert with the 
results of well-considered experience in 
social and economic affairs. This year’s 
program was well supplied with papers: 
representing both phases of interest. 


Two joint sessions were held, one with — 
Section D for hearing a paper by Professor — 


A. E. Outerbridge, Jr., on ‘Specialization 
in Manufactures,’ and one with the Society 
for the Promotion of Agricultural Science, 
to hear the memorial by Professor W. R. 
Lazenby on the life of the late Major H. E. 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


Alvord, of the U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture. 

The record of attendance of speakers on 
the published program was one of the best 
in the history of the section. Out of the 
twenty-three papers twenty were read in 
person by the authors. The attendance on 
the part of the public varied from thirty- 
five at the first session to seventy-five at the 
last session. Five different sessions were 
held, including one afternoon session de- 
voted to the address of the retiring vice- 
president, Professor Simeon E. Baldwin, 
New Haven, Conn., on ‘The Modern Droit 
D’Aubaine,’ treating of the recent multi- 
plication of succession tax laws, and their 
application to non-residents, resulting in 
double taxation. 

The following officers were elected : 

Vice-President and Chairman.—Professor Ir- 
ving Fisher, Yale University. 

Council—Marcus Benjamin. 

Sectional Committee—H. L. Corthell. 

General Committee—Henry Farquhar. 

The papers presented included the fol- 
lowing as reported in abstract: 


SESSION ON ECONOMIC QUESTIONS. 

The Basis of Economics as an Exact 
Science. Professor Srimon NEWwcoMB, 
Washington, D. C. 

One of the first things to strike us in the 
effort to apply scientific methods to eco- 
nomics is the absence of nomenclature. We 
notice, in the first place, that there is no 
name for the organized system of economic 
phenomena. Herbert Spencer has used the 
term ‘social organism,’ but the objection to 
that is that it includes more than is neces- 
sary. It embraces all phenomena which 
are social, but there are social phenomena 
which do not strictly belong to the economic 
order or which relate so indirectly to it as 
to be negligible factors in the consideration 
of economic questions. 

Another phase of defective definition 


SCIENCE. 


447 


may be mentioned. I refer to the fact that 
there is no name for that portion of wealth 
which is not capital. Marshall makes use 
of the inconvenient term of ‘wealth of the 
first order.’ 

Referring to the economic order as a 
whole, we notice, to begin with, that it is a 
unified system, in which the parts are re- 
lated as means and ends. In economies 
these terms, means and ends, take the place 
of the correlated terms cause and effect in 
the physical order. That is, the relation 
of means and ends in economics corresponds 
to the relation of cause and effect in phys- 
ics. In the economic order capital is 
means. The problem, then, is to find the 
relation of capital means to economic ends. 
We must study from ends to means and 
from means to ends according as the one 
or the other inquiry may be necessary to 
establish the causal relation which is the 
business of science to ascertain. 

Now, as to the method of inquiry. In 
this procedure we haye to distinguish be- 
tween machinery which is necessary for 
production and auxiliary means to an end. 
The machinery necessary for production is, 
of course, capital in its essential character. 
The auxiliary means to ends which capital 
serves to reach is money. But money, im- 
portant as it is in its auxiliary function, 
adds nothing to the power of the machine. 

Knowledge or direction is needed as an- 
other auxiliary in the organization of the 
means to ends of production. 

Socialism overlooks the necessity for the 
means of production, and seems to be based 
on the omission of this mediating factor 
between man’s wants and his ends. The 
socialist is like the man who walks to the 
edge of a precipice and propeses to proceed 
even at the risk of losing his hfe rather 
than to build a bridge to pass from one 
precipice to another. 

How far can economics be made an ex- 


448 


act science? It is often said that this sub- 
ject depends too much on the vagaries of 
human nature to bring the economic proec- 
esses within the category of exactness, 
This is true to some extent. We all know 
that the corn and the cotton crops, for 
instance, are uncertain quantities. We 
know that these affect economic activities 
to such an extent as to require constant 
readjustment. On the other hand, it is true 
that we know just about how a shortage in 
the corn crop or a marked enlargement in 
the cotton crop is going to affect the actions 
of persons interested. We know how the 
economic order in general, and how the 
divisions of enterprises directly affected are 
going to behave, other things being equal, 
under the changed conditions in the crop 
yield. It may, therefore, be said that 
there is a far greater degree of exactness 
attainable in measuring the force of eco- 
nomie processess than is usually assumed 
in the criticism based upon the assumptions 
of the vagaries of human nature. 

We may, therefore, be exact in the in- 
vestigation of the action of causes. For 
example, we can study with a remarkable 
degree of accuracy the influence of the in- 
crease of currency upon prices. 

We may also maxe the comparative con- 
dition of the masses in different countries 
a subject of exact study. Take the five 
different nationalities of Russia, Austria, 
France, England and the United States. 
These are given in the order of the wage 
income, let us assume. The cost of sub- 
sistence is about the same in all of them, 
but wages are lower in the order given. 
Why is this the case? There must be some 
exact causes, and the problem is to deter- 
mine what these laws are. 

Another phase of the subject of method 
on the action of causes appears in the ap- 
plication of mathematical methods or prin- 
ciples to the study of economies. Jevons, 
for instance, applied mathematical methods 


SCIENCE. 


(N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 534. 


to the determination of the law of marginal 
utility thirty or more years ago, and the 
principle has been extensively used and 
developed in numerous treatises since then. 
The law of supply and demand has like- 
wise been treated mathematically by Mar- 
shall. - 

Returning again to the study of the con- 
dition of the masses, the main question is 
to find the causes of inequality of income. 
Methods hitherto pursued have generally 
lacked comprehensiveness. We may, how- 
ever, assume that these inequalities are de- 
termined by the law of supply and demand 
and by a law of distribution growing out 
of the law of supply and demand. 

One of the first things we notice is the 
creat difference in apparently similar men. 
The captain of an Atlantie liner, for in- 
stance, who has millions of dollars of value 
intrusted to his care, together with thou- 
sands of lives, may in all outward respects 
and in mental qualities be apparently the 
equal of one whose judgment and practical 
capacity could in no wise be intrusted with 
so responsible a task as that of bringing a 
vessel across the Atlantic in safety. 

The first problem which we may propose 
for ourselves in this field is that of the 
effect of supply and demand on the distri- 
bution of income. In books three and four 
of my ‘Principles of Political Economy,’ 
published twenty years ago, I sought to 
work out this problem in its twofold as- 


pects: (1) From the standpoint of the — 


productive process, and (2) from the 
standpoint of the societary circulation or 
the monetary movement. The chief diffi- 
culty in the solution of this problem lies 
in the numerous complications of the eco- 
nomic order as represented in changes and 
the multifarious causes at work. The 
problem may be simplified in statement 
by being represented in graphical form. 
We may, for instance, take the loaf of 
bread as a product and follow it back 


Marcu 24, 1905.) 


through the chain of incipient factors, be- 
ginning with the farm on which the wheat 
is produced as the first step; second, Chi- 
cago as a wheat market; third, the baker; 
fourth, the house of the consumer. The 
productive process may be said to termi- 
- nate, temporarily, at any rate, in the house, 
extending from the farm of the producer 
to the house of the consumer. On the con- 
trary, the societary process, or the mone- 
tary flow, extends from the house of the 
consumer back through the baker and 
through the wheat market to the farm 
where production began. These two cur- 
rents represent an exact quantity, in the 
one ease of goods, and in the other ease of 
money. They move in opposing direc- 
tions, and in this respect are analogous to 
the two opposing currents acting simul- 
taneously, as represented in electrical 
theory. 

There are various other causal factors to 
be brought into the study of this relation, 
ineluding such factors as the mechanic, 
who purchases from the hardware store, the 
hardware store purchasing from the tool 
factory, the tool shop purchasing from the 
rolling mill, and the rolling mill from the 
mine; but along each of those connections 
the two currents, productive and cireula- 
tory, are in active operation, and all of 
these factors are directly or indirectly con- 
nected with another factor—the govern- 
ment. 

This representation may seem at first 
glance to be complicated by reason of the 
numerous currents represented in the two- 
fold process, the productive and the circu- 
latory. Could the conclusions arrived at 
in this method be put in such a form as to 
have the community accept them?  Eeo- 
nomic conclusions are not easily accepted 
by the community in general. Why is this 
so? One reason—possibly the main rea- 
son—is that economists have failed to dis- 
tinguish between means and ends. ‘To the 


SCIENCE. 


449 


economist ends, rather than means, are im- 
portant all the time. The economist, as a 
rule, has laid so much emphasis on means as 
to diffuse the sum total of impression made 
upon the mind of the community. Never- 
theless, the individual member of the com- 
munity and the community as a whole are 
interested in results, in ends, in income 
rather than in outlay, but the income in 
which they are interested is not the mone- 
tary income, but real income. I may 
illustrate this by supposing that in case of 
our civil war, the policy of the northern 
states toward the south had allowed ex- 
ports to be made unhindered, but had pro- 
hibited all imports except gold and silver. 
What would the effect have been? The 
great majority of people would at first 
hand say that it would have enabled the 
confederate states to command the control 
of all utilities they desired, and thus 
worked exactly contrary to the blockading 
polhey. But would that have been the 
ease? We see that it would not, as soon 
as we realize that gold and silver are means 
and not ends. If the prohibition of im- 
ports of economic goods, except gold and 
silver, had been carried out, the productive 
process would have been interrupted and 
the starving-out policy have gone on sub- 
stantially as it did under the blockade. 
This illustrates the relative importance of 
the productive process as distinguished 
from the monetary movement. 


Workings of the Anthracite Coal Strike 
Agreement. Ww. H. Taytor, St. Clair 
Coal Company, Scranton, Pa. 

This strike was inaugurated May 12, 
1902. Five months later President Roose- 
velt appointed the commission ‘“‘to inquire 
into, consider and pass upon the questions 
in controversy in connection with the 
strike in the anthracite region, and the 
causes out of which the controversies arose. 
By the action you recommend, which the 


450 


parties in interest have in advance con- 
sented to abide by, you will endeavor to 
establish the relations between the em- 
ployers and the wage workers in the an- 
thracite field, on a just and permanent 
basis, and, as far as possible, to do away 
with any causes for the reoceurrences of 
such difficulties as those which you have 
been called upon to settle.’’ Meanwhile 
the strikers returned to work. Five 
months later, March 18, 1903, the commis- 
sion made its report to the president. The 
report says: ‘‘The occasion of the strike of 
1902 was the demand of the United Mine 
Workers of America for an increase in 
wages, a decrease in time, and the payment 
for coal by weight wherever practicable; 
and where not, then paid by car. The 
eause lies deeper than the occasion, and is 
to be found in the desire for the recognition 
by the operators of the miners’ union. The 
great strike of 1900 which resulted in an 
advance of ten per cent. in the wages paid 
to all classes of mine workers, did not leave 
either miners or operators in a satisfied 
state of mind, for both agree that since the 
settlement of 1900 there have been in- 
creased sensitiveness and irritation in the 
mining districts as compared with the 
previous twenty-five years or more.’’ 
Every coal mining company finds, as to 
the discipline, that there is generally a de- 
cided change for the worse; which, al- 
though it is known to exist, and is shown 
in many ways, is still difficult to define. 
Formerly employees seemed to be willing 
to turn their hand to anything that would 
further the work of the company, but now- 
adays if a man is asked to do a little out- 
side of his regular line, he refuses to do 


it or does it grudgingly, telling the foreman ~ 


that it is not his job. 

The feeling of sensitiveness and irrita- 
tion to which the commission referred, has 
not lessened, but, on the contrary, is a 
smouldering fire, which breaks forth at the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 534, 


least provocation. The effect of this un- 
favorable attitude on operations is reflected 


in the following typical results showing ~ 


decreased efficiency generally. 

One company reporting on all its eol- 
lieries writes: ‘‘We find that the labor 
cost of producing coal during the period 
from November 1, 1903, to April 30, 1904, 
was 36.9 per cent. greater than during the 
same months in 1899 and 1900.’’ 

Two other collieries in the Lackawanna 
region furnish the following statement, 
showing decreasing efficiency : 


TABLE OF COMPARATIVE EARNINGS AND OUTPUT. 


Colliery No. 2. 
Average Items. 


| Colliery No. 1. 
| 1901. 1904. 1901. | 1904. 
| =|) 

150 193. | 170 | 210 


No. of miners...... | 
Net earnings per | 
miner, eleven) 


| 

MONtAS =. pecances $838.64 | $871.34 | $597.13 $673.14 
Net earnings per. 

miner, one) 

MOnthe secs. -ce-e: | 76.24) 79.21! 64.28) 61.19 
Daily wages........ | 47 4.34) 2.88 3.38 
Tons mined per | 

miner perday.. 9.44 7.46| 7.291 ~ 6.22 


In colliery No. 1, the earnings of 1901 
taken as a basis, plus the 14.5 per cent. 
awarded by commission, should be $959.24; 
earnings per month, $87:50; per day, $4.77, 
showing a decrease in net efficiency, not- 
withstanding shorter hours and advanced 
wages, of 264 per cent. 

In colliery No. 2, earnings of 1901, plus 
14.5 per cent., should give $683.71 as net 
earnings; earnings per month, $62.15; 
earnings per day, $3.30, showing net de- 
crease of 16.9 per cent. in efficiency. 


The Present Status of Railroading in 
China. CHuune Hur Wane, Yale Uni- 
versity Law School. 

The present method of railroading in 
China constitutes one of the prime factors 
in the shaping of the future destiny of that 
country. While other countries are now 
lined with networks of railways, we find 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


that in China the ‘iron road’ has not yet 
become a household word. Foreign ob- 
servers who have but a superficial view of 
the subject do not hesitate to attribute the 
cause of this to the superstition, ignorance, 
prejudice, and what not, of the Chinese 
people. In my opinion there are two 
fundamental causes back of this, the one 
financial and the other political. If we 
bear in mind that the construction of every 
mile of railroad costs upwards of $10,000, 
we can well imagine the financial diffi- 
culties with which we are confronted in the 
construction of a complete system of rail- 
roads. Moreover, the heavy indemnities 
and exactions which have been wrung from 
us by the foreign powers at different 
periods since the Opium War of 1841 up 
to the Boxer uprising of 1900 have almost 
exhausted our resources, and have con- 
sequently increased the difficulties of our 
problem. Again, railroading is more than 
a mere economic undertaking; it has polit- 
ical as well as strategic importance. The 
main objection which has been urged by 
the high officials against the adoption of 
railroads is that as long as China is not 
strong enough to defend herself against 
foreign aggressions, the presence of rail- 
ways would be a constant menace to the 
safety of the country. If we read the 
Chinese state papers on the subject, we shall 
notice that the problem has been somewhat 
overestimated in its political and strategic 
importance, and underestimated in its eco- 
nomie and commercial aspects. 

To Li Hung Chang is usually given the 
eredit for the construction of the first 
permanent railway in China in connection 
with the Kiping coal mines, eighty-four 
miles northeast of Tientsin; but the credit. 
is justly due to a subordinate official, Mr. 
Tong King Shing, the pioneer of the intro- 
duction of modern improvements into 
China. 

After the Chino-Japanese War of 1896, 


SCIENCE. 


451 


the idea of constructing railroads exclu- 
sively with Chinese capital was abandoned 
as being impracticable, and in March of 
that year an Imperial Edict was issued en- 
couraging the construction of railroads, and 
in October, an official of high rank, Sheng 
Sun Hawai, was appointed Director-Gen- 
eral of Railroads with full power to raise 
foreign loans. This was the beginning of 
the period of ‘concessions.’ 

Within the past few years ‘railroad con- 
cessions’ covering about 5,000 miles of rail- 
way lines have been granted to different 
syndicates, the largest of which is the 
Belgian. These ‘concessions’ provide that 
the ownership in the railways ultimately 
reverts to the Chinese government. Con- 
cessions are really contracts between the 
native company of Chinese railways and 
the foreign syndicates. 


Can the South Manufacture Her Own 
Cotton? CuarutEes Lee Raper, Univer- 
sity of North Carolina. 

Slavery was a decided hindrance to the 
highest industrial development, just as the 
free negro and the free negro’s ghost in 
politics are obstacles to present industrial 
progress. 

The new south is not largely a product 
of outside energy and eapital, but is a 
revival and continuation of the old life; 
she is a product of the ability of the south- 
ern white man working under new condi- 
tions. Though the new south is still far 
behind the north in wealth and industrial 
activity, the first twenty years of her life 
saw more remarkable progress than any 
other section of this extensive country. 

General statistics are not all the evidence 
that goes to the support of the conviction 
that this section can become the world 
center of the manufacture of cotton goods. 
There is much in the general situation to 
which statistics ean not give adequate ex- 
pression. Climate, lack cf damaging frost, 


452 


creat water power and its freedom from 
ice, and the cheapness of hcusing, clothing 
and feeding the operatives, are all in favor 
of this view. The specific facts of cotton 
manufacture during the last twenty-four 
years show that in 1880 the southern states 
had less than 700,000 cotton spindles and 
about $20,000,000 invested in ectton fae- 
tories. To-day they have about 8,000,000 
spindles, or more than eleven times as many 
as in 1880. To-day they have almost $200,- 
000,000 invested in factories, or ten times 
as much as they had twenty-four years ago. 

The greatest need of the present is the 
direct sale of the products of the cotton 
mill to consuming markets. This is grad- 
ually being supplied, and with it the com- 
plete chain of economie production—the 
farmer, the manufacturer, the carrier and 
the merchant—will be primarily in control 
of the section of the country which is the 
source of the raw material. 


SFSSION ON EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCE. 
Ameliorative, Preventive and Constructive 
Social Work: and the Ideal Training for 
Social Workers. Mrs. ANNA GARLIN 
Spencer, New York School of Philan- 
thropy. 
Social service and social work mean, first, 
a synthesis of that which is connated in 
the four basic institutions of society, the 
home, the school, the church and the state. 
Social service has in it something of the 
religious appeal to grow better and 
stronger, however difficult the growth may 
be. It has much of charity’s special 
quality of devotion to those whose personal 
or social condition makes it most hard for 
them to live a truly human life. It has some- 
thing of that dependence upon the organ- 
ized whole of sceiety which has given the 
modern state its functions of charity, edu- 
cation and publie enlightenment through 
free public benefits. It has much of that 
spirit of moral reform which i: forever 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 534. 


blazing out in holy passion of rebuke 
against tyranny of the weak by the strong. 
It has, most of all, a giant share of that new 
impulse in education which demands for 
each child ‘the best development society 
ean afford.’ 

The supreme distinction of modern social 
service lies in its fundamental ideals and 
the conscious purpose in its application of 
those ideals. Those fundamentals are: 

1. A belief in what Horace Mann ealled 
the ‘infinite improvability of mankind,’ a 
deep faith in the essential good quality of 
human nature, a faith shared with all new 
types of religious belief and the root of the 
new education. 

2. A belief that the race is not improved 
solely or chiefly through its moral and 
inteliectual elite (those capable of becom- 
ing saints and sages and leaders), but that 
the race is to be improved most completely 
and surely by the upraise of the whole 
mass of mankind. This is a faith in the 
spiritual essence of democracy. 

3. A belief that here and now society 
has both the duty and the power to under- 
take consciously, determinedly, systemat- 
ically and hopefully this upraise of the 
whole people, this demonstration in terms 
of absolute democracy of the worth of all 
human beings. 

4. The belief that in order thus to grow 
nobler, purer and stronger and happier 
human beings in this wholesale fashion, so- 
ciety must also work to make a better world 
for the less fortunate and the weaker hu- 
man beings now living. 

5. The belief that since all the people, 
especially ‘the least of these,’ are to be 
lifted, society must hold itself responsible 
for the welfare, the safety, the chance to 
erow, the opportunity for education and 
the ability to become self-supporting, of 
every human being. 

This then which we eall social service is 
a synthetic appreciation and use of the 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


new ideals of education, democracy and re- 
ligion. 

This synthetic function divides itself into 
three main departments of social effort, 
namely: (1) Ameliorative work, (2) pre- 
ventive work, (3) constructive work. 

In all great social activities the three de- 
partments named work together and, there- 
fore, the efficient organization of all chari- 
table and reformatory forces is now indis- 
pensable to social advance. The modern 
warfare against disease is a perfect illus- 
tration of the interaction of ameliorative, 
preventive and constructive social work. 
At least one third of all the persons who 
require relief of a charitable nature do so 
because of illness or physical disability. 


Child Labor in Southern Mills. A. J. Mc- 
Ketway, Assistant Secretary of the Na- 
tional Child Labor Committee. 

The southern cotton mill industry is 
eentered in the Piedmont section of the 
four cotton states that have mountains, 
namely, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Georgia and Alabama. These are the 
manufacturing states of the south. 

This industry grew up in a night, and 
old historic communities, holding fast to 
their laissez faire doctrine, found them- 
selves suddenly confronted with the prob- 
lems for which they had no social experi- 
ence and no legislative precedents. All 
of our industries are infant industries. In 
1880 there were 667,000 spindles in the 
southern — states. In 1900 there were 
7,000,000. In 1900 there were 412 cotton 
manufacturing establishments. In Janu- 
ary, 1904, there were 900, so that this state- 
ment of their number is antiquated as 
soon as it is made. The number has been 
more than doubled in the last four years. 
South Carolina stands next to Massa- 
chusetts in the number of spindles, and 
North Carolina is ahead of either in the 
number of cotton mills, the mills being 


SCIENCE. 


453 


smaller on the average than those of the 
other two states mentioned. Considering 
the shortness of the period of this revival 
of manufacturing, the south as a whole has 
acted with commendable promptness in 
recognizing and seeking to remedy the evils 
of child labor. The conditions of this 
industry in the southern states to-day are 
superior to those in either England or New 
England and probably superior to those 
that obtained when the industry was at its 
best in New England and the operatives: 
were the hardy children of the New Eng- 
land soil. Despite the stories that have 
been published in the magazines at so 
much per column, it is a source of grati- 
fication to know that people are buying 
good clothes and good furniture and pic- 
tures and books and stoves. The homes 
of the people are three- and four-roomed 
cottages, an infinite distance from the one- 
roomed hut, and every cottage has an acre 
plat of ground, for the garden, while the 
pigs and the chickens and the cow have 
quarters of their own. And there is all 
of God’s out-of-doors for breathing space. 
There is no night work at the mill, spinning 
and weaving departments being evenly 
balanced so that what is spun one day is 
woven the next. The hours are long, how- 
ever, from 6 in the morning to 6:30 at 
night, with an intermission of forty min- 
utes for dinner and a half holiday on 
Saturday. And this brings up the fact 
that there are too many young children in 
that foree of a thousand workers and that 
eleven hours and fifty minutes a day is too 
long for any child to work in a mill, be the 
work ever so light. 


Work of the National Child Labor Com- 
mittee. SamueL McCune Linpsay, 
Secretary, New York City. 

The permanent organization of the com- 

mittee took place at the house of Robert W. 

de Forest, New York City, November 28, 


454 SCIENCE. 


1904, with a membership of forty-six per- 
sons, constituting, perhaps, as remarkable 
a group of varied industrial, financial, edu- 
cational and social interests as was ever 
brought together in America or in any 
other country. Its membership now repre- 
sents fourteen states and the District of 
Columbia. The object is to secure as 
nearly as practicable uniform legislation 
and uniform enforcement of laws on this 
subject throughout the union. 

The work before the national committee 
comprises the education of public opinion, 
on the one hand, and the bringmg to the 
attention of both the legislative and exec- 
utive branches of the state and national 
governments the results of the careful and 
scientific study of both existing conditions 
and remedial measures. The national 
committee hopes to bring together the re- 
sults of a larger parental responsibility, 
the better development of the public school 
system and the enactment of child labor 
legislation in the several states and terri- 
tories, and to coordinate these efforts so 
that the evils of child labor may be eradi- 
cated from the industrial system of 
America. 


The Press as an Educator. Wm. H. 
Lyncu, Salem Publie School, Salem, Mo. 
Jules Verne, the world-famous novelist, 

wisely predicted that long before the 
middle of the century novels or romances, 
in volume form, would be supplanted by 
newspapers. The newspaper of to-day, 
great as it is, has yet before it a develop- 
ment and_ potentiality for usefulness 
scarcely imagined by its most far-seeing 
and progressive directors. 

It must be obvious to all thoughtful per- 
sons that the newspaper may easily be 
made the medium of imparting valuable 
instruction in many departments of knowl- 
edge on which the very latest text-books 
are mere blanks. Take, fcr example, the 


[N.8. Vou. XXI. No. 534. 


experiments of Marconi in wireless teleg- 
raphy, so minutely recorded and illustrated 
in almost every newspaper. Would not 
the study of the despatches, describing the 
achievements of the great Italian, by boys 
and girls sufficiently advanced to under- 
stand them, be infinitely more profitable 
than the dull book pages they are com- 
pelled to read concerning the laying of the 
first ocean cables so many years ago? To 
this question there can be only one answer. 

Take another current subject, with the 
discussion of which the newspapers have 
been filled in the most instructive and 
luminous way—that of Venezuela. What 
might not a competent teacher, with the 
aid of the press, have accomplished in the 
treatment of this question toward instilling 
in the minds of his pupils correct under- 
standing and conception of the Monroe 
Doctrine, let us say, or a knowledge of the 
Spanish-American republics generally and 
our relations to them? Then there was a 
ereat coal strike and the war between 
Russia and Japan. 

In the school books are a few meager 
facts and dates, forgotten almost as soon 
as they are learned, with respect to that 
basic factor in the industrial world. With 
the universal interest centered in the sub- 
ject and the assistance of the newspaper, 
the skillful teacher could have done more 
to expand and inform the minds of all 
those intrusted to his care than all the text- 
book writers combined. Children should 
not, of course, be permitted to read every- 
thing printed, even in the newspapers. 
The latest advanees in scientific knowledge, 
the newest inventions and discoveries, in 
every branch of human endeavor, are all 
heralded in the morning or evening des- 
patches. Years hence the text-books will, 
as it were, embalm them in their solemn 
pages. Why should the child be compelled 
to sit in darkness with the light of knowl- 
edge blazing all around him? 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


Ethnic Factors in Education. Dr. Epgar 
L. Hewirt, Washington, D. C. To be 
published in the American Anthropol- 
ogist. 


The American Negro. Epwarp L. Buack- 

SHEAR, Prairie View, Texas. 

I, Some Survivals of Primitiwe Racial 
Instincts in the American Negroes.—The 
absence or, rather, scarcity of islands and 
peninsulas and bays and seas along most 
of the coast line of continental Africa has 
exerted indirectly a profound influence on 
African character. As a result, the Afri- 
can tribes have been isolated from all the 
great historical world movements, and have 
remained stationary in their social and 
tribal relations. Deprived of the stimulus 
of commercial and maritime influences, 
they have for centuries lain dormant in 
respect to the higher or organic life of the 
human species. 

Herein les the secret of the southern 
racial problem. The real crux of this diffi- 
culty is not the mere color of the skin, as 
is sometimes asserted. It is the sum total 
of characteristics, mental and moral, of 
which the exaggerated physique is the 
material expression and vehicle—it is this 
that constitutes a race problem when a 
group of Afro-Americans comes into any 
sort of relationship for a continued period 
with an Anglo-Saxon group. 

Il. Negroism.—By this term is meant to 
be conveyed an idea of a sum total of the 
characteristics—the mere color of the skin, 
while the most obvious, being really, as it 
is literally, superficial—which is the result 
of centuries of a heredity dominated by a 
fixity and sameness of environment as bar- 
ren of differentiating and developing fea- 
tures as the Saharan Desert—a _ heredity 
wherein the mere struggle for animal ex- 
istence and reproduction was the moving 
force, a heredity whose sameness of en- 
vironment and want of contact, either 


SCIENCE. 455 


friendly or hostile, with different human 
types, resulted in an exaggeration of qual- 
ities, physical, mental and moral. Add to 
the influences of this unvarying African 
environment and heredity all the influences 
of American chattel slavery which served 
to still further exaggerate tendencies al- 
ready abnormally developed, and the re- 
sultant is what is here designated negroism. 
The significance of negroism lies in the de- 
fective attempt, grotesque to the cultured 
Anglo-Saxon mind, of the African mind to 
incorporate into its own thought and being, 
the real living thought and motives of the 
Anglo-Saxon race. And herein too lies the 
gist of the negro question. 

The remedy for negroism is the develop- 
ment of Americanism, that is, of intelligent 
self-respect and a manly regard for others; 
of self-reliance as manifested in industry 
and economy and self-support; of a sim- 
ple, pure, healthy, happy home life as op- 
posed to polygamous indiscriminateness; 
a regard for peace and good government 
and good order rather than a scramble for 
place and power and spoils; a love of ecun- 
try, of home and a love of God manifested 
in a life of simple sincere piety rather than 
in manifestations of religious emotional- 
ism unaccompanied or uninspired by the 
spirit of a genuine Christianity. 


On the Desirability of Founding an In- 
stitute for the Study of Blood Poisoning. 
P. A. Maianon, Philadelphia. 

In these days of immense activity great 
problems can be settled only by specializa- 
tion. The prevention of disease is one of 
these problems. Medical science deals 
with the cure of disease; sanitary science 
with its prevention. 

Medical and surgical science has been 
much endowed, but sanitary science has 
somewhat lagged. Sanitary plumbing and 
sanitary engineering are about all we hear 
of in connection with sanitary science. 


456 


The writer has for the last thirty years 
been associated with the sanitarians of 
London, the hygienists of Paris and in a 
general way with physicians taking partic- 
ular interest in the prevention of disease, 
and it has oceurred to him that a good pur- 
pose would be served if an institute were 
founded in this country for the special 
study of blood poisoning, particularly as 
regards the first step of infection. The 
physiological, chemical and physical com- 
position of normal blood is pretty well 
known, but the immediate phenomena 
which obtain before the appearance of 
morbid symptoms do not seem to have been 
studied to any very considerable degree. 

The main object of such an institute for 
the study of the different phases of blood 
poisoning, their cycle and variety, should 
be to find out and indicate the means to 
prevent the infection in each ease. 


Sociological Features of the National Irri- 
gation Movement. Guy Euuiorr Mir- 
CHELL, Secretary of the National Irri- 
gation Association, Washington. 

No question before the public to-day 
presents more interesting sociological 
phases than does the national irrigation 
question in America, not only through the 
great number of homes to be created by 
artificially watering desert wastes but 
through the far-reaching effect of the work- 
ing out of a great government irrigation 
policy and the general education of the 
American people on the advantages of this 
practise both west and east. 

The social side of irrigation ean be de- 
scribed in the single clause—irrigation sub- 
divides and resubdivides lands into small 
home tracts. 

Irrigated communities average the small- 
est farms in the world. The most highly 
developed portion of the west contains 
thousands of five and ten-acre farms from 
which men are making comfortable livings. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 534. 


The social conditions of some of the most 
intensely irrigated tracts are perhaps the 
most nearly perfect of those of any com- 
munities in the world. 

Now the effect of the great government 
irrigation work, which is being pushed 
rapidly forward, will be to create a west- 
ern empire of new homes and at the same 
time, incidentally, thoroughly to educate 
the people of the entire country on the sub- 
ject of irrigation. The consequence will be 
that irrigation practises will finally en- 
thrall the eastern farmer. The facts as 
they exist in European countries show that 
irrigation can be practised with great profit 
even on land which has sufficient rainfall 
to grow paying crops. Irrigation is a crop 
insurer, besides producing double yields, 
and when it is applied to eastern farm 
lands the same conditions will result which 
are found in the arid region—the farms 
will be divided into smaller and better 
tilled tracts. 

Along with the prosecution of the gov- 
ernment irrigation policy and its great 
agricultural educational features will come 
the establishment. of rural colonies through- 
out the entire country, home-acres for fac- 
tory employees, making them to an ex- 
tent independent of their daily wage, and 
the gradual trend of the city congestion 
back to the land as the primal source of all 
wealth. Working along with this policy 
of intensive farming and high cultivation 
is a recognized movement to engraft a prac- 
tical agricultural education, nature study 
and handicraft work, upon our common 
school system so that men and women of 
coming generations will both want and 
strive to own a home on a piece of land 
and when they secure it will know how to 
make it productive and attractive. 


STATISTICAL SESSION. 


Beef Prices. Frep C. Croxton, U. S. 
Bureau of Labor. 


€ 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


An advance in fresh beef affects the ex- 
penditure of the working-man’s family as 
much as would the same advance in the 
price of each of the four items, flour, corn 
meal, bread and milk. An advance in 
beef of two cents per pound means (if he 
buys the same grade and quantity), the ex- 
penditure of an additional amount equal 
to the cost of lighting, or to taxes and 
property insurance combined, or to the 
expenditure for books and newspapers. 

The retail price of fresh beef at the 
present time is about ten per cent. above 
the average for the ten-year period from 
1890 to 1899. The value per pound of 
the fresh beef exported also shows a de- 
cided advance. The average value for 
the last five years was 11.4 per cent. above 
the value for the preceding five years, and 
13.3 per cent. above the value for the five 
years ending June 30, 1894. 

A study of prices during the last fifteen 
years shows that with few exceptions the 
prices of beef cattle, of fresh beef at whole- 
sale and of fresh beef at retail advance and 
decline together, but not to the same ex- 
tent. The margin between beef at whole- 
sale and at retail is usually rather close. 
While some parts of each carcass are re- 
tailed at two or three times the cost at 
wholesale, a considerable portion, if sold 
at all, must be sold for less than was paid 
at wholesale. In the early part of the pres- 
ent month, a ‘top’ carcass which cost the 
retailer seven cents per pound was sold in 
Washington as follows: 22 per cent. (in- 
eluding trimmings) at three cents or less 
per pound; 30 per cent. (including trim- 
mings) at six cents or less per pound. 

The demand for fresh beef at home has 
increased, owing to the increase in popu- 
lation, the greater proportion of persons 
living in cities and towns, and to improved 
industrial conditions during the past few 
years. The demand abroad, as shown by 
our exports for the five years ending June 


SCIENCE. 


457 


30, 1904, was 21.7 per cent. greater than 
for the preceding five years, and 55.6 per 
cent. greater than for the five years end- 
ing June 30, 1894. 

The most difficult question encountered 
in a study of beef prices is that of the 
supply. The estimates of the Bureau of 
Statistics of the Department of Agricul- 
ture show an increase from 1890 to 1904 
of 15.6 per cent. in the number of cattle 
in the United States, while in the same 
time population increased about 30 per 
cent., and the exports of fresh beef in- 
ereased 72.9 per cent. Deducting the 
amount of fresh beef exported from the 
amount sold by wholesale slaughtering and 
packing establishments, the number of 
pounds remaining per capita was 40.5 in 
1890, 34.1 in 1900 and is estimated at 40 
pounds in 1904. These figures do not of 
course represent consumption, but afford 
some measure of the relative amount of 
fresh beef sold in each year. 

One of the most important factors in de- 
termining the beef supply is the corn crop. 
The price of corn makes more abrupt 
changes than does the price of cattle, yet 
the course of the prices of the two com- 
modities is almost identical. 

Above are considered what may be called 
the natural conditions in the beef industry. 
It is possible that combinations of packers 
exist, which would doubtless exert a 
steadying influence on declining prices; or 
a combination might be strong enough to 
control to some extent the prices of cattle 
bought for slaughtering, or the supply of 
beef shipped, which would seriously affect 
the price to the consumer. 


Movement of Wood Prices and their In- 
fluence on Forest Management. B. E. 
Frernow, formerly U. 8S. Division of 
Forestry. 

Dr. Fernow refuted, by means of statis- 
tices presented in the form of diagrams, 


458 


the position of one of the noted English 
statisticians, Mulhall, that wood prices had 
fallen and would continue to fall, because 
the supply of timber was practically inex- 
haustible. The data upon which the Eng- 
lish authority based this conclusion were 
shown to be worthless. The speaker 
pointed out the difficulties of securing use- 
ful data, from which to diagnose the past 
and predict the future of price movements, 
and explained that, and why, prices for 
lumber did not really represent prices for 
wood or stumpage. From careful compila- 
tions of the experiences of European forest 
administrations it was shown that wood 
prices had for fifty to seventy years in- 
creased at a compound rate of not less than 
1.5 per cent. and for the last ten years at 
a rate of over 2 per cent., being now at least 
double what they were fifty years ago. 
Such data as were available for the United 
States showed the same tendency and 
about the same rate; and as the knowledge 
of the condition of timber supplies in the 
world was growing, wood prices would in- 
erease at an accelerated rate ‘until that 
level has been reached which forces reduc- 
tion of consumption.’ The influence of 
the increase of wood prices on forest treat- 
ment was discussed at length, as tending 
to supplant the rough exploitation which 
alone appeared profitable at present, by 
forestry, 7. e., care for the reproduction of 
a new wood crop. 


The Present Demands and Economic Uses 
of Wood. Wm. R. Lazensy, Ohio State 
University, Columbus, Ohio. 

This paper will appear in full in the 

Proceedings of the Ohio State Forestry 

Society. 


The Wheat Situation in the United States. 
Joun CasseL WriuuiAms, Washington 
Correspondent, New York Journal of 
Commerce. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 534. 


Since the season of 1901 there has been 
a falling off in the production of wheat in 
this country, while the increase in consump- 
tion has gone steadily forward until the 
point has been reached at which, tempo- 
rarily, at least, domestic consumption is 
about equal to the domestic supply and 
only a small surplus is available for ex- 
portation. The final figures of the De- 
partment of Agriculture for the wheat crop 
of 1904 issued by Chief Statistician Hyde 
put the total yield at 552,399,516 bushels, 
against 637,822,000 bushels in 1903, and 
748,400,000 bushels in 1901. Though in 
some years there have been considerable 
quantities of wheat carried over from one 
season to another in the visible supplies 
and in the stocks estimated as remaining 
in the hands of farmers, the exports of 
wheat and wheat flour have, from year to 
year, afforded an approximate measure of 
the excess of production in the United 
States over the domestic demand. 

Owing to the falling off in production 
and to the increase in domestic consump- 
tion, exports of wheat from the United 
States have temporarily, at least, prac- 
tically ceased and exports of wheat flour 
have been greatly reduced in volume. 

The American miller, endeavoring to re- 
tain his foreign market, is hampered, not 
only by the shortage of the domestic supply 
of wheat, but, also, by the inferior quality 
of a large proportion of that grown dur- 
ing the past season. The evidence sub- 
mitted to the treasury department by 
millers who have asked for an allowance 
of drawback on the exportation of flour 
made wholly or in part from imported 
wheat shows that, while in former years 
an average of four bushels and twenty 
pounds of wheat have been required to 
make a barrel of flour, the average quantity 
of domestic wheat required this year is 
four bushels and fifty pounds. Complaint 


Marcu 24, 1905.} 


is made that, even if domestic wheat is 
used to make flour for export, it is ex- 
tremely difficult to make the quality neces- 
sary to keep up the reputation of the es- 
tablished American brands. Across the 
northern border in Canada there are ample 
supplies of wheat of good quality, if the 
Ameriean miller could draw upon that 
supply of his raw material. 

The great body of the millers would 
welcome the absolute repeal of the duty 
on foreign wheat and there would doubtless 
be a vigorous demand for this repeal from 
other elements in the population of the 
United States if it were generally under- 
stood that, for some months past, the price 
of wheat in Canada has been from fifteen 
to twenty cents per bushel lower than in 
the United States, and that the effect of 
this has been to increase the cost of flour 
in the United States by from eighty-five 
cents to one dollar per barrel, thus increas- 
ing the cost of living to every customer of 
wheat flour in the United States. 

What is to be the future relation of the 
domestic supply of wheat in the United 
States to the domestic demand? The 
operation of certain tendencies in Amer- 
ican agriculture seem to indicate that 
wheat production in the United States can 
not be expected to increase in the future 
at a much greater rate than will be neces- 
sary to supply the increasing domestic de- 
mand. It is not impossible that the ulti- 
mate result of the operation of these tend- 
encies will be to make the United States a 
permanent importer of wheat under nor- 
mal conditions. 


SESSION ON PROBLEMS OF COMMERCE, ETC. 
Present Status of Maritime Enterprise. 
Winturop L. Marvin, Secretary of the 
United States Merchant Marine Com- 
mission, Boston, Mass. 
While ocean shipping is in a distressed 
condition in Europe, it is in a desperate 


SCIENCE. 


459 


condition here. The Merchant Marine 
Commission has visited within eight 
months all of the chief ports of this coun- 
try and it has not found anywhere so much 
as one new steamship designed for foreign 
trade in process of construction. It is, 
therefore, more than temporary depression 
which afflicts the ocean shipping of the 
United States. We are face to face, unless 
something heroic is speedily done, with the 
final vanishing of an old, historic industry. 
It will be generally agreed that President 
Roosevelt sent his urgent appeal to Con- 
gress none too soon. The report and 
recommendations of the Merchant Marine 
Commission will be laid before the Senate 
and House next week.* Though they can 
not be outlined beforehand, of one fact 
every member of the Congressional Com- 
mission is certain, and that is, that with- 
out vigorous national aid and encourage- 
ment of some kind we shall inevitably lose 
the last of our deep sea mereantile marine, 
not only the ships themselves, but the 
skilled officers and seamen. 

The Merchant Marine Commission in its 
inquiry has found that all the maritime 
nations of the world protect and encourage 
their ocean shipping in some way or other. 
The most conspicuous instance of this 
practise is Great Britain’s recent grant of 
$13,000,000 to build two new Cunard 
steamships, which will receive besides an 
annual subsidy of $1,100,000 for twenty 
years. Within sixty years Great Britain 
has expended about $300,000,000 in sub- 
sidies to her steam lines through all 
quarters of the world; and this, with the 
vigorous discrimination of Lloyds against 
foreign shipping, has made impregnable 
the British mastery of the sea, which was 
first gained by the navigation laws of 
Cromwell and the victories of Nelson. 


Report No. 58th 
To be had upon application 


* Senate Document, PAT ES 5). 
Cong., 3d Sess., 70 pp. 


to Senator Gallinger. 


A160 SCIENCE. 


The Merchant Marine Commission has 
given some attention to the free ship 
policy. In reply to inquiries addressed to 
the chief American owners of foreign-built 
steamships, these companies one and all 
declare that they would not bring their 
foreign ships under the American flag if 
they were given an opportunity, unless Con- 
gress by subsidy, bounty or discriminating 
duty enabled them to meet the higher wages 
of American officers and seamen. The 
Merchant Marine Commission, therefore, 
has been forced to turn to the alternative 
of direct national aid and encouragement 
to our merchant shipping. The exact con- 
clusions which it has reached will be re- 
vealed when the report and recommenda- 
tions are presented to Congress. 


Unconsidered Phases of Foreign Trade. 
Haroutp Boucr, Washington, D. C. To 
be published elsewhere. 

This paper was presented orally and 
‘dealt with the inadequacy of efforts on the 
part of the United States to secure a more 
favorable commercial position in the Far 
East, in South America and elsewhere, 
where the best efforts of rivals were making 
it more difficult each year for the United 
States to obtain a footing. 


Analogies Between the Evolution of Inter- 
national and of Private Law. Epwarp 
Linpsay, Warren, Pa., Academy of Sci- 
ences. 

As the ethics of a people are in advance 
of its laws so are the ethics of the individ- 
ual always in advance of the ethics of the 
people as a whole. The individual is al- 
ways in advance of the crowd, the group 
or the state. We would, therefore, ex- 
pect to find the laws governing nations in 
their intercourse with each other in a less 
developed state than those governing in- 
‘dividuals in their relations with each other. 
Such is in fact the case. A comparison of 


[N.S. Vou. XXL. No. 534, 


international law with the growth and 
progress of private law will afford infor- 
mation as to the stage and development 
international law has reached and some- 
thing of what we may expect from its 
future growth. This comparison was made 
between : 

1. Treaties and Contracts.—Treaties are 
contracts between nations. In_ inter- 
national law in respect to treaties the bind- 
ing force of the engagement is determined 
more from the formalities of the declara- 
tion of the treaty than from the agree- 
ment itself. In an earlier stage of private 
law this was also true of contracts; origin 
and history of contracts. 

2. War and Trial by Combat; War the 
Recognized Means of Settling a Dispute.— 
In private law at a certain stage was em- 


ployed the judicial combat which degen-- 


erated into the duel and has now become 
obsolete. 

3. Arbitration and an Action at Law; 
Arbitration a Rudimentary Judicial Proc- 
ess.—In private law we have it to-day as a 
survival in some instances and there is 
much reason to think that it was a stage in 
the evolution of law courts and legal pro- 
ceedings which was passed through by 
these institutions. International law may 
be expected to follow the same course of 
development in general as private law. 
International legislation, however, prob- 
ably is inadvisable. Growth of inter- 
national law best assured by international 
court to ascertain and declare the law in 
concrete cases. 


The Meaning of Maritime Expansion. 
JOHN FRANKLIN CROWELL, Washington, 
Dac: 

The upshot of it all is that we as a people 
are in the tropics. Moreover, we are there 
in all probability to stay. Ten or fifteen 
years ago a professor of history sneered at 
the idea of the annexation of Cuba. But 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


the recent reciprocity treaty put the com- 
mercial relations between the two countries 
on a basis which makes economic annexa- 
tion inevitable. Furthermore, every lead- 
ing British possession in the West Indies 
has for some years been seeking reciprocal 
trade treaties with the United States, as a 
means of economic salvation. The fact is 
that the American tropics find their nat- 
ural market for raw materials in the 
United States. We must find enlarged 
markets in these as yet undeveloped 
peoples. Step by step both the pressure 
from within and the course of events from 

without are drawing us out into relations 
with transoceanie countries which already 
make it necessary to look to the main- 
tenance of communication with the differ- 
ent continents by sea. 

At last then we are numbered among the 
great powers which have borne the burden 
of the world’s colonization. We are there 
primarily because of the inequality in the 
degree of economic development, compar- 
ing tropical communities with our own. 
The relation of the more highly developed 
countries of the temperate zone to the com- 
paratively undeveloped peoples of the 
tropies is one of the greatest of problems 
arising out of maritime expansion. The 
experience of most countries has resulted 
in one form or another of political depend- 
ence on the part of the natives; this polit- 
ical dependence with its varied institutions 
has its basis generally in an economic 
dependence or rather interdependence. 
Among these economic relations are in- 
variably lines of communication and com- 
merece by sea between the foreign country 
and the dependent territories. Great 
Britain requires control of the Mediter- 
ranean by reason of her relations with 
Egypt, India and Australia. One can not 
understand the history of modern peoples 
without taking into account this relation 


SCIENCE. 


461 


of the white races to the tropical peoples. 
With all of its dark pages, there are many 
proofs of the truth that the greed for gain 
has been subordinated to dictates of hu- 
manity, in dealing with these wards of the 
northern races. The missionary spirit has 
helped to temper the ferocity of mammon, 
and sooner or later insisted on the abolition 
of slavery throughout the entire region of 
eonquest. There has been a moral ex- 
pansion running parallel with the political 
and the economic expansion. Develop- 
ment of purchasing power rather than 
wasteful exploration of the population has 
come at last to govern tropical policy. 
JOHN FRANKLIN CROWELL, 
Secretary. 


THE SAINT PETERSBURG CONFERENCE ON 
THE EXPLORATION OF THE 
ATMOSPHERE. 

As some readers of ScrENCE may remem- 
ber, the International Meteorological Con- 
gress which met at Paris in 1896 appointed 
a committee to further the exploration of 
the free air, then already in progress in 
Europe by means of balloons, and at Blue 
Hill in this country with kites. The 
committee bears the somewhat ambiguous 
name: ‘International Committee for Scien- 
tific Aeronautics,’ and has had for its presi- 
dent Professor Hergesell, director of the 
meteorological service of Alsace-Lorraine. 
Originally consisting of eight members, it 
now numbers about fifty, representing 
eleven European countries and the United 
States, for, although our national Weather 
Bureau has not had a representative on the 
committee, the writer attended the meet- 
ings that were held at Strassburg in 1898, 
at Paris in 1900 and at Berlin in 1902, and 
has endeavored to advance the objects of 
the committee in the United States. 

The fourth meeting, appointed for last 
autumn at St. Petersburg, was regarded as 
of exceptional importance and, according- 


462 


ly, the invitations issued by the Imperial 
Academy of Sciences brought together, 
from ten countries, seventeen members of 
the committee besides about sixty other 
meteorologists and aeronauts, the latter 
both civil and military. At the head of 
the local committee of arrangements was 
General Rykatchef, director of the Central 
Physical Observatory, and to him the sue- 
cess of the meeting is chiefly due, for, al- 
though the war with Japan had reached an 
acute stage, it was not allowed to alter the 
scientific and social program. The first 
session was held in the palace of the Acad- 
emy of Sciences on August 29 (new style), 
when the order of business was adopted, 
and the same afternoon the conference was 
formally opened by the Grand Duke Con- 
stantine Constantinowitch, president of the 
Academy, who brought the greetings of the 
Czar: General Rykatchef then explained the 
arrangements that had been made for the 
meeting and Professor Hergesell reported 
on the work that had been accomplished 
since the committee had met two years 
before. 

The following day the scientifie meetings 
were begun, these being open to members 
of the conference, and, with the exception 
of two days devoted to excursions, they 
continued until September 3. There were 
sessions both morning and afternoon which 
were presided over successively by two 
members of the committee, and the ques- 
tions considered came under the following 
heads: Organization of international ob- 
servations, special investigations, instru- 
ments and technical matters, resolutions. 
As regards the first, it was deemed essential 
that each country should possess a special 
organization for the exploration of the at- 
mosphere and that the results should be 
published regularly. During the past 
three years the cost of publishing such 
observations in monthly volumes has 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S.. Vox. XXII. No. 534, 


amounted to $10,000, and this has been 
borne entirely by the meteorological sery- 
ice of Alsace-Lorraine. It is now pro- 
posed that the various countries participat- 
ing in the exploration of the atmosphere 
shall contribute $1,000 or $1,200 annually, 
receiving in exchange copies of the publi- 
cation, and this proposition is to be trans- 
mitted through diplomatic channels to the 
countries represented at the conference. 

With respect to the international ascen- 
sions of kites and balloons which, for sey- 
eral years, have taken place on the first 
Thursday of each month, it was decided to 
continue this practise, but, in order to 
study the successive diurnal changes, there 
will be, in addition, ascensions on three con- 
secutive days during April and August, 
1905, the dates during the latter month 
including the day of the total solar eclipse, 
August 30, when an ascent of a manned 
balloon was promised at Burgos, by the 
Spanish representative, Colonel Vivez y 
Vich. It was also decided that the balloons 
should be despatched in each country at 
the hour which corresponded to its daily 
synoptic weather-map. A statement of the 
number of ballons-sondes lost in Europe 
showed that this did not exceed four per 
cent. of those liberated. The committee 
recommended that observations of cloud- 
drift should be made at the time of each 
balloon ascension, in order to determine the 
motion of the upper currents, and in these 
observations the nomenclature of the clouds 
ought to correspond exactly with the inter- 
national classification. For this purpose 
a new edition of the ‘ International Cloud 
Atlas,’ which is now out of print, will be 
issued. 

Dr. Assmann, director of the aeronautical 
observatory of the Prussian Meteorological 
Institute, described the new observatory to 
be erected in large grounds, thirty-five miles 
southeast of Berlin, because at the existing 


Marcn 24, 1905.] 


observatory, in the suburbs of that city, 
the trailing kite-wires constitute a danger 
to life and property. The new establish- 
ment will be in every respéct a model one, 
where balloon and kite ascensions are to be 
made several times a day, a motor-boat on 
a lake permitting the kites to be flown even 
in calm weather, and, im this way, it is ex- 
pected that practically continuous meteoro- 
logical records will be obtained in the free 
air. As an indication of what had already 
been done in this respect, Dr. Assmann ex- 
hibited a chart, encireling the hall, on which 
were plotted the isotherms at different 
heights above Berlin, obtained from the 
ascensions of kites and captive balloons 
made daily for more than a year. From 
them Dr. Berson showed that the wind- 
direction shifted to the right-hand with in- 
creasing altitude. To complete an account 
of the aeronautical establishments in Ger- 
many for atmospheric soundings, Professor 
K6ppen described the kite-station of the 
Deutsche Seewarte, in Hamburg, where 
kite-flights are made every day that the 
wind conditions allow, the observations 
being published the same day, with those 
obtained simultaneously above Berlin, in 
the weather-bulletin issued by the See- 
warte. Professor Palazzo, director of the 
Italian Meteorological Office, recounted 
what was being done in Italy to explore the 
free air, including the recent use of ballons- 
sondes, and General Rykatchef explained 
the development of the aeronautical section 
of the Constantine Observatory at Paw- 
lowsk, which was later visited by the mem- 
bers of the conference. Here kite-flights 
are made whenever possible, the observa- 
tions being immediately published in the 
Synoptic weather-report of the Central 
Physical Observatory. The committee con- 
sidered that a balloon and kite-station in 
the southeast of Europe is desirable and ex- 
pressed the hope that the Roumanian 


SCIENCE. 


463 


Meteorological Service would cooperate in 
the international ascensions, and also that 
a kite-station might be established at Pola, 
Austria, thereby filling a gan in the dis- 
tribution of such stations. 

Mr. Rotch stated that from the observa- 
tions obtained with kites at Blue Hill dur- 
ing eyclones and anti-cyclones the former 
appeared to be the warmer up to a height 
of at least two miles. Per contra, M. 
Teisserene de Bort concluded from his ob-* 
servations with ballons-sondes in France 
that the vertical decrease of temperature 
in cyclones up to six miles was faster than 
it was in anti-cyclones. This last speaker 
gave an account of flying kites from a 
Danish gunboat in the Baltic in 1903, when 
the record height for kites of more than 
19,000 feet was reached, as mentioned in 
Science, Vol. XVIII., pages 113-14, and 
he also described recent experiments on his 
own steam-yacht in the Mediterranean. 
The most interesting communication, how- 
ever, was by the president of the committee 
and related to the atmospheric soundings 
with kites that he had just executed on 
board the steam-yacht of the Prince of 
Monaco, while cruising in the Mediterran- 
ean and in the vicinity of the Canary Is- 
lands. It will be remembered that the 
present writer proposed a more extensive 
campaign of this nature at the Berlin 
Aeronautical Congress, and unsuccessfully 
apphed to the Carnegie Institution for a 
grant of money to equip a steamship to 
make a series of kite-soundings through 
the trade-winds and doldrums. 
in 1902 he endeavored to interest the 
Prinee of Monaco in such a scheme, as 
his colleague, Professor Hergesell, 
ceeded in doing two years later, and the 
results of these soundings, which Professor 
Hergesell announced at St. Petersburg, 
eminently justified the cooperation. The 
northeast trade-wind was seen to diminish 


Moreover, 


suc- 


464 


and become more easterly at the height 
of a quarter of a mile, then falling calm, 
and even though the kites were lifted by 
the motion of the vessel to a height of 
nearly three miles, the southwest anti- 
trade, which is supposed to form the re- 
turn-current, was not encountered, though 
it has been reported at a much lower alti- 
tude upon the Peak of Teneriffe. The 
temperature was found to decrease up to 
ea third of a mile in height, where there was 
an inversion of temperature persisting 
throughout a thick stratum and then a 
rapid decrease with increasing height, these 
changes being analogous to those pre- 
vailing within areas of high barometric 
pressure over the land. The interesting 
investigations of Professor Hergesell fur- 
nish additional evidence of the importance 
and feasibility of carrying out soundings 
of the atmosphere across the equator and 
into the southeast trade-winds. The em- 
ployment of kites to obtain meteorological 
observations on steamers pursuing vheir 
regular courses, the practicability of which 
the writer demonstrated on a voyage across 
the Atlantic in 1901 (see Science, Vol. 
XIV., pages 896-7), was discussed and it 
was reported that two German steamship 
lines and a Spanish company had agreed 
provisionaliy to allow observations with 
kites to be made on their steamers. In view 
of the importance of studying the meteoro- 
logical conditions high above the oceans, 
the committee requested the meteorological 
bureaus of the various countries to propose 
to their maritime agencies that kites be 
employed on the mail and other subsidized 
vessels, the results of these negotiations to 
be reported at the next conference. 
Recording instruments for balloons and 
kites were discussed in detail, but it was 
considered inexpedient, at the present time, 
to recommend the adoption of any special 
type of instrument, though the committee 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXL. No. 534. 


requested that a description of the instru- 
ment employed should accompany all pub- 
lished observations. The errors of aneroid 
barometers, caused by residual elasticity 
and by temperature, were said to be less 
with the Bourdon tubes than with the 
usual cylindrical vacuum-boxes and, con- 
sequently, the former are to be preferred 
for ballons-sondes. Very light instru- 
ments of French and German construction 
were exhibited, in which the barometer was 
a Bourdon tube and the thermometer either 
a bimetallic bar, bent in cireular form, 
or a German-silver tube ineclosed in a 
polished one. Professor Hergesell showed 
his instrument for manned balloons, where 
the necessary ventilation of the thermom- 
eters is supplied by an exhaust fan, placed 
in the thermometer-tube just mentioned, 
and driven by a storage-battery and Dr. 
Shaw, secretary of the London Meteorolog- 
ical Office, presented Mr. Dines’s simple 
meteorograph for kites that costs but 
twelve dollars. An apparatus was shown 
by the writer for determining on a moving 
steamer the velocities of the true and ap- 
parent wind—which latter only is utilized 
in kite-flymg—the speed and course of the 
vessel enabling the triangle of forces to 
be solved. Most of the other apparatus 
which was brought before the conference 
related to the balloons or their accessories. 
The closing session of the conference was a 
ceremonious one at which Count de La 
Vaulx, of Paris, and Dr. Berson, of Berlin, 
gave accounts of the longest balloon voy- 
age, from Paris to Kief, and the highest 
ascension, to 35,000 feet, executed by them 
respectively. 

As is usual at these international gath- 
erings, the social entertainments and visits 
to scientific establishments were the most 
interesting features. The first of these 
was an informal reception at the Grand 
Hotei before the conference opened, fol- — 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


lowed the next evening by a sumptuous 
banquet at the Army and Navy Club, which 
was attended by the Grand Dukes Con- 
stantine and Peter, as well as by many 
Russian officers and scientific men of high 
rank. The Imperial Geographical and 
Technical Societies held a joint session in 
honor of their foreign guests, which was 
followed by a supper. After a morning 
spent at the Pawlowsk Meteorological Ob- 
servatory, when a ballon-sonde and kites 
were sent up from the aeronautical 
grounds, the Military Aeronautical Park 
was visited in the afternoon and here all 
the apparatus of the balloon corps could be 
inspected, including that which its com- 
mander, Colonel Kowandko, was about to 
take to the seat of war in Manchuria. An- 
other day was oceupied by an excursion 
into the Gulf of Finland on a small govern- 
ment cruiser. Notwithstanding a gentle 
wind, the light hemispherical kites of Mr. 
Kusnetzof were easily raised by the motion 
of the vessel and proved very stable. <A 
satisfactory demonstration was given of the 
writer’s apparatus to determine the true 
and apparent wind on board. Salutes were 
exchanged with the Baltic fleet off Cron- 
stadt, and this was only the second re- 
minder that the country was at war, for no 
evidence of it was apparent at St. Peters- 
burg. After the close of the conference 
there was an excursion to the Peterhof 
palace, and on the following day some of 
the guests were taken up in military bal- 
loons, but, unfortunately, the chief object 
of the ascension, a comparison of the dif- 
ferent types of meteorological instruments, 
failed on account of unfavorable weather. 

From the foregoing it is evident that the 
proverbial Russian hospitality was limited 
only by the brief time available. The 
strongest impression left by this reunion 
at St. Petersburg is a realization of the 
earnest and widespread efforts that are 


SCIENCE. 


465 


being made to investigate the conditions of 
the high atmosphere, and it may be con- 
fidently predicted that still greater prog- 
ress will have been achieved before the next 
international conference is convened at 
Rome in 1906. 

A. LAWRENCE RorcH. 


BiLvuE Hitt METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, 
February, 1905. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


Food Inspection and Analysis: For the Use 
of Public Analysts, Health Officers, Sani- 
tary Chemists and Food Economists. By 
Apert KE. Leacu, B.S., Analyst of the 
Massachusetts State Board of Health. New 
York, John Wiley and Sons; London, Chap- 
man and Hall, Ltd. Cloth, 10’x 63”. Pp. 
xiv + 787; 278 figs. 

The foregoing title very well describes this 
book written by one of America’s analysts of 
longest experience in this field of chemistry. 
It is not a manual of food technology or of 
food physiology, even to such extent as the 
treatise of Konig and Dietrich. One chapter 
entitled, ‘Food, Its Functions, 
Proximate Constituents and Nutritive Value,’ 
but it is given almost entirely to general defi- 
nitions and classifications for the main groups 
of food constituents. 

Neither is it a text-book of organic analysis. 
Little space is given to the general principles 
of determination for fundamental constituents 
or to those of the construction and use of such 
apparatus as the polariscope and microscope. 
Other special treatises, such as volume three 
of Wiley’s ‘ Principles and Practise of Agri- 
eultural Analysis,’ Blyth on ‘ Foods’ 
Leffmann and Beam’s small book on ‘ Food 
Analysis,’ devote more attention to these gen- 
eral subjects. 
ciently developed to guide the amateur to the 
essentials of operation and to give most help- 
ful suggestion to the trained analyst, with 
special reference to the particular operations 
involved in this branch of food analysis. 

Food inspection, its principles and the pre- 
cautions necessary in its conduct are ably, 
though briefly, discussed. 
with reference to their identification when in- 


is, indeed, 


and 


They have, however, been sufii- 


The care of samples 


466 \ 


troduced as exhibits during a trial, might well 
have received more detailed consideration. 
For such as are beginning the work of ex- 
ecutive management of a food control or the 
duty of sampling agent, a tabulated list of 
the quantities of sample needful for the sev- 
eral kinds of analyses would have had much 
value. 

In discussing the methods of repressing food 
adulteration the author states that publication 
has proved a sufficient deterrent, when accom- 
panied by prosecution in a few extreme cases. 
An expression somewhat contrary to this has 
recently been published by Director Jenkins, 
of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment 
Station, which is the agency for food inspec- 
tion in that state. Dr. Jenkins notes that 
publication, which has heretofore been used as 
the deterrent from adulteration for most 
foods, is proving less and less effective, and 
he urges the need for legislation providing for 
more stringent measures. The experience of 
the several states in the matter of fertilizer 
inspection has shown, on the other hand, that 
publication is entirely sufficient to repress the 
fraud once widespread in that trade. The 
buyer of fertilizers watches closely the inspec- 
tion reports and avoids dealing with firms that 
conspicuously fail to meet their guaranties. 
While it is too early to conclude with refer- 
ence to the effectiveness of publication as a 
deterrent from fraud in cattle foods, such in- 
spection having been but recently established, 
the facts now available indicate that this 
means is as efficient as in case of fertilizers. 
It is true that both fertilizer and cattle-food 
laws contain penal clauses, but these are 
rarely, if ever, invoked. Is the admitted lack 
of effectiveness in repressing the adulteration 
of human foods due to the failure of the pub- 
lications to reach the buying public—usually 
the housewives—or are we more indifferent 
respecting the adulteration of that which we 
ourselves eat than we are of the food intended 
for our cattle and our plants? 

The chief aim of the book has been to aid 
the analyst in the detection of food adultera- 
tions. For this purpose he must not only 
know how to detect the presence of foreign 
substances, but also to interpret departures of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXT. No. 534. 


the common constituents from their normal 
proportions. Referring first to the latter 
requisite: While certain staple foods, such as 
bread, meat, milk and fruit are used by all 
civilized countries, the latter differ much in 
their choice of foods of secondary importance 
and in their methods of food preparation. 
America has her own strains of dairy cows, 
her own varieties of fruit and grain. She 
buys her imported foods in certain markets 
rather than in others. Her methods of food 
manufacture differ at many points from those 
adopted in other lands. For this reason, the 
American analyst is unable to rely with full 
confidence upon the bases of comparison es- 
tablished in German, French or even British 
experience, and has turned actively to the 
study of American foods. 

Wiley and his assistants began this study 
years ago, and Leffmann and Beam have ably 
condensed and supplemented their results in 
the little manual, ‘Food Analysis.’ The past 
decade has witnessed great activity in this 
field. The Bureau of Chemistry has added 
much of value to its earlier work; the human 
nutrition investigations of the Office of Ex- 
periment Stations has contributed numerous 
analyses of American market products; the 
several agricultural experiment stations have 
richly increased the literature respecting milk, 
grains, fruits and other raw materials; and 
the food inspection laboratories have not con- 
fined themselves to the routine examination of 
food samples, but have studied carefully many 
of our most important food products. To its 
general methods of determination for the ma- 
jor groups of food constituents the Association 
of Official Agricultural Chemists has added 
provisional methods for the use of food in- 
spection laboratories, and is engaged upon the 
formidable task of thoroughly testing them 
prior to their full adoption as ‘ official meth- 
ods.’ It began, a few years since, the formu- 
lation of a series of food standards for the 
United States. The latter work thus inaugu- 
rated, Congress has recognized and placed 
upon a formally official basis. 

The mass of information thus gathered in 
American laboratories, together with the more 
recent developments in European food inspec- 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


tion, scattered through numerous books, official 
publications and scientific periodicals, the au- 
thor has ably systematized and condensed. 
Few American contributions of importance 
seem to have escaped his notice. Nearly two 
hundred carefully compiled tables of composi- 
tion are given, and upward of fifty tables 
showing the physical characters, chemical con- 
stants, ete., of food constituents, are intro- 
duced. ‘No important class of foods has failed 
to receive careful consideration. In this re- 
spect, this book is better balanced than any 
other in this field with which the writer is 
familiar. 

As a guide to special analytical methods 
the work is no less valuable. It is not an in- 
discriminate collection of proposed methods. 
Those presented have been carefully chosen, 
often as the result of use by the author and 
with notes and modifications proceeding from 
his experience. 

The microscope as an essential instrument 
in food analysis is discussed with especial 
reference to such use, and numerous cuts por- 
traying the histological characters of plant 
tissues are given, together with a fine collec- 
tion of half-tones from photo-micrographs pre- 
pared by the author. The uses of the newly 
invented immersion refractometer are espe- 
cially discussed. 

Every laboratory should be planned and 


equipped with reference to the purposes for: 


which it is to be used. The chapter devoted 
to the construction and outfitting of a food 
inspection laboratory contains many ingenious 
and helpful suggestions. The appliances for 
the utilization of electricity as a source of 
heat and power are particularly noteworthy. 
Throughout the book appear numerous clearly 
drawn cuts of apparatus, to the number of 
nearly one hundred. With reference to labo- 
ratory equipment, a very useful feature of 
the book is a list of the needed reagents, with 
directions for their preparation and tables of 
their chemical equivalents. 

The worker in the field of food chemistry 
will find of great value the list of biblio- 
graphic references with which each chapter 
closes. In these lists appear not only the 
most important references given in the ‘ Ver- 


SCIENCE. 


467 


einbarungen zur Untersuchung von Nahrungs- 
und Genussmitteln’ (Berlin, 1897), compiled 
by a commission of German food chemists at 
the instance of the German Imperial Bureau 
of Health, but many other European refer- 
ences; and a very full series relating to Amer- 
ican food literature has been added. 

In literary style, the book is clear and con- 
cise. The publishers have given it an attract- 
ive typography and have illustrated it liberally 
and well. 

To prepare so comprehensive a work with- 
out fault in detail of statement or in the 
selection of material would probably be im- 
possible. Some of the criticisms that are sug- 
gested by a.careful preliminary examination 
may be given as illustrative: In referring to 
‘official methods,’ they are not always given 
in full; one of several alternate methods is 
oeeasionally described as ‘ official’ without in- 
dication of the fact that there are alternative 
methods of equal official status; modifications 
of official methods are sometimes presented 
without the nature of the modification being 
clearly stated. Such modifications are usually 
of a minor character, but not always. The 
analyst desiring to follow the official method 
in all its details must, therefore, refer to the 
bulletins in which those methods are officially 
set forth. 

There are a few striking omissions: No 
description is given, among the general meth- 
ods of food analysis, of Stutzer’s method for 
the determination of albuminoid nitrogen. 
No allusion is made to the methods of quan- 
titative microscopy, nor to the use of clyster- 
ing phenomena as aids to the identification of . 
starches in mixtures. For the computation 
of pentosans, the older factors are given, in- 
stead of Kroéber’s revised factors, now gener- 
ally adopted by specialists in the field of car- 
bohydrate chemistry. 

While the cuts as a whole are admirable, 
those for the several cereal grains, after Vil- 
liers and Collin, do not at all clearly represent 
the distinctive differences between the several 
species as respects the hairs and bran coats, 
tissues of especial value in distinguishing 
these grains when mixed. Some of the micro- 
photographs are too poorly defined to be useful. 


468 


All considered, however, this book is the 
best manual on its special subject in the Eng- 
lish language, possibly in any language. It 
is certain to take its place upon the reference 
shelves of every American food laboratory. 


Wm. FREar. 
STATE COLLEGE, PA. 


Psychology. By James RowLanp ANGELL. 
New York, Henry Holt and Co. 1904. Pp. 
vii + 402. 

No one, perhaps, is better fitted to unite in 
a text-book the standard ‘ general’ psychology 
which James’ ‘ Principles’ represents and the 
results of recent experimental studies, than the 
author of this book. The addition of com- 
ments from the so-called ‘functional’ point 
of view will also be welcomed by the majority 
of qualified teachers of psychology. We feel 
the gratitude and satisfaction which are due 
to a thoroughly capable thinker who gives us 
a solid, careful and, so far as is desirable in 
a text for students, original book. 

There is no need to note in detail the many 
excellent features in content and form or the 
few cases of questionable facts and methods 
of presentation. Every reader of this journal 
who is interested in the teaching of psychol- 
ogy should read the book itself. I choose, 
therefore, to comment on more general issues 
which it suggests. 

Is it wise to divorce the experimental 
method from the facts of general psychology ? 
Professor Angell’s book, like other recent 
books for beginners, gives no sign that the 
student is to make any observations systemat- 
ically or under the conditions of an experi- 
ment. It encourages the student to rely on 
reflection alone—or still worse, on mere mem- 
orizing. 

Again, is it wise to follow Royce and Stout 
in choosing the style of the man expressing 
his own processes of reflection and argument 
rather than the crisp and objective, if some- 
what bald, style of the text-book in physical 
science? The words we, us and owr occur in 
this book apparently over three thousand 
times. A bald fact like ‘If sense organs are 
stimulated, objects, rather than mere qualities, 
are felt, appears as, “ When our attention is 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 534. 


called to the fact, we readily notice, as was 
intimated earlier in the chapter, that if our 
sense organs are stimulated, we are commonly 
made conscious of objects, rather than of mere 
qualities, such as we have been describing in 
this chapter” (p. 118). 

Does the so-called ‘functional’ point of 
view possess any messages of actual fact for 
the student other than these: (1) That mental 
life involves not only the existence of thoughts 
and feelings, but also their connections among 
themselves and with physical events, and (2) 
that mental states and their connections have 
been subject to natural selection? The re- 
viewer is probably wrong, but he finds many 
of the comments of Professor Angell and 
others strangely like pure teleology or mere 
verbalisms. At times they seem even to at- 
tempt to explain the origin of variations (at 
best a ticklish business) by some inner neces- 
sity that a need should create its own satisfac- 
tion. Are such statements as the following 
empirical science and, even if they are, will 
they develop a scientific attitude in students? 
“Straightway appears consciousness with its 
accompanying cortical activities, taking note 
of the nature of the stimulus and of the 
various kinds of muscular response which it 
called forth” (p. 51). ‘“ Consciousness ap- 
pears in response to the needs of an organism 
* * * consciousness brings order out of this 
threatened chaos” (p. 52). “The organism 
contains within itself certain ends to be at- 
tained in course of development by adjustive 
activities. In part these ends exist imbedded 
in the physiological mechanisms, where they 
come to light as reflex, automatic and in- 
stinetive acts, sometimes accompanied by con- 
sciousness; and in part they exist as con- 
scious purposes, in which case they appear as 
recognized intentions” (pp. 75-76). “ Left 
to itself, any mental condition would convert 
itself at once into some kind of muscular 
movement” (p. 310). “We have already 
noted its [emotion’s] appearance under condi- 
tions of stress and tension requiring new con- 
scious coordinations in order to permit prog- 
ress, and we have connected this fact with the 
service of emotion as a general monitor re- 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


porting friction-and the need of additional in- 
telligent supervision ” (p. 327). 
Epwarp L, THorNpIKE. 


TEACHERS COLLEGE, 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 


SOIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


The American Naturalist for January con- 
tains the following articles: ‘The Habits of 
the Striped Meadow Cricket (Wcanthus fasci- 
atus Fitch), Joseph L. Hancock; ‘ The Em- 
bryo of the Angiosperms,’ Harold L. Lyon; 
* Notes on the Commensals found in the Tubes 
of Chetopterus pergamentaceus, H. KE. En- 
ders; ‘On the Larva and Spat of the Canadian 
Oyster,’ Joseph Stafford; ‘A Table to Facili- 
tate the Determination of the Mexican Scale 
Insects of the Genus Aspidiotus (Sens. latiss),’ 
T. D. A. Cockerell, besides reviews and notes. 


The Popular Science Monthly for March 
has papers on ‘ The Bermuda Islands and the 
Bermuda Biological Station for Research,’ 
Edward L. Mark; ‘A Study of the Develop- 
ment of Geometric Methods,’ Gaston Darboux; 
‘Some Present Problems of Technical Chem- 
istry, W. H. Walker; ‘Stamina,’ A. N. Bell 
(dealing with the prevention of tuberculosis) ; 
‘The Natural History of Adolescence,’ Joseph 
Jastrow; ‘Higher Education of Women and 
Race Suicide, A. Lapthorn Sraith; and ‘ Sim- 
ple Bacteriology for Publie Schools,’ Lillian 
Chapin. There are also shorter articles, in- 
cluding one, illustrated, on ‘ The Inland White 
Bear,’ by W. J. Holland, and another on ‘ The 
Carnegie Institution.’ 


The Museums Journal of Great Britain has 
a most excellent paper, with valuable discus- 
sion appended, on ‘Museums and Nature 
Study,’ by Frank Woolnough. The question 
of lectures by the curators is touched upon 
and the suggestion made that the nature 
teaching may best be restricted to the life and 
geology of its immediate locality. S. L. 
Moseley tells ‘How we made the Keighley 
Museum Popular,’ and in the discussion spe- 
cial stress was laid upon the educational value 
of museums and the many things a curator is 
ealled upon to do. As Dr. Haddon said, ‘ the 
curating of a museum is hard work,’ the more 
that like an iceberg it was seven eighths be- 


SCIENCE. 


469 


low the surface and none but those who knew 
realized the extent of the unseen seven eighths. 
The balance of the number is filled with re- 
views and notes. 


Tue contents of The Journal of Infectious 
Diseases for March are as follows: 


HaArpiTz, FrRANncIs: ‘ Studies in the Frequency, 
Localization, and Modes of: Dissemination of 
Tuberculosis, with Special Reference to its Oceur- 
rence in the Lymph Nodes and During Childhood.’ 

HeEKTOEN, Lupvic: ‘ Experimental Measles.’ 

Novy, FrepericK G., and MAcNEAL, Warp J.: 
‘On the Trypanosomes of Birds.’ (With Plates 
1-11.) 

WHERRY, WILLIAM B.: ‘Some Observations on 
the Biology of the Cholera Spirillum.’ 

Muserave, W. E., and~ Ciecc, Moses T.: 
‘Amebas: Their Cultivation and Etiological Sig- 
nificance.’ (With Plate 12.) 

McCuintock, T. C., BoxmMeryrer, CHARLES H., 
Srrrer,-+J. J.: ‘Studies on Hog Cholera.’ 


Tue London Times has established an en- 
gineering supplement to be issued weekly. 
The first number, which appeared on March 1, 
contains articles on ‘ British Engineering, by 
Sir Charles McLaren; ‘Submarines,’ by Sir 
William White; ‘The Motor Omnibus,’ by 
CO. W. B. Little, and numerous other articles 
and notes. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
SECTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY. 
THE section met in conjunction with the 

New York Section of the American Psycho- 
logical Association on January 30, afternoon 
and evening. Professor Woodbridge presided. 
The following papers were presented : 


Color Preferences: R. S. Woopworrm and 

Frank G. Bruner. 

Tests of different races, made at the St. 
Louis Exposition, showed that red was the 
color most often preferred, both by men and 
by women, and by all the races tested. The 
predominance of red choices was very great. 
Now previous authors have found, in the white 
race, that red was a woman’s choice, but blue 
that of most men; this difference of result, as 
between the present and previous authors, is 


470 


probably due to the different material used 
for presenting the colors—colored papers hav- 
ing previously been employed, whereas in the 
present tests use was made of colored worsteds, 
such as are used in the Holmgren test for 
color blindness. Special tests showed that 
the same individual is very likely to express 
a different preference, according as the colors 
are presented in paper, worsted, or glass. 
Many persons were also found to dislike 
strongly the colors of the rose, the violet, and 
the sunset, when presented in paper or 
worsted. The inference is that the ‘ color- 
tone’ is by no means a compelling factor in 
determining likes and dislikes of colored ob- 
jects. 


The Relation of Intensity of Sensation to 

Attention: M. TsuKAHARA. 

In an experimental study of the effects of 
distraction on the apparent intensity of a 
stimulus, a new method of distraction was 
employed. Two sorts of stimulus—the sound 
of a falling ball and the impact on the skin of 
a falling hammer—were employed, and some- 
times presented simultaneously, so that the 
attention had to be divided between them. 
For instance, first a sound was given; next, 
simultaneously, a sound and an impact; and 
last an impact alone. The subject was re- 
quired to compare the intensities of the two 
sounds and also of the two impacts. The 
result was that, contrary to the conclusion of 
Miinsterberg, distraction decreased the ap- 
parent intensity of the stimuli; but this re- 
sult is so far merely provisional. 


Ideas and Temperaments: 

Minter. 

In the psychology of intellectual bias one 
may study the individual or type in its rela- 
tion to a variety of ideas, or the idea in rela- 
tion to a variety of individuals or types. At- 
tempting the latter with the so-called ‘ideas 
of the French Revolution,’ liberty, fraternity, 
equality, reason, the natural goodness of man, 
and the rights of impulse, spontaneously ad- 
vocated in literature, we find that different 
phases of these ideas must first be distin- 
guished. As regards the ideas in these phases, 
the sympathy or antipathy of authors is found 


Dickinson’ S. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 534. 


to depend in a determinate manner on the tem- 
peramental type. 


Organic Levels in the Evolution of the 
Nervous System: Ropert MacDovucatu. 
The relation of organization to discrimina- 

tive reaction may be stated in terms of four 

types, the non-nervous, the ringed nervous, 
the segmented and the cephalic. The types 
were described. 


Number Habit: Roperr MacDoucatu. 

By number habit is meant the distribution 
of frequency in the recurrence of each of the 
digits when the choice is determined by 
mental constitution rather than objective evi- 
dence. Previous reports have given two types, 
a curve (Minot’s) in which the changes from 
figure to figure are slight, presenting a high 
plateau in the middle of the series with a de- 
pression toward either end; and a curve 
(Dresslar’s and Sanford’s) in which maxima 
systematically appear in the odd numbers and 
minima in the even. From an apparently 
similar series of guesses in the present case a 
curve was obtained presenting three different 
levels. Zero and five formed maxima in rela- 
tion to which all the other digits fell in a low 
plateau, and of the rest the even numbers 
formed maxima and the odd minima through- 
out. 

The Relational Theory of Consciousness: 

W. P. Monrtacut. 

The new movement in favor of a relational 
theory of consciousness is to be welcomed in 
the interest of a scientific psychology. It is 
however seriously hampered by a failure on 
the part of most of its advocates to realize the 
incompatibility of any form of idealism with 
the view that consciousness is a relation be- 
tween its objects, and not something in which 
they inhere. Things must be before they can 
be related, hence if consciousness is a relation 
no object can depend for its existence upon 
the fact that it is perceived. In short the 
realistic theory of the world is a necessary 
implication of the relational theory of con- 
sciousness ; while, conversely, if we follow com- 
mon sense in admitting the objective reality 
of both primary and secondary qualities, there 
will be no temptation to treat consciousness 


ee eer 


a 6 ea PR ey RA NN Hy 9 Ray, tre Paha Boe 


ee ee ee he ee ee) 2 


- =e 


s 
Aba & 


ee 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


as anything other than special relation be- 
tween an organism and its environment. 
Realism and the relational view of conscious- 
ness are strictly correlative. They are dif- 
ferent aspects of the same truth, and can not 
be defended or understood apart from one an- 
other. 


Radical Empiricism and Wundt’s Philosophy: 

Cuartes H. Jupp. 

Wundt’s Critical Realism is closely related 
in its fundamental positions to James’s recent 
philosophical discussions. Reality and im- 
mediate experience are made synonymous by 
Wundt. The concept of consciousness is not 
like the concept matter of the physical. sci- 
ences, but includes only the immediate proc- 
esses of experience in their totality. On the 
basis of these closely related fundamentals 
Wundt develops the details of his system in 
such a way as to emphasize the distinctions 
between physical and psychical phenomena 
while James strives to minimize these dis- 
tinctions. R. 8. Woopwortu, 

Secretary. 


THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 


Minutes of a meeting held February 14, 
1905, at the American Museum of Natural 
History. 

The first paper, which was illustrated by 
lantern slides, was by George H. Shull and 
was entitled ‘Stages in the Development of 
Sium cicutiefolium.’ Dr. Shull presented 
briefly the great range of leaf-form in this 
species at different stages of growth, conclud- 
ing that these various stages give no safe indi- 
cation of ancestral forms. 

The life cycle of Siwm fits it for the condi- 
tions under which it grows at different stages 
of its growth, it being mesophytic, hydrophytic 
and xerophytic in turn. This cycle of 
changes seems to be independent of external 
conditions and proceeds regularly without re- 
gard for the environment. The consideration 
of a number of rejuvenated buds shows that 
rejuvenescence may be brought about by sub- 
merging senescent buds in water, and that the 
later the stage of senescence the earlier will be 
_ the juvenile forms which are induced to ap- 


SCIENCE. 471 


pear. Evidences were presented tending to 
prove that the proximal leaflets of pinnate 
leaves are homologous in any series of leaves 
taken from the same plant and that the other 
leaflets are likewise homologous, 
from the proximal pair. 

The paper was the subject of considerable 
discussion. . 

The second paper was by Tracy EK. Hazen, 
on ‘ Recent Advances in the Phylogeny of the 
Green Alge.”’ The subject was introduced by 
a sketch of Borzi’s group Confervales, now en- 
larged into the class Heterokonte, comprising 
genera showing natural affinities, taken from 
the three old orders Protococcales, Confervales 
and Siphoner. This new class, accepted by 
all recent investigators, serves to indicate the 
artificiality of the traditional classification. 

The clearer lines of descent of the chief 
groups of Chlorophycee from the unicellular, 
motile Chlamydomonas were traced; the first 
tendency in the direction of aggregations of 
motile cells finding its highest expression in 
Volvox; the second tendency, in the direction of 
septate cell division, to form non-motile bodies 
of increasing solidarity, leading through the 
Tetrasporacee to the Ulvacee, which have been 
placed in a separate order, Ulvales,; by some 
recent authors, and finally, through such 
forms as Stichococcus, to the typical fila- 
mentous and branched forms culminating in 
Coleochete. The third or KHndospherine 
tendency from Chlamydomonas as suggested 
by Blackman, was held by the speaker to 
furnish an unsatisfactory origin for the Si- 
phone, inasmuch as the endophytic forms 
associated with Hndosphera may be regarded 
as too specialized in their mode of life at least. 
It is much more natural to derive the Si- 
phonez from the septate, multinucleate Clado- 
phoracer. The latter group may well be re- 
garded as an intermediate order, easily derived 
from the Ulotrichacer through such forms as 
Hormiscia (Urospora) and Rhizocloniuwm. 

The recent proposition of Bohlin and Black- 
man to regard the (Edogoniacer as forming a 
elass derived from a separate unicellular an- 
eestor is at least premature, and it does not ap- 
pear at all impossible that this group may 
have been derived from a Ulothrix-like form 


counting 


472 


as suggested by Oltmanns. The Conjugate 
furnish a perplexing problem, but the speaker 
preferred to regard this group as forming an 
order of Chlorophycee rather than as a sepa- 
rate class, in view of present evidence. 
Epwarp W. Berry, 
Secretary. 


THE SCIENCE CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
WISCONSIN. 

Tue fifth meeting of the club for the year 
1904-5 was held in the large auditorium of 
University Hall, on February 23, at 7:30 P.M. 
The paper of the evening, by Dr. U. S. Grant, 
of Northwestern University, dealt with the 
subject ‘The Lead and Zine Mines of South- 
western Wisconsin.’ Dr. Grant presented the 
main results of a careful survey of this region, 
which during late years has again become an 
important factor in the domestic lead and 
zine production. The work was done under 
the direction of the Wisconsin Geological and 
Natural History Survey and a full account of 
the results obtained will be given in the near 
future in a bulletin published by the survey. 
The paper was discussed by various members 
of the university faculty and others, after 
which a business meeting of the club was held. 

F. W. Wott, 
Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
BLUNDERS IN THE SCIENTIFIC RECORDS. 

Tue systematic zoologist and zoogeographer 
of to-day who is trying to utilize for general- 
izations the facts which have been accumu- 
lated by previous generations is constantly 
baffled—and often led astray by the insuffi- 
ciency of the material gathered, the lack of 
detail and accuracy in the labeling, and the 
often downright erroneousness in the record- 
ing. The last is particularly vexatious, be- 
cause once put into print, it is almost im- 
possible to eradicate such errors. The everlast- 
ing recurrence in zoogeographical text-books 
of the allusion to the toad once falsely stated 
to have come from the Hawaiian Islands, and 
to the two-handed lizard alleged to inhabit 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXL No. 534, 


Colorado, are familiar examples of these un- 
dying errors. 

A rather flagrant case of erroneous locality 
record was exposed some time ago. In 1881 
Dr. Victor-Lopez Seoane startled the zoolog- 
ical world by describing a boid snake from the 
Philippine Islands. It was stated to have 
been collected by his brother at Manila, and to 
say that the case puzzled the zoographers is to 
put it mildly. It was soon discovered that it 
belonged to a West Indian genus, Epicrates, 
and in my ‘ Herpetology of Porto Rico’ (1904) 
I showed conclusively that the snake must 
have come from Porto Rico, being identical 
with H#. inornatus which is peculiar to that 
island. Dr. Seoane’s brother is a Spanish 
naval officer, a general in the marine corps, 
and this circumstance explains the mixing up 
of the Philippine and the Porto Rican 
localities. 

A parallel to this blunder has just come 
under my notice. In 1890 Dr. Seoane again 
described (in the Mémoires de la Société 
Zoologique de France, III., p. 260, pl. vi) a 
new species from the Philippine Islands, col- 
lected by the same brother. This time it was 
a toad which received its name, Bufo panay- 
anus, from the island of Panay, the alleged 
type locality being Iloilo. He correctly com- 
pared it with B. gutturosus from Santo Do- 
mingo, but failed to profit by this resemblance 
to the West Indian species, of which he re- 
garded it as the ‘oriental pendant.’ While 
recently completing a list of Philippine 
batrachians and, therefore, looking up the 
original records, I was struck by the similarity 
of Seoane’s figures to the Porto Rican toad 
Bufo lemur and a comparison with specimens 
of the latter easily demonstrated their identity. 
The relationship to Bufo gutturosus from 


_ Haiti, which is quite close, is thus easily ac- 


counted for, and the ‘ oriental pendant’ done 
away with. Bufo panayanus finds a final rest- 
ing place in the synonymy of Bufo lemur, and 
the list of Philippine batrachians is one 
species poorer! 
LEoNHARD STEJNEGER. 
U. S. Nationa Museum, 
Wasuineron, D. C., 
March 6, 1905. 


Marcu 24, 1905.) 


THE METRIC FALLACY. 

To THE Epiror or Science: Evidently Mr. 
Samuel S. Dale, in the issue of ScrmNcE of 
March 3, 1905, under the above title, failed to 
recognize his own mathematical proof of the 
amount of saving in time that might accrue 
in school with the use of the decimal system. 

His error probably arose through the use 
of an artificial week by the board of educa- 
tion merely for their own convenience in as- 
signing the proportion of time in school for 
each study. The time a child actually spends 
in school is a small part of the year and it 
would be a confusion of units to compare this 
schedule week with a regular week because the 
same word is used. 

The only way a comparison can rightly be 
made is to take Mr. Dale’s statement of what 
the schedule week is in years—that is, for 
elementary mathematics thirty-four and one 
eighth schedule weeks require eight years’ 
work. On this basis 6.825 schedule weeks will 
require one and three fifth years’ work in 
mathematics. 

It is, however, not necessary to introduce 
this schedule week. The pupil actually spends 
eight years, according to Mr. Dale, on the 
text-books mentioned. As arithmetic during 
all this time is a major study, it is taught to 
the full capacity of the average child. Now 
if twenty per cent. of this time, as is allowed 
by Mr. Dale, is spent on tables of weights and 
measures, evidently these will require all the 
time available for mathematics during 1.6 
years. 

It is probable that a child could easily learn 
the decimal system in less than half the time 
it takes to learn both the decimal system and 
the several other unconnected tables. Ac- 
cepting Mr. Dale’s own figures, it seems, there- 
fore, reasonable to suppose that the average 
pupil would save from two thirds of a year 
to one year of the one and three fifth years, 
now required, and would be about a year ahead 
in mathematics at the end of the eight years 
if he had only the decimal system to learn. 

I do not desire to enter upon any discussion 
as to the merits of the metric system, but 
simply to point out the mathematical error 
in Mr. Dale’s reasoning and to show that if 


SCIENCE. 473 


his argument was worth anything at all, it 
really proved the very statement he was trying 
to refute. 
Henry B. Heprick. 
U. S. Nava OBSERVATORY, 
WASHINGTON, D. C., 
March 9, 1905. 


A REQUEST FOR MATERIAL. 


I HAVE been at work for some time upon the 
problem of double monsters among animals 
and would be grateful for any material com- 
ing under this head. I wish instances of 
genuine double monsters, 7. e., those involving 
the doubling of some axial part of any verte- 
brate, embryonic or adult (naturally, not too 
large specimens), and am just now especially 
desirous of cases among birds. As this is the 
time of year at which embryological labora- 
tories run their incubators, it seems likely 
that several such instances will be found by 
those not especially interested in the subject 
and who do not care to investigate them. If 
any such material appears superfluous I will 
try to make good use of it. 

Harris Hawrnorne WILpeEr. 

SMITH COLLEGE, 

NORTHAMPTON, MASs. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


ELLIPTICAL HUMAN ERYTHROCYTES. 
MENTARY STATEMENT.) 


On March 18, 1904, I published in Science 
a note describing an unusual variation in 
the shape of human erythrocytes. As was 
stated in that article, the blood of a student 
at the Ohio State University contained ellip- 
tical red corpuscles, whose average length was 
10.3 microns and whose average width was 4.1 
microns. About 90 per cent. were thus de- 
formed. The observation attracted consider- 
able attention, Professor Austin Flint being 
one among several who wrote to me for a 
specimen of the blood. There resulted some 
correspondence between Professor Flint and 
myself, and in a letter to him I remarked that 
some time after my observations had been 
made the young man having these elliptical 
corpuscles had died. Since the claim had 
been made that the young man (a mulatto) 


(A SUPPLE- 


474 


was healthy when these corpuscles were dis- 
covered, the statement about his death nat- 
urally aroused some suspicion. Professor 
Flint wrote a note in Sciencr, May 20, 1904, 
discussing the matter of form changes in the 
erythrocytes, and pointing out that in progres- 
sive pernicious anemia, and other blood dis- 
eases, the variations in form and size are well- 
known facts. He adds: ‘In view of these 
facts, it seems impossible to accept the proposi- 
tion that the subject of the observation was a 
healthy mulatto.’ 

It has been my intention to supply the 
information about the death of the subject of 
this observation, but for various reasons it 
has not been possible to do this with certainty 
until the present time. I am now able to 
state that the cause of death was cardiac fail- 
ure subsequent to an attack of acute inflamma- 
tory rheumatism. As is often the case, the 
attack was preceded by tonsilitis, which began 
about three months after my observation had 
been made. Consequently, there was no con- 
nection between the condition of the corpuscles 
and the cause of death. 

I wish to add some further points to sub- 
stantiate my claim that the subject of the 
observation was healthy at the time the cor- 
puscles were described. In the first place, 
his general physical condition indicated it. 
He was able to make his living by manual 
labor, and was studying hard to maintain his 
standing in his classes. He complained of no 
illness. As to his blood, it is to be noted that 
I said that the number of red and white cor- 
puscles was normal, and that the quantity of 
hemoglobin was normal. There were no 
normoblasts nor megaloblasts. On the other 
hand, when the corpuscles were observed in 
the fresh state, the uniformity of the elliptical 
shape was the remarkable feature. The 
poikiloeytosis, to which Professor Flint refers, 
was much more prominent in the dried speci- 
mens. Now it is a well-known fact that there 
are no cells more susceptible to influences 
than the blood corpuscles, and, therefore, the 
poikilocytosis shown in my dried specimens 
can not be given much weight. 

Speaking further about the form variation 
of red corpuscles, I would say that it is a ques- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXII. No. 534, 


tion about which opinions differ considerably. 
However, it is not my intention to discuss 
that point further than to make a few state- 
ments bearing upon this particular case. Pro- 
fessor Flint quotes from Ewing’s ‘ Pathology 
of the Blood, p. 256, as follows: ‘Some 
times in non-infectious purpura hemorrhagica 
the red corpuscles are undersized and many are 
oval.’ 

I may say in this connection that Professor 
Ewing saw a specimen of this blood of which 
I write, and he was of the opinion that the 
anomaly was one of congenital or develop- 
mental origin. He based his view in the first 
place upon the fact that the number of cor- 
puseles and quantity of hemoglobin were nor- 
mal, and in the second place upon the general 
condition of the individual himself. The sub- 
ject certainly did not have purpura. And 
further, I may add that while in Germany re- 
cently I had an opportunity to show the same 
specimen to several men, among them being 
Ehrlich. The opinions of these men differed 
somewhat, but in only one instance did doubt 
arise as to the health of the subject. With 
this one exception (and the man was not a 
pathologist, by the way), the specimen did not 
suggest pernicious anemia nor purpura. Dr. 
Arneth, in Wiirzburg, a man who has made 
several thousand blood slides from a great 
variety of clinical cases, had not seen such a 
specimen. One pathologist of considerable 
reputation thought that the shape was an 
artifact. He was doubtless influenced by the 
work of Weidenreich, who claims that the 
mammalian erythrocyte is not normally bicon- 
cave, but bell-shaped. Weidenreich attributes - 
the biconcavity to the corpuscle’s extreme 
‘Empfindlichkeit,’ by virtue of which, with 
slight increase in the density of the plasma or 
other fluid, the biconeavity arises by loss of 
water from the corpuscles.* If his work be 
confirmed by later investigations it would have 
an important bearing, not only upon this varia- 
tion which I report, but upon all clinical ob- 
servations of form changes in the red cells. 
I do not think that the variation I have 
described was an artifact, however, and my 

* Weidenreich, Arch. f. Mik. Anat. u. Entwick., 
1903, p. 459. 


Marcu 24, 1905.) 


opinion is strengthened by that of Ehrlich, 
who, on the ground of the uniformity of the 
elliptical shape, concluded that it had been 
preformed in the individual, As to the cause 
of the anomaly, Ehrlich did not commit him- 
self. In conclusion, I wish to state the fol- 
lowing views about the case: 

1. The variation recorded occurred in a 
healthy individual. His good general physical 
condition, the normal number of red and white 
eells, the normal quantity of hemoglobin, 
and the absence of megaloblasts, megalocytes 
and normoblasts, preclude the idea of any 
known blood disease being connected with 
the phenomenon. 

2. The anomaly was probably one of con- 


- genital or developmental origin. Ewing holds 


this view for reasons stated above. It is un- 
fortunate that no family history could be ob- 
tained to throw light upon this point, except 
that a brother of the subject had normal cor- 
puscles. 

8. In the light of Weidenre:ch’s work, it is 
possible that the elliptical shape was an arti- 
fact. Ehrlich and others, including Professor 
Bleile and myself, do not hold this view. It 
would be strange that such a remarkable varia- 
tion would oceur so uniformly over so long a 
period. (As was stated in the former article, 
my observations extended over a period of four 
months, and the corpuscles were discovered 
two months before a systematic study was 
begun. ) 

4. It is possible that this variat’on was ante- 
cedent to the onset of pernicious anemia or 
some other blood disease. That would make 
the deformity none the less remarkable, for 
there were absolutely no symptoms, at any 
time, of any incipient illness. 

5. So far as the writer has been able to 
ascertain, this is the first case of the kind 
recorded. | However, Ewald, of Strassburg, 
writes that he thinks a similar observation 
was made at Kénigsberg twenty or thirty 
years ago. JI have not been able to find any 
written record of such an observation. 


Metyin DresBacu. 
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSIOLOGY, 
Onto STATE UNIVERSITY. 


SCIENCE. 475 


QUOTATIONS. 
COMPULSORY GREEK AT CAMBRIDGE. 

Tue University of Cambridge has declined, 
by a considerable majority, to make Greek an 
optional, instead of, as at present, a compul- 
sory, subject in the previous examination. 
The decision was not unexpected; and_ prob- 
ably now the whole question will enter on a 
new phase. Though sympathizing with the 
aims of the proposers of the graces, we have 
already expressed the opinion that it was per- 
haps a mistake to raise so great a question as 
the place of Greek in higher education upon 
the comparatively minor issue of the regula- 
tions for a pass examination, in which all that 
has to be considered is a minimum of attain- 
ment. This, as Professor Butcher has pointed 
out, is not the way to estimate the value to 
the community of any branch of academic 
learning, be it Greek, mathematics or science. 
But in the present examination-ridden condi- 
tion of higher education in England our edu- 
cational authorities seem unable to think of 
learning or study except in terms of examina- 
tion, with the result that, in Professor Butch- 
er’s words, when it is desired to modify the 
existing relation of Greek to university studies, 
“a single examination is tinkered, without any 
regard to its bearings on the university course 
as a whole. There has been very little at- 
tempt to lay down definite lines of study, and 
then consider the preliminary examination at 
entrance in its relation to different curricula. 
Because the exaction of a minimum attain- 
ment in Greek is now found to press hardly 
upon certain students without any correspond- 
ing advantage of literary culture, it was pro- 
posed at Cambridge to give an unrestricted 
option to all candidates, with no distinction 
between students of literature and of science, 
of different lines of study: and of different 


curricula. The more limited proposal re- 


-jected a short time ago by the University 


of Oxford at least recognized the principle 
of adjusting the entrance examination to 
certain lines of academic study; but it was 
too limited and partial in its scope, and its 
adoption would have gone but a very little 
way towards a solution of the problem. 
What is wanted now in the interests of higher 


476 


education generally is not a mere tinkering 
with responsions or the previous examination, 
but to lay down by what avenues of study a 
university degree may be approached and how 
the various examinations may be adjusted to 
them. ‘Compulsory Greek’ is but an inci- 
dent of this larger question—The London 
Times. 


STUDENTS OF THE GERMAN UNIVER- 
SITIES. 

A CONSULAR report states that this winter 
semester there are in Germany 39,716 matricu- 
lated students, against 39,581 during the past 
summer semester, and 39,718 last winter. At 
the beginning of the nineties there were in 
round numbers 29,000 students, and in the 
winter of 1894-95, 28,105; the third ten thou- 
sand was not reached until the winter 1897— 
98, when the number was 31,110, since which 
time there has been a steady increase until 
now, when the fourth ten thousand has been 
nearly reached. The numbers of those in at- 
tendance at the several universities during the 
winter semester 1894-95, the present winter 
semester, and the two previous semesters, were 
as follows: 


Sates | SP | Taos eee 
eset ea 

Berlinysccsseesen s0 5,031 | 7,503 | 6,096 | 7,774 
Munich ?s:--c-crsess 3,475 | 4,906 | 4,946 | 4,766 
WeIPZi gies. «cesses 2,985 | 3,772 | 3,575 | 3,880 
Bonitscscvsesc scenes 1,518 | 2,294 | 2,818 | 2,568 
Halley jcc. .cconctiors 1,539. | 1,753 | 1,780 | 1,881 
Breslaws.x.c-cesse: 7,293 | 1,770 | 1,800 | 15870 
GOttingen........... 804 | 1,370 | 1,581 | 1,574 
Freiberg ............ 1,186 | 1,331 | 2,029 | 15501 
Tiibingen .. ........ 1,165 | 1,887 | 1,581 | 1,407 
Strassburg. ........- | 949 | 1,333 | 1,299 | 1,395 
Heidelberg......... 1,028 | 1,359 | 1,655 | 1,371 
Wirzburgy,..csss 1,347 | 1,283 | 1,322 | 1,295 
Marburay.-..0..c0s: 800 | 1,154 | 1,421 | 1,276 
Miinster 411 | 1,204 | 1,255 | 1,256 
Giessen'......-00 esos 528 | 1,071 | 1,093 | 1,069 
DONA sc edscccncnsten ts 635 816 | 1,024 953 
Erlangen............ 1,131 982 373 942 
Konigsberg........., 709 925 | 1,018 932 

Lelie Ay ee seneees 504 758 | 1,000 | 745 
Greifswald ........ 750 687 Hasy MV teks 
oostockise-ss-onseces 420 519 540 | 556 


The number of students pursuing different 
subjects was: 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 534. 


Number of Students. 

1894-95. | 1904-05. 

Ti awyes cost seteccess sae aseenasaseeneeenenes 7,380 ab Bari 
Philology and history.............. 3,083 8,322 
Medicines: ::. <5 <.crescsestecneseteres® 7,768 5,906 
Mathematics and science.......... 2,525 5,688 
Evangelical theology.............-. 3,083 2,136 
Catholic theology.. .......-....0+++ 1,404 1,678 
Pharmacy ptse-scctas.cetede: teeseenece 1,214 1,387 
Agriculture. ..s-ccies tseessescrseses-==2 883 1,055 
FOMEStYYy-seasasocctaacadesssscooseeces 413 1,024 
JOS hs AcancosacncoccanscacsaancAsocc 282 596 
Veterinary surgery...........sec00+-| 70 149 
Notalles Sirestpescsszcese deen eeeen set 28,105 | 39,718 
THE GEOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL 


SURVEY OF SAO PAULO. 


THE state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, has since 
1886 maintained a Geographical and Geolog- 
ical Survey, the only organization of its kind 
on the South American continent, which up 
to the present time has made a detailed topo- 
graphical map of nearly a third of its territory 
and made geological contributions that have 
attracted world-wide attention. Later the 
government of the same state established an 
engineering school with the title of Escloa 
Polytechnica de Sao Paulo that aspires to be, 
and in many respects is, one of the first of its 
kind on the continent. A correspondent in- 
forms us that about four years ago a group of 
professors of the newly organized school 
initiated a campaign to undermine the older 
organization. The organizer and chief of the 
survey, Dr. Orville A. Derby, has been forced 
to resign, being accompanied by the chief 
topographer, Dr. Horace E. Williams, and by 
the largest and best part of the topographical 
staff. A railroad engineer has been appointed 
to succeed Dr. Derby and the government of 
the state, while announcing its intention of 
greatly improving the service, is now wrestling 
with the problem of mapping its territory 
without trained topographers. 


THE PROGRAM OF STUDIES OF COLUMBIA 
COLLEGE. 

Tue trustees of Columbia University have 
this month adopted a new program of studies 
for the college on the recommendation of the 
faculty. 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


The degree of bachelor of science, as well 
as that of bachelor of arts, will hereafter be 
open to students in the college. Candidates 
for the B.S. degree will not be required to 
offer any ancient language at entrance or to 
pursue the study of an ancient language in 
college, but such students must devote an 
equivalent time to the study of the natural 
and physical sciences. , 

After a student has made 72 points of the 
124 required, which he can do in two years, 
(1) he may take the studies of the first year 
of the Schools of Applied Science and receive 
the degree of A.B. or B.S. upon the comple- 
tion of two years’ work; (2) he may take the 
studies of the first year of the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, and receive his A.B. 
or B.S. upon the completion of two years’ 
work; (3) he may take the studies of the first 
year of the professional course of Teachers 
College, and receive his A.B. or B.S. after 
two years’ work; or (4) he may take the 
studies of the first year in the School of Fine 
Arts, and receive his A.B. or B.S. after two 
years’ work. When a student has received 
94 of the 124 points he may take the studies 
of the first year of the School of Law; and 
receive the degree of A.B. or B.S. upon the 
satisfactory completion of one year’s work in 
this course. 

The student who obtains the mark A in any 
two courses in one half year will be entitled 
to receive one point of extra credit, provided 
he has not fallen below the mark B in any of 
the courses pursued by him during the half 
year. A student who receives the mark D in 
two or more courses in any half year is to be 
given credit for but one of these courses. 

Students will be regularly admitted to the 
freshman class at the beginning of the second 
half year in February, as well as at the be- 
ginning of the first half year in September. 
The work of one half year may be satisfied by 
the entrance examinations. Examinations for 
admission will be held in January of each 
year. A half year is made the unit for 
courses. 

The first two years are practically pre- 
seribed, seven different subjects being required 
in the freshman year. The prescribed studies 


SCIENCE. 


477 


are: English, five hours; French or German, 
three hours; history, three hours; mathe- 
matics, three hours; philosophy, three hours; 
physical education, two hours; science, three 
hours; and either Latin or an additional 
course in science, three hours, according as 
the student is a candidate for the A.B. or B.S. 
degree. The courses of the last two years are 
elective, and as indicated above, the courses 
of the professional schools may be elected. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


A Grant of $150,000 has been authorized by 
the Carnegie Institution for the Solar Ob- 
servatory on Mt. Wilson, and it is expected 
that the first equipment will cost about twice 
this sum. The present staff of the observa- 
tory is: George KE. Hale, director; G. W. 
Richey, astronomer and superintendent of in- 
strument construction; Ferdinand Ellerman, 
assistant astronomer, and Walter S. Adams, 
assistant astronomer. The address of Messrs. 
Hale and Ritchey is Pasadena, and the address 
of Messrs. Allerman and Adams is Mt. Wilson. 
Professor Barnard is also at work temporarily 
on Mt. Wilson with the Bruce photographie 
telescope of the Yerkes Observatory. 

Proressor F. L. O. Wapswortn has re- 
signed his position as director of the Alle- 
gheny Observatory because of the lack of 
funds required to properly carry on the work 
of that institution. For this reason all work 
has been suspended at the observatory for 
more than a year, except that of taking routine 
time observations. Professor Wadsworth has 
been appointed general manager of the Pressed 
Prism Plate Glass Company and is now at 
Morgantown, W. Va. 


Sennor Manuen Garcta celebrated his hun- 
dredth birthday on March 7 in excellent 
health. He gave the first performance of 
Italian opera in New York City in 1825, and 
was long celebrated as a teacher of singing. 
His important contribution to science was the 
invention of the laryngoscope fifty years ago. 
Senhor Garcia was presented with a portrait 
of himself by Mr. John S. Sargent and re- 
ceived a number of congratulatory addresses 
with decorations from King Edward, Emperor 
William and the King of Spain. 


4738 


Tue University of Glasgow will confer its 
doctorate of laws on Dr. Alexander Crum 
Brown, professor of chemistry at Edinburgh. 

Proressor W. H. Burr, of Columbia Uni- 
versity, has been appointed consulting engi- 
neer of the New York City aqueduct com- 
mission with a salary of $6,000. 

Proressor W. T. Srepawick, of the Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology, has gone to 
Europe on leave for six months. His Euro- 
pean address is in care of Messrs. Baring 
Bros., Limited, 8 Bishopsgate St., London, 
EF. C.-- 

Dr. W. J. Houtanp, the director of the 
Carnegie Museum, sailed for England on 
March 18. He repairs to London to install 
the reproduction of the great skeleton of Dip- 
lodocus which he has made from the original 
in the Carnegie Museum. It will be placed 
in the gallery of reptiles at the British Mu- 
seum. Mr. Carnegie will formally present the 
restoration, which has been made at his ex- 
pense, to the trustees of the British Museum 
some time in May. The total length of the 
vertebral column, including the skull, is 
eighty-four feet, exceeding the dinosaur Bron- 
tosaurus in the American Museum of Natural 
History by nearly twenty feet. Dr. Holland 
is accompanied by Mr. A. S. Coggeshall, the 
chief preparator in the section of paleontology 
in the Carnegie Museum. 

Proressor E. A. Mrycuin, Jodrell professor 
of zoology in University College, London, has 
undertaken to conduct further investigations, 
under the auspices of the Royal Society’s ecom- 
mittee, into the causation of sleeping sickness 
in the Uganda Protectorate. 

Unper the auspices of the department of 
economics of Harvard University Professor 
W. F. Willcox, of Cornell University, who 
acted as expert in charge of methods and re- 
sults in the United States census of 1900, will 
give three public lectures during the last week 
of the month on some phases of the census 
investigations. The subjects will be: ‘ The 
Population of the United States,’ ‘Some 
Statistical Aspects of the Negro Problem’ 
and ‘The Birth Rate and Death Rate of the 
United States.’ The exact hours and place 
will be announced later. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 534, 


Proressor Davin Eucene Smiru, of Teach- 
ers College, Columbia University, has recently 
purchased the library of Professor Ferinando 
Jacoli, of Venice, and has added it to his own 
collection for the use of his students. The 
library is particularly rich in the history and 
teaching of mathematics, containing many 
rare editions. Professor Smith has at the 
same time made available for study his rare 
collection of portraits and manuscripts of 
celebrated mathematicians, the largest that 
has been brought together. 


Tue Board of Estimate of New York City 
has appropriated $5,000 to estimate the epi- 
demic of cerebro-spinal meningitis. A com- 
mission has been named for this purpose as 
follows: Dr. William M. Polk, chairman, dean 
of Cornell Medical College; Dr. Walter B. 
James, professor in the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons; Dr. William P. Northrup, pro- 
fessor in Bellevue Hospital and at New York 
University; Dr. Simon Flexner, head of the 


‘Rockefeller Institute; Dr. Joshua M. Van 
Cott, pathologist at the Long Island College; — 


Dr. E. K. Dunham, pathologist of Carnegie 
Laboratory, and Dr. William K. Draper, visit- 
ing physician at Bellevue and Minturn Hos- 
pitals. 

Tue first Herbert Spencer lecture, estab- 
lished by Pandit Shyam4ji Krishnavarma, 
M.A., of Balliol College, was given at Oxford, 
on March 9, by Mr. Frederic Harrison, M.A., 
honorary fellow of Wadham College. 


We regret to record the deaths of Dr. Hjal- 
mar Stolpe, the ethnologist of Stockholm; of 
Dr. Ludwig von Tetmajer, professor of me- 
chanics in the Technical Institute of Dresden, 
and of M. Emile Fernet, a French physicist, 
for many years editor of the Comptes Rendus 
of the Academy of Sciences. 


Tue position of assistant in the clinical 
laboratory of the New York State Patholog- 
ical Institute will be filled by civil service 
examination on April 8. The salary is $1,500. 


Tue second section of the museum building, 
near the Prospect Park Plaza, Brooklyn, has 
been completed and provided with cases and 
furniture at an expense to the city of New 
York of upwards of $600,000. It is expected 


PG ap re 


Marcu 24, 1905.] 


that this section of the museum will be turned 
over by the city to the Brooklyn Institute of 
Arts and Sciences very soon. 


Tue French government has proposed to 
the chamber of deputies to create a Universal 
Exposition in Paris in 1920 to commemorate 
the foundation of the French republic. 


Tue daily papers state that the Duke of 
Orleans is preparing an Arctic expedition, 
and has offered to purchase the Fram of the 
Nansen expedition. The Norwegian govern- 
ment has, however, declined to sell it. 


In order to avoid clashing with the Inter- 
national Tuberculosis Congress, which is to 
be held this year in Paris from October 2 to 
7, the organizing committee of the French 
Congress of Medicine has decided to’ change 
the date of meeting from October 2, 3 and 4, 
to September 25, 26 and 27. 


It is said that United States food labora- 
tories will be established in Boston, Orleans 
and San Francisco similar to the one recently 
opened in New York City. 


A METEOROLOGICAL observatory in the Trans- 
vaal has been established near Johannesburg, 
with Mr. R. T. A. Innes as director. 


Tue Lake Laboratory of the Ohio State 
University announces for its summer work in 
biology at the Cedar Point Laboratory, near 
Sandusky, courses of instruction in general 
zoology and botany and advanced courses in 
comparative anatomy, embryology, entomol- 
ogy, ichthyology, ornithology, experimental 
zoology, ecology and special work in botany. 
The staff includes, besides the director, Pro- 
fessor F. L. Landacre, of the Ohio State Uni- 
versity; Dr. W. E. Kellicott, Barnard College, 
Columbia University; Professor L. B. Walton, 
Kenyon College, and Mr. O. E. Jennings, 
curator of botany at the Carnegie Museum, 
Pittsburg. The course in experimental zool- 
ogy, under the charge of Dr. Kellicott, of 
Columbia University, is a new feature in the 
work. As heretofore special attention will be 
given to the opportunities for investigators, 
those doing independent work being allowed 
free use of the laboratory with the expecta- 
tion that each will furnish his own microscope 


SCIENCE. 


479 


and other apparatus or materials used in his 
investigation. The instruction courses open 
on June 26 and close on August 4, and the 
laboratory will be open for investigators from 
June 26 to September 15. Detailed informa- 
tion may be obtained by addressing the di- 
rector, Professor Herbert Osborn, Ohio State 
University, Columbus, Ohio. 


Tue London Times states that the French 
Ministry of Public Works has commissioned 
M. Jaequier to project plans for a railway be- 
tween Chamonix and Aosta. He considers 
the difficulty would not be so great as with the 
Simplon tunnel; the tunnel would be 44 miles 
shorter, and the rock gives no indication of 
subterranean reservoirs of water. The tunnel 
would commence at Chamonix, 3,415 feet 
above sea level, and end at Entréves (4,550 
feet), a distance of 84 miles. The Dora Baltea 
would give ample water power for the boring 
work, and afterwards for locomotion. 


AccorpineG to foreign exchanges, the Danish 
government has begun a survey of Iceland. 
Much of Iceland has never been accurately 
surveyed, triangulation having been carried 
out in only a few parts of the island. The 
least known region is the southern coast, which 
is impassable in summer owing to the quick- 
sands, and also the inland ice-masses of the 
Vatna Jokull, and it is here that a beginning 
has been made with the survey. During the 
summer of 1903 a plan of the survey was laid 
down by means of a preliminary expedition, 
and in the spring of 1904, so long as the frosts 
made it possible to cross the morasses and 
streams, a part of the southern region in the 
district of Skeideraasande was surveyed. A 
second survey party was detailed to study the 
inland ice. One result of the work was to 
show that the highest point of the island is 
Hvannadalshnukr, which is 2,120 meters, and 
not, as has been hitherto supposed, the Oraefa 
Jékull, which is only 1,959 meters. In all 
about 100 Danish square miles, that is 5,700 
square kilometers, have been already surveyed. 

Reuter’s Acency is informed that Mr. A. 
E. Pratt, who lately returned to England from 
a two years’ expedition in the remote interior 
of British New Guinea, chiefly along the Owen 
Stanley Range, has sailed on a new scientific 


480 


expedition, which is expected to last for two 
and a half years. Mr. Pratt, accompanied by 
his two sons, proceeds direct to Batavia, where 
he will make final arrangements for his jour- 
ney. After conferring with the Dutch goy- 
ernment officials he will cross to Dobo, the 
chief town of the Aru Islands, a group un- 
known to Europeans. After making collec- 
tions there the expedition will cross to Dutch 
New Guinea and will immediately strike into 
the interior with the object of reaching the 
highest possible point of the Charles Louis 
Range, a snow region running east and west 
of Dutch New Guinea never before explored. 
Valuable *geographical results are expected, 
and a map will be made, but the special work 
of the expedition will be the collecting of 
natural history specimens. 


Tue council of the Royal Meteorological 
Society arranged to hold an exhibition of 
meteorological instruments from March 14 
to 17. The exhibition was chiefly devoted 
to recording instruments; but it also included 
new meteorological apparatus invented or first 
constructed since the society’s last exhibition, 
as well as photographs, drawings and other 
objects possessing meteorological interest. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 
Tue will of Mrs. Jane Lathrop Stanford 
gives about $3,000,000 to relatives, and about 
$100,000 to charities. The residue of the es- 
tate, which it is said will amount to about 
$2,000,000, is bequeathed to Leland Stanford 
Junior University. The university also comes 
into possession of the house built by Senator 
Stanford at San Francisco and its contents, 
which are valued at more than $2,000,000. 


Iv is now said that Sir William MacDonald, 
of Montreal, has decided to give $4,000,000 to 
the cause of education and has unfolded his 
scheme in detail. It consists of the erection 
of a normal school at St. Anne de Bellevue, 
a few miles distant from Montreal, and the 
erection and endowment of an agricultural 
college at the same place, to the plans for 
which we have already called attention. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 534. 


Tue legislature of North Carolina, which 
adjourned on March 7, appropriated $50,000 
for the erection of a chemical laboratory at 
the University of North Carolina. The plans 
for this laboratory have been accepted and 
work will begin at once. 

Tue Boys’ Central High School of Phila- 
delphia was injured by fire to the extent of 
$100,000 on March 9. The equipment of the 
astronomical department suffered especially, 
the loss there being estimated at $30,000, in 
addition to books and manuscripts belonging 
to Professor Monroe B. Snyder. 

Mr. SuHyamAs1 KrisHNAvVARMA has offered 
to establish six traveling fellowships at Ox- 
ford, five of them to be called the Herbert 
Spencer Indian fellowships. The fellowships 
are intended for natives of India. 

Mr. Epwarp Wuittey, B.A. Trinity Col- 
lege, has given £1,000 towards the permanent 
endowment of the chair of physiology in the 
University of Oxford. 

Ar St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kieff, Kharkoff, 
Kazan and other large towns haying universi- 
ties or technical colleges, these institutions 
have been closed by order of the authorities. 


MEETINGS are being held between the med- 
ical faculties of McGill University and the 
Bishop’s College University, Montreal, looking 
toward the amalgamation of Bishop’s medical 
faculty with that of McGill University. 

Tue Thaw fellowship in astronomy at 
Princeton University is open for the coming 
academic year to college graduates of not more 
than five years’ standing. The income of the 
fellowship is five hundred dollars a year; the 
holder is expected to devote his entire time 
to graduate work and research, and will be 
eligible to reelection. Applications with cre- 
dentials should be received by the dean of the 
graduate school before the first of May. 

Dr. R. S. WoopwortnH, instructor in psy- 
chology in Columbia University, has been pro- 
moted to an adjunct professorship. 

Mr. James C. Irvine, Ph.D., D.Se., has been 
appointed to the new lectureship in organic 
chemistry in St. Andrews University. 

Dr. Paut Drupe, of Giessen, has accepted 

-a call to a professorship of physics at Berlin. 


lh 


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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, 


| 


Fripay, Marcu 31, 1905. 


CONTENTS: 


The Sixth Annual Meeting of the Society of 
American Bacteriologists: PROFESSOR FRED- 
REGO ES i GORA «002 iniehiiloie ejeseries sim bce ses 481 


The Society for Plant Morphology and Physi- 


ology: Proressor W. F. GANONG......... 498 


Scientific Books :— 
Hess on Glaciers: Dr. Harry FIELpine 
Rew. Fry on Varnishes of the Italian 


Violin Makers: Proressor A. H. Ginu.... 507 


Scientific Journals and Articles............ 509 


Societies and Academies :— 
The American Mathematical Society: Pro- 
Fressor F. N. Cote. The New York Acad- 
emy of Sciences, Section of Geology and 
Mineralogy: Proressor A. W. GRABAU. 
The Torrey Botanical Club: Epwarp Berry. 
The Philosophical Society of Washington: 
Cartes K. Wrap. The Conference of 
Neurology and Vertebrate Zoology of Cor- 
nell University: Proressor Burr G. 
Witper. The American Chemical Society, 
Northeastern Section: Proressor ARTHUR 
‘, CLONE eS es a a ee 510 

Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Literary Production above Forty: Dr. 
CLyDE Furst. Production and the Modern 
Use of Carbonic Acid: A. BeMENT. Mont 
Pélée: PRoressor Harris HaAwTHorne 


OS TELIRIOS SAG a eae Pes Ae gente 2 a Rs 513 


Special Articles :— 
Natural Mounds or ‘ Hog-wallows’: Pro- 


MESSOR J. C: BRANNER......0000+000000 514 


Notes on the History of Natural Science :— 
Oppian on Fishes; Roman Ichthyology; 
Subterraneam Fishes: Dr. C. R. EASTMAN. 516 


Scientific Notes and News..............0.. 


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


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
8on-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE S8O- 

CIETY OF AMERICAN BACTERIOLOGISTS. 

THE sixth annual meeting of the Society 
of American Bacteriologists was held at 
the Laboratory of Hygiene, University of 
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa., on De- 
cember 27 and 28, 1904. 

The opening address was by President 
F. G. Novy, of the University of Michigan, 
on ‘The Hematozoa of Birds.’ 


On the Hematozoa of Birds: F. G. Novy, 

University of Michigan. 

An abstract or partial summary of the 
results obtained in this study appeared in 
American Medicine, November 26, 1904. 
The work in full will come out in two 
papers, the first of which, dealing with the 
Trypanosomes in birds, will appear in the 
second number (1905) of the Journal of 
Infectious Diseases; the second paper, deal- 
ing with the Cytozoa, may be expected in 
the third number of that journal. 


The Effect of Freezing on Bacteria: ERWIN 
F. SmirH and DEANE B. SwIncte, U. 8S. 
Department of Agriculture. 

More than 100 freezings were made 
using about a dozen different bacteria— 
saprophytes and plant and animal patho- 
genic forms. Quantitative determinations 
were made in all cases. With the excep- 
tion of Bacillus radicicola, all of the ex- 
posures were made in +15 peptonized 
beef bouillon, using cultures 24 to 48 hours 
old. Part of the freezings were made in 
liquid air, the time of exposure varying 
from 10 minutes to 24 hours, but usually 
one half hour. The rest were made in salt 


482 


and pounded ice, the time of exposure be- 
ing 2 hours. The freezings were made in 
5 ee. portions of bouillon in test-tubes of 
resistant glass. The thawings were made 
in tap water at 16° to 18° C. The inocu- 
lations for each set of plates were made in 
the same way, 2. e., usually with the thin- 
nest meniscus it was possible to obtain 
across a l-mm. platinum oese. The petri 
dishes were carefully selected, those taken 
being approximately 9 em. in diameter, with 
flat bottoms. The regular method of work 
was to make three poured plates (checks) 
from the inoculated tubes after insuring 
thorough diffusion, which was obtained by 
stirring with the platinum rod, shaking 
and allowing to stand one half hour. The 
tube was then immediately lowered into 
the liquid air and frozen slowly from the 
bottom up to avoid eracking. (This us- 
ually required four minutes.) As soon as 
the one half hour or other predetermined 
time of exposure had elapsed, the tube was 
removed, warmed for about 3 minutes in 
the laboratory air and then thawed in 
water (which usually required another 5 
minutes). As soon as the thawing was 
completed, three more poured plates were 
made, and these together with the three 
check plates were then incubated in the 
dark at 30° C., until the colonies were in 
good condition for counting—a _ period 
varying, according to the species, from one 
to several days. The plates were all put 
on a leveling apparatus as soon as poured, 
and in general the distribution of the 
colonies in the nutrient agar was very uni- 
form. When the plates were sown thin 
enough, the entire surface was counted (60 
sq. em.); for the thicker sowings the aver- 
age of 10 or 12 sq. em. was used, or of one 
half the plate. The following samples 
from two of the thirty or more slides ex- 
hibited will give a general idea of the 
method and results: 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 535. 
BACILLUS TYPHOSUS. (SIX POURED PLATES.) 


Colonies per Square Centimeter : 
After Freezing 


Before Freezing. (2 hrs. in Salt 
and Ice). 
Plate ak ocr. eee se 46 2/60 
Plate [1 yoann 39 0 
Plate IISA gecee 42 2/60 
AVeTager ye wa--.-e 42 1/45 
Per cent. killed, 99.5. 
Frozen, Dec. 15. Ineubated at 30° C. Counted, 


Dec. 19. 


BACILLUS TYPHOSUS. (SIX POURED PLATES.) 


Check on Salt and Ice, 7. e., 1/2 of Same Culture. 
Colonies per Square Centimeter : 
After Freezing 


Before Freezing. (2 hrs. in 

Liquid Air). 
Plate pl < sac. eer 50 1/60 
Plate. Aekee ces 51 3/60 
Plate TIM. <se.veee 43 2/60 
AVECTARC “sor core 48 2/60 

Per cent. killed, 99.3. 
Frozen, Dec. 15. Incubated at 30° C. Counted, 
Dec. 19. 
The following conclusions may be 


drawn: (1) The effect of very low tempera- 
tures has been greatly overestimated. As 
destructive results were obtained with salt 


‘and pounded ice (—17°.8 C., or less) as 


with liquid air. (2) The critical point ap- 
pears to be somewhere around 0° C. If an 
organism can pass this point in safety, it 
is believed that even absolute zero (—273° 
C.) would not harm it. (3) Some indi- 
viduals of each culture were able to endure 
unharmed the temperature of liquid air 
(—190° C.), although this was often only 
a small proportion of the whole number. 
(4) Repeated freezings and thawings re- 
duced this number very gradually to noth- 
ing, but ten freezings and thawing (in 
course of eight hours) did not kill all of 
the individuals of P. campestris, although 
it reduced the number in the bouillon to 
such an extent that three one-millimeter 
loops gave three sterile plates. (5) This 
resistance to freezing is believed to be due 


Marcu 31, 1905.] 


to absence of water in the resistant cells, 
these cells behaving like endospores, al- 
though not known to be endospores (1. @., 
from species not known to produce endo- 
spores). Possibly these resistant cells are 
to be considered as arthrospores. (6) HEn- 
dospores freed from non-sporiferous vege- 
tative cells by heating in the water-bath 
for fifteen minutes at 70° C. were not in 
any way injured by freezing (two species), 
and this would seem to be an added proof 
that the protoplasm of such spores is desti- 
tute of water, a conclusion already reached 
by various observers on account of their 
behavior in boiling water and streaming 
steam. 

So far as any general inference can be 
drawn from experiments made only in 
bouillon, we may conclude that bacteria are 
injured by freezing to very different de- 
grees, behaving in this respect lke the 
higher plants and animals. Many kinds, 
like Bacillus typhosus, are destroyed in 
great numbers even by short freezings, 
while other forms, like Bacillus sorghi, are 
rather resistant. The former idea that 
bacteria in general are not harmed by 
freezing is untenable. It was based on 
qualitative tests which are incapable of 


- showing the true state of affairs in the 


exposed culture. Probably an enormous 
number of bacteria are destroyed by every 
winter, and those which survive come 
through in the form of endospores or some 
other resistant shape. These experiments 
confirm and extend those of Prudden, 
Park and Sedgwick and Winslow. They 
will be repeated, freezing in water, and will 
be extended to include some additional 
species, and will probably be published by 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 


The Viability of B. Dysenterie Shiga: 
W. D. Frost and R. Wuirman, Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin. 

Four strains of this organism were test- 


SCIENCE. 


483 


ed. One was the Shiga type. The others 
belonged to the Flexner-Harris type. Of 
these one was the Harris culture and the 
others were from Duval and Bassett’s 
series of summer diarrhcea cases. The 
viability was tested by drying the organ- 
isms on articles of merchandise, dried food 
substances and in sterile distilled water 
and milk, under various conditions. <A 
summary of the conclusions reached fol- 
lows: the B. dysenterie when dried on 
articles of merchandise, as paper, cloth and 
wood, dies rapidly in from four to nine 
days at the temperature of 17-20° C. On 
dried food substances, as bread, rice and 
albumin balls, this germ may live for days. 
In some eases it is able to live over a 
month. In sterile distilled water the life 
of the germ is very short, rarely maintain- 
ing itself more than a week. In sterile 
milk the germ can live until the medium 
is dried up. The different strains vary in 
their viability under given eonditions, the 
Shiga type culture being distinctly more 
frail than cultures of the Flexner-Harris 
type, the effect of temperature in modify- 
ing the viability of the germ being im- 
portant. At a temperature of 38° C. it 
will live from only one half to one fourth 
of the time that it will live at a tempera- 
ture of 17-20° C. 


Pseudomonas Campestris (Pam.) Smith: 
H. A. Harpine and M. J. Prucua, Ex- 
periment Station, Geneva, N. Y. 
Pseudomonas campestris (Pam.) Smith 

is a yellow non-spore-forming plant para- 

site. It attacks cabbage, cauliflower and 
allied plants by way of their fibrovascular 
system. 

A study of its resistance to desiccation 
showed that while it died when exposed on 
sterile cover-slips for a few days (in our 
experiments not surviving a ten-day ex- 
posure), it retained its vitality on cabbage 
seed for more than a year. Apparently 


484 


no loss of pathogenicity resulted from this 
long exposure to unfavorable conditions. 
Cabbage plants inoculated with pure cul- 
tures, obtained from seed thirteen months 
after infection, showed a blackening of 
the veinlets in the leaf and other evidences 
of disease at the end of sixteen days. 

At a time when so much stress is being 
laid upon the quickness with which patho- 
genic organisms are destroyed in nature 
these observations should tend to check 
hasty generalizations. (To be published 
in full in Centralbl. f. Bakteriol., ete., II. 
Abt.) 


The Demonstration of the Flagella of 
Motile Bacteria and a Simple Method of 
Making Photomicrographs: Epwarp W. 
DuckwatL, Aspinwall, Pa. 

I found that the methods for flagella 
staining described by the old authors had 
to be modified. I divided the motile bac- 
teria into six classes for staining purposes: 

1. Bacilli which grow like typhoid, such 
as typhoid and colon. Bacteria resembling 
typhoid are actively motile bacteria. The 
material is transferred to a large drop or. 
two of distilled water, previously boiled. 
A fine platinum loop, about half the usual 
size, should be used. The finest specimens 
of bacteria will swim to the outer edges of 
the water. 

2. Bacilli which produce wrinkled or 
folded growths, such as Mesentericus fus- 
cus. In order to get a good prepara- 
tion from the bacteria which produce 
wrinkled or folded growths the agar should 
be streaked in the morning and carefully 
watched for the first appearance of growth. 

3. Bacilli which send out a thin, almost 
transparent growth over the surface of the 
agar, such as Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus 
megatherium. In order to get a good 
preparation from the thin, transparent, 
spreading growth a curved platinum wire 
is used to collect the bacteria en masse and 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 535. 


transfers are made to the distilled water 
with the small loop. 

4. Bacilli which produce slime, such as 
Bacillus vulgatus and Bacillus viscosus. 
The slime which collects between the 
flagella of the slime-producing bacteria 
can be precipitated by shaking a water 
suspension with chloroform. A _ very 
young growth is used and transfers are 
made to about 1 «ec. of water until it is 
made very cloudy. This suspension is 
then shaken with chloroform and the cover- 
glass preparation is made from the water 
above the chloroform. 

5. Bacilli which produce pigments, such 
as Bacillus prodigiosus and Bacillus cyano- 
genes. Bacteria which produce pigments 
soluble in chloroform are treated in the 
same manner. Those whose pigments are 
soluble in water and not in chloroform I 
prepare by holding the cover-glass under 
the tap after fixing the preparation in the 
flame previous to adding the mordant. 

6. Anaerobic bacteria, such as Bacillus 
tetanus, edema and symptomatic anthrax, 
ete. The best results with anaerobic bac- 
teria are obtained as follows: The medium 
is two per cent. glucose agar in slants and 
the inoculation is made back of the slant 
between the agar and the wall of the tube. 
I slide the needle back of the slant and let 
it fall forward, I introduce two or three 
drops of a young bouillon culture and re- 
place the agar. By excluding oxygen and 
maintaining a blood temperature for 
thirty-six hours a fine growth is usually 
obtained. 

I prefer the No. 1 round cover-glasses. 
For removing the grease they are covered 
with sulphuric acid, which is poured off 
after they have stood one day, and they 
are then covered with bichromate of potas- 
sium. After several hours this is poured 
off and they are washed with distilled 
water and transferred to a jar containing 
absolute aleohol, where they remain until 


Bunsen flame and instantly removed. 


Marcu 31, 1905.| 


ready for use. A single cover-glass is re- 
moved with clean forceps from the alcohol 
and dried with clean linen without touch- 
ing it with the fingers. It is then taken in 
the forceps and passed several times 
through the Bunsen flame. 

The fixing agent is a mordant and the 
stain is carbol gentian violet or preferably 
earbol fuchsine. 

Mordant.—2 grams tannic acid; 5 grams 
eold saturated solution ferrous sulphate 
(aqueous); 15 e.c. distilled water; 1 c.c. 
saturated alcoholic solution of fuchsine. 

To these ingredients I add a one per cent. 
solution of sodium hydroxid, from .5 to 
lee. After filtering, the mordant should 
be of a reddish-brown hue, and it must be 
used within five hours after it is made. 

Carbol Fuchsine.—Put about one gram 
of granulated fuchsine in a bottle and pour 
over it 25 ¢.c. of warm alcohol; shake, let 
stand for several hours, and dilute four or 
five times with a five per cent. solution of 
earbolie acid. 

A small loop full of the clouded water is 
transferred to the cover-glass. A spread 
consisting of several parallel streaks is 
best. The glass, held by the forceps, prep- 
- aration side up, is passed down on to the 
The 
mordant is then poured on, just enough to 
cover the surface without flowing over the 
edges. After one half to one minute the 
mordant is completely washed off under 
the tap; a small quantity of alcohol is then 
poured on to the surface and instantly 
washed off. Then cover the surface with 
earbol fuchsine or carbol gentian violet, 
which is allowed to stand on the cover- 
glass for about one half minute. We then 
heat it so that steam is given off and, after 
drying thoroughly, treat with xylol, im- 
mediately draw off the xylol with filter 
paper, drive off what remains with heat 
and mount in xylol balsam. 

A Simple Method of Making Photo- 


SCIENCE. 


485 


micrographs.—The camera is about twice 
as long as the ordinary 4x5 camera, and 
the photomicrographs are taken with the 
camera in a horizontal position. It must 
be steady- and the microscope stand should 
be substantial, with the fine cone adjust- 
ment. Much depends upon the objective. 
I have found none equal to the one-twelfth 
oil immersion objective and No. 6 compen- 
sating eye-piece made by the Spencer Lens 
Co. The best plates are the isochromatic 
or orthrochromatie swift plates which are 
corrected for colors. I have found the 
acetylene radiant preferable to gas, oil or 
electric light. The only screen I ever use 
is green glass. Printing from the nega- 
tives on glossy Velox brings out the best 
detail. The glossy Velox is then ferro- 
plated, which makes a beautiful photo- 
graph. 

(Complete paper will be published in the 
New York Medical Journal; also in the 
Canner and Dried Fruit Packer, 1905, 
XX., No. 5, p. 23, with many illustrations. ) 


Principles of Classification of Baeteria: 
F. D. Cusster, Delaware Agricultural 
College. 

As far as possible morphologic char- 
acters should be the primary basis of classi- 
fication. The generic system of Migula is 
proposed, based upon character of flagella- 
tion. 

With sporogenous bacteria, character of 
spores, mode of germination, form of 
sporangia, and orientation of the cellular 
elements are useful toxonomically. With 
the asporogeneous bacteria grouping must 
be based largely upon physiological char- 
acters. 

The proposed division of genera into 
eroups is based upon leading characters in 
the order named: (1) Spore formation, 
(2) relation to oxygen, (3) liquefaction of 
gelatin, (4) fermentation of lactose, (5) 
fermentation of dextrose, (6) fermentation 


486 


of saccharose, (7) reduction of nitrates, 
and (8) chromogenesis. 

Any combination of the above-named 
characters gives a character complex which 
can be best represented by a series of 
digits. Each digit represents a character 
in order of value. When the character 
covered by a digit is either positive or neg- 
ative two numbers only are necessary, 7. €., 
1 and 2, 1 signifying positive and 2 nega- 
tive. Thus spore formation and non-spore 
formation by 1 and 2 in the hundreds 
place; aerobic-facultative anaerobic and 
anaerobic by 1 and 2 in the tens place, and 
liquefaction and non-liquefaction of gelatin 
in the units place represented by 1 and 2. 
In the tenths, hundredths and thousandths 
place of decimals three numbers are used, 
in which 1 represents acid with gas and 
2 acid without gas, while 3 no acid from 
dextrose, lactose and saccharose respect- 
ively, 1 and 2 in the next place indicate 
reduction and non-reduction of nitrates, 
and in the next place numbers from 0 to 
8 indicate the absence or the presence of 
chromogenesis in the order of the occur- 
rence of the colors in the spectrum, namely, 
0, non-chromogenic; 1, fluorescence; 2, 
violet; 3, blue; 4, green; 5, yellow; 6, 
orange; 7, red; 8, brown; on this basis the 
number for B. coli is 212.11110, for B. 
enteritidis 212.13310. 


A Revision of. the Coccacew: C.-E. A. 
Winstow and ANNE F. Rocers, Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology. 

Since the swamping of minor differences 
by sexual reproduction is absent among 
bacteria, every inheritable variation is 
maintained, and instead of true species we 
find an infinite series of minutely differing 
but constant races. The only practical 
method of handling and _ systematizing 
these is to establish certain fairly distinct 
groups or types about which the lesser in- 
dividual variations may be grouped. The 


SCIENCE. 


[N.8. Vor. XXL. No. 535. 


larger number of published descriptions of 
species among the cocci are based either on 
variable or on isolated and unimportant 
characters. The authors find that 445 de- 
seribed species may be condensed to 31. 
These are grouped under two subfamilies 
and five genera which mark transition 
stages between strictly parasitic pairs of 
cells like D. Weichselbaumii and strictly 
saprophytic organisms in large vegetative 
masses like Ascococcus mesenteroides. The 
principal groups are defined as follows: 


FAMILY COCCACE. 
Vegetative cells spherical. 
Subfamily I. 
family). 
Parasites (thriving only or best on or in 
the animal body). Thrive well under 
anaerobic conditions. Many forms fail to 
grow on artificial media, none produces 
abundant surface growth. Planes of fis- 
sion generally parallel producing pairs or 
short or long chains. 
Genus 1. Diplococcus (Weichselbaum). 
Strict parasites. Not growing or grow- 
ing very poorly, on artificial media. Cells 
normally in pairs, surrounded by a capsule. 
Genus 2. Streptococcus (Billroth). 
Parasites. Cells normally in short or 
long chains (under unfavorable cultural 
conditions, sometimes in pairs and small 
groups, never in large groups or packets). 


PARACOCCACE® (new sub- 


On agar streak, effused translucent growth — | 


In stab eul- 
Ferment 


often with isolated colonies. 
ture, little surface growth. 
sugars with formation of acid. 


Subfamily II. Merracoccace® (new sub- 


family). 
Facultative parasites or saprophytes. 
Thrive best under aerobic conditions. 


Grow well on artificial media, producing 
abundant surface growths. Planes of 
fission often at right angles; cells aggre- 
gated in groups, packets or zooglea masses. 
Genus 3. Micrococcus (Hallier) Cehn. 


Marcy 31, 1905.] 


Facultative parasites or saprophytes. 
Cells in plates or irregular masses (never 
in long chains or packets). Acid produc- 
tion variable. 


Genus 4. Sarcina (Goodsir). 

Saphrophytes or facultative parasites. 
Division under favorable conditions, in 
three planes, producing regular packets. 
Generally fail to produce acid by fermenta- 
tion of sugars. 


Genus 5. Ascococcus (Cohn). 

Generally saphrophytic cells imbedded 
in large irregularly lobed masses of zooglea. 
In presence of carbohydrates usually form 
acid. 

Full paper (preliminary) to be published 
in SCIENCE. 


Diagnostic Value of the Red Color which 
Develops on the Addition of Caustic Soda 
to Solutions of Glucose after Fermenta- 
tion: Wm. R. CopeLAND and PERKINS 
Boynton, Columbus, Ohio. 

Certain members of the colon group of 
bacteria produce a substance in glucose so- 
lutions which, on the addition of caustic 
soda (NaOH), forms a brick-red color if 
the alkali is kept in contact with the fer- 
mented bouillon for twenty-four hours. 

The glucose solution used in making this 
test contains: 


Meat extract from fresh round beef steak 1,000 c.c. 


Peptone—Witte’s best white, dry...... 10 gms. 
MEMES Le roh sey tt ech 2, Hoy senor Bisse Syejovteevsral ale 5 gms. 
Erm ROUS, PIUCOSE .. 2... 5 cee. e ee eee ee 10 gms. 


Reaction (referred to phenol-phthalein) . 1% acid. 


The caustic soda used contains 20 grams 
of the best grade of NaOH in sticks dis- 
solved in 1,000 c.c. water. 

The fermentation is carried on by the 
bacteria for a period of 48 hours at a tem- 
perature of 37° C.+. The bacillus which 
brings about the formation of the red color 
resembles the Bacillus cloacew of Jordan 
and the Bacillus Zee of Moore. 


SCIENCE. 


487 


The bacterium described by Dr. Theo- 
bald Smith as the typical ‘Bacillus coli 
commums’ forms reactions which differ 
markedly in every instance from the reac- 
tions produced by B. cloacew. Therefore, 
as the colon bacillus never produces the 
red color in glucose solutions and as B. 
cloacew does, the appearance of a strong 
brick red color in a glucose fermentation 
tube, to which a two per cent. NaOH solu- 
tion has been added and allowed to digest 
for 24 hours, may be taken as evidence that 
the bacteria in the Smith‘tube are B. 
cloacew and are not B. coli communis. 


I., The Value of the Widal Reaction for the 
Diagnosis of Hog Cholera. I1., The 
Production of Agglutinins for Hog 
Cholera Bacilli in Swine: Cuas T. Mc- 
Cuiintock, Cuas. M. BoxMeryer and J. J. 
Sirrer, Detroit, Mich. 

1. The serum of normal hogs ageluti- 
nates strains of ordinary hog cholera 
bacilli in dilutions occasionally as high as 
1-250. For this reason we consider a reac- 
tion in a dilution of less than 1-300 with- 
out diagnostic value. 

2. The bacillus of swine dysentery is not 
agglutinated by normal blood in ‘such high 
dilutions. 

3. The Widal reaction is of no value for 
the diagnosis of hog cholera, as the disease 
is at present defined. 

4. The presence of a positive reaction 
does, however, indicate an infection with 
cholera bacilli. 

5. There are occasional instances of both 
natural and artificial infection in which no 
inerease of the agglutinins for hog cholera 
over those normally present can be dem- 
onstrated. 

6. The maximum amount of agglutinin 
develops in a hog’s blood within six or 
seven days after a single inoculation with 
hog cholera vaccine. 

7. Hogs react to intraperitoneal injec- 


488 


tions of hog cholera vaccines, usually with 
the production of large quantities of ag- 
elutinins, the amount of the vaccine bear- 
ing no relation to the amount of agglutinin 
produced. 

(Complete paper will be published in 
the Journal of Infectious Diseases.) 


A Method for Inoculating Animals with 
Precise Amounts:.M. J. Rosenau, Hy- 
gienie Laboratory,-U. 8. Public Health 
and Marine Hospital Service. 

The author gives an original method for 
inoculating animals with precise amounts. 
With the ordinary methods used in most 
laboratories there is an unavoidable loss 
resulting in an error of from one to eight 
per cent. If the solution is measured into 
a graduate and then drawn up into a 
syringe a certain quantity remains in the 
eraduate, and the entire contents can not 
be expelled from the ordinary piston 
syringe. In a number of weighings this 
loss was determined to average about .04 
e.c. in using 4 «ec. of fluid, that is, about 
one per cent. of the amount used. 

The new method consists of a battery of 
syringe barrels, one for each animal. The 
amount of fluid is measured into the 
syringe barrel directly, thereby totally 
eliminating the loss in the graduate. The 
entire contents of the syringe is expelled 
by means of a rubber bulb and any fiuid 
remaining behind is washed out with a 
neutral and sterile solution. The syringe 
itself is a modification of the Koch syringe. 

In working with different weights of 
solids, the solution may be made in the bar- 
rel of the syringe, so that the method is 
applicable to any sort of work where it is 
important to inoculate animals with pre- 
cise amounts. 

The method is especially useful in stand- 
ardizing diphtheria antitoxin, in determin- 
ing the strength of toxins and in certain 
lines of physiological chemistry where the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 535. 


greatest precision is essential. The battery 
of syringes is held in a specially designed 
rack which has many useful points. 
(Complete description in U. S. Public 
Health and Marine Hospital Service, Hy- 
gienic Laboratory Bulletin, No. 19.) 


A Method for Using Capacity Pipettes: 
M. J. Rosenau, Hygienic Laboratory, 
U.S. Publie Health and Marine Hospital 
Service. 

The pipette is held in a retort stand and 
has a rubber bulb attached to its upper or 
suction end. By means of a thumb-screw 
the fluid may be drawn up into the pipette 
to a point slightly above the mark. The 
outside of the pipette is then wiped with a 
piece of sterile gauze, and by applying a 
similar piece of gauze to the tip of the 
pipette the fluid may be drawn down so 
that the meniscus rests exactly on the line. 
The contents of the pipette may then be 
washed in and out by means of the rubber 
bulb into the syringe or vessel that is to 
contain it. 


A Method for Using Delivery Pipettes. 
M. J. Rosrenav, Hygienic Laboratory, 
U.S. Public Health and Marine Hospital 
Service. 

This is similar to the method described 
for using capacity pipettes and has a sim- 
ilar rubber bulb attached to the upper end 
of the pipette; but in addition, attached 
to a glass 7’, is a valve consisting of a piece 
of rubber tubing controlled by a Mohr’s 
pincheock. The fluid is drawn up above 
the mark, and is nursed down by means 


‘of a piece of sterile gauze, as related above — 


in using capacity pipettes. By opening 
the pincheoeck the contents of the pipette 
may be delivered into any vessel desired. 
The method is both quick and accurate. 


Exhibition of Cultures on Starch Jelly and © 
on Silicate Jelly: Erwin F. Smrru, U. — 


' §. Department of Agriculture. 
These media were recommended for dif- 


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: 
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; 


| 
| 


Marcu 31, 1905.] 


ferential purposes. The preparation of 
the first is given in Proceedings Boston 
(1898) Meeting of the American Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science; that 
of the second will be given in the first vol- 
ume of the writer’s monograph on ‘Bac- 
terial Diseases of Plants’ (Carnegie Insti- 
tution). It is easy by this method to 
prepare a silicate jelly free from glycerine 
and at the same time having a moist, 
smooth (untorn) surface, well adapted to 
the growth of many bacteria and not at all 
to that of others. The nutrient salts used 
were those of Fermi’s solution. 


Introductory Remarks on Morphology of 
Bacteria: H. W. Hix, Boston Board of 
Health Laboratory. 

The writer points out the chaotic state of 
the evidence relating to morphology, and 
the difficulty of determining what is the 
normal morphology of bacteria, supports 
the acceptance of artificial standards for 
temporary purposes and urges very much 
more detailed attention to every phase of 
morphology than has as yet generally been 
given to it, as a basis for a more exact ab- 
stract science of morphology. He recom- 
mends also more attention to the direct 
continuous microscopic examination of bac- 
teria during the processes of fission, spore 
formation, spore germination, ete. 


A Peculiar Spirillum Showing Rosette 
Formation: Maseru Jones, University 
of Chicago. 

The organism in question was isolated 
in October, 1904, from the Chicago water 
supply and also from Chicago sewage. 

The organism is a short, rather plump 
‘comma,’ with pointed ends, frequently 
growing out into straight or spiral fila- 
ments or forming ‘s’-shaped figures and 
semicircles. 

There is a singular tendency towards 
definite rosette formation. This grouping 
is shown in cover-slip films and is appa- 


SCIENCE. 


489 


rently effected by a uniform grouping of 
the descendants of a single organism, and 
is In no sense an agglutinative phenomenon. 
The flagella, pointing towards the center 
of the rosette, stain by ordinary stains and 
add to the singularity of the picture pre- 
sented by these chrysanthemum-lke clus- 
ters. 

Glucose-agar under anaerobic conditions 
seems to favor the formation of rosettes. 

(Will probably be published in the 
Centralbl. f. Bakteriol., ete.) 


Notes on the Chemical Constitution of 
Bacillus Tuberculosis: M. Dorser and 
J. A. Emery, U. S. Bureau of Animal 
Industry. 

The authors report having found in the 
bodies of tubercle bacilli two classes of 
substances soluble in water. One portion 
of the ether extract is not saponifiable by 
the usual methods and possesses many of 
the characteristics belonging to the higher 
alcohols of the aliphatic series. This alco- 
hol is completely acid-fast and it seems 
probable that the characteristic staining 
properties of tubercle bacilli are due to its 
presence in them. The second portion of 
the ether extract is easily saponifiable and 
consists of several different substances the 
nature of which has not yet been deter- 
mined. 

(To be published in Annual Report, 
Bureau of Animal Industry, 1904.) 


The Metabolism of Chromogenic Bacteria: 

M. X. Suutuivan, Brown University. 

I. The biochemical study of bacteria is 
earried on best in simple, synthetic culture 
media. 

II. Some bacteria show little power to 
grow upon synthetic media; it is probable 
that the power to grow upon such media 
ean be developed; thus we may acecommo- 
date the medium to the organism or adapt 
the organism to the medium. 


490 


III. Many bacteria may be grown readily 
upon synthetic culture media. 

IV. From those readily growing on such 
media I have chosen for study B. pyocy- 
aneus, B. prodigiosus, B. ruber balticus, 
B. rosaceus, B. metalloides, B. violaceus, 
B. janthinus. 

V. These bacteria may be grown with or 
without pigment formation. 

VI. Whether producing pigment or not, 
these chromogenic bacteria give the same 
metabolic products, as far as these have 
been analyzed, e. g., acids, ammonia, alco- 
hol, benzol derivatives and albuminous 
bodies. 

VII. The metabolic products are as fol- 
lows: B. prodigiosus, aldehydes, formie, 
acetie and citric acids; albumin. B. rosa- 
ceus, B. metalloides, formic and acetic 
acids; albumin. B. ruber balticus, formic 
acid; albumin. B. violaceus, aldehydes, 
formic acid; albumin. B. janthinus, for- 
mic acid; albumin. B. pyocyaneus, alde- 
hydes, formic acid, merecaptan, H,S; al- 
bumin. 


The Intracellular Toxins: V. C. VAUGHAN, 

University of Michigan. 

Bacterial cellular substance is obtained 
in large amount by growth on the large 
tanks which have been used for some years 
in the author’s laboratory. After fourteen 
days of growth, the cell substance is re- 
moved, washed with water and absolute 
alcohol, then thoroughly extracted with 
ether, dried, pulverized, weighed and heat- 
ed in a reflux condenser with sodium alco- 
holate. This splits the cell substance into 
a toxic and a non-toxie portion. The toxic 
part is soluble in absolute alcohol, while the 
non-toxi¢ is insoluble in this reagent. The 
aleoholie solution is neutralized with hydro- 
chlorie acid and the sodium chloride, which 
forms, is removed by filtration. The fil- 
trate is precipitated with an alcoholic solu- 
tion of platinum chloride which precipi- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. VoL. XXTI. No. 535; 


tates the toxin. The platinum precipitate 
is suspended in absolute alcohol and de- 
composed with hydrogen sulphide, after 
which the alcoholie¢ solution of the toxin is 
evaporated in vacuo. Animals have been 
immunized with this toxin both to the liy- 
ing germ and to the toxin itself. Animals 
treated with non-fatal and gradually in- 
creased doses of the toxin acquire immu- 
nity and furnish a blood serum which is 
both antitoxic and bacteriolytic. The 
toxin gives all the proteid color reactions. 
It is apparently an acid and combines with 
organic bases. 

The non-toxie portion of the germ sub- 
stanee, or that which is insoluble in alcohol, — 
is soluble in water, and with aqueous solu- 
tions of this substance bacteriolytic im- 
munity is easily induced. Toxins have 
been obtained from colon, typhoid, and an- 
thrax bacilli and animals have been im- 
munized to the first two. 

(To be published in the Journal of the 
American Medical Association.) 


Relation of the Index of Alkalinity to the 
Production of Diphtheria Toxin: A. P. 
HircHens, Glenolden, Pa. 

A study of the reaction of bouillon be- 
fore and after sterilization shows that in 
media containing carbohydrate the rise in 
acidity after sterilization varies according | 
to the temperature of the sterilizer. This 
is most important in the production of 
diphtheria toxin. Bouillon prepared ac- 
cording to the method of Smith, and steril- 
ized in the autoclave, showed after steril- 
ization varying indices of alkalinity. The 
reaction after sterilization of sugar-free 
bouillon is very uniform. And as the re- 
action of bouillon for the production of 
diphtheria toxin must be very exact, it is 
advantageous to add the dextrose after 
sterilization. The meat juice is neutralized 
to litmus, planted with the colon bacillus 
and ineubated over night to destroy the 
muscle sugar. The bouillon is made from 


Marcu 31, 1905.] 


this in the ordinary way, two per cent. of 
Witte’s peptone being added. It is dis- 
pensed into Fernbach flasks, one liter in 
each, and sterilized in the autoclave. Little 
attention need be paid to the temperature, 
it may vary anywhere from 115° to 120°, 
0.2 per cent. of dextrose is added after 
sterilization. The cultures are incubated 
six days at 35°-36° C. The reaction of 
the bouillon before sterilization is made 
+.45, so that after sterilization it may be 
+.75. Toxin made by this method has 
been very uniform, rarely being below .005 
e.c. for a 250-gram guinea-pig. 

(To be published in the Journal of Med- 
ical Research.) 


On the Antagonism of Bacteria and their 
Products towards Other Bacteria: L. F. 
Rerrcer, Sheffield Scientific School, Yale 
University. 

Considerable attention has been given in 
recent years to the influence that one micro- 
organism is capable of exerting on the life 
and growth of another. We learn, on the 
one hand, that certain bacteria profit by 
association. Again, there are numerous 
instances in which the presence of one or- 
ganism, or its products, is inimical to the 
development of another. For example, the 
pyocyaneus bacillus has been found to act 
in a very antagonistic manner toward the 
anthrax bacillus. And not only is this 
true of the living bacilli themselves, but 
also of certain of their products. Emmer- 
ich and Loew claim to have succeeded in 
immunizing rabbits against anthrax by the 
use of their so-called ‘pyocyanase,’ which 
they prepared from old bouillon cultures 
of B. pyocyaneus. 

In a study of the chemical and physiolog- 
ileal properties of B. prodigiosus and its 
products, I observed, among other things, 
that sterile cultures or preparations of the 
prodigiosus bacillus exerted a strong pro- 
tective action against experimental anthrax 
when injected in small quantities under the 


SCIENCE. 


491 


skin or into the peritoneal cavity of guinea- 
pigs. Of nine experiments that were car- 
ried out in full, seven yielded very positive 
results. In the eighth the animal died as 
a result of over-dosing with the prodigiosus 
material; and in the ninth, both the pro- 
digiosus and control animal lived, owing 
to the small number of anthrax bacilli in- 
jected (47). In six of the seven experi- 
ments that gave positive results, the life of 
the guinea-pig was prolonged 14, 24, 25, 
26 and 72 hours, respectively ; while in the 
seventh the animal entirely recovered. 

The prodigiosus material used for injec- 
tion was prepared from potato cultures of 
the prodigiosus bacillus. The cultures 
were scraped and allowed to stand under 
chloroform for twenty-four hours. After 
drying in an exhaust desiccator, the mass 
was ground into a fine powder. Definite 
quantities of this ‘prodigiosus powder’ 
(0.05 to 0.1 gram) were mixed with ten 
eubie centimeters of sterile physiological 
salt solution, and after filtration through 
loose absorbent cotton definite amounts of 
the suspension were injected, usually under 
the skin of the abdomen and in rather close 
proximity to the site of the anthrax injec- 
tion. 

For inoculation with anthrax, young 
agar cultures were employed. The bacilli 
were suspended in physiological salt solu- 
tion, and their number was approximately 
determined by the use of agar plates. The 
inoculation with anthrax was made under 
the skin of the abdomen. Im all the ex- 
periments control animals were employed. 

Although sterile prodigiosus powder ex- 
erts such a pronounced protective action 
against anthrax, there remains at present 
one serious objection to its employment in 
practical immunization work. It exerts 
such a degree of toxic action, when injected, 
that only very small quantities can be used 
without serious consequence to the animals. 
Attempts thus far made to destroy the toxic 


492 


properties of the prodigiosus products with- 
out lessening their protective action have 
not given the desired results. 


Associative Action of Bacteria on the Sour- 
ing of Milk: C. E. MarsHauu, Michigan 
Agricultural College. 

The author, working with cultures of 
associated bacteria, consisting of B. acidi 
lactici, and a bacillus obtained from milk 
and not yet described, possessing marked 
proteolytic action in its growth upon milk, 
and producing alkaline reaction, decidedly 
marked in old cultures, has been able to 
demonstrate that loppering is hastened by 
the presence of this proteolytic germ over 
that of the lactic acid germ, by as many as 
ninety-six hours at times, temperature 20° 
C.; that the acidity rises high above that 
of the lactic germ; that these changes may 
be noted by the naked eye appearances of 
the cultures; and, further, that the lactic 
acid germ develops much more rapidly 
when associated with these proteolytic 
germs than when existing in pure cultures. 
He has also found that‘ the products pro- 
_ duced by the proteolytic germ are stable 
and that they may exert the same influence 
as the presence of the living germ. An- 
alyses of cultures at various ages indicate 
that the products influencing the growth 
of the lactic acid germ are either amido 
or ammonia compounds. Synthetie cul- 
tural media have been attempted, but with- 
out satisfactory results thus far. 

It may also be said that peculiar curdling 
effects have been obtained with fresh milk 
from the cow and of various ages there- 
after. This may account for certain pe- 
culiar cultural results secured in eultivat- 
ing germs in various samples of milk. 

The description of the proteolytic germ 
and the detailed work will be published in 
Centralbl. f. Bakteriol, ete. (Zweite Abteil- 
ung), at no distant date. 


SCIENCE. 


. (N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 535, 


Bacterium trutte: A Pathogen to Trout: 
M. C. Marsa, U. 8. Bureau of Fisheries. 
An organism which causes serious epi- — 

demics among domesticated brook trout 

and is not pathogenic to warm-blooded ani- 
mals. The characters of chief interest are 
its pleomorphism, color production, appa- 
rent acquirement of motility on media, and 
low death point. 

(Complete paper. in Bulletin of U- S. 

Fish Commission, 1902, p. 411.) 


A Germ-proof Filter: F. P. GorHam, 
Brown University. . 
The filter consists of a porcelain tube 

upon which a layer of aluminum hydrox- 

ide, bound together by mineral wool, is 
deposited. The effluent is of excellent 
quality chemically, all algal odor is re- 
moved, is germ free after running continu- 
ously for over. a year, and the rapidity of 
flow is some seven times that of the un-— 
coated tube at the start, and double the 

speed of flow of an uncoated tube after a 

continuous run of fourteen days. 

The filter is the invention of Mr. James 

G. Woolworth, Providence, R. I. 


The Bacteria Encountered in Suppura- 
* tions: D. H. Bercey, University of 

Pennsylvania. 

In the examination of pus by the stu- 
dents in the laboratory it has been my ex- 
perience that frequently bacteria are en- 
countered which are not ordinarily classed 
among the pyogenic organisms. The fre- 
quency with which certain of these organ- 
isms were encountered and the fact that 


some of these organisms had previously 


been encountered in suppurating wounds; 
that organisms of a similar character had 
been encountered in catarrhal mammitis in 
cows; moreover, the fact that similar or- 
ganisms have been encountered in abscesses 
occurring spontaneously in mice, led to the 
opinion that they might possibly have a 


Marcu 31, 1905.] 


more intimate connection with suppuration 
under certain conditions than had been 
supposed. For this reason specimens of 
pus were obtained in the hospital from 
thirty cases in the surgical wards. Aside 
from the ordinary pyogenic organisms—as 
the staphylococci, streptococci and Bacillus 
pyocyaneus—bacillus coli was encountered 
several times; an organism belonging to the 
eroup of pseudo-diphtheria bacilli and also 
an organism belonging to the proteus group 
were encountered several times, so that it 
appeared probable that they were not acci- 
dental contaminations of the pus. The 
extent to which these organisms are capable 
of producing suppurations when acting 
alone has not been fully worked out. 
Neither has their effect upon the processes 
of the pyogenic organisms been studied 
with sufficient detail to make positive state- 
ments. The frequency, however, with 
which these organisms were encountered in 
the conditions studied seemed to warrant 
a preliminary report upon the studies so 
far made. 


The Bacteriology of Some Railroad Water 
Supplies: L. H. Pammen, Iowa College 
of Agriculture. 

The author gave an account of an ex- 
amination of three water supplies of rail- 
roads. Generally speaking, the newer 
wells along the line of the C. & N. W. 
R. R. are deep wells, 125-150 feet deep. 
In some eases the Iowa railroads depend 
on city water supplies. It is interesting 
to note that in the few cases where the city 
water supplies have been used, B. coli com- 
munis has been found. Several new spe- 
cies have been found, among them a red 
Planosarcina. The average number of 
bacteria varies from 40-150, though in 
some cases somewhat higher. Best results 
have been obtained with litmus lactose 
agar; the gelatine has been unsatisfac- 
tory. 


SCIENCE. 


493 


Changes in the Bacterial Content of Water 
in Passing Through a Distributing 
Reservoir: B. G. Putmprick, Metro- 
politan Water and Sewage Board, Bos- 
ton, Mass. 

The data reported represent routine 
weekly analysis, covering a period of ten 
years, of the influent and effluent streams 
of Chestnut Hill Reservoir. The number 
of bacteria in the influent is small, only 
220 on the average, and is not markedly 
affected by rainfall, sce the water experi- 
ences considerable storage and sedimenta- 
tion before it reaches that point. The 
general average of bacteria in the effluent 
is 179, 82 per cent. of the influent figure, 
but the ratio for different years varies 
from 50 per cent. to 123 per cent. Con- 
sidering the monthly average for ten years, 
an increase during passage through the 
reservoir is noted at the time of the spring 
and fall overturns bringing the ratio of 
effluent to influent up to 123 per cent. for 
April and 134 per cent. for September. 

During the winter the ratio decreases 
from 96 per cent. in December to 71 per 
cent. in March and after the spring over- 
turn it rises from 69 per cent. to 95 per 
cent. in August. It appears that in a 
reservoir receiving water fairly low in 
bacteria the growth at the bottom of the 
reservoir itself and the mixture of its vari- 
ous layers, are the main factors in deter- 
mining the effluent count. 


The New Bacteriological Laboratory of 
the Boston Board of Health. B. R. 
RICKARDS. 

A detailed description of the new labora- 
tory including several special features such 
as (1) chute leading to an incubator to 
receive cultures sent after the laboratory 
is closed, (2) open trough system of plumb- 
ing, (3) combination draining board and 
tray for the transportation of glassware 
from one part of the laboratory to another, 


494 SCIENCE. 


(4) Portland cement benchtops under in- 
eubators and on other benches where gas 
flames are in constant use. 


The Construction of a Thermostat-room: 
N. Mach. Harris, University of Chicago. 
Every well-appointed laboratory  en- 

gaged in teaching large classes should have 
an incubator room. The costly copper 
thermostat is entirely imadequate. The 
thermostat in this case was built for the 
pathological laboratory of the Johns Hop- 
kins University and was modeled some- 
what after one seen in Kjoebenhavn, Den- 
mark, and one in the Institute for In- 
fectious Diseases in Berlin. 

The cost of this room was one hundred 
and twenty dollars exclusive of the thermo- 
regulator and Koch safety burner, a sum 
often exceeded by the larger sizes of the 
ordinary copper-built apparatus on the 
market. 

A. complete description of this room will 
soon appear in the Journal of Experi- 
mental Medicine or in the Centralblatt 
fiir Bakteriologie. 


The Utilization of Leaky Incubators: C. F. 

Dawson, University of Florida. 

The leaky ineubator is not an uncommon 
piece of apparatus in the older laboratories. 
Owing to the difficulty with which they are 
kept in repair when once they have begun 
to go to pieces, it is doubtful economy to 
attempt, in most cases, to keep them in com- 
mission. 

As in the ease of old and tried friends, 
we dislike to part with them. Although 
it is not the possession of such an incu- 
bator, at present, that has prompted this 
short note, a long laboratory experience 
has shown me that many fine and expensive 
old ovens have been consigned to the worn- 
out apparatus pile, because of their leaky 
propensities. 

The writer is at present using one of 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 535. 


Bausch and Lomb’s finest incubators, with- 
out the usual water-jacket, and has never 
seen a more perfectly regulated apparatus. 
In this case the mercury regulator is, of 
course, passed through one of the tubula- 
tures into the culture chamber. 

We thus directly regulate the amount of 
heat in the place where it is wanted, and 
not through the medium of heated water. 
Such an apparatus is easily and quickly 
regulated. There are no long periods of 
over-heating or under-heating, as is the ease 
when we have a large volume of water to 
heat up or to cool down. 

Some might object to the rapid cooling 
when the door is opened; but this is quickly 
counteracted by an almost immediate re- 
turn to the temperature for which the 
regulator is set, when the door is closed 
again. 

Were this system adopted the expen- 
sively constructed incubator would be a 
thing of the past, as cheaper materials, 
such as wood and tin, could be employed 
in their manufacture. 


I., Demonstration of an Efficient Thermo- 
Regulator: A. Rosin, Wilmington Water 
Department Laboratory. 

The thermostat consists of an ordinary 
automatic gas burner, such as is sold in 
hardware stores, connected with a regu- 
lator made on the same principle as the 
minimum and maximum thermometer with 
three electrodes, one reaching 38° C., the 
other 87° C., and a third connected at the 
bend of the U tube. The spring wires 
opening and closing the valve in the gas 
burner are slightly bent so as to permit 
a small amount of gas to pass, thus doing 
away with the spark coil generally used to 
lhght the burner. Two open-cell constant- 
current batteries supply the necessary eur- 
rent. When the temperature in the incu- 
bator reaches 38° C. the mercury rises, 
making a contact with the electrode on 


| 
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! 


2 Re eR EC i AC To a 


Marcu 31, 1905.] 


the dark side, and the flame is automat- 
ically turned down. When the tempera- 
ture falls to 37° C., the mereury column 
on the left side makes the contact, turning 
on the flame. Thus, the temperature is 
regulated within one degree. Instead of 
the mereury regulator, one made of thin 
brass and hard rubber strips securely fast- 
ened together and arranged between two 
contact points, may be used. The metallic 
thermo-regulator may be bought in the 
open market. 


IL, A Simple Method of Making Anae- 
robic Plates. 

The medium consists of lactose agar, 
1.2 per cent., which is plated in the usual 
way and placed on a nivellator. When 
thoroughly solidified, 7 ¢@c. of an agar 
jelly made of 1.2 per cent. agar in distilled 
water, are poured on each plate making 
a closely adhering transparent film. This 
practically accomplishes what the mica 
plate does, with the advantage, however, 
that the agar film adheres more closely, 
covers the medium more satisfactorily and 
is readily apphed. 


Laboratory Expedients. S. DrM. Gags, 

Lawrence Experiment Station. 

In the modern public health laboratory, 
a large amount of routine work of consid- 
erable detail is often required, and while 
an inerease in the necessary funds is often 
not forthcoming, constant pressure is us- 
ually exerted upon the head of the labo- 
ratory to increase the scope of the work 
and the output of the working foree. Un- 
der these conditions it is often a problem 
for the working bacteriologist to satisfy 
all requirements and at the same time to 
be able to carry on experimental work. 
The solution of this problem usually les 
in systematizing the work and in the use 
of labor-saving devices whereby the time 
consumed in routine work may be short- 


SCIENCE. 495 


ened. It is the purpose of the author in 
the present paper to describe some of the 
laboratory expedients at the Lawrence Ex- 
periment Station as regards both the sys- 
tem in vogue and the labor-saving devices 
in use there, under the following headings: 
(1) Apparatus should stand rough hand- 
ling, (2) color system and use of tubes of 
different dimensions for identifying media, 
(3) dilution bottle filler, (4) apparatus for 
holding inoculating needles during steril- 
ization, (5) improvised apparatus, (6) 
loose sheet system of keeping records, (7) 
methods of keeping track of samples and 
experiments, (8) numerical systems. 


A Method for the Direct Microscopical 
Enumeration of Bacteria: C.-E. A. 
Winstow, Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology. 

One twentieth of a cubic centimeter of 
the liquid to be examined is discharged 
from a sterile graduated pipette on a care- 
fully cleaned cover glass of known diam- 
eter. This is dried in the air, fixed and 
stained in the usual way with carbol- 
fuchsin. The bacteria in ten square fields, 
0.1 mm. on a side, are counted by the aid 
of a Sedgwick-Rafter micrometer and the 
total number determined by multiplica- 
tion. The method is rapid, easy and ac- 
curate, but applicable only to fluids like 
sewage which contain 25,000 or more bac- 
teria per cubie centimeter. 

The results obtained when pure cultures 
are examined check very closely with those 
of the plate method even when the number 
of bacteria present is decreasing very ma- 
terially. Thus it appears that dead bodies 
of bacteria are quickly removed in the 
presence of other living germs and intro- 
duce no serious error. On the other hand, 
sewage and sewage effluents show numbers 
10 to 100 times as high as the plate count, 
due mainly to the inelusion of forms which 
do not grow on ordinary media. 


496 


Full paper to be printed in the Journal 
of Infectious Diseases (with G. E. Will- 
comb). 


A Simple Method for Determining the 
Ability of Bacteria to Ferment Different 
Sugars: L. A. Rogers, U. 8. Bureau of 
Animal Industry. 

In volume VII., page 241, of the Cent. 
f. Bakteriologie, 2d Abt., Linder describes 
a simple method for the determination of 
the ability of yeasts to ferment different 
sugars. This method consists essentially 
in filling the cavity of a concave glass with 
sterile water, inoculating with yeast, add- 
ing a very small amount of the sugar and 
sealing on a cover glass. The fermenta- 
tion of the sugar is indicated by the ap- 
pearance of bubbles under the cover-glass. 

With a few minor variations this 
method may be used with bacteria. For 
this purpose litmus is added to sugar-free 


bouillon until it has a deep blue color.. 


The sugars to be tested are made to a 
syrup and sterilized in small phials. The 
slides and cover-glasses may be sterilized 
in Petri dishes. A single tube of the 
litmus bouillon is inoculated with the or- 
ganism to be tested and ineubated for a 
few hours. <A ring of vaseline is run 
around the cavity of the slide while it is 
warm and the cavity completely filled with 
the culture. <A loopful of the sugar solu- 
tion is added. to each and a cover-glass 
placed carefully over the cavity and 
pressed onto the vaseline without admitting 
any air bubbles. The surplus media may 
be taken up with a filter paper. After a 
period of incubation the fermentation of 
the different sugars will be indicated either 
by the appearance of gas bubbles or by the 
reddening of the litmus, or by. both. 

The advantages of this method over the 
ordinary fermentation tubes are the rapid- 
ity with which the fermentation of a large 
number of sugars may be determined and 


- SCIENCE. 


[N.S. VoL. XXI. No. 535: 


the very slight expense required for the 
sugars. © 

With the fermentation tube the expense 
of determining the fermentation of the — 
rarer sugars is so great that the fermen- 
tative ability of an organism is ordinarily 
given for three or four sugars. 

With the culture-slide method the 
amount of sugar used is so slight that a 
small amount may be kept always ready 
for use, thus obviating the necessity of 
keeping on hand a large number of differ- 
ent kinds of media. The danger of con- 
tamination may seem a serious obstacle, 
but with ordinary care it is very slight 
and may be reduced to a minimum by the 
use of a case for the protection of the slides. 
A convenient arrangement for this purpose 
is a box with glass sides made after the 
pattern of a balance case, with a sliding 
door so that the slides may be prepared 
with only the forearms inside the ease. 


A Simple Method of Cultivating Anaerobic 
Bacteria: B. R. Rickarps, Boston Board 
of Health Laboratory. 

With solid media, an ordinary inoculated 
slant, or stab tube immersed mouth down 
in a receptacle containing alkaline pyro- 
gallic acid is used. Plates are made by 
using an Erlenmeyer fiask instead of a 
Petri dish, inverting and immersing as 
with tubes. 

For liquid media, the Lawrence form of 
fermentation tube is used, the liquid being 
allowed to run into the closed arm before 
inverting and immersing the mouth of the 
tube in the pyrogallic acid. 

(Cent. f: Bakt., Orig. XXXVI, s. 557.) 


New Apparatus: H. W. Hitz, Boston 
Board of Health Laboratory. - 
Porous Top for Petri Dishes.—The 

porous top is an exact duplication, in 

porous flower-pot earthenware, of the ordi- 
nary glass top, and is used in every way 


Marcu 31, 1905.) 


similarly to, and as a substitute for, the 
glass top, except that it is best not fo wash 
it between uses. 

Its function is to absorb the excess mois- 
ture which, when glass tops are used, re- 
suits in ‘spreaders.’ 

In use, the percentage of ‘spread’ plates 


found in routine plating work of milk on 


agar at 37° C. in a saturated atmosphere 
has been reduced from 38 per cent. with 
glass tops (plates inverted) to 3 per cent. 
with porous tops (plates not inverted). 

(Journal of Medical Research, 1904, 
DoPLT:, 93.) 

Staining Bacterial Fields under Micro- 
scopic Observation.—This is a mechanical 
deviee for applying stains, decolorizers, 
mordants, ete., directly and readily to the 
lower smeared surface of a cover-slip, in 
such a manner as to stain, decolorize or 
mordant, successively, In any order, a 
selected microscopic field, while the same 
is under observation, with provision also 
for a water flush to remove the surplus 
solutions applied. Particularly useful for 
Gram’s stain, comparison of different 
stains, ete. 

Method for Obtaining Smears for 
Flagella Staining.—The organism to be 
obtained is grown in broth, on the principle 
that in broth flagella are better developed 
than on the solid media usually recom- 
mended. To remove the broth from the 
organisms, repeated centrifugalization, de- 
cantation and addition of distilled water 
or normal salt solution is used. Numerous 
experiments show that the centrifugaliza- 
tion does not denude the bacilli of flagella 
to any extent. 

(Journal of Medical Research, 1904, 
mek. 97.) 


A Method of Obtaining a High Percentage 
of Serum from Blood: C. W. Lincoun, 
Glenolden, Pa. 

In this method the blood is drawn into 


SCIENCE. 


497 


a tall narrow bottle without shoulders. A 
drip flask is made of a narrow glass per- 
eolater of the same caliber as the blood 
bottle, resting on a wide mouth quart 
bottle, the two being bound together by a 
broad band of paper tied firmly to each. 
Into the bottom of the percolator is 
dropped an inverted cone of coiled 
nickeled wire, the upturned base of which 
shows a flat surface of coiled wire with 
interspaces of not over one fourth of an 
inch. A paper cap is put on the perco- 
lator and the whole sterilized together. 
When clotting has taken place and all the 
serum has been drawn or poured off, the 
elot is gently slid from the blood bottle 
into the drip flask, both being held nearly 
horizontally. The two vessels being of the 
same caliber, the clot is but slightly injured 
and rests on the wire cone on its tough 
buffy coat, so that the serum that drips is 
not at all reddened after the drip flask has 
stood in a refrigerator for 24 hours. By 
this methed 46 per cent. of serum may be 
obtained and if the pouring is done in a 
comparatively dust-free room no contami- 
nation occurs. 


Note on the Occurrence in the Natural 
Waters of Eastern Massachusetts of Bac- 
teria Simulating Sewage Forms: E. G. 
SmitH, Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology. 

The author has observed in studying the 
bacteria of natural waters that species oc- 
eur with considerable frequency which ex- 
hibit to a marked degree the reactions of 
eolon bacilli, and he points out that these 
organisms may sometimes lead to erroneous 
conclusions as to the sanitary quality of a 
water. 

Examination of 100 samples of water 
taken from sources ‘presumably polluted.’ 
The samples are from springs and brooks, 
public water supplies, pools and other 
sources where rapid personal inspection of 


498 


the surroundings showed them not lable to 
pollution. These, for the most part, are 
through the eastern section of Massachu- 
setts. Most of the samples contained forms 
liquefying gelatin so rapidly as to make the 
counting of numbers impossible after forty- 
eight hours at 20° C. The most striking 
fact is the prevalence in these open waters 
of the development of red colonies on lac- 
tose-litmus-agar, sixty of the samples show- 
ing distinct red colonies either on the sur- 
face or imbedded in the medium. All 
typical growths have been differentiated 
and found to give more or less fully the 
colon reactions. Open brooks such as 
would be used for any impounding reser- 
voir give often the most questionable data 
when rigidly interpreted; for example, 
from a small brook flowing through wood- 
land and abandoned pasture with no tillage 
land above gave as high as six red colonies, 
differentiating out as modified colon forms, 
to the eubie centimeter. In but two eases, 
however, has the writer been able to isolate 
the streptococci—once in an open brook 
near Whitman, Mass., and once near the 
mouth of Elmer’s Brook in South Hadley, 
a famous trout stream. Neither of these 
are polluted waters as we understand them, 
but the above determinations should not be 
accepted as final until further study of the 
area may have removed all possibility of 
contamination from animals. So far as we 
have gone in this inquiry the statements of 
Houston appear. to be justified. It is of 
some importance, therefore, that careful 
inquiry as to the occurrence of the strepto- 
cocci forms in nature be continued. Any 
considerable pollution of a natural water 
by fecal material will show these forms, 
which are readily distinguishable on the 
litmus-lactose-agar plate; and if continued 
examinations may show them not to be 
present in normal country waters their 
significance from the sanitary point of view 
is evident. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 535: 


The Steam Still: F. C. Harrison and B. 
Bartow, Ontario Agricultural College. 

Some Large but Inexpensive Incubators 
for Teaching and Working Laboratories: 
S. C. Prescorr, Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology. ; 

Some Experiences with Test-tubes: H. A. 
Harpinc, Experiment Station, Geneva, 
INFOS. Freperic P. GorHAM, 

Secretary. 
Brown UNIVERSITY, 
PROVIDENCE, R. I. 


THE SOCIETY FOR PLANT MORPHOLOGY 
AND PHYSIOLOGY. 

Tue eighth annual meeting of this so- 
ciety was held, in conjunction with the 
meetings of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science and the affili- 
ated societies, at the University of Penn- 
sylvania, Philadelphia, December 28-30, 
1904, under the presidency of Dr. George 
T. Moore. The meeting was large in point 
of numbers, and in all ways successful. 
The following officers were elected for the 
ensuing year: 

President—Professor E. C. Jeffrey, of Harvard 
University. 

Vice-President—Dr. C. O. Townsend, of the 
United States Department of Agriculture. 

Secretary-Treasurer—Professor W. F. Ganong, 
of Smith College. 

The following new members were elected : 
Dr. G. P. Burns, of the University of Mich- 
igan; Dr, A. L. Dean, of Yale University ; 
and Messrs. C. F. Kellerman, W. M. Scott 
and D. B. Swingle, of the United States 
Department of Agriculture. As its dele- 
gate to the International Botanical Con- 
gress in June the society elected Professor 
Farlow, and made provision for an alter- 
nate if he can not be present. The society 
accepted the principles, recommended by 
its committee of conference (published in 
this journal, XXI., 197), upon which it 
will merge, along with the Botanical So- 
ciety of America and the American Myco- 


Marcu 31, 1905.] 


logical Society, into a national Botanical 
Society. A committee, consisting of the 
present and retiring presidents and the 
secretary, was appointed to cooperate with 
committees of .the other societies to take 
further steps towards bringing the union 
into effect. The society expressed by 
special vote its great appreciation of the 
hospitality of the university during the 
meeting, and its sincere thanks therefor. 

The address of the president dealt with 
‘Applied Botany and its Dependence upon 
Scientific Research.’ It has been printed 
in full in this journal. The papers, of 
which abstracts follow, were with but two 
exceptions presented in full and discussed, 
and include all that were admitted to the 
program. ‘The abstracts are in every case 
by the authors. 


Causes Inducing the Habit of Growth of 
Asparagus plumosus: Professor F. C. 
Newcomse, University of Michigan. 
The common asparagus fern so-called is 

grown as a dwarf or as a climbing plant, 
according to the space afforded the roots. 
It bears no functional leaves, but the work 
of carbon assimilation is performed by the 
branches, the ultimate ones of which occur 
in little tufts of needles. The remarkable 
thing about the habit of growth cf the 
plant is its change from a radial structure 
to a dorsiventral, and a rather sudden 
change in its response to environment. 

The young main stems of the plant are at 
first erect, positively heliotropic and nega- 
tively geotropic. At the time the second- 
ary branches begin to grow out, however, 
in the dwarf plants the upper part of the 
main stem, or in the climbing plants the 
oldest lateral branch, assumes the hori- 
zontal position, and all members which 
subsequently grow from this horizontal 
piece take the horizontal position. This 
change to the horizontal position is made 
in the course of three to four days. It 


SCIENCE. 


499 


may be considered as due to the plant be- 
coming diaheliotropic, or diageotropic, or 
the position may be the resultant of the 
antagonistic action of negative heliotropism 
and negative geotropism. 

Experiments have shown that the hori- 
zontal position is the result of the plant 
changing its behavior towards gravitation. 
The stem changes from negative geotropism 
to diageotropism. 


Further Observations on the Nature of 
Color in Plants: Dr. Henry Kramer, 
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. 

1. According to the. author’s studies, 
plant color substances may be divided into 


‘two classes: (a) Organized color principles, 


which are characterized by being an or- 
ganic part of the plastid body, these being 
insoluble in water or dilute alcohol, but 
soluble in xylol and similar solvents; and 
(b) unorganized color principles, which 
are not a fundamental or organic part of 
the plastid, these occurring in the vacuoles 
of the cells of the higher plants as well as 
fungi, and in the vacuolules of the plastids 
of the brown and red seaweeds, being fur- 
ther distinguished by being soluble in water 
and dilute aleohol and insoluble in xylol 
and similar solvents. 

2. In the photosynthesis cf the chloro- 
plast the unorganized color substances may 
be produced in comparatively large 
amounts, as in (a) early spring foliage; 
(b) autumnal foliage; (c) the foliage of 
alpine plants; (d) the brown and red 
marine alee; (¢) the foliage of certain 
species or varieties of rose, beech, nastur- 
tium, ete. 

3. The original color of the unorganized 
eolor principle is neither blue as stated by 
Wiesner, nor red as given by Berzelius; 
but these colors, namely, blue and red, and 
their various shades and tints are depend- 
ent upon substances dissolved in the cell 
sap and which are associated with the color 


5OO 


substance; or are the result of decomposi- 
tion or oxidation processes. 

4. Unorganized color substances are dis- 
tributed usually in largest amount at the 
terminus of the branch, as in foliage and 
flowers, or in roots, or in both tops and 
roots. 

5. The wide distribution of so-called 
flower color substances in other parts of the 
plant than the flower, points to the con- 
clusion that they are products of plastid 
activity, and are not to be considered as 
desionated primarily for the attraction of 
insects when found in the fldwer. 

6. The oceurrence of chromoplasts in a 
reserve organ, as the tuberous root of the 
earrot, and the similar occurrence of chro- 
moplasts and of reserve starch in the petals 
of the buttercup, suggests that the petals 
of the buttercup. like the root cf the carrot 
have the function of storing nutrient ma- 
terial. In both cases cells containing 
chromoplasts rich in nitrogenous substances 
are associated with cells containing reserve 
materials. 


Some Undescribed Fossil Trees from the 
Eocene of Vermont: Professor EK. C. 
Jerrrey, Harvard University. 

As a result of the coal famine of the 
winter of 1902-3 the lignite beds of 
Brandon, Vt., were considerably exploited 
for fuel. A number of more or less well 
preserved specimens of wood were secured 
by Professor Perkins, of the University of 
Vermont, and communicated to the author 
for identification. A few pieces of the 
material were in a good state of preserva- 
tion and proved to be a species of 
Laurinozylon. Nearly all the remaining 
fragments belonged to a single species, 
which proved to be very badly decayed, so 
that it has not been possible as yet to deter- 
mine it satisfactorily. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 535, 


New Data Bearing on the Phylogeny of 
Pinus (illustrated): Professor E. C. 
JEFFREY, Harvard University. 

As the result of the study of both inter- 
nal and external features in a large num- 
ber of species of Pinus ranging throughout 
North America, Europe and Asia, the fol- 
lowing conclusions have been reached: 

The genus Pinus is divisible into two 
series, Scleropitys and Malacopitys, which 
are not coincident with the sections 
Pinaster and Strobus of recent authors. 
In Scleropitys the cones (female) are gen- 
erally strongly sclerified, and are often pro- 
vided with a prickle or spine on the gen- 
erally median umbo, especially when 
young; leaf-sheath persistent; leaf-trace 
double; two or more rows of resin canals in 
the first annual ring of wood, one of which 
is near the pith; marginal cells of the wood- 
rays dentate. In Malacopitys the cone 
(female) is of softer texture, and is gen- 
erally quite without a prickle or spine on 
the generally terminal umbo; leaf-sheath 
deciduous; leaf-trace single; a single series 
of resin canals in the first annual ring of 
the wood, not near the pith; marginal cells 
of the medullary rays not dentate. In- 
ternal features of structure are of greater 
constaney and consequently of more value 
in tracing the larger lines of affinity in the 
pines. 


The Bud Rot of the Coconut Palm in the 
West Indies (illustrated) : Dr. Erwin F. 
SmirH, Department of Agriculture. 
General attention was first called to this 

disease by the reports of army officers dur- 

ing the American occupation of Cuba. The 
coconut palms were said to be dying in 
large numbers of some mysterious disease 
which should be investigated. Mr. Buseck 
was sent by the U. 8. Department of Agri- 
culture to eastern Cuba, and subsequently 


reported on the entomological aspects of 


the disease. Later Mr. F. 8. Earle reported 


So ge ge = te 


22 F CTS te re tm oe we epee, ~~ 


7 my 


| 


Marcy 31, 1905.] 


the occurrence of a bacterial bud rot of the 
coconut in Jamaica. The writer has since 
heard of its occurrence on the mainland in 
Central America, so that it may be assumed 
to oceur all round the Caribbean. It was 
studied by the writer at Baracoa, Mata and 
Yumuri in eastern Cuba in April, 1904. 

The disease has made decided advances 
since it was studied by Mr. Busck in 1901, 
especially at Mata, and if it continues to 
spread as it has done during the past ten 
years it will inevitably destroy the coconut 
industry of the island, and that, too, within 
the next ten or fifteen years. Already 
many of the planters are discouraged and 
not setting any more trees, since it now at- 
tacks trees of all ages, including quite 
young ones and those on the hills as well 
as those close to the sea. The disease is 
frequently known as ‘the fever,’ and often 
one sees where the bases of the trunks have 
been scorched with an idea of preventing 
the development of the disease. The dis- 
ease is not lodged in the roots, however, 
nor in the stem. These in all cases ap- 
peared to be sound. The general symptoms 
are the yellowing and fall of the outer 
leaves, the shedding of the nuts, and some 
months later the death of the whole crown. 
The cause of this decline is not apparent 
until the tree is felled and the erown of 
leaves removed, ineluding the wrappings of 
the strong terminal bud. The latter is 
then found to be the seat of the disease. 
This bud with its wrappings of young and 
tender leaves is found to be involved in the 
vilest sort of a bacterial soft rot—not un- 
like that of a decaying cabbage or potato, 
but smelling much worse, the stench re- 
sembling that of a slaughter-house. This 
rot, invisible until the numerous outer leaf- 
base wrappings are removed, often involves 
a diameter of several inches of soft tissues 
and a length of three or four feet, including 
flower buds and the whole of some of the 
soft fleshy white undeveloped leaves cov- 


SCIENCE. 


parently gas producers. 


501 


ering the bud and forming the so-called 
‘cabbage’ of the palm. The rot stops very 
promptly with the harder tissues of the 
palm stem immediately under the bud and 
does not attack any of the developed leaves. 
It is a disease of the undeveloped tissues. 
When the tree is felled and opened up, 
carrion flies and vultures are promptly at- 
tracted by the horrible smell. Fly larve 
and various fungi were found in the parts 
most exposed to the air and longest dis- 
eased, but the advancing margin of the 
decay was occupied only by bacteria, of 
which there appeared to be several sorts. 
No yellow or green fiuorescent bacteria 
were obtained from the rotting tissues. All 
were white organisms of the ‘soft-rot’ type, 
mostly plump short rods with rounded 
ends, but occasionally longer rods, all ap- 
One of the com- 
monest sorts formed round dense creamy 
white opalescent colonies on agar. Another 
formed thin gray-white iridescent colonies 
on agar. A terminal spore-bearing, teta- 
nus-like organism was also often abund- 
ant in the decayed tissues, even close to 
the advancing margin of the rot, and this 
is probably an anaerobe as it was not ob- 
tained in any of the many cultures. 

The picture of one diseased tree will 
answer for many. No fungi or insect in- 
juries were found which could in the least 
account for the death of the trees. The 
disease is the result of a bacterial rot of 
the terminal bud and its wrappings, in- 
eluding the flower buds. The bacteria 
probably find their entrance through 
wounds of some sort, and their distribution 
is undoubtedly favored by carrion crea- 
tures. The larva found deepest down in 
the rotting tissues was that of the common 
scavenger fly, Hermetia illucens L.  Oc- 
easionally the crown of a tree was found 
yellow from other causes, but if the young- 
est visible leaf (projecting five or six feet) 
was observed to be lopped over and wilting 


502 


or shriveled, the soft rot was sure to be 
found on eutting down the tree and remov- 
ing the close-wrapped leaf bases. No at- 
tempt has yet been made to produce the 
disease by pure cultures. 

Diseased trees should be felled and the 
terminal bud burned or properly disin- 
feeted with sulphate of copper. Only the 
most energetic action is likely to avail. 


Some Diseases of Loblolly Pine Timber: 
Dr. HERMANN VON SCHRENK, Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. 

The wood of the loblolly pine when still 
in the living tree is destroyed by several 
fungi, notably Trametes puni and Po.yporus 
Schweinitzii. After the timber is cut from 
the tree, it is very susceptible, particularly 
in southern climates, to fungus attacks, and 
is probably the least resistant of all Amer- 
ican woods. A number of fungi grow on 
the outside of the timber, notably Schizo- 
phylum commune and several Thele- 
phoracee. These, however, do not attack 
the wood fibers, but grow on the sugar, 
starch or exuding resins. The worst enemy 
of the loblolly pine timber is Lenzites 
sepraria, which causes the brown rot. The 
description of the various forms of fruiting 
bodies of this fungi were given, and an 
account of the experiments which were 
made during the last year to test the sus- 
ceptibility of this timber, when cut dur- 
ing different months of the year. It was 
shown that by proper piling, the attacks of 
this fungus ought to be prevented for 
periods of at least twelve months. 


Bacterial Infection by Way of the Stomata 
in Black Spot of the Plum: Dr. Erwin 
F. Smiru, Department of Agriculture. 
(By title.) 

Experiments were continued during the 
summer of 1904 with the bacterial black 
spot of the plum, and numerous infections 
by way of the stomata were obtained on 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. Norge 


leaves and green fruits by simply spraying 
upon the tree, agar-cultures of P. pruni 
dissolved in sterile water. This was done 
during a damp still evening, in which sey- 
eral light showers occurred. The spots 
were visible at the end of seven days and 
continued to increase for several weeks in 
the typical manner. Microtome sections in 
early stages of the spots show abundant 
bacterial occupation, beginning in the sub- 
stomatic chamber. The organism was also 
recovered from the spots by means of agar 
poured plates in pure culture. A neigh- 
boring tree inoculated at the same time 
and in the same way, but with a different 
yellow organism, never showed any results 
of this copious inoculation. Neither did 
any spots develop on a second check tree. 
The disease appears to be one of meriste- 
matie tissues. No spots were obtained on 
full-grown green plums, inoculated two or 
three weeks prior to their ripening, al- 
though numerous attempts were made un- 


der what appeared to be very favorable 


conditions. 


Burvrill’s Bacterial Disease of Broom Corn 
(illustrated): Dr. Erwin F. Smuirx and 
Miss FuorENce Hepces, Department of 
Agriculture. 

In the summer of 1904, on one of the 
Agricultural Department farms in Wash- 
ington, D. C., this disease was observed in 
such abundance and with such typical char- 
acteristics as to remove all doubt as to its 
origin. The elongating red-brown blctches 
were extremely numerous and _ fused 
readily, causing the death of many large 
leaves. The disease began on the lower 
leaves; but by the end of September it had 
reached the top of the plants (twelve feet) 
and had destroyed all leaves on the lower 
six feet, and badly spotted the remainder. 
A microscopic examination of various spots 
showed a bacterial focus to be present in 
each one. Poured plates made from these 


Marcn 31, 1905.) 


spots on several different occasions yielded 
bacteria in enormous numbers, of one kind 
and in practically pure culture. Very 
characteristic also was the appearance on 
the under surface of the spots (the season 
was wet) of red crusts or scabs. These 
were so numerous as to be quite conspicu- 
ous. They consisted of bacteria which had 
oozed from the interior of the spots. 

The infection takes place by way of the 
stomata and is favored by rainfall or dew- 
fall. No insect injuries are necessary. 
The disease was obtained in the hot-house 
under strict control conditions by dissolving 
pure slant-agar cultures of the organism in 
sterile water and atomizing this upon the 
plants. Spots were visible at the end of 
ten days and were well developed in five or 
six weeks. Such spots contained the char- 
acteristic bacterial focus and yielded, on 
making poured plates, enormous quantities 
of the organism used, and in most cases 
nothing else. The disease was likewise pro- 
duced in broom eorn, starting with bae- 
terial colonies obtained from leaf spots on 
field sorghum. 

The red stain is a host reaction. The 
organism is not red, nor yellow, but pure 
white. It is not a yeast and is not asso- 
ciated with yeasts or with fungi. It does 
not produce gas but is strictly aerobic in 
peptone water with varicus carbon foods 
(dextrose, saccharose, lactose, maltose, 
mannit and glycerine). It forms small, 
round, white, slow-growing shiny surface 
colonies on agar plates. The growth on 
agar is often sticky and hard to remove; 
the organism blues litmus milk decidedly, 
and finally renders it gelatinous; it does 
not liquefy gelatin, does not reduce ni- 
trates, produces little if any indol, grows 
very slowly on moist silicate jelly made 
with Fermi’s solution, has little diastasie 
action on potato starch jelly. On potato 
eylinders growth_is white and much the 
color of the potato; grays the potato moder- 


SCIENCE. 


508 


ately; clouds bouillon moderately. In 
bouillon there is a thin white rim, and in 
old cultures often zoogl@x and sometimes 
a thin pellicle breaking down easily. Slow, 
long-continued growth in Uschinsky’s solu- 
tion, not much precipitate. Resisted dry- 
ing 96 hours. Grows not at all or very 
feebly at 37.5° C.; grows more rapidly at 
30° than at 20° C.; minimum temperature 
about 6° C. Thermal death point 47° C. 
Stands freezing well, 7. e., only about 20 
per cent. killed. Occurs in the host plant 
and in culture media as a short rod with 
rounded ends, single or in pairs or rarely 
fours. It is motile but non-sporiferous, 
so far as yet observed. 

Some varieties are much more subject to 
the disease than others, and there is good 
hope of overcoming the disease by selecting 
resistant plants for propagation. — 


Pecan Scab (Fusicladium effusum Wint.) : 
Mr. W. A. Orton, Department of Agri- 
culture. 

This paper will be published later as a 
bulletin of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 
U. 8. Department of Agriculture. It de- 
seribes a disease of considerable economic 
importance, caused by the above-named 
fungus, which attacks the leaves, twigs and 
nuts of cultivated pecans in our southern 
states. The fungus occurs on either side 
of the leaves and on the petioles, producing 
dead spots or distortions and defoliation. 
The new growth of the twigs is sometimes 
killed, but the greatest injury is to the 
nuts. The microscopic and cultural char- 
acters of the fungus were described. 
Fusicladium caryigenum E. & UL. was 
found to be the same species. Favorable 
results from spraying experiments were re- 
ported. 


Factors which Determine the Spread of 
Pear Blight: Mr. M. B. Warts, Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. 


504 


(It has been impossible to obtain an ab- 
stract of this paper. ) 


Further Studies on the Starch Grain 
(third paper): Dr. Henry KRrarmMer, 
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. 

The author called attention to the altera- 
ation in the compound starch grains of the 
seeds of Theobroma Cacao on the applica- 
tion of heat, producing masses resembling 
the natural starch grains of corn, wheat, 
barley, rye and potato, in size and shape, 
and showing in some cases even a_¢on- 
eentric or excentric lamellated structure. 

In the micro-polariscopie examination of 
reserve starch grains of different origin, it 
was observed that in using a-red and green 
selenite plate the yellow and blue areas did 
not oeceupy the same relative position in 
all of the grains, so that in the same field 
with the analyzer at a given position two 
kinds of grains were observed which were 
the complement of each other. Three ex- 
planations are suggested as accounting for 
this difference in the polarizing effects of 
different starch grains of the same origin: 

1. It may be due to a difference in the 
shape and structure of the individual 
grains. 

2. It may be due to a difference in com- 
position of the different parts of the same 
grain. é 

3. Or it may be that there are two dis- 
tinct kinds of grains. This view seems to 
offer the most plausible explanation for 
this phenomenon. 


Regarding the Cause of Sap Pressure and 
Flow in the Maple: Dr, K. M. Wimcanp, 
Cornell University. 

Researches by various investigators have 
shown that the seat of pressure in the 
maple, during the sugar season, is not in 
the root, but in the aerial parts, principally 
in the trunk. It seems to be induced by 
temperature acting as a stimulus. When 


SCIENCE. 


this rises past 2°-4° C. pressure results, 
but a freezing of the tissue is by no means 
necessary. The author has attempted, by 
the aid of mathematical calculation and the 
employment of other evidence at hand, to 
compare critically the various theories. It 
becomes evident that neither gas, water 
nor wood expansion, nor any combination 
of these, can account for the phenomencn. 
Neither can the freezing theory. We have 
left the theory that pressure is due to the 


living cells, which agrees well with the 


facts. Only the pith rays seem to be in the 


proper position in the wood to allow the — 


production of pressure. Pressure in this 
case could be due only to the unequal per- 
meability, in opposite directions, of the 
membrane at the two ends of the cell. This, 
quite likely, is caused by the penetration 
of the morning temperature. Water would 
tend to pass from the inner layers to the 
outer; and the solute, sugar, would be ex- 
ereted as a necessary factor in the produc- 
tion of pressure. 


Notes on Some Species of Agaricus (Psal- 
liota): Professor G. F. ATKINSON, Cor- 
nell University. 

Photographs of eight or ten species were 
shown to illustrate characters and show 
some points in the development and forma- 
tion of the veil and annulus. Photomicro- 
eraphs of the spores of nearly all the species 
in the United States were also shown, and 
special attention was called to the value of 
these in a study of different species. 


Nuclear Changes in Germinating Seeds: 
Professor Carrie M. Derick, MeGill 
University. 

In this paper a brief summary was given 
of the results of part of an investigation 
into the cytological conditions connected 
with anabiosis which had been begun under 
the direction of Professor Strasburger, at 
Bonn, and continued at MeGill University. 


[N.S. VoL. XXI. No. 535. 


eee * 


ee ee ea eee ee ee Ph eee a ay Mea 1 ee ae! me 


——_ 


——————— 


can species. 


Maren 383i, 1905, | 


Studies of resting seeds belonging to sev- 
eral genera and of germinating seeds indi- 
eate that the nucleus of the resting seed is 
homogeneous, with the exception of the 
nucleolus in which the chromatin is agegre- 
gated. As the nucleus passes from the 
resting to the active state, the nucleolus 
becomes vacuolated, and chromatin is grad- 
ually given off by it and distributed in the 
form of granules throughout the body of 
the nucleus. These granules increase in size 
and number and finally are aggregated to 
form the spireme, which segments, as usual, 
into chromosomes. The chromosomes do 
not, therefore, retain their individuality 
throughout the life-cycle of the organism, 
and are not constantly present as the dif- 
ferentiated bearers of the hereditary qual- 
ities of the plant. 


The Recognition of Hybrid Characters in 
the Structure of the Vascular Cylinder 
as Expressed in the Genus Catalpa: 
Professor D. P. PrnHALutow, McGill 
University. (Presented in synopsis.) 
In 1889 Professor C. S. Sargent pub- 

lished an account of an interesting and 

newly observed case of hybridization be- 
tween two species of Catalpa which he de- 
signated as Catalpa < J. C. Teas in refer- 
ence to the origin of the tree in the nursery 
of Mr. Teas of Carthage, Mo. The account 
referred to states that Catalpa kaempferi 
was planted in 1864 in a nursery contain- 
ing C. speciosa and C.  bignonioides. 

Eventually the first species produced a 

single pod of seeds which were wholly un- 

like anything hitherto known. When 

these seeds were planted they produced a 

tree almost intermediate in character be- 

tween C. kaempferi and one of the Ameri- 

Mr. Teas was of the opinion 

that the eross was with CO. speciosa, while 

Professor Sargent considered C. bignonio- 

ides as the other parent, basing his con- 

clusions upon the fact that the flowers of 


SCIENCE. 


505 


C’. speciosa were two to three weeks earlier 
than those of C. kaempferi, while the 
flowers of C. bignonioides are ecntempo- 
raneous with those of the Japanese species. 
No other evidence has since been fortheom- 
ing, so far as I am aware, and the real 
American parentage of a most noteworthy 
addition to the ornamental trees of this 
country still remains in doubt. Within 
the last twelve years, opportunities have 
been presented to inquire into the evidence 
which might be secured from an anatomical 
point of view, and to determine to what 
extent, if any, the external alterations 
attendant upon hybridization were accom- 
panied by corresponding internal struc- 
tural changes. It was felt that the answer 
to this question might very largely con- 
tribute to a solution of the difficult prob- 
lems relating to the origin of species, either 
by mutation or by hybridization, and per- 
mit of a more precise limitation of the 
characters which define a species. 

An examination of typical material 
taken from the mature stem of the hybrid 
and from each of the possible parents, 
showed that the characters were to be most 
clearly recognized in transverse and tan- 
gential sections, especially in the former. 
A very careful analysis of all the structural 
features showed that out of a possible maxi- 
mum of thirty-two, 34 per cent. were com- 
mon to Catalpa speciosa only, and from 
the well-defined characteristics which it ex- 
hibited, it was possible to eliminate it from 
further consideration and to definitely de- 
termine that it could not be one of the 
parents. On the other hand, it appeared 
that there were 31 per cent. of characters 
common to the hybrid, C. bignonioides and 
C. kaempferi, while in the hybrid it was 
also possible to determine features which 
eould not be accounted for except as the 
resultant of action between C. kaempferi 
and C. bignonioides. The evidence avail- 
able shows that: 


506 


1. Hybrid characters are expressed in the 
structure of the vascular cylinder as well 
as in external alterations of form and color. 

2. Catalpa speciosa is not in any way 
concerned in the production of the hybrid. 

3. Teas’ hybrid Catalpa is the product of 
a cross between C. kaempfert and C. 
bignonioides, thus confirming the conclu- 
sions already reached by Sargent on the 
basis of external morphology. 

4. The dominant characters of the hy- 
brid, as expressed in the internal structure, 
are those of the Japanese parent as simi- 
larly manifested externally. 

5. The resultant characters are most 
strongly exhibited in transverse section, less 
so in the tangential and least of all in the 
radial. 

6. Teas’ Catalpa presents a degree of 
stability directly comparable with that ex- 
hibited by the willows, various species of 
Crategus and many other plants which are 
commonly recognized as distinct species. 
Its origin is in direct harmony with Men- 
del’s law and it should be given the status 
of a species for which the name Catalpa 
teasi is appropriate. 

Polyembryony in Celtis (illustrated) : Pro- 
fessor J. W. Toumry, Yale Forest School. 
In the spring of 1901, 500 of the normal 

one-seeded fruits of Celtis occidentalis 

were planted. Seedlings grew from 98 

per cent. of these fruits. The total num- 

ber of seedlings obtained, however, was 

580; that is, a little more than 10 per cent. 

of the fruits sown produced more than one 

seedling. 

In 1902 and again in 1903 the drupaceous 
fruits of this species were again sown, with 
similar results. In 1903 the fruits of 
Cellis reticulata and Celtis Mississippiensis 
were sown. Both of these species, in some 
instances, developed more than one seed- 
ling from a single fruit, but not so fre- 
quently as in Celtis occidentalis. 

On examination of a large number of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 535. 


ovaries in various stages of development, 

and mature fruits of Celtis occidentalis it 

was found that the development of more 
than 1 embryo in a single fruit arose as 

follows: (1) From double fruits. In 1,000 

fruits examined 3 double ones were found. 

(2) From the development of two seeds 

within the same fruit. In 400 fruits ex- 

amined 7 were found which ecntained 2 

ovules each. In each of these cases one 

ovule was much larger than the other and 
both were attached to the wall of the ovary 
by a common funicle, indicating that they 

both arose from the same fundament. (3) 

From true polyembryony. In 200 of the 

young ovules that were fixed and sectioned 

16 were found with from 2 tc 4 embryos 

within a single embryo sac. In these cases 

the embryo arose directly from the tissue 
of the nucellus at the micropylar end of 
the ovule. When seeds, containing ovules 
resulting from true polyembryony were 
sown usually all of the embryos developed, 
as high as 4 developing from the same seed. 

The young seedlings that developed from 

such embryos were often imperfect and 

more or less grown together. Occasionally, 
however, they were approximately the 
same size, perfect and wholly separate. 

(4) From false polyembryony. From 200 

of the young ovules fixed and sectioned 3 

were found where 2 nucelli developed 

within the same _ integuments. Each 
nucellus developed an archesporium and 
ultimately an embryo sac. Assuming that 
both embryo sacs become fertilized and 

develop normally we would here have a 

case of 2 embryos within common seed 

coats; both developing from fertilized eggs. 

This is believed to be very unusual among 

angiosperms. 

Nymphea and the Monocotyls: Dr. HENRY 
S. Conarp, The Johns Hopkins Univer- 
sity. 

The speaker discussed some observations 
on the structure and development of 


Marcu 31, 1905.] 


Nymphea from a paper now in press. The 
embryo in its development and mature form 
is typically dicotyledonous in Nymphea, 
though it lacks a suspensor in Nuphar. 
The primary root quickly perishes, and the 
stem becomes tuberous immediately above 
the epicotyl. The root tip of Nuphar re- 
sembles that of Zea mais, but in Nymphea 
it is like that of Papilionacee and Cucur- 
bitacew. The vascular bundle of the root 
of Nymphea is radial and polyarch. The 
seattered bundles of the stem of Nuphar 
and some Nympheas give place to a dis- 
tinct vascular cylinder with leaf-gaps in the 
primitive Nym. mexicana. In no ease are 
the bundles oriented as in monocotyls. 
From each leaf three traces come into the 
stem, one central and two lateral; they 
differ from many dicotyls only in pos- 
sessing a transverse commissure connect- 
ing the three traces. No secondary 


SCIENCE. 


507 


their final value. As in all other lines 
of botanical research, experimental work is 
indispensable. 

A study of the plants in peat-forming 
lakes near Ann Arbor, Mich., shows that 
they are by no means all xerophytes. With 
xerophytes are found many plants whose 
structure is either mesophytie or hydro- 
phytie. 

In fact, within a circle whose diameter is 
only a few feet may be found plants be- 
longing to all three of these groups of 
plants. ; 

Peat bogs then, as such, can not be ealled 
‘xerophytiec’ habitats. 

W. F. Ganone, 
Secretary. 


SOIENTIFIC BOOKS. 
Die (Ciletscher. By Dr. Hans Hess. 
Braunschweig, Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn. 
1904. Large 8°, pp. xi + 426. 


| growth of the bundles takes place in any 
il part of the plant. In this and in the 
__ polyarch roots and in the short life of the 


This is the only important work on glaciers 
that has appeared since the well-known book 


primary root are the only similarities be- 
tween Nymphwa and the monocotyls. 
These are best explained as adaptations 
to a long established aquatic habit. 


An Exploration of a Peat-forming Lake 
(illustrated): Dr. G. P. Burns, Univer- 
sity of Michigan. 

Perhaps no line of ecological research 
shows the deficiency of present methods 
better than the work on peat bogs. These 
are cited as examples of ‘xerophytic’ habi- 
tats and there are many theories offered 
explaining the presence of plants growing 
in them. 

These theories differ widely. Nor can 
we expect them to do otherwise under pres- 
ent methods. 

The first problem of the ecologist must 
be to gather and record facts, but these 
must be submitted, as far as possible, to 
experiment before attempting to determine 


of Professor Heim was published in 1885, 
and it is of the same general excellent char- 
acter. Dr. Hess has had a good preparation 
for writing the book by his training as a 
physicist, which is of much importance in the 
actual study of glaciers, and by many years 
of careful observations and measurements of 
the glaciers of the Oetzthal in conjunction 
with Professor Finsterwalder Dr. 
Bliimcke; and he makes many references to 
the very important observations which they 
have made, especially on the Vernagt and 
Hintereis glaciers, which have thrown so much 
light on the theory of glacier motion. 

The plan of the book does not differ essen- 
tially from that of Professor Heim. The 
matter is presented inductively; first assem- 
bling the observations and facts and then giv- 
ing the theories to account for them. The 
large amount of work which has been done in 
the last twenty years makes such a work very 
desirable and Dr. Hess has collected all the 
material and has presented it in a most at- 
tractive and interesting form. 


and 


508 SCIENCE. 


He begins by giving the physical properties 
of ice with accounts of the experiments for 
determining the plasticity and other constants. 
The climate of glacial regions is consid- 
ered, and then the forms of glaciers, which 
leads to a study of the position of the névé 
line; he gives the different methods for deter- 
mining the height of this line, one of which, 
due to Dr. Hess, depends upon the forms of 
the contour lines above and below the névé 
line and can be used when one has a good con- 
tour map. Dr. Hess divides glaciers into two 
general classes; the Alpine type or the valley 
glaciers and the inland ice type, and says that 
these two are not separated by any definite 
line but that they gradually grade into each 
other through glaciers of intermediate type. 
A description of the general distribution of 
glaciers over the world completes the first part 
of the work. 

The movement of glaciers is then discussed 
and many determinations of velocity are given. 
The very incomplete observations which we 
have bearing on the changes of velocity in 
passing from the surface to the bed, is sup- 
plemented by the observations of Dr. Hess, in 
which he shows by means of the theory given 
further on, that the average velocity through a 
particular section of the Hintereis glacier is 
less than the average velocity of the surface. 
The thickness of the ice was determined by 
borings which completely pierced the glacier, 
one of which was 153 meters deep. Dr. Hess 
was convinced, as a result of his general ob- 
servations, that the blue bands of glaciers were 
merely modified strata, and by means of an 
artificial glacier, made up of layers of different 
colored wax, succeeded in making the original 
layers take the forms which the bands assume. 
In the chapter on ‘Ice and Rock,’ the phenom- 
ena of moraines, superficial and internal, are 
described, following the classification adopted 
at the Rhone conference in 1899. He con- 
siders that glaciers are strong erosive agents 
and fortifies this view by a measurement of 
the quantity of material being brought to the 
surface by one of the internal moraines. The 
origin of this moraine he follows to a snow- 
covered peak in the region of the reservoir, 
whose character is such that he thinks the 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No.535. 


material could not have fallen from its sur- 
face and must therefore have been derived 
from the glacier’s bed. In the chapter on 
‘The Ice Age’ he also shows how the valleys 
have chenged their shapes into the well-known 
glacial troughs. 

A very interesting account is given of the 
variations of glaciers. Beginning with the 
seasonal changes, he goes on to describe the 
larger variations which follow Bruckner’s pe- 
riod and he collects together the observations 
that have been made on this subject. He con- 


siders that the main cause of the glacial varia-_ 


tions are variations of climate but that this 
is greatly modified by topographic conditions. 
Glaciers like the Vernagt, which have a large 
basin-like reservoir and a narrow tongue, do 
not begin to advance until there has been a 
large collection of snow in the reservoir and 
then the advance takes place very rapidly; 
whereas another glacier, whose outlet from the 
reservoir is broad and open, will probably re- 
spond quickly to climatic changes. He de- 
scribes very interesting changes that have 
taken place in the Vernagt glacier since 1895, 
when the accumulation in the reservoir began 
to show itself; the end continued to re- 
treat until 1897, after which came an advance. 
This advance seems to have run its course as 
the glacier is now about stationary. The 
observations showed that the ice grew thicker 
in the reservoir and that what might be called 
a wave advanced along the glacier to its end, 
very greatly increasing the velocity of the ice 
and itself moving still more rapidly. The 
historical theories of the cause of glacial mo- 
tion are described; Dr. Hess looks upon the 
plasticity of ice as the property which allows 
it to flow. It is only at this point that he 
takes up the geometrical theory of glacial 


motion, given simultaneously by Finsterwalder 


and by Reid, and describes the lines of flow 
and the relations existing between accumula- 
tion, flow and melting. This theory is so 
fundamental in its bearings on all glacial 
phenomena that it might have been given with 


advantage in an earlier part of the book. This 


is followed by an account of Professor Finster- 
walder’s mathematical theory of glacier varia- 
tions. In this theory, Professor Finsterwalder 


| 
j 
. | 
| 


ssinhara* _ +} 


\ ad 


Marcu 31, 1905.] 


expresses the fact that the increase in any 
section is equal to the difference between the 
ice which enters and leaves it, less the amount 
melted. Assuming that the velocity is in 
proportion to the square root of the thickness, 
that the melting is proportional to the hori- 
zontal projection of the surface and that there 
are certain fundamental variations of thick- 
ness at the névé line, which may be consid- 
ered as due to climatic changes, Professor 
Finsterwalder finds that a glacier will go 
through variations which correspond very well 
with those observed. This is a most excellent 
beginning of a more exact understanding of 
glacial variations, though the assumptions are 
by no means accurate. The last chapter con- 
tains an account of the ‘Ice Age’ with special 
descriptions of the Alps in that period and de- 
seribes the changes which have taken place in 
the topography as a result of the occupation 
of the valleys by the glaciers. The Ice Age, 
of course, can not be treated fully except in 
one or more volumes by itself. 

In conclusion, we may say that the book is 
well and clearly written and is thoroughly 
reliable in its facts; it will be of the greatest 
value to all students of glaciers. 


Harry Fievpine Rew. 
JOHNS Hopkins UNIVERSITY, 
March 11, 1905. 


The Varnishes of the Italian Violin Makers of 
the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Righteenth 
Centuries and their Influence on Tone. By 
Grorce Fry, E.L.S., F.CS. London, 
Stevens and Sons, Ltd. 1904. 

About a fifth of the book deals with the 
minute description of the old violin varnishes 
as used by the best Italian makers. This is 
important as it is the only means of determin- 
ing the composition of them, for it is clearly 
out of the question to remove the varnish 
from Straduarius violins and analyze it. 

Following this is a chapter upon the influence 
of varnish upon the tone of violins, in which is 
shown that it has a decided influence and that 
oil rather than spirit varnishes are to be pre- 
ferred. Two chapters are devoted to the 
manufacture of oil varnishes and those from 
turpentine derivatives. 


SCIENCE. 


509 


The most important part of the book is con- 
tained in the last two chapters, in which the 
author thinks it more reasonable that the var- 
nishes used in Italy were made from the ma- 
terials close at hand—turpentine, linseed oil 
and rosin, the latter oxidized by treatment 
with nitric acid—than from some remarkable 
mystical gum. He substantiates his theory 
by describing a series of sixteen experiments 
in the manufacture of varnishes, using a 
nitrated mixture of rosin and linseed oil. A 
number of interesting problems are discussed, 
as, for example, the production of dichroism in 
varnishes, and studies in the drying of var- 
nishes, the fact that age in violins is a detri- 
ment rather than an advantage, as usually 
supposed. Incidentally it should be remarked 
that the processes of manufacturing the 
nitrated varnishes have been patented in this 
country and abroad. The work is a valuable 
one to both the violin and the varnish maker, 
particularly to the latter on account of the 
material relating to the nitro-oleo varnishes 
which, so far as the reviewer is informed, is 
new. AN, lel Caine 

SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 

Tue opening article in the Journal of Ner- 
vous and Mental Diseases for March is by 
Dr. H. A. Hoppe, who discusses under the 
title of ‘Soul Paralysis’ some very interest- 
ing problems of the higher reflex acts, dealing 
with the relation between sensory stimuli and 
motor activity. This article is followed by a 
careful report, by Dr. F. Robertson Sims of 
the ‘Anatomical Findings in two Cases of 
Korsakof’s Symptom-complex.’ Dr. Charles 
W. Burr reports a case of myasthenia gravis 
with autopsy, adding one more to the list of 
cases in which the thymus gland was persist- 
ent or persistent and diseased in the adult and 
associated with lymphoid infiltration of the 
muscles. The case is particularly interesting 
clinically because of the presence of visual 
symptoms, most frequently met with in and 
formerly regarded as pathognomonic of hys- 
teria. Dr. S. G. Webber adds two more eases 
to the literature of multiple sclerosis, and sug- 
gests that the apparent rarity of the disease may 
be partially due to failure to get correctly diag- 


510 


nosed, the cases in question having been diag- 
nosed as tumor of brain and locomotor ataxia, 
respectively, and their true nature revealed 
only by the autopsy. The proceedings of the 
Philadelphia Neurological Society for No- 
vember 22, 1904, are reported, and the ‘ Peri- 
scope’ contains numerous abstracts. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. 


THE one hundred and twenty-second regular 
meeting of the American Mathematical So- 
ciety was held at Columbia University, on 
Saturday, February 25, 1905. The attend- 
ance at the two sessions was about fifty, in- 
cluding forty-two members of the society. 
The vice-presidents, Professors Pierpont and 
E. W. Brown, presided at the morning and 
afternoon sessions respectively. The council 
announced the election of the following per- 
sons to membership in the society: Miss A. F. 
Becker, Yeatman High School, St. Louis, 
Mo.; Professor C. H. Beckett, Purdue Uni- 
versity; Professor W. De W. Cairns, Oberlin 
College; Professor S. C. Davisson, Indiana 
University; Dr. J. S. French, Jacob Tome 
Institute; Mr. F. H. Hodge, Clark University ; 
Mr. A. E. Joslyn, Armour Institute of Tech- 
nology; Dr. J. W. Lowber, Austin, Texas; 
Mr. J. H. Maclagan-Wedderburn, University 
of Chicago; Mr. G. A. Plimpton, New York 
City; Mr. E. W. Ponzer, University of 
Illinois; Mr. H. W. Reddick, University of 
Tilinois; Miss M. E. Sinclair, University of 
Nebraska; Dr. A. W. Smith, Colgate Univer- 
sity. Ten applications for membership were 
received. 

Professor E. B. Van Vleck was elected a 
member of the Editorial Committee of the 
Transactions, to succeed Professor T. 8S. Fiske, 
who retires with the completion of the present 
volume. 

The following papers were read at this 
meeting: 

L. D. Ames: ‘The theorem that a closed simple 
surface is bilateral.’ 

C. L. Bouron: ‘ Note on isothermal curves and 
one-parameter groups of conformal transforma- 
tions in the plane.’ 

E. W. Brown: ‘Note on the variation of the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 535. 


arbitrary and given constants in dynamical equa- 
tions.’ ; 

O. E. Grenn: ‘ Determination of the abstract 
groups of order p°qr.’ 

F. R. Suarpe: ‘ The stability of the motion of a 
viscous liquid.’ 

JAMES PrEeRPONT: ‘ Note on infinite products.’ 

CHARLOTTE A. Scott: ‘The elementary treat- 
ment of conics by means of the regulus.’ 

A. W. SmirxH: ‘ The symbolic treatment of dif- 
ferential geometry.’ 

A. M, HiLTeBerTe.: ‘ Note on a problem in me- 
chanics.’ 

R. B. Atten: ‘Hypercomplex number systems 
with respect to a domain of rationality.’ 

L. P, E1tsenHART: ‘Note on the deformation of 
surfaces of translation.’ 

A meeting of the San Francisco Section of 
the society was also held on February 25, at 
Stanford University. The next meeting of 
the society falls on Saturday, April 29. The 
Chicago Section will meet at the University 
of Chicago, April 22. The summer meeting 
of the society will be held at Williams College, 
Williamstown, Mass., September 7-8. 

F, N. Cots, 
Secretary. 


THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
SECTION OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 
At the meeting on March 6 the following 
paper was read by title: 


On the Absence of Helium from Carnotite: 
Dr. E. P. Apams. 
The following paper was presented in full: 


Notes on the Minnewaska Region, Ulster Co., 

New York; F. Witton JAMEs. 

The stripping of the grit from the crest of 
the second anticline of the Shawangunk* 
appears to be due to a slight cross fold by 
anticlinal fracture and erosion, as the rocks 
at the southwest end of the eroded area show 
an upward pitch. Through this depression 
the Peterskill probably flowed while its own 
valley and Coxing Clove were dammed by the 
front of the ice sheet, and cut then the Paltz 
Gap in the crest of the first anticline, 200 
feet deep, through which the road to New 
Paltz now runs. 


* Darton, Rep. 47, N. Y. State Mus. 


Marcu 31, 1905.] 


The basin of Lake Minnewaska is vertical- 
walled except at the southwestern end. The 
cliffs are highest under Cliff House, where they 
stand 160 feet above the surface of the lake and 
65 feet below it. The grit'is probably about 230 
feet thick here. The walls are pierced by four 
erevasses now filled with drift—the remains 
of two fissures crossing each other at the deep- 
est point in the lake, 74 feet deep. There is 
no drift in the lake basin, not even under the 
south-facing cliffs, although the fissure run- 
ning S. 25° W. is filled, and the transverse 
breach is blocked to 150 feet above the lake. 
The glaciation is here 8. 10° W. The cause 
of the absence of drift is not clear; elsewhere 
the cliffs are heavily skirted. 

Lake Awosting lies along a vertical fault 
plane drift filled at both ends. The fault 
has not been studied. The north wall of the 
Palmaghat is a vertical fault of 200 feet 
throw. Both these faults seem to be derived 
from the overthrown anticline of the Coxing- 
kill escarpment. Mr. Darton is in error in 
declaring the absence of extended faults. 

The next paper was by Dr. A. A. Julien on 
the ‘ Determination of Brucite as a Rock Con- 
stituent.’ 

After a brief review of the life of Dr. Archi- 
bald Bruce, of New York City, the discoverer 
of the mineral, the fact of its wide distribu- 
tion was set forth, both in limestones and ser- 
pentinoids, either in its unchanged condition 
or in the form of its derivatives, especially 
magnesite and hydromagnesite, as maintained 
by Volger in 1855. The following are its 
most marked characteristics for recognition 
as a rock constituent. 

1. In addition to the known basal cleavage, 
two other systems may be distinguished on 
plates or folia; that of the hexagonal prism, 
often becoming rhombohedral, intersecting at 
60° or 120°; and that of the hexagonal 
pyramid, intersecting at 90°. 

2. Nemalitic structure or fibration, com- 
monly occurring in brucite within serpenti- 
noids subjected to dynamic stresses. The 
major axis of elasticity always lies parallel 
to the direction of the fibers. 

3. Refractive index 1.57, sufficient, when the 
associated minerals are pure, to distinguish it 


SCIENCE. 


511 


by the Becke method from serpentine on the 
one hand and from amphiboles, dolomite, etc., 
on the other. 

4. Birefringence (Y—a=0.020), present- 
ing interference colors of the upper first order 
up to sky blue of lower second order, in plates 
or sections of the usual thinness. 

5. Characteristic strain phenomena; partic- 
ularly by disturbance of the interference 
figure, examined by convergent light in basal 
cleavage plates or folia; also by a variable, 
small extinction angle in sections parallel to 
the vertical axis. 

6. Optically positive character of the uni- 
axial figure, in distinction from tale, ser- 
pentine, ete. 

7. Occasional twinning, observed in crystals 
enclosed in limestone. 

8. Certain chemical tests, in confirmation 
of the optical diagnosis. 

A. W. GRraBau, 
Secretary. 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 


THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 


Tue meeting was held at the New York 
Botanical Garden, February 22, 1905, Pro- 
fessor L. M. Underwood in the chair and 
twenty-one members present. 

A contribution to the local flora by Mrs. 
Livingston and Miss Crane was communi- 
cated by W. A. Murrill and read by Professor 
Underwood. The authors had worked on the 
fungi, and had identified 195 species in 82 
genera and 17 families, all from Scarsdale, 
N. Y. The balance of the program consisted 
of remarks on the genus Lycopodium, being 
some of the results of the joint labors of Pro- 
fessor F. E. Lloyd and Professor L. M. Under- 
wood, which will soon be published in the 
Bulletin, Professor Lloyd spoke from a mor- 
phological standpoint and Professor Under- 
wood from a more general one. 

Professor Lloyd called attention to the dif- 
ferences which were found to be diagnostic, 
that were brought out by the wet method used 
for the investigations, differences not distin- 
guishable in dried material. The lycopods fall 
naturally into two physiological groups as 
shown by their morphological characters, de- 


512 


pendent upon habit—a radially symmetrical 
type for those species which are erect or pen- 
dent, and a bilaterally symmetrical type which 
may be purely physiological due to a twisting 
of leaves or stems or to the development of 
dimorphism in the leaves. Many interesting 
features were brought out with the aid of the 
blackboard. 

Professor Underwood spoke of the number 
of new species brought to light by recent ex- 
ploration, and comparative study of material 
from the American tropics, scarcely any of 
which are common to the United States. The 
lyeopods which in our latitude are inconspicu- 
ous and comparatively infrequent, in the 
tropics occasionally become weeds of large size 
and great beauty, growing especially in high 
altitudes, in fact most of the more interesting 
tropical Pteridophyta are found above the 
5,000-foot level. Many specimens were ex- 
hibited. Epwarp W. Berry, 

Secretary. 


THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 

THE 597th meeting was held February 18, 
1905. 

Mr. J. W. Spencer, of the Hydrographic 
Office, presented a number of physiographic 
charts showing drowned river valleys and con- 
tinental slopes in various parts of the ocean, 
and from these argued ‘ On the Physiographic 
Improbability of Land at the North Pole.’ 

The continental shelf north of Eurasia is 
now known to attain a breadth of 300-350 nau- 
tical miles, with its border reaching to a gen- 
eral depth of 300 feet, though there is a lower 
platform (to 1,200-1,500 feet in Barentz Sea). 
Beyond this edge, Nansen discovered the great 
continental slope down to 12,000 feet. This 
discovery precluded the occurrence of land un- 
til islands should be found on the American 
shelf, the position of which has not been ob- 
served. From the occurrence of fjords reach- 
ing from 1,200 to 4,000 feet on the eastern side 
of the American archipelago; of others to 
over 2,400 feet on the northern side, at a point 
even 200 miles within the line of the archi- 
pelago, and from the occurrence of deep fjords 
on three sides of Beaumont Sea to the west, 
it may be concluded that the continental shelf 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 535. 


will be found at 50-100 miles north of the 
present known line of islands. This would 
correspond with the general characteristics of 
continental shelves trenched by deep fjords 
and valleys off the coast of Norway, Green- 
land and elsewhere. Accordingly, from all 
physiographic analogies, there is no reason to 
expect land within 300 miles of the pole or 
a little more. When explorers shall have 
reached a point north of Grant Land, where 
the depth is even less than 2,000 feet, they will 
have established the fact that there is a sea 
extending to the Siberian side, and scien- 
tifically their work will have been completed 
in the polar region. 

Dr. Harris, of the Coast Survey, urged 
briefly that these conclusions were irreconcil- 
able with the conclusions he had presented 
some months ago based on the study of tides 
and currents in the Arctic Basin. 

Interesting memorial addresses were read, 
one by Dr. W. H. Dall on Mareus Baker, a 
past president of the society, the other by Mr. 
H. G. Ogden on Adolphus Lindenkohl, late 
the chief map draftsman of the Coast and 
Geodetic Survey. 

Mr. Edwin Smith then spoke on ‘ The New 
Transpacific Longitude Determinations.’ The 
probable error of the longitude of Manila vi 
the United States is .059 sec.; the new deter- 
mination agrees with the mean of the older 
ones via Asia (which are not wholly cor- 
rected for personal equation) within the error 
stated. The results have already appeared in 
SCIENCE. 

Mr. E. G. Fischer exhibited and described 
the ‘Rapid Recording Sounding Apparatus’ 
of the Coast Survey. In this a weight hung 
from a wire wound on a reel operated by hand 
is allowed to drop to the bottom; the wire runs 
over a measuring wheel with printing attach- 
ment operating on a paper strip; a time stamp 
of ordinary type is placed to record on the 
strip close by the wheels. When the operator 
feels that the weight touches bottom he re- 
verses the reel and this operation causes all 
the printing devices to make their records; 
these are correct to 0.2 foot and may be made 
very rapidly. Cartes K. Weap, 

Secretary. 


Marcu 31, 1905.] 


THE CONFERENCE OF NEUROLOGY AND VERTEBRATE 
ZOOLOGY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 


Ar the conterence of the department of 
neurology and vertebrate zoology at Cornell 
University, February 7, Alfred C. Weed, ’05, 
presented the results of his study of the Bra- 
zilian Siluride or ecat-fishes in the museum. 
They were collected in 1870 by Charles 
Frederick Hartt, the first Cornell professor 
otf geology and paleontology; he was a 
pupil of the elder Agassiz, whom he accom- 
panied on the Thayer expedition in 1865; 
in 1870 he organized the Morgan expedi- 
tion from Cornell University, and in 1878 
died in Brazil of yellow fever. Among 
the numerous valuable specimens obtained 
by Hartt and his associates were ninety 
siluroids. Some years ago they were sent for 
identification to Professor C. H. Eigenmann, 
of the Indiana University, with the privilege 
of retaining some duplicates and describing 
the new species. There were found two new 
species, described by Kindle in 1894 as Hassar 
wilderti and Hemiancistrus longipinnis. Of 
the latter, through inadvertence, but one ex- 
ample was sent. In the Cornell museum, in 
addition to a mounted specimen that had been 
mounted so as to display the tufts of inter- 
opercular bristles and the tail, ‘ obliquely 
tranecated, the lower lobe produced,’ Mr. Weed 
has found two alcoholic examples; one will be 
sent to Dr. Eigenmann and the other to the 
Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cam- 
bridge. Burr G. Wiper. 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
NORTHEASTERN SECTION. 

Tue fifty-eighth regular meeting of the sec- 
tion was held on Friday evening, February 
24, in the Lowell building, Massachusetts In- 
stitute of Technology, with President Norris 
in the chair. About seventy-five members 
were present. sr 

Mr. Charles A. Kraus, of the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, gave an experimental 
lecture on ‘The Chemistry of Liquid Am- 
monia Solutions,’ in which he described the 
solubility of various bodies in liquid ammonia 
which possesses a high solvent power for many 
substances, especially those containing carbon, 


SCIENCE. 


LB al bes, 


with many of which it gives brilliant colored 
solutions. Electrolytic dissociation in am- 
monia solutions was discussed, and it was 
shown that ammonia was a much weaker elec- 
trolytic agent than water, the ions traveling 
2.8 times faster in it than in the latter solvent. 
The alkali metals sodium and potassium are 
very soluble in NH,, and the solutions conduct 
electricity like a metallic conductor. 
ArtHur M. Comry, 
Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENOD. 
LITERARY PRODUCTION ABOVE FORTY. 


To tue KEprror or Science: Your making 
available, by quotation in the last issue of 
Science, the precise form of Professor Osler’s 
much discussed ‘obsessions’ concerning the 
comparative uselessness of men above 40 years 
of age suggested an inquiry into the period 
of production in the lives of American men 
of letters, literature being one of the fields of 
achievement from which, Dr. Osler believes, 
we could well spare the work done by men 
above 40. 

Kyen in poetry,. where there might be 
especial reasons for the view, the case is doubt- 
ful. Bryant, indeed, wrote his most noted 
poems before 40, but wrote others quite as 
good at 70. Poe and Lanier died at 40 and 
39, so their evidence is inconclusive. But 
Longfellow wrote ‘ Evangeline’ at 40, ‘ Hia- 
watha’ at 48, and ‘ Miles Standish’ at 51; Whit- 
tier wrote ‘Snow Bound,’ his best and most 
characteristic poem, at 59; Whitman had done 
but little before his first considerable volume 
at 41. Lowell, alone of the more noted Amer- 
ican poets, produced practically all of his best 
verse before 40; practically all of his best 
prose was written afterwards. 

In prose, everything goes to disprove an 
age limit of 40. Exeept Jefferson’s draft 
of the ‘ Declaration of Independence’ (written 
at 83), Irving’s ‘Sketch-Book’ (at 36), 
Thoreau’s ‘Walden’ (at 87), Cooper’s best 
novels, and, for the reason given above, all 
of Poe’s prose, almost every notable piece of 
American prose was written after its author 
had reached 40. Some came much later— 
Edwards’s ‘Freedom of the Will’ at 51, 


p14 


Franklin’s ‘Autobiography’ after 51, and 
Trving’s ‘ Alhambra’ at 49. Hawthorne be- 
gan his series of great romances with ‘ The 
Searlet Letter’ at 46. Mrs. Stowe wrote 
‘Uncle Tom’ at 41. Mark Twain produced 
‘Innocents Abroad’ before 40, but ‘Tom 
Sawyer’ and ‘ Huckleberry Finn’ consider- 
ably later. Lincoln delivered the ‘ Gettys- 
burg Address’ at 54, Webster his ‘ Reply to 
Hayne’ at 48. Prescott wrote the ‘ Conquest 
of Mexico’ at 47; Bancroft’s ‘ History’ oc- 
cupied him from 34 until 75. Motley wrote 
the ‘Dutch Republic’ at 42; Parkman did 
not begin his series of volumes on ‘ France 
and England in North America’ unti! he was 
42. The first and the second series of Emer- 
son’s ‘ Essays’ appeared at 38 and 41, respect- 
ively. Dr. Holmes wrote the ‘ Autocrat’ at 
49, Dr. Hale, ‘The Man Without a Country’ 
at 46. John Fiske did his best work, as Mr. 
Stedman has done his, after 40. 
had scarcely made a beginning of his char- 
acteristic work before 40; Mr. James had made 
a good beginning, but the most and the best 
of his works have come later. 

Indeed, if one were to generalize at all 
from this data concerning works notable in 
themselves and most characteristic of their 
authors, the conclusion for American litera- 
ture would not be that no work of the first 
rank had been done by men above 40, but that 
the period of life conspicuous for superior 
production was between 40 and 50, and that, 
as Bulwer-Lytton suggested, real maturity 
seldom comes before the age of 35. 

CiLypE Furst. 

CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 


AND THE MODERN USE OF CARBONIC 
ACID. 


PRODUCTION 


To tue Eprror or Science: Referring to 
Science for January 27, there appears on page 
151, a brief extract of a paper by John C. 
Minor, Jr., presented to the New York Sec- 
tion of the American Chemical Society on 
December 9. The title of this paper, as given, 
is the ‘Production and Modern Use of Car- 
bonie Acid.’ In the abstract, however, there 
is no reference to carbonic acid; the paper 
appears to deal entirely with carbon dioxide, 


SCIENCE. 


Mr. Howells 


‘LN. S. Vou. XXI. No. 535. 


and I suppose this is another case of the com- 
mon misuse of this term. I would suggest 
that you make some effort to correct this pre- 
valent error, because if we should want to 
talk about the real carbonic acid, there would 
be no way of conveying the meaning intended, 
unless the chemical symbol be used, because 
as it is, CO, has monopolized for itself two 
names. A. BEMENT. 


MONT PELEE? 

ALrHouGH nothing is commoner than in- 
stances of mistaken etymology, it rarely hap- 
pens that a single name admits of so many 
interpretations as does ‘ Mont Pelée sive Mont 
Pelé.’ 

Having gone through in my own mind all 
the possibilities of the name, from that of the 
Hawaiian goddess, with which I started, to 
that of Pelée = bald, a good name for a bare 
summit, I have come at last to believe that it 
is simply the Gallicized form (Pélée) of the 
Greek Peleus, the son of Alacus and father of 
Achilles—Mount Peleus has a likely sound 
and needs no explanation of its gender. The 
form Pélée for Peleus is found in Littré. 

Harris HawrHorNeE WILDER. 

SMITH COLLEGE. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 
NATURAL MOUNDS OR ‘ HOG-WALLOWS.” 

Tue paper of Mr. A. C. Veatch reported in 
Science, No. 530, p. 310, is of much interest 
to those acquainted with the natural mounds 
,or hog-wallows of California and Oregon. 
Such mounds are especially abundant along 
the east side of the San Joaquin valley in 
California, where they cover hundreds of 
square miles, and extend from the valley floor, 
where they are most abundant, up the slopes 
of the foot-hills to an elevation of more than 
five hundred feet. The underlying rocks vary 
from Pleistocene gravels, sands and clays to 
granites, schists and folded paleozoic slates. 
I have never found them, however, in the 
sandy river bottoms. In height they range 
from one foot to four feet, and in diameter 
from ten to more than fifty feet. They are 
equally abundant in eastern Oregon and in 


Marc#H 31, 1905.] 


some parts of the drift-covered portions of the 
region south of Puget Sound. 

The theories usually advanced in explana- 
tion of these mounds on the Pacific coast are: 
(1) Surface erosion, (2) glacial origin, (3) 
eolian origin, (4) human origin, (5) burrow- 
ing animals, including ants, (6) fish-nests ex- 
posed by elevation. , 

Bearing upon the theory of ant origin men- 
tioned by Mr. Veatch, something will be found 
in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of 
America, Vol. VIIL., pp. 295-800, and also in 
the Journal of Geology, VIII., 151-153. It 
ought to be noted, however, that the ant-hills 
of the tropics with which I am acquainted, 
remarkable and abundant as they are, do not 
much resemble the hog-wallows or prairie 
mounds. Perhaps, however, no great stress 
ean be placed upon this difference. The ant- 
hills of Brazil vary greatly in size and form, 
according to the species building them and ac- 
cording to the soil. If it be assumed that the 
ants built the mounds in this country and 
disappeared long ago, it is to be expected that 
time would have greatly modified and toned 
down their original relief. It is, perhaps, 
worthy of note, and may be of interest in 
connection with the ant-hill theory, that in 
western Washington and in parts of California 
they are partly on glacial soils, that is, on 
drift or on sediments spread over the San 
Joaquin valley during the glacial epoch. The 
glacial theory of their origin suggested by the 
letter of Wallace in Nature, XV., 274, is with- 
out support—the glaciers in California did not 
reach the region of the hog-wallows in the 
San Joaquin valley. 

In addition to what Mr. Veatch says of the 
distribution of the mounds in the Mississippi 
valley it may be stated that they follow up 
the valley of the Arkansas and of the Neosho 
rivers across Indian Territory into southeast- 
ern Kansas. In Arkansas and Indian Terri- 
tory they are common in forests as well as in 
prairies. 

It is supposed that sections through these 
mounds would explain them. In California 
hundreds of mounds have been cut through by 
railways and by common roads, and many 
such sections have been examined. The cut- 


SCIENCE. 515 


tings, being made without any special care, 
exhibit only a compact clayey ‘ hard-pan’ that 
shows no signs of burrows or anything that 
has been recognized thus far as different from 
the soil of the adjacent areas. In the San 
Joaquin valley the soil of the hog-wallows is 
not regarded as good. In some places it is so 
hard that it is very difficult to plow it. In 
the region between the San Joaquin River 
and the city of Fresno the soil of these hog- 
wallows is mostly of quartz, feldspar, mica 
and hornblende, with a little clay and some 
iron. These materials are derived from the 
granites and other crystalline rocks of the 
mountains to the east. One section examined 
in a pit eight feet deep and one thousand feet 
north of Herndon station is spoken of in my 
notes as a ‘hard-pan of quartz sand, clay and 
feldspar resembling a horizontally bedded 
sandstone with some clay in it.’ 

Similar mounds occur in many places and 
covering large areas over the flat prairie lands 
along the eastern slopes of the Andes in the 
Argentine Republic. I used to think the 
Argentine mounds were of xolian origin, but 
while some mounds are evidently made in this 
way, the explanation is not satisfactory for 
the great bulk of them. 

Of the theories spoken of above, the ant- 
hill theory seems to me the most plausible, 
but with our present knowledge it is far from 
satisfactory. One other theory has been in 
my own mind for several years, but it is al- 
most entirely without observations to support 
it, and it is, perhaps, too vague to be clearly 
expressed. The idea is that in soils of certain 
kinds long exposed to weathering agencies 
chemical reactions possibly take place around 
centers that result in the transfer of minerals 
in solution to and the precipitation in nuclei 
that are now represented by the positions of 
the mounds, while the withdrawal of these 
minerals from the intervening areas causes 
the depressions around the mounds. In other 
words, it is a theory of coneretionary action 
on a large scale due in part to chemical and 
in part to physical conditions. With this the- 
ory in view I have gathered samples from 
beneath the hog-wallows near Fresno and 
others will be gathered during the coming 


516 


vacation. It is hoped that chemical analyses 
of these samples will throw some light on the 
subject. 

The following references to the literature 
may be useful to those who wish to read what 
has been written regarding these mounds on 
the Pacific coast: Le Conte, Proceedings Cali- 
fornia Academy of Sciences, V., 219 (18738) ; 
Nature, April 19, 1877, XV., 530; Wallace, 
Nature, XV., 274; Barnes, American WNat- 
uralist, September, 1879, XIIT., 565; Turner, 
17th annual report U. S. G. S., Part I., 681. 
To these may be added Walther’s ‘ Denuda- 
tion in der Wiiste,’ 877, 390. The paper by 
Mr. Turner contains a good picture of the 
mounds on the foot-hills near Snelling, Cali- 
fornia. 

J. C. BRanner. 

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, 

March 3, 1905. 


NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF NATURAL 
SCIENCE. 
OPPIAN ON FISHING. 

Aw early work on angling, dating from the 
second century of our era, and possessing con- 
siderable scientific as well as literary merit, 
is the ‘ Halieutica,’ in five books, by Oppian 
of Cilicia. Unlike most ancient writers on 
natural history, Oppian manifests a _ strict 
regard for truth, not only avoiding fabulous 
tales, but often refuting popular errors. To 
wide and accurate observation the author adds 
the charm of felicitous description, his treat- 
ment of the subject-matter being unusually 
graceful and animated. Concerning modes 
of fishing and diving, habits of marine ani- 
mals and general natural history, there is 
much of interest to modern readers, and in 
former times the work was held in high es- 
teem. Appended to the English translation, 
published in 1722, is a catalogue of the ver- 
nacular names of fishes mentioned by Oppian, 
with their common English equivalents—the 
latter, however, not being always accurately 
A revised Nomenclator of classical 
names of animals, with synonyms and ety- 
mology, would be gladly weleomed by modern 
systematists. 


given. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XI. No. 535. 


ROMAN ICHTHYOLOGY. 

Amongst early works of interest to ichthyol- 
ogists, noticed more or less fully by Cuvier 
in his ‘ History of Natural Sciences,’ there are. 
two or three Roman writings which contain 
numerous and valuable observations on aquatic 
animals. These appeal with equal force to 
naturalists and classicists of our own day, 
though the latter appear to be on more 
familiar terms with them. 

One of these works well worthy of atten- 
tion is the ‘ Haliewtica’ of Ovid, or commonly 
attributed to him, a poem which has come 
down to us in only one third of its entirety. 
Names are given in this fragment of fifty-three 
species of fishes, most of which are tolerably 
well indicated by the descriptions. Cuvier 
remarks that but for this poem of Ovid, a 
number of passages in Pliny would be unin- 
telligible to modern readers; and in the copy 
belonging to the Harvard Museum, formerly 
the property of Louis Agassiz, occurs a manu- 
script note by the latter, referring to Ovid’s 
comment on fossil shells and description of 
man in his ‘ Metamorphoses.’ 

Another work regarded by Cuvier as ‘ ex- 
tremely precious for natural history’ is that 
bearing the assumed name of the gourmand 
Apicius, the ninth and tenth books being es- 
pecially fruitful in information. Various 
ichthyological notices are contained in the 
agricultural works (‘De re rustica’) of Col- 
umella, Varro and Cato. Apuleius is credited 
with having made refined anatomical dissec- 
tions, and Atheneus gives descriptions of 
eighty-four species of fishes, arranged in al- 
phabetical order. It may not be generally 
known that Cuvier himself assisted in the 
recension of the text of ‘lian’s ‘ History of 
Animals,’ his collaborators being the well- 
known French translators of Pliny. 


SUBTERRANEAN FISHES. 

Lasaubx, in his ‘ Geology of the Greeks and 
Romans,’ and Sir Charles Lyell, in the intro- 
ductory chapter of his ‘ Principles of Geology,’ 
are responsible for widespread misconception 
of Aristotelian views in regard to the nature 
and origin of fossils. Certain passages in the 


Marcu 31, 1905.] 


works of the great Stagyrite and his successor 
Theophrastus, are interpreted by these authors, 
and in their wake by students generally, as 
applying to ichthyic remains found in strati- 
fied rock, whereas the original texts speak only 
of living fishes which burrow in the mud, and 
are able to survive for a considerable time out 
of water. Thus the passages were understood 
by ancient commentators, and the idea that 
they refer to things fossil has clearly been 
‘read into’ them by modern historians. 

Lyell’s statement of the matter is as fol- 
fows, omitting criticisms: 

Aristotle, in his treatise on respiration, speaks 
distinetly of fossil fishes; and his pupil, Theo- 
phrastus, alluding to such fishes found near Hera- 
clea, in Pontus, and in Paphlagonia, says that 
they were either procreated from fish-spawn left 
behind in the earth, or had gone astray from 
rivers or from the sea, for the sake of food, into 
cavities of the earth, where they had become 
petrified. 


Nothing could more completely miss the 
sense of the original than the above paragraph. 
The title of Theophrastus’s essay, ‘On Fishes 
that Exist out of Water,’ is alone sufficient 
to exclude the notion of petrified remains. 
Besides, we have both ancient and modern 
confirmation of the accounts relative to the 
taking of ‘dug mullets’ and loaches in the 
same localities. . Pomponius Mela, it is true, 
rejects the reports as improbable fish stories, 
but Strabo, Pliny, Polybius and others corrob- 
orate them at all points; and in our own 
time the facts have been verified de novo. 

What Pliny says on this matter is interest- 
ing. He mentions a kind of loach, which 
Cuvier thinks is identifiable with the Cobitis 
fossilis of Linnzeus, and observes that it ‘ fre- 
quents the waters near the banks of the rivers 
and makes holes for itself, in which it lives, 
even when the water retires and the bed of 
the river is dry; for which reason these fishes 
have to be dug out of the ground, and only 
show by the movement of the body that they 
are still alive.’ Nor does he omit in the 
same connection (‘ Nat. Hist.,? IX., 83) to 
quote Theophrastus’s statement that ‘in 
Paphlagonia, also, land fishes are dug up 
which are most excellent eating.’ 


SCIENCE. 


517 


Strabo is equally explicit in his account of 
the ‘dug mullets’ of Narbonne, long esteemed 
one of the principal wonders of the Keltic 
coast. Thus we read in the fourth book of 
his ‘ Geography’ as follows: 

There is a lake near to Ruscino [on the site of 
which now stands Perpignan], and a little above 
the sea a marshy district full of salt-springs, 
which supplies ‘dug mullets’; for whoever digs 
two or three feet, and plunges a trident into 
the muddy water, will be sure to take the fish, 
which are noteworthy for their considerable size; 
they are nourished in the mud like eels. 

It is unnecessary to prolong the discussion, 
or to point out that the views of ancient 
masters in natural science have been needlessly 
disparaged through faulty interpretation of 
the original sources. We are concerned only 
with restoring to the latter their literal mean- 
ing. A word may be said, however, concern- 
ing the formidable array of geological doc- 
trines attributed by Lyell, in the work quoted, 
to Pythagoras, of the sixth century, B. C. Of 
this almost mythical personage we know very 
little for certain, of his doctrines nothing at 
all. Those ascribed to him are not Pytha- 
gorean, but Stoic; not of the hoary sixth cen- 
tury before our era, but Augustan; not alto- 
gether Greek, but- in large part Roman; 
and in order to form a clear historical perspec- 
tive it is necessary that these facts be recog- 
nized. C. R. East an. 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

Tuer Central Branch of the American So- 
ciety of Naturalists and affiliated societies are 
holding their third annual meeting at Chi- 
eago from March 31 to April 1. Professor 
John M. Coulter, chairman of the Central 
Branch, will deliver the annual address at the 
dinner on March 31. Special programs have 
been arranged for the zoologists, botanists, 
anatomists and physiologists. We hope to 
print abstracts of the papers, a considerable 
number of which are announced on the pre- 
liminary program. 

Ir is announced that the first John Fritz 
gold medal will be conferred upon Lord Kel- 
vin. This medal is awarded by a joint com- 
mittee of the American Institute of Electrical 


518 


Engineers, the American Society of Mechan- 
ical Engineers, The American Society of Civil 
Engineers and the American Institute of Min- 
ing Engineers to the man most representative 
of, and eminent in, scientific advance in the 
engineering field. 

Previous to his departure for England, to 
assume the chair of medicine in the Univer- 
sity of Oxford, a dinner will be given to Dr. 
William Osler at the Waldorf-Astoria, in New 
York City, on May 2. 

Dr. H. P. Bownircn, professor of physiol- 
ogy at Harvard Medical School, has recently 
visited the universities of the Pacific coast. 

We learn from The Botanical Gazette that 
Sir Joseph Hooker retired from the editorship 
of the Botanical Magazine at the close of 1904, 
after forty years of service. He is succeeded 
by Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer. 

WE learn from Nature that Professor W. J. 
Sollas, F.R.S., has been elected a member of 
the Atheneum Club under the rule which em- 
powers the annual election by the committee 
of nine persons of distinguished eminence in 
science, literature, the arts, or for public ser- 
vices. 

Proressor L. C. Herpt, assistant professor 
of electrical engineering at McGill University, 
has been awarded the honorary title of officier 
@académie, by the French government. 


Mr. J. E. S. Moore has been appointed 
director of the Cancer Research, which is 
earried out in connection with the Royal In- 
firmary. 


Mr. R. R. Ketty, assistant professor in the 
department of engineering at the University 
of South Dakota, Vermillion, S. D., is re- 
signing in order to join the staff of the Symms 
& Powers Company, heating and ventilating 
engineers, of Sioux Falls, S. D. 

G. E. Coaumt, Ph.D., professor of biology 
at Pacific University, has been elected secre- 
tary of the Oregon Academy of Sciences. 


Tne Bakerian lecture of the Royal Society 
was delivered on March 23, by Dr. Horace T. 
Brown, F.R.S., who took as his subject ‘The 
Reception and Utilization of Energy by the 
Green Leaf.’ 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 535. 


A MEDAL in commemoration of M. Alfred 
Cornu will be struck by the French Physical 
Society. 


Ir is proposed to erect a memorial in Jena 
to Professor Ernest Abbe in commemoration 
of his services to optical science and industry. 
Subscriptions should be sent to the treasurer, 
Dr. Gustav Fischer, Jena. 


Tue centenary of the birth of the Russian 
mathematician W. J. Buniakowsky was cele- 
brated at St. Petersburg on December 16, and 
on December 29 the centenary of the birth of 
K. Schallbach was commemorated in Berlin. 


An intercollegiate course in Appalachian 
Geology will be given under the direction of 
several instructors, as follows: July 3-8— 
Professor W. B. Clark, of the John Hopkins 
University, on ‘The Tertiary and Cretaceous 
Strata of the Coastal Plain of Maryland.’ 
July 10-15—Professor W. M. Davis, of Har- 
vard University, on ‘The Folded Paleozoic 
Strata of the Susquehanna-Juniata District 
of Pennsylvania.” July 17-22—Professor T. 
C. Hopkins, of Syracuse University, on ‘ The 
Horizontal Paleozoic Strata and Glacial Fea- 
tures of Central New York. July 24-29— 
Professor H. P. Cushing, of Western Reserve 
University, on ‘The Faulted Crystalline and — 
Paleozoic Rocks of the Little Falls District, 
N. Y’ July 31-August 5—Professor J. Bar- 
rell, of Yale University, on ‘ The Metamorphic 
and Triassic Rocks of Western Connecticut.’ 
This course is intended for men who have 
already some knowledge of general geology, in- 
cluding field work. The party will meet in 
Baltimore on Monday, July 3. The work of 
each week may be taken separately. It may be 
necessary to limit the number of members in 
the first week ; preference will be given to those 
who take the entire course. A.circular giving 
fuller details of the course can be had of Pro- 
fessor Clark on about March 10. 


Tue position of chief of the Division of 
Chemistry, Hygienic Laboratory, Public 
Health and Marine Hospital Service, will be 
filled by civil service examination on April 
26. The salary of this position is $3,200. 
Competitors are not assembled for examina- 


Marcu 31, 1905.] 


tion, but will be graded for education, experi- 
ence and publications. Examinations are also 
announced by the civil service commission 
on April 26-27, for forest assistants in the 
Bureau of Forestry, Department of Agricul- 
ture, at salaries of $1,800, $1,400 and four at 
$1,200; on April 12, for assistant in the 
Division of Biological Survey, U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, at a salary of $900; and 
on April 19, for hydrographic aids, municipal 
water supply, U. S. Geological Survey, at 
salaries of $1,000 to $1,500. 


Tue Fourth International Ornithological 
Congress, under the presidency of Dr. R. 
Bowdler Sharpe, of the British Museum, will 
be held in London from June 17 to 12 in- 
elusive. Drs. J. A. Allen, Chas. W. Richmond 
and Leonhard Stejneger, and Messrs. F. M. 
Chapman, D. G. Elliott and Robert Ridgeway 
represent the United States on the general 
committee. 


We have received the official program of 
the second International Botanical Congress, 
which will be held at Vienna on June 11-18. 

Tue fifteenth German Geographentag will 
be held at Danzig on June 13-15. 


Wr learn from the American Mathematical 
Journal that the firm of J. A. Barth in 
Leipzig has undertaken to publish a directory, 
compiled by F. Strobel of Jena, of all living 
mathematicians, physicists, astronomers and 
chemists. A new edition is to appear every 


two years. 


Repiyinc to questions in the House of 


_ Commons, Mr. Brodrick, secretary of state 


for India, said that the latest figures on the 
plague in India showed that for the four weeks 
ending February 28 in the Bombay presidency 
there were 13,475 deaths, and that for the four 
weeks ending March 11 in the rest of India 
there were 123,550 deaths. The total number 
of deaths from the plague in the Bombay 
presidency from January 1 to February 28 
were 28,721, and in the rest of India, from 
January 1 to March 11, 318,178. Mr. Brod- 
rick said he had communicated with the vice- 
roy of India, looking to a remedy for this 
deplorable loss of life, and that it had been de- 
cided to send out a scientific expedition to in- 


SCIENCE. 


519 


vestigate the causes. 
start immediately. 


The expedition will 


Mr. Artuur Erwin Brown, secretary of the 
Zoological Society of Philadelphia, in a recent 
address before the Academy of Natural Sci- 
ences said: “ The ‘ Origin of Species’ was first 
published in London on November 24, 1859. 
On March 27, 1860, Charles Darwin was 
elected a correspondent of the academy. On 
May 8 he wrote to his life-long friend, Charles 
Lyell: ‘This morning I got a letter from the 
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 
announcing that I am elected a correspondent. 
It shows that some naturalists there do not 
think I am such a scientific profligate as many 
think me here.’ It appears from the record 
that this academy was the first among scien- 
tific societies to confer its honors upon Charles 
Darwin after the publication of his immortal 
work.” 


Ir was announced at the last monthly meet- 
ing of the London Zoological Society that the 
total number of visitors to the garden during 
the year 1904 had been 706,074, exceeding the 
numbers in 1903 by no less than 48,866. The 
receipts for admission at the gates during the 
year amounted to £17,063, being an increase 
of £1,151 as compared with the year 1903. 
The total number of fellows elected during the 
year had amounted to 249, showing an in- 
crease of 31 as compared with the previous 
year. The total number of fellows on the 
roll on December 81 last was 3,557, being the 
largest number ever recorded in the history of 
the society. 

Tue tenth International Anti-aleohol Con- 
gress is to be held at Buda-Pesth from Sep- 
tember 12 to 16. Among the questions pro- 
posed for discussion are: The influence of 
alcohol on the resisting power of the human 
and animal organism; is alcohol a food? 
aleohol and sexual life; alcohol and the penal 
law; alcohol and physical fitness, with special 
reference to military training; the organiza- 
tion of the temperance movement; school and 
education in the struggle against alcoholism; 
the reform of the liquor trade; and the cor- 
rupting influence of the trade in spirituous 
liquors on the natives of Africa. 


520 


We learn from the London Times that the 
annual meeting of the Anthropological Insti- 
tute of Great Britain and Ireland was held 
on January 21, Mr. H. Balfour, the retiring 
president, in the chair. The annual report 
of the council stated that the year had been 
one of steady progress, the number of new fel- 
lows and the net increase being greater than 
for any year since 1898. The total member- 
ship now stood at 442. The question of phys- 
ical deterioration had lately been engaging 
public attention, and the council had prepared 
a memorial to Lord Londonderry recommend- 
ing the organization of an anthropometric 
survey and the appointment of an advisory 
committee, and making other suggestions. An 
amendment to strike out of the report a pro- 
posal that the publication Man should be paid 
for by fellows in order to assist in meeting 
the annual deficit was rejected after prolonged 
discussion, and the report was approved. The 
treasurer’s report stated that the income from 
subscriptions for the past year was the highest 
on record. Notwithstanding this highly satis- 
factory increase of the institute’s principal 
source of income, there had been an excess 
of expenditure over income in every year of 
the 1900-04 period except 1902. The chief 
cause of these deficits appeared to have been 
the increase in the cost of the annual publica- 
tions. The council accordingly proposed to 
effect economies in their publications, and to 
ask members to pay for their copies of Man. 
The report was agreed to. Professor W. Gow- 
land, F.S.A., was elected president for the 
current year. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


AccorpDING to the daily papers the articles of 
agreement under which it is proposed to com- 
bine the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 
ogy and Harvard University have been made 
public. They provide for a joint school of 
industrial science, to be known under the 
present name of the Institute of Technology, 
to be governed by an executive board of nine 
members, of which three shall represent Har- 
vard, and to be maintained by present institute 
funds, augmented by the income of all funds 
of the Lawrence Scientific School, by three- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 535. 


fifths of the net income which may accrue 
from the Gordon McKay bequest, amounting 
to several millions, and by the income of all 
property which Harvard may hereafter acquire 
for the promotion of instruction in industrial 
science. - The new institute is to occupy a 
site on the Cambridge side of the Charles 
River, near the present Stadium. 


Tne Catholic University of America will re- 
ceive a bequest of $100,000 from Miss Helen 
Tyler Gardiner. 


Mr. Anprew CarneciE has agreed to give 
a $50,000 library to the Washington and Lee 
University on condition that the university 
raises an endowment of $50,000 for maintain- 
ing the new library. 


Two new buildings are about to be erected 
for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. One 
is for the departments of mathematics and 
drawing and the other for the department 
of chemistry. Both will be strictly fire proof. 
Their cost will be about three hundred thou- 
sand dollars. A motion is before the Troy 
Common Council to make a handsome stone 
approach to these buildings by extending 
Broadway. 

Tue board of regents of the University of 
Michigan at its February meeting voted to in- 
vite bids for the erection of an addition to the 
physical laboratory according to plans already 
prepared. 

A situ has passed the North Dakota legisla- 
ture creating a state bacteriologic and patho- 
logic laboratory, to be located at the State 
University and School of Mines, and to be 
under the control of the university trustees 
and the professor of bacteriology at the uni- 
versity, who is to be the director. 


Ir is announced that the Russian Ministry 
of Public Instruction will at once undertake 
the elaboration of a plan for a compulsory sys- 
tem of primary education. Representatives of 
the schools in the principal cities are invited 
to. participate in the drawing up of the plan. 


Grorce V. N. Dearsorn, Ph.D., M.D. (Co- 
lumbia), has been promoted to the full pro- 
fessorship of physiology in the Tufts College 
Medical and Dental Schools. 


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IENCE 


A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 
OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 


Fripay, Aprit 7, 1905. 


CONTENTS: 


The Mutation Theory of Organic Evolution :— 


From the Standpoint of Animal Breeding: 
IBRORESSOR Wi. HW. CASTLE. 2.0.00... 00.-%- 


From the Standpoint of Cytology: Pro- 
FEssor Epwin G. CONKLIN.............. 


Mutations: Proressor THOMAS DwIGHT.. 


Systematic Work and Evolution: PROFESSOR 


iL. TEL. LBVALOUION @ ie Rae Ol repel cca et eae 532 


Ethology and the Mutation Theory: PRo- 


FESSOR WILLIAM Morton WHEELER....... 535 


Discontinuous Variation and the Origin of 
acces: DE. D: TI. MACDOUGAL: ...... 2/0. 


Scientific Books :— 


The Zoological Record: Proressor T. D. A. 
CocKERELL. Dantec’s Les lois naturelles: 
Dr. W. H. SHELDON sects, apeRet er oiri at evclior carter ena 


540 


543 


Societies and Academies :— 
The New York Section of the American 


Chemical Society: Dr. F. H. Poucu....... 547 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


The Naturalist’s Universal Directory: G. K. 
GILBERT. An Overlooked Form of Stereo- 
scope: PRoFessoR FRANK P, WHITMAN. 
Kilauea again Active: Proressor C. H. 


TSCLAVGTER CIO VOTE lee Pe ene Ra oe eee 548 


Special Articles :— 


The Prairie Mounds of Louisiana: PRo- 
Fessor E. W. Hincarp. Progress in the 
Study of the Kelep: O. F. Coox.......... ool 


Quotations :— 
The Sanitation of the Panama Canal Zone.. 


Botanical Notes :— 


A Helpful Bulletin; Seashore Laboratories ; 
Utah Fungi; Photographs of Vegetation: 
PROFESSOR CHARLES E, BESSEY........... 


Scientific Notes and News..............0005 


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


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
8on-on-Hudson, N. Y. i 


THE MUTATION THEORY OF ORGANIC 
EVOLUTION.* 

The Mutation Theory of Organic Evolu- 
tion, from the Standpoint of Animal . 
Breeding: W. E. Castun, Assistant Pro- 
fessor of Zoology, Harvard University. 
The mutation theory, as I understand it, 

is not designed to replace Darwin’s theory 

of natural selection, nor is it capable of 
replacing that theory. Natural selection 
must still -be invoked to choose between 
different organic forms, preserving the 
more efficient, destroying the less efficient. 

The question raised by this new theory is, 

What sort of forms are subjected to the 

action of natural selection? Is there a 

complete gradation of forms between two 

extreme conditions and is natural selection 
called upon to choose from this whole series 
the one which is organically most efficient, 
or is the task simpler and is the choice 
made merely between two widely separated 
conditions of the ideal series? Thus, we 
find within a species two varieties, one 
larger than the other. Have they diverged 
by gradual cumulation of minute differ- 
ences in size, or by a single step? These 
alternative views are known, respectively, 
as the selection theory and the mutation 
theory. Both views were recognized by 

Darwin as possibilities, though he seems to 

have attached more importance to the proc- 

ess of gradual modification. Most of his 
followers have given attention exclusively 
to this process, but a few, like Bateson and 
de Vries, have regarded modification by 

* Six addresses given before the American So- 


ciety of Naturalists at Philadelphia, December 28, 
1905. 


522 


steps as the more important process, if not 
the only one efficient in the formation of 
new species. Bateson (’94) has called 
modifications of this sort discontinuous 
variations, but de Vries (:01-:03) calls 
them mutations, and the latter designation 
seems likely to be generally adopted. 

Darwin rightly attached great impor- 
tance to the variations of domesticated 
animals and plants as throwing light on 
the origin of species. He recognized that 
there is no essential difference between 
breeds and species, and that if we can as- 
certain how breeds originate we can infer 
much as to the origin of species. He made 
an extensive study of breeds of animals as 
well as of plants, but no one has followed 
this up or even recognized its great impor- 
tance until within very recent years. What 
we need to know is how, precisely, are new 
breeds formed. We know that they are 
forming under our very eyes all the time 
and that this has been going on since the 
earliest historic times and no doubt a great 
deal longer, yet the method eludes us. 

The successful practical breeder, the man 
who originates breeds, is a keen observer, 
a man of unusual intelligence and skill and 
of infinite patience. Yet if we ask him 
how, in general, he does his work, or how 
a particular result was obtained, we rarely 
get a satisfactory answer. This is some- 
times because, for commercial reasons, it 
is well to leave a cloud of obscurity sur- 
rounding the origin of a successful breed, 
lest its production be duplicated. More 
often, however, it is because the breeder. 
himself does not know how the result was 
attained. He may be able to tell us that 
such and such animals were mated, such 
and such of their offspring selected, and 
after a certain length of time the breed was 
established and put on the market. But 
this, after all, gives us little information as 
to the real nature of the material used and 
the processes involved in the formation of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXL. No. 536. 


the new breed. The aims of the biologist 
are so different from those of the practical 
breeder that to solve the theoretical prob- 
lems involved in the formation of breeds 
the biologist must himself turn breeder, and 
see new organic forms arise out of material 
with which he is thoroughly familiar, and 
under, conditions which he can control. So 
little work of this kind has yet been done 
that its fruits are scarcely ready to be 
gathered. Generalizations can as yet be 
made only tentatively, based on cases dan- 
gerously few, or on the rather uncertain 
and often contradictory testimony of prac- 
tical breeders and the half-truths told by 
stock registers. 

So far, however, as these various sorts of 
evidence go, they indicate that the material 
used by breeders for the formation of new 
breeds consists almost exclusively of muta- 
tions. The breeder does not set to work 
with some purely imaginary form in mind, 
toward which he seeks by selection gradu- 
ally to mold his material. He commonly 
either discovers the new breed already cre- 
ated and represented by one or more excep- 
tional individuals among his flock, or else 
he seeks by cross-breeding to combine in a 
single race characters which he finds al- 
ready existing separately in different races. 
In both cases he deals with mutations, 2. e., 
with characters unconnected by a series of 
transition stages with the normal form. 
An illustration from my own experience 
may help to make this clear. A little more 
than four years ago I obtained a number of 
ordinary smooth-coated guinea-pigs and be- 
gan breeding them with a particular ex- 
periment in mind. Among nine young 
produced by a certain pair, there was one 
which had a supernumerary fourth digit 
on one of its hind feet. Neither of the 
parents had such a digit, nor had I ever 
heard of the existence of such a character 
before, either in any of the wild Caviide, 
or among domesticated eavies or guinea- 


- on either hind foot. 


—E—E—————————ooo 


Aprit 7, 1905.] 


pigs. Further, I have been able to find no 
reference to such a thing in the literature 
of the group, though I have several times 
since found this same mutation in other. 
herds of guinea-pigs. The mother of my 
four-toed pig never produced another sim- 
ilar individual, though she was the mother 
in all of thirty young. The father, how- 
ever, who sired in all 139 young, had five 
other young with extra toes, but these were 
all by females descended from himself, so 
that it seems certain that the mutation had 
its origin in this particular male. By 
breeding together the four-toed young and 
selecting only the best of their offspring I 
was able within three generations to estab- 
lish a race with a well developed fourth toe 
This race was not 
created by selection, though it was wm- 
proved by that means. Like the poet, in 
the proverb, it was born, not made. Any 
amount of selection practised on other 
families of my guinea-pigs would probably 
never produce a four-toed race, for though 
carefully watched through as many as 
seven generations no four-toed pig has ap- 
peared among them. 

In a second family of my guinea-pigs, 
which, like the other, was for the purpose 
of a particular experiment inbred, a dif- 
ferent mutation made its appearance. <A 
few individuals were found to have hair 
about twice as long as that of their parents 
and grandparents. Intermediate condi- 
tions did not occur. lLong-haired indi- 
viduals mated together were found to pro- 
duce only long-haired young, so that a new 
breed was already fully established without 
the exercise of any selection. It was found, 
in short, that the long-haired character is a 
Mendelian recessive in relation to the nor- 
mal short coat, so that matings between long- 
haired and short-haired animals produce 
only short-haired young. But these young 
bred inter se produce a definite proportion 
(about one fourth) of long-haired young, 


SCIENCE. 528 


and if no selection is practised among their 
offspring, but all are allowed to breed free- 
ly, the race will continue to contain this 
proportion of long-haired individuals. 

If such a mutation as this occurred in a 
state of nature, and such a possibility we 
can scarcely question, a dimorphic species 
would be the immediate result, containing 
two varieties alike in every respect except 
length of hair, in which they would be 
sharply separated. The two _ varieties 
would coexist in the same habitat and 
might continue to interbreed freely with- 
out the destruction or necessary modifica- 
tion of either. Natural selection would 
now come into operation to choose between 
the two that one which was more advan- 
tageous and the other condition would be 
eradually eliminated from the race. Or if 
the two conditions were each the better in 
a different habitat, then by the gradual 
destruction of the other in that habitat the 
two varieties would become geographically 
separated, though they might continue to 
coexist in an intermediate zone. 

‘The second method which I mentioned 
for the artificial production of new breeds 
is to combine in one race characters al-— 
ready found in different races. This is ac- 
complished through eross-breeding and is 
made possible by the facts (1) that muta- 
tions are alternative in heredity to the 
normal condition, and (2) that one muta- 
tion is entirely independent of another in 
heredity. If, for example, we cross long- 
haired with short-haired guinea-pigs, we 
get, among the second-generation offspring, 
a mixture of long-haired and of short- 
haired animals, but, as a rule, no interme- 
diates. Further, if in the original cross 
one parent was four-toed and the other 
three-toed, then in the second generation 
offspring we get all possible combinations 
of the characters involved in the cross, viz., 
long-haired four-toed animals, long-haired 
three-toed, short-haired four-toed and 


524 


short-haired three-toed. From this array 
of forms the breeder may now select the 
particular combination of characters which 
suits his purpose. 

Can we doubt that in nature a similar 
choice is offered between every mutation 
and its opposite, combined or uncombined 
with every other mutation then present in 
the race? 

It is true that cross-breeding may affect 
to a greater or less extent the nature of the 
characters involved in a eross, but this 
sometimes facilitates the creation of de- 
sirable breeds, for it serves to induce new 
mutation, which in some eases is progres- 
Sive, in others regressive. For example, in 
guinea-pigs, a cross between a coal-black 
animal and an albino may restore in the 
young the ancestral, or ‘agouti,’ coat con- 
sisting of black hairs ticked with reddish 
yellow, or in other cases may result in the 
production of a black-white spotted animal. 
By selection either of these conditions may 
be perpetuated in a distinct breed. The 
one is a regressive or reversionary change, 
the other progressive in that it leads to the 
production of a new type of pigmented 
coat. i 

On the whole, it appears that the forma- 
tion of new breeds begins with the discov- 
ery of an exceptional individual, or with 
the production of such an individual by 
means of cross-breeding. Such exceptional 
individuals are mutations. 

An examination of stock registers points 
in the same direction. The beginnings of 
new breeds are small. Pedigrees lead back 
to a few remarkable individuals or to a 
single one, as in the Ancon sheep. But 
given the exceptional individual, and a new 
breed is as good as formed. The few gen- 
erations which the breeder usually employs 
in ‘fixing’ or establishing the breed and 
during which he practises close breeding 
serve principally to free the stock from 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 536. 


undesirable alternative characters, not to 
modify the characters retained. 
Modification of characters by selection, 
when sharply alternative cenditions (i. ¢., 
mutations) are not present in’the stock, is 
an exceedingly difficult and slow process, 
and its results of questionable permanency. 
Even in so-called ‘improved’ breeds, which 
are supposed to have been produced by 
this process, it is more probable that the 
result obtaimed represents the summation 
of a series of mutations rather than of a 
series of ordinary fluctuating variations. 
For mutations are permanent; variations 
transitory. A moment’s reflection will in- 
dicate the probable reason. 
which are distributed symmetrically about 


a modal condition, so as to produce when — 


graphically expressed a frequency of error 
curve, represent the result of a number of 
causes acting independently of each other. 
These causes are principally external, con- 
sisting in varying conditions of food-sup- 
ply, temperature, density, moisture, light, 
ete. These conditions alter from genera- 
tion to generation, and so do effects de- 
pendent upon them. Mutations, on the 
other hand, have an internal origin, in the 
hereditary substance itself. They are rela- 
tively independent of the environment, be- 
ing affected only by such eauses as affect 
the nature of the hereditary substance 
itself, one of which apparently is cross- 
breeding. 

There are, however, frequently found 
in breeds of domesticated animals condi- 
tions which are not sharply alternative in 
heredity to the corresponding characters of 
other breeds. It is an open question 
whether such conditions could be main- 
tained if cross-breeding were freely allowed 


with animals of a different character. If ; 


not, they could searcely become racial char- 
acters, under, the action of natural selec- 
tion. The race would then become, not 


» 


sharply dimorphic or polymorphic, as is 7 


‘Variations 


nd pee ee 


Aprin 7, 1905.] 


the case where inheritance is sharply al- 
ternative, but subject to extremely great 
tluetuating variations. It is cpen to ques- 
tion whether blending characters of this 
sort found in many breeds may not have 
been created by selection from masses of 
fluctuating variations. It will be impor- 
tant to know further whether or not these 
extreme fluctuating series have had their 
origin in mutations. Not improbably, as 
de Vries has in part suggested, one-sided 
variation curves indicate the occurrence of 
mutations of this sort. 


The.~Mutation Theory From the Stand- 
point of Cytology: Epwin G. CoNnkKLIN, 
professor of zoology, University of Penn- 
sylvania. 

I. The mutation theory is founded upon 
the idea that mutations are primarily 
germinal, that they arise in one or both of 
the sex cells and only later appear in the 
adult organism. In contradistinection to 
certain theories of evolution which are con- 
eerned chiefly with the modifications of 
adult structures, the mutation theory is 
primarily concerned with modifications of 
the germ, and here it comes into direct re- 
lation with the science of cytology. 

De Vries tells us that the foundations of 
the mutation theory were laid in his doc- 
trine of intracellular pangenesis. Like 
Darwin, Galton, Weismann and many 
others, he recognized the fact that the 
method of evolution is at bottom a problem 
of inheritance and that, in the words of 
Osborn, ‘When we have reached a heredity 
theory that will explain the phenomena of 
inheritance, the method of evolution will 
itself be a thing of the past.’ 

It seems like a mere truism to affirm that 
the evolution of animals and plants must 
be accompanied by an evolution of their 
germ cells, and that the principal problem 
of evolution is not how modifications are 
produced in adults, but how they arise in 


SCIENCE. 


525 
the germ. And yet wiih few exceptions 
previous theories of evolution have con- 
cerned themselves only with the transmuta- 
tions of adult forms and have paid no at- 
tention to the modifications of the egg or 
sperm or embryo. The mutaticn theory is 
a theory of the evolution of organisms 
through the evolution of their germ cells 
and it is, therefore, founded primarily 
upon cytological phenomena. 

An antecedent objection to any such 
theory is the very general opinion that the 
germ cells are composed of ‘simple, undif- 
ferentiated protoplasm’ and that they do 
not contain specific morphological elements 
upon which evolutionary forces might act. 
However, such a view is supported neither 
by observation nor by the latest and most 
eareful experiments. We know that the 
eell is vastly more complex than was as- 
sumed a few years ago, and there is no good 
reason for supposing that all of its visible 
structures are now known. The fact that 
fragments of eggs may in some instances 
give rise to entire embryos does not neces- 
sarily imply, as is usually assumed, that 
the egg is undifferentiated. In eggs, as 
in adult forms, the degree of differentia- 
tion may be largely independent of the 
power of regeneration or regulation, and 
certainly such experiments do not nullify 
the most positive and direct evidence, 
drawn from many sources, as to the com- 
plexity of the germ. 

Extensive studies which have been made 
upon the structure of the nucleus have 
brought to light a degree of organization 
in this part of the cell which was wholly 
unexpected. It has long been known that 
in any given species the number of chro- 
matic threads or chromosomes in_ the 
nucleus is constantly the same in all kinds 
of cells, except in the last stages of the 
formation of the sex cells, where the num- 
ber is one half the normal; in the union 
of the egg and sperm nuclei in the fertiliza- 


526 


tion the normal number is again restored. 
Van Beneden, Boveri, Hertwig and others 
have shown in the most convincing manner 
that these chromosomes are the principal 
seat of the material substance concerned 
in hereditary transmission, and recently 
Boveri has determined that the several 
chromosomes are individually different in 
the heritable qualities which they bear. 
Coincidently with this notable discovery 
Montgomery found that the reduction of 
the number of chromosomes in the sex cells 
is effected by the union of chromosomes 
into pairs and he showed good reason for 
believing that one member of each pair 
came from the father and the other from 
the mother. This conclusion was con- 
firmed and extended by Sutton, and he, as 
well as others, pointed out the suggestive 
fact that in the maturation divisions im- 
mediately preceding the formation of the 
ripe egg or sperm only one chromosome of 
each pair goes into each mature germ cell. 
This parental purity of individual chro- 
meosomes in the sex cells corresponds to the 
purity of parental characters in the experi- 
ments of Mendel and the chance combina- 
tion of these chromosomes into pairs in 
fertilization corresponds with the combina- 
tions of qualities (the Mendelian ratio) in 
alternate inheritance. These remarkable 
discoveries as to the organization of the 
nucleus demonstrate that the germ eells are 
by no means simple and undifferentiated, 
as has often been affirmed, but rather that 
they contain numerous visible morpholog- 
ical elements, each of which has a partic- 
ular rdle in hereditary transmission, and 
they suggest that modifications of these 
elements, however produced, are the real 
causes of evolution. 

Much work has also been done upon the 
differentiations of the cytoplasm in the 
egg cell (obviously the sperm is unsuitable 
for such a study) ; with few exceptions the 
earlier experimental work led to the con- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXL. No. 536. 


clusion that the cell substance was isotropic 
and undifferentiated. However, many 
careful observations have shown that in the 
case of many animals the cytoplasm is 
visibly differentiated in certain areas of 
the egg and that the substances of these 
areas give rise in the course of development 
to particular organs or parts of the em- 
bryo. It is now known that in the eggs 
of a considerable number of animals be- 
longing to several different phyla all the 
axes and planes of symmetry of the future 
individual are marked out in the unseg- 
mented egg, and in the case of certain anne- 
lids, mollusks, echinoderms and ascidians 
it has been discovered that the substances 
of the ectoderm, the mesoderm and the 
endoderm are visibly differentiated in the 
egg before cleavage begins. In certain 
ascidians I have found that all the prin- 
cipal organs of the larva, viz., the muscles 
and mesenchyme, the gastric endoderm and 
general ectoderm, the nervous system and 
notochord, are all represented in the two- 
cell stage by visibly distinct substances 
which are definitely localized in the egg. 
These facts show that in certain groups of 
animals there is such a thing as a morphol- 
ogy—not merely a promorphclogy—of the 
ovum and they demonstrate that there are 
morphological elements in the cytoplasm 
upon which evolutionary forces may act. 
It is a matter of prime importance to 
know whether the nucleus contains the 
only hereditary material carried over from 
one generation to another or whether cer- 
tain characters, such as polarity, symmetry 
and the localization of organ bases in the 
egg, may not have their seat in the cyto- 
plasm. It is as yet too soon to make any 
positive assertions on this point but the 
evidence seems to favor the view that the 
nucleus is at least the principal seat of the 
inheritance material. Even in cases where 
the cytoplasm of the egg is so highly dif- 
ferentiated as in ascidians this conclusion 


Aprit 7, 1905.] 


probably holds good. The three principal 
kinds of protoplasm of the ascidian egg 
before cleavage are the ectoplasm which 
gives rise to ectoderm, the mesoplasm which 
produces mesoderm and the endoplasm 
which becomes endoderm. Each of these 
three substances is derived in part from 
the nucleus of the egg; the ectoplasm 
comes from the egg nucleus at the begin- 
ning of the first maturation division, the 
other two from the nucleus at an earlier 
stage in the ovogenesis. In every cycle of 
division a large amount of chromatic ma- 
terial escapes from the nucleus into the 
eytoplasm and I have found in mollusks 
and ascidians that this substance is then 
differentially distributed to different areas 
of the egg and that it gives rise in part to 
the principal formative substances of the 
embryo. These facts lend support to the 
hypothesis of intracellular pangenesis pro- 
posed by de Vries; they show that even 
though a certain number of general differ- 
entiations may be transmitted through the 
cytoplasm, such as polarity, symmetry and 
localization, nevertheless the mechanism 
exists for the nuclear control of the cell and 
they thus afford a means for harmonizing 
the facts of cytoplasmic organization with 
the nuclear inheritance theory. 

We find, therefore, that the germ is by 
no means simple, even if we consider only 
the visible structures of the cell, and that 
its organization is sufficiently complex to 
exercise a determining influence upon de- 
velopment and evolution. Similarities in 
the character and localization of the ma- 
terial substances of the ege must be the 
initial causes of all similarities or homol- 
ogies which appear in the course of de- 
velopment. Modifications of this germinal 
organization, however produced, are prob- 
ably the immediate causes of evolution. 
II. If we inquire how such modifications 
of the germ arise and what the particular 
modification is which is associated with a 


SCIENCE. 


527 


certain mutation of the adult organism, we 
pass from the region of observed fact to 
one of hypothesis, for in only a few in- 
stances have such germinal mutations been 
observed. Nevertheless, enough is known 
regarding the organization of the germ cells 
to warrant our hazarding a ‘shrewd guess’ 
as to the nature of these germinal muta- 
tions. The nuclear inheritance theory 
points to some modification in the struc- 
ture, number or distribution of the chro- 
mosomes or of the elements of which the 
chromosomes are composed as the initial 
cause of mutation. The fact that the Men- 
delian ratio in alternate inheritance cor- 
responds to the ratio of chromosomal dis- 
tribution in the maturation and fertiliza- 
tion of the egg indicates that in such chance 
distribution of these chromosomes we have 
the principal cause of the law of alternate 
inheritance, as Wilson, Sutton, Cannon and 
others have pointed out. It may also be 
reasonably inferred that in this chance dis- 
tribution of chromosomes we have one of 
the most potent causes of individual varia- 
tions. 

It is well known that the disappearance 
of characters does not necessarily imply 
their final loss; many heritable qualities 
remain latent through one or more genera- 
tions, only to appear as active characters in 
subsequent generations. In such cases it 
is probable that the material bearers of 
these qualities also remain latent, though 
we are wholly ignorant of what constitutes 
lateney as contrasted with activity in chro- 
mosomes. 

Relatively little is known as to the fac- 
tors which determine the number. of chro- 
mosomes or as to the effect of varying num- 
bers on adult organization. Montgomery 
concludes from his studies on the Hemip- 
tera that certain chromosomes are in the 
process of degeneration and disappearance 
in these animals. In this case the heritable 
qualities which were borne by these chro- 


528 


mosomes would also disappear, thus con- 
stituting a case of ‘regressive mutation’ in 
the terminology of de Vries. In other 
eases there has evidently been an increase 
of chromosomes in some species as com- 
pared with others; though whether this 
increase is due to the division of originally 
single chromosomes, or to the addition of 
new ones through abnormalities of division 
or distribution, or through hybridization, 
can not now be determined. Irregularities 
in the number and distribution of chromo- 
somes are by no means uncommon and in 
the case of hybrids are very frequent, as 
has been shown by Juel, Guyer and Can- 
non. By an increase in the number of 
chromosomes or in the number of elements 
of which a chromosome is composed the 
sum of the heritable qualities would prob- 
ably be increased, thus constituting, in the 
language of de Vries, a ‘progressive muta- 
tion.’ There is no evidence and no proba- 
bility that new chromatic elements are ever 
added to the nucleus from the cytoplasm, 
or that they ever arise de novo. Such new 
elements must arise through new combina- 
tions of old elements, either, as de Vries 
considers, by an actual interchange of An- 
lagen (material particles) between the 
pairs of maternal and paternal chromo- 
somes, or, as Haecker supposes, by an inter- 
change of grandparental parts of chromo- 
somes, or through hybridization or irregu- 
lar mitoses. Guyer has shown that the 
divisions of the chromosomes are frequently 
or usually irregular in hybrids and he sug- 
gests that such irregular, mitoses may add 
or subtract certain chromosomal elements 
and thus constitute the basis for a muta- 
tion. Such cases are, however, almost en- 
tirely hypothetical and at present we are 
compelled to admit that we do not know 
how mutations arise or first become mani- 
fest in the chromatin. 

As regards the cytoplasm, I have shown 
reason for believing that it is composed in 


SCIENCE. 


part of escaped nuclear material and that 
the mechanism, therefore, exists for the 
nuclear control of the entire cell. ‘The 
organization of the cytoplasm is chiefly 
manifest in its polarity, symmetry and the 
localization of unlike substances. There 
are reasons for believing that many bilat- 
eral animals are characterized by funda- 
mental similarities in the polarity and sym- 
metry of the unsegmented egg; the types 
of localization of organ bases are, however, 
very different in different phyla; in par- 
ticular the localizations in the eggs of 
ctenophores, nemerteans, echinoderms, an- 
nelids, mollusks and ascidians are thor- 
oughly characteristic of each phylum, and 
except in the case of the annelids and mol- 
lusks there are few similarities between 
these types. Nevertheless, it is possible 
that certain of these types may have been 
derived from others; in fact, such trans- 
formations might be accomplished far more 
easily in the egg than in the adult. 
Despite the evident and almost insuper- 
able difficulties involved, certain zoologists 
have not hesitated to indicate how the adult 


form of one phylum might have been de- | 


rived from the mature form of another; 
thus we have the ccelenterate, the nemer- 
tean, the echinoderm, the annelid and the 
arthropod hypotheses as to the origin of the 
vertebrates, and in each of these cases by 


stupendous transformations, degenerations 


and new formations of the adult form of 
the invertebrate in question the vertebrate 
is supposed to have sprung into existence 
fully formed and panoplied, like Minerva 
from the brain of Jove. In all these specu- 


lations faney occupies so prominent a place 


and facts are so scarce that it is no wonder 
that the whole ‘phylogeny business’ has 
come into disrepute. Nevertheless, the 
evolution idea compels us to assume that 
there are relations more or less remote be- 
tween all phyla and that some must have 
come from others by natural processes. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 536. 


+ 


Apri, 7, 1905.] 


Without attempting to defend any of the 
hypotheses mentioned it may here be point- 
ed out that relatively slight modifications 
in germinal organization would convert one 
type into another. 

A distinguishing characteristic of the 
mutation theory is the recognition of ele- 
mentary characters or properties which 
manifest themselves in many separate parts 
of the adult, as, e. g., the presence or ab- 
sence of hairs or certain colors; if muta- 
tions are germinal the widespread distribu- 
tion of such characters in the adult are 
easily explained. Relatively slight modi- 
fications of the germ, however produced, 
may lead to profound and widespread 
modifications of the embryo and adult. I 
have elsewhere shown reason for. believing 
that the cause of inverse symmetry which 
occurs regularly among some species and 
occasionally among all, man included, is to 
be found in the inverse organization of the 


egg, and that this inverse organization may ~ 


be due to the maturation of the egg at op- 
posite poles in dextral and sinistral forms. 
This case shows that one of the most re- 
markable and far-reaching forms of varia- 
tion with which we are acquainted is the 
result of relatively slight alterations in the 
localization of germinal substances in the 
unsegmented egg. 

One of the principal difficulties in 
explaining the origin, on evolutionary 
grounds, of different phyla has been the 
dissimilar locations of corresponding or- 
gans or parts. These difficulties are well 
illustrated by the theories which attempt 
to derive the vertebrates from the annelids, 
or from any other invertebrate type. If 
evolution takes place through transforma- 
tions of the germ rather than of the adult, 
it is no more difficult to explain the differ- 
ent locations of corresponding parts in 
these phyla than their different qualities. 
Changes in the relative positions of parts 
which would be absolutely impossible in the 


SCIENCE. 


529 


adult, may be readily accomplished in the 
unsegmented egg, as is shown by eases of 
inverse symmetry. The question is here 
raised whether some similar sudden altera- 
tion of germinal organization may not lie 
at the basis of the origin of new types. 


Mutations: THomas Dwicut, Parkman 
Professor of Anatomy, Harvard Medical 
School. 

It has been clear from the beginning that 
evolution, if it be a power at all, must work 
either by minute modifications or by more 
or less sudden changes. Darwinism is es- 
sentially the doctrine of minute modifica- 
tions increased by selection and controlled 
by the survival of the fittest. Darwin in- 
sisted most strongly on the importance of 
minute modifications. While holding that 
‘strongly marked variations’ might modify 
a species without the help of any selection 
at all, he absolutely denied any sudden 
changes of importance such as lie at the 
bottom of the mutation theory. ‘Natural 
selection,’ he wrote, ‘acts only by the pres- 
ervation and accumulation of small in- 
herited modifications’; and he asserted that 
it would ‘banish the belief of the continued 
creation of new organic beings or of any 
great and sudden modifications of their 
structure.’ 

The mutation theory of sudden jumps 
and, it may be, of long jumps, is far from 
new; but it is de Vries’s merit to be able 
to show by demonstration what before was 
only theory. His hypothetical ‘pangens’ 
by which the changes are said to be brought 
about need not be discussed here. A rad- 
ical difference between the two theories is 
this: Darwinism pure and simple is essen- 
tially fortuitous; it aims in no particular 
direction, there is no goal; while mutation 
by producing suddenly a new species, or at 
least a subspecies, implies the existence of 
a type and of a law which under certain 
conditions becomes operative. 


530 


In this discussion the anatomist is at a 
disadvantage to the botanist and the breed- 
er who ean experiment. His argument 
must be largely analogical. He must con- 
sider how anatomical observations, both on 
races and on individuals, are better ex- 
plained by one theory or the other. Man’s 
body, for I am speaking as an anatomist 
and leaving aside all consideration of psy- 
chology, man’s body, as we find it to-day, 
does not mutate, but varies. What do the 
variations tell us? Race anatomy offers 
many instances of fusion of different races 
and occasionally suggests the occurrence in 
the past of a race differing sharply from 
those around it. Perhaps the best example 
of a race without approximate relations 
and most indicative of mutation is that of 
the pigmies. On the whole, race anatomy 
tells us little. What we call race charac- 
ters occasionally appear sporadically where 
one would not expect them. Thus the Mon- 
golian spot on the sacral region of infants 
has been recently observed on a child in 
Bavaria. More or less striking features of 
the disputed Neanderthal race oceur among 
us. The study of anatomical variations in 
the dissecting rooms of different parts of 
the world shows that while in all proba- 
bility there are different tendencies in dif- 
ferent races, the variations themselves are 
of no practical importance. Thus the pal- 
maris longus is absent in 12.7 per cent. at 
St. Petersburg and in 40.4 per cent. at 
Strassburg. The ‘candelabra’ method of 
division of the carotid artery occurs in 20 
per cent. at Strassburg and in 60 per. cent. 
at Breslau. The average absence of the 
pyramidalis is 12.7 per cent. at Strassburg, 
21 per cent. in Massachusetts, while among 
the Japanese this muscle is wanting in 
only 3.5 per cent. I have found the psoas 
minor. absent in 60.5 per cent. against 48.7 
per cent. at St. Petersburg. The sternalis, 
so exceptional in Caucasians, occurring at 
most in from 3 to 4 per cent. was found in 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 536. 


nearly 9 per cent. of the Japanese and cer- 
tain observations on the living seem to show 
that a larger series would produce even a 
much larger proportion. This, together 
with the rare absence of the pyramidalis in 
the Japanese, points toward specialization 
in muscle, a feature which strikes one as in 
keeping with the characteristics of that 
race. We are familiar with the fact that 
there seems to be a certain similarity of 
character among themselves in the fauna 
of isolated countries, yet it surprises us to 
find it manifested in the deeper structures. 
Hrdlicka has observed a form of human 
tibia, suggesting that of the gorilla, in over 
10 per cent. of African bones, which is 
almost unknown among the whites and not 
found at all among the Indians. Yet no 
one seriously believes that the negroes have 
any special relationship with the gorillas. 
This phenomenon of similarity, therefore, 
implies some agency beside selection. 

Leaving race anatomy let us see whether 
the variations, which we continually ob- 
serve in the dissecting room, point either 
one way or the other in this discussion. 
The theory of change by minute variations 
receives no support from anatomical ob- 
servations. Precisely what many thought 
an illustration of Darwinism is its refuta- 
tion. Huxley foresaw this when he doubt- 
ed whether variations might not prove a 
two-edged sword. The fundamental error 
into which supporters of evolution by selee- 
tion are logically driven is the unwarranted 
assumption that similarity of structure can 
be explained only by descent. Though not 
formally stated, this is tacitly accepted al- 
most as an axiom. 

The student of variations is oppressed 
by their multiplicity. Those of the biceps, 
for instance, are bewildering, presenting 
forms normal in many orders of mammals 
and which refuse absolutely to be forced 
into any line of descent. Some, indeed, 
are mutually contradictory. It is no more 


Aprin 7, 1905.] 


than a truism to say that if an anomaly is 
to be explained by reversion the structure 
in question must have been normal in some 
ancestor; but in view of the vast number 
of anomalies, we are forced to believe that 
this ancestor must have been a museum of 
anatomical curios of the most diverse na- 
tures. It is overlooked that if the explana- 
tion of a reversion be true it must apply 
not to one only, but to every possible devia- 
tion of structure that is not pathological. 
Phylogeny must show nothing in the his- 
tory of the supracondyloid process, for in- 
stance, which will not accord with that of 
the paroccipital process, or with that of 
the third trochanter, or with that of each 
and all of the hundreds of variations which 
the human body may present. Not only 
has this accord not been shown, but obvious 
contradictions have been neglected. An 
explanation has been sought by referring 
certain peculiarities very far back: even to 
a hypothetical common vertebrate stem an- 
tedating the classes. We admire the learn- 
ing and the research; but does the explana- 
tion explain ? 

One of the great difficulties of selection 
has been to account for the appearance of 
strikingly similar adaptations or arrange- 
ments in species from entirely different 
lines of descent. Analogous to this is the 
similar irregular appearance of variations. 
The fossa prenasalis is a deep, sharply 
marked depression just below the nasal 
opening, occurring chiefly in low races. It 
is not to be confounded with the gradual 
passage of nose into face which is the rule 
among mammals. J am not aware that it 
is found among mammals except in the 
seal, and even there it is less well defined 
than it may be in man. Here, then,’is a 
sudden change not atavistic and certainly 
not progressive. The pronator quadratus 
in man very rarely sends a prolongation 
to a carpal bone. I have found this as a 
variation in a chimpanzee, and Macalister 


SCIENCE. 


531 


in a lon, but in no mammal is it normal. 
To find it also in turtles and in the Crypto- 
branchus japonicus does not help us much 
towards an explanation. 

It is very suggestive that in certain vari- 
ations of the platysma by which it enters 
into various combinations with the facial 
muscles, in some eases its fibers are in direct 
continuity with those of muscles which 
comparative anatomy teaches belong to an- 
other layer. It seems as if nature were 
striving for a certain effect and is abso- 
lutely indifferent by just what means it is 
accomplished. 

One of the most significant points of the 
mutation theory is that it rehabilitates spe- 
cies with its old-time dignity. Though we 
flounder in our definitions of species, we 
ean not get rid of the thought that it is 
something, after all. By a strange para- 
dox it is precisely through variations that 
the tendency towards stability of species is 
emphasized. In my observations on the 
human spine I have found that very fre- 
quently the effects of a variation in one 
part are felt in remote parts and, indeed, 
throughout the spine. Some of these seem 
directly teleological, others tend to preserve 
the type. Thus if the last ribs are very 
small, and this holds good whether they be 
the normal twelfth pair or the abnormal 
thirteenth, the rib before the last is usually 
exceptionally long. In the case of cervical 
ribs it is common to find the last rib very 
small, as if the whole thorax had moved 
up. In eases where there are only eleven 
thoracic vertebre not rarely an increase of 
their size tends to preserve the proper pro- 
portions of the thorax. In the lumbar re- 
gion there are certain striking character- 
istics in the spread and in the structure of 
the last three transverse processes which 
give a definite shape to the whole region. 
In many cases of numerical variation there 
is an evident effort to reestablish normal 


532 


features as nearly as the modification will 
permit. 

It is to my mind impossible to find any 
support for a theory of evolution by minute 
changes from the study of anatomical vari- 
ations. I should not venture to say, on the 
other hand, that they give any direct sup- 
port to the theory of mutation; but at least 
they are not in disaccord with it. 


Systematic Work and Evolution: L. H. 
Barney, Director of the College of Agri- 
culture, Cornell University. 

Every object of which we take cogniz- 
ance must be named if we are to record 
and convey the ideas associated with it. 
As the names accumulate, it is necessary 
that we group them, or provide some 
scheme of arrangement. We classify all 
categories, even though we do no more than 
to arrange them alphabetically. _Nomen- 
elature and classification are primary intel- 
lectual processes. 

The number of organisms that we know 
has come to be legion. These organisms 
are described in bocks. The first descrip- 
tions accepted the organisms as they are, 
without serious inquiry of their origins. 
Definite names have come to be attached to 
each kind of organism and definite customs 
have arisen to control the bestowal of the 
names. Biological nomenclature has be- 
come a rigid bibliographical method. 

The first object of classification was to 
afford a perspicuous arrangement of facts. 
The facts must be pigeon-holed, else they 
may be lost. Gradually, however, the idea 
of relationship between the objects has de- 
veloped, and these ideas have expressed 
themselves in erystallized schemes of classi- 
fication. That is to say, classification of 
organisms is a combination and compromise 
of bibliographical methed and expression 
of relationships. 

Presently, the organisms themselves be- 
gan to be studied from the physiolegical 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 536. 


side. It was discovered that at least some 
of the named groups of organisms are not 
entities. There are all grades of differ- 
ences, from those peculiar to one individual 
to those peculiar to many individuals, and 
to groups of individuals. The organisms 
are multifarious and elastic, but nomen- 
clatorial and taxonomic systems are edi- 
torial and arbitrary. 

We are all now committed to the evolu- 
tion philosophy as a working hypothesis. 
The greatest problems in the study of or- 
ganic nature are the determining cf the 
lines of ascent and the means by which they 
have come about. We study plastic ma- 
terial; at the same time we are making a 
desperate effort, at least on the botanical 
side, towards rigidity of nomenclature. 
Our ideas of what constitutes species and 
varieties are free and extensible enough, 
but our methods of designating these ideas 
still follow the formalism of a century ago 
—are in fact more inflexible than they were 
in the time of Linneus. If nomenclature 
is inelastic, schemes of classification within 
the genus or species must likewise be in- 
elastic, for the classification is but an ex- 
pression of our ideas of the relationships 
of the objects that we name. Our nomen- 
elature dces not express either the knowl- 
edge or the point of view of our time. 

The Present Status of Systematic Work. 
—There are three elements in the discus- 
sion of systematic work as related to trans- 
mutation theories: (1) The idea of a spe- 
cies, (2) the methods of naming and re- 
cording, (3) the classificatory schemes 
themselves. 

It would be profitless at this time to 
enter into a disquisition as to what a species 
is. The many discussions of this subject 
are so many admissions that no one knows. 
The only point I care now to make is that 
we all recognize the fact that the single 
word ‘species’ covers groups of widely dif- 
ferent grades of value, of differentiation, 


ApriIL 7, 1905.] 


and of evolutional development. This fact 
has been brought forcibly to our attention 
again by the stimulating work of de Vries. 
There are collective species, elementary 
species and other grades. Our formal 
nomenclature in practise recognizes only 
two grades—‘species’ and ‘variety,’ with 
no two persons agreeing which is one or 
the other. If there are such differing 
erades in nature, then we must accept the 
fact and adopt new technical words for the 
various grades. This has not been done, 
at least not in practise, because we have 
not yet sufficiently clear ideas to enable us 
to do so. These varying grades of species 
and varieties are the results of processes of 
evolution, and some, if not all, of these 
processes are still in operation. Therefore, 
the new definitions of species-concepts must 
rest on physiological or functional grounds, 
not merely on morphological and anatom- 
ical grounds. 

Many of us feel that the present methods 
of nomenclature and description will be 
outgrown, for these methods are made for 
the herbarium and the museum, rather 
than for the field. It is a most suggest- 
ive commentary that the botanist may 
know the ‘species’ when it is glued on an 
herbarium sheet, but may not know it when 
growing. The nurseryman or gardener 
may know it when growing, but not when 
it is in a herbarium. This is not merely 
because the botanist is unfamiliar with the 
field, or the gardener unfamiliar with the 
herbarium; these men have different fun- 
damental conceptions of what a species is; 
they use different ‘marks,’ one morpholog- 
ical, the other largely physiological. I be- 
lieve that the gardener is nearer the truth. 
I recall a characteristic remark made by 
my master, Sereno Watson, when, in the 
confidence of youth, I asked whether a cer- 
tain binomial would be accepted a hundred 
years from now. He shrugged his shoul- 


SCIENCE. 


533 


ders and said quietly, ‘I don’t know; they 
may call plants by numbers then.’ 

I have no intention of proposing any new 
plan of nomenclature—that would only 
amuse you. I merely feel, as you do, that 
a change is imminent. Perhaps we shall 
hold to our main species-groups for his- 
tory’s sake, and then designate minor 
groups in terms of their qualities. If we 
find it to be true that there are fluctuating 
varieties and mutations of differing gen- 
eses, then we must assuredly represent 
these facts in nomenclature and taxonomy. 
Very likely we shall adopt a scheme wholly 
different from the current binomial plan 
for designating one or the other, or perhaps 
both. We may adopt quantitative names 
—having determined the main lines of dif- 
ferentiation, may express each variation in 
names of more or less. I look for some 
such method to result from the statistical 
quantitative study of variation. Let me 
draw an illustration also from plant-breed- 
ing practise. The horticulturist and the 
agriculturist have been holding to the for- 
mal or conventional idea of ‘variety.’ We 
will suppose that the farmers of a region 
have grown Jones’s Giant White Corn. 
They have bought and sold and planted 
this name. They have fed it to the pigs; 
and the pigs may have thrived or may not, 
according as the corn contained much or 
little food value. The name is of no value 
to the pigs; and, in fact, it is of no real 
value to the farmer unless it is a guarantee 
of some particular excellence. Now, the 
name Jones’s Giant White designates corn 
of certain color and shape of ear and of 
kernel—features which really mean noth- 
ing to the farmer, whereas the starch-con- 
tent or the protein-content may mean 
everything. The new plant-breeding does 
not try to produce a new ‘variety’ so much 
as a series of generations that shall have 
ereater efficiency. We shall have, perhaps, 
fifteen per cent. protein corn, or seventy- 


534 


five per cent. starch corn. The name will 
be of no particular consequence. 

If organisms are to be recognized on 
their merits, then we must cease to class 
some forms as ‘natural’ and others as ‘arti- 
ficial.” In the future, the products of the 
breeder and the plants of the garden are 
to find their rightful place in systematic 
plans. They illustrate processes of evolu- 
tion ; and if these processes are hastened by 
man, the products are all the more worthy 
of consideration in man-made _ schemes. 
The old-time distinction between native 
forms and domestic forms is arbitrary, un- 
necessary and pernicious. All animals are 
animals and all plants are plants. 

If we are to designate minor groups or 
differences in terms of their real qualities, 
you will still ask how it can be done as a 
matter of practise, how we shall be able 
quickly and clearly to determine what par- 
ticular animal or plant we have in hand. 
This is really a part of the problem—how 
to express our ideas without confusion. In 
the first place, I should say that the change 
in point of view will come slowly and we 
shall work out the means as we proceed. I 
desire only to suggest the direction in 
which progress seems to lie. In the second 
place, I should say that in the future we 
may care less for merely naming a thing 


than we have in the past—perhaps our. 


formal nomenclature may well stop with 
characters that are gross and evident. In 
the third place—and this is the real erux 
of the matter—I should say that formal 
nomenclature must never stand in the way 
of our expressing the full truth about or- 
ganisms. At best, nomenclature is a make- 
shift. It is a secondary consideration. If 
this statement is not accepted, then the 
only alternative is to say that systems of 
nomenclature and classification belong to 
one realm and that biological studies belong 
to another, and that, therefore, these sys- 
tems can not be expected to conform to our 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 536. 


expanding knowledge. This position would 
be untenable from the fact that classifica- 
tion is always re-adapting and re-shaping 
itself to our changing points of view; and 
nomenclature can not be wholly divorced 
from taxonomy. Taxonomy represents a 
progressive effort; nomenclature a con- 
servative effort. Our current phytographie 
and zoographic methods do not aliow us to 
express our ideas of species. 

_ Every systematist knows how unsatisfae- 
tory the mere ‘determining’ of species is. 
It consists mainly in matching certain ar- 
bitrary characters or marks with similar 
marks of specimens in the ‘collection.’ We 
may have no knowledge whether these 
marks have any significance in the physi- 
ology or phylogeny of the species, that is, 
whether they are really of any biological 
value. In theory, we try to hold the sys- 
tematist to what we call consistency in the 
determining of species; but as a matter of 
fact the systematist is constantly changing 
his mind as to the values of diagnostic 
marks—and herein, it seems to me, lies the 
safety of systematic work. A few years 
ago a botanist sent me a plant to name. 
When I had returned the name he up- 
braided me by saying that he had sent me 
the identical plant the year before and I 
had then given it another name. I replied 
that it was his own fault, for he had no 
business to send me the specimen twice. 

The question. really comes to this—Shall 
we know two kinds of species, one of tax- 
onomy and one of biology? If so, then it 
is seareely worth while to try to construct 
any scheme of taxonomy that shall en- 
deavor to express our latest ideas of the 
ascent of organisms, for a scheme of classi- 
fication for formal species is needed only 
for the purpose of ready reference. Com- 
stock has stated the question well in the 
following paragraphs :* 


** Evolution and Taxonomy,’ Wilder Quarter- 
Century Book, pp. 44 and 45. : 


APRIL 7, 1905.] 


There will also arise, I believe, in a work of 
this kind, a necessity for distinguishing between 
the essential characters of a group and those char- 
acters which are used by the systematist merely to 
enable students to recognize members of the 
group. For it seems to me that the essential char- 


-acters of a group of organisms do not lie neces- 


sarily in the presence or absence of any structure 
or structures, or in the form or any part or parts 
of the body of the living members of the group; 
but rather in the characteristic structure of the 
progenitor of the group, and in the direction of 
specialization of the descendants of this progenitor. 
The recognition-characters are those usually 
first observed by the investigator, and are those 
commonly given in taxonomic works. In many 
cases these recognition-characters are also essen- 
tial characters, especially in the case of groups 
that have been thoroughly studied. But by the 
taxonomic methods now commonly used, search is 
chiefly made for recognition-characters. The more 
skilled the systematist the more likely is he to dis- 
cover and use as recognition-characters those that 
are really essential, although the distinction 
pointed out here may not be recognized by him. 
Very likely we shall not abolish the pres- 
ent systems of nomenclature and descrip- 
tion in the larger units, but we shall 
modify and extend them. We shall break 
away from the old lines of cleavage. We 
shall learn what marks that are correlated 
with function can be used as expedient 
diagnostic characters. We shall make an 
increasing effort to use absolute characters, 
not merely relative and comparative ones. 
We ought to make the ‘type’ of the species 
the real biological or phylogenetic type, not 
cling merely to the ‘original’ specimen that 
chanced first to be named. What we now 
eall ‘types’ may be wholly unusual and 
even non-significant forms. If the book or 
literary type is in time to be the real type, 
then we shall re-group our species-units, 
and this will be the greatest possible gain. 


If we decide that literary-species must 


come, in the future, to correspond to the 
physiological or elementary species, then 
we may hope to express the direction of 
evolution fairly well in our taxonomic 
schemes. These taxonomic schemes must 


SCIENCE. 535 


proceed centrifugally and dichotomously 
rather than lineally. They must arrange 
about foci. I wish to quote again from 
Comstock : 

If the history of a group be worked out in the 
manner indicated, the student will feel the need 
of recording his results in such a way as to indi- 
cate the phylogeny of the divisions of the group. 
But as the necessities of book-making require a 
linear arrangement of descriptions, this is some- 
what difficult; for the natural sequence of groups 
should be represented by constantly branching 
lines rather than by a single straight line. 

It seems to me that the most practicable way 
of meeting this difficulty is to begin with the 
description of the most generalized form known, 
and to follow this with descriptions of forms rep- 
resenting a single line of development, passing 
successively to more and more specialized forms 
included in this line. When the treatment of 
one line of development has been completed, take 
up another line, beginning with the most gener- 
alized member of that line and clearly indicating 
in the text that a new start has been made. 

In making the foregoing suggestions I 
am well aware that I have not devised 
any definite nomenclatorial or taxonomic 
schemes by which they can be earried out. 
I doubt whether it is worth while to devise 
any schemes. We need only to establish 
a few principles and to look upon the pres- 
ent methods as temporary, allowing new 
methods to grow as our ideas grow. There 
can be no finality in such schemes or sys- 
tems. We have lately seen a vigorous re- 
vival of the effort towards ‘stability’ of 
nomenclature; but nomenclature is only a 
bit of language, and language can never be 
stable if it is vital. It was the old idea 
that systematic work is for the purpose of 
making record; it is the new idea that it is 
for the purpose of expressing the meaning 
of the organic creation. 


Ethology and the Mutation Theory: Wi.- 
LIAM Morton WHEELER, Curator of In- 
vertebrate Zoology, American Museum 
of Natural History. 

‘“The mutation theory,’’ .as we learn 


536 


from the opening sentences of de Vries’s 
celebrated work, ‘‘asserts that the charac- 
ters of organisms are built up out of units 
distinetly different from one another. 
These units may be combined to form 
groups, and in allied species the same units 
and groups keep recurring. Transitions, 
however, such as are so abundantly repre- 
sented in the outer forms of plants and 
animals no more occur between these units 
than between the molecules of chemistry.”’ 
It follows as a corollary from this state- 
ment that species must be conceived to arise 
from preexisting species by discontinuous 
variations, or mutations, and not by flue- 
tuating variations, or variations proper. 
The theory is built on a number of remark- 
able facts derived from breeding organisms, 
with special attention to their morpholog- 
ical characters or attributes. I have been 
asked to consider the question as to whether 
the theory will apply also to the behavior 
or ethological, as well as to the morpholog- 
ical, aspect of organisms. 

The biologist finds it well to distinguish 
carefully between structure and function, 
just as the psychologist finds it greatly to 
his advantage to distinguish sharply be- 
tween the psychic, on the one hand, and the 
physiological and morphological, on the 
other. For the purposes of discussion I 
will take the standpoint of the biologist in 
so far as it relates to the distinction be- 
tween structure and function, but I will 
combine under function both the physiolog- 
ical and psychological aspects as together 
constituting ethology, at any rate to the 
extent that they are involved in the be- 
havior of organisms. 

Now, inasmuch as ethology deals with 
processes, or phenomenal diversity in time, 
whereas morphology deals with the spatial 
diversity of phenomena, it is evident that 
ethological must be very different from 
morphological characters. It might even 
be said that the ethologist has no right to 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 536. 


speak of a process as a character or char- 
acteristic, and the original Greek meaning 
of these words would seem to limit their 
use to the structural configurations result- 
ing from specific acts or processes. This 
need not prevent us, however, from extend- 
ing the meaning of the terms to include 
also the typical and specific reactions of 
the organisms to their environment. Cer- 
tainly in the case of the human species, 
which is best known ethologically, the terms 
character and characteristic are hardly 
used of physical structures, but almost ex- 
clusively of typical modes of activity. 

In its application to ethology the muta- 
tion theory can only mean that organic 
species must differ from one another by 
discrete idiosynerasies of behavior. Most 
biologists would probably regard any dis- 
cussion of mutation from the ethological 
standpoint either as superfluous or as 
necessarily and merely confirmatory of 
the results of morphological study. In 
their opinion it would follow as a matter 
of course that the functional and etholog- 
ical characters of organisms must fluctuate 
or mutate according as the structural char- 
acters vary continuously or discontinuous- 
ly. In my opinion this is not so self- 
evident as it would appear to be at first 
sight. 

It is true, of course, that the various 
structural categories from the phylum 
down to the species, subspecies, variety, 
sex and individual—all show what may be 
regarded as correlated or corresponding 
ethological characters, although this corre- 
spondence is often very loose, vague and 
irregular, for it is evident that slight 
morphological may be correlated with com- 
plex ethological characters, and conversely. 
Some such correspondence may also be ob- 
served in hybrid forms. All this is usually 
taken for granted, and as a consequence 
the theory of an ethophysical parallelism, 
on the model of the famous psychophysical 


ApRIL 7, 1905.] 


parallelism seems to have been tacitly ac- 
cepted by many biologists. If we follow 
up the matter, however, we soon find that 
in the field of possible observation the etho- 
logical tend to outstrip the morphological 
characters. We observe great differences 
in habits and behavior between genera of 
the same family, between species of the 
same genus, and what is most significant, 
between individuals and even twins of the 
same species. At the same time we may 
be utterly unable to point out the corre- 
sponding structural differences, which, ac- 
cording to any theory of parallelism, should 
accompany such pronounced ethological 
distinctions. What bold man, for example, 
will undertake to show us the morpholog- 
ical characters corresponding to such strik- 
ing differences in behavior as are mani- 
fested by the horse and the ass, by eats or 
dogs of the same litters, or children of the 
same parents? Of course, we are at once 
reminded that there must be corresponding 
morphological differences represented ' by 
eell-structures, biophores, ids, complex 
chemical compounds, ete. We are com- 
pelled to admit that these may exist, but 
until a function can be shown to be cor- 
related with a particular structure, the 
structure is, of course, to all intents and 
purposes a purely hypothetical and imag- 
inary entity. It is clear that the prestige 
of morphology has been artificially en- 
hanced by a continual appeal to complex 
invisible structures. Whatever may be the 
truth concerning such structures, it is un- 
doubtedly a matter of considerable theoret- 
ical and practical importance that we are 
able to detect ethological where we can not 
detect morphological differences or char- 
acters. 

We may, in fact, be permitted to reverse 
the matter and take the point of view of 
the psychologist and metaphysician rather 
than that of the morphologist. In other 
words, we may start with behavior or the 


SCIENCE. 537 


dynamic, 7. e., physiological and psycholog- 
ical processes of the organism, and regard 
the structure as their result or objectiva- 
tion. The organism makes itself—the ethos 
is the organism. In this sense the honey- 
comb is as much a part of the bee as is her 
chitinous investment, and the nest is as 
much a part of the bird as her feathers, 
and every organism, as a living and acting 
being, fills a much greater sphere than that 
which is bounded by its integument.* 

Although the time is so very limited, 
permit me to digress somewhat further on 
a more practical consequence of the view 
here advocated. We are certainly justified 
in regarding ethological characters as very 
important, as belonging to the organism 
and as being at least complementary to the 
morphological characters. If this is true, 
our existing taxonomy and phylogeny are 
deplorably defective and one-sided. To 
classify organisms or to seek to determine 
their phylogenetic affinities on purely struc- 
tural grounds can only lead, as it has led 
in the past, to the trivialities of the species 
monger and synonym peddler. This has 
been instinctively felt by all biologists 
whose development has not been arrested 
in the puerile specimen-collecting stage. 

* Compare, in this connection, the following 
passages from Schopenhauer’s well-known essay on 
Comparative Anatomy (Ed. Frauenstedt, Bd. 4, 
pp. 45 and 58): “Man betrachte die zahllosen 
Gestalten der Thiere. Wie ist doch jedes durchweg 
nur das Abbild seines Wollens, der sichtbare Aus- 
druck der Willensbestrebungen, die seinen Char- 
akter ausmachen. * * * Aus meiner Lehre folgt 
allerdings, dass jedes Wesen sein eigenes Werk ist. 
Die Natur, die nimmer liigen kann und naiv ist 
wie das Genie, sagt geradezu das Selbe aus, indem 
jedes Wesen an einem underen, genau _ seines 
Gleichen, nur den Lebensfunken anziindet und 
dann vor unseren Augen sich selbst macht, den 
Stoff dazu von Aussen, Form und Bewegung aus 
sich selbst nehmend; welches man Wachsthum 
und Entwickelung nennt. So steht auch empirisch 
jedes Wesen als sein eigenes Werk vor uns. Aber 
man versteht die Sprache der Natur nicht, weil 
sie zu einfach ist.” 


538 


Embryology, by no means a purely mor- 
phological science, but one daily assuming 
a more physiological aspect, has come to 
have a weighty voice in matters of classi- 
fication. More recently chorology, or 
biogeography—a_ distinctively ethological 
science—has come to play an equally im- 
portant part. And rightly, because the 
organism may be said to seek, and in many 
eases even to make, its own environment. 
Every field naturalist knows that he is fre- 
quently guided to the more delicate specific 
and varietal distinctions, not so much by 
the structural differences between the or- 
ganisms he is observing, as by differences 
in their habitat or behavior. Then closer 
scrutiny may often, although not always, 
reveal correlated structural differences. 
When such structural differences are not 
to be detected we speak of ethological 
species, and the number of these is un- 
doubtedly much greater than was formerly 
supposed.* «The great reliance on geo- 
graphical distribution in the more refined 
taxonomy of certain groups of organisms, 
like the birds, mammals and social insects, 
shows an ever-deepening appreciation of 
ethological characters. It is even jocosely 
asserted that certain mammalogists are 
quite unable to identify a specimen unless 
they are first informed of the exact fence- 
corner in which it was trapped. Then, and 
not till then, are they able to perceive the 
delicate specific or subspecifie shade of 
pelage which goes with life in that partic- 
ular corner. 

The fact that the morphologist has so 
consistently either neglected or opposed the 
use of ethological characters in classifica- 
tion shows very clearly that in his heart of 
hearts he has never very earnestly con- 

*T have in mind a number of cases among in- 
sects, such as certain species of ants. There are 
American forms of the genera Pheidole, Myrmica, 
Myrmecocystus, Formica, ete., which exhibit geo- 
graphical differences in habits without perceptible 
morphological differences. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 536. 


cerned himself with the parallelism of 
structure and function. He is inclined to 
regard function, especially psychical fune- 
tion, as something utterly intangible and 
capricious. For does it not seem to make 
its appearance in the embryo or young 
after structure has developed, and to de- 
part at death before the dissolution of vis- 
ible structure? And are not our museums 
largely mausoleums of animal and plant 
structures which we can forever describe 
and redescribe, tabulate and retabulate, ar- 
range and rearrange, without troubling 
ourselves in the least about anything so 
volatile as funetion ? 

It is, indeed, not only conceivable, but 
very desirable, that a taxonomy should be 
developed in which the ethological will re- 
ceive ample consideration, if they do not 
actually take precedence of the morpholog- 
ical characters. It is certainly quite as 
rational to classify organisms as much by 
what they do as by the number of their 
spines and joints, the color of their hairs 
and feathers, the course of their wing- 
nervures, ete. To regard our existing 
purely structural classifications as anything 
more than the most provisional of make- 
shifts, is to ignore the fact that the vast 
majority of organisms which they are de- 
signed to cover are known only from a 
few dead exuvie. There are, of course, 
enormous difficulties in the way of con- 
structing ethological classifications, quite 
apart from the fact that our knowledge of 
behavior is even more fragmentary than 
that of structure, as any one will realize 
who tries to write an ethological description 
of some common animal.or group of ani- 
mals. In morphology the elements of de- 
scription can be treated as parts of an 
orderly and traditionally respected routine, 
but in ethology we still lack the necessary 
preliminary analysis of the more complex 
instincts, and are therefore unable to con- 
struct uniform and mutually comparable 


AprIL 7, 1905.] 


descriptions. One great desideratum in 
ethology at the present time is a satisfac- 
tory and sufficiently elastic working classi- 
fication of the instincts and reactions, like 
that of the organs and organ systems of 
the morphologist. Such a_ classification 
can be developed only by comprehensive, 
comparative study of behavior in a number 
of genera and families and not by any 
amount of intensive study of a few reac- 
tions in a few species.* 

It seemed necessary to discuss ethological 
characters at some length for the purpose 
of vindicating their importance. Having 
attempted this, I may say that these char- 
acters seem to me to offer even fewer diffi- 
culties than the morphological characters 
to the acceptance of the mutation theory, 
for the reason that the ethological and psy- 
chological processes are conceived primarily 
as qualities and not as quantities. Thus 
the psychical elements, 7. e., the simple feel- 
ings, cravings and sensations, are disparate 
qualitative processes which can not be de- 
rived from one another or from some more 
undifferentiated process. This is still more 
evident in the case of the complex psy- 
chieal phenomena. Similarly, instincts, 
with which ethology is most concerned, 
when resolved into their simplest com- 
ponents are seen to consist of discrete reac- 
tions which can not be shown to arise from 
one another. Although, on the other hand, 
the measurable intensities and durations of 
the reactions are analogous to the fluctu- 
ating structural variations, it is even more 
difficult for the psychologist to conceive of 
a particular feeling, craving or sensation 
as arising from the greater or less intensity 
or duration of some other psychic process, 

* An avowedly provisional but elaborate ‘ Sys- 
tem der thierischen Triebe’ was suggested several 
years ago by G. H. Schneider in an interesting 
work (‘ Der thierische Wille,’ Leipzig, Ambr, Abel, 
1880), but subsequent workers have not even 
adopted, to say nothing of having perfected, the 
schema. 


SCIENCE. 


539 


than it is for the morphologist to conceive 
of the origin of new characters from the 
fluctuating variations of structure. 

It is, of course, extremely difficult to 
determine the first inception of an instinct 
process, as one may point to the mutational 
inception of a structural character. An 
instinct is not an isolated manifestation, 
but is always more or less influenced by or 
inextricably bound up with other instincts. 
Nor do we know of any instinct which 
manifests itself only in a single species. 
Still there are numerous cases in which we 
seem to see more or less clearly the phylo- 
genetic change from one instinct to an- 
other. Take, for example, the change from 
a flesh-eating or insectivorous to a granivo- 
rous or vegetarian instinct, a change which 
has undoubtedly taken place many times in 
the animal kingdom and is still taking 
place, especially among insects, birds and 
mammals. The organs which are useful 
in obtaining, comminuting and digesting 
animal food will function with a certain 
degree of efficiency when vegetable food is 
substituted, and the animal can pass either 
at once from animal to vegetable food or 
through a stage in which both kinds of food 
are eaten. In the latter case, only after 
the transition has been completed can we 
suppose that the organs will begin to as- 
sume the more perfect structural adapta- 
tions to a vegetarian diet. The state in 
which the animal is both carnivorous and 
vegetarian may be regarded as one in which 
two instinets coexist, and the purely vege- 
tarian is reached by the mutational acquisi- 
tion of a new and the mutational loss of an 
old instinct. Undoubtedly many changes 
of instinct are brought about in this man- 
ner so analogous to what has been called 
in morphology the ‘substitution of organs.’ 

Mutation is even more urgently demand- 
ed for the explanation of many other in- 
stincts, especially those of symbiotic and 
parasitic species and of species with pro- 


540 


found and sudden metamorphoses. In 
these cases a particular activity, on which 
must often depend the life of the indi- 
vidual or of its progeny, has to be per- 
formed with a high degree of proficiency 
at its very phylogenetic inception or it can 
be of no advantage to the individual or the 
race. Such cases, with which you are all 
sufficiently familiar, have ever been the in- 
surmountable obstacle to the evolution of 
instinets on the theory of fluctuating varia- 
tions and natural selection. The theory of 
organic selection seems to me merely to 
conceal but not to overcome the difficulties. 
The mutation theory frankly avoids the 
difficulties even if it fails to throw any 
light on the origin of the mutations, and 
bundles this into the germ-plasma. It is, 
of course, no objection to the theory that it 
leaves something under the heavens to be 
accounted for. This is rather to be re- 
garded as one of its chief virtues. As 
working naturalists we have reason to be 
most suspicious of the theories that explain 
everything. 


Discontinuous Variation and the Origin of 
Species:* Dr. D. T. MacDoucau, New 
York Botanical Garden. 

That distinct and separate qualities ex- 
pressed in recognizable external characters 
may appear suddenly, or disappear com- 
pletely, in a series of generations of plants, 
has been a matter of common observation 
so long that it would be difficult to hunt 
out and fix upon the first instance of 
record. 

The significance of such phenomena was 
obviously beyond the comprehension of the 
earlier botanists, and it is evident that a 
rational recognition of the phylogenetic 
value of sports and anomalies necessarily 
awaited the development and realization 


*See also, MacDougal, D. T., ‘ Discontinuous 
Variation and the Origin of Species.’ Torreya. 
5: Jan., 1905. Pp. 1-6. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 536. 


of the conceptions of unit-characters, of 
the minute structures which are the ulti- 
mate bearers of heredity, and of the inter- 
dependence of the two in such manner as 
to constitute actual entities as embodied in 
Darwin’s pangenesis, de Vries’ intra-cel- 
lular pangenesis and in Mendel’s investiga- 
tions upon heredity. It is equally ap- 
parent that a proper interpretation of the 
facts in question, and their distinction from 
the results of hybridization were possible 
only by means of the analysis of the col- 
lated results of observations upon series of 
securely guarded pedigree-cultures, in 
which the derivation of all of the individ- 
uals of several successive generations had 
been noted. For it is now thoroughly real- 
ized that the main questions of descent 
and heredity and of evolution in general 
are essentially physiological, and as such 
their solution is to be sought in experiences 
with living organisms and not by deduc- 
tions from illusory ‘prima facie’ evidence, 
which has been so much in vogue in evolu- 
tionary polemies, nor by ‘interpretations of 
the face of nature’ with the accompanying 
inexact methods and superficial considera- 
tions. It was upon the safe basis of the first- 
named conceptions, and by means of the 
methods entailed, that de Vries so success- 
fully grappled with the problems involved 
in the investigation of the part played by 
discontinuous variation in evolution. 

In view of the amount of orderly and 
well-authenticated evidence now at hand, 
it may be regarded as demonstrated that 
characters, and groups of characters, of 
appreciable physiological value, originate, 
appear in new combinations or become 
latent, in hereditary series of organisms, in 
such manner as to constitute distinct breaks 
in descent. 

This is the main thesis of the mutation 
theory—the saltatory movements of char- 
acters, regardless of the taxonomic value of 
the resultant forins. That the derivatives 


Aprit 7, 1905.] 


‘might be considered as species by one sys- 
tematist, and varieties by another, is quite 
incidental and of very lttle importance. 
The main contention hes in the claim that 
characters of a definite nature appear, and 
become inactive suddenly, and do not 
always need thousands of years for their 
infinitely slow external realization, or for 
their gradual disappearance from a strain. 

Of course the principal corollary of the 
mutation-theory is that the saltations in 
question do result in the production of new 
species and varieties. As a matter of in- 
terest it may be stated that the systematists 
who have seriously examined the adult 
mutants of the evening-primroses culti- 
vated in the New York Botanical Garden 
have unanimously held the opinion that 
certain ones were to be considered as species 
and others as varieties. 

Furthermore, these conclusions are con- 
firmed when the characters of the mutants 
are subjected to statistical methods of in- 
vestigation. In the observations of Dr. 
Shull, which will be presented more fully 
before the Botanical Society of America, it 
has been found that qualities of the mu- 
tants, susceptible of measurement, depart 
definitely and clearly from the parent-type 
and fluctuate about a new mean, and do 
not intergrade with the parental form. 
The amplitude of fluctuation about the new 
center ‘is greater than that of correspondent 
parental qualities, and the degree of corre- 
lation is much less in the mutants than in 
the parent. This is seen by inspection to 
be true in one species during the first year 
of its existence, and is confirmed by the 
exact observations on other forms a dozen 
years after their mutative origin. Con- 
sequently the features in question may not 
be taken to be in any way the result of 
selection, but are in themselves new qual- 
ities. 

Lamarck’s evening-primrose offers such 
striking and easily recognizable examples 


SCIENCE. 


ae | 


of discontinuous variation, and has been 
the object of so much detailed study, that 
we are in danger of giving way to the sup- 
position that the mutation-theory rests 
upon the facts obtained from this plant 
alone. It is to be said, however, that if 
the evidence obtained from it and all of its 
derivatives were obliterated, the results of 
experimental studies which have been made 
upon mutations in other species, upon the 
behavior of retrograde and ever-sporting 
varieties, the occurrence of systematic ata- 
vism, and of taxonomic anomalies, pelories 
and other morphological features, would 
furnish ample support for the conception 
of unit-characters, and serve to establish 
the fact that mutations have occurred in 
a number of species representing diverse 
groups. 

It is now becoming plainly apparent that 
the phenomena of hybridization, by the 
opportunities afforded for the study of the 
included unit-characters in a segregated 
condition ; for the analysis of complex char- 
acters, and of the various principles goy- 
erning the transmission, activity, domi- 
nancy, latency and recessivity of charac- 
ters promises to yield results of the first 
magnitude concerning the mechanism of 
descent and heredity. The possibilities, 
among plants, of crosses between species, 
comparatively widely different in morpho- 
logical and physiological constitution, indi- 
eate that the ultimate generalizations upon 
hybridism will find a broader exemplifica- 
tion in plants than in animals. 

It is pertinent to point out in this con- 
nection that the unguarded use of the terms 
‘variation’ and ‘mutation’ to designate 
phenomena of segregation and alternative 
inheritance, when races or species are 
thrown together in a hybrid strain, is 
bound to result in much confusion, espe- 
cially in dealing with plants, since it is well 
known that direct mutants of either parent 
oceasionally occur in such mixed strains. 


542 


From this last consideration we pass 
naturally to a discussion of the nature of 
the material which may be of use in the 
study of fluctuating and discontinuous 
variability. It needs no argument to sup- 
port the assertion that a successful experi- 
mental analysis of the behavior of separate 
characters may be carried out only when 
dealing with series of organisms fluctuating 
about a known mean with a measurable am- 
plitude of variability. 

Systematic species as ordinarily accepted 
generally consist of more than one inde- 
pendent and constant subspecies, or ele- 
mentary species which may not be assumed 
to interbreed or intergrade, unless actually 
demonstrated to do so by pedigreed cul- 
tures. So far but few elementary species 
have been found to interbreed. A due 
recognition of this simple fact would save 
us a vast amount of pyramidal logic resting 
on an inverted apex of supposition. 

Again, the accumulation of observations 
upon the prevalence and effect of self- and 
cross-fertilization has totally unsettled the 
generalizations current within the last few 
decades. Briefly stated, a moderate pro- 
portion of the flora of any region is 
autogamous, a large proportion both 
autogamous and heterogamous, and a mod- 
erate proportion entirely heterogamous. 
The relative number of species in- 
eluded in the categories indicated varies 
greatly in different regions. To assert the 
deleterious ‘effects of self-fertilization of 
all, or a majority of plants, is to base a 
statement upon evidence that lacks au- 
thentieation, as has been strikingly demon- 
strated by recent results. As a matter of 
fact no phase of evolutionary science is as 
badly in need of investigation as that which 
concerns the effects of close- and cross- 
breeding. 

It is also to be said that current miscon- 
ceptions as to the extreme range of fluctu- 
ating variability of many native species 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 536. 


have arisen from a failure to recognize the 
composite nature of the Linnean, or group- 
species upon which observations have been 
based, as I have found with the common 
evening-primrose. 

The demands of ordinary floristic work 
are usually met by the formulation of col- 
lective species, which are an undeniable 
convenience, and perhaps a necessity for 
the elementary teacher and the amateur. 
Upon the specialist in any subject rests 
the obligation to furnish his non-tech- 
nically trained constituency with concep- 
tions of the facts and principles within 
the domain of his investigations, which will 
be inclusive, and easy of comprehension. 
But if, in accordance with this requirement, 
the systematist contents himself with this 
looser, and with due regard it may be said, 
more superficial treatment, and does not 
delineate clearly the elementary constitu- 
ents of a flora, or falters in carrying his 
analysis of relationships to its logical end, 
he fails notably in the more serious pur- 
pose of his investigations, and his work 
must be supplemented and extended before 
it becomes an actual basic contribution to 
the physiologic, or phylogenetic, branches 
of the science. To study the behavior of 
characters we must have them in their sim- 
plest combinations. To investigate the 
origin and activity of species we must have 
them singly and uncomplicated. 

Lastly, we may turn to a phase of the 
subject which has, as yet, received nothing 
but speculative consideration—that of the 
causes which induce the organization of 
new characters and which stimulate their 
external appearance. The recurrence of 
the known mutants of Lamarck’s evening- 
primrose and the occurrence of new mu- 
tants of other species have taken place in 
New York and Amsterdam under condi- 
tions that lead to the definite conclusion 
that a favorable environment, including 
the most advantageous conditions for 


ApriL 7, 1905.] 


vegetative development and seed-produc- 
tion, facilitates the activation and appear- 
ance of latent qualities, and the inference 
lies near at hand that such conditions also 
participate as causes in the original organ- 
ization of new unit-characters, or in 
ehanges in these entities. We conclude, 
therefore, that favorable environment pro- 
motes the formation of new species as sug- 
gested by Korshinsky, and that new species 
do not arise under the stress of infra- 
optimal intensities of external factors as 
proposed by Darwin. 

Furthermore, it has been found that cer- 
tain qualities arise and disappear more 
numerously, and presumably more readily, 
than others, in a mutating strain. Thus 
those embodied in the mutants oblonga, 
lata and nanella find external realization in 
many more individuals than those which 
constitute the differentiating features of 
rubrinervis, scintillans, gigas, elliptica, 
subovata and others. 

Again, the inspection of the cultures 
made in Amsterdam and New York dem- 
onstrates that the last-named locality 
offers more favorable soil and climate for 
the evening-primroses. Correlated with 
this I am able to report that careful atten- 
tion to the cultures has resulted in an in- 
erease of the proportion of mutants from 
the five per cent. maximum of de Vries to 
more than six per cent. in the last season, 
in the American cultures, and to say that 
some forms which did not reach maturity, 
and others which did not océur in Amster- 
dam, may find in New York a climate in 
which they may carry out their entire de- 
velopment. The cultures of Lamarck’s 
evening-primrose now being carried on in- 
clude fourteen recognizable mutants, and it 
is pertinent to state that I have mutants of 
other species which will be duly deseribed 


after they have completed a cycle of de- 


velopment. 
All components of the environment may 


SCIENCE. 543 


not be taken to be of equal value in the 
induction of new qualities, and J by no 
means wish to give the impression that the 
problem is on the point of being solved, 
but our hopes have been raised to the high- 
est pitch that we may soon be able to dis- 
cern the factors more or less directly con- 
cerned. 

To be able to bring the causes that are 
operative in the formation and structural 
expression of qualities, 7. e., the moving 
forces of evolution, within the range of ex- 
perimental investigation would be a tri- 
umph worthy the best effort of the natural- 
ist; in that it would give us the power to 
give new positions to qualities and thus to 
produce new organisms, its importance 
would rank well with that of any biological 
achievement of the last half century. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

The Zoological Record, Vol. XL., being rec- 
ords of zoological literature relating chiefly 
to the year 1903. Edited (for the Zoolog- 
ical Society of London) by Davin Suarp. 
London. 1904. [Published early in 1905.] 
The Zoological Record, which has now been 

published for forty years, is simply invaluable 
to the working zoologist. This statement 
seems so trite as to be ridiculous, but the fact 
is not known to some of those who most need 
the work. Some time ago I received letters 
from a well-known naturalist, asking for in- 
formation concerning a group, the North 
American species of which he was cataloguing. 
In my replies I referred to the Zoological 
Record; but the answer came back: ‘ Do not 
refer me to the Zoological Record, it is not 
accessible to me.’ I do not cite this as an 
unusual case; on the contrary, one continually 
observes that writers have not seen the Record, 
and have missed various things in conse- 
quence. 

Consider for a moment what a time-saver 
the Record is, and how many oversights it 
prevents. Suppose I want to know about some 
genus of animals, literally any genus that 
may be mentioned; in half an hour I can find 


544 


out what new species have been described in 
that genus, or important things said about it, 
in the last ten years. Without the Record I 
might spend days in the quest, and then not 
find what I wanted. 

I have tried the Zurich cards (Concilium 
Bibliographicum), but have not found them so 
satisfactory. In a discussion at a meeting of 
the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science a few years ago, Professor H. 
B. Ward stated that for his purposes the cards 
were preferable to the Record, so one must 
grant that needs differ; yet I can not imagine 
that a taxonomic worker could do without the 
Record. The ecards, as printed, do not list the 
species separately, although it is now possible 
to obtain manuscript species-cards for a small 
sum. Even if cards were printed for all the 
species, as is done for plants at the Gray Her- 
barium, I do not think they would be so 
serviceable as the pages of the Record, where- 
in the eye can pass rapidly over the names of 
dozens of species, without having to turn over 
ecards. On the other hand, when one has to do 
with a long series of years, the advantage of 
an alphabetical arrangement of all the species 
of each genus, and of all the genera of each 
family, is very great; and here, in the long 
run, the cards will have the advantage. When 
this time comes, however, it is hoped that the 
whole will be transferred to printed pages, 
like the ‘Index Kewensis’ and Sherborn’s 
‘Index Animalium.’? With regard to the In- 
ternational Catalogue, I need say nothing 
after Professor Ward’s recent review (Scr- 
ENCE, January 27, p. 147); but I was very 
glad to learn, when in England last summer, 
that the Zoological Society will not abandon 
the Record while the International Catalogue 
is conducted on the present basis. 

The great superiority of the Record is, of 
course, due to the fact that it is prepared by 
men who have the most intimate acquaintance 
with the subjects recorded. In no other way 
can the work be done satisfactorily, and zoolo- 
gists ought to feel sincerely grateful that men 
like D. Sharp, G. A. Boulenger, F. A. Bather, 
E. A. Smith, R. B. Sharpe and others are 
willing to labor in their service; to labor, it 
may be added, for the most trifling pay. 


SCIENCE. 


LN. S. Vou. XXI. No. 536. 


Under Dr. Sharp’s editorship, the work has 
greatly improved, and has reached a really 
marvellous standard of excellence, tested by 
the groups of which one has particular knowl- 
edge. I do not mean to say that there are 
no errors; but they are remarkably few, and 
none are due to gross ignorance, like some of 
those in the International Catalogue. One 
amusing slip, a few years ago, is worth citing, 
but it is wholly exceptional. An entomolog- 
ical article was published ‘By J. D. Tinsley, — 
A. & M. College, Mesilla Park, N. M” The 
Zurich card came in due course, with the 
article credited to ‘J. D. Tinsley ana M. Col- 
lege. I said to myself, that is a blunder the 
Zoological Record would never make; but be- 
hold! when it arrived, it contained exactly the 
same blunder. I dare say M. College will be 
long remembered as an entomological writer. 

Every new volume of the Record reminds 
one of the perennial subject of zoological no- 
menclature. It does seem that the publication 
of homonymous generic names is somewhat 
abating, but I notice in the present volume 
Acanthophallus, Luehe (not Cope, 1893), 
Aldrichia, Theobald (not Coquillett, 1894), 
Aporema, Dall (not Seudder, 1890), Angelia, 
Lower (not Berlese, 1885), Kirbya, Melichar 
(not Desvoidy, 1830), Nicholsonia, Tutt (not 
Kiaer, 1899), Pleroma, Melichar (mot Sollas, 
1888), Rhynchomys, Fairmaire (not Thomas, 
1895), Rileya, Huene (not Howard, 1888), 
Thaumasia, Westerlund (not Perty, 1830), 
and some others. All these will of course 
have to be changed. There are also many 
names which are nearly the same as others, 
most of which will probably be changed by 
some one. I am strongly of the opinion, my- 
self, that they should be let alone; as they are 
distinguishable, and the necessary changes of 
names are numerous enough. At the same 
time, it would save trouble if authors would 
not propose such names. Examples out of 
the present record are: Abbottina, Jordan & 
Fowler (not Abbottana, Hulst), Asthenoceros, 
Laidlaw (not Asthenoceras, Buckman), Biroa, 
Bolivar (not Biroia, Szep.), Boccharis, Distant 
(not Bocchoris, Moore), Bolla, Mabille (not 
Bollia, Jones), Charidia, Mabille (not Char- 
idea, Baly), Epimela, Weise (not Epimelus, 


Apri 7, 1905.] 


Edw.), Greya, Busck (not Graya, Guenth.), 
Guerinius, Ashmead (not Guerinia, Bate), 

Imeria, Cameron (not Imera, Pascoe), Ivela, 
Swinhoe (not Jvella, Lubbock), Nisia, Meli- 
char (not Nisa, Casey), Occia, Tosquinet (not 
Occa, Jord. & Everm.), Reuterella, Enderlein 
(not Reuteriella, Signoret). 

' A few generic and subgeneric names have 
been omitted; I notice the following: Crewella 
(An. Mag. N. Hist., XII., 202), Martinella 
(An. Mag. N. Hist., XIIL., 450), Gueriniella 
(Fernald, ‘ Cat. Coccide, 331), Kuwama (ft. 
c., 82), Kuwanina (t. c., 121). 

It is worth while to say something about 
the importation of the Record. It used to 
come promptly by mail, but the 1902 volume 
was just overweight. It was mailed, never- 
theless, by the Zoological Society, with the 
understanding that it would be delivered as 
before. The British postal authorities took 
it out of the mails, and turned it over to the 
American Express Company, with whom they 
have a contract for the carriage of parcels too 
heavy for the transatlantic mails. The vol- 
ume arrived in New York, but was not for- 
warded until considerable delay had occurred 
and I had been obliged to pay extra express 
charges and a heavy import tax. This year, 
by using lighter paper, I believe, the book was 
kept just within the specified weight, and it 
came promptly by mail, with no trouble and 
no customs dues. It is an outrage to charge 
duty on a book of this sort, published at a 
loss, and one would like to know why the 
charge was made in one case when it was not 
found necessary in the other. 

It is proper to add, that whereas the Zoolog- 
ical Record was formerly to be had only as a 
complete volume, the several subjects may now 
be purchased separately at moderate prices. 


T. D. A. CockeErELu. 


Les. Lois Naturelles: Réflexions d'un Biol- 
ogiste sur les Sciences. By F. Lr Danrec. 
Paris, F. Alean. 1904. Pp. xvi-+ 308. 
M. Le Dantec has two motives in view: to 

determine the meaning of the words ‘ natural 

law,’ and, on the basis of this determination, 
to define or to revise the main scientific con- 
ceptions in use to-day. The meaning of 


SCIENCE. 


545 


‘natural law’ is investigated from a stand- 
point due to the teachings of biology, with a 
resulting definition which resembles those of 
Pearson, Mach, Ostwald, Poincaré and others, 
and is in substantial accord with the general 
‘humanistic’ philosophy. The author then 
discusses the meaning of such conceptions as 
straight line, plane, continuum, mass, force, 
entropy, absolute zero, inertia, conservation 
of energy, atom, ether, living matter, thought. 
With so broad a field to cover, the treatment 
of each conception must needs be brief; but 
it is at least direct, systematic and clear. 

In the introduction (16 pp.) the general 
considerations are laid down which will de- 
termine the author’s definition of natural law. 
Of the external world we know only the ways 
in which it affects us, the relations it bears to 
us. These ways or relations come to us 
through several gateways—namely, the senses 
—whieh the author ealls the ‘sensorial can- 
tons’ (sight, touch, temperature, smell, taste, 
ete.). Of these there are, we are told, many 
more than physiology admits, though we are 
not given a complete list of them. They are 
each irreducible, inexpressible in terms of any 
other sense. What we see has form and color, 
but is not loud nor hot; temperature has no 
color nor sweetness, tastes are not square nor 
round. What is revealed to one sense can not 
properly be described in terms of any other 
sense. Now science is first of all a record of 
these quite different classes of sense-impres- 
sions. 

The subject is continued in Book I., ‘ The 
Sensorial Cantons and Monism.’ Man is not 
only passive toward the external world. He 
reacts upon his environment; and in order to 
do so he makes hypotheses about the constitu- 
tion of that environment. In the early stages 
of man’s development these are quite as likely 
to be useless as not, but natural selection pre- 
serves the useful and weeds out the useless, 
till in the course of ages the former become 
instinctive. Thus our instinctive belief that 
arithmetic is infallibly correct, or that unsup- 
ported bodies fall, is the ‘hereditary résumé 
of ancestral experience’ (p. 3). We regard it 
as an a priori truth because the belief has 
been so long perpetuated by natural selection. 


‘ 


546 


This is the meaning of natural law, and the 
extent of its validity and the validity of all 
our reasoning must be judged in the light of 
this meaning. Our elementary laws of mo- 
tion can not be assumed to hold of bodies too 
small for observation, or too remote in space. 
Science is not absolute in any sense (p. 8). 
But not only do we react on our environment 
in accord with many acquired beliefs; we seek 
economy in our reactions and our beliefs. We 
find it easier to indicate what will happen in 
the various sensorial cantons by using the 
terms of one sense, namely, sight. Because 
sight gives greater precision and covers a 
wider field of phenomena than any other sense, 
we find it most convenient to frame our hy- 
potheses in regard to the constitution of the 
other cantons in terms of what sight reveals— 
namely, the motion of bodies. Thus we de- 
seribe sound, heat, light as wave-motion. It 
is the hope of covering all the phenomena of 
the other cantons by the terminology of sight 
that leads to monism. Yet what is vouch- 
safed by the various senses remains really dis- 
parate, sui generis in each canton. 

In Book II. we consider the sciences of the 
‘optical canton’—more familiarly known as 
the exact sciences. The language of mathe- 
matics is the language of vision. It is based 
directly on sense-impressions. There is no 
‘free creation by the mind’ of the fundamen- 
tal mathematical conceptions. The straight 
line is given in the thread suspending a 
weight, the plane in the surface of a liquid, 
the continuum in any body in which we see 
no gaps. These sense-impressions may turn 


out later to be illusions, but are none the less_ 


really given. Arithmetic, algebra and geom- 
etry detail the properties of such data omit- 
ting the element of time; kinematics and me- 
chanics include the latter. The infinite and 
infinitesimal are not picturable, therefore they 
are figures of speech. Nor could we tell what 
laws they would obey, since logie is based on 
what we have experienced, and can not be 
assumed to hold of regions beyond our senses. 
Just so, atoms may not obey the laws which 
larger bodies obey, and the ether may not be 
impenetrable. 

Ilow do we come to use other conceptions 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 536. 


here besides those of space and motion? Be- 
cause these are found insufficient for the pre- 
diction of the behavior of bodies. Thus we 
find it convenient to speak of mass, which the 
author defines as ‘that coefficient found in 
one and the same body, in all the systems of 
which it forms a part’ (p. 87). Velocity is 
that which corresponds to the intensity of our 
sensation of motion (p. 94). Force is not a 
cause of motion; for such a conception im- 
ports the muscular sense into the visual field, 
which is not allowed. Quantity does not ap- 
ply beyond the visual field. Incidentally, 
Fechner’s law is declared impossible, since it 
attributes quantity to other cantons besides 
the visual. What we really measure is not 
force as an existing quantity of something, 
but only ma, a numerical product. That 
force is a fiction is shown also when we re- 
member that in statics any one force may be 
replaced by an infinity of others equivalent to 
it. Since all these can not be really present, 
there is no reason for saying any one is more 
real than the rest. The law of action and re- 
action is the experimental fact that in an 
isolated system the algebraic sum of the par- 
tial energies is nil. The conservation of mass 
has become so well known as to be almost an 
a priory law. 

In Book III., ‘The Other Cantons,’ the dis- 
cussion is confined to sound and heat, prin- 
cipally to heat. Temperature can be studied 
scientifically because it alters the shape of 
bodies. The conservation of heat is simply a 
definition of a complete system: a complete 
system is one in which the algebraic sum of 
the quantities of heat gained by the parts is 
nil (p. 148). ‘Source of heat’ and ‘ absolute 
zero,’ like force, are fictions. Equivalence of 
heat and mechanical energy does not mean 
preservation of a permanent something; it is 
only a useful device for correlating heat with 
visual phenomena. The conservation of en- 
ergy is only such a correlation made general; 
it is an empirical truth at most, and even if 
radium creates energy de novo it need not dis- 
turb us (pp. 207-9). 

Book IV., ‘ Explanations,’ resumes the gen- 
eral position of the author in regard to the 
meaning of scientific law. Atomic models do 


——" 


ee we Pa arpa! + os4 De 


\ 


Aprit 7, 1905.] 


not explain; they simply enable us to take 
points of view fertile for discovery of new 
properties. Thus atomism is to be preferred 
to energetics, the latter, though nearer to fact 
and less liable to dangerous hypotheses, does 
not stimulate the mind to discovery. Better 
danger than the precision of sterility! (p. 
229). 

Biology (Book V., ‘The Place of Biology 
among the Sciences’) the author would regard 
as underlying zoology, botany, physiology, ete., 
even as theoretical mechanics underlies phys- 
ies. As theoretical mechanics defines the mo- 
tion of bodies, biology defines life, leaving 
to the detailed sciences the description of dif- 
ferent forms of life. Life itself is defined as 
a localized process, like the flame, not a spe- 
cific substance or energy, but a locus of points 
where certain reactions are accomplished. The 
characteristic property of life is assimilation 
(p. 288). Thought and other psychoses are 
described as a special sensorial canton ‘le can- 
ton intime.’ 

The general position of the author, that 
sense-impressions are all we know, and that 
the sources of heat, light, sound, ete., are not 
im themselves describable in visual terms, is 
an extreme one and is open to all the objec- 
tions which are being urged, rightly or wrong- 
ly, against ‘humanism.’ But further, it is 
quite dogmatic to say that quantity does not 
apply beyond the visual field, or that mathe- 
matics is the language of vision; what is 
needed is a more exhaustive account of the 
conceptions involved. It is also to be re- 
gretted that M. Le Dantee, as a biologist, has 
not made use of the discoveries of Mendel, 
De Vries and others, which inevitably suggest 
that the fundamental law of science is not 
mere determinism, as he says (p. 213), but 
chance (in the mathematical sense) as well. 
Nevertheless, the attempt of M. Le Dantee to 
give clear and concise definition of the prin- 
cipal scientific conceptions should be wel- 
comed by scientists and philosophers alike, 
and should lead to further work in the same 
direction. 

W. H. SuHenpon. 


CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 


SCIENCE. 


547 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
NEW YORK SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 
CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 


THE 


Tue section held its fifth regular meeting 
of the season at the Chemists’ Club, Friday 
evening, February 10. 

The president of the American Chemical 
Society, Dr. Francis P. Venable, presented to 
Professor Charles Lathrop Parsons, of the 
New Hampshire College, Durham, N. H., the 
Nichols medal, which was awarded to him for 
his paper entitled ‘A Revision of the Atomic 
Weight of Beryllium,’ read before the section 
in May, 1904. Mr. W. H. Nichols, the donor 
of the medal, was also present and made a 
few appropriate remarks. 

The regular program of the evening was 
then taken up and the following papers pre- 
sented: 


The Accumulation and Utilization of Atmos- 
pheric Nitrogen in the Soil: E. B. Voor- 
HEES and J. G. Lipman. 

The experiments planned included, first, a 
study of the question of the sources of nitro- 
gen to leguminous plants on soils to which 
no nitrogen had been applied, and to which 
nitrogen in various forms and amounts had 


been applied; second, the availability of cow 


pea nitrogen, as compared with the different 
forms of nitrogen for the growth of non- 
legumes; and third, the possibility of the ac- 
cumulation of nitrogen in cultivated but un- 
cropped soils. 

The soils used were light in character, poor 
in nitrogen and supplied with an abundance 
of the mineral elements. 

Briefly, the results show that the cow pea 
crop accumulated large quantities of nitrogen, 
and that the greatest accumulation was where 
no nitrogenous materials had been applied. 
Or, in other words, that the addition of the 
nitrogen decreased rather than increased the 
content of soil nitrogen, indicating that the 


- leguminous crop will accumulate proportion- 


ately larger quantities of nitrogen upon soils 
relatively free from this element. 

Millet was then grown two seasons, both 
upon the soils upon which the cow pea had 
grown, and upon which no crops had been 


548 


grown, and without further application of ni- 
trogen. 

The final analyses of the crops and soils 
showed that the organic nitrogen contained 
in the cow peas, and accumulated largely from 
the air, was utilized by the succeeding non- 
leguminous crop, and that there was a gain of 
nitrogen in the soils where no cow peas were 
grown, and that such gains were greatest 
where the largest amount of manure had been 
applied. 


The Detection of Methyl Alcohol: Heywarp 

ScuDDER. 

The formation of methyl] salicylate is not a 
reliable test, because ethyl salicylate has al- 
most the same odor. The Riche and Bardy 
test takes too long to be of practical value. 
The Trillat test (delicacy 0.2 per cent.) is 
uncertain. The deepening of the blue on 
heating is characteristic. Wolf and Robine 
state that Trillat’s test is not reliable and give 
modifications that may be of value in cases of 
doubt. The Haigh (delicacy 5 per cent.) and 
Spanglé-Ferriére (delicacy 1 per cent.) tests 
use phloroglucine to show the presence of 
formaldehyde. The color obtained varies with 
the concentration of the formaldehyde. <A 
blank test with ethyl alcohol must always be 
made. The effect of heat is characteristic. 
By using proper conditions a rapid test (deli- 
cacy 2 per cent.) can be made, The Mulliken, 
Scudder test (delicacy 8 per cent.) is very re- 
liable because of the formation of flocks as 
well as color. On account of the uncertainty 
of color tests for small amounts, it is advised 
first to try a rapid test and, if no definite 
result is obtained to concentrate by fraction- 
ation. 


The Origin of Radium: Bertram B. Bour- 

WooD. 

It had been shown in previous papers that 
the determination of the relative quantities of 
uranium and radium in a number of minerals 
strongly indicates a constant ratio between 
the quantities of these elements occurring to- 
gether. In the present paper improved meth- 
ods for the quantitative determination of both 
radium and uranium are described, and the re- 
sults obtained from an examination of twenty- 


SCIENCE. . 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 536. 


two separate samples, comprising twelve dis- 
tinct mineral species, are given. These results 
show a constant proportionality between the 
quantities of radium and uranium in all of 


‘the samples examined, and lead to the in- 


evitable conclusion that uranium is the parent 
of radium. F. H. Poues, 
Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE NATURALIST’S UNIVERSAL DIRECTORY. 


A NEw edition of the ‘ Naturalist’s Direc- 
tory’ has recently come to hand. In casually 
turning the leaves I noticed that the names of 
Joseph Le Conte and J. W. Powell were still 
retained in the list of American naturalists, 
although their deaths had occurred as long ago 
as 1901 and 1902. These lapses suggested that 
the directory might not be trustworthy in 
other respects, and at my suggestion an asso- 
ciate compared its lists with various other 
lists of scientific men, for the purpose of test- 
ing its accuracy and fullness. The practical 
utility of Cassino’s directory in the past seems 
to be attested by the fact that it has reached 
its nineteenth edition, and I therefore feel 
justified in presenting, as a matter of general 
information, some of the results of the exam- 
ination. 

In order to judge of its fullness a compari- 
son was made with the contemporary lists of 
a few scientific organizations whose member- 
ship is carefully seleeted on the basis of scien- 
tific ability or accomplishment. Of 90 mem- 
bers of the National Academy of Sciences the 
directory fails to include 28. It omits 129 of 
the 329 members of the Washington Academy 
of Sciences, 57 of the 233 members of the 
American Society of Naturalists, 11 of the 46 
fellows of the American Ornithologists Union, 
and 54 of the 259 fellows of the Geological So- 
ciety of America. Probably some members of 
each organization are not within the scope of 
the directory, but this remark can not apply to 
such men as Outram Bangs, C. F. Batchelder, 
Lyman Belding, Franz Boas, Lewis Boss, A. 
P. Chadbourne, C. F. Chandler, 8. C. Chand- 
ler, W. W. Cooke, G. A. Dorsey, Wm. Dutcher, 
H. G. Dyar, H. W. Fairbanks, W. G. Farlow, 
J. W. Fewkes, Henry Gannett, A. C. Gill, L. 


_ Aprit 7, 1905.] 


P. Gratacap, C. S. Hastings, J. P. Iddings, 
C. L. Jackson, S. P. Johnson, S. C. Keith, 
N. T. Lawrence, G. Lefevre, C. K. Leith, E. 
W. McBride, L. B. Mendel, T. C. Mendenhall, 
A. A. Michelson, John Muir, E. W. Nelson, 
E. L. Nichols, A. E. Ortmann, Wm. Palmer, 
H. S. Pritchett, T. M. Prudden, H. A. Purdie, 
E. F. Smith, J. C. Smock, R. Thaxter, O. H. 
Tittmann, John Trowbridge, W. L. Under- 
wood, Lester F. Ward, A. G. Webster, E. L. 
Wells, C. A. White, S. W. Williston, H. C. 
Wood and R. R. Wright. It was not practic- 
able to apply a similar test to the foreign lists, 
and it may be that they are fuller. 

To test the accuracy of the addresses given 
they were compared with lists, of approxi- 
mately the same date, published by the Wash- 
ington Academy of Sciences, the Geological 
Society of America, the American Society of 
Naturalists and the American Ornithologists 
Union, and with 400 other addresses taken at 
random from ‘ Who’s Who in America’ and 
the lists of the American Association and the 
affiliated societies of Washington. In all about 
750 addresses were compared, and it was found 
that about ten per cent. of those given by the 
directory are erroneous. 
was made of 291 names common to the direc- 
tory and the list of the Geological Society of 


Similar comparison 


London, with the result that 52 addresses were_ 


found to be discrepant, but in this case it was 
not possible to say how many were wrong. 

Of deceased scientists so notable that their 
deaths are recorded in the necrologies of the 
National Academy, the American Journal of 
Science, or the American ‘ Who’s Who,’ no 
less than 49 are retained by the directory. 
Among these are not only Powell and Le 
Conte, already noted, but Elliott Coues, Ho- 
ratio Hale, James Hall, J. Willard Gibbs, St. 
George Mivart, Henry Morton, A. E. Nord- 
enskiold, H. A. Rowland and Rudolph Vir- 
chow. 

The arrangement of the names is by coun- 
tries, with a classification which has been 
gradually evolved through successive editions. 
Part I. comprises, first, the United States and 
Canada, and then, in order, Great Britain, 
Central America, South America, Oceanica 
and Africa. Central America is made to in- 


‘SCIENCE. 


549 


elude not only the usual states, but Mexico, 
Newfoundland and the islands of the West 
Indies; and the countries of Asia are placed 
under Oceanica. Part II. includes all the 
countries of Europe except Great Britain. 
The use of Part II. is facilitated by having 
its parts arranged in alphabetic order, and by 
the insertion of the name of the country at the 
head of each page; but these devices are not 
used in Part I. In some of the earlier edi- 
tions the entries for the United States and 
Canada were numbered seriatim and a special 
index of departments of science referred to 
these numbers. From the present edition the 
index is omitted, but the numbers survive as a 
vestigial character. 

The personal list for the United States and 
Canada is followed by a list of scientific so- 
cieties of the same countries, with a classifi- 
cation by states. Being a resident of Wash- 
ington, I turned, naturally, to the list for the 
District of Columbia, and noted at once the 
omission of the Washington Academy of Sci- 
ences and of nine out of the twelve scientific 
societies affiliated with it. Of the three affili- 
ated societies that are listed the data for two 
are obsolete. The American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, which for seven 
years has had its headquarters in Washington, 
is still credited to Salem, the place of publica- 
tion of the directory. 

Despite these limitations the directory is a 
useful volume. It contains the names of about 
18,500 scientists, with information as to ad- 
dresses and specialties, and the greater part of 
the information is correct. 


G. K. GiBert. 


AN OVERLOOKED FORM OF STEREOSCOPE. 


In Science of November 18, 1904, Professor 
Jastrow describes, under the above heading, 
an ingenious modification of the mirror stereo- 
scope, permitting the use of the ordinary 
stereoscopic card. 

The arrangement described below, serving 
the same purpose, appears to possess some ad- 
vantages. It is quite possible that this form 
may have been suggested before, but it has not 
come under my notice. 

In all arrangements of this kind it is of 


500 


advantage to bring the mirrors as near to the 
eyes as possible, as was done in Sir Charles 
Wheatstone’s original arrangement. If we 
think of the mirrors, as we may from an op- 
tical standpoint, as simple openings through 


OCO’ is the stereoscopic card. MN and NM’ 
are the two mirrors. JI’ are the superimposed 
images of OC and CO’, and B, E’, are the positions 
of the two eyes. 


which we see the image, it is evident that the 
eye gains much in freedom of position and 
largeness of field, if it is brought near to the 
mirror, precisely as we go close to a window 
if we desire a more extended view. Also, since 
the edge dividing the mirrors is thus brought 
between the eyes, rather than in front of them, 
it is no longer seen, or at least is no longer 
troublesome, as it is to some extent when the 
mirrors are farther from the eyes. Indeed, 
the mirrors need not meet at all nor need they 
be of any regular shape. 

With this arrangement two views may be 
combined which are considerably wider than 
those used in the ordinary stereoscope. I have 
found no difficulty with drawings six inches 
wide. The height of an object which can be 
successfully used is limited by the condition 
discussed below. But with views of the or- 
dinary dimensions this stereoscope is entirely 
satisfactory in its performance, possesses a 
considerable range of adjustment, and is con- 
venient for laboratory experiment, as it is 
easily and quickly put together with two bits 
of mirror and a little wax. 

All forms of reflecting stereoscope using a 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 536. 


single stereoscopic card have this imperfection 
in common, that the images formed by the two 
mirrors do not coincide, but intersect at a 
considerable angle. The images of any object 
formed by two mirrors lie, as is well known, 
on the circumference of a circle, the center of 
which is at the junction of the mirrors, and 
the images are separated by an angle equal to 
twice the angle between the mirrors. Since 
the relations between object and image are 
reciprocal, it is plain that if the images of 
two objects are to be superposed by means of 
mirrors, forming one image, the objects must 
lie on the circumference of the circle, and at 
the angular distance occupied by the images 
in the previous case. 

If this condition is not fulfilled, but the ob- 
jects are in the same plane, as when they are 
on the same ecard, the images, while nearly 
superposed, will intersect at an angle equal 
to twice the angle between the mirrors. In 
my stereoscope, as commonly used, the angle 
between the mirrors is about two and one half 
degrees, so that the images form an angle with 
each other of five degrees. The images are 
over three inches wide. If their planes inter- 
sect at the median line, the edges to the right 
and left are separated in the direction of the 
line of sight by more than an eighth of an 
inch. This is hardly noticeable across the 
breadth of the view, where the line of sight is 
nearly perpendicular to the intersecting edge 
of the mirrors, but becomes so near the top 
and bottom, where the slight deficiency in 
sharpness of the horizontal lines is easily trace- 
able to their inclination. If the center of the 
card is pushed back so that the card forms an 
are, approximately that of the circle on which 
the views should lie, the improvement in defi- 
nition is strikingly evident. - 

It is an interesting illustration of the ease 
with which the eye is satisfied in such matters, 
that the stereoscopic result is excellent over 
the whole view, hardly failing at all even at the 
extreme edges, though formed by two images 
so disadvantageously placed. 


Frank P. WHITMAN. 
WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, 
CLEVELAND, OHIO. 


‘ 


as GF tir % 


a 


Oe 


Aprit 7, 1905.] 


KILAUEA AGAIN ACTIVE. 


Ir may be of interest to the readers of 
Science to know that the fire has again re- 
turned to the world-renowned volcano Kilauea 
in the Hawaiian Islands after an absence of 
thirteen years. The citizens of Hawaii, who 
are intensely interested in this voleano, had 
well nigh despaired of witnessing another 
season of activity. The fresh lava appeared 
the last week of February, heralded by a 
slight earthquake. On the twenty-fifth instant 
it was not observed—smoke filling the pit. 
Two days later it is reported that a lava lake 
was on exhibition, two hundred and fifty feet 
long and one hundred feet wide. On March 
10 the Voleano House reported that the lake 
is not so large as at first stated; but the crater 
is absolutely free from smoke. “Heavy 
rumblings and explosions indicate that another 
outbreak is imminent.” Thus there seems to 
be a restoration of the old-time activity—such 
as will cause a large increase in the number 
of visitors. 

Observations with a good spectroscope are 
needed. Professor Libbey used one there to 
good purpose a few years since, but did not 
name all the substances indicated. We espe- 
cially need more information about the hydro- 
gen flames, as well as the hydrocarbons. The 
latter substance is so commonly of organic 
origin that the best of evidence is required to 
fully establish a belief in its presence in this 
incandescent magma fresh from the realms of 
Pluto. It is hoped that some one who is 
skilled in the use of the spectroscope will 
utilize this opportunity to determine the na- 
ture of the substances now being emitted from 


this famous voleano. C. H. Hircycock. 
Hanover, N. H., 
March 23, 1905. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 
THE PRAIRIE MOUNDS OF LOUISIANA. 
WHILE it may not generally be appropriate 
to discuss the content of a paper on the basis 
of a mere abstract report by the secretary of 
a society, I venture to make some comments 
on the paper read by A. C. Veatch on the 
‘Natural Mounds of Louisiana, at the 
late meeting of the Geological Society of 


SCIENCE. 


bal 


Washington, as given in the last issue of 
ScIENCE; since I have made a number of such 
excavations as are called for by him. 

I have briefly discussed these mounds in my 
final report on the geological reconnoissance of 
Louisiana made by me 1869, published in 1873. 
I dug into a number of them on the Opelousas 
prairie, and also on the Calcasieu prairie. 
Having just previously investigated the mud- 
lumps of the Mississippi Passes, my first con- 
jecture was that of mudspring origin; but the 
total absence of the characteristic ‘ onion’ 
structure of such mudspring cones at once 
made me abandon this hypothesis. The total 
absence of any regular structure or stratifica- 
tion, such as characterizes all dune or other 
wind-drift structures, equally excluded these; 
as well as water erosion, since the soil and sub- 
soil of the surrounding prairie are quite dis- 
tinctly in horizontal layers. I, therefore, as 
shown in the paper alluded to, considered their 
ant-hill origin as the only reasonable explana- 
tion; raising the question as to how the once 
teeming population of these vast areas came 
to be destroyed. Climatic changes suggested 
themselves to me, but the present existence of 
ant villages in the adjoining state of Texas 
seemed to negative this assumption also. 

A number of years afterwards I was forcibly 
reminded of the inutility of supposing climatic 
changes to have occurred, when having camped 
in the Yellowstone valley after nightfall on a 
convenient elevation above the sodden ground, 
I was put to precipitate flight by an army of 
large ants issuing from beneath my rubber 
mattress. Daylight observation revealed to 
me the counterparts of the Louisiana mounds, 
only as a rule less thickly grouped than on 
the Louisiana prairies; and on excavating 
some of these mounds which had been de- 
serted by their aggressive inhabitants, I noted 
precisely the same structureless earth I had 
seen in the Opelousas prairie, only this time 
traversed by half-obliterated burrows, which 
in the Louisiana mound-fields were almost 
wholly imperceptible, or at least undistin- 
guishable from old root-tracks. 

It therefore seems to me that the question 
of the Louisiana mounds resolves itself into 
a biological problem, viz., what kind of ant 


552 

might have built up these elevations, and 
what causes might have operated to depopu- 
late them. For if mound-building ants now 
live both in Texas and in Montana, it is hardly 
necessary to call in climatic changes to ac- 
count for the facts. 

In California there are extensive tracts of 
similarly appearing mounds (vulgo ‘hog- 
wallows’) in the San Joaquin valley; but here 
not only can their wind-drift origin be sub- 
stantiated by ocular demonstration during any 
of the frequent sandstorms, when the sage- 
brush clumps are often left two feet above 
the general level because their roots resist the 
eroding action by holding the sand; but the 
wind-drift origin of the general soil surface 
can mostly be verified, even when, as fre- 
quently happens, the bushes thus left ‘high 
and dry’ die out in the course of time, and 
subsequent aqueous erosion increases the 
height, and a gradual consolidation of the 
material occurs. 

‘Hogwallows’ of quite different origin oc- 
cur in Washington, on the gravelly lands south 
of Tacoma city, e. g.,on Yelms prairie. Here, 
in the land of almost daily heavy rains during 
certain seasons, water erosion has removed 
the sand and smaller gravel from variously- 
shaped areas surrounding one or several larger 
blocks (erraties), the channels between ad- 
jacent mounds being lined with cobbles left 
behind by the water. Yet while the general 
aspect of the surface is similar to that of the 
“hogwallows’ of California and the mounds 
of the Caleasieu prairie, there is clearly no 
genetic relation between the three kinds of 
‘mounds,’ however similar in their external 
conformation. E. W. Hiuearp. 


BERKELEY, CAL., 
March 10, 1905. 


PROGRESS IN THE STUDY OF THE KELEP. 


Tue existence of an efficient insect enemy 
of the boll weevil having been ascertained, it 
became necessary to determine also the extent, 
if any, to which it could be utilized in the 
United States. Since the last published re- 
port on the subject* many additional data 

**Report on the Habits of the Kelep,’ Bull. 49, 
Bureau of Entomology, U. 8. Department of Agri- 
culture, 1904. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 526. 


have accumulated, but there are three fea- 
tures worthy of special notice. 

The Kelep in Western Guatemala.—Recent 
letters from Mr. W. R. Maxon report the ex- 
istence of the kelep in the cotton fields of the 
Retalhuleu district of western Guatemala. 
Mr. Maxon has also sent to the Department 
of Agriculture seeds and dried bolls of an 
upland cotton of a variety evidently similar 
to that grown by the Kekchi Indians of Alta 
Vera Paz. The three nectaries inside the 
bracts appear to be even larger than in the 
Kekchi cotton. The pair of inner stipular 
bracts which subtend each of these nectaries 
are the largest yet known, and have their 
margins fringed with long hairs, as though 
to increase their efficiency in holding the 
nectar to attract the keleps inside the in- 
volucre. ; 

This west Guatemalan or so-called Pachon 
cotton is also an annual crop and is said to 
ripen in five months, or in even less time than 
the Kekchi. Following the analogy of other 
plants, these varieties, if they can be accli- 
matized in the United States, may be ex- 
pected to mature in a still shorter period, 
which gives them distinct agricultural in- 
terest. The effectiveness of the plan of miti- 
gating the injuries of the boll weevil by. cul- 
tural means depends upon the shortening, as 
far as possible, of the growing season of the 
eotton plant. Other things being equal, a 
short-season variety will also be an early 
variety, of course, but the simultaneous plant- 
ing of quick-growing varieties is likely to 
prove a better measure of protection than un- 
certain and desultory early planting, because 
the weevils are much more likely to perish by 
starvation after the weather is warm enough 
to bring them to the condition of activity than 
while they are kept by the cold in a torpid, 
hibernating state. It is thus not impossible 
that these short-season varieties of cotton 
which are cultivated in Guatemala by the help 
of the kelep may prove to be of value in the 
United States, even without their insect guard- 
ians. It may be repeated, too, that both of 
the dwarf, kelep-protected varieties of Guate- 
mala belong to the upland type and produce 
fiber of good length and quality. 


ApriL 7, 1905.] 


Breeding Habits of the Kelep—The con- 
tinued study of the kelep in Guatemala, as 
well as in the United States, makes it possible 
to outline the breeding habits of the insect, 
which are in many respects different from 
those of the true ants, and very much more 
suited to the purposes of domestication. Pop- 
ular language affords only the one word ‘ ants’ 
for all the wingless, social insects. Even the 
termites are everywhere called ‘wood ants’ or 
‘white ants, though having no affinity or sim- 
ilarity with the true ants apart from their 
social habits and the winglessness of the 
worker castes. 

The kelep furnishes another chapter of the 
same kind of history. It has, apparently, little 
or nothing to do with the true ants. Its social 
economy does not follow the monarchical sys- 
tem of the ants and termites, but represents 
an entirely different system, more like that of 
the honey-bees, in that new colonies are found- 
ed by the subdivision of the workers of older 
communities instead of by solitary queens. 
The keleps, indeed, have carried the principle 
of organization a step further than the bees, 
for they do not dépend upon the queen to 
lead the swarm, but take her by the jaw and 
carry her over to the new burrow, in case she 
fails to go voluntarily. The new establish- 
ment is also equipped with eggs and larve 
brought over from the old, so that the found- 
ing of a new colony does not involve any inter- 
ruption of the domestic activities. This mobile 
organization of the keleps suggests to a slight 
extent the social habits of the nomadic driver 
“ants, and as with these the queens are sta- 
tionary, and probably never leave the nest ex- 
cept when carried by the workers in migrating 
to the new home. Males are to be found in 
the kelep nests throughout the year and cross- 
fertilization is probably accomplished by the 
wandering of these from one to another of the 
closely adjacent, not unfriendly communities. 
The kelep queens have wings at first, but prob- 
ably never use them. In some of the related 
genera the queens are quite wingless, as 
among the drivers. 

Ability to Withstand Cold.—A cold storage 
experiment made in Washington last August 
showed that the keleps would be able to with- 


SCIENCE. 


503 


stand low temperatures, and the colonies which 
have been left in the Texas cotton fields 
through the winter have lived long enough to 
show that cold weather is not likely to be 
the insurmountable obstacle which will pre- 
vent the establishment of this species in the 
United States. 

Recent advices indicate, however, that none 
of the field colonies which have received no 
food or care of any kind since they were 
placed in the ground last July will survive 
to the cotton planting season. A _ sufficient 
cause for this mortality is doubtless to be 
found in starvation, though other contributing 
factors are apparent, now that the social organ- 
ization of the insects is better understood. 
The season has been, as is well known, one of 
unusual severity, both in drought and cold. 
The colonies were planted in the fields so late 
in the season that it seemed necessary to look 
for the dampest places in order to give them a 
fair chance to dig, but this has exposed them 
to special danger from flooding, which appears 
to have been the immediate cause of death in 
several instances, and possibly in all. The 
fields in the vicinity of Victoria, where most of 
the colonies were located, were completely and 
repeatedly denuded of their foliage, flowers, 
buds and young bolls by the leaf worms.  A\l- 
though the keleps readily captured and made 
use of these when the successive broods were 
in the larval condition, and even broke into 
the pupz, there were intervals when food was 
almost entirely lacking, and even boll weevils 
became extremely scarce. 

There are also two important social causes 
of demoralization. The colonies were brought 
from Guatemala under the impression that 
the keleps were true ants, and would be able 
to replenish themselves if the queens were se- 
cured. Our artificial nests were mostly very 
small, no jars of suitable size being obtainable 
in that part of Guatemala. The complement 
of workers was, therefore, usually very much 
below the normal. It has since been learned 
by repeated observation that the keleps are like 
the honey-bees, in that the reduction of the 
colonies below the normal size induces dis- 
couragement, dejection and aberration of in- 
stincts. Neither did we take pains to include 


5d4 SCIENCE. 


with all the colonies eggs, larve and pupe. 
The queens lay freely in captivity, but a break 


in the normal succession of forms may be dis- _ 


astrous, because nurse duty is performed by 
the young, light-colored workers, the preda- 
ceous, hunting instincts appearing with greater 
maturity. The neglect of the young in some 
colonies and a frequent tendency to cannibal- 
ism may be ascribed to this deficiency of keleps 
of proper age, though even in colonies other- 
wise normal some of the larve are occasionally 
killed and fed to the others, especially if there 
has been a deficiency of other animal food. 

Detailed reports on the social organization 
and other features will be made, but in the 
meantime it is apparent that a fair experiment 
to determine whether the kelep can maintain 
itself in the United States will require the 
planting of full-sized colonies early in the 
season, and in sufficient numbers, if possible, 
to protect the field of cotton from the leaf- 
worms as well as from the boll weevils. That 
the kelep is not a true ant, and that its habits 
differ so greatly from those of any other in- 
sects previously known, are facts that show 
how impracticable it would have been to de- 
termine its possibilities in advance by the 
application of analogies drawn from insects of 
other families. 

O. F. Coox. 
New ORLEANS, 
March 16, 1905. 


QUOTATIONS. 

THE SANITATION OF THE PANAMA CANAL ZONE. 

Dr. Cuartes A. L. Reep, chairman of the 
legislative committee of the American Medical 
Association, and lately president of this the 
representative organization of the medical pro- 
fession throughout the United States, a man 
capable in every way of forming just conclu- 
sions and with the courage and capacity vig- 
orously to express his convictions, has, at the 
request of the Secretary of War, submitted 
a report of the sanitary, or unsanitary, condi- 
tions in the Panama Canal Zone and in the 
towns of Panama and Colon placed by treaty 
under the management of the United States 
commission. 

Tf the report of this gentleman is correct, 


- [N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 536. 


and it must be accepted as such until it is 
proved that he has made misstatements, the 
sanitary department of the Panama commis- 
sion has been in great measure paralyzed by 
circumlocution and red tape and the mis- 
guided interference of those who have been 
placed in authority over the medical corps. 
In certain quarters Dr. Reed’s report has been 
classified as ‘frenzied’ literature; but if one- 
tenth of the criticisms which he has made - 
were justified sanitary affairs on the Isthmus 
are in such deplorable shape that the presi- 
dent should compel an immediate change*in 
a disgraceful and dangerous situation. 

There is but one commonsense solution of 
this problem, and sooner or later it will be 
applied; but the chief magistrate should not 
wait to take this matter in hand until the 
graveyards of Panama are filled with the vic- 
tims of ‘ red tape.’ 

As an illustration of the absurd methods 
employed, Dr. Reed says in substance that if 
the surgeon in charge of the Ancon Hospital 
makes a requisition for supplies it must go to 
the chief sanitary officer for approval, then to 
the governor of the zone, then to the chief dis- 
bursing officer and thence to the commission 
at Washington. It must there wait for ad- 
vertised bids, and when the award is made the 
requisition is filled under the supervision of 
a purchasing agent, often not properly quali- 
fied to select medical supplies. The material 
is then shipped to the Isthmus, the disbursing 
officer is notified, he notifies Col. Gorgas, and 
he in turn must notify the surgeon in charge 
of the hospital, who then applies to the quarter- 
master for transportation; and, finally, so 
much of the material as in the judgment of 
the governor and chief disbursing officer and 
the commission ought to be allowed to the 
superintendent arrives at the hospital. 

There are cited numerous other instances 
of this ridiculous routine which in the light 
of a recent experience are a reflection upon the 
intelligence and conscience of the American 
people. 

We refer to Cuba, where Major Reed and 
Col. Gorgas practically had carte blanche to 
do what in their judgment was best for the 
sanitation of Havana and Cuba. 


, 


Aprin 7, 1905.] 


The present situation can be remedied satis- 
factorily in but one way. Col. W. C. Gorgas 
is known to be one of the most expert sanitar- 


ians now living. He is a man whose courage © 


is of that exalted character which scorns per- 
sonal danger, a man of integrity, of executive 
ability and worthy of the fullest confidence of 
the government. Why not repeat the experi- 
ence of Cuba in Panama? Why go back to 
the old methods of crippling the usefulness of 
the Army Medical Corps by permitting it to be 
blocked by cireumlocution or entangled in the 
meshes of red tape until it might almost as 
well not exist ? 

The people of the United States will oppose 
the president’s removal of the present commis- 
sion, and if he will go further and put an end 
to this dangerous condition of affairs by plac- 
ing Col. Gorgas in full authority in all mat- 
ters pertaining to sanitation he will deserve 
still greater credit. In the construction of 
the Panama Canal the question of sanitation 
is paramount.—The N. Y. Sun. 


BOTANICAL NOTES. 
A HELPFUL BULLETIN. 


‘THe office of Experiment Stations of the 
United States Department of Agriculture has 
issued a Bulletin (No. 2) consisting of an 
outline of a lecture on ‘ Potato Diseases and 
Their Treatment’ for the use of farmers’ in- 
stitute lecturers. It was prepared by F. C. 
Stewart and H. J. Eustace, of the New York 
Experiment Station. It contains summaries 
of our knowledge of the most important dis- 
eases which affect the potato in the United 
States. The descriptions are given in non- 
technical language, and ought to convince 
every botanist of the possibility of treating 
quite difficult subjects in plain English. Fol- 
lowing the description of diseases is an ad- 
mirable chapter on spraying and other pre- 
ventive measures. A very useful bibliography 
is added in an appendix. 


SEASIDE LABORATORIES. 

Ir is a fortunate thing for the scientific 
students of America that year by year the 
opportunities for seaside study are more com- 
mon and easily accessible. Some of us re- 


SCIENCE. 


595 


member the time, not so very long ago either, 
when Agassiz’s laboratory on Penikese Island 
was the only place where seaside studies were 
possible under competent guidance and super- 
vision. The Penikese laboratory has long 
since ceased to be—on the death of its illus- 
trious founder it could not secure adequate 
support. It died, and men spoke of it as an- 
other visionary project which had met with 
the usual fate of an early death after a brief 
and fitful existence. But although that pro- 
ject died, others have arisen to more than 
take its place. To-day laboratories that in- 
clude the essential features of the one founded 
by Agassiz are not uncommon on both coasts 
of the United States, as well as on the shores 
of our inland waters. 

The eighteenth session of the Marine Bio- 
logical Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., is 
of interest to the botanist not only on account 
of the botanical courses offered, but also be- 
cause this is to a certain extent the lineal 
descendant of the Penikese laboratory whose 
abandoned site is but a few miles away. As 
heretofore, the work in botany is to be under 
the direction of Professor Doctor Bradley M. 
Davis, of the University of Chicago. 

There are the usual opportunities for in- 
vestigation for advanced students, and regular 
instruction in the morphology of thallophytes, 
cytological studies and plant physiology. The 
laboratory is open for investigation from June 
1 to October 1, and for instruction from June 
28 to August 9. 

On the west coast of Vancouver Island, at 
Port Renfrew, twenty-six hundred miles from 
the Woods Hole laboratory, is the Minnesota 
Seaside Station, whose fifth session is an- 
nounced for the present year, under the di- 
rectorship of Professor Conway MacMillan, 
of the University of Minnesota. Although so 
far away from the pioneer Penikese laboratory, 
this one on Vancouver Island is filled also with 
the spirit of the master who taught us to 
study nature out of doors. Here, in addition 
to opportunities for investigation, botanical 
courses are offered in algology, lichenology, 
bacteriology, taxonomy of the Conifer and 
nature study. The session begins July 8 and 
closes August 18. 


556 


It is interesting to compare these two ma- 
rine stations—the first on the New England 
mainland, looking across to Martha’s Vine- 
yard, and the Elizabeth Islands, with the in- 
teresting flora of the north Atlantic coast, 
rich in many red seaweeds; and the second 
on the shore of Vancouver Island, looking out 
across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to Cape 
Flattery, and the Olympic Mountains of the 
northwest corner of Washington. Here the 
marine flora is especially rich in the great 
kelps so characteristic of the Pacific coast of 
North America. 


UTAH FUNGI. 


Some months ago Mr. A. O. Garrett, of 
Salt Lake City, issued the first fascicle of 
twenty-five numbers of Utah fungi under the 
title of ‘Fungi Utahenses.’ This fascicle is 
devoted to the Uredinex, and it is the author’s 
intention to follow this plan in succeeding 
issues, so that each will contain specimens 
belonging at least to closely related groups. 
Mr. Garrett has modeled his collection upon 
the pattern so well set by Professor Kellerman 
in his ‘ Ohio Fungi.’ The specimens are care- 
fully selected, and neatly put up. ach spe- 
cies is accompanied by a reprint of the orig- 
inal description. This distribution should 
have a large sale, especially among eastern 
botanists. 


PHOTOGRAPHS OF VEGETATION. 


Two years ago the first fascicle of an im- 
portant work was issued by Gustav Fischer, 
of Jena, under the simple title of ‘ Vegeta- 
tionsbilder.’ Since then nine fascicles have 
appeared, and it is now possible to judge quite 
accurately in regard to its usefulness. The 
work is edited by Professor Doctor G. Kar- 
sten, of the University of Bonn, and Professor 
Doctor Schenck, of the Technical High School 
of Darmstadt. Each fascicle includes six 
large reproductions (16 by 21 em.) of photo- 
graphs of vegetation, each accompanied by a 
page or two of explanatory text. The first 
fascicle is devoted to the vegetation of south- 
ern Brazil and is the work of Dr. Schenck. 
The second fascicle, by Dr. Karsten, illus- 
trates the vegetation of the Malayan Archi- 
pelago; the third is again by Dr. Schenck, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 536. 


who takes up some economic plants of the 
tropics, as Thea sinensis, Theobroma cacao, 
Coffea arabica, ete. Fascicle 4, devoted to 
tropical and subtropical Mexican vegetation, 
is edited by Dr. Karsten, while the next, re- 
lating to southwest Africa, is from the hand 
of Dr. Schenck. In the latter the most re- 
markable is Plate 25, showing a desert, with 
several plants of Welwitschia mirabilis in the 
foreground. The sixth fascicle, by Dr. Kar- 
sten, contains photographs of six species of 
monocotyledonous trees, including one plate 
of a giant bamboo clump (Dendrocalamus gi- 
ganteus) forty meters high, on the island of 
Ceylon. Six views of Brazilian strand vege- 
tation, by Dr. Schenck, make up the seventh 
fascicle, and another half dozen devoted to 
Mexican cactuses and agaves (by Dr. Karsten 
and Dr. Stahl) make up the eighth fascicle 
which closes Series I. of the publication. The 
second series opens with a fascicle by E. Ule, 
on Amazonian epiphytes, in which the illustra- 
tions and text maintain the high degree of 
excellence of the first series. 

It is to be hoped that this most useful pub- 
lication will be continued until the vegetation 
of the more important parts of the world have 
been depicted and described. It certainly fills 
a place in the botanist’s library that has not 
hitherto been occupied. 

Cuaries E. Bessey. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


WE regret to learn that Lord Kelvin is ill 
after a surgical operation. 


A stTaTUE of Professor Conrad Réntgen has 
been placed on one of the bridges in Berlin. 


Proressorn WILHELM OstwaLp, the eminent 
physical chemist of Leipzig, will again this 
year take part in the work of the summer 
school of the University of California. 


Dr. Frank ScnHuesincer has been elected 
director of the New Allegheny Observatory, 
and assumed the duties of the office on April 
1. The observatory has an endowment fund, 
and a regular income from the time service, 
besides owning a large and valuable property 
in the City of Allegheny, which will be- 


Aprit 7, 1905.] 


come a source of income in the near future. 
Work has not been suspended on account 
of lack of funds and much has been ac- 
complished toward the instrumental equip- 
ment during the year past. The Keeler 
Memorial Telescope of 30 inch aperture is 
now ready to be set up, and the large (Porter) 
spectroheliograph is almost completed. The 
30 inch objective is well under way, and other 
instruments will be installed during the year 
under the directorate of Dr. Schlesinger. 

Owine to the appointment of Dr. C. H. 
Wind, director of the Dutch Meteorological 
- Institute, to a professorship in the University 
of Utrecht, Dr. EK. Van Everdingen has been 
made acting director of the institute. 

THe Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg 
has awarded its Lomonsoff prize to Professor 
N. A. Menschutkin for his researches in theo- 
retical chemistry and its Ivanoff prize to Pro- 
fessor P. N. Lebedeff, of Moscow, for his work 
on light pressure. 

Tue French Société d’encouragement pour 
Vindustrie nationale has awarded the Lavoisier 
medal to M. Héroult in recognition of his elec- 
trometallurgical researches. 

TuE Leopoldo-Carolinische Akademie of 
Halle has awarded the gold Cothenius medal 
to Professor E. von Leyden, of Berlin, for his 
services to scientific medicine. 

ABERDEEN University will confer the Doc- 

torate of Laws on Mr. J. T. Merz, author of 
‘European Thought.’ 
Tue thirteenth ‘James Forrest’ lecture of 
the British Institution of Civil Engineers will 
be delivered by Colonel R. E. B. Crompton on 
April 10, on ‘ Unsolved Problems in Electrical 
Engineering.’ 

Proressor Ricwarp ANpDREE, the ethnologist 
and geographer, long editor of Globus, has 
celebrated his seventieth birthday, in Munich. 

Proressor Francis E. Luoyp, Teachers Col- 

lege, Columbia University, has received a 
grant of $500 from the Carnegie Institution 
to aid him in continuing his studies on 
stomatal action and transpiration in desert 
plants. He will spend three months at the 
Desert Botanical Laboratory, Tucson, Ariz., 
for this purpose. 


SCIENCE. 


55 


Dr. Atrrep Ernst, associate professor of 
botany at Zurich, has been given the Swiss 
subvention of $1,000 for botanical studies at 
Buitenzorg. 


A MEMORIAL tablet for the late Dr. N. S. 
Davis was presented by the senior medical 
class of the Northwestern University Medical 
School, on March 24, in Davis Hall. 


We regret to record the death of Dr. Em- 
merich Meissl, section chief in the Department 
of Agriculture at Vienna; of Dr. Richard 
Sadebach, director of the Botanical Museum at 
Hamburg, and of Father Timoteo Bertelli, the 
Italian geophysicist. 


THERE will be on May 3 and 4 a civil sery- 
ice examination for topographic draftsman in 
the Panama Canal work, at salaries of from 
$900 to $1,500. 


To secure promptness in the delivery of the 
reference cards issued by the Concilium Bib- 
liographicum of Zurich, Dr. H. H. Field has 
placed a stock series in the American Museum 
of Natural History. Any worker in biology, 
who does not receive the cards directly from 
Zurich, by writing to the museum will receive 
by return mail cards bearing upon such minor 
subjects as he may indicate, at the same terms 
as though the delivery were made from Zurich, 
and with an obvious saving of considerable 
time. Communications bearing upon this 
matter should be addressed to the American 
Museum of Natural History, Department of 
Books and Publications. 


Oxrorp convocation has passed a decree au- 
thorizing the contribution by annual instal- 
ments of a sum not exceeding £1,000 towards 
the expense of printing that portion of the 
British Section of the International Astro- 
graphic Catalogue, which has been carried out 
at the University Observatory, the Treasury, 
on the representations of the Royal Society, 
contributing the other moiety. 


Mr. ALEXANDER Fry has bequeathed his ento- 
mological collection to the British Museum of 
Natural History. 

Nature states that the collection of birds’ 
eggs possessed by the British (Natural His- 
tory) Museum has been largely augmented by 


553 


the gift of the splendid series brought together 
by Mr. W. Radcliff Saunders, of High Bank, 
Tonbridge. This collection comprises close 
on ten thousand specimens of the eggs of 
Palearctic species, together with one hundred 
and sixty-five nests. 


THE Crosby Brown collection of musical in- 
struments, in the Metropolitan Museum of 
New York, to which we have several times re- 
ferred in recent years, continues to grow. The 
recently published new edition of the ecata- 
logue of European instruments is increased 
over the previous edition by more than fifty 
pages and three plates. The total number of 
instruments is given as about 3,200, besides 
hundreds of parts illustrating elements and de- 
tails of construction. 


Revuter’s Agency reports some details of an 
expedition which went to British New Guinea 
in September, 1903, and has lately returned to 
England. The expedition was organized by 
Major W. Cooke-Daniels, an American 
traveler, and it also included Dr. C. G. Selig- 
mann, Dr. W. M. Strong and Mr. A. H. Dun- 
ning. The objects were primarily ethnograph- 
ical, but studies were also made in other 
branches of science, and a number of general 
pathological observations were made. 


Tue annual dinner of the British Institu- 
tion of civil engineers took place on March 22, 
with Sir Guilford Molesworth in the chair. 


THE sixth International Congress of Ap- 
plied Chemistry will be held at Rome next 
year, probably during the week following 
Easter. 


Ar the last International Ornithological 
Congress, which was held in Paris in 1900, it 
was decided that the next session of the con- 
gress should take place in London after an 
interval of five years, and, as we have already 
announced, arrangements have been made for 
holding the fourth congress from June 12 to 
17, under the presidency of Dr. Bowdler 
Sharpe, of the British Museum. The London 
Times states that it has been decided by the 
organizing committee to divide the congress 
into general meetings and meetings of sec- 
tions, of which there will be five, as.follows: 
(1) Systematic Ornithology; Geographical 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 536. 


Distribution, Anatomy and Paleontology; (2) 
Migration; (3) Biology, Nidification, Oology; 
(4) Economie Ornithology and Bird Protec- 
tion; and (5) Aviculture. It is expected that 
many interesting papers on these various sub- 
jects will be forthcoming. The social side 
of the program is not being neglected. Thus 
it is proposed to devote one day to an excursion 
to Tring to inspect the collection of birds be- 
longing to Mr. Walter Rothschild. On this 
occasion there will be lectures, and the mem- 
bers will be the guests of the owner of the 
Tring Museum. On the 16th of June the 
congress will be received by the Lord Mayor 
of London at the Mansion-house, and the 
visitors will be shown over the Guildhall by 
Alderman Treloar. At the close of the pro- 
ceedings in London, on the invitation of the 
Duke of Bedford, an excursion will be made 
to Woburn to view the collection of live ani- 
mals in Woburn Park, and the following day 
will be spent at Cambridge, where Professor 
Newton will welcome the members at Magda- 
lene College. Finally, a journey has been 
planned to Flamborough Head, in Yorkshire, 
of special interest to continental ornithol- — 
ogists, as affording them an opportunity of 
seeing the breeding place of so many sea birds, 
while the season of the year may also allow of 
their watching the operations of the collectors 
of the eggs of the guillemats. 

AN international exhibit of hygiene will, by 
request of the Italian general health depart- 
ment, be added to the exhibition at Milan, 
1906. Many countries will assist in the dis- 
play, which will have for its object the pre- 
sentation in a practical manner to the public 
of the advances made in the field of sanitation 
during recent years. 

Mepicat journals state that the Hamburg- | 
American line has placed the Hamburg at the 
disposal of the German physicians and their 
families who wish to attend the International 
Medical Congress at Lisbon next year. The 
vessel will be moored at some convenient wharf 
and will serve as a hotel for the passengers 
during the congress. After a brief trip to 
Gibraltar and Madeira the vessel will return 
to Hamburg. Messrs. Cook & Son have offered 
to charter a passenger ship for the English 


Aprit 7, 1905.] 


members of the congress, to serve as a floating 
hotel. 


We learn from The British Medical Journal 
that the proceedings of the Pan-American 
Medical Congress, held at Panama in January, 
closed with a meeting of the executive com- 
mittee at which the following resolutions, pro- 
posed by Guatemala and seconded by Peru, 
were carried: (1) That the next Pan-American 
Medical Congress arrange (a) for an inter- 
national American pharmacopoeia; (b) for an 
international code of sanitation; (c) for an 
international code on temperance; and (d) as 
a sequel to the above, for the establishment of 
sanatoriums for the treatment of alcoholism; 
(e) for the formation of lectureships on medi- 
cine in the required studies of jurisprudence. 
(2) That there be formed at the next congress 
a section on tropical diseases. (3) That there 
be created Red Cross Branches, both civil and 
military. (4) Finally, it was resolved that 
encouragement be given to those engaged in 
the campaign against tuberculosis. 

Nature states that after an interval of two 
years the fifth conference of West Indian 
agriculturists was held at Port-of-Spain, 
Trinidad, from January 4 to 13. It was at- 
tended by official, scientific, commercial and 
practical representatives from all parts. In 
his presidential address, Sir Daniel Morris 
gaye an interesting survey of the great eco- 
nomic change which is in progress. Taken in 
the aggregate, sugar cultivation must still be 
regarded as the backbone of the colonial in- 
dustries, but in some of the islands it has 
already become of comparatively little or no 
importance. Trinidad is now a cacao-pro- 
ducing island, its exports of this commodity 
having risen to the value of a million sterling 
per annum. Grenada’s cacao exports are val- 
ued at £250,000 and Jamaica’s at £80,000. 
Cotton growing, too, has been successfully re- 
established in several islands, and remunera- 
tive prices for the raw cotton are being ob- 
tained from Lancashire merchants. The ex- 
portations of fruit far exceed.in value those 
of the staple industry. The development of 
the tobacco, rubber, sisal hemp, fish-curing, 
and other industries also came under review, 
and Sir Daniel dwelt upon the importance of 


SCIENCE. 


5d9 


agricultural shows and on the provision made 
by his department for teaching elementary 
science and the principles of agriculture in 
the various colleges and elementary schools. 
Numerous papers were read and discussed, 
Professor d’Albuquerque, Dr. Watts, Professor 
Harrison and others supplying valuable in- 
formation relating to sugar; Mr. Hart, Mr. 
de Gannes and others, on cacao; Mr. Bovel, 
Mr. Sands and others, on cotton; and so on. 
For practical purposes visits were paid to sev- 
eral cacao and sugar estates. Owing to its 
more than usually representative character the 
conference is declared to have been the most 
successful of the series. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


Tut New York Times states that Mr. Car- 
negie since 1900 has given $2,000,000 for 
libraries and $4,500,000 for other buildings and 
endowments for colleges. The following is a 
list of institutions to which the money has 
been given: 


Pennsylvania State College ....... $150,000 
Upper Iowa University ........... 25,000 
Oklahoma University ............. 30,000 
owal Colleger trrctae: cee. aera c tee 50,000 
uskepee; Institute: {elec s. oa 2s 20,000 
Beloity College .s.ssc piel. sey) hotels. a2 50,000 
@ornell Collegeti tants saris oc. eo-r- 50,000 
Mt. Holyoke College ............. 50,000 
MWanlctons ©ollege marr rtetartete elec lea 15,000 
Malladera (Colleges ijers +) tec 2. 15,000 
N.C. State Normal and Industrial... _ 18,868 
Lebanon Valley College ........... 20,000 
Wilberforce University ........... 15,000 
Bucknell University ....:......... 30,000 
IBereape OO lle keris Litter’) 5 ascites is) 30,000 
Agricultural and Mech. College ... 12,000 
Winthrop Normal and Ind. College. 30,000 
Washburn Colleges. soc... 2: si.e1-1s 40,000 
Wonversem College fers = 02 cna ic 10,000 
Benedict College -.....:.........- 6,000 
IEE (Calliien’ (Sah on poo eeanpo Onbe 15,000 
Atlanta UmIVeTsibys 5 cl- I. lee 25,000 
Wabilis| COMES! Sec Baan oloonbeommnsc 100,000 
Lawrence University ............. 50,000 
Marietta College «2.052. 4-..).--=- 40,000 
Clecibin Chiles hess Geoussenee ¢ 125,000 
Hairmounte College x. <1. . vesicle ee 40,000 
lUniversityof Maine % 2c 50,000 
Bethany College’... .2.-...... 6 20,000 


560 SCIENCE. [N.S. Vo. XXI. No. 536. 
North Dakota Agricultural College. 15,000 ernment. In addition to making a grant of 
Simpson iColleve) 2-2) eee 10,000 23 lakhs of rupees (£16,666) towards the con- 


Carson & Newman College ........ 10,000 
Central University of Kentucky.... 30,000 
Harlham Colleges jancsscsen cee 30,000 
HessendeniAtcademty: qa. ee 5,000 
Wisk UniVversitivas or iei eer ee eee 20,000 
Hurman University =.-2....---)1- 15,000 
State Normal School). ..2. 5... 10,000 
Heidelberg *University 22)... seo. 25,000 
Juniata Collegewea. sec detce« sce 15,000 
Livingstone College .............. 12,500 
Pomona, Oolleser 5 34,..27. 1 sis)-samiee 40,000 
Syracuse University, 2a. ise 150,000 
University of Mississippi ......... 25,000 
University of Tennessee ....:..... 40,000 
Washington and Lee University ... 50,000 
De Pauw University, .--44- hee 50,000 
University of North Carolina ..... 50,000 
Alabama Polytechnic Institute .... 30,000 
Drake University ij. >. 0seseiente ae 50,000 
St. John’s Collesew ia. soeeirras ae 16,700 


During the past week a gift of $100,000 to 
Rochester University for the construction of 
a scientific building and $50,000 to Norwich 
University, Vermont, half for a library and 
half for an engineering department, have been 
announced. 

Ir is announced that a gift of $250,000 has 
been made to Northwestern University by 
Milton H. Wilson, a resident of Evanston, and 
one of the trustees of the institution. 

Tue London Times states that further 
papers have been published by the government 
of India in respect to the late Mr. Jamsetjee 
N. Tata’s offer of an endowment in the shape 
of properties valued at £200,000 for the crea- 
tion of an Institute of Indian Research at 
Bangalore. Certain conditions in respect to 
government assistance were attached to the 
offer, which was first made six years ago, and 
these have been the subject of prolonged dis- 
cussion and correspondence between the goy- 
ernment, Mr. Tata during his lifetime, and his 
representatives. The papers now published 
show that the difficulties in the way of a set- 
tlement have been removed. Guarantees have 
been offered by the representatives of the donor 
to secure the full income estimated from the 
endowment properties, and the management of 
the latter is vested in a board whose chairman 
is to be an officer selected by the Bombay gov- 


struction of the necessary buildings and pro- 
vision of scientific apparatus, the government 
wiil make an annual grant to the institute of 
half the local assets up to a limit of 14 lakhs 
of rupees, provided that the institute is con- 
ducted on lines approved generally by the goy- 
ernment. “ 

Tue Barney Memorial Science Hall of 
Denison University was completely destroyed 
by fire at two o’clock a.m., March 30. The 
building was erected in 1894 at a cost of 
$45,000, and the value of the equipment within 
it was also about $45,000. The department of 
chemistry, in which the fire started, suffered 
total loss. The department of physics, which 
had installed several thousand dollars worth of 
new apparatus this season, lost most of its 
equipment, including the greater part of the 
manuscripts and instruments of the researches 
of Professor C. W. Chamberlain. The equip- 
ment of the department of geology, including 
about $7,000 worth added this year, was nearly 
all saved. The departments of zoology and 
botany saved about half of their equipment. 
There is about $40,000 insurance on the build- 
ing and contents, and the hall will be rebuilt 
at once. The most serious loss is the scien- 
tifie library which has been accumulated dur- 
ing the past twenty years, chiefly through ex- 
change with Denison publications and which 
was one of the richest collections of society 
transactions and similar serials in the middle 
west. In making good, so far as possible, this 
severe loss the generous cooperation of au- 
thors and learned societies is requested. Au- 
thors’ separates, duplicates, or society publica- 
tions, if sent to the permanent secretary of the 
Denison Scientific Association, Granville, 
Ohio, will be gratefully accepted as a nucleus 
of a new library. : 

Rev. Freperick W. Hamitton, D.D., pastor 
of the First Universalist Church of Roxbury, 
has been elected temporary president of Tufts 
College, to fill the vacancy caused by the death 
of President Capen. 

Mr. R. P. Grecory, M.A., of St. John’s Col- 
lege, has been appointed senior demonstrator 
in botany at Cambridge. 


opens 


| 
] 
| 


COOP ome antl lt ee, § 


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The Meeting of the American Historical Association at 
Chicago. 

The Treatment of History. Gotpwin SmirH. 

Methods of Work in Historical Seminaries. 
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The Early Life of Oliver Ellsworth. Wit1t1am Garror 
Brown. 


Origin of the Title Superintendent of Finance. 
Barretr LEARNED, 


Documents—Documents on the Blount Conspiracy, 
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Reviews of Books. 

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Vol. X, No. 3 APRIL, 1905 


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CVII. February, 1905. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
On the Differential Transformer. A. TROWBRIDGE. 


Heat of Vaporization of Liquid Air. 
R. C, FENNER and F. K, RICHTMYER, 


The Coefficient of Expansion of Nickel at its Critical 
Temperature, H. M. RANDALL. 


The Velocity of Sound. THOs. C. HEBB. 


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R. W. Woop. 


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Penetrating Radiation associated with X- 
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PENETRATING RADIATION 
WITH THE 


ASSOCIATED 
A-RAYS. 

As the following investigation is made 
with the aid of nuclei, certain of their 
properties bearing on the present subject 
will first have to be specified. Exhaustions 
are preferably made at a pressure differ- 
ence (8p) just below the point (to be called 
fog limit) at which dust-free non-energized 
saturated air condenses without foreign 
nuclei. 6p depends on the particular ap- 
paratus used. 

1. Fleeting Nuclei.—Let the X-radiation 
to which the dust-free air is exposed be 
relatively weak, so that the density of ion- 
ization may remain below a certain critical 
value. The nuclei observed on condensa- 
tion are then very small and they require a 
high order of exhaustion, approaching the 
fog-limit of non-energized air. They are 
usually instantaneously generated (within 
a second) by the radiation, so that their 
number is definite independent of the time 
of exposure. They decay in a few seconds 
after the radiation ceases; 7. e., roughly to 
one half their number in two seconds, to 
one fifth in twenty seconds in the usual 
exponential way. I fancy that these nuclei 
are what most physicists would call ions; 
but nevertheless the particles are not of a 


562 


size, their. dimensions depending on the in- 
tensity of the penetrating radiation to 
which they are usually due; and they pass 
continuously into the persistent nuclei as 
shown in the next paragraph, where decay 
of ionization and of nucleation are very 
-different things. Finally (§3) they are 
stable on solution. The case seems rather 
to be one in which the rate of decay exceeds 
the rate of production. The following is 
an example of data bearing on this case, 
N being the number of nuclei caught per. 
cubie centimeter. The anticathode is at a 
distance from the fog-chamber and the ex- 
haustion carried to the verge of the fog- 
limit of dust-free air. 


Time of exposure: 


(USY SOM) Ceo..nosencnsas 5 15 30 60 120 sees. 
INE XUUG ee casaeceanrerarerener ¥*1.6 74 74 _— 74 
Time after exposure: 

(ays Ott) erereersreren. 0 5 15 30 COM ZO Re 
aPC OS Seer erccneconcn 92 30 23 18 10 4 


The two series refer respectively to genera- 
tion and to decay.t 

2. Persistent Nucler.—If the X-ray bulb 
is approached nearer the fog-chamber or if 
a more efficient bulb is used so that the 
density of the ionization within the fog- 
chamber is sufficiently increased, the rate 
of production of nuclei will eventually ex- 
ceed the rate of decay. The nuclei are now 
persistent for hours after the radiation 
ceases. The number N per cubic centi- 
meter increases in marked degree and at 
an accelerated rate with the time of ex- 
posure to the radiation, certainly for ten 
minutes or more, barring the invariable loss 
of efficiency of the X-ray bulb. These 
nuclei are large, requiring very little super- 
saturation for condensation and are much 
like any ordinary nuclei. They are pro- 
nouncedly of all sizes and the initial co- 
ronas are apt to be distorted and stratified 
beyond recognition. Whirling rains and 
accompany the first condensation. 
While small nuclei occur throughout the 


fog 


* Pog limit of dust-free air just exceeded. 
+ Including loss by diffusion or other time-loss. 


SCIENCE. 


_mediate types now occur together, as may 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


chamber, the end near the bulb is at first 
the seat of growth which gradually extends 
to the other end, as I have shown else- 
where.* The following two series of data 
showing the generation and decay of nuclei 
in question may be cited as illustrations. 
The pressure difference 6p = 20 em., much 
below the fog-limit for dust-free air, in the 
given apparatus. 


20 60 120 180 sees. 
10 20 7(100) +(500) 
85 240 minutes. 


Time after exposure .. 
3 20 vanishing. 


0 36 
WSG10=9 9, hice ee +(100) 36 
Hence there is a decay of one half inten 
minutes, and to one fifth in eighty minutes, 
or the degree of persistence is 200-300 
times larger than in the first paragraph. 
The data indicate, moreover, that both of 
these extreme types of nuclei and all inter- 


be tested by changing the pressure differ- — 
ence, 6p, on exhaustion. Intermediate : 
rates of generation and decay may be ob- | 
tained by moving the bulb nearer to or 
farther from the end of the fog chamber. 
Finally the rates at which the nuclei and 
the ionization severally decay, between ; 
which it would be difficult to distinguish 
in the case of the very fleeting nuclei, stand 
in sharp contrast with the persistence of — 
the nuclei of the present paragraph. 

3. Fleeting Nuclei Become Persistent on — 
Solution. Origin of Rain.—ULet the fog- © 
chamber be exposed to radiation for a few 
seconds and thereafter exhausted (8p—25) 
as usual. Closing the exhaustion cock and 
allowing only time enough to measure the 
first corona, let the influx cock be opened 
and the fog-chamber be refilled with dust- 
free air. The (primary) corona observed 
is thus dispelled before much subsidence of — 
fog-particles can take place, though the . 
rain will naturally drop out. If the fog- 
chamber is now left without interference 


* American Journ. Sci, XTX., 175. 
+ Computed from the second exhaustion, after — 
subsidence of the dense fogs of the first. | 


' 
j 
) 
\ 
) 


Aprit 14, 1905.] 
(the radiation having been cut off imme- 
diately after the first exhaustion) for one 
or more minutes or longer, a second ex- 
haustion to the stated limits will show a 
large (secondary) corona relatively to the 
primary corona. In other words, relatively 
many of the fleeting nuclei or ions caught 
in the first fog have persisted, whereas 
without condensation, they would have van- 
ished at once after the radiation was cut 
off. The following is an example of data 
bearing on this point, ¢ denoting the time 
elapsed from the evaporation of the first 
corona to the precipitation of the second, 
N, the number of nuclei in the first and 
N, the number in the second corona. 


=e 60 120 300 seconds. 
a < LO- 53 27 53 
NX 10-3 = 16 7 15 


The experiments are complicated by the 
variable X-ray bulb; but it is obvious that 
while all the nuclei would have vanished 
in a few seconds without condensation, 
about one fourth (in other experiments 
more) persist indefinitely if reevaporated 
after condensation from fog-particles. 
This result has an important bearing on 
the whole phenomenon of condensation and 
nuclei. Clearly the latter, after the evap- 
oration specified, become solutional or water. 
nuclei, in which the original fleeting nu- 
cleus or ion behaves as a solute. The de- 
ereased vapor pressure due to solution 
eventually compensates the increased vapor 
pressure due to curvature, after. which at a 
definite radius, evaporation ceases and a 
water nucleus results. Such a nucleus, 
however small, must be large in comparison 
with the dissolved ion. Hence on conden- 
sation the water nuclei will capture the 
moisture soonest and grow largest. Now 
in any exhaustion about one eighth of the 
fog particles, 7. ¢., those which are smallest 
and whose nuclei have been caught at the 
end of the exhaustion, regularly evaporate 
into the larger particles to a residue of 


SCIENCE. 


563 


water, nuclei. These are then the first to 
be caught in a sueceeding exhaustion. This 
is the explanation of the rain which not 
only accompanies all coronas in dust-free 
air, but is often dense. It is also an ex- 
planation of those indefinite alternations 
of large and small coronas (periodicity) 
which I described in detail elsewhere. 

4. Secondary Generation.—This is a 
curious phenomenon, showing that the de- 
caying nucleus is apparently radioactive, 
or that the walls of the fog-chamber are so, 
or. else that the large nuclei if left without 
interference break into a number (on the 
average about three) of smaller nuclei, 
whereby the nucleation is actually in- 
creased in the lapse of time after exposure. 
In other words, if the nucleation is ob- 
served without cutting off the radiation 
in one case, and if in the second ease the 
nucleation identically produced is observed 
at a stated time after the radiation has 
ceased, the number in the latter case 
(anomalously enough) is in excess. The 
following examples make this clear, the X- 
ray bulb being 5 em. from the fog-chamber, 
and the exhaustion carried to 8p = 20 em. 


Rays on...... 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 minutes 
Rays off...... 0 4 0 4 0 2 0 20 0 ee 
WV eX<lOSS sen 20 52 20 382 25 30 13 34 30 


These data are computed from the second 
exhaustion, as the first show the densely 
stratified fogs unavailable for measure- 
ment. With the bulb at different distances 
from the fog-chamber, the following data 
admit of the same interpretation. 


Distance, D= 5 10 15 5 10 15 em. 
Rays on...... 2 2 2 2 2 2 minutes. 
Rays off ..... 0 0 0 0 0 0 oe 
INGA Cee rere 12 3 1 58 9 1 


The phenomenon vanishes when the radia- 
tion is too weak to produce persistent nu- 
clei, therefore either when the bulb loses 
efficiency or when it is too far from the fog- 
chamber. These results recall the corre- 
sponding behavior evoked by radium in 


564 


sealed tubes, specified in my last article.* 
See § 6. 

5. Space Surrounding the X-ray Tube a 
Plenum of Radiations.—While the phos- 
pherescence, photographie and electric ef- 
fects of X-radiation decreases rapidly with 
the distance D from the tube, the nucle- 
ating effect (N nuclei generated per cubic 
centimeter, instantly) is nearly constant 
over relatively enormous distances.t Thus 
to give an example among many (dp = 
25 em.): 


Ee rere 6 200 600 6 . 200 
APOE ieee 88 83 83 79 79 


The law of inverse squares would predicate 
a reduction of 10,000 to 1 between these 
limits; and in fact at 6 cm. the phosphores- 
cent screen is intensely luminous, at 200 
em. very dim, at 600 em. quite dark, as in 
the ease of any ordinary illumination. 
The leaves of an electroscope within a glass 
bell-jar collapse in a time which is directly 
as the square of the distance from the en- 
ergized X-ray bulb. The result obtained 
with nuclei is astonishing; the nuclei-pro- 
ducing radiation would at first sight seem 
to be of an extremely penetrating kind, 
akin to the gamma rays of radium and dis- 
tinct from the ordinary phosphorescence- 
producing X-rays. This impression is ac- 
centuated by the fact that the radiation 
can not be stopped by lead screens many 


centimeters in thickness, placed between 


bulb and fog chamber. The following are 
typical examples, in which the distance 
between the lead plates screening the fog 
chamber and the X-ray tube is D = 600 
and 200 em., respectively. N shows the 
number. of nuclei instantly generated be- 
hind the plates in the two cases. 

* ScIENCE, XXI., 275. 

+ Supposing that the fog-chamber is not enclosed 
in impervious metal. In the latter case, with the 
lead covering open towards the X-ray bulb only, 


there is constancy of N within 20 per cent. over 
6 meters. 


SCIENCE. 


600 cm, 
9 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 537. 
Thickness of 
lead screen 0 14 -28 56 84 1,12 0 cm, 
Gi iS eee 67 28 28 31 2 31 76 
NINOS ce 79 44 48 41 _ 44 70 


Again the X-ray tube apparently emits this 
radiation forward as well as rearward, as 
if the thin anticathode were quite pervious. 
I found, for instance, for the radiation of 
the anticathode at 6 meters from the fog 
chamber, 


from the front face (tube directed), Nx 10-3 = 42 
from the rear face (tube reversed), Vx 10-3 =35, 


or 81 per cent. of the former apparently 
issues from the rear face. Even the re- 
versal of the current does not stop the 
radiation, for about 16 per cent. of the 
normal intensity is still radiated when the 
concave mirror is made the anode. 

The total efficient radiation may be re- 
duced to a limit by lead sereens a few milli- 
meters in thickness or less; thereafter it 
can not be further reduced by lead screens 
many centimeters in thickness. For in- 
stance, when the radiation comes from 600 
em., a single lead plate (thickness .14 em.) 
is more than sufficient to reduce the effect- 
ive radiation to a minimum, which amounts 
to (somewhat less than) one half of the 
total intensity, at least when estimated in 
terms of the number of nuclei produced. 
If the nucleation comes from 200 em., one — 


‘plate has the same effect, even though a 


thickness of 400 em. of air has been re- 
moved. The thickness, .14 em., is more 
than enough to reduce the radiation to the 
limit in question. This again amounts to 
a little more than one half the total in-— 
tensity. At a distance of 5 centimeters no 
more plates may be needed; but the condi- 
tions are now too complicated to be de- 
scribed here, chiefly because persistent nu- — 
clei are producible. Moreover 80 per cent. 
of the total intensity may ultimately escape 
absorption. Thus the rays from different 
distances behave alike for the more pervi- 
ous media (§5), and in relation to very 
dense screens, ‘ 


Aprin 14, 1905.] 


6. Lead-Cased Fog-Chamber.—To inter- 
pret these surprising results it will be 
necessary to surround the fog-chamber 
with a casket of lead, having a lid on the 
side fronting the X-ray bulb; for even 
though the lead plates above may efficiently 
cut off the primary rays, they would leave 
the secondary radiation free to enter later- 
ally through the broadsides of the fog- 
chamber. When this was done the results 
reduced the penetrability of lead to a more 
‘reasonable figure as may be seen from the 
following example of results when the dis- 
tance between bulb and fog-chamber was 
2 meters. 


= 0 -14 28 42 em. 
10 10) 7 5 


i. €., 14, 9 and 7 per cent. of the total in- 
tensity passes one, two and three plates 
respectively. A glass plate 7 mm. thick 
and an iron plate .5 mm thick allowed 
about 90 per cent. to pass, when the casket 
was left open and the lead plate placed 
near the bulb 17 per cent. of the total 
radiation was effective, the excess being of 
secondary origin. The passage through a 
plate of tinned iron may be observed for 
a bulb 6 meters distant as follows: 


It follows then that in the above ex- 
amples (§5) nearly one half of the total 
radiation was derived from secondary 
sources since the primary radiation was 
certainly stopped off to within 10 per cent. 
by the lead plates. To the eye of the fog- 
chamber, therefore, the walls of the room 
are aglow with radiation, and no matter in 
what position the bulb may be placed (ob- 
servationally from 6 em. to 6 m. between 
bulb and chamber), the X-illumination 
as derived from primary and secondary 
sources is constant everywhere. It is to 
be understood that the ‘X-illumination’ 
here referred to may be corpuscular. In 
fact, so far as I see, the primary and sec- 


SCIENCE. 


565 


ondary radiation here in question may be 
identical; for the corpuscles may come 
from the cireumambient air molecules shat- 
tered by the shock of gamma rays. The 
latter would in turn be traceable to the 
atomic disintegration of the anticathodal 
platinum while under bombardment by the 
cathode torrent. 

The fog-chamber, if open at the end 
toward the bulb, shows the same total in- 
tensity ; but in, such a case the inner walls 
of the casket, ete., become the source of 
secondary rays. The closed lead casket, 
however, sometimes introduces a discrep- 
ancy, for the coronas on second exhaustion 
are fainter, but nearly as large as on the 
first. Hence the lead itself is radioactive 
or it becomes so after becoming energized 
by the X-rays. This recalls § 3 on the be- 
havior of radium in the sealed tubes as 
specified in my last paper. 

7. Ordinary Dust-free Air an Aggregate 
of Nuclei.—The steam jet shows that nuclei 
of small relative size, but, nevertheless, 
large as compared with the molecules of 
air must normally be present in dust-free 
air: for the axial colors may be kept per- 
manent at any stage by fixing the super- 
saturation. Such nuclei may be called col- 
loidal molecules. Moreover, the available 
nuclei to be reckoned in millions per cubic 
centimeter increase with enormous rapidity 
with the supersaturation, in proportion as 
the molecular dimensions are approached. 
But even when the yellows of the first order 
vanish, condensation probably still takes 
place on the colloidal molecules specified. 
It is natural to associate these extremely 
fine nuclei with the existence of a very 
penetrating radiation, known to be present 
everywhere. Moreover, the occurrence of 
many nuclei with but few ions is not con- 
tradictory, if the latter are only manifest 
when the former are made or broken. 

8. Conclusion.—It has been shown that 
for very short exposures (§ 3), the nuclea- 


566 


tion is the same, whether the bulb is placed 
at 6 em. or 6 m. from the fog-chamber. 
But only in the former case (D=—6 em.) 
is the effect cumulative; only for very 
short distances will persistent or large nu- 
clei appear if the exposure is prolonged 
several minutes. I have, therefore, sus- 
pected that the radiation from the X-ray 
bulb is twofold in character, that the in- 
stantaneous effect (fleeting nuclei) is due 
to a gamma-like ray quick-moving enough 
to penetrate several millimeters of iron 
plate appreciably even for D—6 meters; 
furthermore, that the cumulative effect 
(persistent nuclei) is due to X-light prop- 
erly so called, which produces the usual 
effects subject to the law of inverse squares. 
CarL Barus. 


Brown UNIVERSITY, 
PRovIDENCE, U. S. A. 


THE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY OF THE 
BUREAU OF FISHERIES AT WOODS 
HOLE, MASS. REPORT OF WORK 
FOR THE SUMMER OF 1904.* 

Tue laboratory was opened to investi- 
gators on the fifteenth of June, and con- 
tinued in operation until near the close of 
September. During the whole or a part 
of this period twenty-eight investigators 
were engaged in work upon problems of 
marine biology. A brief statement of the 
special subjects of research will be given 
below. 

I. EQUIPMENT, STAFF, ETC. 

The same portions of the station were 
occupied as during the preceding season, 
and need not again be detailed; the steam 
vessels Fish Hawk, Phalarope and Blue 
Wing were in service during the whole or 
a part of the season; the zoological library 
of Brown University was again generously 
placed at the disposal of the laboratory. 
Two fish pounds were set, one being placed, 
as formerly, in Buzzards Bay, not far from 

* Report to the Commissioner of Fisheries by 
the director of the laboratory. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 537. 


the station, the other -being planted at No 
Mans Land, a small island a few miles to 
the south of Marthas Vineyard. Here a 
camp was located, several assistants being 
detailed to tend the trap for a period of 
about seven weeks. 

The staff of the laboratory, for the past 
season, consisted of a director and seven- 
teen assistants, together with a matron, two 
janitors and a chambermaid. To this list 
should be added a clerk and a collector, 
permanently attached to the station, and 
the crews of the various vessels. Of the 
assistants, three had immediate supervision 
of certain branches of the survey work; 
three others had charge respectively of the 
library, the supply room and the fish traps; 
while the remaining eleven rendered vari- 
ous services in the laboratory or in the 
field. Mention should also be made here 
of seven salaried investigators, employed 
by the bureau to conduct independent re- 
searches. 

The plan of having a ‘seminar’ or re- 
search club, for the discussion of work in 
progress at the laboratory, was successfully 
continued, some of the meetings being 
largely attended by outsiders, as well as by 
investigators at the station. 


II. BIOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

The biological survey of the neighboring 
waters, commenced during the preceding 
season, was actively continued. The Fish 
Hawk was at the disposal of the laboratory 
for some five weeks, during which period 
she was chiefly engaged in dredging work 
in Buzzards Bay. In all 66 ‘stations’ were 
dredged by this vessel, these being located 
at regular intervals over the bottom of the 
entire bay. The supervision of this branch 
of the work was intrusted to Mr. Leon J. 
Cole. Dredging in Vineyard Sound was 
likewise continued. A number of the sta- 
tions (18) of the preceding year were again 
located and dredged, but the principal work 


Aprit 14, 1905.] 
in the sound was done in the shallower 
waters near shore. Here the Phalarope 
was employed on account of her lighter 
draught. This vessel was specially 
equipped for the purpose at the commence- 
ment of the season; a large movable plat- 
form being built and a derrick erected. 
Mr. R. C. Osburn supervised, for the 
most part, the dredging operations of the 
Phalarope. Seventy-seven ‘stations’ were 
dredged, completing the coast line of 
Vineyard Sound, upon both sides. Dr. 
Bradley M. Davis, assisted by Miss Lillian 
MacRae, directed the collecting and identi- 
fying of the botanical material secured. 

Systematic records were of course kept 
of all species found in the dredge. As 
far as possible, identifications were made 
in the field or in the laboratory, but much 
material was preserved for reference to 
specialists. During the preceding winter, 
many of the species taken during the sum- 
mer of 1903 had been determined by var- 
ious experts, and this collection has now 
been added to the laboratory’s museum of 
local fauna, where it has already proved 
to be of great assistance in the task of 
identifying new material. Thanks are due 
to the following zoologists for the identifi- 
eation of the 1903 material: Professor C. C. 
Nutting (hydrozoa), Dr. W. R. Coe 
(nemerteans), Dr. J. P. Moore (annelids), 
Professor H. lL. Clark (echinoderms), Dr. 
S. J. Holmes (amphipods), Dr. A. E. Ort- 
mann (schizopods), Dr. Harriet Richard- 
son (isopods), Dr. B. W. Evermann 
(fishes); and to the staff of the U. S. 
National Museum, for the determination of 
the molluses and of several groups of 
erustacea. The task of identifying the 
tunicates has been undertaken by Professor 
W. E. Ritter, the barnacles by Professor 
M. A. Bigelow, and the bryozoa by Miss 
Alice Robertson. Thus far it has not been 
found possible to make any satisfactory 
disposition of the sponges. 


SCIENCE. 


567 


As usual much general collecting was 
earried on by Mr. Vinal Edwards and 
others, the material thus obtained being 
turned over to investigators at the labora- 
tory or preserved for future determina- 
tion. Mr. Edwards kept his customary 
records of the fishes taken by trap or by 
seine. 

During the present winter the task of 
compiling the results of the past two sum- 
mers’ dredging has been undertaken. The 
first step in this work consists in tabulating 
the distribution of each species by stations, 
and in plotting out these distribution areas 
upon suitable charts. By authorization of 
the commissioner, Mr. Chas. V. Morrill, of 
Columbia University, has been engaged to 
earry out this work, and a map will shortly 
be printed depicting the coast line of Vine- 
yard Sound and Buzzards Bay, together 
with the dredging stations established 
therein, but lacking other details. It is 
intended that the distribution of each of 
the more important species shall be plotted 
upon a separate copy of this map. 

Another chart, representing on a minute 
scale the topography of a small group of 
partially submerged rocks in Woods Har- 
bor was constructed by Mr. F. W. Cushwa, 
under the direction of Dr. Davis. Printed 
copies of this chart will be employed for 
portraying annual and seasonal fluctua- 
tions in the distribution of various forms 
of marine life, particularly alge. 


I. CARD CATALOGUE RECORD OF LOCAL 
FAUNA AND FLORA, 

Work upon this record has likewise been 
continued actively. During the spring of 
1904 the notes hitherto abstracted from 
various sourees were transferred in type- 
writing to catalogue cards, according to 
the system already described.* In all, 
1,146 species were thus recorded, and up- 
wards of 5,000 ecards employed. The ecata- 


*ScrencgE, February 12, 1904. 


568 


logue, even in its present condition, has 
already proved its usefulness. 

During the summer, Messrs. Max Morse, 
D. W. Davis and some of the other assist- 


ants completed, as far as was then prac- | 


ticable, the search for published data. The 
Reports and Bulletins of the U. 8. Fish 
Commission, the Transactions of the Con- 
necticut Academy of Sciences, the Biolog- 
ical Bulletin, the American Naturalist and 
the Journal of Morphology, together with 
the large collection of reprints contained 
in the library at the station, were systemat- 
ically searched, and all relevant facts, even 
incidental references to the ecology of local 
species, were recorded. In all 84 papers 
were found to contain information of the 
sort desired, in addition to those abstracted 
during the preceding year. 

There must also be mentioned a most 
valuable set of 113 cards in possession of 
the Marine Biological Laboratory, and 
kindly loaned by Dr. F. R. Lillie for in- 
corporation into the present catalogue sys- 
tem. These cards record personal observa- 
tions by various well-known investigators 
who have been connected with the Marine 
Biological Laboratory in past years. In 
addition, several zoologists generously pre- 
pared during the summer extensive sets of 
notes upon groups to which they had given 
especial attention. Mr. Lynds Jones fur- 
nished data relating to 104 species of 
marine and shore birds of the neighbor- 
hood; Professor Chas. B. Wilson furnished 
a set dealing with fifty species of parasitic 
copepods; Dr. W. R. Coe contributed notes 
relating to 32 local nemerteans and Dr. J. 
P. Moore prepared records of 25 species of 
polycheta. In addition valuable notes 
were received from Dr. A. L. Treadwell 
and Dr. Louis Murbach, dealing with 
polycheta and meduse respectively. 

It is needless to add that the data de- 
rived from the collecting work in progress 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


will be incorporated as soon as they are 
made available. 


IV. INDIVIDUAL INVESTIGATIONS. 

Robert L. Baird, assistant in zoology and 
geology, Oberlin College, carried on experi- 
ments in the endeavor to determine the 
presence of sense of smell in Fundulus, to 
differentiate that sense from the sense of 
taste, and to ascertain the importance of 
the sense of smell to the fish in its life 
habits, especially in obtaining food. 


E. N. Carter, superintendent U. 8. Fish- 
eries Station, St. Johnsbury, Vt., com- 
menced experiments with view to testing 
the effect of temperature at the time of 
fertilization upon the subsequent develop- 
ment of fish eggs. 


Leon J. Cole, Austin teaching fellow in 
zoology, Harvard University, assisted in 
the work of the biological survey, having 
supervision of the dredging operations of 
the Fish Hawk in Buzzards Bay. 


Winterton C. Curtis, Ph.D., assistant pro- 
fessor of zoology, University of Missouri, 


-was employed by the bureau to conduct ex- 


periments with a view to determining the 
life history of certain parasites of fishes. 
The attempt was made to find some treat- 
ment by which the ‘sand shark,’ Carcharias 
littoralis, could be freed of the cestode 
Crossobothrium laciniatum, which with 
rare exceptions infests the spiral valve of 
this fish. The ‘oil of male fern,’ commonly 
used as a vermifuge in veterinary and hu- 
man practise, was tried and proved quite 
effective. In all some 56 sharks were sub- 
jected to the treatment with this drug and 
of these there were 38 survivors, of which 
26 were without any infection, the remain- 
ing 12 being infected with C. laciniatum 
in much smaller numbers than one would 
expect to find in any untreated specimens. 
The 18 non-surviving specimens, of which 
some were killed because they seemed to be 


Aprit 14, 1905.] 


dying, and others were examined soon after 
death from the treatment, showed evi- 
dence that all of the parasites had been 
killed by the drug before the death of the 
host. The best results in expurgation 
eame from those cases in which the dose 
had been repeated after an interval of sev- 
eral days, but as this method was not per- 
fected until late in the summer, it was im- 
possible to apply it to more than a limited 
number of specimens. Hence these results 
do little beyond indicating that some con- 
tinuation of the experiments will be neces- 
sary in order to determine a mode of treat- 
ment effective enough for practical use in 
expurgating sharks for experiments in 
artificial infection. 

Infection experiments were carried out 
during 1903 and 1904 to find out what ces- 
tode develops from the Scolex polymorphus 
of the ‘squeteague’ (Cynoscion regalis), 
when these larve are fed to the sand 
shark. Each year a number of the sharks 
thus infected were found to contain large 
number of young Phoreibothrium trilocu- 
latum Linton, a cestode which is recorded 
from the ‘dusky shark’ (Carcharinus ob- 
scurus). Some evidence was obtained 
pointing to the conclusion that Scolex poly- 
morphus likewise comprises larve which 
develop into the genus Crossobothrium, but 
this evidence is so inconclusive that it can 
have no value unless strongly confirmed 
by the results of futher investigation. 


Bradley M. Davis, Ph.D., assistant pro- 
fessor of botany, University of Chicago, 
supervised the collecting and identifying 
of marine alge in connection with the 
dredging work, being assisted in this task 
“by Miss L. J. MacRae. Dr. Davis like- 
wise commenced the compilation of a set 
of records of the marine plants of this 
region to be incorporated into the catalogue 
of local marine fauna and flora. 


Donald W. Davis, student in Harvard 


SCIENCE. 


569 


University, assisted in the survey work, as 
well as in certain experiments with fishes 
to be described below. 


Irving A. Field, Thayer Scholar, Har- 
vard University, continued, as salaried as- 
sistant, his studies of the food of fishes of 
little or no food value, adding to the list 
of those investigated during the preceding 
summer the ‘horned dog-fish’ (Squalus 
acanthias), and the ‘sand shark’ (Car- 
charias littoralis). | Experiments with 
view to determining the food value of the 
common dog-fish, and to discovering other 
possible economic uses, were likewise con- 
tinued. 


Frederic P. Gorham, Ph.D., associate 
professor of biology, Brown University, 
conducted, on behalf of the bureau, (1) 
bacteriological studies upon an epidemic 
disease of the menhaden then prevalent in 
Narragansett Bay and in certain parts of 
Buzzards Bay; (2) experiments, continued 
from the preceding year, upon the effects 
of various sorts of metal piping upon 
marine organisms kept in aquaria; (3) 
studies of certain properties of the blood 
of various marine animals. 


Clarence W. Hahn, A.M., teacher of 
biology, New York High School of Com- 
merece, carried on experiments upon the re- 
generation of Holocampa, Metridium and 
Sagarlia, with view to discovering the 
causes that determine the growth of the 
directive mesenteries. Time was also spent 
in collaborating results already obtained 
on this subject. 


Lynds Jones, M.S., instructor in zoology, 
Oberlin College, continued his studies upon 
the food of marine birds. The living birds 
were closely observed in their natural 
habitat, their method of fishing and of 
feeding their young being studied. The 
various local nesting grounds of the terns 
and gulls were visited, nine days being 
spent on Muskeget Island. Young gulls 


570 


and terns were brought back and studied 
in confinement for some weeks. 


B. W. Kunkel, graduate student, Yale 
University, collected and carried on a pre- 
liminary study of the brains of eighteen 
species of elasmobranchs and teleosts of 
the locality, devoting his principal atten- 
tion to the epiphysis. 


Edwin Linton, Ph.D., professor of biol- 
ogy, Washington and Jefferson College, 
was engaged, on behalf of the bureau, (1) 
in working over a collection of entozoa 
from fish and fish-eating birds made by Mr. 
Vinal Edwards from September, 1903, to 
June, 1904, and contained in 300 vials; (2) 
in working over material collected during 
the current season by himself and an assist- 
ant, special attention being devoted to cer- 
tain cestode parasites which were found in 
great numbers in the butter-fish (Rhombus 
triacanthus). 


Lillian J. MacRae, teacher in South Bos- 
ton High School, assisted Dr. Davis in the 
work of collecting and identifying marine 
alg. 


W. J. Moenkhaus, Ph.D., associate pro- 
fessor of physiology, Indiana University, 
repeated certain experiments of previous 
years in order to obtain material for fur- 
ther study of the behavior of chromatin 
in hybrids. The following crosses were 
made: (1) Fundulus heteroclitus Q xX 
Gasterosteus bispinosus g, (2) Fundulus 
heteroclitus 2 > Stenotomus chrysops 2, 
(3) Fundulus majalis 29 & F. heteroclitus 
5, (4) Fundulus majalis 9 *& Tautogolab- 
rus adspersus %. An attempt to fertilize 
Fundulus eggs with the sperm of Opsanus 
tau was unsuccessful. 


J. Perey Moore, Ph.D., instructor in zool- 
ogy, University of Pennsylvania, made con- 
siderable progress with the synopsis of 
annelids of the Woods Hole region which 
he is engaged in preparing en behalf of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


the bureau, completing the families of 
Polynoide and Nereide, and drafting de- 
scriptions of species belonging to other 
families. The determination of the rela- 
tions of the various sexual phases of the 
species of the latter family being a matter 
of considerable difficulty, the collection of 
suitable material for this purpose consumed 
much time. The life history of Platynereis 
megalops proved to be quite as complex as 
that of the classical P. Dumerilii, present- 
ing, however, some important differences. 
With the exception of Nereis arenaceoden- 
tata, heteronereids of all the species have 
been found. An additional new species of 
Nereis was also discovered. The Polynoide 
and other scaly polycheta are of well- 
known species, though several new to the 
region have been found. The large felted 
polychxte, commonly called the ‘sea mouse,’ 
of American waters, has always been iden- 
tified with the European Aphrodite acu- 
leata. A careful study of specimens taken 
off Nantucket and Marthas Vineyard show 
that the species occurring there is quite 
distinct. The dredging operations con- 
nected with the biological survey resulted 
in large collections of polychexta, the de- 
termination and recording of which re- 
quired much time. Besides adding several 
forms to the known fauna of the region, 
the most interesting of which is the remark- 
able Spiochetopterus oculatus, this work 
has added greatly to our, knowledge of the 
loeal distribution of certain species. 


Max Morse, fellow in zoology, Columbia 
University, assisted in the work of the 
biological survey, as well as in biometric 
studies carried on by Dr. Sumner. 


Raymond C. Osburn, teacher of biology, 
New York High School of Commeree, as- 
sisted in the work of the biological survey, 
having supervision of the dredging opera- 
tions of the Phalarope. 


Apri 14, 1905.] 


George H. Parker, Ph.D., assistant pro- 
fessor of zoology, Harvard University, con- 
tinued, as salaried investigator, his experi- 
ments of a previous summer upon the hear- 
ing of fishes, devoting especial attention to 
the functions of the ear of the squeteague 
(Cynoscion regalis). The latter consists of 
a dorsal utriculus, with three semi-circular 
canals, and of ventral sacculus containing 
a large otolith. The cavity of the utriculus 
does not communicate with that of the sac- 
eulus; hence the ear of this fish, unlike that 
of most vertebrates, is represented anatom- 
ically by two separate parts. When the 
utriculi and their appended semi-circular 
canals and nerves were cut, the fishes 
showed characteristic disturbances in their 
equilibrium, and these disturbances per- 
sisted till death. Such fishes were as re- 
sponsive as normal ones to sound vibrations 
produced by tapping with a mallet on the 
side of the wooden aquarium in which they 
were kept. When the otoliths, which are 
normally quite freely movable in the sac- 
euli, were pressed by means of pins against 
the outer, non-nervous sides of their cham- 
bers and were thus fastened, the fishes 
showed no disturbance of equilibrium, but 
did not react to sound vibrations as do 
normal fishes. It, therefore seems prob- 
able to Dr. Parker that the utriculus and 
the semicircular canals are sense organs 
concerned with equilibrium, and that the 
sacculus with its contained otolith is an 
organ of hearing. 


Henry F. Perkins, instructor in zoology, 
University of Vermont, and Carnegie re- 
search assistant, continued his endeavors 
to rear the eggs of Gonionemus murbachii, 
with view to a study of the embryology of 
this form. This task has proved extremely 
difficult in the past, but preliminary steps 
were successfully taken. Towing collec- 
tions of various hydromeduse were also 
made from the wharf, furnishing material 


SCIENCE. 


571 


for a study of the formation of new ten- 
tacles. 


L. Charles Raiford, instructor in chem- 
istry and dyeing, Mississippi Agricultural . 
College, carried on studies upon the in- 
testinal bacteria of certain fishes. Cultures 
were taken from 57 dog-fish and 26 men- 
haden, and those organisms which appeared 
to be of constant occurrence were isolated 
in pure culture. So far as his work has 
been carried, Mr. Raiford believes that all 
of the bacteria found are commonly known 
species. 


H. W. Rand, Ph.D., instructor in zool- 
ogy, Harvard University, collected and 
prepared material for studies of the venous 
system of the skate. Injections were made 
of the hepatic portal, cardinal and lateral 
veins, with a view to determining the rela- 
tions and connections of these several sys- 
tems of veins in the posterior region of the 
abdominal cavity. Dr. Rand also made a 
series of observations on the respiratory 
movements of the skate, with special refer- 
ence to the functions of the spiracle. 


George G. Scott, M.A., tutor in philos- 
ophy, College of the City of New York, and 
assistant in charge of the supply room at 
the laboratory, carried on studies upon the 
sporozoa parasitic in various marine in- 
vertebrates. s 


Grant Smith, Ph.D., teacher of biology, 
Chicago Normal School, collected and pre- 
pared material for the study of the eyes of 
varlous marine invertebrates. 


W. L. Sperry, Rhodes scholar elect, car- 
ried on studies upon the muscular and 
nervous systems of the star-fish, Astervas 
forbesi. In this work Mr. Sperry assisted 
Professor H. L. Clark, who, however, was 
not himself present this season. Certain 
features of the musculature were studied 
in detail and drawn, observations upon the 
movements of the living animal were made, 


572 


and experiments were made to determine 
suitable methods of staining. 


M. X. Sullivan, Ph.D., instructor in 
chemical physiology, Brown University, in- 
vestigated the physiology of digestion in 
the common dog-fish. 


Francis Bertody Sumner, Ph.D., instruc- ~ 


tor in zoology, College of the City of New 
York, and director of the laboratory, was 
occupied with (1) work upon the biolog- 
ical survey of the marine fauna and flora 
of the vicinity of Woods Hole (see above), 
(2) the card catalogue record of local spe- 
cies (see above), (3) experimental and 
statistical studies of various fishes with 
reference to adaption and selection. In 
the experimental part of this work, Dr. 
Sumner was assisted by Mr. D. W. Davis, 
in the biometric part by Messrs. Davis, 
Metcalf, Morse and some other assistants. 


E. E. Watson, student in Iowa Univer- 
sity, was engaged in biometric studies of 
various local erabs. 


Chas. B. Wilson, A.M., professor of biol- 
ogy, State Normal School, Westfield, Mass., 
carried on studies of parasitic copepods, 
both living and preserved material being 
used. Many interesting facts relating to 
the ecology of these parasites, some of pos- 
sible economic value, were discovered. In 
a number of cases the life history was 
traced partially or completely. A consid- 
erable number of new species were found. 
Professor Wilson likewise prepared an ex- 
tensive set of records of local parasitic 
copepods for incorporation into the faunal 
catalogue. 

Commissioner G. M. Bowers, Dr. B. W. 
Evermann, chief of the Division of Scien- 
tific Inquiry, and Mr. E. L. Goldsborough, 
assistant in that division, likewise spent 


portions of the summer at the station; and - 


the hospitality of the laboratory was ex- 
tended to Mr. Chas. R. Knight, the well- 


SCIENCE. 


. [N.8. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


known animal painter, and to Mr. S. F. 
Denton, the illustrator and taxidermist. 
Francis B. SUMNER. 


ALBATROSS EXPEDITION TO THE BASTERN 
PACIFIC.* 


ii: 


WE left Callao for Easter Island Satur- 
day afternoon, December 3; as far as 90° 
west longitude we remained in the Hum- 
boldt current, as we could readily see from 
the character of the temperature serials 
and from the amount of pelagic life we 
obtained from both the surface and the 
intermediate hauls. This current also af- 
fected the bottom fauna, which was fairly 
rich even as far as 800 miles from the shore 
while we remained within the limits of the 
northern current. As soon as we ran out- 
side of this the character of the surface 
fauna changed; it became less and less 
abundant as we made our way to Easter 
Island, the western half of the line from 
Callao becoming gradually barren. This 
current also affected the deep-sea fauna to 
such an extent that towards Easter Island, 
at a distance of 1,200 to 1,400 miles from 
the South American continent, our trawl 
hauls were absolutely barren; the bottom 
for the greater part of the line was covered 
with manganese nodules on which were 
found attached a few insignificant siliceous 
sponges, an occasional ophiuran, and a few 
brachiopods or diminutive worm tubes, the 
same bottom continuing to Sala y Gomez 
and between there and Easter Island. Sala 
y Gomez and Easter Island are connected 
by a ridge, on which we found 1,142 fath- 
oms near Sala y Gomez, and 1,696 fathoms 
between that point and Easter Island. The 
ridge rises rapidly from about 2,000 fath- 
oms, the general oceanic depth within about 


* Extract from a letter of Mr. Alexander Agassiz 
to Hon. George M. Bowers, U. S. Fish Commis- 
sioner, dated Chatham Island, Galapagos, January 
6, 1905. 


Aprit 14, 1905.] 


100 miles, to over 1,100 fathoms within a 
comparatively short distance from both 
Sala y Gomez and Easter Island. 

The southern part of our line from 
Easter Island to the Galapagos shows all 
the features characteristic of the western 
part of the line from Callao to Easter 
Island ; like the latter, as far as the twelfth 
degree of southern latitude, it proved com- 
paratively barren, the bottom consisting of 
manganese nodules to within about 250 
miles of the Galapagos. The pelagic and 
intermediate fauna from Easter Island to 
12° south latitude was very poor, and the 
serial temperatures show that we were out- 
side and to the westward of the great Hum- 
boldt current. But near the twelfth degree 
of southern latitude a sudden change took 
place; the pelagic and intermediate fauna 
became quite abundant again, and soon 
fully as rich as at any time in the Hum- 
boldt current. There was also a marked 
change in the temperature of the water as 
indicated by the serials, showing that from 
the twelfth degree of southern latitude to 
the Galapagos we were cutting across the 
western part of the Humboldt current. 
The great changes of temperature which 
took place in the layers of the.water be- 
tween 50 and 300 fathoms are most strik- 
ing, and show what a disturbing element 
the great mass of cold water flowing north 
must be in the equatorial regions of the 
Panamie district to the south and to the 
north of the Galapagos. South of the 
Galapagos the western flow of the Hum- 
boldt current must be nearly 900 miles 
wide, and of about the same width when 
running parallel to the South American 
coast. : 

The range of temperatures between 30 
fathoms and 150 fathoms is at some points 
as great as 21°. Such extremes can not 
fail to affect the distribution of the pelagic 
fauna, and may account for the mass of 
dead material often collected in the inter- 


SCIENCE. 


573 


mediate tows at depths of less than 300 
fathoms, when the range becomes as great 
as 28°. Such a range of temperature is 
far greater than that of the isocrymic lines 
which separate coast faunal divisions. The 
bottom fauna, as we entered the Humboldt 
eurrent going north, gradually became 
richer in spite of its being covered with 
manganese nodules. ; 

The two lines centering at Easter Island 
developed the Albatross Plateau indicated 
on the Challenger bathymetrical charts, on 
the strength of a few soundings reaching 
from Callao in a northwesterly direction 
and of a couple of soundings on the twen- 
tieth degree of latitude. The Albatross 
Plateau is marked as a broad ridge sep- 
arating the Buchan Basin from the deep 
basin to the westward, of which Grey Deep 
and Moser Basin are the most noted areas. 

Our line from Easter Island to the Gala- 
pagos showed a wonderfully level ridge, 
varying in depth only from 2,020 to 2,265 
fathoms in a distance of nearly 2,000 miles. 
The soundings we made to the eastward 
from the Galapagos to the South American 
coast, and to the westward of Callao, as 
well as on the line from Callao to Easter 
Island, all indicate a gradual deepening to 
the eastward to form what the Challenger 
has called the Buchan Basin, with greatest 
depths of 2,400 to over 2,700 fathoms, 
and passing at several points near the coast 
to Milne-Edwards Deep, Haeckel Deep, 
Kriimmel Deep and Richards Deep, some 
of them with a depth of over 4,000 fathoms. 
According to the Challenger soundings the 
Juan Fernandez Plateau connects with the 
Albatross Plateau and forms the southern 
limit separating Buchan Basin from the 
Barker Basin to the south of the Juan 
Fernandez Plateau. 

At Easter Island we found our collier 
awaiting our arrival. We moved from 
Cook Bay to La Pérouse Bay to coal, as 
there was less swell there than in Cook Bay, 


574 


where we could scarcely have gone along- 
side for this purpose. 

Considerable shore collecting was done 
at Easter Island. We must have brought 
together at least thirty species of plants. 
The flora of Easter Island is very poor. 
There are no trees nor, native bushes—not 
even the bushes which characterize the 
shore tracts of the most isolated coral reefs 
of the Pacific are found there; and yet 
some of the equatorial counter-currents 
must occasionally bring some flotsam to its 
shores. We collected a number of shore 
fishes and made a small collection of the 
littoral fauna. The fishes have a decided 
Pacific look, and the few species of sea- 
urchins we came across are species having 
a wide distribution in the Pacific. 

While coaling, we spent some time ex- 
amining the prehistoric monuments which 
line the shores of Easter Island. During 
our stay at La Pérouse Bay we visited the 
platforms studding the coast of the bay, 
and made an excursion to the crater of 
Rana Roraka, where are situated the great 
quarries from which were cut the colossal 
images now scattered all over the island, 
many of which have fallen near the plat- 
forms upon which they were erected. Near 
Rana Roraka, at Tongariki, is the largest 
platform on the island, about 450 feet in 
length, to the rear of which are fifteen huge 
images which have fallen from the pedes- 
tals upon which they once stood. The 
plain in the rear of the platform is crowded 
with stone houses, most of which are in 
ruins. 

On our return to our anchorage at Cook 
Bay, we examined the platforms within 
easy reach of the settlement, and also the 
crater of Rana Kao, on the north rim of 
which, at Orongo, are a number of the 
stone houses built by the people who quar- 
ried the great stone images. At Orongo 
are also found sculptured rocks, but neither 
the sculptures nor the images show any 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


artistic qualities, though the fitting of some 
of the cyclopean stones used in building 
the faces of the platforms indicate excel- 
lent and careful workmanship. To Mr. C. 
Cooper, manager of the Easter Island Com- 
pany, we are indebted for assistance while 
visiting the points of interest of the island. 
He was indefatigable in his exertions in 
our behalf. 

We took a number of photographs dur- 
ing our stay; illustrating not only the pre- 
historic remains, but giving also an idea of 
the desolate aspect of Easter Island during 
the dry season. 

We arrived at Wreck Bay, Chatham 
Island, Galapagos, on the third of January, 
where we found a schooner with a supply 
of coal. As soon as the ship has been over- 
hauled and coaled we shall start for Manga 
Reva, where we ought to arrive the last 
days of January. We reached Chatham 
Island towards the end of the dry season. 
Everything is dried up, the vegetation 
seems dead with the exception of a few 
small wild cotton plants, weeds, cactus and 
an occasional mimosa; and the great barren 
slopes present fully as uninviting an aspect 
as when Darwin described them. When 
the Albatross visited the Galapagos in 
March, 1891, everything was green, pre- 
senting a very marked contrast to its pres- 
ent desolate appearance. 

ALEXANDER AGASSIZ. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

Problems in Astrophysics. By Acnes M. 
Cierkre. London, Adam and Charles Black; 
Agents in America, The Macmillan Co. 
1908. Pp. xvi-++ 567, with 81 illustrations. 
$6.00 net. 

Qualified by her authorship of those excel- 
lent works ‘The History of Astronomy in the 
Nineteenth Century’ and ‘ The System of the 
Stars,’ and by her obviously minute and crit- 
ical study of current research in this field, 
Miss Clerke presents in her latest work a lucid 
account of pending problems in astrophysics. 


Aprit 14, 1905.] 


Her brilliant style of writing is maintained 
throughout, and is sure to fascinate even the 
reader who does not fully comprehend her 
meaning. Sometimes, indeed, her lavish use 
of synonyms must puzzle those not familiar 
with the subject; but it carries her and her 
readers lightly and pleasantly over some chap- 
ters that would certainly be dry in the hands 
of most authors. 

The keynote of the book is suggestiveness, 
as the author points out in the preface, and 
there could be no better tribute to her success 
in this respect than the use made of her work 
by astronomers. She clearly differentiates the 
known and the unknown, and emphasizes what 
ought to be found out. 

The book can be commended to the atten- 
tion of the physicist and the chemist. It is 
unfortunate that so few workers in the field 
of chemistry seem to take a positive and active 
interest in the problems of astrophysics; for 
in many respects its progress is being delayed 
while developments are awaited from the 
chemical laboratories. When these develop- 
ments come, as when Ramsay solved the mys- 
tery of helium, the forward movement is 
rapid. Students of electricity also ought to 
find considerable of interest in this book and 
its topics, for our nearest approaches to labo- 
ratory representations of stellar phenomena 
seem to be of an electrical character. Yet 
we really do not know at all how these elec- 
trical phenomena can be brought into their 
proper relation to the thermal conditions 
which doubtless obtain in the stars. 

The work before us is divided into two 
parts, ‘ Problems in Solar Physics’ and ‘ Prob- 
lems in Sidereal Physics,’ the second part oc- 
cupying something more than two thirds of 
the volume. The fourteen chapters of the 
first part deal with the sun’s chemistry, and 
separately with its successive envelopes. Two 
chapters are devoted to sun-spots, and they 
sufficiently disclose our ignorance as to the 
nature and cause of these familiar but no less 
puzzling phenomena. The last three chap- 
ters treat of the solar rotation, the solar cycle 
and ‘the sun as a whole.” The author’s point 
of view is the safe and conservative one which 
has been taught by Young and by Huggins. 


SCIENCE. 


518 


Schmidt’s refraction theory of solar phenom- 
ena is regarded as largely of academic interest. 
The general reader may safely accept the au- 
thor’s comments as well balanced; and there 
is no concealment, but rather a frank avowal, 
of the extent of our present ignorance on the 
problems of the sun. 

Part II. includes forty-one chapters and 
enters into the personal details—the vie 
intime—of the stars, possibly rather too 
minutely for the general reader. But it is 
decidedly interesting reading, and the reviewer 
must confess that the belatedness of this re- 
view is due to the tendency to peruse these 
details repeatedly to the detriment of obtain- 
ing a broad survey of the book. The author 
adopts a rather simple scheme for classifying 
stellar spectra and gives to each class a chap- 
ter. Anomalous and bright-line spectra re- 
ceive an Spectroscopic 
binaries and eclipsing stars also get consider- 
able attention. ‘The problem of Beta Lyre’ 
occupies a chapter of twenty pages, while the 
longest chapter is devoted to temporary stars, 
including Nova Persei. After clusters have 
been discussed, the nebule are taken up in 
nine interesting chapters, and few of the ob- 
jects of this class which have been carefully 
studied are omitted in the author’s detailed 
treatment. A brief final chapter discusses 
the physics of the Milky Way. 

References to the original sources are faith- 
fully given throughout the work, and appa- 
rently with few typographical errors, from 
which the book is otherwise quite free. We 
wish that Miss Clerke would adopt the use of 
the convenient word spectrogram instead of 
making spectrograph serve for both the instru- 
ment and the photographic result of its use. 
Slips of the pen seem to be rare, and there are 
few points at which a conservative reader 
would interpret the results of observations 
very differently from the author. 

The thirty-one insert plates are for the most 
part excellent. Those printed in the text, 
except diagrams, are less satisfactory, notably 
the picture of prominence on p. 104. The 
light weight of the paper makes the handling 
of the book a pleasure—and it is likely to 


ample treatment. 


576 


be handled rather frequently by many of its 
owners. 
Epwin B. Frost. 
YERKES OBSERVATORY. 


La Montagne Pelée et ses Eruptions. Par A. 
Lacrorx. Ouvrage Publié par |’Académie 
des Sciences sous les Auspices des Minis- 
téres de l’Instruction publique et des Colo- 
nies, Paris. 1904. Pp. xxiit 662. 30 
plates and numerous text figures. 

The most complete report on Martinique yet 
published is that of Professor Lacroix, which 
embodies the results of his researches during 
two extended sojourns in the West Indies. 
Few geologists were better qualified to under- 
take the task and unusual facilities were of- 
fered him to make as exhaustive an examina- 
tion as the conditions would permit of the 
voleano Pelée. 

Professor Lacroix was sent, at the sugges- 
tion of the Académie des Sciences, by the 
Minister of the Colonies at the head of a 
scientific commission to study the effects of 
the eruption of Pelée and to examine into its 
causes. The commission consisted, in addi- 
tion to Professor Lacroix, of M. Rollet de 
VIsle and M. Giraud. After a preliminary 
visit of little more than a month in June and 
July, 1902, the party returned to France to 
arrange for a longer visit in the dry season. 
The eruption of the thirty-first of August 
hastened Professor Lacroix’s departure and 
he arrived a second time at Fort de France on 
the first of October alone, the other members 
of the mission being unable to accompany 
him. During this second visit, which lasted 
nearly six months, the greater part of the 
material was gathered upon which the present 
report is based. 

Two observatories were established from 
which the volcano could be watched day and 
night, and at these posts were cameras and 
various instruments for the purpose of record- 
ing with as minute detail as possible all 
events, or changes in the form of the moun- 
tain. The results of these observations were 
correlated by Professor Lacroix, who devoted 
a greater part of his own time to an examina- 
tion of the voleano, the collection of speci- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


mens, and to obtaining, if one may judge from 
the illustrations of the book, a large number 
of very remarkable photographs. 

In presenting his results Lacroix has ar- 
ranged them under three heads: The first part, 
which is by far the longest, deals with the 
geological and physical problems involved in 
the eruptions, and contains detailed descrip- 
tions of the more violent outbreaks. The 
second part is devoted to a petrographical 
study of the actual products of the eruption 
and to a comparison of these with rocks from 
the other islands of the Lesser Antilles. In 
the third part, the various products resulting 
from the conflagration of Saint Pierre are dis- 
cussed, particular attention being paid to the 
secondary minerals developed and the effect of 
intense heat on the old andesite of which most 
of the houses were built. 

Much of the information contained in the 
first part will be familiar to those who have 
followed Lacroix’s earlier reports and the de- 
scriptions of the American observers, but cer- 
tain chapters are of unusual interest to geolo- 
gists, especially those which deal with the 
processes involved in the formation of the 
famous ‘dome’ and ‘spine,’ the theory of the 
‘burning clouds’ (nuées ardentes) of the 
more violent eruptions, the deposits of frag- 
mental materials, and the various secondary 
phenomena. After summarizing in chapter I. 
of the first part the geology of Martinique and 
the other Antillean islands, and describing 
earlier eruptions, the author calls attention 
in chapter II. to the single center of eruption 
and the absence of secondary vents. A study 
of the modifications in topography resulting 
directly from the great eruptions shows them 
to have been relatively slight, from a geolog- 
ical point of view, when compared with the 
devastation wrought. Judging from the reec- 
ords of cable repair ships no marked changes 
in submarine topography occurred and the 
breaking of the cables is attributed to the 
shelving of deltas at the mouths of streams 
descending from the flanks of Pelée. 

In chapter III. Lacroix describes the evolu- 
tion of the ‘dome’ and offers an explanation 
of the processes involved in its development. 
Briefly, the ‘dome’ is the eminence which has 


ApRIL 14, 1905.] 


appeared within the old crater (Etang Sec) 
since the eruption of May 8, 1902, and which 
was considered by some of the American ob- 
servers as merely a secondary cinder cone, or 
an accumulation of fragmental ejected ma- 
terial about the actual vent. Lacroix denies 
that it is of fragmental nature and states that 
it is, in fact, a homogeneous mass of viscous 
lava surrounded by an envelope of the same 
substance cooled and consolidated. The ex- 
planation of this phenomenon and of the re- 
markable spine of solid rock which has from 
time to time risen above the dome itself is 
essentially as follows: 

The viscous magma on reaching the surface 
through the throat of the voleano and forming 
a protuberant mass is quickly surrounded by 
a solid shell or envelope which protects the still 
pasty interior from a too rapid cooling. This 
envelope becomes fissured, under the influence 
of progressive solidification, and the increase 
in volume of the mass itself, and through the 
clefts thus formed fresh molten material is 
exuded. In this way a homogeneous rocky 
mass increases in height and volume, bristling 
with jagged points, glowing like a ‘ charcoal- 
burner’s fire’ at night, and bounded by abrupt 
walls which rise from the debris accumulating 
at its base from incessant superficial crum- 
bling. Projected materials resulting from 
violent eruptions play but a small part in the 
constitution of such a dome. <A dome so con- 
structed is not characterized by any perma- 
nent vent or crater, but violent eruptions de- 
termine such openings, which are of a tem- 
porary nature and rapidly closed. When the 
envelope has become sufficiently resistant to 
permit no longer a growth in all directions, the 
action of the pressure is localized at certain 
points and results in the extrusion of solid 
rocky masses issuing as from a mold and pro- 
ducing needles or spines which may attain an 
elevation of several hundred meters. In the 
course of a single eruption the point at which 
the pressure concentrates itself may be dis- 
placed, and successive spines may result of 
diverse forms, dimensions and positions, and 
often of an ephemeral existence, for continual 
crumbling tends to modify or totally destroy 
them. This process, which has been unrecog- 


SCIENCE. 


577 


nized up to the present, and which Lacroix is 
the first to describe, explains, in his opinion, 
the origin of the many peculiarities of struc- 
ture of ‘domes’ in volcanic regions where 
activity no longer is manifest, and which have 
often been assumed to be the cores of dissected 
volcanoes. 

Four types of rock were recognized as con- 
stituting the dome and spine, the specimens 
being collected from the talus extending down 
the Riviére Blanche from the base of the 
dome, and from the edge of the old crater 
after violent eruptions. The four types are 
differentiated by the character of their ground- 
masses, the phenocrysts being the same; they 
are essentially hypersthene andesites. Rocks 
of the first two types are glassy, the first being 
obsidian, the ground-mass of the second con- 
taining a few microlites of an acid plagioclase 
in a glassy base. The third type is a porous 
or vesicular andesite containing greater or less 
amounts of plagioclase microlites in the 
ground-mass; the fourth type differs but little 
from the third except that the groundmass 
contains quartz in small crystals frequently 
abundant enough to make the rock micro- 
granular. Of these four types I. and II. are 
believed to have been derived from the shell or 
envelope of the dome, type I. probably repre- 
senting the original crust, and type II. the 
material filling the cracks and fissures in the 
outer shell. Rocks of these types are abun- 
dant in the ejectamenta of violent eruptions. 
Specimens of types IIT. and IV. were obtained 
from the quiet crumbling or breaking down 
of the spine. The quartz-rich rocks are as- 
sumed to have come from the interior of the 
spine and are the result of a much slower 
cooling of the magma, while rocks of type III. 
represent a somewhat more rapid cooling. In 
commenting upon these quartzose andesites, 
Lacroix says: “* * * The actual production 
of quartz-bearing rocks, more or less com- 
pletely microgranular, which I consider one 
of the most important observations that I had 
occasion to make, shows that the conditions 
necessary for the formation of quartz in a 
voleanie rock may be realized at slight depth 
under the solidified outer shell of a dome of 
acid rock in process of evolution” (page 157). 


5718 


In part II., on petrography, this matter is 
taken up in greater detail and the conditions 
controlling the erystallization of quartz dis- 
eussed. The microlites of feldspar and the 
metasilicates like the phenocrysts are essen- 
tially the products of igneous fusion, but the 
quartz is assumed to have erystallized under 
hydrothermal conditions acting at a lower 
temperature. These opinions are especially 
significant, coming as they do from one of the 
foremost French petrographers. 

Chapter IV. deals with the most evident 
and apparent expressions of vuleanism—the 
great clouds of vapor ladened with fragmental 
material, the ‘burning clouds’ (nuées arden- 
tes) which swept down the flanks of Pelée 
and annihilated Saint Pierre, mud-flows, ete. 
Several chapters follow in which the different 
violent eruptions are described and the theory 
of the ‘burning clouds’ is discussed. Chapter 
IX. is an important one on the character and 
distribution of the fragmental deposits and 
their subsequent erosion. The first part closes 
with an account of the various accessory phe- 
nomena, as atmospheric electricity, changes in 
atmospheric pressure, abnormal optical phe- 
nomena, etc. 

Part II. consists of a systematic petrograph- 
ical study of the recently erupted rocks in 
which, it is interesting to note, the author 
makes frequent use of the Quantitative Sys- 
tem recently proposed by Cross, Iddings, Pirs- 
son and Washington, finding it most conven- 
ient for purposes of comparison. The mineral 
composition and texture of the rocks are 
described, and the conditions already men- 
tioned, which have influenced the consolida- 
tion of the magma, are discussed in detail. 
The older rocks of Martinique and a number 
from other islands of the Lesser Antilles are 
compared, and a consideration of their chem- 
ical composition leads to the recognition of a 
well-marked petrographic province. 

In part III. Lacroix presents the results of 
his observations on the products resulting 
from the burning of Saint Pierre. The effect 
of intense heat on metals, glass, structural 
stone-work, etc., was often sufficient to cause 
complete fusion, leading to the formation of 
a considerable variety of secondary minerals. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 537. 


The book bears evidence in places of hasty 
preparation and there is considerable needless. 
repetition, but, on the whole, it must be recog- 
nized as the most complete and masterly pre- 
sentation that has yet appeared of the facts 
and problems related to the West Indian erup- 
tions of 1902-8. The promptness with which 
the final report was published after the close 
of the field work deserves praise in itself, and 
too much can not be said of the excellence of 
the numerous illustrations which, with very 


‘few exceptions, are from untouched photo- 


graphs and are faithful records of the events 
from soon after the disaster of May 8, 1902, 
until the autumn of 1904. 


Ernest Howe. 
WASHINGTON, D. C., 
March 22, 1905. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


Tue February number (volume 11, number 
5) of the Bulletin of the American Mathemat- 
ical Society contains the following articles: 
Report of the Eleventh Annual Meeting of 
the American Mathematical Society, by F. N. 
Cole; ‘Mathematical Progress in America’ 
(Presidential Address), by T. S. Fiske; Re- 
port of the Sectional Meetings of the Heidel- 
berg Congress (Continuation), by E. B. Wil- 
son; Report of the Breslau Meeting of the 
Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung, by R. E. 
Wilson; ‘The Construction of Conics under 
Given Conditions,’ by M. W. Haskell; Notes; 
New Publications. 

The March number of the Bulletin contains 
the following articles: ‘The Present Problems 
of Geometry,’ by Edward Kasner; Report of 
the Fifty-fourth Annual Meeting of the 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, by L. G. Weld; ‘A Calculus for 
Geometers’ (Review of Humbert’s Cours 
d’Analyse), by E. R. Hedrick; ‘ Halsted’s Ra- 
tional Geometry’ (Review), by S. C. Davis- 
son; ‘Tchebychef’s Theory of Congruences,’ 
by André Markoff; Notes; New Publications. 


The American Naturalist for February 
opens with an article by J. S. Kingsley, on 
‘The Bones of the Reptilian Lower Jaw,’ 
showing the presence of an element, the derm- 


Aprit 14, 1905.] 


articulare, which sometimes remains distinct, 
but more often fuses with the articulare. 
Other articles are ‘Natural and Artificial 
Parthenogenesis, by Alexander Petrunke- 
witch; ‘The Angle of Deviation from the 
Normal Vertical Position at which Stems 
show the Strongest Geotropic Response,’ by 
Julia A. Haynes (a difficult title for the cata- 
loguer), and ‘ Note on the Variation in the 
Bay Flowers of Rudbeckia, by Raymond 
Pearl. 


The Popular Science Monthly for April 
contains a most important article, ‘The Men- 
ace to Niagara,’ by John M. Clarke, showing 
the entire probability that the American Falls 
will be destroyed if present plans are carried 
out. Other articles are ‘Sunspots and Weath- 
er, by Ernest W. Brown; ‘ Medical Research, 
its Place in the University Medical School,’ 
by Theobald Smith; ‘The Problem of Immi- 
gration, by Allan McLaughlin; ‘Age and 
Eminence, by Edwin G. Smith; ‘ Authority 
in English Pronunciation, by Edwin W. 
Bowen, which shows the part dictionaries play 
in fixing the pronunciation of words, and, 
finally, ‘The Bermuda Islands and the Ber- 
muda Biological Station for Research,’ by 
Edward L. Mark. In correspondence Olivia 
R. Fernow discusses the question ‘ Does High- 
er Education Unfit Women for Motherhood’ 
in reply to the somewhat hysterical article by 
Dr. Smith in March. The number completes 
‘Volume LXVI. and has the index. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 


‘THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. SECTION 
OF ASTRONOMY, PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY. 


THE regular meeting of the section was held 
-on Monday evening, January 8, at Fayer- 
weather Hall, Columbia University. 

The following papers were presented: 


Experiments Relating to the Conductivity of 

Powders at High Temperatures; HrrscHEL 

C. Parker. 

When a conducting powder like graphite 
is mixed with a non-conducting refractory 
powder, the resistance increases quite rapidly 
‘at first; as the proportion of graphite is de- 

“creased, then more slowly, and after a time 


SCIENCE. 


579 


reaches a critical point where there is no con- 
duction or the graphite is destroyed by arcing. 

When the percentage of the conducting 
powder is low a mechanical separation or 
‘striation’ takes place on packing in the re- 
fractory tubes. Besides this an electrolytic 
separation usually takes place after a time 
and the conductivity of the mixture is de- 
stroyed by arcing. 

A very great variety of substances and 
mixtures were experimented the 
search for a permanent compound of high 
resistance. 


The Magnetic Susceptibility of Water: A. P. 

WILLs. 

Experiments were made with the large elec- 
tro magnet of Columbia University to de- 
termine the magnetic susceptibility of water. 
With the aid of this magnet, which is one of 
the largest in existence, Dr. Wills found the 
coefficient of susceptibility of water to be 
— 0.72 * 10—6, and also to be independent of 
the field strength over a range from 4,000 to 
16,000 C.G.S. units. 


with in 


C. C. Trowsrince, 
Secretary. 


SECTION OF BIOLOGY. 


At the March meeting papers were presented 
by Mr. L. I. Dublin, of the College of the 
City of New York; Mr. Frederic A. Lucas, 
director of the Brooklyn Museum; and Pro- 
fessor F. S. Lee, of Columbia University. 

Mr. Dublin described the history of the 
germ-cells in Pedicellina americana, giving 
special attention to the chromatic changes. 
The somatic number of chromosomes is twenty- 
two. These bodies behave, throughout, very 
much as has been described by many workers 
on other forms; but in addition there has been 
observed a peculiar process in connection with 
the reduction of the chromosomes. These are 
V-shaped in the somatic cells and in the sev- 
eral generations of oogonia and spermatogonia, 
with the exception of what appears to be the 
last. In this the number is still twenty-two, 
but they are bar-shaped. These divide and, 
either before or at the telophase, apparently 
unite end to end in pairs to form eleven new 
V’s, each bivalent as compared with the earlier 


580 


structures. A longitudinal splitting of these 
loops, coincident with the extensive growth of 
the individuals, produces in the first matura- 
tion division eleven ring- or bar-shaped chro- 
mosomes each of which is structurally a tetrad. 
The first division is thus reducing; the second, 
equational. The change in chromosome form 
in the last oogonial and spermatogonial gen- 
erations is then clearly a striking adaptation 
to the subsequent synapsis or reduction, mak- 
ing the latter easily possible. 

Mr. Lueas gave an account of whales and 
whaling on the coast of Newfoundland, illus- 
trating his remarks with stereopticon views of 
the whales and stages of their capture. Three 
species of whales were described, the finback, 
the humpback and the sulphur-bottom, the 
first two being found on the south and east 
coast, the last one on the south coast only. 
The speaker then described the past and pres- 
ent methods of capture and utilization, saying 
that whales are now worked up so rapidly that 
within forty-eight hours after one is brought 
to the whaling station, it is reduced to oil, 
fertilizer and bone. The lecture closed with 
an interesting account of the method employed 
in making the mold of the large model of a 
whale shown by the National Museum in the 
exhibit at St. Louis. This was possibly the 
largest mold ever made, and the cast was the 
first accurate representation of a fully grown 
whale. 

Professor Lee discussed ‘Temperature and 
Muscle Fatigue.’ He and others have pre- 
viously pointed out that the contraction proc- 
ess of the muscles of cold-blooded animals in 
the course of fatigue becomes greatly slowed, 
while those of warm-blooded animals show no 
such phenomenon. Lohmann has recently 
claimed that a cold-blooded muscle on being 
heated to mammalian temperature shows a 
course of fatigue similar to that of mam- 
malian muscle; and, on the other hand, that 
a warm-blooded muscle on being cooled fa- 
tigues like the muscles of cold-blooded animals 
at a similar temperature. From these sup- 
posed effects he infers that in the matter of 
fatigue there is no real physiological differ- 
ence between the two groups of muscle. Pro- 
fessor Lee has not been able to confirm Loh- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


mann’s conclusions. Every variety of muscle 
which has been tested, whether of cold-blooded 
or warm-blooded animals, shows its character- 
istic method of fatigue, whatever the tempera- 
ture may be. The original conclusion regard- 
ing the difference between the two groups of 
muscles seems, therefore, to be justified. 
M. A. BicEtow, 
Secretary. 


THE SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND 
MEDICINE. 


THE tenth regular (second annual) meeting 
of the Society for Experimental Biology and 
Medicine was held in the Rockefeller Institute 
for Medical Research, on Wednesday, Feb- 
ruary 15. The president, Dr. S. J. Meltzer, 
was in the chair. 

Members Present.—Atkinson, Auer, Burton- 
Opitz, Dunham, Ewing, Flexner, Gies, Jack- 
son, Lee, Levene, Levin, Mandel, Meltzer, 
Noguchi, Norris, Oertel, Opie, Park, Richards, 
Sweet, Wadsworth, Wallace, Wolf, Yatsu. 

Members Elected.—George W. Crile, Haven 
Emerson, Cyrus W. Field, Hideyo Noguchi, 
H. C. Sherman, J. Edwin Sweet, Victor C. 
Vaughan. 

Officers Elected—President: Edmund B. 
Wilson; Vice-President: Edward K. Dunham; 
Librarian: Graham Lusk; Treasurer: Gary N. 
Calkins; Secretary: William J. Gies. 


Abstracts of Reports of Original Investi- 

gations.*. 

Degrees of Susceptibility to Diphtheria Toxin 
Among Guinea-pigs. Transmission from 
Parents to Offspring: THEOBALD SMITH. 
(Presented by William H. Park.) 

Dr. Smith called attention to the usefulness 
of the antitoxin unit, furnished by the Insti- 
tute for Experimental Therapy under the 
direction of Professor Ehrlich, in the routine 
testing of the strength of diphtheria antitoxin. 
The one uncertain element is the relative re- 


* The abstracts presented in this account of the 
proceedings have been greatly condensed from ab- 
stracts given to the secretary by the authors 
themselves. The latter abstracts of the reports 
may be found in current issues of American 
Medicine and Medical News. 


Aprin 14, 1905.] 


sistance of the guinea pigs to diphtheria toxin. 
Irregularities in the routine tests during the 
past year led the author to look up the geneal- 
ogy of the pigs used, and he found that the 
different degrees of resistance belonged to cer- 
tain families or litters, and were constant for 
those families. Thus one mother gave birth 
to young which did not react to what was the 
usual fatal dose. Four successive litters pos- 
sessed the same resistance. It appeared prob- 
able that this family could stand 40 per cent. 
more toxin, when mixed with the antitoxic 
unit, than those of average susceptibility. 

It would seem from these and similar ob- 
servations that different degrees of suscepti- 
bility to toxin are to be found among guinea 
pigs and that the special degree possessed by 
any one is not to be attributed to individual 
variation, but to a family trait or character. 
Experiments are now under way to determine 
the part played by the male in the transmis- 
sion of toxin-resistance. 


The Protective Action of Venom upon Blood 
Corpuscles, with demonstrations: Hipryo 
Nocucui. (Presented by Simon Flexner.) 
That concentrated solutions of venom fail 

to destroy and tend to preserve blood corpuscles 

was noted by Mitchell and Stewart. The 
conclusion which has been reached by the au- 
thor is that venom unites with the globulins, 
and especially with the hemoglobin, of the 
red corpuscles, yielding a water-insoluble com- 
pound to which the protection is due. Various 
substances, but only salts, acids and alkalies, 
restore the hemolyzability of the corpuscles by 
dissolving the venom-hemoglobin compound. 

The permeability of the corpuscles is not 

markedly altered. 


The Results of Attempts to Cultivate Try- 
panosomes from Frogs: Jos—EpH Lewis and 
Hersert U. WILLIAMS. (Presented by 
Augustus B. Wadsworth.) 

Examinations of the blood of various lower 
animals were made at Buffalo, N. Y., in search 
of parasitic protozoa. The results were nega- 
tive in dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea-pigs, English 
sparrows, toads and mud-puppies (Necturus 
maculatus). In frogs from the Niagara 
River hematozoa were found quite frequently, 


SCIENCE. 581 


viz., Trypanosoma, Drepanidium and in one 
ease Filaria. Trypanosoma was seen only in 
midsummer. 

Attempts were made to cultivate Trypano- 
soma and Drepanidium, using a modification 
of the blood-agar medium, proposed by Novy 
and MacNeal. ‘Trypanosomes from the frog 
may be cultivated on blood-agar, but, in the 
experience of the writers, with considerable 
difficulty. 

From a frog infected with Tr. rotatorium a 
flagellate organism was cultivated, showing 
important points of difference from T'r. rota- 
torium. It is possible that, owing to the 
technical difficulties of the experiment, some 
other organism may have found its way into 
the tubes. This is improbable. 

Undoubted trypanosomes developed in blood- 
agar prepared from a frog whose blood, during 
life, showed no trypanosomes, so that they 
must have been present in very small num- 
bers or in some unrecognized form. They 
resembled Tr. rotatoriwm, but were usually 
much smaller.. As this blood-culture-medium 
was inoculated with blood from another source 
containing Drepanidium, it nearly led to the 
conclusion that Trypanosoma might develop 
from Drepanidium. We have here an illustra- 
tion of the ease with which mistakes may occur 
in the cultivation of hematozoa which are 
suspected of passing through cycles. Such a 
possibility had been pointed out in advance 
by Novy and MacNeal before this society 
(October, 1904). 

There was no evidence from the experiments 
to show that development of Drepanidiwm can 
occur in blood-agar. 


Experimental Measles: Lupwiag HeExrorn. 

(Presented by Eugene L. Opie.) 

The results of two experiments on adult 
men permit the conclusion that the virus of 
measles is present in the blood of patients 
with typical measles some time at least during 
the first thirty hours of the eruption; further- 
more that the virus retains its virulence for 
at least twenty-four hours when such blood is 
inoculated into ascites-broth and kept at 37° 
C. This demonstration shows that it is not 
difficult to obtain the virus of measles un- 


582 


mixed with other microbes and in such form 
that it may be studied by various methods. 


The Formation of the Centrosome in Enucle- 
ated Egg-fragments:; Naounmnk Yatsu. 

To test whether the centrosome is a perma- 
nent cell-organ or not, Wilson (1901) treated, 
with a salt solution, enucleated egg-fragments 
(sea-urchin) obtained by shaking. He ob- 
served that asters containing centrioles and 
capable of division were produced in this way 
in the enucleated fragments. At Wilson’s 
suggestion the author tried the experiment in 
a somewhat different manner. Eggs of Cere- 
bratulus were used. Individual eggs were cut 
into nucleated (2. e., containing the first 
maturation mitotic figure) and enucleated 
fragments. The latter were kept for an hour 
in a solution of calcium chlorid. Then they 
were transferred to sterilized sea-water. As- 
ters were produced in almost all enucleated 
fragments thus treated. All the asters had 
centrioles which were identical with those 
found in the whole eggs subjected to the same 
treatment. The nucleated half was stained 
and was shown to have had two original cen- 
trosomes intact. From the results of these 
experiments no other conclusion can be drawn 
than that the centrosome, with centriole, of 
the enucleated fragment was in each case 
formed de novo—a complete confirmation of 
Wilson’s original deduction. 

In these experiments strict precautions were 
taken to prevent accidental fertilization. 


Structure of Vaccine Bodies in Isolated Cells, 
with demonstrations: JAMES Ewina. 

In Klatsch preparations of corneal vaccine 
ulcers stained by Nocht’s method, the vaccine 
body is seen to be a portion of the cytoreticu- 
lum, its reticular structure being continuous 
on the one hand with the cytoreticulum and 
on the other usually with the nuclear reticu- 
lum. The clear zone surrounding the vaccine 
body in sections of tissue is an artifact. The 
reticulum of the vaccine body takes the chro- 
matin stain, indicating that it contains chro- 
matin, and many of the bodies are so inti- 
mately connected with the nucleus, the meshes 
of one passing insensibly into the other, as to 
force the conclusion that these particular 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


bodies have arisen by recent extrusion of nu- 
clear chromatin into the cytoreticulum. Other 
bodies are disconnected from the nucleus and 
these may have arisen partly from the chro- 
matin of the cytoplasm, a possibility which is 
furnished by Hertwig’s theory of the consti- 
tution of cell protoplasm. Many of the vac- 
cine bodies closely resemble the chromidial 
substance described by Hertwig in some lower 
animal cells. In the meshes of the reticulum 
the author has been unable to demonstrate 
any organized structure, but the meshes some- 
times present nodal points of an underlying 
reticulum. In the fresh condition the meshes 
contain homogeneous refractive globules which 
disappear on drying. 

Two series of changes may be followed in 
the vaccine bodies in Klatsch preparations. 
Many of them develop basic staining areas 
with loss of the central reticulum, and this 
process may continue until the entire body is 
transformed into a homogeneous globule re- 
sembling mucus or colloid. In others the 
reticulum breaks up into granules with or 
without the development of a central basic 
mass. 

The author has been unable at any stage or - 
in any derivative of the vaccine body to detect 
the slightest definite trace of a protozoon. 
Besides vaccine bodies there are other struc- 
tures resembling protozoa to be seen in 
Klatsch preparations. They appear to be pe- 
culiar cell granules and are present in normal 
animals. 


On the Tetanic Element in Bile: S. Jd. 

Metrzer and WILLIAM SALANT. 

The authors have shown that the injection 
of bile can produce tetanus as well as coma. 
The latter is the more constant symptom. By 
the use of subminimum doses of strychnin a 
tetanic element could be shown to occur in bile 
that infallibly produced coma. <A frog of 
medium size will not respond, even with the 
slightest hyperesthesia, to an injection of one 
hundredth of a milligram of strychnin. When 
such a small dose, however, is injected into a 
frog which had received a certain quantity 
of bile, the animal reacts, sooner or later, with 
a distinct tetanus. The effective dose of bile 
varies with the animal from which it is ob- 


Aprit 14, 1905.] 


tained. The bile of rabbits produced, in many 
instances, distinctly convulsive effects even 
without the addition of strychnin. 

The toxie effect on frogs of bile from nor- 
mal rabbits varied considerably. The effect 
of the bile from some of the rabbits was pre- 
dominantly coma, and from others tetanus. 
Heating the bile seemed to reduce the stupe- 
fying, paralyzing effect and to favor the ap- 
pearance of the tetanic element. In the bile 
of nephrectomized rabbits the tetanic element 
was distinctly more pronounced than in the 
bile of normal animals. 


A Preliminary Communication on the Phar- 
macology of Thorium: EK. D. Brown and 
ToraLp SottMANN. (Presented by William 
J. Gies.) 

Thorium nitrate precipitates proteids and is 
intensely astringent. Intravenous injection 
is promptly fatal by embolism. Applied sub- 
cutaneously, necrosis results. Introduced per 
os large doses have no appreciable effect. So- 
lutions in sodium citrate are non-precipitant 
and non-astringent. Subcutaneous injection 
of large doses in citrate solution was without 
acute effect, although the animals appeared to 
be depressed and became emaciated, their tis- 
sues, after several weeks, showing widespread 
calcification. Absorbed thorium is excreted 
by the kidneys. The metal is neither absorbed 
nor excreted through the intestine. 


A Preliminary Study of the Toxicological 
Action of Thorium; ArvHur F. CHace and 
Wir J. Gres. 

In addition to various results in harmony 
with those in the preceding report the authors 
presented the following data: In medium sized 
frogs at least 40 milligrams of thorium chlorid 
were required per os to produce the first sign 
of toxic symptoms, although 40 milligrams 
introduced subcutaneously or per rectum 
quickly manifested marked toxicity. Intro- 
duction per os caused irritation of the throat, 
increased gastric secretion, ejection of gastric 
contents and increased peristalsis. In fatal 
poisoning, by whatever channel of introduc- 
tion, death was preceded by anhydrosis, twitch- 
ing and progressive weakening of the muscles, 
with paralysis of the fore legs preceding that 
of the hind legs. 


SCIENCE. 


583 


In warm-blooded animals large doses per os 
caused vomiting. In fatal cases, after intro- 
duction by other channels, death was preceded 
by restlessness, twitching and _ progressive 
paralysis of the muscles, labored breathing, 
stupor. Paralysis of the fore limbs resulted 
before loss of power in the hind ones. 

The most constant and pronounced general 
effect in all the experiments was a progressive 
weakening of the voluntary muscles. 

WiuuiaM J. Girs, 
Secretary. 


THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


Tue 164th meeting was held on February 
22, 1905. The regular program included a 
paper by T. W. Stanton, the discussion of 
which was participated in by Messrs. W. H. 
Dall, KE. O. Ulrich, David White and H. S. 
Williams. 


The Time Element in Stratigraphy and Corre- 
lation: Mr. T. W. Sranton. 

Recently published discussions concerning 
recurrent and shifting faunas and transgress- 
ing formations have called renewed attention 
to the character of the facts on which geolog- 
ical correlation is based and have emphasized 
the doubts as to the possibility of determining 
that widely separated deposits were or were 
not contemporaneous. The argument briefly 
stated is as follows: 

If a fauna or a flora appears suddenly in a 
certain bed of a local section the only reason- 
able inference is that it must have developed 
in some other area where its presence is re- 
corded in older deposits. Similarly, if a 
fauna suddenly disappears from a section it 
is more probable that a change in local condi- 
tion has caused it to shift to some favorable 
locality where it continued to live until its 
elements were modified, than that it actually 
ceased to exist. That such shiftings of 
faunas have taken place is proved by the ob- 
served recurrence of closely related faunas in 
several stages of some local section, while the 
intermediate stages show different faunas. 
Admitting that there has been much local 
differentiation and shifting of faunas in the 
past, similarity of fossil contents alone can 


584 


not be taken as proof of the exact contem- 
poraneity of two beds, and dissimilarity of 
fossils within certain limits is not proof of 
difference in age. 

When a littoral deposit is formed along the 
margin of a transgressing sea its base at one 
locality will not be synchronous with its base 
at another locality 100 miles farther inland. 
The difference in date will be measured by 
the time required for the sea to travel 100 
miles across a subsiding area. In such cases 
physical continuity of a formation is not 
proof of exact contemporaneity. 

The facts are not questioned and the im- 
portance of considering them in correlation 
and time determinations is obvious, but it is 
equally important to interpret them correctly 
and not to exaggerate their quantitative value. 
If undue importance is given to the theoretical 
errors in time determination and correlation 
caused by shifting faunas and transgressing 
formations, there is danger of overlooking the 
determinations that can actually be made or 
of exciting unnecessary doubts concerning 
them. These errors as a rule are geologically 
trivial and scarcely measurable in terms of 
the large units that must be used. The de- 
gree of accuracy that is required in human 
history is not to be expected in geologic his- 
tory in which the time unit is so large and 
the scale so coarse that an interval of a few 
centuries is often not appreciable. The ac- 
curacy of geologic correlation, so far as the 
idea of contemporaneity is concerned, is com- 
mensurate only with the nature of the rough 
seale that must be used, and varies with the 
completeness and the character of the evi- 
dence in each special case. In general, the 
farther a correlation is carried the broader 
must be the terms in which it is expressed, 
but horizons vary greatly in this respect. At 
irregular intervals throughout the geologic 
column there are limited zones characterized 
by species or groups of species that have almost 
world-wide distribution. These zones, as 
Professor J. P. Smith has well stated, record 
times of readjustment of faunal provinces 
when for some reason interregional migra- 
tions were made easy. They may, therefore, 
be treated as geologically contemporaneous 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


wherever they are found and they serve as 
the solid frame-work of the general chrono- 
logic structure. 

Barriers, migrating faunas and shifting 
shores, make the local problems of correlation 
more difficult in special cases. With insuffi- 
cient data or insufficient experience, or both, 
the geologist will make many mistakes, but 
when all the obtainable facts are fully studied 
from the broadest geological standpoint, when 
every element of the fauna and flora is given 
due weight, and when this is tested and sup- 
plemented by all other available classes of evi- 
dence, he can not only make correlations, but 
he can determine contemporaneity within the 
limits of accuracy that the subject demands. 

Dr. Wm. H. Dall spoke on the evidences 
afforded by recent faunas, as bearing on the 
notion of contemporaneity in fossil horizons, 
drawing attention to the differences in num- 
ber of species contained in a fauna relatively 
to its latitude, varying from 180 at Green- 
land, to 818 in the equatorial regions, a sub- 
ject fully discussed in the U. S. Geological 
Survey Bulletin No. 84; to the total, or nearly 
total, differences between the faunas of rocky, 
sandy and muddy shores, due not only to the 
different lithologic situs, but to the differences 
of food-supply each afforded; to the fact that 
to define a fauna in the paleontologic or bio- 
logic sense, our definition must be wide enough 
to include all these purely local variations, 
and represent the whole population of a coast 
with all its variation of conditions; to the 
rapid spread of prepotent species given ac- 
ceptable conditions, as in the ease of Mya 
arenaria, introduced on the Pacific coast, and 
Litorina litorea on the Atlantic coast of the 
United States, both of which are known to 
have extended in profuse numbers over hun- 
dreds of miles of coast where they were pre- 
viously unknown, in the course of a few years. 

Dr. Dall also stated that the confusion of 
ideas with consequent controversies which 
have frequently occurred in connection with 
these questions, are largely due to the attempts 
on the part of geologists to combine in one 
expression two irrelevant factors, the ‘ forma- 
tion,’ considered as a lithologic unit, and the 
fauna as a time scale. A reference to the 


ApriIL 14, 1905.] 
existing coasts is all that is necessary to prove 
how absurd is the idea that the ‘ formation’ 
of a given area has any necessary connection 
with the horizon or time-place in the geolog- 
ical column indicated by a given fauna. The 
two categories are, in a broad sense, incompat- 
ible, one indicating merely local physical and 
dynamic conditions, and the other the stage 
of evolution of the organic assembly inhabit- 
ing an area probably with entirely different 
boundaries. 

Mr. E. O. Ulrich expressed his belief that 
the idea that faunas required a long time to 
migrate from place to place is an unjustifiable 
assumption. The migration of the Paleozoic 
faunas, which included mostly shallow water 
organisms, was limited to zones adjacent to 
the shore line. The Paleozoic continent had 
much less relief than the present surface and 
the adjacent water basins were shallow, thus 
favoring rapid migration. With slight relief 
a small amount of tilting would cause rapid 
submergence of large areas with immediate 
- migration of marine life. Therefore, it would 
result that like fossil faunas indicate at least 
essential contemporaneity. The case cited as 
illustrating such geologic conditions with the 
rapid spread of a fauna was that afforded by 
the western and southern formations of the 
Richmond group in the uppermost Ordovician. 

Mr. Ulrich stated that his working hypoth- 
esis is that one slowly modifying fauna ex- 
isted continuously on the outer border of the 
continent while another occupied, on the whole, 
much shallower and frequently changing 
basins upon the surface of the continent. On 
account of the comparatively unstable condi- 
tions prevailing there the epicontinental fauna 
was subjected to many vicissitudes not shared 
by the outer fauna. Hence considerable and 
often very great modifications of its character, 
both local and widespread, took place much 
more frequently than in the outer fauna. 
When conditions were favorable, faunas of 
the inner basins were, in some cases, re- 
plenished, or in others, perhaps only slightly 
modified by accessions from the outer faunas. 

Special emphasis was put by David White, 
the next speaker, on the relative insignificance 
of the time, as measured by sedimentation, re- 


SCIENCE. 


580 


quired by those faunal migrations which are 
not marked by changes in the composition of 
the fauna and recognizable mutations of the 
species. The interval between the two great 
Pleistocene ice invasions was ample for the 
migration of the flora and even the formation 
of peats in the thin deposits of interglacial 
clays. Between the retreat of the last ice 
sheet and the restoration of the faunal and 
floral equilibrium, as we now find it, the inter- 
val, as measured in sediments, is geologically 
not macroscopic. The practical contem- 
poraneity, in the geological sense, of an iden- 
tical fauna in the various parts of its distribu- 
tional province is shown by the general agree- 
ment and harmony in these parts between the 
marine invertebrates and the other contem- 
poraneously characteristic classes of organ- 
isms, including marine vertebrates, land plants 
and land vertebrates, whose directions and 
routes of distribution varied widely. <A plea 
was added for a closer study and a more 
serutinous characterization of species, taking 
into account not only the contemporaneous 
variation of the organism, but also especially 
the variations or mutations occurring within 
the duration of the specifie type, some of these 
mutations being of the most restricted vertical 
range, and consequently of greatest strati- 
graphic value. Grorce Otts SmitTH, 
Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE WESTERN SIERRA MADRE MOUNTAINS. 


To THE Epiror or Science: The geograph- 
ical and geological expedition organized by 
Col. W. C. Greene for the study of the western 
Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico has ac- 
complished half of the journey proposed. The 
party, consisting of Professor Robert T. Hill, 
Messrs. John Seward and F. H. Fayant and 
the writer, which left New York February 4, 
was delayed on its journey to El Paso by 
blizzards in Canada and the central states and 
exceptional cold weather in Texas. News of 
heavy snowfall in the mountains caused 
farther delay in El Paso, which was utilized 
by the party for a run across the arid region 
along the Mexican boundary as far as Naco, 
Arizona, and thence to Cananea, Sofiora. The 


586 


route followed, that of the El Paso and South- 
western Railway, is particularly instructive as 
giving an excellent section of the mesa and 
the terraces bordering the Rio Grande. One 
is strongly impressed with the evidence of dis- 
integration of rocks due to the great diurnal 
changes of the temperature, the work of wind 
and of sheet-flood erosion, the production of 
‘ealichi’ or local tufaceous limestone by cap- 
illary concentration of carbonate of lime, and 
other phenomena too numerous to mention. 
The railroad traverses several ‘bolsens’ or 
pocket deserts and the accompanying voleanic 
cones and basaltic flows. The Chiracahua 
Mountains of Arizona are the northern exten- 
sion of the western Sierra Madres. The bol- 
sens contain underground watercourses, and 
this important fact has led the Phelps-Dodge 
Company to establish the town of Douglas 
beside the Mexican boundary in a large bolsen 
lying east of their copper mines at Bisbee. 
Comparatively shallow wells supply abundant 
water for the great smelters of the Phelps- 
Dodge and Calumet-Arizona copper companies. 
The Phelps-Dodge Company gave our party 
the courtesy of a special train for the purpose 
of studying and photographing the phenomena 


of the mesa for thirty miles along the El Paso _ 


and Southwestern Railway. 

On Tuesday, February 14, the party left El 
Paso and went southwestward into Chihuahua 
over the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific 
Railway to the present terminus of the road 
at Nuevas Casas Grandes. Fifteen miles 
from El Paso the road reaches the top of the 
mesa, and from there onward excellent studies 
were made and photographs taken of the vast 
llanos, the peculiar moving sand hills known 
as ‘los Medanos,’ the lost mountains, and the 
remarkable shallow lagunas, or periodical 
lakes, without outlet, which receive the drain- 
age from the Sierra Madre summits and form 
the final settling pans for the wind- and water- 
driven débris from the disintegrating moun- 
tains. From Lake Guzman, the largest of 
these lagunas, our route ascended the San 
Miguel River, first through wide basin-like 
valleys, then through deep, rugged, tortuous 
cafions, until finally its head waters were 
reached on the undulating plains of the great 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


Sierra Madre plateau more than 7,000 feet 
above the sea, and 3,000 feet above the arid 
plateau containing Lake Guzman. 

At Casas Grandes our party was shown the 
great prehistoric ruins which gave the town 
its name, by F. Mateus, the jéfe politico of 
the district, and at Colonia Juarez we were 
hospitably entertained by Mr. Ivins, the presi- 
dent of the prosperous colony of American 
Mormons located there. At San Diego we 
were guests at one of the great haciendas of 
Gen. Luis Terrazas, governor of the state of 
Chihuahua. For three days we traversed land 
belonging to the same proprietor and were 
brought into close realization of the tremen- 
dous influence of the hacienda, or estate own- 
ers, upon sociological conditions in Mexico. 
For 300 miles eastward to the Conchas River 
nearly every square mile of land is the prop- 
erty of Governor Terrazas, and he is probably 
one of the greatest individual landholders in 
the world. 

From the terminus of the railway at Nuevas 
Casas Grandes southward the journey has been 
made on horseback and with pack train, and 
the route thus far covered aggregates 160 
miles. Most valuable studies have been made 
of the remarkable igneous phenomena observed 
en route; a collection of the rocks has been 
made for the American Museum of Natural 
History, and photographs have been made 
illustrating every phase of the physiography, 
geology and vegetation of the region traversed. 

After leaving the impressive caion of the 
San Miguel our journey lay across the high 
plateau for about fifty miles to the new town 
of Dedrick, consisting of one habitable log 
house and several others in process of con- 
struction in the midst of the great forest of 
long-leafed yellow pine which characterizes 
the plateaus and peaks from 7,000 to 8,000 
feet in elevation. Immediately west of De- 
drick the plateau is scored by the great cation, 
ten miles wide and nearly a mile deep, of the 
Yaqui River, here known as the Aros. This 
streamway is one of the most stupendous 
scenic features imaginable, and in beauty and 
grandeur rivals the famous Grand Caiion of 
the Colorado. Guaynopita is a little mining 


camp on the mountainside, four hundred feet 


a 


ae ee 


ApriL 14, 1905.] 


above the river and about thirty-five miles by 
trail west of Dedrick. The journey hither 
across and through the cafion has revealed a 
remarkable physiographic and geologic story 
which the party considers well worth the hard- 
ships of the journey and which will be made 
the subject of special papers. The region is 
full of archeological interest, too, through the 
ruins of cliff dwellers and other prehistoric 
peoples. In the Rio Chico branch of this 
cafion there is a set embracing thirty-seven 
houses. 

From Guaynopita our course lies southward 
through the complex of cafions tributary to 
the great cafion of the Yaqui and out on to 
the plateau as far as Ocampo, where the fa- 
mous ancient mine of Jesus Maria is located. 
Thence we turn back to Mifiaca and there 
begin the long railway journey to New York. 

Epmunp Otis Hovey. 


THE METRIC SYSTEM AGAIN. 

To tHe Eprror or Science: For the benefit 
of those who are clamoring for the adoption 
of the metric system, I desire to give an il- 
lustration of the beautiful simplicity of the 
system of units in vogue in the United States 
and Great Britain. Any of our units of 
measurement would answer the purpose, for 
they all partake of the same delightful elas- 
ticity of value. Let us take the collection of 
units of measure commonly denominated the 
gallon. In order that we may comprehend 
the relation of these various units to each 
other it is desirable to have some fixed unit 
as a means of comparison. As the cubic inch 
in use in America is not the same as that of 
Great Britain, and as it is desirable to use 
some unit of capacity that has only one value, 
we shall be compelled, much against our 
wishes, to use the liter as a unit in which to 
express the volume of the various members of 
the gallon family. 

Gallon No. 1.—3.78548 liters. This gallon 
is variously denominated in the literature of 
metrology as the liquid (metric), liquid (na- 
tional), metric (U. S.), Winchester, wine, and 
dry (metric). It is said to contain 231 Amer- 
ican cubic inches. It is stated also that this 
gallon is-generally used by American hydraulic 


SCIENCE. 


587 


It is a little difficult to be certain 
on this point, however, for many authors fail 
to state the volume of the gallon they use, in 
liters, and do not state whether American or 
British inches are meant. 

Gallon No. 2.—4.4070 liters. This is the 
dry (national), or dry (U. S., or Br.), accord- 
ing to the Standard Dictionary. It is sup- 
posed to be used a good deal by tradesmen, 
and is sometimes referred to as a half peck. 
Whether it is used in England is a little diffi- 
cult to ascertain, because of failure of writers 
to mention its volume in any fixed unit. 

Gallon No. 3.—4.54346 liters. British (Men- 
denhall), liquid (U. S., or Br.), or Imperial 
gallon. 

Gallon No. 4.—4:6209 liters. Legal standard 
dry gallon in Wisconsin and Connecticut; 
legal standard for ale, beer and milk in New 
Hampshire and Minnesota. Used in these 
states by tradesmen in buying these commodi- 
ties. Also a legal standard in Maine. 

Gallon No. 5.— Proof’ gallon. ‘“ This has 
the volume of a wine gallon containing one 
half its volume of nearly pure alcohol at 60° 
EF.’ The number of proof gallons in a quan- 
tity of distilled liquor is found by multiplying 
the per cent. of proof (—twice the per cent. 
of alcohol present) by the number of wine 
gallons. Used by gaugers in assessing in- 
ternal revenue tax on spirits. 

I have not taken the time to verify all the 
references in parentheses above. Indeed, I 
was unable to do so with the ordinary ref- 
erence books available to the student. It 
seemed, too, that in treating so simple and 
easily understood a subject, that it might be 
well to content myself with the above refer- 
ences, in order to show how simple the whole 
matter is, and what a delightful and satisfac- 
tory system we have, especially when exact 
measurements are needed. It is also probable 
that the careful reader will be stimulated by 
this hurried and incomplete account to in- 
vestigate the subject further. 

W. J. SPILLMAN. 


engineers. 


NEW AMERICAN OSTRACODA. 


To tHe Eprror or Science: In collections 
of ostracod crustaceans made near Greeley, 


588 


Colo., in the last four months, I find a num- 
ber of specimens of Ilyocypris bradyi Sars. 
A collection made from a small stream in 
central Illinois in August last, consists en- 
tirely of a species of Ilyocypris, allied to I. 
iners Kaufmann, which appears to be unde- 
scribed. 

The genus Ilyocypris Brady and Norman is 
widely distributed in Europe but has not hith- 
erto been found in America. Including the 
two forms above mentioned, the family Cypri- 
did is represented in North America by 44 
recognizable species comprised in 12 genera. 
Of these, 2 genera, comprising 3 species, are 
exclusively American; the remaining 10 genera 
are represented by 13 species common to 
Europe and North America, and by 28 species 
which have been found only in North America. 

A full description, with drawings, of the 
Ilyocypris from Illinois is in preparation. 

ArtHuR E. BEARDSLEY. 

Strate NorMAL ScHOOL, GREELEY, COLORADO, 

March 17, 1905. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


THE DISTRIBUTION OF FRESH-WATER FAUNAS AS 
AN EVIDENCE OF DRAINAGE MODIFICATIONS.* 


As the result of careful studies of stream 
development, it has been well established by 
a number of investigators that very important 
changes in the arrangement of drainage lines 
are often produced by the capture of a portion 
of the waters of one stream by a tributary of 
some neighboring stream. It is but seldom 
that the actual process of immediate capture 
is witnessed. We most frequently see the 
evidence of conditions which we believe will 
ultimately lead to capture, or results which 
we believe have been produced by capture 
sometime in the past. 

Whenever one stream succeeds in capturing 
a portion of the drainage system of one of its 
neighbors, there are certain results which 
must necessarily follow, just as there must 
have been certain conditions present to make 
the capture possible. By a study of the re- 
sults produced it is often possible to learn 
what were the former relations of streams in 

*Paper read before the Philadelphia Meeting 
of the Association of American Geographers. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. KXI. No. 537. 


a given region, and so prove the fact of cap- 
ture, and even the approximate time of its 
occurrence. The evidences of drainage modi- 
fications, therefore, are of prime interest to 
the student of geography. 

It is not my purpose to review the several 
results which are produced when one stream 
captures another, but rather to direct atten- 
tion to one of the results produced, and to 
consider its value as an evidence that capture 
has occurred. At the outset it is necessary 
to divide the features produced by river cap- 
ture into two distinct classes: (1) those fea- 
tures which are produced by river-capture and 
which can be produced by nothing else; (2) 
those features which are produced by river- 
capture, but which may also be produced by 
some other agency. Features belonging to the 
first class are of themselves definite proofs 
that river-capture has taken place. As an 
example of this type of evidence we may note 
the occurrence, along the former course of the 
stream which has suffered capture, of river- 
brought gravels which are so distributed that 
they could have reached their present position 
only through the agency of the captured 
stream. Features of the second class, how- 
ever, when taken alone can not be regarded 
as proofs of river-capture, since, according to 
the basis of classification, they may also be 
produced by other agencies. Considered by 
themselves they are only of suggestive value; 
other lines of evidence must be appealed to 
before the river-capture, of which they may 
be the direct result, can be proved to have 
taken place. As an example of this type of 
evidence we may cite the continuation of a 
broad, open valley along the former course of 
a large, mature stream which has been diverted 
by capture. A similar valley may also be pro- 
duced by a relatively insignificant stream, 
provided it is working on a band of soft, easily 
soluble rock, as has been the case along certain 
headwater branches of the James and Roa- 
noke rivers. The existence of such a valley 
alone is, therefore, not conclusive evidence of 
capture, however strongly it may seem to sug- 
gest it. 

It is well known that different streams are 
often marked by certain peculiarities of the 


Aprit 14, 1905.] 


faunas which inhabit them. The fresh-water 
shells of one drainage system may be dis- 
tinetly different from the shells found in the 
neighboring drainage systems on either side— 
so much so, in fact, that the student of these 
forms can often tell at a glance from what 
locality a given ‘museum specimen has come. 
Now it is evident that if river-capture takes 
place, the shells of the captured stream will 
mingle with those of the capturing stream. 
Such a commingling’ of faunas becomes an 
evidence of drainage modifications, and it is 
with this type of evidence that the present 
paper is concerned. It is important to know 
whether this evidence belongs to the first of 
the two classes above outlined, being a positive 
proof of river-capture; or whether it belongs 
to the second class, and is, therefore, only of 
suggestive value. 

The line of evidence in question is not new. 
It has already been advanced in support of a 
great example of supposed river-capture. The 
Tennessee River after flowing southward 


through eastern Tennessee to a point near the. 


present city of Chattanooga, leaves its broad, 
open valley and turns abruptly westward 
through a deep, narrow gorge in Walden 
Plateau. Dr. C. W. Hayes and Mr. M. R. 
Campbell, in a paper on ‘ The Geomorphology 
of the Southern Appalachians,’ published in 
1894, advocated the theory that the Tennessee 
formerly continued on southward via the 
Coosa and Alabama rivers into the Gulf of 
Mexico, but near the close of the Tertiary 
period was captured at the point near Chatta- 
nooga by a branch of a stream farther west. 
Six years later Mr. Chas. T. Simpson, study- 
ing the fresh-water shells of this region, came 
to the same conclusion; and in a paper on 
‘The Evidence of the Unionide Regarding 
the Former Courses of the Tennessee and 
Other Rivers,’ published in ScrencE.in 1900, 
independently supported the theory of capture 
on the basis of the biological evidence alone. 

This latter line of evidence was urged as 
absolute proof of the supposed river-capture, 
it being held that the shells must have direct 
water communication in order to pass from 
one stream to another. It is true that else- 
where the author has advocated other means 


SCIENCE. 5389 


of dispersal than river-capture, but these 
means were not considered in connection with 
the Tennessee problem. In this case the 
whole strength of the argument lay in the 
statement, ‘these forms can not travel over- 
land from river to river, but must have water 
communication in order to pass from one 
stream to another.’ And since shells pe- 
culiarly like those of the Tennessee drainage 
were found mingled with the usual forms of 
the Coosa and Alabama rivers the conclusion 
was reached that the Tennessee must have 
been diverted from a former southward course 
by capture near Chattanooga. The paper has 
been widely accepted and quoted as an ex- 
ample of the definite proof of river-capture, 
and some who could not accept as conclusive 
the physiographic evidence presented by 
Messrs. Hayes and Campbell in support of 
the theory of capture were impelled to regard 
the biological evidence a final proof that the 
capture had taken place. 

In connection with a study of the Tennessee 
problem I have been especially interested in 
the evidence furnished by the distribution of 
the fresh-water faunas, and have become con- 
vinced that the evidence should be included 
in the second of the two classes above out- 
lined, being produced by river-capture in some 
eases, but also being produced by other agen- 
cies as well, and, therefore, not being con- 
elusive in favor of capture. The reasons for 
this will best appear if we consider some con- 
erete case, as that of the Tennessee, in which 
this line of evidence has been especially em- 
ployed. 

The facts brought forth by a study of the 
Unionide are as follows: Plewrobema, a genus 
of Unio, has its metropolis in the Tennessee 
River. It is not found throughout the other 
portions of the Mississippi basin. But it is 
found abundantly in the Coosa and Alabama 
rivers. Also certain other forms of Unio 
common to the Mississippi-Tennessee basin 
are found in the Coosa-Alabama basin. From 
these facts it was concluded that at some time 
the upper Tennessee River must have flowed 
southward into the Coosa-Alabama River. On 
the basis of this line of argument we must 
necessarily assume that the fresh-water mus- 


590 


sels require direct fresh-water communication 
in order to pass from one stream to another. 
It appears that the recorded observations of 
many naturalists and the facts of Unionide 
distribution are both contrary to this concep- 
tion. In the first place, there are so many 
authentic cases where birds, insects, ete., have 
been taken with fresh-water shells attached to 
them, that students of the subject are com- 
pelled to accept this method of dispersion of 
these forms from place to place. Darwin 
proved that young molluscs just hatching will 
attach themselves to the feet of a duck, and 
remain alive in this position out of water 
from twelve to twenty hours. Mr. Arthur F. 
Gray, of Danversport, Massachusetts, had in 
his possession the foot of a water fowl to 
which was attached a bivalve shell. Canon 
Tristran shot a bird in the Sahara which had 
attached to it the eggs of some mollusc. Some 
shells attach themselves to plants which are 
carried away by birds (Darwin). Insects are 
frequently taken with shells attached. There 
are at least five recorded cases of the capture 
of the water-scorpion, Nepa, a large flying 
bug, with small shells attached. The great 
water-beetle, Dytiscus, is known similarly to 
aid in the dispersion of fresh-water mollusca. 
The same is true of Dineutes. Mr. Albert P. 
Morse, of Wellesley, has kindly shown me 
specimens of these last two forms having at- 
tached shells. Notonecta has likewise been 
proved to carry these forms from place to 
place. Some of these insects are powerful 
fliers. Darwin records the capture of one of 
them out at sea, forty-five miles from the 
nearest land. Beddard, Kew and other stu- 
dents of zoogeography regard birds and insects 
as undoubtedly important agents in the dis- 
persion of fresh-water shells. Woodworth 
catalogues a number of agencies recorded as 
aiding in this dispersion, in addition to those 
mentioned above. It appears, then, that other 
means besides river-capture for the passing of 
fresh-water shells from one stream to another 
are not lacking. That these means are effi- 
cient is proved by the distribution of these 
shells. Ponds are sometimes made by ex- 
cavating a place where no water stands or- 
dinarily, lining the excavation with concrete 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 537. 


and allowing the rain to fill it. These ponds, 
for a time devoid of life, gradually become 
populated with molluscs and other shells, prov- 
ing, as Beddard says, the capacity for active 
or passive migration on the part of the Mol- 
lusea. Careful and successive observations 
have proved in some instances the actual time 
in which a given pond may become populated. 
R. Ellsworth Call records the presence of a 
western species of Unio in a small isolated 
eastern lake, which was located down between 
high hills, fed by a mountain brook, and abso- 
lutely foreign to any stream through which 
the species might have been introduced. 

But the most conclusive objection to accept- 
ing this evidence as a proof of river-capture 
is found in the actual distribution of the very 
shells upon which the argument is based. The 
genus Pleurobema is found in both the Ten- 
nessee and Coosa-Alabama basins. In no ease 
are the species in the two basins identical, but 
only similar. The basis of the argument, 
then, is similarity of forms. But if mere 
similarity of forms proves former river con- 
nection, certainly identity of form should 
prove it with double force. Accordingly we 
should not expect to find the same species of 
Pleurobema in any two rivers of this section 
whose location is such as to render practically 
impossible a former connection with each 
other. An examination of Mr. Simpson’s im- 
portant monograph on the pearly fresh-water 
mussels shows that Plewrobema similans Lea, 
is found in Black Warrior and Cahawba 
rivers, Alabama, and Pine Barren Creek, Es- 
cambia County, Florida. So far as can be 
judged from available maps, previous fresh- 
water communication between the former and 
the latter is extremely improbable. Pleuro- 
bema strodeana Wright, is recorded from Es- 
cambia River, Florida, and Flint River, 
Georgia. Any former connection in this 
case seems impossible. Pleurobema harpert 
Wright, is recorded from Altamaha and Flint 
rivers, Georgia, and Suwanee River, Florida. 
Here, again, connection between either of the 
former and the latter seems out of the ques- 
tion. Other cases might be added—indefi- 
nitely, if we continue with other genera than 


Aprin 14, 1905.] 


Pleurobema. If we find it impossible to hold 
river-capture responsible for the distribution 
of identical species in all these cases, then 
mere similarity of forms in the Tennessee and 
Coosa-Alabama basins can not be regarded as 
proof of river-capture near Chattanooga. 

If we carry this line of argument to its 
logical conclusion, the objections to it become 
eyen more apparent. One group of Unios is 
recorded as occurring everywhere in the 
streams draining into the Atlantic from Lab- 
rador to Georgia. If the occurrence of the 
Pleurobema in the Tennessee and Coosa-Ala- 
bama rivers proves river-capture in that case, 
then the distribution just referred to must 
prove a great succession of river-captures from 
Labrador to Georgia. The same species is, in 
one instance, found in Europe, northern Asia, 
Japan, northern North America and Iceland. 
According to the argument advanced this 
means world-wide land connections and an 
inconceivable series of river-captures. Such 
violent hypotheses compel the conclusion that 
some other means than river-capture is most 
commonly operative in effecting the distribu- 
tion of fresh-water shells. 

It is believed that all the phenomena noted 
are easily explicable independently of the 
theory of capture, and, in this connection, it 
is well to note that the presence of a longi- 
tudinal, open valley across the low divide be- 
tween the two basins is peculiarly favorable 
for the operation of some of the means of 
dispersal referred to above. The northward 
and southward migrations of birds along cer- 
tain valleys is known, and where a low divide 
in a prominent valley alone separates the 
waters of two river systems it is to be ex- 
pected that more or less mingling of forms 
will very likely take place. 

In our consideration of this line of evidence 
it is of interest to recall Mr. Simpson’s state- 
ments regarding the dispersal of these shells, 
which appear in his paper on the ‘ Distribu- 
tion of North American Unionide,’* published 


**On the Relationships and Distribution of the 
North American Unionide, with Notes on the 
West Coast Species,’ American Naturalist, XXVIL., 
353-358, 1893. 


SCIENCE. 


591 


seven years prior to his Tennessee paper. In 
a footnote (p. 354) he observes: “In many 
cases the Unionide seem to have had no diffi- 
culty in migrating across the country from 
river to river; an example of this being the 
Mississippi Valley species which inhabit all 
the rivers of Texas, and some of those of 
eastern Mexico; while on the other hand, 
species of South America extend up into 
Central America. The embryos, in some 
cases, may be carried by aquatic birds in the 
manner elsewhere mentioned in this paper; 
in others, they probably migrate across over- 
flowed regions near the sea, in time of floods.” 
Further on (p. 358), in accounting for the 
presence of Unio luteolus in both the Mis- 
souri and Columbia rivers, Mr. Simpson says: 
“T have traced it up the Missouri River to 
near its source, and when it is taken into con- 
sideration that the Marias, a tributary of this 
stream, heads within a few miles of Flathead 
Lake on Clarke’s River, a branch of the Co- 
lumbia, and that the embryos ot Unios are 
provided with hooks by which they can attach 
themselves to the feet or feathers of aquatic 
birds, it is very easy to see how this species 
might have been carried from the waters of 
one drainage system to those of another.” 

It is believed, then, that the well-authen- 
ticated means of dispersal of mollusca, and 
more especially the facts of molluscan dis- 
tribution, are such as to render it impossible 
to regard the distribution of fresh-water 
faunas as a conclusive evidence of drainage 
modifications. We must place this line of 
evidence in the second of the two classes out- 
lined above—it being the result of river-cap- 
ture in some cases, but being also produced as 
a result of other agencies. Whether the Ten- 
nessee River has suffered capture or not is a 
question which can not be settled on the basis 
of this class of evidence. Other sources must 
be appealed to. And while the Tennessee 
problem is a question in itself, it may not be 
amiss, especially in view of the wide attention 
attracted by the application of this line of 
evidence to that problem, to say that I have 
elsewhere pointed out certain objections to 
the theory of recent capture, and called atten- 
tion to a variety of evidence now available 


592 


which seems to indicate that the Tennessee 
has persisted in its present course for a long 
period of time.* 

If the distribution of fresh-water faunas 
can not be regarded as a proof of river-capture, 
it is pertinent to ask, of what value is this 
class of evidence? 

It seems to me that this will largely depend 
upon local conditions which must be taken 
into account in each individual problem. If 
there is a marked similarity or identity of 
forms in the captured stream and the stream 
representing the supposed former, lower 
course, and no such relation is found in any 
other two streams of the region, the evidence 
would be very suggestive. If the special forms 
thus distributed are so constructed anatomic- 
ally as to be poorly adapted to dispersion by 
birds, insects, etc., the evidence would become 
much stronger. But if the divide between 
the two basins is low and indistinct and 
occurs in a broad, open valley along which 
aquatic birds are known to migrate habitu- 
ally, and the shells in question are adapted to 
the various means of dispersal, then the oppor- 
tunities for transference of forms between the 
two basins would be so excellent that the 
faunal evidence would be worthless as a proof 
of river capture. On the other hand, where 
no commingling of forms occurs, it might 
appear that no recent capture could have 
taken place and the evidence thus become of 
negative value. But even here we must take 
into consideration the restricted distribution 
of some forms along the same stream, due to 
the character of shores and stream bed, the 
intervention of falls or rapids and other fea- 
tures. Even where capture has taken place, 
the forms may not be transferred to the lower, 
new course of the stream, since they may not 
be found in the lower courses of streams long 
established in their present relations. 

In conclusion, it is believed that the dis- 
persion of fresh-water faunas is effected by 
so many different agencies, and the fea- 
tures of distribution are dependent on so 
many different factors, that such distribution 


*The full discussion of the Tennessee problem 
will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal 
of Geology. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


can have but very limited value as an evidence 
of drainage modifications. In the cases where 
this evidence has already been offered as a 
proof of river-capture, it is believed that the 
conditions are such as to render its use in- 
valid. It seems necessary to subject such 
evidence to unusually critical examination — 
before offering it in support of any theory of 
drainage modifications, or accepting it as 
proof of the correctness of any such theory. 

Dovucias Witson JOHNSON. 

DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, ‘ 
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. 


CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 
LONG-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS. 


Tue Weather Bureau has wisely published 
a Bulletin (No. 35) on the subject of ‘ Long- 
Range Weather Forecasts,’ prepared by Pro- 
fessor E. B. Garriott, in order to counteract, 
so far as is possible, the misleading predictions 
for a month or a season in advance which are 
constantly finding their way into our news- 
papers. Indeed, such spurious long-range 
predictions are actually sold to the papers and 
to the public, and are most injurious in their 
effects. Long-range predictions are of vari- 
ous kinds, ranging from those based upon sup- 
posed planetary influences to such well-known 
statements, found in farmers’ almanacs, as 
‘ About—this—time—expect—showers,’ these 
five words being so printed that they apply to 
a week or ten days of time. There are also 
other classes, based upon a careful study of 
sunspot periods, lunar periods, ete., some of 
which, as in the case of the recent investiga- 
tions of Sir Norman Lockyer and Dr. W. J. 
S. Lockyer, seem to promise something in the 
way of more definite results. As to lunar in- 
fluences, although much time has been spent 
on this matter, and faint lunar tides in the 
atmosphere have been made out near the 
equator, in the present state of our knowledge, 
as Angot put it two or three years ago, ‘it 
can not be affirmed that the moon does exert 
any influence upon the weather, but at the 
same time it should not be denied that this 
influence may possibly exist.’ As to seasonal 
predictions based upon the behavior and con- 
dition of animals, it is clear that the physical 


Aprit 14, 1905.] 


condition of the animal depends upon past 
weather conditions, and upon the food supply 
which those conditions have furnished, rather 
than upon future weather. The best that can 
be done at the present time is to make fore- 
easts for one or two days in advance, and 
occasionally for three or four days. ‘The fu- 
ture advance will depend upon a closer study 
of atmospheric pressure conditions over large 
areas, and of the influences which bring about 
normal or abnormal distribution of pressure. 


THE LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY OF WINNIPEG IN 
WINTER. 


In a recent number of Nature (March 9, 
1905) reference is made to some interesting 
electrical and other effects of the dry air of 
Winnipeg in winter, as reported by Professor 
Buller, of the University of Manitoba. The 
common experiment designed to show the pres- 
ence of water vapor in the atmosphere, which 
is performed by exposing calcium chloride, has 
to be done in a damp-chamber. The sub- 
stance shows no apparent signs of deliques- 
cence even after some weeks’ exposure to the 
ordinary air. , 


JELINEK’S METEOROLOGICAL INSTRUCTIONS. 


A FirrH edition of Jelinek’s valuable ‘ An- 
leitung zu meteorologischen Beobachtungen’ 
has been issued, under the direction of Dr. J. 
M. Pernter, the director of the Austrian 
Meteorological Institute. The fourth edition 
was dated 1903, and that, together with the 
third (1884), was revised by Dr..Hann. There 
are many admirable handbooks of instructions 
for meteorological observers, but this one has 
always stood in the front rank, and in its new 
edition, with many illustrations, is thoroughly 
up to date in every particular. 


HANN’S LEHRBUCH DER METEOROLOGIE. 


A New edition of Hann’s invaluable ‘ Lehr- 
buch der Meteorologie’ is on the way, the first 
part being already issued. There is no need 
of pointing out that the new edition will be 
thoroughly up to date, and that no teacher or 
student of meteorology can afford to do with- 
out it. It will consist of about six parts. 
Not the least of the many important additions 
will be the extension of the charts so as to 


SCIENCE. 


593 


include the recent important Antarctic dis- 
coveries. 
A NEW RAIN GAUGE. 

Tue Meteorologische Zeitschrift for Janu- 
ary, 1905, contains a description of a new 
form of rain gauge designed by W. Gallen- 
kampf, of Munich. The unsatisfactory char- 
acter of the record made by the ordinary self- 
recording gauge, which does not show the 
details of rainfall sufficiently well, has led to 
the construction of a gauge from which the 
rainfall drops. Each drop falls on one end 
of a delicately-balanced arm, which descends 
under the weight, closes a circuit, and thus 
the fall of one drop is recorded. So detailed 
is the record that the rainfall curve can be 
plotted on the basis of the number of drops 
which fall from the gauge in half a minute, 
and these curves show clearly that the or- 
dinary shower is very variable in its intensity, 
these smaller variations not being shown on 
the usual rain-gauge record. A number of 
curves illustrate the article, and throw a new 
light on the way in which our rain falls. 


THE MICRO-BAROGRAPH. 


In the Quarterly Journal of the Royal 
Meteorological Society, Vol. XXXI., 1905, 
pp. 39-52, Dr. W. N. Shaw and Mr. W. H. 
Dines describe an apparatus called the ‘ Micro- 
Barograph,’ which has been designed to mag- 
nify the minor fluctuations and at the same 
time to disentangle them from the general 
barometric surges. The causes which suggest 
themselves as likely to produce temporary 
fluctuations of the barometric curves are the 
following: (1) Atmospheric billows passing 
along surfaces where there is discontinuity 
in density, in a manner similar to ocean 
waves; (2) the passage of minute whirls, or 
cyclonic depressions of small dimensions; (3) 
variations of pressure due to the attraction or 
repulsion produced by electric stress as masses 
of air at different potential pass by; (4) the 
mechanical effects of wind, and (5) the me- 
chanical effects of the rapid condensation of 
aqueous vapor. 

NOTES. 

Tue effect of a severe drought upon meteor- 

ological observations is seen in the ‘ Report’ 


594 


of the Meteorological Commission of Cape 
Colony for 1903. There is a fair increase in 
the number of ordinary stations over 1902, 
but the rainfall stations show a decrease of 
31. This is due to the fact that, owing to a 
drought, many farmers have ‘trekked’ with 
their cattle to adjoining territories, leaving 
their homesteads unoccupied. 

Mr. D. E. Hurcuins, of Cape Town, dis- 
cusses the relation of the rainfalls of South 
Africa and of India during the period 1892-— 
1902, and finds that the years of famine in 
India have been followed by years of bad 
drought in South Africa. The belief is ex- 
pressed that the summer rains of South Africa 
have their origin in the moist winds from the 
Indian Ocean (Nature, Vol. 71, 1905, 342- 
344). R. DeC. Warp. 


A CONTEMPLATED MAGNETIC SURVEY OF 
THE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN BY 
THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION. 

A progect for a magnetic survey of the 
North Pacific Ocean by the Department of 
International Research in Terrestrial Magnet- 
ism has been fayorably acted upon by the 
executive committee of the Carnegie Institu- 
tion of Washington, and authorization has 
been given to begin the work this year. An 
initial allotment of $20,000 has been made to 
cover the expenses for the current year. 

As is well known, the state of our knowl- 
edge of the distribution of the magnetic forces 
over the greater portion of the earth—the 
oceanic areas—owing to the paucity of precise 
data, is exceedingly unsatisfactory. This fact 
is especially true for that great body of water 
—the Pacific Ocean—rapidly developing in 
great commercial importance. 

Captain Creak, for many years superin- 
tendent of the Compass Department of the 
British Admiralty, now retired, says: ‘The 
North Pacifie Ocean is, with the exception of 
the voyage of the Challenger, nearly a blank 
as regards magnetic observations, and I, there- 
fore, think the magnetic survey proposed. will 
be of great value.’ 

Hence, except for data from occasional ex- 
peditions and such as were acquired in wooden 
vessels a long time ago, the present magnetic 
charts used by the navigator over this region 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


depend largely upon the observations on 
islands and along the coasts. Such land ob- 
servations, however, are rarely representative 
of the true values because of prevalent local 
disturbances. It is, therefore, impossible to 
make any statement as to the correctness of 
the present charts. The demands of science, 
as well as those of commerce and navigation, 
require a systematic magnetic survey of this 
region under the most favorable conditions 
possible and that the work be done under the 
auspices of some recognized research institu- 
tion in order to insure that the scientific as- 
pects of the work receive their adequate 
recognition. 

The eminent physicist and magnetician, 
Professor Arthur Schuster, states as his opin- 
ion: “J believe that no material progress of 
terrestrial magnetism is possible until the 
magnetic constants of the great ocean basins, 
especially the Pacific, have been determined 
more accurately than they are present. There 
is reason to believe that these constants may 
be affected by considerable systematic errors. 
It is possible that these errors have crept in by 
paying too much attention to measurements 
made on islands and along the sea-coast. 
What is wanted is more numerous and more 
accurate observations on the sea _ itself.” 
Furthermore, the superintendent of the 
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, 
Mr. O. H. Tittmann, says: “There is no 
doubt in my mind that a survey for that pur- 
pose would result in obtaining data of great 
and permanent value and that it should be 
undertaken.” 

Additional quotations could be given; the 
above, however, are representative and show 
sufficiently the great importance of the pro- 
posed work and the fruitful results that may 
confidently be expected. It is the hope that 
upon the completion of the magnetic survey 
of the North Pacific, the means will be forth- 
coming for extending the survey so as to in- 
clude other oceanic areas. An effort will, 
furthermore, be made to secure the interest 
and cooperation of all civilized countries, so 
that we may look forward to the completion 
of a general magnetic survey of the accessible 
portions of the globe within about fifteen 


a 


Aprit 14, 1905.] 


years. Thanks to the awakening and re- 
newed interest in magnetic work shown on 
all sides, I fully believe that this hope will 
be realized. 

The matter of prime consideration in mag- 
netic work at sea is the elimination of the 
effects resulting from the ship’s own magnet- 
ism as due to her construction and equipment. 
Such effects are especially troublesome to 
eliminate when it is proposed to obtain not 
only the magnetic declination at sea, but also 
the other magnetic elements (the dip and the 
intensity of the magnetic force). The plan, 
therefore, to be attempted this year, as worked 
out by Mr. G. W. Littlehales, hydrographic 
engineer of the United States Hydrographic 
Office and consulting hydrographer of the 
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the 
Carnegie Institution, is in brief as follows: 
“To charter a wood-built, non-magnetic, sail- 
ing vessel of about six hundred tons displace- 
ment, which, starting out in summer from San 
Francisco, shall pursue a clockwise spiral 
course embracing the entire North Pacific 
Ocean. The object of planning such a course 
is to gain continuous advantage throughout 
the survey of the dynamical agencies of the 
atmosphere and the ocean, in passing in suc- 
cession into each of the five-degree quad- 
rangles into which the chart* is divided and 
in which observed values of the three magnetic 
elements need to be obtained. 

“The seasonal shifting of the permanent 
centers of barometric pressure will cause a 
variation from month to month of the condi- 
tions of wind and current that are repre- 
sented on this particular chart, but if the 
departure from San Francisco be taken in 
the summer, the chain of meteorological 
events will contribute toward the maximum 
progress over the course, passing thence along 
the west coast of America to the vicinity of 
the Galapagos Islands, thence across the Pa- 
cific in latitude between two and three de- 
grees north, thence along the eastern side of 
the Philippine Archipelago and ‘he empire of 
Japan, thence eastward in about latitude fifty- 
two degrees north, thence to the latitude of 


, *The course to be followed was shown in red 
ink on a U. 8. Hydrographic Office Pilot Chart of 
the North Pacific. 


SCIENCE. 


595 


San Francisco, and thence continuing through 
the series of areas bounded by parallels of 
latitude and meridians of longitude each five 
degrees apart, lying next on the midocean 
side of the circuit last made, and proceeding 
gradually and by successive circuits into the 
central region of the North Pacific.” 

The total length of the course marked out 
is about 70,000 knots; however, each of the 
first circuits practically closes at San Fran- 
cisco, so that, if it is found that the method 
pursued is not the best, the work can readily 
be terminated or modified. From inquiries 
made, it would appear that the entire work of 
observation and reduction can be accom- 
plished in three years. The cost per month 
of the field work, inclusive of all expenses and 
services, will approximate $1,500. Counting 
eight months of continuous service per annum, 
the total annual outlay is estimated at about 
$12,000. 

This project as the result of careful consid- 
eration and solicitation of expert opinion is 
believed to be thoroughly feasible. It permits 
of useful comprehensive results being imme- 
diately obtained, and is one which can be in- 
terrupted without any important waste of 
antecedent expense, whenever circumstances 
may render a discontinuance or a modifica- 
tion of the original plan advisable. 

The region it is proposed at present to sur- 
vey fortunately contains magnetic observa- 
tories in requisite number and proper dis- 
tribution for furnishing the necessary correc- 
tions to be applied to the observed magnetic 
elements in order to reduce them to a common 
epoch. Thus continuous records of the mag- 
netic variations required for this purpose will 
be available from the following stations: 
Sitka, Mexico, Honolulu, Manila, Shanghai, 
Tokio. In addition .it is hoped that there 
may be soon a magnetic observatory in Cali- 
fornia or vicinity for lending effective co- 
operation, and that the German government 
will continue its magnetic observatory at Apia 
throughout the period of the survey. Also 
excellent opportunities for controlling instru- 
mental constants and obtaining required addi- 
tional data will be afforded by stations on the 
coasts and on islands. 


596 


It should also be pointed out that the plan 
of the courses as mapped permits ready ad- 
justment of the observed quantities for closed 
areas, in accordance with the potential hypoth- 
esis, and it may permit to a certain degree 
the testing of the accuracy of this assumption, 
though as regards the latter more can be said 
at the end of a year’s work. 

While it is not anticipated that any marked 
irregularities in the distribution of the earth’s 
magnetism will manifest themselves over the 
deep waters of the Pacific, it may confidently 
be expected that in the neighborhood of the 
islands and along the coasts distortions and 
irregularities will be revealed. With the aid 
of the results of the detailed magnetic survey 
of the United States and Alaska, opportunity 
will, therefore, be afforded of studying the 
effect of the configuration of land and water 
upon the distribution of the magnetic forces. 
The first circuit, passing as it does along the 
American and Asiatic coasts, will yield es- 
pecially interesting results in this respect. 
Thus, for example, along the Aleutian Islands 
marked local disturbances will be disclosed. 
Reports are received frequently from mariners 
in this region regarding the unsatisfactory 
behavior of the compass; it is, therefore, 
greatly to be desired that a systematic mag- 
netic survey of the waters in this region be 
made. , 

Additional information regarding the ex- 
pedition will be given later. 

L. A. Bauer, 
Director. 
DEPARTMENT OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM, 
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION, 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 


THE ELIZABETH THOMPSON SOIENCE 
FUND. 

Tue thirtieth meeting of the board of 
trustees was held at the Harvard Medical 
School, Boston, Mass., on March 17. The 
following officers were elected: 

President—Henry P. Bowditch. 

Treasurer—Carles S. Rackemann. 

Secretary—Charles S. Minot. 


The report of the treasurer, showing a bal- 
ance of income on hand of $1,237.79, was ac- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


cepted and placed on file. The secretary re- 
ported that the following grant had been 
made: 

No. 116, $150, to W. Bateson, Esq., for ex- 
periments on heredity in rabbits, to be con- 
ducted under Mr. Bateson’s direction by Mr. 
C. C. Hurst. 

Reports of progress were received from the 
following recipients of grants: 

No. 27. E. Hartwig. 

No. 60. F. Kruger. 

No. 94. A. M. Reese. 

No. 96. H. E. Crampton. 

No. 98. J. Weinzirl. 

No. 101. T. A. Jaggar, Jr. 

No. 103. E. Anding. 

No. 106. W. Valentiner. 

No. 107. M. W. Travers. 

No. 108. B. L. Seawell. 

No. 109. A. Nicolas. 

No. 110. H. 8S. Grindley. 

No. 111. R. Hiirthle. 

No. 112. W. J. Moenkhaus. 

No. 113. §. P. Fergusson. 

No. 114. W. Rosenthal. 

No. 115. H. S. Carhart. 

No. 116. W. Bateson. 


The work having been completed and pub- 
lished, it was voted to close the records for 
the following grants: 


No. 71. A. Nicolas. 

No. 79. H. S. Grindley. 

No. 100. H. H. Field. 

No. 102. E. O. Jordan. 

No. 104. W. P. Bradley. 

It was further voted that the work having 
been completed, the records of the following 
grants should be closed, when copies of the 
published results were received by the trustees: 


No. 65. O. Lubarsch. 

No. 73. J. von Kennell. 

No. 83. W. L. Tower. , 

Mr. F. W. Bancroft, who held grant No. 97, 
reported that his experiments had been made 
for the transplantation of ovaries in rabbits, 
but that he had not succeeded in obtaining 
ova from such transplanted ovaries. It was 
deemed, therefore, inadvisable to continue the 
research, and it was voted to close the record 
of his grant, and to allow him to use the ma- 
terial which he had on hand for other re 
searches. 


Apri, 14, 1905.] 


The secretary reported that thirty-one ap- 
plications for grants had been received, the 
total amount asked for being nearly $9,000. 
After a thorough discussion and extended de- 
liberation, the board found itself obliged to 
refuse a number of applications of high merit 
to which it would have been very glad to 
extend aid, had the resources of the fund per- 
mitted. It was voted to make the following 
new grants: 

No. 117, $100 to Professor E. Salkowski 
and Dr. C. Neuberg, Berlin, Germany, for an 
experimental study of glyeuronie acid. (Ap- 
plication 966.) 

No. 118, $200 to Professor Th. Boveri, 
Wiirzburg, Germany, for an experimental 
study of the early development of sea urchin 
eges. (Application 981.) 

No. 119, $100 to Professor J. P. MeMur- 
rich, Ann Arbor, Mich., for the study of Ac- 
tinians from the Malayan Archipelago. (Ap- 
plication 984.) 

No. 120, $50 to Professor EK. H. Archibald, 
Syracuse, N. Y., for researches on the elec- 
trical conductivity of solutions of organic 
bodies in the liquefied halogen hydrides. (Ap- 
plication 987.) 

No. 121, $200 to Professor A. Debierne, 
Paris, France, for the isolation and study of 
Actinium. (Application 988.) 

No. 122, $200 to Dr. Fr. Nusl and J. J. 
Fric, Prague, Austria, for perfecting an in- 
strument for the determination of latitude 
and time without the use of levels. (Appli- 
cation 991.) 

No. 123, $200 to Professor E. C. Jeffrey, 
Cambridge, Mass., for the study of cupres- 
sineous conifers. (Application 998.) 

No. 124, $150 to Professor P. Bachmetjew, 
Sofia, Bulgaria, for the study of the anabiotie 
condition in warm-blooded animals. (Appli- 
cation 999.) 

Cuarues S. Minor, 
Secretary. 


MEDALS AND AWARDS OF THE ROYAL 
GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 
Tue London Times states that with the 
approval of the king, the council of the Royal 
Geographical Society has decided to award the 


SCIENCE. HOT 


two royal medals for this year to Sir Martin 
Conway (Founder’s Medal) and Captain C. 
H. D. Ryder, R.E. (Patron’s Medal). 

During a long series of years Sir Martin 
Conway has devoted himself to the exploration 
of various mountain regions of the world— 
the Alps, the Himalayas and the Andes; and, 
further, has done useful work among the 
islands of Spitsbergen. In a series of papers 
and maps contributed to the society, as well 
as in separate publications, he has made, as a 
result of these explorations, large and valuable 
contributions to geographical knowledge. 

Captain Ryder’s claim to a Royal Medal 
rests mainly on the important and extensive 
work which he accomplished while acting as 
principal survey officer on the recent Tibet 
Mission. Not only did he execute a large 
amount of survey work and mapping while 
on the main expedition, but as survey officer 
in the expedition into Western Tibet he sur- 
veyed and mapped the Upper Brahmaputra to 
its source, as well as the Sutlej and the Gartok 
tributary of the Indus. He also surveyed the 
whole of the line of mountains lying north 
of the Himalayas, and proved that there is no 
peak that can approach Mount Everest in 
altitude. Before these experiences Captain 
Ryder, in 1899-1900, carried out a careful sur- 
vey of the province of Yunnan, the results of 
which, comprising a map radically altering 
those previously compiled, he contributed to 
the society. 

This year an award is again made of the 
Victoria Research Medal, which was instituted 
on the death of Queen Victoria, and is be- 
stowed as occasion may arise in recognition 
of distinguished service to the cause of geo- 
graphical research, as distinguished from ex- 
ploration. The new recipient—the third to 
receive the medal—will be Mr. J. G. Bar- 
tholomew. During many years Mr. Bartholo- 
mew has done much to raise the standard of 
cartography in Great Britain. He has edited 
and issued large atlases of England and Scot- 
land; he has planned and issued the first vol- 
ume of a great physical atlas which will take 
the first place among works of its kind; he has 
for years been collecting material for a com- 


598 


plete atlas of the British Empire. All this 
has been achieved at his own expense, and has 
entailed the expenditure of thousands of 
pounds, which he can never hope to recover. 
Of the society’s minor awards, the Murchi- 
son Grant goes to Mr. William Wallace, 
C.M.G., Deputy High Commissioner of the 
Northern Nigeria Protectorate. During the 
many years he has served as an official in 
Northern Nigeria, Mr. Wallace has rendered 
great service to exploration and geography, 
both directly and indirectly. Colonel F. R. 
Maunsell, R.A., is awarded the Gill Memorial 
for his explorations during many years’ resi- 
dence in Asia Minor, and in particular for the 
large map which he has compiled, largely from 
his own materials, and placed at the disposal 
of the society. The recipient of the Cuthbert 
Peek Grant is Mr. Francis J. Lewis, who has 
made valuable contributions to the knowledge 
of botanical distribution by his researches into 
the geographical distribution of vegetation 
in the North of England. Finally, Captain 
Philip Maud, R.E., is designated to receive 
the Back Grant for valuable survey work in 
1903 along the southern border of Abyssinia. 


PROFESSOR WILHELM OSTWALD AT 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 

Harvarp University has invited Professor 
Wilhelm Ostwald, of the University of Leip- 
zig, to serve as lecturer in the first half of 
the coming academic year, under the arrange- 
ment for an exchange of professors which has 
recently been agreed upon by Harvard Uni- 
versity and the German Government.  Pro- 
fessor Ostwald is regarded as one of the 
founders of the modern science of physical 
chemistry; and he has achieved a position of 
the highest rank in the scientific world, not 
only as an investigator and thinker, but also 
as a reformer, organizer and teacher in the 
field of natural science. With J. H. van’t 
Hoff, Ostwald founded in 1887 the Zeitschrift 
fiir physikalische Chemie, and in 1901 the 
Annalen der Naturphilosophie. In 1904 he 
gave the Faraday lecture before the Royal 
Society. He has been a prolific and inde- 
fatigable investigator and writer, and a list of 
his publications would occupy several closely 


SCIENCE. 


' [N.S. Von. XXI. No. 537. 
. = 


printed pages. Although he achieved emi- 

nence first in the field of physical chemistry, 

Professor Ostwald has during the last four or 

five years diverted, or perhaps rather extended, 

his studies to the broad field of the philosophy 

of science, a subject to which one of his best- 
known works, as well as the Annalen above 

mentioned, is devoted. 

Professor Ostwald has not yet definitely an- 
nounced the subjects of the courses which he 
will give during his residence at Harvard. 
It is hoped, however, that he will give one 
course counting for a degree ‘on the history 
of science, a course which would be of interest 
to students in all branches of science as well 
as to students of philosophy. It is also hoped 
that he will announce one or two courses in 
his special field of physical chemistry, thus 
affording a rare opportunty to graduate stu- 
dents in chemistry who may be in residence 
next year. 

Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald was born in the 
city of Riga in Russia September 2, 1853. 
He attended the Kronsknabenschule and the 
Realgymnasium of Riga, showing as a school- 
boy a remarkable talent for writing and draw- 
ing, which he put into use as editor of a school- 
boy magazine. In 1872, against the wish of 
his father, who thought to make an engineer 
of him, he entered the University of Dorpat 
in Russia to pursue the study of chemistry. 
In 1875 he became an assistant in physics to 
von Oettingen. He took the master’s exam- 
ination at Dorpat in 1877 and the doctorate in 
1878. In 1879 he began his teaching career 
as a privatdocent, and in the same year ex- 
changed his assistantship in physics for one 
in chemistry under Carl Schmidt. In 1881 
he was called to a professorship of chemistry 
at the Polytechnikum in his native city, and 
held this place until 1887, when he accepted 
an appointment as professor of physical chem- 
istry at Leipzig—the position which he still 
holds. Professor Ostwald was one of the dele- 
gates to the International Congress of Arts 
and Science at St. Louis last year. 


A CONFERENCE OF ANATOMNISTS. 
Invirations have been issued by the Wistar 
Institute of Anatomy, Philadelphia, to ten of 


Aprin 14, 1905.] 


the leading anatomists of the United States 
to participate in a conference in the interests 
of anatomy in America. ‘Two sessions of this 
conference were to be held in the library of 
the Wistar Institute, on April 11 and 12, be- 
ginning each day at 10:30 a.m. The object 
of this conference is to discuss the possibility, 
advisability and means of organizing central 
institutes for the promotion of research in the 
different subdivisions of anatomy such as 
physical anthropology, comparative anatomy, 
topographical anatomy, embryology, histology 
and neurology, and to establish relationship 
with similar institutes abroad. The confer- 
ence was proposed by Dr. M. J. Greenman, 
director of the Wistar Institute, and the fol- 
lowing anatomists are expected to be present: 
Dr. Lewellys F. Barker, professor of anatomy, 
Chicago University; Dr. Edwin G. Conklin, 
professor of zoology, University of Pennsyl- 
vania; Dr. Henry H. Donaldson, professor of 
neurology, University of Chicago; Mr. Simon 
H. Gage, professor of embryology, Cornell 
University; Dr. G. Carl Huber, professor of 
embryology, University of Michigan; Dr. Geo. 
§. Huntington, professor of anatomy, Colum- 
bia University; Dr. Franklin P. Mall, pro- 
fessor of anatomy, Johns Hopkins University; 
Dr. J. P. MeMurrich, professor of anatomy, 
University of Michigan; Dr. Chas. S. Minot, 
professor of embryology, Harvard University; 
Dr. George A. Piersol, professor of anatomy, 
University of Pennsylvania. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

Tue National Academy of Sciences will 
hold its annual stated session at Washington, 
beginning Tuesday, April 18. 

Tue American Philosophical Society is this 
week holding its general meeting at Phila- 
delphia. 

Dr. R. S. Woopwarp, president of the Car- 
negie Institution, was given a dinner by his 
colleagues at Columbia University, at Del- 
monico’s, on April 4. Speeches were made by 
President Butler, Mr. Andrew Carnegie, Dr. 
John S. Billings, Professor E. B. Wilson and 
President Woodward. 

Dr. H. A. Lorentz, professor of physics 
in the University of Leyden, and Professor V. 


SCIENCE. 


o99 


F. Bjerknes, professor of mathematical phys- 
ics in the University of Stockholm, will give 
courses of lectures at Columbia University 
next year. 


Proressor Henry S. Carnart, who holds 
the chair of physics at the University of Mich- 
igan, and Professor W. B. Scott, who holds 
the chair of geology at Princeton, have been 
invited to join the official party to attend the 
South African meeting of the British Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science this 
summer. 


Proressor R. W. Woop, of the department 
of physics of the Johns Hopkins University, 
and Dr. H. S. Jennings, of the zoological de- 
partment of the University of Pennsylvania, 
have been elected honorary fellows of the 
Royal Microscopical Society of Great Britain. 

Proressor Huco pr Vriss, professor of bot- 
any at Amsterdam, has been made a foreign 
member of the Belgian Academy of Sciences. 


Proressor EK. von Drycauskt has been elect- 
ed a foreign member of the Geographical So- 
ciety of Vienna. 


Tue Fothergillian prize of the Medical So- 
ciety of London for 1905 has been awarded, 
by the council of the society, to Sir Frederick 
Treves in recognition of the value of his work 
in connection with abdominal surgery. 


Proressor WintuiAmMm H. Pickertne, of the 
Harvard College Observatory, will observe the 
total eclipse of the sun on August 30, in 
Algeria. 

Proressor Aubert M. Reese, of Syracuse 
University, will go to Florida at the end of 
May under the auspices of the Smithsonian 
Institution to collect eggs of the alligator 
with which to work out its embryology; sub- 
sequently he will spend some time at the 
biological laboratory of the Carnegie Institu- 
tion on the Dry Tortugas. 

Dr. Marcus S. Farr, curator in the Depart- 
ment of Paleontology, Princeton University, 
will again this year conduct an expedition to 
Wyoming and Montana. 

At the meeting of the Physicochemical Club 
of Boston and Cambridge, at Harvard Union, 
on March 27, Professor A. A. Noyes spoke on 
the conductivity of certain acids, bases and 


600 


salts up to 218°, and Professor T. W. Richards 
spoke on the elimination of thermometric lag 
and the accurate 
calorimetry. 


cooling correction in 

On the anniversary of the death of Dr. 
Charles E. Beecher, who held the chair of 
paleontology at Yale University, his portrait 
was hung in the registrar’s office. 

Proressor Autpert A. Wricut, since 1874 
professor of geology and zoology at Oberlin 
College, died at Oberlin as the result of a 
stroke of paralysis on April 2, at the age of 
fifty-nine years. 

WE regret also to record the death of M. 
Victor Raulin, emeritus professor of geology 
at Bordeaux, at the age of ninety years, and of 
M. Julien, professor of geology at Clermont- 
Ferrand, at the age of sixty-five years. 

Tuere will be a civil service examination 
on May 10 to fill at least three ‘vacancies in 
the position of civil engineer student in the 
Division of Tests, Bureau of Chemistry, De- 
partment of Agriculture, at not exceeding 
$50 per month each. 

A New York state civil service examina- 
tion will be held on April 22 to fill the posi- 
tion of histological laboratory assistant in the 
Pathological Institute at a salary of $1,200. 
The position is open to both men and women. 

A CONSULAR report states that the erection 
of the institute for cancer investigation, to be 
in the immediate vicinity of the Academy 
Hospital at Heidelberg, will be begun as soon 
as possible, and its completion is expected in 
the spring of 1906. It will be the first larger 
institution of its kind in Germany, and prob- 
ably in Europe, where scientific investigation 
will be combined with treatment of patients. 
While the lower floor will serve exclusively for 
making bacteriological, pathological and other 
researches, and while the entire equipment 
will reflect the most modern scientific knowl- 
edge, the second floor will accommodate about 
forty patients who may expect temporary or 
permanent relief. The first impetus for this 
institute was given by an unknown party, who 
nine months ago donated the sum of 150,000 
Marks for this purpose, on condition that it 
should be used exclusively for a hospital at 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 537. 


Ileidelberg devoted to cancer investigation. 
Other unknown donors have increased the 
fund to about $60,000. The government of 
the Grand Duchy of Baden, in accepting the 
trust on the part of the Grand Duke, has fur- 
nished the ground for the building and con- 
sented to manage the institution, for which 
purpose a considerable appropriation will be 
made. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


Tue authorities of Stevens Institute of 
Technology have taken up vigorously the task 
of raising the additional $100,000 required to 
render available the $100,000 conditionally 
donated by Mr. Andrew Carnegie and Presi- 
dent Alexander C. Humphreys ($50,000 each) 
at the recent dinner of the Stevens alumni. 
It is expected that the alumni will heartily 
cooperate by contributing and by awakening 
the interest of their friends. 

THe chair of social and political ethics at 
Columbia University, held by Professor Felix 
Adler, has been endowed. The university has 
also received $10,000 from Mr. F. L. Stetson 
towards a building for the Law School. 

Dr. Lewetiys F. Barker, professor of anat- 
omy at the University of Chicago, has been 
called to the chair of medicine in Johns Hop- 
kins University, vacant by the removal of 
Dr. William Osler to Oxford. At the same 
time Dr. W. S. Thayer, associate professor of 
medicine, has been advanced to a professor- 
ship of clinical medicine. 

Dr. B. B. Gautaupet, demonstrator in anat- 
omy at Columbia University, has been ap- 
pointed adjunct professor, and Dr. W. P. 
Montague, tutor in philosophy, has been made 
instructor. 

Tuomas C. Esty, professor of mathematics 
at Rochester University, has received a call 
to a similar position at Amherst, where he 
will sueceed his father, Professor William C. 
Esty, who has been an instructor at Amherst 
for forty-three years. 

Wm. A. Hinton, Ph.D., formerly assistant 
in histology and embryology in Cornell Uni- 
versity, has been appointed to the chair of 
biology in Pomona College for the coming 
year. 


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The Meeting of the American Historical Association at 
Chicago. 

The Treatment of History. Gox~pwrn Smirn. 

Methods of Work in Historical Seminaries. 
Burton ApAMs. 

The Early Life of Oliver Ellsworth. 
Brown. 


Origin of the Title Superintendent of Finance. 
Barrett LEARNED, 


Documents—-Documents on the Blount Conspiracy, 
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Reviews of Books. 

Notes and News. 


Vol. X, No, 3 APRIL, 1905 


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WILLIAM GARROT 


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BERGEN DAVIS 


The Compari-on of Inductances with Great Precision. 
A. H. TAYLOR 


On the Luminous Efficiency of the Carbon Filament. 
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Teachers College, a professional school for teachers, is also, financially, a separate corporation; and also, educa- 
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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. 


Fripay, Aprit 21, 1905. 


CONTENTS. 


Albert Benjamin Prescott: Proressor F. W. 
RETO NRSICHYN lifes etathaisis:eteie Bikar sacie ile) e-siwile. ors soa ts 
The Use of Copper in the Purification of 
Water Supplies: Dr. Grorce T. Moorz, 
Dr. HENRY KRAEMER, Dr. Mary E. PEnN- 
NINGTON, ALFRED M. Quick, Dr. C. L. Mar- 
LATT, Dr. H. W. Witey, M. O. LEIGHTON, 
PEA ELS SOM Ys. rctavrchsiceiee atsla sins oe de oe cb oe 603 


Scientific Books :— 
Reports of the Belgian Antarctic Expedi- 
tion: Dr. Wm. H. Datu. Jeliffe’s In- 
troduction to Pharmacognosy: Dr. CHARLES 
PRIGMSSEUANW AMMEN edo neot's yc ca¥le (elder hl « sey Sis duo: 6.8) Gcae 624 


Scientific Journals and Articles............ 626 


Societies and Academies :— 
The San Francisco Section of the American 
Mathematical Society: Proressor G. A. 
Mitten. The Philosophical Society of 
Washington: CHARLES K. Wrap. The Tor- 
rey Botanical Club: Epwarp W. Berry. 
The Chemical Society of Washington: Dr. 
A. SEIDELL. Cornell Section of the Amer- 
ican Chemical Society: W. S. Lenk. The 
Onondaga Academy of Science: PRorEssor 
J. E. Kirkwoop. The Elisha Mitchell Sci- 
entific Society: Proressor Atvin_ S&S. 
IDBERETESIAIS Tate 'ee staf oxevecl'sustsvacats\elel.e a vscatle rater televe te 627 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


Natural Mounds: W. J. SPILLMAN........ 632 


Special Articles :— 
An Alternative Interpretation of the Origin 


of Gynandromorphous Insects: PROFESSOR 
lm seem ORGIAIN, 6 5055 “sycveteite Si oveit, 2163 Sarasa Sraueyare, 


The Total Solar Eclipse: REAR-ADMIRAL C. 
M. CHESTER 


Neientific Notes and News.............+++. 


University and Educational News.......... 639 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


ALBERT BENJAMIN PRESCOTT. 


Dr. ALBERT BENJAMIN PRESCOTT, di- 
rector of the chemical laboratory at the 
University of Michigan, died at his home in 
Ann Arbor, February 25, 1905. He was 
the senior member of the university faculty, 
and one of the veterans of American sci- 
ence. 

Dr. Prescott was born at Hastings, N. Y., 
December 12, 1832. Educated as a physi- 
cian, he took the degree of M.D. in 1864, 
and in that year and part of the year fol- 
lowing, he served as an assistant surgeon 
in the United States Volunteer Army. In 
1865 he became assistant professor of chem- 
istry in the University of Michigan; was 
made full professor of organic and apphed 
chemistry in 1870; and was dean of the 
school of pharmacy since 1870; and from 
1884 to the day of his death, was director 
of the chemical laboratory. His whole pro- 
fessional life as a chemist was spent in the 
service of the university, as teacher, organ- 
izer, administrator and investigator dur- 
ing a period of forty years. 

In a career like that of Dr. Prescott there 
is nothing sensational or spectacular. It 
was a life of obvious duties, uniformly well 
done, with nothing slighted, and no stri- 
vings after public recognition. Recognition, 
nevertheless, came to him unsought, and he 
had the satisfaction of knowing that his 
work was appreciated. He became presi- 
dent of the American Chemical Society, the 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Science and the American Pharmaceut- 
ical Association ; honors as high as any that 
American scholarship can confer. From 


602 


the University of Michigan in 1896 and 
from Northwestern University in 1903 he 
received the honorary degree of LL.D.; in 
1898 he was made a member of the Ameri- 
can Philosophical Society; and in 1904 he 
presided over the section of organic chem- 
istry in the International Congress at St. 
Louis. The list of honors might be length- 
ened, but these examples are enough to 
show the esteem in which Dr. Prescott was 
held by those who knew him best and were 
most competent to appraise his merits. 

As a teacher Dr. Prescott was singularly 
successful, both in his personal relations 
with his students and as an organizer of 
reforms. He began his work at a time 
when lectures and recitations were com- 
monly thought to be adequate instruments 
for scientific teaching ; and when laboratory 
practice for students was a questionable 
novelty which only a few American schools 
had dared to try. From the beginning he 
took his stand on the side of modern 
methods, and organized his work along 
practical lines. The teaching of chemistry 
in schools of pharmacy and medicine was 
notably advanced through his efforts; and 
given a significance which, in this country 
at least, it had not had before. In this 
respect Prescott was one of several leaders; 
less conspicuous, perhaps, than some others, 
because of his modesty and quiet ways, but 
none the less potent and influential. He 
labored unpretentiously, but the results 
which he sought to accomplish were at- 
tained. The admirable organization of 
chemical work in the University of Mich- 
igan is the outcome of Prescott’s broad and 
liberal views. 

No man ean eseape the influences of his 
environment. The work that comes to him 
is the work that he must do. In Dr. Pres- 
cott’s ease, the requirements of his position 
with respect to medicine and pharmacy, 
naturally foreed him into the study of or- 
ganic compounds, but not along the con- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538.8 


ventional lines. Theoretical problems oc- — 
cupied little of his attention; but analytical — 
methods, especially in the domain of toxi- — 
cology, and the investigation of proximate * | 
principles, such as the alkaloids, took a 
large part of his time. His researches upon | 
the alkaloidal iodides, and upon the assay 7 
of opium, placed him easily first among 
American specialists in that class of stud- 
jes. His ‘Outlines of Proximate Organic 
Analyses,’ published in 1875, was the first 
text-book of its kind in the English lan- 
guage, and it brought him an extended 
reputation. In the same year he published 
a monograph upon ‘The Chemical Exami- f 
nation of Alcoholic Liquors,’ which made ; . 
him still more widely known. In 1888 he — 
issued a ‘Manual of Organic Analysis,’ | 
and he also contributed a fair amount to 4 
the general literature of analytical proce — 
esses. Douglas and Prescott’s ‘Qualitative 
Chemical Analysis’ has been a standard 
text-book for thirty years. 

Dr. Prescott’s position in a state uni- 
versity naturally brought him into publie 
service in connection with sanitary affairs. 
The adulteration of food and the detection 
of foreign fats and coloring matters in 
butter were subjects to which he gave much { 
attention, and in which he was of material 
assistance to the food commissioners of 
Michigan. Questions of water-supply and 
filtration were often submitted to his judg- 
ment, and in these ways his public useful- ) 
ness extended far beyond the limits of his ; , 
state. Unfortunately, work of this kind 
brings little glory to a man, but its value 
must not be underestimated. It contrib- 
utes greatly to the public welfare, and it 
can be properly done only by one who is ~ 
thoroughly faithful and conscientious. 
Such a man was Prescott, whose work was 
honest from beginning to end. 

Dr. Prescott early recognized the value 
of research as a means of education, and so 
his students often shared in his investiga- 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 
tions. <A perfect list of his contributions 
to chemistry has not, I think, been pre- 
pared; but it would be by no means a short 
one. No brilliant or startling discovery 
fell to his lot, but then few chemists are so 
favored. A large volume of good work, 
well done, is all that most men can aspire 
to, and in that respect Dr. Prescott’s repu- 
tation is secure. Those who knew him 
will think most of the man himself, rather 
than of his achievements. He was kindly, 
modest, sincere and lovable; and what bet- 
ter can be said of any one? 

- Dr. Prescott was married to Abigail 
Freeburn in 1866. His widow and one 


son survive him. 
EF. W. CLARKE. 


THE USE OF COPPER IN THE PURIFICA- 
; TION OF WATER SUPPLIES.* 

Dr. Grorce T. Moors, physiologist and 
algologist, Bureau of Plant Industry, said: 
Probably the best way in which to present 
the question of the use of copper salts in 
_ the purification of water supplies, is to give 
briefly a history of the subject, outlining 
in a general way how the method came to 
be used, and some of the results obtained 
by the Department of Agriculture. It may 
seem a little out of the province of this 
department to experiment upon the puri- 
fication of water; but, as you know, the 
present Secretary of Agriculture is so ready 
to take up anything new that promises 
profitable results along any line not already 
occupied, that he was very glad and willing 
to allow an investigation to be undertaken 
which promised to afford relief to so many. 
Consequently, with the consent of Congress 
and with the very able cooperation of Dr. 
Galloway and Mr. Woods, of the Bureau of 
Plant Industry, this particular investiga- 
tion was undertaken in the Laboratory of 

Plant Physiology. Those of you who have 


*Report of meeting held January 5, by the 
Washington Academy of Sciences. 


SCIENCE. 


603 


had any experience with attempting to 
drink water where it has the so-called pig- 
pen or, fishy taste will readily recognize the 
importance of finding some means of pre- 
venting this disagreeable condition. New 
England is probably the most notorious re- 
gion for having this fishy odor and taste in 
its water supplies, but this difficulty is by 
no means confined to any particular part 
of the country. There is practically no 
state in the union which has not reported 
the greatest trouble due to the plants pro- 
ducing bad odors and tastes in water, for 
in almost all cases it is the growth of cer- 
tain aquatie plants called alge which is 
responsible for the difficulty. 

I will not try to give you a list of the 
towns and cities in the United States which, 
because of the presence of these plants, 
have had most serious times with their 
water reservoirs. The importance of the 
subject is so great that at least one water 
commission considered it worth $4,000,000 
to take precautions against the appearance 


of alg in their reservoir, and in many in- 


stances hundreds of thousands of dollars 
have been expended in a vain attempt to 
prevent the bad odors and tastes which 
have occurred annually. 

It so happens that in my mail to-day 
there came a letter from a town, the name 
of which I will not mention, which perhaps 
describes the general situation incident to 
having a water polluted by these vegetable 
erowths, as well as a long discussion. 

The reservoir of T—— is (to put it in plain 
Anglo-Saxon) fierce. We are able to drink it 
only in the winter and early spring. During the 
summer and fall of the year it is so foul that it 
can not be used even to wash clothes. Never in 
all my experience in various towns and cities have 
I found such water, and yet physicians have 
analyzed it and found it all right. In the sum- 
mer it is yellowish in color and the odor is rank, 
being perceived at once on opening the faucet. 


communities 
the 


There are many similar 


where the water, during summer 


604 


months, at least, is so foul that people have 
to discontinue sprinkling the lawns and in 
some cases the reservoir can be detected—by 
the nose—over a half mile away. Now, as 
this letter says, examinations of an algal- 
polluted water usually show it to be harm- 
less so far as man is concerned, but be- 
cause of the odor and taste it might just 
as well be poisonous. People can not use 
it, and for this reason they are frequently 
driven to use polluted wells and springs, or 
bottled waters, which by no means are al- 
ways free from disease germs. In this way, 
epidemics have been known to arise, due to 
the presence of alge in the city water 
which, of itself, contained no pathogenic 
organisms. A problem of so much sani- 
tary and financial importance has naturally 
received much attention from water engi- 
neers and others. However, the recom- 
mendations usually made of aerating the 
water or covering the reservoir have been 
either ineffective or too expensive, and up 
to within a short time the problem of how 
to get rid of the bad odors and taste in 
water has been considered impossible of 
solution. The principal means of avoid- 
ing such difficulties has been to abandon 
the reservoir, create a new system of supply 
and hope the old condition would not re- 
turn until the water company or the town 
could afford to install another plant. Fil- 
tration offered little or no relief; indeed, 
filtered water, stored in an open reservoir, 
is often more subject to algal pollution than 
any other kind. Consequently, this prob- 
lem of how to prevent the growth of alge 
in water. for domestic purposes had been 
practically abandoned as impossible by 
many of those most closely concerned with 
water supply work. 

It seemed necessary, therefore, to take 
up the question along some entirely new 
line and, consequently, careful investiga- 
tions were undertaken regarding the life 
history of the particular organisms con- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


cerned and an attempt was made to find 
some toxic element which, although fatal 
to the plants, would yet be absolutely harm- 
less toman. It is not necessary to consider 
the large number of substances that were 
experimented with, but, of course, it was 
very soon found that the heavy metals were 
more effective than anything else that could 
be used on a practical scale. 
effect of copper upon alge has been known 
for a long time and our own experiments 
seemed to demonstrate that it was more 
efficient than anything else sufficiently 
cheap and easily obtained. Therefore, it 
was decided to carry on experiments on a 
large scale with this metal alone. 

The three points, of course, necessary in 
determining a means of destroying alge is 
that it shall be thoroughly efficient; that it 


shall be cheap—for, of course, there must 


be no limit to the amount of water treated 


-—and finally it must be harmless to man. 


First, in regard to the efficiency, I will 
give the result of a few experiments which 


sulphate will do to alge. 

The first opportunity which presented 
itself for experimenting on a large scale 
was in the cress beds of the South. Here 
the conditions were such that after the 
eress had been cut and before the new 
growth could start, a thick heavy mat of 
algz would form over the surface of the 
water sufficient to prevent the growth, if 
not entirely smother out the delicate cress 
plants. Since water cress at that time of 
the year was worth about $20 a barrel, and 
the demand was considerably greater than 


The fatal 


A el al) 


’ demonstrate what high dilutions of copper — 


the supply, a large amount of money was i 


being lost in this way, and it seemed worth 
while to experiment with these beds and 
see if it would not be possible to extermi- 
nate the algal growth without destroying 
the cress. Consequently, a solution of 
copper sulphate was prepared of a strength 
of about one to fifty million parts of water, 


no 


eet Ce en Pepe’ Ty 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 
and this was applied to the algal mass in 
hopes that it would accomplish the desired 
result. Ina very short time all of the algal 
growth was exterminated, and although the 
first application was made in the fall of 
1901, it has never been necessary to apply 
copper more than once a year to these beds. 
Naturally, the degree of success attained in 
this work, while not in any way demon- 
strating that a similar method would be 
efficacious in large reservoirs, seemed to 
warrant a more thorough investigation of 
the subject. 

In June, 1903, our attention was called 
to the condition of the reservoir at Win- 
chester, Ky. This supply was constructed 
in 1890, and after the first three years a 
strong odor and taste were noticeable in the 
water during the hot summer months. 
This condition gradually increased until 
the water attained such a degree of offen- 
siveness as to make its use for any purpose 
almost intolerable. Aeration and mechan- 
ical filtration were tried without effect, and 
it seemed that the only hope for relief was 
to abandon the entire reservoir and go ten 
miles to the Kentucky River for the source 
of a new supply. The cost, however, was 
too great to be considered, and for this 
reason the difficulty was considerably in- 
ereased. A microscopical examination of 
the water showed that the odor and taste 
were due to the presence of one of the blue- 
green alge, and it was believed that the 
application of copper sulphate at the rate 
of about 1 to 5,000,000 would be sufficient 
to destroy these forms; consequently, there 
being no objection on the part of either the 
water board or the health authorities, a 
treatment was made, and the results have 
been everything that could be desired. 
Within three or four days the odor disap- 
peared and the water was perfectly clear. 
This summer at about the same time it-was 
feared that the algal growth was reappear- 
ing, and for this reason another slight 


SCIENCE. 


605 


treatment was made, but with this excep- 
tion, no copper has been added to the water 
since the original treatment in June, 1903, 
and it has remained perfectly clean and 
sweet. 

In 1892 the Butte (Montana) City Water 
Company began the construction of a large 
impounding reservoir for the purpose of 
storing the water of a mountain stream 
having its source in the summit of the 
Rocky Mountains. The next year the 
stored water became badly contaminated 
and was unfit for domestic use on account 
of its disagreeable odor and taste. In 1894 
the dam was increased so that the capacity 
of the reservoir. was 180,000,000 gallons, 
but the same trouble was experienced as 
during the previous year, and further work 
was stopped on the dam until some remedy 
could be discovered. An extensive study 
of the conditions to discover the cause and 
find a remedy for the trouble was under- 
taken, and, besides a resident chemist and 
bacteriologist, consultations were held with 
water engineers of note in all parts of the 
country. It was finally decided to increase 
the water supply flowing into the reservoir 
and more thoroughly clean the bottom of 
all organic matter which might contain 
vegetable organisms. Notwithstanding the 
efforts made in this line, the water. was so 
infected with alge as to be absolutely nau- 
seating in odor and taste, and it became so 
offensive that the odor was continually 
present in the city on account of the water 
being used in sprinkling carts. On July 7 
of this year copper sulphate was added to 
this reservoir in the proportion of 1 part 
to 8,500,000 parts of water. During the 
first twenty-four hours the water in the 
reservoir gave off a most pronounced and 
disagreeable odor, and at the end of the 
second and third days changes were noticed 
in the color and taste of the water, particu- 
larly in the lower depths. By the end of 
the fifth day the water assumed a natural 


606 


eolor and only a slight odor and taste were 
noticeable on the surface. On Sunday, 
July 24, the water in the reservoir, being 


absolutely pure, for the first time in ten- 


years, during the summer months, was 
turned into the city mains, and since this 
date has been in constant use. 

Many other examples might be given of 
the efficiency of copper sulphate as a pre- 
ventative of algal pollution, but it is prob- 
ably sufficient to say that over fifty large 
water supplies have been successfully treat- 
ed during the last six months, and in no 
instance where a supply was in actual use 
and the method applied according to direc- 
tions has it failed to accomplish the desired 
result. 

It is not necessary to dwell upon the 
question of cost. In general this may vary 
from ten cents to fifty cents per million 
gallons, and no water company is likely to 
hesitate at this amount if it enables them 
to get rid of a difficulty which often causes 
them an annual expense of thousands of 
dollars, to say nothing of the complaints 
of consumers. 

The fact that copper has been used in a 
number of water supplies in quantities of 
from one to a million to one to ten orfifteen 
millions without causing any perceptible 
difficulty might be regarded as evidence in 
favor of the harmlessness of copper to man, 
or at least as demonstrating that this metal 
is not poisonous in the generally accepted 
sense of the word. There is, however, a 
deep-seated prejudice against copper in the 
popular mind, and it is difficult to convince 
the public that the cases of poisoning sup- 
posed to have been due to eating food from 
copper utensils were due to other causes, 
now well recognized. Perhaps there will 
always be a certain amount of opposition to 
the use of copper, just as there is to anti- 
toxin and vaceination. After all, the ques- 
tion is a local one which must be decided by 
the local authorities, and if there is any 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


question about the method it should not be 
resorted to. Certainly, the Department of 
Agriculture does not wish to insist upon 
the use of copper sulphate without the 
hearty consent of the authorities who have 
the control of the water supply, and this 
consent has always been obtained before 
any work of this kind has been earried on. 

The fact that we daily consume in our 
food quite as much, if not more copper, 
than would ever be added to a water supply 
is not generally known by the public; not 
only in peas and other canned goods, where 
copper has been added for a purpose, but 
in meats, fruits, vegetables, ete., where this 
metal occurs naturally. There is often five 
times as much copper in a pound of wheat 
as would ever be found in a gallon of water > 
treated for the destruction of algz. But 
there is so much evidence in favor of the 
harmlessness of copper that it is impossible 
to even refer to it here. After all, it should 
be borne in mind that it is not a question 
of an absolutely pure water as compared 
with water containing a small amount of 
copper. It is typhoid- or cholera- or algx- 
laden water versus copper water. 

When the efficiency of copper for the 
destruction of alge had been fully demon- 
strated, it became a matter of interest, at 
least, to determine the effect of this metal 
upon typhoid, cholera and similar disease 
germs often conveyed by water. As the 
result of a large number of experiments we 
were able to determine that while copper 
was not quite so toxic to these pathogenic 
bacteria as to alge, still the results were 
sufficiently satisfactory to make it seem 
probable that, under certain circumstances, 
the method might prove of considerable 
value for the rapid and efficient steriliza- 
tion of large bodies of water. 

The conditions governing pollution by 
alge and bacteria are, of course, very dif- 
ferent. ‘Furthermore, there are methods 
already in use, which, if properly applied, 


Aprit 21, 1905.] SCIENCE. 607 


will remove germs from water, whereas 
copper, is the only means thus far known 
which accomplishes the desired effect with 
algee. 
_ It should be most clearly understood that 
it was not supposed for a moment that the 
copper method could be substituted for effi- 
cient sand filtration or any other means 
now in use which has been demonstrated 
as doing the work thoroughly. It was be- 
lieved, however, and practical tests since 
made have proved it, that in cases where 
no system of filtration existed, or where the 
filter failed, owing to the storage basin be- 
ing flooded by surface drainage, or because 
of leakage or other cause, this method was 
not efficient, that in copper sulphate we had 
the only remedy for such emergency cases. 
It should be borne in mind that nothing is 
more delicate or requires more intelligent 
and conscientious supervision than a filter 
plant. Any one who has had an oppor- 
tunity to visit many such plants through- 
out the country and really knowing their 
inside workings, as it were, can not help 
being astonished at the low rate of efficiency 
frequently maintained. Consequently, the 
application of copper sulphate under such 
circumstances for the purpose of reducing 
the bacteriological content has been used 
successfully in enough cases to demonstrate 
that it has a distinct place in water purifi- 
cation. Whether it would be efficient and 
proper to use copper continuously during a 
considerable period awaiting the completion 
of a filtration system, is a question to be 
_ decided by the conditions governing the 
case. There is no doubt in my own mind 
_ that under certain circumstances such use 
is would be justified, and the results would 
4 more than repay any outlay of money and 
| labor. 

_ Others will discuss more particularly the 
_ effect of copper upon typhoid, ete., so it is 
_ hot necessary for me to refer in detail to 
_ the work carried on by the department 


along this line. One other point regard- 
ing the effect of copper when used upon a 
practical seale is of interest, however. That 
is, that the theoretical strength, or the 
amount of copper used to destroy alge and 
bacteria in the laboratory, is considerably 
greater than the amount needed on a prac- 
tical seale. This may be due to the fact 
that the organisms used in laboratory tests 
are of necessity more resistant than those 
occurring under natural conditions; at any 
rate, results show that where it may require 
one part in a million of copper to destroy 
certain alge under experimental conditions, 
it only takes one tenth or even less than this 
amount to accomplish the same result in a 
reservoir containing millions of gallons of 
water. 

Dr. Henry Kraemer, Philadelphia Col- 
lege of Pharmacy, said: The purification 
of water supplies containing pathogenic 
organisms being a subject of such vital im- 
portance, it seems to me that any method 
proposed for this purpose should receive 
careful consideration, not only at the hands 
of water engineers, water companies, health 
officials and physicians, but by all those 
who are in a position to test the method, or 
contribute information regarding it, or to 
foster a sentiment in favor of it if found 
to be efficient. It was in this spirit that I 
undertook to test the method proposed by 
Dr. Moore and Mr. Kellerman. 

On account of the false sentiment which 
had been engendered in Philadelphia with 
regard to the purification of water by 
means of copper, and recognizing that the 
city authorities would not be apt to apply 
the method so long as there was this preju- 
dice against it, I determined to consider 
the method in relation to its application 
for household purposes. 

It is, of course, manifestly impracticable 
for the average householder to use copper 
sulphate in the purification of drinking 
water, and my experiments have, therefore, 


608 


been mostly with metallic copper. I first 
tried to obtain copper vessels for my ex- 
periments, but finding that I should have 
to wait some time to have these made, those 
on the market being tin-lined, I decided to 
use copper foil instead, which perhaps is 
fortunate, as this is more convenient and 
less expensive. 

In my earlier experiments I had a num- 
ber of my students in bacteriology carry 
on the work, using pieces of copper foil 
about 25 centimeters square to each 2,000 
e.c. of water, allowing this to stand from 
four to eight hours at room temperature, 
the copper foil being cleansed with pumice 
for each operation. Agar plates were made 
and it was found that there was a reduction 
in the total number of organisms of from 
85 to 97 per cent. For some time past one 
of my special students has been carrying on 
this work under my direction, and I may 
say that in all of those experiments where 
copper has been used the reduction in the 
number of organisms has been equivalent 
to what would be obtained by an efficient 
filtration system, with the advantage in the 
ease of the copper treatment that the or- 
ganisms are completely destroyed. 

In filtration processes it is generally 
understood that both typhoid and colon 
organisms are the first to be eliminated, and 
without waiting to complete a systematic 
study of the organisms which persist as 
well as those which are killed in the copper 
treatment of water, I thought it well to 
test the method by using water containing 
these organisms alone. 

Inasmuch as results depend in some 
measure upon the method used, I will try 
briefly to outline my method before giving 
my results. 

1. Water under three different condi- 
tions was employed: (a) Distilled water, 
which was prepared from tap water by first 
treating it with potassium permanganate 
and then distilling it two or three times by 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


means of apparatus constructed entirely of 
glass. (b) Filtered tap water, prepared 
by means of a Berkefeld filter attached to 
a copper spigot. (c) Tap water collected 
after being allowed to run through a copper 
spigot for five minutes. All of these were 
sterilized in an autoclave at 110 degrees for 
thirty minutes. 

2. The cultures of typhoid and colon 
which were used were pure cultures de- 
veloped in bouillon for eighteen to twenty- 
four hours. 

3. To 200 ¢c.c. samples of water prepared 
as above, and contained in sterile Erlen- 
meyer flasks, were added two three-milli- 
meter loops of the fresh bouillon cultures 
of typhoid and colon bacilli, respectively. 
Counting the duplicate experiments pro- 
vided for, we thus had a series of twelve 
flasks, six of them containing typhoid ba- 
eilli, and six colon bacilli. 

4. For studying the number of organisms 
1 cc. of the respective solutions was trans- 
ferred directly to a Petri dish by means of 
a sterile 1 cc. pipette, and to this was 
added 10 ¢.c. of Heyden’s nutrient agar 
which had been kept at a temperature of 
40° C. for some time. Three separate plates 
of the water in each of the twelve flasks 
were made immediately upon the addition 
of the cultures, and both the plates and the 
flasks were kept at a temperature of 35°— 
37° C. To six of the flasks were then added 
strips of copper foil about 15 mm. wide 
and 18 em. long, these being corrugated in — 
such a manner that the entire surface was 
exposed to the water. 

5. Plates were made from all the twelve 
flasks at the end of four and eight hours, 
and one, two and six days, even in the cases 
where no organisms remained, and in the 
cases where they continued to develop, at 
the end of fourteen, twenty-one and twenty- 
eight days. The results are given in the 
following tables: 


i 


Apriy 21, 1905.] 


TABLE I. EXPERIMENTS WITH BAcILLUs Cott. 


Water without Copper Foil. 


SCIENCE. 


Triple Filtered 
Distilled Tap Tap Water. 
Water. Water. 
Plates made at time 
of adding culture... 7,746 | 11,246 8,283 
Plates made at end of 
four hours............ 7,655 5,075 7,665 
Plates made at end of 
eight hours........... 7,730 3,115 7,000 
Plates made at end of 
twenty-four hours.../1,000,000 |1,000,000 |1,500, 000 
Plates made at end of 
forty-eight hours...|1,200,000 |1,600,000 |2,000,000 
Plates made at end of 
DY So ecscessas<sssccs 1,200,000 |1,000,000 |1, 200,000 
Plates made at end of 
114! GER ReReeE Eee eee /1,060,000 | 910,000 |2,245,000 
Plates made at end of 
PAIMGAYS.ss.csavcoes'ens 700,000 | 462,000 | 650,000 
Plates made at end of 
28 days.......... .....| 700,600 | 462,466 | 649,666 
Plates made at end of 
IGUGAYS: acs oi--s sade 602,000 | 456,000! 693,000 
Water with Copper Foil. 
Triple 
Distilled | Filtered | pap Water. 
Water. Water. 
Plates made at time 
_ of adding culture...| 8,866 4,410 6,790 
Plates made at end of | No or- No or- No or- 
four hours............ ganisms. | ganisms. | ganisms. 
Plates made at end of 
eight hours........... Sb ae oe 
Plates made at end of 
twenty-four hours... gs se ek 
Plates made at end of 
forty-eight hours... a WG Je 
Plates made at end of 
DIGAY See tcccsss) sesscnes ot Os ae 
Plates made at end of 
HAS GAYS <i ..c0cc00ss0es ce a Ee 
Plates made at end of 
PACA S)crecssecsssocs oe ae “ 
Plates made at end of 
GEN /Ehonnnendeaceuoas Gi “iy Ut 
Plates made at end of 
BISAOAY Sic. cceossss cess oh a oC 


I may say that every single experiment 
which we have conducted, not only those 
given in the foregoing tables, but all others, 
shows that copper, foil is exceedingly toxic 
to colon and typhoid bacilli, particularly 
the latter. 


*Bowlton cultures of the different samples of 
water gave at the end of sixty days with Widal’s 
test the characteristic behavior of typhoid organ- 
isms. 


609 


TasLe IJ. ExprrimEents with BAcILLuUS 


TyYPHosuts. 


Water without Copper Foil. 


Triple Filtered 
Distilled Tap Tap Water. 
Water. Water. 

Plates made at time 

of adding culture..., 3,740 | 4,750 3,675 
Plates made at end of No or- 

four hours............ 2,835 | ganisms. 3,815 
Plates made at end of 

eight hours........... 3,850 ot 1,995 
Plates made at end of 

twenty-four hours..| 3,750 = 1,435 
Plates made at end of 

forty-eight hours...) 3,815 oe 1,540 
Plates made at end of 

GidaySsiceesccecanscess 1,850 oe — 
Plates made at end of 

AN de ycr ices snetoreees 16,380 — 3,920 
Plates made at end of 

DU GAY Siwcs satires reses 39,690 _ 65,500 
Plates made at end of 

Deidays esse sean 153,600 _ 221,867 
Plates made at end of 

OOlidaysheessssccccresss 


Water with Copper Foil. 


sete Filtered 


pieatet Water. Tap Water. 

Plates made at time 

of adding culture...) 3,986 127 1,400 
Plates made at end of | No or- No or- No or- 
anes hours are ee ganisms. | ganisms. | ganisms. 

ates made at end o 

eight hours........... OG Ke se 
Plates made at end of 

twenty-four hours... Bu og oe 
Plates made at end of 

forty-eight hours....| oe a6 ot 
Plates made at end of 

Gidayatererseceeadnrense « ue OG 
Plates made at end of 

IEG Ea bcancasandepeane a at ee 
Plates made at end of 

Dilidaysiter: aecdesese Gls eG ue 
Plates made at end of 

DRA Ss versees etait ut OG ce 
Plates made at end of 

GO! da yS.c.scce:coe-oees ub Ut Gt 


It will be seen by consulting the table 
that in the filtered water to which no cop- 
per foil had been added, the typhoid or- 
ganisms did not grow and multiply as was 
the case with the tap water and distilled 
water, although there were a larger number 
of organisms to begin with. This also 
applies in a measure to the colon bacilli, 
where there is a very marked inhibiting 


610 


action in those growing in filtered water. 

At first I was inclined to attribute this 
to minute traces of copper in the flasks, 
but subsequent experiments showed that 
this was not the cause of the diminution of 
the organisms. I am, therefore, inclined 
to attribute these rather anomalous results 
to the presence of extremely small quanti- 
ties of copper dissolved by the water in its 
necessarily slow passage through the copper 
spigot to which the filter was attached. 

Some time ago I was asked if I thought 
that a copper plate placed at the intake of 
a reservoir would be effective in destroying 
typhoid organisms. At that time I felt 
such a result was almost too marvelous to 
be within the range of probability. But 
in view of the results which I have just 
given it seems that copper exerts a marked 
oligodynamie action on typhoid and other 
intestinal organisms, although this action is 
not so marked as in the case of alge and 
some of the saprophytic fungi. 

It is extremely fortunate that in the cop- 
per treatment of water, a method has been 
devised which is so effective in destroying 
intestinal microorganisms and which can 
be applied so easily on a large seale and so 
safely even in the average household. Of 
course the proper place to purify the water 
supply of a city is in the reservoirs, before 
the water reaches the consumer, as thus the 
distribution of organisms like typhoid is 
brought within the narrowest limit, and 
individual carelessness in the community is 
overcome. 

In a city hke Philadelphia, which de- 
pends for its water supply upon a river 
which has tributaries in the coal region and 
subject to contamination of all kinds, in- 
eluding sewage and waste products from 
manufacturing establishments, it is, of 
course, very necessary that the water be 
freed from gross impurities by sedimenta- 
tion and filtration. 

At time of freshets the amount of sus- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 538. 


pended matter may be as much as 500 parts 
per million and it is not unusual to see a 
statement like the following in the daily 
papers: 

Philadelphia is to receive another dose of the 
inky water from the coal regions of Pennsylvania. 
Already the water is of a yellowish-red color, and 
by to-morrow the coal dust residue: is expected. 
The rains in the Schuylkill valley are responsible, 
the deposits from the culm piles about the mines 
being washed into the tributaries of the Schuyl- 
kill River and into the main stream as well. 

But even in Philadelphia, where the 
necessity for a filtration system is so urgent, 
there are times when the application of a 
method like the one proposed by Dr. Moore 
would be highly advantageous. I may cite 
two examples in this connection: 

1. Only last September a certain section 
of Philadelphia required 28,000,000 gallons 
of water, and the filters for that section de- 


livered only 22,000,000 gallons, and in or- 


der to provide the necessary supply 6,000,- 
000 gallons of unfiltered water were added. 
This deliberate ‘repollution’ of the water 
supply, as it was termed by Director Mar- 
tin, of the Department of Public Health, 
could readily have been corrected by the 
use of the copper. method of purification. 
2. Some years ago while flushing one of 
the large sewers, by an unfortunate acci- 
dent there was an overflow at a point along 
the Schuylkill River just above one of the 
pumping stations, and as a result of this 
contamination of the water supplied to 
that section of the city there were 258 
eases of typhoid fever in this section in 
two weeks afterward, and nearly 1,500 
eases within the next two months. 
Instances could be multiplied where the 
copper method of purification of water 
could be applied as an emergency method, 
if not regularly in connection with filtra- 
tion. 
Even granting the efficiency of the boil- 
ing of water for domestic purposes, I be- 
lieve that the copper-treated water is more 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 
natural and more healthful, inasmuch as 
the various inorganic constituents, particu- 
larly the salts of calcium and magnesium, 
are in a more soluble and assimilable con- 
dition, being furthermore less concentrated, 
at the same time the natural gases of the 
water being retained. 

From the experiments thus far. conducted 
the following conclusions may be drawn: 

1. The intestinal bacteria, like colon and 
typhoid, are completely destroyed by plac- 
ing clear copper foil in the water contain- 
ing them. 

2. The effects of colloidal copper and 
copper sulphate in the purification of 
drinking water are in a quantitative sense 
much like filtration, only the organisms are 
completely destroyed. 

3. Pending the introduction of the cop- 
per treatment of water on a large scale the 
householder may avail himself of a method 
for the purification of drinking water by 
the use of strips of copper foil about three 
and a half inches square to each quart of 
water, this being allowed to stand over- 
night, or from six to eight hours, at the 
ordinary temperature, and then drawn off 
or the copper removed. 

Dr. Mary E. Pennington, bacteriologist, 
Department of Public Health, Philadel- 
phia, said: In the city of Philadelphia, 


work on an extensive sand filtration system 


_ is being pushed just as rapidly as possible. 
Portions of the city are now being supplied 
with filtered water and in the course of a 
few years such water will be distributed 
over its entire area. Until this time ar- 
rives there will, almost certainly, be out- 
breaks of typhoid fever of greater or less 
severity and extent. The problem of an 
efficient, wholesome and rapid purification 
of water, primarily for the general city 
supply, secondarily for use in the house- 
hold, is, therefore, temporarily but em- 
phatically, before the health authorities of 
Philadelphia. Any method which offers a 


SCIENCE. 


611 


possibility of success must be carefully 
weighed by them. 

Among the methods considered by the 
city and worked upon in its laboratories is 
that of the purification of water by copper, 
either in the form of salts or as metal, the 
aim being to eliminate typhoid and colon 
bacilli. 

Dr. Stewart, working from the stand- 
point of household purification more espe- 
cially, has had constructed copper vessels 
of varying sizes in which he has placed 
typhoid germs suspended in distilled water, 
sterile filtered water and raw river water. 
In very clean, brightly polished copper ves- 
sels the organisms of typhoid fever were 
soon killed, sometimes in less than two 
hours, and the common river water germs 
were considerably reduced in number, but 
never exterminated. In glass or tin, on the 
contrary, all the organisms showed a de- 
cided increase. 

The city laboratory has also conducted 
some experiments to determine the germi- 
cidal efficiency of copper plates charged 
with very low electric currents—less than 
4 volts and 0.01 ampére—over which the 
water to be purified was allowed to flow. 

The suspension of copper electrodes in 
water which is not agitated causes a more 
rapid reduction in the number of organisms 
than is accomplished by copper without the 
eurrent. When, however, the apparatus is 
arranged to simulate a reservoir, with inlet 
and outlet and of such construction that 
the entering polluted water must come into 
intimate contact with several electrified 
copper surfaces, the reduction in the num- 
ber of both typhoid and colon bacilli is 
very great almost immediately. When such 
an effluent has stood at room temperature 
for an hour it is practically sterile. 

The copper, too, which, when germ-free 
water is used, may be found in traces, is, 
apparently, entirely eliminated from water 
containing a large number of organisms. 


612 


Unfortunately, these experiments have 
been confined to laboratory quantities and 
conditions. It is hoped that an oppor- 
tunity will offer to try them on a larger 
seale. 

Mr. Alfred M. Quick, chief engineer, 
Baltimore Water Department, said: The 
subject under consideration here to-night 
involves so much more of chemistry, bac- 
teriology and entomology than it does of 
water-works engineering, with which I am 
more familiar than I am with the sciences 
I have referred to, that I would very much 
prefer to have appeared here simply in the 
role of listener. 

I have been very much interested in the 
extremely valuable discussion of this sub- 
ject from the scientific standpoint of all 
the previous speakers. The only excuse 
for my speaking or appearing here in any 
other rédle than as a listener is, I suppose, 
because I have had some experience in the 
practical application of copper sulphate in 
the treatment of large reservoirs in use in 
a water department. 

As to the experiments that we made, 
while they were probably not so valuable 
in illustrating the success of this method 
of treatment as some other cases where the 
proportion of alge in the reservoir was 
very much greater than it was in our ease, 
or where the trouble had been experienced 
from the presence of these organisms for a 
longer time than it has been in Baltimore, 
still they give results that are none the less 
emphatic and conclusive. As I have said, 
we have not had any trouble with these 
organisms for any long period, and we had 
no reason to suppose that they are present 
in any large quantity in our reservoirs. 
We have had trouble, however, with com- 
plaints of bad water, water of bad odor, 
bad taste and discolored water, but in every 
case—practically every case—we have been 
able to get rid of the complaint by flushing 
the mains, our conclusion being that the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


trouble was caused by the numerous dead 
ends in the distribution system and also 
by bad management of previous years in | 
allowing muddy water to be sent to the city 
and thus filling our water mains with sedi- 
ment. 

As I say, we had been able to get rid of 
these complaints in previous years by flush- 
ing the pipes, but this past summer there 
was a continual complaint by a large arti- 
ficial ice manufacturing concern that the 
ice had a bluish-green color which prac- 
tically made it unmarketable. Supposing 
that the cause was the same as in the most 
of the previous cases, we started to flushing 
the pipes and connecting up some dead 
ends in that vicinity, hoping by that means 
to get rid of the complaint, but it still con- 
tinued. I, therefore, made a personal ex- 
amination of the matter and found that the 
ice was badly discolored and that there was 
apparently no evidence of sediment in the 
water, so that the complaint was undoubt- 
edly due to the presence of some vegetable 
organisms in the water. It immediately 
occurred to me to try Dr. Moore’s suggested 
method of treating the water in reservoirs 
to eliminate the alge by the application of 
copper sulphate. 

I had read his pamphlet and was con- 
vineed of the value of the method of treat- 
ment which he suggested, and so I com- 
municated with Dr. Moore, and he sent his 
assistant, Mr. Kellerman, over to Baltimore 
and he examined the water in the reser- 
voirs, Lakes Clifton and Montebello, which 
feed the district from which the complaints 
came. He also made some analyses of 
samples of the water in these lakes, which 
showed that the particular species of alge 
which cause the disagreeable odor and dis- 
coloration, and other species, were present 
in such considerable numbers as to justify 
an experiment with the copper. sulphate. 

However, before attempting to make such 
an experiment, not because I had any doubt 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 
as to the merits of Dr. Moore’s suggested 
method or as to its leaving the water abso- 
lutely safe for potable purposes, but be- 
cause, holding a political position, it was 
well to fortify myself before attempting 
anything unusual, I, therefore, communi- 
eated with all the leading chemists of the 
city, particularly the chemists in the health 
department, and one other gentleman, 
whose name I am not at liberty to mention, 
but who is probably one of the three or 
four greatest biological chemists in this 
country, and had them all committed be- 
forehand—not as agreeing that the ex- 
periment would be a successful one in 
eliminating the alge, but as emphatically 
agreeing that if the method Dr. Moore had 
suggested was adopted, there would be ab- 
solutely no danger to any consumer in 
drinking the water. 

So we proceeded to put the copper sul- 
phate in the two large reservoirs, using 
our own employees for the purpose. For 
Lake Clifton 300 pounds of sulphate was 
used, or about one part to 6,390,000 by 
weight. The method of application was as 
follows: The lake was first shut off entirely, 
both at the inlet and outlet. The sulphate 
was in four bags of 75 pounds each. One 
bag at a time was suspended from the stern 
of a rowboat, and as soon as it was about 
three quarters dissolved another bag was 
put out. The boat was rowed around the 
lake in concentric courses about 40 or 50 
feet apart, and at such a rate as to cover 
the lake completely by the time the four 
bags of sulphate were dissolved. It took 
128 minutes to dissolve the 300 pounds 
apphed. A sample of the water was taken 
near the center of the lake just previous to 
the application of the sulphate and samples 
were taken at the same place in the lake at 
intervals of 24 hours after the application. 
These samples were for biological analyses. 
Samples of the lake water were also taken 
in sterilized bottles, both before and after 


SCIENCE. 


613 


application of the sulphate. for bacteriolog- 
ical analyses. 

The biological analyses indicate a very 
great reduction in the number of alge in 
the first 48 hours after treatment, and prac- 
tically a complete elimination of algx in 
120 hours. On account of rain falling in 
the reservoir during treatment, unfortu- 
nately the bacteriological analyses give no 
correct indication of the action of the sul- 
phate on the bacteria in the lake. These 
analyses were all made by Dr. Wm. R. 
Stokes, the city bacteriologist. An analysis 
of the samples was also made by the city 
chemist to determine the proportion of cop- 
per present, and no trace of copper was 
found in the water as early as 24 hours 
after application of the sulphate. 

The method of treatment of Lake Monte- 
bello was exactly the same as at Lake Clif- 
ton, except that a larger amount of copper 
sulphate was used; 600 pounds were ap- 
plied, or about one part in 6,685,800 by 
weight. As with Lake Clifton, the analyses 
showed a very considerable reduction in 
the number of alge in 48 hours after appli- 
eation of the sulphate, but the analyses of 
samples taken at intervals of 24 hours 
thereafter showed a slight increase in the 
number of algw until the eighth day after 
treatment, when the number per cubic cen- 
timeter dropped to 14. At that time it was 
found necessary to turn Lake Montebello 
into consumption, and therefore no further 
analyses were made. It is possible that if 
the examination had been continued we 
should have found the alge practically 
eliminated, the same as at Lake Clifton. 

A chemical analysis showed no trace of 
copper in the water five days after applica- 
tion of the sulphate. 

We had no bacteriological analyses made 


‘of the water in Lake Montebello because 


our experience with Lake Clifton tended 
to substantiate the intimation by Dr. Moore 
that the proportion of copper sulphate 


614 


which we used would be too weak to have 
much, if any, effect in reducing bacteria. 

So much for the results shown by the 
analyses. The practical value of the treat- 
ment was observed in the very great dim- 
inution in the number of complaints of 
bad water, which had been unusually large 
just previous to the experiment. 

The cost of the experiment was between 
$60 and $70, which was for the copper sul- 
phate used, or less than ten cents per mil- 
lion gallons treated. 

Dr. C. L. Marlatt, entomologist, Bureau 
of Entomology, said: In the original pub- 
lication on the use of copper sulphate 
against alge, a paragraph was given indi- 
cating the results of certain incidental ex- 
periments with mosquito larve. These 
experiments indicated that a strength of 
1 to 40,000 was apparently necessary to 
kill presumably nearly full-grown larve. 
The strength indicated is greater than is 
practicable for water to be used for do- 
mestie purposes, but a distinct toxicity of 
the copper sulphate for mosquito larve was 
shown. A series of experiments was imme- 
diately instituted in the laboratory of the 
bureau to determine the exact value of cop- 
per sulphate in this field. The common 
method of destroying mosquito larve in 
comparatively still bodies of water is in 
the use of kerosene oil. This, however, has 
the objection of rendering the water un- 
palatable, and the copper salt seemed to 
offer a possibility of the use of a substance 
which would not injure water for domestic 
consumption. 

During the spring and summer of 1904 
more than 75 experiments were made with 
copper sulphate, beginning with the first 
larve available in the spring, and continu- 
ing until autumn. Tests were made with 
various kinds of water, namely, distilled 
water, hydrant water, foul water from old 
rain-water barrels of long standing, and 
water from outdoor ponds more or less 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


soiled with earthy matter and animal and 
vegetable life. The mosquito larve sub- 
jected to the different tests were various 
species of Culex and Anopheles ; the former 
the common biting mosquito, and the latter 
representing the species responsible for the 
conveyance of malaria. 

The importance of the water conditions 
was at once evident. The copper sulphate 
showed very considerable effectiveness in 
comparatively pure water, and lost its ae- 
tion very quickly in foul water or water 
containing much earthy matter, in the lat- 
ter cases the copper. being quickly precipi- 
tated with the foreign matter in the water. 
The use of distilled water and compara- 
tively pure hydrant water was of value in 
determining the direct toxicity of copper 
sulphate; in other words, in such water the 
killing of the larve could not be charged to 
the destruction of the food in the water, 
which might reasonably be offered as the 
explanation in the case of more or less foul 
water in which mosquitoes ordinarily breed, 
containing quantities of vegetable and ani- 
mal life. Mosquito larve were killed in 
distilled and pure hydrant water quickly, 
and in the check jars in which no poison 
was placed they remained in healthy con- 
dition indefinitely, or at least exceeding a 
week or ten days. 

The larval conditions also exerted a very 
marked influence on the results. The 
young larve are killed with minute addi- 
tions of copper sulphate. The strength 
necessary to effect the prompt death of the 
larve increases very quickly with the age 
of the larve. In comparatively pure water, 
such as hydrant water, a strength of from 
1 to 100,000 to 1 to 5,000,000 killed newly 
hatched larve with promptness, that is, 
within 24 to 48 hours. Any strength of cop- ° 
per sulphate between 1 to 100,000 and up- 
wards is stated to be a practicable strength 
for use in water for domestic purposes. 
One to 500,000 was almost as effective as 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 
1 to 100,000, and is probably as high a 
strength as need be used for killing newly 
hatched larve in-clear water. In the case 
of half or two thirds grown larve the imme- 
diate death of the larve was not secured, 
but they were held in arrested development 
for several days and slowly perished, some 
few surviving two weeks, and this at 
strengths between 1 to 100,000 and 1 to 
500,000. The effect on full-grown and 
nearly full-grown larve is to hasten their 
transformation to the pupal stage, such 
larve transforming within a few hours to 
one day after the application of the copper 
sulphate. Once in the pupal stage, no prac- 
ticable strength of copper sulphate is ef- 
fective against them. Strengths as great 
as 1 to 1,000 were employed, and the pup 
so treated were seemingly completely im- 
mune from its effect, and ultimately trans- 
formed to adult insects. The reason for 
the almost absolute immunity of the pupal 
stage is probably because in this stage no 
food is taken, and the poison is purely 
external and has no opportunity to act. 

It was further shown that copper foil 
was very effective in destroying newly 
hatched larve. A piece of copper foil less 
than six inches square killed, in two quarts 
of water, the majority of young larve with- 
in 24 hours, and all within 48 hours. The 
possibility of using copper foil, therefore, 
to keep mosquito larve out of small bodies 
of comparatively pure water is shown. In 
all of these tests check experiments, without 
' the addition of copper, were carried out. 

The general results shown are that newly 
hatched mosquito larve are killed in com- 
paratively pure water by practicable addi- 
tions of copper sulphate, namely, between 
1 to 100,000 and 1 to 5,000,000, the neces- 
sary strength varying with the purity of 
the water ; that copper foil exerts a remark- 
able effect upon young larve; that the very 
highest practicable strength, namely, 1 to 
100,000, will check the development of half 


SCIENCE. 


615 


and two thirds grown larve, and cause 
their ultimate death; that nearly full-grown 
and full-grown larve are induced to 
promptly pupate, and that in the pupal 
stage absolute immunity to copper salts is 
shown. 

The practical application of copper sul- 
phate seems, therefore, limited to the pro- 
tection of small bodies of comparatively 
pure water. It is further possible that in 
the tropical countries, where much of the 
drinking water is kept in cisterns, it will 
have a distinct field for usefulness, and 
possibly particularly against the yellow- 
fever mosquito. Field tests in open ponds 
failed to show any special value for copper 
sulphate; it seemed to be precipitated too 
quickly to have any important effeet on the 
larve. The value of copper sulphate 
against mosquitoes needs for its demon- 
stration further tests, and particularly 
under the tropical conditions referred to. 

Dr. H. W. Wiley, chief chemist, Bureau 
of Chemistry, said: In regard to the use 
of copper for purifying water, I have noth- 
ing whatever to say except as it may per- 
tain to water as a food. It is recognized 
by all physiological chemists that water is 
one of the principal foods and one of the 
most necessary. The act of Congress au- 
thorizing the investigation by the Bureau 
of Chemistry of the adulteration of foods 
includes beverages in the list of the articles 
to be studied. The whole matter, therefore, 
of the addition of copper to water which is 
to be used for food purposes is intimately 
related to other problems of a similar na- 
ture which we have had under study in the 
Bureau of Chemistry for the past twenty 
years. There are two ways of considering 
the evidence which has been accumulated 
on this subject. One is to consider the 
addition of certain substances, copper sul- 
phate among them, to foods, as a process 
involving the use of harmless substances; 
the other view is to regard the substances 


616 


themselves as harmful. In the latter case 
there must be an abundant justification on 
the part of the user to excuse their intro- 
duction. I think we may assume, for. the 
purposes of this argument, that copper sul- 
phate is in itself an injurious substance. 
This does not relate to its use in a medicinal 
sense. It is well known that the great 
majority of drugs which are used in disease 
are not harmless to health; in other words, 
the fact that any given substance may be 
used as a remedy in disease is no justifica- 
tion whatever for its use by persons in 
health. 

The fact that a substance may be nat- 
urally found in a food product accidentally 
or otherwise, which in itself is harmful, is 
no excuse for adding more of the substance 
to the food product. For instance, hydro- 
eyanic acid is found in certain food prod- 
ucts, such as peaches and cassava; borax 
is found almost uniformly in grapes and 
wines; benzoic acid occurs in considerable 
quantities in cranberries, and copper is 
oceasionally found in some food products 
in weighable quantities. It requires no 
argument to show that the accidental pres- 
ence of bodies of this kind is no justifica- 
tion whatever for adding additional quan- 
tities thereto. In other words, foods them- 
selves are often injurious, but that does not 
imply that more injurious substances 
should be added to them. The attitude of 
experts in regard to these matters is the 
most puzzling problem of all. Men of equal 
honesty, equal ability and with equal skill 
as experimenters entertain diametrically 
opposed views on these subjects. It ap- 
pears that the one safe position each lay- 
man can take in the matter is to demand 
protection from being compelled, without 
his knowledge, or even with his knowl- 
edge, to consume substances in foods 
which a very respectable part, or per- 
haps even a majority of expert evidence, 
condemns. The right of any one to con- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


sume antiseptics and coloring matters in 
his food should not be denied, but it is not 
fair that those who hold a contrary opinion 
should find it almost impossible to secure 
food products devoid of the substances to 
which he objects. This principle, it appears 
to me, applies particularly to water, which 
is a substance of universal consumption. 
The principal excuse for the use of a sub- 
stance like sulphate of copper, aside from 
the effect which it has on the living organ- 
isms in the water, is found in the state- 
ments which have been made that no cop- 
per remains in the water. Any residual 
quantity remaining, be it ever so small, is 
objectionable. The argument de minimis 
is in my opinion wholly fallacious. 

A very full discussion of the subject of 
the presence of copper in foods is found in 
the report of the committee on food pre- 
servatives, presented to both Houses of 
Parliament by command of the King in 
1901. The report was signed by Herbert 
Maxwell, chairman, T. E. Thorpe, H. Tim- 
brell Bulstrode and F. W. Tunnicliffe. On 
page xxx, article 136 of this report, section 
F, under recommendations, it is stated 
“That the use of copper sulphate in the so- 
called greening of preserved foods be pro- 
hibited.’ This part of the report, it is but 
fair to say, was not concurred in by Mr. 
Tunnicliffe. After stating his reasons for 
not signing the recommendation as given, 
he states, page xxii: ‘‘I am, however, sat- 
isfied that often an unnecessarily large 
amount of copper is present in vegetables 
permanently colored by means of it, and 
although in spite of diligent investigation 
no injurious results have been known to 
have occurred even from these quantities, 
yet, nevertheless, only the necessary amount 
should be added. I should, therefore, 
recommend that the presence of copper in 
these preserved vegetables be in every case 
declared and that its amount be restricted 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 
to one half grain of metallic copper per 
pound.”’ 

If it be proved that copper sulphate is a 
preservative by reason of its germicidal 
character, then it falls under the general 
rule of preservative substances. 

In this ease the findings of the Interna- 
tional Congress of Hygiene and Demog- 
raphy which met at Brussels in September, 
1903, would apply. The third resolution 
adopted by that congress in the section of 
alimentary hygiene is as follows: ‘The em- 
ployment of antiseptics should be prohib- 
ited in the preservation of alimentary 
substances.’ 

Rideal states in his recent work, entitled 
‘Disinfection and Preservation of Food,’ 
on page 156, that the soluble salts of copper 
have a distinct poisonous action on bac- 
teria. The coagulated albumen combines 
with most of the organic acids present to 
form non-putrescible salts. They absorb 
sulphur, hydrogen, ammonia and compound 
ammonias and, therefore, combine with 
ptomaines. In fact, copper salts rank 
next to mereury in power as antiseptics. 
Kronecke proposed a method for purifying 
water with copper salts in volume 36 of the 
Journal fiir Gasbeleuchtung, page 513. 
He used euprous chloride in connection 
with ferrous sulphate, and, finally adding 
a small quantity of lime, succeeded in en- 
tirely removing any residual copper. In 
1892 the French authorities decided to 
adopt as their official disinfectant in com- 
bating cholera sulphate of copper. 

These few illustrations are given out of 
many hundreds which might be cited to 
show that in general the opinion of experts 
regarding the presence of copper in food is 
decidedly unfavorable. To state particu- 
larly my attitude respecting the use of cop- 
per in water, it appears that, in the first 
place, only bad water needs treatment, just 
as only bad milk needs to be pasteurized 
or sterilized. I think that it is the general 


SCIENCE. 


617 


opinion among physicians, hygienists and 
physiological chemists that the pasteuriza- 
tion or the sterilization of milk is distinctly 
prejudicial to the digestive processes and 
should only be practised where greater dan- 
gers, namely, those arising from infected 
milk, are to be feared. This principle, it 
seems to me, applies also to water. There 
is practically no such thing as pure water 
available for consumption. Water is the 
scavenger of nature and tends to dissolve 
or carry away mechanically all kinds of 
refuse matter. Every spring and stream 
is only asewer. Nature, however, provides 
means for at least partial purification. 
These means are found in the germs which 
water contains. The activity of such germs 
is beautifully shown in the processes which 
take place in the septic tank. <A polluted 
stream, and every stream is more or less 
polluted, is only a septic tank of a different 
character, and the reservoirs which hold the 
waters which supply our eities are also 
septic tanks. To add to water in a reser- 
voir or other container a chemical reagent 
which paralyzes germ activity by coagu- 
lating the protoplasm, or in other ways, 
renders waters powerless for self-purifica- 
tion. There is also another point to be 
kept in view, namely, the possible relaxa- 
tion in eare in controlling the water sup- 
plies by the use of a sterilizing agent. Just 
as the milk dealer may fail to wash his cans 
or keep his cows clean, if he uses formalde- 
hyde, so the officials of a city in charge of 
the water supply may fail to care for or 
supervise the purification of the water 
sources if a cheap and efficient sterilizing 
agent can be employed. It appears, there- 
fore, that in most cases a sufficiently pure 
water supply can be secured without the aid 
of a sterilizing agent. If, however, a ster- 
ilizing agent is to be used, there are great 
difficulties connected with its control and 
the universal tendency in such eases is al- 
ways to use it in excess. This has been 


618 


illustrated so thoroughly in the ease of 
antiseptices in foods that it needs no further 
elaboration. If water for potable purposes 
is sterilized with sulphate of copper the 
actual quantity necessary could only be de- 
termined by most careful observation at 
each time the reagent is used. If too little 
is used the object is not secured. If too 
much, the excess remains in the water. 
Copper is nearly related to those metallic 
substances which produce cumulative ef- 
fects in the system, such as arsenic, mer- 
eury and lead. Careful physiological re- 
searches have shown that minute quantities 
of copper long ingested produce great dis- 
turbances, especially in the liver. It should 
be the object, then, of the health officer to 
furnish water as pure as possible, and, if 
sterilization is necessary, to have it accom- 
plished by means which are not likely to 
introduce harmful substances. There ap- 
pear to be two unobjectionable processes 
capable of being used, one the application 
of heat and the other ozone. 

In fact, in view of the well-known prop- 
erties of copper and its salts in relation to 
electricity, the query may arise whether the 
germicidal effects which have been proved 
to ensue from the introduction of metallic 
copper into ordinary drinking water may 
not possibly be related to the production of 
ozone. Dr. Kraemer has conclusively shown 
the germicidal properties of copper when 
placed in ordinary water. These proper- 
ties must arise either from a solution of 
the copper itself or from the electrical ac- 
tivity developed, including, possibly, the 
production of ozone. If the germicidal 
properties are due to the solution of the 
copper, then there is always danger of 
excessive copper going into solution, thus 
rendering the use of such water objection- 
able. 

One point which has been brought out by 
the papers read to-night is worthy of care- 
ful consideration, namely, that copper sul- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 538. 


phate may be used in quantities sufficient 
at least to kill alge without leaving any 
excess of the copper in the water. If cop- 
per salts can also be used in sufficient quan- 
tities to kill pathogenic germs and the 
residual excess of copper be entirely pre- 
cipitated thereafter, the principal objec- 
tion to the indiscriminate use of copper in 
water would be removed. At any rate, it 
seems to me that it would be preferable 
during times of epidemic, especially, to 
drink water with a little excess of copper, 
rather than to drink water containing the 


germs of typhoid fever. 


The question is one of great interest from 
many points of view, and my particular 
purpose in speaking to-night is to say a 
word of caution against the use of chemical 
germicides and antisepties which may them- 
selves be sources of contamination. 

Copper sulphate is known to be one of 
the strongest disinfectants and was adopted 
as long ago as 1892 as the official disin- 
fectant against cholera by the French au- 
thorities. Disinfectants have their uses, 
as we all know, but they should, if possible, 
be kept out of foods, especially in eases 
where there is no danger of epidemics. 

Mr. M. O. Leighton, hydrographer, Di- 
vision of Hydroeconomies, U. 8S. Geological 
Survey, said: The application of copper 
sulphate to storage reservoirs for the pur- 
pose of destroying algze has been quite thor- 
oughly investigated by several men of good 
standing and it has received sincere endorse- 
ment. I have not, however, until to-night, 
heard any detailed statements concerning 
actual experiments upon its bactericidal 
properties. Until the investigation of Dr. 
Moore was made public, I had always been 
of the opinion that copper sulphate was an 
excellent disinfectant when used in solu- 
tions of a comparatively high concentration, 
and in fact during a period in which I was 
engaged in public health work I made ex- 
tensive use of such solutions in drains, 


Aprit 21, 1905.) 
vaults and infected places where crude 
methods were ineffective. That it is highly 
toxic in so extremely dilute solutions seems 
almost beyond belief, yet the experiments 
outlined by the speakers successfully bear 
all the scrutiny which I have been able to 
give them and seem to substantiate all con- 
clusions drawn from them. 

In connection with the application of 
copper sulphate to storage reservoirs for 
the purpose of destroying alge, the possi- 
bility of rendering such organisms more 
resistant to the toxic effects of this sub- 
stance suggests itself. Organisms of this 
low type readily adapt themselves to en- 
vironment and it is a common observation 
among bacteriologists that an organism can 
be made immune against the toxic effects 
of an amount of substance which under 
ordinary conditions would prove fatal to it. 
This can be readily accomplished in the 
laboratory by applying to such organisms 
a subtoxic amount of germicide, and if the 
experiment is repeated several times the 
resistance of the organisms to that sub- 
stance can be raised to a surprising degree. 

In discussing certain objections to the 
use of copper sulphate in public water 
supplies, Dr. Wiley has justly observed that 
the zeal of certain poorly informed water 
superintendents will lead them to apply 
more copper sulphate to the water than is 
necessary for the purposes in view, and 
thereby possibly increase the amount con- 
tained in the water to a point at which it 
would have an unfavorable effect upon the 
consumers of that water. The reverse of 
this is also true. It is no easy matter in 
many cases to determine the amount of 
water contained in a reservoir or pond, and 
even the most careful measurements will 
vary occasionally by fifty and sometimes 
even one hundred per cent. Now if a water 
superintendent like that mentioned by Dr. 
Wiley should determine in his customary 
arbitrary fashion the amount of water in 


SCIENCE. 


619 


a reservoir and apply to it a proportion of 
copper sulphate, based upon his incorrect 
estimate of the contents of the reservoir, 
either more or less than is absolutely neces- 
sary will be used, according to the error in 
the estimate. Every time an insufficient 
amount is applied it will undoubtedly have 
the effect of raising the resistance of the 
alge to this germicide and there will come 
a time when it will be impossible to exter- 
minate them without the addition of a pro- 
hibitive amount of the sulphate. 

Dr. Moore assumes that by the addition 
of a proper amount of copper sulphate the 
alge will be driven from a reservoir for all 
time and states that up to the present time 
in no ease has the organism been found to 
persist. There is, however, a notable case 
in which a second application has been 
necessary. The work was earried on by 
one of the foremost water biologists of the 
United States who has given long years of 
study to the microorganisms which give 
offense in public supply. In this ease the 
operator possessed an accurate knowledge 
of the amount of water in the reservoir. 
The water was infested with the organism 
‘Anabena.’ One application conducted 
according to Dr. Moore’s directions failed 
to exterminate the organism and a second 
treatment was applied which was effectual. 
Almost immediately, however, the organism 
‘Chlamydomonas,’ which is in some re- 
spects far more objectionable, developed in 
the reservoir, flourishing apparently upon 
the ‘Anabena’ debris, the result being that 
the conditions were far worse than those 
which existed previous to the first applica- 
tion of copper sulphate. This experiment 
indicates that one application is not always 
effectual and that an amount of copper 
sulphate toxic for an ordinary alga may 
not destroy the more uncommon varieties. 

These observations are cited merely for 
suggestion. They do not by any means 
dispute the value of the highly successful 


620 


work which has been described by the pre- 
vious speakers, nor do they detract in any 
important degree from the usefulness of 
this discovery. They are presented merely 
to show that copper sulphate must be used 
with discretion, and like all other good 
things it may fail at critical times. 

Dr. A. H. Doty, health officer, port of 
New York, said: As the result of my own 
investigations with sulphate of copper, I 
am convineed of its value in sanitation, 
particularly as a deodorant and for the 
clarification of water when used either 
alone or. in combination with lime. So far 
as its germicidal value is concerned, I do 
not believe that at present we are in pos- 
session of sufficient data to present definite 
and satisfactory information on the subject. 
Tests which have already been made at the 
New York State Quarantine Laboratory 
with the typhoid and cholera organisms in 
distilled water, tap water, contents of street 
sewers and broth indicate that the germi- 
cidal value of this agent may equal our 
expectations. I have been interested in 
Dr. Moore’s valuable publication relative 
to the purification of reservoir water by 
copper sulphate. During the past summer 
I witnessed practical demonstrations of 
the value of this agent in the direction 
just referred to, and have recently sug- 
gested the use of it in a small reservoir in 
the western part of New York, where the 
water was so offensive by the reason of a 
fishy odor and taste that it could hardly be 
used for drinking purposes. The report of 
the health officer who had the matter. in 
charge leaves no room for doubt as to the 
successful result. Within a few days after 
the introduction of the copper in accord- 
ance with Dr. Moore’s suggestion, the of- 
fensive odor and taste of the water had 
disappeared and since that period there 
have been no further complaints. In ex- 
periments which were made during the past 
summer with water containing mosquito 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


larve taken from pools in districts where 
this insect was actively propagated and 
placed in large wooden tanks, I found that 
the copper alone and in combination with 
hme promptly deodorized and clarified the 
contents of these receptacles even when 
large amounts of decomposed organic mat- 
ter were added. However, in these in- 
stances more copper was used, usually 
from five to twelve grains for each gallon 
of water experimented with. Even with 
this amount,—chemical examination at the 
end of twenty-four hours failed to detect 
the presence of copper in the clarified 
water. I am satisfied that Dr. Moore’s 
suggestions as to the use of copper in small 
amounts for the destruction of alge, and 
for removing the offensive odor and taste 
which frequently oceur in reservoirs, is safe, 
practical, economical and very effective. 
However, I am unable to endorse the recom- 
mendation made by Dr. Moore as to the use 
of sulphate of copper as a disinfectant in 
reservoirs presumed to contain pathogenic 
organisms, particularly the typhoid bacilli. 
As a result of a sudden and formidable 
outbreak of typhoid fever in a community, 
and in the absence of some known cause, we 
are justified in assuming that the water 
supply, if a common one, is the medium of 
infection, although we rarely have positive 
proof of this as a result of bacteriological 
examinations. There are but few instances 
where the organism has been detected in 
drinking water. Therefore, if present we 
can not as a rule determine when they dis- 
appear. In this there is a great difference 
between the satisfactory results obtained in 
laboratory experiments where we know that 
the bacilli are present, and know when they 
are destroyed. Furthermore, in treating 
the contents of a reservoir we are dealing 
with factors which are not present in ex- 
perimental work. For instance, the un- 
certainty as to the exact character of the 
media which presumably contain the organ- 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 
ism. Reservoirs are constantly receiving 
water which is not always of a certain 
standard; besides, the organic matter also 
varies in amount. This alone would tend 
to throw doubt on the value of sulphate of 
copper in the disinfection of reservoir 
water, notwithstanding the argument that 
the water may be frequently tested to as- 
certain its contents. It must be remem- 
bered that we have before us for consid- 
eration the use of copper in exceedingly 
minute amounts which may be easily 
neutralized and rendered useless by dif- 
ferent constituents of the water. 

As a matter of fact, the disinfection of 
reservoir water on the occurrence of an out- 
break of typhoid fever is not the most im- 
portant consideration. Our first duty 
should be to ascertain the origin of infee- 
tion, which is not in the reservoir itself, but 
in some way connected with the reservoir 
supply. The most exhaustive inspection is 
frequently required to discover this con- 
tamination, as it is commonly due to mild 
or ambulant cases of typhoid fever which 
have escaped detection or have been mis- 
taken for some other disease. Until we 
have accurately determined the origin of 
infection or have used every effort to do 
so, and if possible have isolated the cases, 
have performed and maintained thorough 
disinfection at the seat of infection, we have 
not properly performed our duties as public 
health officials. In these instances other 
means of preventing the extension of ty- 
phoid fever must of course be employed. 
The character of these depends somewhat 
on the conditions present in each outbreak, 
and it is likely that in this connection the 
sulphate of copper can be used advantage- 
ously. Whatever future investigation may 
disclose as to the value of this agent as a 
disinfectant, I am certain that our present 
knowledge of it does not justify us in de- 
pending upon it in outbreaks of typhoid 


SCIENCE. 


621 


fever to the extent recommended by Dr. 
Moore. 

Dr. Moore said: In coneluding this dis- 
cussion it does not seem necessary to make 
any further reference to the efficiency of 
copper sulphate and metallic copper. That 
it really does all that is claimed for it at 
tremendously high dilutions seems to have 
been abundantly demonstrated both by 
laboratory experiments of independent 
workers and by its use in a practical way 
upon a large scale. 

The one point about which there is nat- 
urally the most question is the effect of 
copper upon the human system. It is diffi- 
eult for any of us to abandon any preju- 
dice, whether it has any foundation in fact 
or not, and to expect a universal acceptance 
of the use of a metal which for years has 
been looked upon with fear and distrust in 


this country is out of the question. 


However, since there has been such a 
unanimous expression of opinion from all 
the speakers that they would unquestion- 
ably prefer a copper-treated water to one 
containing alge or typhoid or cholera 
germs, it seems that it may be worth while 
to use the few moments at my disposal in 
an attempt to point out some of the facts 
that are well known regarding the effect 
of copper upon man. For, contrary to the 
idea of some, we have a very large accumu- 
lation of facts along this line, as the result 
of experiment upon the lower animals as 
well as man. 

Certainly, the argument that our daily 
food naturally contains comparatively large 
amounts of copper is not one in favor of 
using the same substance in any quantity 
for the purpose of adulteration or sophis- 
tication. Nor was it intended that a refer- 
ence to this fact should be so interpreted. 
The only point that it seemed desirable to 
make was that since we had such a tre- 
mendous amount of practical evidence, all 
tending to demonstrate the harmlessness of 


622 


copper, that it could not be the dangerous 
poison popularly supposed. No amount of 
theoretical evidence regarding the innocu- 
ousness of a substance will convince the 
man who has been made violently ill by 
eating it, and so, on the other hand, the fact 
that we have all been consuming copper for 
years without, any known deleterious effect 
is to the average mind a point in favor of 
the harmlessness of minute quantities used 
for specific remedial purposes. The situa- 
tion is well illustrated by the action of the 
English judge who had listened to the con- 
flicting evidence of experts in a case regard- 
ing the use of copper for greening peas 
until he could tell nothing whatever about 
it. Finally he discovered that the brand 
of peas under discussion had been upon the 
market for thirty-six years, and there were 
now sold some 20,000,000 cans per year. 
He then asked the prosecution to produce 
evidence of a single instance of sickness or 
injury which in the remotest way could be 
traced to these vegetables, and as this could 
not be done, he considered the evidence of 
experience so great as to warrant dismiss- 
ing the case. 

Coming directly to the results of experi- 
ments designed to show the effect of copper 
upon man, I can refer in only the briefest 
way to the large mass of evidence accumu- 
lated along this line. For fourteen months 
Gallipe and his family used food contain- 
ing amounts of copper easily determined, 
without any noticeable effect. Kobart’s 
experiments show that an average man can 
take 1 gram of copper per day with per- 
fect safety. This is a thousand times more 
than could be obtained from water treated 
with copper sulphate. Lehmann, Bureq 
and many other careful investigators have 
demonstrated that the ingestion of copper 
even in considerable amounts has no effect 
other than producing results similar to an 
overdose of table salt. Bernatzik deter- 
mined that after entering the stomach only 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 538; 


small quantities of copper are absorbed by 
the blood and a toxie action is only possible 
when a considerable amount accumulates in 
the circulation. Silver, copper and zine 
have almost the same medicinal properties, 
the difference being that of degree rather 
than kind. These metals differ markedly 
from the other heavy metals, having no 
harmful effect upon the tissues, and pro- 
ducing no fatal functional injury, hence 
they are not poisonous in the same sense as 
are lead, mercury, arsenic, antimony and 
phosphorus. 

Dr. Paull, editor of the Pharmaceutical 
Journal of England, was able to trace 99 
per cent. of the copper as passing away 
from the body and many other investigators 
have established the fact that there is no 
cumulative action with this metal. 

Strange as it may seem, there does not 
exist an authentic case of copper poisoning 
either in this country or abroad. At the 
congress at Brussels, where this subject was 
discussed for more than six months and 
which was attended by the strongest oppo- 
nents of copper there was not a single in- 
stance of copper poisoning which could be 
brought forward that would stand the 
scrutiny of the congress. 

In our own country, those toxicologists 
and physiologists who have given the sub- 
ject sufficient attention to be competent to 
pass judgment are, without exception, 
agreed that copper in the amount used for 
the purification of water is without harm. I 
can not quote these here, but both in pri- 
vate letters and in published statements 
their verdict is in favor of the harmlessness 
of copper. I wish there were opportunity 
to quote at length from these men, but it is 
impossible at this time. It is, perhaps, suf- 
ficient to state that one of the best known 
of these authorities refers to the very point 
that was brought out to-night by one of the 
speakers. That is, that the finding of cop- 
per in the human body is one argument 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 
which may be used in demonstrating its 
universal distribution as well as its innocu- 
ousness to man. It is a well-known fact, 
of course, that a great many analyses have 
shown copper present in the body as high 
as forty to fifty parts per million. In the 
flesh of other animals, in milk and eggs, 
copper has been detected in varying quan- 
tities a number. of times. 

Finally, the reversal of the opinion of 
those who have such matters in charge in 
other countries is worthy of notice. The 
Italian government now allows 100 mg. per 
kilo in preserved vegetables and the follow- 
ing letter from the Prefecture of Police 
shows the change in position of the French 
Government: 

Up to the year 1899 the subject of the possible 
bad effects on the health of the people by the 
introduction of sulphate of copper in the prepara- 
tion of preserved vegetables had not been so much 
studied as it has of late, the scientific opinion 
being divided. But since that time the consult- 
ing committee has been renewed, and has again 
taken up the question and passed on the experi- 
ments made by private parties both as to the 
quantity of copper that the human body can con- 
sume without danger to health, and the proportion 
that the various preserved foods that are colored 
green may contain. From these experiments they 
came to the conclusion that there was no longer 
any reason to oppose the system of greening pre- 
served vegetables by means of the salts of copper. 


Consequently it is now allowable in 
France to use salts of copper. for preserving 
the green color in food products in any 
amount, although until the harmlessness of 
this metal became known it was forbidden 
to even use a copper vessel for preserving 
purposes. 

After all, the question is not a new one 
in this country, the introduction of Bor- 
deaux mixture as a fungicide some years 
ago necessitating the fighting over of the 
whole subject of the effect of copper upon 
man. At that time one board of health 
ordered tons of grapes that had been treat- 
ed with Bordeaux mixture to be dumped 


SCIENCE. 


623 


into the water, and it was not until Dr. 
Galloway and others connected with the 
Department of Agriculture at that time, 
showed how impossible it was to do any 
injury with this solution that the popular 
prejudice began to die out. Nowadays no 
one thinks anything about whether the 
fruit he is eating has been treated with 
copper or not. 

The objections to the use of copper sul- 
phate, because careless or ignorant people 
in charge of water supplies might add too 
much, hardly seems to require an answer. 
Since there would be no difficulty in tasting 
the copper long before an amount sufficient 
to cause inconvenience could be consumed, 
and since by the addition of lime we can 
almost immediately eliminate any excess of 
copper, it would seem that we had as many 
safeguards for this method as for any which 
could ever be introduced. Certainly, the 
danger of mismanagement and fatal error 
is nothing like so great as for sand filtra- 
tion. It might be a good plan to encourage 
any method that would emphasize in any 
way the importance of putting the publi 
water supplies of this country into the most 
competent hands possible. That the public 
is unable to detect failures in filtration 
plants until the death rate begins to rise, 
might be urged against this system of 
water purification. Certainly it is time we 
realized that filtration is one of the most 
delicate operations in sanitary science and 
that neglect or ignorance is constantly 
causing a reduction in the efficiency of this 
method. The man who makes public the 
eases of adding unfiltered to filtered water, 
the running of filters at too high a rate, the 
leaks in basins, conduits, ete., and the many 
other defects which are constantly occur- 
ring with this method may appear to be an 
enemy of sand filtration. In reality he 
would probably do more to compel authori- 
ties to raise this method to the efficient 
place it ought to have, but does not occupy 


624 


at the present time, and would be of more 
real service to his country than many of 
us are able to realize. 

Any one who has read the published 
accounts of the copper sulphate method as 
devised by the Department of Agriculture 
can not but admit that a most conservative 
stand has been taken regarding it. Over 
and over again is the statement made that 
it was not designed or intended to replace 
efficient methods now in use. The only 
claim made for it by its originators has been 
that it in one case furnishes a remedy for 
a condition previously considered hopeless, 
and in the other case as an emergency 
method, owing to the failure of means al- 
ready in use, it offers the best way of 
quickly, thoroughly and cheaply sterilizing 
a large body of water that has yet been 
devised. 

Copper sulphate is a remedy designed to 
correct a specific difficulty of great impor- 
tance from the standpoint of comfort and 
public health. Each water supply requires 
a specific prescription and, if properly 
treated, I believe the evidence brought out 
here to-night guarantees a cure. 

Contributions to the discussion were also 
made by Dr. G. Lloyd Magruder, Dr. Geo. 
M. Kober, Dr. Wm. C. Woodward, health 
officer, and Hon. H. B. C. Macfarland, 
president, Board of Commissioners, Dis- 
trict of Columbia. 

SOCTENTIFIC BOOKS. 
REPORTS OF THE BELGIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
Résultats du Voyage du 8S. Y. Belgica en 

1877-8-9, sous le commandement de A. de 

Gerlache de Gomery.  Rapports Scien- 

tifiques, publiés aux frais du Gouvernment 

Belge, sous la direction de la Commission de 

la Belgica. Anvers, J. E. Buschmann, 

1904. 4to, illustrated. 

Additional volumes of the reports of the 
3elgica expedition have reached us as follows: 
Hydroiden yon Professor Dr. Cl. Hartlaub 
(September 15, 1904, pp. 1-19, pl. I-IV.); 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


Nemertinen von Dr. Otto Burger (August 
30, 1904, 12 pp., pl. L-I1.) ; Poissons par Louis 
Dollo (October 15, 1904, 240 pp., pl. I-XL); 
and Observations Météorologiques horaires par 
Henryk Arctowski (August 20, 1904, 201 pp., 
pl. I—XXTII.). 

The journal of the Belgica wintering among 
the Polar floes has furnished the first meteoro- 
logical record taken during an entire year 
which has been obtained from the Antarctic. 
It is true that observations, taken at an iso- 
lated spot in a vast area of which the condi- 
tions are unknown, have only a relative im- 
portance, which however will grow with the 
increase in reports from other stations. But, 
as the pioneer in a virgin field, the observa- 
tions possess intense interest to the meteorol- 
ogist. 

The volume contains preliminary chapters 
on the outfit, the special difficulties en- 
countered, the general results, the complete 
record of observations and plates showing 
graphically the automatic records and the re- 
sults displayed as wind-roses, ete. 

Space fails for a complete analysis of the 
conditions encountered, but a few notes may 
be given. The mean annual pressure of the 
atmosphere was 744.4 mm., with a June maxi- 
mum observation of 772.1 and a March mini- 
mum of 711.7. The minimum monthly mean 
occurred in February (735.68) and the maxi- 
mum in June (750.55). The extreme maxi- 
mum diurnal variation was 21.4 mm. in Sep- 
tember, the minimum in the summer months, 
8.6. mm. in December. In examining the 
profile for the year two maxima (June and 
December) and two minima are distinctly in- 
dicated, corresponding to the solstices and 
equinoxes. 

The mean temperature for the year was 
minus 9°.64 C. with a maximum of plus 2°.5 
and a minimum of minus 43°.1. The mean 
diurnal variation was 7°.57 and the maximum 
for a single day 27°.4. 

The winds from the west and east predomi- 
nate markedly over those from the north and 
south. It is noticeable that the northeast and 
and southeast winds were much more common 
than those from the northwest and southwest, 


Apri 21, 1905.] 


though the west winds were slightly in ex- 
cess of those from the east. It is probable 
that further observations are needed to enable 
any sound generalizations to be made. 

The prevalence of clouds was almost con- 
stant, during the period of observation there 
were 5,473 hours of total cloudiness against 
only 901 hours of clear sky. During 82 days 
the sky was totally obscured, while during the 
whole period there were only two days wholly 
clear. It was raining or snowing 23 per cent. 
of the time and foggy 19 per cent. For the 
whole year there were 260 snowy days, but 
only 20 on which rain fell. 

The report on the fishes, after some historical 
notes, discusses them under two heads—Ant- 
arctic, from within the Antarctic circle, and 
Subantarctic, chiefly from the Magellanic re- 
gion. All the Antarctic fishes collected by the 
Belgica expedition are species or types which 
elsewhere belong in water abyssal or of greater 
depth than one hundred fathoms. No pelagic 
or littoral species were taken, and only on one 
or two occasions were specimens which might 
have proved to be surface species observed. 
Attempts at fishing with hook and line in 
moderate depths were unsuccessful, the 
stomachs of seals never and of birds only once 
contained débris of fish. The author notes 
that the expedition on the Southern Cross 
which followed the Belgica in 1898-1900, was 
the first to bring back littoral fishes, as well 
as pelagic forms, the former represented by 
species of Scopelus and Pleuragramma, the 
latter, P. antarticum Boulenger, being the 
most southern fish known up to the present 
time. The expedition on the Hrebus and 
Terror, under Ross, was the first to discover 
and describe a true Antarctic fish, but it is to 
be anticipated that the recent expeditions will 
add largely to the present list. 

The fishes taken by the Belgica belong to 
three families, Nototheniide, Macruride and 
Raiide, all new, and comprise five species of 
as many genera, represented by specimens 
and egg cases. The latter are supposed to 
represent a new species, of which the fish itself 
Raia arctowskii Dollo, was not obtained. The 
naturalist of the Belgica also collected seven 
Subantarcetie fishes, all known forms. The 


SCIENCE. 


625 


author has made of his report a general sum- 
mary of the ichthyology of the Antarctic re- 
gions, with a great wealth of detail and dis- 
cussion of derivation, evolution and distribu- 
tion, as well as of the relations of the fauna to 
hypotheses of a former Antarctic continent, 
in which he concludes that all the known facts 
lend themselves to explanation by Osborn’s 
hypothesis.* 

Biirger finds the collection of nemerteans to 
contain four species of Antarctic origin, two 
Amphiporus, a Carinina and a Tetrastemma, 
all new. These are the first of the group to 
be obtained from the region. Cerebratulus 
magelhaensis Birger and a new Amphiporus 
were also obtained in the Magellanic region, 
and are fully described and illustrated. 

Fourteen Antarctic hydroids were collected, 
of which four are also known from the arctic 
regions. One species each belonged to the 
Haleciide, Campanulinide and Plumulariide, 
three to the Lafoéide, and three to the 
Sertulariide. There were no new genera, but 
of the species nine appeared to be new. Most 
of the specimens were obtained by the use of 
tangles from relatively deep water, and the 
material was sparse and fragmentary. 


Wm. H. Datu. 


Introduction to Pharmacognosy. By Smit 
Ey Jevurre, Professor of Pharmacognosy 
in Columbia University. Philadelphia, W. 
D. Saunders. 1904. 8vo. Pp. 275; 74 
figs. 

Pharmacognosy, dealing mainly with the 
same material and using the same methods as 
does plant histology, has long been in need of 
treatment at the hands of one familiar both 
with the pure science and with the needs of 
the modern special student. Admirable works 
on the subject have appeared in other lan- 
guages, but a great lack has existed in Eng- 
lish. The present volume is one for which 
English-speaking students should be thankful. 

The work falls into three divisions, animal 
drugs, vegetable drugs without organic struc- 
ture, and vegetable drugs with organic struc- 
ture. The first division is appropriately small, 
and the last constitutes the major portion of 

* SorencE, XI., p. 566, 1900. 


626 


the work. A goodly treatise on each drug is 
found, embracing references to its origin; 
discussions of its gross structure, microscopic 
structure and features recognizable in its 
powder; and mention of constituent substances 
present. 

Although no attempt is made to include all 
the drugs, yet few important ones will be 
missed by the student looking for informa- 
tion. 

Excellent original illustrations accompany 
a large number of the descriptions. It is 
to be regretted that these are in some cases 
replaced by inferior mechanical reproductions 
of plates in larger works. 

The discussions are in the main botanically 
correct and the style is fairly clear. The 
treatment of Polygala senega leaves something 
to be desired from the standpoint of anatomical 
accuracy. One wonders a little, too, at such 
expressions as ‘ Therefore the cork cambium 
of the wood bark produces an apparently abun- 
dant periderm,’ and ‘ the nucleus of the young 
plant,’ in speaking of the structure of seeds. 

Imperfections aside, however, it is well 
within the truth to say that this volume is 
the nearest approach which has yet appeared 
towards filling the need of the day in this 
country. 


Cuarues H. Suaw. 
MerpiIco-CHIRURGICAL COLLEGE 
OF PHILADELPHIA. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 

Tue January—February number of The 
Journal of Geology, which is the first one of 
Vol. XIII., contains a paper by Professor 
Albrecht Penck, of the University of Vienna, 
on ‘Glacial Features in the Surface of the 
Alps. He concludes that “The actual sur- 
face features of the Alps do not at all cor- 
respond to those of a water-worn mountain 
Their conformation is mostly due to 
ice-action.” Mr. E. B. Branson contributes a 
systematic paper on fish teeth, entitled ‘ Notes 
on Some Carboniferous Cochliodonts, with 
Descriptions of Seven New Species,’ which is 
illustrated by two plates. Dr. Charles P. 
Berkey describes the ‘Laminated Clays of 
Grantsburg, Wis. (with Chronological Deduc- 


range. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXT. No. 538. 


tions),’ which is illustrated by a map showing 
the glacial deposits of that region. Mr. Ed- 
ward M. Shepard gives an interesting account 
of ‘The New Madrid Earthquake,’ accom- 
panied by five figures, and states that ‘ the ele- 
vation and depression of the land in the New 
Madrid region * * * were due to the great 
artesian pressure from below.’ Dr. Charles R. 
Keyes contributes a paper, with five figures, 
on the ‘ Structure of Basin Ranges’ as found 
in New Mexico. Professor Stuart Weller 
contributes a valuable article on ‘ The Classi- 
fication of the Upper Cretaceous Formations 
and Faunas of New Jersey.’ It contains a 
valuable chart showing the equivalence of the 
classifications of Cook, 1868; Clark, 1892— 
1904; Knapp-Kiimmel, 1898-1904; and Weller, 
1905. 


The American Geologist for February con- 
tains, as the leading article, a paper by Dr. 
Alfred C. Lane on ‘ The Coarseness of Igneous 
Rocks and its Meaning,’ illustrated by a plate 
showing the ‘ Luster-mottling in Drill-cores 
of Ophites.? Professor L. C. Glenn contrib- 
utes a biographical sketch, with portrait, of 
‘Gerard Troost,’ the first state geologist of 
Tennessee. ‘ Notes on Some Rocks and Min- 
erals from North Greenland and Frobisher 
Bay,’ illustrated by a plate showing the banded 
limestone of Frobisher Bay, is published by 
Professor B. K. Emerson. The ‘ Montana 
Gypsum Deposits’ are described by Professor 
Jesse P. Rowe. The deposits are divided into 
the North Field, concerning which little is 
known; the Middle Field, given as of Carbon- 
iferous age; and the South Field, which is 
regarded as in the same formation as the 
gypsum beds of Wyoming and as of Permian 
or Triassic age. The paper is illustrated by 
three plates giving six views of the gypsum 
deposits and a map showing their distribution. 


The Museum News for April, published in 
the interest of the museums of the Brooklyn 
Institute is issued in place of the Children’s 
Museum News and will deal with matters re- 
lating to both the Central and Childrens’ Mu- 
seums. Its object will be to keep the public 
advised of changes in and additions to the col- 
lections, and to note the general work of the 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 


museums and advantages offered in the way of 
lectures and material. Among other things 
it notes the formal turning over of the Cen- 
tral Section of the Museum Building on 
Eastern Parkway to the Institute, and the 
opening of the Ethnological Hall. 


Bird Lore for March—April contains articles 
on ‘The Cormorants of Great Lake, by T. 
Gilbert Pearson; ‘Mark Catesby,’ by Witmer 
Stone; ‘The Chimney Swift, by Guy A. 
Bailey. There is a list of ‘ Bird Lore’s Ad- 
visory Councilors’ and the ninth paper on the 
‘Migration of Warblers,’ by W. W. Cooke, a 
note on ‘The Warbler Book’ and a sketch of 
‘The Worm-eating Warbler, by Frank L. 
Burns. There are important book reviews and 
important matter in the section devoted to 
* Audubon Societies.’ In connection with the 
‘Educational Leaflet’ devoted to the ostrich it 
would be interesting to know if any of the 
North African Struthio camelus are to be 
found in captivity. All the eggs for sale are 
those of the South African species S. australis. 


The Museums Journal of Great Britain for 
March is a specially interesting number and 
opens with an article by John MacLauchlan 
on ‘Government Aid to Country Museums,’ 
which shows what has been done in Great 
Britain. It is interesting to note in connection 
with the proposed establishment of a ‘ Welsh 
National Library and Museum’ that various 
cities have offered very substantial induce- 
ments in order to have the institution located 
in that particular place. There is a notice 
of David Murray’s three volume work, en- 
titled ‘ Museums, their History and their Use,’ 
and the balance of the number is given over 
to notes of many museums, including a notice 
of the recent appointment of Sir Purdon 
Clarke to the directorship of the Metro- 
politan Museum of Art. The very full direc- 
tory of British museums has advanced as far 
as Portsmouth. 


¢ 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 


THE SAN FRANCISCO SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 
MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. 

Tue seventh regular meeting of the San 

Francisco Section of the American Mathe- 


SCIENCE. 


627 


matical Society was held at Stanford Univer- 
sity on February 25, 1905. Fourteen mem- 
bers of the society were present. A number 
of other teachers of mathematics living in or 
near San Francisco attended both of the ses- 
sions. The following papers were read: 


Proressor H. F. Bricuretpt: ‘On a theorem 
due to C. Jordan.’ 

Proressor H. F. Bricureipt: ‘On the order of 
the collineation-groups in five variables.’ 

Proressor A. W. Wuitnery: ‘A theorem in the 
theory of probabilities, and its application to 
insurance.’ 

Proressor R. E. Moritz: ‘ A general theorem on 
local probability.’ 

Proressor E, J. WILCZYNSKI: ‘ Projective dif- 
ferential geometry of plane curves.’ 

Dr. W. A. MAnnine: ‘On the primitive groups 
of class ten.’ 

Proressor G. A. Mitter: ‘ Invariant sub-groups 
of prime index.’ 

Proressor Irvine StRiIncHAM: ‘A geometrical 
construction for quaternion products.’ 

Proressor A. O, LEUSCHNER: ‘On the general 
applicability of the short method of determining 
orbits from three observations.’ 

Proressor T. J. J. Ske: ‘On the physical state 
of the matter of the earth’s interior, with consid- 
erations on terrestrial geology, and on the compara- 
tive geology of the other planets.’ 


In the absence of their authors the papers 
by Professors Moritz and Wilezynski were 
read by Professors Leuschner and Haskell, re- 
spectively. The paper by Dr. Manning was 
presented by Professor H. C. Moreno. The 
next meeting of the section will be held at the 
University of California on September 30, 
1905. G. A. MILuer, 

Secretary of the Section. 


THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


THE 598th meeting was held March 18, 1905. 

Mr. F. B. Littell, of the Naval Observatory, 
read a paper on the ‘Progress of the Eros 
Solar Parallax Campaign.’ He told in detail 
of the elaborate plans of work, of the numer- 
ous astronomers cooperating in it and of the 
results thus far obtained. Twenty-eight ob- 
servatories furnished 6,600 visual observations 
and thirteen furnished photographic plates; 
of these, 835 have been measured, reduced and 


628 


published, those from Paris being the best; 
2,100 plates are still unpublished. Each ob- 
servatory publishes its own work and the com- 
bination of the results has been left so far to 
voluntary workers. One computer deduces 
from about 300 plates, taken at nine places, a 
parallax of 8.”7996 + .0021. 

Mr. J. E. Burbank then spoke on the 
“Records of Earthquake Disturbances on 
Magnetographs of the Coast and Geodetic 
Survey.’ Such records occasionally show dis- 
turbances markedly different from any usual 
magnetic disturbance; thus in the last few 
years some forty of them have been noted at 
Baldwin, Kansas. The speaker had attempted 
to compare all such disturbances found on 
records from half a dozen observatories with 
one another and with simultaneous records of 
seismographs. In spite of marked differences 
in time and duration there is so large a num- 
ber of coincidences in time as to justify the 
belief that they have a common cause in an 
earthquake wave, although the speaker is not 
prepared to present any theory of the phe- 
nomena. Cuarues K. Weap, 

Secretary. 


THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 


Minutes of a meeting held March 14, 1905, 
at the American Museum of Natural History. 

The first paper on the scientific program 
was by Dr. N. L. Britton, and was entitled 
‘A Botanical Cruise in the Bahamas.’ 

The speaker had just returned from several 
weeks’ exploration in the Bahamas and gave a 
general account of the trip. The numerous 
islands—there are over 2,700 islands, keys and 
projecting rocks—are all of the same general 
type in that they consist of coral limestone. 
The group is so scattered that there is con- 
siderable variation in temperature and rain- 
fall. 

A remarkable feature of the islands is the 
abundant and almost impenetrable thickets 
growing directly out of the rock; in fact there 
is very little soil except that known as ‘red 
land,’ which occurs in the bottom of sink- 
holes and locally in swales, and the ‘ white 
land’ formed from the crumbled rock either 
disintegrated in place or accumulated as sand 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


dunes. These two formations represent prac- 
tically all the tillable land of the islands. 

Owing to the porous nature of the material 
there are no known permanent fresh-water 
streams, although there are a number of salt- 
water creeks of considerable size. Occasion- 
ally there are fresh-water ponds and marshes, 
mostly of small size. These very local ponds 
and marshes furnish many of the botanical 
novelties. Salt-water ponds which rise and 
fall with the tide are abundant and sometimes 
of large size. 

The Bahamas are very recent geologically, 
the Bahaman uplift being placed not earlier 
than the late Tertiary, so that they offer excel- 
lent opportunities for the study of plant mi- 
gration and evolution. 

The flora is of southern derivation, a large 
number of the known indigenous species being 
common to the near-by and older islands of 
Cuba and Hayti, while many other species are 
closely related to plants from these islands. 
The chief agents in the introduction and dis- 
tribution of the plant population are migra- 
tory birds, supplemented by winds and ocean 
currents. Notwithstanding the geologically 
short period that the Bahamas have been above 
the sea, they have witnessed the evolution of 
numerous species, there being many endemic 
species known and many more which will be 
made known as the result of the recent ex- 
plorations. Many of these, it is believed, will 
prove to be examples of rapid evolution (mu- 
tation). 

Dr. Britton’s observations were followed by 
remarks on ‘ Collecting Algz in the Bahamas’ 
by Dr. Marshall A. Howe. The shores of the 
islands were said to offer a considerable variety 
of physical conditions and to have a marine 
flora which is on the whole varied and rich, 
though apparently less so than that of the 
Florida Keys. The shore lines are usually 
rocky, but there are often stretches of white 
sand which are nearly destitute of alge. The 
tide rises and falls ordinarily from one to 
four feet, but the withering effect of the sun- 
shine is such that few species are found in the 
strictly littoral zone except under shelving 
rocks or where the shore is subject to an al- 
most continuous spraying from the waves. A 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 
deeply shaded shelf under a remarkable rock 
overhang on the Cave Cays of the Exuma 
Chain furnished some of the most interesting 
alge obtained on the recent expedition. The 
so-called creeks constitute good collecting 
grounds, especially if well exposed to tidal 
currents, and the roots of the red mangrove, 
which commonly borders such, always harbor 
alge of interest, particularly when standing 
in water that is three feet or more deep at low 
tide. Nearly all the larger islands have brack- 
ish ponds which have a peculiar flora varying 
in character with the salinity of the water. 
Hundreds of square miles in the Bahaman 
region are occupied by the ‘ banks,’ on which 
the water is very shallow, mostly from five to 
twenty feet deep; these banks often consist of 
elean white sand with little visible organic 
life, yet in many places are found, more or 
less abundantly, representatives of such gen- 
era as Penicillus, Rhipocephalus and Udotea, 
growing directly out of the sand, and Micro- 
dictyon, Gymnosorus, Wurdemannia, Lawr- 
encia, Chondria, Herposiphonia and others, 
attached to sponges, corals, sea-fans, ete. In 
the winter and spring months, at least, very 
little is found washed ashore except species of 
Sargassum and their epiphytes. 

The speaker remarked upon the desirability 
of extensive dredging operations in order to 
complete our knowledge of the marine flora of 
the Bahaman archipelago. A few character- 
istic specimens of, Bahaman marine alge were 
exhibited. Special attention was directed to 
four species of Penicillus, viz., P. capitatus, 
dumetosus, Lamourouati and the recently de- 
scribed Penicillus pyriformis. 

Rhipocephalus Phenix and oblongus and 
various species of Udotea, Avrainvillea and 
Halimeda were also discussed. 

Mrs. Britton, who accompanied the expedi- 
tion, spoke more particularly of the flora of 
the island of New Providence, where she spent 
the time collecting while the other members 
of the party were cruising. Several exceed- 
ingly fine photographs of the local scenery 
were exhibited. 

Epwarp W. Berry, 
Secretary. 


SCIENCE. 


629 


THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 

THE 156th regular meeting was held Febru- 
ary 9, 1905, in the chemical lecture hall of 
the George Washington University. Pro- 
fessor W. R. Whitney, of the research labora- 
tery of the General Electric Company, deliv- 
ered an experimental lecture upon the subject, 
* Colloids.’ 

Tue 157th regular meeting was held March 
9, 1905, in the assembly hall of the Cosmos 
Club. 

The first paper on the program was deliv- 
ered by Mr. W. L. Dubois, and entitled ‘ Notes 
on Sulphur Determination.’ 

For the determination of sulphur in foods 
and feees a modification of Newmann’s meth- 
od, consisting of burning the sample with 
sodium peroxid and sodium carbonate, has 
been substituted for Osborne’s method in the 
Bureau of Chemistry. The new method pos- 
sesses these advantages: (1) combustion is 
more satisfactory, cases of incomplete burning 
being rare; (2) many more samples can be 
handled, owing to greater ease of manipula- 
tion; (3) economy of sodium peroxid. 

The most satisfactory lamp tried at the 
Bureau of Chemistry is Barthel’s alcohol 
burner, which may be adjusted from a very 
low flame to a powerful blast. 

The second paper was entitled ‘The Grig- 
nard Reaction,’ and was presented by Dr. C. 
E. Waters. 

This is one of the most valuable methods of 
organic synthesis that has been devised re- 
cently. An organic halide, RX, dissolved in 
ether, is allowed to act upon magnesium turn- 
ings, which dissolve, forming a clear solution 
of RMgX. This solution gives addition-prod- 
ucts with aldehydes, ketones, esters, ketone- 
and hydroxy-acids, with sulphur, selenium, 
oxygen, carbon dioxide and oxychloride, cy- 
anogen, oxides of nitrogen, and other classes 
of compounds. When these addition-products 
are treated with water or dilute acids a num- 
ber of different classes of products are ob- 
tained. By this method we can. get primary, 
secondary and tertiary alcohols, ketones, hy- 
droxy-acids, thio- and seleno-compounds, hy- 
droxylamine derivatives, ete. With metallic 


630 


halides there are formed organometallic com- 
pounds. 

A special meeting of the Chemical Society 
of Washington was held Wednesday, March 
29, 1905, in the chemical lecture hall of the 
George Washington University. At this meet- 
ing an illustrated lecture upon ‘The Chem- 
istry of Electrochemistry’ was delivered by 
Professor W. D. Bancroft, of Cornell Uni- 
versity. 

A. SEIDELL, 
Secretary. 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
CORNELL SECTION. 


Ar the November meeting of the Cornell 
Section of the American Chemical Society, 
Mr. E. 8. Shepherd spoke on ‘ The Importance 
of Physical Chemistry in the Study of the 
Strength of Metals.’ After a brief introduc- 
tion, the speaker traced the development of 
the pyrometric study of alloys and pointed out 
how inexplicable were the results obtained. 
The subject of metallography was discussed 
and it was shown how neither metallography 
nor pyrometry could, unaided, solve the prob- 
lem of the constitution of alloys. It was then 
shown that physical chemistry furnished a 
simple explanation of all the facts observed. 
The equilibrium diagrams for iron-carbon, 
copper-tin and copper-zinc were discussed. 
The theory of hardening steel and tempering 
was briefly explained. By means of the tensile 
strength curves the speaker showed what a 
great change in the physical properties of the 
bronzes can be induced by suitable heat treat- 
ment. Quoting results obtained by Shepherd 
and Upton working on a grant to W. D. Ban- 
croft from the Carnegie Institution, it was 
shown that certain bronzes could have their 
tensile strength doubled by heat treatment. 
Thus a bronze containing 81 per cent. of cop- 
per would show a strength of 73,000 pounds 
per square inch if quenched from above 500° 
C. and only about 30,000 pounds per square 
inch when annealed. It was shown how the 
elongation of the 97 per cent. copper bronze 
was 30 per cent. for a quenched bronze and 
only 3 per cent. for the annealed. From these 
and the similar changes in iron and steel the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vo. XXI. No. 538. 


speaker pointed out the very great need for 
equilibrium diagrams as a basis for further 
investigations of the mechanical properties 
of metals. The speaker mentioned the great 
value of metallography, pointed out its limita- 
tions and was of the opinion that it was only 
one of the several essential methods of in- 
vestigation. 

In closing, the speaker discussed the work 
of Beiltry on the surface flow, and hard and 
soft states of metals. The lecture was illus- 
trated by a large number of lantern slides. 

W. S. Leng, 
Secretary. 


THE ONONDAGA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 


Ar its regular meeting, February 17, the 
academy elected the following officers: 

President—Professor T. C. Hopkins. 

Vice-President—J. D. Wilson. 

Recording Secretary—Philip F. Schneider. 

Corresponding Secretary—J. E. Kirkwood. 

Treasurer—Mrs. L. W. Roberts. 

Councilors—A. M. Reese and E. N. Pattee. 

Professor W. M. Smallwood presented the 
following facts concerning a tumor in the 
kidney of a frog: 

During the past semester in one of the 
elementary courses in the university while 
dissecting the frog it was noticed that the 
kidneys of one were abnormally large and ir- 
regular in shape. They were at once fixed in 
Carnoy’s fluid and subsequently studied with 
some care. The kidneys were about four 
times as large as the normal kidneys and 
showed no evidence of the presence of the 
adrenal in its normal position. A study of 
the cytology revealed the presence of a tumor 
resulting from the abnormal growth of the 
adrenal tissue. A comparison of these con- 
ditions with available human adrenal tumors 
showed a very striking agreement not only 
in the general arrangement of tumor tissue 
to the kidney tissue, but also in the finer de- 
tails of structure. This agreement is so 
striking as to leave no doubt but that the 
pathological conditions in the frog are to be 
characterized as an adrenal tumor. It is 
interesting to note that similar results obtain 
in such widely different animals as the frog 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 


and man. A full report will appear soon in 
one of the current journals. 


Ar the meeting on the evening of the seven- 
teenth of March Mr. E. D. Congdon addressed 
the meeting on ‘Some Zoological Impressions 
of the Bermudas.’ Mr. Congdon’s abstract of 
his report follows: 

In company with some thirty other students 
of biology, I had the pleasure of spending part 
of the summer of 1903 at the Bermuda Biolog- 
ical Station. We were under the supervision 
of Dr. E. L. Mark, of the Harvard department 
of zoology, and Dr. Bristol, of New York Uni- 
versity. We were comfortably lodged at 
Hotel Frascati on the outlet of Harrington 
Sound, midway in the southern shore of the 
island. No spot could have been found more 
accessible to the good collecting grounds of 
the beach, the reefs and the sound. The 
steam launch and the carryalls supplied trans- 
portation to the places chosen for each day’s 
exploration. The trips were so planned as to 
include all of the diverse collecting grounds 
of the islands. Those who were investigating 
particular subjects were aided in every way to 
find the material they required. 

Time was about equally divided between 
the reefs and the beach. The whiteness of 
the coral sand and the clearness and warmth 
of the water made the search easy and alto- 
gether agreeable. Among other interesting 
forms, Balanoglossus occurs in restricted lo- 
calities along the beach. The dredge brought 
up from the bottom of Harrington inlet a 
goodly amount of Amphiorus. Mollusca are 
well represented in species and individuals 
and include four classes. An Aplysius, a 
tectibranch devoid of shell, could be found by 
scores in sheltered coves. Sometimes when 
disturbed they emit a violet fluid which may 
well serve as a protection, as it diffuses through 
the water. An exciting encounter with an 
Octopus vulgaris occurs to mind. It resented 
the advances of a too inquisitive biologist by 
jerking an oar from his hand. It finally es- 
eaped by its power to imitate the exact shade 
of any brown or gray rock upon which it comes 
to rest. The grouper, a common Bermuda 
fish, shows a similar ability to adapt its color 


SCIENCE, 


631 


to that of its surroundings through a consid- 
erable range of colors. 

The Celenterata are the most characteristic 
group of animals along shore. The Bermuda 
anemone, Actinia mesembryanthemum, at- 
tracts collectors by its large size and the 
beauty of its variable coloring. In restricted 
localities where there is considerable tidal cur- 
rent the hydroids Hudendrium ramosum and 
Pennaria tiarella are abundant. A small and 
beautiful Hudendriwm previously unrecorded 
was found in a single cove. on the south shore. 
Including the forms which come in on the 
drifting Sargassum, at least eighteen species 
occur. The beaches of coral sand are dotted 
with corals of the genera Isophyllia, Maandra 
and others. 

The life of the coral reefs is abundant and 
beautiful. One would not suspect that Ber- 
muda is the northernmost of coral islands. 
The Gorgonia, Porites, Millepora, Oculina, to- 
gether with ascidia, sponges and alg furnish 
bright and contrasted colors. Movement is 
given to the coral gardens by the reef fishes 
with their predominantly blue, black and yel- 
low coloring. 

A series of small round half submerged 
islands occurring along the south shore are of 
organic origin. Their substructure is of coral 
sandstone and is honeycombed by the waves. 
Their surfaces have been encrusted by the 
tubes of Serpule, which in the course of 
growth have given the islands their charac- 
teristically round form. The waves of the 
open Atlantic pouring into their cavities 
render fitting their local name, ‘ the boilers.’ 
Though difficult of access in the quietest sea, 
they well repay the attention of the collector. 

Thirty miles south of Bermuda lie banks 
described but not explored by the Challenger 
expedition. Two days of intense interest were 
spent fishing and dredging over this virgin 
territory. Fish were so abundant as to rob 
their capture of half its zest. The typical 
blue coloring of the surface fish fauna was 
noticeable. The red snapper and a few other 
fishes suggested the coloring of the zone of 
rose red alge. 

The dredge brought up among algx, echino- 
derms and hydroids two specimens of the 


632 


spotted moray. Perhaps the most interesting 
things which came from the surface of the 
banks were a number of calcareous spheres 
three or four inches in diameter. They were 
composed of thin concentric layers and were 
apparently of organic origin. Further than 
this no explanation of their origin was forth- 
coming. 

Alfred Russel Wallace has pointed out how 
typical the Bermudan terrestrial fauna is of 
an oceanic island. Only three indigenous 
vertebrates are present otherwise than birds. 
It is significant that the only mammal is 
winged, a bat. 
small number of insects described. Since the 
publication of his book the list has been 
swelled to over three hundred. That a con- 
siderable proportion are not indigenous is evi- 
dent from the fact that twenty species were 
found en route for Bermuda on one ship sail- 
ing from New York. The gulf stream flow- 
ing within one hundred miles to the west of 
Bermuda, the drift of the surface water from 
the south and west, and the West India hurri- 
canes were no doubt the important agents in 
bringing animal life from the North Amer- 
ican continent. J. E. Kirxwoop, 

Corresponding Secretary. 


THE ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY OF 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Tue 159th meeting of the society was held 
in the chemical lecture room, Tuesday, 7:30 
p.M., March 14, 1905. The following papers 
were presented: 

Proressor A. 8. WHEELER: ‘ Normal Paper.’ 

Proressor W. C. Coxer: ‘The Mutation Theory.’ 

Proressor J. E, Minus: ‘Chemical Affinity: A 
Method for Distinguishing Chemical Energy from 
Simultaneous Physical Energy Changes.’ 

Atvin 8. WHEELER, 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
NATURAL MOUNDS. 

In Dr. Brauner’s interesting article on 
‘Natural Mounds’ in Science for March 31, 
he mentions the fact, in connection with the 
distribution of these mounds in the Mississippi 
Valley, that they follow up the valley of the 
Arkansas and of the Neosho rivers across 


SCIENCE. 


He expresses surprise at the 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


Indian Territory into southeastern Kansas. 
These mounds are exceedingly abundant in 
southwest Missouri also. They are a char- 
acteristic feature of the landscape in Lawrence 
County, Mo. (second tier of counties from 
Kansas and from Arkansas), where the writer 
lived for many years. They are abundant 
both in the timber and on the prairies, but are 
more noticeable on the prairies because of the 
fact that on them the prairie grasses give place 
to taller forms of vegetation. Before the 
lands were put in cultivation these mounds 
were from one to three feet high, and usually 
twenty to thirty feet in diameter. On newly 
reclaimed land crops grow much more lux- 
uriantly on the mounds than elsewhere. Corn 
is usually the first crop planted on new lands 
in that section, and it is usual for corn on 
mounds to grow nearly twice as tall as on sur- 
rounding areas the first year. This difference 
in growth gradually disappears as cultivation 
continues. 

These mounds have probably originated 
from different causes in different regions. In 
southwest Missouri their origin is probably 
due to the following cause: The soil of the 
region has been formed from the decay of the 
great sub-carboniferous limestones. Where 
these strata are exposed in cliffs there may 
occasionally be found concretions of flint sev- 
eral feet in diameter. The flint is broken into 
rather small fragments, which fall apart more 
or less when the surrounding limestone dis- 
integrates into soil. The flint resists dis- 
integration far greater than the limestone. 
These masses of flint fragments later become 
prominent as mounds by the more rapid de- 
nudation of the surrounding soil containing 
comparatively little flint. This theory is 
strengthened by the fact that the material 
forming the mounds to a depth of several feet 
consists very largely of small flint stones. 

W. J. SPILLMAN. 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 


SPEOIAL ARTICLES. 
AN ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATION OF THE ORIGIN 
OF GYNANDROMORPHOUS INSECTS. 


THe occasional occurrence in the groups of 
ants, bees, wasps and butterflies of individuals 


— 


Apri 21, 1905.] 


that show male characters in certain parts of 
the body and female characters in other parts 
—the so-called gynandromorph condition— 
has long been known, and several suggestions 
have been made to account for the result. 
The view recently proposed by Boveri has met 


ss 3 
6 ee —_—8 


ine 2D 


A B 


with the most favor. Before stating this view 
it may be well to recall that in bees it is gen- 
erally admitted that unfertilized eggs give rise 
to male individuals (drones) as a rule, while 
fertilized eggs give rise to females (queens or 
workers). Boveri has suggested that the 
gynandrous condition may be due to the 
spermatozoon failing to unite with the egg 
nucleus, but subsequently pairing with one of 
the products of its first division, as shown in 
diagram A, If a union of this sort should 
oceur, all of the cells that are derived from 
the paired nucleus might be expected to give 
rise to female characters (as in the case of the 
fertilized egg); while all the cells that come 
from the unpaired half of the nucleus might 
be expected to produce male parts. Hence 
the individual that develops from such an egg 
might be expected to show the characters of 
the two sexes combined in different ways ac- 
cording to the positions of the descendents of 
the two kinds of cells. On purely theoretical 
grounds I offer an alternate hypothesis which 
will explain the facts equally well. More- 
over, if this view, rather than Boveri’s, should 
prove to be the correct one it will furnish im- 
portant data in regard to the value of the 


SCIENCE. 


633 


spermatozoon in determining the sex of the 
bee. I venture to suggest this alternation, es- 
pecially, as the two views can be put to the 
test of actual observation by any one in posi- 
tion to obtain the necessary material; and also 
because the possibility of this interpretation 
appears to have been entirely overlooked as an 
explanation of gynandromorphism. I suggest 
in brief that the results may be due to two 
(or more) spermatozoa entering the same egg, 
one only fusing with the egg nucleus, and the 
other not uniting, but developing without 
combining with any parts of the egg nucleus, 
as shown in diagram B. The products of 
division of the paired nucleus will account 
for the female parts of the embryo, while the 
products of the division of the single sperm 
nucleus will account for the male characters 
of the other parts. The assumption of 
polyspermy on my view is not arbitrary, for it 
has been often described for the bee and 
other insects, and seems to be of frequent oc- 
currence. As a rule it appears that the 
spermatozoa that do not unite with the egg 
nucleus fail to develop, but under exceptional 
cases they may do so. In fact, several cases 
of ‘male parthenogenesis’ in other forms have 
been described in recent years. 

It will be observed that on Boveri’s hypoth- 
esis the male characters will be derived from 
the egg nucleus, while on my view they will 
come from the unpaired sperm nucleus. If, 
therefore, a queen of one race and a drone of 
another should produce one of these gynandro- 
morphs we ought to be able to decide which 
of these views is correct; for, on Boveri’s 
hypothesis, the male characters of the gynan- 
dromorph would be those of the race to which 
the mother belongs, while on my view they 
would be those characteristic of the race of 
the father. Thus if an Italian queen-bee 
were to be fertilized by a German drone and 
a gynandromorph produced, the male parts 
should be Italian on Boveri’s view, and Ger- 
man on mine.* 

*T am aware, of course, of the prolonged dis- 
cussion that has taken place in regard to the char- 
acter of hybrid bees, but despite these difficul- 
ties the test might still be made, especially as the 
drones are generally described as purely paternal. 


634 


Von Siebold had in fact a case of this sort 
in the famous Eugster hive from which he 
obtained his material. Unfortunately his 
statement in regard to the racial characters of 
the gynandromorphs is obscure. The follow- 
ing quotation is the only reference that he 
has made to the racial characters of these 
bees. 


Die fiinf Jahre Kénigen dieses Stockes war eine 
reine Italienerin und hatte nichts Auffallendes an 
sich. Sie musste sich mit einer deutschen Drone 
begattet haben, da sich ausser reinen italienischen 
Arbeitern auch noch viele Bastardarbeiter von 
verschiedener Abstufungen in demselben Stocke 
befanden, wiihrend die Drohnen dieses Stockes ihre 
reine italienischen Abkunft verriethen. Auch die 
Zwitterbienen [gynandromorphs] dieses Stockes 
besassen die Fiirbung der italienischen Race; doch 
war dieselbe unter dem Einflusse der deutschen 
Race hier und dort getriibt worden. 


In addition to the interest of determining 
which of these alternative views is the true 
explanation, there is, as I have pointed out, 
an implication in my hypothesis of more gen- 
eral importance. On my view the sperm- 
nucleus alone produces male characters, just 
as the egg nucleus alone produces male char- 
acters. If established, therefore, my view 
would show that in the bee the male and the 
female nuclei are exactly equivalent as sex 
determinants. Alone, either produces male 
characters, united in the same nucleus, they 
give rise as a rule to female characters. The 
results appear, therefore, to be quantitative 
and not qualitative. From this point of view 
the male nucleus is not the bearer of the 
female sex-characters (although both sexual 
characters may be latent in each nucleus), 
but combined the two nuclei give the char- 
acters of the female. 

It is far from my intention to set one of 
these hypotheses over against the other, and 
to attempt to weigh their relative merits on 
the grounds of probability. I have raised the 
question not to invite discussion, but to appeal 
to those who may have an opportunity to ex- 
amine gynandromorphs from mixed _ hives. 
Neither do I wish to appear to be propounding 
a theory of sex-determination, that will apply 
to other cases in which other factors than 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


fertilization appear to determine the sex of 
the individual. 

In the group of Lepidoptera it may seem at 
first sight that neither Boveri’s view nor my 
own can explain the occurrence of gynandro- 
morphs, because it is not the rule here that 
unfertilized eggs produce males, although this 
sometimes occurs. The discrepancy is more 
apparent than real, for, even if female butter- 
flies develop from parthenogenetic eggs, as 
a rule, the same explanation used for the bees 
can mutatis mutandis be applied. If, for ex- 
ample, the egg nucleus alone, or the sperm 
nucleus alone, produces female characters 
then on Boveri’s view when the sperm nucleus 
unites with one of the products of the first 
division of the egg nucleus the resulting cells 
may also happen in some cases to produce 
male characters (just as some of the fertilized 
eggs become males). The other half of the 
first division produces a female, on the theory, 
and a gynandromorph results. Under such 
circumstances the female side of the indi- 
vidual would show the character of the race 
to which the mother belonged, if a hybrid 
gynandromorph should be produced. If on 
the above assumption the united male and 
half female nuclei should produce a female 
instead of a male then both sides would be 
female, and there would be nothing externally 
to indicate that such an individual was dif- 
ferent from an ordinary female. On my view 
also a formal explanation can be offered for 
the lepidopterous gynandromorphs. If the 
united nuclei should happen to produce male, 
and the single sperm nucleus should give rise 
to female characters a gynandromorph would 
result. In a hybrid of this kind of individual 
the female characters would be paternal. If 
the united nuclei happen to produce a female 
(since fertilized eggs may produce either 
males or females), and the sperm nucleus 
also produces a female, then both sides will be 
superficially alike, and nothing would indicate 
that such a female individual had had an 
abnormal origin.* T. H. Morgan. 

CoLuMBIA UNTVERSITY. 


*TIf male-determining and female-determining 
spermatozoa exist the gynandromorphous condition 
in the bee might also be accounted for on the 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 
THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF AUGUST 
29-30, 1905.* 

Tue path of the shadow of the moon during 
the eclipse of August 29-30, 1905, is con- 
veniently accessible at several points; that 
fact, together with the large duration for to- 
tality which for the maximum is 3 minutes 
45 seconds, renders the observation of this 

eclipse desirable. ; 

A brief sketch of the location of the path 
of the shadow will show the comparative ac- 
cessibility of the different parts. In general 
the width of the shadow path is approximately 
120 geographic miles. 

The moon’s shadow strikes the earth at sun- 
rise in the province of Manitoba near the 
south end of Lake Winnipeg. The shadow 
sweeps eastwardly through the British posses- 
sions, passing over the southern part of James 
Bay and the peninsula of Labrador, and enters 
the Atlantic Ocean about 100 miles north of 
the eastern entrance of the Strait of Belleisle, 
which separates Labrador from the island of 
Newfoundland. After leaving the American 
coast no land is met by the shadow until it 
reaches the north coast of Spain, where the 
middle of the shadow crosses the coast line 
about 100 geographic miles west of the city 
of Santander and sweeps southeastwardly 
across the Spanish peninsula, leaving Madrid 
ground that a male spermatozoon as well as a 
female spermatozoon has entered the egg, the lat- 
ter alone fusing with the egg nucleus. It might 
appear that a count of the number of the chromo- 
somes in the male and female parts of the body of 
the gynandromorph would give an answer to the 
problem; for, on Boveri’s view, the female-half 
might be expected to contain twice as many 
chromosomes as the male-half of the body. On 
my view the same condition might be expected, 
but if Petrunkewitsch’s observations are correct, 
there is a doubling of the chromosomes in the 
later stages of the drone egg, and possibly the 
same increase in the number of chromosomes 
might happen in the descendants of the single 
sperm nucleus or the half ege-nucleus. The con- 
ditions were too uncertain to make an appeal of 
this sort of any value at present, and the other 
test that I have suggested offers apparently a 
simpler and safer means of reaching a conclusion. 

*Cireular of the U. S. Naval Observatory, 
March 18, 1905. 


SCIENCE. 


635 


about 40 miles and Valencia about 2 miles 
distant from the southern edge and outside of 
the shadow path. Some of the cities within 
the limits of the shadow path are Leon and 
Burgos, not far from the central line, Valla- 
dolid, near the southern edge, and Zaragoza, 
near the northern edge, while the old city of 
Sagunto lies about 20 miles within the south- 
ern edge. The numerous railroads passing 
into and through the shadow path afford a 
means of access to observing stations from 
ports on the Bay of Biscay or the Mediter- 
ranean Sea. 

After leaving the Spanish coast the shadow 
sweeps over the Columbretes, a group of small 
islands, close to the central line and about 
40 miles from the coast. The Columbrete 
Grande, the largest of these islands, is less 
than a half mile long and rises to an elevation 
of 262 feet above the sea. This island is 
crescent-shaped and affords an anchorage pro- 
tected in every direction except the northeast. 

About sixty miles farther southeast the 
shadow passes over two islands of the Balearic 
group—lIvica, just within the southern edge, 
and Majorea, within the northern edge—but 
the only satisfactory harbor is the port of 
Palma, on the southern shore of Majorca and 
about 40 miles north of the central line. 

After crossing the Mediterranean Sea the 
shadow strikes the African coast about mid- 
way between the cities of Algiers and Tunis. 
A railway line not more than 60 miles from 
the coast, connecting the cities of Algiers and 
Tunis, has various branches, by means of 
which observing stations may be reached at 
any desired distance from the central line of 
the shadow path. 

In the vicinity of the shadow path several 
ports are available for landing. The port of 
Bona is located about 230 geographic miles 
east of Algiers and about 120 miles west from 
Tunis. It is supplied with a fine artificial 
harbor of 195 acres with an inner basin of 25 
acres. This port is now one of the best and 
safest on the Mediterranean coast. It is vis- 
ited annually by about 3,000 vessels and en- 
joys telegraphic communication with Mar- 
seilles and regular steamship connections 
with France, Algiers and Tunis. 


636 


The port of Benzert, on some maps called 
Bizerta, is located about 50 miles northwest 
from Tunis. The harbor facilities of Benzert, 
which are naturally very good, have been of 
late years very much improved by the French 
government by dredging and by protective 
works in order to make it the location of an 
extensive naval station. As a harbor it is 
very commodious and accessible to large ves- 
sels. It is connected with the railway system 
and is the terminus of a submarine cable. 

The port of Tunis is inferior in harbor 
facilities to either Benzert or Bona, and need 
not be considered as a landing-point. 

From this region the shadow path proceeds 
southeastwardly across the desert into Egypt, 
where it crosses the river Nile in the neighbor- 
hood of Assonan. The total phase occurs here 
something more than one hour before sunset. 
The shadow leaves the earth in central Arabia. 

Some of the points to which the attention 
of astronomers will be directed may be briefly 
stated as follows: 

(a) The Relative Position of the Sun and 
Moon at the Time of the Eclipse-—The an- 
gular distances between the centers of the sun 
and moon may be derived from observations 
of the four contacts, by visual or by photo- 
graphic methods. This necessitates an accu- 
rate determination of the latitude and longi- 
tude of each observing station, which neces- 
sarily consumes a large amount of time and 
labor, and demands the use of a special instru- 
mental outfit. 

Since the position of the moon is so well 
cared for by meridian observations, and since 
the additional data derived from contact ob- 
servations is small in quantity and of a dis- 
tinctly lower grade in quality, it follows that 
contact observations should be considered of 
secondary importance compared with the work 
in other lines. 

(b) The Search for Intra-mercurial Planets. 
—Hitherto photographie searches for intra- 
mercurial planets have been made with incom- 
plete apparatus or have been interfered with 
seriously by clouds. 

_ In this eclipse it is highly important that 
a photographie search be prosecuted at two or 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


three widely separated stations with very com- 
plete apparatus. 

(c) The Corona.—The corona should be pho- 
tographed with long focus lenses to obtain 
large scale pictures of the inner corona, and 
with short focus lenses for pictures of the 
corona as a whole embracing its ultimate ex- 
tensions. It would be well to locate the 
parties at a number of widely separated sta- 
tions, and Professor Campbell, director of the 
Lick Observatory, suggests the use of lenses 
of a standard aperture and focal length, say 
five inches aperture and forty feet focus, to 
furnish data for studying changes in the 
corona as the shadow sweeps over the earth. 


The work on the corona should be consid- 
ered of the highest importance. 

(d) Spectrum Work—All] the facilities 
available to the astronomy of the present day 
for photographing the spectrum of the revers- 
ing layer, the chromosphere, the prominences 
and the corona, should be used to their utmost 
capacity in the coming eclipse. On account 
of lack of light the slit spectroscopes used will 
be confined to a few special problems, leaving 
the great bulk of the work to be executed by 
objective spectrographs, using either gratings 
or large prisms. 

It is also suggested that a number of spec- 
trographs be employed to determine the ac- 
curate wave-length of the principal coronal 
line. 

The spectrum work should be considered of 
equal importance with that on the corona. 

(e) Photometry; Shadow Bands.—Of sec- 
ondary importance are photometric observa- 
tions and observations of the character of the 
so-called shadow bands. 

(f) Polariscopic Work.—Polariscopic and 
polarigraphie work should be well cared for 
with increased facilities for accurate work. 

Polariscopic work should be considered of 
importance nearly equal to that on the corona 
and the spectrum. 

(g) Meteorology.—The meteorological con- 
ditions existing at the several stations, espe- 
cially during the progress of the eclipse, 
should be observed by means of the best self- 
recording instruments. 


Aprit 21, 1905.] 


This should be considered the most impor- 
tant of the secondary work. 

At the present time it is not possible to note 
many details in reference to the location of 
the various parties intending to observe this 
eclipse, but it is reasonably certain that the 
observers will be quite well distributed over 
the accessible portions of the path. 

The Canadian government expects to locate 
a party on the coast of Labrador, about 100 
miles north of the Strait of Belleisle. 

The Indiana State University announces its 
intention to locate a party in Spain. 

The German government has asked permis- 
sion of Spain to land a party on the Colum- 
bretes islands. 

One English party will probably locate near 
Palma on the island of Majorca, one of the 
Balearic group. 

Other English parties will undoubtedly lo- 
eate in Spain. 

Professor Campbell has announced that, 
through the liberality of Mr. William H. 
Crocker, the Lick Observatory will send out 
three different parties for observing this 
eclipse, one of which will be located on the 
coast of Labrador, a second in Spain and a 
third in Egypt. 

The director of the observatory of Pulkowa, 
Dr. Backlund, has indicated his intention to 
equip two observing parties. 

Under an appropriation of $5,000 by Con- 
gress, the Naval Observatory will undertake 
the observation of this eclipse and will equip 
an expedition. The U. 8S. S. Columbia and 
the U. S. S. Cesar, vessels detailed by the 
Navy Department, will carry to ports near 
the observing stations the expeditionary force, 
which will consist of the following: Rear- 
Admiral C. M. Chester, U. S. N., superin- 
tendent Naval Observatory, in charge of the 
expedition, with about seven members of the 
staff of the Naval Observatory. Mr. L. E. 
Jewell, of Johns Hopkins University; Dr. S. 
A. Mitchell, of Columbia University, and Dr. 
N. E. Gilbert, of Dartmouth College, have 
accepted invitations to participate in the work 
of observation. Professor F. H. Bigelow, of 
the U. S. Weather Bureau, will accompany 


SCIENCE. 


637 


the expedition and have charge of its meteor- 
ological work. 

The equipment for ‘three observing stations 
is being prepared, the more important ele- 
ments of which are as follows: 

1. A station near the central line, possibly 
on one of the islands of the Columbretes 
group off the east coast of Spain; a horizontal 
photographic telescope 5-inch aperture and 
40-foot focus; a photographic telescope 8.5- 
inch aperture and 12-foot focus; a 6-inch Dall- 
meyer camera, 36-inch focus; a portable tele- 
scope for contact observations; several grating 
spectroscopes; spectral photometric apparatus; 
meteorological apparatus. 

2. A station 10 to 15 miles within the edge 
of the shadow path, probably near Valencia; 
a horizontal photographic telescope 7.5-inch 
aperture and 65-foot focus; a prismatic spec- 
trograph; a photographic telescope 9.6-inch 
aperture and 14-foot focus with color screen; 
a 6-inch Dallmeyer camera 40-inch focus; a 
portable telescope for observing contacts; a 
grating spectrograph; meteorological appa- 
ratus. 

3. A station near the central line, probably 
near the line of the railroad from Tunis to 
Algiers in Africa; a horizontal photographie 
telescope 5-inch aperture and 40-foot focus; 
a photographic telescope 7-inch aperture and 
114-inch foeus; a 6-inch Dallmeyer camera 
40-inch focus; a portable telescope for observ- 
ing contacts; a concave grating spectrograph; 
a chronospectrograph; polariscopic apparatus; 
meteorological apparatus. 

Each station will be supplied with instru- 
ments for determination of time. Where tele- 
graphic facilities are available the stations 
will be supplied with chronographs and port- 
able transits for the determination of the 
difference of longitude. 

The location of the Naval Observatory sta- 
tions can not be finally settled until the local 
conditions are personally examined, but those 
mentioned above are especially indicated as 
desirable stations to occupy. 

CO. M. CHESTER. 
Rear-Admiral, U. S. N., 
Superintendent Naval Observatory. 


638 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


By order of the president of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science 
the spring meeting of the council was called 
to meet at the Cosmos Club, Washington, on 
April 20, at 4:30 p.m. 


Tue following appropriations have recently 
been made from the Rumford Fund of the 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences: To 
Professor Charles B. Thwing, of Syracuse 
University, $150 in aid of his research on the 
thermo-electromotive force of metals and al- 
loys; to Dr. Harry W. Morse, of Harvard Uni- 
versity, $500 in aid of his research on fluor- 
escence. 


Sm Wittram Ramsay has been elected a 
member of the Atheneum Club under the rule 
for the annual election of nine persons ‘ of 
distinguished eminence in science, literature, 
the arts, or for public services.’ 


Tue University of Edinburgh has conferred 
its doctor of laws on William Watson Cheyne, 
C.B., professor of surgery, King’s College, 
London; John MHughlings Jackson, M.D., 
F.R.S., London; Augustus D. Waller, M.D., 
F.R.S., director of the physiological labora- 
tory, University of . London; Colonel Sir 
Frank E. Younghusband; and George A. 
Gibson, professor of mathematics, Glasgow 
and West of Scotland Technical College. 


Tur German Society of Apothecaries will 
commemorate the hundredth anniversary of 
the discovery of morphine by Dr. Seetiirnerby, 
erecting a tablet on the house in which he 
lived at Hamelu, Hanover. 


Proressor Huco Minsterserc, of. Harvard 
University, has declined the offer of a chair of 
philosophy, tendered to him by the University 
of Konigsberg. 

Presipent Exiot, of Harvard University, 
who has been in Europe since the latter part 
of January, expects to arrive in Boston on 
April 22. 

Proressor Epwin J. Conxuiy, of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, has gone to the 
Marine Biological Station of the Carnegie 
Institution at the Dry Tortugas to carry on 
research work. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 538. 


Proressor E. B. Van VueEck,. who holds the 
chair of mathematics at Wesleyan University, 
will spend next year abroad. 

Dr. C. J. Martin, director of the Lister 
Institute, London, has been sent to India to 
investigate the plague. It is understood that 
with several bacteriologists he will carry on 
work at Kasauli. The deaths from the plague 
in India average more than 30,000 a week in 
spite of all efforts which have been made to 
check its ravages. ; 

Dr. Ottver L. Fassic, associate in meteorol- 
ogy at the Johns Hopkins University and 
local director of the United States Weather 
Bureau, will shortly leave as the representa- 
tive of the Weather Bureau and of the Na- 
tional Geographic Society of Washington, to 
search for the Ziegler exploration party, sent 
out in 1903 to find the North Pole. 

Dr. W. C. Farapee, of the anthropological 
department of Harvard University, will con- 
duct an expedition to Iceland during the 
present summer. Professor T. A. Jagger has 
given up his proposed expedition to the island. 

Proressor U. S. Grant, of Northwestern 
University, and Professor R. S. Tarr, of Cor- 
nell University, are among those who will 
carry on work in Alaska during the present 
summer under the auspices of the U. S. Geo- 
logical Survey. 


Dr. J. Paut Goon, of the University of 
Chicago, spent the Easter vacation week in 
a tour of the leading cities of Kentucky, 
making addresses in the interest of forest con- 
servation. 


Reuter’s Acency is informed that Major 
Powell Cotton is making satisfactory progress 
with his expedition from the Nile to the Zam- 
besi, on which he started in December last. 
The explorer, who is in excellent health, was 
leaving the Lado enclave for his journey into 
the Congo forest and towards the Zambesi at 
the end of February. He has secured speci- 
mens of most of the species of game to be 
found in the district, and has preserved com- 
plete skins of both elephant and the rare 
northern white rhinoceros. Of the latter, one 
specimen only has ever reached Europe. 


ee ee halle 


a — 


~~ 


Aprin 21, 1905.] 


Proressor Hans Meyer, of the University 
of Vienna, has accepted the invitation to de- 
liver the Herter lectures at Johns Hopkins 
University on October 5 and 6. His subject 
will be, ‘The Physiological Results of Phar- 
macological Research.’ 


Turee lectures, followed by demonstrations 
in the grounds, will be given at the New York 
Botanical Garden to children of the public 
schools of the Bronx during April and May. 
The lectures will be given by Dr. Marshall A. 
Howe, Mr. George V. Nash and Dr. N. L. 
Britton. They will be repeated three times. 


Tue Civil Service Commission announces 
an examination at Washington, on May 17, 
to fill a vacaney in the position of adminis- 
trative biologist, at $2,500 per annum, in the 
Division of Biological Survey, Department of 
Agriculture. The applicant should have had 
ample experience in scientific and adminis- 
trative affairs and be capable of critically 
_ examining reports submitted for publication, 
and sufficiently familiar with the United 
States and with its mammal and bird faunas 
to enable him to exercise general supervision 
over the scientific and economic work of the 
_ Biological Survey, including the mapping of 
the geographic distribution of species. 


Mr. Bensamry Fercuson, a lumber mer- 
chant, has bequeathed $1,000,000 to the Art 
Institute of Chicago, the income of which is 
to be used for the erection of statues and 
monuments in the city. 

Tue New Mexico legislature has passed a 
law authorizing a geological survey of the 
state; the appropriation is $6,000, and is to be 
expended under the direction of the New 
Mexico School of Mines at Socorro. 

Mr. ANDREW Carnecie has given $150,000 
for a library building at Springfield, Mass. 

Tue Astronomical Observatory built by the 
late Dr. Henry Draper at Hastings-on-Hud- 
son in 1860 and used by him for his re- 
searches until his death in 1882 was destroyed 
by fire on March 31. The telescopes and other 
instruments were removed to Harvard Uni- 
versity in 1886, where, under the direction of 
Professor E. C. Pickering, Mrs. Henry Draper 
established the Draper Memorial Fund, but 


SCIENCE. 


639 


photographie negatives and other material of 
historic interest have been destroyed. 


Tue American Physical Educational Asso- 
ciation has been meeting during the present 
week at Teachers College, Columbia Univer- 
sity. 

THE membership of the New York Academy 
of Medicine has reached the limit of one 
thousand, and now, for the first time, there is 
a waiting list. 


Tue Harpswell Laboratory of Tufts Col- 
lege, established at South Harpswell, Maine, 
in 1898, to afford opportunities for the study 
of the northern marine fauna and flora, will 
be open in 1905 from June 12 to September 9, 
the regular courses of instruction beginning 
July 3, and continuing for six weeks. In 
addition to regular courses of instruction the 
laboratory offers its facilities to a limited 
number of persons who are able to carry on 
investigation without assistance. While not 
agreeing to collect material for their re- 
searches. the laboratory will aid them in this 
respect so far as possible without interfering 
with its other work. Seven private rooms are 
available for investigators. All communica- 
tions concerning the laboratory should be ad- 
dressed to the director, Professor J. S. Kings- 
ley, Tufts College, Mass. 


Tue Belgian government has recently ap- 
pointed a committee, composed of cabinet 
officers, members of parliament, financiers and 
industrial leaders, for the purpose of organ- 
izing an international congress, to be held at 
Mons in the latter part of September, 1905. 
The object of the congress is to discuss com- 
mercial economics, industrial 
and progress, facility of communication, open- 
ing and civilizing new countries, instruction, 
statistics, customs, policy, maritime questions 
and questions concerning the civilizing effects 
of expansion and the means and power of ex- 
pansion in general. 


development 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 

Dr. Epwin A. ALDERMAN was installed as 
president of the University of Virginia on 
April 13. It was announced that in addition 
to the conditional gift of $500,000 from Mr. 


vi 


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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. 


Fripay, Apriu 28, 1905. 


CONTENTS. 

Life and Chemistry: PRoFEssoR CHARLES 

The, SEETEEP ITER 58 Seti Ooi AiO OLS Cann a a Ie eee 641 
Interpretation of a Water Examination: PRo- 

FESSOR W. P. Mason........ Be tortiene Coins bs 648 
Scientific Books :— 

A New Introduction to the Study of Fishes: 

FMEA GEDA ccc Ne) iaa se) oe ete) sy eicheis ve ss * 4 653 
Scientific Journals and Articles............ 661 
Societies and Academies :— 

The Geological Society of Washington: Dr. 

Geo. Otis SmirH. The Biological Society 

of Washington: E. L. Morris. Section of 


Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry of the 
New York Academy of Sciences: C. C, 
TROWBRIDGE. The Science Club of the Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin: F. W. WoLu. Meet- 
ing of Baperimental Psychologists at Clark 
University 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Alternation of Generations in Animals: 
Harotp L. Lyon. Science and the News- 
papers: PRroressor G. N. Stewarr and C. 
C. GuTurir. A Modest Student of Animal 
Psychology: Proressor Maynarp M. Mer- 
cALF. A New Form of Stereoscope: PrRo- 
FESSOR JOSEPH JASTROW...............-- 


Special Articles :— 
A Revision of the Coccaceae: Dr. C.-E. A. 
WINSLow and ANNE F. Rocrrs. A Connec- 
tion by Precise Leveling between the At- 


lantic and Pacific Oceans: Dr. Joun F. 
HAYFORD 


Botanical Notes :— 


Recent Olassifications of the Green Algae; 
Seaweed Studies; Sargent’s Manual of 
Trees: PROFESSOR CHARLES E. BESSEY.... 


The National Academy of Sciences.......... 
Scientific Notes and News 


University and Educational News 


8.0 0) Seine gs 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


LIFE AND CHEMISTRY.* 

As I look into the eyes of those before 
me, I can not but have the feelings of 
Moleschott in his address at the reopening 
of the University of Rome when he found 
himself ‘in the face of an audience whom 
he had nothing to teach, but from whom he 
had much to learn.’ 

An imposing knowledge of the distinc- 
tions attained by my two distinguished pre- 
decessors, perhaps should be depressing; 
for it is no longer an investment here to 
forge ahead, but an investment to keep up. 
On the contrary, their unseen presences 
stand not as spectres, but as gracious good 
guardians. 

It becomes necessary in the outset to con- 
fess to an inner consciousness, that we 
know. How we need not consider for the 
present further than that the interna 
thought-centers, association or sense-cen- 
ters take impressions from the external 
world and transform them into presenta- 
tions, which automatically, as it were, 
frame themselves into concepts. The ‘ulti- 
mate nature of reality’ is not of immediate 
moment. 

Doubtless, man from his earliest experi- 
ence has speculated on the origin and per- 
petuation of life, that is, nature. This 
period is no exception. President Jordan 
has written, ‘whatever else may be said 
of it, this is certainly the age of deliberate 
serutiny of origins and destiny.’ 

Kant, among many things, wrote ‘Only 

* Tnaugural lecture on the assumption of the 


head professorship of chemistry in the College of 
the City of New York, February 28, 1905. 


642 


in experience is there truth.’ And 
Haeckel, in his persistent advocacy of the 
great monistic system, based upon the 
unity of nature and the unity of science, 
has asserted, ‘All natural science is philos- 
ophy, and all true philosophy is natural 
science. All true science is natural philos- 
ophy.’ 

The great pile at a distance presents it- 
self to the mental perspective in barest 
outline. As the imaginer draws nigh, the 
multitudinous variety of the structure is 
limned on the intellectual horizon. The 
enormity of the edifice is overmastering. 
‘“The larger grows the sphere of knowl- 
edge, the greater becomes its area of con- 
tact with the unknown.’’ Various crafts 
must needs arise to disentangle its intri- 
cacies. 

Numerous subdivisions of natural sci- 
ence have resulted. Each gives more and 
more to its specialty. At times, in the close 
scrutiny, the investigator is so near that 
he fails to grasp the whole and see their 
relationship. It is unfortunately a fact, 
as Pearson says, that ‘no man whose nose 
is always on the details of observation is 
a safe fact-gatherer, while no one whose 
head is too high above such necessary 
drudgery is a safe generalizer.’ 

The complexity of nature seems bound- 
less. ‘‘Boundless inward in the atom; 
boundless outward in the whole.’’ 

Biology is the science of life. Elsewhere 
I have asserted that biology is the applica- 
tion of physics and chemistry to living 
matter. It requires little knowledge to 
show that these divisions of science are 
purely arbitrary. After all, they are not 
so much divisions or parts of science, as 
they are simply different methods of look- 
ing at the same mystery. While Laplace 
in his mechanical conception of the world 
asserted that the progress of nature could 
be foretold for all eternity if the masses, 
their position and initial velocities were 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


given, Mach has well said, ‘‘ Physical sei- 
ence does not pretend to be a complete 
view of the world; it simply claims that 
it is working towards such a complete view 
in the future. The highest philosophy of 
the scientific investigator is precisely this 
toleration of an incomplete conception of 
the world and the preference for it rather 
than for an apparently perfect but inade- 
quate conception.’’ It is not, therefore, 
gross temerity which prompts the chemist 
to give thought to the relations of life and 
chemistry, for life is chemistry, chemistry 
applied. It may border on rashness, how- 
ever, to give utterance to those thoughts, 
as masters have lost themselves in such con- 
templations. 


Chemistry has taught man to know aright the 
requirements of mother earth, the conditions 
which must be fulfilled to ensure bountiful crops. 
No longer need virgins be sacrificed to the genius 
of maize, as was done by some tribes of American 
Indians, in order to plead for a generous yield of 
the life-sustaining cereal. (Wiechmann.) 


While science appeals to us from a most 
practical point of view and especially is 
that true for chemistry, it is not to that 
phase of the subject that I desire to direct 
your attention. i 

Before Darwin there was more anticipa- 
tion, but some interpretation, of nature. 
Although preceded by Heraclitus and 
Empedocles, Aristotle appears to have laid 
the foundations of biology. For fifteen 
centuries, with limited exceptions, they 
were unbuilt upon. Then there began the 
gradual growth of the scientific renascence, 
culminating in the Eneyclopedists. Sci- 
ence, however, does ‘not consist solely in 
the description of observed facts.’ 

Biological history for our purposes may 
be schematized as follows: organism, or- 
gan, tissue, cell protoplasm. Altmann’s 
visible grannles, Flemming’s _ threads, 
Frommann’s skeleton, Biitschli’s honey- 
comb, according to Haeckel, are but sec- 


Aprin 28, 1905.] 


ondary products of the differentiation of 
the plasma. 

Latterly, Osler has said, ‘‘ Around the 
nature of cell-organization the battle wages 
most fiercely, and here again the knowledge 
of structure is sought eagerly as the basis 
of explanation of the vital phenomena. 
So radical have been the changes in this 
direction that a new and complicated 
terminology has sprung up, and the simple 
undifferentiated bit of protoplasm has now 
its cytostome, cytolymph, caryosome, chro- 
mosome, and with their somacules and 
biophores. These accurate studies in the 
vital units have led to material modifica- 
tions in the theory of descent.’’ 

It is unnecessary for us to trace fully the 
history of the idea of ‘spontaneous genera- 
tion,’ which has persisted for twenty cen- 
turies. The story has been recommended 
‘to the psychological historian as a laby- 
rinth of error, with glimpses of truth at 
every turn.’ 

Leeuwenhoek, by using a crude micro- 
scope, showed ‘spontaneous generation’ to 
be only apparent, not real. A memorable 
scientific battle was fought over parasitic 
animals. ‘‘Adam was said to have con- 
tained all the human parasites from the 
first—a state hardly consistent with Edenie 
bliss.” Now Darwimismus makes such as- 
sumptions useless. 

Pasteur almost proved that all ‘life 
comes from preexisting life.’ But Tyn- 
dall and Dallinger learned that in many 
eases ‘young and immature germs could 
survive the boiling temperature, growing 
and propagating themselves when the 
liquid subsequently cooled.’ 

Life was in every case traced to other 
life. Its origin remained a profound 
mystery. Man beat in every direction ho- 
ping a door might open. Kelvin suggested 
that germ life may have been a meteoric 
passenger from otherwhere. Allowing 
such arrival gave no answer to the ques- 


SCIENCE. 


643 


tion as to the origin of the life found on 
the meteorite. Helmholtz, in advocacy of 
this ‘cosmozoic hypothesis,’ said, ‘Organic 
life either came into existence at a certain 
period, or it is eternal.’ 

Just a few years ago Professor Riicker 
in his address before the British Associa- 
tion said: ‘‘Perhaps the chief objection 
which can be brought against physical 
theories is that they deal only with the 
inanimate side of nature and largely ignore 
the phenomena of life. It is, therefore, in 
this direction, if any, that a change of 
type may be expected.’’ Before then the 
Count de Gasparin wrote in the Journal 
des Débats, ‘Take care; the representations 
of the exact sciences are on their way to 
become the inquisitors of our days.’ 

Projected as we are upon the stream of 
life, we endeavor to learn first how it con- 
tinues and thus reach its source. This is 
not an altogether illogical method; quite 
the contrary, as it rests upon the great 
principle of true inductive reasoning from 
experience to cause. 

There are two great principles upon 
which the philosophy of nature now rests. 
They are the doctrines of the conservation 
of matter and the conservation of energy. 
These are dependent upon our conception 
of length and time, measured by arbitrary 
standards. A metallic bar is the former 
unit. The revolution of the earth gives 
us a day, which may be shorter or longer 
according to tidal friction. Or the recur- 
ring seasons give us the year unit, depend- 
ing upon the course described by our rela- 
tion to the sun. We are aware of necessary 
calendar changes as a result. And yet 
Cavendish’s idea of science was measure- 
ment! 

These tenets have recently been brought 
into question as a result of the investiga- 
tions pursued in the laboratory where New- 
ton, Clerk-Maxwell, Stokes, J. J. Thomson 
and Rutherford worked. Before the inter- 


644 


molecular phenomena are understood, the 
marvels of the intra-atomie physics have 
amazed a decade accustomed to wonders. 

One form of matter may be converted 
into another. Accepting for the sake of 
argument that this transformation may 
even take place among the elements, and 
it is by no means necessary that we do, we 
may abide a while longer with the idea of 
the discontinuity of matter. Our atomic 
base may be shifted, which is just as well, 
but with our conscious powers and experi- 
mental observations, we are not yet ready 
to say that something is made up of noth- 
ing. Matter occupies space and has 
weight. 

We may, therefore, for the time being 
disregard the metaphysical energism of 
Ostwald, to revert to it again. Through 
the basie studies of thermo-dynamies by 
Willard Gibbs we arrive at the equilibrium 
in physical and chemical systems. Lord 
Kelvin, considering the dissipation of 
energy, reached the logical conclusion that 
permanent equilibrium occurs only when 
availability is a minimum. A point I de- 
sire to make, particularly, here is that the 
limiting brain of man finites the infinite 
in his experiments or actual experience. 

We know life only in its association with 
matter. Yet it is not matter, it occupies 
no space, has no weight, as we know grav- 
ity. The dead cat is under the same 
gravitational influence as before the loss 
of the traditional nine lives. A copper 
wire weighs the same whether the current 
pass or not. A bar of iron neither gains 
nor loses in mass when it is magnetized. 

These latter can do work; they have 
energy. The analogy—a dangerous thing 
not alone in science—is striking. 

We know no matter without energy. Do 
we know any energy except through its 
manifestation on matter? 

The brilliant metaphysical teachings of 
Ostwald demand our utmost consideration, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 539. 


whether we give allegiance or not. In ab- 
stract, his reasoning asserts that we are 
aware of matter only through energy. 
Matter is an assemblage of energy systems; 
there is no matter. All resolves itself into 
the mechanics of energy. Life, electricity, 
heat are elementary energy systems, having 
definite capacity and intensity, as chemical 
entities with their equivalents represent 
our atomic conceptions. 

Is life energy? We know of no mani- 
festation of life without evidence of en- 
ergy. It does not necessarily follow that 
all energy is accompanied by life demon- 
strations. I am not sure but we shall yet 
see that energy manifestations include life. 

A stone rolling from an elevated position 
has kinetie energy by virtue of its motion. 
If its progress be checked by an obstacle in 
its path the translational energy is con- 
verted into heat energy. One form is con- 
verted into another. There is no loss of 
energy. If the obstacle be removed the 
body continues its descent. An impulse 
was necessary. At rest it possessed poten- 
tial energy by reason of its position. To 
acquire that position equal muscular or 
other form of energy was necessary. There 
was no gain of energy. That depended 
upon the combustion of the tissues, a chem- 
ical process, chemical energy. We are ac- 
customed to the idea that all energy may be 
measured either as gram-centimeters or as 
foot-pounds, merely convenient units into 
which other terms are easily reducible. 


Considering life from the energy point of 


view Hibbert says, ‘All other forms of 
energy can be measured in foot-pounds of 
work.’ Therefore, life is not energy. 

I am not altogether sure that we have 
measured the energy of the Réntgen rays. 
The charge on the cathode particle was the 
recent fundamental determination guiding 
J. J. Thomson. Rutherford has just suc- 
ceeded in learning the positive charge on 
the alpha-particle from radium. These 


A ET el Nay 


ApriL 28, 1905.] 


are forms of energy, the nature of which in 
part only has lately become known. Cer- 
tainly it is suggestive that refinements may 
possibly in time give us measurements of a 
life-energy ! 

Energy activities are not seldom actu- 
ated, directed and facilitated by certain in- 
organic or lifeless things. These sub- 
stances, which cause things to happen with 
acceleration, are known technically as cata- 
lytic agents. Sulphur dioxide and oxygen 
when mixed appear to remain so. The 
presence of platinum brings about a rapid 
union. Platinum and other finely divided 
metals convert alcohol into acetic acid, a 
process for a long time attributable only 
to the influence of living organisms. 

In 1828 Wohler bore down the barrier 
between inorganic or dead matter and or- 
ganic substances, supposed to result solely 
through the activity of vital forces. It is 
now well known that certain complicated 
organic compounds of undetermined com- 
position, as the enzymes, act as catalytic 
agents. Complex sugars are broken down 
into simpler sugars. Complex fats are 
built up from simpler constituents. Al- 
though the action may be attributed in 
part to chemical reactions, the details of 
the progressive and continuous action of 
these agents are as yet little understood 
and are demanding much attention at pres- 
ent. 

When complex carbon compounds are 
burned with oxygen, heat is produced. 
The heat of this chemical action is simply 
the resultant of the energy absorbed and 
given out. We have so far secured no 
way of measuring absolutely chemical 
affinity, as we may measure heat in calories, 
for example. When certain organic bodies 
are mixed with oxygen without the pres- 
ence of a living thing, or one of these 
exciters, no evidence of chemical energy, 
within reasonable time, has been noted. 
However, we are by no means sure that 


SCIENCE. 


645 


there are no energy manifestations. The 
exciter facilitates or accelerates its mani- 
festation. The oxygen earried into the 
lungs reacts throughout the animal tissues. 
We are not yet ready to say how this is. 
It is not unfair to assert, however, that the 
energy binding the oxygen atoms together 
in the molecule is perhaps overcome in 
part through the organic catalytic agents 
present. We are aware of cases of sus- 
pended animation in which the organs re- 
turned to the performance of their func- 
tions. 

The term catalyzer has been confined to 
substances and not used in reference to 
energy agencies alone. Grove considered 
the facts of catalysis dependent upon 
voltaic action, ‘to generate which, three 
heterogeneous substances are always neces- 
sary.’ We know that ultra-violet light 
will quicken the union of hydrogen and 
chlorine. By simply holding metallic tin 
at a definite temperature (20° C.) the 
whole crystalline structure is altered from 
tetragonal to rhombic. This does not oc- 
cur at any other known temperature, re- 
quires no foreign substance, and we are 
unable to measure the actual energy in- 
volved. It is not unfair, therefore, to sug- 
gest that energy is converted under certain 
conditions into some transformation we 
have not yet learned to measure. Equally 
must it be true that under conditions this 
unmeasurable form of energy is transmuted 
into a measurable variety. 

To the supporters of the doctrine of vital 
foree, to quote Riicker again, ‘‘the prin- 
ciple of life was not a hidden directive 
power which could, perhaps, whisper an 
order that the floodgates of reservoirs of 
energy should now be opened and now 
closed, and could, at the most, work only 
under immutable conditions to which the 
living and the dead must alike submit. 
On the contrary, their vital foree pervaded 
the organism in all its parts. It was an 


646 


active and energetic opponent of the laws 
of physics and chemistry. It maintained 
its own existence, not by obeying, but by 
defying them; and though destined to be 
finally overcome in the separate campaigns 
of which each individual living creature is 
the scene, yet like some guerilla chieftain 
it was defeated here only to reappear there 
with unabated confidence and apparently 
undiminished foree.”’ 

We have arrived at the point where we 
may say that catalysators direct energy or 
facilitate its activity. So does life. 
is much in common. 

Going back to Ostwald, matter is an 
energy grouping. Catalytic agents then 
must be energy. Life is an agent of catal- 
ysis. In frankness, I am unable to conceive 
matter practically devoid of space occupa- 
tion any more than I can comprehend en- 
ergy except in the manner it is presented 
through its influence on matter. With or 


without the energetics of the distinguished 


German scholar, we may hold to the thesis, 
namely, life is energy or a manifestation 
thereof. 

The experiments of Loeb and Matthews 
on parthenogenesis through the agency of 
dilute saline solutions strike at the root of 
the problem. According to the modern 
ideas of dilute solutions from the investiga- 
tions of Faraday, Hittorf, Kohlrausch, 
Van’t Hoff and Arrhenius the ions have 
electrical charges. Energy is involved, 
availaple. Bohn has recently effected 
similar reproduction through the influence 
of the rays of radium. These are forms 
of energy not yet measured. 

One were devoid of judgment did he not 
let it be clearly understood that he appre- 
ciates the objections that may be raised, 
with reason, in opposition to the mechan- 
ical, physical, chemical or energy explana- 
tion of life. As yet we do not know the 
constitution of the highly complicated 
structures of the carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, 


SCIENCE. 


There 


[N.§. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


nitrogen and sulphur compounds of the 
nucleus; ‘chemical matter,’ as Neumeister 
says. The same could have been truly said 
of the sugars before Fischer’s masterly 
work beginning about a score of years 
ago. Can we say, having learned the 
structure, synthesized the nucleus, we shall 
not be able in the laboratory to give it 
that impulse which launches it upon a 
career of reproduction ? 

Powerful arguments favoring the vital- 
istic theory, consequently opposed to the 
energistic, are retention of form through 
years, reproduction of species and atavistie 
inheritance of character. 

Considering these three in order, it be- 
comes us to show satisfactorily their ac- 
cordance. 

1. Crystals beget like erystals in satu- 
rated solutions of the substance. Crystal- 
line growth is by apposition. This is a 
most familiar phenomenon. Seed, one of 
the means of nature’s reproduction, may 
remain years, centuries, in vaults, as within 
the Egyptian pyramids. When subjected 
to the proper conditions, they sprout and 
reproduce. Does it not appeal to reason 
to assume that the sprouting is just as well 
due to the renewal of the conditions favor- 
able to sprouting, like moisture and proper 
temperature, as to some germ of life which 
may have remained dormant for all those 
years? All knowledge requires hypoth- 
eses. If the seed does not sprout then 
some factor is deficient. A fundamental 
law of chemistry, based on multitudinous 
experiments, is that like begets like. Mon- 
era, Haeckel’s simplest protozoans, either 
the naked (gymnomers) or those with cell- 
walls (lepomera), grow by intussusception, 
or taking of new matter within their in- 
terior. 

2. Substances to be absolutely the same 
must not fail in the least resemblance. No 
two acorns, no two oak trees, no two horses 
are ever exactly alike, although they may 


Apri 28, 1905.j 


have many similarities. The structure of 
the seed, cell or nucleus is complicated, 
else we should already have learned it. A 
simple concrete example will serve to illus- 
trate our point. An equimolecular mix- 
ture of aluminum and potassium sulphates 
in water will erystallize in a definite form 
with a fixed proportion of water. By sub- 
stituting ammonium for the potassium, we 
obtain crystals of the same form, with the 
same molecular proportion of water, yet 
they are different. 

3. It is not difficult, in fact it is a com- 
mon laboratory practice, to change several 
factors, either singly, alternately or simul- 
taneously, so that the body first obtained 
resembles the parent in one or more ways 

or even not at all; yet on changing back 
one factor, the grandson resembles the 
grandfather. 

The nucleus is made up of chemical 
molecules which are dissimilar. We know 
this much of the albumen molecule, namely, 
it is very large and complicated, contain- 
ing from six hundred to a thousand or 
more of the nineteenth century atoms. 
They are combined in groups of variable 
sizes. We have to deal, therefore, with a 
system of several complicated components. 
There, doubtless, is a point at which such a 
system of definite composition may be held 
in perfect equilibrium through any length 
of time. If we add energy or take it 
away, as, for example, heat, the speed of 
the chemical reaction is altered. The reac- 
tion velocity is often reduced one half by 
a range of five degrees. One hundred de- 
grees may cause it to fall to one millionth. 
The slightest change in medium, as adding 
or subtracting water, produces a marked 
acceleration or retardation in the speed as 
well as direction of the reaction. 

It may be urged that when the nuclei 
containing these systems are subjected to 
certain influences, as heat or poisonous sub- 
stances, they no longer germinate. The 


SCIENCE. 


647 


vital force was killed. We may also poison 
the dead catalyzing platinum and it is no 
longer active. These things are no more 
than we should expect. When a single 
factor of a complicated system has been 
changed, as readily happens through the 
agencies mentioned, we have no right to 
ask the same variation in the systems until 
exactly the same components become con- 
cerned in the former way. Ostwald puts 
it thus: ‘As disturbances accumulate, the 
dissipative actions outweigh the accumu- 
lative ones, and the organism goes out of 
commission. ’ 

With or without the energetics of Ost- 
wald, the reasoning appeals to me. It of- 
fers a logical explanation of nature, which 
is growth. By adding, taking away or 
varying the components in any system, we 
may change from a simpler to a more com- 
plex system, or vice versa. 

Bunge, discussing vitalism in physiologic 
processes, has most eloquently said, ‘‘ Many 
centuries may pass over the human race, 
many a thinker’s brow be furrowed, and 
many a giant worker be worn out, ere even 
the first step be taken towards the solution 
of this problem. And yet it is conceivable 
that a sudden flash of light may illumine 
the darkness.’’ Science has no impossible 
boundaries. ‘‘Science will continue to ask 
and to answer even bolder questions. Noth- 
ing can stop its victorious career, not even 
the limitations of our intellect. This, too, 
is' capable of being made more perfect. 
There is no rational ground for thinking 
that the continuous progression, develop- 
ment and ennoblement of type which has 
been going on for centuries on this planet, 
should come to an end with us. There was 
a time when the only living creatures were 
the infusoria floating in the primeval sea, 
and the time may come when a race may 
dominate the globe as superior to ourselves 
in intellectual faculties as we are to the 
infusoria.”’ 


648 


Professor E. B.. Wilson, the retiring ~ 


president of the New York Academy of 
Sciences, has recently addressed that body 
upon ‘The Problem of Development.’ The 
paper reached me just three days ago. It 
contains most interesting information on 
the question of vitalism and mechanism. 
“‘In so far as development may be con- 
ceived as the outcome of an original ma- 
terial configuration in the nucleus, and a 
secondary configuration in the protoplasm, 
- it may be conceived as a mechanical proc- 
ess.”’ 

This leaves unsolved, however, certain 
fundamental elements of the problem, for 
example, ‘the manner and order in which 
the protoplasmic stuffs are formed and as- 

‘sume their characteristic configuration,’ or 

‘how the wonderful phenomena of the re- 
generation of lost parts in the organism 
ean be explained.’ Advances have been 
made in the solution of the problem on the 
mechanical basis, hence Dr. Wilson asks, 
‘by what right does the vitalist demand 
that we shall adopt his hypothesis for the 
portions still unsolved?’ 

I am fully aware that sufficient experi- 
mental data have not been obtained to re- 
duce the complicated phenomena to our 
familiar physico-chemical terms. But as 
a result of his work on the amphioxus and 
the dentalium, Professor Wilson remarks, 
“It is possible, probable, that living bodies 
may be the arena of specific energies that 
exist nowhere else in nature.’ 

Our survey of the development of nat- 
ural philosophy has forced upon us one 
fact, which we can not avoid. It is that 
man’s knowledge of nature has been a 
growth, an evolution. Just as Francis 
Bacon thought, truth in science can only 
be obtained by progressive generalizations. 
This is true whether we accept the teach- 
ing of Darwin or the opposing atavism of 
de Vries. The means whereby we have 
gained that extended knowledge are too 


. SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXE No:539. 


numerous even for»enumeration here. I 
doubt not the ancient Greek philosophers 
would have had some merriment in their 
pity for him who might have suggested the 
existence of such a substance as the torch 
of Satan (phosphorus), which was exhib- 
ited at the continental courts of Europe. 

I am almost overeome with the thought 
of what I may see, when I consider the 
immensity of the panorama presented to 
my venerable predecessors, who happily 
survive this day. Their half century of 
greater experience than mine brought them 
to the light of radium, the penetrating en- 
ergy of Roéntgen, and the phenomena of 
parthenogenesis. Nations whisper their 
wonders thousands of miles through the 
pulsations of energy, which gives life. j 

Acceptance of this philosophy does not 
preclude man’s reaching a higher state of 
perfection; nor does it obviate man, as he 
is, being the highest type this world may 
ever know. It will depend entirely upon 
the factors in the systems. When equilib- 
rium of energy has come about, none will 
be available and life, all life, inorganic as 
well as organic, will cease. Our world will 
have come to an end. The degradation 


-will be as imperceptible as the growth. 


That which is and was returns to that 
which has been forever—the quiescent 
ocean of energy in equilibrium, the source 
and recipient of all life, which we are 
pleased to name as God. Creation’s cho- 
rus is stopped, ‘hid in death’s dateless 
night.’ 

‘‘Gone—all gone—like the light on the 
clouds at the close of day.”’ 


CHARLES BASKERVILLE. 
COLLEGE OF THE CiTy oF NEW YORK. 


INTERPRETATION OF A WATER 
EXAMINATION. 
INTERPRETATION of a water examination 
may be considered from two quite different 
points of view. 


It may mean the private 


Aprit 28, 1905.] 


weighing of evidence by the investigator 
himself, a procedure which finds expression 
in his final opinion, or, it may be his at- 
tempt, often a desperate one, to make an- 
alytical data intelligible to an unscientific 
audience. The first is, of course, necessary 
and legitimate, the second is always of ques- 
tionable policy, and frequently is an un- 
deniable mistake. In former days, when 
‘standards’ were still much in vogue, and 
when the dictum of Wanklyn, that such 
and such limits should not be passed in the 
several items of water analysis, it was in- 
deed a difficult matter, for the analyst to 
escape from ‘explaining’ the analytical re- 
sults to the assembled council of city 
fathers, and deep was the irritation felt 
by those people that the figures given 
could not be explained as clearly as they 
might have been were the case one involv- 
ing the composition of an iron ore. Of 
course, those were times when the chemical 
data alone were considered sufficient where- 
on to formulate a pronouncement as to the 
quality of the water, and it is to be ad- 
mitted that the chemist himself frequently 
found before him a very complex problem 
when he attempted to fit the results of his 
analysis to the sanitary facts known to re- 
late to the water in question. Bacteriology 
was as yet undeveloped and its bearing 
upon the ‘sanitary survey’ had not as yet 
seen the light. A sample of water taken 
anyhow, in any kind of vessel and by any- 
body, was packed off to the chemist; all 
knowledge as to where it came from was 
intentionally withheld and a complete re- 
port of its sanitary qualities was confi- 
dently expected. The writer once received 
a sample of a town supply in a two-ounce 
Lubin extract bottle which still contained 
some of the original perfumery. Is it to 
be wondered at that in those early days a 
good share of diseredit was cast upon a 
water examination? With the advent of 
bacteriology upon the scene, interest was 


SCIENCE. 


649 


greatly awakened. The new science prom- 
ised much, and it seemed that the time had 
come for very positive and ready answers 
to the perplexing questions which had both- 
ered us so long. Not so many years ago 
there met in the city of New York a sizable 
number of men who had gathered for the 
purpose of discussing the merits of a chem- 
ical versus a bacteriological examination of 
water. Advocates of the two methods ad- 
vanced arguments in support of their spe- 
cial views and offered illustrations caleu- 
lated to expose the weak points of their 
opponents. Unfortunately some remains 
of that spirit of rivalry still exist; but those 
who have the widest knowledge of the 
broad field of ‘water supply’ readily admit 
that a competent investigation suitable for 
determining as to the purity of a city’s 
water service can not be undertaken in the 
laboratory of either the chemist or the bac- 
teriologist or the microseopist alone, but 
must be the product of a draft upon the 
sciences represented by all three of those 
men, and must, furthermore, include the 
findings derived from what may be termed 
the ‘sanitary survey.’ I am speaking to 
scientific men, who need no instruction, 
but perhaps over their heads a few laymen 
may be reached who need it sadly. And 
now let it be asked, who are to be classed 
as the laymen? ‘There is but one answer, 
to wit, all who have not given special study 
to this particular subject. The field is so 
wide, is increasing at so rapid a pace and 
eovers such variety of topics, that even 
those interested in this line of work have 
all they can do to keep in touch with the 
changes taking place about them. The 
writer well remembers the great risk he 
once ran of making himself unpopular 
with the mcdical profession. While ad- 
dressing a city council upon the advisa- 
bility of erecting a special form of filter 
for the purification of the public water 
supply, he was interrupted by a council- 


650 


man, who stated that all of the physicians 
in the city were opposed to such a plant, 
and therefore how could the council, com- 
posed, as they were, of laymen, run counter 
to such weight of professional opinion. 
The answer was simple and emphatic, 
namely, that upon such a subject the phy- 
sicians were no less laymen than were the 
councilmen themselves, and that the paper 
prepared by them was of no greater worth 
than it would have been had it been signed 
by all the lawyers or all the clergymen of 
the town. 

Referring to what has been touched upon 
above, it is a mistake to underestimate the 
value of the ‘sanitary survey,’ by which 
we mean a thorough knowledge of the 
source whence a water comes and of the 
OR He for pollution, both constant 
and occasional, to which it may be exposed. 
In the writer’s judgment it is not too much 
to say that if but one form of examination 
be possible, the ‘sanitary survey’ should 
be the one selected. 

Then why not rest satisfied with such 
examination and permanently exclude 
chemistry and bacteriology from water 
cases; and why is not the city engineer an 
authority competent to express final judg- 
ment upon the matter in hand? 

In reply it may be said that because of 
the greatly increased public interest in 
‘water supply’ which has developed dur- 
ing recent years, there has arisen a class 
of men who have devoted nearly their 
whole time to the consideration of water 
questions and who have brought to their 
aid a sufficiency of chemistry, bacteriology 
and microscopy to satisfy the requirements 
of their calling. Such men are, because of 
their special training and experience, en- 
abled to view the question from more than 
one side, and their conclusions have, in con- 
sequence, greater scope. 

Although the writer believes that, taken 
alone, the ‘sanitary survey’ is, in the ma- 


SCIENCE. 


jority of cases, the most important form of 
examination, he begs not to be misunder- 
stood. 

No amount of inspection could be substi- 
tuted for the bacterial count in testing the 
efficiency of a filter plant, nor would it be 
of value in warding off danger to a ground 
water arising from the presence of an un- 
suspected cesspool. 

As showing the utility of the chemical 
examination, take the following instance 
for example: 

A well which was most highly prized 
because of the cool, pleasing taste of its 
water was found loaded with chlorides and 
nitrates. Bacteriology gave no indication 
of pollution, and inspection of the sur- 
roundings was spurred into energy by the 
chemical results alone. Sewage, complete- 
ly oxidized, from neighboring vaults was 
found to account for the abnormal items 
in the analytical results. At the time of 
the examination no harm was being done, 
but would the owner of the well be justified 
in continuing to use such a water and take 
his chances of the purifying action of the 
soil being always effective ? 

It is possible that some objection may 
be raised to the condemning of a water 
which shows as its only objectionable fea- 
ture a chemical evidence of ‘past pollu- 
tion.’ If the pollution be truly past and 
all of the nitrogenous organic matter be 
represented by nitric nitrogen; and, fur- 
ther, if bacterial examination result favor- 
ably, then wherein lies the objection to the 
use of a water which, although once pol- 
luted, has regained its potable qualities? 
All pure waters, it may be contended, 
might be classed under such a head; for, 
after all, we are bound to use water over 
again sooner or later, contrive matters how 
we may. All this is true enough, but there 
is surely a preference as to the length of 
time between the date of present use and 
the period of ‘past pollution.’ 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


— 


ApRIL 28, 1905.] 


It is true that every time we drink fil- 
tered river water we are imbibing a puri- 
fied sewage of greater or less concentration, 
and, with a continued growth of our great 
cities, and the increased pollution of our 
water-sheds, it would seem that the day is 
not far distant when a naturally ‘safe and 
suitable’ water shall become a thing of the 
past, and we shall be forced to employ a 
purified water as our only source of supply. 

Let it be remembered, however, that we 
ean control the artificial purifying devices 
of which we make use, and we ean repair 
them, should they at any time refuse their 
work. 

The case is quite different, however, 
when our safety lies upon the proper op- 
eration of those natural processes of puri- 
fication which are beyond our power to 
direct. Such purification, to be satisfac- 
tory, must appeal to us as being continu- 
ously effective. 

We know very well that the raising of 
water vapor by solar heat will leave objec- 
tionable material behind, and we are satis- 
fied that the result is perfect and that it 
will continue to be so during all time. We 
also know that the filtering and oxidizing 
power of the soil is very great, and in gen- 
eral we are willing to pin our faith upon 
its efficiency. But we can not avoid a feel- 


‘ing of uncomfortable doubt when we note 


that a small amount of soil has been given 
a large quantity of work to perform, and 
we naturally ask, can not the purifying 
powers of such soil be overtaxed, with the 
result that our protective filter will become 
damaged at a point beyond reach of re- 
pair? Let an English case be quoted here: 

A certain farm-house was notoriously un- 
healthy. The inmates had suffered at various 
times from diphtheria and typhoid fever. The 
water had been examined, and was reported to be 
satisfactory. Upon examining the premises it 
was found that there was a water-closet in the 
house. which was in good order, but where the 
contents were discharged was unknown. The 


SCIENCE. 


651 


drains were said to be satisfactory and never to 
get blocked, and upon tracing them, it was found 
that they discharged into a dry-steyned cesspool 
without overflow about four yards from the well, 
both sunk in the gravel, which here was twenty 
feet or more in thickness. This well yielded an 
unfailing supply of water, which was used for all 
domestic purposes, and upon analysis it was 
found to be remarkably free from organic matter. 
It was said to be always cool, bright and spark- 
ling, probably due to its containing a very exces- 
sive amount of chlorides and nitrates derived from 
the sewage percolating into the subsoil and the 
opinion was expressed that the water was a con- 
centrated purified sewage. This was not believed 
at the time, but when the cesspool was filled in 
and the sewage carried elsewhere, the well ran 
dry. There is no doubt that in this case the 
same water was used over and over again. After 
being defiled by the closet, slops, etc., it ran into 
the cesspool, then filtered through the soil, in its 
progress the organic matters becoming completely 
oxidized, and ultimately it found its way back to 
the well, to be utilized again for domestic pur- 
poses. Doubtless at times, possibly after heavy 
rains, the cesspool contents filtered too rapidly for 
complete purification to be effected, and this im- 
pure water may have been the cause of the ill 
health amongst those who consumed it. 


In this instance, as in the one quoted by 
the author, the danger signal was held out 
by the chemical side of the investigation 
alone, the other methods of inquiry failing 
to detect any trace of evil. 

It would seem that bacteriology deals 
with the present and that chemistry, be- 
sides throwing light upon the past, does 
to some degree, prophesy what may happen 
in the future. 

Many a water which the bacteriologist 
has pronounced harmless has been con- 
demned by the chemist because of what it 
might unexpectedly become at some future 
time; and, on the other hand, the bacteriol- 
ogist has time and again shown the pres- 
ence of unlooked-for pollution when the 
chemist might search for it in vain. 

A good instance of the saving of the 
situation by a ‘sanitary survey’ when both 
chemistry and bacteriology show adverse 


652 


reports is to be found in the examination 
of water from a new well or a recently 
Given an old and 
well-situated spring upon a hillside, the 
desire of the owner to ‘improve’ the prop- 
erty with a view of placing the water upon 
the market will commonly result in a dis- 
turbance of the immediately surrounding 
soil. From a sanitary outlook no harm 
has been done the water, and one familiar 
with the situation will offer no objection to 
continuing its use, but both the chemist 
and the bacteriologist will secure analytical 
results which will require to be explained 
to avoid an adverse report. The writer has 
seen many cases of this kind. 

Wells which are newly dug likewise fur- 
nish water of temporary apparent pollu- 
tion. Distinction must here be made to 
allow for actual pollution arising from for- 
eign substances being left at the bottom of 
the finished well. In such instances the 
evidence pointing to contamination will be 
found to persist. 

The tying up of pollution through the 
action of frost is another fruitful source 
of error, if the judgment be controlled by 
the laboratory data alone. Swamp waters 
commonly improve in winter, and samples 
of them will mislead the analyst who is 
unfamiliar with the districts whence they 
come. Again, the same agency will solidify 
surface sources of contamination like those 
which produced such havoe at Plymouth 
and New Haven, and the laboratory exam- 
ination, whether chemical or bacteriolog- 
ical, will, throughout a northern winter, 
utter no prophecy of what is to be expected 
Noth- 
ine short of a thorough sanitary survey 
can be depended upon in such instances. 

The water in a tidal river may be un- 
impeachable during ebb flow and quite the 
reverse at periods of flood. How could an 
analytical examination at the former stage 


‘developed’ spring. 


during the coming thaws of spring. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


of the stream predict what might be ex- 
pected at change of tide. 

Instances very often arise when public 
clamor is heard loudly complaining of the 
taste and smell of water supplied to the 
people. Much irritation is felt whenever 
the senses are offended by its physical con- 
dition, although gross pollution by patho- 
genic organisms will be complacently ac- 
cepted. This tendency of the publie to 
be their own judge as to the suitability and 
safety of the water they are asked to drink 
reminds one of the decision of a Missis- 
sippi court in a case with which the writer 
had to do about a year ago. His honor 
said: ‘‘It is not necessary to weigh with 
tenderness and care the testimony of ex- 
perts. An ordinary mortal knows whether 
water is fit to drink and use.’’ 

Would that the ordinary mortal did 
know. Typhoid fever might then be rele- 
gated to the list of rare diseases, and much 
money and many precious lives be saved. 

When odors in water occur, what is the 
analyst to do? By the time the laboratory 
is reached all smell may have left the 
sample and great discredit of the scientist 
will follow should his statement be that the 
water is sound, when the users thereof 
know to their sorrow that something is the 
matter with it. An examination in situ is 
what is needed in cases of this sort, and a 
view of the storage reservoir backed by 
microscopic detection of the offending or- 
ganisms will do vastly more good than any 
amount of chemical analysis. 

A man now deals with the data of water 
examination in a broad-gauged fashion, 
feeling that the day has gone by for blind 
adherence to cut and dried standards. He 
approaches his decision pretty much as 
does the medical practitioner frame his 
diagnosis at the bedside. It may be that 
the symptoms of the patient do not accord 
with the deseription of the disease as found 
in the books, and the practitioner’s atten- 


ApRIL 28, 1905.] 


tion may be called to those discrepancies 
by a coadjutor more recently from the 
schools, nevertheless the breadth of his ex- 
perience assures the more mature man that 
his judgment is not at fault and it is ex- 
perience that is of value in the end. 

In conclusion, a word may be pardoned 
concerning a matter which has received 
more or less attention of late from the 
public press, namely, the treatment of 
reservoir water with copper sulphate for 
the purpose of destroying suspended or- 
ganisms. No doubt whatever exists that 
a sufficiency of the salt will destroy aquatic 
life, and the amount required to dispose of 
such as produce objectionable taste and 
smell is certainly very small. 

What the public are anxious about, how- 


ever, is whether or not the salts of copper 


are to be classed with those of lead as 
cumulative poisons. Unfortunately, the 
answer to that question is not very satis- 
factory at the present moment. We do 
not possess as much light upon the point 
as we should wish. 

Copper is eliminated by the liver and 
kidneys, and some hold that there is a tend- 
eney towards an accumulation of the metal 
in the liver, and that ‘elimination is only 
complete when eliminating organs are 
sound.’ This appears reasonable. On the 
other hand, we should be reminded that the 
use of copper sulphate for preventing algal 
growth is but occasional, and that no neces- 
sity is at hand for asking the people to 
constantly use a water treated with the 
salt. 

A dose of the chemical is administered 
to the reservoir water; the objectionable 
plants are killed thereby and no further 
dosing is required during a considerable 
interval of time. Let it be noted, there- 
fore, that the amount of copper used is 
minute, that all of it does not remain in 
solution, and that its use is not continuous. 

As to the employment of copper sulphate 


SCIENCE. 653 


for the killing of pathogenic bacteria the 
case is quite different. Under such condi- 
tions the amount of the sulphate required 
has to be greatly increased, and, what is 
still more objectionable, its addition to the 
water supply must be constant, because of 
the continual presence of the organisms 
which require removal. It may well be 
urged that the use of a ‘disinfected’ water 
supply would be opposed by the average 
citizen upon pretty much the same ground 
that he would object to the use of em- 
balmed beef. 

Some modification of the copper process 
for the killing of disease germs may yet be 
suggested which will excite the prejudice 
in the popular mind against ‘chemicals’ to 
no greater degree than does the employ- 
ment of alum in mechanical filtration, but 
that day is scarcely here as yet. Let it not 
be forgotten, however, that its use for re- 
moval of those algal growths which have 
given us so much trouble in the past is to 
be encouraged, and that the authors of the 
process are deserving of much praise for 
their contribution to the growing field of 
‘water supply.’ 

W. P. Mason. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 
A NEW INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FISHES. 


i 


A Futt fourth of a century had passed since 
the publication of a general work in English* 
on systematic ichthyology before a new one 
appeared to take its place. It was in 1880 
that ‘An Introduction to the Study of Fishes 
by Albert C. L. G. Giinther’ appeared. That 
work, however, by no means represented the 
condition of science at the time of its issue, 
and was replete with errors as well as 
anachronisms of all kinds. Its author was 


*E. Perrier’s corresponding portions of his 
French work (Traité de Zoologie) were mostly 
published less than a year before (1903), and, if 
put in the same typographical dress, would cover 
nearly two fifths more space. 


604 


then the custodian of the fish collection of the 
British Museum as well as ‘keeper of the 
zoological department.’ His successor as 
custodian of the fishes, Dr. George A. 
Boulenger, is one of the authors of a new 
work covering practically the same ground as 
Dr. Giinther’s. The new work labors under 
the disadvantage of having no real descriptive 
title-page. On a bastard title-page it is 
designated as ‘The Cambridge Natural His- 
tory—Volume VII.,’ and on the true title-page 
it has the following legends apportioned and 
punctuated as here represented. 


HEMICHORDATA 
By S. F. Harmer, [etc.]. 
ASCIDIANS AND AMPHIOXUS 
By W. A. Herdman, [etc.]. 
FisHes (Exclusive of the Systematic Account of 
Teleostei) 
By T. W. Bridge, [etc.]. 
Fisues (Systematic Account of the Teleostei) 
By G. A. Boulenger, [etc.]. 
London 
Macmillan and Co., Limited 
New York: The Macmillan Company 
1904 


We are thus compelled to refer to it as the 
Cambridge Natural History, Volume VII. 

The new work, in line with modern concepts 
respecting the vertebrates or chordates, in- 
cludes not only the lower types of the verte- 
brates of the old naturalists, but also the 
Hemichordata and Urochordata or Tunicates. 
The old class of fishes of the ‘ Introduction’ 
is replaced by the*three classes for more than 
a generation past adopted in America, that 
is, the ‘Cephalochordata’ (Leptocardians), 
the ‘Cyclostomata’ (Marsipobranchs) and 
the ‘ Pisces’ (Teleostomes or fishes proper). 

It may be noted that the names Hemi- 
chordata, Urochordata and Cephalochordata 
are given as terms of subphyla and not as 
class names. The constituents of the first, 
for Dr. Harmer, are the ‘orders’ Enterop- 
neusta, Pterobranchia and Phoronidea, each 
of which has been considered by some as a 
class, or, at least, far removed from the others; 
the second is universally known as the class 
of Tunicates or Ascidians, the third as the 
class Leptocardians. The three subphyla 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


thus named are succeeded by another sub- 
phylum—‘IV. Craniata,’ which is divided 
into two classes: ‘Class Cyclostomata,’ gen- 
erally called Marsipobranchs or Myzonts, and 
‘Class Pisces,’ including the Selachians and 
true fishes, or Teleostomes. 


II. 


The three ‘orders’ aggregated as ‘ Hemi- 
chordata’ can not be considered to have been 
proved beyond all cavil either to be closely 
related or to be true Chordata. The student 
may find a summary of the arguments respect- 
ing the ‘ affinities of the Hemichordata’ at the 
end of the chapter on the group (pp. 30-32). 
It is not long since almost all the known 
species of Enteropneusta were supposed to be 
referable to one genus—Balanoglossus. Now 
they are distributed among three families and 
the oldest of them appears under the guise of 
Ptychoderide. 

II. 


The ‘ Urochordata’ or Tunicata have been 
elaborated in excellent style by the eminent 
monographer of the ‘class’ (Professor Herd- 
man), who has long been known in connection 
with those animals. In spite of the many 
different changes and systems that have been 
proposed by others while he has been actively 
engaged on the group, he retains practically 
unchanged the system he employed in the 
Encyclopedia Britannica (1888) and _ the 
Journal of the Linnean Society (1891). It 
is noteworthy, too, that the name Cynthia is 
still kept, although there is a well-known 
genus of Fabricius (1808) so termed long 
before Savigny’s genus (1827) was established. 
That the retention was deliberate and in spite 
of the facts is evident from a note to the 
same in the Journal of the Linnean Society 
(23, 576), where the substitute ‘ Halocynthia, 
Verrill, is [declared to be] merely a synonym.’ 


IV. 


The main structural features of the 
‘Cephalochordata’ are passed under review 
in an able manner and the latest sources of 
information made.use of. The classification 
is derived by Professor Herdman from Mr. 
Walter Tattersall; that author is evidently 


APRIL 28, 1905.] 


well informed, but his logical faculty and 
taxonomic tact will be disputed by some at 
least. | 

The ‘sixteen species’ recognized are 
grouped under two genera—Branchiostoma, 
“having biserial gonads and symmetrical meta- 
pleura’ and Asymmetron ‘with uniserial 
(right) gonads and asymmetrical metapleura.’ 
One of the species referred to Branchiostoma 
is the B. pelagicum. According to the orig- 
inal describer ‘buccal tentacles are absent,’ 
and this statement has been corroborated by 
all subsequent observers; the last examiner of 
the species (G. H. Parker, in November, 1904) 
had an ‘ exceptionally well preserved specimen ’ 
and could ‘confirm the statement of most 
previous writers that oral cirri are absent.’ 
Parker was also, like C. F. Cooper, ‘ unable 
to find any evidence of branchial apparatus.’ 
Furthermore, the gonads, though in two rows, 
“are often so closely pressed together near 
the median plane that they there seem to 
form a single median row.’ Surely a species 
distinguished by such trenchant characters 
and also distinguished by its pelagic life is 
entitled to distinction from all its fellows! 
Owen and the old naturalists generally con- 
sidered the development of the mouth as ‘a 
longitudinal fissure with subrigid cirri on 
each side’ to be an ordinal character of the 
“ Cirrostomi’” named for Branchiostoma. Un- 
questionably the character is of generic value 
at least, and the form differing so decidedly 
from it may be ranked not only as the type 
of a distinct genus (Amphioxides), but dis- 
tinct family (Amphioxidide). The details 
of the oral structure, however, remain to be 
made known. 

A flagrant violation of a principle of 
nomenclature adopted by all learned societies 
may next be noticed. The name Asymmetron 
has been adopted for all the species ‘ with 
uniserial gonads. Now, Asymmetron was 
not named till 1893, and long before (1876) 
Peters had named a genus Hpigonichthys for 
a species which is believed by the author to 
be congeneric with Asymmetron. If such 
were the case, the prior name, Hpigonichthys, 
should of course have been used for the genus. 
As a matter of fact, however, some natural- 


SCIENCE. 


~ 


655 


ists at least will adopt the names Epigo- 
nichthys and Asymmetron, as well as Par- 
amphioxus, for special species or groups of 
species thrown together in Asymmetron. It 
may be added that the fact that Peters did 
not appreciate the proper generic characters 
is not a necessary corollary of the question at 
issue; he gave the name in connection with 
an undoubted species and tried to define it. 


V. 


The ‘Craniata,’ or rather the pisciform 
craniates, of course are the chief subjects of 
the volume, the ‘craniata’ being equivalent 
to all the vertebrates of the old naturalists be- 
fore the recognition of the Branchiostomids. 
These are considered under two classes, (1) the 
Cyclostomata and (2) the Pisces. The former, 
and of the latter the Elasmobranchii or 
Selachians, and the Ganoids of the Miillerian 
system, have been treated by Professor Bridge; 
the Teleosts are summarized by Dr. Boulenger. 
The elaborate chapters on the anatomical sys- 
tems and organs are also by Professor Bridge. 

On the whole, the chapters on anatomy and 
physiology are apt and as full as could be rea- 
sonably expected in a volume of the series for 
which it was prepared. That on ‘the 
skeleton’ (Chapter VIII.), however, is in- 
sufficient in view of the extreme importance of 
the various osseous elements in the determina- 
tion of the relationships of all fishes. All 
the non-teleost fishes might be lost and their 
made good, numerically, by the dis- 
coveries of a single year, yet all the space 
that is devoted to the skeletology of a teleost 
fish is less than ten pages (pp. 205, 211-216, 
237, 240, 246); the species selected, the trout, 
is also not typical, a far better representative 
being the one chosen very many years ago by 
Cuvier and retained by Giinther—the perch. 
The nomenclature of the bones is that current 
for a number of years past in Europe. Long 
ago, however, Sagemehl expressed doubt 
whether a single bone of ‘the fish’s skull was 
really a homologue of any in the terrestrial 
vertebrates. We fully share in that doubt, or 
rather belief, but for the present may retain 
the time-honored names derived from mam- 
malian anatomy for the fish’s bones. We can 


loss 


656 


not, however, do so for the elements of the 
shoulder-girdle; the bones of the trout for 
which the names scapula and coracoid have 
been used (p. 240) can not possibly be the 
homologues of the bones so called in the mam- 
mals. The fish bones only became developed 
as independent bones in those fishes which had 
originated from a holostean stock and when 
later specialization in a direction toward the 
Acanthopterygian type had supervened. To 
call such bones scapula and coracoid is to in- 
culeate a most misleading concept of piscine 
morphology and development. 

Attention may be called to another state- 
ment whose ambiguity will mislead. It is 
said (p. 252) that ‘in some of the wrasses 
(Labrus), the inferior [pharyngeal] teeth are 
opposed to superior teeth on the upper 
pharyngeal bones’; experiments show that 
this sentence may be interpreted to mean that 
teeth on the superior pharyngeals are excep- 
tional, whereas they are there, as a rule, not 
only in all Labrids, but in Acanthopterygian 
and many other fishes. Professor Bridge 
doubtless knows better, but has been unhappy 
in the use of words. 

Another phase that may perplex the student 
is the frequent incongruity between the names 
of fishes referred to in the anatomical chapters 
and those adopted in the systematic portion 
of the work, such as Mesoprion (p. 235) for 
Lutjanus (p. 663), Lutodeira (p. 256) for 
Chanos (p. 294), Rhombus (p. 275) for: Psetta 
(p. 687), and the like. Such are simple 
enough, but there are some names which Pro- 
fessor Bridge evidently introduced without 
knowing what forms were involved. In one 
place (p. 262), the statement is made that 
“ciliated epithelium has been found in the 
intestine of a few species (e. g., Rhombus 
and Syngnathus acus).” The 
Rhombus here is by no means the same as the 
Rhombus but the Stromateus 
In a second place (p. 275), it is 
said that ‘in Labrus labrax there are about 
sixty’ pyloric ceca: now no Labrus nor labrid 
has any ceca and the bass (Labrax of Cuvier) 
has only about five; consequently some other 


aculeatus 


elsewhere, 
aculeatus. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


explanation must be found.* Perhaps the 
statement was based on some hexagrammid, 
called by Pallas Labrax, which has numerous ~ 
ceca. In a third place (p. 357), we are told 
that ‘stridulating sounds may also be pro- 
duced by the friction of the upper and lower 
pharyngeal teeth, as in a species of mackerel 
(Scomber brachyurus)’; there is no mackerel 
so named, but the fish meant is the ‘ common 
horse mackerel (Caranz trachurus)’ whose 
relatives are mentioned elsewhere by Professor 
Bridge (p. 363) as ‘horse mackerels (Caranx 
hippos),’ and which represent a peculiar family 
—the Carangide (p. 677). 

In ‘An Introduction to the Study of 
Fishes’ (p. 177), the law was dogmatically 
declared that ‘with regard to size, it appears 
that in all teleosteous fishes the female is 
larger than the male; in many cyprinodonts 
the male may be only one sixth or even less 
of the bulk of the female. In ‘The Cam- 
bridge Natural History’ (p. 413) it is cor- 
rectly stated that, ‘as a rule, in fishes females 
are more numerous than males, and generally 
they are larger, but to both statements there 
are notable exceptions.’ It is noteworthy that 
in the very family of Cyprinodonts of which 
the males were declared to be very much 
smaller than the females, there is at least one 
notable exception in the case of the genus 
Mollienisia (Mollienia?), whose males are 
much larger than the females. Furthermore, 
the males contrast with the females in bril- 
liant coloration and especially in the greatly 
expanded dorsal fin. Some other fishes whose 
males are larger than the females belong to 
the families Callionymide, Gobiesocide, 
Labridz, Gobiide, ete. 

In almost all cases, so far as known, 
the larger size of the male is coordinated with 
brillianey of coloration or some other sec- 
ondary character. In short, the rule seems to 
be that when the males are brilliantly colored 
or have other marked secondary characters 
they are larger than the females. 

“The only examples of viviparous fishes,” 

* Neither the origin nor cause of the strange 
confusion of names of two unrelated genera into 


factitious species has been indicated by Professor 
Bridge, 


APRIL 28, 1905.] 


it is claimed, “occur in certain families of 
elasmobranchs, and in:five families of teleosts, 
viz., the Blenniide, the Cyprinodontide, the 
Scorpzenide, the Comephoride and the Em- 
biotocide ” (p. 418). To this list should be 
especially added the remarkable Zoarcide and 
Brotulidee combined in a single family under 
the name Zoarcide in the systematic part of 
the work (pp. 712, 713). Some fresh-water 
‘“Seombresocide’ of the genus Zenarchopterus 
are also viviparous (p. 638). Certain Cyprin- 
idze (p. 584), Siluridsee and Cottide have also 
been declared to be viviparous, but the claims 
have not been quite fully proved. 


VI. 


The Cyclostomata are ranked as a class, and 
the two principal divisions, called ‘ Myxino- 
ides’ and ‘ Petromyzontes,’ are: designated as 
‘orders’ § Why the old names Marsipo- 
branchii, Hyperotreti, and Hyperoartia should 
be abandoned is not obvious. The groups, 
however, are valued in accordance with gen- 
eral current usage, but the last two are of at 
least subclass rather than ordinal value. The 
immense gap between the ‘ Myxinoides’ and 
‘Petromyzontes’ is apparently scarcely ap- 
preciated by most naturalists, but it was rec- 
ognized by Ray Lankester a generation ago 
(1877) in his distinction of the two groups as 
classes. The differences are fundamental and 
affect all parts and organs. If, for example, 
Professor Bridge had presented a figure of the 
auditory organs of Petromyzon to compare 
with those of Myxine and other types (p. 388), 
the contrast could not fail to strike the ob- 
server with the requisite knowledge of com- 
parative anatomy to judge of the facts. 

The ‘Myxinoides’ are divided into two 
families—‘ Myxinide’ and ‘ Bdellostomatide.’ 

The ‘ Petromyzontes’ are aggregated in a 
single family, as usual called ‘ Petromyzont- 
ide. (It should be Petromyzonide.) Pro- 
fessor Bridge evidently had an imperfect 
knowledge of the species. He mentions (p. 
426) Petromyzon with ‘three species widely 
distributed in Europe,’ and just afterwards 
states that ‘Ichthyomyzon, Bathymyzon, 
Entersphenus [= Entosphenus] and Lampetra 
are also northern forms.’ Lampetra was orig- 


SCIENCE. 


697 


inally distinguished for two of the ‘three 
species widely distributed in Europe.’ The 
genera mentioned fall into two primary 
groups: Petromyzon, Bathymyzon and Ich- 
thyomyzon in one, Lampetra and Hntosphenus 
in the other. 

The statement is made that ‘a new genus 
and species from Chili has been recently de- 
seribed under the name of Macrophthalmia 
chilensis. The supposed new type was later 
(1902) shown by its author (L. Plate) to be 
simply a Stage (‘ Jugendstadium’) in the de- 
The 


hemisphere 


velopment of the Geotria chilensis. 
Petromyzonids of the 
differ remarkably from those of the northern 


in their development as well as otherwise. 


southern 


VII. 

The Elasmobranchii are treated in the old- 
fashioned style. After the extinet orders 
Pleuropterygii (p. 486), Ichthyotomi (p. 488) 
and Acanthodei (p. 440), the now extant types 
are considered under the orders Plagiostomi 
(p. 442) and Holocephali (p. 466), and the 
Plagiostomi are, as of old, divided directly 
into Selachii and Batoidei (p. 457). Such a 
division is certainly not expressive of the 
facts of morphology. There can be no ques- 
tion that the structural differences between 
the so-called Notidanide and Chlamydo- 
selachide, on the one hand, and all the other 
Selachians, are of much more morphological 
significance than those between the sawfishes 
of the families Pristiophoride and Pristide. 
The Heterodontide also appear to be widely 
differentiated from the others, though not as 
much so as might be inferred from the old-time 
allusions to them. In fine, the segregation 
into (1) Diplospondyli or Opistharthri (Noti- 
danide), (2) Prosarthri (Heterodontide), (3) 
Tectospondyli (sharks without anal and rays) 
and (4) Asterospondyli (other living sharks) 
appears to comport best with structural and 
developmental facts as well as with the pale- 
ontological record. 

The name Notidanide has been used just 
because it is the term employed by Professor 
Bridge, but it should be discarded. Professor 
Bridge, apparently, is content to take a name 
as he finds it without caring whether it is 


658 SCIENCE. 


justified by history or not. A number of the 
names adopted by him would be discarded by 
those who were willing to obey the codes of 
nomenclature formed by naturalists whose 
large experience had convinced them of the 
necessity of adherence to rules. The per- 
sistent violator of such rules places an ob- 
stacle in the path of the zoological student 
and helps to prolong unhappy discord and diffi- 
culty. Too often, however, he assumes the 
attitude of the wolf to the lamb! Examples 
of family names wrongly used are Notidanide 
(for Hexanchide), Seylliide (for Seylliorhin- 
ide), Spinacide (for Squalide) and Trygon- 
ide (for Dasybatide). The Linnean name 
Squalus is not used at all and the name 
Lemargus, though at the same time much 
younger than Somniosus, and long preoc- 
cupied, is still retained. Of course it may be 
said nomenclature is of trivial importance and 
too much has been made of it, but if so why 
should those who regard it from such a stand- 
point be obstinate in ignoring rules when ad- 
herence need not affect them while it does 
others ? 

There is, too, sometimes inconsistency be- 
tween Professor Bridge’s definition of a group 
and its contents. The family Lamnide is said 
to be composed of “large stout-bodied sharks 
with two dorsal fins, the first just behind the 
pectoral fins, the second, which is small, op- 
posite the small anal fin; * * *. Tail with a 
prominent lateral keel on each side. * * * 
Branchial clefts very wide.” It would thus 
appear as if Professor Bridge had adopted the 
family with the same limits that had been 
given to it by Miiller and Henle and American 
ichthyologists. On looking at its contents, 
however, it appears that the genera for which 
the families Odontaspidide (or Carchariide) 
and Alopiide have been framed are referred to 
it. Yet Odontaspis certainly has not the first 
dorsal ‘just behind the pectoral fins,’ nor the 
second or anal ‘small’ (but unusually large), 
nor ‘the tail with a prominent lateral keel.’ 
Nor does Alopecias (properly Alopias) agree 
better. That genus has not the first dorsal 
‘just behind the pectoral fins,’ nor ‘the tail 
with a prominent lateral keel,’ nor the 
‘branchial clefts very wide.’ As Profe-sor 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No: 539. 


Bridge had recognized the importance of the 
differentiating characters in thé diagnosis of 
the Lamnide, he should have recognized the 
families Odontaspidide (or Carchariide) and 
Alopiide by name. 


A word may be in place as to Alopias and. 


Alopecias. It is true that Alopecias was the 
ancient Greek name of the thresher, but 
Rafinesque thought it was too long and pre- 
ferred to give a new name to the genus (as 
he had a perfect right to do); he selected 
Alopias, which can be perfectly and legiti- 
mately formed from @47z0c and the suffix -ias. 
Miiller and Henle first substituted Alopecias, 
but in their great work reverted to Alopias: 
Alopias it should be. 

Another notable case of inconsistency is 
manifest in the treatment of the family 
‘ Seylliide ’ (Scylliorhinide). That family is 
defined as being ‘oviparous,’ having ‘egg- 
cases large, quadrate,’ ete. (p. 446). To it 
are referred ‘ Chiloscyllium, ‘a widely dis- 
tributed genus,’ and Crossorhinus (Orecto- 
lobus). Yet both of those genera were shown 
in 1901, by Edgar R. Waite, to be ovovivi- 
parous, like most selachians, and referred to 
distinct families, the Hemiscylliide and 
Orectolobide. 

\au0l 

The non-teleost ‘Teleostomi’ are disposed 
of in a somewhat peculiar manner. In the 
group are included the ‘order I. Cross- 
opterygii’ (p. 476), ‘order II. Chondrostei 
(Acipenseroidei)’ (p. 485), and ‘order III. 
Holostei (Lepidosteoidei)’ (p. 495) and from 
it are excluded the ‘subclass III. Dipneusti 
(Dipnoi)’ (p. 505). It appears to be more 
than problematical whether such an arrange- 
ment is the best expression of the present 
state of our knowledge of the fishes involved. 
The relationship of the primitive Cross- 
opterygii and Dipneusti was so close that 
they were confounded in one and the same 
group (suborder Ganoidei crossopterygide) 
by Huxley, and the gap between the two ap- 
pears to be much less than that between the 
Crossopterygii and the nearest related of the 
existing fishes. Further dissent need not be 
expressed here. It may be recalled, however, 
because the discovery is so recent, that George 


LEE LIED a aa ie 


Aprin 28, 1905.] 


Wagner (1904)* has recorded the presence of 
a scaly zone behind the gill cavity, as well as 
the existence of a pair of minute barbels in 
Polyodon, thus falsifying the characters body 
‘apparently scaleless’ and ‘ barbels absent’ at- 
tributed to the family Polyodontide by Bridge. 

The Teleostei, including almost all the liy- 
ing fishes, have been classified by Boulenger, 
and the work is worthy of that master of 
taxonomy and verbal expression of relation- 
ships. The group, formerly and generally 
designated as a subclass, is degraded to ordinal 
rank, and all the chief divisions, mostly called 
orders by American and some other ichthyol- 
ogists, are designated suborders. Of the sub- 
orders there are eleven. a 

A large number of the groups familiar to 
American ichthyologists are accepted with 
practically the same limits as are current in 
the United States, but always with the inferior 
rank indicated, the orders being designated by 
Boulenger as ‘suborders.’ Such are the (1) 
Malacopterygii, (8) Symbranchii, (4) Apodes, 
(9) Anacanthini, (10) Acanthopterygii, (11) 
Opisthomi, (12) Pediculati and (13) Plecto- 
enathi. Other suborders have _ received 
families which had been ejected from other 
groups, the suborders thus enlarged being the 
(5) Haplomi, (6) Heteromi and (8) Per- 
eesoces. Another suborder (2. Ostariophysi) 
has been made to include the Nematognathi 
and Plectospondyli, the main difference from 
American practise being in the fusion of the 
groups, for the relations of the constituents 
of the so-called ‘suborder’ have long been 
recognized, as has the group itself as a ‘ super- 
order.’ \ 

How divergent this arrangement is from 
that long adopted in Europe is told by 
Boulenger (p. 548). “In the classification 
of Giinther, which has been generally in use 
in [England] for the last thirty years, the 
Teleosts were divided into six principal groups, 
of ordinal rank: J. Acanthopterygii; II. 
Acanthopterygii Pharyngognathi; III. Ana- 
eanthini; IV. Physostomi; V. Lophobranchii; 
VI. Plectognathi. Group [order] I. corre- 
sponds to sub-order 6 (part), 7 (part), 8 (part), 
10 (part), 11 and 12 of the present work; 

* ScIENCE, XIX., pp. 554, 555, April 1, 1904. 


SCIENCE. 


659 


Group II. to sub-order 10 (part); Group III. 
to sub-order 9 and 10 (part); Group IV. to 
sub-order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (part), and 8 (part); 
Group V. to sub-order 7 (part); and Group 
VI. to sub-order 13. 

Some of the modifications introduced into 
the system are rather startling. The 
Murenide, we are told, differ from the other 
Apodes in that their dentigerous bones are 
the palato-pterygoid, the maxillaries being 
absent, while in the Anguillide and others the 
dentigerous bones are the maxillaries. It is 
difficult to believe that the dentigerous bones, 
specialized as they are, should be so different 
homologically. Exception must also be 
taken to the reference of the genus Derichthys 
to the family Anguillide. That genus has 
both intermaxillaries and maxillaries, and if 
it must, perforce, be referred to some former 
order, it is with the Symbranchii and by no 
means the Apodes that it should be associated. 
Anyway, it is the representative of a very 
distinct family—Derichthyide. Another 
group whose new allocation we can not assent 
to is the Saccopharyngide. The fishes of that 
family differ markedly from the true Apodes 
by the absolute want of all opercular and 
branchiostegal as well as various other bones, 
and, indeed, have no similarity, except in 
elongation of body, to the eels. They are 
more likely to be divergents from some stomli- 
form stock. From all other fishes, however, 
they are widely differentiated, and well en- 
titled to rank as the equivalent at least of the 
suborders of Boulenger—the Lyomeri. 

The Comephoridz are extended to embrace, 
besides Comephorus, the recently described 
Cottocomephorus as well as Anoplopoma and 
Triglopsis. Dr. Boulenger expresses the 
opinion (p. 697) that ‘no doubt can be enter- 
tained as to the propriety of referring 
[Comephorus] to the neighborhood of Ano- 
plopoma, but after a careful comparison of 
specimens the reviewer is unable to appre- 
ciate a resemblance sufficient to entail ap- 
proximation in the same family. We may well 
avail ourselves of the technical character ad- 
mitted by Boulenger himself; in Comephorus, 
‘the second suborbital is not produced over 
the cheek, a unique exception to the main 


660 


characteristic of this division,’ and this alone 
will permit us to keep Anoplopoma apart as 
the type of a distinct family, Anoplopomids 
(or Anoplopomatide, if you will), since in 
this genus the suborbital bone is ‘ prolonged 
over the cheek towards the przoperculum’ 
(p. 6938). 

Triglopsis is unquestionably a_ typical 
Cottid and scarcely distinguishable generically 
from the common Cottus or Oncocottus quad- 
ricornis. 

If as to these (and a number of other 
groups) we must agree to differ, it is gratify- 
ing to find that such a self-reliant investigator 
as Dr. Boulenger, who would rather differ than 
not, has independently reached the same con- 
clusions as American naturalists in many 
cases, and has correspondingly abandoned the 
views so long current in Europe. For ex- 
ample, he has recognized the distinctions and 
mutual relations of the families of Hemi- 
branchii, Scleroparei, Pediculati and Plecto- 
enathi, or at least most of them, which were 
so long denied by the Giintherian school. 
There is, too, a notable agreement or approxi- 
mation to agreement in very many other re- 
spects. 

The recognition of the high rank of the 
Discocephali is also a triumph of reason over 
prejudice and leadership. Its'type, Hcheneis, 
was declared by Dr. Giinther in ‘ The Intro- 
duction’ (p. 460) to be closely allied to ‘the 
genus Hlacate, from which it differs only by 
the transformation of the spinous dorsal fin 
into a sucking organ’! Gill, after a study 
of the skeleton (1883) declared that Echeneis 
‘differs in toto from Elacate’ and revived a 
name given long before by Bleeker. Never- 
theless, a man who gave some consideration 
to osteological characters (F. A. Smitt), in his 
‘Seandinavian Fishes’ (p. 89), thought the 
‘genus may still lay claim to a place among 
the Scombride, though the family-diagnosis 
can scarcely notice all such variations’! 
Boulenger is willing to be influenced by the 
characters and, therefore, remarks (p. 691) 
that, ‘in spite of a superficial external re- 
semblance to the genus Hlacate, the sucking- 
fish bear certainly no affinity to that genus 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


nor to other Scombriformes, as first observed 
by Gill.’ 

There is the usual statement (p. 593) in 
ichthyological works, that the ‘ only European 
representative of the family’ Siluride is the 
Silurus glanis. Over twenty-two centuries 
ago, however, Aristotle described the habits of 
a Grecian species differing much from those 
of the Silurus glanis, and Agassiz and Gar- 
man have recognized the old Glanis as a dis- 
tinet species closely related to one of Asia 
(S. asotus); it is the Sitlurus (or Para- 
silurus) Aristotelis. 

The old ‘ Introduction’ purported (very mis- 
takenly) to give the names of all genera sup- 
posed to be valid and diagnoses of very many 
of them. The new work merely gives the 
names of most of the genera of each family 
or only the ‘principal genera.’ None of the 
genera are diagnosed as many were in the 
introduction. 

Typographical or authorial slips are not 
numerous. <A few of them, however, might 
perplex the reader and consequently may be 
noticed here. The name Anostomus, properly 
used for a genus of Characinids (p. 576), also 
appears as a generic name under Mugilide (p. 
640); Agonostomus is the actual name of the 
Mugiloid genus. Trichodontide is a family 
name of certain Perciformes (pp. 654, 633) 3; 
the name appearing for fishes of the suborder 
Jugulares (p. 704) is merely a slip for 
Trichonotide (p. 706). In the statement that 
the family Lipogenyide ‘has lessened the 
gap between the Lyomeri (Halosauride) and 
Heteromi (Notacanthide) of Gill, Lyomeri 
(p. 622) is evidently a lapsus for Lyopomi. 
Lyomeri (p. 622) is properly the name of 
the group represented by Saccopharyngide. 
Gnathacanthus (p. 695)is a slip for Gnathana- 
canthus, the latter meaning exactly the op- 
posite of the former. The Connecticut in- 
vestigator of the origin of the lateral fins 
(James K. Thacher) is misnamed ‘ Thacker’ 
(p. 245). 

TX 

The differences between the new ichthyolog- 
ical school of Britain and that of America 
result chiefly from the different modes of ap- 
proach to the subject. Dr. Boulenger had 


AprIL 28, 1905.] 


long concentrated his attention chiefly on 
reptiles and amphibians, and the orders of 
those classes admitted by him are trenchantly 
separated by well-marked osteological charac- 
ters. When he entered the ichthyological 
field he found that orders generally recognized 
in that class had not the same morphological 
value as the reptilian ones, and naturally 
groped around till he conceived he found a 
corresponding one in the group generally 
ranked as a subclass—Teleostei. The Amer- 
ican naturalists took the orders as they found 
them left by their predecessors in the field, 
but a little examination and comparison 
' showed that differences manifest within each 
ot the large orders were of even greater mor- 
phological value than those used to differen- 
tiate the old orders. Some of those orders were 
consequently much contracted, as the Mala- 
copterygii, Apodes, Anacanthini, Acantho- 
pterygii and Plectognathi, and types ejected 
therefrom were set apart as of equal value, 
such as the Nematognathi, Plectospondyli, 
Symbranchii, Heteromi, Opisthomi, Pediculati 
and others. While these may not compare 
with the reptilian orders, they do with the 
mammalian and avian. One who has derived 
his knowledge of the orders of mammals and 
birds from a comparative examination of their 
skeletal features, and not from definitions in 
books alone, must admit that the average or- 
ders of mammals are not of greater morpho- 
logical importance than the orders or ‘ sub- 
orders’ of fishes, and that most of the orders 
of birds are of much less value. Likewise are 
the most contracted families of fishes of 
greater morphological value than most of 
those of birds—especially the Oscine birds— 
and of as great importance as the majority of 
those of mammals. <A desire to establish for 
the fishes groups comparable with those 
adopted by the numerous students of birds 
and mammals has led American students to 
the narrow limitations of groups manifest in 
their works. The contrary method isolates 
ichthyology and gives a false or distorted idea 
of the significance of the terms order, family 
and genus. An expression of hope may be 
pardoned, therefore, that inasmuch as a long 
established standard for comparison has been 


SCIENCE. 


661 


adopted by many ichthyologists, others may 
in time recognize the propriety of accepting 
such a standard themselves. 

The consideration of other differences must 
be left to other times and other places. Mean- 
while we may congratulate European natural- 
ists that the incubus which has long de- 
pressed: ichthyology in the old world has been, 
to some extent at least, lifted, and that in- 
vestigation may now be so directed that it 
will be profitable to systematic development. 
It was a bad and unscientific method that 
has paralyzed science in Europe for these 
many years, and let us hope that the new work 
may. force it far into the background, if not 
wholly eradicate it. Let it be distinctly un- 
derstood that the only sound foundation for 
scientific ichthyology is a profound compara- 
twe anatomy, and especially osteology of all 
the genera. This truth has long been rec- 
ognized in the United States by some investi- 
gators, but it has not yet been appreciated by 
our museum authorities and in that respect 
the investigators of the old world and espe- 
cially of London will for the present have a 
great advantage over Americans. We may 
envy our European colaborers, but shall be 
glad, nevertheless, to admire and avail our- 
selves of their superior advantages. We shall 
be grateful, also, for the new light which the 
coauthors of the ‘ Cambridge Natural History,’ 
and especially Dr. Boulenger, have thrown 
and will continue to throw on mooted ques- 
tions of morphology and classification. We 
thank them now. THEO. GILL. 


SOIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


THe March number of the Botanical Ga- 
zette contains the following papers: John M. 
Coulter and W. J. G. Land give an account 
of the gametophytes and embryo of Torreya 
taxifolia, a species localized in eastern Florida, 
and closely related to Tazus. The type seems 
to be specialized rather than primitive, with a 
solitary archegonium, remarkably early fertil- 
ization, and no ‘ open cells’ in the proembryo. 
The peculiar ‘rumination’ of endosperm 
proves to be due to the irregular encroach- 
ment of endosperm upon perisperm. Pehr 
Olsson-Seffer discusses the principles of phy- 


662 


togeographic nomenclature, urging the grad- 
ual evolution of terminology rather than its 
rigid prescription. Harry N. Whitford con- 
tinues his discussion of the forest of Flathead 
valley, Montana. J.C. Arthur suggests a set 
of simple terms for the spore structures in the 
Uredinales, whose confused terminology is at 
present extremely perplexing. 


Tne contents of the Journal of Comparative 
Neurology for March are as follows: 

Trvinc Harpesty: ‘ Observations on the Spinal 
Cord of the Emu and its Segmentation.’ With 
four figures. 

S. J. Hormes: ‘ The Selection of Random Move- 
ments as a Factor in Phototaxis.’ 

WALTER C. JoNES, M.D.: ‘ Notes on the Devel- 
opment of the Sympathetic Nervous System in 
the Common Toad.’ With twelve figures. 

Editorial: —Concerning the Genetic Relations of 
Types of Action. The Basis for Taxis and Certain 
Other Terms in the Behavior of Infusoria. The 
Problem of Instinct. 

Isapor H. Corrat: ‘A Review of Some Recent 
Literature on the Chemistry of the Central Ner- 
vous System.’ 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
Tue 165th meeting was held March 8, with 
President Merrill in the chair. The regular 
program included: 


Genesis of Ore Deposits at Bingham, Utah: 

J. M. BoutweE.t. 

Three types of ore were described: (1) lead- 
silver ore in lodes, (2) auriferous copper ore 
disseminated in monzonite and (8) bedded 
pyritous copper ore in marbleized limestone. 
The lode ores are believed to have been trans- 
ported by heated solutions which ascended 
from a deep-lying magma along- northeast- 
southwest fissures, and to have been deposited 
mainly by filling, partially by replacement. 
The disseminated ore was shown to have been 
formed at a period subsequent to the date of 
intrusion, partly from the original constitu- 
ents of the monzonite and partly from copper, 
gold and other elements introduced by highly 
heated solutions or vapors. The immense 
lenticular beds of pyritous copper ore were 
formed by molecular replacement of contact 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


metamorphosed limestone, partly from ele- 
ments emitted by the intrusives contempo- 
raneous with their intrusion and partly by 
subsequent additions from deep-lying portions 
of the magma after the superficial portions 
had at least partially solidified. Since these 
two periods of ore deposition the primary sul- 
phides have been enriched by superficial alter- 
ation to oxides, carbonates, sulphates and sec- 
ondary black sulphides. The complete report 
on this district which has been prepared by 
Mr. S. F. Emmons, Mr. A. Keith and Mr. J. 
M. Boutwell, is now in press and will appear 
shortly as Professional Paper No. 38. 


The Subterranean Gases of Cripple Creek: 

WaLpeMar LINDGREN. 

A brief account was given of the gases 
which issue in some of the Cripple Creek 
mines and which as a rule were not encoun- 
tered until a point below the zone of oxida- 
tion was reached. These gases interfere 
greatly at times with the work of those mines 
in which they appear and several deaths have 
been caused by them. It was found that the 
amount fluctuates according to the stand of 
the barometer. At low barometer it issues 
plentifully from the fissures and the porous 
rocks, and may fill the mine up to the collar. 
With high barometer the gas disappears and 
the change may take place very suddenly. 
The gas as a rule is heavy and accumulates 
in winzes and shafts. Its temperature ap- 
pears to be somewhat higher than that nor- 
mally prevalent in the mine. It was soon 
found that the amount of carbon dioxide, of 
which the gas was believed to consist, was en- 
tirely inadequate to produce the effects no- 
ticed, and analyses show that a great excess of 
nitrogen is present. A sample from the Con- 
undrum mine was kindly analyzed by the 
department of chemistry at Cornell Univer- 
sity, with the following result: 


COs aseptic otek 10.22 
8 er teracna eel cre irr at On 5.7 
1 Precio pens Siode.5 osekad alc 84.1 


Mr. W. H. Weed presented a paper on ‘ An 
Asphalt Lake near Tampico, Mexico.’ 
Geo. Oris SirH, 
Secretary. 


ApriL 28, 1905.] 


THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


Tue 397th regular meeting of the Biolog- 
ical Society of Washington was held February 
11, 1905, with President Knowlton in the 
chair and sixty-eight persons present. Mr. 
Vernon Bailey exhibited a large mussel shell, 
about 13x8 em. in size, from Trinity River 
in southeastern Texas. He noted that the 
species is a common food for raccoons. He 
stated that many pearls are gotten from the 
region mentioned, and that one had sold for 
sixty dollars. Dr. L. O. Howard called at- 
tention to the first authentic record from the 
Pacific coast of Mexico of the presence of the 
yellow fever mosquito (Slygeomia fasciata) 
in this region. The authenticity of the record 
rests in specimens sent to Dr. Howard by a 
physician. 

The first regular paper of the evening was 
by Dr. Albert Mann on diatoms. The speaker 
introduced his subject by referring them to 
the Conjugate of the green alge, and gave 
several reasons for this systematic position. 

He then took up their distribution, stating 
that they are to be found in all latitudes and 
all waters, fresh, brackish or salt; that the 
tropical are the largest and most ornamental, 
but they are most prolific in individuals in 
arctic waters. Geologically he placed their 
first appearance in the Upper or Middle Cre- 
taceous, stating that the claims of Castracane 
and others of their presence in the coal meas- 
ures or even lower are inconclusive. Many 
of the great beds of diatom earth were re- 
ferred to. 

The box-like structure of these alge was 
next illustrated by drawings and the elaborate 
ornamentation of the valves described. Out- 
side of this silica case the organic pellicle, er- 
roneously called a ‘ gelatinous’ sheath, and in- 
side the case the large symmetrical chloro- 
plasts, the cytoplasm, nuclei, vacuoles and oil 
globules were explained by diagrams. 

Under the physiology of the diatoms the 
speaker’ explained the normal processes of 
plant assimilation and stated that their de- 
pendence on sunlight precluded their being 
found living in subterranean waters or deep- 
sea beds; the limit of the latter he placed at 
100 fathoms. Saprophytie diatoms, Nifzschia 


SCIENCE. 


663 


putrida and Nitzschia paradoxa were men- 
tioned, the latter semi-saprophytic. 

The multiplication of the diatoms by fission 
was illustrated by several diagrams and the 
consequent progressive reduction in size com- 
mented on. Sexual reproduction, by which 
the full dimensions were regained, was then 
described and illustrated, three variations in 
method being mentioned. 

The mystery of diatom movement was dis- 
cussed and the various theories explained. 

Dr. Mann closed his paper by briefly enu- 
merating the economic uses of the diatoms and 
by a short description of methods of collection. 
He then exhibited forty-one lantern slides pre- 
pared from the negatives of the Hon. A. A. 
Adee, assistant secretary of state. 

The second paper was by Dr. Edgar A. 
Mearns, on the ‘ Animal Life of Mount Apo, 
of the Philippine Islands.’ He said, as the 
result of a month’s examination of the 
solfatarie voleano Apo, the giant of the archi- 
pelago, its animal life became sufliciently 
familiar to admit of at least a partial com- 
parison with that of the better explored moun- 
tains of Luzon and other islands of the Philip- 
pine group. The constituent fauna of Mount 
Apo partakes largely of peculiar elements, 
which isolate it not only from the lowlands of 
Mindanao, but from the highlands of other 
Philippine islands, and give it a faunal posi- 
tion comparable in importance to that of 
Monte Data in Luzon and Kina Balu in 
Borneo. Several of the genera and most of 
the species of mammals collected on the higher 
portion of Apo are new to science; and three 
genera and more than a score of species of 
birds have been recently added to the Philip- 
pine avifauna from Mount Apo. Dr. 
Stejneger has recently described two new 
species of frogs and one new Gecko from the 
speaker’s Mount Apo collection. 


Tue 398th regular meeting of the society 
was held February 25, 1905, with President 
Knowlton in the chair and thirty-seven per- 
sons present. Under Notes, Dr. C. E. Waters 
referred to the paper of the preceding meet- 
ing by Dr. Mann, on diatoms, and to papers 
by Kramer and White, and asked if it were 


664 SCIENCE. 


probable, as suggested, that petroleum was 
formed from the oil found in the protoplasm 
of diatoms. This was answered in the nega- 
tive by Dr. Mann. Dr. E. L. Greene asked 
if any of the biologists present knew of a 
Rafinesque other than the one who has con- 
tributed so fully to American science. No 
one replied, and Dr. Greene then stated that 
in a list of botanical authors, printed at 
Zurich, Switzerland, in the year 1772, occurs 
the name of P. I. Rafinesque. He is credited 
with the authorship of an essay on economic 
botany, purporting to have been published in 
‘Memoirs of the Society for Economics,’ at 
Berne, the date of the volume being 1763. 

The first regular paper of the evening was 
by Dr. E. L. Greene, on the ‘ Earliest Local 
Flora.’ The speaker gave a sketch of the 
‘Flora Hereynia, a Catalog of the Plants of 
the Harz Mountains,’ by Dr. Joahnes Thalius, 
published at Nordhausen, Germany, in 1588; 
a work in which many new plants are named 
and defined, besides several genera; among 
these Alsinanthemum, a type known since 
Linnezus by the name of Trientalis; also even 
that more than two centuries later indicated 
as if new under the name Hleocharis R. Br. 

The second paper on the program was by 
Mr. David White, on ‘ Fossil Plants of* the 
Group Cyeadofilices.’ This paper was pro- 
fusely illustrated with lantern slides. Mr. 
White gave a synopsis of the* Pteridospermee, 
describing the more important and interesting 
anatomical characters of the stems and 
petioles, and illustrating a number of foliar 
types and fruits more or less definitely corre- 
lated with the other parts of the plants. A 
number of genera, including Hremopteris, 
Triphyllopteris, pseudopecopteris and Megal- 
opteris, were tentatively referred to the 
pteridosperms, which are to be regarded as 
comprising the most characteristic plant life 
of the Carboniferous. Attention was called 
to the antiquity (Middle Devonian) of one of 
the types, Kalymma grandis, and the conse- 
quent probable antiquity of the heterosporous 
Filices which must have antedated the Cycado- 
filices. 

EK. L. Morris, 
Recording Secretary. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. SECTION 
OF ASTRONOMY, PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY. 


Tue regular meeting of the section was held 
at the American Museum of Natural History 
on Monday evening, March 20. The program 
consisted of the following papers: 


The Siath Satellite of Jupiter: S. A. Mircx- 

ELL. 

Dr. Mitchell gave an interesting account of 
the recent discovery of a sixth, and also a 
seventh, satellite of Jupiter by Professor CO. 
D. Perrine at the Lick Observatory, and de- 
scribed the details of the photographic method 
by which these satellites were discovered last 
December and January. 

Dr. Mitchell also spoke of the discoveries of 
satellites of the other planets, including the 
ninth satellite of Saturn which was found by 
Professor W. H. Pickering in August, 1899. 


A Pocket Form of the New Piezic Barometer: 

Ernest R. von NaArpDROFF. 

The Piezie barometer measures the atmos- 
pheric pressure by measuring the elasticity of 
a portion of air. In the small pocket form of 
the instrument exhibited, a piece of heavy 
barometer tubing of 3 mm. bore and about 
12 cm. long was provided at its lower end 
with a pear-shaped bulb, having an internal 
volume equivalent to about 70 em. length of 
the tube. At its upper end the tube was pro- 
vided with a second small bulb containing 
about 1 «ce. of mercury. Entering into the 
tube from above was a short tube having at 
its lower end a capillary opening. ~ Through 
this tube the mercury was introduced. 

In using the instrument all the mercury is 
brought into the upper bulb by inverting. 
The instrument is then turned into the erect 
position, when the mereury enters the main 
tube a few centimeters, the exact distance 
depending upon the atmospheric pressure. 
The less the pressure and hence the less the 
elasticity of the air, the more the mercury 
will enter. The mercury stands in the upper 
portion of the tube and partly in the upper 
bulb without any tendency to run down the 
sides of the tube. A scale on the main tube 
drawn by comparison with a standard barom- 
eter indicates the pressure. 


— SE 


Aprin 28, 1905.] 


To understand the theory of the instrument 
assume the lower bulb replaced by a continua- 
tion of the barometer tubing of equal volume. 
Let b stand for the standard barometer height, 
m for the length of the thread of mercury 
entering the tube, and a for the length of the 
column of compressed air. Then from Boyle’s 
law (pv = p'v’) we have 

b(a+tm) =(b+m)a, 
b=—a, 
and hence 
Ab = Aa. 


That is, the divisions of the seale on the Piezic 
barometer are of the same size as those on 
the ordinary barometer. However, in prac- 
tise the upper bulb always contains some mer- 
eury after the air is entrapped. The general 
effect of this is to make Aa < Ab. 


The Exhibit of the U. 8. Geological Survey 
Radium Collection shown at the St. Lowis 
EHzposition: G. F. Kunz. 

Mr. Kunz described the object of and the 
suecess of the exhibit, stating that many of 
the most eminent investigators, including Sir 
William Crookes and Professor Rutherford, 
had sent their original material. The collec- 
tion was shown in an upper hall of the museum. 
There was also exhibited the Kunz 1,081-pound 
mass of Cation Diablo meteoric iron, the 
largest mass known of this meteoric iron. Mr. 
Kunz stated that Professor Henri Moissan, of 
Paris, had discovered in dissolving 183 pounds 
of this material (Cation Diablo meteorite), 
not only erystalline diamonds, but the erystal- 
line substance, carbon silicide, never before 
discovered as a natural product, but exten- 
sively manufactured and used in the arts 
under the name of carborundum. In view of 
the many eminent discoveries of Professor 
Moissan in the field of chemistry and electro- 
metallurgy, as well as in the study of meteor- 
ites and of diamond formation, Mr. Kunz 
suggested that this mineral be named mois- 
samite in his honor. 


Experimental Research concerning Indirect 
and Secondary Skiagraphic Rays; L. G. 
CoLe. 

The immediate discharge from an X-ray 
tube consists of two distinct classes of so- 


SCIENCE. 


665 


ealled rays—direct and indirect. The direct 
rays have their inception at the focal point of 
the anode and radiate in direct lines and are 
not reflected, but deflected, and do not set up 
secondary rays, but are absorbed by the tissue 
of the body in proportion to the amount of 
solids contained therein. 

The indirect rays radiate from the walls of 
the tube, are projected at various angles, and 
cause secondary rays in objects with which 
they come in contact, especially the soft tissue, 
and give great penetration. The effect at- 
tained depends on the amount of current, fre- 
queney of interruption and molecular action 
of glass. 

Dr. Cole then described the life history of 
a tube, stating that definite changes occur in 
a tube when used, including a crisis, and ex- 
plained the difference between the action of 
new and seasoned tubes and the difficulty of 
exciting very old tubes. 

He also gave his opinion of the cause of the 
purple color of the glass of a tube and sug- 
gested that there is a molecular rearrangement 
of glass similar to that occurring in steel when 
magnetized. In a new tube the direct rays 
amount. to 30 to 40 per cent., while in some 
seasoned tubes as much as 75 to 90 per cent. 
Furthermore, the indirect rays project them- 
selves behind the bones, causing a lack of defi- 
nition of bones and obliteration of detail of 
soft parts, while direct rays give detail in soft 
parts, showing even the blood in the veins. 

Dr. Cole, who is skiagrapher at Roosevelt 
Hospital, will publish his paper in full in the 
Archives of the Rontgen Ray Magazine. 

C. C. TrowsrinceE, 
Secretary. 


THE SCIENCE CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
WISCONSIN. 

THE sixth meeting of the club for the year 
1904-5 was held on ‘Tuesday, March 21, at 
7:30 p.m. in the physical lecture room, Sci- 
ence Hall, 

The first paper on the program, by Dr. R. 
Fischer, treated the subject ‘Food Adultera- 
tions and their Detection.” The various 
methods of adulteration of human foods met 


with this state, and the methods of their 


666 


detection, were explained by the speaker, and a 
large array of choice specimens of adulterated 
goods were shown which furnished strong tes- 
timony to the cupidity of some manufacturers 
of food articles and, in many cases, to their 
lack of regard for human health. 

The second paper of the evening, by Dr. C. 
A. Fuller, was on the subject, ‘The Dissemi- 
nation of Typhoid Fever by Oysters.’ Out- 
breaks of this disease have occasionally been 
traced to infected oysters. Bacteriological 
examinations of these shell-fish usually demon- 
strate the presence of bacterium coli. The 
survey of 3,000 acres of oyster ground in 
Rhode Island waters showed that both water 
and oysters from sections within six miles of 
the outlet of, the capital city sewer contained 
sewage bacteria, while samples taken at a 
greater distance from the source of contami- 
nation were not infected; similar conditions 
were observed to prevail in a number of the 
oyster beds on the east coast of the United 
States. F. W. Wott, 

Secretary. 


MEETING OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGISTS AT 
CLARK UNIVERSITY. 


THE second yearly meeting of teachers and 
students of experimental psychology was held 
in the Clark University laboratory, at the in- 
vitation of Professor E. C. Sanford, on Fri- 
day and Saturday, March 31 and April 1. 
At the first session, on Friday afternoon, 
papers were read by Mr. L. M. Terman, on 
‘Tests of Bright and Dull Boys’; by Mr. A. 
L. Gesell, on ‘ Handwriting and Scholarship ’; 
and by Mr. W. F. Book, on the ‘ Learning of 
Typewriting.’ The visitors then inspected the 
laboratory, under the guidance of Professor 
Sanford, who demonstrated, ‘among other in- 
struments, two devices for the determination 
of the temporal limen of disparate sense im- 
pressions, a rotating-prism color mixer, and 
an apparatus for investigating the sensible 
discrimination of purple. Professor A. H. 
Pierce, of Smith College, next described three 
researches now in progress in his laboratory; 
and a paper by Professor Max Meyer (‘ Au- 
ditory Sensations in an Elementary Labora- 
tory Course’) was read by Mr. H. C. Stevens, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


of Cornell University. A discussion followed, 
in which Professors Pierce, Sanford and 
Titchener took part. In the evening the visit- 
ing psychologists were entertained at dinner 
by Professor Sanford. 

The session of Saturday morning was 
opened by President Hall, with a paper on 
‘Some Tendencies and Dangers of Experi- 


“mental Psychology.’ The paper was discussed 


by Dr. Hylan and Professor Titchener. Ad- 
journment was then made to the physical 
laboratory, where Professor A. G. Webster 
demonstrated his apparatus for the measure- 
ment of the objective intensity of sound. The 
last hour of the morning was spent in further 
inspection of the psychological laboratory, 
after which the guests enjoyed the oppor- 
tunity of meeting the Clark University stu- 
dents at a luncheon given by President Hall. 

At the afternoon session Professor Bentley, 
of Cornell University, read a paper on the 
‘Analysis of Tones,’ and afterwards demon- 
strated his method and certain of his results. 
The meeting was fittingly concluded by an 
inspection of the new library building, ar- 
ranged by Mr. L. N. Wilson. All psychol- 
ogists know the treasures of the Clark Univer- 
sity library, and the willing courtesy of their 
custodian; and all present on this occasion 
were delighted with the disposition and con- 
veniences of the library. 

It was decided to accept Professor Judd’s 
invitation to hold the meeting of 1906 in the 
Yale University laboratory. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 


ALTERNATION OF GENERATIONS IN ANIMALS. 


In the February number of the Botanical 
Gazette, Dr. C. J. Chamberlain writes, “ After 
hesitating for several years I have decided to 
publish my belief that animals exhibit an 
alternation. of generations comparable with 
the alternation so well known in plants. In 
short, the theory is this: the egg with the 
three polar bodies constitutes a generation 
comparable with the female gametophyte in 
plants; similarly, the primary spermatocyte 
with the four spermatozoa constitutes a gen- 
eration comparable with the male gametophyte 


AprIL 28, 1905.] 


in plants. All other cells of the animal con- 
stitute a generation comparable with the sporo- 
phytic generation in plants, the fertilized egg 
being the first cell of this series.” 

In the diagrams employed in the exposition 
of his theory he indicates that the animal egg 
by itself and each spermatozoid is comparable 
to a plant gametophyte. His statements are 
not consistent, not in accordance with the facts 
or even with his figures, and it appears that 
just where he wishes to draw the homology is 
not quite clear in his own mind. 

Our knowledge of animal phylogeny affords 
no evidence that the gametes, with their re- 
duced number of chromosomes, are vestigial 
individuals which at one time in their history 
lived independent of or apart from the ani- 
mal body. They do not constitute and there 
is no evidence that they ever have constituted, 
a generation in the life-history of any animal 
organism. If amphimixis occurs in the life- 
history of an organism, a reducing division 
must also occur. The mechanism of reduction 
seems, in general, to be bound up in two 
successive mitoses. That the cytological proc- 
esses of reduction in plants and animals 
closely approximate a common plan does, by 
no means, justify the conclusion that the 
products are of the same morphological value 
in the life-cycles of each. 

Chamberlain says: “ To me the comparison 
seems so obvious that I can explain the pre- 
vious absence of a theory of alternation of 
generations in animals only by the fact that 
the gamete-bearing generation is extremely 
reduced and is not approached by any gradual 
series as in plants. * * * I do not claim 
any acquaintance with zoological literature 
further than a reading of the latest edition of 
Wilson’s ‘The Cell in Development and In- 
heritance.’ Were there any theories as to 
alternation of generations in animals, doubt- 
less they would have been thoroughly discussed 
in that book.” 

That zoologists recognize an alternation of 
generations in the Hydrozoa and Seyphozoa 
is a common statement of their text-books. 
That a theory of antithetic alternation of gen- 
erations in the life-histories of animals has 
been propounded by certain zoologists, Beard 


SCIENCE. 


. 


667 


and Murray,* does not require a knowledge of 
zoological literature to determine, for it oc- 
cupies a conspicuous place in a prominent 
botanical journal as well. 

In the course of their discussion Beard and 
Murray write: “ When one seeks in the higher 
animals for an equivalent of the alternation 
of generations in plants in the light of recent 
work on the reducing division of spore-forma- 
tion, such a morphological mark would only 
be found in the maturation of the egg and in 
spermatogenesis. If the process were here a 
spore-formation, the whole metazoan body, in 
which it took place, would represent the asex- 
ual generation, and any apparent alternation 
of generations in the life-cycle would be 
homologous in character, not antithetic.” 

In speaking of the reduction of chromo- 
somes in the oogenesis of Mucus, Farmer and 
Williamst+ call attention to this same analogy 
in the following sentences: “Thus Fucus, in 
this respect, approximates more closely to the 
type of animal oogenesis than to that which 
obtains in those higher plants in which the 
details of chromosome reduction have been fol- 
lowed out. Regarded from the standpoint of 
the number of its chromosomes, the /'ucus- 
plant resembles the sporophyte of the higher 
plants, whilst the gametophyte of the latter, 
with its reduced number of chromosomes, finds 
its analogue merely in the maturing sexual 
cells of Fucus.” Harotp L. Lyon. 

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. 


SCIENCE AND THE NEWSPAPERS. 

To THE Eprror or Science: Recently three 
Chicago newspapers (the Record-Herald, the 
Tribune and the Chronicle) published, with- 
out our knowledge or consent, an alleged ac- 
count of experiments communicated by us to 
a meeting of physiologists. It is needless to 
state that this account was quite misleading. 
We at once sent the enclosed letter to the 
papers in question. Only one of them (the 
Record-Herald) pursued the fair and manly 
course of publishing it. The Tribune did not 
deign even to acknowledge receipt of our let- 

* Anat. Anzeiger, 11: 234-255. 
9: 441-468. 

+ Ann. of Botany, 10: 479-487. 


Ann, of Botany, 


668 


ter. The Chronicle refused to print it, but 
offered to correct any misstatements in its 
article, an illusory offer in relation to such a 
tissue of inaccuracies, and one which we had 
no desire to accept. 

We think it right that the scientific profes- 
sions should know the attitude which the con- 
ductors of some newspapers consider them- 
selves justified in adopting towards scientific 
workers, and we wish to record in your col- 
umns, once for all, that protest which they 
have not permitted us to make in theirs. 

; G. N. Stewart, 
C. C. GutHrm. 


Cuicaco, Apri 3, 1905. 
Sir:—In .yesterday’s issue of your paper there 
occurs a garbled and misleading account of cer- 
tain experiments communicated by us to a meet- 
ing of physiologists of the central states. We 
are entirely opposed to the discussion of such 
matters in the lay press. If any reporter was 
present at our meeting he certainly was there 
withqut invitation or permission. We do not 
know from what source this remarkable piece of 
copy reached your office. But we can not think 
the writer has fully considered how injurious 
such notices may be to the reputation of scien- 
tific investigators; and while we entertain the 
greatest respect for your paper in its proper 
sphere, we must beg of you in the future to do 
us the honor of leaving us and our work alone. 
We trust that you will give this letter the same 

publicity as the paragraph to which we object. 

We remain, yours truly, 
(Signed) G. N. Srewart, 
C. C. GUTHRIE, 


A MODEST STUDENT OF ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. 


In the preface to ‘The Watchers of the 
Trails’ its author, C. G. D. Roberts, writes: 


The psychological processes of the animals are 
so simple, so obvious, in comparison with those of 
man, their actions flow so directly from their 
springs of impulse, that it is, as a rule, an easy 
matter to infer the motives which are at any one 
moment impelling them. In my desire to avoid 
alike the melodramatic, the visionary and the 
sentimental, I have studied to keep well within 
the limits of safe inference. Where I may have 
seemed to state too confidently the motives under- 
lying the special action of this or that animal, 
it will usually be found that the action itself is 


SCIENCE. 


[N. 8. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


very fully presented; and it will, I think, be fur- 
ther found that the motive which I have here as- 
sumed affords the most reasonable, if not the 
only reasonable, explanation of that action. 


On page 221 of the same book the author 
writes: 

As the raccoons crept along behind the wood- 
shed they smelt traces of a sickly pungent odour, 
and knew that other marauders had been on the 
ground not very long before. This made them 
bolder in their enterprise, for they knew that 
such depredations as they might commit would 
be laid to the account of the skunks, and, there- 
fore not likely to draw down vengeance upon the 
[raccoon’s] den in the sycamore. 

Maynarp M. Mercatr. 

THE WoMAN’S COLLEGE OF BALTIMORE, 

March 19, 1905. 


A NEW FORM OF STEREOSCOPE. 


To THE Eprror or Science: I read with in- 
terest Professor Whitman’s account of his 
new form of stereoscope in your issue of April 
7. I have described the same type of instru- 
ment in Science, Vol. VIL, p. 619. I was 
led to the invention thereof by the instrument 
called the perspectoscope which mistakenly 
attempted to get a stereoscopic effect from a 
single photograph, but in doing so used the 
convenient device of placing the eyes at right 
angles to the picture. Using this principle, I 
made an apparatus with pivoting mirrors 
which enabled me to throw one of a pair of 
stereoscopic images into the one eye, and the 
other into the other, just as Professor Whit- 
man has independently done. JI have used 
this both in combination with weak lenses and 
without them. I have had such an apparatus 
in my laboratory for about seven years. 

The main advantage of the instrument (its 
defects are well defined by Professor Whit- 
man) for the psychological student is that it 
offers a simple means of reversing the per- 
spective without changing the card, throwing 
the image of the right-hand picture into the 
right or left eye and correspondingly for the 
left eye, thus producing a stereoscopic or a 
pseudoseopie effect; indeed, an intermediate 
position in which the same view is thrown into 
each eye is also possible and thus gives the 
entire range of combinations. The Chicago 


D ad 
a 
iid 


, 


ApriL 28, 1905.] 


Laboratory Supply Company is now making 
some of these instruments to serve as re- 
versible stereoscopes. In their manufacture 
the difficulties of projection of the two images 
to differently situated planes have been en- 
countered, and have been met only by reducing 
this to a minimum and counting upon the 
fortunate property of the eyes to ignore or, 
indeed, to make terms of peace with this dis- 
erepancy. I find that this is easy, when an 
ordinary photograph with no sharp gradations 
of light and shade is used; but with diagrams 
the non-correspondence of top and bottom is 
moderately disturbing. I have not hesitated 
for purposes of convenience to combine lenses 
with this reflecting stereoscope; but I shall 
profit by Professor Whitman’s suggestion to 
see how far the increased proximity of the eyes 
to the mirrors, which he recommends, will 
obtain certain of the advantages which I tried 
to secure by weak lenses. This last variation 
is a detail of construction in which Professor 
Whitman’s device differs from mine. 


JOSEPH JASTROW. 
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, 
April 8, 1905. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 
A REVISION OF THE COCCACE.* 


Tue classification of the bacteria presents 
peculiar difficulties for several reasons. Mor- 
phological distinctions are so slight that phys- 
iological characters must necessarily be in- 
yoked in order to separate and classify the 
various organisms, and these physiological 
characters are often variable. Pathogenicity 
may be taken as a type of those powers of the 
organism which are easily and profoundly 
modified by external conditions. On the other 
hand, there are numerous characters which ap- 
pear to be extremely constant. Such minute 
differences as occur in the resistance of dif- 
ferent races to unfavorable conditions often 
remain unchanged through lone periods of cul- 
tivation. In using these constant characters 
for classification. we are met by another diffi- 
culty. Though constant, the differences are 

* Preliminary communication. From the Bio- 
logical laboratories of the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology. 


SCIENCE. 


669 


yery minute, and in studying a number of 
organisms a perfect gradation is often found 
between the widest extremes. This is ex- 
actly what should be expected from organ- 
isms which reproduce only by asexual methods 
since it is the fusion of independent cells 
which swamps minor differences producing 
the uniformity of species among higher plants. 
With asexual reproduction every minute varia- 
tion which is inheritable must persist un- 
changed until some other chance variation 
oeeurs. Each such variation means a new 
and different type of bacterium. 

The immense number of generations which 
may succeed each other in a short space of 
time makes boundary lines as shifting as they 
would become among the higher plants if a 
dozen geological epochs were considered all at 
once. 

Since with unicellular organisms acquired 
characters may probably be inherited in a 
higher degree than with other forms, existing 
races of bacteria will be markedly influenced 
by the selective effect of environmental con- 
ditions, and must bear the impress of their 
recent history. 

There are, therefore, no species among the 
bacteria in quite the sense in which we or- 
dinarily use the word,—as indicating a group 
of individuals bound together by a number of 
constant characters and easily identified by 
mutual fertility. From one point of view 
each distinct race might be considered a spe- 
cies; but to apply a name for every grade of 
difference in each varying character would 
be impracticable; and such names could have 
no true specific value. The best solution of 
the difficulty is the establishment of certain 
types around which the individual organisms 
may be more or less closely grouped; but it 
must be clearly recognized that the groups 
thus formed are defined by relation to the 
type at their sharply 
marked off at their extremities from the other 


center and are not 
groups adjacent. 

Tt is impossible to make a natural classifiea- 
tion of the bacteria, which shall be a true ex- 
pression of phylogeny by considering a single 
character at a time,—for example, by dividing 
a group dichotomously, first according to mor- 


670 


phology, then according to liquefaction, ete. 
Larger groups at least should manifestly be 
indicated by the collocation of several char- 
acters, the association of any two of which 
markedly strengthens their significance. By 
applying this principle, five fairly well-marked 
genera of coccacee may be distinguished. 
Four of these, Sarcina, Micrococcus, Strepto- 
coccus and Ascococcus date back to the early 
days of bacteriology, although the latter term 
has fallen into disuse. The mere property of 
zooglea formation should not be considered of 
generic importance, but the few peculiar 
species which are capable of growing under 
purely saprophytic conditions and producing 
large gelatinous masses, are so far marked off 
from other cocci as to warrant, in our judg- 
ment, the retention of Cohn’s genus. The 
genera Micrococcus, Streptococcus and Sarcina 
are retained, since in them morphological dif- 
ferences appear to be correlated with differ- 
ences in biochemical characters or habitat and 
we have considerably enlarged the definitions 
of these genera to include physiological and 
ecological factors. With regard to the genus 
Diplococcus suggested by Weichselbaum for 
the parasite of pneumonia it should be remem- 
bered that any coccus may at times occur in 
pairs. Yet those organisms which are strictly 
parasitic and which normally occur only in ag- 
gregations of two cells appear to mark a valid 
group. The morphological character of a 
genus must never be too rigidly interpreted. 
It refers to the typical and most commonly 
characteristic growth forms; and _ other 
groupings may at times occur. Therefore, 
we recognize five genera, based in each case 
on a more or less constant association of sey- 
eral independent characteristics. The old 
genera Merispomedia and Staphylococcus are 
merely synonyms of Cohn’s Micrococcus, and 
Ascococcus antedates Leuconostoc. Fischer’s 
characterization of Pediococcus by regular 
division into two sections at right angles to 
each other, rests upon a variable and thor- 
oughly artificial character and probably in- 
cludes some species of Micrococcus and some 
imperfectly studied species of Sarcina. 

With regard to the genera, Planosarcina and 
Planococcus, founded upon the single char- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


acteristic of the possession of flagella there 
may be more uncertainty. The slow revolu- 
tion and steady translation observed by Ali- 
Cohen and Migula as associated with flagella, 
is certainly a phenomenon distinct from 
the irregular vibratory and rotary movements 
noted by other observers, but the resemblance 
between motile and non-motile forms is so 
close in all other characters that we can not 
consider this single property to be of generic 
importance. 

The five genera above mentioned have been 
discussed first because their characteristics are 
already somewhat familiar; but in logical 
order the larger subdivisions should have been 
previously considered. 

The family Coccacex, although defined only 
by the spherical form of the individual, is a 
thoroughly satisfactory natural group, its 
members being also marked off in certain 
physiological characters from individuals of 
other groups. The family appears to be 
divisible into two subfamilies. The first, for 
which we suggest the name Paracoccacesr 
(paratrophie cocci), includes Diplococcus and 
Streptococcus, parasitic forms which do not 
develop abundant growth on artificial media 
and which thrive better under anaerobic 
than under aerobic conditions, and appear in 
small cell aggregates of pairs or chains. The 
second subfamily, the Metacoccacee (meta- 
trophic cocci), includes Micrococcus, Sarcina 
and Ascococcus, saprophytic or semi-sapro- 
phytic types which are aerobic and form 
abundant surface growths of large cell groups. 

The species of the coccacee are consider- 
ably more obscure. We have reviewed the 
descriptions of 445 supposedly distinct species 
given by Cohn, Migula, Fligge, Chester, 
Sternberg, Lehmann and Neumann, Engler 
and Prantl, Rabenhorst, Frankland and 
Woodhead and find a wonderful amount of 
duplication. Our observations have con- 
vineced us that minute differences in mor- 
phology, as for example, the distinction be- 
tween large and small cells or long and short 
chains, are not sufficiently constant for the 
erection of species. Again, slight differences 
in the appearance of colonies on gelatin, which 
form a large number of German species, vary 


AprRIL 28, 1905.] 


sso markedly, according to the composition of 
the medium and conditions of incubation, 
that they may be disregarded. The turbidity 
and sediment in broth varies with the age of 
the culture: what is first turbidity later settles 
to form sediment and those constant differ- 
ences which do exist appear to be connected 
_-with the size of the cell aggregates. Organ- 
isms growing in large groups like most of the 
Sarecine produce heavy sediment and often 
eolony-like groups on the walls of the tube, 
while those in which the cells readily separate 
exhibit a more diffuse turbidity. The growths 
on potato and Niahrstoff agar are correlated 
with the general vigor of a particular race 
and vary markedly. Temperature relations 
are similarly inconstant and what marked 
differences exist are correlated with other char- 
acters to which we have given weight; for 
example, the Streptococci, as a rule, thrive 
best at the body temperature, while the 
Sarcine and many Micrococci grow better or 
as well at 20°. 

There remain then for the establishment of 
species the relation of the organism to gelatin, 
its action upon sugars, its pigment production 
and its power to form nitrites and indol. In 
regard to all these points much more thorough 
study is needed. In particular, almost no 
data exist with regard to indol and nitrite 
production. By using the first three char- 
acters with one or two others which are of im- 
portance in special cases we have made a 
tentative division of the 445 described forms 
under thirty-one types. A careful comparison 
of the published descriptions furnished no evi- 
dence for more true species and 85 cultures, 
isolated from various sources, and obtained 
from the principal American laboratories, 
which we have studied in considerable detail, 
fall naturally under some one of the types 
established. SS. erysipelatos includes 20 of these 
cultures, M. aureus 11, M. orbicularis 8, M. 
ochraceus 5, M. wree 3, M. canescens 5, M. 
candicans and ventriculi 2 each, M. luteus, 
M. cinnabareus, M. ethebius, S. subflava, 8. 
incarnala and S. aurantiaca 1 each. It is 
very probable that our further investigation 
will warrant the division of some of these 
types but we present the thirty-one species 


SCIENCE. 


671 


below tentatively and subject to later revision. 
It must be understood as noted above that in 
all cases the names mark only types, numerous 
intermediate races existing between. 


Famity COCCACE. 

Vegetative cells spherical. 
Subfamily 1. PARAcOCcCACE 

Parasites (thriving only, or best, on, or in 
the animal body). Thrive well under anaerobic 
conditions. Many forms fail to grow on arti- 
ficial media, none produce abundant surface 
growths. Planes of fission generally parallel, 
producing pairs, or short or long chains. 

Genus 1. Diplococcus (Weichselbaum). 

Strict parasites. Not growing or growing 
very poorly, on artificial media. Cells nor- 
mally in pairs, surrounded by a capsule. 

Under Diplococcus are three species, D. 
pneumone, Weich., D. Weichselbaumi, Trev. 
and D. gonorrhaw, Neisser—distinguished by 
the tissue of the host affected, and by the 
peculiar morphology and staining reactions of 
the latter species. 


(new subfamily). 


Streptococcus (Billroth). 

Parasites (see above). Cells normally in 
short or long chains (under unfavorable cul- 
tural conditions, sometimes in pairs and small 
groups—never in large groups or packets). 
On agar streak effused translucent growth 
often with isolated colonies. In stab culture, 
little surface growth. Sugars fermented with 
formation of acid. 

Under Streptococcus we find the vast ma- 
jority of organisms indistinguishable from 8. 
erysipelatos, Fehleisen. Two varieties may 
perhaps be recognized, var. involutus Kurth; 
and var. tenuis (new variety), which fails to 
coagulate milk. Representatives of another 
species, S. enteritidis Escherich, which lique- 
fies gelatin are occasionally found. 


Genus 2. 


Subfamily 2. Mertacoccacez (new subfamily). 


Facultative parasites or saprophytes. Thrive 
best under aerobic conditions. Grow well 
on artificial media, producing abundant sur- 
face growths. Planes of fission often at right 
angles; cells aggregated in groups, packets or 


zooglea masses. 


672 


Genus 38. Micrococcus (Hallier) Cohn. 

Facultative parasites or saprophytes. Cells 
in plates or irregular masses (never in long 
chains or packets). Acid production variable. 

Under this genus, thirteen species may be 
distinguished, by the three properties of lique- 
faction, acid production and chromogenesis, 
their characters being indicated in tabular 


form below. 
GELATIN LIQUEFIED. 
ACID. Non-ACID, 
Yellow...M@. aureus (Ros.) Mig. ©. orbicularis (Ravenel) 
White... pyogenes (Ros.) Mig. M. rhenanus Mig. 
Red..2..:52 M. roseus Fligge. M. fulvus Cohn. 


GELATIN NOT LIQUEFIED. 


ACID. NON-ACID. 
Yellow... luteus (Schroter) Cohn. M. ochraceus Rosen- 
thal. 


White....1f. candicans Fliigge. M. canescens Mig. 
Red M. cinnabareus Fligge. 
M. urece Cohn. Ammoniacal fermentation of urine pro- 
duced. Gelatin not liquefied. 
M. ethebius Trevisan. Ammoniucal fermentation of 
urine produced. Gelatin liquefied. 


Genus 4. Sarcina (Goodsir). 
Saprophytes or facultative parasites. Divi- 
sion under favorable conditions, in three 
planes, producing regular packets. Sugars as 
a rule not fermented. 
Under Sarcina are eleven species, eight of 
which are grouped as follows: 


Gelatin Liquefied. 
Yellow......: S. subflava Ravenel. 
White ......: S. candida Lindner, 
Red......... S. rosacea Lindner. 
Brown......S. cervina Stub. 


Gelatin not Liquefied. 
S. ventriculi Goodsir. 
S. pulmonum Virchow. 
S. incarnata Gruber. 
S. fusca Gruber. 

In addition three somewhat aberrant species 
must be recognized—S. aurantiaca Fliigge, a 
yellow liquefying chromogen, which unlike the 
other members of the group, has the power to 
coagulate milk, with 8. agilis (Ali-Cohen) 
Mig. and S. tetragenus (Mendoza), Mig., re- 
spectively red, and yellowish-white, motile 
forms. From study of the literature and a 
few cultures of supposedly motile forms we are 
inclined to believe that all the truly motile 
cocci may be classed under these two heads. 


Genus 5. Ascococcus (Cohn). 
Generally saprophytic. Cells imbedded in 
large irregularly lobed masses of zodgloea, in 
presence of carbohydrates. Acid usually 
formed. 
Two species are distinguished, A. mesen- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 539. 


teroides Cienkowski, a non-liquefying form,. 
and A. mucilaginosus Migula, a liquefier. 

The characters of the species tentatively de- 
fined above are still somewhat artificial and 
may be subject to revision and modification 
when our studies are complete. It is prob- 
able that the liquefaction of gelatin can not 
bear any very direct relation to phylogeny, 
since in every genus except Diplococcus, and 
in each subdivision of a genus, a liquefying 
and a non-liquefying form occur parallel to. 
each other. 

Synonymy will be discussed in our full com-. 
munication later; but we have strictly followed 
the rules of priority as recognized in other- 
fields of systematic biology. 

In reviewing our genera a serial arrange- 
ment is at once apparent. Dzplococcus is 
strictly parasitic, and commonly produces only 
aggregates of two cells. Streptococcus, also 
normally parasitic, thrives better, though still 
not luxuriantly, on artificial media and its 
typical growth-form is a chain. Micrococcus. 
includes both pathogenic and non-pathogenic 
forms but all grow abundantly on gelatin and 
agar, in rather large irregular cell aggregates, 
while some produce acid and some alkalies in 
milk. Sarcina shows further development in 
the same direction, its growth form being 
larger and produced by three planes of divi-, 
sion, its saprophytic habit being more marked, 
(no truly pathogenic forms known to exist), 
with the power of acid production generally 
wanting. Ascococcus, in spite of its slight 
acid production and chain formation, appears 
on the whole to form the extreme of this series, 
since its entirely saprophytic existence and 
large vegetative growth-forms are far removed 
from the pathogenic micrococci. The genera 
above defined seem to mark the important 
transition stages beginning with such strict 
parasites as D. Weichselbaumw and ranging 
through the intermediate forms of Strep- 
tococci, Micrococci and Sarcine to the sapro- 
phytic Ascococcus mesenteroides at another 
extreme. We believe that these genera have 
true phylogenetic significance and represent 
real groups of organisms having. natural 
affinities. C.-E. A. Wrystow, 

AnNE F. Rocers. 


‘ApRIL 28, 1905.] 


A’ CONNECTION BY PRECISE LEVELING BETWEEN 
THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS. 


On October 4, 1904, a Coast and Geodetic 

Survey party, running eastward from Seattle, 
Wash., met a similar party, running westward, 
at Hunts Junction, in the southeastern part 
of Washington. The party running from east 
to west had started in the beginning of the 
season from a bench mark of which the eleva- 
tion had been fixed by a long line run during 
several seasons and extending westward from 
the precise level net, composed of many cir- 
cuits, which covers the eastern half of the 
United States. As far west as Norfolk, Nebr., 
the elevations in this net had been checked 
by completed circuits of precise leveling of 
the highest grade of accuracy. The joining 
of the two lines at Hunts Junction completed 
the first connection by precise leveling be- 
tween the Atlantic and the Pacific. 
’ The discrepancy developed at the junction 
was .615 ft. (= 187.5 millimeters), the Pacific 
being apparently higher than the Gulf of 
Mexico and Atlantic. 

The old question at once arises: is the 
Pacific at a different elevation from the At- 
lantic? The discrepancy of .615 ft. must be 
due either to errors in the tidal observations 
which furnished the connection with mean 
sea level, or errors in the leveling, or to a real 
difference in the elevation of the mean sea 
surface at the points at which the tidal ob- 
servations were made. 

The three principal connections with sea 
level concerned are at Sandy Hook, near New 
York City, at Biloxi, Miss., and at Seattle, 
Wash. Six years of tidal observations were 
taken at Sandy Hook and five years at each 
of the other points. The range in the six 
annual means at Sandy Hook was .322 ft., 
and of the five annual means at the stations 
at Biloxi and Seattle was, respectively, .100 
and .204 ft. These ranges are not sufficient 
to account for the discrepancy of .615 ft. 

The shortest line of leveling of the highest 
grade of accuracy from Seattle to Sandy Hook 
is 4,600 miles (7,400 kilometers); to Biloxi, 
3,500 miles (5,700 kilometers) ; and to Norfolk, 
the point at which the line to the westward 
leaves the thoroughly checked portion of the 


SCIENCE. 


673 


precise level net, is 2,000 miles (3,300 kilo- 
meters). 

If it is assumed that the discrepancy (.615 
ft.) is simply an accumulated error in leveling 
and that the rate of accumulation is uniform 
between Seattle and Biloxi, it is at the rate 
of one foot in 5,700 miles (.033 millimeters 
per kilometer). Even if it is assumed that 
the accumulation all occurred between Seattle 
and Norfolk, it is at the rate of one foot in 
3,300 miles (.057 millimeters per kilometer). 
This is an extremely small error of leveling. 

Another test to determine whether the dis- 
crepancy is a possible error of the leveling 
may be applied. The probable error of the 
elevations at Seattle, as carried westward from 
the Gulf and Atlantic, the computation being 
based upon the discrepancy developed in the 
circuits in the eastern part of the United 
States, was + 76 millimeters. The actual dis- 
crepancy is two and one half times this. Ac- 
cording to the doctrine of chances, such a 
discrepancy, two and one half times the prob- 
able error, should occur about once in ten 
times. 

Therefore, it is not safe to make the state- 
ment that the Pacific is higher than the Gulf 
and Atlantic; the extremely small discrepancy 
being well within the possible limits of error 
of the precise leveling alone, even though it 
be assumed that the leveling in question is of 
as high a grade of accuracy as any yet done 
anywhere in the world. 

One is apt to associate observations of such 
extreme accuracy as this precise leveling with 
slow progress and high cost. It is interesting, 
therefore, to note that three thousand miles 
out of the thirty-five hundred between Seattle 
and Biloxi have been leveled since the begin- 
ning of the field season of 1899, and that the 
average rate of progress, during the period 
1900-1904 (a total of 3,900 miles), with the 
new type of precise level now in use in the 
Coast and Geodetic Survey, was 64 miles of 
completed line per month, for each observer, 
and that the average cost, per completed mile, 
was $10, including salaries, transportation 
and bench marks. Each completed mile was 
leveled over at least twice, and, in some cases, 


four or more times. This rate of progress is 


674 


comparable with that ordinarily secured in 
wye leveling, which is of a much lower order 
of accuracy. Joun F. Hayrorp. 


BOTANICAL NOTES. 
RECENT CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE GREEN ALGAE. 


THE appearance of the fourth edition of 
Engler’s ‘Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien’ 
(whose preface is dated May, 1904, although 
so far as the green algae are concerned this 
edition does not differ from the third, dated 
July, 1902); Blackman and Tansley’s ‘ Re- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


Charales). Engler sets off the Zygophyceae, 
Chlorophyceae and Charales as ‘ branches” 
(Abteilungen) coordinate with Archegoniates- 
(Embryophyta Asiphonogama), and Sperma- 
tophytes (Embryophyta Siphonogama). These- 
he subdivides into classes, and the latter di-- 
rectly into families. Thus the class Bacil- 
lariales contains the single family Bacillari- 
aceae, including all the Diatoms. West di- 
vides Bacillariaceae (as a class) into two- 
orders, and these into no less than fifteen: 
families. Blackman and Tansley group the- 


TABLE SHOWING OUTLINES OF CLASSIFICATIONS OF GREEN ALGAE. 


I. (Engler). II. (Blackman & Tansley). 


III. (West) * IV. (Oltmanns). 


Class Isokontae. 
Series Protococcales. 
Series Siphonales. 
Series Ulvales. 
Series Ulotrichales. 
Class Stephanokontae. 
Class Akontae. 
Series Desmidiales. 
Series Zygnemales. 
Class Heterokontae. 
Series Chloromonadales. 
Series Confervales. 
Series Vaucheriales. 


Branch ZyGOPHYCEAE. 


Class Bacillariales. 
Class Conjugatae. 


Branch CHLOROPHYCEAE. 
Class Protococcales. 
Class Confervales. 

Class Siphonales. 

Branch CHARALES. 
Class? COharaceae. 


(Class) Heterocontae. 
(Class) Acontae. 
(Order) Conjugatae. 
(Order) Bacillariaceae. 
| (Class) Chlorophyceae. 
| (Order) Volvocales. 
(Order) Protococcales. 
(Order) Ulotrichales. 
(Order) Siphonocladiales- 
(Order) Siphonales. ~ 
(Order?) Charales. 


Class Bacillariacae. 


Order Centricae. 
Order Pennatae. 

Class Heterokontae. 
Order Confervales. 

Class Chlorophyceae. 
Order Protococcoideae. 
Order Conjugatae. 
Order Siphoneae. 
Order Cladophorales. 
Order Microsporales. 
Order Schizogoniales. 
Order Ulvales. 
Order Chaetophorales. 
Order Oedogoniales. 


* The sequence is reyersed here so as to facilitate comparison with the other systems. 


higher forms and proceeds from these to lower forms. 


vision of the Classification of the Green 
Algae’ (1903); West’s ‘Treatise on the Brit- 
ish Freshwater Algae’ (April, 1904), and 
Oltmanns’s ‘ Morphologie und Biologie der 
Algen’ (July, 1904) enables us to bring to- 
gether in parallel columns the different sys- 
tems of classification which they employ (see 
table). It will be seen that there is little 
agreement as to the taxonomic grade of the 
groups. There is even less agreement as to 
subdivision of groups, and least of all as to 
their arrangement. 

In comparing these four systems it must 
not be forgotten that Engler’s and Oltmanns’s 
are general, including all algae, while that of 
Blackman and Tansley’s includes the green 
algae only (excluding the Diatoms and Char- 
ales), and West’s is confined to British fresh- 
water algae (including the Diatoms, but not 


West begins with. 


green algae into four classes upon a single 
character, namely, the cilia on the zoospores. 
and gametes, resulting in four parallel lines 
(classes). Their ‘series’ are equivalent to- 
‘orders’ in other systems. In West’s system 
the old group Chlorophyceae is nearly the- 
same as Engler’s, but with the addition of the 
Conjugatae. Oltmanns’s system, as far as it 
can be made out from the first volume 
(‘Spezieller Teil’), is much like West’s, and 
includes three larger groups (classes?), the- 
second and third divided into lower groups 
(orders?) which in turn are divided into fam- 
ilies. Oltmanns does not use the terms. 
‘elass’ and ‘order’ in the volume at hand, 
and for this reason brackets are used in the 
table. 

The class Stephanokontae of Blackman and” 
Tansley includes the single family Oedogoni-- 


AprRIL 28, 1908.] 
aceae. In their class Heterokontae the first 
‘series’ purposely includes flagellate animals 
(Chloramoeba, Vacuolaria, Chlorosaccus and 
Chlorobotrys) ‘ since they represent the primi- 
tive organisms possessing Heterokontan char- 
acters, from which the next two series have 
been derived. The series Confervales in- 
cludes such organisms as Chlorothecium, Mis- 
chococcus, Ophiocytium, Conferva (of Lager- 
heim) and Botrydium. These authors include 
Vaucheria in a third series, thus widely sepa- 
rating this genus from other Siphonales (in 
the class Isokontae). This separation is not 
followed by either West or Oltmanns, who 
recognize the class Heterokontae as including 
the Confervales only. 

On looking over the outlines of these four 
systems, that of Blackman and Tansley strikes 
one as quite the most radical. In order to be 
understood the position of the authors as 
stated in their introduction must be borne in 
mind, as follows: “The most fundamental of 
these modern conceptions is that which pro- 
poses to regard the Algae as consisting of a 
number of natural classes, phylogenetically 
independent of one another, more or less par- 
allel in evolution, and each derived separately 
from the Flagellata. *_* * These parallel 
classes are generally to be distinguished from 
one another by cytological characters, and 
more especially by differences in the organiza- 
tion of the zoospore, which is held to retain, 
throughout each class, most of the charac- 
teristics of its primitive flagellate ancestor. 
The most conspicuous of these differentiating 
characteristics of the zoospore are the nature 
ot the assimilatory pigments, the character of 
the chromatophore, and the arrangement of 
the flagella.” 

If we exclude the Diatoms and Charales it 
is found that Engler recognizes 27 families of 
green algae; Blackman and Tansley, 44; West, 
28, and Oltmanns, 37. Clearly, the algologists 
are no more agreed as to the limits of the 
families of the green algae than they are as 
to other points in the classification of these 
organisms. 

THE CUP-FUNGI OF IOWA. 

In a recent number of the bulletins from 

the Laboratories of Natural History of the 


SCIENCE. 


675 


State University of Iowa (No. 4, Vol. V.) 
F. J. Seaver publishes a valuable paper on 
the ‘Discomycetes of Eastern Iowa.’ In 
preparation for this work the author collected 
‘nearly one hundred species,’ of which fifty 
are now described, the remaining being ‘ re- 
tained for further study,’ in the hope that 
they may appear in a later paper. The species 
described are all old, the author having wisely 
refrained from adding new species. The 
books in which each species is described are 
cited in connection with each description, the 
lists resembling lists of synonyms, which they 
actually are in some cases. The descriptions 
and notes are good, and the plates (twenty- 
five in number) are excellent. 


SEAWEED STUDIES. 


Proressor Doctor J. J. Woure contributes: 
a cytological study of the red seaweed Nema- 
lion to the October number of the Annals of 
Botany, accompanying his paper with seventy- 
five well-drawn figures. In addition to work- 
ing out very clearly the structure of the com- 
plex chromatophore he finds reasons for con- 
cluding ‘that Nemalion presents the essentials 
of an antithetic alternation of generations, 
and that the ecystocarp is, therefore, the homo- 
logue of the sporophyte in higher plants.’ 


SARGENT’S MANUAL OF TREES. 


THIS important book has just appeared from 
the press, and there has not yet been time for 
the preparation of a complete review, which 
must be deferred until a later issue. It need 
only be said now that in a neat volume of 826 
pages the author has described and figured 
about 642 species and varieties, which occur 
in North America north of Mexico. For the 
first time the American botanist who is espe- 
cially interested in trees has a portable manual 
which he can use in every part of the country- 

Cuarues E. Bessey. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. 


NATIONAL ACADEMY OF 

Tue annual stated session of the National 
Academy of Sciences was held in Washington 
April 18-20, 1905. 

The following members were present during 


SCIENCES. 


676 


the session: Messrs. Agassiz, Allen, Becker, 
Billings, Boas, Boss, Brewer, Brooks, Brush, 
Cattell, Chittenden, Councilman, Dall, Davis, 
Dutton, Emmons, Gill, Hague, Langley, Mer- 
riam, Mitchell, Morse, Newcomb, Nichols, 
Osborn, Peirce, Putnam, Remsen, Walcott, 
Webster, Welch, Wells, White, Wood and 
Woodward. 

The following papers were presented: 

Epwarp L. Nicnoxrs: ‘The Mechanical Equiva- 
lent of Light.’ 

Dr. H. C. Woop and Dr. Daniex M. Hoyt: 
‘The Effects of Aleohol upon the Circulation.’ 

ALEXANDER AGAssiIz: ‘The Expedition of the 
U. S. Fish Commission Steamer Albatross, in 
charge of Alexander Agassiz, in the Eastern Pa- 
cific, Lieut. Commander L. M. Garrett, com- 
manding.’ 

Witi1amM M. Davis: ‘ Resequent Valleys.’ 

Witt1Am M. Davis: ‘The Geographical Cycle 
in an Arid Climate.’ 

W. W. CampsBett: ‘A Catalogue of Spectro- 
scopic Binary Stars.’ 

C.D. PeRRINE (introduced by W. W. Campbell) : 
‘Discovery of the Sixth and Seventh Satellites of 
Jupiter and their Preliminary Orbits.’ 

W. K. Brooks: ‘The Axis of Symmetry of the 
Ovarian Egg of the Oysters.’ 


John ©. Branner, of Stanford University; 
William H. Holmes, of the Bureau of Amer- 
ican Ethnology; William H. Howell, of Johns 
Hopkins University; Arthur A. Noyes, of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and 
Michael I. Pupin, of Columbia University, 
were elected members of the academy. 

M. Henri Becquerel, of Paris, and Professor 
Paul von Groth, of Munich, were elected for- 
eign associates. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


Proressor E. B. Frost has been appointed 
director of the Yerkes Observatory by the 
trustees of the University of Chicago, in suc- 
cession to Professor G. E. Hale, who gives his 
whole time to the establishment of the new 
Solar Observatory of the Carnegie Institution 
at Mt. Wilson, Cal. 

Dr. Wiriiam Oster has been elected an 
honorary fellow of the Royal College of 
Physicians of Ireland. 


SCIENCE. 


(N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


Tue Baltimore correspondent of the N. Y. 
Evening Post states that at the request of Miss 
Mary E. Garrett, the benefactress of the med- 
ical department of Johns Hopkins University, 
Dr. W. H. Welch, Dr. W. S. Halstead and 
Dr. H. A. Kelly will meet Dr. William Osler 
in London in June, to sit for a group portrait 
to be painted by John 8S. Sargent. 

Tue Vienna Laryngological Society ap- 
pointed Sefior Manuel Garcia, on the occasion 
of his one hundredth birthday, to be an hon- 
orary member of the society. Professor 
Chiari, the president, handed the diploma of 
honorary membership to Sefior Garcia. 

Proressor JoHN F. Jameson, head of the 
department of history at the University of 
Chicago, has been offered the post of director 
of the Bureau of Historical Research in the 
Carnegie Institution, Washington, D.C. This 
position is vacant through the return of Pro- 
fessor J. Lawrence Laughlin to the University 
of Michigan. 

Proressor BasHrorp DeEAN, of Columbia 
University, plans to spend several months 
in Japan, where he will continue his studies 
on the development of the ancient sharks, 
Cestracion and Chlamydoselachus. He will 
be the guest of the Imperial University of 
Tokyo. 

Proressor H. S. Graves, director of the 
Yale School of Forestry, who has been in 
India, is expected to return next month. 


Dr. Atpert F. Woops, of the Bureau of 
Plant Industry, has been delegated to attend 
the Second International Botanical Congress, 
to be held at Vienna in June, and the Inter- 
national Congress of Agriculture at Rome. 


Dr. D. H. Campsett, of Stanford Univer- 
sity, will spend next year in an extensive trip 
through Europe, Africa and Asia. He expects 
to attend the International Botanical Congress 
at Vienna and the meeting of the British As- 
sociation at Cape Town, and hopes to be able 
to make botanical investigations in the newly 
opened regions about the Victoria and Zam- 
besi falls. He will then visit Bombay and 
Ceylon and will spend some time at the Bot- 
anical Gardens at Buitenzorg, Java, returning 


rh od oun are 


Aprin 28. 1905.] 


to the United States by way of the Philippine 
Islands. 


Proressor Wiis L. Jepson, of the botan- 
ical department of the University of Cali- 
fornia, will spend next year in Europe and in 
the tropics, gathering material for the botan- 
ical museum at Berkeley. 


Dr. Harry Pernins, of the University of 
Vermont, has received an appointment for the 
summer at the Marine Biological Laboratory 
of the Carnegie Institution at Dry Tortugas, 
near Key West. 


M. Ep. Caspart has been elected president 
of the French Astronomical Society. 


Proressor M. Traus has been appointed 
director of the newly established department 
of agriculture of Java. 


Nature states that the Irish branch of the 
Geological Survey has been transferred from 
the Board of Education to the Department of 
Agriculture and Technical Instruction for 
Ireland. The work will be carried on under 


the immediate direction of Professor G. A. 
J. Cole. 


Mr. C. A. SeLtey, mechanical engineer of 
the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Rail- 
road, delivered an address before the students 
and professors of Purdue University on April 
11. His subject was ‘ Framing of Passenger 
and Freight Cars.’ 


PrincE PreprRo oF ORLEANS AND BRAGANZA, 
son of the Comte d’Eu, who has already 
visited that part of Central Asia, contemplates 
making a fresh tour in Chinese Turkestan. 


At a meeting of the Royal Geographical 
_ Society on April 10 Lieutenant-Colonel ©. C. 
Manifold read a paper on the ‘ Problem of the 
Upper Yang-tsze Provinces and their Commu- 
nications.’ 


On March 28, Dr. Fridjof Nansen presented 
a paper before the Royal Geographical So- 
ciety on ‘ Oscillations of Shore-lines’; discus- 
sion followed, which was taken part in by Sir 
Archibald Geikie, Sir John Murray, Admiral 
Sir W. J. L. Wharton, Mr. Peach, Mr. A. 
Strahan, Mr. Huddleston, Dr. Mill, Dr. Hull 
and others. 


SCIENCE. 


677 


Nature states that portraits recently added 
to the National Portrait Gallery include those 
of Sir Charles Lyell, Charles Darwin and Pro- 
fessor W. Whewell. 


Plans are being made to erect a. memorial 
to the late president, Thomas M. Drown, of 
Lehigh University. It will take the form of 
a club house for the faculty and students, and 
will be erected at a cost of $80,000. 


CotoneL Nicnonas Pixs, known for his con- 
tributions to the natural history of birds, 
reptiles and amphibia, died at his home in 
Brooklyn, on April 11, in his eighty-eighth 
year. A naturalist of the old school, he was the 
author of interesting notices on the life-history 
and habits of a number of rare forms, espe- 
cially among the amphibia. For several years 
he held the post of American consul in the 
island of Mauritius, and during this time he 
collected extensively the local fauna and pre- 
pared from the living specimens many colored 
drawings. Especially noteworthy were the 
albums of the fishes of the Indian Ocean, 
some of which illustrated species which were 
later described by Louis Agassiz. His most ex- 
tended work was his ‘Sub-Tropical Rambles 
in the Land of the Aphanopteryx.’ 


Proressor LEBEN WARREN, for twenty-seven 
years professor of mathematics at Colby Col- 
lege, died on April 21, at the age of sixty- 
nine years. 


Mr. H. B. Mepuicorr, F.R.S., director of 
the Geological Survey of India from 1876 to 
1887, died on April 6, at seventy-six years of 


age. 


We learn from The Hxperimental Station 
Record that Professor Emerich Meissl, of the 
Austrian ministry of agriculture, died on 
February 15 at the age of fifty years. Pro- 
fessor Meissl was for more than twenty years 
connected with the agricultural experiment 
station at Vienna, being director from 1886 
to 1898. At that time he was called to the 
ministry of agriculture as an agricultural- 
technological expert, and was promoted to the 
charge of a section in the ministry in 1902, 
which position he occupied at the time of his 
death. He was widely known among agricul- 


678 


tural chemists, having made many contribu- 
tions upon agricultural analysis, and the chem- 
istry of sugars, milk, and the fermentation 
industries. 


Dr. GrorGc Meissner, formerly professor of 
physiology at Goéttingen, died on March 30, 
at the age of seventy-four years. 


Av a meeting of the council of the American 
Anthropological Association held in New York 
on April 15 it was voted to hold a special 
meeting of the association in Portland, Ore- 
gon, during the Centennial Exposition. The 
members of the council present were: Messrs. 
Boas, Chamberlain, Culin, Farrand, Gordon, 
Hodge, Hyde, MacCurdy, Pepper, Putnam, 
Saville and Smith. 

The Experiment Station Record states that 
it has been decided to locate the new buildings 
for the Department of Agriculture 106 feet 
farther west, and to sink the structures 10 feet 
lower in the ground than was previously 
planned. This decision is in accordance with 
the plans of the park commission appointed 
by the senate some years ago. The details 
which haye been worked out by this commis- 
sion since the publication of their report make 
the above changes necessary in order to con- 
form to the general scheme in the matter of 
the grade and the relative position of build- 
ings. As the excavation for the two labora- 
tory wings as originally located had been com- 
pleted, these changes will involve some delay 
in the work. 

Tue King Institute of Preventive Medicine 
at Guindy was formally opened, on March 11, 
by Lord Ampthill, governor of Madras. 

Mr. Atrrep Beir has increased his donation 
to the London Institute of Medical Sciences 
from £5,000 to £25,000. 

We learn from The Atheneum that at a 
recent meeting of the Institut de France the 
disposition of 30,000 franes forming the De- 
brousse legacy was the chief subject of discus- 
sion, and M. Poincaré’s report recommended 
the following appropriations: Publication of 
the ‘Tables de la Lune,’ 5,000 fr.; Journal 
des Savants, 5,000 fr.; ‘catalogue’ of the 
works of Leibnitz, 3,000 fr.; for the study of 
the ‘tuniciers’ at Naples, 3,000 fr.; for the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


work in connection with the installation of 
the library at Chantilly, 7,000 fr.; and for the 
introduction of a seismographic apparatus at 
the Paris Observatory, 3,000 fr. The remain- 
ing sum of 4,000 fr. is carried over to next 
year’s account. 


Tue New York Botanical Garden announces 
the following spring lectures, to be delivered 
in the Lecture Hall of the Museum Building 
of the Garden, Bronx Park, on Saturday after- 
noons, at 4:30 o’clock: 


April 29.—‘The Indian and his 
Plants,’ by Mr. Frederick V. Coville. 

May 6.—‘ The Pines and their Life History,’ by 
Professor Francis E. Lloyd. 

May 13.—‘ Botanical Aspects of Deserts of Ari- 
zona, California, Sonora and Baja California,’ by 
Dr. D. T. MacDougal. 

May 20.—‘ The Coralline Seaweeds,’ by Dr. Mar- 
shall A. Howe. 

May 27.—‘ Cuba,’ by Dr. W. A. Murrill. 

June 3.—‘ Vegetable Poisons and their Strange 
Uses,’ by Dr. H. H. Rusby. 


Uses for 


We learn from Nature that at the annual 
meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute, to be 
held on May 11 and 12, the Bessemer gold 
medal for 1905 will be presented to Professor 
J. O. Arnold. The awards of the Andrew Car- 
negie gold medal and research scholarships 
will be announced; and the president, Mr. R. 
A. Hadfield, will deliver his inaugural address. 
The following is a list of papers that are ex- 
pected te be submitted: ‘ Experiments on the 
Fusibility of Blast Furnace Slags,’ Dr. O 
Boudouard; ‘Recent Developments of the 
Bertrand-Thiel Process,’ Mr. J. H. Darby and 
Mr. G. Hatton; ‘The Application of Dry-air 
Blast to the Manufacture of Iron,’ Mr. James 
Gayley; ‘The Effect Produced by Liquid Air 
Temperatures on the Mechanical and other 
Properties of Iron,’ Mr. R. A. Hadfield; ‘ The 
Cleaning of Blast Furnace Gas,’ Mr. Axel 
Sahlin; ‘The Failure of an Iron Plate 
Through Fatigue,’ Mr. S. A. Houghton; ‘ The 
Continuous Steel-making Process in Fixed 
Open-hearth Furnaces,’ Mr. S. Surzycki; ‘ Ac- 
cidents Due to the Asphyxiation of Blast Fur- 
nace Workmen,’ Mr. B. H. Thwaite; and ‘ The 
Behavior of the Sulphur in Coke in the Blast 
Furnace,’ Professor F. Wiist and Mr. P. Wolff. 


ApriIL 28, 1905.] 


AN optical convention will be held in Lon- 
don from May 31 to June 3. In addition to 
papers that will be published in a volume, 
there will be an exhibition of optical and scien- 
tific instruments of British manufacture. Dr. 
R. T. Glazebrook, director of the National 
Physical Laboratory is president, and the 
vice-presidents include Lord Kelvin, Lord 
Rayleigh, The Earl of Ross, Sir Howard 
Grubb, Sir W. H. M. Christie and Sir Wm. de 
W. Abney. 


Reuter’s AGENCY is informed that the Due 
d’Orléans has organized a North Polar expedi- 
tion which will leave for the Arctic under 
the duke’s personal leadership next month. 
For the purpose of the expedition the Belgica, 
the vessel of the recent Belgian Antarctic ex- 
pedition, has been secured, together with the 
services of Lieutenant Gorlache, who will again 
command the ship on the present occasion. 
The object of the expedition is not to reach 
the North Pole, and, according to present ar- 
_ rangements, the duke will not winter in the 
Arctic, although the Belgica will be provis- 
ioned for the event of her being closed in by 
the ice. The expedition will leave Norway 
probably on May 1 and proceed direct to 
Franz Josef Land, where it is believed that an 
attempt will be made to push northwards by 
way of a new channel. The duke’s staff will 
include some French scientists and a number 
of Norwegian sailors. The duke will sail un- 
der the French flag. It is pointed out that as 
the season is early this year it is probable that 
the Belgica will find little difficulty in gaining 
the shores of Franz Josef Land. The scheme 
of pushing up a new channel is not unattended 
with danger, owing to the force with which the 
ice pack is driven down by the strong currents. 
It was owing to this cause that the Hira, of 
Leigh Smith’s expedition, was sunk off Cape 
Flora and that the Duca degli Abruzzi’s vessel 
was also pierced by the ice pack. No doubt 
a lookout will be kept for the members of the 
American Ziegler expedition, who are still in 
the Arctic. 


THE sundry civil bill for 1906, passed by 
the last congress, contains an item of $200,000 
appropriated to the United States Geological 


SCIENCE. 


679 


Survey for the purpose of gaging streams and 
determining water supply. With this sum it 
is proposed to continue the work of measuring 
streams in all parts of the United States and 
of collecting data that will be helpful in pro- 
moting water powers and irrigation projects, 
and valuable in determining the quality of 
water best suited for domestic and municipal 
purposes and for manufacturing enterprises. 
Estimates of the daily flow of important rivers 
are needed by engineers and investors, as is 
shown by the many requests for such informa- 
tion received from all parts of the country. 
It is believed that more than $5,000,000 is an- 
nually expended in new projects that are 
stimulated largely by facts that have been 
ascertained officially during years of careful 
observation. 


Tue New York Lvening Post states that 
Dr. Otto Klotz, government astronomer of the 
Dominion of Canada, has been in Cambridge 
recently, arranging with the Harvard Observa- 
tory for a station to perfect his series of longi- 
tude observations made in the interest of the 
Dominion Government. This work was insti- 
tuted upon the completion of the British 
transpacific cable a few years ago. Dr. Klotz 
and his party made longitude connections be- 
ginning at Ottawa, at Vancouver, Fanning’ 
Island, the Fiji Islands, Norfolk Island, 
Queensland, Australia and Sidney, N. S. W., 
where his series met a like series from Green- 
wich eastward to Sidney. This completed the 
cireuit of the world for the first time in work 
of this character, an event that culminated 
actually on the night of September 27, 1903. 
The work involves the setting up of a firm 
pier of cement or brick at each of the stations, 
on the top of which is a point, the longitude 
of which is determined with the utmost pos- 
sible accuracy. The observers’ clocks at two 
stations are telegraphically connected during 
observation, and the error determined with 
extreme refinement. It is to set up such a 
pier at Harvard that Dr. Klotz has come, and 
he has been promised the hearty cooperation 
of Professor E. C. Pickering and his staff in 
carrying out his project. This step connects 
the Canadian transcontinental longitude se- 


680 


ries at one end with the American series, and 
ultimately there will be a similar connection 
established between Vancouver and Seattle, 
thus completing the loop. 

TopoGRAPHERS and geologists of the United 
States Geological Survey will be at work dur- 
ing the coming summer in the region south 
and east of Tonopah, Nevada. A party of 
fifteen or twenty topographers under the di- 
rection of Mr. R. H. Chapman will go into 
the field about the middle of May. They will 
make surveys for three topographic , maps. 
Two of these maps will be detail maps made 
by Mr. William Stranahan, one of the Gold- 
field district, which is 234 miles southeast of 
Tonopah, and one of the Bullfrog district, 
which is about 60 miles east of Goldfield. 
The Goldfield map will cover approximately 
40 square miles and will be drawn on a scale 
of 2,000 feet to the inch. Triangulation and 
leveling will be carried from Owens Valley to 
get control for the Bullfrog map, which will 
also be drawn on a scale of 2,000 feet to the 
inch. The third map will be a reconnaissance 
map of an area about 120 miles long by 90 
miles wide, or about 10,000 square miles, south 
and southeast of Goldfield. It will include 
Goldfield in its northwest corner. The recon- 
naissance map will include part of the Death 
Valley. Levels for the control of all this 
work ‘are now being carried forward from 
Mohave by a topographic party under the di- 
rection of Mr. R. H. Farmer. It is hoped 
that there will be an opportunity of running a 
level line to find the correct elevation of Death 
Valley. Mr. E. M. Douglas, chief of the west- 
ern section of topography has computed that 
the lowest point in the Valley is 450 feet 
below sea level, which makes it the lowest 
point in the United States, but the elevation 
has never been accurately and incontestably 
determined. Geologic studies in these same 
Nevada areas will be prosecuted during the 
summer under the direction of Mr. J. E. 
With the assistance of Mr. S. H. Ball, 
Mr. Spurr will investigate the general geology 
of the district covered by the reconnaissance 
Mr. Spurr will also make a special re- 
port on the geology of the mining camps in 


Spurr. 


map. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 539. 


this area. A third report will have to do with 
the geology of the Goldfield district. Mr. 
Spurr will be assisted in this last inquiry by 
Mr. G. H. Garrey. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


A TEACHING observatory will be established 
by the Ontario government at the University 
of Toronto. Dr. C. A. Chant expects to visit 
the observatories of the United States to study 
their plans and methods. 


THE main building of Vanderbilt Univer- 
sity was destroyed by fire on April 20. 

Tue Suez Canal Company has voted 50 
guineas to be announced at the banquet over 
which Mr. Chamberlain will preside on May 
10, on behalf of the London School of Trop- 
ical Medicine, this being a gift in recognition 
of the school’s services in the tropics. 

Tue Geological Department of Colby Col- 
lege, Waterville, Maine, has been abolished by 
the trustees of the college, the reason assigned 
for the action being a financial one. Pro- 
fessor W. S. Bayley, who has been in charge 
of the department during the past sixteen 
years will therefore sever his connection with 
the institution at the close of the present 
college year. 


Dr. Cuartes M. Bakrewetu, assistant pro- 
fessor of philosophy in the University of Cali- 
fornia, has been elected to a professorship of 
philosophy in Yale University. 

Mr. CuHartes W. Brown, of Lehigh Uni- 
versity, has been appointed instructor in geol- 
ogy in Brown University. 

FELLowsuirs in zoology and entomology at 
the Ohio State University have been granted 
respectively to Mr. C. F. Jackson, of De Pauw 
University, and Mr. W. B. Herms, of German 
Wallace College, Berea, Ohio. 


Proressor Watter Konic, of Greifswald, 
has accepted a professorship of physics in the 
University of Giessen. 

Tne council of University College, London, 
has appointed Sir Thomas Barlow to the 
Holme Chair of Clinical Medicine, vacant 
through the resignation of Professor F. T. 
Roberts. 


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A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 


OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 


Fripay, May 5, 1905. 


CONTENTS. 


Some Present Problems in Agriculture: PRo- 
PEERS GO Te Moms elles ES AUER Ys os 2Vers) act cues ese s.6 cise «8's 


Albatross Expedition to the Eastern Pacific: 
ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 

Scientific Books :— 
Rutherford on Radioactivity: PROFESSOR 
Caru Barus. Kellner’s Die Ernahrung der 
landwirtschaftlichen Nutetiere: Dr. H. P. 
ARMBY 


Scientific Journals and Articles............ 
Societies and Academies :— 


The Geological Society of Washington: Dr. 
Geo. Oris Smitu. The Chemical Society of 
Washington: Dr. A. SEIDELL. Northeastern 
Section of the American Chemical Society: 
Dr. ArtHurR M. Comey. The Science Club 
of the University of Wisconsin: Dr. F. W. 
Wott. The Torrey Botanical Club: Epwarp 
W. Berry. The Elisha Mitchell Scientific 
Society: Proressor Atvin S. WHEELER... 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


A Plea for the Increased Reviewing of Scien- 
tific Literature: J. B. Jounston. The 
Origin of Cyclones, Tornadoes and Cold 
RCS) elite SMELT 5... cjchecje siegeis + esis ee 
Special Articles :-— 
A Contribution to the History of the Con- 
troversy of Flamsteed with Newton and 
Halley: Dr. Epwarp S. Hortpen. A Be- 
tween Season Bird Food Supply: WW. L. Mc- 
AtEE. An Undescribed Alternaria affecting 
the Apple: B. O. LoNGyEAR. On the Use in 
Surgery of Tendons of the Ardeide and 
Gruide: Dr. ALEXANDER W. BAIN, JR. 
Note on the Occurrence on Grain of Or- 
ganisms resembling the Bacillus Coli Com- 
munis: Dr. Erastus G, SMITH.......... 


Current Notes on Meteorology :— 
Altitude and Acclimatization in the 
Tropics; The New Capital of Eritrea; The 
Climate of Baltimore; The Monthly 
Weather Review: PRoressor R. DEC. WARD 


Memorial of the Ohio Academy of Science on 
the Death of Professor A. A. Wright...... 


The Newfoundland Whale Fisheries: F. A. L. 


Conference of Anatomists at the Wistar Insti- 
tute 


681 


690 


698 
699 


699 


708 


706 


Phe Carnegie Foundation... ...........2.++-. 716 
Serentijic. NObES Gnd NEWS a... oso cis se oe Tan 
University and Educational News.......... 720 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


SOME PRESENT PROBLEMS IN 
AGRICULTURE.* 

AGRICULTURE is now in a transitional 
stage. It is passing from the old to the 
new. It is pupating. The problems are 
great, and they all have a forward look. 

Most of these problems are incapable of 
solution quickly. They must ripen and 
mature. They are many; this paper pro- 
poses to indicate only a few of them that 
appeal most to me. 

The problems of agriculture are of: press- 
ing importance, both to agriculture itself 
and to the public welfare. They are of 
two kinds: (1) the technical problems of 
the business, (2) the problems of adjust- 
ment to the affairs of our growing civiliza- 


_ tion, 


The problems of adjustment are of the 
greatest public concern, because agricul- 


ture is our greatest occupation. Agricul- 
ture is necessary to civilization. Of all 


occupations, it employs most men, most 
capital and is followed in the most places. 
It probably must always employ from one 
fifth to one fourth of the people of any 
self-sustaining nation. There are super- 


* Paper read by L. H. Bailey before Department 
18, Section on Agriculture, of the International 
Congress of Arts and Science, St. Louis, Septem- 
ber 24, 1904. 


682 


numerary, eleemosynary and parasitic oc- 
cupations; but agriculture is basic. 

Other occupations have had their day in 
the public appreciation. All of them have 
been born out of agriculture. Tubal-Cain 
was the descendant of Adam. The greatest 
of public problems are to come with the 
rise of the agricultural peoples. Just be- 
cause it is basic, agriculture has been con- 
servative and patient. Fundamental strata 
are likely to be azoic; but in great world- 
movements they are also likely to rise per- 
manently to the top. 

The farmer is a wealth-producer. There- 
fore, his importance in the body politic is 
primary. He deals with elemental forces. 
As a wealth-producer, he will come to have 
a larger voice in the expenditure and waste 
of wealth in maintaining armaments of 
war. All his instincts are of peace. 

The public problems of agriculture have 
been slow to gain recognition. The agri- 
cultural questions that we customarily dis- 
cuss are those of the individual farmer. 
The burden of our teaching has been that 
the farmer must be a better farmer. Only 
in recent years has it come to be fully 
recognized that agricultural problems are 
of the greatest national and governmental 
significance. Consider how recent is the 
Land Grant Act, the secretaryship of 
agriculture in the President’s cabinet, the 
experiment station act, the origin of a 
definite farmers’ institute movement, the 
development at public expense of fertilizer 
and feed controls and other policing poli- 
cies, the making of liberal grants of public 
money for specific agricultural uses. 

Governmental fiscal policies have been 
shaped primarily for other, occupations, as, 
for example, the tariff for protection. This 
is primarily a manufacturer’s policy. It 
matured with the rise of concentrated 
manufacturing. One of the stock argu- 
ments of the protectionist when addressing 
farmers is that any policy that aids manu- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXT. No. 540. 


facturing interest must indirectly aid them. 
I am not here to discuss or to criticize tariff 
legislation, but it is apparent that such 
legislation is only secondarily of benefit to 
agriculture. It has been the history of 
institutions that special and organized in- 
terests receive attention before care is 
given to the common people and the masses. 

We have really not endeavored, as a 
people, to solve our technical agricultural 
problems until within the present genera- — 
tion. We have escaped the problems by 
moving on to the west. Thereby we have 
fallen into the habit of treating symptoms 
rather than causes, as the policeman does 
when he orders the offender to ‘move on,’ 
and leaves the real difficulty for some one 
else to solve. Even yet, farmers are moy- 


ing on to find land that is not depleted and 


regions free of blights and of pests. The 
real development of agriculture les in de- 
veloping the old areas, not in discovering 
new ones. When virgin land can no longer 
be had, scientific agriculture will be born. 
An isolated island develops something like 
a perfected agriculture, as one may see in 
Bermuda or Jersey. The earth is an island: 
in time it will be developed. 

As agriculture comprises a multitude of 
different businesses, everywhere touching 
many sciences and having contact with 
many public questions, so it is impossible 
for one person adequately to state even its 
present and pressing questions. I have 
been in the habit of inquiring of farmers, 
students and colleagues what they consider 
the agricultural problems to be. Many of 
the problems that they have stated to me 
are temporary, local or incidental. Others 
are common to many occupations, having 
to do with the general constitution of so- 
ciety and the general trend of economic 
events. In this paper I have tried to as- 
semble statements of such questions as 
appear to me best to illustrate the complex 
nature of the subject before us. I wish I 


May 5, 1905.] 


could give credit to the sources of all the 
suggestions, but this is impracticable, even 
though in some eases I have followed very 
closely the ideas and the language of my 
informants. I shall be obliged to assume 
full responsibility for the statements. 


THE TECHNICAL AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS. 

In America the so-called problems of 
agriculture have been largely those of the 
‘mere conquest of land. They are the re- 
sult of migration and of the phenomenal 
development of sister industries. They 
have resulted from a growing, developing 
country. They have been largely physical, 
mechanical, transportational, extraneous— 
the problems of the engineer and inventor 
rather than of the farmer. The problem 
has not been to make two blades of grass 
erow where only one grew before, but how 
economically to harvest and transport the 
one blade that has grown almost without 
effort. 

During the past hundred years there 
has been an area of development on the 
western border of the developed country, 
and this has been able to compete at an 
economical advantage with the older area 
farther east. The price of land has fallen 
in the east, while it has risen in the west. 
From 1870 to 1900 we practically doubled 
our population and doubled our agricul- 
tural area. Aside from the geometrical in- 
erease in the population, this development 
has been due to a fertile, level prairie which 
was practically treeless. Hitherto the ax- 
man has hewn his way tree by tree. The 
development of the area west of the Mis- 
sissippi River is probably the most remark- 
able in the history of the world. A second 
cause for this development is the consoli- 
dation of railroads into transcontinental 
lines; and another is the improvement of 
labor-saving machinery, of which the self- 
binding harvester is the most conspicuous 
example, a machine that first attracted 


SCIENCE. 


683 


wide attention at the Centennial Exposition 
in 1876. 

To this day the American is a cheap-land 
farmer. A few minutes on the train from 
a European city brings one into a highly 
tilled agricultural country. The other day 
I took an express train from New York 
city. It was three quarters of an hour 
before I saw what I could call a farm, and 
a full hour before I reached a farming 
country. 

As early as one hundred years ago, a 
distinct movement for the betterment of 
agriculture had set in. This movement 
was largely educational. It was an effort 
to improve the farmer, quite as much as 
to improve the farm. Washington was 
vitally interested in the problem. He 
wished to have a central board or clearing- 
house for agricultural information. The 
full fruition of his hopes came with the 
establishment of a seeretaryship of agricul- 
ture in the President’s cabinet, in Benja- 
min Harrison’s administration. In 1799 a 
concrete proposition for the establishment 
of an agricultural college in Pennsylvania 
came to an untimely end. In 1821 instruc- 
tion was given in agriculture in the lyceum 
at Gardiner, Maine. In 1824 a school of 
agriculture was opened at Derby, Con- 
necticut. A number of other similar at- 
tempts were made previous to the passage 
of the Land Grant Act of 1862, but of 
these only the Michigan Agricultural Col- 
lege persists. The gist of the whole move- 
ment was to adapt education to men’s lives. 
The culmination was the Land Grant Act, 
the purpose of which is ‘to promote the 
liberal and practical education of the in- 
dustrial classes in the several pursuits and 
professions in life.’ So far as agriculture 
was concerned, the Land Grant Act was 
somewhat premature. The developing and 
organizing mechanical and engineering 
trades were the first to profit by it. Agri- 
eulture will now have its turn. 


684 


The tide to the limitless west rose and 
fell, and we came to a pause. The technical 
problems of the farmer called for solution. 
His personal difficulties pressed for solution 
directly on the farm. These problems are 
of two categories: (1) to remove the special 
disabilities (insects, fungi, weeds, animal 
diseases), (2) to augment production (fer- 
tilizers, soil studies, tillage, improving 
plants and animals). Then was born the 
experiment station (in 1887): the idea is 
to improve the farm; it is investigational, 
not educational. 

How special the purpose of the experi- 
ment station act is, may be seen at once 
from the purposes that it definitely men- 
tions: 


That it shall be the object and duty of said 
experiment stations to conduct original researches 
or verify experiments on the physiology of plants 
and animals; the diseases to which they are 
severally subject, with the remedies for the same; 
the chemical composition of useful plants at their 
different stages of growth; the comparative ad- 
vantages of rotative cropping as pursued under 
a varying series of crops; the capacity of new 
the analysis 
of soils and water; the chemical composition of 
manures, natural or artificial, with experiments 


plants or trees for acclimation; 


designed to test their comparative effects on crops 
of different kinds; the adaptation and value of 
grasses and forage plants; the composition and 
digestibility of the different kinds of food for 
domestic animals; the scientific and economic 
questions involved in the production of butter and 
cheese; and such other researches or experiments 
bearing directly on the agricultural industry of 
the United States as may in each case be deemed 
advisable, having due regard to the varying con- 
ditions and needs of the respective states or ter- 
ritories. 


The experiment stations are holding to 
these special fields with great faithfulness. 
In a lot of three hundred and fourteen bul- 
letins that came to my attention bearing 
the date of 1903, the following rough elassi- 
fication of subjects was made: 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 540. 
Bulletins, 1903. 
Insects, diseases of plants....... 63 or 20% 
Feeding and grazing............ 52 
Wertilizersc 3 :,.2'0- oe ese etete 37 
Harm Cropsin = etn: «1 ee meer 33 
Fruits, ~orchards<.)3° .--aese oar 28 
Dairy (milk and cheese)....... 23 
Diseases of animals ............ 16 
Meteorology S.e 55: J.ce5-- oer 15 
Garden vegetables ............. 12 
SUPAT, eect ioe oe = A eee ff 
Natural resources, irrigation.... 7 
Poullitty” is e.eets arses See eee = 
Weedsitsc 5.2. tion sneer 4 
Ornamental plants)... -< 4c 2. arse 4 Z 
Seed germination .............. 3 
Bducational..ss¢).. te seme ee ae 3 
” Morestry. sok eases aceon 2 
General advice, bees exhibitions, 
plant-breeding ele a)... a = 1 
314 


Some epochs are now passing—as the 
fertilizer epoch based on agricultural chem- 
istry. The larger question of self-sustain- — 
ing farm management is now pressing. 
Three categories of technical farm sub- 
jects are just now beginning to demand 
much thought: (1) problems of feeding to 
increase efficiency of farm animals; (2) 
problems of breeding of animals and plants 
for the same purpose; (3) problems of the 
business organization of the farm, or the 
development of a farm-plan. We are be- 
ginning to apply research to large funda- 
mental questions. The earlier subjects of 
investigation in the agricultural experiment 
stations were mostly the smaller and inei- 
dental ones. Now the fundamental or 
backbone erops and products are being in- 
vestigated in their entirety—the corn crop, 
the cotton crop, the grass crop, the milk 
product, the beef product. The experi- 
ment stations are originating a kind of con- 
structive investigational method, and the 
really great questions are ahead of us. 
Large problems come last. 

We are now just coming to the large 
question of adaptation of special areas to 


May 5, 1905.] 


special purposes. In the future one of the 
problems will be the more perfect adapta- 
tion of the kind of farm to soil and climate. 
As an illustration, the production of do- 
mestic animals for meat and for wool has 
been most extensive on the western border 
of the developing country for economic 
reasons, and not because the area is nat- 
urally best adapted to this enterprise. The 
Mississippi valley is primarily adapted to 
_ the production of cereals and not nearly as 

well adapted as the north Atlantic states 
to the production of grass either as pasture 
or hay. These Atlantic states are particu- 
larly adapted to growing all kinds of trees 
and of grass. In the course of time, there- 
fore, we may expect that the production 
of live stock will become more important 
in the east. Out of this grow some imme- 
diate problems. At present, live-stock hus- 
bandry in the east can be carried on eco- 
nomically only when large tracts of land 
can be purchased at low price. It is pos- 
sible to purchase small tracts of land at 
comparatively low price, but not possible 
to purchase large areas. More of the live 
stock will be raised upon small farms with- 
in the more densely populated districts, 
with comparatively few animals to a place. 
This will lead to the question of maintain- 
ing the improvement in domestic animals. 
It will mean the gradual substitution of 
soiling systems for pasturing systems, and 
this will lead to remoter economic and so- 
cial changes. 

New industries are to be developed. 
This calls for special governmental recog- 
nition. The national Department of Agri- 
culture aids such new enterprises by giving 
counsel and investigating the special tech- 
nical difficulties; but is this kind of aid 
sufficient? If the government helps new 
manufacturing industries by giving them 
special privileges, why not aid new agricul- 
tural industries by bounties? If a bounty 
system were to become a recognized public 


SCIENCE. 


635 


policy (following perhaps the experience 
with sugar bounties), would it result in 
undesirable social and economic changes? 
The money grants to agriculture are only a 
fair offset to special privileges given to 
other industries. 

THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS. 

“We are now returning to the farmer, 
although still holding to the farm. There 
is a distinct recrudescence of the educa- 
tional point of view. The new emphasis 
is to be placed on the man rather than on 
his crops. The farmer is a citizen as well 
as a farmer; he is an important factor in 
public affairs. 

The new edueation must reach the farmer 
in terms of the whole man—his particular 
business, his home and its ideals, his rela- 
tion to good roads, good schools, the church, 
to social forces, to all that makes up a broad 
and satisfying country life. We must give 
attention to the ideals of living, as well as 
to the ideals of farming. The sanitation of 
the farm home, the architecture of the 
buildings (what silent and effective teach- 
ers buildings are!), the reading, the char- 
acter of the farmyard, the questions asso- 
ciated with the bringing up of children, the 
social and commercial organizations—these 
are the kinds of subjects that the rising 
educational impulse must attack. 

All this enforces the economic and social 
questions relating to agriculture. The 
greatest problems of American agriculture 
are not the narrower technical ones, but the 
relations of the industry to economic and 
social life in general. Agriculture has not 
as yet been able to eall to its aid in any 
marked degree those forces and tendencies 
which have culminated and been of such 
economic value in the general business 
world, in the great productive and distribu- 
tive aggregations. The complete solution 
of the economic ills of American agricul- 
ture may not be in cooperation, and yet in 
both the productive and distributive phases 


686 


this is perhaps the most apparent remedy. 
Cooperation in distribution has made a be- 
ginning, but cooperation in production is 
still almost unknown. Are Kropotkin’s 
ideals attainable ? 

The problem of the supply of capital in 
agriculture has never been solved in this 
country other than in the most expensive 
way. Capital must return to the land. 
Two factors enter into the problem: (1) 
to demonstrate that capital can be made 
remunerative in farmed land, (2) to sure 
that land will not bear an unjust burden 
of taxation. 

Closely associated with the economie side 
is the sociological phase. In the days when 


all were interested in agriculture, both. 


school and church flourished, but in these 
later days both have lost their molding in- 
fluence in the country, though the former 
shows signs of renewed activity vital to the 
community. 

The specific economic and social ques- 
tions that even now press for study are so 
numerous that they ean not be catalogued 
in an address of this character. Is there 
still an active exodus from the country? 
If so, is the movement caused by purely 
economic conditions, or is it in part the at- 
tractiveness of the city? In other words, 
does the education of the farmer fit him for 
the appreciation of the esthetical and philo- 
sophical value of his environment? In 
what relations do the labor-saving devices 
stand to the rural exodus? Can it in any 
way be due to super-population of the rural 
communities? Are the rewards of labor 
greater in the city than in the country? 
Is the arrested development of country 
church and school in any way responsible ? 

_What are the tendencies as to size of 
farms? Is the American, starting with 
small individual ownership, tending to- 
wards consolidation into larger units? Is 
the European, starting with large land- 
lorded ownership, tending towards small 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. KXI. No. 540. 


individual units? Are the small farms 
decreasing in number? In what way does 
the development of the railroads and elee- 
tric roads affect the size of farm proper- 
ties? In what way do the labor-saving 
devices influence the size of farms? Could 
cooperation of farmers remedy any tend- 
ency towards large farms? Or, are larger 
farm units to be desired? 

What can cooperation do for the farmer? 
Must it be economic, social, political, or to 
increase production? What are the moral 
and psychological effects of cooperation? 
What relation can cooperation have to the 
isolation of the farmer? To his hygienic 
conditions? Is it possible by means of co- 
operation to save small individual owner- 
ship of farms? 

Is it true that the country promotes 
health better than the city? What are the 
diseases of the country? Are there mental 
diseases of isolation? Are most of the 
farmer’s diseases due to his work, environ- 
ment or poor intellectual preparation to 
meet the requirements of his condition? 
What could the state do for the farmer 
from a hygienic standpoint? What are 
the relations of farm water supplies to the 
prevalence of typhoid fever, and other dis- 
eases ? 

How is isolation to be overcome? By @ 
hamlet system? Or by a distributive sys- 
tem of communication—as by better roads, 
trolley lines, auto-vehicles, rural mail de- 
livery, telephones, traveling libraries, coop- 
erative reading courses? Is the social life 
of the small village as vital and wholesome 
as that of the separated farm home? 

These are only the merest suggestions of 
a very few apparent present problems. 
They are not to be solved by any a priori 
reasoning, nor by using the stock statistics 
and opinions of economists and sociologists. 
The field must be newly studied. New 
data must be collected. New means of 
attack must be developed. With much 


May 5, 1905.] 


painstaking, actual facts in detail must be 
secured. What is the actual social and 
economie status of every farmer in a town- 
ship? a county? a state? Who knows? 
History must be studied from a new point 
of yiew. The very foundation of historical 
development is public opinion of the com- 
mon people; and until within the past 
century the common man was the farmer. 
Agriculture is the basis of history. The 
best data of the actual conditions of the 
people antecedent to the French Revolution 
are found in Arthur Young’s minute de- 
scription of the agriculture of France. 
The historian of agriculture is yet unborn. 

As an example of the inadequacy of our 
information on important economic prob- 
lems, let me cite the most pressing problem 
just now confronting the American farmer 
—the question of farm labor. Farm labor 
is scarce; it is dear; it is inefficient; it is 
unreliable. Yet we read of the armies of 
the unemployed, asking for bread. Why? 
Who can answer? Who has the data? 
There seems to be not one authority to 
whom we can turn. It is apparent that 
these serious pressing problems—scarcity, 
expensiveness, inefficiency of farm labor— 
are only symptoms of some deep-seated 
mal-adjustment. 

A large proportion of the labor on farms 
is done by the farmer himself or his grow- 
ing family. The inability to find steady 
employment for laborers is a very difficult 
problem. Ordinarily, men desire to work 

all the time and to use their energy to the 
best advantage. A farmer’s family arrives 
at the productive age when the parent is 
between forty-five and sixty. The farm 
does not offer opportunity for the sons be- 
cause the father still desires to maintain 
his activity. The farmer does not take the 
boy into his business to the same extent 
that other business men do. The result is 
that the sons must find employment else- 
where, and in the nature of the case can 


SCIENCE. 


687 


most conveniently find employment on sal- 
ary. By the time the father is sixty-five 
to seventy years of age and feels the neces- 
sity of giving up the farm, the sons are 
engaged in other lines of effort which it is 
not practicable for them to leave. The re- 
sult is that the farm declines with the de- 
elining years of the father and upon his 
death is sold or becomes a rented farm. 
Occasionally a parent solves the difficulty ; 
and herein a distinct public responsibility 
rests on the individual farmer. 

Is the farm labor difficulty a too low 
wage-rate? Is farm labor inefficient merely 
because it is cheap? If so, how must the 
farm be made to be able to pay a rate in 
competition with other labor? Has the 
tariff contributed to the inequality? Is 
social poverty of the country districts a 
cause? Is the lack of continuity, or un- 
steadiness, of farm labor responsible? Has 
the decrease in the size of the farmer’s 
family been responsible for part of the 
trouble? And if so, why has his family 
decreased? Must the farmer of the future 
raise his own labor? Must machinery still 
further come to his aid? If so, what effect 
will this have on systems of agriculture? 
Will the urbanization of the country tend 
to establish a regularity of farm labor? 
Will cheap railway rates from cities for 
laborers aid in maintaining the supply of 
labor for those living on the land, making 
it possible for them to find work during 
winter in some neighboring community (it 
has helped in some parts of Europe)? Can 
we develop a competent share-working sys- 
tem, in which the owner of the land still 
retains directive control? And if so, will 
social stratification result? Must there 
come a profit-sharing system? Or must 
the greater number of farmers themselves 
become employees of men of great executive 
ability who will amalgamate and syndicate 
agricultural industries as they have amal- 


gamated other industries? Is the agricul- 


6388 


ture of the future to be a business of fewer 
and larger economic units? If so, how will 
this affect the centers of population and 
the social fabric? Will the lack of farm 
labor foree us more and more into ‘nature 
farming’—the hay and pasturage systems? 
What is the farm labor problem? 

The country as well as the city must be 
made attractive and habitable. It must 
express and satisfy the highest human 
ideals, else it will not attract the best men 
and women. In area and in population, 
the country is the larger part of the na- 
tional domain; the improving of the ideals 
of the persons that live therein is one of 
our greatest public questions. The farmer 
is the conservative, not the dynamie, ele- 
ment of society. We live in a dynamic 
social age. 

The farmer always will be relatively con- 
servative. His business is rooted in the 
earth. In a thoroughly well developed 
agriculture, the farmer does not move his 
business rapidly from place to place. He 
remains, while others move on. Therefore, 
it is especially necessary that we extend to 
him all the essential benefits of our civil- 
ization. (I hope he will not care for the 
unessential benefits.) He has the rural 
free delivery of mails—although this was 
thought to be impossible a few years ago. 
Shall he not have a parcels post? Hach 
year the good roads movement, originating 
at the cities, is extending itself farther into 
the real country. Trolley lines are extend- 
ing countryward; soon they will come ac- 
tually to serve the farmer’s needs. The 
telephone, as a separate rural enterprise, is 
extending itself. Extensional educational 
enterprises are reaching farther and farther, 
into the open farming districts. Coopera- 
tion and organization movements are at the 
same time extending and concreting them- 
selves. 

Farming stands for individualism as 
distinguished from collectivism. Farming 


SCIENCE, 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 540. 


enterprises will be more and more amal- 
gamated and capitalized, but they can 
never be syndicated and monopolized to the 
same extent as many other enterprises. 
How best to preserve and direct this demo- 
cratic individualism of the open country 
is one of the greatest questions now con- 
fronting us. 

The art impulse will soon take hold of 
the country, as it has already laid hold on 
the city. We have lived all these centuries 
on the assumption that work of art is asso- 
ciated with buildings and ‘collections.’ As 
nature is the source of all our art, so the 
time is coming when we shall allow nature 
herself to express her full beauty and. 
power. We shall go to nature oftener than 
to art galleries. We shall first remove ob- 
jectionable features from the landscape— 
features for which man is responsible—such 
as all untidiness and blemishes, all adver- 
tizing signs, all unharmonious buildings. 
Then we shall begin to work out our enlarg- 
ing aspirations with the natural material 
before us—make pictures with sward and 
trees and streams and hills, write our ideals 
in the sweep of the landscape and the color 
of the flowers. Our ‘art’ societies still 
confine themselves to imitation art. The 
great art societies will be those that give 
first attention to nature as it is, not merely 
as it its represented to be in plastic ma- 
terials and in paints. 

Of all the forces that shall revitalize 
and recrystallize the country, the school is 
the chief. The schools make the opinions. 
of the nation. The city school has been 
developed, but the country school has 
been relatively stationary; yet every farm 
family is interested in the school. The 
farmer believes in schooling, just as com- 
pletely as the city man does; but he may 
not be convinced that the schools are really 
touching the problems of life. Persons 
make more sacrifices for their children 
than for any other cause. Probably more 


~ 


1 | ra 


May 5, 1905.] 


persons leave the farm to educate their 
children than for all other causes combined. 

An ideal condition would be the total 
abolition of rural schools as such. The 
custom of setting apart towns and villages 
into special school districts in order sep- 
arately to tax the town or village for school 
purposes has been a misfortune to the rural 
schools. The whole school system of any 
state should be organized on a broad enough 
basis so that every boy and girl, whatever 
the occupation of the parents, has the op- 
portunity of securing the same, or at least 

-equally efficient, education. The country 
mill has gone. The old-time country school 
is a passing institution. A one-teacher 
school is as inefficient as a one-man mill. 
Schools will be consolidated into larger and 
stronger units. The first pedagogical re- 
sult will be the differentiation of the work 
of teachers—perhaps one of these teachers 
can give special attention to nature-study 
and country-life subjects. 

The school must connect with real life. 
It will be one of the strong constructive and 
dynamic influences in our social organiza- 
tion. At present its tendency is receptive 
and passive, rather than creative. The 
particular subjects that shall be taught are 
of less importance than the point of view. 
Many questions of detail are to be dis- 
cussed, often with much travail; but the 
final solution must be to allow every sub- 
ject in which men engage to find its proper 
pedagogic place in a wider and freer educa- 
tional system than the world has yet seen, 
and to place agricultural subjects with the 
others and not exclusively in institutions 
by themselves. 

Whatever our doubts and misgivings, the 
American farmer is bound to be educated. 
He will demand it. Having education and 
being endowed with a free chance, he will 
not be a peasant. Some persons have made 
the serious mistake of confounding peas- 
antry with comparative poverty. Peasant- 


SCIENCE. 


689 


hood is a social stratum. It is a surviving 
product of decaying social conditions. 

If the open country is to be made at- 
tractive to the best minds, it must have an 
attractive literature. There must be a 
technical literature of the farm, and also a 
general artistic literature portraying the 
life and the ideals of the persons in the 
country. The farm literature of a genera- 
tion ago was largely wooden and spiritless, 
or else untrue to actual rural conditions. 
The new literature is vital and alive. The 
new, however, is yet mostly special and 
technical, with the exception of the growing 
nature-literature. Artistic literature of the 
farm and rural affairs is yet scarcely 
known. Where is the high-class fiction that 
portrays the farmer as he is, without eari- 
eaturing him? Where is the collection of 
really good farm poems? Who has de- 
veloped the story interest in the farm? 
Who has adequately pictured rural insti- 
tutions? Who has earefully studied the 
history of the special farm literature that 
we already have? Who has written the 
biological evolution progress that attaches 
to every domestic animal and every culti- 
vated plant? We need short and sharp 
pictures of the man at his work and the 
woman in her home—such quick and vivid 
pictures in words as an artist would throw 
on his canvas. There is nobility, genuine- 
ness and majesty in a man at useful work 
—ymuch more than there is in a prince or a 
general or a society leader, whose réle it is 
to pose for the multitude. The man hold- 
ing the plow, digging a ditch, picking fruit, 
the woman sweeping or making bread— 
what stronger pictures of human interest 
can there be than these? If I could have 
the choice of the mite that I should con- 
tribute to the developing and the national- 
izing of agricultural sentiment, I should 


choose its literature. 
iy Ht BAmany. 


CoRNELL UNIVERSITY. 


600 
ALBATROSS EXPEDITION TO THE EASTERN 
PACIFIC.* 
TE. 


WE left the Galapagos (Wreck Bay) for 
Manga Reva on the tenth of January. On 
the northern part of this line we did but 
little work beyond sounding, as we were 
likely to duplicate our former work to the 
eastward. The fourth day out, in latitude 
5° south, we began a series of trawl hauls, 
surface hauls and intermediate towings to 
300 fathoms. In the northern part of the 
line to Manga Reva the hauls were remark- 
ably rich as long as we remained within 
the influence of the western extension of 
the Humboldt Current, and as long as 
there poured from the surface masses of 
the radiolarians, diatoms and Globigerine 
living in the upper waters. Some of the 
hauls were remarkable for the number of 
deep-sea holothurians and siliceous sponges. 
Among the former I may mention a huge 
Psychropotes, 55 em. long. 

As we passed south and gradually drew 
out of the influence of the western current 
we entered the same barren region we 
passed through to the eastward when going 
to and from Easter Island. By the time 
we reached latitude 15° south the hauls 
became quite poor, and this barren bottom 
district extended to within a short distance 
of Manga Reva; and corresponding to it 
we found a most meager pelagic fauna, 
both at the surface and down to 300 fath- 
oms—so poor that it could afford but little 
food to the few species, if any, living on 
the bottom in that region. 

We arrived at Manga Reva on the 
twenty-seventh of January and found our 
collier awaiting our arrival. 

While at anchor in Port Rikitea we ex- 


* Extract from letter No. 3, from Alexander 
Agassiz to Hon. George M. Bowers, U. 8S. Com- 
missioner of Fisheries, on the cruise of the Fish- 
eries Steamer Albatross, in the Eastern Pacific, 
dated Acapulco, Mexico, February 24, 1905. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 540. 


amined Manga Reva, the principal island 
of the Gambier group, from its central 
ridge on the pass leading from Rikitea to 
Kirimiro on the west side of Manga Reva, 
as well as from the pass leading to Taku. 
On both these passes we obtained excellent 
views of the barrier reef to the west, north 
and east of the Gambier Islands, and we 
could trace in the panorama before us the 
western reef extending in a northeasterly 
direction parallel to the general trend of 
Manga Reva Island for a distance of about 
54 miles. 

From the northern horn to nearly op- 
posite Kirimiro Bay the barrier reef has 
only three small islets. It is narrow, of 
uniform width, about one third of a mile, 
plainly defined, submerged in places, and 
passing north bounds a large northern 
bight dotted with numerous interior coral 
patches from a quarter of a mile to a mile 
in diameter or length, with from-7 to 11 
fathoms. The southern part of the western 
barrier lagoon off Manga Reva is irreg- 
ularly dotted with many small patches of 
reef, with an occasional deep hole of from 
15 to 20 fathoms near Manga Reva Island. 
From the islet to the west of Kirimiro 
there are but few coral patches, indicating 
a reef which dips gradually in a distance 
of a mile to a deep channel of from 4 to 6 
fathoms, which separates the northern and 
western reef from the great reef flat lying 
to the southwest of Tara Vai. This flat 
has a width of nearly 2 miles, is about 44 
miles long, and is marked at its southwest 
extremity by a series of low islets arranged 
in a somewhat circular line, formed by 
three deep bays and spurs from the outer 
line of islets, as so frequently occurs on 
wide reef flats in atolls of the Pacific. 

This part of the reef is called Tokorua. 
Jt shelves very gradually from 34 to 4 
fathoms on the west face to 7, and con 
nects with the plateau upon which stands 
Tara Vai and Aga-kanitai. From Tokorua 


May 5, 1905.] 


the reef extends in an indefinite narrow 
ridge 8 miles long, with from 3 to 8 fath- 
oms, in a southeasterly direction. The 
western edge is steep to, and the eastern 
face passes gradually into the lagoon, 
which at that point has a general depth of 
8 to 20 fathoms. The deepest part of this 
region is at the foot of Mt. Mokoto between 
it and Tara Vai, though Tara Vai is united 
with Manga Reva Island by a plateau vary- 
ing in depth from 34 to 44 fathoms. 

_ At the southeastern point of the reef it 
passes into a wide plateau with from 9 to 
10 to 15 fathoms. This plateau is about 
9 miles wide southwest of Tekava. That 
part of the atoll has not been well sur- 
veyed, so that the position of the reef flat 
has not been ascertained further west on 
that part of the east face; but the south- 
east passage indicates 54, 6 and 63 fath- 
oms, where it probably marks the south- 
western extension of the eastern barrier 
reef, separating the lagoon from the south- 
ern plateau to the south of the encircling 
reef, 

The western face of Manga Reva and 
of Tara Vai are indented by deep bays, 
which are formed by spurs running from 
the central ridge of these islands, the rem- 
nants probably of small craters which 
flanked the large crater, of which Manga 
Reva forms the western rim and Au Kena 
is the remnant of the southeastern edge, the 
former extension of this rim being indi- 
cated by the spits uniting the base of Mt. 
Duff with Au Kena; and by the projection 
of Au Kena towards the outer barrier reef, 
and of the numerous patches of coral reef 
off the northeast point of Manga Reva 
towards the outer line of motus until they 
almost unite with the barrier reef. 

The whole of the western bays of Manga 
Reva Island is filled with fringing reefs 
which leave but here and there a deeper 
pass to the shore. ‘Ihe south face at the 

foot of the bluff of Mt. Mokoto and Mt. 


SCIENCE. 


691 


Duff is edged by a flourishing fringing 
reef, which extends nearly half a mile on 
the plateau at their base. The port of 
Rikitea is a reef harbor formed within the 
large fringing reef which occupies the 
whole of the southern bay of Manga Reva 
Island. The east face of Tara Vai and 
part of the east and of the west face of 
Aga-kanitai are also fringed with reefs. 

The islets and the islands of Aka Maru, 
Makiro and Makapu are within a fringing 
reef flat which runs around the west face 
of Aka Maru; Au Kena is also fringed by 
an extensive reef which runs out in a spit 
of more than half a mile in a northeasterly 
direction almost to the outer line of motus, 
which are nearly united with it by these 
irregular patches. To the west of Au Kena 
a huge spit of 2 miles in length extends _ 
towards the base of Mt. Duff and almost 
unites with the fringing reef off the Ceme- 
tery, leaving a narrow but deep pass for 
the entrance of ships into the inner harbor 
of Rikitea. There is only 1 to 23 fathoms 
of water on these two spits. 

The depth of the basin within this area 
with from 25 to 31 fathoms would be nat- 
urally explained as being part of an an- 
cient crater, as in Totoya in Fiji; its north- 
eastern rim is also, perhaps, further indi- 
eated by the comparatively shallow flat of 
the lagoon to the west of the barrier reef, 
with from 5 to 11 fathoms of water. 

The principal islands of the group are 
in the central part of the lagoon. The 
four larger islands are Manga Reva, Tara 
Vai, Au Kena and Aka Maru. Tara Vai 
is flanked by Aga-kanitai and another islet 
to the west called Topunui; Aka Maru is 
flanked by Mekiro to the north and by 
Maka-pu to the south. The southeast face 
of Aka Maru is an extinct crater, of which 
Maka-pu forms the south rim. The main 
ridge of Tara Vai is the edge of parts of 
three craters now opening to the west. The 
four small volcanic islands in the southern 


692 SCIENCE. 


part of the lagoon are isolated fragments, 
steep, greatly weathered and disintegrated. 
No soundings exist to show their relation 
to the other, islands of the group. 

The soundings thus far made indicate in 
the southern part of the lagoon a depth of 
about 23 fathoms, with an occasional hole 
of from 38 to 40, and a gradual slope to- 
wards the outer sunken reef. To the south 
of the old crater of Manga Reva the general 
depth of the bank varies from 6 to 11 fath- 
oms, with a deeper channel varying from 
20 to 40 from southwest of Au Kena to- 
wards Tara Vai. The lagoon seems to 
form a western basin where the depth 
varies from 10 to 20 fathoms. To the west 
of Au Kena and Aka Maru, lying between 
them to the line of the outer barrier reef 
islets, a similar but shallower and flat basin 
exists, off the northern end of Manga Reva, 
between it and the northern horn of the 
barrier reef, with from 7 to 11 fathoms. 
Its rim is formed by a ring of reef patches 
of varying size. 

On two occasions we visited the outer 


barrier reef and examined the outer line 


of islets of the eastern face of the Gambier 
Islands. The position of the islets as 
marked on the chart is not that of to-day, 
and the position of the reef flats is not ac- 
curate. The position of Tekava and Tauna 
appears to be correct. Opposite Au Kena 
and in its extension, the east face of the 
barrier reefs projects sharply to the east, 
forming an angular horn with one island 
south of the horn and the other. north, run- 
ning at sharp angles with it, so as to form 
a triangle which makes a deep bight open- 
ing westward to such an extent that when 
off the northern side of the horn we could 
see Tekava far to the westward of it. The 
second island is followed by a third and 
then by an island (Taraururoa) nearly 2 
miles long; these are separated by small 
gaps. Then comes a larger island (Amou) 


followed by three small islands separated 
by deep gaps. 

At Vaiatekeue (not the Vaiatekeua on 
the chart) the reef fiat becomes quite nar- 
row; it is hardly more than 100 yards 
wide; the islets perhaps 50. The northern 
islets are small and separated by long 
stretches of low shingle and carry but little 
vegetation and very few cocoanut trees. 
There are but two short sand beaches all 
the way from the northeastern to the east- 
ern horn of the eastern face of the en- 
circling reef of Manga Reva. A regular 
dam of shingle from 10 to 14 feet high, on 
the top of which the usual coral reef vege- 
tation flourishes, extends along the inner 
face of the reef flat, which varies from 50 
to 150 yards in width, and is flanked at the 
base by low buttresses of modern elevated 
coral reef rock and of breccia, in places all 
more or less weather beaten and honey- 
combed. 

The islets and their formation and their 
junction or division into larger or smaller 
islets and the gaps which separate them; 
the mode of formation of the buttresses, 
of the planed-off, hard, nearly level reef 
flat, of the coralline mounds of the outer 
edge—all these differ in no way from what 
has been described in other barrier reef 
islands and atolls of the Pacific. 

The beaches of the lagoon are steep, and 
corals do not seem to thrive in those parts 
of the lagoon to which the sea does not 
have access or at some distance from shore. 
This is well shown by the vigorous growth 
of corals in the fringing reef to the south 
of Mt. Duff on the outer edges of the reef 
patches of Port Rikitea, and on the spits 
which connect Au Kena with Manga Reva, 
in contrast with those along the west face 
of the lagoon flats to the west of the eastern 
barrier reef. 

There is a northeast horn of the eastern 


barrier. reef in the extension of Manga 


Reva Island, forming the northern cul- 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 540. 


May 5, 1905.] 


mination of the central bight of the eastern 
face of the barrier reef. From that point 
the reef flat runs westerly to form the 
northern horn about 3 miles north of Man- 
ga Reva Island. The position of the outer 
reef can not be correct on the chart (H. O. 
No. 2024). On leaving Manga Reva we 
made three soundings close off the reef 
flat line of breakers—one off Tekava, at the 
most one third of a mile from the reef, in 
225 fathoms. Our position, plotted by 
tangents to the volcanic islands or by their 
summits, indicated in this case, on the 
chart, a distance of 14 miles. A second 
sounding of 245 fathoms off the eastern 
horn at less than one half mile indicated 
on chart No. 2024 a distance of 2 miles 
from the horn; and a sounding of 241 fath- 
oms one fourth of a mile off the point 
which we had visited (Vaiatekeue) indi- 
eated a distance of three fourths of a mile 
on the chart. 

The slope of the Gambier Archipelago to 
the east is steep. On coming in sight of 
Manga Reva we sounded in 2,070 fathoms 
at a distance of 11 miles from Mt. Duff, 
that is, 6 miles from the outer edge of the 
reef bearing southwest; and on coming out 
we sounded again half-way to that point 
at a distance of 34 miles from the breakers 
in 1,394 fathoms. 

One can not fail to be struck with the 
similarity of the Manga Reva Archipelago 
with the great atoll of Truk. If I remem- 
ber. rightly, Darwin also called attention 
to this from a study of the charts. Yet, 
owing to the great size of Truk, no less 
than 125 miles in circumference, and the 
great distance of the barrier reef from the 
encircled volcanic islands, the effect as one 
steams into Manga Reva is totally different 
from that produced by Truk. In the latter 
some of the islands, though large, and of 
the same height as those of Manga Reva, 
are much more scattered, and seem of com- 
paratively small importance in the midst 


SCIENCE. 


693 


of the huge lagoon which surrounds them. 
The barrier reef islets of Truk are from 11 
to 15 miles distant from the encircled vol- 
canic islands. In Manga Reva, which is 
only 45 miles in circumference, after, pass- 
ing the small islands in the southern and 
open part of the lagoon when once off 
Maka-pu, we can fairly well take in the 
atoll asa whole. The western island (Tara 
Vai) is only 5 miles off; Manga Reva and 
Au Kena are about 3, as are also the islets 
of the east face of the barrier reef; these 
distances, as you approach the entrance to 
Rikitea, are constantly growing less, so that 
when in the gap between Manga Reva 
Island and Au Kena, at the foot of Mt. 
Duff, none of the larger islands is more 
than 3 miles off; and the islets of the east- 
ern face of the barrier reef are seen to the 
northeast about 4 miles off. When on the 
summit of the central ridge of Manga Reva 
one can, in a radius of a little more than 
4 miles, take in the whole panorama of 
Manga Reva, and get an impression of the 
relations of its different parts far better 
than can be conveyed by the chart, for the 
whole of the visible part of the archipelago 
is included in a line drawn east and west, 
south of Maka-pu; south of that line the 
position of the southwestern reef can be 
traced only by the discoloration of the 
waters. 

Manga Reva is an intermediate stage of 
erosion and denudation, between a lagoon 
archipelago such as Truk and a barrier 
reef island like Vanikoro, and other islands 
in the Society groups such as Bora Bora,* 
Huaheine, Raiatea, Eimeo, in which the 
surrounding platform has comparatively 
little width and the barrier reef is close to 
the principal island and often becomes part 
of its fringing reef. Manga Reva is open 
to the south and to the west, Vanikoro to 
the east, while the voleanic islands of Truk 


*See A. Agassiz, ‘The Coral Reefs of the Trop- 
ical Pacific,’ plates 210 and 231. 


694 SCIENCE. 


are completely surrounded by the outer 
encircling barrier reef, as are the Society 
Islands just mentioned, which have several 
wide passages into the lagoon through the 
wide barrier reef. 

One is tempted to reconstruct the Gam- 
bier archipelago of former times, and to 
imagine it with a great central voleano, of 
which Manga Reva and Au Kena are parts 
of the rim which once were connected from 
the southeast point of Manga Reva to Au 
Kena, and thence along the line of the 
outer islets to the northeast end of the 
former island with a deep erater. of more 
than 34 fathoms. On the west face it was 
flanked by smaller craters extending to the 
western islets of the barrier reef, of which 
the bays of Taku, Kirimiro and Rumaru, 
and the bays of the west side of Tara Vai 
are the eastern ridges. There were prob- 
ably also other secondary volcanoes, of 
which Aka Maru and the islets of the south 
part of the lagoon are the remnants, the 
latter all being situated on the gentle slope 
of the southern part of the Manga Reva 
plateau; this may have been the southern 
slope of the principal voleano of the group, 
on the face of which have grown up the 
outer lines of the barrier reef and its islets. 

The existence of a great central volcano 
would readily explain the great depth of 
the lagoon in its different regions, as well as 
the great depth off the outer face of Manga 
Reva, depths showing slopes which are no 
steeper nor more striking than the height 
and slopes of the southern part of Manga 
Reva or Tara Vai, of Aka Maru and of 
Maka-pu, supposing them to be extended 
into the sea. 

Mt. Mokoto and Mt. Duff drop precipit- 
ously for more than one third their height 
and in less than a quarter of a mile fall 
from over 1,300 feet to the level of the sea. 
Similar slopes are found along the vol- 
canoes of Easter Island where there are no 
coral reefs. The edge of the erater of 


[N.S. Vou. XX1. No. 540. 


Rana Kao drops perpendicularly a height 
of nearly 1,000 feet in less than one eighth 
of a mile horizontal distance; and the east- 
ern face of the crater of Rana Roraka rises 
vertically about 800 feet above the plain 
of Tangariki. 

It is interesting to note how poor is the 
flora of the Manga Reva archipelago as 
compared with that of the more western 
volcanic islands like the Marquesas and the 
Society Islands and some of the western 
elevated Paumotus. In the Gambier Archi- 
pelago the forests are reduced to a few 
patches extending along the small valleys 
of the slopes of the voleanic spurs. I am 
informed that even in the thirties of the 
last century, when the missionaries first 
landed at Manga Reva, the forest trees, 
while more numerous, yet never attained 
the luxuriance of growth that they attain 
in the Society and Marquesas Islands. At 
the present day, with the exception of the 
forest patches just mentioned and a few 
trees which have been introduced for cul- 
tivation, the islands of the group are in 
great part thickly covered with a species 
of cane closely resembling that of our 
southern states. The fauna of Manga 
Reva is also extremely poor. There are no 
mammals, and with the exception of a 
‘sandpiper’ no indigenous birds. Sea 
birds are few in number, and in our trip 
in the eastern Pacific we rarely had more 
than three or four birds accompanying us; 
often only one, and frequently none was 
visible for days. There are a few lizards 
on the islands, apparently of the same spe- 
cies as those in the Society Islands. 

We left Port Rikitea for Acapulco on 
the fourth of February to anchor off Aka 
Maru; on the fifth we left our anchorage, 
sounded off the east face of Manga Reva, 
and took photographs. 

On our way north from Manga Reva to 
Acapuleo we did not begin to trawl or tow 
until warned by the surface nets that the 


May 5, 1905.] 


surface was becoming richer in animal and 
vegetable life and also by the surface tem- 
peratures indicating that we had reached 
the southern edge of the cold western equa- 
torial current. <A little north of 10° south 
latitude we made our first haul and deep 
tow, and found a very rich fauna down to 
the 300-fathom line, recalling the pelagic 
fauna of the eastern lines and fully as 
rich. On trawling we found, as we ex- 
pected, a very rich bottom fauna. 

Among the animals brought up in the 
trawl there were some superb Hyalonema, 
siliceous sponges, Benthodytes and other 
deep-sea holothurians, fine specimens of 
Freyella, and some large ophiurans. This 
haul is interesting as showing that in the 
track of a great current, with abundance 
of food, we may find at a very considerable 
depth (2,422 fathoms) an abundant fauna 
at very great distances from continental 
lands. We were, at this station, about 
2,140 miles from Acapulco, 1,200 miles 
from Manga Reva, 1,700 miles from the 
Galapagos and about 900 miles from the 
Marquesas. : 

Another haul made under the equator 
near the northern edge of the cold current 
in 2,320 fathoms gave us the same results. 
The pelagic fauna was very abundant, the 
surface teemed with radiolarians, diatoms 
and Globigerine, and swarmed with inver- 
tebrates. The trawl contained a superb col- 
lection of bottom species of holothurians, 
Brisinga, Hyalonema, Neusina, and on this 
oceasion we brought up the oniy stalked 
erinoid collected during this expedition— 
parts of the stem of two specimens of Rhi- 
zocrinus,.of which, unfortunately, the arms 
were wanting. 

Our progress, which was excellent dur- 
ing the first days of our journey after 
leaving Manga Reva, has for the past six 
days been greatly impeded by head winds 
in the region where we ought to have been 
in the full swing of the southeasterly 


SCIENCE. 


605 


trades. This led us, with great reluctance, 
to abandon all idea of further work in the 
equatorial belt of currents; to give up our 
proposed visit to Clipperton, and on ac- 
count of our limited coal supply, to make 
for Acapulco, merely sounding every morn- 
ing. This was a great disappointment to 
me, as we had every reason to expect to be 
able to spend some time in the region of 
the equatorial current belts and settle more 
conclusively than we have been able to do 
the question of their influence upon the 
richness of the fauna living in their track 
far from continental shores or insular 
areas. 

The presence of diatoms in all parts of 
the Humboldt Current, which we crossed 
from south of Callao to the equator at the 
Galapagos and west towards Clipperton, 
shows how far the track of a great oceanic 
current can be traced, not only by its tem- 
perature but also by the pelagic life within 
or near it. When once in the warm west- 
erly equatorial current the diatoms disap- 
pear and the bottom samples show only 
surface radiolarians and Globigerine. 

We took a number of serial temperatures 
in the line Galapagos-Manga Reva, passing 
from the colder water of the Humboldt 
Current to the warmer waters south to- 
ward Manga Reva. The temperatures at 
200 fathoms became nearly identical. 
North the great change in temperature 
took place between 25 and 200 fathoms, 
where there was a difference of 24°. 
South the warm water extended 100 fath- 
oms, a great change occurring between 100 
and 200 fathoms, a drop of 16°. The se- 
rial temperatures taken at the southern 
and northern edges of the cold current on 
the line Manga Reva-Acapuleo agreed well 
with those taken in the same current to the 
east. 

The samples of the bottom obtained by 
the soundings taken by the expedition or 
gathered in the mud-bag and in the trawl 


696 


indicate that an immense area of the bot- 
tom of the eastern Pacific is covered with 
manganese nodules, and that they play an 
important part in the character of the bot- 
tom, not only in the area covered by this 
expedition; the area of manganese nodules 
probably extends to the northwest of our 
lines to join the stations where manganese 
nodules were found by the Albatross in 
1899 in the Moser Basin, on the line San 
Francisco-Marquesas. This area may also 
extend south of our lines Callao-Easter 
Island, and join the line west of Valpa- 
raiso, where the Challenger obtained man- 
ganese nodules at many stations. I do not 
mean to imply that the manganese nodules 
are present to the exclusion of radiolarians 
and of Globigerine. It is probable that 
the layer of nodules is partly covered by 
them, and by the thick, sticky, dark choco- 
late-colored mud which is found wherever 
manganese nodules occur. 

During this expedition we sounded every 
day while at sea and developed very fairly 
that part of the eastern Pacifie which les 
to the south and west of the line from Cape 
San Francisco to the Galapagos and west 
of a line from Galapagos to Acapulco, lim- 
iting an area occupied by the Albatross in 
1891. The area developed by us is in- 
cluded by a line 3,200 miles in length from 
Acapuleo to Manga Reva and the area 
north of a line from Manga Reva to Easter 
Island and from Easter Island to Callao. 
We developed on our line Galapagos to 
Manga Reva the western extension of the 
Albatross Plateau, and found it of a depth 
varying from 1,900 to somewhat less than 
2,300 fathoms in a distance of nearly 3,000 
miles; but about half-way from the Gala- 
pagos to Manga Reva we came upon a ridge 
of about 200 miles in length with a depth 
of 1,700 to 1,055 fathoms, dropping rapidly 
to the south to over 1,900 fathoms. I pro- 
pose to call this elevation Garrett Ridge. 

Our line from Manga Reva to Acapulco 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXL No. 540. 


continued to show the western extension of 
the almost level bottom of the eastern 
Pacific. In a distance of 3,200 miles the 
depth varied only about 400 fathoms. This 
great area was practically a mare imcog- 
nitum. Three soundings in latitude 20° 
south towards the Paumotus and _ five 
soundings in a northwesterly trend from 
Callao to Grey Deep are all the depths that 
were known previously of this great ex- 
panse of water. This existence of the great 
plateau dividing Barber Basin along the 
South American coast from Grey and 
Moser Basins to the west is most interest- 
ing. It recalls the division of the southern 
Atlantic into an eastern and western basin 
by a central connecting ridge. The Alba- 
tross Plateau joins the western extension 
of the Galapagos Plateau as developed by 
the Albatross in 1891. 

The existence of a sounding of- 2,554 
fathoms near the equator in longitude 110° 
west would seem to indicate a small basin 
ineluded in this plateau disconnected from 


Grey Deep and Moser Basin by its exten- — 


sion to the west. How far west towards 
these basins that extension reaches no 
soundings indicate as yet. It is interest- 
ing to note that along the Mexican coast 
there are a number of deep basins lying 
disconnected close to the shore just as we 
found a number of disconnected deeps close 
along the South American coast extending 
from off Callao to off Caldera, Chili, op- 
posite high voleanoes or elevated chains of 
mountains. These basins and a great part 
of the steep Mexican continental shelf are 
deeper than the Albatross Plateau to the 
south and form a deep channel separating 
in places the plateau from the steep con- 
tinental slope. The steepness of the con- 
tinental shelf is well seen, especially off 
Acapuleo and Manzanilla. One of the 
small basins along the Mexican coast, with 
2,661 fathoms, lies off Sebastian Viscaino 
Bay; another, with more than 2,900 fath- 


,\ a 


May 5, 1905.] 


oms, is to the west of Manzanilla Bay; a 
third, to the southeast of Acapulco, has 
about the same depth, and a fourth, with 
2,500 fathoms, is off San Jose, Guatemala. 
Our last sounding off Acapulco about 29 
miles south of the lighthouse, in 2,494 fath- 
oms, showed the western extension of one 
of these deep holes to the east of Acapulco. 
These basins off the west coast, close to the 
shore at the foot of a steep continental 
slope, are in great contrast to the wide con- 
tinental shelves which characterize the east 
coast of Central America and the east coast 
of the United States. 

The collections made during the present 
expedition will give ample material for ex- 
tensive monographs on the holothurians, 
the siliceous sponges, the cephalopods, the 
jelly-fishes, the pelagic crustaceans, worms 
and fishes of the eastern Pacific, as well as 
on the bottom deposits and on the radio- 
larians and dinoflagellates, diatoms, and 
other protozoans collected by the tow nets. 
Small collections of plants were made at 
Easter Island and Manga Reva which may 
throw some light on the origin and dis- 
tribution of the flora of the eastern Pacific. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


Radioactivity. By E. Ruruerrorp, D.Sc., 
F.R.S., R.R.S.C., MacDonald Professor of 
Physics, McGill University, Montreal; Cam- 
bridge Physical Series. Cambridge, Uni- 
versity Press, 1904. 

Within recent years books dealing speci- 
fically with radioactivity or the cathode rays 
have naturally not been infrequent. Begin- 
ning with the pioneering treatise of Stark 
(‘ Elektricitait in Gasen,’ 1902), Madam Curie’s 
account of radioactive substances, Villard’s 


- “rayons cathodiques,’ G. C. Schmidt’s ‘ Kath- 


odenstrahlen ’ (1904), Besson and D’Arsonyal’s 


-‘Le radium’ (1904), Blondlot’s ‘rayons N’ 


(1904) and others, have followed in quick suc- 
cession. But Mr. Rutherford’s book is on 
quite a different scale from most of these, and 
written in a way that betrays consummate 


SCIENCE. 


697 


mastery of the subject. One would have been 
grateful if he had given us merely a sys- 
tematic account of his own researches. The 
book before us does much more than this, 
presenting a readable and most painstaking 
digest of the subject as a whole, or at least of 
that splendid part of it which owes its develop- 
ment chiefly to English genius. 

In the introductory part separate chapters 
are devoted to radioactive substances, to the 
theory of ionization, and to methods of meas- 
urement. Then comes a long account of the 
nature of the radiations. The sharply artic- 
ulated deseriptions which follow, and the sug- 
gestions lavishly offered for the completion 
of most of them, are a feature of the book here 
and in succeeding chapters. The short ac- 
count of the rate of emission of energy is 
absorbingly interesting, and would be startling 
if our expectation were not blunted by the ex- 
pressions of astonishment so much in vogue 
in connection with this subject. In the chap- 
ter on radioactive matter, Mr. Rutherford de- 
velops the important principle that the activ- 
ity of a product at any time is proportional 
to the number of atoms which remain un- 
changed at that time, a subject to which he 
has himself so prolifically contributed. This 
is supplemented by a long chapter on radio- 
active emanations, giving a succinet account 
of the work for which the Rumford medal of 
the Royal Society was recently awarded. 

The interesting phenomenon of excited 
radioactivity, of which Rutherford shares the 
honor of discovery with the Curies, is next 
discussed in detail and leads naturally to the 
final résumé on radioactive processes, in which 
the full theory of atomic disintegration is de- 
veloped. The consequences of this theory 
have been brilliantly substantiated, even in 
the more recent papers which Rutherford con- 
tributed to the congress at St. Louis and else- 
where. At the end of the chapter is a sum- 
mary of the present state of our knowledge 
of the age of the sun and of the earth. The 
book closes with an account of the radioactiy- 
ity of ordinary materials. 

We have noticed but few misprints: p. 55, 
m for wu; p. 265, ¢ for n; p. 336, omission of df. 
We should have been grateful, however, for a 


698 


more generous use of italics. Mr. Ruther- 
ford is apt to express himself with no uncer- 
tain sound against the interminable drawl of 
less gifted investigators. Nevertheless, the 
subject of radioactivity, which is now in the 
glare of the footlights, may not be there in- 
definitely, and a more liberal variegation of 
the text for the benefit of the lazy reader, may 
not in any case be an unreasonable conde- 
scension. 

To have produced a fresh book, broad in 
scope and accurate in its statements, on a 
subject which has now for years been the chief 
topic of animated discussion in the physical 
and other magazines, is Mr. Rutherford’s great 
merit in this work, quite apart from its char- 
acter as a summary of original investigation. 


Cart Barus. 
Brown UNIVERSITY, 
PROVIDENCE, R. I. 


Die Ernahrung der  landwirtschaftlichen 
Nutztiere. Von Dr. O. Kewuner, Geh. 
Hofrat und Professor, Vorstand der Kgl. 


landw. Versuchstation Méckern. Berlin, 
Paul Parey. 1905. 8vo. Pp. viii+ 594. 
Cloth. Price 18 Marks. 


Notwithstanding the vast amount of in- 
vestigation upon stock-feeding problems which 
has been carried on during the last forty years 
in the experiment stations of Germany and 
later of the United States. as well as to a 
certain extent elsewhere, it is unfortunately 
true that the theoretical basis of the subject 
has shown relatively little advancement since 
Henneberg’s earlier researches in the sixties. 
We still, as then, reckon largely with the so- 
called ‘digestible nutrients’ (protein, carbo- 
hydrates and fat) and still assume that their 
amount measures, at least approximately, the 
nutritive value of feeding stuffs. True, we 
have had an uneasy consciousness for some 
time that this was far from being strictly cor- 
rect, but in the absence of any better method 
of comparison we have rather blinked the fact 
and each writer has followed in the footsteps 
of his predecessor with, perhaps, the addition, 
of late years, of some more or less critical 
statements regarding energy values. 

Dr. Kellner’s book marks a new departure 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 540. 


in the literature of the subject. Its well- 
known author was the first to suggest, in the — 
year 1880, in connection with investigations 
upon the nutrition of working horses, that the 
values of different feeding stuffs might be 
compared upon the basis of their content of 
potential energy. Within a comparatively few 
years thereafter the study of the food as a 
source of energy to the animal crganism was 
systematically taken up by Rubner and the 
foundations of the subject were laid. Since 
then a large amount of investigation upon the 
nutrition of carnivorous animals and of man 
has been executed in which Rubner’s work has 
furnished the guiding idea. As regards the 
nutrition of domestic herbivorous animals, 
however, scarcely any investigations had been 
made from this standpoint when, in 1893, Dr. 
Kellner was called to the directorship of the 
Moéckern Experiment Station. There he at 
once took up the subject, his first results and 
an outline of his methods being published in 
1896. Since that time the work has been 
carried forward vigorously under his direction 
and most important results have been se- 
cured. 

The present book embodies the results of 
Kellner’s investigations, including many that 
have as yet been published only in abstract, 
but covers a much broader field than a mere 
compendium of this work and is an attempt 
to treat the subject of stock feeding systemat- 
ically from the new standpoint. The book is 
divided into three parts. Part I. treats of the 
composition, digestibility and utilization of 
feeding stuffs, containing chapters upon the 
constituents of feeding stuffs, the digestibility 
of the feed, the utilization of the digested ma- 
terials in the animal body, the metabolism of 
matter and energy under various conditions 
and the influence of muscular work on metab- 
olism. Part II. treats of feeding stuffs, coy- 
ering such subjects as methods of harvesting ~ 
and preserving, the preparation of feeding 
stuffs and a somewhat detailed description of 
the different feeds. Part III. treats of the 
feeding of farm animals under the conditions 
of agricultural practise, including mainten- 
ance feeding, the fattening of mature animals, 
the feeding of working animals, the feeding of 


May 5, 1905.] 


growing animals and the feeding of milking 
animals. 

Part I., and especially the chapters upon 

metabolism, will be of much interest to the 
student of nutrition in general, but the special 
value of the book is found in Part III., in 
which is made the first serious attempt to 
apply the more recent knowledge regarding 
the energy relations of feeding stuffs to prac- 
tical use. It abandons definitely the assump- 
tion which has underlain nearly all previous 
works of this character that the digestible 
nutrients, so-called, of a feeding stuff are a 
measure of its value. In place of this, 
Kellner puts the actual productive value as 
worked out by his own investigations and 
which is shown to differ very widely in many 
cases from the indications given by the digest- 
ible nutrients. While he does not fail to 
point out that the basis for an undertaking of 
this sort is still somewhat narrow, yet he be- 
lieves that the time is ripe for a beginning. 
He has accordingly, in the appendix, given a 
series of tables in which the productive value 
of feeding stuffs is estimated, largely upon the 
basis of his own results, while the so-called 
feeding standards are also expressed upon the 
same basis. 
_ While it is, perhaps, to be regretted that the 
author has expressed his feeding values in the 
form of starch equivalents instead of boldly 
adopting the terminology of energy, and while 
it can not be denied that his tables are based 
to a considerable degree upon estimates, never- 
theless the book promises to mark a distinct 
stage of development in the theory of stock 
feeding and will be welcomed by the large 
number of those who have become dissatisfied 
with the present conventional methods in this 
subject. H. P. Armssy. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


Tue contents of the American Journal of 
Mathematics are as follows: 


ALEXANDER CHESSIN: ‘On a Class of Differ- 
ential Equations.’ 

L. P. Ersennart: ‘Surfaces with the Same 
Spherical Representation of their Lines of Curva- 


ture as Pseudospherical Surfaces.’ 


SCIENCE. 


699 


VirGIL SNypER: ‘On the Forms of Sextic 
Scrolls having no Rectilinear Directrix.’ 

Lronarp EvuGene Dickson: ‘ Determination of 
the Ternary Modular Groups.’ 


Tue April issue of the Journal of Nervous 
and Mental Disease opens with a paper by 
Dr. William P. Spratling and Dr. Roswell 
Park, on ‘ Bilateral Sympathectomy for the 
Relief of Epilepsy,’ with report of three cases, 
and notes on the physiologic effects of cutting 
the sympathetic, and on the histologic changes 
found in the cases in question. The micro- 
scopical findings are illustrated by two plates. 
Dr. F. W. Langdon follows with a paper on 
myelomalacia, with especial reference to diag- 
nosis and treatment, illustrated by charts, and 
Dr. Arthur Conklin Brush discusses the 
medico-legal aspects of traumatic epilepsy. 
The Society Proceedings reported this month 
include the meeting of the Boston Society of 
Psychiatry and Neurology held November 17, 
1904, and that of the Chicago Neurological 
Society of the same date. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


THE 166th meeting was held on March 22. 
The regular program included: 


The Coal Measures of Brazil: Dr. I. C. Wuite. 

Dr. White discussed the character and dis- 
tribution of the coal-bearing beds of southern 
Brazil. The series consists of coarse con- 
glomerates, and gray sandstones at the base, 
alternating with blue and gray shales up to 
350 to 400 feet above the granite upon which 
the measures rest in the states of Santa Cath- 
arina and Rio Grande do Sul, where his prin- 
cipal studies were prosecuted during the past 
year. Above these basal sandstones, the coal 
beds oceur three to four in number through 
a thickness of 200-250 feet of alternating gray 
sandstones, clays and shales. There are two 
principal coals, the ‘ Bonita’ bed at the base, 
and the ‘Barro Branco’ near the top of the 
coal series. The coal is high in both ash and 
sulphur, but can be used successfully for loco- 
motives, stationary boilers, etc., in a region 
where imported coal costs not less than $10 
per ton at the seacoast. 


700 SCIENCE. 


Above the coal-bearing member succeeds a 
series of sparingly reddish clays, and gray 
sandy shales and sandstones which are fol- 
lowed by light blue shales up to a horizon of 
dark limy shales which in the states of Parana 
and Sao Paulo contain numerous reptilian 
remains, Stereosternum tumidum of Cope 
having been found at this horizon, as well as 
many fossil stems of trees, ete. 

Dr. White found at this horizon in Parana 
what Osborn pronounces a new form, specific- 
ally and possibly generically different from 
Cope’s. It resembles Mesosaurus tenuidens 
of Gervais from the Karoo beds of South 
Africa. 

Above the black shales, red beds of alter- 
nating shale and sandstone become conspicu- 
ous, while capping the same is a great massive 
conglomerate sandstone often baked and vitri- 
fied by the immense outflows of diabase, and 
basaltic eruptives which penetrate the series 
at all angles, and which piled in enormous 
masses on top of the sedimentaries make up 
the Serra Geral. The entire sedimentary 
series has a thickness of 2,250-2,500 feet. 

Two prolific horizons for fossil plants were 
discovered by Dr. White, one only 200 feet 
above the base of the series, and the other 150 
feet higher. In these. was discovered the 
genus Glossopteris and other forms, some of 
which are new to science, and which have been 
entrusted for study and description to Mr. 
David White. The evidence from the fossil 
plants and animal remains appears to place 
these rocks in the Permian, and to correlate 
the formation with the Karoo beds of South 
Africa, and the Gondwana series of India. 

The Dwyka and Talchir conglomerates of 
those countries appear to have a correspond- 
ing representative in the coarse conglomerates 
which rest upon the granite in Santa Cath- 
arina and Rio Grande do Sul, fifty to sixty 
miles inland, from the Atlantic coast. 

Dr. White will return to Brazil during the 
present summer to finish up his studies of this 
coal series for the Brazilian government. 


Flora of the Brazilian Coal Measures; Mr. 
Davin WHITE. 
The paleobotanical material collected by Dr. 
I. OC. White was discussed with special refer- 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 540. 


ence to its relation to the Glossopteris proy- 
ince. The greater part of the material is 
from two horizons and localities. The first, 
near Minas, Santa Catharina province, in a 
bed below the productive coals and only about 
200 feet above the old crystallines, reveals 
Glossopteris indica, Gangamopteris obovata, 
G. cyclopteroides, Phyllotheca cf. australis 
and Noeggerathiopsis Hislopi, besides several 
new generic and specific types. The second 
important collection, from the roof of the 
Irapua coal, in the province of Rio Grande 
do Sul, at a horizon determined by Dr. White 
as about 150 feet higher, it being among the 
productive coals, contains Glossopteris indica, 
Noeggerathiopsis Hislopi, Ottokaria sp. and 
Cardiocarpon sp. The occurrence of Lepido- 
dendron Pedroanum, Lepidophloios laricinus 
and the lepidophytic spores, previously re- 
ported from Brazil and especially interesting 
as showing the contact of the Glossopteris, 
or Paleoantarctican, flora with the northern 
Carboniferous flora, becomes all the more in- 
teresting and important in view of their local 
stratigraphic position which was found by Dr. 
White to be still a little higher than that of 
the plants last named. The inclusion of 
southern Brazil in the Indo-Australo-South 
African or ‘Glossopteris’ province is, there- 
fore, fully confirmed by the evidence thus 
brought to hand. The Glossopteris, found 
abundant though fragmentary at Irapua, rep- 
resents the form described by Seward from 
South Africa, where it is similarly associated 
with representatives of the northern lepido- 
phytes. The new material tends to corrobo- 


rate the conclusion reached by M. Zeiller, that’ 


the Brazilian coals are probably of Permian 
or possibly latest Coal Measures age, their 
place being apparently in the Karharbari- 
Neweastle stage. 

Mr. W. T. Schaller described the ‘ Tour- 
maline Mines of California.’ 

Geo. Oris SMITH, 
~ Secretary. 


THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


Tue 158th regular meeting of the society 
was held Thursday evening, April 13, in the 


May 5, 1905.] 


Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club. 
following program was presented: 

The first paper for the evening was delivered 
by Dr. N. Monroe Hopkins, upon ‘The Con- 
struction and Operation of Small Electric 
Furnaces.’ The necessary apparatus and ap- 
pliances were exhibited and a description of 
the construction and operation of several fur- 
naces was given. 

Dr. Chas. W. Waidner, of the National 
Bureau of Standards, delivered an address 
upon ‘ Available Methods of Measuring Tem- 
perature. Numerous stereopticon illustra- 
tions were shown and specimens of various 
forms of thermometers, pyrometers, etc., were 
deseribed and exhibited. 


The 


An adjourned meeting of the Chemical So- 
ciety of Washington was held Saturday even- 
ing, April 15, 1905, in the chemical lecture 
hall of the Johns Hopkins University, Balti- 
more, Md. 

After a short address of welcome to the 
Washington members by President Remsen, 
the following program was presented: 

The first paper, entitled ‘A New Combus- 
tion Furnace,’ was presented by Dr. H. N. 
Morse. A complete furnace connected up 
ready for operation was shown on the lecture 
table and a full description of the construc- 
tion, uses and advantages of the new furnace 
was given. 

The second paper, entitled ‘ New Appliances 
in the Works Laboratory,’ was presented by 
Dr. Edward Kellar. A stirring and also filter- 
ing apparatus, providing for the manipulation 
of a series of solutions at a single operation 
was illustrated and described. A number of 
improved tongs, ete., for use in handling sets 
of scorifiers, lead buttons, cupels, etc., at one 
time in fire assays, were shown and their use 
described. 

A paper entitled ‘New Evidence Bearing 
upon the Existence of Hydrates in Solution’ 
was presented by Dr. H. C. Jones. 

The last communication of the evening was 
presented by Dr. G. W. Lehmann, who gave 
a description of the investigations which the 
health department of Baltimore has recently 
instituted to determine if possible whether the 


SCIENCE. 


701 


high infantile mortality in certain sections of 
Baltimore could be connected with the milk 
supply of those sections of the city. The re- 
sults of the investigation indicated that the 
trouble was probably due to inferior brands 
of condensed milk which are consumed in 
large quantities by the residents of south 
Baltimore. A. SEIDELL, 
Secretary. 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
NORTHEASTERN SECTION, 


Tue fifty-ninth regular meeting of the sec- 
tion was held on Friday evening, March 31, at 
the ‘Tech Union,’ Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, with President Norris in the 
chair. About 100 members were present. 

Mr. George W. Rolfe was elected a member 
of the executive committee to fill the vacancy 
caused by the death of Dr. C. O. Weber. 

A eulogy of the late Mr. Frederick J. War- 
ren was read by Mr. Robert S. Weston. 

The meeting was devoted to a discussion of 
the subject, ‘ Expert Chemical Evidence.’ Mr. 
Arthur D. Little opened the subject with a 
historical introduction, and treated the sub- 
ject from the side of an expert in patent 
causes. Professor E. J. Bartlett described the 
procedure and position of an expert witness 
in criminal cases. Professor Henry Car- 
michael discussed some of the evils of present 
court procedure in relation to the positions, 
and the qualifications necessary for a success- 
ful expert. Dr. B. F. Davenport gave a rem- 
iniscent account of varied experiences as 
an expert witness. Professor L. P. Kinnicutt 
discussed the position of the expert in relation 
to his clients and the court. Mr. A. E. Leach 
described the position of the state expert in 
eases of prosecution for infractions of the 
pure food laws. Professor S. P. Sharples dis- 
cussed the position of the expert towards the 
lawyer, who is conducting the case for his 
Artuur M. Comey, 

Secretary. 


client. 


THE SCIENCE CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
WISCONSIN. 
Tue seventh meeting of the club for the 
year 1904-5 was held on Tuesday, April 18, 


702 


at 7:30 p.m., in the physical lecture room, Sci- 
ence Hall. The program of the evening con- 
sisted of an address by Dr. L. Kahlenberg, on 
the subject, ‘The Nature of the Process of 
Osmosis. The speaker presented the main 
results of an extensive experimental study of 
osmotic phenomena in which so-called semi- 
permeable membranes have largely figured. 
Much of the work was done with non-aqueous 
solutions of various kinds. The speaker held 
that the substance which passes through the 
membrane dissolves in the latter, and is ex- 
tracted from the resulting quasi-solid solu- 
tion by the liquid bathing the other side of 
the membrane. He showed that whether 
osmosis will take place or not depends upon 
the nature of the membrane and the liquids 
in contact with it. On the basis of the views 
set forth, he could furthermore predict in 
which direction osmosis would take place and 
specify which substances would pass through 
the membranes. 

The quantitative measurements of osmotic 
pressures were made with a new and unique 
form of apparatus, the results obtained with 
semipermeable membranes showing that the 
osmotic pressure does not follow the gas laws. 
The views of osmosis set forth are much like 
those of Overton who worked along physiolog- 
ical lines. It is of special interest to note 
that the speaker found cases where colloids 
pass through membranes much more rapidly 
than erystalloids, thus furnishing instances 
in which the commonly accepted views which 
we owe to Graham are completely reversed. 
The results of this investigation will be pub- 
lished in detail by the speaker in the near 
future. 

F. W. Wott, 
Secretary. 


THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 

Ar the meeting of the club held on March 
29, 1905, at the New York Botanical Garden, 
Vice-President Underwood in the chair and 
twenty-three additional members present, the 
following papers were read: 

‘Remarks on Californian Conifers, by Le 
Roy Abrams. The conifers of California 
have been of extreme interest to the botanical 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 540. 


world from the time that that country was 
first explored. Nowhere do we find such 
unique trees as the sequoias, and nowhere is 
there such a profusion of genera and species. 
Nearly two thirds of the species of the United 
States, and all but two of the genera occur 
within the state. The distribution of these 
species, especially of some of the more local 
ones, is of considerable interest, and it was 
upon this subject that Mr. Abrams chiefly 
dwelt. _ 

By far the greater number of species: occur 
in the extreme northern part of the state. 
Here, within a radius scarcely exceeding one 
hundred miles, no less than eleven genera and 
at least thirty species may be met with. This 
great profusion is mainly due to the fact that 
we have in this region a mingling of the 
typical Californian species with those of the 
northwest. 

Nearly all of the local species are confined 
to the coastal region. Some of these, such as 
Pinus Torreyana, Abies venusta and Cupressus 
macrocarpa, are extremely local, indeed. The 
causes of this peculiar distribution along the 
coast are of great interest and suggest a field 
for investigation which is full of untold pos- 
sibilities. Mr. Abrams was of the opinion 
that present climatic conditions together with 
the broken and unconnected mountains were 
no doubt largely responsible for the present 
status of distribution. He suggested that the 
great changes in land areas to which this re- 
gion has been subjected during very recent 
geological time must have had much to do 
with shaping the destiny of the flora. 

After considerable discussion adjournment 
followed. 

_Epwarp W. Berry, 
Secretary. 


THE ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY OF 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Tue 160th meeting of the Elisha Mitchell 
Scientific Society was held in the Chemical 
Lecture Room, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., April 11, 
1905. The following papers were given: 


Proressor J. E. Latra: ‘The Edison Storage 
Cell,’ 


May 5, 1905.] 


Proressor H. V. Witson: ‘ The Organization of 
the Ovum.’ 
PROFESSOR COLLIER Coss: ‘ Autophytographs.’ 


A. S. WHEELER, 
Recording Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 


A PLEA FOR INCREASED REVIEWING OF SCIENTIFIC 
LITERATURE, 


Ir has seemed to the writer that more atten- 
tion should be given to reviewing current lit- 
erature in zoology, and I am told that the need 
is greater in some other sciences. It is not 
necessary to dwell upon the small number of 
universities in which the library facilities may 
be called good, upon the fact that our students 
are slow to gain a ready knowledge of the 
three or four foreign languages in which ap- 
pears an increasing volume of scientific litera- 
ture, or upon the heavy duties in teaching and 
administration with which our staffs of in- 
struction are burdened. These conditions 
make reviews of literature especially useful to 
American men of science. There are, how- 
ever, more fundamental reasons why the scien- 
tific body should pay more (and more serious) 
attention to reviewing its recent work. The 
first is that scientific efforts are very manifold 
and diverse and the output is very great and 
increasing. Beyond a certain limit, without 
an increase in the unifying forces, these ef- 
forts are bound to become discrete and diffuse. 
I believe that this limit has been reached. 
That the same belief is held in Europe is per- 
haps to be inferred from the great increase in 
reviewing in the last few years in Germany. 

A second reason is that the review should 
be an important means for the training of in- 
vestigators, and for leading students to be- 
come investigators. This function of the re- 


view has, I believe, not been sufficiently recog- 


nized, and it is this which especially interests 
us in America. By reviews the writer does 
not mean abstracts, which seek to furnish in- 
formation by a short and easy method. Re- 
liance on abstracts impoverishes and blunts 
the mind and is dangerous to the true spirit of 
investigation. Reviews which are essentially 
abstracts of isolated papers are of doubtful 
value. Because isolated, they do not aid the 


SCIENCE. 708 


student in gaining a broad and fundamental 
understanding of the field; because abstracts, 
they can not be relied upon by the investi- 
gator; and they are longer than necessary to 
serve as a guide to the literature. 

There are two ways in which reports or 
reviews may serve a useful purpose: first, as 
an annotated bibliography or guide; second, 
as a comprehensive presentation of the work 
done in a given field. These two legitimate 
kinds of reviews are quite distinct in their 
form and purpose. The annotated bibliog- 
raphy is useful to the specialist and instruc- 
tor. For those who have not a large library 
at their disposal a mere list of titles is insuffi- 
cient. It is necessary in addition to have 
certain information about a paper in order to 
know whether it is important for one’s imme- 
diate purpose. It is greatly to the credit of 
Mr. Field that some of this information has 
been included in the Zurich bibliography. 
Fuller information is given in several journals 
of the Centralblatt type in Germany. In 
America in a special field the same kind of 
work is being done by the Journal of Com- 
parative Neurology and Psychology through 
the joint efforts of its collaborators. Whether 
other journals might not well undertake sim- 
ilar work in their fields may, perhaps, better 
be discussed by others. In no journal with 
which I am acquainted are the reviews uni- 
form in character or restricted to the kind of 
information here suggested. To make my 
meaning clear I may enumerate what, in my 
opinion, should be included in these brief re- 
views. Besides the author, title, date and 
place of publication, number of pages, figures 
and plates, and price of a book, there should be 
stated: (1) the material and methods, (2) the 
subjects treated, (3) the general purpose 
aimed at or end attained and (4) the review- 
er’s judgment as to the adequacy of the meth- 
ods and the reliability of the results, in cases 
where the paper can be definitely character- 
ized. Such reviews might occupy from six to 
twenty lines and when printed over the re- 
viewer’s signature would constitute a valuable 
guide for the advanced student and instructor. 

The second form of review is useful to the 
instructor and should be especially valuable 


704 SCIENCE. 


to the student who is pursuing his first piece 
of investigation or who is about to choose his 
subject. Probably no one thing would bring 
greater or surer return in the way of the ad- 
vancement of science than an adequate means 
of introducing students to the original litera- 
ture of their respective subjects and helping 
them to appreciate the historical perspective 
and the current tendencies of thought. This 
can not be done by reviews of isolated papers, 
nor to any great extent in courses of instruc- 
tion. It can be done where a large enough 
number of students come together in a journal 
club or seminar, but best of all by the his- 
torical and critical review. The student is 
usually left to gain a practical knowledge of 
the literature in connection with his first piece 
of research, and thus suffers in two ways. 
First, a large amount of time is consumed in 
learning how to handle and judge the litera- 
ture, which could be saved in part by an ac- 
quaintance with specimens of critical treat- 
ment. Second, he has not time in this way 
to gain a knowledge of many subjects. If he 
had at command before beginning research 
critical reviews of the several branches of his 
science he would certainly be able to choose a 
line of research more wisely, and would be in 
a better position to follow up the literature of 
fields other than his own. With our present 
method of instruction such reviews could very 
well serve as text or reference books to accom- 
pany lectures. They could be more accurate 
and better brought up to date than present 
text-books and would serve the purpose better 
for all except elementary students. Such re- 
views should aim to give the development and 
present status of the subject treated by means 
of a summary and criticism of the literature. 
The wide knowledge and judicial attitude 
necessary require that they be written by men 
who have completed more than one consider- 
able piece of investigation and have had suc- 
cessful experience in teaching. 

Granting the value of such reviews, two 
objections will doubtless be made. First, such 
work is already being done in Germany and 
we profit by it. Second, it is very difficult for 
an American university man with his mani- 
fold duties to accomplish such a piece of work 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 540. 


as a historical review. Few men will be found 
willing to devote such time as they have to 
this in preference to investigation. With re- 
gard to the first objection, it would also be 
true to say that this work is being done in 
Germany and we lose by it. By this I mean 
that a great deal of good American work is 
either overlooked or misjudged by Europeans. 
Reviews written by capable Americans under 
favorable conditions would be more complete 
and better balanced and would be more useful 
to the American student. It should be re- 
membered that the prospective or beginning 
investigator in our universities has yet to 
gain such facility in German that a Referat 
of a hundred or more pages shall be a delight 
to him. However, putting comparisons aside, 
there is room for reviewing in addition to that 
to be found in foreign languages, and I would 
not advocate the repetition in English of work 
which was already done in another language. 

The second objection calls for a plan where- 


by we can secure such work by capable men 


under favorable conditions. Considering that 
critical work involving the organization of 
many details requires maturity of thought, a 
review of this kind must be the work of sev- 
eral months for an experienced investigator. 
A working year should be allowed in order 
that original investigation may be carried on 
at the same time. The best work would be 
done by men appointed each for a single re- 
view in his special field. The stipend should 
be liberal, say fifteen hundred dollars. The 
ground covered would be some well-defined 
field in one of the natural sciences. Whether 
such a review would be prepared each year in 
some field of each science or less often would 
be determined by the board who had the matter 
in charge. With regard to financial support 
and administration, the writer can only sug- 
gest possibilities. The first thought is that 
the Carnegie Institution might well do this 
work unless the terms of the foundation pre- 
vent. Or, a special endowment for this pur- 
pose might be given by some man interested 
in scientific progress. Or, the American As- 
sociation for the Advancement of Science 
might secure a fund and appoint a board to 
carry on the work. Or, finally, since the uni- 


LS Le S—”—~<—CSOt:é 


May 5, 1905.] 


yersities are the chief means for the advance- 
ment of science and since the results would 
have direct relation to the work of instruction, 
a plan might be devised by which a number 
of universities would jointly provide for it. 

In conclusion, if this be thought worthy of 
further discussion, let the motive of the 
writer’s suggestion be clear. It is the ad- 
vancement of science in America by means of 
organized reviewing of current literature as 
an aid in the development of the future in- 
vestigator. This may be regarded by some as 
in the nature of ‘ coddling’ which would lead 
into scientific work those who are unfit and 
who would not succeed. No one is less in- 
clined than the writer to give undue encour- 
agement to students. On the other hand it is 
an open question whether science is not now 
losing fit persons for want of some such intro- 
duction to the workshop. It is not desired 
that the literature should be brought down to 
the level of the average student. The reviews 
should be written for the serious man who is 
seeking his proper place and the’ opportunity 
to do work. J. B. JoHNSTON. 

NAPLES, 

November 29, 1904. 


THE ORIGIN OF CYCLONES, TORNADOES AND COLD 
WAVES. 

To THe Eprror or Science: As it seems still 
to be held that the origin of cyclones, tor- 
nadoes and cold waves is matter of debate I 
beg to offer a résumé of an article on that 
subject contributed some twenty years ago 
to the Educational Courant of Louisville, Ky., 
and which at the time received somewhat ex- 
tensive notice. 

The contention of that article was that 
cyclones arise exclusively over tropical islands. 
It is quite obvious that the movement of the 
atmosphere over every island that has a sea- 
breeze as well as above every local fire, must 
be cyclonic. The vast majority of such cy- 
clonic movements disappear with the reversal 
of the breeze which occurs at night. But now 
and then, under particularly favoring condi- 
tions, it happens that over a tropical island 


the cyclonic movement gains such force as 


to enable it to ascend to a great altitude, and 


SCIENCE. 


705 


this results in such concentration of -vapor 
and consequent evolution of heat as to supply 
a new force for the continuation of the move- 
ment. 

Now the trade winds on their equatorial 
border describe a loop, while passing from the 
southwesterly movement below to the north- 
easterly above, in such way that the wind in 
those situations may be very swift at consid- 
erable altitudes over regions of calm below. 

Say one of the daily cyclones described 
arises over one of the Cape Verde Islands off 
the coast of Africa, or over one of the Wind- 
ward islands, and let the conditions be such 
that when the cyclonic movement attains a 
considerable height it is caught in the loop 
of the trade winds moving to the westward. 
It will be carried to the west along the 
southern border of the loop, the strength of 
the southerly flow of the trade winds being 
sufficient to prevent the upper return or 
northerly flow from carrying it to the north. 
But in the course of its journey it enters a 
region where friction due to the continental 
mainland has largely interfered with the trade 
winds, and which interference has resulted in 
a weak movement of the trade winds of the 
surface as compared with the return winds 
above—this retardation after the cyclone 
has turned and begun its journey to the east- 
ward. There must then be some close con- 
nection between them; a- connection that 
would suggest the relation of cause and effect. 
But how can the low produce the high and its 
resulting cold wave. If we take into con- 
sideration the three facts that the cyclone 
itself is moving eastward at the rate of 20 
or more miles an hour; that at the same time 
it is revolving contra-clockwise so that its 
northern segment has a potential westward 
movement of thirty or forty miles per hour; 
and, third, that there is a constant eastward 
movement of the upper strata of the atmos- 
phere at a rate of perhaps seventy-five miles 
per hour—the situation becomes much sim- 
plified. 

The periphery of the cyclonic mass on its 
northern side, moving as it does to the west, 
meets the air of the constant eastward current 
and backs or dams it up, thus producing 


706 


the high almost invariably observed on the 
northwestern quadrant. The air thrown or 
carried up through the funnel of the cyclone 
remains in this situation more than in any 
other part of the region corresponding to the 
circumference of the cyclone. For to the 
south at this high level the translatory and 
rotatory movements correspond to and in a 
large measure neutralize each other. To the 
west the current of the cyclonic mass is trans- 
verse and not counter to the constant over- 
current, and besides, the flow having just 
emerged from the great friction of the north- 
ern side, has had its mass deeply shorn when 
it leaves the northwestern quadrant. On the 
eastern aspect, the masses of air carried up 
and thrown out by the cyclone move onward 
even at a more rapid pace with the over- 
current and are carried out of the way, giving 
rise to the cirrus clouds usually seen under 
such circumstances. <A high then must accu- 
mulate on the northwestern quadrant. As 
soon as the cyclone has passed any given point, 
the ‘high’ begins to flow out in obedience to 
the laws of equilibrium. To the east it is 
hindered by the snarly cyclone. To the north 
it is hindered by the conservation of areas due 
to the narrowing meridians and perhaps the 
undertow equatorward. To the southeast- 
ward, then, it must escape into the depression 
created by the passing cyclone. 

The blizzard—lf this outflow of the high 
finds a lofty and long range of mountains 
running north and south, these will behave 
as one of the banks of a great river or one 
side of a river bed in causing the mass to 
take on a spiral form of movement. By this 
movement the atmosphere will be continuously 
climbing obliquely up the mountains on the 
western side, while on the eastern border of 
the spiral the cold dry air will be as continu- 
ously drawn down from the upper regions. 
The western blizzard is such a current, and 
the Texas norther its continuation. 

The great majority of our cyclonic ‘laws,’ 
however, do not originate in the tropical 
north Atlantic, but in the tropical north 
Pacific. They arise over the innumerable 
islands found in that region, move west till 
deflected by the Asiatic mainland, carrying 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 540. 


rain and moisture to various distances inland, 
and then they veer around till, caught in the 
eastward overcurrent, they are carried east- 
ward across the Pacific, the American conti- 
nent and often across the Atlantic, and far 
into the eastern hemisphere again before be- 
ing arrested. 

This is not to deny that cyclones may be 
formed in other ways, though it may be hard 
to see how; but since cyclones without number 
are formed over tropical islands ready to start 
on their travels, how else can it be than that 
some of them are caught up in the way de- 
scribed and borne away on their earth-gird- 
ling journey ? D. T. S»sirx. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


A CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF THE CON- 
TROVERSY OF FLAMSTEED WITH NEWTON 
AND HALLEY. 


Tue library of the United States Military 
Academy at West Point owns a fine copy of 
Flamsteed’s ‘Historia Britannica Celestis’ 
(London, 1712) which is without any manu- 
script notes or corrections. To one of the fly 
leaves a single folio leaf was fastened: ‘An 
estimate of the number of folio pages that the 
Historia Britannica Celestis may contain when 
printed, which is dated ‘The Observatory, 
Noy. 8, 1704.’ On the blank side of this leaf is 
written, by Flamsteed himself, the words: ‘ Mr. 
Flamsteed’s Estimate.’ The printed folio page 
is set up in paragraphs, and Flamsteed has 
written comments opposite to many of them. 
As other copies of the ‘ Historia Britannica 
Celestis’ probably contain this folio estimate, 
I will copy here the MS. comments only, not 
the paragraphs to which they refer. 

The first seven lines of paragraph 1 refer 
to Gascoigne’s observations; they are enclosed 
by a MS. brace; Flamsteed’s comment is: 

These are not yet printed, being reserved 
to be inserted in the preface. 

The last four lines of paragraph 1 refer to 
observations of eclipses, Jupiter’s satellites, 
sun-spots, comets, ete., taken with a large sex- 
tant, etc., between the years 1675 and 1689 at 
Greenwich; they are enclosed by a MS. brace; 
the paper at the margin is torn here, but I 
make out Flamsteed’s comment to be: 


May 5, 1905.] 


Printed at his Mr. John (leaf torn) 
charge on bad paper (leaf torn) 

not so correct as they ought (leaf torn) 
in 100 sheets. 

The second paragraph relates to meridional 
distances, transits, ete., observed between 1689 
and 1704. <A brace encloses its four lines, and 
Flamsteed’s comment is: 

A fair copy of these on 175 
sheets was put into Sr. Is. New (paper torn) 
hands Mar. 20 1707/8 to be printed. 

N. B. The figures that give the year are 
here somewhat doubtful, but see below. 

The third paragraph is divided into num- 
bered sentences. The first seven relate to 
Ptolemy’s and other catalogues of stars; they 
are included within a MS. brace; Flamsteed’s 
comment is: 

These be ready to be transcribed. 

Sentence 8 of paragraph 3 (5 lines) relates 
to the British Catalogue of 3,000 stars; a MS. 
brace encloses it; Flamsteed’s comment is: 
These are printed at my own charge. 

N. B. The wording here makes it evident 
that the MS. notes in this handwriting are by 
Flamsteed himself. 

The next four lines of the text have no MS. 

comment, but the succeeding three are printed 
as follows: 
“The New Figures of the Constellations, or 
the Ancient Ones restor’d (those in Bayer, 
and on our Globes being false, and different 
from all the Catalogues in all Languages) in 
about Sixty Copper Plates, each near Two 
Foot broad, and Twenty Inches deep, with a 
Preface.” 

_This sentence is enclosed in a MS. brace and 
Flamsteed’s comment is: 

These were altogether necessary and 
ought to have been first taken 

care of but were designedly 
neglected by Sr. Is. N. to spoyle 

ye whole. 

The next printed words relate to part first 
of the proposed book. A MS. mark refers to 
the foot of the page where Flamsteed’s MS. 
comments are written, as follows: 

The first part was printed off in October 1707. 
March 20 1707/8 Sr. Is. Newton had 175 
sheets put into his hands to be printed, of 


SCIENCE. 


T07 


which what is become J. F. knows not, save 
that EH. Halley has printed some sorry Ab- 
stracts of a part of them without J. F’s knowl- 
edge and consent. 

At the foot of the page are two MS. queries 
by Flamsteed, as follows: 

1. Qs. What is become of £1200 allowed for 
ye work per Prince George. 

p. What ws become of all Copies already 
Printed. 

At the foot of the page there is a line of 
MS. written by another hand in a different 
ink, as follows: 

Memdm. J. F. told W. L. at ye Treasury Office 
that EF. H. had stolen 2 or 3 of his best fixed 
stars. 


Those who wish to follow the rather com- 
plicated quarrel of Flamsteed with Newton 
and Halley can find a sufficient and fair ac- 
count of the controversy in the ‘ Dictionary 
of National Biography,’ Vol. XIX. (Article 
Flamsteed—see also Newton and Halley). It 
is of extreme interest to have found Flam- 
steed’s own comments on the controversy. 
The MS. referred to has, by direction of the 
Superintendent U. S. M. A., been deposited 
with the Royal Society of London, which 
possesses many of the manuscripts of Flam- 
steed, Halley and Newton. 


Epwarp S. Ho.pen. 
U. S. Mirrrary ACADEMY. 


A BETWEEN SEASON BIRD FOOD SUPPLY. 


AN apparently unnoticed food supply for 
birds is found in the heaps of drift, the flot- 
sam and jetsam cast up along the shores of 
rivers, creeks and other bodies of water. 
These places are much resorted to by crows, 
jays and blackbirds, and probably most of the 
sparrows feed about them from time to time. 
As they exist during the winter and early 
spring when food is not easily accessible over 
the whole country, they are probably weleome 
stores to our winter birds. 

In order to ascertain the character and 
quantity of available bird food in these drift 
heaps I filled a half pint tin can with the 
material, scraping it in at random from the 


surface of one of them. Besides the bits of 


708 SCIENCE. 


bark, twigs, leaves, ete., I found in this quan- 
tity of the drift, by actual count, 1,583 seeds 
and fruits of more than 55 species of plants. 
These are without exception substances which 
have been found in the stomachs of birds. 
What a rich variety of food there is in the 
drift heaps, and what a truly enormous quan- 
tity there must be in the cast-up material 
which lines the shores of all of our waters. 
Besides the vegetable matter there were also 
several insect pupe and a few living chry- 
somelids and weevils. 

The following seeds and fruits were con- 
tained in a half pint of drift collected along 
Northwest Branch, Montgomery County, Md., 
March 19, 1905: Tulip-tree (262), pigweed 
(199), purslane (145), cowbane (124), elder- 
berry (108), witch grass, ete. (98), oats (75), 
black mustard (74), common ragweed (51), 
sedges of genus Carex (44), buttonweed (389), 
pale persicaria (38), Polygonum spp. (85), 
lamb’s quarters (31), spotted spurge (381), 
blackberry (28), great ragweed (21), green 
foxtail (18), yellow sorrel (18), beaked rush 
(17), yard grass (17), white ash, (12), moun- 
tain laurel (10), rice cut-grass (9), pokeweed 
(8), sedges beside Carex (8), black bindweed 
(7), Pennsylvania persicaria (6), aster (5), 
alternate-leaved dogwood (4), basswood (4), 
tubers of sedge (4), wild turnip (3), cockspur 
grass (3), broad-leaved dock (8), kinnikinnik 
(3), water oak (3), summer grape (3), green 
ash (2), touch-me-not (2), broad-leaved arrow- 
head (2), poison ivy (2), Paspalum sp. (2), 
water plantain (2), cocklebur (2), nightshade 
(2), corn cockle (1), bloodroot (1), scarlet 
sumac (1), spiderwort (1), beggar’s ticks (1), 
mulberry (1), pine (1), spatterdock (1), sour- 
gum (1). W. L. McATEE. 

BrIoLogicAL SURVEY, 2 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 


AN UNDESCRIBED ALTERNARIA AFFECTING THE 
APPLE. 


An apparently undescribed species of Alter- 
naria was found on a single specimen of 
apple a year ago while the writer was investi- 
gating apple rots at the Michigan Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station. On coming to this 
place the same fungus was found to be one of 


[N.S, Vou. XXTI. No. 540, 


the most common causes of rot in apples in 
the state of Colorado. Professor W. Paddock, 
of the Colorado Experiment Station, had al- 
ready done some work with this fungus. 

The disease manifests itself by attacking 
the blossom end of the fruit, causing a de- 
cayed area of a very dark brown color. This 
area may remain quite small or it may gradu- 
ally enlarge until the whole fruit is involved, 
after which the decayed specimens dry down 
to a shrivelled; hard mass. The fungus ap- 
pears to affect different varieties to an un- 
equal degree, some apple growers having re- 
ported that it is almost impossible to secure 
ripe fruit of certain kinds because of the at- 
tacks of this disease. In other cases it has 
been found associated with a blackened con- 
dition of the seed cavity in ripe fruit, the 
carpels being much discolored on the inner 
side. This condition may also be accom- 
panied by a kind of core rot due to the in- 
vasion of the flesh around the ecarpels by the 
fungus. 

Inoculation experiments are being carried 
on with a view to determine other possible 
hosts, as well as the characteristic effects of 
the fungus on the apple. 

The fungus is apparently carried through 
the winter on portions of the flowers and fruit 
that were attacked by the fungus during the 
preceding season and which are still attached 
to the trees. Reports indicate that the fungus 
can be readily held in check by spraying with 
Bordeaux mixture. B. O. Loneyzar. 

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE EXPERIMENT STATION, 

Fort CoLuiins, CoLo., 
January 18, 1905. 


ON THE USE IN SURGERY OF TENDONS OF THE 
ARDEIDZ AND GRUID4. 


Tue subject of sutures and ligatures and 
their proper sterilization and use has long 
been an important subject in the realm of 
modern surgery. Various materials have from 
time to time been recommended, many to drop 
by the wayside, and we find even in the ma- 
terials of the present day, namely, catgut, 
kangaroo tendon, silk, silkworm gut, horse 
hair and silver wire, great difference of opin- 
ion in the minds of surgeons as to their use. 


May 5, 1905.] 


The recent introduction* by Dr. Kieffer of 
an entirely new material will be of much in- 
terest to the surgeon, but it likewise will be 
of no less interest to the American ornitholo- 
gist. Dr. Kieffer found after a series of ex- 
periments that the tendons of the Ardeide and 
Gruide made an excellent suture and ligature 
and, moreover, that they seemed to possess 
some advantages over the present materials, 
principally kangaroo tendon and catgut. The 
flexor and extensor tendons of the great blue 
heron (Ardea herodias) were first made use 
of, and later those of the sand hill crane 
(Grus canadensis) and whooping crane (G. 
americana). The tendons were readily made 
aseptic by the Claudius method of sterilizing 
catgut. 

Regarding his experiments Dr. Kieffer says: 
“There is still room in the armamentarium 
of the surgeon for a reliable, slowly absorbable 
suture and ligature material. I have been re- 
cently investigating a material which I believe 
to be entirely new. Dr. Geo. P. Johnson, of 
Cheyenne, called my attention to the long and 
strong tendons in the legs of the bird com- 
monly known throughout the United States as 
the blue crane. He had used this material 
with excellent results as a suture for the 
aponeurosis in a case of hernia, the suture 
giving no trouble and apparently being ab- 
sorbed in time. I obtained from him a num- 
ber of these tendons and immediately began a 
series of experiments to test their value. * * * 
As a result of these studies I have come to 
the conclusion that we have not only a valu- 
able suture and ligature material, but one 
easily obtained in all parts of the world.” It 
is to be wondered that the tendons of the 
larger grallatorial birds were not long ago 
thought of as suitable material for surgical 
purposes. Dr. Johnson is to be commended 
for his originality. 

Thus the herons and cranes are given an 
economie value which unfortunately must 
further add to their destruction. Think of 
the thousands of these birds which would have 
to be killed annually should this material be 


** A New Material for Sutures and Ligatures,’ 
Charles F. Kieffer, M.D., Jour. Am. Med. Assn., 
1904, pp. 1519-1522. 


SCIENCE. 


709 


adopted for ligature and suture purposes by 
even a small proportion of our American sur- 
geons. 

It is the least of my desire to criticize the 
author above referred to. His well-conducted 
experiments are commendable, but only to 
voice a word of warning to what at present 
might prove the extermination of the larger 
members of two great families of birds. 

Unlike the Anseres (ducks, geese, swans) 
and members of the order Galline, notably 
the bob-white (Colinus virginianus), the mem- 
bers of the Ardeide and Gruide are far from 
prolific breeders. Members of the latter-named 
families rarely lay over five eggs, while, cer- 
tain ducks lay as high as fifteen and the bob- 
white often more than twenty. Moreover, the 
latter two species often raise more than one 
brood in a season, and it is doubtful if the 
herons and cranes ever do. This will par- 
tially account for the survival of the game 
birds in spite of the inroads caused by gun- 
ners. Furthermore, herons build in colonies 
termed heronries, so that once the breeding 
place is located their capture is made easy. 
Thus the herons (A. herodias) of any one 
county of Michigan, for instance, might be 
exterminated by one hunter in the course of 
a season, should there be demand. 

Unlike a great proportion of our American 
birds, little can be said of the economic value 
of members of the above-mentioned families, 
either as benefactors to agriculture as insect 
and weed-seed destroyers, or as articles of 
food. 

A plea for the herons and cranes then can 
be made solely on sentimental grounds. It is 
their esthetic value, not as songsters, but their 
beauty, the grace which their presence adds 
to the landscape of the various portions of our 
continent. The history of a departing race is 
always a sad one and, judging from the thou- 
sands of dollars which are spent annually on 
our zoological gardens, we are inclined to be- 
lieve that our people admire rather than de- 
sire to exterminate any of our native fauna. 
Truly the places occupied by our herons and 
eranes is a typical one, and as ornithologists 
we should aim to preserve rather than destroy. 

Already some members of the tribe have 


710 SCIENCE. 


been driven to the verge of extermination by 
the plume hunters. A strong public senti- 
ment has been raised of late in favor of these 
species, not only in this country, but in vari- 
ous countries of Europe. Under the present 
conditions the organized bird protectors of 
this country, the Audubon societies, had 
looked for an increase in these species under 
our more recent laws regarding birds, but it is 
plain to see that should the tendons become 
popular with our surgeons for ligature and 
suture purposes the birds might have a still 
greater enemy. I do not consider the state- 
ment sweeping when I say that the extermina- 
tion of some species would be only a matter of 
time. 

However, as the author concludes: “ Think 
of the comfort to the civil or military surgeon 
in isolated places of knowing that he can have 
a suture material at the end of his shot gun.” 

ALEXANDER W. Bratn, JR. 

Detroit COLLEGE OF MEDICINE. 


NOTE ON THE OCCURRENCE ON GRAIN OF ORGAN- 
ISMS RESEMBLING THE BACILLUS COLI 
COMMUNIS. 

It is a well-known fact that bacteria ex- 
hibiting the reactions of the Bacillus coli com- 
munis are widely distributed in nature, being 
found even on material least liable to pollu- 
tion from any animal sources. Thus Prescott* 
has shown the occurrence of colon forms in 
wheat flour, corn meal, breakfast foods and 
various other food-stuffs only remotely liable 
to infection, as they are handled only on the 
large scale and in the open field or large mill. 
He also demonstrated their constant presence 
on certain grains—oats, barley, rye, wheat, 
buckwheat—taken directly from seed-ware- 
houses and stores but slightly liable to con- 
tamination. Papasotiriut has also demon- 
strated the presence of such forms on grains, 
showing them to be commonly present when 
small numbers of grains were studied. In his 
investigations cultures of ten kernels each of 
wheat, rye, barley, oats, peas, beans and corn 
were made in dextrose broth in triplicate, 

og Bae New Series, Vol. XV., No. 375, 1902, 
x f Avahip fur Hygiene, 190%, Vol. XLI., pp. 209- 
210. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 540. 


fourteen out of the twenty-one cultures giving 
positive results. The presence of these simu- 
lating forms in dough and articles manufac- 
tured from the hexoses has been studied care- 
fully, especially by Lehmann and his pupils ;* 
since, however, during the preparation such 
food-stuffs could become readily infected by 
the necessary handling, the results have less 
importance from the sanitary standpoint. 
During the past months I have made some 
further investigations to determine whether 
bacterial forms simulating closely in their 
behavior the B. coli communis were present 
on grain which in all probability could not 
have become contaminated by direct contact 
with fecal matter. In all investigations thus 
far reported some doubt may be cast on the 
integrity of the samples, or at least there is a 
possibility of contamination from handling or 
manufacture. In November, 1904, a field of 
rye was found in western Massachusetts 
which, owing to the scanty growth, had not 
been cut. The field is on light soil, on a level, 
open, sandy plain, and stands well back from a 
country road not heavily traveled. Inquiry 
showed that the field had not been fertilized 
and that no cattle had ranged through the 
grain during the fall. This stand of grain, 
therefore, may be taken as a typical open 
country growth free from contaminating in- 
fluences. From this field heads of grain were 


picked with sterilized forceps and put into 


sterilized glass tubes. These heads were in- 
cubated separately in bouillon for twenty-four 
hours and then differentiated out through lac- 
tose-litmus-agar into pure culture, following 
the usual procedure. At the first test eight 
heads were thus treated and one gave abun- 
dant growth of an organism which repeatedly 
showed the characteristics of B. coli com- 
munis, and allied groups of organisms, solidi- 
fying and decolorizing litmus milk, giving a 
white expansive growth on agar, a heavy 
growth in bouillon, fermentation in dextrose 
broth with fifty to eighty per cent. gas pro- 
duction, fermentation in lactose broth with 
thirty to forty per cent. gas production, heavy 
indol reaction, heavy reduction of nitrate and 
a dirty yellowish growth on acid »otato. 
* See papers in Archiv fiir Hygiene. 


—— 


May 5, 1905.] 


On December 10 a second lot of heads was 
secured in the same manner from the same 
field, and fifteen heads were treated as before; 
of these, four different heads yielded organ- 
isms exhibiting the above reactions character- 
istic of the colon group, the gas from the dex- 
trose fermentation tubes in this series being 
more nearly that of the true colon type, vary- 
ing from thirty to fifty per cent. and with a 
ratio of two to one. 

On January 11 eleven more heads Which 
had been kept in the glass tubes in the labora- 
tory were subjected to the same procedure and 
one gaye exactly the reactions of the B. coli 
communis. In all, therefore, at different 
times thirty-four heads from this field of rye 
were studied and from six of them organisms 
were isolated giving the reactions of the colon 
bacillus with the ordinary media. It will be 
recalled that these heads were taken at random 
over the whole field after they had stood 
through the storms of the fall, and snow of 
the early winter. Other heads of the rye gave 
indications of these acid forms, but did not 
exhibit the reactions typical of the colon 
group of organisms so decisively as those in- 
cluded above. 

These results possess considerable interest 
from both the theoretical and practical stand- 
points. The question as to their origin first 
naturally arises. It is evident that either: 
(a) Colon forms must have been transported 
through the air as dust or carried by insects 
contaminated with animal excrement and thus 
deposited on the grain; or, (b) on these grain 
heads bacteria normally occur which in the 


several cultural processes exhibit most marked 


resemblances or absoluteky correspond to the 
B. coli communis, or the colon group. 

On the first assumption it is difficult to ex- 
plain the persistence of these forms on grain, 
and especially on so large a proportion of the 
heads of grain distributed over an unfertilized 
field far removed from travel. If, however, 
this view be untenable, the other proposition 
must be accepted, viz., that forms of bacteria 
oecur on natural grains closely resembling in 
their habit the distinctively fecal forms, and 
which in our present methods of study can 
not be distinguished from them. It is ex- 


SCIENCE. 


(al 


tremely suggestive that these forms are so 
commonly present on most of the cereals thus 
far studied, being found even, as shown above, 
on standing grain before its harvesting, with 
the probabilities so against any contact con- 
tamination. 

Further, the relation of these forms to the 
study of the pollution of natural waters is of 
the utmost importance. Whatever may be the 
source of the original seeding individual, the 
fact of their presence on the grain-heads sug- 
gests sources for the so-called colon bacilli in 
streams other than direct sewage pollution, and 
the presence of such ‘colon forms’ must be 
interpreted most carefully. Certainly the old 
hard and fast rule concerning the significance 
of the presence of any ‘ colon forms’ as prima 
facie evidence of sewage pollution must needs 
be most discriminatingly applied. 

It is unfortunate that the season of the year 
and locality where these experiments were car- 
ried out requires the postponement of further 
investigation until season. Mean- 
while the writer would value any suggestions 
or data bearing on this study, especially from 
the agricultural experiment stations, the pub- 
lications from which may contain researches 
on these grain organisms which thus far have 
not fallen under his notice. 

Erastus G. Sir, 
Research Associate. 


SANITARY RESEARCH LABORATORY, 
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. 


another 


OURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 


ALTITUDE AND ACCLIMATIZATION IN THE TROPICS. 


In a recent summary of the ‘ Report of the 
Census of the Philippines’ (published April 
8) which appears in the National Geographic 
Magazine for April, 1905, the following sen- 
tences are found: “ That long exposure to the 
climate is enervating there can be no doubt, 
but the effect is easily avoided by periodical 
changes to a colder climate. This has been 
conclusively proven by the old Scotch, English 
and other white residents, who, after a resi- 
dence of over forty years, broken by such 
cemovals, enjoy excellent health, Formerly 
it was necessary to take a sea yoyage in order 


712 SCIENCE. 


to find relief, but with the completion of the 
electric railroad at Baguio, in the province of 
Benguet, this will no longer be needful, as 
the climate at that altitude will afford the 
requisite change.” (The italics are those of 
the compiler of these notes.) A study of the 
experience of European nations in the tropics 
leads to a much less optimistic view than 
that here set forth. Mountain stations, such 
as Baguio, are important, because they fur- 
nish some relief from the heat and humidity 
of the lowlands, and are above ‘the zone of 
many tropical diseases, but they do not solve 
the problem of acclimatization. It is the 
monotony of the climatic conditions in the 
tropics which is one of the chief difficulties. 
The ‘spur of the seasons,’ which is so im- 
portant an influence in giving the northern 
peoples their vigor and energy and ‘push,’ is 
lacking in the tropics. No mountain climate 
can supply this missing quality. A change 
to a colder latitude alone can do it. 


THE NEW CAPITAL OF ERITREA. 


CLIMATIC considerations have been the de- 
termining factor in bringing about the selec- 
tion of a new capital for the Italian colony 
of Eritrea. The government offices have 
hitherto been at Massowa, on the Red Sea, 
where the climate is very trying. The present 
plan is to remove the seat of government to 
Asmara, on the high plateau of the hinter- 
land, sixty miles in the interior, and 17,800 
feet above the sea. Asmara is above the zone 
of the typical tropical diseases. 


THE CLIMATE OF BALTIMORE. 


Part 1 b, Special Publication, Vol. IL, 
Maryland Weather Service, 1905, of a ‘ Re- 
port on the Climate and Weather of Balti- 
more and Vicinity,’ by Dr. Oliver L. Fassig, 
has been issued. Part 1 a was recently men- 
tioned in these notes. The present volume 
deals with humidity, precipitation, sunshine 
and cloudiness, winds and electrical phe- 
nomena, is a very thorough study, and con- 
tains abundant illustrations. 


MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 


The Monthly Weather Review for December, 
1904 (issued February 28, 1905), contains ar- 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 540. 


ticles of general interest as follows: A review 
of Woeikof’s new text-book of meteorology, by 
Dr. Stanislav Hanzlik (unfortunately this 
book is in Russian); a summary of the work 
done at the Aeronautical Observatory at Tegel, 
near Berlin, from October 1, 1901, to Decem- 
ber 31, 1902; ‘ Evaporation Observations in 
the United States,’ by H. H. Kimball (read 
before the Twelfth National Irrigation Con- 
gress, El] Paso, November 16-18, 1904), ac- 
companied by a chart showing lines of equal 
depth of evaporation in inches from a free 
water surface, computed from observations 
between July, 1887, and June, 1888; ‘The 
Storm and Cold Wave of December 24 to 29, 
1904,” by W. J. Bennett; ‘Some Relations 
between Direction and Velocity of Movements 
and Pressure at the Center of Ellipsoidal 
Cyclones,’ by Dr. Stanislay Hanzlik; ‘ Nitro- 
gen in Rain Water,’ ‘The Vapor Pressure of 
Mercury,’ ‘Kite Work by the Blue Hill Ob- 
servatory and the U. S. Weather Bureau.’ 
R. DeC. Warp. 


MEMORIAL OF THE OHIO ACADEMY OF 
SCIENCE ON THE DEATH OF PRO- 
FESSOR A. A. WRIGHT. 


THE executive committee of the Ohio Acad- 
emy of Science has adopted the following 
memorial prepared at its request by Professor 
Lynds Jones in respect to the death of Pro- 
fessor A. A. Wright, of Oberlin, a member and 
a former president of the academy. 


Albert Allen Wright died at his home in Oberlin 
on April 2, 1905, of acute peritonitis after an 
illness of scarcely twenty-four hours. Professor 
Wright- was graduated from Oberlin College in 
1865, received the degree of A.M. from Oberlin in 
1868, the degree of Ph.B. from the School of 
Mines, Columbia College, 1875, was professor of 
mathematics and natural science at Berea College, 
Kentucky, 1870-73, and was called to the chair of 
geology and natural history of Oberlin College in 
1874. With the change of title to professor of 
geology and zoology his service at Oberlin has been 
continuous since his first appointment. 

Professor Wright was born in Oberlin in 1846. 
He served as a 100-day man during the closing 
days of the rebellion, and receivéd his baccalau- 
reate degree the following year at the age of nine- 
teen. He began early to develop his natural taste 


eee 


May 5, 1905.] 


for science, and soon became recognized as a safe 
scientific thinker and investigator. He was one 
who never rushed to conclusions however enticing 
the facts discovered appeared, but took time to 
look into every possible avenue of approach to the 
subject, being satisfied only when his conclusions 
rested upon a foundation that could not be shaken, 

Consequently he was not a prolific writer. In- 
- deed, he gave himself so unreserveuly to his teach- 
ing and his students that research work was pos- 
sible only during his brief vacations and at odd 
hours. 

Professor Wright was a modest, retiring man, 
always shrinking from publicity, yet his service 
to the community and the state becomes con- 
spicuous in his absence. Oberlin’s unrivaled 
water and sewer systems are largely due to his 
hard study and keen insight. To him is almost 
wholly due the inception of the topographical sur- 
vey ot Ohio. In this he was at first defeated, but 
by untiring efforts and dogged determination saw 
the issue to a successful finish. He was also 
among the charter members of the Ohio State 
Academy of Science, which he served as president. 

Probably among his most conspicuous contribu- 
tions to science was his. correction of Dr. New- 
berry’s error in the true arrangement of the ven- 
tral armor of Dinicthys. While the publications 
over his own name were relatively few, his inspira- 
tion to others and his constant interest and un- 
failing kindness in spending himself for others 
who worked under him will continue long to be a 
povent factor in the advancement of science. 

Professor Wright was a fellow of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science, a 
fellow of the Geological Society of America, and 
member of the Ohio State Academy of Science. 


Herpert Osporn, President, 
L. B. Watton, Secretary. 


THE NEWFOUNDLAND WHALE FISHERIES. 


THE returns of the Newfoundland Whale 
Fisheries for 1904 show that the eleven steam- 
ers employed took 1,270 whales, or an average 
of 116 each. In 1903 four steamers took 859 
whales, or an average of 215 each. The Fish- 
eries’ ‘ Gazette’ says that these returns make a 
very unfavorable showing and that com- 
parison with those for 1903 is most depressing. 
That it is so is only what might have been 
expected. One can take out of a bucket only 
as much water as there is in it, and with the 
present rate at which whales are being killed, 
there is no reason to expect that the supply 
ean at all keep up with the demand. Of 


SCIENCE. 


713 


course local causes may have been responsible 
for a part of the decrease, but this remains to 
be seen, and certainly a catch of 1,200 whales 
in the limited area around Newfoundland 
must be looked upon as enormous. 

Those familiar with the history of fishing 
industries are quite aware that the fishermen 
never admit that their catch has any influence 
whatever upon the diminution in numbers of 
animal life; whales, seals and fishes are never 
exterminated, simply gone elsewhere, although 
that elsewhere is invariably where the wicked 
men cease from troubling and the weary ani- 
mals are at rest. 

The question is now being agitated as to 
what effect the diminution of whales will have 
upon other fisheries and in Norway the agita- 
tion carried on by the fishermen has progressed 
to such an extent that, right or wrong, the 
whale fishery in certain districts has been 
prohibited. That the diminution of whales 
may have an effect on fisheries is very prob- 
able, though it is extremely doubtful if the 
reasons assigned by the fishermen are the cor- 
rect ones. 

On the Newfoundland coast the whales feed 
entirely upon small isopods and it may be that 
the diminution in whales allows a wonderful 
increase of the Huphausia, who in turn feed 
upon the minute life on which the caplin and 
herrings are accustomed to feed. That the 
whales directly affect either herring or caplin 
or squid is more than doubtful, since none of 
these animals form any portion of the food of 
whales on the Newfoundland coast. Of the 
hundreds of whales examined none have con- 
tained anything save Euphausia. The smaller 
finback whales, such as Batenoptera acuto- 
rostrata, feed actively upon the schools of 
caplin, but this species is not common about 
the Newfoundland coast and certainly has no 


appreciable effect upon the fishes. 
BW, AST: 


BROOKLYN INSTITUTE MUSEUM. 


CONFERENCE OF ANATOMISTS AT THE 
WISTAR INSTITUTE. 
Tren of the leading American anatomists 
were invited by the Wistar Institute of An- 
atomy of Philadelphia to take part in a con- 


714 SCIENCE. 


ference held at this institute on Tuesday and 
Wednesday, April 11 and 12, to consider with 
the management of the Wistar Institute the 
question of increasing the usefulness of the 
Wistar Institute to American anatomists by 
establishing relationship with the individual 
anatomists of the country, with the Associa- 
tion of American Anatomists, with the Amer- 
ican Journal of Anatomy and with similar 
institutes abroad; and also by establishing an 
Advisory Board of Anatomists of the Wistar 
Institute, with ten or more members, selected 
from the leading anatomists of the country. 

The following anatomists were present at 
the conference: 


Dr. Lewellys F. Barker, professor of anatomy, 
University of Chicago, Chicago, Ills. 

Dr. Edwin G. Conklin, professor of zoology, 
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Dr. Henry H. Donaldson, professor of neurology, 
University of Chicago, Chicago, Ills. 

Mr, Simon H. Gage, professor of embryology, 
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 

Dr. G. Carl Huber, professor of embryology and 
histology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 
Mich. 

Dr. George S. Huntington, professor of anat- 
omy, Columbia University, New York City. 

Dr. Franklin P. Mall, professor of anatomy, 
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. 

Dr. J. Playfair McMurrich, professor of anat- 
omy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 

Dr. Charles S. Minot, professor of embryology, 
Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. 

Dr. George S. Piersol, professor of anatomy, 
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 


The first formal meeting was opened in the 
library of the Wistar Institute at 11 o’clock 
Tuesday morning. General Wistar, the donor 
of the institute, representing the board of 
managers, addressed the meeting and ex- 
pressed his pleasure at having such a dis- 
tinguished body of scientists present. He 
then spoke of the organization of the insti- 
tute, its objects, its resources and its probable 
future. 

Dr. M. J. Greenman, director of the insti- 
tute, followed with a short address outlining 
the work which he thought might be accom- 
plished by the conference. The objects and 
possibilities of the institute were stated. Ref- 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 540. 


erence was made to its independent organiza- 


tion, on account of which it is in a position 
to accomplish certain lines of work which 
could not be undertaken by other institutions. 

The anatomists were called upon to consider 
what special lines of work the institute might 
undertake, to be of greatest service to Amer- 
ican anatomy, to consider the relations of the 
institute to the American Association of An- 
atomists, to the American anatomists as indi- 
viduals and to the American Journal of An- 
atomy. They were also requested to consider 
the possibility and advisability of establishing 
a central institute of neurology, utilizing the 
Wistar Institute as its working base, and ac- 
quiring relations with the committee appoint- 
ed by the International Association of Acad- 
emies for Brain Investigation. 

Attention was called to the achievements 
possible by cooperation of individuals and 
other forces with an institution organized and 
endowed for research anatomy. 

The organization of an advisory board of 
anatomists of the Wistar Institute was sug- 
gested as a possible means of accomplishing 
the most work for the greatest number. 

The conference then organized and elected 
Dr. Charles S. Minot chairman and Dr. M. J. 
Greenman secretary. 

The discussion which followed resulted in 
a unanimous opinion that the Wistar Insti- 
tute of Anatomy offered most unique facilities 
for defining American anatomy, facilities 
which would be of advantage to all investi- 
gators in this branch of science. It was 
thought that research material might be col- 
lected and prepared there, especially neuro- 
logical and embryological materials, thus 
saving much time to the interpreter; that 
original preparations which had been studied 
and therefore, of much greater value, should 
be deposited in the Wistar museum for future 
use of students who wished to review the work. 
The reproduction of models was suggested. 

The importance of organized effort to collect 
end properly prepare the vast amount of an- 
atomical material which usually goes to waste 
and the importance of its immediate use while 
fresh were emphasized. The establishment of 
agencies in various localities with skilled 


aa 


May 5, 1905.] 


preparators in charge for the collection of 
material was suggested. It was developed in 
the course of the discussion that the advanced 
grade of museum work which the institute 
strives to do and investigation are inseparable. 
It was considered that the pursuit of a well 
defined line of researches was necessary for 
the proper collection and preparation of ma- 
terials. Neurology, embryology and compar- 
ative anatomy were discussed as the broad 
lines of work to be developed and it was 
thought that neurological researches should be 
the first to receive attention. 

The first session was closed after having 
appointed a committee of three with instruc- 
tions to formulate a series of propositions to 
be discussed at the morning meeting on April 
12. The committee consisted of Chairman 
Minot, Dr. Donaldson and Dr. Mall. 

The second session of the conference was 
called on Wednesday, April 12, at twelve 
o’clock; Chairman Minot presided. The com- 
mittee presented its report, which is as fol- 
lows: 

“Notes taken at the meeting of the com- 
mittee yesterday are presented in the follow- 
ing order: (1) The principal object of the 
institute to be research and under these head- 
ings: (a) a chief of investigation, (b) re- 
search assistants or assistantships and men 
who shall divide their services between the 
museum proper and research, (c) technical 
assistants. (2) Research and materials: (a) 
research shall be in the field of neurology, 
(b) comparative anatomy and embryology. 
(3) Relations: (a) committee recommends 
that the subvention to the Journal of An- 
atomy be granted, (b) committee be appointed 
to consider relations of the Wistar Institute 
to American anatomists, (c) the Wistar Insti- 
tute to apply to the Association of American 
Anatomists for cooperation. (4) That an ad- 
visory board of ten be appointed for general 
purposes: (a) to form a subcommittee on 
neurology as well as other sub-committees 
that may be needed, (b) to establish relations 
with the committee of the International Asso- 
ciation of Academies for Brain Investigation 
and with other committees for collective in- 
vestigation, (c) the committee recommends 


SCIENCE. 


715 


that the board bear in mind that while the 
general trend of work above outlined is recom- 
mended there is no intention to advise limita- 
tion of the functions of the institute to it 
exclusively. 

A brief discussion followed and the recom- 
mendations of the committee were unani- 
mously adopted by the conference. Chairman 
Minot then presented these recommendations 
to the Wistar Institute as the finished work 
of the conference. 

General Wistar thereupon expressed the ap- 
proval of the Wistar Institute in every detail 
of the recommendations and asked the ten 
anatomists present if they would become mem- 
bers of a permanent advisory board of an- 
atomists of the Wistar Institute and proceed 
to organize and appoint such committees as 
were recommended. General Wistar explained 


’ that he voiced the sentiment of the members 


of the board of managers present and he 
would assume authority for the creation of 
such a board and the appointment of its mem- 
bers and he had no doubt that the creation of 
the advisory board of anatomists and the per- 
sonnel of its membership would be officially 
confirmed by the board of managers at its 
next meeting. The members of the confer- 
ence consented and the advisory board was 
organized by electing Dr. Charles S. Minot as 
chairman and Dr. M. J. Greenman as perma- 
nent secretary. 

The advisory board proceeded to appoint 
the following committees: on neurology and 
the establishment of relations with the Inter- 
national Association of Academies, Dr. L. F. 
Barker, Dr. H. H. Donaldson, Dr. F. P. Mall, 
Dr. J. P. MceMurrich, Dr. C. S. Minot (this 
committee to elect its own chairman); on 
relations of the Wistar Institute to American 
Anatomists, Professor S. H. Gage, chairman, 
Dr. Geo. A. Piersol, Dr. G. Carl Huber; on 
comparative anatomy and embryology, Dr. 
Geo. S. Huntington, chairman, Dr. EK. G. 
Conklin, Dr. F. P. Mall. 

At the close of the meeting Dr. L. F. Barker 
was called upon by the conference to express 
its thanks to the Wistar Institute for the re- 
ception which was tendered the members of 
the conference and for the opportunity which 


716 


they had had of taking so active a part in a 
plan of such broad and liberal scope. Dr. 
Barker called attention to the unusual pro- 
cedure of an endowed institution extending 
its facilities in such a liberal manner to the 
workers in the science and calling upon them 
to advise methods of development which would 
be mutually advantageous to both the institute 
and researcher. 

The meeting of the advisory board then ad- 
journed subject to the call of the officers of 
the meeting. 

A meeting of the board of managers of the 
Wistar Institute was called on April 18 and 
the action of its representatives at the con- 
ference was officially confirmed. 


THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION. 


THE announcement was made on April 27 
that Mr. Andrew Carnegie had created a trust 
fund, to be known as ‘ The Carnegie Founda- 
tion,’ to provide annuities for college pro- 
fessors in the United States, Canada and New- 
foundland, who from old age or other physical 
disability are no longer in a position to render 
efficient service. The fund is vested in a 
board of trustees consisting in the main of 
presidents of institutions for higher education. 
It consists of $10,000,000 first mortgage 5 per 
cent. Steel Corporation bonds, the market 
value of which at present is $11,500,000, and 
will produce an income of $500,000 a year. 

Mr. Carnegie’s letter to the trustees is as 
follows: 

New York, April 18, 1905. 

Gentlemen: I have reached the conclusion 
that the least rewarded of all the professions is 
that of the teacher in our higher educational insti- 
tutions. New York city, generously, and very 
wisely, provides retiring pensions for teachers in 
her public schools and also for her policemen. 
Very few indeed of our colleges are able to do so. 
The consequences are grievous. Able men hesi- 
tate to adopt teaching as a career, and many old 
professors whose places should be occupied by 
younger men can not be retired. 

I hav», therefore, transferred to you and your 
successors as trustees, $10,000,000 five per cent. 
first mortgage bonds of the United States Steel 
Corporation, the revenue from which is to provide 
retiring pensions for the teachers of universities, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 540. 


colleges and technical schools in our country, Can- 
ada and Newfoundland, under such conditions as 
you may adopt from time to time. Expert caleu- 
lation shows that the revenue will be ample for 
the purpose. 

The fund applies to the three classes of institu- 
tions named, without regard to race, sex, ereed or 
color. We have, however, to recognize that state 
and colonial governments which have established, 
or mainly support, universities, colleges or schools, 
may prefer that vneir relations shall remain ex- 
clusively with the state. I can not, therefore, pre- 
sume to include them. 

There is another class which states do not aid, 
their constitutions in some cases even forbidding 
it, viz., sectarian institutions. Many of these, 
established long ago, were truly sectarian, but to- 
day are free to all men of all creeds or of none— 
such are not to be considered sectarian now. Only 
such as are under control of a sect or require 
trusteees (or a majority thereof), officers, faculty 
or students to belong to any specified sect, or 
which impose any theological test, are to be ex- 
cluded. 

Trustees shall hold office for five years and be 
eligible for reelection. The first trustees shall 
draw lots for one, two, three, four or five-year 
terms, so that one fifth shall retire each year. 
Each institution participating in the fund shall 
cast one vote for trustees. 

The trustees are hereby given full powers to 
manage the trust in every respect; to fill vacan- 
cies of non ex-officio members; appoint executive 
committees; employ agents; change securities and, 
generally speaking, to do all things necessary in © 
their judgment to insure the most beneficial ad- 
ministration of the funds. 

By a two thirds vote they may from time to 
time apply the revenues in a different manner and 
for a different though similar purpose to that 
specified, should coming days bring such changes 
as render this necessary ia their judgment to pro- 
duce the best results possible for the teachers and 
for education. 

No trustee shall ineur any legai liability flowing 
from his trusteeship. All traveling and hotel ex- 
penses incurred by trustees in the performance of 
their duties shall be paid from the fund, the ex- 
penses of wife or daughter accompanying the trus- 
tees to the annual meeting included. 

I hope this fund may do much for the cause of 
higher education and to remove a source of deep 
and constant anxiety to the poorest paid and yet 
one of the highest of all professions. © Gratefully 
yours, ANDREW CARNEGIE. 


May 5, 1905.] 


The trustees named by Mr. Carnegie, all 
of whom are said to have accepted, are as 
follows: 

-President A. T. Hadley, Yale University. 

President Charles William Eliot, Harvard Uni- 
versity. 

President William R. Harper, University of 
Chicago. 

President Nicholas Murray Butler, Columbia 
University. 

President Jacob G. Schurman, Cornell Univer- 
sity. 

President Woodrow Wilson, Princeton Univer- 
sity. 

President L. Clarke Seelye, Smith College. 

Provost Charles C. Harrison, University of 
Pennsylvania. 

President Alexander C. Humphreys, Stevens In- 
stitute. 

Chancellor S. B. McCormick, Western University 
of Pennsylvania. 

President Edwin B. Craighead, Tulane Univer- 
sity. 

President H. C. King, Oberlin College. 

President C. F. Thwing, Western Reserve Uni- 
versity. 

President Thomas McClelland, Knox College. 

President Edwin H. Hughes, De Pauw Univer- 
sity. 

President H. M-Clelland Bell, Drake University. 

President George H. Denny, Washington and Lee 
University. 

Principal Peterson, McGill University. 

President Samuel Plautz, Lawrence University. 

President David S. Jordan, Leland Stanford Jr. 
University. 

President W. H. Crawford, Allegheny College. 

President Henry S. Pritchett, Massachusetts In- 
stitute ot Technology. 

F. A. Vanderlip, Esq., New York. 

T. Morris Carnegie, Esq., New York. 

R. A. Franks, Esq., Hoboken, N. J. 


The trustees will take steps at once to or- 
ganize a corporation. The first meeting of 
the board has been called for November 15. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

At the meeting of the Geographical Society 
of Philadelphia on May 38, the Elisha Kent 
Kane medal was awarded to Professor William 
B. Scott, of Princeton University. 

Tue French government has conferred the 
rank of Officier d’Academie on Professor 


SCIENCE. WT 


Angelo Heilprin, of Philadelphia, for his 
work in geography. 

Dr. J. H. van’r Horr, professor of chem- 
istry at the University of Berlin, has been 
elected a corresponding member of the Paris 
Academy of Sciences. 

Proressor Henry M. Howe, professor of 
metallurgy at Columbia University, has been 
elected corresponding member of the French 
Society for Encouragement of National In- 
dustry. 

Tue Lavoisier medal of the French Society 
for the Encouragement of National Industry 
has been awarded to M. Héroult for his work 
on electro-metallurgy. 

Dr. Ratpu H. Curtiss, Carnegie assistant 
at the Lick Observatory, has been appointed 
assistant astronomer at the Allegheny Ob- 
servatory, and will assume his new duties on 
about June 1. 

Proressor S. I. Baitey, who is in charge of 
the Peruvian station of the Harvard College 
Observatory, has returned to Cambridge, where 
he will remain for the present. He is plan- 
ning to observe the August total eclipse of the 
sun in Spain. 

Dr. Frieprich KonHirauscH, president of 
the ‘ Reichsanstalt,’ retired on April 1. 

Dr. H. F. L. Marrutessen, professor of 
physics at Rostock, having reached the age of 
seventy-five years, has been excused from hold- 
ing further lectures. 

Secretary WitiiAM H. Tart will this year 
deliver the commencement address at Miami 
University. 

Proressor JEREMIAH W. JENKs, of Cornell 
University, lectured before the Philadelphia 
Geographical Society on May 3, his subject 
being ‘ Life in the Interior of China,’ 

Tue first Adamson Lecture at Manchester 
University will be delivered by Professor 
Ward, of Cambridge, on June 2. 

Torreya states that the American delegates, 
elected and, according to the rules of the In- 
ternational Botanical Congress, which meets 
at Vienna from June 11 to 18, entitled to vote 
in the deliberations upon the nomenclature 
question, are, so far as it has learned, the fol- 
lowing: Members of the International Nomen- 


718 


elature Commission, N. L. Britton, E. L. 
Greene, B. L. Robinson, J. D. Smith; dele- 
gates from Section G, American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, C. R. Barnes, 
H. C. Cowles, C, L. Shear; from the Botanical 
Society of America, J. C. Arthur; from the 
Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology, 
W. G. Farlow; from U. 8S. Department of 
Agriculture, A. F. Woods; from the Torrey 
Botanical Club, N. L. Britton, L. M. Under- 
woed; from the New York Academy of Sci- 
ences, L. M. Underwood; from the New York 
Botanical Garden, J. H. Barnhart; the Ameri- 
can Academy of Arts and Sciences, the New 
England Botanical Club, the Boston Society 
of Natural History and the Vermont Botan- 
ical Club will be represented by B. L. Robin- 


son. 


Dr. Henry H. Gooprent, president of the 
Massachusetts Agricultural College, died on 
April 23, at the age of sixty-six years. 


We regret also to record the deaths of Pro- 
fessor Bruno Kerl, formerly professor of 
metallurgy in the Berlin Academy of Mines, 
at the age of eighty years, and of Dr. Leopold 
Maggi, professor of comparative anatomy at 
Pavia, who died on March 1. 


THERE will be a civil service examination 
on May 17 to fill the position of bacteriological 
chemist in the Bureau of Chemistry, Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, at a salary of $2,000 a 
year. The position is open to those who have 
the degree of doctor of philosophy or who have 
an equivalent training. 


Tue Cardiff Corporation has offered a site, 
worth £20,000, for the erection of a national 
museum for Wales, and has voted £2,000 for 
the maintenance of the museum and £1,000 a 
year towards the expenses of a library. The 
Mackintosh of Mackintosh has promised £2,000 
towards the museum and library, provided 
Cardiff is selected as the locality. Mr. John 
Cory has also promised £2,000 on like terms. 


Tue new sixty-inch reflecting telescope 
made in England in 1888 by the late A. A. 
Common and purchased this year by Hatvard 
University, is being set up at the astronomical 
observatory. A two-story building, fifteen by 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 540. 


twenty-seven feet, has been erected to inclose 
it. 

We learn from The Observatory that Star- 
field, Crowborough Beacon, the house and ob- 
servatory of the late Dr. Roberts, was put up 
to auction on March 17, but was not sold. 
The highest bid was £5,000, which was evi- 
dently below the reserve. 


Tue International Bureau of Labor at 
Basel offers the following prizes for the best 
treatises on the following subjects: Preyen- 
tion of danger in exploiting and preparing 
lead ores, $1,200; obviating danger from work- 
ing the metal in lead works, $2,400; two best 
treatises on prevention of danger in the chem- 
ical use of lead in lead works, accumulator 
factories, etc., $600 and $350; nine prizes, 
ranging from $178 to $357, on obviating or 
removing the danger from lead poisoning in 
the trades where lead is used, such as paint- 
ing, type casting, printing, ete. 


Ir is announced that the prize founded in 
honor of the celebrated Geneva family of bot- 
anists, De Candolle, is now offered by the 
physics and natural history society, of Geneva, 
Switzerland. The subject will always be a 
description of a species or family of plants. 
Members of the society are not permitted to 
compete, and limitations as to nationality are 
not made. The essays may be written in 
Latin, German, French, English or Italian, 
and must be transmitted to the president of 
the society before January 16, 1906. 


THe second annual field symposium of bot- 
anists will be held during the week beginning 
July 8, 1905, at Ohio Pyle, a point on the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Fayette 
County, southwestern Pennsylvania, where 
arrangements have been made for the accom- 
modation of the party, Information concern- 
ing details of the trip and the proposed pro- 
gram may be obtained from either Mr. Joseph 
Crawford, 2824 Franklin Avenue, Philadel- 
phia, representing the Philadelphia Botanical 
Club, from Dr. J. A. Shafer, New York Bot- 
anical Garden, Bronx Park, New York City, 
representing the Torrey Botanical Club, or 
from Dr. J. N. Rose, U. S. National Museum, 
Washington, D. C., representing the Washing- 


Mall 


May 5, 1905.] 


ton Botanical Club. The pleasant and profit- 
able experiences gained by those who attended 
the first of these meetings, held at McCall’s 
Ferry, Pennsylvania, in July of 1904, give 
reason to believe that there will be a large 
attendance at Ohio Pyle. A detailed report 
of the proceedings at McCall’s Ferry will be 
found in the February issue of the Plant 
World. 


A CONFERENCE of scientific scholars was 
held at Colorado College, Colorado Springs, 
on April 28 and 29, leading universities and 
colleges sending representatives. A number 
of valuable papers upon subjects bearing on 
the scientific problems of the Rocky Mountain 
country were promised. 


Tue annual conference of the British Child- 
Study Association will be held at Derby on 
May 11-13, under the presidency of Professor 
Muirhead, of Birmingham University. 


Tue Boston Scientific Society celebrated its 


_ twenty-ninth anniversary at a dinner on April 


25. Dr. H. Helm Clayton, of the Blue Hill 
Observatory, acted as toastmaster. Speeches 
were made by Professor A. E. Dolbear, of 
Tufts College, Professor George H. Barton, 
of the Teachers School of Science, Mr. John 
Ritchie, Jr., and others. 


Tue annual convention of the American 
Institute of Electrical Engineers will be held 
at Asheville, N. C., from June 19 to 23. 


Tue United States consul at Frankfort re- 
ports that Professor Fluegge, president of the 
hygienic institute at Breslau, has sent the fol- 
lowing circular to the owners and managers 
of dwellings in one of the districts of that 
city: “The common council has resolved to 
fight in a systematic manner the mosquito 
plague, which prevails every year, and the 
plan for the purpose has been worked out at 
this institute. It is necessary in the first 
place to destroy, before warm weather sets in, 
the mosquitoes which pass the winter in the 
cellars and basements of houses. These cellar 
and basement mosquitoes will be destroyed by 
municipal experts without inconvenience to 
the people and without injury to property. In 
order to make it possible to carry out the plan 


SCIENCE. 


719 


successfully we respectfully request the ad- 
mittance of the disinfectors to the cellars of 
houses and permission for them to take the 
steps necessary to kill the mosquitoes. The 
disinfectors will have identification cards.” 
According to the Silesian Gazette, the plan for 
fighting the mosquito plague is to be worked 
out in two directions. The hibernating mos- 
quitoes, which are almost always found in the 
cellars of houses adjoining unoccupied terri- 
tory, parks, gardens, etc., must be killed. 
These are found in somewhat damp cellars, 
facing north, and are recognizable with diffi- 
culty by those not experts, but cover the ceil- 
ings by thousands. In the spring they leave 
and lay their eggs in water, the larve pro- 
ducing mosquitoes within three to four weeks. 
A supplemental effort will be made to destroy 
the larve, which are found principally in 
stagnant, shallow pools. These must be either 
filled in or treated with malachite green or 
other larve-destroying substances. For the 
present this process will only be employed in 
that part of the city which suffers most from 
the mosquito plague. If it proves successful 
it will be extended next year over the whole 
city. Fighting mosquitoes will be carried on 
in a systematic manner on a scientific basis. 
Summer resorts and watering places, espe- 
cially, should imitate the example set by 
Breslau. 

We learn from The Atheneum that Dr. 
Theodor Koch, who for the last two years has 
been traveling in the interior of Brazil, sends 
a very interesting account of his travels. He 
followed the course of the Rio Uaupés beyond 
the last rapids, and spent a considerable time 
with the Kobéua Indians, whose 
mask dances are so curious. He made a thor- 
ough study of their language, and in their 
company visited the Rio Cuduiary. The 
whole district watered by these rivers is of 
great interest, as it is inhabited by a number 
of tribes who speak distinct dialects and retain 
all their ancient habits and customs, as the 
nature of the river renders their dwelling- 
place almost inaccessible. Dr. Koch has been 
successful in obtaining photographs, and has 
a fine collection of weapons, masks, costumes 
and domestic utensils. 


religious 


720 


Accorpine to the British Medical Journal 
in 1861 the total number of medical practi- 
tioners in Italy was 18,947, the proportion to 
population being 8.8 per 10,000. In 1881 it 
was 18,950, or 6.6 per 10,000. In 1901 it was 
22,168, or 6.8 per 10,000. The distribution of 
practitioners is somewhat unequal, the pro- 
portion being higher in the south (7.7 per 
10,000) than in the north (6.1 per 10,000). 
In the province of Udine the proportion is 
lower than anywhere else in Italy, there being 
only one practitioner to 2,831 inhabitants; in 
that of Naples it is highest, there being two 
doctors to 732 inhabitants. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 

Dr. Brown Ayres on April 25 was inaugu- 
rated as president of the University of Ten- 
nessee. Senator James B. Frazier presided. 
The welcome to Dr. Ayres for the colleges of 
the east was delivered by Dr. J. S. Ames, 
professor of physics at the Johns Hopkins 
University; on behalf of the colleges of the 
west, by President George E. McLean, of the 
University of Iowa, and on behalf of the 
southern colleges, by Chancellor R. B. Fulton, 
of the University of Mississippi. Following 
Dr. Ayres’s inaugural address Dr. Charles Dab- 
ney, president of the University of Cincinnati, 
who was the immediate predecessor of Dr. 
Ayres at Tennessee, delivered an address. Dr. 
Ayres came to the University of Tennessee 
from Tulane University, where he was pro- 
fessor of physics. At the inaugural exercises 
a gift was announced from Mr. Andrew Car- 
negie of $40,000 for a library building, condi- 
tioned upon the securing an equal amount as 
an endowment; and a gift of $7,600 from Mr. 
John L. Rhea, the income to be used in the 
interests of the engineering departments. 


Arrer a long contest in the courts the will 
of Henry C. Peabody, inventor of the rifle 
bearing his name, has been affirmed. This 
was partly the result of a compromise, by 
which an additional $20,000 goes to the heirs. 
About $350,000 will be used for the establish- 
ment of an industrial school for girls at Nor- 
wood, Mass. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 540. 


Tue legislature of Tennessee, in passing a 
bill appropriating $25,000 a year for ten years 
for the Peabody Normal College, at Nashville, 
has assured the reception by that institution 
of $1,000,000 from the division of the Peabody 
Fund. 

PresibeENT ScHurRMAN, of Cornell Univer- 
sity, has received $1,000 from Mr. and Mrs. 


Gerrit S. Miller, of Peterboro, N. Y., for the ~* 


foundation of a free book fund in memory of 
William C. Seidell, who worked his way 
through the university and graduated in 1904. 


Untversiry Counce, Sheffield, is to be given 
a charter as the University of Sheffield. The 
city will contribute about $40,000 annually to 
its support. The present college buildings, 
which are not united on a single site, are to 
be vacated shortly for handsome new buildings 
on a site adjoining one of the public parks of 
Sheffield, now within a few months of com- 
pletion. 

A summer school will be held at the Uni- 
versity of Colorado, Boulder, from June 17 
to July 26. Courses in science are as follows: 
chemistry, physics, geology, psychology and 
botany. The work will be given by the regular 
professors of the university. 

Proressor R. B. C. JoHnson (philosophy) 
and C. H. MclIlwain (history) have resigned 
from Miami University to accept preceptor- 
ships at Princeton University. 

Ar the recent annual meeting of the regents 
of the University of Nebraska Dr. F. D. 
Heald, adjunct professor of plant physiology, 
was elected botanist of the Agricultural Ex- 
periment Station, and associate professor of 
botany in the University School of Agricul- 
ture. Appropriations were made for equip- 
ping his laboratories in the new Agricultural 
Hall on the station farm. At the same meet- 
ing Dr. F. E. Clements, assistant professor of 
botany, was promoted to be associate professor 
of plant physiology. 

Dr. ALFRED HettNer, associate professor of 
geography at Heidelberg, has declined a call 
to a professorship at Breslau. 

Dr. Paut Gruse has resigned the chair of 
physies in the University of Giessen. 


we pa ve 


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9 romungen der Gegenwart: by Professor 
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ALLBUTT, T. Clifford, University of Cambridge. 
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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, 


I 


Fripay, May 12, 1905. 


CONTENTS. 


The American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science: 
Section D, Mechanical Science and Engi- 
neering: PROFESSOR WM. T. MaGcruprER.... 721 


The Fisheries Laboratory at Beaufort: Dr. 
CASWELL GRAVE 


Scientific Books :— 
Castle on the Heredity of Coat Characters 
in Guinea Pigs and Rabbits: PRroressor T. 
H. Morean. Branner on the Stone Reefs 
of Brazil: Dr. ORVILLE A. DERBY......... 737 


Scientific Journals and Articles............ 740 


Societies and Academies :— 


The Society for Bxperimental Biology and 
Medicine: Dr. WitutAm J. Gites. The 
Philosophical Society of Washington: Dr. 
CuHartes K. Weap. The Biological Society 
of Washington: E. L. Morris. Michigan 
Ornithological Club: Dr. A. W. Bian, JR. 
The American Mycological Society........ 741 


732 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


Audubon’s Account of the New Madrid 
Earthquake: M. L. Furr. Suggestions 
for Facilitating the Work of Zoologists: 


Eee yer AU (COCRIWRETI Fi cies tick. vices ole see es 748 


Special Articles :— 


A Card Index Stock List for use in Univer- 
sity Departments of Organic Chemistry: 
Proressor Marston TAytor Bocert. A 
Quantitative Oirculation Scheme; Rocking 
Key with Metal Contacts: Proressor Wm. 
T. Porter. Some Notes on the Myodome 
of the Fish Cranium: Dr. Epwin CHAPIN 
SUUNISIEESL Ae eed q OOOO Died a ee oe enene aerete 


Botanical Notes :— 
Life History of the Pines; Limu; A New 
Grass Book; The Useful Plants of Guam: 
PROFESSOR CHARLES E. BESSEY.......... 755 


Scientific Notes and News:....:.........-. 757 


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


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of SCIENCE, Garri- 
son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 
SHCTION D, MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND 
ENGINEERING. 

THE meetings were held in the engineer- 
ing building of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania. The following officers were elected 
to serve during the meeting: 

Councilor—¥. W. McNair, president Michigan 
College of Mines, Houghton, Mich. 

Member of the General Committee—H. §&. 
Jacoby, professor of bridge engineering, Cornell 
University, Ithaca, N. Y. 

Member of the Sectional Committee, 1905 to 
1910—A. M. Greene, Jr., professor of mechanical 
engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. 


The secretary of the section was elected 
press secretary; vice-president and chair- 
man of the section D. S. Jacobus, professor 
of experimental engineering, Stevens Insti- 
tute, Hoboken, N. J., was forced to be ab- 
sent, owing to illness in his family. The 
sectional committee appointed Calvin M. 
Woodward, ex-vice-president of the section, 
to act as chairman of the section for the 
meeting. 

The program had been arranged so that 
papers pertaining to civil engineering, 
mechanical engineering, metallurgical en- 
gineering and general engineering, and 
to engineering education, should be read 
at separate sessions. The program of 
Wednesday morning, December. 28, was de- 
voted to civil engineering. The first paper 
on the program was by C. G. Elliott, expert 
in irrigation and drainage investigations 
of the Department of Agriculture, Wash- 
ington, D. C., and was on ‘Irrigation and 
Drainage Investigations of the Department 


722 


of Agriculture.” He showed that while 
chemical analysis may show that two soils 
are equally rich in plant food, yet on ac- 
count of unfavorable water conditions, one 
of them may be quite unproductive, and 
the different portions of even the same 
field may vary in their production on ac- 
count of differences in the water content of 
the soil. The supply of water and the con- 
trol or regulation of its quantity in soils of 
different classes under varying climatic 
conditions for the production of crops of a 
first-class character present an important 
field which now occupies the attention of 
the irrigation and drainage investigations. 
The objects of this work are to ascertain 
the best methods and provoke their, use in 
applying water to soils where it is deficient, 
conserving and regulating its quantity, re- 
moving surplus from saturated soils and 
reclaiming and protecting lands from over- 
flow, all of which invokes a variety of en- 
gineering practise. The soil water neces- 
sary for the growth of plants is held about 
soil drains in films and is removed from the 
soil by ecapillarity, plant absorption and 
surface evaporation only. Irrigation must 
supply this amount when deficient, and 
any surplus must be removed by drainage. 
The water-holding capacity of different 
soils is an important subject for investiga- 
tion: The part of the engineer. is to pro- 
vide means for supplying, regulating and 
controlling the soil water to meet the needs 
of the various kinds of soils encountered 
and plants grown therein, and includes a 
study of the movements of water, both by 
eapillarity and by gravity. 

Henry S. Jacoby, professor of bridge 
engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, 
N. Y., presented ‘Some Notes on Rein- 
forced Concrete Arches,’ giving the results 
of his study and investigations during the 
past year and supplementing his previous 
papers. 

E. J. MecCaustland, assistant professor 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


in civil engineering, Cornell University, 
Ithaca, N. Y., next presented a paper on 
‘Tests of Reinforced Concrete Beams,’ in 
which he presented the data and conclu- 
sions obtained from the tests to failure of 
twenty-three beams of concrete, reinforced 
by plain and various forms of patented 
bars of steel. They were 6 by 8 inches in 
size and 6 feet long. Plain square steel 
rods were used, varying in sizes from 2 to 
# ich and placed either 14 or 2 inches 
from the lower face of the beam. The 
beams were made of a very lean concrete 
(1 cement, 2.5 sand and 9 broken lime- 
stone), so that in all cases the steel rein- 
forcing bars developed full strength of the 
conerete before reaching the elastic limit. 
Deflections were measured, and also the 
extensions of the lower fibers. <A careful 
watch was kept to determine the appear- 
ance of fine cracks. The loads were re- 
leased after each reading so as to measure 
the set. Tests of the beams with plain 
square bars showed poor adhesion and the 
early development of fine cracks, so that 
the smallest percentage of reinforcement 
seemed sufficient. The beams having rein- 
forcement 14 inches from the lower face 
showed greatest strength. In the second 
series sets of beams were laid up with rein- 
forcements of Ransome bars, Johnson ecor- 
rugated bars, Kahn bars, corrugated bars 
with iron stirrups, Thatcher bars, and two 
beams with plain bars for comparison. The 
ratio of reinforcement was made about 0.58 
per cent. and the center of the steel bars 
was placed 14 inches from the lower face 
of the beams. The extensibility of the re- 
inforeed concrete in these tests was one in 
1,621, while that of the plain concrete was 
one in 11,000. The results show the su- 
periority of the corrugated bars under 
ordinary conditions. They also draw sharp 
attention to an interior weakness in a rein- 
forcement having diagonal wings rigidly 
attached. The tests show the folly of at- 


a 


May 12, 1905.] 


tempting to reinforce a concrete which will 
not of itself develop a fair degree of 
strength, and they throw very serious 
doubts upon the wisdom of using certain 
types of diagonal reinforcements in beams. 
The paper will probably be published in 
the Engineering Record. 

Owing to the absence of Mr. Richard L. 
Humphrey, consulting engineer, of Phila- 
delphia, his paper on ‘Some Notes on the 
Manufacture and Testing of Cement’ was 
read only by title. 

In a paper on ‘The Menace to the En- 
trance of New York Harbor,’ by Lewis M. 
Haupt, consulting engineer, Philadelphia, 
after reviewing the different projects which 
have been carried on by the general govern- 
ment for the improvement of the channels 
leading into the lower bay, the author 
showed by means of charts that in the past 
century the inlet to Jamaica Bay has 
moved seven miles to the west, and also 
that the spit at Sandy Hook has advanced 
about a mile, and is now moving into the 
bay, depositing half a million yards of 
sand every year. It was held that these 
encroachments upon the entrance to New 
York harbor formed a menace which could 
no longer be overlooked. The author found 
a remedy in a single reaction training wall 
which would concentrate the ebb of the 
currents and prevent the continued deposit 
of drift which threatens to convert Coney 
Island and Manhattan Beach into lagoons. 
The estimated cost of this would be but 
one-half of the present contract for dredg- 
ing the channel, which it is stated can not 
be maintained, as it fills up very rapidly. 
The paper was subsequently read before 
Section E; and extracts of it were pub- 
lished in the New York daily papers and 
caused much discussion in both engineering 
and commercial circles. 

At the conclusion of this paper, Section 
D joined the meeting of Section I to listen 
to a paper and discussion on ‘Specializa- 


SCIENCE. 


723 


tion in Manufacturing’ by Alexander E. 
Outerbridge, Jr., metallurgist of William 
Sellers & Company, Incorporated, of Phila- 
delphia. The paper gave data from actual 
experience, showing the enormous econ- 
omies, as well as limitations, of the modern 
methods of concentrated effort and capital 
in a single production, as compared with 
older methods in general practise. The 
paper will be found in full in the January 
issue of the Annals of the American Acad- 
emy of Political and.Social Science. 

On Wednesday afternoon after luncheon 
the members of the section, in charge of 
competent guides, visited the new electric 
power station of the Philadelphia Electric 
Company. This station presented a nota- 
ble illustration of the many uses of con- 
erete, of which the most novel was prob- 
ably the installation of the high tension 
wires and fuses in vertical cases made of 
monolithic conerete construction. 

Later the members visited the high pres- 
sure fire service plant of the city of Phila- 
delphia. This plant is notable in that the 
large triplex power pumps are operated 
by gas-engines supplied with artificial gas 
from the city mains. No standby losses 
are incurred, full pressure is available in 
two minutes from the time the fire alarm 
is sounded, which is much sooner than the 
company can get to the hydrant nearest to 
the fire. The quantity of water is much 
larger than could be obtained by the nor- 
mal number of fire engines, while ample 
provision in the way of valves has been 
made for the bursting of mains. 

On Thursday morning, owing to the ab- 
sence of the author, paper number seven, 
on ‘Some Notes on Ventilating Problems,’ 
by Charles B. Dudley, of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad Co., Altoona, Pa., was read by 
title only. It was followed by an interest- 
ing paper by C. J. Zintheo, professor of 
farm mechanics, Iowa State College, Ames, 


724 


Ta., on ‘American Machinery as a Factor 
in Agriculture’: 

‘‘Farm machinery has made it possible 
to develop the vast agricultural resources 
of the country. During the first two hun- 
dred years after the Pilgrim Fathers set- 
tled on the American shore, the resources 
of the country failed to bring about any 
increase of importance in commerce or in 
the products of agriculture. As late as 
1845, people did not raise enough wheat 
for their bread. With the advent of the 
steel plow, the self-binding harvester and 
the steam threshing machine, there was a 
marked change in the producing power of 
the American people. Our food supply in- 
ereased from 4.33 bushels of wheat per 
person in 1845 to 5.50 bushels of wheat in 
1859; to 7.45 bushels in 1869, and as high 
as ten bushels in 1889. During the same 
time the population on the farms had de- 
creased to 80 per cent. in 1850 and 33 per 
cent. in 1900. The American farmers of 
to-day with one third the labor of the coun- 
try produce enough food to support, not 
only themselves, but the other 67 per cent. 
that live in the cities, and exported farm 
products during the year 1904 to the value 
of the enormous sum of $960,000,000, ac- 
cording to the United States Secretary’s 
report. This same report states that m 
1830 it took over three hours’ labor to raise 
one bushel of wheat; in 1896 it took ten 
minutes. In 1830 the labor in one bushel 
of wheat cost 173 cents; in 1896 it cost 34 
cents. In 1850 the labor represented in a 
bushel of corn was four and one half hours, 
while in 1894 it had been reduced to forty- 
one minutes. (This has been greatly re- 
duced since then by the introduction of the 
more modern corn harvesting machines.) 
In 1860 it is estimated that the labor in 
one ton of hay in bales represented 354 
hours, while in 1894 this labor was reduced 
to 114 hours, or from a cost of $3.00 in 
labor to $1.29 in labor. The report esti- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


mates that in the year 1899 the agricultural 
implements in the United States saved in 
human labor the sum of $681,471,827. 
This country is the greatest maker and 
user of agricultural implements in the 
world, and this is largely due to the fact 
that this country is the most prosperous 
agricultural country in the world. It has 
enabled the farmer to pay the high price 
for labor caused by the competition of our 
manufacture, and has taken away from 
farm life much of the drudgery and man- 
ual labor and made it in the best sense an 
intellectual pursuit. Improvements in 
machinery have brought about a steady 
decrease in the cost of production, notwith- 
standing the steady rise in wages. To 
give an idea of the vast sums of money 
invested in farm machinery, take, for in- 
stance, the following states: Iowa has $57,- 
960,000 invested; New York, $56,006,000; 
Pennsylvania, $50,917,240; Illinois, $44,- 
977,310; and Ohio, $36,354,450. The total 
value of implements on farms in this coun- 
try is $761,261,000, an average of $133 
per farm and 90 cents per acre of farm 
land. The American farmers buy an- 
nually $100,000,000 of farm implements. 
New designs of farm machinery are being 
constantly added, so that the farm ma- 
chinery is surely the greatest factor in the 
development of American Agriculture.’’ 
In a paper on ‘A Method of Determin- 
ing the Moisture Existing in Steam at At- 
mospheric Pressure,’ D. 8. Jacobus, pro- 
fessor of experimental engineering, Stevens 
Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N. J., 
illustrated with blue prints and described 
the method which he had adopted for de- 
termining the dryness of steam. It con- 
sisted of mingling a known weight of 
superheated steam with a known weight of 
saturated steam at atmospheric pressure. 
The steam was still superheated after 
mingling and its temperature was meas- 
ured. Careful measurements were made to 


May 12, 1905.] 


determine the radiation of the apparatus. 
From data thus obtained the amount of 
moisture in the saturated steam was de- 
termined. This method is similar to that 
employed by Mr. George H. Barrus in one 
of the older forms of his calorimeters. The 
particular problem to be investigated was 
how much moisture would be contained in 
steam at atmospheric pressure after it had 
passed through two separators of a certain 
form. The tests showed that the steam at 
atmospheric pressure leaving the separa- 
tors contained about one tenth of one per 
cent. of moisture, a result which was within 
the probable error of the instrument, for 
which reason it was fair to conclude that 
the steam was dry. 

The paper will be published in the Engi- 
neering Review. 

G. W. Bissell, professor of mechanical 
engineering, Iowa State College, Ames, Ia., 
next presented a paper on ‘Hot Blast Heat- 
ing and Ventilating,’ giving results of ex- 
periments on the heating and ventilation 
of the new engineering building of Iowa 
State College. This building is equipped 
with Sturtevant hot blast apparatus, the 
Paul system of vacuum steam heating, and 
the Powers system of temperature regula- 
tion. The total steam condensation was 
measured hourly, and continuous records 
were kept for two months. Forty-three 
separate tests were made at steam pres- 
sures, varying from 5 to 25 pounds and 
with air pressures varying from 0.6 to 1.5 
inches. The paper gave a series of tests 
showing the coefficients of condensation 
with one or more sections of coils in use, 
and at different steam pressures, and with 
different quantities of air being forced over 
the coils. The paper was published in the 
Engineering Review. 

In a ease where a man was killed by the 
bursting of an elbow on a steam main near 
which he was working, the question arose 
as to the number of pieces into which such 


SCIENCE. 725 


would be broken if it were struck with a 
hammer when under steam pressure. D- 
S. Jacobus, professor of experimental en- 
gineering, Stevens Institute of Technology,. 
Hoboken, N. J., presented the results of 
tests which he had made on fittings of the 
same size and weight as the one which 
caused the accident and on some similar 
fittings. The former was an extra heavy 
elbow for a three-inch standard pipe. The 
smaller fittings which were tested were of 
two-inch standard size and of the ordinary 
weight. In the tests, the elbows were 
broken by hitting them with a hammer 
swung by hand when they were subjected 
to pressures of 80 and 100 pounds per 
square inch. The hammer, together with 
its handle, weighed four pounds. The fit- 
tings were struck on the outside directly 
over each of the screw threads at points. 
directly opposite the neck and in the plane: 
passing through the pipe centers. The 
extra heavy three-inch elbows broke in two 
nearly symmetrical halves, the plane of 
breakage being that passing through the 
pipe centers. The two-inch fittings of 
ordinary weight broke in two to four or 
more irregular pieces. The paper was 
published in the Engineering Record. 

L. E. Loewenstein, of the Department of 
Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh Univer- 
sity, South Bethlehem, Pa., next presented 
a paper on ‘ Some of the Scientific Fea- 
tures and Development of the Steam Tur- 
bine.’ As the author is the American 
translator of Professor Stadola’s German 
work on this subject, the paper was of much 
interest to the audience which heard it. 

In a third paper by Professor Jacobus, 
the angular displacement of the revolving 
fields of two alternating current electric 
generators when connected in parallel was 
determined by actual measurements and 
compared with the computed amounts. 
The results were found to agree very closely 
with each other. The generators on which 


126 


the tests were made were of 1,500 kw. 
capacity and were located at the Manches- 
ter Street Station of the Rhode Island Co., 
Providence, R. I. Large counterweights 
had been placed on the engines in order to 
reduce the amount that they shook the 
building. It was shown theoretically that 
when the generators were coupled together 
with the counterweights opposed, or at 180° 
from each other, the angular displacement 
was about twice what it would have been 
without the counterweights. The maxi- 
mum displacement due to counterweight 
action and to irregularity in the effort ex- 
erted on the crank shaft was found by 
theory to be 3.2 pole degrees and by ob- 
servation from 3 to 4 pole degrees. The 
amount of angular displacement was ob- 
served to be the same, irrespective of the 
position of the counterweights, but when 
the counterweights were opposed the dis- 
placements occurred every stroke, or about 
94 times per minute, whereas, when the 
counterweights were together, or nearly so, 
the displacements occurred at less frequent 
intervals, or about 30 to 40 times per 
minute. As the total displacement of the 
two fields from their true positions, as ob- 
served, was about the same irrespective of 
the relative positions of the two counter- 
weights, it follows that this displacement 
was produced as much through governor 
action as through any variation in the turn- 
ing effort during a single revolution. 

On Thursday afternoon, under the able 
guidance of Professor Marburg, the mem- 
bers of the section were guests at luncheon 
of the contractor for the Belmont Filtration 
Plant. After enjoying the social features 
of the afternoon, the members of the party 
were conducted through the gate house, 
filtering galleries, and had the details of 
the operation explained to them in much 
detail by Mr. John W. Hill, chief engineer 
of the bureau of filtration, and his son. 
The observations of the afternoon made the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXL. No. 541. 


succeeding illustrations of the evening 
much more real and valuable to those who 
had the privilege of hearing both the after- 
noon demonstrations and the evening lec- 
ture. 

The Thursday evening session of Section 
D was devoted to three extremely valuable 
papers by notable engineers of the city of 
Philadelphia, on subjects which are of 
much interest, both to engineers and citi- 
zens of Philadelphia and to engineers and 
scientists at large. They were very fully 
illustrated by lantern slides. The first 
was by J. W. Hill, chief engineer of the 
Bureau of Filtration of the Department of 
Puble Works of Philadelphia, and was on 
‘The Philadelphia Filtration System.’ 

The second paper of the evening was by 
Wm. 8. Twining, chief engineer of the 
Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co., and de- 
seribed and illustrated ‘The Subway and 
Elevated Railroad of the Philadelphia 
Rapid Transit Company.’ 

The third paper was by George H. Web- 
ster, chief engineer, bureau of surveys of 
the board of public works of Philadelphia, 
and was on ‘Modern Engineering in the 
City of Philadelphia, under the Direction 
of the Bureau of Surveys.’ 

These papers were both most entertain- 
ing and instructive, and showed the great 
advances which have been made in the prac- 
tical applications of engineering science in 
the municipal affairs of the city of Phila- 
dephia in providing for the citizens a 
healthful water supply, rapid and econ- 
venient methods of transportation, and up- 
to-date and modern methods of keeping 
records and performing the routine work 
of the office of city engineer in a large 
municipality. 

The first paper on the program of Fri- 
day morning, December 30, was by Arthur 
H. Blanchard, assistant professor of civil 
engineering, Brown University, Provi- 
dence, R. I., and was on ‘The Development 


May 12, 1905.] 


of the State Highway System of Rhode 
Island’: 

‘“The first tangible step towards the es- 
tablishment of a state system of continuous 
highways in Rhode Island was the passage 
of an ‘act to provide for the construction, 
improvement and maintenance of state 
roads’ by the General Assembly in 1902. 
The salient features of the 1902 act are as 
follows: the construction and maintenance 
of the state highway system is vested in a 
board, consisting of five members, who 
serve without remuneration: the chief en- 
gineer is appointed by the board; the en- 
tire expense of construction and mainte- 
nance of standard roads is borne by the 
state, resulting in a maximum benefit to 
the state as a whole and to the urban as 
well as the rural communities (the fifteen 
trunk highways comprising the state sys- 
tem of continuous roads have a total mile- 
age of 249 miles, 18.89 of which was con- 
tracted for by the state in 1903) ; an annual 
appropriation of $5,000 for general office 
expenses is included in the act: annual 
construction appropriations are based upon 
the annual reports of the board ($100,000 
in 1903 and $100,000 in 1904) ; cost of ex- 
tra width, in excess of fourteen feet, is to 
be borne by the towns concerned. The 
standard macadam road consists of 14 
feet of 6-inch macadam, built in two 
courses of broken stone, with dust used as 
a top dressing only, the surface being in 
form, the two intersecting planes having a 
tranverse slope of three fourths of an inch 
to the foot. By the knowledge obtained 
from road metal tests made at Washington, 
together with information gained from ob- 
servations on how the material actually 
wears and binds in practice, the board 
hopes to reach satisfactory conclusions 
with reference to the rocks that may be 
used for road building purposes in Rhode 
Island. The recognition of the injurious 
effects of narrow tires upon macadam roads 


SCIENCE. 


2K 


resulted in the passage of an act in 1902 to 
prohibit the use of narrow tires after April, 
1905. It is believed that a rigid enforee- 
ment of this law will materially reduce the 
cost of maintenance of the state roads.’’ 

The next two papers on the morning’s 
program were on ‘Lines of Progress in 
Aeronautics,’ and were intended to supple- 
ment the series of papers on this subject 
which were presented at the St. Louis meet- 
ing of the association. Calvin M. Wood- 
ward, dean of the School of Engineering 
and Architecture of Washington Univer- 
sity, St. Louis, Mo., described the efforts 
which had been made and stated some of 
the reasons why they had not met with 
greater success at the Louisiana Purchase 
Exposition during the past year. Being a 
member of the committee of the World’s 
Fair on the subject of aeronautics, he was 
able to speak with positive knowledge. 

The second paper was by Mr. K. Dients- 
bach, of New York, who is the American 
correspondent of Illustrierte Aeronautische 
Mitteilungen. He reviewed the recent 
progress made in aeronautical science by 
Maxim, Langley, Zahm and the Wright 
Brothers. 

In the absence of the author, the paper 
by David Todd, director of Amherst Col- 
lege Observatory, on ‘A Twelve-ton Ob- 
servatory Dome of Thirty-five Feet Diam- 
eter,’ was read only by title. 

Clarence A. Waldo, professor of mathe- 
matics at Purdue University, Lafayette, 
Ind., presented samples of ‘A New Engi- 
neering Product, and Some of Its Prob- 
lems.’ The product consisted of metallic 
materials formed into hollow shapes, such 
as flasks, floats, spheres, bottles and the 
like. It was much to be regretted that the 
exact method of manufacture was not de- 
scribed, and the ‘problems’ which had been 
met were only stated and their solution not 
given, 

A. J. Wood, professor of experimental 


128 SCIENCE. 


engineering, Pennsylvania State College, 
State College, Pa., next read a paper giving 
the results of his experiments on ‘Tests of 
Cold Drawn Steel Elevator Guides.’ He 
stated that many engineers were of the 
opinion that the cold rolling improved the 
tensile strength of steel more than did cold 
drawing. The paper called attention to 
tests recently made by the author showing 
the comparative strengths in transverse 
loading of hot-rolled and planed T-shaped 
elevator guide-bars supported on 24-inch 
centers, as compared with cold-drawn bars 
made from hot-rolled bars. The open 
hearth steel which was used contained from 
0.12 to 0.15 per cent. of carbon. The hot- 
rolled bars weighed 14% pounds per foot, 
and after rolling 14 pounds per foot. The 
autographie stress-strain diagrams of the 
bar show that the actual elastic limit was 
increased from 13,900 pounds with the hot- 
rolled bars to 35,000 pounds with the cold- 
drawn bars, and that the yield point was 
increased from 17,500 to 38,500 by the 
process of cold-drawing; that the cold- 
drawn steel not only deflected less under a 
given load, but that it suffered less perma- 
nent set. The paper will be published by 
the American Machinist. 

The last paper of the morning was by 
C. M. Woodward and was on ‘The Track 
Pressure Resulting from an Eccentric 
Weight.’ The paper elicited considerable 
discussion from the mathematical engineers 
who were present. It will be published by 
the St. Louis Academy of Science. 

The session of Friday afternoon was de- 
voted to engineering education. The vice- 
presidential address of the retiring vice- 
president, Calvin M. Woodward, dean of 
the School of Engineering and Architec- 
ture, Washington University, St. Louis, 
Mo., on ‘Recent Progress in Engineering 
Education,’ was true to its subject, and as 
it has been presented in the pages of Sct- 


[N.S. Vou. XXL. No. 541. 


ENCE for January 6, 1905, nothing further 
need be said. 

Edgar Marburg, professor of civil engi- 
neering, University of Pennsylvania, next 
deseribed the new engineering building of 
the University of Pennsylvania. It is 
expected that it will cost $700,000, and 
with its new additional equipment will cost 
$800,000. It will be capable of providing 
for 500 engineering students in civil, me- 
chanical and electrical engineering. One 
of the noteworthy features is that of a 
large number of small rooms each contain- 
ing comfortably not over fifteen students. 
These are to be used for recitation rooms 
and quizzes. Larger assembly rooms for 
all the sections of the class are also pro- 
vided, where one of the instructors can 
lecture to the class as a whole. This sys- 
tem of instruction and also the details of 
the building were discussed at considerable 
length by the educators, present. 

‘Desired Requirements for Entrance to 
Engineering Colleges’ was the subject of a 
paper by William Kent, dean of the Col- 
lege of Applied Science, Syracuse Univer- 
sity, Syracuse, N. Y. He stated that the 
present requirements included English, 
history, mathematics, physics, science and 
modern languages, each of which cultivates 
a separate group of intellectual faculties. 
At Syracuse University a change has been 
made in the direction of broadening the 
entrance requirements so as to require six 
groups of study, and including free-hand 
drawing as one of the essential subjects. 
It is now proposed to make another change 
so as to require studies in seven groups, 
which, besides free-hand drawing, physics 
or chemistry, shall include one or more 
natural sciences. The following advan- 
tages are claimed for the proposed entrance 
requirements. First, the requirement of 
seven studies instead of eight makes it 
easier for high schools to give a thorough 
preparation. Second, it will decrease the 


May 12, 1905.] 


number of conditions of entering students. 
Third, seven subjects selected from the 
seven groups, each studied with proper 
thoroughness, give a more liberal and 
broader education than eight subjects from 
five groups, including electives which may 
be selected from the same five groups. 
Fourth, they include drawing and natural 
science, without which no one ean rightly 
be said to have a broad and liberal culture. 
Fifth, by making options in language and 
in physics and natural science, the require- 
ments favor those high schools which are 
equipped to give some optional subjects 
better than others. Requiring either phys- 
ies or chemistry, and not both, is a con- 
venience to the college, so that either phys- 
ics or chemistry can be given in the fresh- 
man year to those students who do not 
present one or the other. 

The last paper scheduled for the after- 
noon had been read at a previous session 
of the section and was on ‘The Value of 
Courses in Agricultural Engineering,’ by 
Elwood Mead, chief of irrigation and 
drainage investigations, U. 8. Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.: 

‘* Acricultural engineers have hitherto 
had little opportunity for practising their 
profession in the United States, the large 
areas of cheap land and erude and wasteful 
methods of cultivation preventing any 
large expenditures on engineering works 
for the improvement or reclamation of 
agricultural areas. 

‘“‘These conditions are now rapidly 
changing. The building of canals and 
dams to irrigate the arid lands of the west, 
the construction of dikes and drains, and 
the installation of pumps to remove the 
surplus water from our swamp and over- 
flowed lands are two of a number of lines 
of work which are opening up broad fields 
of usefulness and power to specially 
trained young men. Our agricultural col- 
leges are recognizing this and beginning to 


SCIENCE. 729 


provide adequate courses of instruction. 
Within the past year the Iowa State Col- 
lege has completed a commodious building, 
with a complete equipment for instruction 
in this branch of engineering. Wisconsin 
is erecting a building; Illinois, Minnesota, 
Nebraska and Wyoming have courses in 
agricultural engineering; while Colorado 
and California make irrigation engineering 
one feature of their courses in civil engi- 
neering. Special training in the adminis- 
tration of canals and in the laws and cus- 
toms governing the use of streams is re- 
quired by the irrigation engineer. This is 
being provided by the agricultural colleges 
and by the reports of the irrigation and 
drainage investigations of the Office of Ex- 
periment Stations, U. 8S. Department of 
Agriculture. 

‘“‘Drainage engineering is becoming an 
important factor in agricultural produc- 
tion. The reclamation of the swamp and 
overflowed lands along our sea and gulf 
eoasts will add nearly 100,000,000 acres to 
the productive area. Tile underdrains are 
being made use of to protect hillside farms 
from. erosion. 

‘Modern farm machinery includes mo- 
tors run by steam, gasoline, electricity and 
wind. Where farmers do not understand 
their care and management, there is great 
waste and loss. Although this country is 
the greatest maker and user of farm ma- 
chinery in the world, the agricultural 
schools of the United States are far behind 
those of Europe in the training given on 
this subject.’ 

The last session of the section was held 
on Friday evening, and, like those which 
had preceded it, was provided with a very 
full program. The first paper of the eve- 
ning was by John Birkinbine, consulting 
engineer, of Philadelphia, and discussed 
‘The Iron Ore Supply of the United States 
and Its Movement.’ The author stated that 
the advances made in iron manufacture 


730 SCIENCE. 


have been largely brought about by methods 
of transporting and handling 35,000,000 
long tons of iron ore which form the prod- 
uct of the mines of the United States. So 
successfully has this transportation problem 
been solved to cheaply handle ores from the 
mines to ears and from ears through docks 
to vessels, again from vessels to stock piles 
or to cars, that a number of deposits of iron 
ore are lying dormant close to blast fur- 
naces because cheap transportation deliv- 
ered iron ore of superior quality to the 
furnaces at a lower cost than it is believed 
the local ores can be won and used. The 
excellent quality of the Lake Superior ores 
and their very low phosphorus and sulphur 
contents make these ores especially de- 
sirable.. The ore from the Lake Superior 
region forms over three fourths of all the 
iron ore mined in the United States. A 
large portion of it is not touched by the 
hand of man from the time it leaves its 
bed in mother earth until it is charged into 
the throat of the blast furnace. Steam 
shovels, automatic chutes, drop bottom 
ears, mechanical handlers, bridge tram- 
ways, bins and skip cars take the place of 
manual labor and permit handling and 
transporting large quantities of iron ore at 
a marvelously low rate. By this means 
the American iron ores can be conveyed 
long distances from the mines to the point 
of consumption at an extremely low rate 
per. ton. 

The paper will be found on page 56. of 
the Iron Trade Review, March 16, 1905. 

‘Science in the Foundry’ was the sub- 
ject of a paper presented by Alexander E. 
Outerbridge, Jr., metallurgist of Wm. Sel- 
lers & Co., Incorporated, of Philadelphia, 
Pa. It was illustrated with lantern slides 
showing the interiors of foundries in sev- 
eral large industrial establishments, giving 
realistic views of immense molds and of 
castings made therein; of the modern ‘over- 
head traveling cranes,’ capable of raising 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


fifty tons or more, and transporting these 
heavy castings and materials with safety 
and despatch over the heads of the molders 
and other workmen on the floor. Pictures 
showing the characteristic appearance of 
fractured bars of iron, and of castings of 
different kinds, ranging from tiny castings 
weighing a few ounces up to immense ma- 
chinery castings weighing many tons, were 
thrown on the screen. Photographs of bars 
of cast iron which had been caused to 
‘srow’ in cubical dimensions in a remark- 
able manner, while in the solid state; also 
photographs of a number of castings which 
had been increased in size by a novel treat- 
ment were shown—for which discovery the 
Franklin Institute recently awarded to the 
author the ‘Elliot Cresson Gold Medal,’ the 
highest in its power to bestow. Two bars 
of iron cast in one mold, and of precisely 
the same size, were presented for critical 
inspection, one bar remained exactly as 
east, the companion bar had been caused 
to grow gradually in eubical dimensions 
until it is now 46 per cent. larger than the 
other, the weight remaining the same as 
before expansion. Both bars were ‘ma- 
chined’ on one side to show the texture and 
metallic appearance; it was difficult to de- 
tect any change except the very apparent 
difference in size. This extraordinary 
change in bulk was produced by alternately 
heating and cooling the bar to a ‘critical’ 
temperature a number of times, in the 
manner which has been fully deseribed in 
the ‘Report of the Committee of Science 
and Arts of the Franklin Institute.’ Im- 
portant practical applications have already 
been found for this remarkable discovery. 
The speaker said that formerly there was 
no scientific method of supervision in 
foundry practise, and a chemist in a foun- 
dry would have been thought to be as much 
out of his proper sphere as the proverbial 
‘pull in a china shop’! That day has gone 


_by, and the substitution of scientific system 


May 12, 1905.] 


for empirical methods in progressive foun- 
dries has graduaily grown from very small 
beginnings until it has now reached a recog- 
nized position of importance. This is true 
not only in regard to the metallurgical 
study of pig iron for castings, but also in 
methods of molding and other cognate 
branches of the founder’s art. The recent 
great improvement in the design and con- 
struction of molding-machines has led to 
the gradual substitution of machine mold- 
ing for hand labor in a large and rapidly 
expanding degree. The scientific examina- 
tion of molding sand and other materials 
used in molding has led to important im- 
provements and economies. In fact, the 
influence of this newly awakened scientific 
interest in foundry improvement is extend- 
ing in all directions. The result is that the 
manufacturer of machinery is enabled to 
obtain castings from foundries conducted 
on modern methods which are far better 
adapted to the work for which they are 
designed than heretofore, and he is, there- 
fore, enabled to guarantee quality and 
strength with an assurance which he could 
not formerly give. From these observa- 
tions it may be inferred that, although the 
field for cast iron has been invaded to a 
great extent by cast steel, the producers of 
iron castings have been spurred on to im- 
prove their product, and thus to keep in 
line with the progress of the age, and to 
show that in spite of this competition the 
field is still open for their occupation. 

One of the most interesting papers of the 
Philadelphia meeting was on ‘Recent Ad- 
vanees in the Mechanical Science Involved 
in the Coinage cf Money,’ by Edwin §8. 
Chureh, superintendent of machinery, 
United States Mint, Philadelphia. It was 
illustrated by lantern slides and deseribed 
in much detail the process of manufactur- 
ing money from the power plant with its 
large engines, through the various proc- 
esses required in the coinage of money by 
rolling, stamping, punching and milling, 


SCIENCE. G21 


and the great pressures which are neces- 
sary to effect the results. Mr. Church 
made the interesting statement that it was 
impossible for the new United States Mint 
at Philadelphia, with all its increased faeil- 
ities, to supply the demand for copper 
cents during the two or three weeks imme- 
diately preceding the Christmas holidays, 
showing to what a large extent Christmas 
is the children’s festival, and how largely 
it enters into the business of our country. 

The sectional committee of Section D de- 
sires to express its cordial appreciation of 
the kindly attention and services rendered 
it by Professor Edgar Marbure and Pro- 
fessor H. W. Spangler, of the University 
of Pennsylvania, and to the engineers of 
Philadelphia who so kindly took part; 
either on the program or in the excursions, 
or permitted us to visit their works. 

It is to be regretted that a larger number 
of the members of the association were not 
in attendance, and especially when it is re- 
membered that there has been a large in- 
crease in the membership of both the asso- 
ciation and the section within the past few 
years. Papers alone, even by eminent men, 
do not make a successful meeting. They 
may form an attractive program, but one 
of their chief objects is to elicit discussion, 
without which any program, no matter how 
good, is likely to fall flat. While there was 
some discussion over some of the papers 
presented at the Philadelphia meeting be- 
fore Section D, neither the attendance of 
members nor the discussions were as plenti- 
ful as was desired. The sectional commit- 
tee may procure and present a suitable 
program, but unless the members attend 
the sessions and take part in the discus- 
sions, its work will be largely in vain. 
It is to be hoped that the members of the 
association will make a special effort, even 
if it includes some sacrifice, to attend the 
meeting at New Orleans next December. 

Wwa. T. MAGrRupER, 
Secretary. 


732 


THE FISHERIES LABORATORY AT BEAU- 
FORT, SIXTH SEASON. 

Tuer Fisheries Laboratory at Beaufort, 
N. C., was open to investigators for its 
sixth season from June 10 to September 
30, 1904. A few days prior to this time 
two of the laboratory tables were occupied 
and a few investigators continued their 
work after the date of closing, but in these 
eases the facilities of the laboratory only 
were supplied, the dining hall, living rooms 
and electric-light department not being 
open outside the regular season. 

A furnished living room was assigned to 
each investigator or assistant who desired 
to live at the laboratory, for the use of 
which a fee of twenty-five cents was 
charged to cover the expense of laboratory 
laundry. Table board was provided at the 
cost of the materials used and the wages of 
the waiters, the laboratory, as hitherto, 
supplying the cook, an assistant, and the 
kitchen and dining room equipment. The 
price of board was fixed at $5.50 per week, 
but, as indicated above, this department 
was run as a mess and at the end of the 
season a rebate was paid to each member, 
which reduced the actual cost of board to 
about $4.80 per week. 

The entire laboratory was lighted with 
electricity from dusk until eleven o’clock 
p.m. and the work tables and aquaria in 
the laboratory and aquarium hall were fur- 
nished with a continuous supply of run- 
ning water, both salt and fresh. The oceu- 
pant of each table was supplied with a 
limited amount of glassware and the re- 
agents in common use. The equipment for 
collecting and general field work, which was 
available to all, consisted of a steam launch, 
a 33-foot sharpy, nine rowboats, a pound 
net, a fyke net, seines, scrape nets, tow nets, 
dredges, a trawl and implements for dig- 
ging. With this equipment the entire har- 
bor and the adjacent sounds were within 
easy reach and, during calm weather, trips 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXL No. 541. 


were made outside the inlet, where dredg- 
ings and towings were frequently made. 
This equipment was in the charge of Mr. 
Charles Hatsel, one of the permanent em- 
ployees of the laboratory. He is an excel- 
lent collector and is thoroughly familiar 
with the animals of the region and the 
methods by which they may best be eol- 
lected. Those carrying on scientific work 
consulted with him concerning the material 
needed and he either directed how, when 
and where the collecting should be done or, 
if necessary, collected and brought the ma- 
terial to the tables. 

The staff consisted of a director, cus- 
todian, two laborers, five special assistants, 
thirteen temporary assistants, an engineer 
and two firemen in the power house, a 
crew of three on the steam launch Petrel, 
a janitor for the laboratory and living 
rooms and a cook and an assistant in the 
kitchen. In addition to these, eight in- 
vestigators, representing various institu- 
tions, occupied tables in the laboratory and 
carried on work in various fields of inquiry. 
The average length of the stay of each was 
seven weeks. 

The temporary assistants were assigned 
for duty as follows: two were detailed to 
assist Professors H. V. Wilson and George 
Lefevre with their work; two were given 
work in the office; four had the care of the 
laboratory and premises; three, assisted by 
one of the special assistants, did the seining 
and fishing with the pound and fyke nets 
for the laboratory and helped with the work 
on the fishes when they were brought to the 
laboratory ; one assistant kept a record of 
the densities, temperatures and the general 
climatic conditions as observed by him dur- 
ing the season. Several of these men, when 
not busy with their regular duties, helped 
with cataloguing the books of the library. 

The additions which were made to the 
equipment of the laboratory during the 
summer consisted in a pound net, a fyke 


oe ee a 


May 12, 1905.] 


net and sixteen rectangular glass aquaria 
of graded sizes. Two large concrete 
aquaria also were constructed and fitted 
with heating apparatus to be used for ob- 
servations on the effect temperature may 
have on the structure and development of 
a species. 

Early in the season letters were sent to 
more than a hundred American zoologists 
asking them to send their publications, past 
and future, to the library. In response to 
these letters several hundred reprints of 
scientific papers were received, which, 
added to the publications of the Bureau of 
Fisheries and the National Museum al- 
ready on hand, make a valuable part of the 
equipment. 


ECONOMIC AND SCIENTIFIC WORK CARRIED ON 
BY THE LABORATORY. 

The several lines of fishery experiment 
work which have been in operation in con- 
nection with the laboratory for several 
years were continued and enlarged during 
this season.* Several weeks during the 
summer were spent by Mr. R. E. Coker 
(eustodian of the laboratory) in Pamlico 
Sound in connection with the experiments 
in oyster culture. The progress of this 
work is best seen from the report by Cas- 
well Grave, now in press, and from the 
paper by Mr. R. E. Coker on ‘Private 
Oyster-planting in North Carolina,’ also 
in press. Many new experimental oyster 
beds were made and will be the subject of 
further observation. 

The growing importance of the clam 
(Venus mercenaria) with the development 
of the canning and bedding industries, has 
suggested an inquiry into the habits, 
growth and propagation of this form. 
Accordingly, during the preceding spring 
experiments were begun under the direc- 
tion of Mr. Coker and these were continued 


*The North Carolina Geological Survey coop- 
erates with the Bureau of Fisheries in these inves- 
tigations. 


SCIENCE. 


733 


in operation and extended. Arrangements 
have been made for their continuance dur- 
ing the remainder of the fiscal year. 

Mr. Coker continued his study of diver- 
sity in the scutes of chelonia, obtaining 
some material for the further study of 
correlation in the scutes and bony plates. 
The forms studied were chiefly the dia- 
mond-back terrapin (Malaclemmys cen- 
trata Latr. and Thallasoechelys casetta), 
but observations were made on a few other 
species. 

The work which is more definitely iden- 
tified with the summer sessions of the labo- 
ratory consists in extended observations on 
the natural history of the various species 
representing certain groups of animals and 
plants. Notes on the following points con- 
cerning each species are collected and cata- 
logued: Relative numbers, habitat, food, 
feeding habits, breeding time, breeding 
habits, character of eggs, young, migra- 
tions, local varieties, ete. Specimens of 
each species are collected and preserved 
and placed in the laboratory collection. As 
a final result of this work it is intended 
that reports on each group shall be pre- 
pared for publication, with descriptions of 
each species, and illustrations embodying 
the local observations which have been 
made. The special assistants who carry on 
this work are teachers of biology or gradu- 
ate students in various institutions who 
have either specialized in or are especially 
interested at present in the groups in hand. 


The groups which were studied this season 


were the sponges, marine alge, crustacea, 
actinozoa, fishes and echinoderms. 

The work on the Beaufort sponges was 
begun this season by H. V. Wilson, pro- 
fessor of biology in the University of North 
Carolina. In addition to a study of the 
structural characters and natural history 
of each species he began a series of experi- 
ments on the effect of altered temperature 
and density on the habits of growth, struec- 


734 


ture and reproduction of certain forms. 
Special facilities were afforded for this 
work and an assistant was detailed to help 
with it. The observations will probably 
extend over a number of years. Professor 
Wilson will report progress from time to 
time. 

Mr. W. D. Hoyt, instructor in biology in 
the University of Georgia, continued the 
work on the marine alge begun by him 
last season. The intermediate position of 
Beaufort Harbor between the northern and 
southern regions, where extended observa- 
tions have been made on the marine alge, 
makes the study of the forms occurring in 
the Beaufort region especially interesting 
and important. That it is richer in alge 
than has been supposed has been shown by 
the work already done. During the season 
twenty-five species were added to the list, 
which now numbers sixty-nine. All the 
species are represented by specimens in the 
laboratory collection. Of the forty species 
which are properly identified, two are 
Schizophycex, four are Chlorophycee, five 
are Phxophycew, four belong to the Dic- 
vyotales and twenty-five are Rhodophycee. 
In the case of seventeen forms, the genus 
only has been determined and in twelve 
neither the genus nor species is known. 

Mr. F. S. Collins, Malden, Mass., has 
very kindly given valuable suggestions in 
this work and assisted with the identifica- 
tion of many forms. 

Mr. Hoyt has preserved material for 
morphological work on certain forms and 
conducted experiments on the branching of 
Dictyota dichotoma induced by injury. 

Mr. C. A. Shore, instructor in biology in 
the University of North Carolina, did for 
the Beaufort crustacea (exclusive of the 
amphipods and cirrepedes) this season 
what the year before he had done for the 
Annelids—the collection in the laboratory 
was gone over and, as far as was possible 
with the available literature on the subject, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vox. XXI. No. 541. 


the specimens were identified. Poor speci- 
mens were replaced with perfect ones and 
specimens of unrepresented species were 
added when the opportunity afforded. 
According to the report made by Mr. Shore 
at the end of the season, the collection now 
contains specimens of ninety-one species of 
crustacea, seventy-seven of which are iden- 
tified. The identification cf four is doubt- 
ful. In the case of eight forms the genus 
only has been determined and two are en- 
tirely unidentified. 

In the above number are included thir- 
teen species collected in 1902 by the Fish 
Hawk from the region between Shackleford 
and Bogue Banks and the Gulf Stream. 

Twenty-two species were added to the 
list this season and from the unclassified 
specimens already in the collection thirty- 
nine species were identified. i 

Mr. L. R. Cary, graduate student of 
zoology in the Johns Hopkins University, 
began work on the anthozoa. In connec- 
tion with the regular natural history ob- 
servations and collections, he recorded on 
charts, provided by the laboratory for the — 
purpose, the local distribution and abun- 
dance of each species. His report for the 
season shows the collection to now contain 
specimens of eight species of Alcyonaria, 
nine Actinaria and three Madreporari. 
This number does not include the species 
collected in 1902 by the Fish Hawk (two 
corals excepted), the work on this collec- 
tion not having been completed. Mr. Cary 
also made observations on the budding of 
Cylista leucolena and will continue his 
study this winter on the structure and his- 
tology of this form and of the individuals 
developing from buds. 

The actinian larva which has been found 
from time to time in the tow at Beaufort 
and which Mr. Cary succeeded in rearing 
last season and which he described in No. 
1, Vol. VII, of the Biological Bulletin, 
has been identified as that of Epizoanthus 


May 12, 1905.] 


americana, a species occurring in consider- 
able abundance off the Beaufort- Inlet. 

Mr. E. W. Gudger, graduate student of 
zoology in the Johns Hopkins University, 
had charge of the work on fishes. In addi- 
tion to the usual work of collecting sys- 
tematically from various localities, Mr. 
Gudger undertook the work of determin- 
ing to what extent the food of two of the 
most common food fishes, the spot (ios- 
tomus xanthurus) and hogfish (Ortho- 
pristis chrysopterus) differs in different 
localities and whether local races are be- 
ing established within each species. This 
work was not earried far enough to give 
data of value. 

The list of fishes known to occur in the 
Beaufort region now numbers 134 species. 
Specimens of each species, with one excep- 
tion, are preserved in the laboratory col- 
lection. In ease the adult individuals of 
a species are very large, specimens of its 
young only are preserved supplemented 
with measurements of the adult. Thirteen 
species were added to the list this year, 
six of which it has not been possible to 
identify. 

On account of the interruption to the 
work of investigation caused by visitors 
the laboratory room has recently been 
closed to them, but they are welcomed to all 
other rooms and buildings. In the museum 
hall the laboratory collections are arranged 
for inspection and several aquaria are kept 
supphed with living fishes and other forms 
of marine animals and plants. The main- 
tenance and eare of these exhibits was in 
charge of Mr. Gudger and the temporary 
assistant detailed to help with the work on 
fishes. 

Mr. Gudger also continued to study the 
breeding habits and the early development 
of the pipe fish (Siphostoma Louisiane). 
Material was preserved for a detailed 
study of the egg and young stages this 
winter. 


SCIENCE. . 735 


Caswell Grave, associate in zoology in 
the Johns Hopkins University, continued to 
work on the echinoderms. A set of photo- 
graphs of living specimens of each species 
is nearly complete. It is hoped that these 
may be published with the report on the 
natural history of the Beaufort echino- 
derms. By isolating the echinoderm larve 
taken in the ‘tow’ and rearing them 
through their metamorphosis into the adult 
form, the identity of several unknown 
Jarve has been ascertained and many inter- 
esting facts regarding the habits of the 
adults have been discovered. About ninety 
experiments on the segmenting egg and 
larva of Ophiura brevispina were made in 
order to study the regenerating capacity of 
this form in its early stages and to deter- 
mine the influence which the considerable 
amount of yolk present in the egg has had 
on the localization of the germ layers and 
organ forming materials. The egg and 
larva of this species are favorable objects 
for this work in that they live well after 
injury and in that the eggs fertilized in the 
laboratory can be reared to the adult form. 
Experiments on the pluteus of WMellita 
showed that it lacks almost 
wholly the ability to regenerate lost parts. 


testudinata 


THE INVESTIGATORS AND THEIR WORK. 

Dr. George Lefevre, professor of zoology 
in the University of Missouri, occupied a 
table in the laboratory from June 15 to 
August 23. The brief account, given be- 
low, of the work done by him is extracted 
from his report to the director at the end 
of the season: 

1. Artificial parthenogenesis was investi- 
gated in Thalassema mellita Conn. and it 
was found that the eggs of this worm could 
be induced to develop into freely swimming 
trochophores in the absence of sperm by 
immersion for a few minutes in very dilute 
solutions of several acids, both organie and 
inorganic. Nitric, hydrochloric, sulphuric, 


736 


carbonic, acetic and oxalic acids were used 
successfully, and in favorable experiments 
fifty to sixty per cent. of the eggs developed 
into swimming larve. 

The larve arising parthenogenetically 
are strikingly normal in appearance and 
structure, and exhibit clearly marked cel- 
lular differentiations, as, for example, di- 
gestive tract, prototrochal band and apical 
plate with flagella. 

A eareful cytological and histological 
study of the material will be made, and 
the parthenogenetic development compared 
in detail with the normal. 

2. Material was collected, photographs 
taken, and observations made in a sys- 
tematic study of the tunicates of the vicin- 
ity of Beaufort. 

Dr. Otto C. Glaser, Bruce fellow in the 
Johns Hopkins University, spent the en- 
tire season at the laboratory and engaged 
in experimental studies on the eggs of 
Fasciolaria tulipa, the natural history of 
nudibranch molluses and a study of the 
development of Aplysia sp.? 

Aplysias were extremely abundant this 
season, having been blown upon the Macon 
Beach and into the harbor by storms. They 
were actively breeding, and material for 
the study of the complete life history of 
the species was secured. Usually this ani- 
mal is quite rare at Beaufort. 

Dr. Glaser also had the supervision of 
the ‘mess’ and to his careful management 
is due the reduction in the price of board 
which it was possible to make this year. 

Mr. Samuel Rittenhouse, graduate stu- 
dent of zoology in the Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity, beginning June 12, spent eight 
weeks at the laboratory, continuing the 
studies begun last season on the life history 
of Turritopsis nutricula. From the com- 
plete set of material procured he will be 
able to make a detailed study of the de- 
velopment of this form. He obtained ma- 
terial also for studies of the development 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


of Stomotoca apicata, S. rugosa and an un- 
determined species of Digonidia. While 
gathering this material, by regular towings 
in various parts of the harbor, Mr. Ritten- 
house made observations on the meduse 
which appear at Beaufort and preserved 
specimens of each species. During this 
season, and last he has collected about 
thirty species of hydromeduse, seventeen 
of which are identified. 

Mr. Howard E. Enders, professor of 
zoology in Lebanon Valley College and 
graduate student in the Johns Hopkins 
University, was at the laboratory twice 
during the year, from June 18 to August 
6, and during the month of October. He 
continued his work to get the post-larval 
stages in the development of the tubico- 
lous annelid, Chetopterus pergamentaceus, 
and collected material for an anatomical 
and histological study of the adult. Ob- 
servations were made on the activities of 
the worm and its numerous commensals 
within the tube, and on the processes by 
which the tube is formed. The distribu- 
tion of the animal in the harbor was 
charted. 

Mr. Bartgis McGlone, professor of biol- 
ogy in the Illinois Wesleyan University, 
occupied a table in the laboratory for two 
months beginning June 26. He studied 
the breeding habits of Ma@ra atropos, the 
spatangoid so common at Beaufort, and dis- 
covered a method by which the eggs may 
be artificially fertilized. This result has 
been repeatedly worked for by several in- 
vestigators without success, and the discoy- 
ery by Mr. McGlone is a noteworthy contri- 
bution from the laboratory, for it opens to 
experimentation one of the most favorable 
objects for experimental study; the egg 
being small and very transparent and one 
in which the processes of maturation are 
postponed until extrusion from the body of 
the mother. 

Mr. McGlone preserved material for a 


May 12, 1905.] 


study of the complete life history of the 
species. 

Mr. B. A. Bean, curator of fishes in the 
National Museum, and his assistant, Mr. 
McKnew, spent two weeks at the labora- 
tory, June 6-20, studying fishes and mak- 
ing a collection of certain forms for the 
National Museum. Mr. Bean went over 
the Beaufort collection of fishes and very 
kindly verified or corrected the doubtful 
identifications of some of the specimens. 
Tanks of alcohol were left by him at the 
laboratory, with a request that specimens 
of fishes taken this season, in duplicate, not 
collected by him, be preserved for the Na- 
tional Museum. This request was com- 
plied with. 

Dr. J. I. Hamaker, professor of biology 
in the Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, 
beginning August 18, spent two weeks in 
general collecting and in making observa- 
tions on actinians. 

CASWELL GRAVE. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


Heredity of Coat Characters in Guinea Pigs 
and Rabbits. By Professor W. E. Caste. 
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Pub- 
lication, No. 28. February, 1905. 

This paper includes a careful account of the 
color varieties of domesticated cavies or 
guinea-pigs, of which the agouti, the yellow, 
the chocolate, the black, the albino, the spot- 
ted, the brindled, the roan and silvered, the 
long-haired and the rough-coated forms are 
described. Cross-breeding between many of 
these types was carried out and a detailed 
account of the results is given. Without at- 
tempting to review all of the many impor- 
tant results of this elaborate study of heredity 
a few of the more unusual or salient points 
may be indicated. 

Albino or white guinea-pigs’ breed true, but 
crossing experiments with pigs of different 
colors show that individual albinos give dif- 
ferent results, which is due, Castle believes, 
to the presence, in a greater or less degree, 
of latent pigment tendencies, which do not 


SCIENCE. 737 


show up except in crossing. Thus the albino 
3S 2002 when mated with red females invari- 
ably produces offspring marked with black; 
while albino d 1999 similarly mated produces 
only red (or yellow) offspring, never black 
ones. From these and similar results Castle 
makes a distinction between the two terms 
latency and recessive. Latency “is a condi- 
tion of inactivity in which a normally dom- 
inant character may exist in a recessive indi- 
vidual. It is questionable whether a recessive 
character may ever be latent.” Recessive is 
used in Mendel’s sense to designate a char- 
acter “which disappears when brought by 
fertilization into the same (hybrid) individual 
with a contrasted ‘dominant’ character, but 
which is transmitted, distinct from the dom- 
inant character, in half of the gametes formed 
by the hybrid individual.” 

As is well known pure albino animals have 
pink eyes. This means that pigment is ab- 
sent from the eyes as well as from the skin. 
Now pure white guinea-pigs and mice are 
known having black eyes. These are not al- 
binos but ‘spotted’ animals, in which the 
pigment spots have been so far reduced as to 
be practically obliterated, except in the eyes. 
The black-eyed white animals that appeared in ° 
Castle’s experiments did not breed true, since 
spotted offspring often cropped up. Whether 
by prolonged selection they could be made into 
a pure race can not be stated, but Castle 
thinks it not impossible. When mated to 
pure albinos spotted offspring are produced. 

Guinea-pigs with a rough coat are animals 
whose hair is arranged in rosettes or ‘ cow- 
licks’ around certain centers. Nine such cen- 
ters can be recognized in individuals with the 
best developed rough coats. In crossing these 
roughs with ordinary or smooth-haired forms 
the rough character is dominant. Here we 
have another interesting instance of a recently 
acquired character dominating in the off- 
spring. The rough character is as fully de- 
veloped as in the rough parent. The off- 
spring of these rough hybrids follow the Men- 
delian ratio, provided the degree in which the 
rough character is developed in the offspring 
is left out of consideration. Just here, how- 
ever, comes a curious result, that is of the 


738 


utmost importance in the debated question 
of discontinuous versus blended inheritance. 
Although, as has just been said, the rough 
coat dominates in the first generation of 
hybrids (rough X smooth), yet sometimes it 
shows a weakened condition; and what is even 
more interesting is that certain smooth indi- 
viduals which may be said to be prepotent 
show a stronger tendency to weaken the rough 
coat than do other individuals. Such par- 
tially rough individuals may later transmit 
the rough character to their offspring in its 
full intensity.. Again, repeated crossing of 
rough animals with prepotent smooth ones 
leads to a further weakening of the rough coat 
until it may be almost eliminated. Here are 
some nuts to crack for those who believe the 
Mendelian purity of the germ cells depends 
on the elimination of maternal or paternal 
chromosomes which have never mixed during 
their sojourn in the same nucleus! 

Another apparent Mendelian inconsistency 
is found in the ratio of inheritance of the 
long coat, which is dominated by the short, 
or ordinary coat. In the second generation 
of inbred hybrids the proportion of long coated 
individuals exceeds the expected number. 

An interesting point in regard to heredity 
in rabbits is shown when pure white and 
Himalayan rabbits are crossed. The Him- 
alayan character dominates in the first gen- 
eration only imperfectly, yet complete segre- 
gation of the characters takes place in the 
germ-cells, so that the two pure parent types 
reappear in some of the offspring. 

For other important facts the paper itself 
must be consulted. That some of the con- 
clusions are only tentative the author himself 
fully realizes. The constant attention and 
great labor involved in an extended experi- 
ment of this sort will be appreciated by those 
who have had experience in such matters, and 
we can confidently expect the future to bring 
forth many important results from these pedi- 
gree animals. Already enough ‘problems’ 
are indicated to engage many other workers 
who have the opportunity, the patience and 
the skill to give to investigation of this sort. 
Carefully recorded histories, such as is given 
for these hybrids, are invaluable to science. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


Professor Castle is to be much congratulated 
upon his admirable work. 
T. H. Morean. 


COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 


The Stone Reefs of Brazil, their Geological 
and Geographical Relations, with a Chapter 
on the Coral Reefs. By Joun Casper Bran- 
NER. Bulletin of the Museum of Compara- 
tive Zoology, Vol. XLIV. (Geological series, 
Vol. VII.). Cambridge, Mass. May, 1904. 
This important memoir treats of a geolog- 

ical phenomenon that has not hitherto received 
the attention that its importance and interest,. 
both commercial and scientific, deserve. A 
port formed by a stone reef harbored in 1500 
the fleet of the first Portuguese discoverers of 
Brazil and the impression produced by it on 
their minds is strikingly shown by the fact 
that they applied to it a descriptive title, 
‘Porto Seguro,’ instead of a name taken from 
the Saint’s Calendar, as was the almost uni- 
versal custom of the early Iberian explorers. 
From this point as a center a considerable 
section of the Brazilian coast region was ex- 
plored and peopled, while two other stone-reef- 
protected ports, Recife (Pernambuco) and 
Rio Grande do Norte, became equally or even 
more important in the history of the early 
development of the country. The first of these 
has retained its commercial importance to the 
present day, and, being situated on a great line 
of travel, has attracted the attention and ex- 
cited the wonder of all mariners and travelers 
who have visited the Brazilian coast. The 
former very naturally confounded the reefs 
formed by sandstone with those, still more 
frequent along this coast, composed of coral 
rock, and the latter have repeated the sailors’ 
statements to the effect that a large section of 
the coast is bordered by a reef of the same 
nature as that of Pernambuco. 

The first to accurately describe the Per- 
nambuco. reef as a consolidated bar of sand 
was Darwin, who touched there in the cele- 
brated voyage of the Beagle. Hartt, in 1870, 
showed that the reputed great barrier reef of 
Brazil was a myth, though detached reefs, 
both of coral and of sandstone rock, occurred 
at numerous points; the latter being due to a 
superficial consolidation of beach sands which 


May 12, 1905.] 


is substantially limited by the planes of high 
and low tide. ‘The examples of these curious 
structures hitherto described were in the im- 
mediate vicinity of Pernambuco and along 
the section of coast to the southward of Bahia. 
The present memoir besides beautifully illus- 
trating those already known with nearly 100 
maps and photographs, gives full details of a 
large number of others between the points 
above mentioned and to the northward of 
Pernambuco as far as Rio Grande do Norte. 
The most southerly one known is at Gua- 
rapary in the state of Espirito Santo and 
from this point to Rio Grande do Norte, a 
distance of about a thousand nautical miles, 
the sandstone reefs can now be considered as 
detinitely known. To the southward it is 
tolerably certain that no more exist, but in 
the nearly equally long stretch of coast from 
Rio Grande do Norte to the Amazonas they 
may be presumed to be about as abundant and 
characteristic as in the section above men- 
tioned, and it is much to be desired that this 
northern section should be examined in the 
same careful manner. 

Dr. Branner, after fully describing and il- 
lustrating the reefs examined to the number 
of over twenty, sums up their characteristics 
as follows: 

The stone reefs are nearly but not quite straight. 
The bedding of the material dips seaward at the 
same angle as ordinary beach sands. The hard 
rock of the reef is only three or four meters thick. 
The underlying materials are sands, shells and 
clays without regular sequence. The process of 
formation, the character and the structure of the 
reefs show that they are ancient beaches hardened 
by lime carbonate, while their straightness shows 
that they are forms of a mature beach line fixed 
and made permanent by the process of consolida- 
tion pointed out in Part VI. 

The most puzzling problem presented by 
these reefs is that of their consolidation 
through the deposition of lime carbonate, and 
one of the most interesting chapters of the 
memoir is devoted to its discussion. The 
hypothesis of the hardening of beach sands 
through the action of rain water and through 
the escape of carbon dioxide contained in sea 
water is admitted as possible, but put aside as 
insufficient to account for all the phases of 


SCIENCE. 


139 


the phenomenon. The coincidence of the dis- 
tribution of the stone reefs with an area of 
greater density of the oceanic waters is noted 
as a possible concurrent cause. (Another co- 
incidence worthy of note is that of the dis- 
tribution of the sandstone and coral reefs.) 
A more efficient cause is thought to be the 
seeping of fresh water charged with organic 
acids from the decay of vegetable matter ac- 
cumulated in the lagoons and_ repressed 
streams behind beach ridges. The reefs occur 
along a section of coast swept by tolerably 
constant winds and currents, and with such 
geologie and climatic conditions that many 
streams are temporarily or permanently closed 
by the formation of beach ridges, so that their 
waters, becoming charged with organic acids, 
have to find their way to the sea by percolation 
through the barriers of beach sands. In con- 
clusion the author remarks: “It seems prob- 
able that the consolidation of the reef sands 
would not take place if the rainfall were large 
enough and constant enough to keep the 
mouths of the streams open and the waters of 
the streams fresh” [pure]. 

In a chapter on coast changes evidences of 
both elevation and depression in late geolog- 
ical times are presented and discussed. <A de- 
pression of considerable importance is pre- 
sumed to have taken place in early Pliocene 
times, followed by a smaller elevation. The 
sandstone reefs were formed and hardened 
subsequent to the depression, but there is no 
evidence that they have suffered any appre- 
ciable movement since their formation. The 
reefs, both sandstone and coral, have protected 
the land and helped build out the shores. 

In an introductory chapter a brief sketch 
of what is known of the geology of the coast 
In this 
Dr. Branner takes issue with his predecessors, 
and with his own previous writings, by refer- 
ring to the Tertiary a considerable portion of 
what has been considered as Cretaceous. The 
evidence for this change of view is, however, 
confessedly inconclusive, and to the reviewer 
it seems that some contrary evidence of im- 


along which the reefs occur is given. 


portance has been overlooked or unduly min- 
imized. 
The chapter on coral reefs is also a valuable 


740 


contribution to our knowledge of the physical 
and geological conditions of the same section 
of the coast, as hitherto the only scientific 
studies of the Brazilian coral reefs were those 
of Hartt on the reefs near the Abrolhos and 
of Rathbun on that of Itaparica in the bay of 
Bahia. The coral reef-fringed section of the 
Brazilian coast extends from near the equator 
to 18° south latitude, but for nearly half of 
this long line, from Rio Grande do Norte 
northward, the various types of reef—sand- 
stone, coral and underlying rock—can not at 
present be discriminated. The coral reefs are 
broken by many and large gaps, for some of 
which no apparent reason can be given. With 
the exception of the Rocas, which seems to be 
a true atoll rising from deep water, all the 
reefs are built up on the submerged conti- 
nental shelf and are fringing and barrier reefs. 
They are usually narrow, ten to fifty meters in 
width, but in the case of the large barrier reefs 
may attain a width of thirty kilometers. The 
near-shore reefs are quite thin, probably not 
exceeding a thickness of ten meters, and a 
hundred meters is presumed to be the maxi- 
mum thickness of the outlying barrier reefs. 

For the most part the reefs have reached 
the upper limit of growth and are now dead 
on top, though still growing laterally. None, 
however, are known that have been elevated 
above tide level. In age they are presumed 
to date back to Tertiary times, since they rise 
from a shelf due to a great depression pre- 
sumed to be of early Pliocene date. Coral 
rock has been observed both beneath and on 
top of sandstone reef rock and possibly some 
coral reefs rise from a base furnished by sub- 
merged examples of sandstone reefs. The 
coral polyp fauna found on the reefs contains 
twenty-eight species and is more closely re- 
lated to that of the West Indies than to any 
other known coral fauna. 

One of the points of greatest geological in- 
terest brought out by this study of the coral 
reefs is that a process of dolomitization of the 
reef rock is going on in the open sea, thus 
rendering unnecessary the ‘salt-pan’ hypoth- 
esis that has been appealed to in the cases 
hitherto noted of a higher proportion of mag- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


nesia in rocks of coral origin than in the 
skeletons of the corals themselves. 

Dr. Branner states that the opportunity for 
completing his reef studies, commenced many 
years ago, was provided by Professor Alex- 
ander Agassiz. Both these gentlemen are, 
therefore, to be congratulated on the impor- 
tance of the results achieved and presented in 
this splendid memoir, and it is greatly to be 
desired that these results will stimulate them 
to promote a similar study of that biologic 
and geologic terra incognita, the northern sec- 
tion of the reef-bound Brazilian coast, which, 
on account of the peculiar conditions of winds 
and currents, can only be explored by the use 


of steam vessels. OrvitLteE A. Derrsy. 
COMMISSAO GEOGRAPHICA E GEOLOGICA DE 
Sio PavutLo, Brazin, 
December 26, 1904. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


Tue April number (volume 11, number 7) 
of the Bulletin of the American Mathematical 
Society contains the following articles: Report 
of the February Meeting of the American 
Mathematical Society, by F. N. Cole; Report 
of the December Meeting of the Chicago Sec- 
tion, by T. F. Holgate; ‘ Mathematics at the 
St. Louis Congress, September 20, 22 and 24, 
1904,” by H. S. White; ‘The Use of Hyper- 
complex Numbers in Certain Problems of the 
Modular Group,’ by J. W. Young; ‘ Extension 
of a Theorem due to Sylow,’ by G. A. Miller; 
‘Note on Isothermal Curves and One-Para- 
meter Groups of Conformal Transformations 
in the Plane,’ by C. L. Bouton; Review of 
Arendt’s Dirichlet’s Definite Integrals, by 
Virgil Snyder; ‘The Theta Functions’ (Re- 
view of Krazer’s Thetafunktionen and Rost’s 
Riemann’sche Thetafunktionen), by J. I. 
Hutchinson; Review of Hilton’s Mathematical 
Crystallography, by R. P. Baker; ‘ The Theory 
of Electricity’ (Review of Abraham and F%p- 
ple’s Theorie der Elektricitat), by E. B. Wil- 
son; Notes; New Publications. 

Tue April number (volume 6, number 2) 
of the Transactions of the American Mathe- 
matical Society contains the following papers: 

E. J. Witczynsk1: ‘General projective theory 
of space curves.’ 


May 12, 1905.] 


Maurice Frécuer: ‘Sur les opérations lin- 
éaires (deuxiéme note) .’ 

E. Kasner: ‘Surfaces whose geodesics may be 
represented in the plane by parabolas.’ 

Max Mason: ‘The doubly periodic solutions of 
Poisson’s equation in two independent variables.’ 

O. VEBLEN: ‘ Definition in terms of order alone 
in the linear continuum and in well-ordered sets.’ 

S. Epsteen and J. H. MAcCLAGAN-WEDDERBURN: 
‘On the structure of hypercomplex number sys- 
tems.’ 

E. H. Moore: 
groups.’ 

E. V. Hunrrneron: ‘ Note on the definitions of 
abstract groups and fields by sets of independent 
postulates.’ 

L. E. Dickson: ‘ Definitions of a group and a 
field by independent postulates.’ 

L. E. Dickson: ‘On semi-groups and the gen- 
eral isomorphism between finite groups.’ 

E. V. Hunrineton: ‘A set of postulates for 
ordinary complex algebra.’ 

H. F. Buicureipr: ‘On imprimitive linear ho- 
mogeneous groups.’ 


‘On a definition of abstract 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 


THE SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND 
MEDICINE. 


Tue eleventh regular meeting of the Society 
for Experimental Biology and Medicine was 
held in the zoological laboratory of Columbia 
University, on Wednesday evening, April 19. 
The president, Edmund B. Wilson, was in the 
chair. 

Members present.—Adler, Auer, Calkins, 
Emerson, Gies, Hatcher, Jackson, Lee, Levene, 
Levin, Lusk, Meltzer, Morgan, Murlin, Rich- 
ards, Salant, Sherman, Torrey, Wallace, Wil- 
son, Wolf, Yatsu. 

Members elected—Harlow Brooks, W. B. 
Cannon, A. J. Carlson, R. G. Harrison, A. P. 
Mathews, G. H. Parker, A. E. Taylor. 


ABSTRACTS OF REPORTS OF ORIGINAL 
INVESTIGATIONS.* 


The Relation Between Normal and Abnormal 
Development of the Frog’s Egg: T. H. 
Morgan. 


* The abstracts presented in this account of the 
proceedings have been greatly condensed from ab- 
stracts given to the secretary by the authors 
themselves. The latter abstracts of the reports 
may be found in current issues of American 
Medicine and Medical News. 


SCIENCE. 


741 


The method of development of the frog’s 
egg may be changed by a number of external 
conditions, e. g., treatment with salt solutions 
of definite strengths, variations of tempera- 
ture, deprivation of oxygen, treatment with 
earbon dioxid, subjection to 180 revolutions 
per minute, ete. The effects of such external 
agents are not gradual, 7. e., corresponding in 
degree to the increasing strength of the agent 
employed, for no effects appear up to a certain 
point, when suddenly the agent begins to act. 
Increasing the strength of the agent above 
this point increases the effect very slightly. 
The most plausible explanation of this mode 
of behavior in most of the eases is as follows: 
The agents act by coagulating certain parts 
of the egg, thereby preventing their further 
development. Other parts of the egg that 
are made up of different colloids or of dif- 
ferent concentrations of colloid, remain un- 
affected, and proceed to carry out their devel- 
opment as far as the presence of the injured 
region allows. 

The author referred particularly, however, 
to a second point of special interest: Despite 
the great diversity in the form of the abnor- 
mal embryos, most of them may be reduced to 
modifications of the same type. He stated 
that the abnormal embryo develops in the 
material of the upper hemisphere, while the 
normal embryo develops over the lower hemi- 
sphere. Two interpretations of this difference 
seem possible. Hither the material is toti- 
potent and an embryo may develop anywhere 
in the egg, appearing in the less injured re- 
gions; or the material for normal and abnor- 
mal development is the same and becomes 
earried downward, during the early stage of 
normal development, from the upper into the 
lower hemisphere. A test of these alternatives 
showed that when the two upper anterior 
blastomeres are removed, the head end of the 
embryo is defective; when the two upper pos- 
terior blastomeres are removed the posterior 
end sometimes shows defects. When all four 
of the upper blastomeres are removed no em- 
bryo develops, although the blastoporic rim 
may appear near the equator of the egg, the 
gastrulation process may begin and the dif- 


742 


ferentiation of the germ layers take place to 
a certain extent. 

The author concluded from these results 
that some at least of the material that goes to 
form the embryo lies at first high up in the 
upper hemisphere of the egg. In the light of 
this conclusion it became necessary to examine 
once more the early development, especially 
the pregastrula stages, for no one has sus- 
pected that the embryo-forming material lies 
in the upper hemisphere and is transported to 
the lower hemisphere before the lips of the 
blastopore have appeared. 

Briefly, the author’s examination showed 
that throughout the early period of segmenta- 
tion, the material of the upper hemisphere gets 
pushed far out to the sides of the egg. This 
is brought about largely by the development 
of the enormous segmentation cavity. During 
the later cleavage period:the yolk cells of the 
lower hemisphere push upwards into the seg- 
mentation cavity, almost obliterating it. This 
upward movement of the cells in the interior 
is compensated for by the moving downwards 
below the equator of the outer layers of the 
ege. In this way the embryo-forming ma- 
terial is carried into the lower hemisphere. 
Along its edge the lips of the blastopore de- 
velop. 
roll over the yolk (or more accurately, the 
yolk draws in beneath their advancing lips) 
and the dorsal organs of the embryo (the em- 
bryo in a narrower sense) appear over the 
lower or yolk hemisphere of the egg. 


Rejuvenescence in Protozoa: Gary N. Cat- 

KINS. 

Since 1876 it has been generally assumed 
that one effect of conjugation is rejuvenes- 
cence or renewal of vitality in both of the 
ex-conjugants. This assumption has never 
been proved experimentally. In his Para- 
moeecium work, begun in 1901, the author al- 
most had the proof, but allowed the oppor- 
tunity for obtaining it to pass without real- 
izing it at the time. In order to complete the 
earlier work a new series of experiments with 
Paramecium was started on the last day of 
February (1905), consisting of three different 
lines, at present in about the fortieth genera- 


SCIENCE. 


The dorsal, lateral and ventral lips 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 541. 


tion after conjugation. In his original ex- 
periments the author found strong evidence 
against the old view that both ex-conjugants 
are rejuvenated. In twenty pairs which were 
cultivated after separating from conjugatidn, 
at least one individual of each pair invariably 
died before many days, thus indicating an 
incipient fertilization like that in metazoa. 
This phenomenon will be given careful study 
in the experiments now under way. 


Temperature and Muscle Fatigue: FRepDERIC 

S. Lee. 

Lohmann has recently claimed that a cold- 
blooded muscle on being heated to a mam- 
malian temperature shows a course of fatigue 
similar to that of mammalian muscle, and, on 
the other hand, that a warm-blooded muscle 
on being cooled fatigues like the muscles of 
cold-blooded animals at a similar temperature. 
The author was unable to confirm Lohmann’s 
results, and maintains his own previous con- 
clusion that the contraction process of the 
muscles of cold-blooded animals in the course 
of fatigue becomes greatly slowed, while those 
of warm-blooded animals show no such phe- 
nomenon. The muscles of the frog and the 
turtle show their characteristic method of fa- 
tigue whatever the temperature. The muscles 
of warm-blooded animals on being cooled and 
then fatigued show either no slowing of the 
contraction process or only a slight slowing. 
The latter seems to be most pronounced in the 
rodents, namely, the rabbit, mouse and rat. 


On Intraureteral Pressure and its Relation to 
the Peristaltic Movements of the Ureter, 
with demonstrations. Danmnt R. Lwcas. 
(By invitation.) 

The author has observed that suction nor- 
mally follows the peristaltic wave of the 
ureter; at the same time a force is exerted on 
the fluid in front of the wave. The force of 
the peristaltic wave was seen to raise a column 
of water of considerable height. When the 
ureter is acting normally, the pressure in the 
pelvis of the kidney remains constantly nega- 
tive, the anatomical arrangement of the pelvis 
preventing collapse under negative pressure. 
These facts indicate that the ureter functions, 
to some extent at least, as an active agent in 


May 12, 1905.] 


the formation of urine, for the latter is in 
part a filtration process. 


Further Observations upon the Phosphorized 
Fats in Extracts of the Kidney: Epwarp K. 
Dunuam. (Presented by P. A. Levene.) 
The author has found that beef kidney 

yields protagon to the extent of 0.14 to 0.2 

per cent. of its weight (fresh). The protagon 

was obtained by the method recently used by 

Cramer (Journal of Physiology, 1904, XXXT., 

p. 31). On comparison with the protagon 

obtained by the same method from beef brain, 

it was found that the substance from the kid- 
ney contained distinctly more nitrogen and 
phosphorus than that from the brain. The 
cleavage products, however, showed that both 
substances are closely related. The following 


percentage analytic data were obtained by Dr. 
Levene: 


From Jramer’s Data fi 
Beef Kidney. poeeee ce Beef Brain “a 

(1) (2) Hq Protagon. 
65.55 65.76 66.25-66.42 
11.09 10.66 10 82-11.07 

3.25 2.51 2.29 

2.19 0.97 1.04 

— 1,33 0.71 


Comparative Physiological Action of Salts of 
Neodymium, Preseodymium and Lanthan- 
um: B. J. Dryruss and C. G. L. Wotr. 
The experiments were carried out in vitro 

and on unicellular organisms, bacteria and in- 

fusoria, frogs, pigeons, rats and guinea pigs. 

The solutions used were chiefly the chlorids, 

isotonic with 0.6 per cent. sodium chlorid. 

Dilute solutions were found to delay the 

growth of bacteria and eventually to kill. The 

solutions were not very toxic to spores. 

Opalina, parameecia and vorticelle were killed 

quickly, equivalent solutions of the chlorids 

acting in the following order of strength: 
neodymium, preseodymium and lanthanum. 

In frogs, voluntary and involuntary muscle 

are quickly put out of action. The solutions 

act in the same order as with unicellular or- 
ganisms. Intravenous injection caused al- 
most instant death, due to multiple embolism. 

Attempted chronic poisoning gave unsatisfac- 

tory results. The authors attribute a large 

share of the acute effects observed to the acid 


SCIENCE. 


743 


present in their solutions owing to the hydro- 
lytic dissociation of the salts. 


The Influence of Bile upon Blood Pressure - 

S. J. Metrzer and Winiiam Saanv. 

The authors found that all degrees of effects 
could be produced at will, from an insignifi- 
cant one to a considerable, even a fatal, fall of 
blood pressure. Besides the quantity and the 
concentration of the bile it was found that the 
rate at which it is introduced into the circula- 
tion is the most effective factor in the result. 
A quantity of bile of a given concentration, 
which, when injected slowly, would cause only 
an insignificant depression, brought about a 
very great fall of the blood pressure when 
injected rapidly. In control experiments it 
was found that the mechanical and thermal 
conditions attending the injections had no 
observable influence on the pronounced effects 
noted above. Previous conflicting statements 
regarding the influence of bile on blood pres- 
sure may be attributed, therefore, to results 
due to different rates of injection. This 
factor, clearly recognized in other connections, 
had always been ignored in this. 

It is probable that the bile exerts an inhib- 
itory effect upon the heart. The authors have 
shown that the action on the heart is not due 
to malnutrition caused by hemolytic influ- 
ences. 


A Report of Feeding and Injection Experi- 
ments on Dogs after the Establishment of 
the Eck Fistula: P. B. Hawk. (Presented 
by A. N. Richards.) 

Mixed diets were not attended by abnormal 
symptoms. Diets consisting of beef meal and 
milk or of fresh lean beef alone were followed 
by ataxia, loss of sight and hearing, complete 
anesthesia and catalepsy. In some cases, 
however, these effects were noted only after 
the addition of Liebig’s extract to the meat 
diet. The administration to normal dogs of 
sodium carbamate, either by mouth or by in- 
travenous injection, gave rise to none of the 
symptoms observed by Pawlow and Nencki. 


On Chemical Fertilization: Jacques Lors. 
(Presented by William J. Gies.) 
The author found that when unfertilized 


eges of the sea urchin were exposed for about 


744 


one to two minutes to 50 e.c. of sea water, to 
which about 3 or 4 cc. of n/10 acetic acid 
had been added, the majority of the eggs 
formed the membrane characteristic of the en- 
trance of the spermatozoon. When these eggs 
were exposed for from thirty to forty minutes 
to 100 c.c. of sea water to which 14 or 15 e.c. 
of a 24 n solution of sodium chlorid had been 
added, those of the eggs which had formed 
membranes developed into swimming larve 
that rose to the surface. These larve devel- 
oped into perfect plutei as fast as the larve 
of eggs fertilized with sperm. When the order 
of treatment was reversed, not a single larva 
was formed. When eggs were fertilized with 
sperm first and then exposed to the hypertonic 
sea water for from about thirty to forty min- 
utes, their development became almost iden- 
tical with that of the unfertilized eggs treated 
first with acid and then exposed to the hyper- 
tonic sea water for the same period of time. 

The acid treatment above referred to causes 
the formation not only of the membrane, but 
also, in due time, of the karyokinetic spindle. 
Eggs exposed for only thirty or forty minutes 
to the hypertonic sea water do not show any 
changes of any kind. Following the action 
of the acid, however, treatment with hy- 
pertonic sea water appeared to accelerate the 
mechanism of cell division originated by the 
acid treatment, and also seemed to increase 
the vitality or to prolong the life of the egg. 

Wii J. Gis, 
Secretary. 


THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


Tue 599th meeting was held April 1, 1905. 

In a communication made by Mr. R. A. 
Harris, entitled ‘A General Account of the 
Tides,’ brief mention was made of the dis- 
turbing forces and the ordinary ways of pro- 
ducing the tide. A small deep body of water 
may obey the equilibrium theory, 7. e., its 
surface may always be normal to gravity as 
disturbed by the moon or sun. This theory 
nearly explains the tides in Lake Superior, 
the eastern half of the Mediterranean Sea, 
the southwestern portion of the Gulf of 
Mexico and of the Caribbean Sea. The ocean 
tides are due chiefly to stationary waves, or 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


oscillations, existing in such portions of the 
ocean as have for free period approximately 
the period of the tidal forces. The motion is 
thus sustained on a considerable scale, just 
as is the motion of the air particles in a 
resonator tuned to a sound of constant pitch. 
The principal systems for the semidaily tide 
were shown on maps, and attention called to 
the loops and nodes of the oscillating areas. 
By means of maps of cotidal lines (taken 
from the Coast Survey Report for 1904) it 
was shown that over wide areas the tide is 
nearly simultaneous, while in certain localities 
the time of tide changes rapidly. In many 
instances the former regions correspond to 
loops of the stationary waves, while the latter 
give indications of nodal lines. Attention 
was called to isolated points at which there 
is no rise and fall of tide. Around such 
points the hours, or times, of the tide run 
through a complete cycle of values, from 0 
to XII. or 0. Such points may be due to the 
superposition of stationary waves, or to other 
forms of wave motion; in narrow bodies the 
deflecting force of the earth’s rotation is in- 
fluential in their production. It was shown 
that both times and ranges give evidence of 
the existence and location of these points. 
Mr. John F. Hayford then spoke on ‘A 
Test of Isostasy from Geodetic Observations.’ 
According to the theory of isostasy excesses of 
mass represented by portions of the earth 
which are above sea level are compensated for 
by defects of density beneath them, and simi- 
larly the density is excessive beneath the 
oceans. The test referred to is being made 
in connection with a new computation of the 
figure of the earth based upon geodetic ob- 
servations in the United States, which is now 
in progress in the Coast and Geodetic Survey. 
The test furnishes a direct proof that the 
theory of isostasy is true as applied to the 
northeastern portion of the United States, and 
also furnishes a determination of the depth of 
compensation. Cuartes K. WEeap, 
Secretary. 


THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


Tue 399th regular meeting of the Biological 
Society of Washington was held March 11, 


May 12, 1905.] 


1905, with President Knowlton in the chair 
and eighty-seven persons present. Under 
‘Notes and Exhibition of Specimens,’ Dr. L. 
O. Howard exhibited specimens of various 
products of artificial silk, and briefly ex- 
plained the process of preparation and weav- 
ing. This note was discussed by Mr. W. P. 
Hay. Mr. E. L. Morris called attention to 
the recently issued edition of Cassino’s ‘ Nat- 
uralists’ Universal Directory’; and noted the 
very large number of errors which are scat- 
tered through the work. He suggested the ad- 
visability of the scientists in a city like Wash- 
ington taking some steps to have such errors 
as much reduced in number as possible. Mr. 
F. H. Blodgett exhibited a microscope slide 
of a common ant mounted in toto, in xylol 
and balsam, in normal position, showing 
clearly such anatomical characters as the at- 
tachment of the head to the thorax. This 
preparation was discussed by Mr. Morris. 
President Knowlton called attention to a re- 
cent paper containing facts concerning the 
salts found in human blood. 

The regular paper of the evening was by 
Professor Willett M. Hays, assistant secre- 
tary of agriculture, on ‘ Breeding Problems.’ 
He said: 

Of the $5,000,000,000 worth of agricul- 
tural products annually produced in the 
United States, $4,000,000,000 worth is handled 
by plant and animal life. This production 
may be increased by (1) better farming ten 
per cent. and (2) by breeding ten per cent. 
Increased returns from better farming cost 
more than equal increased returns from breed- 
ing. Ten per cent. of $4,000,000,000 is $400,- 
000,000 and this can be produced at a cost 
very small as compared with the total in- 
crease. 

Improvements through breeding can not be 
patented or monopolized. The problem, there- 
fore, is a national one and national funds 
should be forthcoming with which to facilitate 
the work of investigation, growing, testing, 
recording and distributing improved varieties 
and breeds. The work already done by the 
Department of Agriculture, the experiment 
stations and by private effort sufficiently justi- 
fies such large expenditures, and the money is 


SCIENCE. 


745 


not far off. It would seem wise to have the 
ownership of the plants and animals under 
process of improvement vested in private 
hands, the government giving general direc- 
tion and subsidizing the operations. 

A broad plan of cooperation must be worked 
out. Plant and animal breeders are well 
started in cooperation through the medium 
of the American Breeders’ Association, or- 
ganized a year ago and soon to publish its 
first annual report. 

The problems in breeding now up for solu- 
tion are worthy of the highest scientific effort. 
The technique of breeding, growing and dis- 
tributing pure bred stocks of the different 
crops and animals calls for skill and business 
ability of a high order. The study of therma- 
tology in agricultural high schools and col- 
leges is fascinating and most valuable. The 
economic importance of breeding demands 
serious attention from the whole people. 


Tue 400th regular meeting of the Biological 
Society of Washington was held March 25, 
1905, with Vice-President Hay in the chair 
and seventy-seven persons present. Under 
‘Notes,’ Mr. M. W. Lyon, Jr., spoke of having 
observed twelve dead crows during a short 
walk in the Soldiers’ Home grounds, and com- 
mented on the large number for so small an 
area. Dr. B. W. Evermann stated that three 
weeks previous, in a grove of pines, he had 
observed seven. Dr. E. A. Mearns noted that 
such deaths were epidemic, especially in the 
neighborhood of Fort Meyer. Many of the 
specimens observed had been sent to the 
Smithsonian Institution as probable cases of 
malarial fatality. Mr. William Palmer stated 
that after every snow, especially if more than 
two weeks’ stand, the crows died by the score. 
Dr. L. O. Howard emphasized the fact that 
these were largely malarial cases. Mr. W. L. 
McAtee called attention to the large amount 
of food suitable for birds he had noted during 
the winter in heaps of drift. He stated that 
in one heap alone he had counted 1,583 speci- 
mens of seeds, ete., all of which were available 
as bird food. 


The first regular paper of the program was 


746 


by Dr. Hugh M. Smith, presenting ‘ Ichthy- 
ologia Miscellanea’ as follows: 

1. The proper name for the blue-gill sun- 
fish. This species is now known as Lepomis 
pallidus (Mitehill). Dr. Smith showed that 
Mitchill’s name pallidus (1815) can not be 
appropriated for this fish, as the description 
does not apply and the, species is not found 
near New York City, the type locality of 
pallidus. The earliest available name for this 
sun-fish is incisor of Cuvier and Valenciennes 
(1831), and the species should be known as 
Lepomis incisor (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 

2. Note on a rare flying-fish (Cypselurus 
liitkeni). The speaker recorded the capture 
of the second known specimen at Beaufort, 
N. C., in 1904. The source of the type speci- 
men, now in the Philadelphia Academy of 
Sciences, is doubtful, but the indications are 
that it, too, came from Beaufort about 1871. 

3. The feeding habits of the trigger fish 
(Balistes vetula). These habits had been ob- 
served on a captive specimen at the Woods 
Hole Laboratory. Dr. Smith deseribed in de- 
tail how this fish attacked, killed and ate its 
food consisting largely of a certain species of 
erab. 

This paper was discussed by Dr. Evermann. 

The second paper was by Mr. A. G. Mad- 
dren, ‘ Notes on the Occurrence of Mammoth 
Remains in Alaska.’ 

In introductory remarks an outline was 
given of a trip the speaker made last summer 
in the interests of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion to Alaska with the purpose of searching 
for the remains of large Pleistocene mammals, 
particularly those of the mammoth, which are 
popularly supposed to be abundant in that 
region, but actually do not exist in any great 
numbers. The entire length of the Yukon 
River was traversed and one of its largest 
tributaries, the Porcupine, was ascended to 
the Old Crow River, in the basin of which 
stream abundant evidence of Pleistocene mam- 
mal remains were found. 

Attention was called to the fact that Pleis- 
tocene mammal remains appear to be no more 
abundant in Alaska than in the United States, 
and to find complete remains of the mammoth 
and associated mammals search must be made 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


around the former shore lines of the Pleisto- 
cene lacustrine deposits ‘that are considerably 
developed in Alaska. 

A historical summary of the records of the 
occurrence of mammoth remains in Alaska 
was given and the statement made that there 
is no formation of ice in Alaska that may be 
assigned to the Pleistocene age, as has been 
stated by some writers, but that all the ice 
phenomena there occurring are, geologically, 
comparatively recent. 

The concluding remarks favored the view 
that Alaska, from a geographical standpoint, 
was in Pleistocene time part of Asia; that its 
fauna had closer affinities to that of Asia than 
to the contemporary fauna of the United 
States and that if sufficient material were at 
hand to institute a close study it would be 
found that Hlephas primigenius, the true Si- 
berian mammoth, never lived in the United 
States, which was occupied by three distinct 
species of fossil elephants, the form most 


“closely related to the Siberian mammoth (#. 


primigenius) being Elephas jacksoni, the 
others being the more easily distinguished 
forms Elephas columbi and Elephas imperator. 

The last paper was by Dr. A. D. Hopkins 
on ‘Ornaments and Blemishes in Wood, 
Caused by Insects and Birds.’ 

Dr. Hopkins stated that the object of the 
paper was to discuss the causes of some of the 
ornamental conditions and blemishes common- 
ly seen in the wood of trees and their crude 
and finished products. 

The blemishes appear in lumber and wood- 
finish as discolored spots, checks, dark stains, 
resin deposits, pin holes, worm holes, ete., and 
in the trees as sears, decayed spots and hollow 
trunks. 

The ornamental conditions appear in the 
lumber and inside finish and furniture as so- 
called bird’s-eye, curly, burl and wavy or 
satined effects, and on the surface of the wood 
beneath the bark as artistic and curious 
carved and embossed work. 

It would be difficult to find a recently con- 
structed public building or private residence 
which does not show in the natural wood 
finish one to many blemishes, the results of 
many causes. Most of them, which are not 


May 12, 1905.] 


natural conditions in the wood, are caused 
primarily by insects, birds and various other 
agencies, which produce wounds in the cam- 
bium of the living tree. When we are able to 
identify these blemishes with the species of 
bird or insect that caused them, they become 
objects of interest. Certain bird’s-eye and 
curly effects are even more interesting, because 
more pleasing to the eye, and the exact cause 
is more obscure. 

The object of the study of woodpecker work 
in living trees was to determine characters by 
which the subsequent results from wounds 
made by them in the living cambium could be 
identified from those caused by insects and 
other agencies; also to determine the relation 
of the birds and their work to subsequent in- 
juries by insects, or the reverse. 

The material collected by him during the 
past fourteen years represents some forty 
species of forest trees, of many genera and 
families, and from widely different sections 
of the country. 

It appears that the object of the sapsucker 
working in the bark of living trees is to secure 
both liquid and solid food from the sap, cam- 
bium and bast, and not for the purpose of 
collecting insects, or, at least, not primarily 
for that purpose. 

The punctures in the bark vary in size, form 
and arrangement, according to the species of 
tree and the character of the food furnished. 
In the pine, spruce, hemlock, juniper, and 
probably in all conifers, the desirable sub- 
stance is furnished by the living bast tissue 
and cambium, while the wood yields resin 
instead of sap, therefore the birds have no 
occasion to puncture the outer wood-ring, and 
very rarely do so, whereas in maple, walnut, 
hickory and such trees as furnish at certain 
times of the year a prolific flow of saccharine 
sap from the sapwood, the outer ring of wood 
is always punctured. In the former, the 
wounds are usually broad, often connected, 
and usually arranged in longitudinal rows, 
while in the latter they are narrow, funnel- 
shaped, rarely joining, and arranged in trans- 
verse rows. 

The method of healing of these wounds is 
quite variable, being influenced not only by 


SCIENCE. TAT 


the character of the wound, but by the species 
or genus of trees in which they occur. 

The resulting defective or ornamental con- 
ditions and subsequent annual layers of wood 
also vary in character and economic impor- 
tance with different kinds of trees and com- 
mercial products. 

While the healed wounds made by the birds 
cause a bird’s-eye effect in the finished surface, 
they are not responsible for all bird’s-eye 
The small densely placed bird’s-eye in 
maple is not caused by birds, but appears to 
be a character peculiar to certain individual 
trees, while that resulting from the work of 
birds is coarser, less distinctly defined, more 
sparsely arranged, and the wood in which it 
oceurs usually shows small dark spots or 
streaks where the original wound was made in 
the living cambium. 

Specimens of blemishes, bird’s-eye and 
stained effects caused by birds and insects in 
many kinds of wood were shown, together with 
some forty stereopticon slides. 

Attention was called to the knotty walking 
sticks, umbrella handles, crops, ete., which 
represent an extensive industry, in which the 
desired knotty effect is produced artificially 
by making wounds with a sharp instrument in 
the living bark and cambium of the growing 
stem, which is left to grow one year and heal 
the wounds before cutting the stick and re- 
moving the bark. This result is similar to 
that from a wound made by a _ sapsucker, 
which may have suggested the idea. 

E. L. Morris, 


Recording Secretary. 


wood. 


MICHIGAN ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 


Tue annual meeting of the Michigan Orni- 
thological Club was held in the museum of 
the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor on 
April 1, 1905. A business meeting was held 
in the forenoon in the curator’s office. The 
following officers were elected for 1905-6. 

President—Walter B. Barrows. 

First Vice-President—A. H. Griffith. 

Second Vice-President—James B. rurdy. 

Third Vice-President—J. Claire Wood. 

Secretary—Alexander W. Blain, Jr. 

Treasurer—Frederick C. Hubel. 


748 


Editorial Staff of the Bulletin: Editor, Walter 
B. Barrows; Associates, P. A. Taverner, Norman 
A. Wood. 


The afternoon session was held in the uni- 
versity lecture room. The meeting was called 
to order by Professor Barrows, who addressed 
the society on ‘ Recent Advances in Ornithol- 
ogy. The following program was then pre- 
sented: 

Leon J. Cote: ‘In Memoriam—<Albert Bowen 
Durfee’ (read by J. Wilbur Kay in the absence 
of the author). 

NorMan A. Woop: 
Northern ‘Michigan.’ 

Otto McCreary: ‘Ecological Distribution of 
tne Birds of the Porcupine Mountains, Michigan.’ 

Max M. Peer: ‘Observations on the Nesting 
Habits of a Pair of House Wrens.’ 

ALEXANDER W. BLAIN, JR.: ‘On the Use in 
Surgery of Tendons of the Ardeide and Gruide.’ 

Norman A. Woop: ‘Some New and Rare Rec- 
ords for Michigan.’ 

Hart H. FrornineHaAmM: ‘A List of Birds from 
the Michigan Forest Reserve, Crawford County.’ 

Leon J. Corte: The Occurrence of Bewick’s 
Wren, Thryomanes bewickii (Aud.), at Grand 
Rapids (read by Wm. H. Dunham). 

P. A. TAVERNER: ‘A Preliminary Notice of an 
Interesting Migration Route.’ 

ALEXANDER W. BLAIN, JR., 
Secretary. 


‘Birds sxoted En route to 


THE AMERICAN MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 


Tue American Mycological Society met in 
affiliation with the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science at Philadelphia, 
December 28-31. The following officers were 
elected: 

President—Charles H. Peck. 

Vice-President—F¥. S. Earle. 

Secretary-Treasurer—C. L. Shear. 

The following committee on organization 
and relation to the other societies was ap- 
pointed by the president: C. L. Shear, S. M. 
Tracy and Dr. Roland Thaxter. 

The following program was presented: 

CHARLES THom: ‘ Suggestions for the Study of 
Dairy Fungi.’ 

Gro. G. HEDGCOCK: 
Cultivated Agave.’ 

J. C. Arrnur: ‘A Study of North American 
Coleosporiacee,’ 


‘A New Disease of the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


E. J. Duranp: ‘Classification of the Geoglos- 
sacer.,’ 

J. C. Artuur: ‘The Terminology of the Spore 
Structures in the Uredinales.’ 

EK. A. Burt: ‘Generic Characters 
American Thelephoracez.’ 

PERLEY SPAULDING: ‘ Cultures of Wood-Inhabit- 
ing Fungi.’ 

G. F. Arxinson: ‘Two Fungous Parasites on 
Mushrooms.’ 

G. F. Atkinson: ‘The Genus Balansia in the 
United States.’ 


of North 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 


AUBUBON’S ACCOUNT OF THE NEW MADRID 
EARTHQUAKE. 


WirHIn the last few years there has been a 
reawakening of interest in the New Madrid 
earthquakes as evidenced by the papers of Dr. 
W J McGee in the fourth volume of the Geo- 
logical Society of America, Dr. G. C. Broad- 
head in the American Geologist in August, 
1902, and Professor E. M. Shepard in Janu- 
ary—February number of the Journal of Geol- 
ogy of the present year. In Broadhead’s paper 
are given abstracts of a considerable number 
of contemporaneous and other early publica- 
tions on the earthquake phenomena, but the 
description by Audubon seems to have been 
overlooked. As he was one of the few, quite 
possibly the only, scientist who was in the 
region at the time, his account is of interest. 
It is of significance that it agrees very closely 
with the descriptions of many of the residents, 
indicating that the accounts are probably not 
so distorted as has sometimes been thought. 
Audubon’s description is in part as follows:* 

Traveling through the Barrens of Kentucky 
* * * in the month of November [1812],7 I was 
jogging on one afternoon, when I remarked a 
sudden and strange darkness rising from the west- 
ern horizon. Accustomed to our heavy storms of 
thunder and rain I took no more notice of it, as 
I thought the speed of my horse might enable me 
to get under shelter of the roof of an acquaintance, 
who lived not far distant, before it should come 
up. I had proceeded about a mile, when I heard 


** Audubon and his Journals,’ Vol. Il., pp. 
234-237, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1897. 

+ The first of the series of shocks was on De- 
cember 16, 1811. 


May 12, 1905.] 


what I imagined to be the distant rumbling of a 
violent tornado, on which I spurred my steed, with 
a wish to gallop as fast as possible to a place of 
shelter; but it would not do, the animal knew 
better than I what was forthcoming, and instead 
of going faster, so nearly stopped that I remarked 
he placed one foot after another on the ground, 
with as much precaution as if walking on a 
smooth sheet of ice. I thought he had suddenly 
foundered, and, speaking to him, was on the point 
of dismounting and leading him, when he all of 
a sudden fell a-groaning piteously, hung his head, 
spread out his four legs as if to save himself 
from falling, and stood stock still, continuing to 
groan. I thought my horse was about to die, and 
would have sprung from his back had a minute 
more elapsed, but at that instant all the shrubs 
and trees began to move from their very roots, the 
ground rose and fell in successive furrows, like the 
ruffled waters of a lake, and I became bewildered 
in my ideas, as I too plainly discovered that all 
this awful commotion in nature was the result of 
an earthquake. * * * The fearful convulsion, how- 
ever, lasted only a few minutes, and the heavens 
again brightened as quickly as they had become 
obscured; my horse brought his feet to their nat- 
ural position, raised his head, and galloped off as 
if loose and frollicking without a rider. * * * 
Shock succeeded shock almost every day or night 
for several weeks, diminishing, however, so grad- 
ually as to dwindle away into mere vibrations of 
the earth. Strange to say, I for one became so 
accustomed to the feeling as rather to enjoy the 
fears manifested by others. * * * The earthquake 
produced more serious consequences in other 
places. Near New Madrid and for some distance 
on the Mississippi, the earth was rent asunder in 
several places, one or two islands sunk forever, 
and the inhabitants fled in dismay towards the 
eastern shore. 


M. L. Fuuuer. 
U. 8. GEoLogiIcaL SURVEY. 


SUGGESTIONS FOR FACILITATING THE WORK OF 
ZOOLOGISTS. 


Two plans have occurred to me which 
would, I think, considerably lighten the work 
of zoologists if they could be carried out. As 
they do not seem wholly impracticable, I ven- 
ture to present them for consideration and 
discussion. 

1. No generic name is allowed to be used 
twice in zoology; so that when any name is 
used a second time, by inadvertence, it falls 


SCIENCE. 


749 


as a homonym, and a substitute has to be pro- 
posed. As a matter of fact, the literature 
swarms with such homonyms, and we are con- 
stantly finding ourselves under the necessity 
of making changes because of them. Now 
that we have Scudder’s ‘ Nomenclator’ and 
Waterhouse’s ‘Index,’ bringing the list of 
names proposed up to 1900, it ought to be 
quite possible to overhaul the whole series up 
to date, and make a list of all the homonyms 
known. If such a list were made in manu- 
seript it might be divided into minor series 
according to the groups of animals, and each 
of these sent to a specialist in the group con- 
cerned. These specialists might then go care- 
fully over the lists, seeking the advice and 
assistance of colleagues, and sift out all the 
names for which substitutes had already been 
proposed, and those which stood for invalid 
genera, leaving a residue of homonymous 
names for valid genera to be dealt with. This 
residue would have to be again examined to 
see whether any other names, hitherto placed 
in the synonymy, could be substituted, and 
when this could not be done new names should 
be proposed. This would involve a great deal 
of work, but it would get rid of the trouble 
from homonyms once for all, so far as the past 
is concerned; except, of course, those resulting 
from names overlooked in the indices. It 
would save us from the present sense of in- 
security regarding names, and from a great 
deal of duplicated labor in looking up the 
names in use, lest they should be preoccupied. 
If the full list were published, it would also 
prevent the proposal of new substitutes for 
names which had already been suitably re- 
placed on account of homonymy. 

Such a work ought to be cooperative; be- 
cause it could not be done well—even the first 
part, of matching names and detecting hom- 
onyms—by persons unfamiliar with scien- 
tifie names; while it would not be reasonable 
to expect a working zoologist to devote his 
time to it to the exclusion of his original in- 
vestigations. If each letter, in the first part 
of the work, were undertaken by one indi- 
vidual, it would not be long before it might 
be finished. For the later investigations, spe- 
cialists would have to be allowed to take their 


74) a SCIENCE. 


own time; but the groups first done could be 
published, without waiting for the others. 
The publication of the lists would be rather 
expensive, and would have to be undertaken 
by some institution. Whether the work itself 
could be done by volunteers, I do not know; 
but if any money could be obtained in pay- 
ment for it, it would probably be easier to 
find workers. 

2. At present new species of animals are de- 
scribed in all sorts of publications, in conse- 
quence of which it often becomes expensive or 
difficult to obtain the descriptions relating to 
any one group. It might be a very good plan 
if all descriptions of new species and varieties 
of North American animals were published 
(or republished) in a single series, on leaflets 
somewhat like those issued by the Biological 
Society of Washington. It might be so ar- 
ranged that each leaflet should include only a 
single species or variety, or perhaps only those 
of a single genus, and each might be sold at 
a stated price. One could then subscribe for 
all the new descriptions pertaining to a cer- 
tain genus, family or order, and receive them 
immediately upon publication. They could be 
bound up, when numerous enough, in any way 
that proved convenient; e. g., all the new ani- 
mals from Colorado, or all the new mammals 
from North America. The descriptions 
should, of course, be published promptly, and 
strictly in the order of their receipt at the 
editorial office. All descriptions of reputable 
authors should be accepted, but it would be 
appropriate to make certain rules, applicable 
to all; thus it might be required that the de- 
seriptions should be reasonably complete, or 
not conspicuously incomplete; that the exact 
locality and collector’s name should be given, 
if ascertainable; and that comparison should 
be made with allied species. The same plan 
would be equally applicable to plants, of 
course. A special series of leaflets, issued 
with the others, might be devoted to the pro- 
posal of synonymy, or of new combinations. 
How much financial support such a plan would 
require I do not know; perhaps it would pay 
for itself, or nearly. It would probably not 
be necessary to take any special steps to per- 
suade authors to send their new descriptions 


for publication in the leaflets; the majority 

would doubtless soon do so as a matter of 

course, while those who did otherwise would 

find their descriptions reprinted in the regular 

series. T. D. A. CocKERELL. 
BovuLper, CoLoRapo. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


A CARD INDEX STOCK LIST FOR USE IN. UNIVERSITY 
DEPARTMENTS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 


One of the administrative difficulties con- 
fronting the head of a university department 
of organic chemistry is the proper listing of 
the great variety of chemicals carried in stock, 


- and constantly accumulating year by year as 


the result of the various investigations con- 
ducted in the laboratory. The troubles of the 
organic chemist in this respect are much 
greater than those of his inorganic colleague, 
for he must carry in stock not only about all 
the chemicals required by the inorganic chem- 
ist, but his own innumerable organic chem- 
icals as well. In the larger universities, this 
accumulation of stock in the departments of 
organic chemistry amounts to many thousand 
lots, generally distributed in various rooms— 
the general stock rooms and closets, the main 
laboratory, the research rooms, the rooms of 
the officers of the department, the chemical 
museum, and elsewhere; in all kinds of con- 
tainers, large and small, boxes, crocks, bottles, 
specimen tubes, and the like. To classify and 
list this mass of scattered material in such a 
way that an instructor can tell in a few mo- 
ments whether a certain chemical is available 
in the department, and if so, in what amount 
and quality, and, further, to keep such a list 
constantly up to date, in spite of daily removal 
of stock and addition of new material, is not 
a simple task, as I think most of my colleagues 
will admit. And yet, without such a list more 
or less confusion is likely to result, and much 
valuable time will be wasted in pawing over 
a lot of bottles or specimen tubes in a vain 
search for a compound which is not in stock 
at all or can not be found, or, in other cases, 
for substances which, when found, prove to be 
too impure or too small in amount to be of 
any use. In this country, the failure to keep 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


May 12, 1905.] 


accurate track of stock available is more seri- 
ous in the case of organic compounds than of 
inorganic, for the latter can usually be se- 
cured here of satisfactory quality, but, with 
the exception of the very commonest, prac- 
tically all fine organic chemicals must be 
imported from Germany. As it takes about 
two months for such importations, a serious 
delay may thus be caused in the prosecution 
of a research, the only escape from which is 
for the investigator to turn in and make the 
substance himself. 


SCIENCE. 


751 


right) also. Thus ‘406, 16, 1, 10’ would 
mean—room 406, shelf 16, row 1, bottle No. 
10. It is not necessary often to elaborate 
quite so much as this—for increased elabora- 
tion means diminished freedom of arrange- 
ment on the shelves—but we have found it 
helpful in the case of deep shelves in dark 
corners, and it then becomes necessary to sup- 
plement the general index by a special shelf 
list, to prevent and correct any disarrange- 
ment of stock on the shelves. 

The index is a card catalogue, composed of 


Name, p-Amino Benzonitrile, II, 1273 
JN (1) ANCN M. P., 86° 
Formula, C,H,N, =C,H KK == opts 
NH, (4) 1BEIN| NO B. P 
Amount, Maker, | M. P.-B. P. Location. Cost Remarks. | Date. 
10 gm. | L. Kohnstamm. 86° Museum. Reduction: of nitro nitrile. | 1902 
OTe us yy 408 N. Engler’s method; Zn-+ HCl. | “ 
1.0 &< “ ce SnCl, + HCl. J | s 
Oram: Oe 85.6 eb Fricke’s method; Sn+HA. | “ 
Onzee Ferrero. 85-85.5 oe p-uramino benzoic acid+ P,0; | “ 
a0) Williamson. 86 405 Reduction of nitro; c. p. | 1903 


We have not found it necessary to index 
our inorganic stock, for this can be’ satisfac- 
torily classified by keeping all the compounds 
of the same element together, and arranging 
the elements alphabetically on the shelves of 
the stock room. We have found it necessary, 
however, to index our organic stock, with the 
exception of the reagents on the laboratory 
shelves. 

That an alphabetical classification of or- 
ganic substances is not very satisfactory will, 
I think, be readily admitted by all organic 
chemists, particularly by those who have had 
occasion to search for compounds in Watts’s 
Dictionary. No doubt every method of classi- 
fication has its shortcomings and inconsist- 
encies, but for purposes of indexing we have 
found the ‘ Beilstein’ classification most satis- 
factory, for the reason that when in doubt we 
ean always refer to this standard work, or to 
Richter’s ‘Lexikon,’ which latter constitutes 
a complete general index to Beilstein. In 
order to record location of stock, our rooms 
are all numbered, and when necessary the 
shelves (from top to bottom), rows (from back 
to front) and individual bottles (from left to 


5’ x8” cards. The Macey cards are by far 
the most convenient, as their side locking 
system permits the removal of any card, by a 
half turn of the locking rod, as rapidly as 
though the cards were not locked in at all. 
A sample card is shown herewith. These 
cards are arranged in drawers in the ‘ Beil- 
stein’ order, colored guide cards indicating 
the divisions of the classification. The num- 
bers (II., 1273) in the upper right-hand corner 
indicate the volume and page of Beilstein’s 
‘Handbuch’ (third edition) where the com- 
pound will be found described in detail. This 
has the further advantage that when one does 
not remember off-hand in just which group a 
certain compound is classified, all that is 
necessary is to get the volume and page refer- 
ence from Beilstein and it can then be found 
very quickly in the index. In other words, 
the paging (if it may so be termed) of the 
index is identical with that of Beilstein. The 
melting-points (M. P.) and boiling-points (B. 
P.) provided for in the upper right-hand cor- 
ner are those recorded in the literature, while 
those in the column near the middle of the 
card represent the actual melting-points or 


7O2 


boiling-points of the various samples listed; 
a comparison of the two will, therefore, indi- 
cate the probable purity of the different sam- 
ples. It is obvious that such a card properly 
filled out will give the instructor at a glance 
all the information desired concerning his 
stock. 

I think that I hear the reader saying to 
himself, ‘ All very pretty! but it must take an 
immense amount of time to get up such a list, 
and it would be perfectly hopeless to attempt 
to keep it up to date!’ It is quite true that 
it does take some time to prepare such a list, 
particularly where the mass of material is 
great, but the time thus lost is very quickly 
made up by the time saved in the use of the 
index, and when once done it does not have 
to be done over again. J assume that every 
laboratory finds it desirable to take a complete 
account of stock at least once a year. As to 
the other objection—keeping such a list up to 
date, our method is as follows: Two sets of 
printed blanks are used, about 3”%x5”, one 
printed on blue paper, the other on white. 
One is for stock removed, the other for new 
stock. On the blanks headed ‘ Removed’ 
are the following items—substance, amount, 
maker, location, date, for; on the ‘New 
Stock’? blanks—substance, amount, 
cost, location, date. Whenever any chemical 
is removed from stock for use in a research, 
to replenish a reagent bottle, or for whatever 
purpose, one of these ‘Removed’ blanks is 
filled out and put on file, and once a month 
or so these blanks are checked up and the 
index corrected accordingly. After correct- 
ing the index, the blanks are not destroyed, 
but are kept on permanent file, and at the 
close of the year an examination of the total 
blanks on file will show exactly how much and 
where the stock is most in need of replenish- 
ing, thereby furnishing the necessary informa- 
tion for the preparation of the annual import 
order. The ‘New Stock’ blanks should also 
be placed on permanent file after having been 
entered in the index. It will be found more 
convenient, in both cases, to use a separate 
blank for each separate bottle. 

Such a general stock list is not only a per- 
petual inventory, but it may also do duty as a 


SCIENCE. 


maker, - 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


chemical museum catalogue, and be useful in 
other directions also. For example, it will 
show instantly any change in the markei price 
of the chemicals listed, and perhaps thus lead 
occasionally to the correction of unintentional 
overcharges on the part of dealers. When 
once made, it requires only occasional atten- 
tion, and the addition of new cards for new 
substances. Wherever possible, as in the 
chemical museum and general stock rooms, 
the stock should be arranged in the same order 
as in the index. 

As the above method has appeared to in- 
terest so many of our brother chemists both 
here and abroad, I have taken this opportunity 
of making it available to all, in the hope that 
others may find in it something useful or sug- 
gestive. It has been in use in the department 
of organic chemistry of Columbia University 
for several years, and has been of very great 
assistance to us in our work. 

Marston Taytor Bocert. 

HAVEMEYER LABORATORIES, 

CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 
March 30, 1905. 


A QUANTITATIVE CIRCULATION SCHEME. 


Tue artificial scheme (Fig. 1) to illustrate 
the mechanics of the circulation in the highest 
vertebrates consists of a pump, a system of 
elastic tubes and a peripheral resistance. The 
inlet and the outlet tubes of the pump are 
furnished with valves that permit a flow in 
one direction only. The peripheral resistance 
is the friction which the liquid undergoes in 
flowing through the minute channels of a 
piece of bamboo. To this must be added the 
slighter resistance due to friction in the rub- 
ber and glass tubes. 

In this system the pump represents the left 
ventricle; the valves in the inlet and outlet 
tubes, the mitral and aortic valves, respect- 
ively; the resistance of the channels in the 
bamboo, the resistance of the small arteries 
and capillaries. The tubes between the pump 
and the resistance are the arteries; those on 
the distal side of the resistance are the veins. 
The side branch substitutes a wide channel 
for the narrow ones, and thus is equivalent to 
a dilatation of the vessels. 


May 12, 1905.] 


The pressure in the ventricle is varied 
through a tambour covered with rubber mem- 
brane. The membrane is grasped between two 
disks, one below and one above. The upper 
disk is serewed down upon the lower until the 
membrane is tightly held. To these disks is 
fastened a rod which ends in a yoke. The 
yoke rests upon a small wheel, which in turn 
is supported by a brass plate eccentric in form. 
This brass plate is revolved by turning a 
handle attached to the axle. As the plate re- 


volves the small wheel bears upon the eccen- 


tric rim and rises and falls with the rise and 
fall in the rim of the plate. The motion of 
the small wheel is transferred through the 
yoke, rod and disk to the rubber membrane 
and thus to the interior of the ventricle. 

The rim of the eccentric brass plate repro- 
duces the intraventricular pressure curve in 
the dog. In projecting this curve upon the 
plate the periphery is divided into fractions 
of a second and the radii are divided into 
millimeters of mereury pressure. 

Each revolution of the eccentric plate re- 
produces in the ventricular tube both the time 
and the pressure relations of the ventricular 
eycle in the dog. The intraventricular pres- 
sure curve may be written by connecting the 
side tube with a membrane manometer, and 


SCIENCE. 753 


clamping off the arterial mercury manometer 
to be mentioned shortly. 

When the pressure rises in the ventricle to 
a sufficient height the contents of the ventricle 
will be discharged through the aortic valve 
into the aorta, and thus (through a convenient 
metal tube) into the arterial tube, leading to 
the capillary resistance. Here two paths may 
be taken: the liquid may pass either through 
the capillary channels in the cane, thus meet- 
ing with a high resistance, or this resistance 
may be lessened to any desired degree by un- 
screwing a clamp and thus opening the side 
tube. Both paths lead to the venous tubes, 
whence the liquid passes through the mitral 
valve into the ventricle. The mitral and 
aortic valves are of a modified Williams type. 
Metal tubes closed at one end conduct the 
liquid respectively to or from the ventricle. 
The liquid enters or leaves the valve tube 
through a hole covered by a rubber valve-flap, 
not shown in Fig. 1. Each valve is sur- 
rounded by a glass tube through which the 
working of the valve may be inspected. 

Mercury manometers measure the pressure 
in the arteries and veins near the capillary 
resistance. The arterial manometer is pro- 
vided with a glass thistle-tube to catch any 
mercury that may be driven out by a careless 
operator. 

If the arterial mercury manometer be re- 
placed by a membrane manometer, or if it be 
provided with a float and writing-point ar- 
terial pressure curves may be written, iden- 
tical with those obtained from the carotid 
artery of the dog. 

Normal sphygmographic tracings may be 
obtained by using a sphygmograph on the 
aortic tube. 

Palpation of the arterial tube will give a 
pulse the ‘feel’ of which can not be distin- 
guished from that of the pulse in the normal 
subject; the pressure waves in the quantitative 
scheme and in the living animal are identical 
in respect of both time and pressure. 

W. T. Porter. 

Harvarp Merpicat ScHOOL. 

ROCKING KEY WITH METAL CONTACTS. 


Tue instrument illustrated by the figure 
serves as a simple key, short-cireuiting key, 


754 


and pole changer. It is in fact a universal 
key. No mercury is used. 

The central binding posts are prolonged 
upwards and each is slotted to receive a brass 
bar which is pivotted in the slot by a hori- 
zontal pin. The brass bars are held parallel 
by two rubber rods which serve as handles. 
When the bars are depressed to one side or 
the other, they engage between plates of spring 
brass set into brass blocks each of which car- 
ries a binding screw. Cross wires enter these 
blocks, as shown in the figure. At one end 
the cross wires are soldered into the blocks, 


thus making an electrical contact. The two 
blocks at the other end are perforated by rub- 
ber cores or ‘bushings’ through which the 
cross wires pass. The cross wires, therefore, 
make no electrical contact with these blocks. 
When a contact is desired, the screw borne on 
the head of each cross wire is turned until its 
face presses against the brass block outside the 
bushing. In this position the key serves as a 
pole changer, commutator, or ‘ Wippe.’ 

A brass cross bar unites the central posts. 
At one end this cross bar does not make elec- 
trical contact with the post, but passes through 
a rubber bushing clearly shown in the figure. 
Contact is secured by turning a screw upon 
the cross bar until the face of the screw presses 
against the post outside the bushing. When 
this contact is made the instrument may be 
used as a short-circuiting key. 

W. T. Porter. 


HarvArRD Mepican ScHoot. 
SOME NOTES ON THE MYODOME OF THE FISH 
CRANIUM. 


Myopome is a term given by Dr. Theo. Gill 
to the tube at the base of the cranium of 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


fishes for the reception of the rectus muscles 
of the eye. 

It is formed by an inner longitudinal wing 
springing from near the middle of the prootic, 
or near the center of the radiation of the 
structural fibers of the prootic, and meeting 
its opposite fellow separates the myodome 
from the brain cavity. 

It has been variously called eye muscle tube, 
canal or vacuity, and Cope instead of consid- 
ering the vacuity itself considered the walls 
forming it, thus: ‘basis cranii double,’ mean- 
ing a double floor to the cranium with a space 
(the myodome) between; ‘ basis cranii single,’ 
or myodome absent. With the former term 
he often coupled the phrase, ‘ with a muscular 
tube,’ meaning the vacuity was extended back- 
wards in a tube in contradiction to its ending 
blindly. 

The following matter was suggested to me 
by a few lines in an excellent paper recently 
published by Dr. W. G. Ridewood (Proc. Zool. 
Soc. London, 1904, Vol. II., p. 60) as follows: 


No value can be ascribed, so far as I can see, 
to a feature upon which Cope has laid some stress 
(Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc: N. SS. XLVz, asit); 
namely the double or simple nature of the basis 
eranii. This refers, so far as I understand his 
writings, to the separation of the parasphenoid 
from the prootic floor of the cranium by the eye 
muscle vacuity. The character is one which is 
very difficult of application; and it is a matter 
of individual opinion whether such a form as 
Clupea is to be regarded as having a simple or 
double bases cranii, for here the parasphenoid is 
produced backwards into a pair of large lateral 
wings, the space between them freely open below. 

From the second sentence quoted, I should 
judge that Dr. Ridewood considers the myo- 
dome to be interposed between the floor of the 
cranium and the parasphenoid, rather than 
separated from the brain cavity. Or, in other 
words, that he considers the roof of the myo- 
dome to be the homologue of the cranial floor 
of forms having no myodome. 

This does not seem to me to be the correct 
conception. That the floor of the myodome 
is the true cranial base and that the roof of it 
is simply a septum of secondary development 
would seem probable from the following evi- 
dence: (1) The lower edges of the prooties 


May 12, 1905.] 


behave in exactly the same manner, whether 
or not the myodome is present. The prootics 
meet at the median line above the parasphen- 
oid and form the floor of the brain cavity or 
myodome, as the case may be, or they end at 
the outer edges of the parasphenoid, the latter 
forming the floor. Perhaps, when the myo- 
dome is present the prootics meet in fewer 
cases than when it is not, but both conditions 
of the prootics are common with both condi- 
tions of the myodome. (2) In some forms 
when no myodome appears in the dried skele- 
ton, if a fresh or alcoholic specimen be exam- 
ined, a sheet of connective tissue may be 
found separating the eye muscles from the 
brain cavity. This tissue is attached to the 
prootics exactly as the bony shelf is, and pos- 
sibly the ossification of the shelf takes place 
in it. 

If this be so it explains why the myodome 
is of no more value in classification than it 
is, as there would be little difference between 
a connective tissue septum and the same tissue 
replaced by ossification. How great a pro- 
portion of the forms having no myodome have 
the connective tissue septum I do not know. 

Looking at the matter in this light there 
seems little difficulty in my mind in deciding 
whether Clupea has a myodome. Any cavity 
between the prootic shelf and the lower sym- 
physis of the prootics, or between the shelf 
and the parasphenoid, as the case may be, 
should be regarded as a myodome. TI do not 
see the application of the fact that the para- 
sphenoid is open below in Clupea. It is but a 
difference in degree between the forms where 
the myodome is open only posteriorly and 
where it is entirely open below. ‘There are 
forms with the condition of the opening in- 
termediate between these two extremes. Of 
course, the fact that the myodome is open 
below leaves only a single cranial base inter- 
preted literally, but it could not be considered 
under the head of ‘ basis cranii single,’ as it is 
the primary floor that is missing. 

In examining a large number of fish speci- 
mens with these problems in view I also had 
for consideration two other problems in con- 
nection with the myodome, but unrelated to 
the above. 


SCIENCE. 


109 


Vrolik* states that the prootic is not pierced 
by the facial and trigeminus nerves when the 
myodome is absent, in the forms he has in- 
vestigated (Gadus, Silurus and Lophius). I 
can add my testimony as to the correctness of 
these conclusions so far as the forms quoted 
are concerned, but in the following forms, 
which have no myodome, the prootics are 
pierced by one or both the fifth and seventh 
nerves: Tetraodon, Chilomycterus, Lycodes, 
Dormitator, Opsanus, Brosme, and perhaps 
all of the family Blenniide (six genera were 
examined). 

On the other hand, I know of no form hay- 
ing the myodome well developed, which has 
the prooties unpierced. 

The second point I would touch upon is 
that the dichost (= basisphenoid of Huxley) 
is always absent when the myodome is. I 
know of no case where it is at all ossified when 
the myodome is absent, though there is often 
a connective tissue septum in this region con- 
tinued forward as the interocular septum. 

Nearly always the dichost is connected with 
the edge of the prootie shelf, or roof of the 
myodome, but that the shelf is not necessary 
to it is shown by Hsox, where it is attached 
to the parasphenoid at its lower end and is 
free above. Im this case the prootic shelf 
does not extend very far forward. ‘This prob- 
lem should be examined in connection with 
the connective tissue myodome septum as its 
ossification is probably of the same sort. 

Epwin CuHapin Starks. 

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, 

January 19, 1905. 


BOTANICAL NOTES. 
LIFE HISTORY OF THE PINES. 


Last October Professor Dr. Margaret C. 
Ferguson, of Wellesley College, published in 
the ‘ Proceedings of the Washington Academy 
of Sciences’ (Vol. VI., pp. 1-202) an impor- 
tant paper entitled ‘Contributions to the 
Knowledge of the Life History of Pinus, with 
Special Reference to Spermogenesis, the De- 
velopment of the Gametophytes and Fertiliza- 

* Vrolik, ‘Studien itiber die Verknocherung u. 


d. knochen des Schiidels d. Teleostei,’ Niederland. 
Arch. f. Zool., Bd. I., 1873. 


706 


tion.’ She devotes a dozen or so pages to a 
brief historical sketch and several pages to 
the methods of collecting, fixing, sectioning 
and staining which she followed, and then 
takes up in successive chapters, ‘ Microsporo- 
genesis,’ ‘The Male Gametophyte,’ ‘ Macro- 
sporogenesis, ‘The Female Gametophyte,’ 
‘Fertilization and Related Phenomena.’ In a 
short appendix the author has recorded a num- 
ber of interesting and suggestive abnormal 
conditions which have been noticed by her and 
other observers. A full list of papers cited 
closes the text of this altogether admirable 
paper. The plates number twenty-four and 
include 275 well executed figures. 

The work upon which the paper was based 
was begun in the fall of 1897. The discoveries 
of Hirase, Ikeno and Webber in the fertiliza- 
tion of the gymnosperms made it ‘ highly de- 
sirable that fertilization and the associated 
phenomena should be worked out for other 
members of this group by the more modern 
methods of investigation.’ This was the task 
which Miss Ferguson set for herself, and in 
this paper she has recorded the results of her 
investigation of five species of pines (Pinus 
strobus, P. rigida, P. austriaca, P. montana 
uncinata and P. resinosa). Six hundred 
separate collections of material were made, 
and more than four thousand slides of serial 
sections prepared. This large number is 
necessary since in the pines a period of almost 
thirteen months elapses from pollination to 
the actual fertilization, during which many 
important cytological changes take place. 

We have space to note here only a few 
things brought out in this paper: The author 
makes a distinction between the microspore 
(one-celled) and the pollen-grain (several- 
celled), the former developing into the latter 
by a series of divisions. Im tracing the de- 
velopment of the sperm-nuclei (spermatozoids) 
Miss Ferguson finds what she suggests may be 
the vestigial state of the cilia-forming body 
found in the lower gymnosperms (Cycas, 
Zamia and Ginkgo). In the development of 
the macrospore the division of the mother cell 
is a true tetrad division, so that the macrospore 
is a true spore. This germinates and by a 
typic division gives rise to two nuclei which 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541, 


pass to opposite poles and there divide again 
and again until thirty-two or more free nuclei 
are formed before the long winter rest is 
entered upon. The prothallium is completed 
and the archegones (one to nine) are formed 
the next spring. In fertilization the sperm 
and egg-cell cytoplasms fuse, but the nuclei 
do not really fuse, but the chromosomes are 
mingled in the first mitosis. 


LIMU. 


Tuis is the name applied to many species of 
seaweeds, especially those that are edible, by 
the native Hawaiians. In a recent number 
of the ‘Publications’ of the University of 
California (Vol. III., No. 3) Professor Dr. 
Setchell gives the results of the investigations 
made by him several years ago, with a view 
to determining the specific identity of the 
different kinds of limu. Altogether his list 
includes one hundred and seven names, not, 
however, representing that many distinct 
kinds. For many of these he has been able 
to determine the species used, while in other 
cases this has not been possible. One is sur- 
prised at the considerable number of species 
of seaweeds which the islanders have found 
to be edible, although one suspects that many 
of them would not be relished by us. 


A NEW GRASS BOOK. 


ALTHOUGH not strictly botanical the little 
book entitled ‘Farm Grasses of the United 
States,’ by Professor Spillman (Orange Judd 
Co.), is worthy of a brief notice in these 
columns. In it the author, who as is well 
known, is the chief of the Division of 
Agrostology of the United States Department 
of Agriculture, has brought together a good 
many facts that are of interest to the farmers 
of the country, and some also that will inter- 
est the general botanist. Thus the map on 
page 13 showing the relative amounts of wild, 
salt and marsh grasses annually cut for hay 
in different parts of the United States will in- 
terest every botanist, and so will the chapter 
on ‘ The Seed’ (V.). So too the botanist will 
find something of interest in the succeed- 
ing chapters (VI. to XIII.) which discuss 
timothy, the blue-grasses, the millets, two 


May 12, 1905.] 


southern grasses, red-top, orchard grass, brome 
grass, grasses of minor importance and those 
for special conditions. The book will be es- 
pecially useful to farmers. 


THE USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 


In a thick pamphlet of about four hundred 
pages issued by the United States National 
Herbarium (‘ Contrib.,’ Vol. IX.) William E. 
Safford tells what is known as to the vegeta- 
tion of the island of Guam, nearly 145 degrees 
east of Greenwich, and a little less than 14 
degrees north of the equator. It is illustrated 
by 70 plates mostly from photographs, includ- 
ing one map of the island. It will be very 
useful to American botanists who wish to 
know more about the vegetation of this newly 
acquired territory, as well as those who wish 
to learn something as to tropical vegetation in 
general. The chapters relating to the geog- 
raphy, climate, animals and the people are 
also full of interest for the general reader, as 
well as the student of science. 

Cuarues E. Bessey. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


Prorressor Cuartes S. Minot has been re- 
elected president of the Boston Society of 
Natural History. 

Dr. E. F. Nicuous, professor of physics at 
Columbia University, has been awarded the 
Ernest Kempton Adams research fellowship, 
recently established at Columbia University by 
Mr. E. D. Adams in memory of his son. Pro- 
fessor Nichols has at present leave of absence 
and is working at Cambridge University. 

Agourt five hundred physicians of the United 
States and Canada were present at the dinner 
given in honor of Dr. William Osler, which 
was held in New York on May 2. The toast- 
master was Dr. James Tyson, of Philadelphia, 
and the list of speakers and of the toasts to 
which they responded was: Dr. Osler in Mont- 
real, ‘Student and Teacher,’ Dr. F. J. Shep- 
herd, of Montreal; Dr. Osler in Philadelphia, 
‘Teacher and Clinician,’ Dr. J. OC. Wilson, 
Philadelphia; Dr. Osler in Baltimore, ‘ Teach- 
er and Consultant, Dr. W. H. Welch, of 


SCIENCE. 


757 


Baltimore; Dr. Osler, ‘The Author and 
Physician,’ Dr. A. Jacobi, of New York City; 
presentation of ‘Cicero de Senectute,’ by Dr. 
S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia. To these 
speeches Dr. Osler replied. 


THE expedition to the Delta of the Colorado 
river and the Cucopa mountains organized by 
Dr. D. T. MacDougal, of the New York Botan- 
ical Garden, and Mr. E. A. Goldman, of the 
U. S. Biological Survey, has returned. The 
river was found in flood, the water reaching 
the highest level since 1891 and overflowing 
through various channels into the Salton 
Basin. Some important geographical details 
were brought to light and material additions 
were made to the knowledge of the natural 
history of the entire region, part of which 
had never before been visited by collectors. 


Tue Alexandre de la Roquette gold medal 
of the French Geographical Society has been 
awarded to Professor Erich von Drygalski. 


Tue Société de Topographie de France has 
awarded a medal to Dr. William Hunter 
Workman for topographical research among 
the high peaks and glaciers of the Himalayas. 


Proressor Lion Lappé, the eminent French 
surgeon, has been presented by his former 
students with a medal struck in his honor by 
Patey. 


Tur Senckenberg Scientific Society of 
Frankfort has awarded its Sémmering prize 
for the most valuable work of a German in- 
vestigator in physiology during the last four 
years to Professor Haberlandt, of Graz, for a 
work on ‘The Sense Organs of Plants for the 
Perception of Mechanical Stimuli.’ 


At the annual meeting of the Boston So- 
ciety of Natural History, on May 3, the first 
Walker prize, of $75, was given to Dr. W. B. 
McCallum, department of botany, University 
of Chicago; the second, of $50, to Mr. M. L. 
Fuller, United States Geological Survey, 
Washington, D. C. Their respective papers 
were ‘ Physiological Analysis of the Phenom- 
ena of Regeneration of Plants’ and ‘ Quater- 
nary Correlations around New York and on 
the Long Island Shore.’ 


758 


Prorressor LANCEREAU, of Paris, ,has been 
elected president of the International Society 
for Combating Tuberculosis. 


Proressor C. H. Winn, having been appoint- 
ed to a professorship in the University of 
Utrecht, has resigned the directorship of the 
Dutch Meteorological Institute, and Dr. E. 
van Everdingen has been appointed provyi- 
sional director. 


Dr. Herman VY. Hitprecut, professor of 
Assyriology at the University of Pennsylvania, 
sailed for Germany on May 2. 


A TESTIMONIAL banquet and special exer- 
cises will be held, May 18, by the alumni of 
the St. Louis College of Pharmacy in recogni- 
tion of Professor James M. Good’s having 
completed his thirtieth year as a member of 
the faculty of that institution. He was also 
dean of the faculty from 1878 to 1903 in- 
clusive. 


Dr. Winttam H. Datrympie, M.R.C.V.S. 
(Eng.), of the department of veterinary medi- 
eine in the Louisiana State University, has 
been elected to membership in the Royal In- 
stitute of Public Health, London. 


Mr. Witt1am Henry Puusirer, a manufac- 
turing chemist, who was elected a fellow of 
the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science in 1879, has died at the age 
of seventy-four years. 


WE regret also to record the deaths of M. 
Henri de Saussure, the zoologist, at the age 
of seventy-six years; of Dr. Julius Nessler, 
the agricultural chemist of Karlsruhe, at the 
age of seventy-seven years, and of Dr. Paul 
Behrens, professor of technical chemistry in 
the Technical Institute at Danzig. 


TERE will be a civil service examination 
on June 14 to fill vacancies in the position of 
scientific assistant in the Department of Agri- 
culture, at salaries of from $840 to $1,200 a 
year, depending on qualifications and experi- 
ence. 


Tue thirty-second general meeting of the 
American Chemical Society will be held in the 
rooms of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sci- 
ences, Buffalo, N. Y., June 22-24, 1905. The 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


preparation of the program for the meeting is 
in the hands of a committee consisting of 
Victor Lenher, for the section of inorganic 
chemistry; Marston T. Bogert, for the section 
of organic chemistry; W. R. Whitney, for the 
section of physical chemistry; John H. Long, 
for the section of sanitary, agricultural and 
biological chemistry, and Francis A. J. Fitz- 
gerald, for the section of industrial chemistry. 
Mr. Fitzgerald will give an address on Friday 
evening, June 22, upon the subject of ‘ Elec- 
trochemical Industries at Niagara Falls.” Ex- 
cursions to industrial establishments in Buf- 
falo will be arranged for Friday afternoon and 
an excursion to Niagara Falls is arranged for 
Saturday. There will be the usual subserip- 
tion dinner at the Hotel Iroquois on Friday 
evening. 


THE annual soirée of the Selborne Society 
was held on May 3. Lord Avebury was ex- 
pected to preside, and a large number of 
archeological and natural history exhibits 
were planned. 


Tue French government has granted a sub- 
vention of $20,000 in aid of the International 
Congress on Tuberculosis, which is to be held 
in Paris in October, 1905. 


ARTICLES of incorporation have been filed 
at Albany by the Bausch, Lomb, Saegmuller 
Company, the object of the new corporation as 
set forth in the papers being the manufacture 
of engineering, astronomical, physical and 
other instruments of precision. The manu- 
facturing plant of the company will be at 
Rochester, N. Y., in the north end of the new 
addition to the Bausch & Lomb factory, and 
the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company, at 
Rochester, N. Y., will be the sales’ agents of 
the new company. Mr. George N. Saeg- 
muller will transfer his establishment from 
Washington to Rochester. He is well known 
for the important scientific instruments that 
have come from his shops, including the tele- 
scopes of the Chamberlain, Georgetown, 
Manila and other observatories, and other as- 
tronomical and optical instruments. It is said 
to be the intention to establish a scientific 
bureau for computation and research on the 
lines of the Carl Zeiss works of Jena, the re- 


May 12, 1905.] 


sults to be available both to the Bausch & 
Lomb Optical Company and the Bausch, 
Lomb, Saegmuller Company. 

Senator Wu. A. Crark, of Montana, has 
contributed to the University of Montana 
Biological Station a sum sufficient to defray 
the expenses of an expedition among the un- 
known mountains of Montana. The expedi- 
tion will be under the direction of Professor 
M. J. Elrod, and will visit the high moun- 
tain on whose summit is the United States 
Geological Survey monument. Several un- 
explored glaciers lie high up on the mountain. 
Later the party will visit other summits in the 
drainage of the South Fork of Flathead River. 
T. A. Bonser, of the Spokane High School, 
will look after the botany on the expedition. 
Later the party will return to Flathead Lake 
to take up the work of the University of 
Montana Biological Station. The expedition 
will start about June 20, and the return to 
Flathead Lake will be about the middle of 
July. 

Wiuu1am S. Cuamp has sailed for Liverpool 
to head a relief expedition on the ship Terra 
Nova, which is awaiting him in London. Mr. 
Champ’s instructions from Mr. Ziegler are said 
to be to remain in the north until he has found 
Captain Fiala or his party. Mr. Champ is 
accompanied by Dr. Oliver L. Fassig, of 
Johns Hopkins University, a geographer, who 
will sail on an independent expedition on the 
Belgica to the east coast of Greenland, where, 
at Shannon Island, caches of food will be es- 
tablished for Captain Fiala, in the belief that 
he may return from the Arctic by that route. 
The expeditions will start about June 1. 


Tue New Zealand legislature passed in 1903 
a law under which the metric system of 
weights and measures might be adopted at any 
time subsequent to January 1, 1906. The 
government has now announced its intention 
of adopting the system after an interval of 
twelve months. 


At the annual meeting of the Zoological 
Society of London, on April 28, the report 
was presented by the secretary, who stated 
that the number of fellows was greater than 
at any time in the history of the society. 


SCIENCE. 


T59 


There was an increase of 48,866 in the num- 
ber of visitors at the gardens, the total being 
706,074, as against 657,208 in 1903. The cost 
of feeding the stock at the gardens was £3,423 
4s. 5d., against £4,858 2s. in 1902. The total 
number of vertebrate animals in the menagerie 
was 2,552—640 mammals, 1,448 birds, 343 
reptiles and amphibia and 121 fish. 


Accorpine to Terrestrial Magnetism and 
Atmospheric Electricity there will be a meet- 
ing of the International Committee on Ter- 
restrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Elec- 
tricity at Innsbruck during the meeting of 
the International Meteorological Congress. 
The opening meeting will be on September 9, 
the special meetings of the committee will 
probably be deferred, however, for a few days, 
in order to give ample time for those mag- 
neticians and electricians to attend who will 
participate in the eclipse observations of Au- 
gust 30. It is very much hoped that there 
will be a full attendance of investigators in 
terrestrial magnetism and atmospheric elec- 
tricity. 


THE same journal states that in the future 
the Kew magnetic observatory work is to be 
carried on at Eskdalemuir, Scotland. The 
site is in the valley of the Esk, towards the 
north of Dumfriesshire, one of the southern 
eounties of Scotland. Being over fifteen 
miles from the nearest railway and in a rather 
inaccessible position, the probability of future 
disturbance is small. In addition to the 
magnetographs, the equipment, which is not 
yet fully decided upon, will consist of self- 
recording instruments for at least atmospheric 
electricity and earth tremors. In addition to 
the variometer building two absolute observa- 
tion huts are being erected. The standard- 
izations of magnetic instruments will be con- 
tinued as heretofore, at the Kew Observatory, 
Richmond. 


We learn from The Observatory that Pro- 
fessor H. H. Turner, Savilian professor of 
astronomy at Oxford, gave a series of three 
afternoon lectures at the Royal Institution on 
March 2, 9 and 16. The series was entitled 
‘Recent Astronomical Progress,’ and in the 
first the lecturer, dealing with solar matters, 


760 


explained recent developments of the sun and 
earth-magnetism question, and described the 
new observatory on Mount Wilson, California, 
and its proposed work. The second lecture 
was devoted to an explanation of the lunar 
theory. On March 16 he spent some time in 
giving an account of the work at some Amer- 
ican observatories and in showing photographs 
of nebule. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


Ir was announced at the meeting of the 
trustees of Columbia University, on May 1, 
that $500,000 had been given by an anonymous 
donor for the construction of a new college 
hall. Ground has already been broken for 
the new building in accordance with plans pre- 
pared by Messrs. McKim, Mead and White, 
the architects of the university. It will stand 
at the southeast corner of Amsterdam Avenue 
and 116th St., adjoining the dormitories now 
in course of erection. The building will be 
known as Hamilton Hall, in honor of Alex- 
ander Hamilton of the class of 1777, and will 
thus perpetuate the name of the college build- 
ing before the removal of Columbia University 
to its new site. 


Tue legislature of Minnesota which has just 
adjourned, made direct appropriations for the 
University of Minnesota for the next two 
years amounting to $706,600, besides $58,000, 
derived from the insurance on the old main 
building, destroyed by fire last September. 
The largest items covered by the appropria- 
tion are $408,000 for a new main building, 
and $60,000 per year to the current expense 
fund. Besides money received by direct ap- 
propriation from the legislature, the univer- 
sity has a regular annual income of $438,000, 
derived from the tax levy, invested funds and 
other sources. 


GrouND has been broken for the new build- 
ing for the College of Agriculture at Cornell 
University. It is expected that the buildings 
will be completed in the summer of 1906 at a 
cost of $250,000. 


Proressor AtpHEUS S. Packarp bequeathed 
about 2,000 scientific books to Bowdoin Col- 


SCIENCE. 


(N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 541. 


lege. He also bequeathed $200 to the college 
to be reinvested until it shall amount to 
$2,000, when it shall be called the Packard 
Scholarship, in memory of his father, Pro- 
fessor A. S. Packard, class of 1816. The in- 
terest is to be used for the aid of students in 
botany, zoology and geology. 


A PROFESSORSHIP of civil engineering in the 
University of Birmingham with a salary of 
£600 has been established. The professor will 
be allowed to take higher consultative work, to 
keep in touch with civil engineering practise, 
provided that it does not interfere with his 
university duties. Applications, accompanied 
by 75 copies of testimonials, should be received 
by the secretary not later than May 20. 


At the University of Nebraska departments 
of pathology and bacteriology, of applied me- 
chanics and machine design, and of geography 
have been created. Dr. R. H. Wolcott has 
been promoted to a professorship of anatomy; 
G. R. Chatburn to an associate professorship 
of applied mechanics and machine design; G. 
E. Condra to an associate professorship of 
geography and economic geology, and Herbert 
A. Waite to an associate professorship of 
pathology and bacteriology. 


Dr. Ratpu Garricue Wricut, B.S. (Colum- 
bia, 1899), Ph.D. (Basel, 1902), who has been 
acting as Professor Bogert’s private assistant 
in connection with some investigations in or- 
ganic chemistry at Columbia University this 
year, has been called to the professorship of 
chemistry at Washington and Jefferson Col- 
lege. 


Mr. D. A. Lyon, instructor in geology and 
mining in Stanford University, has been pro- 
moted to an assistant professorship. 


Messrs. O. A. Motatcu and W. M. Ketsie 
have been appointed assistants in chemistry in 
Cornell University. 


Mr. Cartes F. McKim, of Messrs. McKim, 
Mead and White, and Mr. Thomas Hastings, 
of Messrs. Carrere and Hastings, have been 
appointed directors of ateliers, with the rank 
of professor in the School of Architecture of 
Columbia University. 


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Origin of the Title Superintendent of Finance. 
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Documents—Documents on the Blount Conspiracy, 
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Vol. X, No. 3 APRIL, 1905 


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TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


The Electromagnetic Theory and the Velocity of Light. 


H T. Eppy 
Experiments on Resonance in Wireless Telegraph 
Circuits. G. W. PIERCE 


Water of Constitution and Water of Crystallization. 
W. W. COBLENTZ 


W. P. BOYNTON 


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Thermodynamic Potentials. 


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vi SCIENCE.—ADVERTISEMENTS. 


Important Scientific Books Recently Published 


ALLBUTT, T. Clifford, University of Cambridge. 
System of Medicine and Gynaecology. Complete in nine volumes. 
New and cheaper edition, $25.00, net, per set. 
BOTTOME, 8S. R. 


Radium, and All About it. 96 p. 12mo, il., paper 35 cts., net. 


BOYNTON, William Pingry, University of Oregon. 
Applications of the Kinetic Theory of Gases, Vapors, Pure 
Liquids, and the Theory of Solutioms. 10+288 pp. 8vo, cl., $1.60 net. 


DEXTER, Edwin Grant, University of Illinois. 
Weather Influences, An Empirical Study of the Mental and Physiological 
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GIBBONS, Edward E., University of Maryland, Baltimore. 
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9+.472 pp. Ato, il., cl., $5.00 net, half morocco, $6.50 net. 
HASTINGS, William W. 
A Manual for Physical Measurements. For use in Normal Schools, 
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METCALF, Maynard M., Woman's College of Baltimore. 
An Outline of the Theory of Organic Evolution. With a Descrip- 
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NICHOLS, Edward L., and William 8S. FRANKLIN, Cornell University. 
The Elements of Physic. A College Text-Book. In Three Volumes. Vol- 
ume I.—Mechanics and Heat. Third edition, rewritten with additions. 
10+290 pp.  8vo, cl., $1.90 net. 


RIGHI, Augusto, University of Bologna. Authorized Translation by Aucustus TROWBRIDGE, 
University of Wisconsn. Modern Theory of Physical Phenomena. 


Radio-Activity, Ions, Electrons. 13+165 pp. 12mo, cl., $1.10 net. 
RUTHERFORD, E., McGill University, Montreal, 
Radio-Activity. 8+399 pp. 8vo, il., cl., $3.50 net. 


SHEARER, John 8., Cornell University. 
Notes and Questions in Physics. New edition. 
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SWENSON, Bernard Victor, and FRANKENFIELD, Budd. 
Testing of Electro-Magmetic Machinery and other Apparatus. 
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WEYSSE, Arthur Wisswald, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
A Synoptic Text-book of Zoology. For Colleges and Schools, 
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WHITTAKER, E. T., Trinity College, Cambridge. 
A Treatise on the Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rig- 
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WILLIS, J. C., Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon. 


A Manualand Dictionary of the Flowering Plantsand Ferns. 
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The National Administration of the 
United States of America 


By JOHN A. FAIRLIE, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Michigan 


is noteworthy as the first comprehensive and systematic work dealing with the administrative 
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questions of the day, receiving the attention formerly given to problems of constitutional organization. 

Such a study is of great service to those interested in any attempt to bring order into the dis- 
organized horde of officials responsible for the administration of state and city governments. 

It is based on primary official records, supplemented by references to the writings of those 
who have observed and investigated minutely each some special phase of the wide subject, and in many 
points aided by his personal acquaintance with members of the administration in action. Each chapter 
is prefaced by a list of references covering the most valuable and accessible printed 
material bearing directly on the subjects there considered. The importance of these is especially great 
since much of it is scattered through magazines and reviews. 

In it an immense amount of detail necessary to the understanding of our national 
machinery is given lucidly, briefly, and is so classified that reference is easy. 


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in which the results of the patient, minute observations 
made through many years by the leading engineers of 
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Problems of the Panama Canal 


Including the Physics and Hydraulics of the River Chagres, the Clima- 
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vill SCIENCE.—ADVERTISEMENTS. 


Columbia University 
in the Wity of Hem York 


Columbia University includes both a college and a university in the strict sense of the words. 


via College, founded in 1754 as King’s College. 
Political Science, Pure Science and Applied Science. 


The point of contact between the college and the uni 


students in the college pursue their studies, with the consent 
university. 


The college is Colum- 


The university consists of the Faculties of Law, Medicine, Philosophy, 


versity is the senior year of the college, during which year 
of the college faculty, under one or more of the faculties of the 


Barnard College, a college for women, is financially a separate corporation ; but educationally, is a part of the system 


of Columbia University. 


Teachers College, a professional school tor teachers, is also, financially, a separate corporation; and also, educa- 


tionally, a part of the system of Columbia University. 


Each college and school is under the charge of its own faculty, except that the Schools of Mines, Chemistry, Engi- 
neering and Architecture are all under the charge of the Faculty of Applied Science. 

For the care and advancement of the general interests of the university educational system, as a whole, a Council 
has been established, which is representative of all the corporations concerned. 


I. THE COLLEGE. 


Columbia College offers a course of four years, leading to 
the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Candidates for admission to 
the college must be at least fifteen years of age, and pass 
an examination on prescribed subjects, the particulars con- 
cerning which may be found in the annual Circular of 
Information. 

Barnard College, founded in 1889, offers for women a 
course of four years, leading to the degree of Bachelor of 
Arts. Candidates for admission to the college must be at 
least fifteen years of age, and pass an examination on pre- 
scribed subjects, the particulars concerning which may be 
found in the annual Circular of Information. 


Il, THE UNIVERSITY. 


In a technical sense, the Faculties of Law, Medicine, 
Philosophy, Political Science, Pure Science, and Applied 
Science, taken together constitute the university. These 
faculties offer advanced courses of study and investigation, 
respectively, in (a) private or municipal law, (6) medicine, 
(e) philosophy, philology and letters, (d) history, economics 
and public law, (e) mathematics and natural science, and (/) 
applied science. Courses of study under all ot these facul- 
ties are open to members of the senior class in Columbia 
College. Certain courses under the non-professional facul- 
ties are open to women who have taken the first degree. 
These courses lead, through the Bachelor’s degree, to the 
university degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Phi- 
losophy. The degree of Master of Laws is also conferred 
for advanced work in law done under the Faculties of Law 
and Political Science together. 


III. THE PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS. 


The faculties of Law, Medicine and Applied Science, con- 
duct respectively the professional schools of Law, Medicine, 
and Mines, Chemistry, Engineering and Architecture, to 


which students are admitted as candidates for professional 
degrees on terms prescribed by the faculties concerned. The 
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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. 


Fripay, May 19, 1905. 


CONTENTS. 
Scientific Surveys of the Philippine Islands.. 761 


Anthropology and its Larger Problems: DR. 
Sm VIO Garr ce ter eNestoy olen olisyel al efiehia(t'ey #/ a) «) 6) sieveness 770 


Scientific Books :— 


Cattel’s Post-mortem Pathology: Dr. 


LEWELLYS F. BARKER. Ames’s Orchida- 
ceae: PROFESSOR CHARLES E. BESSEY...... 7Te4 
Scientific Journals and Articles............ 787 


Societies and Academies :— 
The Biological Society of Washington: E. 
L. Morris. The Clemson College Science 


Cid DR. SEVAVEN? METOATIE. sc. ¢ 00 os ee 787 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Suggestions toward a _ Phyto-geographic 


Nomenclature: Dr. JoHN W. HARSHBERGER 789 


Special Articles :— 
On the Habits of the Great Whale Shark: 
Dr. Tueo. Ginn. A Faunal Survey of the 
Forest Reserves in the Sandhill Region of 
Nebraska and of the Lakes in that Region: 
Dr. Roserr H. Woucotr. The Mailed Cat- 
fishes of South America: PRorrssor C. H. 


EIGENMANN 790 


Current Notes on Meteorology :— 
Kite-flying at Sea; Mountain Sickness; The 
Monthly Weather Review; Floods in the 
Sahara; The Guinea Current: PRoressor 
NE DROS aNVARD tate iG cfebeterd «tle save thine oS slerdee 


Scientific Notes and News............0000% 


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


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


SCIENTIFIC SURVEYS OF THE PHILIPPINE 
ISLANDS. 
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 
To the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives: 

Circumstances have placed under the 
control of this government the Philippine 
Archipelago. The islands of that group 
present as many interesting and novel ques- 
tions with respect to their ethnology, their 
fauna and flora, and their geology and min- 
eral resources as any region in the world: 
At my request, the National Academy of 
Sciences appointed a committee to consider 
and report upon the desirability of insti- 
tuting scientific explorations of the Philip- 
pine Islands. The report of this commit- 
tee, together with the report of the Board 
of Scientific Surveys of the Philippine 
Islands, ineluding draft of a bill providing 
for surveys of the Philippine Islands, 
which board was appointed by me, after 
receiving the report of the committee ap- 
pointed by the National Academy of Sci- 
ences, with instructions to prepare such 
estimates and make such suggestions as 
might appear to it pertinent in the cireum- 
stances, accompanies this message. 

The scientific surveys which should be 
undertaken go far beyond any surveys or 
explorations which the government of the 
Philippine Islands, however completely 
self-supporting, could be expected to make. 
The surveys, while of course beneficial to 
the people of the Philippine Islands, should 
be undertaken as a national work for the 
information not merely of the people of the 


762 


Philippine Islands, but of the people of 
this country and of the world. Only pre- 
liminary explorations have yet been made 
in the archipelago, and it should be a mat- 
ter of pride to the government of the 
United States fully to investigate and to 
describe the entire region. So far as may 
be convenient and practical, the work of 
this survey should be conducted in har- 
mony with that of the proper bureaus of 
the government of the Philippines, but it 
should not be under the control of the 
authorities in the Philippine Islands, for it 
should be undertaken as a national work 
and subject to a board to be appointed by 
Congress or the President. The plan trans- 
mitted recommends simultaneous surveys 
in different branches of research, organized 
on a cooperative system. This would tend 
to completeness, avoid duplication, and 
render the work more economical than if 
the exploration were undertaken piecemeal. 
No such organized surveys have ever yet 
been attempted anywhere, but the idea is 
in harmony with modern scientific and in- 
dustrial methods. 

I recommend, therefore, that provision 
be made for the appointment of a board of 
surveys to superintend the national surveys 
and explorations to be made in the Philip- 
pine Islands, and that appropriation be 
made from time to time to meet the neces- 
sary expenses of such investigation. It is 
not probable that the survey would be com- 
pleted in a less period that that of eight or 
ten years, but it is well that it should be 
begun in the near future. The Philippine 
Commission and those responsible for the 
Philippine government are properly anx- 
ious that this survey should not be consid- 
ered as an expense of that government, but 
should be carried on and treated as a na- 
tional duty in the interests of science. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 
Tune WHITE House, 
February 7, 1905. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 542. 


REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL 
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 

1. Need for Comprehensive Work.—The 
primary incentive to scientific exploration 
of the Philippine Islands, as of any other 
region, is a desire to promote the commer- 
cial and industrial welfare of the inhabit- 
ants, and this purpose should never be lost 
sight of. Experience shows that this end 
is best attained by a comprehensive investi- 
gation of facts and conditions undertaken 
in a broadly scientific spirit. Millions of 
dollars have been spent in searching for 
coal in regions where the rocks are far 
older than the coal measures; it was the 
seemingly unpractical science of paleontol- | 
ogy which put a stop to this waste and 
enabled geologists to outline the areas to 
which valuable coal fields are limited. So, 
too, antiseptic surgery is an application of 
recondite branches of botany and chem- 
istry. The vast benefits which the Agri- 
cultural Department and the Fish Com- 
mission have conferred upon our country 
are founded upon the untiring labors of 
zoologists, botanists and chemists whose 
sole purpose was to elucidate the truth; 
and long after Franklin took the first step 
in the science of electricity economic appli- 
cations of the knowledge acquired were 
almost undreamed of. In short, modern 
industrial development is an outgrowth of 
pure science, and almost every discovery 
of science is ultimately turned to economic 
account. Hence it would be short-sighted 
not to extend to the Philippines the broad 
and generous spirit of research which ani- 
mates the governmental scientifie work of 
the United States. 

The main object to be sought in planning 
explorations of the Philippines is not to 
suggest new or unusual subjects of study 
or methods of study, but to provide against 
duplication of work, and to arrange for 
such cooperation between the officers en- 
gaged in different branches of the Scien- 


sl 


May 19, 1905.] 


tific Surveys as will insure rapid, satisfac- 
tory and economical progress in a noble 
contribution to human knowledge. 

Since the United States is engaged in 
the first serious attempt to develop an 
Anglo-Saxon civilization in the tropics, and 
among a non-Aryan people, it may not be 
amiss to call attention to the effect on the 
enlightenment and culture of the Filipinos 
which systematically undertaken scientific 
surveys must inevitably produce. Such 
explorations will be a practical lesson in 
the application and value of learning. 

2. Resources of the Islands.—The Phil- 
ippine Islands form an extreme portion of 
one of the most interesting areas in the 
world, viz., Malaysia. The archipelago lies 
along the edge of the great and permanent 
abyss of the Pacific Ocean, forming the last 
bulwark of the Asiatic continent towards 
the southeast. This geographical position, 
half-way between Japan and Australia, 
with the China Sea on one side and the 
Pacific on the other, is most favorable to 
the development of a great commerce, 
which, indeed, the Philippine Islands once 
enjoyed. 

The archipelago has not always been 
separated from Borneo, Java, Sumatra and 
the Peninsula of Malacca; on the contrary, 
land connections throughout this area ex- 
isted at various times in its geological his- 
tory. It is also probable that at one time 
Luzon and Formosa were connected. The 
islands themselves have undergone many 
geological vicissitudes, still indicated in 
part by the belts of extinct and active vol- 
canoes which intersect them. 

Gold veins, seemingly of very ancient 
origin, are widely distributed in the 
islands, though no great gold field is known 
to exist there; and there are some valuable 
copper deposits. The Philippines contain 
also important deposits of mineral fuel 
similar to the so-called coals of Japan and 
Borneo—a good quality of lignite—upon 


SCIENCE. 


763 


which much of the industrial development 
of the islands must depend. It is well 
known that the fertility of the Philippines 
is astonishingly great. This is due pri- 
marily to a favorable admixture of various 
igneous rocks with limestones and sand- 
stones. In the moist and equable climate 
of the archipelago the rocks are rapidly 
converted into soil, while the absence of 
eold and drought results in a vigorous 
growth of roots, which protects the soil, as 
soon as formed, from rapid erosion by the 
heavy rains. One evidence of the fertility 
of the land is the presence of superb hard- 
wood forests. These have been estimated 
to cover at least a third of the area of the 
islands, or, say, forty thousand square 
miles, and they include nearly two hun- 
dred species of valuable timber trees. All 
tropical crops will grow in the Philippines, 
while that very important plant (Musa 
textilis) which yields the so-called manila 
hemp, flourishes best in the archipelago. 
The resources of the islands have been 
very imperfectly developed; indeed, under 
Spanish rule, attempts at industrial prog- 
ress usually met with disfavor. After the 
establishment of a well-ordered peace, the 
first step in progress must be the accumula- 
tion and dissemination of accurate and 
systematic information. 

3. Need of Coordination.—In order 
rapidly and economically to provide the 
information desired, it iS essential that the 
various branches of the work should be 
coordinated, for they are to a considerable 
extent interdependent; for example, topo- 
graphical maps, which are an indispensable 
preliminary to geological mapping, are also 
required for planning highways, for mili- 
tary purposes, for the Land Office, for the 
Bureau of Forestry and for other ends. 

It will be necessary in the Philippines, 
as elsewhere, to map some regions on a 
larger scale than others. Simple relations 
between the several scales used should be 


764 


maintained, as is done in the topographical 
mapping of the United States. In select- 
ing the seale for any region the uses to 
which the map is to be put should be well 
considered and the survey made with an 
amount of detail adequate to the use in 
view. A naval station, an army post, or 
the location of a possible canal should be 
surveyed in greater detail than would else- 
where suffice. It seems entirely practicable 
to foresee the probable development of a 
system of highways, since these are largely 
controlled by natural conditions, and there 
is no reason why the development of means 
of communication should not be taken into 
consideration in the original surveys. The 
mapping of each area should thus be un- 
dertaken on such a seale as will suffice for 
the several purposes to which the govern- 
ment expects to apply the maps. Similar- 
ly, geological work should be done not 
merely with a view to elucidating the 
physical and biological history of the archi- 
pelago, or even to describing the mineral 
resources of the islands; the origin of soils, 
the occurrence of road metal and the facili- 
ties for or the obstacles to the cutting of 
canals, tunnels, or roads should be system- 
atically reported upon from a geological 
point of view. Indeed it is manifest that 
assistance can and should be rendered by 
each branch of a complete survey to one or 
more coordinate branches. For this reason 
a plan of cooperation will be suggested 
somewhat later. 

4. Scope of Inquiry.—The subjects 
which it is advisable for the government 
to investigate in the Philippines may be 
grouped as follows: 


Coast and geodetic work and marine hydrog- 
raphy. 

Land topography, including’ surveys and -classi- 
fication of the public land. 

Geology and mineral resources. 

3otany. 

Problems of forestry. 

Zoology. 

Anthropology. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


All of these subjects may be embraced 
under the general term scientific explora- 
tions, and their study may be carried to 
a satisfactory degree of completion in a 
few years. 

Several other lines of inquiry are omit- 
ted from the enumeration, although they 
also are of great importance in the eco- 
nomic development of the islands. They 
are chiefly of local interest, and are largely 
administrative, but are permanent in char- 
acter. They include meteorology, sanita- 
tion, the study of animal parasites, insect 
pests and the fungous diseases of plants, as 
well as sylvicultural and administrative 


forestry and the establishment of agricul- 


tural experiment stations and of zoological 
and botanical gardens. These lines of in- 
vestigation have already been initiated and 
more or less fully provided for. by the civil 
government of the Philippine Islands. The 
scientific surveys would naturally coop- 
erate as far as possible with the insular 
scientific bureaus to the great advantage 
of both. 

These several branches of the inquiry 
will furnish contributions to human knowl- 
edge, the importance of which will prob- 
ably stand in the following order: Zoology, 
anthropology, botany, forestry, geology. ; 

5. Coast and Geodetic Work.—The first 
step to be taken in the survey of the Phil- 
ippines is the establishment of geographical 
stations and a primary triangulation. The 
position of Manila Observatory is of course 
well known, and many other points have 
doubtless been well determined, but the 
accuracy of existing determinations should 
be checked and the network completed. 
The land area of the archipelago is.not 
large—only about 120,000 square miles— 
but because of its distribution in several 
hundred islands the area to be triangulated 
is far larger. 

The importance of marine hydrography 
requires no emphasis further than to recall 


x 


May 19, 1905.] 


the accidents and disasters which have oc- 
eurred in the Philippine Islands since the 
American occupation for lack of adequate 
surveys and charts. It seems eminently 
desirable that, as fast as the triangulation 
is sufficiently advanced, a survey should be 
made of the very extensive shore line of the 
archipelago by a corps of marine hydrog- 
raphers. These can determine better than 
topographers the amount of detail desirable 
in the line common to land and marine 
surveys. The line so determined should 
be accepted by both corps, and from it the 
hydrographers should work seaward and 
the topographers inland. The hydrog- 
raphers will meet with especial difficulties 
on account of the innumerable coral reefs 
in the Philippine waters, and may also 
have trouble with recent uplifts, such as 
are alleged to have taken place within a 
few years in the Island of Paragua. There 
and elsewhere bench-marks should be es- 
tablished. 

The Coast and Geodetic Survey has al- 
ready begun work in the Philippines. It 
has occupied twenty-eight well-distributed 
astronomical stations, all in telegraphic 
communication with Manila, commenced a 
considerable number of harbor surveys, 
and initiated tidal observations at numer- 
ous points. It has also planned more ex- 
tensive operations. 

6. Topography.—Topographie work in 
the mountainous and wooded portions of 
the Philippines will be extremely difficult, 
the vegetation being so dense as to form an 
almost complete obstacle to vision and to 
free locomotion. However, in various por- 
tions of the archipelago, extensive open 
plains exist which can be rapidly mapped. 
It will probably be found that the native 
Filipinos will readily adapt themselves to 
topographical work, and, as they are ex- 
traordinarily agile, they will be of great 
assistance in the mountains and the forests. 
It is in the highest degree desirable that 


SCIENCE. 760 


the surveys and subdivisions of the publie 
lands should be committed to a topograph- 
ical corps, such as that of. the Geological 
Survey, as has been done, for example, in 
the Indian Territory... The topographical 
maps should show forest areas, but the dis- 
crimination of agricultural and mineral 
lands is not contemplated. As has been 
already noted, the scales employed should 
answer to the prospective uses to which 
the topographical maps are to be applied. 

7. Geology.—The geological problems to 
be sclved are numerous. The economic 
question of greatest moment is the stratig- 
raphy of the coal-bearing Hocene forma- 
tion, which is most extensively developed 
in southeastern Luzon (Albay and Sorso- 
gon) and the Island of Cebu. It is prob- 
able, but not certain, that the coal deposits 
of Mindanao belong to the same period. 
The Eocene has been much disturbed and 
considerably faulted, so that its study will 
be a somewhat serious task. The coral 
reefs, voleanoes and earthquakes will neces- 
sarily also demand the attention of geolo- 
gists. 

The dense vegetation of the tropics offers 
great obstacles to the study of geology, and 
in the Philippines the lack of roads will 
also delay the work. There is, however, 
one set of exposures which are admirable 
and of vast extent, as well as readily ac- 
cessible by proper means. It has been 
estimated that there are over eleven thou- 
sand miles of seacoast, without counting 
minor indentations, and along most of this 
line the rocks are exposed by wave action. 
The study of the geology of the country 
will probably proceed most rapidly if be- 
gun from boats along these coasts, and in 
beginning geological work on any of the 
smaller islands it will probably be expedi- 
ent, as well as most economical, first to cir- 
cumnavigate the island in steam-launches, 
mapping the exposures with eare. With 
the information thus obtained it will be 


766 


comparatively easy to extend the surveys 
into the interior. 

The geological formations of the East 
Indies, including Malaysia, are as yet im- 
perfectly correlated with those of Europe. 
The distance separating these two regions 
is so great, and the intervening land mass 
with its peculiar mountain systems is so 
immense, as easily to account for extreme 
differences in fossil remains, rendering it 
difficult to correlate the two systems. On 
the other hand, in America, where the 
mountains and coasts have a _ southerly 


trend, formations can be followed from the | 


temperate zone into the tropics with no 
great difficulty, and a definite correlation 
has thus been obtained. Hence it is ad- 
visable that the geologists, and especially 
the paleontologists, who may be sent to 
the Philippines, should have familiarized 
themselves with the geology of the marine 
strata of the West Indies and the Gulf of 
Mexico. In some respects knowledge of 
the geology of the tropics is of more im- 
portance in the elucidation of the earth’s 
history than that of the temperate zone. 
Climatic conditions along the equator must 
always have been more equable than in the 
temperate zone, and the development of 
life must have been less affected by changes 
in local conditions. Hence near the equa- 
tor, if anywhere, will be found evidence of 
variations in the climate of the earth as a 
whole in earlier geological times, variations 
such as may have been due to changes in 
solar emanation or in the composition of 
the earth’s atmosphere. 

Attention has already been called to the 
fact that geologists should systematically 
lend assistance in the study of soils and in 
the development of a system of highways. 

8. Zoology and Botany.—The Philip- 
pines have long been an attractive field 
for the student of natural history, and 
some of the most important theories re- 
specting the origin, distribution and color- 


SCIENCE. 


a 


[N.S. Vou. XXL No. 542. 


ation of animals and plants have resulted 
from studies in this region. It was chiefly 
from observations of the insects of the 
archipelago that Wallace discovered the 
law of natural selection independently of 
Darwin, who had not then published his 
‘Origin of Species.’ But the fauna and 
flora are still very imperfectly known. 
Field work in ornithology has been more 
thorough than in the other lines; neverthe- 
less, several of the larger islands have been 
only slightly explored, and some of the 
smaller ones not at all. A small collection 
of mammals made by a bird collector on 
Mount Data, in northern Luzon, compris- 
ing only such species as were brought to 
him alive by the natives, contained half a 
dozen new generic groups. This may be 
taken as a promise of what will be learned 
when the numerous lofty mountains of the 
larger islands are systematically explored. 
Heretofore most of the natural-history 
work has been along the coast and larger 
rivers. In future the most promising and 
important field, and also the most difficult 
so far as land species are concerned, is in 
the highlands of the interior. 

The fauna of the Philippines is com- 
plex in origin and heterogeneous in char- 
acter. It consists of types originally de- 
rived in part from the south (Borneo, 
Celebes and the Moluccas) and in part 
from the north (Formosa and southeastern 
China) ; hence it is not surprising that the 
animals and plants of certain islands differ 
widely from those of other islands. It is 
important that the fauna and flora of each 
island be studied in detail, and that the 
zoological work include mammals, birds, 
reptiles, batrachians, fishes, insects and 
marine invertebrates; and that the botan- 
ical work include, besides systematic bot- 
any, the study and identification of the 
food plants, fiber plants and medicinal 
plants used by the native tribes. 

In each of these departments the work 


May 19, 1905.] 


should be under a trained naturalist, com- 
petent to supervise the field work, make the 
necessary technical studies and prepare the 
report relating to his own special line. The 
chief object of the work should be a com- 
plete and authoritative report on the fauna 
and flora of the islands, comprising de- 
scriptions of all the species, with a state- 
ment of their geographical ranges. This 
will lead to a natural classification of the 
islands according to the origin of the 
faunas and their relationship to one an- 
other and to those of adjacent islands. At- 
tempts thus to group the islands have been 
made by Wallace, Steere, Worcester and 
others, but as yet the faunas and floras are 
too little known to admit of final judgment. 

9. Forestry.—The subject of forestry in 
the Philippines is one which is both of deep 
scientific interest and of great importance 
in the economic development of the islands. 
A local bureau of forestry has already been 
instituted by the Philippine Commission, 
and this will undoubtedly be a permanent 
organization. It will be needed to protect, 
control and foster the extremely valuable 
timber resources of the islands, and it is 
already doing good work. There are, how- 
ever, certain fundamental facts and rela- 
tions in connection with the forests which 
can be ascertained only by a thorough sci- 
entific investigation, which is beyond the 
scope of the local bureau. These studies 
can be completed within a few years, with 
the certainty that the knowledge obtained 
will be of lasting benefit to the local bureau 
of forestry; and the investigation of these 
subjects properly belongs to a scientific 
survey of the archipelago. Such subjects 
are the sylvicultural organization of the 
forests; periodicity of growth in tropical 
trees; processes of seed-bearing, seed-dis- 
tribution and germination; growth and 
competition in early life; the influence of 
moisture and temperature on the tropical 
forest and the influence of the forest on 


SCIENCE. 


767 


moisture and temperature. While forestry 
is, strictly speaking, a branch of botany, its 
methods are peculiar and it will be expedi- 
ent to treat it as a separate branch of the 
scientific surveys. 

10. Anthropology.—Although little is 
known of the archeology and ethnology of 
the Philippines, there are sufficient reasons 
for believing that, in these two closely re- 
lated lines of research, facts of the greatest 
importance will be discovered in the archi- 
pelago. Indeed it is probable that in 
southeastern Asia or in the adjacent in- 
sular regions the remains of fossil man will 
be found. The discovery of bones of Pithe- 
canthropus erectus, that strange ape-like 
man or man-like ape, in the Pliocene for- 
mation of the Island of Java, leads to the 
expectation that systematic research in the 
deposits marking the beginning of the Qua- 
ternary period in the Philippines will yield 
the remains and probably the works of 
man, and thus throw light on the subject 
of early man in Asia. The small amount 
of archeological research thus far accom- 
plished in the islands has already revealed 
evidence of an apparently aboriginal peo- 
ple differing from the Negritos. 

This Negrito race of the islands, with 
its closest affinities on the Malay Peninsula 
and the Andaman Islands, offers a problem 
of exceeding interest and scientific impor- 
tance. Where did this Negrito race orig- 
inate? Is it a distinct primitive type that 
has persisted in the outlying regions of the 
Asiatic continent? or is it a differentiated 
branch of a widely extended primitive race 
or species of man? These and other im- 
portant questions may not improbably be 
answered by an extended anthropological 
survey of the Philippines. 

Linguistic studies of the widest scope 
should be pursued on the islands. The 
myths and folk-lore of the various tribes 
should receive the attention now demanded 
by the requirements of science. Collections 


768 


of archeological material also should be se- 
cured as a means of studying the early 
status of man on the islands; and the effect 
that the later intrusions have had on the 
aboriginal peoples ought to be ascertained 
by a thorough study of the customs, arts 
and mental characteristics of the many and 
diversified tribes. 

Knowledge of these matters is essential 
in order that the proper method of dealing 
with the natives may be determined. The 
honor of the United States demands that 
every means be taken to avoid mistakes of 
ignorance in dealing with the vast and 
relatively helpless population of these 
islands. This first attempt of the United 
States to bring alien races of the tropics 
into the fold of Anglo-Saxon civilization 
should be guided by strictly scientific data 
and principles. This necessitates, first, 
thorough knowledge of the peoples to be 
assisted, and then measures which accord 
with their various customs and their capa- 
bilities. Only a thoroughly scientific an- 
thropological survey can provide the in- 
formation required for the attainment of 
enlightenment and humane results. 

11. Collections and Their Disposition.— 
Each special survey should cooperate as 
far as practicable with other branches of 
the service in the collection of specimens, 
and be ready to afford them all facilities 
not incompatible with its own efficiency. 

The specimens collected will be the prop- 
erty of the United States. The first series, 
including all type specimens, should be de- 
posited in the United States National Mu- 
seum. A series of duplicates should be 
deposited in a local museum in the Philip- 
pines, such museum to be designated by the 
Philippine Commission. Other duplicates, 
if there be any, should be distributed to 
such leading museums, desiring collections 
of this character, as by reason of perma- 
nent endowments are able properly to care 
for and preserve the specimens. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 542, 


12. Comparative Studies in Adjacent 
Islands.—For the purposes of the contem- 
plated surveys Malaysia as a whole consti- 
tutes a convenient geological and biological 
province. <A very large amount of valu- 
able scientific investigation has been ac- 
complished in other portions of Malaysia, 
particularly by Dutch geologists and nat- 
uralists. Some of the questions arising in 
the Philippines can not be satisfactorily 
settled without comparison of the occur- 
rences in the archipelago with those in ad- 
jacent islands. Hence this committee is 
of opinion that general permission should 
be granted to the scientific surveys of the 
Philippine Islands to send observers, from 
time to time and for brief periods, to neigh- 
boring islands for the purpose of making 
comparative studies. Great saving of time 
and great increase in efficiency would re- 
sult from such a provision. 

13. Administration.—The scientific his- 
tory of the United States during the last 
fifty years demonstrates the value of unifi- 
cation and systematic organization in such 
surveys as are contemplated in this report. 
The state geological surveys were manned 
by able and industrious observers, but 
there was a lack of unity of method and a 
lack of unity of aim, which made it nearly 
impossible to correlate their results. No 
one familiar with the subject will question 
the statement that the country as well as 
the science of geology has profited by the 
extension of the United States Geological 
Survey over the entire country. The na- 
tional scientific bureaus have, laboriously 
and after long experience, developed meth- 
ods of work and staffs of assistants which 
are at least equal to any in the world. To 
develop in the Philippines a separate set of 
similar bureaus would require much time 
and loss of time. Nor would employment 
in such bureaus be attractive; for pro- 
longed service in the tropies is so trying 
to most constitutions that the number of 


- 


May 19, 1905.] 


competent men willing to accept perma- 
nent positions there will probably not ex- 
ceed the demand of the insular adminis- 
trative bureaus to which reference has been 
made in a preceding paragraph. On the 
other hand, there seems no essential diffi- 
culty in embracing this area, like any other 
territory of the United States, in the fields 
occupied by existing national bureaus. 
Members of these organizations would be 
willing to be detailed for two or three years 
to so interesting a region as the Philippine 
Islands, with the prospect of resuming 
duty at home. 

In order to secure cooperation and to 
preserve due proportions between the vari- 
ous surveys under the charge of the na- 
tional bureaus, to arrange for suitable 
forms of publication of reports, prepare 
estimates, recommend legislation, deter- 
mine upon the system of measurements, 
and to settle other questions of common 
interest, there must be frequent consulta- 
tions in Washington between the represen- 
tatives of the various branches of the work. 
For this purpose it is suggested that a 
board of Philippine surveys be created and 
put in charge of the work. It is manifestly 
of the utmost importance that such a board 
should be composed exclusively of eminent 
scientific experts, who alone are competent 
to direct the work. For administrative 
reasons it is essential that the board should 
consist of officers selected from the national 
scientific bureaus, and in the opinion of the 
committee these should be: 


Superintendent of United States Coast and 
Geodetic Survey. 

Director of United States Geological Survey. 

Chief of United States Biological Survey. 

Botanist of United States Department of Agri- 
culture. 

Chief of Bureau of Forestry. 

Chief of Scientific Staff of Fish Commission. 

Chief of Bureau of American Ethnology. 


From these members one should be ap- 
pointed chairman by the President, with 


SCIENCE. 


769 


the consent of the Senate, and the chair- 
man should report to the President. There 
are precedents for such an organization in 
the Smithsonian Institution and in the 
boards of commissioners appointed to rep- 
resent the government at various exposi- 
tions. 

The chief necessary expense of such a 
board would be a very moderate sum for 
clerical assistance; but it would probably 
be expedient and economical for the board 
to employ an officer, to be stationed at 
Manila, to perform functions analogous to 
those of quartermaster and commissary for 
all field parties, which will have many ma- 
terial wants in common. 

While the methods of work and the selec- 
tion of men should be left to the chiefs of 
the national scientific bureaus, viz., the 
members of the Board of Philippine Sur- 
veys, much latitude must be allowed the 
officers in charge of field work in so remote 
and exceptional a region as the Philippine 
Islands. On the other hand, if these offi- 
cers are left entirely to their own judg- 
ment as to areas in which work is to be 
done in any given season, and as to the 
amount of detail requisite, there will be 
danger of lack of harmony in the results 
and delay in the progress of the work. To 
insure cooperation and to avoid duplication 
in the field work the following plan is sug- 
gested : 

Let a scientific council be created in 
the Philippine Islands, presided over by a 
member of the Philippine Commission, to 
consist of the chief field officers of the 
several scientific bureaus present in the 
islands, as follows: 

One geodesist, designated by the superintendent 
of the Coast Survey. 

One hydrographer, designated by the superin- 
tendent of the Coast Survey. 

One topographer, designated by the director of 
the Geological Survey. 


One geologist, designated by the director of the 
Geological Survey. 


770 


One zoologist, designated by the chief of the 
Biological Survey. 

One botanist, designated by the botanist of the 
Department of Agriculture. 

One forester, designated by the chief of the 
Bureau of Forestry. 

One anthropologist, designated by the chief of 
the Bureau of American Ethnology. 


with whom should be associated one officer 
of Engineers, U. S. A., and one naval 
officer. Let this council meet once each 
year, for example, towards the close of the 
rainy season, and decide, in the interests 
of the Philippine surveys as a whole, what 
areas each bureau shall take up during the 
ensuing season, and with what degree of 
detail. It is believed that such a council 
would deal satisfactorily with all matters 
which might come before it, without lack 
of due regard to the expert opinions of the 
chief officers affected. In case of dissatis- 
faction, however, an appeal might be al- 
lowed to the governor-general. The find- 
ings of the council should be regularly 
reported to the Board of Philippine Sur- 
veys in Washington. 

14. Aid from Army and Navy.—Except 
at the largest towns, it is seldom possible 
in the Philippines to obtain clothing or 
food such as Americans are accustomed to, 
and transportation facilities are very lim- 
ited. For this reason it is recommended 
that the officers of the scientific surveys be 
granted permission to purchase supplies at 
military depots, such as army posts and 
naval vessels, and to avail themselves of 
opportunities of transportation on vessels 
attached to either service when such ac- 
commodation can be afforded without 
detriment to the military service. 

15. Cost and Time.—This committee is 
not in a position to offer estimates of the 
cost of Philippine surveys. These could 
be easily furnished by the chief officers of 
the various scientific bureaus. It is be- 
lieved, however, that with a moderate num- 
ber of parties in each branch, under the 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXT. No. 542. 


system of cooperation recommended in this 
report, nearly all the work of exploration 
outlined above would be completed in a 
period of ten years, including charts, topo- 
graphical maps and geological maps. 

16. Order of Importance.—Should it be 
impracticable to organize the entire system 
of surveys simultaneously, it is recom- 
mended that they receive attention in the 
following order: 

Coast and geodetic work and marine hydrog- 
raphy. 

Land topography, including surveys and classi- 
fication of the public lands. 

Geology and mineral resources. 

Botany. 

Systematic forestry. 

Zoology. 

Anthropology. 

This report was adopted by the commit- 
tee on February 7, 1903. 

Witu1am H. Brewer, 
Chairman. 

GrorcE F. BEcKEr, 
Secretary. 

C. Hart Merriam. 

F. W. Putnam. 

R. S. Woopwarp. 


ANTHROPOLOGY AND ITS LARGER 
PROBLEMS. 

YOUNGEST in the sisterhood of sciences, 
anthropology borrows principles and meth- 
ods from all the older branches of knowl- 
edge; and her first problem—a problem 
renewed with each step of advance and 
hence endless as the problem of quarry to 
the huntsman or of crop to the planter— 
is that of determining her own relations in 
the realm of knowledge, her own place and 
powers in the intellectual world. 

Viewed in the light of history, it is no 
accident that anthropology is the youngest 
of the sciences; for it is the way of knowl- 
edge to begin with the remote and come 
down to the near—to start with the stars, 
linger amid the mountains, rest awhile 


May 19, 1905.] 


among rare gems, and only slowly approach 
such commonplace things as plants and 
animals and soils, to end at last with man. 
How growing knowledge has pursued paths 
leading from the remote to the near, from 
the rare to the common, from the abnormal 
to the normal, from the unreal to the real, 
from wonder to wisdom—indeed, from 
chaos to cosmos and from star to man—all 
this is history; why these paths have been 
pursued may well remain a problem until 
more is known of the constitution of the 
human brain and of the laws of mind. 
Yet, viewed in the light of the relations 
among the sciences, it is no mere chance 
that the science of man rises from the hip 
and shoulder and head of the elder-sister 
sciences, as the family infant is borne by 
primitive folk; for the sciences have come 
up, just as the cosmos seems to have de- 
veloped, in an order of increasing com- 
plexity. The stellar bodies are interrelated 
through gravity and various forms of molar 
force which may be combined under the 
term molarity; and astronomy in its earlier, 
form was the science of these relations. 
As the planets took shape (whether through 
nebular integration or through planetisimal 
ageregation) chemical reactions became 
paramount over mechanical relations, and 
affinity was superadded to molarity; and 
in a parallel order chemistry was added to 
astronomy in the growth of knowledge. 
When our planet was encrusted and the 
great deeps were divided into sea and land, 
hfe appeared; and thereby vitality was 
superadded to affinity, and, concordantly, 
as knowledge grew, the biotie sciences fol- 
lowed the more exactly quantitative earlier 
branches. In cosmic time animal activity 
followed hard on more inert vegetal life, 
and motility was superadded to vitality; 
and in human time animals were domes- 
ticated soon after plants were cultivated, 
while zoology grew up nearly apace with 
phytology. As the earth aged into conti- 


SCIENCE. 7 


om | 
jot 


nental and seasonal steadiness and the 
struggle for organic existence grew strenu- 
ous, more and more of the battles were lost 
to the strong and the races to the swift, and 
were won by the intelligent, and thereby 
mentality was superadded to vitality as a 
factor in earth history and man came to his 
own as a mind-led monarch over lower life 
and a progressive conqueror of the natural 
forces; and in like manner, as human his- 
tory matures, it records anthropology as 
the younger-kin of zoology. In a word, 
man, as the head and intellectual ruler over 
the realm of life, alone stands for all the 
fundamental forces of molarity plus affin- 
ity plus vitality plus motility plus men- 
tality, and is interrelated alike with sun 
and planet, agent and reagent, plant and 
seed, egg and animal, and with groups of 
his own kind; and in a word, the science 
of man is, more than any other branch of 
knowledge, interdependent with all the sis- 
ter sciences and more many-sided than any 
of the rest. 


THE SETTING OF THE SCIENCE. 


The scriptless nomads of the human 
prime (and of many lands) set their 
journeys by the stars and enshrined their 
beastly deities in the visible firmament, 
and thus astrology set out on a course still 
traceable through constellations and planet- 
myths; at the same time these mnemonic 
devices of the sky were mated with equally 
imaginative symbols of every-day things, 
and as these grew into geometric designs 
and arbitrary characters, a system of alma- 
cabala—the earth-placed twin of sky-set 
astrology—took a course still marked by 
the ancient hieroglyphs of many lands. In 
the fulness of time (and primitive progress 
was tedious beyond telling) astronomy 
crew out of astrology as the first of the 
sciences, leaving a large residuum of myth- 
ology behind. In lke manner, and at 
about the same stage (7. e., about the birth- 


T72 


time of writing), algorithm and algebra 
came out of almacabala, leaving a residuum 
of black art and white magic, jugglery and 
enchantment; and as the algorithm grew 
into arithmetic and wizardly geomancy 
gave way to scholarly geometry, mathe- 
matics took shape as the complement of 
astronomy—and these sisters twain were 
nurses and teachers of all the younger sci- 
ences. Still the ealdron of inchoate knowl- 
edge boiled and bubbled with Macbethian 
pother, and the foul fumes of black magic 
long concealed the few germs of real knowl- 
edge shaped by the steady pressure of ac- 
tual experience—for this was the time of 
alchemy, whose slimy spume at last slipped 
away from chemistry, the third of the 
sciences. 

Astronomy led writing (as the constella- 
tions attest), while mathematics followed 
close on writing and records as its symbols 
show, and both belonged to what may be 
called the naissance of knowledge; chem- 
istry appeared during the same _ period, 
bearing the prophecy of physies caught by 
Archimedes, yet remained a helpless weak- 
ling—the foil and puppet of medievalism 
—throughout the whole of the dark ages; 
but during the renaissance the trio of elder 
sciences gained strength together and as- 
sumed lasting dominion over the realm of 
knowledge. Because their birth dates back 
to or beyond the beginning of records, the 
early stages of these sciences are imperfect- 
ly written; but the youngest science, an- 
thropology, buys methods and principles 
from the more exact elders and pays amply 
in coin of history—for by tracing the ca- 
reers of later-born or slower-grown folk 
and cults, anthropologists learn to retrace 
the lost steps in the careers of ancestral 
peoples and early cultures. Here lie some 
of the relations between anthropology and 
the elder sciences; she receives exact meth- 
ods tested by millenniums of experience, 
and gives interpretations of the ideas and 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


motives, the arts and accomplishments, the 
modes of thought and the stages of progress 
of the earliest science-makers. Astrcnomy 
and mathematics and chemistry are sys- 
tems of knowledge produced by men and 
minds, anthropology is systematic knowl- 
edge of these producers; and neither the 
old sciences nor the new can be rendered 
complete and stable without the support of 
the others. 

The science of sentient man—of man as 
a thinking and collective organism—helps 
to illumine the dark ages no less than the 
naissance of knowledge; and at the same 
time it sheds new light on the origin of 
that group of modern sciences of which it 
is itself the youngest. The early period of 
intellectual activity in Babylon and Alex- 
andria, Athens and Rome, may be likened 
to the blossoming of a plant in spring-time; 
it was the summing and outshowing of a 
mentality shaped during uncounted genera- 
tions of experience along definite lines, in 
environments of distinctive sort—and the 
blossoming was fuller of promise than the 
ancients dreamed. Then came the ages 
that were dark because energy was diverted 
to new lines; for leaders of thought gave 
way to leaders of action, and these be- 
came pioneers in new environments where 
threads of new experience had to be spun 
from the lives of generations before they 
could be woven into the fabrie of knowl- 
edge. The forefathers of the joimt found- 
ers of scholasticism and science lived win- 
terless lives in sunny lands, and the early 
science reveals an elysian tinge; while the 
ancestry of the makers of modern (or nat- 
ural) science spent their force in conquer- 
ing woodlands and wood-life in cloudy 
and wet and long-wintered Europe, and 
their efforts finally yielded a harder and 
more practical product than that of the 
earlier and easier time. During the nature- 
conquest of a millennium and more, the 
ideals of the elder masters seemed lost in a 


May 19, 1905.] 


survival of astrology and alchemy, a sur- 
vival so well recorded in growing lterature 
as to simulate a revival; yet the sense of 
the reality of things gained strength by 
exercise in the ceaseless contact with na- 
ture, while the oft-told magic was relegated 
to beldams and crones rather than reserved 
for rulers and high-priests as of old. The 
Renaissance revealed the influence of these 
centuries of nature-conquest and nation- 
planting which made the Europe of his- 
tory; and its dawn showed that the seat of 
highest intellectual activity had slipped in 
the darkness from the sensuous shores of 
the eastern Mediterranean to the remote 
and rugged lands in which the world’s 
richest blood and ripest culture were blent 
and pent against northern seas. The closest 
concentration of human strength was in 
Britain, the uttermost goal of conquest, the 
last resting-place of the conquerors of con- 
querors, where Cesar might have wept for 
worlds like Alexander long before; and 
here modern science began with Francis 
Bacon (1561-1626) as expounder. The 
Britainian Renaissance coming so long 
after the Mediterranean Naissance may be 
likened to the ripe-fruiting-of a plant in 
autumn; for it followed the vernal blos- 
soming after a tedious interval of scarce- 
seen growth. 

With the ‘Novum Organum’ of Bacon, 
the last vestige of magic and mysticism fell 
away from the body of real knowledge; for 
not only was the practicality of centuries 
summed in the new system, but its author 
saw more clearly than any predecessor the 
relation between the thinker and his 
thought, between the human mind and the 
rest of nature—he perceived that ‘Man 
* * * does and understands as much as 
his observations on the order of nature 
* * * permit him, and neither knows nor 
is capable of more.’ On this and kindred 
verities he built a foundation for all the 
sciences, for the unwittingly-wandering 


SCIENCE. 


778 


elders as well as for those yet unborn, even 
down to anthropology—though this part of 
the foundation lay unused for three cen- 
turies. Bacon’s influence on contemporary 
and later thought was steady, albeit slow- 
felt ; for his school was a normal by-product 
of the making of Europe, and he was the 
exponent of principles themselves the prod- 
uct of the world’s most significant chapter 
in human development. True, the next 
epoch was opened by a son of southern 
shores and a devotee of the oldest science 
when Galileo (1564-1602) saw the sun- 
centered order of the solar system; yet it 
was left to English Newton (1642-1727) 
to shape the epoch and systemize all astron- 
omy by a law of gravitation based on com- 
monplace observation, while the third epoch 
of modern science came with Linné (1707— 
1778), like Bacon and Newton a product 
of the harsh northland and an exponent of 
practical experience, who led conscious see- 
ing down from the stars to the plants and 
animals of daily knowledge. Of all the 
world’s thinkers Linné would seem second 
only to Bacon in originality, if that quality 
be measured by grasp of realities; and 
while his system was crude, especially in 
relation to animals, his gift of phytology 
(or botany) enriched knowledge and 
opened the way for the rest of the natural 
sciences. Linné, the Swede, was soon fol- 
lowed by Hutton, the Seot (1726-1797), 
with a practical science of the rocks long 
contested by Werner, the German (1750- 
1817), under a theory smacking of Alex- 
andria and Athens; but the sturdy English 
quarryman, William Smith (1769-1839), 
successfully supported his northern neigh- 
bor until his countryman, Lyell (1797- 
1875), came up to make geology a science. 
The influence of these sons of woodland 
and wold extended rapidly and widely, 
rooting readily in the fertile minds of their 
kinsmen, while the printing-press spread 
the stimulus of their work over all Europe 


774 SCIENCE. 


and unified the knowledge of the nations. 

The next act attested the blending of the 
ancient and the modern, of Athenian and 
Anglican, of Aristotelian and Baconian, of 
the southern and the northern, and the 
scene was the middle ground of France. 
There Lavoisier (1743-1794) applied mod- 
ern practicalness to chemistry, and discov- 
ered the indestructibility of matter; La- 
marek (1744-1829) sought to amend the 
Linnean system, yet pushed too far in ad- 
vance of observation (and his times) for 
full following; and the brothers Cuvier 
(1769-1838) so improved on Linné as to 
give form and substance to zoology, and 
incidentally to presage anthropology. These 
movements led up to the distinctively nine- 
teenth-century stage, and a renewed pulse 
of British activity; Joule and others meas- 
ured the mechanical equivalent of heat and 
experimentally demonstrated the persist- 
ence of motion, and so founded physics; 
by masterly observation and comparison, 
Darwin defined the development of species 
(ineluding man), thus infusing the blood 
of life into the Linnean system; Huxley 
and Tyndall simplified all science by estab- 
lishing the uniformity of nature; and at 
last American scions of Anglican sires in- 
dependently discovered through anthropol- 
ogic observation that the minds of all men 
of corresponding culture-grade respond 
similarly to similar stimuli, thereby prov- 
ing the soundness and completeness of the 
Baconian foundation of knowledge. The 
four laws of nature established in western 
Europe—the indestructibility of matter, 
the persistence of motion, the development 
of species and the uniformity of nature— 
are, in fact, complementary to the law fore- 
east by Bacon and applied in America three 
centuries later as the responsivity of mind; 
and the five laws are the cardinal principles 
of science. It is curious that while Bacon’s 
view of the mind as a faithful reflex of 
other nature colored and shaped the prog- 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


ress of science through the centuries (for 
how could Lavosier, or Joule, or Darwin, 
or Huxley repose confidence in their ob- 
servations without resting even greater con- 
fidence on the accuracy of the observing 
mechanism ?), the Baconian law lay in the 
background of thought without conscious 
expression (despite daily subconscious use) 
from the dawn of the seventeenth century 
down to the last quarter of the nineteenth. 
How the law was neglected is the history 
of modern science read between-lines; why 
it was neglected until the science of sentient 
man arose to rediscover it is a present prob- 
lem for those anthropologists whose sym- 
pathies and interests cover the full field of 
human knowledge. 

Howsoever the three-century eclipse of 
Bacon’s fundamental law be interpreted, 
the history of science stands out sharp and 
clear when viewed in the light of anthro- 
pology: There were two great movements, 
the naissance in the east Mediterranean 
region, and the renaissance commonly 
eredited to the Mediterranean countries but 
really made in the North Sea region; each 
comprised a long interval of accumulation 
of experience and a briefer time of formula- 
tion of knowledge; in each the formulated 
knowledge faithfully expressed the habits 
and characters of leading thinkers of the 
times; and the modern movement reached 
the commonplace thing of every-day life 
in such wise as to render science a devoted 
handmaid rather than a remoter deess, a 
means of welfare rather than an end of as- 
piration. The anthropologist feels that 
the comprehensiveness of the ancient and 
the practicalness of the modern unite in 
his science, which (despite the narrow 
definitions of earlier decades) is that of 
mind-controlled man, the dominant power 
of the visible world, the science-maker as 
well as the subject of science. 

Such are a few of the relations of an- 
thropology to the sister sciences, a few of 


May 19, 1905.] 


the ways in which the science of sentient 
man touches the sum of human knowledge; 
to catalogue all would be an interminable 
task. 

THE RISE OF ANTHROPOLOGY. 

When the science of man grew up in the 
North Sea region, it was at first little more 
than a branch of zoology, and its makers 
busied themselves with features of the hu- 
man frame corresponding to those of lower 
animals; comparative anatomy was culti- 
vated with assiduity and profit, anthro- 
pometry flourished, and mankind were ap- 
portioned into races defined by color of 
skin, curl of hair, slant of eyes, shape of 
head, length of limb, and other structural 
characters—i. e., the methods and prin- 
ciples of zoology were projected into the 
realm of humanity. It was during this 
stage that homologies between human struc- 
tures and those of lower animals were es- 
tablished in such wise as to convince at- 
tentive students that mankind must be 
reckoned as the ennobled progeny of lower 
ancestry; true, the conviction grew slowly 
against the instinctive antagonism of the 
investigators themselves and the less effect- 
ive (though louder) protests of contem- 
poraries, yet the growth was so sure that 
the question of the ascent of man is no 
longer a problem in anthropology. Mean- 
time the masters—and here Huxley and 
Darwin must always rank—gave first 
thought to normal and typir: organisms; 
their disciples followed the same commend- 
able course, and as other lines of man-study 
opened they called their work physical 
anthropology. One of the collateral lines 
reverted to the abnormal (in which knowl- 
edge commonly begins) and recurved to- 
ward the Mediterranean (where the influ- 
ence of Alexandria and Athens lingers 
still) to mature in criminal anthropology— 
the science of abnormal man; another line 
led through prehistoric relies to archeology, 
and still another stretched out to the habits 


SCIENCE. 775 


and customs of primitive peoples, and 
eventually to comparison of these with the 
usages and institutions of civilized life. 
The last of these lines was laid out in 
Britain largely by Tylor, and was pur- 
sued in Germany and other European coun- 
tries as general anthropology, ethnography, 
anthropogeography, ete. 

Even before this growth began, a devel- 
opment not unlike that accompanying the 
making of Europe (save that the progress 
was more rapid) was under way in Amer- 
ica; for the pioneers not only pushed out 
into their wilderness lke their forebears of 
generations gone, but faced the novel ex- 
periment of life in contact with savage or. 
barbaric tribes. To this new stimulus their 
vigorous minds responded promptly; the 
daily experiences were quickly flocked on 
distaffs of thought, spun into threads of 
knowledge, and duly woven inté a web of 
practical science—a fabric no less inde- 
pendent in the making than that of Bacon 
in his day. Notable among the American 
pioneers was Albert Gallatin (1761-1849), 
statesman and scientist; he not only per- 
ceived, like his fellows, that the color and 
stature and head-shape of tribesmen were 
of trifling consequence in contrast with 
their actions and motives, but that the in- 
dex to their real nature was to be found 
in what they habitually did; and he sum- 
med American experience up to his time in 
a preliminary classification of the native 
tribes on the basis of language. This ad- 
vance marked an epoch in science no less 
important than that of Linné; true, it was 
not minted at a stroke nor finished without 
aid from others; yet Gallatin was the coin- 
er, and the rough-stamped system was his- 
tory’s most memorable essay toward the 
scientific arrangement of mankind by what 
they do rather than what they merely are. 
Later Morgan (1818-1881) extended prac- 
tical observation to the institutions of the 
aborigines in such wise as to found in- 


776 SCIENCE. 


ductive sociology ;* and still later Brinton 
(1837-1899) made noteworthy advances 
toward classifying the Amerinds (1. é., the 
native tribes) by their own crude philos- 
ophies, thus forecasting an inductive sci- 
ence now ealled sophiology. These ad- 
vances seem simple and easy in the light 
of present knowledge, and may look small 
to present backsight; yet in originality of 
work and boldness of conception they rank 
with the advances of Linné and Lavoisier— 
and be it remembered that they were not 
borrowed in any part, but bought at cost 
of the sweat and blood of often tragic ex- 
perience. The unprecedented practicalness 
of American anthropology is attested by 
the fact that while Morgan and Brinton 
still wrought (in 1879) a governmental 
bureau was created to continue the classi- 
fication of the native tribes; and its direc- 
tion was entrusted to Powell, a master able 
not merely to occupy, but greatly to extend, 
the foundation laid by Gallatin. Under 
this impetus the new science progressed 
apace; American students multiplied; ob- 
servations spread afar; each discovery pre- 
pared the way for others, and the new prin- 
ciples opened to scientific view the entire 
field of the humanities—that field afore- 
time claimed on one side by scholastic and 
statist, and held on the other by devotees 
of poesy and romance. The growing knowl- 
edge bridged the seas and the Powellian 
product blent with that of Tylor (both 
profiting by the experience of British 
India), and pushed on to several conti- 
nental centers during the last two decades 
of the nineteenth century. 

Toward the close of the old century, 
what may be called the kinetic and collect- 
ive characters of humanity were brought 
out clearly and the American aborigines 


*The speculative sociology of Auguste Comte 
(1793-1857) and the semi-speculative system of 
Herbert Spencer are to be noted merely as stand- 
ing on somewhat distinct bases. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


(with other peoples as well) were defined 
by the activities, 1. e., by what they do, and 
this collectively—for in the realm of hu- 
manity no one lives to himself alone, but 
all are jomed in twos and larger groups. 
Now it can not be too strongly emphasized 
that the basis of this definition differs fun- 
damentally and absolutely from that of any 
other science; for all other entities—stars 
and planets, molecules and ions, minerals 
and rocks, plants and animals—are defined 
by what they are (perhaps measurably by 
the way in which they respond to external 
forces), while the humans are defined and 
classed by what they do spontaneously and 
voluntarily as self-moving and self-moved 
units or groups. Necessarily this view of 
humanity awakens inquiry as to why the 
human entity stands in a distinct class 
among the objects of nature; yet this is 
hardly a present problem, since the makers 
of modern anthropology find full answer 
in that unique nature-power lying behind 
the kinetic character of unit or group, viz., 
mentality. So in the last analysis the 
modern definitions of mankind are pri- 
marily psychic; and it matters ‘little 
whether men are classed by what they do 
or by what they think, save that doing is 
humanity’s largest heritage from lower an- 
cestry and hence precedes thinking—the 
essential point is that the practically scien- 
tifie classification of mankind must rest on 
a kinetic basis, 7. e., on self-developed and 
self-regulated conduct. 

Of late -the activities themselves are 
srouped as arts, industries, laws, languages 
and philosophies, and each group consti- 
tutes the object-matter of a sub-science, 
thus giving form to esthetology, technology, 
sociology, philology and sophiology; and 
these (together called demonomy, or prin- 
ciples of peoples), with somatology and 
psychology, make up the field of fin-de- 
siécle anthropology—the last two corre- 
sponding, respectively, with the physical 


May 19, 1905.] 


anthropology of most European schools and 
the strictly inductive mind-science of cur- 
rent American schools, while the first two 
include archeology as their prehistoric as- 
pects. These outlines and partitions of the 
groups are essential, although in actual in- 
terest they lie beneath the full fruitage of 
the field as a wire-hung skeleton les below 
the sentient body athrob with vitality and 
athrill with consciousness of power over 
lower, nature. This fruitage is too large 
and luxuriant for ready listing; it need 
now be noted only that, in the modern an- 
thropology sometimes styled the new eth- 
nology, the peoples of the world are not 
divided into races (save, perhaps, in sec- 
ondary and doubtful fashion), but grouped 
in culture-grades, and that these culture- 
grades are of special use and meaning in 
that they correspond with the great stages 
of human progress from the lowly and un- 
written prime to the brightness of human- 
ity’s present. 

The culture-grades (and progress-stages ) 
may be defined in terms of arts or of indus- 
tries, of law, of languages or of philos- 
ophies, and the definitions will coincide so 
closely as to establish the soundness of the 
system, though it is customary to define 
them in terms primarily of law (or social 
organization) and secondarily of faith or 
philosophy. So defined the grades (and 
stages) are: (1) savagery, in which the so- 
cial organization is based on kinship traced 
in the maternal line, while the beliefs are 
zootheistic; (2) patriarchy or barbarism, 
in which the law is based on real or as- 
sumed kinship traced in the paternal line, 
and in which belief spreads into pantheons 
including impressive nature-objects as well 
as beasts; (3) civilization, in which the 
laws relate mainly to tenure of territorial 
and other proprietary rights, while the phi- 
losophies grow metaphysical and the beliefs 
spiritual; and (4) enlightenment, in which 
the law rests on the right of the individual 


SCIENCE. wee 


to life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- 
ness, and in which the philosophy is scien- 
tific or rational, while the faiths grow per- 
sonal and operate as moral forces. The 
peculiar excellencies of this classification 
lhe in its simplicity, and in the fidelity with 
which it reflects the unique nature-power 
lying behind the kinetic character of the 
human entity, 2. e., mentality; for, in the 
last analysis, the stages but portray and 
measure the normal growth of knowledge. 
Thereby the system sets milestones in the 
path of human progress, in numbers suffi- 
cient to outline its trend with satisfactory 
certainty; and it is especially notable that 
this trend is from the lower toward the 
higher with respect to every distinctively 
human attribute. 

So anthropology came up, chiefly on the 
western hemisphere and under the stimulus 
of unique and strenuous experiences; and 
so it has assumed form and substance and 
spread widely over the world during two 
decades past. Viewed from its own high 
plane, the growth of the science presents 
no puzzling problem; yet, since no mind 
leaps lightly from classification on a static 
basis (as in somatology and its parent 
zoology) to classification on a kinetic basis 
(as in demonomy), the modern aspects of 
the science are full of problems to some 
students. 


PROBLEMS OF CLASSIFICATION. 


While the essential characters of man- 
kind reside in mind-shaped activities, it 
remains true that the mental mechanism is 
planted in a physical structure derived 
from lower ancestry by uncounted genera- 
tions of development; and the problem as 
to the weight properly assignable to hered- 
itary structural characters in classifying 
men and peoples remains, in many minds, 
a burning one. As an academic problem, 
this may be said to distinguish the new 
anthropology from the old, and to divide 


778 


the anthropologists of the day into oppos- 
ing schools, one chiefly American, the other 
chiefly European; as a practical problem 
of applied science, it has already engaged 
the attention of the world’s leading states- 
men (most of them approaching it empiric- 
ally under the law that doing precedes 
thinking) and, with such help as they have 
been able to secure from science, they have 
solved it to their satisfaction, and have de- 
clared in numberless constitutional and 
statutory provisions that red and black, if 
not yellow, men share with whites the po- 
tency (at least) of enlightened citizenship, 
and should be led and aided and educated 
toward that goal despite the handicap of 
heredity. Here the highest statecraft and 
the most advanced anthropology strike 
hands; the statesman argues from his own 
experience that lowly men may be raised 
up, and hence that it were heartless to 
strike them down; the scientist but sums 
more numerous observations when he 
traces the upward trend of humanity; and 
both stand firmly on the rock of experi- 
ential knowledge. True, practical ques- 
tions involved in the general problem are 
constantly arising: Can the Apache at San 
Carlos best be led toward citizenship by 
penalties for misdeeds, by rewards for 
righteousness, or by a combination of the 
two? Does the hereditary structure of the 
Negrito of interior Luzon debar him from 
hope of free citizenship, including that 
rectitude of conduct and nobility of im- 
pulse which free citizenship requires? Can 
the fellahin of Egypt be lifted from the 
plane of subjection to despotism to that of 
intelligent loyalty as royal subjects? Will 
the educational qualification in Maryland 
elevate the franchise? These are among 
the multifarious and ever-rising questions 
involved in the problem; and while the old 
anthropology stands aloof, they are receiv- 
ing yearly solution at the hands of modern 


science and modern statecraft. Fortunate- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


ly, this present problem of anthropology is 
no less practical than were those confront- 
ing pioneer Puritans and Cavaliers in an 
earlier century, and like those it must be 
wrought out through living experience; 
still more fortunately, the chief factors in 
the problem are now grasped by students 
taught in the severe school of the settlers— 
grasped so firmly that little remains undone 
save the bringing up of loiterers who linger 
in the haze of half-knowledge and harken 
idly to bookish echoes of simpler science. 
Connected with this problem is another 
no less burning: Does the mental mechan- 
ism of mankind react on physical structure 
in such wise as to control the development 
of individuals and types? As an academic 
problem this is well-nigh lost in the dust 
of ill-aimed discussion (relating to the 
hereditability of acquired characters and 2 
dozen other points) which it were indis- 
ereet to stir; yet half an eye can see 
that, whatsoever pedagogues proclaim, the 
pupils are building bone and muscle, in- 
ereasing strength and stature, and mani- 
festly promoting brain-power and prolong- 
ing life by judicious regimen. As a prac- 
tical problem this might be passed over, 
since the world’s leading millions are so 
well advanced in doing that thinking may 
be trusted to follow duly (perchance soon 
enough to let the masters learn the lessons. 
their pupils live), were it not for the ever- 
rising ancillary questions as to rate and 
trend of the progress. Thus, mean length 
of life, or viability, is increasing, especially 
among more advanced peoples, who lve 
longer in proportion to their advancement; 
yet, although Mansfield Merriman com- 
puted a few years ago that the median age 
of Americans has gone up five years since 
1850, while the twelfth census reported 
that our mean age of death had advanced 
from 31.1 years to 35.2 years in a decade, 
it can not be said that the rate of increase 
is known—and still less are the factors of 


May 19, 1905.] 


increase (saving of infants, improved sani- 
tation, bettered hygiene, shortened hours 
and intensified stress of labor, enhanced 
enjoyment of life, and all the rest) sus- 
ceptible of statement in terms of definite 
quantity. The various questions of via- 
bility (than which no inquiries mean more 
to living men) are not to be answered 
through actuaries’ tables based on selected 
classes, valuable and suggestive as these 
tables are; they must be answered through 
health offices and census bureaus—and 
their pressing importance forms one of the 
strongest arguments in support of perman- 
ent census bureaus in this and other coun- 
tries. Thus, again, human strength is in- 
creasing, as suggested by the superior vigor 
and endurance found among advanced 
peoples and rising generations, and shown 
definitely by the constant breaking of 
athletic records; yet, while it is most sig- 
nificant that record-breaking progresses at 
an increasingly rapid rate (7. e., more rec- 
ords are broken during each decade than 
during the last), the rate of increase re- 
mains problematic. Similarly, that meas- 
ure of faculty expressed in coordination of 
mind and body is increasing, as shown by 
the ever-growing and never-failing ability 
of engineers, mechanicians, builders, elec- 
tricians and other specialists to master and 
command the strength-trying devices of 
modern times—locomotive and marine en- 
gine, dynamo and steam hammer, range- 
finder and machine-gun, and all the rest; 
yet both the rate and the factors of in- 
erease in human faculty remain in the 
realm of the unmeasured. These are but 
sample questions ancillary to the practical 
problem as to the reaction of function on 
structure; they merely suggest ways in 
which mind born of body in humanity’s 
prime is rising into dominion over fleshly 
organ and constitution, as well as over sub- 
human nature—and these ways remain for 
the future to trace. 


SCIENCE. 1719 


A related problem, although minor in it- 
self, has recently risen into. prominence 
through the impetus of importation over- 
sea; it is that of ‘degeneracy.’ The ob- 
servational data for the idea of human 
retrogression are apparently voluminous 
(though seen to be mainly of opposite 
meaning in the light of modern human 
knowledge) and the notion is by no means 
new; but the ratiocinative basis of the re- 
cent fad is obviously chaotic, e. g., in that 
an individual is classed as ‘degenerate’ by 
reason of the inheritance of ancestral char- 
acters, or in other words, because he is no 
better than his sire or grandsire. True, 
if normal man is rising to successively 
higher planes of physical and mental per- 
fection through constructive exercise, as 
modern anthropology so clearly indicates, 
the unfortunate who is no better than his 
ancestry is indeed below his proper place 
in the scheme of humanity—though not de- 
generate, but merely unregenerate (in non- 
ecclesiastical sense). It is also true that 
maleficent exercise may produce cumula- 
tive and apparently aberrant effects, just 
as does the beneficent exercise normal to 
mankind, the one yielding Nero and Billy 
the Kid as the other Shakespeare and 
Bacon, twin luminaries in intellectual his- 
tory; but its end is destruction, with the 
consequent elimination of the criminal, 
while its middle merely marks lower layers 
in the constantly ascending stream of hu- 
manity. Naturally a theme filling tomes 
and flooding lighter literature for years is 
too large for full analysis in a paragraph; 
it must suffice to note that the ‘degeneracy’ 
of the day was not unfitly characterized 
even so early as when aphorism foreran 
writing, and the proverb beginning ‘Put a 
beggar on horseback’ gained currency. The 
great facts are (1) that less vigorous indi- 
viduals fall short of the mean progress of 
their fellows in such wise as to get out of 
harmony with the institutions framed by 


780 


their leaders, and (2). that less vigorous 
peoples fall behind contemporary law- 
makers in such wise that their institutions 
are inferior to those of progressive nations; 
while under the conditions of modern life 
laggards. and leaders commingle so freely 
that the differences are emphasized and 
kept in mind. Nor are these differences 
slight or meaningless; they touch the very 
fiber of living and being so deeply that 
primal savages can not share the thought 
of those in any higher culture-stage, that 
barbaric serf and despot are wholly alien 
to subjects and citizens, and that subjects 
are out of place among citizens. So every 
advanced nation has its quota of aliens 
through foreign or ill-starred birth and de- 
fective culture, who can be lifted to the 
level of its institutions only through a re- 
generation extending to both body and 
mind, both work and thought—they are 
the mental and moral beggars of the com- 
munity who may not be trusted on horse- 
back, but only on the rear seat of the 
wagon. In truth, standards are rising so 
rapidly that the lower half find it hard to 
keep up. 

In one aspect the problem of the unre- 
generate is ever pressing, since knowledge 
is not yet a birthright (save in the promis- 
ing germ of instinct) among human scions 
of lower ancestry; but even in this aspect 
a progressive solution is wrought with ever- 
increasing success through public educa- 
tion. The most serious side of the prob- 
lem arises in the immigration or upgrowth 
of the unfit, who sometimes ferment in the 
unwholesome leaven of anarchy before edu- 
cation has time for perfect work; and this 
danger cries out for public action through 
the blood of both presidential and mon- 
archical martyrs to public duty. The mor- 
bid view imported by Nordau and his ilk 
demands little American notice, however 
large the problem in Europe; for under the 
stimulus of that personal freedom which 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


is the essence of enlightenment, normal 
exercise of mind and body springs spon- 
taneously, while hereditary disease, consti- 
tutional taint, idiocy, unhealthy diathesis, 
and all manner of transmissible abnormal- 
ities tend to wear themselves out, as our 
vital statistics sufficiently show. 

These are a few of the present problems 
of anthropology involved in classifications 
growling out of the dual nature of man- 
kind—the physical nature inherited from 
lowly ancestry and the mental nature (in 
all its protean aspects) built up through 
exercise during uncounted generations of 
functional development. They may seem 
irrelevant to that archaic anthropology 
which is content to define mankind by 
skulls of the dead; but they illustrate the 
living importance of that modern science 
which defines mankind by actions and 
thoughts, movements and motives. 

MEANING OF ACTIVITAL COINCIDENCES. 

About 1875 archeologists, and after them 
students of primitive folk still lving, be- 
came impressed with certain similarities 
among industrial and symbolic devices of 
remote regions. One of the widespread de- 
vices is the arrow; used commonly with the 
bow, sometimes with the atlatl or throwing- 
stick, and again as a dart projected by the 
hand alone, it has been found on every con- 
tinent and in nearly every primitive tribe. 
Another is a quadrate or cruciform symbol ; 
either in the form of a simple cross or in 
that of the cross with supplementary arms 
known as the swastika or fylfot, these sym- 
bols are common to Hurope, Asia, Africa, 
both Americas, and numerous _ islands, 
though they have not been found in Aus- 
tralasia. At the outset such devices were 
accepted as links in a chain of suppositious 
relationships, and as suggestions of com- 
mon origin of both devices and devisers; 
but as observations multiplied, the hypo- 
thetic chain broke beneath its own weight, 
for the few similarities were gainsaid and 


May 19, 1905.] 


far outweighed by numberless dissimilari- 
ties of a sort manifestly attesting inde- 
pendent development. About 1880 Powell 
summarized the observed resemblances and 
differences among devices, and showed that 
the former are to be regarded as coinci- 
dences due to the tendency of the human 
mind to respond to contact with external 
nature in a uniform way. A dozen years 
leter Brinton resumed the growing data 
and corroborated the Powellian conclusion ; 
and on extending the inquiry to institu- 
tions, forms of expression and types of 
opinion and belief (in which the coinci- 
denees are even more striking than in the 
material devices), he formulated a theory 
of ‘the unity of the human mind,’ in which 
he saw a suggestion that the mind was ex- 
traneous in origin, 2. e., impressed on man- 
kind from without—a view not unlike that 
long maintained by Alfred Russel Wallace. 
With the setting of the old century and 
the dawn of the new, the ever-multiplying 
facts were again reviewed, and the earlier 
generalizations were again sustained, but 
found to tell less than the whole story; 
for it was discovered that while minds of 
corresponding culture-grade commonly re- 
spond similarly to lke stimul, minds of 
other grades frequently respond differently 
—as when the savage eviscerates an enemy 
and devours his heart as food for courage, 
or. the barbarian immolates a widow on the 
bier of her spouse, or the budding christian 
lends himself to the tortures of the inquisi- 
tion, each reveling in his own righteousness 
and reprobating all the rest, though all are 
alike ghastly and obnoxious to enlightened 
thought. The new generalization rendered 
it easy to define the limits within which the 
responses of different minds to similar im- 
pressions may be expected to coincide; 
thereby it cleared away many of the anom- 
alies and apparent incongruities among the 
observed facts, thus strengthening the law 


SCIENCE. 


781 


of activital coincidences as first propound- 
ed. The introduction of a limiting term 
also rendered the law more specific; so 
that the sum of knowledge concerning the 
relations between mind and external nature 
may now be expressed in the proposition: 
Minds of corresponding culture-grades 
commonly respond similarly to like stimuli. 
By far the most important effect of the new 
generalization was the inevitable recogni- 
tion of a cumulative mind-growth in pass- 
ing from savagery to barbarism, thence to 
civilization, and on to enlightenment; for, 
in the first place, this recognition afforded 
a key to—indeed a full explanation of—the 
sequence of the culture-grades, while, in 
the second place, it showed forth the course 
of the world’s mental development as a 
growth no less natural than that of tree or 
shrub, originating within, conditioned by 
external environment, and not derived from 
any extraneous source. Thus the general- 
ization in 1900 of a quarter-century’s ob- 
servations on mankind brought empirical 
knowledge to the theoretical plane so mas- 
terfully projected by Bacon three centuries 
before—for it was he who first grasped the 
great concept that mind is at once product 
and mirror of other nature. 

Is the Baconian foundation for all sci- 
ence sound; is the most sweeping general- 
ization of anthropology safe? This prob- 
lem—for the two questions are but one— 
is the most important presented by the 
science of man, indeed by all science; for it 
threads the whole web of human knowl- 
edge, touches every human thought, tinc- 
tures every human hope, tinges every hu- 
man motive. True, it is too large for easy 
apprehension, too round for ready grasp, 
but it spans the world’s intellectual struc- 
ture from corner-stone to dome, and must 
sooner or later be wrought out personally 
(as are all problems in the end) by each 
rational being. 


782 


PROBLEMS OF DISTRIBUTION. 

Anthropology arose in Britain as a 
branch of biology fertilized by the doctrine 
of organic evolution; it grew up in a field 
of thought dominated by a tradition of 
human descent from a single pair and 
shaped by the habit of tracing nearer an- 
cestry to the worthier sires in otherwise 
neglected lmeage—and the coincidence of 
the doctrine of differentiation with re- 
vered tradition and honorable regard for 
honored sires led naturally to an assump- 
tion of monogenesis. The assumption 
spread and pervaded the writings and 
teachings of anthropologists trained in the 
biological school; it still prevails, and is 
still supported by the argument from biol- 
ogy, though Keane and others have balked 
at the corollary that wavy-haired white, 
kinky-haired black, straight-haired red, 
and variable-haired brown nestled in the 
same womb and suckled at the same breast. 
It is needful to note that the assumption, 
albeit perfectly ‘natural,’ is purely gra- 
tuitous, and that it is not sustained by a 
single fact in anthropology as a science of 
observed and observable actualities: the 
blacks are not growing blacker, the reds are 
not blushing redder, no new races are aris- 
ing, no old types are increasing in divers- 
ity; Graham Bell’s note of warning against 
the danger of a deaf race advertised a 
solitary definite suggestion of the forma- 
tion of a new human type, though even this 
seems to weaken with the lapse-of time; 
indeed, it ean not be too strongly empha- 
sized that, howsoever besetting and entic- 
ing the hypothesis of differentiation or 
diversification of Homo sapiens may be, it 
is absolutely without direct observational 
basis. 

When practical anthropology arose in 
America, it was seen by Gallatin and Mor- 
gan and other pioneers that languages and 
social usages tend to spread among con- 
tiguous tribes; and as Indian students ad- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 542. 


vanced it was perceived that the tendency 
toward activital interchange extended also 
to arts and industries and myths, and had, 
indeed, resulted in the development of 
powerful federations (somewhat miscalled 
‘nations’), such as the Iroquois League and 
the Dakota Confederacy. Meantime it 
was observed that the spontaneous inter- 
change of words and weapons, usages and 
utensils, with contiguous tribes was sooner 
or later accompanied by intermarriage, so 
that blood and culture blent together. Of 
course this observation merely reflected 
the unwitting experience of every genera- 
tion among every people in every land; 
but, made as it was under the stress of 
practical problems of polity and peace, it 
awakened consciousness—and the law of 
convergent development among mankind 
was grasped. Once realized, the law was 
found of wide application; it was per- 
ceived that black folk are not growing 
blacker, nor brown men browner, nor red 
tribesmen redder, but that (among other 
relations) some interchange of culture and 
blood begins with first contact and in- 
creases with time, until at least some of 
the leaven of the highest humanity per- 
vades the lump, while the ideals and stand- 
ards of all progress toward unity; it was 
perceived that the types of Homo sapiens 
(7. e., the ‘races’ of mankind) are not dif- 
ferentiating, but bent by that irresistible 
mimetic impulse which is the mainspring 
of elevation especially among the lower and 
measurably among the higher; it was per- 
ceived that culture is fertilized by contact 
with other culture more effectively than in 
any other fashion; and it was perceived 
that when the initial differences are not too 
great, blood fertilizes blood in such wise 
that the vigor of a people may be meas- 
ured by the complexity of their interwoven 
strains—that European yesterday and 
American to-day led and still lead the 
world because the blood of each streamed 


May 19, 1905.] 


up from a more varied group of vigorous 
sires than that of any earlier scion. The 
themes of culture-union and blood-blending 
are too broad and deep for treatment in a 
paragraph; yet it must be affirmed, with an 
emphasis which can hardly be made too 
strong, that these are the dominant factors 
of human development, and that this de- 
velopment, so far as actually observed, is 
always convergent, never divergent. 

Now it is a logical corollary of the law of 
convergent development that mankind were 
originally more diverse than now, and 
hence that there must have been several 
loci or centers of human origin; and this 
corollary leads to a theory of polygenesis, 
which has been much discussed during a 
decade or two. Some of the polygenesists, 
like Keane, are content with four original 
stocks, corresponding, respectively, to the 
white, black, brown and yellow ‘races’ of 
mankind (leaving the red man, or Amerind, 
to be interpreted perhaps as a migrated 
branch of the brown stock); others, like 
Powell, find it easier to think of an indefi- 
nitely large number of initial stocks and 
centers of development from a hypothetic 
prototype to the ‘human form divine’—a 
prototype represented, perhaps, in a par- 
ticular place by the famous fossil from 
Java, the Pithecanthropos erectus of Du- 
bois. The alternative hypothesis is that of 
the monogenesis assumed in the early days 
of man-science; and the choice—or adjust- 
ment—between these opposing views is one 
of the most prominent among the present 
problems of anthropology. The great facts 
are (1) that all known lines of human de- 
velopment are convergent forward and 
hence divergent backward, and (2) that all 
well-known lines of biotie (7%. e., sub-hu- 
man) development are divergent forward; 
how these incongruous lines are to be 
united across the dark chasm of that un- 
known time when man became man remains 


SCIENCE. 783 


a question, only made larger thus far by 
each advance of knowledge. 


THE PROBLEM OF HUMANITIZATION. 


To the comparative anatomist the gap 
between simian structure and human struc- 
ture was of little note even before it was 
divided by the Dubois discovery in Java; 
for the differences between higher apes and 
lower men are less than those between 
either, (1) lower and higher apes, or (2) 
lower and higher men. Yet to the sympa- 
thetic student of mankind these dead 
homologies are but unsatisfying husks— 
the great fact remains that even the lowest 
savage known to experience is haman—man 
—in attitude, mien, habits and intelligence, 
while even the highest apes are but bristly 
beasts. It were bootless to deny or decry 
the chasm separating the always human 
biped from the always beastly quadru- 
mane, since it is the broadest in the entire 
realm of nature as seen by those who ap- 
preciate humanity in its fulness. How the 
chasm was crossed, either in the one place 
and time required by monogenesis or in the 
many places and times demanded by poly- 
genesis, is a question of such moment as to 
rank among the great problems of anthro- 
pology until (if ever) the solution is 
wrought. A tentative solution has, indeed, 
been suggested in the modified form of 
mating which must have attended the as- 
sumption of the erect attitude; yet final 
solution awaits the future.* 


THE PROBLEM OF HUMAN ANTIQUITY. 

So long as the assumption of monogenesis 
prevailed, the question of the antiquity of 
man loomed large in the minds of students, 
while even under the hypothesis of poly- 
genesis the date (geological or historical) 
of advent of the earliest man is of no small 
interest. So the discussion of human an- 


*“The Trend of Human Progress,’ American 
Anthropologist, Vol. I., 1899, p. 418. 


784 


tiquity has grown into dozens of full vol- 
umes, hundreds of chapters and thousands 
of special papers, not to include the tens of 
thousands of ill-recorded scientific utter- 
ances and literal millions of press items. 
This vast lterature is not easily summed; 
it must suffice to say that the evidence 
seems to establish the existence of man in 
Asia and Europe and northern Africa dur- 
ing later Tertiary times, and thus before 
the glacial periods of the Pleistocene; but 
that the earliest Americans lagged behind, 
coming in probably before all the ice-peri- 
ods closed, possibly nearer the earlier than 
the latest. Despite the wealth of literature, 
there is a woeful dearth of definite knowl- 
edge concerning the date or dates of man’s 
appearance in different lands—and herein 
lies another of the present problems of 
anthropology. 

Such are some of the larger problems of 
anthropology, that youngest science whose 
field touches those of all the rest. The 
special problems are legion: those of gen- 
eral sort are at once problems of science 
and of statecraft, of the daily life and wel- 
fare of millions, of greatest good to the 
greatest number. Fortunately all are such 
as to be solved by the slow but sure proc- 
esses of observation and generalization; 
and it is especially pleasing to see—and to 
say—that these scientific processes are more 
steadily and successfully under way now 
than ever before. W J McGee. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


Post-mortem Pathology: A Manual of Post- 
mortem Examinations and the Interpreta- 
tions to be drawn therefrom. A Practical 
Treatise for Students and Practitioners. 
By Henry W. Carrett, A.M., M.D. Sec- 
ond revised and enlarged edition. Phila- 
delphia and London, J. B. Lippincott Co. 
1905. Pp. xii-+ 551. Copiously illustrated. 
Pathological anatomy as a control of clin- 

ical observation has formed, and to a large 

extent still forms, the main basis of our more 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


exact knowledge of disease. After the study 
of human anatomy had revealed to them the 
parts into which the body is divided, it was a 
very natural curiosity which prompted medical 
men to examine after death the bodies of hu- 
man beings who during life had manifested 
phenomena which deviated from the normal. 
Indeed, before the era of modern experi- 
mental inquiry developed in medicine, facts of 
normal and pathological physiology had for 
the most part to be reached through the com- 
bined results of clinical and post-mortem ob- 
servation. The discovery of the seat of dis- 
ease, it was believed, would be most helpful in 
leading to a knowledge of its cause; this idea 
was shared by Morgagni, the distinguished 
founder of the science of pathological anat- 
omy, as is evidenced by the title of his chief 
treatise: De sedibus et causis morborum per 
anatomen windagatis, and it was believed in 
by the great pathological anatomists, like John 
Hunter, who followed hin. 

At first, post-mortem pathology confined it- 
self largely to the determination of variations 
in the gross form, consistence, appearance and 
weight of the more conspicuous organs, but 
gradually this naked-eye study became ex- 
tended in a methodical way to all parts of the 
cadaver until to-day the macroscopic side alone 
of a completely performed autopsy has as- 
sumed formidable proportions. The micro- 
scopic study of pathological anatomy received 
a great impetus in the first half of the last 
century through the activities of the so-called 
pathological-anatomical school in France, the 
representatives of which, including Cruveil- 
hier, Chomel, Andral and Louis, maintained 
that one of the chief functions of the physi- 
cian consists of a search for pathological- 
anatomical alterations and of the investigation 
of the local products of disease; this view 
exerted an extraordinary influence in trans- 
forming the methods and theories of medical 
men. The tendency was transplanted by the 
celebrated Rokitansky to Vienna, where it was 
further developed. It reached its acme, how- 
ever, in the work of Virchow, who, passing 
from macroscopic studies to microscopic ex- 
aminations and taking advantage of the his- 
tological discoveries which were being made, 


May 19, 1905.] 


founded the so-called ‘cellular pathology,’ 
which refers all vital process, including the 
phenomena of disease, and all alterations of 
the organs and tissues, to the activity of the 
cells of which the body is composed. Maicro- 
scopic pathological anatomy has been enor- 
mously in vogue since the middle of the last 
century, and histological technique has grad- 
ually attained to a manifoldness and com- 
plexity which is nothing less than appalling. 

Still another phase of post-mortem pathol- 
ogy appeared when the relation of certain 
micro-organisms to the infectious diseases be- 
gan to be established. Following upon the 
discoveries of Pasteur and Koch, the methods 
of bacteriology were applied at autopsies and 
our knowledge of disease has, as every one 
knows, been notably forwarded through such 
application. American pathologists especially 
have insisted upon systematic routine bac- 
teriological examinations at autopsies. 

Finally, the chemical study of the organs 
and tissues at post-mortem examinations re- 
mains to be developed. Only the crudest of 
beginnings has been made thus far in this 
direction; the whole field is as yet practically 
unexploited. That the time is about ripe for 
its cultivation seems obvious to many; a Ger- 
man scientist, writing to a friend in this coun- 
try the other day, made the prophecy: ‘ Der 
zweite Virchow wird ein pathologische Chem- 
iker sein.’ 

Coincident with the expansion of the sub- 
ject, the technique of post-mortem pathology 
grew in extent and complexity. Two or three 
main types of books have been published as 
guides thereto—small works like those of 
Virchow, Chiari and Nauwerck, large books 
like Orth’s ‘ Pathologisch-anatomische Diag- 
nostik,’ and others of intermediate size such 
as Mallory and Wright’s ‘ Pathological Tech- 
nique.’ The volume before us, by Dr. Cattell, 
is of about the same size as Orth’s book, but 
the plan followed is somewhat different and 
the subjects dealt with are more numerous. 

After certain introductory chapters on the 
general features of post-mortems, the order of 
examination, the keeping of records, the use 
of instruments, and the care of the hands, the 
author takes up the examination of the ex- 


SCIENCE. 785 


ternal surface of the body. Then follows the 
opening of the great cavities and the study of 
their contained organs, the examination of 
the nervous system, of the sense organs, and of 
the bones and joints. Intercalated between 
the description of methods of examination, the 
diseases which may be met with in the indi- 
vidual organs are described and the corre- 
sponding pathological changes referred. to. 
The first seventeen chapters of the book are 
devoted to the above-mentioned portions of . 
the subject. The accounts given, though 
brief, are clear, and on the whole commend- 
able. Occasional slips are made, some of 
them, perhaps, due to compression, as, for 
example, the classification of osteitis defor- 
mans under acromegaly. 

The post-mortem examination of the new- 
born is dealt with in chapter XVIII.; in 
chapter XIX. the making of restricted post- 
mortem examinations is discussed, and in 
chapter XX. the student is told how to re- 
store and preserve the body. The mode of 
preparation of the tissues for macroscopic and 
microscopic purposes occupies a special chap- 
ter, as does the topic of bacteriological in- 
vestigation. Comparative post-mortems re- 
ceive especial attention; one whole chapter is 
devoted to medico-legal suggestions, and an- 
other to an account of the Prussian regula- 
tions for the performance of autopsies in 
medico-legal cases. Toward the end of the 
book the usual causes of death are classified, 
and their nomenclature, complications and 
synonyms successively taken up. The volume 
closes with twenty-four pages in italics of 
references to the literature of the subject. 

It will be seen from the above statement 
that many phases of post-mortem pathology 
rarely dealt with extensively in text-books have 
been carefully considered by Dr. Cattell. The 
number of methods given for any particular 
procedure varies; in some instances only the 
method of examining an organ preferred by 
the author is deseribed; in other cases, a 
whole series of different methods is outlined, 
e. g., for the examination of the brain, where 
Virchow’s, Meynert’s (modified), Pitres’, 
Dejerine’s, Hamilton’s and Giacomini’s 
methods, are all separately described. The 


786 


different chapters are copiously illustrated, 
largely by means of half-tone reproductions 
or photographs of stages of actual autopsies. 
Indeed, the book is much more fully illustrated 
on the side of macroscopic technique than are 
most manuals; there are only a few pictures, 
however, representing anatomical lesions. 
The index is full and well-arranged. 

The fact that a second edition has been 
called for within two years of initial publica- 
tion indicates that the book has met a dis- 
tinct need in the country. Several improve- 
ments over the first edition have been intro- 
duced, including the chapter on the bones and 
joints, and nearly thirty new illustrations. 
Important changes have also been made in 
various chapters during the revision. The 
parts of the book dealing with the more 
modern and refined methods for microscopic 
examination of the tissues might with advan- 
tage be expanded in another edition; room for 
this could be obtained, perhaps, by omission 
of some of the chapters on pathology proper, 
as the latter will be thought by some to be too 
long for a book on autopsy-making and yet 
they are not full enough to serve as a text- 
book of pathology. There are but few things 
connected with autopsies that will not be 
found mentioned in the volume. Some pro- 
fessors of pathology may be inclined to use 
smaller manuals in connection with their 
practical teaching, urging that more than Dr. 
Cattell thinks desirable should be left to the 
intelligence of the student; instructors who 
desire a full account of all the technical proc- 
esses, helped out by a large number of good 
illustrations, will find what they want in this 
book. 

The publishers, too, have done their work 
well. The volume is satisfactorily made and 
is attractive in appearance. It deserves, and 
will undoubtedly acquire, a wide distribution 
among American medical students. 


Lewetys F. Barker. 


Orchidacee: Illustrations and Studies of the 
Family Orchidacex, issuing from the Ames 
Botanical Laboratory, North Easton, Massa- 
chusetts. Fascicle I., by Oakes Ames, A.M. 
Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


& Co., The Riverside Press, Cambridge. 

1905. Pp. viiit 156. Royal octavo. 

From the preface we learn that the purpose 
of this work ‘is to illustrate from type ma- 
terial, when possible, new or recently described 
orchid species, and species heretofore inade- 
quately figured; to publish the original de- 
scriptions of all species so figured, with addi- 
tional characterizations, full synonymy and 
geographical distribution; to furnish descrip- 
tions and descriptive lists of orchidaceous 
plants, which may prove useful in the study 
of regional floras; and to communicate the re- 
sults of critical investigations among special 
genera.’ This is certainly an ambitious un- 
dertaking, reminding us of a number of 
similar botanical projects undertaken during 
the last half-century, such as Gray’s ‘ Genera’ 
(1848-9); Gray’s ‘Forest Trees of North 
America’ (begun in 1849, but never com- 
pleted; published as a mere fragment in 1891, 
after the author’s death); Goodale’s ‘ Wild 
Flowers of America’ (1879); Eaton’s ‘ Ferns 
of North America’ (1879-80); Sargent’s 
‘Silva’ (1891-1902) and Sargent’s ‘ Trees and 
Shrubs’ (1902-5). It is reassuring to know 
that the present undertaking is not dependent 
upon popular support, and that it is certain 
to have a reasonable permanence. 

This fascicle includes descriptions and 
plates of five new and fourteen old species, a 
descriptive list of orchids collected in the 
Philippine Islands by United States Govern- 
ment botanists, a description and figure of a 
hitherto unrecorded orchid in the United 
States, and a paper entitled ‘ Contributions 
toward a Monograph of the American Species 
of Spiranthes.’? We note with pleasure that 
all new descriptions are in Latin, as recom- 
mended several years ago by Professor Robin- 
son as a corrective for the shocking illiteracy 
of some systematists. Following the Latin 
descriptions-are somewhat more voluminous 
descriptions in English, followed by general 
notes, also in English. The plates are beauti- 
fully drawn, and illustrate the anatomical de- 
tails with great clearness and fidelity. 

The author shows a commendable conserva- 
tism in regard to specific distinctions, as is 
shown by the fact that he describes only five 


May 19, 1905.] 


new species, all from the Philippine Islands, 
and also by his treatment of Spiranthes, in 
which he distinguishes thirteen species for all 
of North America north of Mexico. That 
this promises a reduction in the number of 
catalogued species in North America is sug- 
gested by the fact that in the last edition of 
Gray’s ‘Manual’ (covering only the northern 
United States east of the 100th meridian) 
there are six species; in Britton’s ‘ Manual’ 
(covering but little more territory) eight; and 
in Small’s ‘ Flora of the Southeastern United 
States,’ sixteen. 

In regard to nomenclature the author says, 
‘the first specific name of each species under 
the correct generic interpretation, wherever 
this could be determined with reasonable 
surety, or employed without leading to com- 
plications, has been revived.’ While this is 
probably too lax an application of the law of 
priority, the carefulness of the author in veri- 
fying every citation and in studying herba- 
rium material will enable every orchid student 
to make any corrections that might be neces- 
sary under a stricter construction. Taken all 
in all this work is one which must be very 
highly commended, and which all botanists 
who are interested in orchids must look upon 
as a welcome addition to botanical literature. 


Cuarues E. Bessey. 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTIOLES. 


The American Naturalist for April has but 
two articles, an annotated list of ‘ Birds of 
the Isle of Pines, by Outram Bangs and W. 
R. Zappey, and ‘Studies on the Plant Cell— 
V.,’ by Bradley Moore Davis, dealing with 
cell unions and nuclear fissions in plants. 


The Zoological Bulletin for April tells of 
“Further Improvements at the Aquarium’ 
and of ‘Photography at the Aquarium,’ this 
being illustrated by many reproductions of 
photographs of fishes, that of the large spotted 
moray being particularly good. 


The Museums Journal of Great Britain has 
articles on ‘The Relationship existing be- 
tween Statue and Pedestal in Classical and 
Renaissance Times,’ ‘ Educational Museums 


SCIENCE. 


787 


as Schools’ and ‘The Management of Na- 
tional Museums.’ In the ‘General Notes’ is 
noticed the gift to the British Museum of a 
collection of 10,000 specimens of eggs of 
Palearctic birds, and to the United States of 
the collections of etchings and paintings by 
Whistler, presented by Charles L. Freer, of 
Detroit. As the United States is the only 
great nation without a picture gallery it will 
be interesting to see what disposition will be 
made of this collection. The sale of a mount- 
ed specimen of great auk to an American 
museum is recorded, the price being £450, or 
about $2,200. This is the highest price ever 
paid for a specimen of the great auk. 


The Popular Science Monthly for May con- 
tains: 


E. RUTHERFORD: 
activity.’ 

FRANK WaALpo: ‘The Harvard Medical School.’ 

A. D. Mean: ‘ Alpheus Spring Packard.’ 

Wm. E. Rirrer: ‘The Organization of Scien- 
tific Research,’ 

T. H. Morean: ‘The Origin of Species through 
Selection contrasted with their Origin through 
the Appearance of Definite Varieties.’ 

Epwarp 8. Howpen: ‘ Galileo,’ continued from 
the February number. 

CHARLES E. BESSEY: 
mer School.’ 


‘Present Problems of Radio- 


‘Life in a Seaside Sum- 


The Museum News for April contains a 
number of short articles referring to exhibits 
recently added to the collections of the Mu- 
seums of the Brooklyn Institute. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 

Tue 401st regular meeting of the Biological 
Society of Washington was held April 8, 1905, 
with President Knowlton in the chair and 
43 persons present. 

The first paper of the evening was by Pro- 
fessor W. P. Hay, on ‘A Class of Arthropoda 
New to the District of Columbia.’ 

The paper began with a brief description of 
a new species of Macrobiotus, a genus of Tar- 
digrada, discovered in December, 1904, in an 
aquarium at Howard University. Attention 
was called to the fact that this is the first 


788 SCIENCE. 


record for the genus and class for the District 
of Columbia and the third for North America. 
This was followed by remarks on the structure 
of the tardigrades, their distribution and 
classification. ; 

Although these animals have been shifted 
about from place to place until they now are 
regarded by most as Arthropoda, rather more 
closely related to the Arachnida than any 
other group, it was pointed out that such a 
disposition of them is incorrect. Except in 
number of appendages they show no resem- 
blanee to the Arachnida, nor can they be ap- 
proximated to any other arthropodan group 
unless it be the Onychophora. Their rela- 
tionship with the latter, even, is very distant, 
and in spite of the small number of species 
the Tardigrada should stand by themselves as 
a distinct class. It even may be necessary to 
place them alone in a distinct phylum as the 
supposed presence of segmented appendages in 
the genus Lydella, and the general possession 
of what are regarded as Malpighian glands 
only entitles them to a position among the 
Arthropoda. 

In the second paper Mr. Wilfred H. Osgood 
discussed the characters and relationships of 
an ‘ Extinct Ruminant related to the Musk- 
Ox.’ <A specimen of a nearly perfect skull 
found in the Klondike gravels near Dawson, 
Yukon Territory, appears to represent an 
animal somewhat similar to the recent musk- 
ox (Ovibos) but generically distinct from it. 
It is evidently congeneric with Ovibos cavi- 
frons of Leidy. The specimen, however, is 
much more complete than the remains studied 
by Leidy and presents many characters hither- 
to unsuspected. The animal was apparently 
larger than Ovibos; the general contour of 
the head was very different; and the horns, 
though directed downward, were more slender 
at the base and more divergent at the tips. 
The teeth were very large, even larger than 
those of the American bison (Bison bison), 
and were in fact more similar to those of the 
bison than to those of the musk-ox or the 
sheep. None of the characters suggest any 
connection with the sheep, but some of them 
might be taken to indicate relation to the 
bison, oxen, etc. There are, however, reasons 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


for supposing that the present musk-ox has 
descended from an ancestor farther removed 
than either the oxen or the sheep. 

That the extinct form bears an ancestral 
relation to the recent musk-ox, there can be 
little doubt. Interesting in this connection is 
the fact that some of the characters in the 
adult fossil form are found in the recent form 
only before it has reached maturity. 

The third paper was by Dr. Barton W. 
Evermann, on the ‘ Trout of the Kern River 
Region.’ This paper was illustrated by water- 
eolors,,proofs (in color) and lantern slides. 
Dr. Evermann said: 

The Kern River flows nearly due south 
through a deep canyon with abrupt walls sey- 
eral hundred feet high. The tributary streams 
from the east as well as from the west flow 
across the high mountain plateau in a rela- 
tively gentle course, then drop in one or more 
considerable falls from the high plateau to 
the floor of the Kern canyon. These falls are 
at present usually so great as to form impass- 
able barriers to the ascent of fish, and as a 


result many of the streams are wholly without _ 


fish of any kind. But in others, as Voleano 
Creek, Soda Creek, Coyote Creek and others, 
trout found their way and subsequently the 
falls became greater and the trout became 
isolated. In this way, although originally 
peopled from Kern River, each of many of 
these smaller streams came to have in it a 
colony of trout wholly segregated from all 
other trout and in time the trout of each of 
these streams became differentiated and now 
ean be readily distinguished from those of 
other streams. Among those which are best 
differentiated are those of Volcano Creek, 
South Fork of Kern and Soda Creek. These 
must be regarded as three distinct species, 
only one of which has as yet been named. 
EK. L. Morris, 
Recording Secretary. 


THE CLEMSON COLLEGE SCIENCE CLUB. 
Tue fifty-second regular meeting was held 
on February 17, at 8 p.m. Professor T. G. 
Poats presented a paper on ‘Radium and 
Radioactive Substances’ which was exten- 
sively illustrated by lantern slides, exhibition 


May 19, 1905.] 


of the minerals which are the sources of radio- 
active substances, and by the spinthariscope. 

The research paper by Professor ©. E. 
Chambliss, ‘ Notes on the Rhinoceros Beetle,’ 
was read by title. 

The fifty-third regular meeting was held on 
March 24, at 8 p.m. Professor S. W. Reaves 
presented a paper on ‘The Problem of the 
Duplication of the Cube.” Dr. F. H. H. Cal- 
houn gave a report upon ‘The Origin of the 
Mont Pelée Mud Flow.’ A careful examina- 
tion of the dust comprising this flow showed 
that it had been formed by the grinding of 
erystal-bearing rocks at temperatures below 
the melting point. Volcanic dust usually 
consists of small isotropic glass particles with 
or without a small per cent. of crystalline 
material. The particles in the flow from 
Mont Pelée were crystalline, broken, and some 
of the quartz crystals showed the wavy ex- 
tinction due to strain. This of course may 
have been developed in the original rock mass 
instead of at the time of the formation of the 
dust itself. The following minerals were 
recognized in the dust: quartz, feldspar, horn- 
blende, mica, an opaque iron mineral, and a 
pyroxene. The crystals were so shattered and 
strained that accurate determination was im- 
possible. 

Informal communications were presented on 
‘the tantalum lamp,’ ‘life and work of Pro- 
fessor A. S. Packard,’ and ‘the engineering 
problems involved in the raising of the Maine’ 
by Professors W. M. Riggs, Haven Metcalf 
and P. T. Brodie, respectively. 

Haven Mercatr, 
Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 


SUGGESTIONS TOWARD A PHYTO-GEOGRAPHIC 
NOMENCLATURE. 

THE terms formation and association are, 
perhaps, now used by most plant ecologists 
and geographers with something like scien- 
tific exactness. The word formation suggests 
the idea of an area of vegetation of a char- 
acter marked enough to be essentially different 
from contiguous areas, the prominent forms 
of vegetation in this area having the same 
general aspect and adaptations corresponding 


SCIENCE. 789 


with distinct physiographic positions. Such 
formations do not show an even mixture of 
plants, because such plants are collected into 
definite groups, or societies dependent some- 
what upon the general conditions of the en- 
vironment, but more especially because of the 
influence of historic or edaphic factors. Such 
assemblages of plants are called properly 
associations. The members of the association 
are looked upon as vegetation forms. The 
term facies is also a phytogeograpic concept, 
happily used with scientific accuracy. But 
the term zone is used somewhat loosely for 
very different ideas. The word is used in a 
latitudinal or climatic sense, and we speak of 
temperate and tropic zones. It is used for the 
areas at different elevations on the mountain 
side, hillside or bluff face. Again it is used 
to denote the arrangement of marine algx 
on the sea coast, or for the concentric growth 
of aquatic plants about the lagoon of a pond 
or lake. 

Humboldt (1805) applied: the word zone to 
the vegetation, the distribution of which was 
determined by latitude. Schouw (1823) fol- 
lowed Humboldt and Bonpland in the use of 
the word in the latitudinal sense, and Kabsch 
(1855) also. It seems then that the word 
should be used in the restricted sense of a 
particular portion of the earth’s surface de- 
termined by referring its position to the 
parallels of latitude. The concept of bands 
of vegetation on the mountain side, hillside 
or bluff face with respect to the altitudinal 
distribution of plants is best preserved by the 
use of the word belt, and we would speak of 
forest belt, subalpine belt, alpine belt, and 
where necessary this application could be ex- 
tended to zonation on a bluff face. This 
usage is suggested, notwithstanding the im- 
portance of emphasizing the identity of zona- 
tion due to climate and that due to altitude, 
because for practical reasons the two ideas 
must be kept distinct. The writer wishes to 
suggest for the concentric bands of vegetation 
at times so clearly marked in lakes or pond, 
the term circumarea, for in mathematics, 
circumarea is the area of a circumscribed 
circle. We might then speak of a water-lily 
circumarea, a cat-tail cireumarea, a shrubby 


T9O0 SCIENCE. 


circumarea. To express the submerged zona- 
tion on the sea coast, the English word shelf 
can be used. This is authorized by every- 
day speech, for we refer to a shelf of rock, 
a continental shelf, or a shelving beach. To 
speak of the marine shelves, 2. e., the Fucus 
shelf, the Laminaria shelf, would be to use 
the word with exactness. For the zonation 
of a beach, strand, river shore or prairie 
edge, the writer suggests the word strip. We 
should then speak of the shrubby strip, the 
grassy strip, the forest strip, ete. The idea 
of zonation on a river island, where the vege- 
tation of a particular band runs completely 
around the island, and not continued length- 
wise, as the word strip implies, the term 
girdle could be used. For forest zonation, 
where it is vertical, the term layer (stratum), 
or story ought to be accepted. 

These terms are proposed because it ‘seems 
to the writer that as the time approaches 
for the convocation of the Botanical Con- 
gress at Vienna in June, a full ventilation 
of nomenclatorial views should be made, not 
only for discussion, but also as suggestions to 
those who will take part in the deliberations 
of the congress. 

JoHN W. HArSHBERGER. 

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


ON THE HABITS OF THE GREAT WHALE SHARK 
(RHINEODON TYPUS). 


One of the most interesting of fishes and by 
far the largest of all is the Rhineodon typus 
(better known by the later name Rhinodon 
typicus). This has received the quasi-ver- 
nacular name whale shark, although, under 
the native Indian name (Mhor) it has been 
the object of a regular fishery for a long time 
along the northwestern coast of India (Sind). 
One might naturally suppose that the animal 
was so rare that nothing was known of its 
range or habits if the most recent works, 
popular as well as scientific, were consulted, 
but really, scattered through various volumes, 
many data may be found. <A gentleman de- 
sirous of learning the history of the fish was 
unable to find data I informed him about, 


[N.S. Vor. XXL. No. 542. 


even after I had told him in what periodicals 
they were published. I, therefore, found them 
for him, and the difficulty that had been ex- 
perienced by him, and may be by others, leads 
me to summarize the information that may 
be gleaned. 

The species was first named Rhineodon* 
typus by Dr. Andrew Smith in 1829, in the 
Zoological Journal, and the genus was adopted 
by Bonaparte in 1832 in the Giornale arcadico 
di Scienze, ete. (vol. 52). The numerous sub- 
sequent modifications of the name and notices 
of the species do not demand consideration in 
this place. 

In 1850 an article, ‘On Shark Fishing at 
Kurrachee’ was communicated by George 
Buist to the Proceedings of the Zoological 
Society (pp. 100-102) and in it is an unmis- 
takable reference to the whale shark, but 
which has been overlooked and not identified 
by Indian or other zoologists. From this and 
other recent sources the following account is 
compiled. 


The greatest—the most gigantic—of the 
sharks is one not uncommon in the Indian 
Ocean, but which, on account of its huge size, 
is represented by remains in very few mu- 
seums and is little known. It is the Rhine- 
odon typus, the type not only of the genus 
Rhineodon, but of an independent family— 
Rhineodontids; the not inappropriate name 
whale shark has been coined for it. 

The whale shark is a huge animal occa- 
sionally, it is said, attaining to a length of 
sixty feet, although the average size is much 
less; it may be considered a pelagic species, 
not willingly often approaching land. It is a 
slow, apathetic animal, mostly living near the 
surface of the ocean and often resting, idly 
floating along and supposed to be ‘sleeping.’ 

Its gigantic size is in inverse ratio to its 
food. Unlike the giant Carcharodon or man- 
eater, it has extremely small teeth and its food 
consists of very minute animals. Its teeth, 
indeed, are quite similar (in a general way) 


* The generic name was misprinted pa ws 
—evidently a typographical error. 


; 


May 19, 1905.] 


to those of a skate (Raia), almost immovable, 
in many transverse rows, and with acute back- 
ward-directed points and bulging heel-like 
bases. It has a straining apparatus, some- 
what like that of the basking shark (Cetorhi- 
nus maximus) and its food is analogous to 
that of its northern relative. It consists of the 
minute copepod and other crustaceans as well 
as mollusks which live about the surface of 
the ocean. These flourish in such abundance 
as to compensate by their number for their 
small size. In fact, like those other giants of 
the sea, some of the whale-bone whales, it 
finds enough for growth and the enjoyment 
of life among the smallest of animals. 

Nothing is known of its reproductive habits 
but it has been assumed that, like its nearest 
relatives, it is ovoviviparous. 

According to E. Perceval Wright, ‘it is 
quite a harmless fish, with a mouth of im- 
mense width, furnished with small teeth,’ 
really very minute. “It now and then rubs 
itself against a large pirogue, as a conse- 
quence upsetting it, but under these circum- 
stances, it never attacks or molests the men, 
and while it reigns as a monster among the 
sharks, is not, despite its size, as formidable 
as the common dog-fish ”—save in the line of 
upsetting! 

Dr. Buist, as early as 1850, referred to it 
as the ‘mhor or great basking shark’ and 
stated that it was frequently captured at Kur- 
rachee (not far from the mouth of the Indus). 
“Tt is found floating or asleep near the sur- 
face of the water; it is then struck with a 
harpoon.” The stricken fish is “allowed to 
run till tired; it is then pulled in, and beaten 
with clubs till stunned. A large hook is now 
hooked into its eyes or nostrils, or wherever 
it can be got most easily attached, and by this 
the shark is towed on shore; several boats are 
requisite for towing. The mbhor is often 
forty, sometimes sixty, feet in length; the 
mouth is occasionally four feet wide.” 

The later literature respecting the species 
has been already summarized in Scrence 
(1902, N. S., XV., 824-896). 

TuHeEo. GILL. 


SCIENCE. : 


791 


A FAUNAL SURVEY OF THE FOREST RESERVES IN 
THE SANDHILL REGION OF NEBRASKA AND OF 
THE LAKES IN THAT REGION. 


NEBRASKA is, from a faunal standpoint, one 
of the most interesting states in the Union. 
Owing to its geographical location, to a range 
in altitude of from 810 to 5,300 feet, to varia- 
tions in soil, climate and vegetation, the state 
contains a fauna rich in species and in great 
variety. Along the Missouri River, which 
forms the eastern boundary of the state, and 
following westward out the tributary streams 
into the prairie region, is a growth of purely 
deciduous timber representing species of trees 
derived from the south and east and including 
oaks, hickories, walnut, butternut, honey lo- 
cust, Kentucky coffee-tree, wild cherry, etc. ; 
while spreading into the state from the north 
and west and following down the Niobrara 
River nearly to its mouth is a growth of pine, 
together with quaking aspen, balsam poplar, 
mountain maple and black birch. 

Midway across the state and at an average 
altitude of 3,000 feet lies a region of extreme 
interest, one of sandhills, varying in height 
up to 250 feet, so thickly scattered as to make 
a surface as rough as can well be imagined. 
The region is sharply defined. Streams flow 
out of it toward the east and south which have 
carried away sand to deposit it as sandbars 
lower down their courses, making in that way 
valleys running back into the hills and up 
which extend fringes of low trees and shrub- 
bery, the advance guard of the tree growth 
from the southeast. To the north and west of 
this region are plains cut into by pine-clad 
eanyons. In the sandhill region proper, how- 
ever, no native trees of any kind are found, 
although there are here and there patches of 
stunted bushes—sand cherry, plum, rose, 
Ceanothus and June berry. Throughout this 
area, which in extent equals one fifth the total 
area of the state, or about 11,000 square miles, 
forest conditions are quite absent and forest 
animals absolutely lacking. 

In this region the government has recently 
set aside two tracts of land as forest reserves. 
One, known as the Dismal River Reserve, in 
Thomas County, has an area of 86,000 acres, 
the other, the Niobrara Reserve, in northern 


792 


Cherry County, an area of about 126,000 acres. 
It is the intention to plant pines upon the hills 
and deciduous trees in the valleys, hoping 
thus to prove the possibility of foresting the 
sandhills and to induce private parties follow- 
ing its lead to aid the government in the work 
of reclaiming this region. The writer believes 
that here is a unique opportunity to study 
the development of a forest fauna from the 
beginning. These planted forests are by far 
greater in area than any forests ever planted 
before, and in them will be seen the gradual 
evolution of forest conditions, and, it may be 
assumed, the gradual development of a forest 
fauna, where absolutely no trace of such a 
fauna is to be found at the present time. The 
question suggests itself at once as to the pos- 
sible origin of this fauna. Will it be derived 
from the pine-clad canyons of the north and 
west or will it come from the deciduous timber 
of the south and east? Will the pine growth 
receive its fauna from one direction and the 
deciduous forest in the valleys its from the 
other? If so, what will be the ultimate re- 
sult? What will be the order of appearance 
of these forms and what will be the possible 
succession of dominant types which may exist 
one after the other in the evolution of this 
fauna from year to year? These are only a 
part of the problems that present themselves, 
the working out of which will be the 
labor of many years. During the past three 
years the author has been studying all of the 
conditions as they now exist in order to thor- 
oughly familiarize himself with the ground, 
that the investigation may be followed through 
intelligently from the very beginning. How 
soon results may be attained and how impor- 
tant they will be the future must disclose. 
Bound up in the study of the sandhill re- 
gion and its fauna, though not directly con- 
nected with the investigation above outlined, 
is another problem which the author is also 
studying at the same time. In this region 
are many bodies of water differing in size, 
from mere pools to lakes even four or five miles 
in length, most of them fed from subterranean 
streams and with no outlet, lying in pockets 
between the hills. These vary from those con- 
taining the most beautifully clear, limpid, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


sweet water, full of animal and vegetable life, 
to those so strongly alkaline as to be incapable 
of supporting more than a limited fauna and 
flora and that made up of a very few species. 
The study of the distribution of life in lakes 
so widely different in chemical composition 
of the water, but in every other respect abso- 
lutely similar, promises extremely interesting 
results, not the least important of which will 
be the possible variation of the same species 
under these varying degrees of alkalinity. 

It is three years since these investigations 
were begun. The first of these years was 
spent in a general survey of the region and in 
mapping the largest group of lakes, the second 
and third in a more critical study of lake 
conditions, the collecting of material, and the 
securing of a series of photographs. The 
work is to be continued during the present 
summer by the taking of water samples from 
as many lakes as possible for chemical an- 
alysis, by further study of the conditions in 
the lakes themselves and of the biological con- 
ditions in the region as a whole, and in the 
securing of additional photographs to illus- 
trate them. The investigation is being carried 
on very largely at private expense, since there 
is no fund available in the state for the pur- 
pose; but the intention is to spend as much 
time as possible each year in the field, results 
being published from time to time as they 
may become complete so far as any given 
problem is concerned, or whenever the progress 
of investigation makes it possible to present 
definite results. 

Rosert H. Wotcort. 

ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. 


THE MAILED CATFISHES OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

In, the Transactions of the Zoological So- 
ciety of London, Volume XVII., Part IIL, 
October, 1904, C. Tate Regan publishes a 
‘Monograph of the Fishes of the Family Lori- 
cariide.’ The Loricariide are one of the 
families of Ostariophysi. They are found 
only in the rivers of South America, ranging 
from-Panama to Montevideo. As understood 
by Regan the Loricariide are equivalent to 
the Loricariide and Argiide of Eigenmann. 


May 19, 1905.] 


They are characterized by their reduced max- 
illary, the absent symplectic and subopercu- 
lum, the union of supraoccipital and parietals 
to form a single parieto-occipital bone, the 
absence of parapophyses, the sessile ribs and 
the compressed caudal vertebra. All but the 
Argiine are covered, in part at least, by bony 
plates. 

Mr. Regan’s paper is based on the material 
in the British Museum and the Paris Mu- 
seums and the types in the Harvard collec- 
tions. A total of 189 species are recognized, 
thirty-four of which are. described as new. 

The genera and sometimes the species are 
found widely distributed; two of the genera, 
Chetostomus and Arges, are confined to the 
Andes of Peru. A table gives the known geo- 
graphical distribution of all the species. In 
this table the following systems are considered 
as units: (1) Western coast-streams of Peru 
and Ecuador; (2) Rio Magdalena system 
(with Panama); (3) Venezuela and Guiana; 
(4) Upper Amazon (the Amazon and its trib- 
utaries above its junction with the Yapura); 
(5) middle and lower Amazon; (6) Rio Par- 
anahyba and Rio San Francisco and their 
tributaries, and smaller coast streams in their 
neighborhood; (7) Rio Parahyba, Rio Grande 
do Sul and other coast streams of southeastern 
Brazil; (8) Rio de La Plata and its tribu- 
taries. 

Little need be said of this classification ex- 
cept that it has long been known that Rio 
Grande do Sul should be classed with the Rio 
de La Plata and that the coast streams from 
Rio de Janeiro to Bahia form a natural unit 
distinct from the rivers to the north or south. 
About fifty genera that are found both in the 
Amazon on the north and the La Plata on the 
south are absent from this area. The Rio 
Paranahyba should probably be classed with 
the Lower Amazon. The Pacific slope of 
Panama should be classed with western Peru 
and Eeuador. The number of species in these 
systems is, respectively, 15, 18, 35, 64, 42, 17, 
29, 32. Approximately one third of all the 
species are found in the upper Amazon, while 
but half as many are found in the vast La 
Plata Basin. 

Brief chapters on sexual differences and 


SCIENCE. 793 


changes during growth introduce the syste- 
matic portion of the paper. The systematic 
paper makes a distinct advance over the last 
revision of this family by Eigenmann and 
Eigenmann* in so far as Regan takes into 
consideration the details of the skeleton of 
the various groups, and inasmuch as he had 
a much more abundant material, especially 
of the species grouped by Eigenmann under 
the generic names Hemiancistrus and Che- 
tostomus. 

Considerable difference exists between the 
two papers on account of the estimate placed 
on the importance of some characters. Regan 
accepts fewer genera. 

For museum purposes and for purposes df 
general classification larger genera and fewer 
names are preferable, but for all more inti- 
mate discussions of variation, geographical 
distribution and genetic origin of faunas 
smaller units are vastly preferable. Regan’s 
species are also museum species with little 
recognition of the biological significance of 
varieties. For instance, Eigenmann and 
Eigenmann accepted the Plecostomus affinis 
of Steindachner as a variety of commersoni 
(not of Val.) = punctatus. The parent, or 
type form, is from Rio Janeiro, Santa Cruz, 
Macacos, Itabapuana, Rio Parahyba, the va- 
riety ajffinis from Rio Janeiro, Mendez, the 
rios Mucuri, Parahyba, Muriahe, Doce and 
San Antonio. The variety affinis is more 
abundant than punctatus, ‘over 50 specimens 
having been examined ranging from .13-.26 
m.’ A second variety was described, three 
specimens .30-.35 m., from Sao Matheos. Of 
these varieties Regan says: 

These varieties [based in one case on over fifty 
specimens] scarcely seem worth recognition; in all 
young specimens the spots are large and the lower 
surface of the head and abdomen partially naked, 
and the persistence of these features in the adult 
must be regarded as cases of individual variation 
only. 

Of Plecostomus lima atropinnis Regan 
says: Eigenmann has given the name P. lima 
atropinnis to a specimen (presumably of this 
species) from Goyaz, with the fins uniformly 

** A Revision of the South American Nema- 


tognathi,’ Occasional papers, Cal. Acad. Sci., I., 
pp. 1-508, 1890. 


794 


dark brown.” Regan considers this variety 

distinct from lima and names it garmani. Of 

course, if the variety atropinnis is distinct 
from the parent form it must go by the older 
name atropinnis and not garmant. 

Eigenmann’s genus, Loricaria, is divided 
as follows: 

I. Teeth in the jaws in small or moderate number, 
not setiform; a more or less distinct orbital 
notch. 

a. Snout rounded or pointed, not or not much, 
produced ae csr austere stkvaeieyerrietete Loricaria. 

aa. Snout produced with a long rostrum, 
Hemiodontichthys. 

II. Teeth in the jaws numerous, setiform; orbit 
circular, without distinct notch. 

b. Dorsal opposite to the ventrals.Oxyloricaria. 
Admitting that group I. is distinct from 
group II. there is no reason why the second 

group should not also be divided as group I. 

is, and, indeed, Regan does divide it as fol- 

lows, but does not use generic or subgeneric 
names to designate the divisions: 
6. Snout rounded or pointed, not produced as a 
rostrum. 
bb. Snout produced, forming a distinct rostrum ; 
sides of the head in the male, margined 
with bristles. 


The group under 6 contains the type of 
Steindachner’s genus Harttia; the second is 
the Sturisoma of Swainson. 

The Hemiodontichthys of Regan contains 
two distinct generic types, the one with the 
snout expanded at the tip (the Hemiodontich- 
thys of Bleeker), and the other with the snout 
simply pointed (the Hemiodon of Bleeker). 
Hemiodon being preoccupied, this genus may 
be termed Reganella, in recognition of this 
author’s invaluable services in reviewing the 
group. 

Arranging the respective genera or sub- 
genera as far as possible opposite each other, 
a comparison of the results of Kigenmann in 
1890 and of Regan in 1904 gives us the fol- 
lowing. 

Unfortunately there is nowhere in the paper 
any indication what species were used as the 
types of old or of new genera to help future 
reviewers and similarly there is nowhere with 
the synonymy and bibliography any indication 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


Families and No. of Families and No. of 
Subfamilies. Species. Subfamilies. Species. 
Genera. Genera. 
Subgenera. Subgenera. 
Argiide. Argiine. 
Arges, Eales vavaees \ 
Cyclopiun, 5} Arges, 19 
Astroblepus, dss © aaemenasaes Astroblepus, 1 
Loricariidez. Loricariidz. 
Loricariine. Loricariine. 
Farlowella, Oe Rocrrotacenr Farlowella, 7 
Hemiodontichthys, 1... Hemiodontichthys, 2 
Loricaria, 30 Loricaria, 40 
Hartia, ae A { Oxyloricaria 10 
Oxyropsis, 1 
Hypoptopomine. Hypoptopomatine. 
Hypoptopoma, 3h) ) Grenctrosasees Hypoptopoma, 6 
LFTisonotus, 1 
Parotocinclus, 1 
Otocinclus, ap eesant oaeasaate Otocinclus, 9 
Plecostomine. 
Microlepidogaster, 1 
Neoplecostominz. 
Weoplecostomis,  Diceavsennsessencrs Neoplecostomus, i 
Plecostomine. 
Plecostomus, 24 Plecostomus 26 
( Plecostomus 21) 
Rhinelepis, 4 ( Pogonopoma 3) 
ae (Rhinelepis 2) 
Yochliodon, 1 
Panaque, 3 } spose Panaque, 4 
Pseudacanthicus 
Ancistrus, 31 
Hemiancisinus; 18) c.sscc...sesse- (Lasiancistrus 4) 
Pterygoplichthys, 85 ......cc.c0000 (Ancistrus 18) 
Parancistrus, 3 (Parancistrus 3) 
Rade 2 ecemecennecetn ( Pseudancistrus 6) 
? 
Hemipsilichihys, 1 ...--....c.s0-=s0 Hemipsilichthys, 1 
Acanthicus, 2. ... Acanthicus, 1 
Cheetostomus, ...Chetostomus, 15 
Ancistrus, Barraecescen acento Xenocara, 12 
Total, 155 189 


of the locality from which species were re- 
corded to help future students of geographical 
distribution. 

The rules of nomenclature adopted differ 
in principle from American usage. ‘The first 
species, the well-known Plecostomus plecos- 
tomus Linneus, appears by the later name, 
P. guacari Lacépéde. Cochliodon Kner is re- 
jected apparently on account of the use of 
Cochlodon D’Orbigny, while Trichomycterus 
is used, although it is a misspelling merely of 
Thrichomycterus, which is another genus. 
Cyclopium Swainson is rejected because ‘his 
generic name, being derived from the genitive 
plural of Cyclops, is as inadmissible as would 
be that of Silurorum. Ozyloricaria is used 
because the older Sturisoma is a ‘nomen hy- 
bridum.’ The writer would be very glad to 
be able to take back and make over the inele- 
gant, barbarous or otherwise objectionable 
names he has inflicted upon respectable fishes, 
but, with his American confreres, he abides by 
the rule, both for himself and for others, that 
a name is a name no matter by whom con- 
ferred or however wonderfully made. How 


May 19, 1905.) 


dangerous it is to deviate from this rule is 
made evident by the fact that no less a class- 
ical scholar than Regan himself has mistaken 
the neuter adjective Cyclopium for the geni- 
tive plural of Cyclops. If, as Regan thinks, 
Cyclopium is not generically distinguishable 
from Arges, all the species should go by the 
older name Cyclopiwm. 

The reason for shifting the name Ancistrus 
from cirrhosus as the type are not apparent 
and should have been distinctly stated. The 
name Ancistrus was proposed by Kner (Hy- 
postomiden 272, 1853) for the following de- 
scribed species and one of them must be con- 
sidered the type: 

(a) Brachypteri: (1) cirrhosus, (2) doli- 
chopteri, (3) gymnorhynchus, (4) mystacinus, 
(5) pictus, (6) brachyurus, (7) scaphirhyn- 
chus. To these described species Kner adds 
medians and itacua. Of mystacinus he says: 
“Diese Art scheint dem Hyp. guacharote Val. 
sehr nahe zu stehen, doch lasst sich bei der 
Ungenauigkeit der Beschreibung des letzten 
tiber die etwaige Gleichartigkeit beider nich 
sicher entscheiden.” 

(b) Macropteri: (1) duodecimalis, (2) 
longimanus, (3) gibbiceps, (4) litturatus. 

It is to be emphasized that guacharote 
was known to him only from a description, 
considered too general for specific distinctions. 

Gill (‘ Synopsis of the Freshwater Fishes of 
the Island of Trinidad,” 47) amended the 
genus Ancistrus by separating the species of 
group (b) under the new name Pterygoplich- 
thys, saying: “The genus Ancistrus seems to 
have been framed with especial regard to those 
fishes to which the name is here restricted, 
and is by Dr. Kner divided into two sections, 
which correspond to Ancistrus and Pterygo- 
plichthys, his section ‘a’ answering to the 
former genus, and ‘ b’ to the latter.” A more 
definite restriction to the species described by 
Kner could not be desired. The Ancistrus 
of Gill is identical with section ‘a’ of the 
Ancistrus of Kner. Gill described some speci- 
mens from Trinidad as Ancistrus guacharote 
Val. This is the first formal introduction of 
guacharote to the genus Ancistrus. But 
Giinther later maintained that the guacharote 
of Gill is not that of Valenciennes and named 


SCIENCE. 795 


the former trinitatis. Regan has been un- 
able to decide whether trinitatis is distinct 
from guacharote or not; nevertheless, it ap- 
pears that on the fact that Gill described 
guacharote Regan has selected the latter as 
the type of the genus Ancistrus. Gill did not 
formally select guacharote as type, and if 
any inference is permitted it must certainly 
be that the first species described by Kner, 
cirrhosus, is the type—certainly not the 
guacharote or trinitatis, which was unknown 
to Kner. However, neither Kner nor Gill 
specifically indicated a type. Bleeker* for- 
mally selected cirrhosus as the type, and there 
seems to be no reason why cirrhosus should 
be placed anywhere than in the genus Ancis- 
trus. Nevertheless, this species is placed in 
a new genus, Xenocara. Guacharote, on the 
other hand, is placed in the genus Ancistrus, 
and strange enough in a new subgenus, Lasi- 
ancistrus. There may be reasons for the rul- 
ing in these premises but they are not evident 
from a perusal of the paper. Regan’s name 
Xenocara may be retained for those of the 
Ancistroids without tentacles. 

Regan’s monograph is so weleome a con- 
tribution and so enthusiastically conceived 
and executed that it is ungracious to differ 
with the author in the minor points indicated. 

C. H. Eicrnmann. 


CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 
KITE-FLYING AT SEA: RECENT RESULTS. 
THE results obtained by means of kite- 
flights from the Prince of Monaco’s yacht 
during the summer of 1904 are discussed by 
Professor Hergesell in the Comptes rendus, 
Vol. CXL., p. 331. Twenty-five ascents were 
made, eight in the Mediterranean, one in 
the Baltic and sixteen in the Atlantic. 
In the region of the trades the adiabatic 
gradient, of 1° in 100 meters, is always 
found in the lowest strata, and is even ex- 
ceeded, the thickness of this stratum being 
between 100 and 600 meters. The relative 
humidity rises from 70 per cent. or 80 per 
cent. at sea level to 95 per cent. or 100 per 
cent. Above this stratum the temperature 
rises quickly several degrees, and the humidity 
* Nederl. Tijdschr., I., 1863, 77. 


‘ 


796 SCIENCE. 


diminishes suddenly to below 50 per cent. 
The temperature continues to rise through a 
stratum sometimes 1,000 meters in thickness, 
and the humidity decreases to 10 per cent. or 
20 per cent. Above this stratum the adiabatic 
rate is again met with, but the humidity is 
low. The northeast trade, with a velocity of 
about sixteen miles an hour, prevails at sea 
level. At greater altitudes the wind shifted 
gradually through north to northwest, and in 
two instances through east to southeast and 
south. No southwest current (anti-trades) 
was shown by the kites. The northwest or 
southeast winds in the highest strata had a 
velocity not over seven or nine miles an hour. 
In the intermediate strata the velocity was 
generally even lower (Nature, March 16, 1905, 
467; Ciel et Terre, March 16, 1905, pp. 47-49). 


MOUNTAIN SICKNESS. 


In an account of ‘Five Ascents to the Ob- 
servatories of Mont Blane’ (Appalachia, Vol. 
X., No. 4), Mr. A. L. Rotch describes his dif- 
ferent experiences, and pays special attention 
to the physiological effects of the high alti- 
tudes. On the first ascent, at a height of 
14,320 feet, where the night was spent, the 
author suffered with this most distressing 
malady, but was afforded some relief by 
breathing oxygen. In the morning he was 
well enough to aid in setting up the barom- 
eters and to undertake preliminary spectro- 
scopic observations. Another night, spent at 
the Vallot cabin, 1,460 feet below the summit, 
was also made unpleasant by a repetition of 
the discomforts of mountain sickness. On a 
second expedition oxygen failed to give any 
relief, but some alleviation was obtained by 
the use of phenacetine. The third ascent was 
marked by suffocation and dizziness during 
the night spent at the Grands Mulets shelter, 
the pulse rising to 100, the altitude being com- 
paratively low. Mr. Rotch attributes these 
symptoms to a large quantity of quinine which 
he had taken before starting. On the further 
climb, great difficulty was experienced in walk- 
ing, and there was hardly strength enough, at 
the Vallot Observatory, to gather up the sheets 
of the recording instruments. A fourth ascent 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


was accomplished without difficulty, the author 
being ‘in prime condition’ on the summit. 


MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 


Tue November number of the Monthly 
Weather Review (dated January 31, 1905) 
contains the following articles of general sci- 
entific interest: ‘ Airy’s Theory of the Rain- 
bow,’ by Rev. D. Hammer, 8.J.; ‘ Radiation in 
the Solar System,’ being an address delivered 
before the British Association by Professor J. 
H. Poynting; ‘A Simple, Effective and Inex- 
pensive Lightning Recorder,’ by H. F. Alcia- 
tore; ‘An Honest Long-range Forecaster,’ 
‘Meteorological Course at Williams College, 
‘Meteorology in New South Wales,’ ‘ Deflec- 
tion of Thunderstorms with the Tides,’ ‘A 
Proposed International Contest of Weather 
Forecasters.’ 


FLOODS IN THE SAHARA. 


OccastIonaL sudden downpours of rain, some- 
what similar in character to our western cloud- 
bursts, occur in the mountains of the Saharan 
region, causing floods, and even loss of life. 
On the evening of April 12, 1899, near Ber- 
rian, 300 miles south of the city of Algiers, a 
flood of this character swept down the usually 
dry bed of a wady, and caused the death, by 
drowning, of some French soldiers who were 
encamped in the bed. A recent case of the 
same kind is reported in the Bulletin of the 
Comité de lV Afrique, No. 11, 1904. On Oc- 
tober 21 the village of Ain Sefra, in southern 
Algeria, on the edge of the Sahara, was over- 
whelmed by floods which suddenly rushed 
down two wadys. The floods were due to very 
heavy rains which had fallen on a neighboring 
mountain range. Ten Europeans and fifteen 
natives were drowned. The flood is reported 
to have subsided about fifteen minutes after 
reaching the town. 


THE GUINEA CURRENT. 

In 1895 there was published by the Meteor- 
ological Institute of the Netherlands a report 
entitled ‘De Guinea en Equatoriaal Stroo- 
men,’ dealing with the currents, temperature, 
winds, specific gravity of ocean water, pres- 
sure, frequency of rainy days, ete., of the re- 


a 


a a re wee 


— = ee ee 


May 19, 1905.] 


gion between the equator and lat. 25° N., and 
between the meridian of Greenwich and long. 
40° W. A new edition of these charts has 
now been issued (‘ Observations océanograph- 
iques et météorologiques dans la Région du 
Courant de Guinée,’ 1855-1900. (1) Texte 
et Tableaux, pp. iv-+ 116, (2) Planches, VIII. 
Utrecht, 1904). R. DEC. Warp. 


SCIENTIFIO NOTES AND NEWS. 


Sm Parrick Manson has been invited to 
give the Lane lectures at the Cooper Medical 
College, California, this year. He will lec- 
ture on some aspect of tropical diseases. 


Proressor J. N. Lancury, of Cambridge, 
will give one of the general lectures at the 
meeting of the Association of German Scien- 
tific Men and Physicians, which opens at 
Meran on September 24. His subject will be 
“Recent Researches on the Nervous System.’ 


Lorp Ray eicH is about to retire from the 
professorship of natural philosophy at the 
Royal Institution, which he has held for 
eighteen years. He will be made honorary 
professor. Lord Rayleigh has given twenty- 
three Friday evening discourses and twenty- 
one courses of afternoon lectures at the insti- 
tution. 


Lorp Lister celebrated his seventy-eighth 
birthday on April 5. 

Proressor Evcens W. Hitcarp, of the de- 
partment of agriculture of the University of 
California, has been granted leave of absence 
for next year. Professor Hilgard, who is 
seventy-two years of age and has held his 
chair in Canfornia for thirty-one years, is 
privileged to retire with two thirds salary, 
according to the statutes of the university. 

A MARBLE portrait bust is to be installed at 
Brussels in honor of Dr. Beco, secretary-gen- 
eral of the Belgian Department of Public 
Health. 


A coup medal in honor of Professor Pozzi, 
the eminent French surgeon, by the sculptor 
Chaplain, is to be presented to him by his 
colleagues and pupils. 

Tue students of Jefferson Medical College 
will at the approaching commencement pre- 


7 


SCIENCE. 197 


sent to Dr. Forbes a life-size portrait of him- 
self. Dr. Forbes has taught anatomy in 
Philadelphia for forty-nine years. 


Tue health of Lord Kelvin is much im- 
proved and he was expecting to be able to 
leave London shortly for a change of air. 


Proressor H. E. Grecory, who has been ill 
with inflammatory rheumatism, has much im- 
proved, and expects to resume his university 
duties in the course of several weeks. 


Sm Ricuarp Doucnas Powett has been 
elected president of the Royal College of 
Physicians in succession to Sir William 
Church. 

Mr. Joun Gavry, O©.B., engineer-in-chief 
to the Post Office, has been nominated for 
election as president of the British Institution 
of Electrical Engineers for 1905-6. Dr. R. 
T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., director of the National 
Physical Laboratory, and Mr. J. E. Kings- 
bury, of the Western Electric Company, have 
been nominated for the office of vice-president. 

Proressor ‘THomAsS M. GarpNer has re- 
signed his chair in the faculty of mechanical 
engineering at Cornell University. 

Mr. E. T. Newton, F.R.S., paleontologist 
to the British Geological Survey, retired on 
May 4, after forty years of service. He is 
sueceeded by Dr. F. L. Kitchin. 


We learn from Nature that the Baly medal, 
given every alternate year on the reeommenda- 
tion of the president and council of the Royal 
College of Physicians of London for distin- 
guished work in the science of physiology, 
especially during the two years immediately 
preceding the award, has been awarded to 
Professor Pavlov, of St. Petersburg. The 
Bisset Hawkins gold medal for 1905, given 
triennially for work deserving special recogni- 
tion as advancing sanitary science or pro- 
moting public health, has been awarded to Sir 
Patrick Manson, K.C.M.G. 

Tue Jacksonian prize of the Royal College 
of Surgeons has been awarded to Mr. H. J. 
Patterson for his essay on ‘ The Diagnosis and 
Treatment of such Affections of the Stomach 
as are Amenable to Direct Surgical Inter- 
ference.’ 


798 


Dr. Nettie Maria Stevens, of San Jose, 
California, associate in experimental mor- 
phology at Bryn Mawr College, has been 
awarded the prize of $1,000 offered every two 
years by the Association for Maintaining the 
American Woman’s Table at the Zoological 
Station at Naples and for Promoting Scien- 
tifie Research by Women. This is the second 
award of the prize which is offered for the best 
thesis written by a woman on a scientific sub- 
ject. Miss Stevens graduated from Stanford 
University in 1899, and received the degree 
of doctor of philosophy from Bryn Mawr Col- 
lege in 1903. During the past year she has 
held a Carnegie assistantship in addition to 
her position at Bryn Mawr. ‘The thesis which 
won the prize is on ‘The Germ Cells of the 
Aphis rosea and the Aphis enothera, 

Tue Smithsonian Institution has made a 
grant of $250 from the Hodgkins Fund to 
Professor W. P. Bradley, of Wesleyan Uni- 
versity, for an experimental study of the flow 
of air at high pressure through a nozzle. The 
subject of this investigation is of fundamental 
importance in connection with the usual 
method of liquefying air. 

Dr. RaymMonp Peart, instructor in zoology 
at the University of Michigan, has been 
granted leave of absence for a year. He will 
spend the year abroad, continuing his work 
on variation from the biometrical standpoint, 
having received a grant for this purpose from 
the Carnegie Institution. 

Str Wituiam Hucerns, president of the 
Royal Society, made one of the speeches at 
the anniversary banquet of the Royal Acad- 
emy of Arts, held on April 29. 

Proressor Joun ApAms, head of the depart- 
ment of education of the University of Lon- 
don, is to deliver a course of lectures in the 
School of Education of the University of 
Chicago during the summer quarter. 

Proressor JoHN Dewey, of Columbia Uni- 
versity, lectured at Harvard University on 
May 5, his subject being ‘Knowledge and 
Action.’ 

Tue following provisional program of publie 
evening lectures at the Marine Biological 
Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., has been ar- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


ranged; other lectures will be announced 
later: 

June 30, Miss Adele M. Fielde, ‘The Power of 
Recognition among Ants.’ 

July 5, Dr. A. J. Carlson, ‘The Physiology of 
the Heart.’ 

July 7, Professor A. P. Mathews, ‘ The Chemical 
Basis of Life.’ 

July 12, Professor H. S. Jennings, ‘The Be- 
havior of Lower Organisms.’ 

July 14, Dr. R. M. Yerkes, ‘The Behavior of 
Higher Organisms.’ 

July 19, Professor A. D. Mead, ‘Some Observa- 
tions on the Natural History of Marine Animals.’ 

July 21, Miss Katherine Foot and Miss E. C. 
Strobell, ‘Maturation and Fertilization of the 
Egg of Allolobophora fotida.’ 

July 26, Professor W. B. Scott, ‘Miocene Un- 
gulates of South America.’ 

A MARBLE memorial of the late Professor 
Giulio Bizzozzero is to be placed in the Insti- 
tute of General Pathology at Turin. 


Dr. JosepH Everett Dutrron died in the 
Congo on February 27 at the age of twenty- 
nine years. He was sent to Africa by the 
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to in- 
vestigate trypanosomiasis and tick fever. 

WE regret also to learn of the death of 
Professor Otto Struve, director of the Poul- 
kowa Observatory from 1862 to 1890, which 
took place on April 14, at the age of eighty- 
five years. 

Puans have been filed for a fifteen-story 
building to cost $975,000, which Mr. Andrew 
Carnegie is to present to the Associated So- 
cieties of Engineers of New York. It is to 
be erected on the large plot from 25 to 33 
West Thirty-ninth Street, and immediately 
adjoining it in the rear, facing at 32 and 34 
West Fortieth Street, will be a thirteen-story 
club-house, which is to cost an additional 
$375,000, also part of Mr. Carnegie’s gift. 

M. Emmanuet Drake Devt Castitxo has be- 
queathed to the Paris Natural History Mu- 
seum a herbarium, a botanical library and the 
sum of $5,000. 


Tue London Times says that an offer has 
been made by certain of the companies en- 
gaged in the production of phonographic 
records to deposit in the British Museum 


————————————E—————————aoO 


May 19, 1905.] 


records of the voices of distinguished living 
men, and that the trustees have expressed 
their willingness to receive, under special re- 
strictions and with very careful selection, such 
records, which will be for posterity only and 
will in no circumstances be available for con- 
temporary use. 


A GEOLOGICAL excursion to Syracuse, N. Y., 
for the purpose of examining the glacial- 
marginal channels, first explained by Gilbert 
and later more fully described by Fairchild, 
was made on April 15-17; professors and 
students to the number of twenty-five from 
six institutions, Harvard, Colgate, Syracuse, 
Cornell, Rochester and Rutgers, participating. 
Professors Davis, Hopkins, Fairchild and 
Lewis were present. The weather was in- 
clement, high wind with snow squalls blowing 
cold all three days; but the channels were of 
repaying interest. They were examined in 
three north-sloping spurs of the upland or 
plateau country, and found to recur repeatedly 


in systematic sequence; but the deltas ex- 


pectably associated with them in the inter- 
mediate valleys seemed to be deficient in vol- 
ume, as if much reduced by subsequent 
erosion. 

Ir is stated in Nature that the president of 
the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries has 
appointed a departmental committee to in- 
quire, by means of experimental investigation 
and otherwise, into the pathology and etiology 
of epizootic abortion, and to consider whether 
any, and, if so, what, preventive and remedial 
measures may with advantage be adopted with 
respect to that disease. The chairman of the 
committee is Professor J. MacFadyean, prin- 
cipal of the Royal Veterinary College. 

THE Congress on Quackery, which was to 
have been opened in Paris on May 8 under 
the presidency of Professor Brouardel, has 
been postponed till April 30, 1906. 

LizuTENANT Prary has chartered at St. 
John’s the sealer Hrik to convey coal and 
stores to Greenland and act as auxiliary vessel 
to his projected Arctic expedition. 

Tue Boston Society of Natural History an- 
nounces subjects for the two annual Walker 
prizes in 1906 as follows: 


SCIENCE. 799 


An experimental field study in ecology. 

A contribution to a knowledge of the nature of 
competition in plants. 

A physiological life history of a single species 
of plant. 

Phylogeny of a group of fossil organisms. 

A study in stratigraphy. 

A research in mineral physics. 

A study on entectics in rock magmas. 

A study in river capture. 


A REGION that is new to both geologists and 
topographers is described by Professor Israel 
C. Russell in a preliminary report on the geol- 
ogy and water resources of central Oregon, 
recently published by the United States Geo- 
logical Survey. No description of the phys- 
ical features, water resources or geology of 
this region is in print, and the only map that 
Professor Russell found available for use dur- 
ing his reconnaissance, which took place in 
the summer of 1903, was a map of the state 
of Oregon, drawn to a scale of 12 miles to the 
inch, published by the General Land Office. 
The route followed by Professor Russell and 
his assistants led from Burns, Oregon, west- 
ward through the western part of Harney 
County, across the southeastern and central 
portions of Crook County, by way of Prine- 
ville and Sisters, thence southward through 
the northwest portion of Klamath County to 
Fort Klamath, and thence westward across the 
Cascade Mountains to Medford, in Jackson 
County. The region examined includes the 
extreme northern part of the Great Basin 
(an area of about 210;000 square miles situ- 
ated principally in Oregon, Nevada, Utah 
and southeastern California, from which no 
streams flow to the ocean) and a part of the 
drainage area of Deschutes River and of its 
principal tributary, Crooked River, which 
joins it from the east. 

Dr. JosepH Hyper Pratt’s annual report to 
the U. S. Geological Survey on the production 
of asbestos shows that the, principal changes 
to be noted in the asbestos industry at the 
close of 1904 were the increase in the pro- 
duction in the United States of the amphibole 
variety, the development of the Grand Canyon 
chrysotile asbestos deposits, and the increase 
in the demand for the chrysotile variety. The 
many new uses which have been devised for 


800 


chrysotile asbestos have created a demand for 
it that is now in excess of the supply. The 
high price which’ can be obtained for the 
chrysotile asbestos when it is in fibers of suf- 
ficent length for spinning permits the mining 
of this mineral in some places where the cost 
of mining would become prohibitory with any 
material decrease in price. One of the most 
interesting features of Dr. Pratt’s report this 
year is a description of the results of certain 
experiments that have been made on asbestos 
building board by Mr. George F. Sever, of 
New York City, for the Keasbey and Matti- 
son Company, of the same city. The tests 
were made on asbestos building lumber and 
magnesia building lumber and show conclu- 
sively that both these materials are superior 
to wood for the purposes for which they are 
manufactured, but that the asbestos lumber 
is much better than the magnesia. Such as- 
bestos lumber, when employed in the construc- 
tion of street railway and standard railway 
ears, for covering the end framing, should 
prevent the cars from taking fire by any de- 
rangement of the electrical apparatus. An- 
other type of asbestos building material that 
is beginning to be extensively used is asbestos 
board or sheathing, for roofing and for side 
walls. An asbestos shingle recently patented 
by Messrs. Keasbey and Mattison is composed 
of asbestos fiber and hydraulic cement. These 
shingles are much stronger than slate and 
lighter in weight. They are made in three 
colors, gray, slate and tile red, in squares 44 
inches on a side, with two corners of the 
square truncated. The use of asbestos ma- 
terials in building has been considered chiefly 
from the standpoint of fireproofing; yet there 
is another and perhaps as important a reason 
for their employment, and that is for pre- 
serving an even temperature in the building 
erected. Houses so built as to be surrounded 
by asbestos should be cooler in summer and 
warmer in winter than other houses. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 
Tur McCormick family have added $1,000,- 

000 to the endowment of the McCormick 

Theological Seminary of Chicago. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 542. 


Mr. ANDREW CarNEcIE has offered to give 
Radcliffe College $75,000 for a library build- 
ing on condition that an equal sum be col- 
lected for its endowment. 


Lorp Curzon has laid the foundation stone 
of the Agricultural College at Pusa. This 
college and experiment station were made 
possible by a gift of $150,000 which Mr. Henry 
Phipps gave Lord Curzon to use for the good 
of the people of India. 


BirmincHamM University has received £20,- 
000 under the will of the late Mr. Thomas 
Best. 


Tue Boston Transcript reports that the 
faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology has adopted by a vote of fifty- 
seven to six a report adverse to the proposed 
alliance with Harvard University. 


Dr. JuLius Stieciirz, of the department of 
chemistry of the University of Chicago, has 
been appointed to a professorship of chemistry 
in that institution. 


Av the University of Colorado, Dr. M. E. 
Miles, who has been demonstrator of anatomy, 
has been appointed professor of anatomy; Dr. 
E. H. Robertson, professor of bacteriology and 
pathology, has resigned to engage in other 
work; and Mr. G. S. Dodds has been appointed 


instructor in zoology. 


Mr. Witu1Am E. Brooke has been promoted 
to an assistant professorship of engineering 
mathematics in the University of Minnesota. 


Dr. J. Cartron Bett has been appointed in- 
structor in experimental psychology in Wel- 
lesley College. 


Mr. Stantey DunkertEy, M.Sc. head of 
the department of applied mathematics in the 
Royal Naval College, Greenwich, has been ap- 
pointed professor of engineering in the Uni- 
versity of Manchester. 


At King’s College, London, Mr. Peter 
Thompson, M.D., has been elected professor of 
anatomy; and Professor Arthur Dendy, D.Sce., 
South African College, Cape Town, has been 
elected professor of zoology. 


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A NEW 


The Insulation of Electric Machines #232” 


“This is the first book to be published on 


A this most important subject . . . to both 
HARRY the designer and the operator of electrical 
WINTHROP apparatus, as nine-tenths of the ultimate 
TURNER breakdowns in electrical machinery are due 

A to the breakdown of the insulation, no mat- 
HENRY ter what the primary cause of the trouble. 


The work of Turner and Hobart is, there- 
METCALF fore, very timely and . . . a most valu- 
HOBART able contribution to the subject, giving, as it 
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With 102 outline of the general subject . . . The 
Tilustrations bibliography in one of the final chapters 
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Electric Motors 


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480 Illustrations Continuous Current Motors and Induction Motors: 


Cloth, $5.00 Their Theory and Construction 


‘One of the peculiarities of all text-books on the principles of dynamo design or construction, or both, 
is the lack of adequate information regarding motors; the present volume, therefore, is amply justified, 
and, as might have been expected by reason of the author’s high standing as a designer, it represents a 
very efficient effort to supply the deficit in its class of literature . . . The book is far and away ahead 
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Haroip A. Witson writes in Nature: ‘The book is not of a popular character ; it is intended for those 


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A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 


OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 


Fripay, May 26, 1905. 


CONTENTS. 


The General Meeting of the American Philo- 
RES AOETL aS OCTG RD Hee ante OCIS Goa no ene 801 


Scientific Books :— 
True on the Whalebone Whales: F. A. L. 
Two Recent Moss Books: Proressor F. D. 
PERREANE DMR cd cchv ole eben oss s etonseteiet ays cite 7s @@hgtevee oror's 


Scientific Journals and Articles............ 817 


Societies and Academies :— 
The American Physical Society: PROFESSOR 
Ernest Merritt. The American Chemical 
Society, New York Section: F. H. Povuan; 
Cornell Section: Dr. W. S. Lenk. The 
Geological Society of Washington: Dr. Gro. 
NOTES BRS AU TNE rss, cierepSiare sane stake ece thers Gace’ oe ele 817 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Concerning the Natural Mounds: A. H. 
PurpuE. The Basalt Mounds of the Co- 
lumbia Lova: C. V. PIPER.............- 


Special Articles :— 
Leveling without Baseleveling: PRorEssoR 
W. M. Davis. Nomenclatorial Type Speci- 


mens of Plant Species: A. 8. Hircucock.. 825 


Current Notes on Meteorology :— 
Mountain Sickness in the Sikhim Himalaya; 
The Kalahari Desert; Meteorological Ob- 
servatory, New Year Island; Notes: Pro- 
BUSSORM Re DEC. VV ABD cas chevee lc sce efcuein as 
Notes on Entomology: Dr. NATHAN BANKS.. 833 
Men of Affairs in Education............... 
The Carnegie Fowndation............+....- 
The Increased Endowment of Harvard College 836 


The International Anatomical Congress at 


CHL CU nn arcana so ost aeled erduake: snare Pua SAMS ares, 8.6 836 
Scientific Notes and News............+.+0. 837 
University and Hducational News.......... 839 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THH GENERAL MEETING OF THE AMERI- 


CAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 

THE annual general meeting of the 
American Philosophical Society was held 
this year during Wednesday, Thursday 
and Friday of the second week in April. 
The sessions as usual were held in the 
rooms of the society in Philadelphia. 
The number in attendance, including non- 
resident members, resident members and 
others, was quite as large as on previous 
similar occasions, while the quantity and 
character of the papers offered, together 
with the discussion on them, ealled forth 
much favorable comment. The program 
was especially broad in its scope, including 
the various departments of natural and 
physical science, of literature and of prob- 
lems in economics. 

On Thursday the society sent, through 
its secretary, Dr. I. Minis Hays, a telegram 
of greeting to the University of Virginia 
on the occasion of the inauguration of a 
president of its faculty. This was done in 
special commemoration of the fact that 
Thomas Jefferson, the founder. of the uni- 
versity, was also an early president of the 
American Philosophical Society. 

The meeting was opened on Wednesday 
afternoon at 2:30 o’clock by the president, 
Vice-Provost Edgar F. Smith, of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, with a brief ad- 
dress of weleome, after which the following 
papers were presented : 


The Weal-Relation: Professor LinpuEy M. 
Keassey, of Bryn Mawr, Pa. 


802 


A Plea for Governmental Supervision of 
Posts Necessitating Normal Perception 
of Color: Dr. CHARLES A. OLIVER, of 
Philadelphia. 


The Present Status of the International 
Catalogue of Scientific Literature: Dr. 
Cyrus ApuEr, of Washington. 


The Composite Character of the Baby- 
lonian Creation Story: Professor Morris 
Jastrow, Jr., of Philadelphia. 

In the course of his address on ‘The 
Composite Character of the Babylonian 
Creation Story,’ Professor Jastrow  re- 
ferred to the progress made in recent years 
in the interpretation of the Babylonian 
creation tale, thanks chiefly to the dis- 
covery of new fragments of the story in 
the remains of the famous Assyrian library 
of Ashurbanapol, at Nineveh. 

‘We now know,’’ he said, ‘‘that the nar- 
rative in the form of a poem consisted of 
about 1,000 lines, of which three fourths 
have been found. The version of the story 
which we have is the one that was produced 
in the city of Babylon by the priests of 
Marduk, the chief god of the later Baby- 
lonian Pantheon. This god is, therefore, 
introduced as the creator and as playing 
the principal part in the struggle between 
the gods and an army of monsters led by 
Tiamar. 

‘The ‘Babylon’ version of the creation 
story rests on an older tale, which origin- 
ated in Nippur, and in which the chief god 
of that city, who was ealled Bel, is the 
hero. When the ‘temple library’ of Nip- 
pur shall be discovered, or if it has been 
discovered, we may expect to find this older 
version. At present we may conclude from 
the ‘Babylon’ version that an earlier ‘Nip- 
pur’ version existed. There was, however, 
also a third version, which originated in 
Eridu, one of the most ancient religious 
centers of Babylonia, and in which the god 
Ea played the chief réle. 


SCIENCE. 


(N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


“*In the ‘Babylon’ version the two older 
versions, that of Nippur and that of Eridu, 
have been combined to form the Marduk 
epic. Bel’s name and réle are transferred 
to Marduk, and, likewise, Ea’s preroga- 
tives. A trace of the three versions is to 
be seen in the opening lines, which desig- 
nate three beings, all synonyms of one an- 
other, as the symbol of the water chaos 
which preceded the organization of the 
regular workings of nature.’’ 


The English Masque: Professor Freurx E. 

ScHELLING, of Philadelphia. 

The English masque is a by-form of the 
English drama which flourished between 
the years 1597 and 1658, and is absolutely 
definite in its nature and characteristics, 
and to be defined as that species of the 
entertainment, the nucleus of which is a 
dance. The masque was usually presented 
at court as the setting of a ball and the 
actors in its serious parts were the nobles 
and ladies attendant on royalty. The 
masque is based on the revels, disguisings 
and maskings popular in England and, es- 
pecially at court, from time immemorial. 
It is in no wise a derivative in any essen- 
tial feature of similar festivities of Italy 
or France; but was developed as a definite 
product of literary and histrionic art 
chiefly in the reigns of King James and 
King Charles I. Thomas Campion, the 
musician, and Samuel Daniel, the court 
poet, wrote its earliest forms; but it was 
perfected mainly in the hands of Ben Jon- 
son, who added the antimasque, or con- 
trasted comedy element; while Inigo Jones, 
the royal architect, brought its costuming, 
scenic features and mechanical devices for 
stage effect to a surprising degree of per- 
fection. The list of less than sixty masques 
within this period is surrounded by many 
dramatic compositions of a character more 
or less similar. But even Milton’s Comus, 


May 26, 1905.] 


commonly designated a masque, is not, 
strictly speaking, such a production. 

The distinguishing features of the 
masque were its allegorical presentation of 
matter supposedly fitting to the occasion ; 
its lyrical poetry; its novel musical effects 
and combinations both voeal and instru- 
mental, the gorgeousness and costly quality 
of its costuming; the ingenuity of its stage 
settings and mechanical devices for stage 
effect; its mingling in one performance, 
though in separate parts, the amateur 
with the professional actor; and scenes 
of comic relief offered in the antimasque 
performed by professional singers, dancers 
and players. 


The Emancipation of the Waterways: Pro- 
fessor Lewis M. Haupt, of Philadelphia. 
In his paper on the ‘Emancipation of 

the Waterways,’ Professor L. M. Haupt 

traced first the beneficial effects of improve- 
ments in the capacity of navigable channels 
in lowering the rates of freight, as for grain 
from Chicago to New York from 29.6 cents 
per bushel in 1866 to 4.7 cents in 1903, due 
to the enlargement of the Soo canal from 
12 to 20 feet. He quoted Senator Frye to 
the effect that the saving on lake freights 
in one year was five times the total cost of 
the entire lake system, and estimated that 
the saving on the tonnage of 1903 was 
$194,660,408. He then showed the in- 
creased value to result to the western 
farmer by the proximity of navigable chan- 
nels as illustrated in the lower prices re- 
ceived in Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri as 
compared with states nearer the seaboard, 
and that this difference was the cost of the 
overland haul. On cereals alone this charge 
amounted to a loss to Nebraska of over 
$14,000,000 as compared with prices in 

Kansas, a little nearer water rates. The 

policy of European countries owning rail- 

ways was then stated to be a return to the 
rapid and extensive development of their 


SCIENCE. 


803 


canal systems to encourage the delivery of 
raw materials for manufactures in the com- 
petition for the world’s markets as in 
France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Rus- 
sia, Austria, Italy, ete., where thousands 
of miles are under construction with im- 
proved hydraulic and electric lifts and 
with electric haulage, for barges of from 
300 to 1,000 tons. 

The decadence of and opposition to the 
canals in this country are shown in the 
abandonment of over 700 miles in Pennsyl- 
vania; 656 in Ohio; 269 in New York, ete. ; 
and the effort now on foot in the latter state 
to prevent the enlargement of the Erie to 
even 12 feet, so as to retain some of the 
grain trade which must otherwise go to 
Canadian ports. 

The great profit-earning capacity of 
canals under corporate control was shown 
in the ease of the English and American 
canals which have been maintained, as com- 
pared with those managed by railways, 
which was stated to be due to the small cost 
of operation. 

In 1835 there were 2,700 miles of canals 
in operation in the United States, but by 
1889 it had fallen to 2,305 miles, while the 
railroads had increased in the same time 
from 1,000 to 158,000 miles, and were still 
opposing waterway legislation, although it 
was believed, in the speaker’s opinion, to be 
the most beneficial auxiliary to the devel- 
opment of railway revenues, as shown by 
the stock quotations of the roads having 
deep-water competition. 

The great pressure upon Congress, the 
shortness of the sessions and the enormous 
demands for enabling legislation which 
have been accumulating for years, in some 
cases more than a half century, lead to the 
conclusion that much more satisfactory re- 
sults could be secured for the emancipation 
of our waterways by a return to the early 
policy under which they were developed by 


804 SCIENCE. 


private or state control, locally, with powers 
to exercise the rights of eminent domain as 
is still done in the ease of highways and 
railroads. 


The Beginnings of Lumbering as an In- 
dustry in the New World: Mr. Joun E. 
Hoss, of North Berwick, Me. 


THURSDAY, APRIL 31. 
Morning Session—10:30 O’clock. 
President Smith in the chair. 


The Structure of the Ingnified Cell Wall: 
Professor JoHN M. Macraruane, of 
Lansdowne, Pa. 

The lignified cell wall has been regarded 
‘as built up of a series of lamelle deposited 
from without inward on the primary cellu- 
lose membrane, all of the lamelle being in 
direct contact with each other. The strati- 
fied appearance has been explained by 
Hanstein, Strasburger and others as due to 
‘water-poor’ and ‘water-rich’ layers. 

From a study of numerous types of in- 
durated element drawn from many of the 
vascular plants, the speaker stated that he 
regarded the lamelle as quite distinct from 
each other, and separated by spaces usu- 
ally as wide as the lamelle themselves. 
The aniline sulphate and phloroglucin re- 
actions clearly showed the lignin lamelle 
colored, while the cavities or inter-lamelle 
were unaltered. Aniline stains that act on 
lignified walls, such as safranin and aniline 
purple colored the lamelle deeply and left 
the inter-lamelle unstained. By appropri- 
ate protoplasmic stains, the inter-lamelle 
were found to contain diffuse protoplasmic 
material in connection with the intercell- 
ular protoplasmic threads that penetrated 
the pores of the cell walls. The lamellee 
were held in connection by fine lignin proc- 
esses that stretched from lamella to lamella. 
The number of distinct lamelle might vary 
from two to ten in the ordinary sap-con- 
ducting xylem tracheids and the fibrous 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 543. 


sheath cells of the monocotyledonous bun- 
dle, to as many as from sixty to seventy in 
the indurated cells from the cortex of dif- 
ferent plants. 

That the hgnified wall is built up of dis- 
tinct lamelle that alternate with inter- 
lamellar cavities containing protoplasm, 
gives a new conception as to the pathway 
for the ascending crude sap current and 
for the distribution of nutritive liquids 
through the tissues of the plants. It also 
furnishes valuable data for building up a 
correct conception of the minute structure 
of plant tissues, alike from the standpoint 
of intercellular protoplasmic continuity 
and of cell wall growth. 


New Species of Genus Nepenthes: Pro- 
fessor JoHN M. Macraruaneg, of Lans- 
downe, Pa. 

Five new species of pitcher plant were 
fully described or referred to in connection 
with his recent studies. These included N. 
Beccariana and N. neglecta, both obtained 
from the herbarium of Professor Beceari, 
of Florence; N. Hemsleyana, identified as 
a new species from specimens collected 
during the Burbidge and Veitch Expedi- 
tion to North Borneo; N. Copelandi, de- 
termined and named by Dr. Merrill, head 
of the Botanical Survey of the Philippine 
Islands, and N. Macfarlanei, a_ species 
named by Mr. Hemsley, curator of the 
herbarium at Kew, from material discoyv- 
ered by the speaker in Kew Herbarium. 


On Thought Transference Among Animals 
by Touch and Scent: Mr. AuDEN Samp- 
son, of Haverford. 


Mosaic Development in Ascidian Eggs: 
Professor Epwin G. ConxKutn, of Phila- 
delphia. 


The Oligodynamic Action of Copper 
Foil on Certain Intestinal Organisms: 
HENRY KRAEMER. 


May 26, 1905.] 


The classical experiments conducted by 
Nageli during the eighties for determining 
the toxicity of solutions of copper pro- 
duced by placing clean copper coins in dis- 
tilled water for several days, on Spirogyra, 
a filamentous alga, was reviewed. 

It was pointed out that Nageli observed 
that the effects produced by the copper 
solution so obtained, on Spirogyra, differed 
from those due to ordinary chemical poison- 
ing, and that in describing the supposedly 
distinctive effects of such minute traces of 
copper in solution (he having estimated 
that approximately 1.3 parts of copper to 
1,000 million parts of water would kill 
Spirogyra), he used the term ‘oligody- 
namische,’ meaning thereby the force or 
action exerted by a small quantity of sub- 
stance. 

Reference was made to the very great 
importance of Nigeli’s discovery from a 
scientific point of view, and the statement 
made that while researches of the kind con- 
dueted by Nageli and other writers since 
his time had an important bearing on 
pharmacology, it was not, however, until 
the publication of the bulletin on ‘A 
Method of Destroying or Preventing the 
Growth of Algzwe and Certain Pathogenic 
Bacteria in Water Supplies,’ by Moore and 
Kellerman nearly a year ago, that the 
very great practical significance of work 
along these lines became apparent and gen- 
eral interest was aroused in the subject. 

Since last fall the author has carried on 
a number of series of experiments with the 
particular end in view of testing the effi- 
ciency of metallic copper for destroying 
typhoid and colon bacilli. The technique 
was deseribed, and the following conclu- 
sions drawn from the results obtained as 
well as those given by other writers: 

1. Certain intestinal bacteria, like colon 
and typhoid, are completely destroyed by 
placing clean copper foil in water contain- 
ing them, or by adding the organisms to 


SCIENCE. 


805 


water previously in contact with the foil. 

2. The toxicity of water to which either 
copper coins or copper foil has been added 
is probably due to the solution of some 
salt of copper, as first suggested by Nagel. 

3. The copper is probably in the form of 
a erystalloid rather than that of a colloid, 
as it has the property of permeating the 
eell walls and organized ecell-contents of 
both animals and plants, thereby producing 
the toxie effects. 

4, While the effects produced by the 
oligodynamie action of copper are appar- 
ently different from those of true chem- 
ical poisoning, the difference is probably in 
degree only and not in kind. 

5. Certain lower organisms, including 
both plants and animals, possess a specific 
sensitiveness to minute quantities of cop- 
per and other substances as well, and it 
has been shown that they are not restored 
on transferring them to water free from 
oligodynamie properties. 

6. Oligodynamic solutions of copper are 
obtained by adding copper coins, copper 
foil, or salts of copper to water. When 
copper foil is allowed to remain in distilled 
water from one to five minutes sufficient 
copper is dissolved by the water to kill 
typhoid organisms within two hours. 

7. A solution of copper may lose its 
toxicity by the precipitation of the copper 
as an insoluble salt or compound, by its ab- 
sorption by organic substances, or by ad- 
sorption by insoluble substances. 

8. The oligodynamie action of the copper 
is dependent upon temperature as first 
pointed out by Israel and Klingmann. 

9. The effects of oligodynamic copper in 
the purification of drinking water are in a 
quantitative sense much like those of filtra- 
tion, only the organisms removed, like B. 
typhi and B. coli, are completely destroyed. 


Observations on Columbium and Tantalum: 
Dr. Enear F. Suirr. 


806 


No difficulty was experienced in separa- 
ting these elements. It was found that 
tantalum formed two or more double salts 
with the fluoride of each of the alkali 
metals. It was further shown that by 
virtue of this fact the double fiuorides 
were not to be regarded as suitable material 
with which to determine the atomic weight 
of tantalum. Similar work was being 
done with columbium. The latter has not 
yet been freed absolutely from titanium, 
although certain methods being used at 
present promise well. 

Tantalic and columbie oxides are both 
volatile in a current of carbon tetrachlo- 
ride, the first yielding tantalum penta- 
chloride and the second columbium oxy- 
chloride. 


The Effects on Metabolism of Preservatwes 
Added to Foods: H. W. Witey, M.D., of 
Washington. 

During the past three years we have 
studied in the Bureau of Chemistry in the 
Department of Agriculture, the various 
effects produced upon health and digestion 
by the addition of preservatives to food 
products. The substances which have 
been studied are borie acid, horax, salicylic 
acid, salicates, sulphurous acid, sulphite, 
benzoic acid, benzoates, formaldehyde and 
copper sulphate. The medical effects of 
all these bodies were carefully observed 
and recorded. The effects on metabolism 
were studied by weighing and analyzing 
the foods received, and collecting and 
analyzing the exereta of those under ob- 
servation. The number of persons under, 
observation has, in all cases, been twelve, ex- 
cept where accidental illness has diminished 
the attendance at the table. The effects 
produced upon the balance show the total 
quantity of any element ingested in the 
food and the amount recovered in the ex- 
ereta. The research embraced protein, 
phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, carbohy- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


drates and fats. Only the data for boric 
acid and borax have been published. The 
other data are in course of preparation. 

The general effect of borax and borie 
acid is: (1) To diminish or tend to dimin- 
ish the weight of the body; (2) to diminish 
the avidity of the appetite; (3) a tendency 
to diminish the per cent. of nitrogen ex- 
ereted, which, slightly marked in the pre- 
servative period, was even more marked in 
the after period, showing an accumulative 
effect in this direction; (4) the develop- 
ment of a tendency to increase the exere- 
tion of phosphorus. All the data taken 
together show that 97.3 per cent. of the 
phosphorus digested in the food was re- 
covered during the fore period, 103.1 per 
cent. during the borax period, and 97 per 
cent. during the after period; (5) a tend- 
ency to increase, to a slight extent, the com- 
bustion of fat in the food; (6) a tendency 
to slightly diminish the total calories ob- 
tained from the food; and (7) a tendency 
to increase the quantity of solids in the food 
eliminated in the feces. This condition is 
easily explained in the tendency estab- 
lished during the exhibition of the preserv- 
ative to slightly derange the digestive funce- 
tions. The data also show that nearly 80 
per cent. of the total borax and borie acid 
ingested in the food are excreted in the 
urine and the rest, apparently, through the 
skin. 

The general result shows a greater or 
less derangement of metabolic processes of 
a character tending to injure the health. 


Electroanalysis with a Rotating Anode and 
Mercury Cathode: Lity G. Ko.tuocKk and 
Dr. Epa@ar F. Suiru, of Philadelphia. 
A number of metals may be rapidly 

precipitated in this way. The quantity of 

metal deposited in from four to seven 
minutes varies from a quarter to more than 
one half gram. The use of the mercury 
as cathode does away with a platinum dish 


May 26, 1905.] 


or cone and greatly reduces the expense 
incurred in general electrolytic work. The 
metals studied were cadmium, zine, iron, 
nickel, copper, cobalt and bismuth. 


Afternoon Session—2:30 O’clock. 
Vice-President Scott in the chair. 


The Rounded Sands of Paleozoic Forma- 
tions: GILBERT VAN INGEN, Princeton, 
N. J. 

Certain sandstones and dolomites of 
Paleozoic age contain well-rounded grains 
of detrital quartz having the mat surface 
peculiar to sand which has been rounded 
during transportation by wind. Some of 
these sandstones are considered by the 
author to be of desert origin, others to 
represent fossil barrier bars and spits, still 
others dunes. The sand of the dolomites 
is believed to owe its presence in those 
marine rocks either to flotation from a 
barrier bar or spit or to transportation by 
wind from a desert or dune-covered shore. 
The evidence of these sand grains on paleo- 
geographic conditions is briefly discussed. 


A Review of Lacroix’s Work on the Mon- 
tagne Pelée (with lantern illustrations) : 
Professor ANGELO HEILPRIN. 


The Mammalian Fauna of the Fort Union 
Beds: Mr. M.S. Farr. 


The Marsupiral Fauna of the Santa Cruz 
Beds: Wm. J. Stncuatr, Princeton, N. J. 
The paper presents some of the more 

important results of a study of the mar- 

supials of the Santa Cruz formation of 

Patagonia, which will be treated mono- 

graphically in the forthcoming Volume 

VII. of the reports of the ‘Princeton Uni- 

versity Expeditions to Patagonia.’ 

The large Santa Cruz carnivores are 
shown to be true marsupials, belonging to 
the same family as the Tasmanian wolf 
Thylacinus. The suborder Sparassodonta 


SCIENCE. 


807 


is proved to have been based on a mistaken 
assumption. Certain small forms com- 
parable in size to the South American opos- 
sums are included in the family Didel- 
phyide, but are not regarded as prototypal 
to any of the existing opossums. A new 
family is proposed for reception of the 
Santa Cruz diprotodonts, the most primi- 
tive members of which are shown to be 
transitional to the Polyprotodontia. The 
descent from common aneestors of certain 
Australian, Tasmanian and South Amer- 
ican types is suggested, and its bearing on 
paleogeography briefly discussed. 


The Mutual Affinities of the Species of the 
Genus Cambarus: A. E. Ortmann, of 
Pittsburg. 


The Faunal Relations of the Ryu-kyu (Loo 
Choo) Islands: Dr. Henry A. PILSBREY. 


Evening Session—8 O’clock. 
At the Free Museum of Science and 
Art, University of Pennsylvania, President 
Smith in the chair. 


Reason and Intelligence vs. Custom and 
Habit in the Nutrition of the Body 
(illustrated by lantern slides): Pro- 
FEssoR RussELL H. CHITTENDEN. 


A reception was given at nine o’clock in 
the museum by the president and council 
to the members of the society and the ladies 
accompanying them. 


FRIDAY, APRIL 14. 


Morning Session—10:30 O’clock. 
Vice-President Newcomb in the chair. 


The Secular Perturbations of the Earth: 

Mr. Eric Doouirrir. 

It is well known that the earth and all 
of the other planets move about the sun in 
almost circular curves called ellipses. But 
the size and shape of the path in which any 
one planet moves are constantly changing 


808 


on account of the disturbing pull of all of 
the other planets. In order. to predict the 
position of any planet, or of the sun for 
use in surveying and navigation, at any 
future time, these minute changes in the 
form and position of the orbits must be 
rigorously calculated and allowed for. One 
method of doing this is by obtaining any 
variation in the form of an infinite series, 
and then adding together as many terms of 
this series as are thought to be necessary. 
The computations in the great work of 
Le Verrier and Neweomb were performed 
in this way. 

The German mathematician, Gauss, has 
proved, however, that those variations of 
the orbit of any body which increase in- 
definitely with the time will be precisely 
the same as the variations produced, not 
by the pull of the other planets, but by the 
pull of a series of elliptic rings which re- 
spectively coincide with the orbits of these 
disturbing planets. The mathematical com- 
putation of the effect of the pull of these 
rings on the orbit of the disturbed planet 
leads to a definite integral instead of to an 
infinite series. 

The present paper gives the results of 
this computation as applied to the orbit of 
the earth. It is part of a work on which 
the author is engaged, which, when com- 
pleted, will give the computation for each 
of the four inner planets. 


On the Problem of Four Bodies: Professor 
EpGar Opetu Lovett, of Princeton. 


Radio-Activity in Solar Phenomena: Pro- 
fessor Monroz B. Snyper, of Philadel- 
phia. 


Evidence Relating to Latitude Variations 
of Short Periods. From Observations at 
the Flower Observatory During the Year 
1904: Professor C. L. Doonirrie, of 
Philadelphia. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


Enquiry into the Pressure and Rainfall 
Conditions of the Trades-Monsoon Area: 
W. L. Dauuas, of the Meteorological 
Office, India. (Presented by Professor 
Abbe.) 

Mr. W. L. Dallas, who has been promi- 
nent for twenty years past as the first as- 
sistant in the office of the ‘Meteorological 
Reporter to the Government of India’ com- 
municated ‘An Enquiry into the Pressure 
and Rainfall Conditions of the Trades- 
Monsoon Area.’ This is a contribution to 
the great problem of predicting the char- 
acter of the approaching crop season and 
the crop itself. In India the crop depends 
on the rains of the southwest monsoon. 
After they have ended the crop ripens and 
the harvest comes before the dry season is 
under way. Formerly we thought of the 
southwest monsoon as a northeast trade- 
wind from the north Indian Ocean diverted 
toward the warm interior of Asia and the 
slopes of the Himalayas. But the Indian 
meteorologists, by studying the reports of 
winds from the Indian Ocean have suc- 
ceeded in demonstrating that the southwest 
monsoon comes across the equator and is 
with the southeast _trade-wind of the 
southern Indian Ocean drawn towards In- 
dia and Siam and China. The intensity 
and direction depend upon the distribution 
of barometric pressure from the Himalayas, 
south to Cape of Good Hope on the west 
and to Australia on the east. In fact, the 
great area of land that we divide up into 
three continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, 
act as one warm area, the great dry land 
hemisphere, to disturb the action of the 
great water hemisphere. The dry land and 
the aqueous hemispheres of our globe by 
their annual warming and cooling power- 
fully affect the general circulation of the at- 
mosphere, transforming it into an attempt 
at a huge whirl around the continent in 
opposite directions in summer and winter. 


May 26, 1905.] 


In this transformation a large fraction of 
our whole atmosphere is involved; the gen- 
eral conditions of the air as to temperature, 
moisture, pressure and wind in distant 
regions affect this Asiatie whirl and it itself 
affeets other distant regions. The monsoon 
rains of India depend on the intensity of 
the winds, the moisture of the air and the 
exact direction in which and date on which 
it moves over the country. It may, there- 


fore, be said to depend mainly on the dis-. 


tribution of atmospheric pressure over an 
immense area, perhaps one third of the sur- 
face of the globe. But it may also depend 
ultimately on the intensity and quality of 
the radiation that we received from the 
sun, since that may exaggerate the differ- 
ence of temperature over land and water 
or. over equatorial and polar regions and 
thus cause slight deflections in the general 
eurrents of air. A relatively small dis- 
turbing cause may cause a deflection that 
will turn the southwest monsoon aside and 
cause it to pass by or over India or fall 
short of reaching it and thus cause a failure 
of the monsoon rains and of the crops that 
depend on them. 


On the Construction of Isobaric Charts for 
Upper Levels and their Dynamic Im- 
portance in Dynamic Meteorology: Dr. 
J. W. Sanpstr6m, of Stockholm. (Pre- 
sented by Professor Abbe.) 

Dr. J. W. Sandstrém, of Stockholm, has 
long been a student of the atmosphere 
under the guidance of Professor Victor 
Bjerknes, of Stockholm, Sweden, and his 
eminent father the late Professor C. A. 
Bjerknes, of Christiania, Norway. These 
mathematicians have developed Kelvin’s 
theorem of circulation within a fluid mass 
and have shown how to apply it to the 
earth’s atmosphere, provided we have ac- 
curate values of the temperatures and pres- 
sures at various altitudes. To their work 


SCIENCE. 


809 


Dr. Sandstrom now adds an important 
practical consideration, 7. ¢., that the study 
of the motions of the upper atmosphere 
can best be made by drawing isobars and 
isotherms on suecessive level surfaces of 
equal gravity rather than on surfaces of 
equal height above mean sea level, as has 
hitherto been customary. In his memoir 
‘On the Construction of Isobaric Charts 
for Upper Levels and their Dynamic Im- 
portance in Dynamic Meteorology’ Sand- 
strom gives formule and tables for this 
method of study and shows its advantages. 
It affords a peculiarly powerful method of 
utilizing the observations made at the 
seventeen kite stations occupied by the U. 
S. Weather Bureau in 1898, and his illus- 
trative computations refer especially to 
these observations, as they were the first 
ever made that spread over so large area 
of country as to make it worth while to de- 
velop a method that is peculiarly suitable 
tothem. At present this method also finds 
its most important application in studying 
the international aerial work now carried 
on by simultaneous ascensions to great 
heights once or twice monthly in Europe at 
fourteen balloon stations, seven kite sta- 
tions, combined with twenty-five mountain- 
top stations and thirty-five or forty cloud 
or nephoseope stations. In this work the 
only American station at present contribut- 
ing is the Blue Hill Observatory, but it is 
hoped that the U. S. Weather Bureau will 
eventually join in the great undertaking. 
On the Straight-line Concept: Professor 

F, A. Lampert, of Bethlehem, Pa. 

Precision is given to the straight-line con- 
cept not by experience or experiment, but 
by assumptions or axioms. These assump- 
tions determine whether the straight line 
is that of the space of Euclid, of Lobat- 
schefski or of Riemann. Cayley’s theory of 
measurement causes much of the apparent 
mystery of these three spaces to. vanish. 


810 


The geometry of Euclid does not require 
the straight line to be continuous. 

At the annual election, which occurred 
at 12:30 o’clock, the following persons 
were chosen members: 


RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 


Joseph S. Ames, Ph.D., Baltimore. Professor of 
physics in Johns Hopkins University; honorary 
member of the Royal Institution of Great Britain; 
member of the French Physical Society; author of 
‘Theory of Physics,’ ‘Manual of Experimental 
Physics,’ ‘ Elements of Physics,’ ‘The Free Ex- 
pansion of Gases,’ ‘ Prismatic Diffractive Spectra,’ 
‘Induction of Electric Currents’; assistant editor 
of Astrophysical Journal and associate editor of 
American Journal of Science. 

Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, Ph.D., LL.D., 
Chicago. Head professor of geology in Univer- 
sity of Chicago; president of University of Wis- 
consin, 1887-92; in charge of glacial division 
of U. S. Geological Survey since 1882; geologist 
of Peary Relief Expedition, 1894; member of 
National Academy of Sciences; editor of Journal 
of Geology; author of ‘Geology of Wisconsin,’ 
‘Text-book of Geology,’ etc., and of numerous 
papers relating to geology. ; 

William Gilson Farlow, Cambridge. Professor 
of cryptogamic botany in Harvard University; 
author of ‘Marine Algae of New England,’ ‘ The 
Black Knot,’ ‘The Gymnosporangia of the United 
States,’ ‘The Potato Rot,’ ‘Index of Fungi,’ ‘ Dis- 
eases of the Orange and Olive Trees,’ etc., etc.; 
late president of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science; member of the National 
Academy of Science and of the American Academy 
of Arts and Sciences. 

Charles H. Frazier, M.D., Philadelphia. Dean 
of the medical department of the University of 
Pennsylvania and assistant professor of surgery; 
editor of the University Medical Journal and au- 
thor of numerous monographs on surgical subjects, 

David Starr Jordan, Stanford University, Cal. 
President of Leland Stanford University; author 
of ‘Manual of Vertebrate Animals of Northern 
United States, ‘Fishes of North and Middle 
America, ‘Footnotes to Evolution,’ ‘ Animal 
Forms,’ ‘Food and Game Fishes of North Amer- 
ica,’ ‘A Guide to the Study of Fishes,’ and numer- 
ous papers on ichthyology in proceedings of var- 
ious societies and government bureaus; president 
of the California Academy of Sciences, 1896-98. 

George Lyman Kittridge, LL.D., Cambridge. 


Professor of English in Harvard University; 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


member of the American Philological Association 
and of the American Antiquarian Society and fel- 
low of the American Academy of Arts and Sci- 
ences; has made valuable contributions to the 
study of Chaucer; author in collaboration with 
Professor Greenough of ‘Words and Their Ways 
in English Speech,’ and of numerous contributions 
to technical periodicals. 

Robert G. Le Conte, M,D., Philadelphia. Sur- 
geon to the Pennsylvania Hospital; adjunct pro- 
fessor of surgery and trustee of the University of 
Pennsylvania; late surgeon-general of the Na- 
tional Guard of Pennsylvania; author of a num- 
ber of valuable contributions to surgical litera- 
ture. 

Eliakim Hastings Moore, Chicago. Head pro- 
fessor of mathematics at University of Chicago; 
president of the American Mathematical Society; 
associate fellow of the American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences; member of the National Acad- 
emy of Sciences; editor of the Transactions of the 
American Mathematical Society; author of yal- 
uable contributions to mathematical science. 

George T. Moore, Ph.D., Washington. Patholo- 
gist and algologist in charge of Laboratory of 
plant physiology, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. 
S. Department of Agriculture; author of papers 
on ‘Soil Inoculation for Legumes,’ ‘A Method of 
Destroying or Preventing the Growth of Algae 
and Certain Pathogenic Bacteria in Water Sup- 
plies, ‘New or Little-known Unicellular Algae,’ 
ete. 

Richard A. F. Penrose, Jr., Ph.D., Philadelphia. 
Geologist and mining engineer; geologist in charge 
of survey of eastern Texas for Texas Geological 
Survey. Professor of economic geology, Univer- 
sity of Chicago, 1892; special geologist, U. S. 
Geological Survey, 1894, to examine gold districts 
of Cripple Creek, Col.; fellow of Geological So- 
ciety of America; member of Institute of Mining 
Engineers; National Geographical Society, ete.; 
author of numerous papers on economic geology. 

Francis P. Venable, Ph.D., LL.D., Chapel Hill, 
N. C. President of the University of North 
Carolina; co-author of ‘Inorganic Chemistry ac- 
cording to Periodic Law’; author of ‘ Develop- 
ment of Periodic Law’ and of a ‘ Short History of 
Chemistry’ and of numerous papers on inorganic 
chemistry; member of American Chemical So- 
ciety, German Chemical Society; fellow of London 
Chemical Society. 

J. Edward Whitfield, Philadelphia. Chemist, 
analytical and engineering; from 1880 to 1889 
was connected with the U. 8. Geological Survey 
as mineralogical chemist; author of analyses of 


May 26, 1905.] 


ores and of Western Coals for Northern Trans- 
continental Survey, published in Tenth U. S. 
Census, and of numerous articles in the American 
Chemical Journal, American Journal of Science 
and Journal of American Chemical Society. 

Bailey Willis, E.M., C.E., Washington. Geolo- 
gist; in charge of the stratigraphic geology de- 
partment of the U. S. Geological Survey, and is 
specially charged with the preparation of a geo- 
logical map of the United States; in 1903-04 he 
journeyed through Siberia and China under the 
auspices of the Carnegie Institution to study the 
geological history of those countries in compari- 
son with that of North America, and is about to 
extend his studies of mountain growth, ete., to 
some of the European ranges. 


FOREIGN RESIDENTS. 


Yves Delage, Paris. Professor of zoology and 
comparative anatomy at the Sorbonne; editor of 
L’Année Biologique; author of ‘La Structure du 
Protoplasme et les Théories sur ]’Hérédité,’ Paris, 
1895, and of numerous contributions to biology; 
member of the Institute of France. 

Otto Nordenskjold, Stockholm. Eminent geog- 
rapher and geologist; commanded Swedish Scien- 
tific Expedition to West Antarctica in 1901-1903; 
explored south and east coasts of Palmer Land, 
Danco Land and King Oscar Land, and has made 
numerous valuable contributions to knowledge in 
geography, geology, paleontology and meteorology. 
Author of ‘ Antarctic, tvii tir bland Sydpolens isar,’ 
published at Stockholm, and of many papers in 
the Geographical Journal, La Geographie and 
other scientific publications. 

William Matthew Flinders Petrie, D.C.L., LL.D., 
F.R.S., London. Professor of Egyptology in Uni- 
versity College, London; has made extensive ex- 
cavations in Egypt and numerous important con- 
tributions to Egyptian archeology; author of 
“Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh (1883), ‘ Tanis’ 
(2 vols., 1888-89), ‘ Naukratis’ (1886), ‘ History 
of Egypt’ (1894-96), ‘ Abydos’ (2 vols., 1901- 
02), ete. 

Edward Sievers, Leipzig. Professor of the 
German language and literature in the University 
of Leipzig; an eminent authority in phonetics, 
text criticism and meters; author of ‘ Angelsa- 
chsische Grammatik,’ ‘ Phonetik,’ “ Altgermanische 
Metrik,’ and of many other monographs. 

Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer, LL.D., 
Ph.D., F.R.S., Kew, England. Eminent botanist; 
director of Royal Botanic Gardens; botanical ad- 
viser to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 
and has contributed very largely to the develop- 


SCIENCE. 


811 


ment of the botanico-economic resources of the 
British Empire; editor of ‘ Flora Capensis’ and 
of ‘ Flora of Tropical Africa.’ 


Afternoon Session—2:30 O’clock. 
President Smith in the chair. 

The Theory of the Double Suspension 
Pendulum: Professor R. 8S. Woopwarp. 
The double suspension pendulum is an 

apparatus for determining the acceleration 
of gravity. It consists of a massive 
rectangular bar, which is held rigidly and 
horizontally, and from which is suspended 
a similar bar by means of two parallel 
steel tapes of equal length. These tapes 
pass through the bars and are clamped 
rigidly to them. The tapes may thus be 
regarded as elastic beams built in at both 
ends. The suspended bar vibrates longi- 
tudinally by reason of its weight and by 
reason of the elastic bending of the tapes. 
Measurements with the apparatus require 
observations of the time of vibration of 
the suspended bar and the lengths of the 
suspending tapes. This form of pendulum 
avoids entirely the difficulties of the knife 
edges of ordinary pendulums and has the 
additional advantage of superior steadiness 
arising from the large vibrating mass. The 
paper outlines the mathematical theory of 
the motions of such a pendulum. 


The Relation Between the Economic Depth 
for Bridge Truss and the Depth which 
Gives Greatest Stiffness: Professor 
MANSFIELD MERRIMAN, of Bethlehem, Pa. 
The paper was read by the author. He 

explained that the increase in the depth of 

bridge trusses which has been going on for 
the past fifty years was due to considera- 
tions of economy and showed that there is 

a certain depth which gives the mininum 

amount of material. With respect to de- 

flection under the passage of a train, it has 
generally been supposed that this contin- 
ually decreased as the depth of the truss 
increased, but the author presented a proof 


812 SCIENCE. 


that this is not the case. The deflection 
decreases with increase in depth up to a 
certain point and beyond that it increases. 
The computations of Professor Merriman 
indicate that the depth of truss which gives 
the least deflection or the greatest stiffness 
is a little less than the economic depth. 
He also showed that the relation between 
the economic depth and the span of the 
bridge applies very closely to the depth 
which gives the greatest stiffness. 


On the Dispersion, Absorption, Fluores- 
cence and Magnetic Rotation of Sodiwm 
Vapor: Professor Rogert WILLIAMS 
Woop, of Baltimore. 


A Photographic Study of the Diffusion of 
Ultra-Violet Light by Gas Particles: 
Professor Ropert WiLLIAMs Woop, of 
Baltimore. 


On the Use of the Falling Plate Oscillo- 
graph as a Phasemeter: Dr. WiLu1AM 
McCuEuuan, of Philadelphia. 

The three general methods for obtaining 
the form of an alternating current wave 
are—by means of contact-maker and meter, 
by means of a curve-tracer and by means 
of an oscillograph. With the first and sec- 
ond methods the current must be kept ab- 
solutely constant, as some time is necessary 
to take the numerous readings required to 
plot the curve. The oscillograph gives 
a picture of a single wave. Essentially it 
is a sensitive moving-coil mirror galvano- 
meter, with a period of about one ten- 
thousandth of a second. It is able, there- 
fore, to follow easily currents of commer- 
cial frequency. To obtain the wave form 
it is necessary to have a uniform motion 
perpendicular to the motion of the coil. 
This is obtained by synchronous motors, 
revolving films or a falling photographie 
plate. The latter has been found to be 
very convenient, though its motion is uni- 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


formly accelerated instead of uniform. 
The error is small, however. — 

With a double oscillograph, that is one 
that can draw two curves simultaneously, 
for example the current and voltage waves 
of a single circuit, we can immediately see 
the possibility of a phasemeter. To test 
the accuracy of the instrument when used 
in this way, an Ayrton and Perry stand- 
ard of self-induction, of known resistance, 
was used. Current and electromotive force 
waves were obtained and the angle of lag 
measured. These were compared with the 
values calculated from the constants of the 
standard. 


On the Brains of Scymnus, Mitsukurina 
and Chlamydoselachus, with Remarks 
upon Selachian Brains from Standpoints 
Morphic, Ontogenic, Taxonomic, Phylo- 
genic and Pedagogic: Professor Burt G. 
Wiper, of Ithaca. 

Of the three sharks named in the title 
all oceur in Japanese waters. Mitsukurina 
(which may be ealled the ‘rostrum shark’ 
from the extraordinary projection of the 
snout separated from the upper jaw by a 
deep notch) was first described in 1898 by 
Jordan and has not, as yet, been found else- 
where; it is so remarkable, and the ex- 
amples already obtained are so few that 
the specimen exhibited cost about $75.00 
So far as the speaker is aware its brain has 
never before been studied. Chlamydose- 
lachus is also very rare, but besides the 
Japanese specimens at least one has been 
taken off Madeira. It was described in 
1884 by Garman, who suggested ‘frilled 
shark’ as a popular name, referring to the 
folded covers of the gill-slits, of which 
there are six instead of five as with most 
modern sharks. The body is so long and 
snake-like that Garman gave it the specific 
name anguineus, and perhaps a good pop- 
ular title might be the English form, an- 
euin; it has even been thought by some that 


May 26, 1905.] 


particularly large examples may have given 
color to the belief in the ‘sea-serpent.’ 
Garman’s example was ill-preserved and 
the brain obviously in poor condition ; 
the Cornell specimen is quite perfect. 
Scymnus has been long known; it is a 
rather ordinary-looking shark and occurs 
also in the Mediterranean, but it seems not 
to be very common, at any rate Professor 
Wilder has been unable to obtain a well- 
preserved specimen, and only recently has 
obtained a brain through the generosity of 
Professor Locy, of the Northwestern Uni- 
versity. z 
Professor Wilder’s special reason for 
studying the brain of Scymnus has been 
his wish to confirm or correct the account 
given in 1882 by the late T. Jeffery Parker, 
of New Zealand. According to this 
writer Scymnus ‘exemplifies with diagram- 
matic clearness the typical structure of the 
vertebrate brain.’ Professor Wilder finds 
that it really resembles more nearly the 
brain of Heptanchus and the earlier fig- 
ures of Busch and Maclay; and this was 
to be expected since Scymnus is not, as to 
its other structures and its extinct relatives, 
such a very primitive type. But the 
simple conditions ascribed by Parker to 
Scymnus are more closely embodied in the 
anguin or frilled shark, whose cladodont 
relatives were in the Devonian epoch and 
which Garman regards ‘the oldest [known] 
living type of vertebrate.’ Here the walls 
of the forebrain are thinner and less dif- 
ferentiated, and in the lateral extensions 
toward the olfactory cups (‘nostrils’) the 
so-called cerebral portion expands nearly 
equally in every direction from the axis 
represented by the olfactory eruss; in most 
other sharks and in rays or skates the 
special cerebral extension is toward the 
meson or middle line, so as to meet the 
corresponding part of the other side; in 
the lamprey the cerebral extensions are 


SCIENCE. 


813 


away from the meson; in the Dipnoi, as 
shown by the speaker in 1887, they are 
downward, while in the ordinary and 
higher air-breathing vertebrates, reptiles, 
birds and mammals, the cerebral hemi- 
spheres expand mostly upward. It is as if 
nature had experimented in the four diree- 
tions at right angles with one another from 
the primitive condition, nearly as in 
Chlamydoselachus, where the extension is 
almost uniformly in all directions from the 
olfactory axis. There were shown dia- 
grams illustrating this idea, and also the 
possible derivation of the several grades 
of shark and ray brains from the hypothetie 
stem form, probably extinct and now in- 
ferred only from the embryonic conditions 
of recent forms. In this connection the 
speaker reiterated his previously expressed 
conviction that in evolution the olfactory 
portion of the brain had preceded the cere- 
bral; that the ancestral vertebrates needed 
to smell rather than to think; that the 
organ of forethought had been, so to speak, 
an afterthought, and that the cerebral re- 
gion, so preponderant in man, was rather 
an offshoot from the olfactory region, and 
had been interpolated between that and the 
hinder portions of the brain. The primi- 
tive preeminence of olfaction he regards as 
supported by the recent observations of 
Loey and others upon a nerve in most 
(probably all) sharks and rays and in 
some other generalized forms, connecting 
the nasal mucosa with the very front of the 
brain, and so slender as to have been com- 
monly overlooked; in Mitsukuwrina, where 
the olfactory crura are extremely long, 
the nerve has been most skillfully worked 
out by Loey, to whom the Cornell brain was 
sent for the purpose. Although, from its 
late discovery, sometimes called the ‘new 
nerve,’ Professor Wilder thinks, perhaps, 
it is the very oldest; as suggested by Locy, 
its functions have been replaced by others, 


814 


and it has become vistigial in the general- 
ized vertebrates, having disappeared alto- 
gether in the higher. The speaker com- 
mended Locy’s paper as a model research, 
displaying the ‘five Cs,’ clear, consistent, 
correct, concise and, so far as possible, com- 
plete. 

Professor. Wilder has long held that the 
very difficulties of neurology demand its 
early cultivation and that the elements of 
this most abstruse natural science, like 
those of astronomy, should be taught ob- 
jectively in the primary schools. After 
trying various forms he concludes that the 
required pedagogic conditions are best met 
by the sharks and rays, particularly in re- 
spect to the ease with which they may now 
be had from the supply departments of the 
numerous marine laboratories; he believed 
it especially desirable that the beginner 
should himself lay bare the specimen so as 
to feel toward it an actual sense of owner- 
ship like that of a discoverer. Since the 
skulls of these fish are of cartilage, the 
brain can be exposed with the simplest 
instruments, even a jack-knife, better a 
small shoe-knife cut off obliquely. 

In concluding Professor Wilder declared 
that the greatest mistake of his scientific 
life occurred while working on these sharks 
and rays in 1866-68 for the late Professor 
Louis Agassiz; he persisted in devoting 
himself to less noble and significant strue- 
tures, notwithstanding the gently expressed 
preference of his too considerate employer. 
Since 1873 he has lost no opportunity of 
preparing and dissecting selachian brains, 
and hopes the present paper may arouse 
interest in them and lead to the recognition 
and elucidation of the numerous and com- 
plex problems connected with them. 


The final event of this most successful 
meeting was a dinner at the Bellevue-Strat- 
ford on Friday evening. On this occasion 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


Professor Edgar F’. Smith, president of the 
society, acted as toastmaster. Addresses 
were made by President Smith; Dr. Wood- 
row Wilson, president of Princeton Uni- 
versity, who responded to the toast ‘The 
Memory of Franklin’; Dr. Woodward, 
president of the Carnegie Institution; Dr. 
H. W. Wiley, of Washington ; Professor W. 
B. Scott, of Princeton, and Professor W. T. 
Hewett, of Cornell. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


The Whalebone Whales of the Western North 
Atlantic, compared with those occurring in 
European Waters, with some observations 
on the species of the North Pacific. By 
Freperick W. True. City of Washington, 
published by the Smithsonian Institution. 
1904. Pp. viiit 332; 97 text figures; 50 
plates. 

Those who are acquainted with the imper- 
fect condition of our knowledge of whales, 
and particularly of the larger species, with the 
consequent multiplication of species and gen- 
era, will appreciate this memoir as well as 
realize the labor involved in its preparation. 
The objects of the work are to definitely de- 
cide the specific identity or difference of the 
species of whales occurring on the coast of 
Europe and America and to locate and iden- 
tify the specimens on which the American 
species were based. These problems proved 
to be so involved that the subject of the dis- 
tribution and migrations of the larger cetacea, 
which first led Mr. True to study the whales, 
had to be postponed. 

That the synonymy of the larger cetacea 
should be involved is not surprising; owing 
to the practical impossibility of systematically 
collecting such animals, the greater part of 
the species are founded upon specimens, often 
fragmentary, that have accidentally come to 
hand, with the result that observations have 
been desultory and disconnected. 

The first chapter of Dr. True’s memoir is 
devoted to ‘ The Earliest References to Whale- 
bone Whales in American Waters,’ and this 
is full of information and interest to both 
naturalist and general reader, since it con- 


a“ “ 
— mh!!! t”~O 


May 26, 1905.] 


tains much information as to the extent and 
methods of the early whale fisheries on the 
eastern coast of North America. We learn 
that at a very early date (by the middle of the 
sixteenth century) there was a regularly es- 
tablished whale fishery on the coast of New- 
foundland, while it is rather saddening to see 
how abundant were whales in those early days. 
Surely if the killing of whales has any direct 
or serious effect on any other fishery this effect 
must have been felt many years ago. 

Chapter two is ‘A Chronological Account 
of Important Contributions to the Natural 
History of North American Whalebone 
Whales’ and in it, under date of 1741, we 
have the first systematic summary of the then 
known or recognized American species, in 
which some of them appear under the common 
English names by which they are yet known. 
It is a striking commentary on the lack of 
knowledge, or rather the large amount of mis- 
information, regarding whales, to note that 
this list is quite as understandable, and de- 
cidedly more accurate, than Gray’s synopsis 
published in 1871. 

This leads naturally to ‘A Review of Cope’s 
and Scammon’s Species,’ in which the species 
of the Atlantic coast are ruthlessly slaugh- 
tered, while later on doubt is cast on the spe- 
cifie identity of the larger Pacific whales 
which may prove to be identical with those 
of the Atlantic. 

Chapters four to eight contain a systematic 
review, with many details as to measurements 
and coloration, of the finback, sulphurbottom, 
little piked whale, humpback and North At- 
lantie right whale, abundant comparisons 
being made with the work of other writers. 
Here we get what we actually know regarding 
the size, proportions and coloration of these 
great animals, and before passing to the con- 
clusions deduced from them it may be worth 


while to note one or two points about the - 


sulphurbottom, which is the largest of verte- 
brates. By the courtesy of Mr. Pike and 
Captain Bull, of the Cabot Company, it is 
possible to supply the measurements of the 
flukes, which Dr. True was unable to obtain, 
and to say that in males respectively 74 feet 
8 inches and 74 feet 4 inches from fluke notch 


SCIENCE. 


815 


to tip of nose they were 16 feet 5 inches and 
17 feet 2 inches in greatest spread. Various 
measurements of sulphurbottoms taken in 
1903 agree with those taken by Dr. True, save 
that one female measured by him attained a 
length of 77 feet, or two feet more than any 
animal seen in 1903. As to the specimens 
noted abroad as having lengths of from 90 to 
100 feet the reviewer frankly states his dis- 
belief in their existence, though willing to 
grant that some giant may now and then 
reach a length over all, from tip of flukes to 
underhang of lower law, of 90 feet. 

That the measurements of whales taken on 
the Norway coast should decidedly exceed 
those taken elsewhere is rather strange, and 
though it is barely possible that the largest 
animals occur there, the reviewer pleads guilty 
to a desire to measure one such animal him- 
self, the more that it has never fallen to his 
lot to measure any animal that came up to 
the standard of size set by others. It is re- 
grettable that the one measurement of a 
whale, from tip of nose to eye, that can be 
taken with certainty, is no safe criterion of 
the size of the animal, since the comparative 
length of the head is so extremely variable 
that there may be a difference of nearly a foot 
in this respect between two animals of equal 
length. 

This naturally lessens the value of any 
ratios that may be made between the propor- 
tions of two whales. It is both interesting 
and discouraging to see how measurements of 
whales vary, but a part of the discrepancies 
shown may be explained by the difficulty com- 
monly experienced in measuring cetaceans, 
while others are due to a failure to state how 
certain measurements were taken. This may 
possibly explain why Dr. True finds the flukes 
of the Newfoundland humpbacks wider than 
in European specimens, quoting 15 feet 8 
inches and 17 feet 2 inches for whales re- 
spectively 42 and 45 feet long. A very ac- 
curate measure of the flukes of a humpback 
50 feet long, following the curve of the back, 
gave a spread of only 13 feet 8 inches. It is 
also probable that the flukes show a great 
range of variation, as do the flippers. 

Chapter ten gives the conclusions based on 


816 


Dr. True’s studies, and these are that several 
American species which have been proposed 
are quite nominal and that, as a whole, the 
species of the Atlantic coast of North Amer- 
ica can not be distinguished from those of 
European waters. Further, the whales of the 
Pacifie coast, with the exception of the gray 
whale, bear an extremely close resemblance to 
those of the Atlantic, although at present 
material is not available to definitely deter- 
mine whether or not they are specifically 
identical. 

The eastern species admitted by Dr. True 
are the finback, Balenoptera physalus 
(Linn.); sulphurbottom, B. musculus (Linn.) ; 
little piked whale, B. acuto-rostrata Lacépéde; 
pollack whale, B. borealis Lesson; humpback, 
Megaptera nodosa (Bonnaterre) and North 
Atlantie right whale, Balena glacialis Bon- 
naterre. These scientific names are those 
recognized after a careful study of the litera- 
ture and are practically those adopted in Dr. 
True’s paper of 1898, since he noted that M. 
nodosa had been applied to the American 
humpback prior to the use of M. longimana 
for that taken on the European coast. 

It is certainly a relief to see the species of 
cetacea rescued from the maze of synonymy 
in which they have for many years been in- 
volved, and if any one is so unfortunate as 
to come upon some unique work that would 
change any of the above names it is to be 
hoped that he will promptly destroy it and 
thus earn the gratitude of posterity. 

The fifty plates, with from two to four 
figures on a plate, are devoted to reproductions 
from photographs of crania and other impor- 
tant parts of the skeletons, and many views 
of stranded whales and whales lying on the 
slips at whaling stations. The index is one 
that not even the Nation can eriticize and 
Mr. True is to be congratulated upon the 
successful completion of a long and difficult 


We new ak, 


piece of work. 


TWO RECENT MOSS BOOKS. 
Dr. A. J. Grout has just published a second 
edition of ‘ Mosses with a Hand-Lens,’* which 


Second edition 
Mareh, 1905. 


a Hand-Lens.’ 
xvi + 208. 


**Mosses with 


with WHepatics, pp. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


includes also some of the more common he- 
patics. The new edition, which follows the 
same general plan as the first edition, is ex- 
panded, to included 169 of the ‘more common 
and more easily recognized mosses of the 
northeastern United States,’ as well as fifty- 
four of the hepatice of the same region. 

The deseriptions are non-technical, and only 
such characters are employed as, according to 
the experience of the author, can be deter- 
mined by the use-of a powerful hand-lens. 
The key to the families of mosses is followed 
by a brief introduction and a short considera- 
tion of the life history and general structure 
of mosses. The last topic could be somewhat 
expanded with profit to the student. The text 
contains something like 118 figures and 39 
full-page plates, the latter reproductions very 
largely from the Bryologia Europa, which is 
a sufficient guarantee of their excellence. 
Many of the figures are rather lacking in 
clearness of detail, but in the matter of typog- 
raphy and illustrations, the work is so much 
of an improvement over its predecessor that 
it deserves special commendation. 

To those who are without the advantages of 
a compound microscope and can not aftord 
the author’s more complete book, ‘ Mosses with 
Hand-Lens and Microscope,’ this little volume 
will prove a valuable aid. If it serves as a 
stimulus to a more detailed study of this very 
interesting group of plants, its existence will 
be justified. 

Many students of mosses will probably wel- 
come the appearance of ‘ Moose’ by Dr. W. 
Migula.* Although the work is primarily in- 
tended for German students, it contains much 
that will be valuable for American students, 
and its reasonable price places it within the 
reach of all. 

The first chapter deals with the structure 
of the moss-plant, and the general features of 


$1.75. Published by the author, 306 Lenox Road, 
Flatbush, Borough of Brooklyn, New York City. 
Also O. T. Louis Co., 59 Fifth Ave., New York 
City. 

* Band I. ‘ Moose,’ in Band VY. of Professor Dr. 
Thome’s ‘ Flora von Deutschland, Oesterreich, und 
der Schweiz.’ Pp. vi- 512. 19 M. 1904. 
Friedrich von Zezschwitz. Gera, R. 


May 26, 1905.] 


taxonomic importance are clearly elucidated. 
Brief directions are then given for the collec- 
tion of material and the determination of 
species, and this is followed by the taxonomic 
section which includes quite detailed descrip- 
tions of 916 species of mosses, with dichoto- 
mous keys to the families, genera and species. 
The system of classification adopted agrees 
very closely with that of Limpricht in Raben- 
horst’s ‘Kryptogamen Flora yon Deutsch- 
land.’ 

The second part of the work deals with the 
liverworts and in general arrangement follows 
that for the mosses. Keys and descriptions 
are given for 228 species. The work is bound 
in ‘halbfranz,’ and is embellished with 68 full- 
page lithographed plates, distributed through- 
out the text, of which 26 are executed in nat- 
ural colors. The work is on the whole an 
admirable one, and it is only to be regretted 
that the production of such works is appa- 
rently not possible in our own country. It 
will form a valuable addition to the library of 


any student of mosses. F. D. Heap. 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


Tue contents of the March issue of Ter- 
restrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Elec- 
tricity is as follows: 

Portrait of Svante August Arrhenius, Frontis- 
piece. 

8. A. Arruentus: ‘On the Electric Charge of 
the Sun.’ 

C. Cree: ‘Review of Maunder’s Recent In- 
vestigations on the Cause of Magnetic Disturb- 
ances.’ 

W. vAN BEMMELEN: ‘ Magnetic Survey of the 
Dutch East Indies.’ (Third communication.) 

J. Evster und H. Geiret: ‘ Vorschliige fiir die 
Ausfiihrung electrischer Beobachtungen wiihrend 
der bevorstehenden Sonnenfinsterniss.’ 

_L, A. Bauer: ‘ Proposed Magnetic and Electric 
Observations during the Total Solar Eclipse of 
August 30, 1905’ (Preliminary Information). 

J. E. BurBANK: ‘ Earth Currents: and a Pro- 
posed Method for their Investigation.’ 

Biographical Sketch of Svante August Arrhe- 
nius. 

Letters to Editor: Nachtrag zur Abhandlung 
“Ueber den Einfluss der Torsion bei den Ablenk- 
ungen eines hiingenden Magneten, fF. Bidling- 


SCIENCE. 


Slik 
maier; Tortosa Observatorio del Ebro (Il- 
lustrated), R. Cirera; Principal Magnetic: 


Disturbances recorded at Cheltenham Magnetic: 
Observatory, December 1, 1904, to March 1, 1905, 
W. F. Wallis; Present Russian Magnetic Observa- 
tories, M. Rykatscheff. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 


THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY. 


Tue regular spring meeting of the Physical 
Society was held at the Ryerson Physical 
Laboratory of the University of Chicago on 
Friday, April 21, and Saturday, April 22, 1905. 
President Barus presided. The meeting was 
well attended, nearly all the colleges and uni- 
versities within several hundred miles of Chi- 
cago being well represented. An informal 
dinner on Friday evening at the Quadrangle 
Club was a pleasant feature of the meeting. 
The program, which was the largest in the 
history of the society, is given below: 

H. N. McCoy, University of Chicago: ‘On the 
Relation between the Radioactivity and Composi- 
tion of Uranium Compounds.’ 

G. G. BECKNELL, Northwestern University: ‘ The 
Residual e.m.f. of the Carbon Are.’ 

C. W. CHAMBERLAIN, Denison University: ‘ The 
Radius of Molecular Attraction.’ 

G. M. Hosss, University of Chicago: ‘The Re- 
lation between p. d. and Spark Length for Small 
Values of the Latter.’ 

Cart Kinstry, University of Chicago: ‘ Short 
Spark Discharges.’ 

J. EK. Atmy, University of Nebraska: ‘The In- 
fluence of Electrodes upon Spark Potentials.’ 

J. E. Atmy, University of Nebraska: ‘ Note 
on the Potential Difference Required to Produce 
very Short Sparks.’ 

A. B. Porter, Chicago: 
Lenses.’ 

A. H. Taytor, University of Wisconsin: ‘On 
the Possible Variation of Inductance Standards 
with Temperature.’ 

E. M. Terry, University of Wisconsin: ‘On the 
Variation of Capacity with Temperature.’ 

A. H. Taytor, University of Wisconsin: ‘On 
the Comparison of Mutual Inductances.’ 

R. T. HerpEGEN, University of Wisconsin: ‘ The 
Comparison of the Mutual Inductance of a Pair of 
Coils with the Self-induction of One of Them.’ 

O. M. Stewart, University of Missouri: ‘ The 
Use of the Quadrant Electrometer in Measuring 
Current.’ 


‘Some Oddities in 


318 


R. R. Ramsey, University of Indiana: ‘ Polar- 
ization of Standard Cells.’ 

Henry Crew and B. T. Spence, Northwestern 
University: ‘ Variation of Are Spectra with the 
Phase of the Current Producing Them.’ 

A. A. Micnetson, University of Chicago: ‘ Re- 
eiprocal Relations in Diffraction.’ 

A. A. MicuHeLson, University of Chicago: ‘ Re- 
port of Progress in Ruling Diffraction Gratings.’ 

A. A. Micuetson, University of Chicago: ‘On 
the Use of the Concave Mirror with Diffraction 
Gratings.’ 

N. A. Kent, Wabash College: ‘The Relative 
Positions of the Are and Spark Lines in the 
Spectra of Titanium and Zine.’ 

H. M. Reese, University of Missouri: ‘The 
Resolving Power of Quartz Prisms.’ 

E. S. Jononnorr, Rose Polytechnic Institute: 
‘The Black Spot in Thin Liquid Films.’ 

F. L. BisHop, Bradley Polytechnic Institute: 
‘Thermal Conductivities.’ 

A, P. CARMEN, University of Illinois: ‘The 
Collapse of Tubes by External Pressure.’ 

A. B. Porter, Chicago: ‘Abbe’s Diffraction 
Theory of Microscopic Vision.’ 

F. R. Warson, University of Illinois: ‘ Surface 
Tension by the Method of Liquid Jets.’ 

A. L. Fotry and J. H. Haseman, University of 
Indiana: ‘ Diffraction Fringes of Electric Dis- 
charges and the Fluid Streams.’ 

L. T. Morr, University of Cincinnati: ‘On 
Dielectric Strain Along the Lines of Force.’ 

J. E. Atmy, University of Nebraska: ‘On the 
Dielectric Strength of Crystals.’ 

PercivaAL Lewis, University of California: 

‘The Velocity of Ions in Gases from Colored 
Flames.’ (By title.) 

L. R. INGERSOLL, University of Wisconsin: ‘ The 
Kerr Effect in the Infra-Red Spectrum.’ 

E. L. Nicnors and Ernest Merrirt, Cornell 
University: ‘The Phosphorescence of Sidot Blend.’ 

W. W. Coprtentz, Cornell University: ‘ Infra- 
Red Emission Spectra of Gases in Vacuum Tubes.’ 
(By title.) 

D. B. Brace, University of Nebraska: ‘ Aither 
Drift and the Rotary Polarization Test.’ 

D. B. Brace, University of Nebraska: ‘On a 
Test of Anomalous Dispersion by Means of 
Channeled Spectra.’ 

C. B. Tuwine, Syracuse University: ‘ Experi- 
ments on the Flow of Electricity in Metals under 
Changes of Pressure.’ 

H. A. Cxiarx, University of Nebraska: ‘ The 
Absorption and Refraction of Carbon.’ 

Ernest Merrirv, 
Secretary. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
NEW YORK SECTION. 

THE sixth regular meeting of the New York 
Section was held Friday, March 10, at 8:30 
P.M., in the American Museum of Natural 
History, 78th Street and Central Park West. 

The program of the evening was as follows: 


The Vapor Friction of Isomeric Ethers: Mor- 
ris Lors and F. S. M. Peperson. 

The recorded experiments on the friction of 
vapors, by the transpiration method, haying 
been made with cumbersome apparatus and at 
the temperature corresponding to the boiling 
points of the substances, it was thought im- 
portant to devise a method whereby non-sat- 
urated vapers could be studied at identical 
temperatures, for the purpose of ascertaining 
whether the constitution as well as the com- 
position of organic compounds influences the 
molecular volume, of which the vapor-friction 
is a function. 

The apparatus used consists of a U-tube, 
one limb of which, about 60 em. long, has a 
bore of less than one tenth of a millimeter, 
while the bend and the other limb is just wide 
enough to allow a column of mercury to de- 
scend unbroken. A stop-cock and funnel-end 
are placed on the wider tube, which also bears 
two marks about 50 em. apart. The capacity 
of the tube between these marks is accurately 
determined. The whole apparatus can be 
heated uniformly, as it is surrounded by a 
vapor-jacket. Before heating, the liquid to be 
studied is poured into the tube and is vapor- 
ized as the temperature rises, in such a man- 
ner as to expel all air and foreign gases. A 
short column of mercury, of known length is 
introduced by means of the stop-cock, and in 
its descent forces the vapor through the eap- 
illary; the time in which the lower meniscus 
travels from the upper to the lower mark is 
ascertained by means of a stop-watch. The 
method is easy and rapid, and experiments 
with air gave results agreeing well among 
themselves and with the values obtained by 
the majority of previous observers. The cal- 
culations were made according to Poiseulle’s 
formula, very few corrections being necessary. 

From the study of isomeric ethers, as well 
as ethyl aleohol, it was found that the consti- 


May 26, 1905.] 


tution has a decided influence upon the in- 
ternal friction of the vapor, as will be seen 
from the following table, representing in each 
case the average of a number of experiments. 
The last column gives the comparative vol- 
umes of the molecules according to the for- 
mula suggested by L. Meyer, in which ‘ Y’ 
is the friction, ‘M/’ the molecular mass, 


V =.00003 Ao") a. 


y2 
Substance. Y. 6 
Methyl ether, (CH;),0........ 1,133.5 55.53 
Ethyl alcohol, C.H,O.......... 1,100 58.09 
Methyl-ethyl ether ............ 1,030 78.2 
LON aN IGS OSs Bipvo einlocod crore 944.7 110.4 
Methyl-propyl ether .......... 951.8 100.74 
Methyl-isopropyl ether ........ 992.3 96.46 
Ethyl-propyl ether ............ 874.9 133.2 
WDISPLOPYA Ether 66/06 22. ss os 797.6 170.7 
Di-isopropyl ether ............ 841.5 157.8 


The Iodine Absorption of Rosin and Shellac: 

A. C. Langmuir. 

The paper states the results of further in- 
vestigations in the iodine absorption of rosin 
and shellac. The various grades of rosin A. 
to W. W., ranged between 190.1 and 264.5 in 
the percentage of iodine absorbed. A number 
of pure shellaes of the years 1890 to 1895 were 
tested in order to find if there was any varia- 
tion in different crops. The figures obtained 
were between 14.38 and 17.4 and are the same 
as those shown by similar grades to-day. 


Decomposition of Ammonia at High Tempera- 
tures: WituiAM Metyinte and Aurrep H. 
WHITE. 

The paper embodies the results of a series 
of experiments carried on in the chemical 
laboratory at the University of Michigan, by 
Mr. A. H. White, instructor in chemical tech- 
nology, and Mr. Wm. Melville. The object of 
the experiments was to determine if possible 
the influence of surface contact upon the de- 
composition of ammonia, also the effect upon 
the decomposition, of mixing the ammonia 
with gases, which are generally present in the 
manufacture of illuminating gas, with a view 
to increasing the yield of ammonia in the 
manufacture of coal gas. 

The results have been tabulated, and also 
plotted in the form of curves, showing the 


SCIENCE. 


819 


effect of increased temperature, rate of flow 
of gas, and dilution with hydrogen, nitrogen, 
carbon monoxide and water vapor. 


Mineral Waters at the St. Lowis Exposition: 

A. A. BRENEMAN. 

The paper gave the experience and observa- 
tions of the author as chairman of the Inter- 
national Jury on mineral waters at the St. 
Louis Exposition. He also drew some com- 
parisons between the exhibition of 1904 and 
that at Chicago in 1898, where he filled a 
similar position. 

Mineral waters at St. Louis were shown 
mainly in the departments of mines and metal- 
lurgy, a few only being in the agricultural 
building. The collection numbered about 160 
samples. Notable among these was the col- 
lective exhibit of the U. S. Geological Survey 
embracing 125 samples of United States waters 
which are offered for sale, all neatly bottled 
and arranged on shelves and in a separate en- 
closure. Most of these were accompanied by 
analyses and descriptive circulars. Another 
feature of this exhibit was the illustration of 
the analysis of each water by a series of small 
jars containing powders which represented the 
proportion of the dry ingredients extracted 
from the waters, a demonstration which gave 
a much more tangible interpretation to the 
average visitor than the printed analyses. 

The foreign exhibit was represented by 
Mexico, Brazil, Argentine and Peru, the last 
with an alkaline table water of exceptional 
merit. Mexico sent very good samples with 
alkaline and sulphureted waters. Germany, 
Hungary and Portugal monopolized the list 
from abroad with 8, 19 and 11 samples, respect- 
ively, while Belgium and Italy with one each 
completed the European list. These foreign 
waters deserve particular consideration be- 
cause of their long transport and time of keep- 
ing, both tending to accentuate any defects. 
It would be difficult to find a fault in some of 
these samples as presented. Germany having 
the largest trade and greatest experience, 
rightly leads the list among these. 

As compared with the exhibition of mineral 
waters at Chicago in 1893, the St. Louis dis- 
play was smaller and had fewer countries rep- 
resented, but was, on the whole, of better 


820 SCIENCE. 


quality. Russia and Spain, which were large- 
ly represented in the earlier display, were both 
absent in 1904. American waters especially 
show a great improvement over the earlier 
period. The trade as a whole, in the United 
States, has grown from 21,569,608 gallons, 
worth $3,211,846 in 1894, to 51,242,719 gal- 
lons, worth $9,041,078 in 1903. 


Radium Exhibits at the St. Louis Exposition: 

Georce F, Kunz. 

The radium exhibit of the U. S. Geological 
Survey at the St. Louis Exposition was gath- 
ered under the auspices of the author for two 
main purposes: (1) As this was an exposition 
year, such a collection shown at a great fair 
would mean the interesting of a great number 
of people in radio-activity—one of the newer 
problems of the hour; (2) by the exhibition of 
a collection of apparatus and of the minerals 
themselves, it would lead many people to look 
for these minerals in various sections of the 
country. Both these objects were accom- 
plished to a greater or less extent; and it is 
believed that the coming year will bring more 
facts in this direction than we possess at 
present. 

The radium exhibit of the U. S. Geological 
Survey was also exhibited by the American 
Museum of Natural History on March 10 in 
a large series of cases, for the New York Sec- 
tion of the American Chemical Society. 


THE seventh regular meeting of the section 
was held at the Chemists’ Club, Friday even- 
ing, April 7. The program of the evening 
was as follows: 


Polarimetric Analysis: F. D. Dopex. 

In a brief paper the author discusses some 
of the applications of the polariscope in chem- 
ical analysis, and shows that, for quantitative 
work, its use has so far been practically 
limited to sugar and similar substances. 

The varying specific rotation of most opti- 
cally active compounds under different condi- 
tions of solution and temperature, the inter- 
ference of unknown substances, and difficulties 
with colored solutions, are among the prin- 
cipal causes which have prevented a more ex- 
tended use of the instrument. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 543. 


A method is also described by which some 
analyses, difficult or inconvenient by ordinary 
methods, can be carried out quickly and with 
reasonable accuracy by means of the polari- 
meter. 


Quinazolines from 2-Amino 6-Nitrobenzoic 
Acid: Victor J. CuHampBers and M. T. 
Bogert. 

The authors show that quinazolines may be 
readily obtained: (1) By heating 2-amino 
6-nitrobenzoic acid in sealed tubes with 
nitriles and acid anhydrides, (2) by heating 
the ammonium salt of 2-acylamino 6-nitro- 
benzoic acid, (3) by fusing 2-amino 6-nitro- 
benzoic acid with amides, or (4) by treating 
6-nitro acylanthranils with primary amines. 
2-acetylamino 6-nitrobenzoic acid, 6-nitro 
acetylanthranil, the quinazoline, its 2-methyl, 
2-phenyl and various other derivatives are de- 
seribed. Only three nitro-quinazolines are 
known besides those described in this paper. 


Homo-anthranilic-nitril and some of its De- 
rivatives, 7-Methylquinazolines: A. Horr- 
MAN and M. T. Bogert. 

Starting with homo-anthranilic nitril a 
series of the aliphatic and aromatic acyl de- 
rivatives were made. In the case of the 


aliphatic derivatives, molecular proportions of- 


the fatty acid anhydrides and nitril were 
heated together. The aromatic derivatives 
were made by dissolving the acid chlorides and 
the nitril in separate portions of pyridine 
and the solutions mixed. The compounds 
prepared were the acetyl, propionyl, iso- 
butyryl, iso-valeryl, benzoyl, © meta-nitro- 
benzoyl and para-nitro-benzoyl. The formyl 
derivative could not be obtained, as it im- 
mediately rearranges to the quinazoline. 

By heating the acyl-homo-anthranitie nitril 
with alkaline hydrogen peroxide, 7-methyl-2-R- 
keto-dihydro-quinazolines were formed. This 
reaction works very smoothly and offers the 
advantage over the older methods that the 
homo-anthranitic nitril need not first be con- 
verted into the amide or the acid itself. The 
7-methyl-keto-dihydro-quinazoline itself was 
made, and the following 2-R derivatives; 
methyl, ethyl, iso-propyl, iso-butyl, phenyl, 
meta-nitro-phenyl and para-nitro-phenyl. 


fh i lam imal eit ln tala ta A 


ae 


May 26, 1905.] 


Theories of Metabolism: Grauam Lusk. 

A mass of living matter composing an in- 
dividual produces in metabolism exactly the 
same quantity of energy (which may be meas- 
ured as heat) as any other similar individual 
mass of the same size and shape in the same 
environment. The cause of the metabolism 
is not due to oxygen and oxidizing enzymes 
for these are present in excess. The cause 
is not due to the satisfaction of chemical 
equivalents (as in Ehrlich’s side-chain theory 
of immunity) for the metabolism proceeds in 
accordance with the utilization of energy 
equivalents (isodynamie values). The swing- 
ing motions of the cell particles apparently 
act after the manner of catalysis, breaking 
up proteid, fat and the carbohydrates into 
simpler molecules, which may then unite with 
oxygen. The energy liberated through these 
chemical processes is in turn exactly sufficient 
to maintain those swinging motions of the 
cell particles whose aggregate we call life. 
After all is said, it is only possible to define 
metabolism as being due to unknown causes 
in the cells. Re Ee Poucu, 

Secretary. 


THE CORNELL SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 
CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 


Av the March meeting of the Cornell Sec- 
tion of the American Chemical Society Mr. 
William W. Coblentz, Carnegie fellow, depart- 
ment of physics, Cornell University, read a 
paper on ‘The Infra-red Emission and Ab- 
sorption Spectra. The speaker introduced 
his subject by showing several substances 
which emitted light, when heated slightly, 
while the iron plate containing the substance 
gave out no light. This shows the necessity 
of distinguishing between luminescence and 
a pure thermal radiation. After reviewing 
the ionic theory of emission and absorption 
spectra the speaker illustrated his researches 
on this subject by means of two series of lan- 
tern slides. The slides of emission spectra 
dealt with luminescent and pure thermal ra- 
diators, and comprised such radiators as the 
Nernst lamp, the acetylene and amylacetate 
flames, metals in the carbon are, the spark 
discharge, the mercury are and the vacuum 


SCIENCE. 


821 


tube radiation for different gases. The slides 
of absorption spectra dealt with compounds 
showing the following facts: isomeric com- 
pounds show that structure has a great influ- 
ence upon the resulting absorption spectrum; 
that the maxima of absorption do not shift 
with inerease in molecular weight; that the 
substitution of certain groups of atoms has a 
great influence upon the absorption spectrum; 
that the spectra of groups of compounds are 
similar and are characteristic of the grouping 
adopted by chemists; that carbohydrates have 
a characteristic spectrum; that several marked 
absorption bands are closely harmonic; that 
in compounds having water of crystallization 
certain absorption bands are coincident with 
those of ordinary water; that the CH, group 
has characteristic bands at 3.43 and 6.86, NH, 
at 2.96, OH at 3, NCS at 4.78, C,H, at 3.25 
and 6.75; and finally that in benzene deriva- 
tions the original bands of benzene, C,H,, are 
found beside the new ones, e. g., those of CH,, 
NH, or NCS, showing that the vibration of 
the benzene nucleus has not been destroyed. 


At the meeting on April 18, 1905, Dr. A. W. 
Browne read a paper on ‘ A New Synthesis of 
Hydronitrie Acid.’ 

Previous methods for the formation of 
hydronitrie acid (or its inorganic salts) from 
hydrazine or its inorganic derivatives have in- 
volved, respectively, the action of nitrous acid, 
potassium nitrite, silver nitrite, nitric acid or 
nitrogen trichloride; or of oxidizing agents 
(such as chromic acid or hydrogen peroxide) 
in presence of hydroxylamine chloride. In no 
case has the compound been formed by the 
action upon hydrazine alone of a substance 
containing no nitrogen. 

The method now to be described consists in 
the action of hydrogen peroxide upon hydra- 
zine sulphate in presence of strong sulphuric 
acid. In eleven experiments performed under 
varying conditions yields of from 11.4 to 28.4 
per cent. of hydronitric acid were obtained. 
The reaction may be considered to proceed in 
accordance with the following equation: 


3N.H, + 5H,0, = 2HN, + 10H,0. 


The identity of the hydronitric acid was 


822 SCIENCE. 


established by the following facts: (1) It 
possessed even in dilute solution the char- 
acteristic headache-producing odor; (2) when 
treated with ferric chloride solution it gave 
the usual blood-red color, destroyed by dilute 
hydrochloric acid and not destroyed by dilute 
mercuric chloride solution; (8) when treated 
with silver nitrate solution it gave a white 
precipitate completely soluble in dilute nitric 
acid. The dried precipitate exploded with 
violence when thrown upon a hot iron plate 
or when touched with a glowing platinum 
wire; (4) analyses of the silver salt showed 
it to be identical with silver trinitride. 

Further experiments have shown that hydro- 
nitric acid may be obtained in small quantities 
by the action upon hydrazine sulphate of cer- 
tain oxidizing agents other than hydrogen 
peroxide, some of which have been previously 
used by other investigators in the quantitative 
determination of hydrazine. 


At a special meeting of the section held on 
May 2 at eight p.m., Dr. W. C. Geer, of the 
department of chemistry, Cornell University, 
read a very interesting paper entitled: ‘ The 
Chemistry of Indium.’ 

W. S. Leng, 
Secretary. 


THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


Tue 167th meeting was held at the Cosmos 
Club, April 12. 

The following papers were given as the 
regular program: 


Terraces of the High Sierra, California: 

G. K. GiILBerr. 

The Sierra Nevada has long been recognized 
as a broad, sloping plateau having a steep face 
toward the east and a gentle descent from its 
crest to the western base. The fact has also 
been recognized that the general plateau is 
made up of subsidiary plateaus. In the north- 
ern part of the range it has been shown by 
Diller and others that various subsidiary 
plateaus are separated from one another by 
faults, and their discrepancies in altitude were 
caused by differential uplift. At the extreme 
south, in the basin of Kern River, Lawson has 
ascribed certain subsidiary plateaus to erosion, 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


the surface of the range having been partially 
graded during pauses between epochs of up- 
lift. The present studies pertain to the higher 
portions of the range, from the Kern River 
basin northward to that of the Tuolumne, a 
distance of more than 100 miles. Within this 
belt are (1) summit plateaus characterizing 
interstream areas and recording a long period, 
or periods, of degradation soon after the com- 
mencement of the Sierra uplift. Many of the 
peaks overlooking the summit plateaus, espe- 
cially in the neighborhood of the crest line, 
have (2) remnant surfaces of moderate slope, 
strongly contrasted with the surrounding 
cliffs, produced for the most part by glacial 
erosion. And many of the valleys are bor- 
dered by (8) high terraces, in some cases ex- 
panded so as to constitute important plateaus. 
It is believed that the remnants of old topog- 
raphy at high altitudes were in the main once 
continuous with the summit plateaus, but the 
correlation is difficult, because the connecting 
slopes have been destroyed by the excessive de- 
velopment of glacial cirques. It is probable 
also that some of the valley plateaus at high 
levels will eventually be correlated with sum- 
mit plateaus farther to the west, and it is also 
to be anticipated that the plateaus and ter- 
races of the higher parts of the range will 
eventually be correlated with similar features 
near the western base of the range; but the 
latter have not yet been studied. In the upper 
Tuolumne basin a discordance of plateau levels 
appears to have been produced by compara- 
tively recent dislocation, and somewhat similar 
phenomena were observed in the basin of 
Kings River. 

The plateaus constitute part of the evidence 
by means of which the history of the uplift 
is to be read, and they also serve as datum 
planes from which the amount of subsequent 
erosion, especially glacial erosion, can be meas- 
ured. 


The Snowy Range of New South Wales: W. 

LINDGREN. 

As is well known, the Australian Cordillera 
follows the eastern coast of the continent un- 
til, in Victoria, it bends westward and finally 
dies out. 


May 26, 1905.| 


The highest points of this cordillera are situ- 
ated in the southern part of New South Wales, 
not far from the Victorian boundary line, and 
somewhat exceed 7,000 feet in elevation; the 
culminating point is Mt. Kosciusko, which 
attains 7,300 feet. The Snowy Range, which 
includes most of this elevated district, con- 
stitutes the watershed between the interior 
drainage of the Murrumbidgee and Murray 
Rivers and that of the Snowy River which 
empties into the ocean in Victoria near the 
boundary line between that state and New 
South Wales. 

The plateau sustains a very scanty vegeta- 
tion of dwarfed eucalyptus. The climate is 
very cold, the temperature sinking to — 20° F. 
in the winter, and the snowfall is extremely 
heavy. 

The rocks consist chiefly of the rather closely 
folded Paleozoic sediments which occupy so 
much space in the Cordillera. Their age 
ranges from Ordovician to early Carbonifer- 
ous, and tuffs and intrusive granitic rocks of 
various kinds are associated with the sedi- 
ments. 

The so-called Snowy Range is not really a 
range at all, but a plateau of comparatively 
gentle relief, a peneplain in fact, with eleva- 
tion ranging from 5,000 to 7,000 feet, in which 
the Tumut, Murrumbidgee and Eucumbene 
Rivers have cut abrupt canyons, the depth of 
which in some cases amounts to 3,000 feet. 
That this uplift is of comparatively recent age 
is proved by the basaltic flows which, near 
Kiandra, cover the summit of the plateau. 
The basalt covers an old auriferous river chan- 
nel which has been traced for 20 miles by 
means of mining operations, and which has a 
gentle northward grade. Sand, clay and lignite 
cover the thin stratum of auriferous gravel to 
a depth of 150 feet and capping this the basalt 
flow attains a thickness of about 100 feet. 

Gro. Oris SuirH, 
Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
CONCERNING THE NATURAL MOUNDS. 


Wuart has been said in Science recently 
(Nos. 530, 535 and 536, pp. 310, 514 and 551) 
by Mr. A. C. Veach and Professors Branner 


SCIENCE. 


823 


and Hilgard is of great interest to the writer, 
inasmuch as he has for some years been 
making observations on these mounds in’ Ar- 
kansas with the hope of reaching a satisfac- 
tory conclusion as to their origin. They have 
been observed along the western border of the 
Tertiary area, along the Arkansas valley, and 
in the northwestern part of the state. In out- 
line, they are uniformly circular, and in size 
are rarely less than fifteen or more than thirty 
feet in diameter, and usually less than three 
feet in height. 

The theories of surface erosion, wind origin 
and human origin have been applied to these 
with the conclusion that none of them will 
hold. The uniformity of size and circular 
outline could not result from surface erosion. 
For the same reason, as Mr. Veach points out, 
they could not be the product of wind deposi- 
tion. Besides, they always occur on clay soil, 
out of which and upon which, according to 
the writer’s observations, the wind does not 
form dunes. The fact that they frequently 
occur in the most undesirable places for hu- 
man abode, being on ground where both the 
surface drainage and underdrainage is poor, 
is in itself sufficient argument against the 
theory of human origin. The spring and gas 
vent theory is not tenable in the Paleozoic 
region, for the reason that Mr. Veach has 
stated. 

After being forced to abandon the above 
theories, one of origin by burrowing animals, 
such as the gopher or prairie-dog, was held 
for some time, but the examination of a large 
number of sections disclosed by grading along 
railroads, wagon roads and cutting ditches 
through farms furnished no evidence of the 
material having been worked over, as must 
have been the case if such were the origin. 
However, this theory is not yet entirely aban- 
doned. 

As to the ant-hill theory, there are at pres- 
ent in the Arkansas valley large numbers of 
ant-hills from three to four feet in diameter, 
and often as much as fifteen inches high. 
These are found on the very soil where the 
mounds occur. But if the ancestors or fore- 
runners of the living ants were the builders 
of the mounds, they must have existed in 


824 SCIENCE. 


larger numbers and worked more industri- 
ously, for the present ant-hills are diminutive 
as compared with the mounds. 

For some time the writer has entertained a 
theory very similar to that mentioned by Pro- 
fessor Branner. As above stated, these 
mounds are always on clay soil. In the Paleo- 
zoie region of Arkansas, they are on residual 
clay soils only a few feet deep, and of shale 
origin. As stated, the drainage where they 
oceur is usually poor. These facts point to 
the action of ground-water within the clays 
or shales as being in some way responsible for 
the mounds. The action is thought to be one 
of the segregation of mineral matter, or as 
Professor Branner puts it, ‘concretionary ac- 
tion on a large scale. After the segregation, 
the volume may be further increased by hy- 
dration, oxidation and other chemical changes. 

This idea was first suggested by a section of 
one of these mounds in the Arkansas valley 
that was brought to view by a small stream 
having cut its way through it and into the 
shale below, as shown in the figure. The un- 
eroded portion of the mound was typical of 


Section of a natural mound cut through by a 
stream. 


the hundreds in the vicinity, and the general 
conformity of the surface to the arch of the 
shale would lead one to believe that the mound 
was due to the lifting of the shales beneath. 
While the writer has seen many sections 
through these mounds, this is the only one 
that discloses the shales, so that its value lies 
only in its suggestiveness. 

In the Paleozoic region of Arkansas these 
mounds occur on at least three different beds 
of shale, two of which belong to the Lower 
Carboniferous, and the remaining one or more 
to the Coal Measures. These are all carbon- 
aceous, clay shales. If their cause should 
prove to be a chemical one, induced by the 
action of ground-water, the question will pre- 
sent itself as to why they do not have a wide 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543, 


geographic distribution as well as a geologic 
one. The explanation would probably be 
found in the climatic conditions where the 
mounds occur. But this is scarcely worth 
speculating on till the origin of the mounds 
is determined. A. H. Purpue. 
Tue UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS, 
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK., 
April 10, 1905. 


THE BASALT MOUNDS OF THE COLUMBIA LAVA. 


THE recent discussion of various types of 
mounds of uncertain origin leads me to call 
attention to a form common in eastern Wash- 
ington, which seems thus far to have escaped 
printed notice. Very conspicuous examples 
are found in the vicinities of Spangle and 
Medical Lake. Similar ones occur near Win- 
ona in the old bed of the Palouse River. Less 
striking examples are generally found along 
the crests of all the canyons hewn out by 
streams in the basalt, especially on the north 
walls. The general proportion of these 
mounds is about that of an upturned saucer, 
but occasionally more convex. The most con- 
spicuous are about four feet high, about twice 

~the height of the more usual ones. In diam- 

eter they vary from ten to twenty feet, or 
rarely more. The first generalization that 
forces itself upon one is that these mounds 
occur only where there has at one time been 
flowing water. They are conspicuous enough 
even at the top of Snake River canyon, though 
the river now flows on a bed two thousand feet 
below. Where these mounds occur along the 
crests of canyons there is usually but a single 
series of them. Where, on the other hand, 
they occupy the old beds of broad shallow 
streams, as at Medical Lake and near Spangle, 
there may be acres of them, rather evenly seat- 
tered, and often quite close together. 

The soil of these mounds shows no appre- 
ciable difference from the surrounding soil of 
basaltic origin, and except in the rare eases 
where water stands about their bases, they do 
not support a vegetation more or less lux- 
uriant than that of the surrounding soil. 
There is nothing, in short, in the structure 
of the ordinary mounds to give a clue to 
their origin. 


May 26, 1905.] 


A splendid series of these mounds along the 
lower Palouse River in the vicinity of Winona 
would seem, however, to point clearly to their 
mode of origin. No feature of the Columbia 
Basalt is more conspicuous than the isolated 
castle-like towers and crags that persist wher- 
ever there has been surface erosion. On the 
walls of canyons these are especially striking. 
One scarcely needs more than ocular evidence 
to know that these persisting crags have re- 
mained because formed of harder material. 
Actual experience in blasting ditches through 
the top of such a persisting crag demonstrated 
it to be many times harder than ordinary 
basalt, and of a somewhat different structure. 

In the old bed of the river near Winona the 
series of mounds shows every gradation from 
rock caps to mounds of basalt boulders; and 
from these to ordinary basaltic soil. The 
conclusion seems unavoidable, therefore, that 
these mounds are the result of decaying basalt 
caps, from about which flowing water had 
previously worn the softer surrounding rock. 

The cause of these harder basalt centers 
may be analogous to that of nodules. Be that 
as it may, they seem to be quite evenly dis- 
tributed through the rock, as evidenced not 
only by their fairly regular occurrence on 
canyon walls, but especially by the distribu- 
tion of the mounds in old shallow stream beds. 

It was mentioned above that along canyons 
the mounds were discernible mainly on the 
north walls. This is due to the prevailing 
winds of the region being southwesterly, a 
fact that has led to the deposition of a con- 
siderable layer of fine soil on the south walls, 
and, therefore, the mounds are buried. The 
occurrence of the mounds only on the crests 
is doubtless owing to the much greater effect 
of erosion on the slopes. ; 

C. V. Pirrr. 


DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 
LEVELING WITHOUT BASELEVELING. 

Srvce the widespread adoption of Powell’s 
views regarding baseleveling, whereby the 
earlier views regarding marine planation 
have been so generally displaced, truncated 


SCIENCE. 


825 


uplands—that is, uplands whose deformed 
structure is truneated by their surface—have 
come to be very generally interpreted as up- 
lifted and more or less dissected peneplains. 
Doubt has been thrown, properly enough, on 
this interpretation in cases where the dissec- 
tion of a supposed upland has progressed so 
far as to transform it into a series of discon- 
tinuous and uneven hills; but the interpreta- 
tion has usually and deservedly had full ac- 
ceptanece in those cases where the dissection 
of the upland was but little advanced and 
where the inter-valley upland areas still pre- 
served nearly plain surfaces, whose previous 
continuity across the valleys could not be rea- 
sonably questioned. It is evident, however, that 
the correctness of this interpretation depends 
on the impossibility of the production of 
similarly truncated uplands independent of 
normal baselevel; and those physiographers 
who have inferred crustal elevation on the 
evidence of truncated uplands have doubtless 
been convinced that this impossibility was 
demonstrated. True, it has long been under- 
stood that the processes of erosion and deposi- 
tion in desert interior basins might result in 
leveling above baselevel, the waste from the 
highlands going to fill up the original depres- 
sions; but it does not appear that this process 
has been regarded as possibly accounting, after 
a change to a humid or normal climate and 
without any uplift, for the occurrence of trun- 
eated uplands in non-desert regions. 

A recent article by Dr. Siegfried Passarge, 
of Steglitz, Germany, opens new possibilities 
in this direction. After extended observation 
on the desert plains of southern Africa, fully 
deseribed in his book, ‘Die Kalahari’ (Ber- 
lin, 1904), Passarge concludes that these plains 
are the result of leveling without baseleveling, 
through the combined action of wind and water 
erosion; and that such plains, nearly every- 
where showing a rock surface independent of 
structure and interrupted only here and there 
by residual hills or mountains—which he ealls 
by Bornhardt’s term ‘ Inselberge’—may be 
produced over large areas at any altitude above 
baselevel. His article, Rumpfilichen und 
Inselberg (Zeitschr. deut. geol. Gesellsch., 
LVI., 1904, Protokol., 198-209), in which this 


826 SCIENCE. 


conclusion is announced, is well worthy of at- 
tention from American physiographers. 

The principle of leveling without baselevel- 
ing, or Passarge’s law, as it may be called, in 
contrast to Powell’s law of leveling by base- 
leveling, suggests that the scheme of the nor- 
mal cycle of erosion, so generally applicable 
in regions of ordinary or normal climate, 
should be systematically modified in such ways 
as will adapt it to the conditions of an ab- 
normally dry or arid climate. This modifica- 
tion I have lately attempted in an article that 
will soon be published in the Journal of Geol- 
ogy; it is here presented in outline. 

An extensive region of any structure up- 

lifted in an arid zone to any altitude and with 
~ any form will, in the youthful stage of its 
eycle of erosion, be characterized by as many 
independent and incomplete centripetal drain- 
age systems as there are depressed areas or 
basins within its limits: independent systems, 
because in an arid climate the basins can not 
be filled with overflowing lakes; incomplete 
systems, because many of the intermittent 
centripetal streams will wither away on the 
slopes and fail to join forces in trunk streams 
on the basin floors. The early stage of a 
normal eycle, where all basins are filled to 
overflowing and where all streams are con- 
tinued until they unite in trunk rivers which 
reach the sea, is characterized by a rapid in- 
crease of relief, due to the incision of valleys. 
The early stage of the arid cycle is, on the 
other hand, characterized by a decrease of re- 
lief, due to the aggradation of the basins with 
the waste washed down from the enclosing 
highlands. As youth advances towards ma- 
turity, the initially independent basins will 
become more and more completely confluent, 
either by headward erosion on the slopes of the 
lower basins, or by the overflow of waste across 
depressions in the borders of the higher basins ; 
thus from original independence will be de- 
veloped a maturely integrated and interde- 
pendent system of drainage slopes, although 
trunk rivers will still be wanting. Maturity 
may be said to be fully established when large 
areas are thus brought into systematic correla- 
tion. At this stage, there may still be some 
unreduced uplands, but there will also be in- 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 543. 


creasing piedmont areas of degraded, rock- 
floored plains, inclined gently towards the 
greatly enlarged central aggraded basin floor; 
and the composite plain thus produced will 
have no definite relation to normal baselevel. 
In so far as the erosion of arid regions has 
previously been discussed, it would appear that 
this stage, here called maturity, has been re- 
garded as the old age of a desert, and that it 
has been taken to mark the end of the changes 
to which an interior basin is subject, unless it 
is attacked by the headward extension of ex- 
terior streams and thus dissected and reduced 
to normal baselevel; but as Passarge clearly 
shows, the old age is yet to come, and with a 
systematic sequence and grouping of features 
essentially unlike those just described. The 
action of the wind is yet to be considered. 

In the earlier stages of the cycle, while the 
slopes are still varied and strong, transporta- 
tion and trituration by the wind is probably 
of small value in proportion to that of the 
occasional streams and floods. But as the 
barren surface becomes more and more even, 
the relative importance of wind action in- 
creases; for unlike running water, the wind 
does not depend on local slopes for its activity; 
it is about equally strong everywhere on a 
surface of moderate relief, and has no sub- 
division into subordinate parts that correspond 
to small headwater streams, whose slopes must 
be steeper than that of their trunk river. 
The wind may sweep sand along a level floor, 
or even up a moderate slope; and whirlwinds 
may raise dust high into the air, and there 
give it to the upper currents; both of these 
processes may carry desert waste outside of 
the desert region under consideration, and 
thus the mean level of the desert may be very 
slowly reduced. The surface may, indeed, in 
this way eventually be worn below sealevel, as 
several writers have suggested; but the form 
that the surface will exhibit during its slow 
reduction has not, to my knowledge, been espe- 
cially considered until in the recent statement 
of this aspect of the question by Passarge. 

It might at first sight appear that when the 
winds gain the upper hand in the processes 
of transportation, they would tend to excavate 
extensive basins wherever the weathering of 


: 


May 26, 1905.] 


the rocks resulted in the production of fine 
dusty waste; and that, inasmuch as the winds 
know no baselevel, there would be no definitely 
assignable limit to the unevenness of the sur- 
face thus produced. This might be true in ab- 
solutely rainless regions; but such regions are 
not known. The most desert regions of the 
world have occasional rainfall, and are from 
time to time visited by showers heavy enough 
to cause floods; and the intermittent action of 
such floods will put an effectual stop to the 
development of deep basins by wind action. 
As soon as the winds succeed in sweeping out 
a shallow depression, that part of the in- 
tegrated drainage slopes which leads toward 
the depression will, when rain falls and floods 
are formed, provide a supply of waste with 
which the depression will be aggraded. Fur- 
ther deepening of the depression below its 
surroundings is thus effectually hindered. 
The wind may then begin the excavation of 
another depression elsewhere, only again to be 
defeated by the local inwash of a waste cover. 
Not an uneven surface of many hills and hol- 
lows, but a remarkably even plain must result 
from the long continuance of these antago- 
nistic processes. 

During the development of such a plain, a 
series of systematically irregular changes will 
run their course. As the exportation of desert 
waste by the winds continues, the area of the 
central aggraded basin floor must diminish, 
while that of the surrounding degraded rock 
plains must increase. At the same time, the 
integrated drainage system of maturity will 
be more and more completely disintegrated and 
replaced by many local and variable systems 
of extremely indefinite separation. Eventually 
all the central accumulation of waste will have 
been exported by the winds; the rock-floored 
plain will have been worn down lower than 
the bottom of the deepest initial depression, 
so that it will then extend throughout the 
region, except for residual mountains of rocks 
most resistant to dry weathering. Thin 
veneers of gravelly waste will remain, swept 
hither and yon by the intermittent fluctuating 
disintegrated drainage; shallow ‘ saltpans’ may 
occur from place to place and from time to 
time; but large areas of rock plains carrying 


SCIENCE. 


827 


only scattered stony waste, will abound; this 
is the condition of true old age in such a 
region. Once attained, it persists, slowly worn 
lower and lower, possibly sinking below sea- 
level, until disturbed by crustal movements or 
climatic change. It is old rock-floored desert 
plains of this character and apparently of this 
origin that Passarge describes as occupying 
thousands of square miles in South Africa. 

Two interesting consequences of this scheme 
should be pointed out. 

Every truncated upland that has been de- 
seribed as an uplifted and more or less dis- 
sected peneplain should now be reexamined 
with the object of learning whether it may 
not have originated as a desert plain at its 
present altitude above sealevel, and afterwards 
suffered dissection as a result of climatic 
change. True, we are to-day more accus- 
tomed to movements of the earth crust, in the 
way of elevations and depressions, than to cli- 
matic changes, in the way of transforming 
arid regions to humid regions and vice versa; 
but perhaps this habit of thought is only a 
fashion of our time. A century ago, move- 
ments of the earth’s crust indicated by the dis- 
covery of marine fossils on the higher peaks 
of the Alps were regarded with astonishment, 
not to say incredulity. A century hence, 
variations of climate may be accepted as freely 
as changes of level are now. The way 
towards such an opinion is opened by the dis- 
covery of glacial periods in various geological 
ages, and it is not hindered so much as it was 
once by supposed evidence of the correspond- 
ence of earlier climatic zones with those of 
to-day. We should, therefore, open our minds 
widely to the possibility of explaining trun- 
eated uplands as ancient desert plains not 
changed in elevation, but only in climate; and 
this possibility should not be set aside because 
it seems improbable, but only because it may 
be shown on good and sufficient grounds to be 
inappropriate to the case under consideration. 
It may be added that, as far as I have under- 
taken a revision of the origin of truncated 
uplands, as is suggested above, nearly all the 
familiar cases seem to possess characteristics 
that accord with their origin as uplifted pene- 
plains and not as desert plains; and that there 


828 


is therefore less ground for change of gen- 
erally accepted opinions than the suggestion 
of the need of revision might for the moment 
indicate. 

The second consideration concerns the proc- 
esses of combined induction and deduction by 
which the complete or logical method of scien- 
tific investigation is constituted. In view of 
the possible change of interpretation now open 
for truncated uplands according to Passarge’s 
law, it might be said by one who prefers 
to work on more purely inductive lines: ‘“ Be- 
hold, here is another case in which deduction 
has led the investigator astray! He thought 
that he could deduce the sole conditions under 
which truncated uplands could be formed, and 
that these conditions necessitated uplift after 
degradation; now he finds a new series of con- 
ditions under which such uplands may be 
formed and all. his previous conclusions are 
uncertain. Let us, therefore, beware of de- 
ductive or imaginative methods, and hold fast 
to the safer methods of observation and indue- 
tion.” In reply to such a warning, one might 
say—besides pointing out that all problems 
which deal with unseen processes necessarily 
involve deduction and that the deductive side 
of the work should be conscious and systematic 
—that the fault in the method by which trun- 
cated uplands have heretofore been discussed 
lies not in the too free use of deductive 
methods, but in their too limited use. The mis- 
take lies in our not having years ago set forth, 
by purely deductive methods, just such an 
analysis of the geographical cycle in an arid 
climate as has now been provoked by the dis- 
covery of rock-floored desert plains. Such an 
analysis does not involve any new or difficult 
problems; it might have been successfully at- 
tempted long ago; the difficulty that stood in 
the way lay not in the problem itself, but 
rather in the habit among physical geographers 
of trusting too observational 
methods and of neglecting the aid that de- 
The lesson of the 
problem is, therefore, that deduction should 
be pushed forward more energetically and sys- 
tematically than ever; always checking its re- 
sults as far as possible by confronting them 
with the appropriate facts of observation, but 


largely to 


ductive methods furnish. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


never halting in the reasonable extension of 
deductive conclusions because the correspond- 
ing facts of observation have not been de- 
tected; never lessening the activity with which 
exploration and observation are pursued, but 
always using the spur of deduction along the 
paths suggested by ‘ multiple working hypoth- 
eses.’ The problem of the erosion of moun- 
tain valleys of Alpine glaciers teaches the 
same lesson: if physiographers had, thirty 
years ago, been well practised in deductive 
methods, they might have easily extended 
Playfair’s law regarding the accordant junc- 
tion of branch and trunk streams from the 
case of stream surfaces to the contrasted case 
of stream beds, and from the case of water 
streams to the analogous case of ice streams; 
thus they might have predicted that, if Alpine 
glaciers were effective eroding agents, glaciated 
mountain valleys ought to show discordant or 
hanging side valleys; and in going to the 
mountains they would have found the predic- 
tion correct, and the basis of the prediction— 
that glaciers are effective eroding agents— 
would have thus been verified. So with the 
geographical cycle in an arid climate: there 
is nothing difficult in the series of deductions 
that lead to the expectation of rock-floored 
desert plains, independent of baselevel, as the 
product of arid erosion; the only obstacle to 
the development of these deductions has been 
the habit of not making them. This is a 
habit that should be broken. 
W. M. Davis. 


NOMENCLATORIAL TYPE SPECIMENS OF PLANT 
SPECIES. 


' THE recent ‘Code of Botanical Nomencla- 
ture’ now usually known as the Philadelphia 
Code, states as the fourth fundamental prin- 
ciple, ‘The application of a name is deter- 
mined by reference to its nomenclatorial type.’ 
This means that a specific (or subspecific) 
name stands or falls according to the disposi- 
tion of the type specimen. It is not proposed 
here to discuss the advantages or disadvan- 
tages of this method of determining the appli- 
cation of names, although to the writer this 
method seems much more likely to secure 
‘stability, uniformity and convenience in the 


May 26, 1905.] 


designation of plants,’ than the method of 
applying the name according to tradition, 
authority or consensus of opinion. Instead of 
this, then, it is proposed to discuss briefly the 
practical difficulties which may arise in this 
method of types, and how these difficulties 
may be overcome. 

The code mentioned above states in regard 
to the application of names (Canon 14) the 
following: ‘ The nomenclatorial type of a spe- 
cies or subspecies is the specimen to which the 
- deseriber originally applied the name in publi- 
cation.’ 

Where an author in connection with an 
original description has indicated a definite 
specimen, there is usually no difficulty in de- 
termining the type. When an author indi- 
eates only the number or other data occurring 
on the label in numbered sets prepared for 
distribution, but does not specify a particular 
specimen, the type would be the one from 
which the author drew up the description and 
would presumably be in his herbarium. The 
other specimens would then be designated as 
duplicate types. Not infrequently the author 
draws the description from all the specimens 
of a given number in a set, in which case the 
specimen in the herbarium of the author, or 
of the institution at which he is located, must 
be arbitrarily chosen as the type. 

Many difficulties arise in determining the 
types of the older authors, as the practise of 
designating specimens as such is quite recent. 
When a name is based upon a single specimen 
this becomes the type though not actually 
designated as such. If more than one speci- 
men is cited, but none designated as the type 
it becomes necessary to select one of these. 

The above mentioned code provides that 
‘When more than one specimen was originally 
cited, the type or group of specimens in which 
the type is included may be indicated by the 
derivation of the name from that of the col- 
lector, locality or host. (Canon 14, a.) Fur- 
ther, if no type can be selected on this basis, 
‘Among specimens equally eligible, the type is 
that first figured with the original description, 
or in default of a figure, the first mentioned.’ 
(Canon 14, b.) 

There are many original descriptions, how- 


SCIENCE. 


829 


ever, in which no specimens are cited, but 
instead the locality or range may be given. 
It then becomes necessary to consult the au- 
thor’s herbarium or the herbarium in which 
his plants are deposited. Specimens which 
bear the name in his handwriting should be 
given preference in the selection, and of these 
the type is the one from the locality first men- 
tioned, or the one collected by the person for 
whom the species is named. Even with these 
aids in selection it may be necessary to arbi- 
trarily select a certain specimen from among 
those equally eligible. This should be done 
by a monographer and only after a careful 
examination of the available data. Where 
possible the most perfect specimen should be 
selected or the one most nearly corresponding 
to the original description. For example, if 
the species is known to produce rhizomes and 
only one of the otherwise available specimens 
showed these organs, this specimen might be 
selected. Occasionally the original descrip- 
tion includes more than one form and the 
specimens are correspondingly diverse. It is 
then very necessary to use particular care in 
the selection of the type. Muhlenberg de- 
scribed Panicum depauperatum without indi- 
eating a type. In his herbarium deposited 
in the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sci- 
ences is the sheet of specimens upon which the 
name is founded. In this sheet are plants 
of P. linearifolium Scribn. and two forms of 
what is now considered to be P. depauperatum 
Muhl., one with glabrous sheaths and one 
with pilose sheaths. From the description one 
can not determine which one of these forms 
was intended. Probably all were included as 
one species. Since the form with 
spikelets has been distinguished by Professor 
Seribner as P. linearifolium the type of P. 
depauperatum should be selected from the 
specimens with large spikelets. When the 
two or more species confused by one author 
are distinguished by a later author, this au- 
thor should determine the type. The old 
specific name should remain with the type and 
the new name be based upon a different type. 
Much confusion has arisen because of failure 
to follow this rule. If the original specimens 
are made up of both species, the author of the 


smaller 


830 


later name, the so-called segregator, should 
indicate which specimen is the type of each 
species. Professor Seribner might with equal 
propriety have given the new name, in the 
case above mentioned, to the form with large 
spikelets, except for the fact that tradition, 
and the recorded history of the plant had at- 
tached the name P. depauperatum to this 
* form. But, as stated, the original specimens 
are in part with glabrous sheaths and in part 
with pilose sheaths. The original description 
states that the sheaths are pilose. In a recent 
study of this collection in preparation of a 
monograph of the Panicums I took the liberty 
of selecting a specimen from the cover that 
had pilose sheaths, and attaching a ticket with 
such indication. 

Let us consider another case and suppose 
that a reference to Muhlenberg’s herbarium 
had shown only a specimen of P. linearifolium 
Seribn. In this case this specimen would be- 
come the type of the species P. depauperatum 
Mubhl., since it agrees with Muhlenberg’s de- 
scription, and the species which had been 
called P. depauperatum would receive a new 
name. 

While it is true that the name of a species 
rests upon its type specimen, yet the specimen 
can not take precedence over the description. 
If it is clear that a supposed type specimen 
disagrees with the description to such an ex- 
tent that it can not be the plant which the 
author describes, then the plant must be dis- 
regarded in determining the type. In a pre- 
vious paper J mentioned that the specimen in 
the Linnean Herbarium labeled in Linnzus’s 
handwriting Agrostis rubra is a panicle of a 
Sporobolus, apparently Sporobolus juncea of 
our southern states. There is clearly an error 
here as the plant does not agree with the de- 
scription. On the other hand, there are many 
cases in which the type specimen does not 
agree in all respects with the description. 
The sheaths may be described as glabrous 
when a few of the lower may be pubescent. 
If there is no reasonable doubt that the speci- 
men was examined by the author and is the 
specimen or at least one of the specimens upon 
which the description was based, such speci- 
men should be accepted as the type. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 543. 


In cases where the first cited specimen is 
chosen as the type aécording to rule, it not 
infrequently happens that this is a form which 
does not represent faithfully the author’s idea 
of the species. The specimens may have been 
arranged geographically and the first locality 
may be represented by a specimen of an aber- 
rant or uncertain form. But the rule is ex- 
plicit on this point and is certainly easy to 
interpret and follow. 

Torrey and Gray publish many of Nuttall’s 
manuscript names, but in listing specimens 
those collected by Nuttall may not be men- 
tioned first; nevertheless, his specimens should 
be taken as the type by a broad interpretation 
of Canon 14, a. Cardamine hirsuta L. B 
acuminata Nutt. mss. in Torr. and Gray Fl. 
1: 85. The specimens cited are: British 
America, Richardson; Oregon, Nuttall. The 
latter specimen should be taken as the type. 

When there is no original specimen we must 
make use of Canon 14, ec, in determining what 
shall serve as the type: ‘In default of an orig- 
inal specimen, that represented by the identi- 
fiable figure or (in default of a figure) deserip- 
tion first cited or subsequently published, shall 
serve as the type.’ It sometimes happens that 
the citations will lead to a specimen, which 
then should be taken as the type. Poa flava 
L. is based upon a citation from Gronovius 
Flora Virginica, that is, Linnezus gives a spe- 
cific name to a plant described by Gronovius. 
A reference to Gronovius shows that he men- 
tions a particular specimen, Clayton No. 273, 
which plant is deposited in the herbarium 
of the British Museum and is the type of 
Poa flava L. 

I will now refer briefly to a second series of 
cases, those where there has been only a 
change of name. If a species has been trans- 
ferred from one genus to another the type 
specimen is determined according to the rules 
mentioned above, by a reference to the orig- 
inal description. If a new name is given to 
a species because the old one is untenable, 
the type of the old name becomes the type of 
the new. ‘There are no new difficulties pre- 
sented here, if there is no doubt that there 
has been only a change of name. However, 
one finds many cases where an author has 


May 26, 1905.] 


changed a name and at the same time has 
given a description of the species as he under- 
stands it. The description may not agree 
with the historic type. If the author states 
the synonymy in such a manner that there is 
no doubt that he meant to change the name 
of a given species, the old type must be re- 
tained regardless of the description or the 
specimens cited at the time the change is 
made. This may sometimes become a ques- 
tion of judgment to decide whether there is 
primarily a change of name or a description 
of a species with a doubtful reference to a 
previously published species. For example: 

(a) Panicum barbipulvinatum Nash. Mem. 
N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1: 21. 1900. 

Panicum capillare  brevifolium Vasey; 
Scribner, Bull. U. S. Dept. Agric. Div. Agrost. 
5: 21; not Panicum brevifolium L. 

Then follows an extended description and 
finally a specimen is cited as the type (Ryd- 
berg and Bessey 3544). This is evidently a 
change of name and the type should remain 
the same and be determined by a reference to 
the original publication of P. capillare brevi- 
folium Vasey, where a certain specimen from 
Montana is mentioned, Rydberg & Shear 436. 
Even though it may have been that the plant 
described by Mr. Nash was a different species, 
still the name P. barbipulvinatum Nash is a 
typonym of P. capillare brevifoliwm Vasey 
and a new type can not be assigned. 

(b) Panicum scribnerianum Nash. nom. n. 
Bul. Lorr, Bot. Club. 22); 491. 1895. 

Panicum scoparium S. Wats. in A. Gray, 
Man. Ed. 6, 632. 1890. Not Lam. 

P. scoparium minor Seribn. Bul. Univ. 
Tenn. 7: 48. 1894. Not P. capillare minor 
Mubhl. 1817. 

The synonymy is arranged chronologically 
and both names are untenable. I believe that 
the fact that Mr. Nash chose scribnerianum 
for the new name is suflicient evidence to 
show that he intended to change the name of 
P. scoparium minor Scribn., and hence the 
type of the former is also the type of the 
latter, namely, a specimen from middle Ten- 
nessee collected by Gattinger. 

Others may hold that the new name must 
rest upon the type of the plant described by 


SCIENCE. 


831 


Watson, since this is the first synonym cited. 
A reference to Watson’s description shows that 
P. pauciflorum is given as a synonym in the 
6th edition of the ‘ Manual’; that the descrip- 
tion is identical with that under P. pauci- 
forum Ell.? of previous editions back to the 
first; that in the first edition the range is 
given as N. Pennsylvania (Carey) and W. 
New York to Michigan. In this case Carey’s 
specimen becomes the type of the species 
doubtfully referred to P. pauciflorum Ell. by 
Gray and also the type of P. scribnerianum 
Nash. 

(c) Panicum minus (Muhl.) Nash. Bul. 
Torr. Bot. Club. 22: 421. 1895. 

P. diffusum Pursh 1814. Not Swartz 1788. 

P. capillare minus Muhl. 1817. 

P. philadelphicum Bernh. 1829. 

Mr. Nash then describes his plant briefly, 
but sufficiently to show that it is not Muhl- 
enberg’s plant, but P. capillare minimum 
Engelm. Nevertheless, the type of P. minus 
(Muhl.) Nash must be that of P. capillare 
minus Muhl. (which, by the way, was not thus 
published by Muhlenberg), as there is pri- 
marily a change of name. It might be argued 
that P. diffusum Pursh is also a typonym of 
P. minus Nash. If Mr. Nash had given an 
entirely new name to P. diffusum Pursh, then 
the new name would have been a typonym of 
P. diffusum, but he chose to take up another 
name founded upon a different type, in which 
ease P. minus Nash and P. diffusum are 
synonyms or at least supposed to be, but they 
are not typonyms. 

(d) Dactylis cynosuroides L. Spec. 71. 1753. 

Linneus gives first a description of his own 
apparently based upon the specimen in his 
herbarium, which is Spartina polystachya 
Willd.; second, a citation from Gronovius 
Flora Virginica, which is supported by a 
specimen of Spartina polystachya Willd. in 
his herbarium; thirdly, a variety B which is 
Spartina glabra Muhl. The localities given 
are Virginia, Canada, Lusitania. All the 
evidence here is in one direction, and the type 
specimen is the one in the Linnean herbarium. 
Michaux next transfers this to his genus 
Trachynotia as T. cynosuroides. As he uses 
the specific name cynosuroides, and quotes as 


832 


synonym Dactylis cynosuroides L., we must 
consider this as primarily a change of name, 
although the plant he describes comes from 
Hudson Bay, and probably is Spartina cynos- 
uroides as generally understood, that is, the 
plant from the interior, with few spikes. 

Spartina cynosuroides Willd. Enum. 1: 80. 
1809, must also be considered as a typonym 
of Dactylis cynosuroides L., since it is pri- 
marily a change of name. The description 
also applies. The two synonyms cited are 
D. cynosuroides Willd. Sp. 1: 40, which is 
based on Ait. Hort. Kew. 1: 108, which in its 
turn is based on Dactylis cynosuroides L. sp. 
2d Ed. 104, and secondly upon Trachynotia 
cynosuroides Michx. 

It is evident that Michaux took up Lin- 
neus’ name for the wrong plant, and his two 
species 7’. cynosuroides and T. polystachya 
must stand as synonyms. This leaves without 
a name the plant which Michaux describes 
under 7’. cynosuroides. 

It is not best to be too arbitrary in deciding 
such cases and thus be led into an absurdity. 
This is particularly true for Linnean species, 
as the conditions are unusual. lLinnus is 
introducing a new system and gives specific 
names to a large number of plants already 
well known. Judgment should be used so 
that a blind following of rules will not lead 
us into untenable positions. The American 
species are quite likely to be based upon type 
specimens which agree with his description. 
If there is no specimen in the Linnean Her- 
barium the type should be traced, if possible, 
to a definite plate. If there are no plates and 
there is a conflict of cited descriptions, much 
care and study may be necessary in deciding 
upon what shall be a substitute for the type. 

It is to be noted that there are many species 
of plants for which there are no nomencla- 
torial types. Only a few of Walter’s grasses 
deseribed in his ‘ Flora Caroliniana’ are pre- 
served in his herbarium now deposited in the 
3ritish Museum. Names of species not rep- 
resented in this collection are based upon 
descriptions and one can only say there is no 
It may be that there is not 
in existence the type specimen of a species, 
according to the rules quoted, yet there may 


type specimen. 


SCLHNCE. 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 543. 


be other specimens which for practical pur- 
poses may take the place of the type. Many 
type specimens were lost at the time Professor 
Seribner’s herbarium was destroyed by fire. 
Where there are duplicate types (specimens 
of a set or series bearing the same number 
or other data to show that they are a part of 
the same series) one of these may be chosen. 
It may be necessary to select a second or sub- 
sequently cited specimen to take the place of 
the type, when the latter is known to be lost. 
In all cases such a selection should be done 
by a monographer who has had opportunity 
to give the matter careful study. 

A type specimen may consist of more than 
one individual plant. Consequently portions 
of the type specimen may be deposited in dif- 
ferent places. In the National Herbarium are 
portions of the types of many species of grass- 
es, such as those of Trinius, Muhlenberg and 
Elliott, sometimes consisting of an individual, 
more often of spikelets. These cases should 
not be confused with those mentioned above, 
where a description may have been drawn 
from all the specimens of a given number, 
one of which was retained in the author’s 
herbarium and the remainder distributed. It 
would seem better, here, to distinguish the 
specimen or sheet of specimens in the author’s 
herbarium as the type. 

Finally, the following suggestions as to 
nomenclature are submitted: 

Duplicate type: Specimens of the same 
series or set as the type as indicated by the 
number or other data. 

Co-type: A specimen cited with the original 
description in addition to the type specimen. 

A. S. HitcHcocr. 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 


CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 
MOUNTAIN SICKNESS IN THE SIKHIM HIMALAYA. 


AxutioucH much has been written about the 
physiological effects of high altitudes, every 
new contribution to the subject is of interest. 
In a recent account of ‘The Sikhim Him- 
alaya’ (Scot. Geogr. Mag., April, 1905), Mr. 
Douglas W. Freshfield gives the following 
summary of his party’s experiences: Mountain 


May 26, 1905.] 


sickness was felt more at about 15,000 to 
16,000 feet than at 5,000 feet higher, and it 
was felt in very different degrees by different 
individuals. Most of the party suffered from 
lassitude and fatigue after making slight ex- 
ertion; some were wholly prostrated for a 
time, and one coolie died. Other persons were 
entirely free from any perceptible inconveni- 
ence. Among the latter was a Goorkha, who 
ran back over a 20,000-foot pass to hurry up 
the loiterers. Another member of the party, 
an Englishman, experienced an increased ap- 
petite and gained in weight during the jour- 
ney. Mr. Freshfield believes that the intense 
glare and heat on the snow had much to do 
with the sickness of some of the party at 
15,000 feet. 


THE KALAHARI DESERT. 


A RECENT book on the Kalahari Desert (‘ Die 
Kalahari,’ by Dr. Siegfried Passarge, Berlin, 
Reimer, 1904) contains a discussion of many 
interesting matters of a meteorological and 
climatological nature. Among these topics 
the following call for special mention: the 
climate of South Africa and of the Kalahari, 
with notes on the progressive desiccation of 
the country, based on comparisons of the ob- 
servations of earlier and later explorers (Chap. 
YV.); the orographic and hydrographic condi- 
tions of the Kalahari, with the evidence for 
the desiccation (Chap. XXXI.); the effects 
of rock-weathering under different climates, 
especially with reference to deserts (Chap. 
XXXYV.), and the geological effects of wind 
action. Dr. Passarge’s book, based on his own 
study of the Kalahari region during the years 
1896-98, will be found to contain much of 
interest, especially to geologists, zoologists, 
botanists and meteorologists. 


METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, NEW YEAR ISLAND. 


Iy the March number of the Geographical 
Journal Captain H. L. Crosthwait describes a 
recent journey in Patagonia, and also ealls 
attention to the Argentine meteorological ob- 
servatory, established in 1902, on New Year 
Island, in lat. 54°59’ S., about five miles off 
the north coast of Staten Island. Four Ar- 


SCIENCE. 


833 


gentine naval officers man the station. Since 
the observations were begun the maximum 
temperature recorded is 55.4° F.; the mini- 
mum, 16.4°; the annual mean, 41°. 

NOTES. 

Tue International Bureau of the South 
American Republics has recently issued a re- 
port upon ‘ Bolivia,’ in which the climate of 
that country is discussed in a general way. - 

A HIGHLY mathematical discussion, by Max 
Margules, entitled ‘Ueber die Energie der 
Stiirme,’ appears in the Jahrbuch of the Aus- 
trian Central Meteorological Institute, volume 
for 1903 (1905). R. DEC. Warp. 


NOTES ON ENTOMOLOGY. 


THE varying positions in which insects rest 
have been but little investigated by entomolo- 
gists. It is now known that in many groups 
the position of repose is constant, and of im- 
portance to the insect. In the Lepidoptera it 
often has a direct bearing on the color pattern, 
and on the question of protective resemblance. 
Dr. J. T. Oudemans has recently studied the 
subject and furnishes* many interesting ob- 
servations on positions adopted, the arrange- 
ment of colors, the parts of the color-pattern 
exposed or hidden, and the cryptic value of 
the position and color. The photographs fur- 
nish many striking examples of protective 
resemblance, most of which are familiar to 
the American collector. 


Mr. PrerGANDE’S revision of our phylloxeras, 
after much delay, has at last been issued.+ 
The species affecting the hickory (being most 
numerous) are classed by themselves, and ar- 
ranged in four groups according to the nature 
and position of the gall. Thirty species and 
several varieties are recorded from this genus 
of trees. Descriptions of the gall, stem- 
mother and larva are given for all species, 


*‘ftude sur la position de repos chez des 
Lepidoptéres,’ Verhdl. Konink. Akad. Wetensch. 
Amsterdam, X., no. 1, pp. 90, 11 pls., 1903 (1904). 

+‘North American  Phylloxerine affecting 
Hicoria (Carya) and other trees,’ Proc. Daven- 
port Acad. Sci., Vol. IX., pp. 185-273, 22 pls., 
1904. 


834 


and various other stages in many of the forms. 
The complete life history is presented of one 
species—P. perniciosa. Seven other- species 
are treated, on the willow, sour gum, poplar, 
oak and chestnut. P. vastatrix, the phylloxera 
of the vine, is purposely omitted. The excel- 
lent figures show the galls, as well as their 
inhabitants, but it is very much to be re- 
gretted that the colored figures of the galls 
prepared by the author could not have been 
published instead of the photographs. 


THE second entomological publication of 
the Carnegie Institution is equally as interest- 
ing as the first. It treats of the colors of a 
genus of common wasps—Polistes.* There 
are chapters on the origin, development and 
variation in the color pattern in these wasps; 
the geographical distribution of certain types 
of coloration in the United States, and a com- 
parison with the distribution of these wasps 
in the world; on the chemical nature of the 
pigments; on variation in specimens from the 
same nest, and the degree of variability in 
males and females; and on the correlation in 
markings between different parts of the insect. 
These are followed by technical descriptions 
of the known species, and a bibliography of 
the subject. 


For several years the Entomological Insti- 
tute at Gifu, Japan, conducted by Mr. Nawa, 
has published a semipopular entomological 
paper. It now commences a series of more 
pretentious publications, the first number of 
which treats of the Sphingide of Japan, by 
K. Nagano.+ It is in folio size and consists 
of 48 pages in Japanese and five colored plates, 
with an English translation of 15 pages in the 
back. Thirty-four species, with their larve, 
are figured on the plates. These are rather 
too highly colored. 

A New entomological journal is Casopis, or 
Acta Societatis Entomologice Bohemie. It 
is published in Bohemian at Prague; four 
numbers are issued each year. It is edited by 

*W. M. Enteman, ‘ Coloration in Polistes,’ Car- 
negie Institution, Washington, Publ. no. 19, 1904, 
pp- 88, 4 col. plates, 2 maps. 

Japonicum Insectorum,’ Vol. IL, 
Gifu, Japan, 1904, 


‘ Teones 
Lepidoptera Sphingide. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


a committee of five Bohemian entomologists, 
headed by the eminent neuropterist, Professor 
Franz Klapalek. It treats mostly of local in- 
sects. 

THE entomological literature of New Zea- 
land has been enriched by two valuable books. 
One of them is a catalogue of all New Zealand 
animals.* The insects occupy a large part of 
the work. In the introduction there is a list 
of the various expeditions that have collected 
material on New Zealand; and an account of 
the different elements of the New Zealand 
fauna, and notes on the geological history of 
the island. The other book is a systematic 
account of the Neuroptera.t The neurop- 
teroid fauna of New Zealand is characterized 
by many peculiar genera of caddice flies; and 
the author, in an appendix, shows that their 
larve are the principal food of trout. 

M. Cu. Kerremans has begun a mono- 
graphic account of the family Buprestide,t a 
group which he has studied for many years. 
Five parts have been issued, with 160 pages. 
The introduction contains much ethological 
matter on geographic distribution, variation, 
sexual dimorphism, mimicry and protective 
resemblance, ete. : 

Dr. Ss6stept, who a few years ago pub- 
lished a considerable work on the termites of 
Africa, has now issued an appendix to that 
work.§ He here gives synoptic tables to all 
the species, new localities for many old spe- 
cies and descriptions of a considerable number 
of new forms. He wisely uses the genus 
Termes in the broad sense, ignoring the many 
new genera which have recently been created 
from it. There are many notes on the nests 
and habits of the species. 

Tuat the famous Vedalia cardinalis is not 
the only useful species of its genus is evi- 


**Index Faune Nove Zealandie, by F. W. 
Hutton; London, Dulau and Co., 1904, 370 pp. 

7 ‘New Zealand Neuroptera,’ by G. V. Hudson; 
London, West, Newman and Co., 1904, 102 pp., 11 
colored plates. 

£ ‘ Monographie des Buprestides,’ Bruxelles, 8vo, 
1904-1905. 

2‘ Monographie der Termiten Afrikas, Nach- 
trag,’ Kgl. Svenska Vetensk.-Akad. Handl., Bd. 
38, 1904, pp. 120, 4 pls. 


May 26, 1905.] 


denced by a paper on an injurious Indian 
scale-insect by Mr. Stebbing.* The scale-in- 


sect is a very large one (10-18 mm. long) that. 


occurs in great numbers on s4l-trees in India. 
The Vedalia, V. guerint, is very voracious and 
feeds, both as larva and adult, on the scale. 
The latter, however, is so large that a beetle 
may suck its fill without killing the scale, 
which may feed or walk about while the 
Vedalia is sucking out its juices. 


A most welcome addition to the small 
amount of good literature on the early stages 
of our beetles is the recent article by Messrs. 
G. Dimmock and F. Knab.+ It contains a 
summary of the present knowledge of the 
larval structure in this family; directions for 
the rearing of the larve, notes on the habits 
of many species, detailed accounts of the early 
instars of four species, and a bibliography at 
the end. The four plates illustrate the larve 
and details of external anatomy. 


Dr. K. W. Vernoerr has issued another one 
of his studies on insect morphology.{ It is 
on the Embide, and deals especially with the 
structure of the thorax in this family. He 
finds further evidence in favor of the com- 
pound nature of the segments, and gives a 
table of the number of segments (33) which 
he traces in primitive insects. Systematic- 
ally he would place the Embiide in the order 
Isoptera, dividing that order into two sub- 
orders, the Termitina and the Adenopoda, a 
new suborder for the Embide. 


Ix volume 12, no. 1, of the WNovitates 
Zoologice Hon. N. C. Rothschild has given 
descriptions of sixteen new fleas of the genus 
Ceratophyllus from North America, mostly 
from western Canada. With them are four 


7‘On the Life History of a new Monophlebus 
from India, with a Note on that of a Vedalia Pre- 
daceous upon it,’ Journ. Linn. Soc. London, Zool., 
XXIX., pp. 142-161, 3 pls. 

** arly Stages of Carabide,’ Bull. no. 1, 
Springfield [Mass.] Museum of Natural History, 
Dec., 1904, pp. 55, 4 pls. 

**Zur vergleichenden Morphologie und Sys- 
tematik der Embiiden,’ K. Leop.-Carol. Deutschen 
Akad. Naturf.; Nova Acta, LXXXII., pp. 145- 
205, 4 pls. 


SCIENCE, 


835 


plates illustrative of the sexual characters of 
the species. 

Mr. W. F. Kirpy, of the British Museum, 
has added another volume to his series of 
world-catalogues of insects. This time it is 
the Orthoptera.* This volume treats of the 
Forficulide, Hemimeride, Blattide, Mantideze 
and Phasmide. ach species is numbered, 
and the distribution is given on the margin 
of the page. Although the specialist will 
undoubtedly find errors and omissions, such 
catalogues are the most valuable additions 
that can be made to entomological literature. 


NatHan BANkKs. 


MEN OF AFFAIRS IN EDUCATION. 


Mr. Frank A. VANDERLIP, ex-assistant secre- 
tary of the Treasury, and now vice-president 
of the National City Bank, addressed the 
students of Girard College on May 20, on the 
general subject of educational benefactions. 
He is reported to have said: 


The professional educator is quite as likely to be- 
come narrow and provincial as is any other special- 
ist. The president of one of our great eastern 
universities told me a few days ago that he had 
been making an exhaustive examination of the 
history of his institution, and he had discovered 
that the great progressive steps which the univer- 
sity had taken in 150 years had been against the 
protest and the opposition of the faculty. The 
trustees from time to time brought forward new 
plans of organization, and broader ideas regard- 
ing the curriculum. The faculty had in every 
case voted adversely, and when the changes were 
made, they were made only by the trustees taking 
the responsibility upon themselves. Alexander 
Hamilton, with his consummate wisdom, once 
worked out a plan of reorganization for the uni- 
versity, only to have it meet with the usual vote 
of emphatic protest from the faculty, but final 
adoption by the trustees. Now, in the light of 
years of experience, these changes have been seen 
to be wise in the main. The unavailing protests 
of the learned men who made up the institution’s 
faculty are discovered sometimes to have been 
based on narrow grounds lacking the impersonal 
view and judgment that should have been brought 
to bear upon the questions. 


*©* A Synonymie Catalogue of Orthoptera,’ Vol. 
I., Brit. Mus., London, 1904, pp. 501. 


836 


We should like to ask Mr. Vanderlip whether 
bank presidents and vice-presidents are not also 
likely to become ‘ narrow and provincial’ and 
to lack ‘impersonal view and judgment.’ It 
appears that in accordance with Mr. Vander- 
lip’s views university professors should ad- 
minister the affairs of the National City Bank. 


THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION. 

Tue foundation endowed by Mr. Andrew 
Carnegie with bonds of the market value 
$11,500,000, to establish a retiring pension 
fund for collegé professors, was incorporated 
at Albany, on May 10, with its principal office 
in New York City. The papers are signed by 
Nicholas Murray Butler, Alexander C. Hum- 
phreys, Henry S. Pritchett, Robert A. 
Franks and Frank A. Vanderlip for the board 
of directors. 

The objects of the foundation are thus de- 
scribed: 

The particular objects for which said corpora- 
tion is formed shall be: 

(a) To receive and maintain a fund and apply 
the income thereof as follows: 

To provide retiring pensions, without respect 
to race, sex, ereed, or color, for the teachers of 
universities, colleges and technical schools in the 
United States, the Dominion of Canada and New- 
foundland, who, by reason of long and meritorious 
service in these institutions shall be deemed by 
the board of directors to be entitled to the assist- 
ance and aid of this corporation or who by reason 
of old age or disability may be prevented from 
continuing in the active work of their profession; 

To provide for the care and maintenance of the 
widows and families of the said teachers; 

To make benefactions to charitable and educa- 
tional institutions, and generally to promote the 
cause of science and education; provided, however, 
that the said benefactions shall be made to, and 
the said retiring pensions shall be paid to the 
teachers, their widows or families, of only such 
institutions as are not under control of a sect, 
do not require a majority of their trustees gov- 
erning bodies, officers, faculties or students to 
belong to any specified sect, and do not impose 
any theological test. 


THE INCREASED ENDOWMENT OF 
HARVARD COLLEGE. 


Ir is announced that $1,800,000 has been 
contributed toward the endowment of $2,500,- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


000 which is being collected ‘to increase the 
present totally inadequate amount available for 
the salaries of the teaching staff of the coliege.’ 
of Harvard University. The circular which 
contains this information and appeals for addi- 
tional subscriptions is signed by Bishop Will- 
iam Lawrence, Francis L. Higginson, Charles 
S. Fairchild, Henry S. Howe, Francis R. Ap- 
pleton, Augustus Hemenway, Robert Bacon, 
Theodore Roosevelt, James J. Storrow and 
Benjamin Carpenter. 

The circular says: “ The position of Harvard 
to-day among American universities is due not 
so much to its age, traditions, or able admin- 
istration as to its noble line of teachers. That 
the teachers in the college should be the best 
in the land; that the older professors should 
be free from the cares of a straitened income; 
that the younger teachers should be able to 
give themselves without distraction to their 
work, and that the best men should not be 
drawn away to other colleges, but should see 
before them reasonable promotion in work and 
salary, is essential to the leadership of Har- 
vard and the culture of hersons.” It is pointed 
out that the total of salaries in Harvard Col- 
lege is $487,821, and the average per capita 
allowance for the staff of 279 teachers is only 
$1,570. “In these days of increasing cost of 
living and of higher salaries in commercial 
and industrial pursuits,’ the circular adds, 
“the alumni and friends of Harvard will not 
allow the men who teach their boys and who 
fill the chairs of the great teachers of the past 
to receive these meagre wages.” 


THE INTERNATIONAL ANATOMICAL CON- 


GRESS AT GENEVA. 

Tue first International Congress of An- 
atomists will be held at Geneva, Switzerland, 
on the 7th to 10th of August. The following 
national societies are to participate in this 
congress: The Anatomical Society of Great 
Britain, the Anatomische Gesellschaft, the 
Association des Anatomistes, the Association 
of American Anatomists and the Unione 
Zoologica Italiana. The organization of the 
congress has been entrusted to a committee 
representing these societies, and consisting of 
Professors Minot, Nicolas, Romiti, Syming- 


May 26, 1905.] 


ton and Waldeyer. The presidents thus far 
named are Professor Sabatier, of Montpellier; 
Professor Romiti, of Pisa, and Professor 
Minot, of Harvard. The vice-presidents are 
Professor Bugnion, of Lausanne; Professor 
Valenti, of Bologna, and Professor Carl 
Huber, of Ann Arbor. 

A general circular is in preparation, which 
will shortly be distributed to all members of 
the various societies taking part in the con- 
gress, and to such other persons as may re- 
quest to have it sent to them. The congress 
owes its successful initiation largely to the 
zealous devotion of Professor Nicolas, of the 
University of Nancy, and inquiries as to 
further details on the part of those interested 
may be addressed to him. We hope to pub- 
lish later a more detailed notice of the final 
arrangements and program. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

Tue faculty of Princeton University gave a 
dinner on the evening of May 17 in honor of 
Professor Charles A. Young, who becomes 
professor emeritus after a service of twenty- 
eight years as professor of astronomy. Among 
the speakers were President Woodrow Wilson, 
of Princeton; President Francis L. Patton, of 
Princeton Theological Seminary; Mr. M. 
Taylor Pyne, of New York; Professor Silas 
Brackett, Professor W. F. Magie and Dr. 
Henry Van Dyke, who read a poem. A loving 
cup was presented to Professor Young. 

Proressor J. J. THomson, F.R.S., of Cam- 
bridge University, has been elected professor 
of natural philosophy in the Royal Institution 
to sueceed Lord Rayleigh, who becomes honor- 
ary professor. 

PRESIDENT Roosrvetr will receive the degree 
of LL.D. from Clark University on June 21, 
when he goes to attend the commencement ex- 
ercises at the university. 

Tur pupils and friends of Professor Charles 
Eliot Norton have presented to Harvard Uni- 
versity a fund of about $24,000, in his honor, 
to be used for the purchase of books for the 
library. 

THe seventieth birthday of Professor 
Caesare Lombroso will be celebrated in con- 


SCIENCE. 


837 


nection with the sixth International Congress 
of Criminology, which meets at Turin next 
year. 


Dr. N. Witte, professor of botany in Chris- 
tiania, has been elected a foreign member of 
the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm. 


Dr. Davin Starr Jordan, of Stanford Uni- 
versity, expects to spend the present summer 
abroad. 


Dr. N. L. Brirron, director of the New 
York Botanical Garden, sails for Europe on 
May 27 to attend the International Botanical 
Congress, which meets at Vienna from June 
11 to 18, and to visit foreign botanical gar- 
dens. He will be absent for about six weeks. 


We learn from the Botanical Gazette that 
Professor W. A. Kellerman, of Ohio State 
University, has returned from a three months’ 
exploration of Guatemala with a large amount 
of material, especially of parasitic fungi. 


Dr. E. Koxen, professor of geology at 
Tiibingen, is about to return from a geological 
expedition to southern India and Ceylon. 


Dr. P. H. Otusson-Serrer, instructor in 
botany in Stanford University, will go to 
Soconusco, one of the southern provinces of 
Mexico, where he will spend three months ex- 
perimenting with the Mexican rubber tree for 
the Zacualpa Rubber Plantation Company. 


Proressor A. Jacopt has been appointed to 
represent the faculty of medicine of Columbia 
University at the International Congress of 
Medicine to be held in Lisbon in April, 1906. 


Dr. Witu1Am Oster sailed for Liverpool, on 
May 20, to assume the duties of the regius 
professorship of medicine at Oxford. 


Proressor Ira N. Houtuis, professor of engi- 
neering at Harvard University, will be absent 
next year on leave. 


Assistant Proressor D. S. SNEDDEN, of the 
department of education of Stanford Univer- 
sity, has been given leave of absence for next 
year; Associate Professor E. P. Cubberley and 
Mr. A. H. Suzzallo, who have been spending 
the present year at Teachers College, Columbia 
University, will next year resume their work 
in the department of education. 


838 SCIENCE. 


Proressors JoHn C. Smock and Epwarp B. 
Vooruess, of Rutgers College, have been ap- 
pointed to serve on the New Jersey State 
Forestry Commission. 


Dr. J. AprerHotp has been appointed di- 
rector of the newly established Imperial Bio- 
logical Institute for Agriculture and Forestry 
at Berlin. 


Tue Paris Geographical Society has award- 
ed its gold medal to Dr. Paul Doumer. 


Henry Cook Boynton, instructor in mining 
and metallurgy at Harvard University, has 
been awarded the Carnegie research scholar- 
ship of $500 by the Iron and Steel Institute 
of London. 


Proressor Russett H. Currrenpben, director 
of the Sheffield Scientific School, has been 
invited to deliver the annual Shattuck lecture 
before the Massachusetts Medical Society. 


ForricN papers state that it is again pro- 
posed to affix a marble tablet to the Villa 
Medici, which is French property, to remind 
passers by and posterity that Galileo was kept 
prisoner there from June 24 to July 6, 1633. 
Italy has already erected a small monument 
to Galileo at the very door of the villa, with 
the following inscription: “ The neighboring 
palace, which belonged to the Medici, was the 
prison of Galileo Galilei, guilty of having 
seen the earth revolving round the sun.” 


Tue deaths are announced of Dr. Henry 
Dufet, professor of physics at Paris, in his 
fifty-seventh year; of Dr. C. Eckhardt, pro- 
fessor of physiology at Giessen, in his eighty- 
third year; of Dr. Andreas Kornhuber, 
emeritus professor of natural history in the 
Institute of Technology at Vienna, in his 
eighty-fourth year; of Professor A. Piccini, 
professor of chemistry at Florence, and of 
Colonel Renard, director of the National 
Aeronautical Park at Meudon. 


Puans for the International Congress of 
Radiology and Ionization to be held at Liége, 
September 12-14, 1905, are being rapidly ma- 
tured. The ‘Comité de Patronage’ has been 
carefully selected and is an unusually dignified 
body, consisting of MM. Arrhenius, Barus, 
Beecquerel, Berthelot, Birkeland, Blondlot, 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


Bouchard, Crookes, Curie, D’Arsonval, Drude, 
Elster, Geitel, Goldstein, Hittorf, Kelvin, 
Larmor, Lenard, Lodge, Lorentz, Mascart, 
Nernst, Poincaré, Potier, Ramsay, Rayleigh, 
Riecke, Righi, Rutherford, Schuster, J. J. 
Thomson, Voigt and Wiedemann. It is hoped 
that an American committee may be arranged 
for at an early date, or at least that papers of 
a finished character may be sent from this 
country to the congress. 

Tue Congrés des Sociétés savants met this 
year in Algeria under the presidency of M. 
Héron de Villefosse, president of the archeo- 
logical section of historic and scientific work. 

Tue following resolution was passed by the 
council of the Society of Arts at their meet- 
ing, held on May 8: “In view of the feeling 
which appears to have been aroused amongst 
some of the proprietors of the London Insti- 
tution with regard to the proposed amalgama- 
tion with the Society of Arts, and the conse- 
quent probable difficulties of effecting a 
harmonious fusion of the two corporations 
into a single institution, the council of the 
Society of Arts have decided not to take any 
further action in the matter, and hereby dis- 
charge the committee which, at the instance 
of the board of managers of the London In- 
stitution, they appointed to consider the 
scheme for amalgamation.” 

Tue U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces an examination on June 21, 1905, to 
secure eligibles from which to make certifica- 
tion to fill the following named vacancies in 
the positions of aid and laboratory apprentice 
(male) in the Bureau of Standards, Depart- 
ment of Commerce and Labor, and vacancies 
as they may occur in any branch of the service 
requiring similar qualifications: Three aids, 
at $600 per annum each; one laboratory ap- 
prentice, at $480 per annum; one laboratory 
apprentice, at $540 per annum. 

Ir is announced that President Roosevelt 
will soon issue a proclamation setting aside 
about ten million acres of land in Idaho as a 
forest reserve. 

Tue following subject has been selected as 
the subject for the Jacksonian prize of the 
Royal College of Surgeons for 1906: ‘The 


May 26, 1905.] 


Diagnosis and Treatment of Those Diseases 
and Morbid Growths of Vertebral Column 
and Spinal Cord and Canal which are Amen- 
able to Surgical Operations.’ 


AurHoucH detailed statistics for the produc- 
tion of gold during the last year are not yet 
available, Mr. Waldemar Lindgren, of the U. 
S. Geological Survey, has made some prognos- 
tications as to the distribution of the produc- 
tion among different classes of ore deposits. 
A preliminary estimate of the production of 
each state and territory was given out by the 
director of the Mint at the first of the year. 
According to this estimate, the production of 
gold in the United States during 1904 
amounted to $84,551,300. After a period of 
very rapid advance in the gold production 
from 1892 to 1900, inclusive, during which an 
increase from $33,000,000 to $79,000,000 took 
place, there were two years of nearly station- 
ary output and one year of decided decrease. 
It is, therefore, very satisfactory to find that 
the production of gold has risen again to 
record figures, the estimate being $84,551,300 
against $73,591,700 for 19038. Mr. Lindgren 
classifies the gold production according to its 
derivation from placers, dry or quartzose ores, 
copper ores and lead ores. He estimates the 
production of gold from placers at $12,900,000, 
from quartzose gold and silver ores at $62,- 
754,000, from copper. ores at $4,300,000 and 
from lead ores at $4,600,000, making a total 
production of $84,554,000, a sum that prac- 
tically agrees with the estimate of the director 
of the mint. Alaska is the largest producer 
of placer gold and should show a gain of at 
least $200,000, the output being estimated at 
$5,800,000. California will show an increase 
which may reach $800,000, the production be- 
ing estimated at $4,800,000. The production 
of gold from quartzose gold and silver ores is 
subdivided by Mr. Lindgren into the produc- 
tion of pre-Cambrian quartz veins, $5,454,000 ; 
of Mesozoic quartz veins in the Pacific coast 
belt, $21,600,000; and of Tertiary gold quartz 
veins in the Rocky Mountains and- Great 
Basin, $35,700, making a total of $62,754,000. 


Tue Belgian Royal Academy has, as re- 
ported in Nature, issued the following lists of 


SCIENCE. 


839 


prize subjects for 1905 and 1906: for 1905, 
in mathematical and physical sciences, on the 
combinations formed by halogens; on phys- 
ical, particularly thermal, phenomena accom- 
panying dissolution; on linear complexes of 
the third order; and on the deviation of the 
vertical treated from the hypothesis of the 
non-coineidence of the centers of mass of the 
earth’s crust and nucleus. In natural sci- 
ences, on the function of albuminoids in nu- 
trition; on the reproduction and sexuality of 
Dicyemide; on the silicates of Belgium; on 
the formations of Brabrant between the Brux- 
ellian and the Tongrian; on certain Belgian 
deposits of sand, clay and pebbles; on the 
sexuality of the individuals resulting from a 
single ovum in certain diccious plants; and 
on the development of Amphioxus. For 1906 
the subjects in mathematical and physical 
sciences are: on critical phenomena in phys- 
ics; on n-linear forms (n>3); on thermal 
conductivity of liquids and solutions; and on 
the unipolar induction of Weber. In nat- 
ural sciences, on the Cambrian series of Stave- 
lot; on the effect of mineral substances on 
the assimilation of carbon by organisms; on 
the effects of osmotic pressure in animal life; 
on the tectonic of Brabrant; on the soluble 
ferments of milk; and on the physiological 
action of histones. The essays for 1905 and 
1906 are to be sent in by August 1 of the 
respective years, and the prizes range from 
$120 to $200 in value. In addition, prizes be- 
queathed by Edward Mailly and in memory 
of Louis Melsens are offered under the usual 
conditions for astronomy and applied chem- 
istry or physics respectively. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 
Tue cornerstone of the library building of 
Leland Stanford Junior University was laid 
on May 15. The building will cost $800,000. 
At the ceremonies an address to the students 
by Mrs. Stanford was read. In it she makes 
the amount. realized from the sale of her 
jewels, which are estimated to be worth $500,- 
000, an endowment fund for the library. 
Grapuates of Yale University have arranged 
to purchase for the university the Hillhouse 


840 


estate, containing thirty acres and costing 
$510,000. This purchase fixes definitely the 
direction of Yale’s growth northward beyond 
the present site of the Sheffield Scientific 
School. 

Ir was announced at the meeting of the 
Yale Corporation, on May 15, that a gift 
had been received by Yale from a Harvard 
graduate—whose name was withheld—for the 
purpose of cementing the good feeling between 
the two universities. The use of the fund 
was left entirely to the Yale Corporation, 
which has voted to expend it for securing from 
time to time lecturers from Harvard to speak 
before the students of Yale. President Eliot, 
of Harvard, has accepted the corporation’s 
invitation to be the first lecturer. 

Tue University of Indiana has been granted 
$100,000 by the state legislature for the erec- 
tion of a new library. 

Work is about to be started on the new sci- 
ence hall of Colby University, which will be 
erected at a cost of about $90,000. 


Dr. D. K. Pearsons, of Chicago has made 
a gift of $50,000 to Montpelier Seminary at 
Montpelier, Vt., which he attended, conditional 
upon the institution raising $100,000 within a 
year. 

Ar the annual meeting of the National 
Academy of Design it was voted to accept the 
offer of Columbia University to form an affilia- 
tion. It is planned to collect $500,000 for a 
building, which will be erected on a site fur- 
nished by Columbia University. 

Tuer University of North Dakota will open 
a medical college in the autumn of 1905. 
Until the clinical advantages are adequate the 
medical course will extend only through the 
first and second years of the four years’ cur- 
riculum. Students who have completed the 
work at the University of North Dakota will 
be received into the junior year of the medical 
schools with which articulation is arranged. 

The Medical College at Bahia, Brazil, with 
its equipment and valuable library, has almost 
totally been destroyed by fire. 

Dusiin University has recently opened its 
degrees to women, and the first result has 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 543. 


been somewhat curious. Students who have 
done their work at Oxford or Cambridge may 
receive the bachelor’s degree at Dublin. As is 
well known, Oxford and Cambridge do not 
give their bachelor’s degree to women, and 
eighty-four women who had completed the 
work for the degree at these universities have 
received the degree from Dublin on the pay- 
ment of $50 each. 


Proressor AsapH Hatt, Jr., has resigned as 
professor of astronomy and director of the ob- 
servatory at the University of Michigan. Pro- 
fessor W. T. Hussey, of the Lick Observatory, 
has been elected his successor. Professor 
Hussey was graduated from Michigan in 1889. 


SaMuUEL J. BarNeETT, assistant professor of 
physics at Stanford University, has accepted 
the chair of physics at Tulane University, 
vacant by the resignation of Dr. Brown Ayres 
to accept the presidency of the University of 
Tennessee. 


THE department of physics in the Univer- 
sity of California has secured the appointment 
of Dr. A. S. King and Dr. A. W. Gray for 
the coming year, as instructors. Dr. King 
will continue the spectroscopic investigations 
on which he has published already a number of 
papers. Dr. Gray returns from the Univer- 
sity of Leyden, where he has been working in 
the cryogenic laboratory, to a ‘ Research In- 
structorship on the Whiting Foundation,’ sup- 
ported from the income of the bequest of 
Harold Whiting, formerly associate professor 
of physics in the University of California. 


Ar Williams College, Mr. William E. Me- 
Elfresh has been promoted to the Thomas T. 
Reed professorship of physics, and Mr. Herd- 
man L. Clelland to a professorship in geology. 


Dr. E. B. Hour has been appointed assistant 
professor of psychology at Harvard Univer- 
sity. 

Dr. A. R. FERGUSON, senior assistant to the 
professor of pathology in Glasgow University, 
has been appointed professor of pathology in 
the Medical School, Cairo. 


Tue council of the Linnean Society of New 
South Wales has appointed Mr. Harald I. 
Jensen to be the first Linnean Maclay fellow. 


SCIENCE.—ADVERTISEMENTS. Vv 


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Vol. X, No. 3 APRIL, 1905 


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ALLBUTT, T. Clifford, University of Cambridge. 
System of Medicine and Gynaecology. Complete in nine volumes. 
New and cheaper edition, $25.00, net, per set. 
BOTTOME, S. R. 


Radium, and All About it. 96 p. 12mo, il., paper 35 cts., net. 


BOYNTON, William Pingry, University of Oregon. 
Applications of the Kinetic Theory of Gases, Vapors, Pure 
Liquids, and the Theory of Solutions. 10+-288 pp. 8vo, cl., $1.60 net. 


DEXTER, Edwin Grant, University of [ilinois. 
Weather Influences, An Empirical Study of the Mental and Physiological 
Effects of Definite Meteorological Conditions. With Introduction by Cleveland Abbe, 
LL.D. 1+286 pp. 8vo, cl., $2.00 net 


GIBBONS, Edward E., University of Maryland, Baltimore. 
The Eye: its Refraction and Diseases. The Refraction and Func- 
tional Testing of the Eye, Complete in Itself, in Twenty-eight Chapters with Numerous 
Explanatory Cuts and Diagrams. 
9+ 472 pp. Ato, il., cl., $5.00 net, half morocco, $6.50 net. 
HASTINGS, William W. 
A Manual for Physical Measurements. For use in Normal Schools, 
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METCALF, Maynard M., Woman's College of Baltimore. 
An Outline of the Theory of Organic Evolution. With a Descrip- 
tion of Some of the Phenomena which It Explains. 17+204 pp. 8vo, il., el., $2.50 net. 


NICHOLS, Edward L., and William 8. FRANKLIN, Cornell University. 
The Elements of Physic. A College Text-Book. In Three Volumes. Vol- 
ume I.—Mechanics and Heat. Third edition, rewritten with additions. 
10+290 pp.  8vo, cl., $1.90 net. 


RIGHI, Augusto, University of Bologna. Authorized Translation by Aucustus TROWBRIDGE, 
University of Wisconsin. Modern Theory of Physical Phenomena. 


Radio-Activity, Ions, Electrons. 13+165 pp. 12mo, cl., $1.10 net. 
RUTHERFORD, E., McGill University, Montreal, 
Radio-Activity. 8+399 pp. 8vo, il., cl., $3.50 net. 


SHEARER, John S., Cornell University. 
Notes and Questions in Physics. New edition. 
7+284 pp. 8vo, il., cl., $1.60 net. 


SWENSON, Bernard Victor, and FRANKENFIELD, Budd. 
Testing of Electro-Magnetic Machinery and other Apparatus. 
Vol. I.—Direct Current. 23+420 pp. 8vo, il., cl, $3.00 net. 


WEYSSE, Arthur Wisswald, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
A Synoptic Text-book of Zoology. For Colleges and Schools. 
25+525 pp. 8vo, cl., il., $4.00 net. 
WHITTAKER, E. T., Trinity College, Cambridge. 
A Treatise on the Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rig- 
id Bodies. Withan Introduction to the Problem of Three Bodies. 
13+414 pp. Imperial 8vo, cl., $4.00 net. 
WILLIS, J. C., Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon. 
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Important Scientific Books Recently Published 


ALLBUTT, T. Clifford, University of Cambridge. 
System of Medicine and Gynaecology. Complete in nine volumes. 
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BOTTOME, S. R. 
Radium, and All About it. 96 p. 12mo, il., paper 35 cts., net. 


BOYNTON, William Pingry, University of Oregon. 
Applications of the Kinetic Theory of Gases, Vapors, Pure 
Liquids, and the Theory of Solutions. 10+-288 pp. 8vo, cl., $1.60 net. 


DEXTER, Edwin Grant, University of Illinois. 
Weather Influences, An Empirical Study of the Mental and Physiological 
Effects of Definite Meteorological Conditions. With Introduction by Cleveland Abbe, 
LL.D. 1+ 286 pp. 8vo, cl., $2.00 net 


GIBBONS, Edward E., University of Maryland, Baltimore. 
The Eye: its Refraction and Diseases. The Refraction and Func- 
tional Testing of the Eye, Complete in Itself, in Twenty-eight Chapters with Numerous 
Explanatory Cuts and Diagrams. 
9+ 472 pp. 4to, il., cl., $5.00 net, half morocco, $6.50 net. 


HASTINGS, William W. 
A Manual for Physical Measurements. For use in Normal Schools, 
Public and Preparatory Schools, Boys’ Clubs, Girls’ Clubs, and Young Men’s Chris- 
tian Associations, with Anthropometric Tables for Each Height for Each Age and Sex 
from Five to Twenty Years and Vitality Coefficients. 
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METCALF, Maynard M., Woman's College of Baltimore. 
An Outline of the Theory of Organic Evolution. With a Descrip- 
tion of Some of the Phenomena which It Explains. 17+204 pp. 8vo, il., cl., $2.50 net. 


NICHOLS, Edward L., and William 8S. FRANKLIN, Cornell University. 
The Elements of Physic. A College Text-Book. In Three Volumes.  Vol- 
ume I.—Mechanics and Heat. Third edition, rewritten with additions. 
10+290 pp.  8vo, cl., $1.90 net. 


RIGHI, Augusto, University of Bologna. Authorized Translation by Avaustus TROWBRIDGE, 
University of Wisconsin. Modern Theory of Physical Phenomena. 


Radio-Activity, Ions, Electrons. 13+165 pp. 12mo, cl., $1.10 net. 
RUTHERFORD, E., McGill University, Montreal, 
Radio-Activity. 814399 pp. 8vo, il., cl., $3.50 net. 


SHEARER, John S., Cornell University. 
Notes and Questions in Physics. New edition. 
7+284 pp. 8vo, il., cl., $1.60 net. 


SWENSON, Bernard Victor, and FRANKENFIELD, Budd. 
Testing of Electro-Magnetic Machinery and other Apparatus. 
Vol. I.—Direct Current. 23+420 pp. 8vo, il., cl, $3.00 net. 


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CONTENTS. 


The Physician of the Future: Dr. H. W. 
MRO VEN hore ot tay-reco) cyekettl ofa axcte) ar cts: oy abe a/ove. 0! ars 841 


Proceedings of the Central Branch of the 
American Society of Zoologists: PROFESSOR 


HEA Ea) ULTTSIS Ray ay cies Slee ofa, otevaraiaa warsiovees 849 


Scientific Journals and Articles............ 858 


Societies and Academies :— 
The Iowa Academy of Sciences: T. E. Sav- 
AGE. T'he Onondaga Academy of Science: 
Proressor J. E. Kirkwoop. Section of 
Anthropology and Psychology of the New 
York Academy of Sciences: PRoressor R. 
S. Woopwortu. The Philosophical Society 
of Washington: CHARLES K. WEAD. The 
Science Club of Northwestern University: 
SHON MEH TNGD rstcy est syle’ safer ate Te iha'@ vs ate "s, «6,00, 859 

Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Connection by Precise Leveling between the 
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans: PROFESSOR 
POVWEARD H.. WIRLTAMS) Ris. 002.20 s60% 0% 


Special Articles :— 
The Horizontal Plane of the Skull and the 
General Problem of the Comparison of Vari- 
able forms: PRorESSOR FRANZ Boas. 
Xuala and Guarule: Cyrus THomas and 
ZT, INSUIBE MSD}, Aah Une bee cd aoe c Seean eae 862 
Botanical Notes :— 
The Study of Plant Morphology ; Plants of 
the Bahama Islands; Recent Botanical 
Papers: PROFESSOR CHARLES E. BESSEY... 867 


The Harvey Society of New York City 


Scientific Notes and News 


University and Educational News 


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THE PHYSICIAN OF THE FUTURE.* 


Tue day which marks the beginning of 
a career is always one of interest. Espe- 
cially is this so for him whose career begins, 
if indeed a career can be said to have 
definite commencement. But little less of 
interest, however, is felt also by his friends, 
and the day partakes of the nature of an 
Inauguration or a marriage. It is a gen- 
eral day of rejoicing. The graduate him- 
self is happy in the thought that his labors, 
at least for the time being, are over; his 
friends are glad to see the honor which he 
has earned, and the general public takes 
almost the same interest in the graduate 
that it does in the lover. 

This particular occasion, when those who 
have completed the prescribed course of 
medical and dental science present them- 
selves to receive their degrees, is of especial 
interest. This probably marks the last 
commencement of the medical and dental 
school of old Columbian. More than three 
quarters of a century of achievement 
marks her suecessful career. Thousands 
of graduates scattered throughout the land 
are proud of the alma mater who started 
them in life. The change of name, there- 
fore, to George Washington University is 
not looked upon with unmixed joy, espe- 
cially by the older children. A mother 
is, perhaps, no less a mother because, when 
widowed, she marries another man and 
takes another name. The academic mother 

* Address delivered before the graduating class 
of the medical and dental schools of Columbian 


(George Washington) University, Monday, May 
30, 1904. 


842 


of this widely scattered and numerous 
family need be no less loved, no less 
cherished and no less helpful than under 
her old name. 

There are some of the arts which are 
nearer to the welfare of man than others, 
and the same is true of the sciences. There 
are two arts, however, which lie very near 
human welfare and if we were called upon 
to give up all of the arts but two, I think 
there would be little difference in choice as 
to which two should be preserved. The 
one most important would be the art of 
agriculture and the next the art of healing. 
Man first of all must be nourished and next 
to this, kept in health. 

We might look forward to a time when 
lawyers would disappear. We might even 
grow so perfect as to be able to do without 
ministers of the gospel. Even the. his- 
trionic art might be abandoned, and yet 
mankind be reasonably happy. But strike 
down agriculture and you strike a blow 
which is fatal; banish the healing art and 
you leave man to the ravages of disease. 
It is, therefore, probably not without some 
fitness that you have asked a ‘farmer’ to 
deliver this address, and it is quite becom- 
ing that on this occasion Ceres and Hygeia 
should be seen hand in hand. 

The man who receives his degree believes 
he knows something and the puble sup- 
poses that his belief is well founded. The 
amount known, however, or supposed to be 
known, varies greatly for different degrees. 
The college graduate, it has been said, 
doubtless supposes that he knows all things 
from A to Z, but the faculty and trustees, 
with a better idea of his accomplishments, 
give him only the degree A.B. If I re- 
member aright my Roman numerals an 
M.D. should know at least 1,500 times more 
than an A.B. Yet without doubt the de- 
gree M.D. or D.D.S. should carry a greater 
ballast of knowledge than the first degrees 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 544, 


of the academy. We may, with reason, 
doubt the propriety of conferring the de- 
eree of ‘doctor’ even upon those who have 
accomplished as much as you young men 
who are now before me. Doctor signifies 
‘knowing,’ ‘learned.’ The physician 
should not—and perhaps no one should— 
bear this degree who has not added some- 
thing to the sum of human knowiedge. 
Some of the most famous surgeons and 
physicians of England ‘are only plain 
‘mister’ and I fail to see where there would 
be any diminution in your skill if the 
degree which you receive to-night were 
‘pachelor’ instead of ‘doctor.’ I am not 
quarreling, however, with the usual cus- 
tom, but mention this matter only to show 
you that bearing this degree you assume 
a responsibility of which you must strive 
to be worthy. The doctor is the teacher, 
the learned man, the knower as well as the 
doer. He is the man to whom people must 
come for knowledge, advice and inspira- 
tion. He is, moreover, the dua, the 
imperator in the empire of knowledge. 
Like the thirsting Omar Khayyam, each 
one should be able to say, ‘Myself when 
young did eagerly frequent doctor and 
saint and heard great argument,’ but the 
doctors and saints should be of better 
quality than in those medieval days, for 
in the present day we should not be com- 
pelled to add, ‘About it and about but 
evermore, came out by the same door as in 
I went.’ 

Health comes largely from good food 
and good hygiene, but one of the neces- 
sities to health is good mastication. Teeth 
are useful for other purposes than merely 
to improve looks, but even if they were 
only for this purpose they would be worth 
saving. Many a man has married @ 
beautiful set of teeth and, perhaps, after- 
wards discovered, to his amazement, that 
they were the fruit of dental science, but 


— 


a 


JUNE, 2, 1905.] 


you young men who have studied dentistry 
and have beeome proficient in the art 
should think the making of teeth to be the 
least of the purposes of your future life. 
As in surgery, dentistry is conservative, 
and you will serve man best if you will en- 
able him to keep the teeth which nature 
has provided. The physician of the fu- 
ture as well as the dentist must be the 
arbiter of good health, and good health 
eomes largely from good food and good 
hygiene; good food well masticated and 
good hygiene well applied. 

The farmer furnishes the food, the 
dentist secures its mastication, and the 
physician formulates the laws of health 
and helps to restore to the normal any dis- 
eased organ of the body. The first thing, 
therefore, which the physician of the future 
must see to is the food supply, not that he 
is expected to till the soil and produce its 
fruits, but that he is to help in the great 
work of restoring foods to their normal 
state. 

To what lengths have the arts of adulter- 
ation gone? There is no time to-night to 
preach to you about the awful evils of food 
adulteration, not only of its effect upon 
health, but of its demoralizing effect upon 
the honesty of commerce. It is a matter 
of which the medical profession of this 
country may be proud, namely, that as a 
unit they stand committed to the cause of 
pure food, to opposition to fake advertis- 
ing, to the restoration of honesty in the 
trade in food products, and to the elimina- 
tion from foods of drugs which are useful 
only in eases of disease. The great army 
of dentists also in this country stand in the 
same rank. They are aware, in fact, that 
if the functions of an organ are suspended 
the organ itself sooner or later suffers 
atrophy, loses its power of functional ac- 
tivity, becomes abortive in the course of 
ages and rudimentary. Thus the great 


SCIENCE. 


843 


professions of medicine and dentistry in 
the future will stand together to fight the 
evils of predigested and prechewed foods. 
Predigested food will cause the stomach to 
shrivel and become finally only a rudi- 
mental organ. Prechewed food will in the 
course of ages produce a toothless race. 
It is bad enough to lose one’s hair, but for 
heaven’s sake let us keep our teeth! 

I do not care who makes the laws in this 
country if you will let me furnish the 
people with good teeth, nor who writes 
the songs if I can help to keep the stomachs 
in prime condition. It will be a sad day 
for humanity in the future when pepsin 
loses its savor and is furnished only by the 
chemist and not by the secretory glands of 
the stomach. See to it then that future 
generations have something to chew and 
something to digest, and’ to this great end 
much of the energy and ardor of the in- 
vestigations of our future physicians and 
dentists must be directed. | 

The physician of early ages was a 
magician and necromancer. The medicine 
man of savage tribes is still practising the 
art of incantation. It is a far ery to 
Adseulapius, but before his day even dis- 
ease was supposed to be the work of evil 
spirits. In fact the most destructive swine 
plague that we read about in the Bible was 
caused by the devils which were east out of 
sick men, and these devils, taking posses- 
sion of the swine, caused them to rush into 
the sea and be drowned. 

The age of magicians in medicine was 
followed by that of the empiric, which was 
a great advance and led to the foundations 
of real science in medicine. The empiric 
we still have with us and always will have 
as long as man has idiosynerasies. We 
ean never tell in any individual ease what 
the result of any certain treatment will be 
because we can never properly estimate the 
value of the individual idiosynerasy. 


S44 


Empiricism is one of the legitimate aids 
to science. A great inventor like Edison 
who wishes to find a certain property tries 
in logical sequence everything that is prac- 
ticable, and often it is only after thousands 
of trials that the substance having the 
requisite quality is found. So empiricism 
in medicine is legitimately applicable when 
guided by scientific reasoning and sound 
principles. 

The age of empiricism, however, was fol- 
lowed by the age of rationalism in medicine 
and it is on this basis that the science of 
medicine stands to-day. Perhaps I should 
not say science of medicine, but the art of 
medicine, because the art of medicine itself 
is based upon certain sciences, for instance, 
the science of anatomy, of physiology, of 
materia medica, of surgery. In fact there 
is not a science known to man which may 
not have some connection with the art of 
medicine. 

If we look at the physicians of the pres- 
ent we find three classes have been founded 
as a result of rationalism in medicine: 
First, the general practitioner who of neces- 
sity must be brought in contact with all 
forms of human ills; second, the specialist 
who happily lives in a community where 
the physician who devotes his whole time 
to one particular study can be supported; 
third, the health officer who is the fore- 
runner of the physician of the future. 

The foes of rational medicine at the 
present time are, first, the quack, a man 
possessing, possibly, high medical training 
and skill, but unfortunately devoid of those 
principles of ethies without which the hon- 
orable practise of a profession is impos- 
sible; second, the charlatan, a man neces- 
sarily devoid of any medical training or 
ability, who plays upon the feelings of his 
patients and administers nostrums of no 
value and applied with no science. The 
third foe of rational medicine is the imper- 


SCIENCE. 


[N. 8. Vou. XXI. No. 544. 


sonal physician, namely, the nostrum, the 
patent medicine and the proprietary rem- 
edy. It is appalling to think of the thou- 
sands and thousands of our fellow citizens 
who pin their faith to these alleged reme- 
dies. Some of them have value; they are 
in fact often the very remedies which are 
described in the materia medica and the 
pharmacopeia and administered by physi- 
cians, but distributed as they are, with 
absurd claims of efficiency, taken as they 
are, without the advice or consent of a 
physician, they become not only one of the 
greatest foes of rational medicine, but one 
of the greatest dangers to the public at 
large. 

I do not deny to the inventor who dis- 
covers a new remedy or a new combination 
of remedies the same right to profit there- 
from which is accorded to the inventor of 
a new machine or a new process. The law 
protects the inventor of such a remedy and 
he can protect it by patent or by trade- 
mark, but it seems to me there is no excuse 


for the secret nostrums and no justification 


for the methods of advertising them. I 
know how difficult this problem is; I know 
what vast returns are received by the pub- 
lie press for advertising these bodies; I 
know how valuable the press is and I ap- 
preciate the great and good work which it 
does, but there is no justification for using 
the columns of the public press to deceive 
the public, to excite fears of dangers that 
do not exist and create hopes that can never 
be realized. 

The physician of the future will see a 
growing preponderance of preventive medi- 
cine and the character of the profession in 
future years will be largely molded by the 
influence which this growth exerts. 

The activity of preventive medicine will 
be shown first in the case of public and 
domestic hyg:ene. The laws of good living 
are fairly well known to but few people. 


June 2, 1905.] 


The public schools will surely become a 
medium of transmitting instruction in this 
line. Public sanitation in the course of its 
eareer may reach that abomination of con- 
trivances in so far as offended hygienic 
conditions are concerned, namely, the sleep- 
ing car. It is difficult to imagine any con- 
trivance which human ingenuity could con- 
struct better caleulated to secure the best 
conditions for disease and the best methods 
for propagation thereof than the sleeping 
ear. Constructed in such a way that ven- 
tilation is practically impossible; parti- 
tioned into small compartments, carefully 
curtained to prevent any circulation of air, 
if there should be fresh air; provided with 
enough heating surface to the cubic yard 
to complete the installation of a Turkish 
bath, and manned by porters to whom high 
temperature is an evidence of heavenly 
bliss, it is not difficult to conceive of the 
tortures to which the helpless passenger is 
exposed. These compartments often carry, 
without any precautionary inspection, per- 
sons in all stages of phthisis and even other 
contagious diseases. There is no health 
officer to inspect Incoming passengers, no 
provision of the law requiring complete 
fumigation and no systematic appliance of 
any kind to prevent or eradicate disease. 
It has been claimed that the blankets are 
washed at least twice a year, as if that 
alone were a sufficient excuse for all of the 
dangers that exist! Perhaps, if one used 
the same blanket himself all the time he 
might not be justified in objecting to such 
frequent ablutions, but what right have we 
to ask if such a careful purification of a 
blanket used by a different person every 
night is based on any of the broad prin- 
ciples of hygiene or good taste? 

The composition of the air in a sleeper 
filled with passengers, after a night of low 
temperature can better be imagined than 
described. It is true that no one is com- 


SCIENCE. 


845 


pelled to spend the night in these ecompart- 
ments, but the ordinary coaches are not 
much less objectionable, and thus the 
traveler is left only with the option of 
staying at home or walking to his destina- 
tion. 

The physician of the future will gradu- 
ally teach the people the principles and 
necessity of public and private sanita- 
tion, for domestic hygiene is no less impor- 
tant than public. That dread scourge of 
humanity, consumption, will find its most 
effective foe in the establishment of true 
principles of hygiene both at home and in 
public places. ‘ 

The medical profession of the future will 
also see extended and placed upon sounder 
scientific foundations the antitoxin theory 
of prevention and cure. The world owes 
a debt of gratitude to Pasteur and his 
co-laborers in this and other countries 
for establishing the foundation, on broad 
scientific grounds, of the idea that im- 
munity may be artificially, as well as nat-. 
urally, produced. Jenner was the fore- 
runner of this great school of medicine, 
but his practise was absolutely empirical. 
Neither he nor his followers had any idea 
whatever of the manner in which vaccina- 
tion renders the subject practically im- 
mune to smallpox. Advanced medieal sci- 
ence has revealed the fact, however, that 
not only smallpox, but many other deadly 
diseases owe their toxic development to the 
compounds produced in the system chem- 
ically allied with the nitrogenous constitu- 
ents of the body. The moment these poi- 
sons become dominant in the system nature 
makes an effort to eliminate them or to 
neutralize them. In other words, the toxic 
body is met and combated by the antitoxic 
body. One of the greatest triumphs of the 
science of chemistry has been the deter- 
mination of the character both of toxic and 
of antitoxie substances and the development 


846 


of the method of producing them both, es- 
pecially the antidote. You have been fully 
instructed in the principles of this modern 
branch of medicine and know how closely 
your future professional activity will be 
connected therewith. 

Perhaps it is not wise to prophesy a time 
when enzymic diseases shall lose all their 
terror by reason of the discovery of ef- 
fective antidotes to the poisons to which 
their ravages are generally due. It is rea- 
sonable, however, to look forward to the 
time when the terror of these diseases, 
namely, diphtheria, typhoid fever, typhus 
and kindred scourges shall be reduced to a 
minimum. 

If, as has been well demonstrated, the 
germ of typhoid fever is transmitted prin- 
cipally in water, there seems no reason to 
doubt the ability of health officers, collabo- 
rating with broad-minded municipal au- 
thority and high class engineering skill, to 
perfect means whereby this deadly germ 
shall be practically eliminated from our 
water supply. Consumption may be 
checked by the establishment of camps of 
detention where the unfortunate victims of 
this terrible disease may receive not only 
the highest degree of proficiency in medical 
treatment, but also be so segregated from 
the non-infected portions of the community 
as to render the spread of the disease diffi- 
cult. 

Moses himself was a sanitarian of no 
mean accomplishments and many of the 
principles established by him in sanitary 
science might well be exploited in modern 
times. The type of camp which he estab- 
lished for the detention of unfortunate 
lepers, well modified to suit modern prin- 
ciples, would serve for the check and prac- 
tical elimination of consumption. 

I realize vividly the effect of a mental 
nature produced upon people of highly 
sensitive constitutions and of an impres- 


SCIENCE. 


sionable nature, such as the victims of 
phthisis usually are, in being made prac- 
tically prisoners in an environment of 
misery and despair. This, however, is not 
a question of sentiment, it is a principle of 
existence. It is based upon the undoubted 
right of the healthy to be protected against 
the invasion of disease. Moreover, a deten- 
tion camp might be made attractive in 
every way with beautiful gardens, sun- 
shine, flowers, music and all the other 
agreeable arts of life, and thus the terrors 
of detention be robbed of their chief sig- 
nificance. 

The physician of the future will, there- 
fore, be the herald and exponent of pro- 
phylaxis. It seems a contradiction of 
terms to predict a future for a learned pro- 
fession, which, if perfected, would rob the 
profession of all of its emoluments; but 
with the changed condition of the future 
physician a change in the character of his 
emoluments will also come. The medical 
profession, in other words, will not be paid 


in proportion to the amount of sickness - 


which prevails, but rather in proportion to 
the degree of health which is maintained. 
That physician will have the largest com- 
pensation whose parish is freest from dis- 
ease. He will become the teacher of the 
principles of public hygiene, as before men- 
tioned, in the schools, colleges and hos- 
pitals; he will, in my opinion, become 
largely a public officer, and every state, city 
and town will have as one of its chief offi- 
cials a medical health officer. Surely such 
an officer is quite as important to the wel- 
fare of the community as the assessor and 
tax collector. The physician of the future, 
therefore, will become more and more active 
as a citizen and take a more lively interest 
in public affairs. 


I have looked carefully over the congres- 


sional directory of the Fifty-Seventh Con- 
eress and find that the congress of the 


[N.S. Vor. XXI. No. 544, 


a I NI 


JUNE 2, 1905.] 


United States contains 319 lawyers, 93 
business men, 32 politicians, 12 editors, re- 
porters and newspaper writers, 8 farmers, 
3 teachers, 1 clergyman, 1 military man 
and 38 physicians. Does it not seem 
strange that the great law-making body of 
our country should contain so few mem- 
bers of this learned profession? Think for 
a moment of the amount of legislation in 
which sanitary matters are involved! It 
is acknowledged by all that the building of 
the Panama Canal is more a sanitary prob- 
lem than it is an engineering one. The 
men who really build the Panama Canal 
will be the physicians and health officers 
who eliminate from that infected locality 
the germs of malaria and infectious dis- 
eases. If the canal fails it will not be for 
lack of dredges nor shovels nor picks nor 
machinery nor money; it will be due to 
the ravages of cholera, of yellow fever and 
of other malarial diseases. 

The importance of the quarantine serv- 
ice has not been fully recognized. The 
exclusion of disease is the easiest way to 
fight it. The splendid work of the Publi 
Health and Marine Hospital Service is one 
of the things which the national legislator 
should carefully support. 

The legislation relating to pure food is a 
matter of the utmost sanitary importance. 
The regulations of interstate commerce 
which omit the sanitary conditions which 
have been previously outlined are alto- 
gether incomplete. In fact it appears that 
a very large proportion of our legislation 
which really concerns the public welfare 
should be accomplished with the advice, 
the vote and consent of the medical pro- 
fession, and yet out of more than 400 mem- 
bers of the national congress only three 
have had any medical training. The con- 
gress of the future will contain not less 
than 1 per cent. of trained medical men, 
but let us hope as much as 25 or 30 per 


SCIENCE. 


847 


cent. Again, there is no reason why a 
medical training should unfit a man for 
other duties in connection with public life 
than those relating to sanitary measures. 
I can see no reason why a physician should 
not make a good president as well as a good 
major general, a good governor or a good 
mayor, a good member of the common 
council and especially a most excellent 
commissioner of sewers. We wish the fu- 
ture to see the entry of medical men into 
public life and the assumption by them of 
all duties of a nature which relate to the 
public welfare. I can see no reason why 
lawyers should predominate in our national 
congress any more than that physicians 
should hold the. balance of power. Perhaps 
I can not better illustrate this idea than 
by quoting from that master of political 
craft, that learned and erudite statesman, 
ex-Senator David Turpie, who says in his 
book, entitled ‘Recollections of My Own 
Times,’ in speaking of Senator Dr. Gra- 
ham N. Fitch: 

Fitch was the only physician who ever served 
from Indiana in the United States Senate. I 
have latterly reflected somewhat upon this solitary 
instance. Years ago we used to send a good many 
of our physicians to Congress. He, himself, was 
one of these, and there were several others, among 
whom I recall Dr. John W. Davis, of Carlisle, in 
the county of Sullivan, whom I knew quite well. 
He was the first Indianian chosen to the position 
of speaker of the House at Washington and was 
accounted the best parliamentary jurist in the 
country, perhaps in the world. His rulings were 
quoted as authority in the English House of 
Commons and more than once in the legislative 
chambers of France. Upon his voluntary retire- 
ment from Congress he was appointed minister of 
the United States to China; served with distinction 
among the polished diplomats of the Orient, and 
returned to accept the appointment of governor 
of Oregon. He was the first American civilian 
of official note and station to make the trip home- 
ward from the east by way of the Pacific. His 
voyage across the ocean lasted several weeks. 
I have heard that the account of it, then no twice- 
told tale, was a story of thrilling, almost tragic 
interest. 


848 


In these later times our practitioners of the 
healing art seem studiously to avoid the cares and 
labors of political life. Occasionally you may 
meet a physician in the legislature—even this, as 
some of their caste say, is unprofessional—but as 
a body they appear to prefer the position of out- 
fielders in this arena. There are two notable 
characteristics of the active and skilled physi- 
cian—a close observation of detail and a deft 
attention to the matter in hand—the duty of the 
hour, of the moment. These qualifications are 
admirably suited to the requirements of public 
life. No more favorable hope can be expressed 
for the future than that the members of this great 
profession will again resume an active interest 
and prominent position in the political affairs of 
the state and nation. 


The physician of the future will have 
no easy berth, for, in his profession, as in 
all others, fitness, tact, erudition and in- 
dustry must win the way. The sluggard, 
the ignoramus and the indifferent must 
fall by the wayside. 

The number of people entering the med- 
ical profession is probably too great. In 
the United States of America, including 
the Philippines, Porto Rico and Hawaii, 
there were in 1901, 115,222 physicians in 
a population of 84,332,610. The last com- 
plete data we have concerning the number 
of attendants in medical schools are for 
1899. In this year there were, excluding 
graduate schools, 156 medical schools in 
the United States with 24,119 students. 
The growth in the number of medical stu- 
dents in twenty-one years has been 142 
per cent. 

In addition to these undergradute schools 
there are eight graduate medical schools 
which had (in 1895) 624 instructors and 
1,813 students, of whom 59 were women. 

In Germany the conditions are quite un- 
satisfactory and the overcrowding of the 
medical profession in that country is a 
matter of grave concern. There are now 
in the empire 29,200 physicians, which 
doubles the number found in 1876. In 
other words there is one physician in Ger- 


SCIENCE. 


(N.S. Von. XXI. No. 544, 


many for every 1,700 inhabitants. In the 
city of Berlin 46 per cent. of all the physi- 
cians have an income of less than $700, 
and five per cent. of the whole number do 
not have a sufficient income to return it 
for taxation. 

On the other hand, in the iegal profes- 
sion in Germany 80 per cent. of the lawyers 
have an income exceeding $2,000. 

It is estimated that the preparation of 
a man for the duties of a physician in Ger- 
many costs about $6,000, and thus it is 
seen that the income is often less than 10 
per cent. of the fixed charge on the capital 
invested. This leaves practically nothing 
for the reward of his own personal sery- 
ices, nor for wear and tear. 

What are to be the remedies for this 
condition of affairs in the future? Shall 
the physicians organize a union and admit 
only a certain number of apprentices each 
year, or shall they have the requirements 
for admission, when properly applied, ex- 
clude all those who are not extremely well 
prepared? In the- great school of the 
Beaux Arts in Paris the number of ad- 
missions is strictly limited and, perhaps, 
the great world school of medicine will 
have to come to this condition of affairs. 
In fact, an approach has been made al- 
ready in at least one great medical school 
of this country, and candidates for the 
degree of doctor of medicine are not ad- 
mitted until they hold a previous degree 
of an academic character or study equal 
thereto equivalent to the course of study 
required for the ordinary degree of 
bachelor of arts. The effect, however, 
which was anticipated in this particular 
instance was not realized. Indeed, there 
was at first a diminution in the number of 
students in attendance, but, attracted by 
the greater fame which a degree from such 
an institution would afford, this condition 
was gradually overcome and the actual 


} 


JunNE 2, 1905.] 


number of attendants became greater than 
when admission was easier. 

This is indeed a serious question. I 
doubt if the charge for medical services in 
the country can be much larger than $1.00 
per head, and it is thus seen that the 
115,000 physicians of this country must 
be content to divide among them a paltry 
income of less than $90,000,000 at the 
present time. 

Finally, the physician of the future will 
find his greatest service in prolonging hu- 
man life. JI am not here to claim that 
human life is so valuable that it needs 
always to be prolonged. This may not be 
so from the general economic condition of 
affairs, but, personally, I think we are all 
more or less interested in longevity. It 
ean not be denied that there is a distinct 
economical gain in putting a man out of 
the world after he has passed his prime 
and before be becomes a burden upon his 
friends or the community. The asylum 
and the poorhouse are not to be regarded 
as shining lights of advanced political econ- 
omy, but there is something in life besides 
mere political economy, and the prolonga- 
tion of existence is regarded as one of the 
chief functions both of the medical pro- 
fession and of public charities. 

On the other hand, it must be considered 
that there is a distinet economical loss in 
eutting off from existence a man before he 
has run the full course of his career. To 
train a man for usefulness requires now 
fully a quarter of a century, and it seems 
onty fair that he should have at least twice 
that time for the manifestation of his ac- 
tivities. If, therefore, he be cut off at 
thirty-five, forty or forty-five, the com- 
munity is robbed of service to which it is 
entitled. 

If old age could be secured without much 
of the burden now attending it, there would 
be the gradual ripening and mellowing of 


SCIENCE. 


849 


all the functions of the body and mind. 
If, in short, the human organism could be 
so constructed and eared for that it would 
continue its functional activity like the 
wonderful ‘one hoss shay’ until the time 
of its final dissolution, such a consumma- 
tion is devoutly to be wished. 

The medical profession of the future 
will find its best exponent in the service of 
senectitude. An old age without illness 
or dementation, a ripening without decay, 
a completion of the functional activity 
without the breaking down of any organ 
are steps toward which the medical pro- 
fession of the future may well direct its 
energies. 

Death should not be regarded as a mis- 
fortune, but as an end, as a termination 
of a journey which has been filled with 
delight, as a rest for weariness which comes 
with the natural order of labor, as an 
euthanasia and not a dreadful disaster. _ 

H. W. Winey. 


U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE CENTRAL BRANCH 
OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 
OF ZOOLOGISTS. 

- Tue third annual meeting of the Central 
Branch of the American Society of Zool- 
ogists, and the sixth annual meeting of the 
society since its original establishment was 
held at the University of Chicago, March 
31 and April 1, 1905. 

The following ‘having received the votes 
of the executive committees of both 
branches were elected to membership in the 
central branch: James Francis Abbott, 
Bennet M. Allen, Lawrence Edmunds 
Griffin, Lynds Jones, C. E. McClung, 
George Wagner, L. M. Walton, Samuel L. 
Williston, Charles Zeleny. 

The bill on viviseetion before the Illinois 
State Legislature was discussed and it was 

Votep, That this society coneur in the 
following resolution and instruct the secre- 


850 


tary to communicate this action to the 
Central Branch of the American Society 
of Naturalists: 

Resolution: ‘‘It having come to the atten- 
tion of the Central Branch of the American 
Society of Naturalists that a bill has been 
introduced into the Illinois State Legisla- 
ture which would restrict the freedom of 
scientific investigation in Illinois, 

““Be it Resolved: That the members of 
this society protest against such legislation 
as is contemplated in Senate Bill No. 271, 
because it is inimical to the interests of 
science and would seriously obstruct the 
advance of knowledge concerning the na- 
ture and cure of disease in man.”’ 

The officers elected for the ensuing year 
and those holding over are as follows: 

President—Frank R. Lillie. 

Vice-President—William A. Locy. 

Secretary-Treasurer—C. E. McClung. 

Additional Members of the Executive Committee 
—C. H. Eigenmann, for three years; Herbert 


Osborn, for two years; Thomas G. Lee, for one 
year. 


The following are titles and abstracts of 
papers presented at the meeting: 


The Origin of the Sex-Cords and Rete- 
Cords of Chrysemys: BENNET M. ALLEN, 
University of Wisconsin. 

In an early stage of development (em- 
bryo of 7 mm. total length), each of the 
more ventral Malpighian corpuscles of the 
mesonephros is still attached to the peri- 
toneum by a neck of cells which sometimes 
possesses a lumen and constitutes a perito- 
neal funnel. There are usually four, some- 
times three, such Malpighian corpuscles 
in each somite. A peritoneal ingrowth arises 
either directly from the base of each peri- 
toneal funnel or just mediad of it. These 
ingrowths are termed funnel sex-cords. 
Other sex-cords arise from the peritoneum 
between the funnel sex-cords and the mes- 
entery. These anastomose with the funnel 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 544. 


sex-cords which in turn unite with evagina- 
tions from their ¢orresponding Malpighian 
corpuscles after the latter have broken 
away from the peritoneum. The bridges 
thus formed between the funnel sex-cords 
and Malpighian corpuscles constitute the 
rete-cords which are thus formed from the 
distal portions of the funnel sex-cords plus 
evaginations from the Malpighian corpus- 
cles. The foregoing applies to the sex- 
gland along its entire length. 

The distal ends of all the funnel sex- 
cords and of many of the other sex-cords 
contribute to the formation of the adrenal 
bodies. 

The anterior portion of the sex-gland of 
the turtle is homodynamous with the rete 
region of the genital ridge of the mammals 
(pig and rabbit). 


Further Notes on the Chromosome Com- 
plex of Orthopteran Spermatocytes: C. 
E. McCuune, University of Kansas. 

A careful study of a large number of 
species indicates that the members of a 
family possess a common number of 
chromosomes. Im each species there is 
found a characteristic series of chromosome 
forms, and these are in many eases pecul- 
larly associated. In some cases the group- 
ing is characteristic of the genus, and 
within the genus the species are marked by 
variations in size of chromosomes and other 
parts of the cell. Heterotypical mitoses 
occur in spermatogonia, first spermatocytes, 
and second spermatocytes, and in each case 
witness a longitudinal division of the 
chromatin thread. In the spermatocytes 
all the chromosomes do not divide in the 
same manner. These irregularities of asso- 
ciation and division are largely due to the 
action of the accessory chromosome, which - 
in some eases unite with the one tetrad, 
forming a trivalent element, and in others 
with two tetrads, producing a pentivalent 
mutiple chromosome. From these observa- 


JUNE 2, 1905.] 


tions it is concluded that generic and 
specific characters are the result of differ- 
ences in size and associations of chromo- 
somes, and not to variations in numbers. 
It is also thought that continuous variation 
may be due to slight differences in size of 
the chromosomes of the germ cells, while 
discontinuous variation would be due to 
alterations in the relations of chromosomes 
to each other. 


Regeneration in Nudibranchs: C. M. Cup, 

University of Chicago. 

Several species of wolids abundant in the 
Pacific Grove region were used for experi- 
ment. 

It was found that removal of a portion 
of the body posterior to the middle was fol- 
lowed by rapid regeneration. The larger 
the portion removed the more rapid the 
regeneration. 

The ganglionic mass is situated posterior 
to the second pair of tentacles; removal of 
the whole head anterior to the ganglia was 
followed by rapid and complete regenera- 
tion. When the ganglia were removed no 
regeneration beyond healing of the wound 
occurred, though the animals often lived 
for two weeks. 

Regeneration of posterior portions of the 
body was less rapid in specimens from 
which the head anterior to the ganglia had 
been removed than in specimens with unin- 
jured head. The specimens from which 
the head region had been removed had lost 
their principal sense organs, but still re- 
tained the central nervous system intact. 
They were much less active than specimens 
with normal heads and the posterior parts 
were consequently subjected in much less 
degree to the conditions accompanying 
functional activity of this region; hence in 
all probability the less rapid regeneration. 
After the new head regenerated, posterior 
regeneration in these pieces was fully as 
rapid as in those with uninjured heads. 


SCIENCE. 


851 


Removal of other portions of the body such 
as the lateral regions of the foot, ete., had 
no effect upon the rapidity of posterior 
regeneration. 

If the animals are not fed a marked re- 
duction in size, often 50 per cent., occurs in 
the course of two or three weeks. 


The Relation of the Degree of Injury to 
the Rate of Regeneration: CHARLES 
ZELENY, Indiana University. 

Two series of the crayfish, Cambarus 
propinquus, differing only in the degree of 
injury which they had sustained, were com- 
pared with regard to the rate of regenera- 
tion of the right chela and the rate of 
moulting. In one series, AA,, the right 
chela was removed at its breaking joint. 
In the other series, BB,, both chelae were 
removed at their breaking joints and the 
last two pairs of walking legs were like- 
wise removed. Series 4A, comprised 36 
individuals and series BB, 41 individuals. 

A comparison of the two series was made 
95 days, 130 days and 153 days after the 
operation. In each ease the data show 
very definitely that the series with the 
greater injury molts sooner than the one 
with the lesser injury and also regenerates 
each of its two chele more rapidly than 
the latter regenerates its one removed chela. 


Experimental Evidence Concerning the 
Production and the Preservation of Ac- 
quired Characters: W. L. Towrr, Uni- 
versity of Chicago. 

Dominance; a Potent Factor in the Extinc- 
tion of Species: W. L. Tower, Univer- 
sity of Chicago. Read by title only. 

The Origin and Distribution of Tropical 
American Fresh-water Fish: C. H. 
EIGENMANN, Indiana University. 


The Sequence of Organisms in a Protozoan 
Culture and its Irreversibility: Amos W. 
Prerers, Zoological Laboratory, Univer- 
sity of Illinois. 


852 


A definite procedure is followed in the 
setting and eare of protozoan cultures with 
a medium of hay infusion. The seed here 
used came from previous laboratory eul- 
tures or from field collections. The physio- 
logical conditions are determined at almost 
daily intervals by physical and chemical 
methods. Evidence so obtained points to 
fermentative action as the beginning of 
metabolism in the culture. The curve for 
acidity is of much physiological signifi- 
eance. An approximate method of estima- 
tion is used to compare the relative abun- 
dance of the different organisms and the 
results are represented by curves.  Rela- 
tive curves have been approximately deter- 
mined for bacteria, Colpidium, Parame- 
cium, Amaba, some Hypotricha, Arcella, 
some Rotifera and Stentor. All efforts to 
change well-defined curves to decidedly 
different relative positions in the history 
of the culture have failed. The maxima 
of the curves can not be interchanged by 
teseeding. 
tised (except for experiment) the cysts or 
spores of all the organisms found must have 
been continually present. Mutual antag- 
onism of the different forms is not a prob- 
able explanation. The serial succession of 
the organisms and the parallel physico- 
chemical changes in the environment point 
to specific adjustment as a probable hy- 
pothesis. The determination of some of 
the specific adjustments of Paramacium 
and Stentor supports this hypothesis. 


An Analysis of Physiological Conditions in 
a Protozoan Culture: Amos W. Prrmrs, 
Zoological Laboratory, University of 
Illinois. 

The influence of the physiological states 
of protozoa in producing variations from 
a supposed standard is seen in the results 
of experiments upon both the directional 
and the metabolie reactions of this group. 
To obviate this important difficulty the 


SCIENCE. 


Since reseeding was not prac- 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 544. 


writer proposes to standardize the given 
conditions of any culture. Standardiza- 
tion of the conditions, if suecessful, uses the 
peculiarities of the physiological states for 
a more accurate interpretation of the re- 
sults of experiment, instead of leaving these 
states as objectionable factors in an experi- 
mental procedure. 

The methods to be used must conform to 
at least two conditions. First, they must 
not require more than a small amount of 
culture liquid (5 to 10 ec.) for a test, in 
order. that serial observations can be 
made upon the same eulture. Second, they 
must be sufficiently accurate and sensitive 
to yield results that show the successive 
small differences which occur in the history 
of a single culture. The special methods 
here applied are mostly volumetric and 
comprise the determination of: (1) Quali- 
tative chemical content, (2) free acidity or 
alkalinity, (3) dissolved oxygen, (4) bi- 
carbonates, (5) alkali earths, (6) electrical 
conductivity, (7) oxygen consumed, (8) 
sulphated nitrogen, (9) ammoniacal nitro- 
gen, (10) individual salts—nitrites, ni- 
trates, chlorides, potassium, calcium, ete. 
For both convenience and accuracy, a sys- 
tem of standardizing all the necessary 
volumetric solutions in terms of one orig- 
inal standard acid has been devised. By 
these methods one series of data has been 
taken from various media promiscuously 
selected for comparison, and another series 
comes from the history of single cultures. 
In both series the biological aspect of the 
media was known. Comparison of the 
physicochemical and the biological data in- 
dicates that variations in the former are 
an approximate expression for correspond- 
ing changes in the physiological states of 
the organisms. The methods here selected 
are therefore serviceable for the physio- 
logical estimation of the protozoan environ- 
ment. 


“ 


Ae eee ae ee ee ae 


— 
ee 


The Evolution of Cclor Characters: R. M. 

Srrone, University of Chicago. 

Color characters are purely relative 
means of distinguishing various individuals 
or groups of animals, and their significance 
varies according to the experience and 
knowledge of the observer. In birds, color 
characters are all connected by series of 
transitional stages which appear perfectly 
continuous even after careful analysis, and 
the most highly developed characters may 
be found in incipient stages not ordinarily 
observable. A study of the colors of birds 
has led the writer to believe strongly in 
an orthogenetice theory of evolution of color 
characters by continuous variation in birds. 


Some Observations on the Litoral Fauna 
of Pacific Grove, Cal.: C. M. Cutt, Uni- 
versity of Chicago. 


The Entomological Ecology of the Indian- 
corn Plant: S. A. Forses, University of 
Illinois. 

This paper consists of material in pure 
ecology selected from the mass of matter 
accumulated in the course of several years’ 
study of the corn insects from the economic 
point of view. It deals with adaptive rela- 
tions of the corn insects to their food plant 
and to one another; classifies adaptations of 
insects to their food as structural, physio- 
logical, psychological, local, biographical 
and numerical, giving illustrations of each 
class; discusses the adjustment by natural 
selection of the life histories of insects de- 
pendent upon the same plant; analyzes ex- 
amples of competition among such in- 
sects; refers to the agency of natural selec- 
tion in transforming competitions from 
the simultaneous to the serial order; and 
theorizes the whole subject by reference to 
the general principle of a community of 
interest between a phytophagous insect and 
its food plants. 


SCIENCE. 558 


The Fauna of Mayfield’s Cave: ARTHUR 
M. Banta, Indiana University. 
Mayfield’s Cave is a small cave near 

Bloomington, Ind., which presents typical 

cave conditions having a nearly constant 

temperature and conditions of light shad- 
ing from twilight to absolute darkness. 

Eighty-seven species of animals were taken 

in this cave as against 68 heretofore known 

from all of the Indiana eaves. Of the 87 

species but 21 are permanent residents and 

only 8 are found in eaves exclusively. 

Species including diptera, lepidoptera (2 

species), arachnida and the bats hibernate 

in the cave in considerable numbers. Each 
cave inhabitant sustains a certain definite 
relation to the light, some living only in ab- 
solute darkness, others in dim twilight, ete. 
Aside from conditions of light and temper- 
ature, the distribution of eave animals is 
influenced by moisture, the presence of 
organic matter which serves as food and the 
presence of means of concealment. Some 
of the highly modified and truly ecavern- 
icolous forms are oceasionally found out- 
side of caves in springs, about wells, in 
drains and in similar situations. Change 
of seasons has little influence upon cave 
life. Species which are only temporary 
residents and some of the less highly 
specialized of the permanent residents are 
young and local cave forms, while the 
highly specialized cave inhabitants such as 
the blind fish, blind eray-fish and the blind 
earabids are old and widely distributed 
eave forms. The nearest relatives of cave 
forms are nocturnal or are dark or shade- 
loving species, while the food and habits of 
cave species are exactly similar to the food 
and habits of their near relatives living in 
other situations. The habit of hiding un- 
der loose stones and other debris persists 
in many cave forms where the habit is ap- 
parently altogether useless. Cambarus 
bartont living in the cave possesses less 


854 SCIENCE. 


pigment, and their antenne are eleven per 
cent. longer compared with individuals of 
the same species living outside. 


Guinea-chicken Hybrids: MicHaru F. 

Guyer, University of Cincinnati. 

These hybrids, five in number, were pro- 
duced by crossing a black Langshang cock 
with a common guinea hen. When young 
the hybrids resembled more young guineas, 
although the shanks were feathered, as were 
those of the father. Traces of these feath- 
ers still (nearly three years later) per- 
sist. The hybrids are much larger than 
guineas and have louder and even more 
discordant voices. They are extremely 
wild. The head shows no trace of either 
the comb of the chicken or the helmet of 
the guinea, but is covered with feathers 
clear to the beak. Neither are wattles 
nor earlobes present. The beak, in color 
and shape, resembles more that of the 
guinea. A trace of the guinea’s white face 
is discernible in the hybrid in the immedi- 
ate region of the eyes. The neck is very 
long and snake-like. The feathers are 
more or less intermediate in structure be- 
tween those of the parent forms. The 
tail is erect and never droops like that of 
the guinea. The large quill feathers of tail 
and wing not infrequently possess vanes 
which are black on one side of the rachis 
and more like the hybrid general plumage 
on the other. The first one to three 
primaries are white in all of the hybrids. 
Guineas frequently show similar white 
primaries. The color of the head and neck 
is mainly black, although in two of the 
forms, there is a decided sprinkling of 
white feathers in this region. The general 
ground color of body, wing and tail plum- 
age is dark gray in three of the hybrids, 
but in the remaining two it verges more 
toward a chestnut color. In all, the feath- 
ers are crossed by narrow lighter colored 
V-shaped bars which gives the plumage, on 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 544. 


the whole, a decidedly barred appearance. 
The conspicuous white dot of the guinea’s 
plumage seems to be entirely lost. There 
is, however, a secondary inconspicuous 
barring in many of the features of the 
guinea which possibly may be the source 
of the bars of the hybrid. The forms have 
not proved fertile and the chief interest 
in them will center in the chromosomal 
structures of the germ cells. 
there is no means of telling their sex. 


Notes on Cross-bred Chickens: MicHaeu F. 
Guyer, University of Cincinnati. 
Barred or white Plymouth Rocks and 

brown Leghorns were used in crossing. 

There is much question regarding the ex- 

act ancestry of Plymouth Rocks, but un- 

doubtedly the American Dominique and 
the black Java are the main sources, with 
probably also a considerable admixture of 

Brahma blood. The brown Leghorn of to- 

day appears to be the descendant of an old 

breed of fowls introduced from Italy in 

1834. 

‘The offspring, 400 in number, of brown 
Leghorn 4 & Plymouth Rock 2 were every 
one black, except for an occasional feather 
of reddish hue in some of the cocks. While 
in plumage they thus seem to revert to 
the ancestral black Java, this is not so true 
of shape and weight, which varies in al! 
degrees between that of the two parent 
types. The white ear lobes of the Leghorn 
always persist. Some of the progeny, in- 
deed, resemble black Minoreas very closely. 
Most of them have the dark slate-colored 
shanks that commonly accompany black 
fowls, although about 30 per cent. are 
yellow shanked. The comb is the most 
variable structure, exhibiting 3 or 4 to 
7 serrations. Not infrequently double 
combs (two single ones side by side) ap- 
pear in the cocks. Various crosses among 
the members of this generation and between 
them and the parent stocks were made, but 


At present . 


Eee 


JUNE 2, 1905.] 


the limits of an abstract will not permit 
record of these results. On the whole, no 
characters observed, appeared to follow the 
laws of Mendel with any accuracy. For 
example, black x black have invariably 
produced black offspring, so far with the 
white ear lobes persisting. A black J x 
barred plymouth 9, among others, pro- 
duced one male offspring which rather 
closely resembles a dark Brahma cock. 

Pure white Plymouth Rocks which al- 
ways produced white offspring when bred 
together, never produced white offspring 
when crossed either way with brown Leg- 
horns, nor did any of the mongrel off- 
spring, when interbred. The majority of 
the offspring were barred, the remainder 
being nondescripts or occasionally black. 
Interbreeding this generation resulted in 
the production of several fowls which were 
of a pure barred Plymouth Rock type ex- 
cept for the persistent white ear lobes of 
Leghorn origin. 


Observations on some Peculiar Habits of 
the Mole-crickets: W. J. BAUMGARTNER, 
Kansas University. 

The female of our northern mole-cricket, 
Gryllotalpa borealis, has quite a loud and 
distinct chirp. This seems to be used as a 
means of recognition in their dark burrows. 
This observation is contradictory to the 
conclusion of all writers who say only male 
orthoptera chirp, or stridulate. The fe- 
male of the Porto Rican species Scopter- 
iscus didactylus has the same kind of a 
stridulating organ (much smaller and 
weaker than that of the male) on its elytra, 
and so I econelude it also chirps. 

Du Four’s gland of ‘excretory secre- 
tion,’ which later investigators have con- 
nected with the copulatory organs, is by 
my observations and experiments shown to 
be an effective protective device. A strongly 
fetid and very sticky secretion is ejected 
with considerable foree from the siphon- 


SCIENCE. 


855 


hke genito-anal opening. This must repel 
or retard the most ardent pursuer and so 
protect the soft abdomen from the rear. 

In the act of copulation these insects 
assume the relative positions suited to their 
tunnel-like homes. They turn posterior 
end to posterior end and ventral side to 
ventral side, the male lying on his back. 
The sperm is transferred in a spermato- 
phore.  Scopteriscus has a similar pro- 
tective gland, but its copulation was not 
observed. 

The chirping of the female, the protective 
anal secretion and the unusual position of 
male and female in copulation which dis- 
tinguish the mole-crickets from the rest of 
the orthoptera are very evidently adapta- 
tions to life in underground tunnels. The 
presence of the spermatophore accounts for 
the annexed glands in the male Gryllotalpa. 


The Reflex Theory of Orientation as Ap- 
plied to the Phototaxis of Ranalia: S. J. 
Houmes, University of Michigan. 


A Note on the Position of the Temporary 
Pharynz in the Planarian Embryo: W. 
C. Curtis, University of Missouri. 
Mattiesen in his extensive account of the 

embryology of the European Planaria 

torva, which has been recently published 
in the Zeitschrift fiir Wissenschaftliche 

Zoologie (704), suggests that my desecrip- 

tion of the orientation of the adult and 

embryonic pharyngeal structures in P. 

maculata must have been due to the exam- 

ination of a single abnormal specimen or. to 
distortion caused by poor fixation. My ob- 
servation has been confirmed by Bardeen 

(702) ; and in another American form, P. 

simplicissima, Stevens (’04) believes the 

same orientation to exist, although in this 
ease the early disappearance of the primi- 
tive or embryonic pharynx makes the mat- 
ter difficult to establish. Mattiesen finds 
that in P. torva the adult pharynx appears 


856 SCIENCE. 


just behind the degenerating embryonic 
pharynx, which is, therefore, located on 
the future ventral part of the body as the 
spherical embryo becomes flattened. This 
confirms Ijima’s (’84) deseription of the 
orientation in Dendrocalum lacteum. In 
B. maculata the point at which the degen- 
erating embryonic pharynx is last seen is 
on the dorso-posterior surface. 


The Arrangement of the Mesenteries in the 
Cerianthide. J. PuAyFAIR McMurricuH, 
University of Michigan. 

In 1892 Faurot observed that the mesen- 
teries of Cerianthus membranaceus were 
arranged in groups of four, each quartet 
consisting of a longer and a shorter fertile 
mesentery alternating with a longer and a 
shorter sterile one, and his observation was 
subsequently confirmed by van Beneden 
for C. Lloydii. Both authors regarded 
the quartets as beginning with the fourth 
mesentery on each side of the mid-siphon- 
oglyphie line. The study of the develop- 
ment of the cerianthid mesenteries has 
shown, however, that the first four mesen- 
teries on either side of the mid-siphon- 
oglyphie line constitute a group distinct 
from the others and are comparable to the 
eight protoenemes of the other groups of 
Anthozoa. 

Among the ‘Siboga’ actinians is a 
species from Amboina, probably C. elon- 
gatus Kwietn. In this form there is on 
either side of the mid-siphonoglyphic line 
the usual short sterile directive mesentery, 
then follow two additional sterile mesen- 
teries, and then a long fertile mesentery 
which extends almost to the aboral pole of 
the body. This last is apparently the so- 
called continuous mesentery, and the inter- 
est of it lies in the fact that it is the fourth 
mesentery and not the second, as in all 
other species that have been examined. 
This departure, which occurs in all the in- 
dividuals of the species examined, corrobo- 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 544. 


rates the view based on the developmental 
history that the four mesenteries on either 
side of the mid-siphonoglyphie line consti- 
tute a group apart from the rest, and that 
the quartets should be regarded as begin- 
ning with the fifth mesenteries. 


An Improved Form of Reconstruction Ap- 
paratus: THomas G. Les, Laboratory 
of Histology and Embryology, University 
of Minnesota. 

Doctor Lee presented a very satisfactory 
form of reconstruction apparatus, which he 
had designed and which is an improvement 
over the models now in use. It consists of 
a cast-iron bed plate 84 cm. (34 inches) 
thick at sides, and 44 em. (2 inches) thick in 
the middle. The top measures 23 x 30 em. 
(9x12 inches), and has been accurately 
planed and polished, giving an area of 690 
sq. em. (108 sq. in.). The side pieces, by 
which the thickness of the wax plate is de- 
termined, are moved up an inclined plane 
which is rigidly fastened to the bed plate in 
a manner similar to the movement of the 
object holder in a Thoma microtome. 
All parts of the top of each side piece 
are thus always in the same plane. The 
side piece is moved up and down by a 
large and accurately made screw at the 
rear of the apparatus... After adjust- 
ment the side pieces can be firmly fixed 
in place by two set screws by means of 
a small wrench. A metal seale is placed 
on each side piece, so that any thickness of 
wax plate can be made from $ mm. up to 1 
em. at $ mm. intervals. Thus plates of 3, 
1, 14, 2, 24 mm., ete., can be made. Pro- 
jecting from the bed block are two metal 
strips with a depression to hold the roller 
when not in use. This whole apparatus 
weighs about 67 pounds, and is quite rigid. 

The roller is of polished steel 30 em. (12 
inches) long by 6 em. (24 inches) diameter, 
with a steel rod projecting at each end and 
covered by a movable wooden handle. This 


sy RaSh acl ab et it ale Nether Hele ? 
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_ 


¥ 


JUNE 2, 1905.] 


roller weighs 17 pounds, but works very 
easily, indeed. 

The heating apparatus consists of a metal 
frame supporting a copper jacket which 
has a coneavity on its upper surface just a 
little larger in diameter than that of the 
roller. This protects the surface of the 
roller from contact with either the metal 
or flame. This coneavity could easily be 
changed into a hot water bath for the roller, 
if so desired. The lamp is a horizontal 
Bunsen burner tube with numerous small 
openings. _ The roller does not require to 
be heated between each pair of plates, and 
thus when not in use it is readily rolled up 
into the support in front of the bed plate. 

This whole apparatus is very solid, com- 
pact, accurate and easy to adjust. 


Some Abnormalities of Growth Produced 
by Parasites on Alcyonaria: C. C. Nut- 
TING, State University of Iowa. 

In their ‘Report on the Aleyonaria of 
the Challenger Expedition,’ Wright and 
Studer described a new genus, Calypter- 
mus, giving as a generic character a certain 
tunnel-lke structure formed by excessively 
enlarged spicules, the tunnel being along 
one side of the stem or branch. Later 
Studer, in reporting on the Aleyonaria se- 
eured by the Prince of Monaco’s yacht, de- 
clares that this peculiar structure is due to 
the presence of an annelid, and is patho- 
logical in fact. A similar structure was 
found by the writer in a species of Tenella 
secured by the Albatross from Hawaiian 
waters. The tunnel-like structures, with 
the annelids inside, were shown by means 
of lantern slides. 

In a new species of Dasygorgia from the 
same collection the writer found certain 
very greatly enlarged polyps which at first 
looked like a form of dimorphism hitherto 
unknown. Upon dissection, however, these 
monstrous polyps were found to contain, 
without exception, minute crustaceans, 


SCIENCE. 857 


either embryos or some form of degraded 
parasite. These were also shown by means 
of lantern slides from photographs made 
by the author. It appears that we have 
here a condition of affairs in an animal 
organism which bears a close analogy to the 
production of ‘galls’ in vegetable tissues. 


The Origin of the Subclavian Artery in the 
Chick: Wm. A. Locy, Northwestern Uni- 
versity. (Based on the work of Mr. 
Sabin. ) 

The subelavian artery in birds lies ven- 
tral to the vagus nerve and vena cava; in 
mammals it occupies a dorsal position with 
reference to those structures. On this ac- 
count the subclavian arteries do not appear 
to be homologous as to origin in these two 
classes of vertebrates. ° Hochstetter was the 
first in 1890 to clear the question by show- 
ing that the definitive subclavian in birds 
is of secondary origin. Prior to its appear- 
ance there is a vessel arising from the 
dorsal aorta, opposite the 15th mesodermic 
somite, which supplies blood to the wing- 
bud from the third to the sixth day of 
development. On the sixth day the sec- 
ondary subclavian arises from the ventral 
end of the third aortic arch. This new 
vessel passes backward and joins with the 
primary subclavian artery, coming from 
the dorsal aorta, and, from the sixth to the 
close of the seventh day of development, 
the wing bud receives blood from the two 
sources. The primary subclavian then dis- 
appears and the secondary subclavian re- 
mains as the permanent one. 

Mr. C. G. Sabin, a graduate student in 
Northwestern University, has traced with 
great care the embryonic history of the 
subelavians in the bird and has illustrated 
the same. His results agree closely with 
those of Hochstetter, except that he finds 
the primary subclavian in earlier stages 
than Hochstetter, and observes that in the 
early condition the subclavian arises inde- 


858 SCIENCE. 


pendently of the segmental arteries, with 
which, however, they join later. The illus- 
trations which Mr. Sabin gives of the actual 
condition of the developing subclavian ar- 
teries were very much to be desired, since 
Hochstetter’s paper was illustrated only 
by a few simple diagrams. The results are 
now published in the Anatomischer An- 
zeiger, Vol. 26, Nos. 11 and 12, with 29 
illustrations. 

The following demonstrations were made 
before the society : 

1. William A. Locy, Northwestern Uni- 
versity, ‘Dissections Showing the Nervus 
Terminalis in Scyllium, Trygon and other 
Selachians.’ 

2. William S. Miller, University of Wis- 
consin, ‘Demonstration of the Lymphaties 
of the Lung and Stomach in Nectwrus.’ 

3. Bennet M. Allen, University of Wis- 
consin, ‘Models showing the Origin of the 
Sex-cords and Rete-cords in Chrysemys.’ 


FRANK R. LILuiE, 
Secretary. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


Tue April-May number of The Journal of 
Geology contains an article on ‘The Zuni 
Salt Lake’ of western New Mexico, by Mr. N. 
H. Darton. It is illustrated by two maps and 
three half-tones. Mr. Douglass W. Johnson 
reviews ‘ The Tertiary History of the Tennes- 
see River’ and concludes that it has followed 
its present course through Walden Ridge for 
a long time, ‘ probably since the close of the 
Oretaceous period at least.’ This article is 
illustrated by nine figures. Professor B. 
Shimek contributes an ‘ Additional Note on 
Helicina occulata, a recent species, which 
also occurs as a fossil in the loess, and con- 
cludes that it supports the view that ‘ during 
the deposition of the fossiliferous loess the 
climate was not glacial. Mr. Rollin T. 
Chamberlin describes ‘The Glacial Features 
of the St. Croix Dalles Region,’ which is il- 
lustrated by three sketch maps. Professor 
Stuart Weller describes ‘A Fossil Starfish 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 544. 


from the Cretaceous of Wyoming,’ which he 
names Pentagonaster browni. Mr. O. W. 
Willcox contributes an article on ‘The So- 
called Alkali Spots of the Younger Drift- 
sheets,’ which are patches of white efflores- 
cence which ‘consist of small amounts of 
sodium chloride and much larger amounts of 
the carbonates and sulphates of magnesium 
and calcium.’ Mr. George C. Matson has a 
paper on the ‘ Peridotite Dikes near Ithaca, 
N. Y., in which he describes several new 
dikes in addition to those noted over sixty 
years ago by Vanuxem and much more re- 
cently by Professor Kemp, and Mr. Wallace 
W. Atwood describes the ‘ Glaciation of San 
Francisco Mountain, Arizona.’ This article 
is illustrated by a sketch map of the top of 
the mountain and it is stated that these rec- 
ords ‘may possibly be those of the southern- 
most ice which existed in this country during 
the Pleistocene period.’ 


To the American Geologist for April Pro- 
fessor Eugene A. Smith contributes a ‘ Bio- 
graphical Sketch of Henry McCalley’ with 
portrait. Professor Warren Upham has an 
article on ‘The Nebular and Planetesimal 
Theories of the Earth’s Origin,’ in which he 
quotes at length from Dr. T. C. Chamberlin’s 
recent paper on the planetesimal hypothesis. 
Professor Upham also quotes from Dr. G. K. 
Gilbert’s paper on ‘The Moon’s Face’ and 
concludes that his explanation of the origin 
of the very abundant small and large crateri- 
form features of the moon seems largely iden- 
tical with Chamberlin’s hypothesis ‘so far as 
that hypothesis deals with the segregation of 
the originally nebulous matter to form planets 
and satellites.’ Professor J. W. Spencer re- 
views ‘Dr. Nansen’s Bathymetrical Features 
of the North Polar Sea, with a Discussion of 
the Continental Shelves and the Previous 
Oscillations of the Shore Line.’ Mr. Spencer 
says that while this memoir ‘treats of the 
physiographic features of the Polar basin, yet 
the greater part is devoted to the investigation 
of continental shelves, not merely of the 
Arctic basin, but also those of the Atlantie, 
in which respect it is the most important 
work that has appeared anywhere. ‘ Professor 


JUNE 2, 1905.] 


Shimek’s criticism of the aqueous origin of 
Loess’ is answered by Professor G. Frederick 
Wright. Mr. Paul W. Prutzman discusses 
the ‘ Chemistry of California Petroleum,’ and 
the number concludes with an article by Pro- 
fessor Lawrence M. Lambe, ‘On the Tooth- 
Structure of Mesohippus westoni (Cope),’ 
which is illustrated by one plate giving four 
views of an upper molar of this primitive 
species. 


The American Naturalist for March con- 
tains the following articles: ‘The Anatomical 
Changes in the Structure of the Vascular 
Cylinder, Incident to the Hybridization of 
the Catalpa,’ by D. P. Penhallow; ‘The Oc- 
currence and Origin of Amber in the Eastern 
United States,’ Arthur Hollick; ‘ Fresh-water 
Rhizopods from the White Mountain Region 
of New Hampshire, J. A. Cushman and W. 
P. Henderson; and ‘The Reactions of the 
Pomace Fly (Drosophila ampelophila Loew) 
to Light, Gravity and Mechanical Stimula- 
tion, by F. W. Carpenter. There are, besides, 
reviews of scientific literature. 


ARTERIOSCLEROSIS in its relation to diseases 
of the nervous system is the subject of the 
opening paper in the May issue of the Journal 
of Nervous and Mental Disease. Dr. EK. D. 
Fisher discusses the clinical aspect, and Dr. 
Harlow Brooks summarizes the pathology, 
with reports of three illustrative cases, one of 
syphilis of the cerebro-spinal axis, one of 
arteriosclerosis of the brain and spinal cord 
oceurring in alcoholism, and one of acute 
arteritis occurring in vessels of the central 
nervous system in rabies. Drs. W. G. Spiller 
and C. H. Frazier follow with the presentation 
of some original views on the subject of nerve 
anastomoses. They have experimented in this 
line in the treatment of cerebral palsies, and 
their suggestions open up a field in neurolog- 
ical surgery that seems to be full of promise. 
Dr. Spiller also contributes a short illustrated 
paper, being mainly the report of a case which 
came under his observation and seemed to 
offer valid evidence for the location of the 
fibers of temperature and pain within the 
tracts of Gower. Dr. Jas. W. Wherry writes 


SCIENCE. 859 


on the curability of epilepsy, and takes an 
optimistic view of the question, conditioned 
on beginning treatment promptly upon the ap- 
pearance of the disease. His idea of the re- 
quirements in such treatment consists of ‘A 
study of each case individually; special adapta- 
tion of drugs to individual conditions; per- 
sonal supervision and individualization of diet, 
absolute change of environment.’ The pro- 
ceedings of the New York Neurological 
Society for December 6, 1904, and of the 
Philadelphia Society for December 27, 1904, 
are reported. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
THE IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 


THE nineteenth annual meeting of the Iowa 
Academy of Sciences was held in the chemical 
lecure room of Iowa College at Grinnell, Ia., 
April 20 and 21. The following papers were 
presented : 

B. SHIMEK: President’s address, ‘Botany and 
Intelligent Citizenship.’ 

C. C. Nutrine: ‘The U.S. S. Albatross and its 
Work’ (illustrated with lantern slides taken by 
the author). 

L. 8. Ross: ‘Apparatus for Plating Out Petri 
Dishes in the Field.’ 

Bruce Fink: ‘Some Studies in American 
Cladonias.’ 

L. H. PamMet: ‘Some Notes on the Flora of 
the Bitter Root Mountains of Montana.’ 

James E. Gow: ‘An Ecological Study of the 
Sabine and Neches Valleys, Texas.’ 

W. 8. Henprrxson: (a) ‘ Action of Bromic Acid 
on Metal, (6) ‘Determination of Bromie and 
Jodie Acids.’ 

R. E. Bucwanan: ‘A Study of a Thermophilic 
Bacterium.’ 

L. Brerman: ‘J. J. Thomson’s Theory of 
Matter.’ 

H. 8. Fawcett: ‘ Variation in the Ray Flowers 
of Anthemis Cotula and Other Composites.’ 

T. H. Macsripe: ‘Some Slime Moulds of New 
Mexico.’ 

B. H. Batter: ‘ Report on Some Iowa Birds.’ 

Nicuotas Knieut: ‘ Different Methods of De- 
termining Carbon Dioxide in Minerals and Rocks.’ 

Morton E. Peck: ‘ Flora of Hardin County.’ 

C. F. Lorenz: ‘ Three-Color Projection.’ 

Bruce Fink: “ Notes on Some Iowa Alge.’ 

GRACE Roop Ruepa: ‘The Biology of Bacillus 
Violaceus Laurentius.’ 


860 


J. P. AnpreRSoN: * Plants New to the Flora of 
Decatur County, with Summary.’ 

R. B. Wyte: ‘The Morphology of Vallisneria 
Spiralis’ (illustrated). 

J. L. Trrron: ‘A Problem in Municipal Water- 
Works for a Small Town,’ 

T. J. Frrzparrick: ‘ The Liliacese of Iowa.’ 

J. M. Linpiy: ‘The Flowering Plants of Henry 
County.’ 

J. L. Trrton: ‘ The Storage Battery and Switch- 
board at Simpson College.’ 

frep J. Seaver: ‘An Annotated List of lowa 
Discomycetes.’ 

Cuartes R. Keyes: ‘ Northward Extension of 
the Lake Valley Limestone.’ 

CHARLES R. Keyes: ‘Geological Structure of 
the Jornada Del Muerto and Adjoining Bolson 
Plains.’ 

CHARLES R. Keyes: ‘ Bisection of Mountain 
Blocks in the Great Basin Region.’ ; 

A. C. Pace: ‘A Laboratory Barometer.’ 

Epwin Morrison: ‘Cohesion of Liquids and 
Molecular Weights.’ 

C. O. Bates: ‘Municipal Hygiene.’ 

L. H. Pammet and Estente D. Focer: ‘Some 
Bacteriological Analyses of Railroad Water Sup- 
plies.’ 

The following officers were elected for the 
ensuing year: 

President—M. F. Arey, Cedar Falls. 

First Vice President—J. L. Tilton, Indianola. 

Second Vice President—C. O. Bates, Cedar 
Rapids. 

Secretary—T. E. Savage, Des Moines. 

Treasurer—H. E. Summers, Ames. 

T. E. Savace, 
Secretary. 


THE ONONDAGA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 


Tne regular meeting of the academy was 
held in Syracuse, on the evening of April 15. 
Professor W. M. Davis, of Harvard University, 
gave an illustrated lecture on the Colorado 
Canyon, based upon four visits to the Arizona 
plateaus. He emphasized the origin of the 
canyon as a valley of normal erosion excep- 
tional only in depth, as shown fifty years ago 
by Newberry; its independence of the great 
fractures of the region whose course is us- 
ually north and south, as shown thirty years 
ago by Powell and Dutton, while the canyon 
is cut from east to west; and the record of a 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 544. 


long geological history magnificently displayed 
in the canyon walls. This history of the 
region was traced backwards, first stripping 
off the horizontal layers of the plateau series, 
next reconstructing, untilting and stripping 
off the now inclined layers of the so-called 
Algonkian ‘ wedge’ and then roughly building 
the lost mountains of the erystalline founda- 
tion rocks, commonly regarded as Archean but 
not yet demonstrated to be of so great an- 
tiquity. Having thus traveled backwards 
through the ‘ corridors of time’ to the earliest 
stage of geological history there recorded, the 
return journey was made along the normal 
succession of events. Six long ages of time, 
occupied alternately by deposition and by 
erosion, were thus reviewed: Three ages of 
enormous deposition, requiring a correspond- 
ingly enormous erosion elsewhere, and three 
alternate ages of enormous erosion, suggesting 
an equally enormous deposition elsewhere. 
The short chapter of canyon erosion was en- 
tered upon only after the long earlier ages were 
closed: thus a correction was suggested for the 
erroneous view that the erosion of a great 
canyon requires a long part of geological time. 
The apex of the Algonkian wedge and the 
associated ancient plains or peneplains of 
erosion, best seen from Grand View, sixteen 
miles east of the railroad terminus, were indi- 
cated as the points on which the attention of 
the inquiring visitor should be focussed. The 
voleanic history of the district, as associated 
with the erosion of the canyon, was briefly 
touched upon. J. EK. Kirxwoop, 
Corresponding Secretary. 


THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. SECTION 
OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY. 


A MEETING was held on February 27, in 
conjunction with the Ethnological Society. 
General Wilson occupied the chair. The fol- 
lowing papers were presented: ‘ Anthropom- 
etry of the Jews of New York,’ Maurice 
Fishberg. Whether the Jews have maintained 
their racial purity to the present day is a 
question that can be examined by comparing 
the physical type of Jew from different coun- 


tries. Extensive measurements of Jewish 


June 2, 1905.] 


immigrants in New York from various coun- 
tries of eastern Europe show that the Jewish 
type in those countries is not Semitic, but 
varies in the different countries, always ap- 
proximating, in stature and cephalic index, 
to the native or Christian population of the 
respective countries. 

‘Anthropometric Work at the St. Louis 
Exposition, R. S. Woodworth and F. G. 
Bruner. As many as possible of the racial 
groups represented at the exposition were 
measured. The best material was found 
among the Philippine Islanders, of whom 
about 700 were measured. The Christianized 
tribes, such as the Tagalog, Pampango, Ilo- 
eano, Bicol, Visaya, were found very uniform 
in physical type. Measurements showed no 
clear evidence of differentiation among them. 
The average height of the several tribes dif- 
fered but little from 161 ecm., the cephalic 
index differs little from 83, ete. The Moros 
of Mindanao also are practically identical in 
physical type with the Christian tribes. The 
pagan Igorots and Bagobos seem to differ con- 
siderably from this type, especially in height, 
which is about 155 cm.; while the Negritos 
were clearly marked off from all the rest by 
their kinky hair, small stature (144 cm.), 
broad nose, and small head in proportion to 
stature. R. S. Woopwortu, 

Secretary. 


THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 

Tuer 600th regular meeting, held April 15, 
1905, was celebrated by historical addresses in 
University Hall of the George Washington 
University, followed by a social hour with 
refreshments. , 

After a brief address by President Little- 
hales, half a dozen papers were read giving a 
review of the activities of the society since its 
foundation in 1871, under the presidency of 
Joseph Henry, in the lines of most interest to 
its present membership. Mr. Gore grouped 
and characterized succinctly the papers pre- 
sented in mathematics. Mr. Wead reviewed 
the papers on physics, beginning with Henry’s 
“Aberrations of Fog Signals’ and including 
recent notable work on aerodynamics. Mr. 
Clarke told of the great local development of 


SCIENCE. 


861 


activity in chemistry since 1871. Mr. Gil- 
bert spoke of the opportunities the society had 
furnished to discuss questions in geology, in- 
stancing cases where the discussions had led 
to important researches. ‘Mr. Hayford re- 
called some of the notable advances in geodesy 
that had been presented to the society, Mr. 
Eichelberger reported on the papers in astron- 
omy and Mr. Bauer spoke of the activity in 
electricity and magnetism. A brief letter 
from Dr. Gill was read regarding the interest 
in biology before the formation of the other 
scientific societies. 


THE 601st meeting was held April 29, 1905. 

Professor W. S. Eichelberger exhibited one 
of the Riefler self-winding astronomical clocks 
belonging to the Naval Observatory and de- 
seribed its construction. It is in a case from 
which about one eighth of the air is ex- 
hausted; the pendulum is of nickel-steel alloy 
compensated ; the power comes from two small 
cells of battery and is applied about twice a 
minute. The rate is very small and very 
constant. 

Professor F. H. Bigelow then spoke on 
‘Tonization and Temperature-Effects in the 
Atmosphere.” The great problems in meteor- 
ology relate to the vertical distribution and 
semidiurnal curve of temperatures; and to 
the variations in vapor tension, atmospheric 
electricity and magnetic field. A great num- 
ber of curves representing the results of ob- 
servations on the quantities involved in these 
problems were exhibited, and the attempt was 
made to explain the facts according to the 
modern theory of ionization. The paper will 
appear in the Monthly Weather Review. 

Cuarztes K. Weap, 
Secretary. 


THE SCIENCE CLUB OF NORTHWESTERN 
UNIVERSITY. 

Tue Science Club held its regular monthly 
meeting on Friday, April 7, 1905, at 7:30 p.m. 

The following papers were presented: 

Mr. G. G. Becknexi: ‘ An Investigation of the 
Residual Current of the Electrie Arc.’ 

Mr. Gorpon Funcuer: ‘The Duddell Oscillo- 
graph.’ 


862 


Professor O. H. Basquin: ‘The Bending 
Moment of a Uniformly Loaded Beam; a New 
Experimental Demonstration.’ 


FiLoyp Fre.p, 
Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 


CONNECTION BY PRECISE LEVELING BETWEEN THE 
ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS. 

To THE Eprror oF ScieENcCE: In your issue 
of April 28, 1905, page 673, is an article by 
Mr. Hayford on ‘Connection by Precise Level- 
ing between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.’ 
About twenty years ago I wrote to ScIENCE in 
connection with precise leveling over the Alle- 
ghanies and the Rocky Mountains, and stated 
that it might be well to have a systematic 
determination of bench marks at stated in- 
tervals owing to the unrest in the earth’s crust. 
At that time I stated that my work on the 
corps of the Pennsylvania Railroad had shown 
me that, however carefully the bench marks 
might be established at any one time, at the 
expiration of a comparatively few years there 
would be a discrepancy between them and the 
datum plane. The Pennsylvania Railroad has 
reviewed its bench marks a number of times 


owing to these discrepancies due to earth mo- * 


tion. 
tween the levels of the Atlantic and Pacific 
Oceans, unless the bench marks were estab- 
lished by surveys which began and ended at 
exactly the same period throughout the entire 
distance, might be due to earth movements 
between the times of the beginning and the 
end of the survey. 

I would again suggest, as I did at my first 
letter to this paper, that the United States 
Geological Survey secure not only the lists of 
bench marks of all railroads, but the varia- 
tions that have occurred in these bench marks 
as shown by repeated surveys. If these are 
carefully tabulated throughout a century, we 
may obtain important information in regard 
to the upward and downward crustal move- 
ments across the continent. 


Epwarp H. WIitiiaMs, gr. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 544. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


THE HORIZONTAL PLANE OF THE SKULL AND THE 
GENERAL PROBLEM OF THE COMPARISON OF 
VARIABLE FORMS. 


In comparative studies of the skull it is 
customary to select one transversal plane de- 
fined by the axis of symmetry with which it 
is at right angles and by two points, as the 
standard plane to which the skull is referred. 
Some authors have made the selection of the 
two determining points based on morpholog- 
ical considerations, while others have en- 
deavored to determine the physiological hori- 
zontal position, determining the latter by two 
points which are more or less accurately par- 
allel to the direction of horizontal sight. 

When this problem is considered from a 
purely morphological point of view, it will be 
recognized that there is no justification in 
selecting arbitrarily two points and disregard- 
ing all others, but that the best method of 
comparison must be based on the assumption 
that every point of the skull has equal weight 
and that the nearest approach of all points 
must be attempted. In this form the problem 
is applicable to the comparison of all variable 
forms. 

The most favorable superposition of any 
two forms will be obtained when the sum of 


The want of agreement, therefore, bewe “the squares of the distances between all pairs 


of homologous points becomes a minimum. 
We will refer the body to a system of rect- 
angular coordinates and eall zw’, y’ and z’ the 
ordinates of a point of the first body, x”, y” 
and 2” the ordinates of the homologous point 
of the second body. By moving the second 
body by the amounts wu, v and w in the direc- 
tion of the three ordinates, we can modify the 
relative positions of homologous points with- 
out torsion of the body. Then the sum of the 


squares of the distances of homologous points 
S(a/ — a//— u)?+ S(y/—y’ — 0)e + >(2’—2” —w)? 
is to be a minimum. Therefore, 


>(a/ — a’ —u) =0. 
And 


JUNE 2, 1905.] 


Since we may assume the origin of the first 
system of ordinates arbitrarily, we may take 


32! = Sy’ = 32’ = 0; 
in other words, we take the geometrical center 


of gravity of the first body as the origin of 
our system of ordinates. Then 


Sa’ = Sy” = Se’ =0; 


i. e., the two bodies must be so placed that 
their geometrical centers of gravity coincide. 

Provided the two forms are symmetrical, 
this result gives a complete solution of the 
problem. If the forms are irregular, the de- 
gree of torsion must be determined which will 
give the best result. In most cases the form 
in question will be symmetrical in at least 
one direction, so that torsion in one direction 
only need be considered. Starting with the 
geometrical center of gravity as the origin of 
a system of polar coordinates, we have for 
any given pair of points the coordinates I’ 
and 1” as distances from the center, and a/ 
and q@” as angles with the zero line. If we 
_ give the second system of points the torsion 
&, we find that 


>i? + V72— oI’ cos (é + a/’ —a’)} 
must be a minimum; or 
SVV’ sin (£ + a// —a’/) =0, 


SVU’ sin (a// —a’) 
SV’ cos (a// = a) § 


= 


Theoretically, the problem can, therefore, be 
solved. By using a limited number of well- 
selected points a good superposition of the 
two forms can be made. 

Experiments, so far as carried out, indicate 
that alveolar point, nasion, bregma, lambda, 
basion and pterion give a good superposition 
of skulls. 

It will be noticed that if this method is pur- 
sued the arbitrary element in composite draw- 
ings or photographs may be eliminated. 

Franz Boas. 


XUALA AND GUAXULE. 

Tue location of two Indian villages, Xuala 
and Guaxule, mentioned in some form by all 
of the chronicles of Hernando de Soto’s wild 
and unfortunate expedition (1539-41) through 


SCIENCE. 


863 


the territory now included in the southern 
states, are important in determining the route 
of this Spanish adventurer. If the location 
of these two villages—especially the first— 
can be determined with reasonable certainty 
it will enable us to fix the route of the Ade- 
lantado with comparative accuracy from his 
landing place at Tampa Bay, Florida, until 
he reached the vicinity of Mauvilla in Ala- 
bama. 

The widest variation in opinion of the nu- 
merous authorities touching upon the subject, 
relates to the position of Xuala; these views, 
however, may be classed in two unequal 
groups, as is evident from the following list: 
The map of Cornelius Wytfliet in his ‘ De- 
serip. Ptolemaica (1596)’ locates this village 
on the west side of Savannah River near the 
head. DeLisle’s map (1707?) in French’s 
‘Hist. Coll. La.,’ though indefinite, places it 
west of the Savannah. Later authorities lo- 
eate it as follows: Pickett (‘ Hist. Alabama,’ 
I., p. 8); C. C. Jones, Jr. (‘Hernando de 
Soto, p. 18); Cyrus Thomas (5th ‘ Ann. Rep. 
Bur. Eth., p. 95); and Theodora Irving (‘ Hist. 
Cong. Florida,’ IT., p. 8), all locate it west of 
the upper Savannah in Nacooche valley, Ha- 
bersham County, Georgia, or in that imme- 
diate vicinity. Mr. James Mooney (19th 
“Ann. Rep. Bur. Eth., pt. 1, p. 195) and Wood- 
bury Lowery (‘ Spanish Settlements within the 
United States,’ p. 230, in the text, but not on 
the map) locate it in the ‘piedmont’ region of 
North Carolina, about the head of Broad 
river—which would be about Henderson 
County. Gilmore Shea in his article entitled 
‘Ancient Florida,’ in Justin Winsor’s ‘ Narra- 
tive and Critical History of America, II.,’ 
follows, in this part of De Soto’s route, the 
course given by C. C. Jones, Jr. Bucking- 
ham Smith on the map in his ‘ Narrative of 
De Soto’ (Bradford Club Series, V., pl. 5) 
places Xuala about Habersham County, 
Georgia, but locates Guaxule to the north- 
west, apparently about Towns County of the 
same state, or possibly over the line, in Ten- 
nessee. Although Shipp (‘De Soto and 
Florida’) does not locate Xuala, he places 
Guaxule in Bartow County, Georgia, thus 
agreeing substantially with Pickett, Jones and 


864 


Thomas. The ‘New International Encyclo- 
pedia’ follows, in part, Mooney and Lowery, 
but also differs from them in part. 

It will be seen from this list that the gen- 
eral consensus of authorities—all, in fact, but 
two or three—locate Xuala somewhere in 
northern Georgia, most of them in Habersham 
County, while Mooney and Lowery place it in 
southwestern North Carolina, somewhere in the 
region of Henderson or Rutherford County. 
Although the article ‘De Soto,’ in the ‘New 
International Encyclopedia’ apparently fol- 
lows Mooney in locating Xuala, though it does 
not mention the name, it differs radically from 
them in regard to the immediately following 
portion of the route, carrying it down the 
Coosa, instead of the Chattahoochee. It is 
rather strange that Lowery on the ‘Sketch 
Map’ of his work locates Xuala in or near 
Habersham County, northeastern Georgia, and 
Guaxule about Bartow County, and follows 
down the Coosa River instead of the Chatta- 
hoochee as in his text (p. 230). 

The object at present is to examine briefly 
the data and determine, if possible, which of 
these two divergent views agrees most nearly 
with the original chronicles of the expedition, 
and the topography of the country, or whether 
both are erroneous. 

All the facts bearing upon this particular 
inquiry to be drawn from the original chron- 
icles relate to the march from Cofitachiqui— 
where the Adelantado was so royally enter- 
tained by the noted cacica—to Chiaha, where 
he paused to recuperate because of abundant 
food and pasture. 

It is now generally conceded that Cofitachi- 
qui was located on the east bank of Savannah 
River, at or near Silver Bluff, about twenty- 
five miles below Augusta, though one or two 
authors have contended that it was at the 
junction of Broad and Savannah Rivers. We 
shall, therefore, proceed upon the assumption 
that it was at or in the vicinity of Silver Bluff 
—as this theory is maintained by the views 
we propose to discuss; calling attention first 
to that theory which places Kuala in western 
North Carolina. 

From Cofitachiqui, according to all the 
original chronicles, De Soto and his army pro- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 544. 


ceeded northward, without, so far as the rec- 
ords show, recrossing the river, hence on the 
east side of the Savannah, in what is now 
South Carolina. However, in order to pro- 
cure a supply of food the army was divided 
into two parties, that with De Soto going 
directly onward, while the other turned aside, 
some twelve leagues, say the chronicles (prob- 
ably toward the bottom land), where there was 
a store of maize offered them by the cacica. 

Before reaching Xuala they passed through 
some small yillages or settlements of the 
Chalaque (or Achalaque) now recognized as 
the Cherokees. The time given for the march 
from Cofitachiqui to the Chalaque by the dif- 
ferent chroniclers differs considerably; Elvas 
states it was seven.days; Garcilasso, eight; 
and Ranjel (in Oviedo), only two. Biedma 
does not mention Chalaque, but makes the 
time occupied in going from Cofitachiqui to 
Xuala eight days. As further data regarding 
the time occupied, it may be stated that Elvas 
makes the time from Cofitachiqui to Xuala 
twelve days. Ranjel makes it seven days, 
mentioning as an intermediate village Gua- 


- quili—not noted by the others—which he says 


was three days’ march from Xuala. Garcil- 
asso makes the distance between the same 
points fifty leagues. All agree in giving the 
time from Xuala to Guaxule as five days. 

As the particular view we are now discuss- 
ing is that maintained by Mr. Mooney and 
Mr. Lowery (in his text) and the latter fol- 
lows the former without going into details, 
for these we have necessarily to refer to the 
statements by the former. 

According to these the Chalaque villages 
were probably on or near Keowee River, for 
which point we may assume Anderson, An- 
derson County, South Carolina, as among the 
modern names along the supposed route. 
From this point the Adelantado’s force pro- 
ceeded to Xuala, which this authority, as al- 
ready stated, places about Henderson County, 
North Carolina. From there, according to 
both authorities, they moved west, ‘down 
French Broad’ River as far, we are justified 
in supposing (as no point is mentioned), as 
to or near the site of Asheville. From there 
these authors carry them southwest to 


“¥ 


JUNE 2, 1905.] 


White County, Georgia, where they arrive at 
Guaxule. 
as this theory supposes, was according to the 
geologist of the U. S. Geological Survey, who 
has been at work in that section, most likely, 
as follows: Using modern names to designate 
the points; from Anderson, South Carolina, to 
Greenville, same state, 26 miles; thence across 
Blue Ridge to Hendersonville, North Caro- 
lina, 85 miles; thence down French Broad 
valley to Asheville, 22 miles; thence through 
Hominy Gap and up Richland Creek to 
Waynesville, 30 miles; thence through Balsam 
Gap and down Scott’s Creek to Webster, 24 
miles; thence across Tuckasugee River and 
Cowee Mountains to Franklin, 17 miles; 
thence across Nantahala River and down 
Shooting Creek to Hiwassee, 32 miles; thence 
up Hiwassee River and down the Chatta- 
hoochee to Nacoochee, White County, Georgia, 
25 miles, part of this line being along an old 
Indian trail. As the distance from Silver 
Bluff to Anderson is about one hundred miles, 
two or three more or less, this makes the entire 
distance along this supposed route from Co- 
fitachiqui to Guaxule three hundred and eleven 
miles, and from Cofitachiqui to Xuala, one 
hundred and sixty-one miles, and from Xuala 
to Guaxule one hundred and fifty miles. 
Though the route actually traveled accord- 
ing to this theory may not have been precisely 
that laid down, it must have been near to and 
parallel with it, and the distance and character 
of the country were substantially the same. 
Our reasons for rejecting this theory are as 
follows: First, the distance, at least between 
some of the points, is too great to have been 
traveled by the army with its incumbrances, 
among which was a drove of hogs, in the 
time specified. These hogs may by constantly 
moving have become good travelers, and may 
have accomplished the trip from Cofitachiqui 
to Xuala, a distance of about one hundred and 
sixty miles} in twelve days—the longest time 
given by any of the chroniclers. But when 
the distance from Xuala to Guaxule, which 
on this route was at least one hundred and 
fifty miles, has to be traveled in five days, the 
time given by all the chronicles—a rate of 
thirty miles per day—the requirement becomes 


SCIENCE. 


This route, if traveled by De Soto ~ 


865 


an utter impossibility for an army thus ham- 
pered, and scarcely possible for an army free 
from these incumbrances, especially through 
a rough and densely wooded country where 
there were no other roads than narrow path- 
ways. 

This route places Xuala on the west or 
north of the Blue Ridge which has to be 
crossed in going from Greenville to Hender- 
sonville. 

Another insuperable objection to this route 
is that it requires us to assume that the ter- 
ritory of the cacica extended into western 
North Carolina, or included a detached sec- 
tion therein with the Sara or Cheraw, a Siouan 
tribe, as subjects, hedged in between the 
Cherokees and the Catawbas. This would be 
extraordinary. 

This assumption is absolutely necessary, if 
we follow the theory in question, as it is clear, 
from all the chronicles, that Xuala was under 
the cacica’s control. It is even stated by one 
chronicler that after she made her escape, 
which occurred between Xuala and Guaxule, 
it was ascertained that she was at the former 
village where she and the negro Robles, who 
escaped at the same time, were living as hus- 
band and wife. The assumption of this route 
requires not only the supposition that the 
Cheraws were her subjects and their country 
in her kingdom, but also when she escaped 
she went back northward into western North 
Carolina instead of continuing southward to 
her own proper capital. It also necessitates 
the supposition that her flight was mostly 
through Cherokee country, where she would 
more likely have been taken captive and pos- 
sibly slain than kindly concealed and helped 
on her way. 

Another reason for rejecting this theory is 
that it places Guaxule in White County, 
Georgia, where no mound of the character de- 
scribed is known to exist or to have existed. 
It is claimed by advocates of the theory that 
there is a mound which will answer the de- 
seription near Clarksville. This, however, is 
a mistake. There is, it is true, a mound in 
that locality, but it will by no means fill the 
requirements. It is in the- upper part of 
Nacoochee valley, near its western extremity, 


866 


and it is only about, or a little over, twenty 
feet high, elliptical in form and flat on top. 
Its base diameters are 190 and 150 feet and its 
top diameters 90 and 60 feet. There are no 
evidences of terraces or a graded way; the sides 
slope gradually from the summit. It has been 
plowed over for many years, but this would 
not have effaced entirely a terrace or graded 
way had there been one. Moreover, there 
were no such indications extant half a century 
ago. There is, however, a mound in Bartow 
County, Georgia, which does fully meet the 
requirements of the chroniclers’ descriptions. 

Another reason for rejecting this route is 
that it follows down the Chattahoochee River 
instead of the Coosa; in other words, elim- 
inates the ‘Coza’ for which the Adelantado 
was in search, and which his successors en- 
deayored to reach. Hamlet is taken out of 
the play unless the name ‘ Coza’ is transferred 
to Chattahoochee. 

Another reason for considering this theory 
erroneous is that although the army must 
have passed through Cherokee territory after 
leaving Xuala, if this route was followed, no 
mention whatever of this fact is made by any 
of the chronicles. 

Finally the theory is erroneous because it 
is based on a mistake. It is apparent, from 
the statement of the author we have been re- 
ferring to, that the conclusion reached by 
others, that Xuala was in northeastern 
Georgia, was set aside because he had ascer- 
tained, as he believed, that there was formerly 
a tribe of Indians named Suali or Suala in 
western North Carolina; hence as Xuala 
might be pronounced Shuala, the two must be 
one and the same people, in fact he says (Nine- 
teenth Annual Rep. Bureau of Eth., Pt. 195): 
“As the province of Chalaque is the country of 
the Cherokee, so the province of Xuala is the 
country of the Suali or Sara Indians, better 
known as the Cheraws.” 

On this slender foundation of a slight re- 
semblance in names does the theory appear to 
be built, which takes De Soto and his army, 
with their hogs and other incumbrances, into 
the ‘piedmont region of North Carolina.’ 

The objection, however, does not stop here, 
for the statement that there was an Indian 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 544. 


tribe in southwestern North Carolina known 
as Suali or Suala appears to be based solely on 
the name as used by John Lederer in his 
‘Discoveries in Three Several Marches’ 
(1672). But it has been shown (American 
Anthropologist, N. S., Vol. 5, No. 4, 1903) 
that his reputed expedition into Carolina is 
clearly a fiction, that he was never nearer this 
point than along the southern border of Vir- 
ginia, his statements in regard to this section 
are, therefore, unreliable. What few facts he 
mentions being obtained, in all probability, 
from the Indians along Roanoke River, and 
from the accounts of other earlier explorers, 
with which he seems to have been familiar. 

His name Suali or Suala seems to refer to 
De Soto’s Xuala, of which he appears to have 
obtained knowledge; in fact, he states that it 
was obtained from the Spanish. As he knew 
it was somewhere in the direction of his im- 
aginary journey without any knowledge as to 
distance, he uses the name to give weight to 
his fictitious narrative. Distance would have 
troubled a writer but little who definitely 
placed a great lake in western North Carolina 
and believed that the Pacific laved the western 
slope of the Alleghanies. 

Unfortunately, however, for the theory, 
Lederer nowhere applies the name to the In- 
dians, but throughout expressly limits it to 
mountains, giving the name Sara to the In- 
dians. “ The theory, therefore, as given is abso- 
lutely without a foundation stone, as the name 
Suali or Suala was never applied to Indians 
so far as we are able to ascertain until Mr. 
Mooney so used it in his ‘Siouan Tribes of 
the East.’ 

Believing the foregoing reasons to be en- 
tirely sufficient for rejecting the theory that 
Xuala was in the ‘piedmont region of North 
Carolina,’ we next proceed to give our reasons 
for believing that this village or province was 
located in northeastern Georgia, and Guaxule 
in northwestern Georgia, most likely in Bar- 
tow County. 

In attempting to trace that portion of De 
Soto’s route now under discussion it is best 
to accept what seems to be the most satisfac- 
tory evidence in regard to one particular lo- 
cality mentioned. One item is given by Gar- 


June 2, 1905.] 


cilasso in respect to Guaxule that appears to 
fix this town, beyond any reasonable doubt, at 
the mound group near Cartersville, Bartow 
County, Georgia. The statement of this au- 
thor is as follows: “ La casa estava en un cerro 
alto, como de otras semejantes hemas dicho. 
Tenio toda ella el derredor un paseadero que 
podian pasearse por el seis hombres juntos.” 
“The house [of the chief] stood on a high hill 
{mound] similar to others we have already 
mentioned. It had round about it a roadway 
on which six men might march abreast.” 

The ‘similar to others we have already men- 
tioned’ is evidently intended to signify it 
was artificial, and this is admitted by all who 
allude to it. The statement that it was ‘high’ 
signifies more, in the eyes of the Spaniards, 
than an ordinary elevation. The large mound 
of the Etowah group near Cartersville, Bar- 
tow County, Georgia, is 66 feet high with base 
diameters of 380 and 830 feet, and top diam- 
eters about 160 and 180 feet. Running up 
the south side is a broad roadway varying in 
width from 37 to 56 feet. In bulk it is next 
in size to the great Cahokia mound near St. 
Louis. Here then we have a mound which 
will completely satisfy the description, and the 
only one in all that section of the south—as 
is now positively known—which will do so. 
Moreover, it is sufficiently near Canasauga 
River to agree with the narrative. There is 
no reason, therefore, except to maintain a 
theory, why this should not be accepted as the 
site of Guaxule. Assuming this as one fixed 
point, the possibilities of the position of Xuala 
become much more limited than without this 
determination. 

As the suggestion above mentioned, that the 
Chalaque villages were near the Keowee River, 
may be accepted as probably correct, it is ap- 
parent from the limited time of the march 
from Xuala to Guaxule—five days—that we 
must place the former town somewhere in 
northeastern Georgia, probably in White or 
Hall County or in that section. <A statement 
by Biedma appears to have a decided bearing 
on this question; it is as follows: 

Again we took the direction of the north, and 
for eight days we traveled through a poor country, 
scarce of food, until arriving at one called Xuala, 


SCIENCE. 


‘covery of North America.’ 


867 


where we still found some Indian houses, though 
a sparse population, for the country was broken. 
Among these ridges we discovered the source of 
the great river by which way we started, and which 
we believed to be the Espiritu Santo. We went on 
to a town called Guasuli, where the inhabitants 
gave us a number of dogs, and some maize, of 
which they had but little; whence we traveled four 
days and we arrived at a pueblo which was called 
Chiha, which possessed more food; this is situated 
on an island of this river of the Espiritu Santo, 
which from its source has large ones (islands). 


That they struck the headwaters of Coosa 
River, which they thought was the Espiritu 
Santo (Mississippi), and that they followed 
it down to Chiaha seems evident, for the de- 
seription of this river by Biedma in the fore- 
going citations fits no other river in this re- 
gion than the Coosa. 

This supposition is apparently confirmed by 
the earliest known map of De Soto’s route, 
made before Tristan de Luna started on his 
expedition, given by Harrisse in his ‘Dis- 
In this a river is 
laid down about the same locality as the Coosa 
(and Etowah) running westward marked 
with islands and towns. It is continued west- 
ward, however, to the Mississippi and was evi- 
dently drawn to correspond with Biedma’s 
statement, regardless of the fact that De Soto 
and his followers must have learned at length 
that it did not extend to the Mississippi. This 
fact, however, was overlooked by the map- 
maker. Cyrus THomas, 

J. N. B. Hewirt. 


BOTANICAL NOTES. 
THE STUDY OF PLANT MORPHOLOGY. 


Neary twenty years ago Professors Arthur, 
Barnes and Coulter published a useful book 
on the morphology of plants under the title 
of ‘Handbook of Plant Dissection.’ It in- 
cluded suggestions for studies of a dozen rep- 
resentative plants selected from all parts of 
the vegetable kingdom. These authors find- 
ing themselves unable to undertake the re- 
writing of the book for a new edition dele- 
gated the task to a younger man, Professor 
O. W. Caldwell, who brings it out under the 
new title ‘Handbook of Plant Morphology’ 


868 


(Holt & Co.). The new book follows the old 
one in plan, and to a considerable extent in 
detail also. By abridgment of the sugges- 
tions to the student (an improvement over the 
old book) the author has been able to take up 
more than twice as many plants, thus enabling 
the teacher to make a better selection where 
it is not possible to study all of them. Two 
things are emphasized in the book, namely, 
that structures of plants are related and more 
or less perfectly adapted to the two primary 
functions of nutrition and reproduction, and 
that there has been a gradual evolution of 
plants in the vegetable kingdom. The pur- 
pose of this course in plant morphology is to 
give the pupil broader views of plants and 
their structure, and in this the author has 
succeeded very well. The book should find 
place in the better class of high schools. 
There is only one serious criticism to be 
made on the book, and that is that in the 
glossary the suggestions as to the original 
meanings of the terms (given in parentheses) 
are often very misleading. In another edi- 
tion these suggestions should be wholly omit- 
ted, or the roots from which the terms are 
derived should be inserted, as was done in the 


old book. 


PLANTS OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. 


Tue vegetation of the Bahama Islands is 
lucidly sketched and discussed by Professor 
Doctor W. C. Coker in a recent paper pub- 
lished by the Geographical Society of Balti- 
more. A short history of the botanical ex- 
plorations of the islands is given, followed by 
discussions of the composition and relation- 
ships and distribution of the Bahama flora. 
Annotated lists are given of the plants of 
economic importance, including trees and 
shrubs useful for their woods or leaves (20 
species); medicinal plants (6 species); indig- 
enous fruits (10 species); cultivated fruits 
(25 species); ornamental trees (10 species). 
Twenty-five to thirty pages are given to an 
ecological discussion of the vegetation on the 
different islands, followed by a systematic list 
of all the species collected, beginning with 
slime molds (11 species), and including algae 
(50 species), fungi (22 species), lichens (40 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 544. 


species), mosses and liverworts (16 species), 
ferns (14 species) and flowering plants (423 
species)—in all 580 species. Sixteen full- 
page plates, including half-tone reproductions 
of thirty-one fine photographs, complete this 
instructive paper. 


RECENT BOTANICAL PAPERS. 


Proressor Doctor Artur finds (Bull. 103, 
Indiana Expt. Station) that smut may be 
destroyed in seed oats by the simple operation 
of sprinkling the seed with a solution of for- 
malin of a strength of one pound of the for- 
malin to fifty gallons of water, using enough 
water to make the oats moist enough ‘ to pack 
in the hand.’ It is then to be shoveled into 
a pile and covered for two hours, when it is 
ready for sowing. If preferred it may be 
spread out and dried before sowing.—C. L. 
Shear discusses the fungous diseases of the 
cranberry (Farmers’ Bull. 221, U. S. Dept. 
Agr.), namely, ‘ blast,’ ‘scald, ‘rot’? and ‘ an- 
thraenose. It is shown that these diseases 
may be controlled by a proper application of 
Bordeaux mixture.—‘ The Shade Trees of Den- 
ver’ (Bull. 96, Colorado Expt. Station), by 
Professors Paddock and Longyear, possesses 
more than local interest in that it records all 
the trees not natives of Colorado which are 
known to be growing in Denver. When it is 
remembered that the elevation of the city 
above sea level is exactly one mile, it is evi- 
dent that the conditions are very different 
from those where these exotic trees originated. 
The growing of trees under such conditions 
becomes an interesting experiment in the ac- 
climatization of plants.—The latest ‘ Contribu- 
tion’ from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard 
University (No. X XIX.) includes descriptions 
of new species of plants from the islands of 
Margarita and Coche, Venezuela, by Dr. B. L. 
Robinson. The announcement is made that 
Dr. Robinson has in preparation a flora of the 
islands.—The second part of Professor Gifford 
Pinchot’s ‘Primer of Forestry’ has recently 
appeared as Part II. of Bull. 24 of the United 
States Bureau of Forestry. This part deals 


with the practise of forestry, with work in the 


woods, and with the relation of the forest to 
the weather and the streams, and concludes 


oe 


JunE 2, 1905.) 


with a short account of forestry at home and 
abroad. It is beautifully illustrated with 
 half-tone reproductions of photographs. It 
will be very helpful to forestry students. 


Cuarues EK. Bessey. 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. 


THE HARVEY SOCIETY OF NEW YORK CITY. 


A NEW society called the Harvey Society, 
consisting of laboratory workers in New York 
City, has recently been established under the 
patronage of the New York Academy of Medi- 
cine. Its purpose is the diffusion of scientific 
knowledge in selected chapters of anatomy, 
physiology, bacteriology, pathology, pharma- 
cology and physiological and pathological 
chemistry, by means of public lecures by men 
who are workers in the subjects presented. 

Each lecture is intended to represent the 
state of modern knowledge concerning the 
topic treated and at the same time will be 
adapted for presentation before an audience 
consisting of that portion of the general med- 
ical profession who are interested in the scien- 
tific side of medicine. 

It is hoped that through these lectures the 
common interests of research workers and the 
medical profession may be profitably culti- 
vated. The fulfilment of the purposes of the 
society has been entrusted to the hands of the 
following committee: 


Graham Lusk, president, 
Simon Flexner, vice-president, 
George B. Wallace, secretary, 
Frederic 8. Lee, treasurer, 
Christian A. Herter, 

S. J. Meltzer, 

EK. K. Dunham. 


The members of the society consist of two 
classes, active and associate members. Active 
members are laboratory workers in the medical 
sciences residing in New York. Associate 
members are such persons as may be in sym- 
pathy with the objects of the society and re- 
side in New York. 

The first course of lectures will be given on 
Saturday evenings during the winter of the 
years 1905-1906 at the Academy of Medicine. 


SCIENCE. 


869 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


Tue Royal Society elected, on May 11, the 
following new fellows: John George Adami, 
professor of pathology, Montreal; William 
Arthur Bone, lecturer on chemistry, Man- 
chester; John Edward Campbell, mathematical 
lecturer, Oxford; William Henry Dines, 
meteorologist, London; Captain Arthur 
Mostyn Field, R.N., hydrographer of the 
Navy, London; Martin Onslow Forster, as- 
sistant professor of chemistry, Royal College 
of Science, London; Edwin S. Goodrich, 
demonstrator of anatomy, Oxford; Frederick 
Gowland Hopkins, reader in chemical physiol- 
ogy, Cambridge; George William Lamplugh, 
district geologist on the Geological Survey, 
Treland; Ernest William MacBride, professor 
of zoology, Montreal; Francis Wall Oliver, 
professor of botany, University College, Lon- 
don; Lieutenant-Colonel David Prain, I.M.S., 
superintendent of Royal Botanic Gardens, Cal- 
cutta; George F. C, Searle, senior demonstra- 
tor in Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge; Hon. 
Robert John Strutt, fellow of Trinity College, 
Cambridge; Edmund Taylor Whittaker, 
mathematical lecturer of Trinity College, 
Cambridge. 

Dr. Franz Boas has resigned from the 
curatorship of the anthropological department 
of the American Museum of Natural History. 
He will continue his connection with the mu- 
seum, conducting the researches and publica- 
tions of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition 
and of the East Asiatic Committee. 

Dr. Atnan McLauGuHurn has been appointed 
head surgeon of the Marine Hospital at 
Naples, in the service of the United States. 


Prorrssor JAMES H. Turts, of the Univer- 
sity of Chicago, was elected president of the 
Western Philosophical Association at the 
meeting held at the University of Nebraska on 
April 21 and 22. 

Sir Witiaim pE W. Asney, K.O.B., Mr. 
Shelford Bidwell, Lord Alverstone, Dr. Lud- 
wig Mond, Lord Rosse, Sir Thomas H. Sand- 
erson, Sir James Crichton-Browne (treasurer), 
and Sir William Crookes (hon. secretary), 
have been nominated as vice-presidents of the 
Royal Institution, London. 


870 SCIENCE. 


Tue Jacksonian prize of the Royal College 
of Surgeons of England has been presented to 
Mr. Herbert J. Paterson. 


Tue Hanbury gold medal of the Pharma- 
ceutical Society, London, has this year been 
awarded to Professor Ernst Schmidt, pro- 
fessor of pharmaceutical chemistry in the Uni- 
versity of Marburg. 

Dr. WituiAmM WELCH, professor of pathology 
at the Johns Hopkins University, sailed for 
England on May 27, to be absent until Sep- 
tember. 


Dr. Ernest W. Brown, professor of mathe- 
matics, Haverford College, will be a member 
of the official party of the British Association 
for the South African meeting. He will be 
absent from Haverford from June 15 to Oc- 
tober 30. 


Mr. A. Pirrs Morss, of the zoological de- 
partment of Wellesley College, will this sum- 
mer continue his researches on the North 
American Acridiidae. He will make a col- 
lecting tour through Alabama, Mississippi and 
Louisiana. 

Ropert KENNEDY Duncan, professor of 
chemistry in Washington and Jefferson Col- 
lege, has been granted a year’s leave of ab- 
sence in order to accept a commission from 
Harper's Magazine to spend a year in Europe 
in the study of the relations of chemistry to 
industry. Dr. Ralph Garrigue Wright will 
act as substitute during his absence. 


Proressor Hecker, who has been making 
observations for gravity in the Indian and 
Pacific oceans and at various coast stations, 
under the auspices of the International Geo- 
detic Association, returned to Berlin about the 
middle of April. It is reported that satisfac- 
tory observations were obtained by him. 


Tue degree of doctor of science in botany 
has been conferred by the University of Lon- 
don on Miss Agnes Robertson for a thesis 
entitled ‘Studies in the Morphology of TYor- 
reya Californica, Torrey,’ and other papers. 


Avr a meeting of the Royal Geographical 
Society held on May 16 a paper, entitled 
‘Exploration and Survey with the Tibet 


[N. S. Von. XXI. No. 544. 


Frontier Commission, and from Gyangtse to 
Simla via Gar-tok,’ was read by Major C. H. 
D. Ryder, R.E. Major Ryder was the officer 
in charge of the survey work carried out in 
connection with the British Mission to Lhasa, 
and for his services to geographical science 
has this year been awarded one of the society’s 
highest honors, the patron’s gold medal. 


A portrait of Dr. Thomas Young has been 
presented to the Royal Institution, London, 
by Mrs. Barton. 


Sir BernuarD SAMUELSON, F.R.S., an iron 
manufacturer who was interested in technical 
education, died on May 10, in his eighty-fifth 
year. 

LiIzUTENANT-CoLoneL L. H. L. Irsy, a Brit- 
ish ornithologist, has died at the age of sixty- 
nine years. 


THERE will be a civil service examination, 
on June 21, for the position of assistant in 
the Office of Seed and Plant Introduction, 
Department of Agriculture, at a salary of 
$1,800. 

Governor Hicerns has signed the bill incor- 
porating the Staten Island Association of 
Arts and Sciences, which thus becomes the 
successor to the Natural Science Association 
of Staten Island. The act authorizes the city 
to provide accommodation for the association 
in the new borough hall temporarily, to erect 
suitable buildings for a public library and 
museum and to contribute $10,000 annually 
for maintenance. 


Tue California legislature has made an ap- 
propriation providing for the establishment of 
a laboratory and experimental station for the 
study of plant diseases in Southern California, 
the station to be conducted under the auspices 
of the Department of Agriculture of the 
University of California. 


ARRANGEMENTS are now almost complete for 
the opening of a marine biological station at 
La Jolla, a suburb of San Diego, Cal., under 
the direction of Professor William E. Ritter, 
of the University of California. The labora- 
tory will take the place of the one that has 
been conducted by Professor Ritter during the 
past year or two at Coronado Beach. 


————EooO 


JUNE 2, 1905.] 


THE Biological Laboratory of the Bureau 
of Fisheries at Woods Hole, Mass., will open 
for the current season on or about June 15. 
Opportunities for research in the field of 
marine biology will, as usual, be furnished to 
a limited number of qualified investigators. 
Candidates for tables should send applica- 
tions at an early date to the commissioner of 
fisheries, Washington, D. C., or to the director 
of the laboratory, Dr. F. B. Sumner, College 
of the City of New York, New York, N. Y. 
Applications from those who are not already 
known at the station should be accompanied 
by proper endorsements. 

Tue Georgian Bay Biological Station will 
be open from June 5 to September 5. The 
station is a summer laboratory, established in 
1901 by the Dominion government in connec- 
tion with the Department of Marine and Fish- 
eries, for the investigation of problems in 
lacustrine biology. It is located at Go Home 
Bay, a small offshoot of the Georgian Bay, 
distant about twenty miles from the towns of 
Midland and Penetanguishene, and on the 
course of the Northern Navigation Company’s 
steamboat line connecting Penetanguishene 
and Parry Sound. There is no charge to 
those wishing to work in the laboratory. 

It is said that Mr. William Ziegler, who 
died on May 24, has provided in his will for 
the continuation of his Arctic explorations. 
It will be remembered that Mr. Anthony 
Fiala is now in the Arctie regions under Mr. 
Ziegler’s auspices. He has not been heard 
from for two years, and two relief expeditions 
have now been sent. 

Tue American Mathematical Society will 
hold its twelfth summer meeting at Williams 
College, Williamstown, Mass., on September 
7 and 8. 

THe German Mathematical Society will 
hold its annual meeting at Meran, Tyrol, from 
September 24 to 30, under the presidency of 
Professor P. Stickel, of the University at 
Kiel. 

In the spring of this year the International 
Geodetic Association set aside 80,000 Marks 
for the purpose of extending variation of 
latitude observations to the southern hemi- 


SCIENCE. 


871 


sphere. The plans of the association are 
making good progress, and it is expected that 
the astronomers who will carry on the work 
will reach the points selected in November of 
this year. One of the observatories will be 
established near Cordova, Argentine Confed- 
eration, and the other near Perth, in Australia. 


Ir was stated in the issue of Science, for 
April 21, that the New Mexico legislature had 
appropriated $6,000 for a State Geological 
Survey to be spent under the direction of the 
New Mexican School of Mines at Socorro. 
We are informed that the only reference to 
such a survey occurs in the general appropria- 
tion bill and is as follows: ‘For publication 
U. S. geological survey reports to be expended 
under the direction of the Socorro School of 


Mines, or so much thereof as may be necessary, 
$2,500.’ 


A Reuter telegram from Berlin says that 
in the course of excavations in the neighbor- 
hood of Breslau 400 graves and 150 prehistoric 
dwelling places have been brought to light. 
The oldest of the graves contained bones da- 
ting from a period previous to the Bronze Age, 
and in another grave near by were found urns 
showing that they had contained bodies in- 
terred five centuries later. The excavators 
have been able to trace the site of a village of 
the bronze age. About a dozen huts are clearly 
recognizable. A whole collection of spinning 
and weaving appliances has also been dug up. 


ConsuL-GreneraL RicHarD GUENTHER, of 
Frankfort, reports that the Associazione degli 
Industriali @ Italia, No. 61 Foro Bonaparte, 
Milan, Italy, invites inventors to compete for 
two prizes offered by it, as follows: First 
prize, $1,600 and a gold medal, for a new 
method to prevent danger which may arise 
from the contact of high tension with low 
tension wrapping at electric rotary-current 
transformers; second prize, $100 and a gold 
medal for a simple, strong, and reliable safety 
device for stopping cars running on an in- 
clined plane in case of the breaking of the 
wire cable. The device must be capable of 
adjustment to the ordinary cable roads now in 
use. 


872 


Tue Adams prize for 1906 is offered for an 
essay on ‘ The Inequalities of the Moon’s Mo- 
tion Due to the Direct Action of the Planets.’ 
The prize, which is of the value of £225, is 
open to the competition of all persons who 
have at any time been admitted to a degree in 
the University of Cambridge. 

Tue Bureau of Forestry has published a 
circular giving information regarding employ- 
ment on the national forest reserves. This 
circular explains how appointments to the 
Forest Service on the reserves are made, states 
the salaries of its members and indicates the 
knowledge and experience required of rangers 
and supervisors and the duties each must per- 
form. The future organization will include 
forest supervisors at $1,800 to $2,500 a year, 
deputy forest supervisors at $1,500 to $1,700, 
forest rangers at $1,200 to $1,400, «deputy 
forest rangers at $1,000 to $1,100 and assistant 
forest rangers at $800 to $900. The law re- 
quires that every applicant for a position in 
the Forest Service pass a civil service exam- 
Legal residence in the state or ter- 
ritory in which employment is desired is gen- 
erally necessary, since only where examina- 
tions fail to secure thoroughly satisfactory 
men are vacancies filled by the examination 
of applicants from other states. Appoint- 
ments of supervisors are made, so far as prac- 
ticable, by promotion of competent rangers or 
forest assistants. To be eligible as forest 
ranger the applicant.must be physically sound, 
accustomed to outdoor work, and know how 
to take care of himself and his horse in re- 
gions remote from settlement and supplies. 
He must know something of surveying, esti- 
mating and scaling timber, lumbering and 
the livestock business. Some of the reserves 
require a specialist in one or more of these 
lines of work. The applicant must be thor- 
oughly familiar with the region in which he 
seeks employment. The entire time of rangers 
is to be given to the service. Rangers, under 
the direction of the forest superyisor, patrol to 
prevent fire and trespass; estimate, survey 
and mark timber and supervise its cutting; 
issue mining permits, build cabins and trails, 
enforce grazing restrictions, investigate claims 
and make arrests for violation of reserve laws. 


ination. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 544. 


Forest supervisors must have all the qualifica- 
tions of rangers, combined with superior busi- 
ness and administrative ability. They deal 
with the public in all matters connected with 
the sale of timber, the control of grazing, the 
issuing of permits and the application of all 
regulations for the use and occupancy of for- 
est reserves. Knowledge of technical forestry 
is desirable, but not essential. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


Ir is announced that Harvard University 
has received an anonymous gift of $100,000 
for a museum of social ethics, and $50,000 
from Mr. Jacob H. Schiff, of New York, for 
explorations in Palestine. 


THE Ontario government has announced a 
provisional grant of $500,000 to the University 
of Toronto towards the proposed new buildings 
which, it is estimated, will cost $1,600,000. 

Tue Drapers’ Company has agreed to give 
£5,000 for a building for the department of 
agriculture at Cambridge, provided that an 
equal sum be raised by voluntary contribution. 

A. S. Mackenziz, A.B. (Dalhousie), Ph.D. 
(Johns Hopkins), professor of physics in 
Bryn Mawr College, has been appointed to the 
chair of physies-in Dalhousie College. 

Dr. J. E. Durrpen, of the University of 
Michigan, formerly curator of the museum, 
Jamaica, has been appointed professor of 
zoology, at the Rhodes University College, 
Grahamstown, Cape Colony, South Africa. 

Mr. L. R. Watpron, assistant professor in 
the department of botany and zoology of the 
North Dakota Agricultural College has lately 
resigned to accept a position of superintendent 
of the Sub-Experiment Station located at 
Dickinson. Mr. W. B. Bell of the University 
of Iowa has been elected to fill the vacancy. 


Austin Fiint Rocers, A.B. (Kansas), Ph.D. 
(Columbia), tutor in mineralogy in Columbia 
University, has been appointed assistant pro- 
fessor of mineralogy and petrography in Stan- 
ford University. 

Tue Board of Trinity College, Dublin, has 
founded a chair of education, and Mr. Edward 
P. Culverwell, fellow of Trinity College, has 
been elected to the professorship. 


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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, 


Frwpay, JUNE 9, 1905. 


CONTENTS. 


Some American Contributions to Technical 
Chemistry: Dr. Marcus BENJAMIN....... 873 
The Physiological Section of the Central 
Branch of the American Society of Natural- 
ists: PROFESSOR CHAS. W. GREENE....... 884 


Scientific Books :— 
Findlay on the Phase Rule and its Applica- 
tions: PRroressoR WiI~LDER D. BANCROFT. 
Czapek’s Biochemie der Pflanzen: DR. Rop- 
iSiiy JEL MPO eo ata dcebic DUO COE e ace OC 890 


Scientific Journals and Articles............ 892 


Societies and Academies :— 
The Michigan Academy of Science: PRro- 
Fressor F. C. NewcomBe. The Torrey Bo- 
tanical Club: L. H. Lieutuirr. The Ameri- 
can Mathematical Society: PRroressor F. 
N. CoLe 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Marine Zoology in the Hawaiian Islands: 
Proressor J. E. DuERDEN. The Greene Ex- 
ploring Expedition: Dr. E. O. Hovey. 
Newspaper Science: PROFESSOR JACQUES 
Lore. A Biographical Directory of Ameri- 
can Men of Science: PRoressor J. MCKEEN 
OPASIERESTA Tope epetete a ekt scsi iaie ot aint fas Sea, eieccte Mesenwallae 897 


Special Articles :— 


The Nomenclature of Types in Natural 
History: PROFESSOR CHARLES SCHUCHERT. 899 
The American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, Summer Meeting of Sec- 
mor Bie Ds. EO} HOVE). ./.t.)c-iclere eld «1 « 


Prize for a Method of Setting Diamonds for 
ORGY) 3 Bi Bre Oak ROO IMTOO CITE EO Ctr OIE 901 


Scientific Notes and News...........+..08. 


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


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


SOME AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO 
TECHNICAL CHEMISTRY.* 

THE inventive genius of the American 
people is universally conceded. The neces- 
sity of accomplishing things quickly, inci- 
dental to the growth of a new country, 
such as ours, has naturally led to the in- 
vention of many forms of labor-saving 
machinery, and so with improved appli- 
ances have come improved methods. The 
technical chemist is, however, less fortunate 
than his brother in the professorial chair 
whose merits are made known by his stu- 
dents, thus attracting an ever-increasing 
following to his laboratory, and perhaps 
he is also less fortunate than his associate 
who devotes himself to research work; for 
to him are given medals and honorary 
memberships which are properly the ‘blue 
ribbons’ of science; hence it is that the 
discoveries of the technical chemist, espe- 
cially where they are commercially meri- 
torious, remain too frequently unknown, 
and the profits of the improvement go to 
swell the dividends of the corporation to 
which he owes his allegiance while he re- 
ceives no public recognition. It naturally 
follows, therefore, that any summary of 
the achievements in the development of 
technical chemistry must be very incom- 
plete. 

To say when chemistry begins is not gen- 
erally possible, for its origin wanders back 
into alehemy and pharmacy on the one side 
and into physies on the other, and there are 
no sharp lines of separation among the 


* An address delivered before the Congress of 
Arts and Science, St. Louis, September, 1904. 


874 


various branches of science, for they grad- 
ually merge one into the other. In this 
country, however, we have grown to accept 
the date of the arrival of Joseph Priestley, 
June 4, 1794, as a most excellent time at 
which to begin the modern history of chem- 
istry. 

The younger Silliman’s masterly ‘Amer- 
ican Contributions to Chemistry’* gives 
me the right, therefore, to mention first 
Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford 
(1751-1814) ,+ whose studies in heat and 
fuel were as practical as they are impor- 
tant. His early knowledge of science was 
acquired from John Winthrop (1717- 
1779), who held the chair of mathematics 
and natural philoscphy at Harvard from 
1738 till his death. Of Count Rumford I 
have said elsewhere :t ‘He investigated the 
properties and management of heat, and 
the amount of it that was produced by the 
combustion of different kinds of fuel, by 
means of a calorimeter of his own inven- 
tion.’ By reconstructing the fireplace he 
so improved the methods of warming apart- 
ments and cooking food that a saving of 
fuel of almost one half was effected. He 
improved the construction of stoves, cook- 
ing ranges, coal grates and chimneys, and 
showed that the non-conducting power of 
cloth is due to the air that is enclosed in 
its fibers. Silliman well says cf him: ‘No 
writer of his time has left a nobler record 
of original power in physical science than 
Rumford.’ It will also be remembered 
that by will he provided funds ‘to teach 
by regular courses of academical and pub- 
lic lectures, accompanied by proper experi- 
ments, the utility of the physical and 

* American Chemist, V., 1874, p. 70. 

+See ‘Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, 
Count Rumford, with Notices of his Daughter,’ 
by George FE. Ellis, also ‘ Complete Works of Count 
Rumford,’ 4 Vols., published by the American 
Academy of Arts and Science (Boston, 1876). 

+‘ Cyclopxdia of American. Biography,’ V., p. 
345, article Rumford, Benjamin Thompson. Count. 


SCIENCE. 


mathematical sciences for the improvement 
of the useful arts, and for the extension of 
the industry, prosperity, happiness and 
well-being of society.’** Let me also re- 
mind you that Wolcott Gibbs, the oldest 
and now the Nestor of American chemists, 
held the Rumford chair in the Lawrence 
Scientific School of Harvard from 1863 till 
1888, during which time many of those who 
are now leaders in chemistry were students 
under him. 

The last century was only a year old 
when Robert Hare (1781-1858) commu- 
nicated his discovery of the oxyhydro- 
gen blowpipe to the Chemical Society of 
Philadelphia. This instrument held a 
foremost place for the production of arti- 
ficial heat until the recent introduction of 
the electric furnace. The application of 
the principle invented by Hare still finds 
extensive use for lighthouse illumination 
and similar purposes under the names of 
‘Drumond light’ and ‘calcium light.’ It 
is interesting to recall in this connection 
that Hare was the first to receive the Rum- 
ford medals from the Academy of Arts 
and Sciences. 

Hare was also the inventor in 1816 of a 
ealorimotor, a form of battery by which a 
large amount of heat was generated, and 
four years later he modified this apparatus, 
with which, then known as Hare’s defia- 
erator, in 1823 he first demonstrated the 
volatilization and fusion of earbon. His 
memoir on the ‘Explosiveness of Niter,’ 
which was published by the Smithsonian 
Institution in 1850, was one of the earliest 
contributions by an American to the litera- 
ture of explosives. + 

The original discovery of chloroform is 
clearly of American origin and must be 


* American Chemist, V., 1874, p. 73. 

+ ‘Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections,’ IT., 
1895. Also see the memoir of him by the elder 
Silliman in the American Journal of Science (2), 
XXVL., 1858, p. 100. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 545. 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


eredited to Samuel Guthrie (1782-1848), 
of Sacketts Harbor, N. Y., whose researches 
anticipated those of Soubeiran, Liebig and 
Dumas by nearly a year. 

A committee of the Medico-chirurgical 
Society of Edinburgh gave him the credit 
for having first published an account of 
the therapeutic effects of chloroform as a 
diffusive stimulant. Dr. Guthrie was like- 
wise the inventor of a process for the rapid 
conversion of potato starch into sugar. He 
also experimented with considerable bold- 
ness in the domain of explosives, inventing 
various fulminating compounds, which he 
developed commercially.* 

It would be an ungracious task to dis- 
cuss in this paper the much-controverted 
‘ether discussion,’ but I may say, without 
fear of doing injustice to any of the several 
claimants for the honor of the discovery 
of this important anesthetic, that Charles 
Thomas Jackson (1805-1880), said to be 
one of the foremost chemists of his time 
in this country, claimed from experiments 
made by himself during the winter of 
1841-2 in his own laboratory, that he ob- 
tained results showing ‘that a surgical op- 
eration could be performed on the patient 
under the full influence of sulphuric ether 
without giving him any pain.’ Four years 
later (in 1846) this was successfully ac- 
complished by Dr. Wiliam T. G. Morton, 
who had studied chemistry in Dr. Jack- 
son’s laboratory. The French Academy 
of Sciences decreed one of the Montyon 
prizes to Jackson for his discovery of 
etherization, and one to Morton for. his ap- 
plication of that discovery to surgical 
operations. f 


* An account of his career has been published 
in pamphlet form by his descendant, Ossian 
Guthrie. 

+ Dr. Jackson published a ‘ Manual of Etheriza- 
tion with the History of this Discovery’ (Boston, 
1861) and much interesting information is to be 
had from a ‘Report of the House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America, vindicating 


SCIENCE. 


875 


Metallurgy is little more than the appli- 
cation of chemical knowledge to the extrac- 
tion of metals from their ores, and I, there- 
fore, beg to claim for the United States 
the first commercial production of steel. 
Zerah Colburn, the well-known engineer, 
gives William Kelly (1811-1888), an iron 
master of the Suwannee furnaces of Lyon 
County, Ky., the credit for the ‘first ex- 
periments in the conversion of melted cast 
iron into malleable steel by blowing air in 
jets through the mass in fusion.’ Later, 
when Sir Henry Bessemer made efforts to 
secure the patent of the process that bears 
his name, it was decided by the U. S. Patent 
Office that William Kelly was the first in- 
ventor and entitled to the patent, which 
was promptly issued to him. In 1871, 
when application was made for a renewal 
of the patents originally issued to Besse- 
mer, Mushet and Kelly, the last was suc- 
cessful, while the claims of the first were 
rejected. * 

The successful electro-deposition of 
nickel and its commercial development are 
chiefly due to the energy of Isaac Adams 
(1836— ), a resident of Cambridge, Mass. 
He carefully studied the subject and found 
that the failure to obtain satisfactory re- 
sults was caused by the presence of nitrates 
in the nickel solutions previously used. 
His invention gave rise to prolonged litiga- 
tion, but in the end he was victorious. 
Dr. Chandler thus describes it in the fol- 


the rights of Charles T. Jackson on the Discovery 
of the Anesthetic Effect of Ether Vapor.’ The 
other side of the controversy is given in ‘ The Dis- 
covery of Modern Anesthetics: By whom it was 
made?’ by Laird W. Nevius, New York, 1894. 

* Much has been written of the claims of Kelly 
and nearly all of the leading American metal- 
lurgists agree in conceding his priority. 
and various writers in the Transactions of the 
American Institute of Mining Engineers may be 
consulted. Kelly’s own story, as he gave it to the 
present writer, appears in the Iron Age, February 
23, 1888, p. 339. 


Swank 


876 


lowing words: ‘‘The novel proposition was 
presented to the court, of a patent for not 
doing something, namely, for not permit- 
ting nitrates to find their way into the 
nickel solutions employed in nickel plating, 
-and the court held that the exclusion of 
nitrates was an essential condition of suc- 
cessful nickel plating, and that a process 
involving this condition was just as patent- 
able as a process involving any other special 
condition necessary for successful execu- 
tion, and the patent was sustained.’’* 

In passing I may mention the name of 
Joseph Wharton (1826—  ), whose experi- 
ments in producing nickel in a pure and 
malleable condition so that it could be 
worked like iron culminated in the first 
production in 1865 of malleable nickel. 

Chemistry owes a great debt of gratitude 
to the genius of Thomas Sterry Hunt 
(1826-1892) and one of his most notable 
contributions to technology is the perma- 
nent green ink which he invented in 1859 
and which is used in the printing of our 
national bank notes and from the appear- 
ance of which the well-known term of 
‘oreenback’ was derived. The Hunt and 
Douglas process for the precipitation of 
copper by iron, for a time so extensively 
used for the extraction of copper from low- 
grade ores, is an invention the credit of 
which he shares with the well-known metal- 
lurgist, James Douglas. 

The vulcanization of india rubber by 
sulphur. is the invention of Charles Good- 
year (1800-60), who was so persistent in 
his efforts as to become an object of ridi- 
cule. Indeed, he was called an india rub- 
ber maniac and was described as a ‘man 
with an india rubber coat on, india rubber 
shoes, and in his pocket an india rubber 
purse, and not a cent init.’ His invention 
consisted in mixing with the rubber a 
small quantity of sulphur, fashioning the 


* Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, 
XIX., 1900, p. 611. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXII. No. 545. 


articles from the plastic material and cur- 
ing or vulcanizing the mixture by exposure 
to the temperature of 265—-270° F.* 

Of almost equal importance was the in- 
vention of hard rubber or vuleanite, for 
which Nelson Goodyear (1811-57), a 
brother of Charles Goodyear, obtained a 
patent in 1851, claiming that the hard, 
stiff, inflexible compound could be best ob- 
tained by heating a mixture of rubber, 
sulphur, magnesia, ete., but this never be- 
came an article of commerce. In 1858 
Austin Goodyear Day (1824-89) patented 
a mixture of two parts of rubber and one 
of sulphur, which, when heated to 275- 
300° F., yielded the flexible and elastic 
product now generally known as hard 
rubber. t 


Dr. Leander Bishop has said: ‘In the 


art of modifying the curious native proper- 
ties of cautchoue and gutta percha, and of 
molding their plastic elements into a thou- 
sand forms of beauty and utility, whether 
hard or soft, smooth or corrugated, rigid 
or elastic, American ingenuity and patient 
experiment have never been excelled. t 
Exceedingly valuable to the industries of 
this country was the influence of James 
Curtis Booth (1810-88), who from 1849 
till his death was melter and refiner in the 
U.S. Mint. In 1836 he established a labo- 
ratory in Philadelphia for instruction in 
chemical analysis and chemistry applied to 
the arts, and in the course of a few years 
gathered around him nearly forty students, 
among whom were Martin H. Boyé, John 
F. Frazer, Thomas H. Garrett, Richard C. 
McCulloh and Campbell and Clarence Mor- 
fit, all of whom have achieved eminence as 
chemists. It was said of him, ‘that Mr. 


* His life has been published by Bradford K. 
Peirce with the title, ‘Trials of the Inventor,’ 
New York, 1860. 

+ American Chemist, II., 1872, p. 330. 

+‘A History of American Manufactures,’ by J. 
Leander Bishop (Philadelphia, 1860). 


June 9, 1905.] 


Booth had few, if any, superiors as a 
teacher of practical chemistry.’ From 
1836 till 1845 he held the chair of chem- 
istry applied to the arts in the Franklin 
Institute, delivering three courses of lec- 
tures extending over three years each. He 
was the author of an ‘Encyclopedia of 
Chemistry’ (Philadelphia, 1850) and with 
Campbell Morfit of a report ‘On Recent 
Improvements in the Chemical Arts,’ pub- 
lished by the Smithsonian Institution in 
1852. His appointment to the mint was 
coincident with the discovery of gold in 
California, and the new processes required 
to prepare the bullion for eéinage were 
largely of his own invention and many of 
them, to use his own words, ‘were not 
known outside the mint.’* 

It is well known that prior to 1850 and 
for some time thereafter Philadelphia was 
the acknowledged center for the manufac- 
ture of chemicals for medicinal use. To 
collect the details of the many improved 
methods for the production of these chem- 
icals would be a long and difficult task, and 
would require more space than I have at 
my command in this article. The names 
of such firms as Powers, Weightman 
and Rosengarten and Sons are readily 
recognized as those of manufacturers of 
standard chemicals. M. J. Wilbert has 
recently published a paper, entitled ‘Karly 
Chemical Manufacturers: A Contribution 
to the History and Rise of the Development 
of Chemical Industries in America,’ to 
which I must refer you for further in- 
formation concerning their growth and 
progress. T 

I am reminded in this connection that 
the name of Edward Robinson Squibb 


* A sketch of his career by Patterson Du Bois 
was presented before the American Philosophical 
Society on October 5, 1888, and has since been 
issued as a separate of eight pages. 

t Journal of the Franklin Institute, CLVII., 
1904, p. 365. 


SCIENCE. 


877 


(1819-1900) is one well worthy of deserved 
recognition among manufacturers of chem- 
icals. The ether prepared by him by 
processes of his own invention has long 
been accepted as standard. For a brief 
period during the early fifties of the last 
century Dr. Squibb was associated with J. 
Lawrence Smith (1818-83) in Louisville, 
Ky., in the commercial production of chem- 
ical reagents and of the rarer pharma- 
ceutical preparations.* It is also proper 
to add the name of the Baker and Adamson 
Chemical Company of Easton, Pa., as that 
of a corporation which has established a 
reputation for the manufacture of pure 
chemicals by processes, many of which are 
of their own devising. The success of this 
young firm is generally admitted to be due 
to Edward Hart (1854— ), who fills the 
chair of chemistry in Lafayette College. 
Eben Norton Horsford (1818-93) made 
distinet contributions to technical chem- 
istry and among these may be mentioned 
his invention of condensed milk. Accord- 
ing to Charles L. Jackson, he originally 
prepared this most valuable article of food 
for use in Dr. Kane’s Arctic expedition 
and afterwards presented the process to 
one of his assistants, who then sold it to 
Gail Borden. His name, however, is more 
commonly associated with his invention of 
a phosphatic yeast powder, the object of 
which is to return to the bread the phos- 
phates lost in bolting the flour, and ‘which, 
as is well known, form such an essential 
constituent of the food of animals. He 
also devised ‘a marvelously compact and 
light marching ration of compressed beef 
and parched wheat grits,’ which found 
some use at the time of the Civil War, and 
his name is also attached to the preparation 


* See ‘Original Researches in Mineralogy and 
Chemistry, by J. Lawrence Smith 
Ky., 1884), p. xxxviil. 


(Louisville, 


878 


of ‘acid phosphate,’ so commonly used with 
summer beverages.* 

The development of the mineral re- 
sources of our country has been due largely 
to those who from their knowledge of 
chemistry were able to recognize the com- 
mercial value of the natural deposits in the 
vicinity of their homes. This has been 
conspicuously the case with the great fer- 
tilizer industry of the south, and especially 
so in South Carolina, where the names of 
Charles Upham Shepard (1804-86) and 
St. Julien Ravenel (1819-82) are recog- 
nized as those of pioneers in that important 
branch of chemical industry. 

To quote from Silliman again, and he is 
always an acceptable authority, ‘‘No ob- 
servation or original research of Dr. Shep- 
ard has been fruitful of so much good in 
its consequences as his discovery of the 
deposits of phosphate of lime in the Eocene 
marl of South Carolina, and the distinct 
recognition of its great value for agricul- 
ture.’’{ It was Dr. Ravenal, however, 
whose experiments made it possible to 
transform these phosphate rocks into com- 
mercial fertilizers, and of him the younger 
Shepard wrote in 1882: ‘‘ Well might this 
community erect a public monument in 
honor of the man to whom preeminently 
is due the inauguration of that phosphate 
industry which has proven of such ineal- 
culable value to ourselves and others. As 
the statue of Berzelius adorns beautiful 
Stockholm, let us commemorate [similarly] 
the founder of Charleston’s greatest in- 
dustry.’’ It may be added that Dr. Rav- 
enel differed from the agricultural chemists 
of his time in devoting greater attention to 
the physiological phases of the application 
of fertilizers to plants than to the mere 


* § sketch of his career prepared by Charles L. 
Jackson appeared in the Proceedings of the Amert- 
can Academy of Arts and Sciences, XXVIII., 1903, 
p- 34. 

+ American Chemist, V., 1874, p. 96. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 545. 


chemistry of the subject; this was nat- 
urally due to his early training in medi- 
cine. * 

It would lead me too far from chemistry, 
perhaps, to discuss the work of the younger 
Shepard (1842-  ) in successfully intro- 
ducing tea culture into the United States, 
but his farm in Summerville, S. C., is a 
monument to the application of his chem- 
ical knowledge to a new industry, and well 
may his fellow-countrymen be proud of the 
results. 

It is desirable to mention at this place 
the remarkable successes achieved by a 
small band: of chemists who spent the four 
years of our Civil War in their southland. 
George ‘Washington Raines (1817-98), 
John Le Conte (1818-91), Joseph Le 
Conte (1823-91) and John William Mal- 
lett (1832- ) are among the more con- 
spicuous names that occur to me. It was 
Raines who erected at Augusta, Ga., the 
Confederate powder works, which at the 
close of the war were regarded ‘as among 
the best in the world.’t 

The Confederate government appointed 
John Le Conte to the superintendency of 
the extensive niter works established in 
Columbia, 8. C., which place he retained 
during the war.{ Joseph Le Conte, a 
younger brother, served as chemist to the 
Confederate laboratory for the manufac- 
ture of medicines in 1862-3, and also in a 
similar capacity to the niter and mining 
bureau in 1864-5. Professor Mallett was 


* Two memorial pamphlets of Dr. Ravenel have 
been published. One, entitled ‘In Memoriam, St. 
Julien Ravenel, M.D.’ (9 pp.), is a reprint of an 
editorial from the Charleston Vews and Courier of 
March 18, 1882. The other, entitled ‘Dr. St. 
Julien Ravenel,’ is a memorial published by the 
Agricultural Society of South Carolina, Charles- 
ton, S. C. (54 pp.). 

+ He published in pamphlet form a ‘ History of 
the Confederate Powder Works’ (Augusta, 1882). 

+ ‘ Biographical Memoirs,’ National Academy of 
Sciences, III., p. 369. 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


in charge of the ordnance bureau of the 
Confederate states, serving with the rank 
of colonel. He has described his experi- 
ence under the title ‘Applied Chemistry in 
the South during the Civil War,’* which 
he has delivered as a lecture before various 
chemical societies. 

A history of the manufacture of explo- 
sives in this country would carry us far 
into the past, for the oldest of the still 
existing powder mills was established in 
1802 by Eleuthere Irene Du Pont and the 
name of Du Pont is still honorably asso- 
ciated with the industry, for so recently as 
1893 two of that name received a patent 
for a smokeless powder which is now 
largely made at works near Wilmington, 
Del. 

During the years 1862-4 Robert Ogden 
Doremus (1824— ) developed the use of 
compressed granulated gunpowder, which 
was adopted by the French government. 
It was concerning this inventor that Sir 
Frederick A. Abel in 1890 in his retiring 
address before the British Association said 
that Doremus ‘had proposed the employ- 
ment in heavy guns of charges consisting 
of large pellets in prismatic form.’ Charles 
Edward Munroe (1848— ) must be ree- 
ognized as the first in the world to prepare 
a ‘smokeless powder that consisted of a 
single substance in a state of chemical 
purity.’ This explosive, which he invented 
while chemist at the U. S. Torpedo Station, 
Rhode Island, and which became known as 
the ‘naval smokeless powder,’ was referred 
to by Secretary of War Tracy in 1892 as 
presenting ‘results considerably in advance 
of those hitherto obtained in foreign coun- 
tries. ’+ 

* An abstract of this paper with the title ‘ In- 
dustrial Chemistry in the South during the Civil 
War’ is contained in the Scientific American for 
July 25, 1903. 

7 The history of the ‘Development of Smoke- 


less Powders’ was the subject of Dr. Munroe’s 
presidential address before the Washington Sec- 


SCIENCE. S79 


Of later development is the Bernadou 
powder invented by John Baptiste Berna- 
dou (1858— ), of the U. S. Navy, and 
which it is claimed has been adopted for 
use in the naval branch of the service. 

No contribution to the history of tech- 
nical chemistry in the United States would 
be complete without some reference to the 
development of coal oil and petroleum. It 
seems almost impossible to realize that 
seareely half a century ago the only use 
of petroleum was as a cure for rheumatism 
under the name of Seneca oil. The com- 
mercial exploitation of this important 
illuminant is, of course, largely due to the 
Standard Oil Company and to the expert 
chemists in their employ eredit should be 
given for the production of the many 
beautiful by-products that are now made. 
A full deseription of these with proper 
reference to the chemist to whom we are 
indebted for them would, indeed, be valu- 
able, but even for a simple enumeration 
of the products in tabular form giving 
their immediate origin I must refer you to 
the text-books on industrial chemistry.* 

One of the most interesting of these 
many compounds is vaseline, whose use in 
pharmacy is so prevalent. It was invented 
in 1870 by Robert Augustus Chesborough 
(1837— ). Charles Frederick Mabery 
(1850—. ) has been an _ indefatigable 
worker in the theoretical branch of the 
subject, especially on the composition of 
petroleum, in the study of which he has 
been aided with grants from the C. M. 
Warren Fund for Chemical Research of 
the American Academy of Arts and Sci- 
ences. Stephen Farnam Peckham (1839- 

) has been a prolific contributor to the 
literature of the technology of the subject, 


tion of the American Chemical Society in 1896. 
See Journal of the American Chemical Society, 
XVIII., 1896, p. 819. 

* See ‘A Handbook of Industrial Chemistry,’ by 
Samuel P. Sadtler (Philadelphia, 1900), p. 21. 


880 


and his report on petroleum, prepared for 
the tenth census (Washington, 1880) is 
standard authority. Another chemist who 
has studied petroleum both in the labora- 
tory and also from a commercial point of 
view as well, is Samuel Philip Sadtler 
(1847— ). His ‘Industrial Organic Chem- 
istry’ (Philadelphia, 1900) gives a very 
satisfactory survey of the subject with 
an admirable bibhography. Among the 
younger men I learn that William Cath- 
eart Day (1857— ) has sueceeded by 
carrying out operations of distillation at 
the ordinary atmospherie pressure upon 
animal and vegetable matter, both sepa- 
rately and mixed, in obtaining three dif- 
ferent materials, all of which present in 
different degrees the properties character- 
istic of asphalts.* 

An early worker in the scientific part 
of this subject was Cyrus More Warren 
(1824-91), whose original researches on the 
volatile hydrocarbons and similar bodies 
resulted in many practical applications in 
the use of coal tar and asphalt, especially 
for roofing and paving purposes. Clifford 
Richardson (1856—  ) has in recent years 
devoted much attention to the study of 
asphalt and is a recognized authority on its 
value for commercial purposes. 

I can not claim for the United States the 
invention of illuminating gas, although as 
early as 1823, its manufacture was begun 
in New York city, but the development of 
the production of a luminous water gas 
was largely accomplished in this country. 
According to excellent authority,t Thad- 

* Journal of the Franklin Institute, September, 
1899, p. 205. 

+ See a ‘Communication on the Lowe Gas Proc- 
ess, New York (May, 1876) and ‘A Communica- 
tion on the Lowe and Strong Gas Processes’ of 
later date (probably 1878) and also ‘The Chem- 
istry of Gas Lighting,’ by C. F. Chandler (Phila- 
delphia, 1876), a reprint from the American 


Chemist for January and February, 1876. There 
is also a pamphlet report on the ‘ History and 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 545. 


deus 8. C. Lowe (1832— ) built and suc- 
cessfully conducted gas works in Pheenix- 
ville, Pa., in 1874, producing a water gas 
‘far superior to that made from coal.’ Ac- 
cording to Dr. Chandler ‘there are forty 
or fifty differing forms of apparatus for 
manufacturing [water gas], but they are 
almost without exception applications of 
the invention of Thaddeus Lowe.* 

Those of us whose memories extend back 
for a quarter of a century may recall Tessie 
de Motay (1819-80), whose agreeable 
personality charmed all of those who were 
so fortunate as to meet him, and to him is 
due the production of water gas in the late 
seventies of the last century by a process 
of his own invention in New York city.t 

A much-needed substitute for ivory and 
horn that could be produced economically 
was invented in 1869 by John Wesley 
Hyatt (1837-— ) and ealled by him eellu- 
loid. It is so seldom that foreign recogni- 
tion is unqualifiedly given to our American 
inventors that I am glad of the opportunity 
to quote Thorpe,t who says, concerning 
celluloid, that it ‘is an intimate mixture of 
pyroxlin (guneotton or ecollodion) with 
camphor, first made by Hyatt of Newark, 
U.S., and obtained by adding the pyroxlin 
to melted camphor * * * and evaporat- 
ing to dryness.’ Its many applications in 
various industries are so-well known as to 
need no further mention here. 

It should not be forgotten that saccharin, 
a coal tar compound with a sweetening 


Value of Water Gas Processes’ (New York, 1864) 
by John Torrey and Carl Schultz which gives a 
brief summary of some sixty patents on the sub- 
ject. 

* Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, 
XIX., 1900, p. 613, where also excellent descrip- 
tions of both the Lowe and the Motay processes 
are to be found. 

+ See sketch of Cyprien M. Tessie de Motay by 
A. J. Rossi in the Journal of American Chemical 
Society, II., 1880, p. 305. 

£‘ Dictionary of Applied Chemistry,’ I., 1891, 
p- 449. 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


power of about five hundred times that of 
cane sugar, although now manufactured 
chiefly in Germany, was discovered in 
1879 in the laboratory of the John Hop- 
kins University by Constantin Fahlberg, a 
student under Ira Remsen (1846-—  ) and 
the Society of Chemical Industry in 1904 
erowned Remsen’s work by conferring 
upon him the medal of the society, rec- 
ognizing thus for the first time in its 
history the discoveries of an American 
chemist. 

In the domain of technical chemistry no 
American has ever achieved greater results 
than Hamilton Young Castner (1858-99), 
and the opportunity of presenting a brief 
summary of his brilliant inventions is a 
pleasure that I gladly welcome. 

His first invention was a continuous 
process for the manufacture of bone char- 
eoal, but this failed of commercial success, 
although scientifically of much interest, 
and he then turned his attention to the 
study of an improved method for the pro- 
duction of aluminum. To accomplish this 
it was necessary to produce sodium eco- 
nomically, and this he succeeded in doing 
by using carbide of iron as a reducing 
agent. When he began this now historic 
research the market price of aluminum was 
$10 a pound, and when his process was 
completed he was able to manufacture 
aluminum at about one dollar a pound. 
““This,’’ says Dr. Chandler, ‘‘revolution- 
ized the whole industry and aluminum 
could be now used for a hundred different 
purposes.’’ In his retiring address before 
the British Association in 1890 Sir Fred- 
erick A. Abel said: ‘‘The success which has 
culminated in the admirable Castner proc- 
ess constitutes one of the most interesting 
of recent illustrations of the progress made 
in technical chemistry.’”’ 

But, there were other uses for which so- 
dium could be employed, and so he invented 
a process for converting metallic sodium 


SCIENCE. 


881 


into sodium peroxide. Then came the sug- 
gestion that with cheap sodium pure cyan- 
ides could be produced, and so he modified 
his process so as to manufacture pure cyan- 
ides, especially the potassium and sodium 
eyanides, enormous quantities of which 
were used for the extraction of gold from 
low-grade ores. His active mind was ever 
busy with new solutions of chemical prob- 
lems, and subsequent to the invention of 
electrolytic processes for the reduction of 
aluminum, Castner concentrated his at- 
tention on the original methods used by Sir 
Humphry Davy and overcoming the diffi- 
culties encountered by that great chemist 
he soon devised an electric process of re- 
markable simplicity for obtaining metallic 
sodium from caustic soda by electrolysis. 
His ambition was not yet satisfied and he 
added to his triumphs a beautiful method 
for the electrolysis of common salt with the 
production of caustic soda and bleaching 
powder. Thus Castner invented ‘the first 
process which could be said to be a com- 
plete suecess; for accomplishing what 
French, German, English and American 
chemists had been working at for a hundred 
years.’ Again to quote Chandler :* ‘He 
never worked on a chemical process that 
he did not invent a better one to accom- 
plish the same result.’ 

The silver metal and the white erystals, 
pure and beautiful, the results of his many 
hours of study and research, will always 
preserve in the literature of chemistry the 
memory of him of whom it is surely not 
too much to say that he was the most 
eminent of American inventors in chemical 
technology in recent times. 

While Castner was studying the prob- 
lem of preparing aluminum by chemical 
methods Charles Martin Hall (1863-_), 


* See the ‘Unveiling of a Bronze Tablet in 
Havemeyer Hall to the Memory of Hamilton 
Young Castner, December 16, 1902, School of 
Mines Quarterly, XXV., January, 1904, p. 204. 


882 


a student in Oberlin College, conceived the 
plan of extracting aluminum by electrol- 
ysis and he found that a melted bath of 
the double fluorides of aluminum and 
metals more electro-positive than alumi- 
num, such as sodium or calcium, was a per- 
feet solvent for alumina, and from such a 
solution he was able to separate the alumi- 
num by means of the electric current. It 
is by this process that all of the aluminum 
of ecommerce is produced to-day. 

Moissan, whose extended researches with 
the electric furnace have made his name 
justly famous, writes: ‘ The discovery of 
erystalline carbon silicide belongs to 
Acheson.’* This remarkable abrasive, pre- 
pared by heating a mixture of silica, coke, 
alumina and sodium chloride in an electric 
furnace, was invented in 1890 by Edward 
Goodrich Acheson (1856—  ) while experi- 
menting for the artificial production of 
diamonds, and is one of the many beautiful 
products obtained at Niagara Falls, where 
quite a number of chemical manufacturers 
have established their plants in order to 
take advantage of the power obtained from 
the great waterfall. Mr. Acheson has also 
succeeded in preparing artificial graphite 
as a by-product in the manufacture of the 
earborundum, and he claims that it is the 
result of the decomposition of the carbide 
formed in that process. t 

Although the existence of caleium ear- 
bide has been recognized ever since its orig- 
inal production in 1857 by Edmund Davy, 
Wohler and Berthelot, it was not until 
May, 1892, that its commercial production 
became known in consequence of its chance 
discovery by Thomas Leopold Willson 
(1860—  ) while experimenting in Spray, 
N. C. He obtained it by the fusion and 
reduction in an electric furnace of a mix- 
ture of finely powdered and intimately 

** The Electric Furnace’ (Kaston, 1904), p. 273. 

+ Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, 
XITX., 1900, p. 609. 


SCIENCE. [N.S. 


VoL. XXT. No. 545. 
mixed lime and coke. When it comes in 
contact with water decomposition ensues 
with the production of acetylene gas, an 
illuminant of remarkable power. This 
valuable compound is also manufactured 
at Niagara Falls. 

Another valuable application of the high 
temperatures obtained by the electric fur- 
nace to substances from which the extrac- 
tion of the metal was formerly considered 
impossible is the method patented in No- 
vember, 1903, by Frank Jerome Tone 
(1868— ), of Niagara Falls, N. Y., for 
obtaining metallic silicon by reducing silica 
with carbon in an electric furnace of his 
own construction. 

Of great value is the elaborate bulletin* 
on ‘Chemicals and Allied Products’ pre- 
pared for the twelfth census by Charles 
Edward Munroe, already mentioned, and 
Thomas Mareau Chatard (1848— ). The 
industries discussed are grouped into nine- 
teen classes and with each the discussion is 
introduced by a history of the development 
of the manufacture in the United States, 
and at the close is a brief bibliography. 
The volume includes a digest of United 
States patents relating to the chemical in- 
dustries. 

Worthy of the most distinguished con- 
sideration is the career of Charles Frederick 
Chandler (1836-  ). This eminent chem- 
ist has since 1864 taught the technical 
chemistry in the Schools of Science in Co- 
lumbia University and no record of the 
development of chemistry applied to the 
arts in the United States would be com- 
plete without mention of his work. It is 
true that no great invention bears his name, 
but he has achieved results greater than in- 
ventions, for he has educated chemists, and 
vet even more than that as we shall see. 
Go where you will and you will find busy 
workers in science who have learned from 


* Census Bulletin, No. 210. 
Washington, June 25, 1902. 


Quarto, 306 pp. 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


Chandler something of that splendid power 
of applying chemical methods to the sub- 
ject at hand which has long since gained 
for him the reputation of being the fore- 
most authority on technical chemistry in 
the United States. Wherever gold or 
silver is determined, the little assay ton 
weights—their conception was a stroke of 
genius—claim him as their inventor. The 
brilliant series of articles on technical 
chemistry—the best in the English lan- 
guage—that appeared in Johnson’s Cyclo- 
pedia were written by him. The first 
museum of applied chemistry in the 
United States where the crude material 
may be studied in its course of develop- 
ment to a finished product was established 
by him. Masterly, mdeed, are the prac- 
tical contributions to chemistry which 
marked the years during which he had 
charge of the public health in New York 
city. It resulted in enormous benefits to 
the community, and in 1883 it was well 
said: ‘There is no other city in the world 
which has so complete a sanitary organiza- 
tion as New York’; for all of which credit 
is due to Chandler.* In 1889 he was 
chosen president of the Society of Chemical 
Industry, the first American upon whom 
that honor was conferred, and a year later, 
on June 18, 1900, in the lecture theatre of 
the Royal Institution founded by Count 
Rumford, to whom reference has already 
been made, he delivered his presidential 
address on ‘Chemistry in America,’ in the 
course of which he elaborated most fully 
the achievements of those who have distin- 
guished themselves in that branch of sci- 
ence in the United States.t+ 

* See the sketch of Charles Frederick Chandler 
by the present writer in the Scientific American, 
LVIL, July 16, 1887, p. 39, and ‘ President 
Chandler and the New York City Health Depart- 
ment, 1866-1883,’ in the Sanitary Engineer, May 
17, 1883. 

+ Journal of Society 
XTX., 1900, p. 591. 


of Chemical Industry, 


SCIENCE. 


883 


It is worth while, I think, to mention 
very briefly three branches of our national 
government that have had much to do with 
the development of chemical technology in 
this country. The first of these and also 
the oldest, for it celebrated its centenary 
in 1891, is the patent office,* where invent- 
ors receive the protection of the govern- 
ment for their discoveries. By thus ree- 
ognizing worthy inventions a_ valuable 
stimulus is given to invention which has 
not been without value to the community. 
Of exceptional interest to chemists is the 
system of indexing chemical literature now 
in use in the elassification division of the 
patent office. t 

I will also call your attention to the ex- 
eellent work done in the Division of Min- 
eral Resources in the U. S. Geological Sur- 
vey, where under the efficient direction of 
David Talbot Day (1859-  ) valuable in- 
formation and statistics are gathered con- 
native minerals and ores from 
which are obtained the products of so 
many of the leading chemical processes. 

Finally the bureau of chemistry of the 
Department of Agriculture has been a 
potent factor in the development of chem- 
ical industries. It was this bureau that 
first called the attention of the public to 
the possibility of establishing the beet 
sugar industry in the United States. Asa 
result of the investigations carried on by 
chemists in this branch of the government 
service the average yield of cane sugar to 


cerning 


1891: Pro- 
(Washington, 


** Patent Centennial Celebration, 
ceedings and Addresses,’ 554 pp. 
1892). 

+ See ‘On a System of Indexing Chemical Lit- 
erature; Adopted by the Classification Division 
of the United States Patent Office, by E. C. Hill, 
Journal of the American Chemical Society, XXII., 
1900, pp. 478-498; also Scientific American, 
LXX XVI, June 14; 1902; p: 411. 

+ Beginning with the year 1882, annual volumes 
of the Mineral Resources of the United States have 
been published. 


884 


the ton in the state of Louisiana has been 
inereased from 130 pounds to 170 pounds. 
In the examination of road materials im- 
portant contributions to technical chem- 
istry have been made by this bureau. The 
valuable studies on the dietetic value of 
foods and on their adulterations, conducted 
under the direction of Dr. Harvey Wash- 
ington Wiley (1847— ) have not only 
done much towards ereating a demand for 
the enactment of national legislation for 
pure food, but they have also been praise- 
worthy contributions to the application of 
chemistry to sanitation. This bureau also 
should receive recognition for its fostering 
influence over the Association of Official 
Agricultural Chemists, an organization 
which has done so much to secure uniform 
methods of analysis of fertilizers and of 
foods.* 

To Henry Carrington Bolton (18438- 
1903) is due the credit for the series of 
bibhographies of the literature of the chem- 
ical elements that have been published by 
the Smithsonian Institution. His own 
memory will always be worthily preserved 
by the splendid ‘Bibliography of Chem- 
istry’ in four octavo volumes, an important 
section of each of which is devoted to tech- 
nical chemistry. 


The records of the past give abundant 
hope for the future. 

Marcus BENJAMIN. 

U. 8. Nationa MusEuM. 

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL SECTION OF THE 
CENTRAL BRANCH OF THE AMERICAN 
SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS. 

A PHYSIOLOGICAL section of the Central 
Branch of the American Society of Nat- 
uralists was organized and held enthusi- 
astie meetings on March 31 and April 1 
* The literature issued by the Bureau of Chem- 
istry is large and includes nearly one hundred im- 
portant bulletins and many minor circulars and 

leaflets. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 545. 


during the recent meeting at Chicago. The 
sectional meeting was ealled to order in 
the Hull Physiological Laboratory and Pro- 
fessor G. N. Stewart was chosen chairman. 
The following papers were presented: 


Changes in the Percentage of Water in the 
Central Nervous System of the White 
Rat between Birth and Maturity: H. 
H. Dona.pson. 

Between birth and one year of age the 
percentage of water in the brain of the 
white rat falls from approximately 89 per 
cent. to 77 per cent., and in the spinal cord 
from 86 per cent. to 69 per cent. 

In the brain the rapid decrease occurs 
during the first seventy days of life, while 
in the cord this period is somewhat more 
prolonged. 

Taking the converse change of increase 
in solids, it is found that in both the brain 
and the cord the solids increase more 
rapidly than does the weight of the organ, 
a relation probably dependent on the proe- 
ess of medullation. 

In general, the percentage of water in 
the central nervous system is very closely 
correlated with the age of the animal, and 
almost independent of its absolute body 
weight. 


On the Presence of a Sulphur Compound 
in Nerve Tissues: WALDEMAR Kocu. 
Kossel first called attention to the fact, 

later confirmed by Cramer, that all prepa- 

rations of protagon contained sulphur. 

Thudichum isolated an impure barium salt 

containing four. per cent. of sulphur, which 

he classed as a cerebrosulphatid. 

A comparison of the organically com- 
bined sulphur (not proteid sulphur) pres- 
ent in various tissues gives the following 
result expressed in parts per million: 
Spinal cord, 1,029; liver, 470; striated 
muscle, 310; testicle, 209; submaxillary 
gland, 135. These figures point very 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


strongly to a sulphur metabolism in the 
nervous system, as even the liver, which is 
supposed to play such an important role in 
sulphur metabolism, contains only half as 
much as the spinal cord. Results indicate 
that the sulphur compound or compounds 
exist in the nervous system partly com- 
bined and partly free; in the liver they are 
not combined. Attempts to. isolate and 
purify for analysis a compound containing 
sulphur have so far been only partially 
successful on account of the extremely poor 
yields. A barium salt was obtained, re- 
sembling Thudichum’s compound, but con- 
taining more nitrogen. With regard to 
solubility and chemical reactions the com- 
pound agrees best with Cloetta’s uroproteic 
acid. My barium salt contains, however, 
twice as much sulphur as Cloetta found, 
and, besides, a very considerable amount 
of phosphorus, which either represents an 
impurity in every case or was present in 
Cloetta compound also, but not detected by 
him. My compound ealeculated as the free 
acid gives approximately the following 
formula, C,,H,.,.N,.S.P0,,, as compared 
with Cloetta’s C,,H,,,.N..80;,+ nH,0. 
The investigation will be continued as soon 
as more material is available. 


The Excretion of Nitrogen by the White 
Rat According to Weight and Age: 
SHINKISHI HArTat. 

A cage for collecting urine and feces 
separately was especially constructed for 
the present work. The animals were kept 
for three days in the cage and were fed 
exclusively with Uneeda biscuit and water. 
From the observations on 89 rats, which 
ranged from 32 grams up to 382 grams, 
the following results were obtained: 

1. The total amount of urine increases 
with the body weight up to 120 grams, then 
decreases very decidedly. From 180 grams 
it again ascends up to 220 grams, where it 
remains rather constant. 


SCIENCE. 


885 


2. The total amount of nitrogen is quite 
independent of the amount of urine. It 
increases constantly and continuously as 
the animals grow in weight. When the 
total amount of nitrogen is plotted on base 
line according to the body weight the curve 
thus obtained presents an approximately 
straight line. On the other hand, the curve 
on base line according to age presents a 
distinct period of rapid rise up to some- 
where between 200 grams to 240 grams. 

3. About 91 per cent. of the total nitro- 
gen in the case of the young and 89 per 
cent. in the larger represent the urinary 
nitrogen. 

4. The total amount of nitrogen elim- 
inated by rats of different weights during 
24 hours can be determined with a high 
degree of accuracy by the formula 


233 + log B. W. K 3 
4 


log N — 


where N= total nitrogen in milligrams 
and B. W.= body weight in grams. 


Further Evidence of the Fluidity of the 
Conducting Substance in Nerves: A. J. 
CARLSON. 

The pedal nerves of gasteropods (Ario- 
limax) and the ventral nerve-cord of 
worms (Bispira) have relatively great elas- 
ticity and may be stretched to nearly twice 
their shortest length without impairing 
their function or altering their condition 
sufficiently to cause stimulation. This 
stretching does not affect the intensity of 
the impulse conducted through the nerves, 
as shown by the muscular response. But 
the time required for the impulse to travel 
through the nerve increases in proportion 
to the degree of stretching of the nerve in 
such way that delay in time is directly 
compensated by the additional length of 
the nerve in the stretched condition, so that 
the actual rate of propagation of the 
nervous impulse remains the same in the 


886 


stretched and the relaxed nerve or nerve- 
cord. The increase in the transmission- 
time shows that the stretching is not merely 
a straightening out of kinks or folds in the 
nerve-fibers. The conducting substance 
must be actually extended. But this ex- 
tension of the conducting substance is ef- 
fected without inducing any changes of 
stress or tension in it, because the process 
(nervous impulse) conducted by it is not 
altered. Such an extension of conducting 
substance can be effected only in case it is 
in a fluid condition. 


The Antagonistic Action of Calcium: to 
Barium, and of Calcium and Barium to 
Veratrin, on the Mammalian Heart: S. 
A. MATTHEWS. 

Calcium salts and barium salts show the 
same antagonism as regards the mammalian 
heart as Sydney Ringer observed on the 
heart of the frog. Further, both calcium 
and barium are antagonistic to veratrin. 
Barium shows a greater antagonism to 
veratrin than calcium, but owing to the 
marked poisonous properties of barium in 
sufficient doses to counteract the veratrin 
effects, calcium is necessary to check in 
part the barium effects, and the antago- 
nism to veratrin is more complete if a solu- 
tion of m/2,000 BaCl, made up in an m/8 
CaCl, solution be injected. This also cor- 
roborates Ringer’s results on the frog’s 
heart. 


Determination of Freezing Point of Small 
Quantities of Liquid, Especially for 
Clinical Purposes: T. M. Wiuson. 

Dr. G. N. Stewart suggested that it 
would be worth while to investigate 
whether by using a small tube and adding 
to a small quantity of a solution whose 
freezing point was to be determined a 
quantity of a liquid which does not exert 
osmotic pressure (clean mercury, e. g.) suf- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 545. 


ficiently large to insure complete immersion 
of the thermometer bulb, fairly satisfactory 
readings might not be obtained. By per- 
forming all the manipulations in a definite 
way, and, in particular, keeping the degree 
of underecooling about the same in succes- 
sive observations, it was found that this 
was the case. Comparison of the results 
obtained on a standard salt solution by this 
method and by the ordinary method showed 
that readings reliable to the hundredth of a 
degree centigrade could be got with as little 
as 0.3 «ce. of solution. The determinations 
are, of course, less accurate than those 
made with 10 or 15 ¢c., but the method 
will, it is hoped, permit the approximate 
measurement of the freezing point of such 
quantities of blood or serum or of the rarer 
animal liquids as are easily available for 
clinical purposes, without diluting with 
water or salt solution, a procedure to which 
there are weighty objections. 


Preliminary Report on an Attempt to De- 
termine the Oxidizing Coefficients of Dif- 
ferent Tissues: H. McGuigan. 

The tissues of the body are known to 
differ in their oxidizing powers. The at- 
tempt was made to express the comparative 
oxidizing powers of the more common 
sugars in terms of electro-chemical units, 
with the hope of getting data from which 
to compute the voltage necessary to relieve 
the enzymes of their charges and thus in- 
directly obtain their oxidizing powers (see 
A. P. Mathews, Am. Jour. Physiol., Vol. 
X., p. 450). Comparative figures were ob- 
tained for lactose, maltose, glucose, galac- 
tose and levulose. 

Neutral copper acetate will oxidize all of 
the above sugars in the order given, lactose 
being the most difficult. The addition of 
known quantities of acetic acid will pre- 
vent the oxidation. The volume of the 
acid sufficient to do this differs for each cf 
the sugars, increasing from lactose to levu- 


| 
| 
| 
: 
; 
: 
| 
) 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


lose in the order given above. The con- 
stants were taken from the formula: 


1 
Cu acetate: *v— 
a 


ag 


: on WO 
v. acetic acid - - R 
| 


where v is the dilution, a the percentage of 
copper hydrate at 100° C., and 6 the per- 
centage of ionized acetic acid. The follow- 
ing values of AK were obtained: 


WEVMIOSE Pee Vedieinshe tes oars oa 0.0276 
CHIACIORG Bee toe chime cca ener ene 0.0185 
(GM COSCMR ST. rence ership sts ox toys bats 0.0176 
INIT OSG we tin creu tes eisrs steele d wate © 0.0096 
NA CLOSC) ae asus fetch sicisceusletctssceiecc’e) © sai'e% 0.0078 


If we determine K for Barfoed’s reagent 
in the same way, considering that in the 
use of it we would dilute it about one half, 
we get 0.0130. This places it between the 
mono- and disaccharides, where it should 
be theoretically. 


Artificial Production of Heart Rhythm: 

Davin J. LINGLE. 

Physiologists believe rhythmic activity 
can be revived in heart muscle by electrical, 
mechanical and chemical agencies. These 
ideas are based on work done by experi- 
menters who ignored the role of salt solu- 
tions in producing rhythms and used a 
_ sodium chloride solution to hold or moisten 
a heart strip when testing the power of an 
agent to make it beat. As a sodium chlo- 
ride solution of itself has this power, a re- 
sult obtained under these conditions is un- 
satisfactory because the agent tested has 
been made to act with another capable of 
producing the result. 

The inference, from work of this kind, 
that a constant current is a rhythm pro- 
ducer, is not correct. Because when the 
same constant current is made to pass 
through two similar strips from the same 
heart, one in a moist chamber, the other in 
air, a rhythm appears only in the latter, 
which is moistened with NaCl solution, to 


SCIENCE. 


a) 


87 


prevent drying. The other strip with the 
same current, but without the NaCl solu- 
tion, remains quiet. (In this experiment 
the non-polarizable electrodes should be 
moistened with .LiCl solution, otherwise 
they may hold enough NaCl to start a 
rhythm. ) 

The same is true of strips treated with 
induction shocks, either slowly repeated or 
tetanizing. With a NaCl solution they 
start rhythms, but without it they do not. 
Mechanical tension, either constant or in- 
termittent, will cause rhythms if the sus- 
pended strips are moistened with a NaCl 
solution, but it fails without this. It would 
seem, then, that the rhythm-producing 
power of electrical and mechanical agents 
of this kind is due entirely to the NaCl 
solution used along with them. 

No work along this line has been done to 
test the powers of the various chemical 
agents. But as most of these have been 
used with a solution of NaCl, it will be 
found, in all probability, that they are not 
exceptions. Most of them are simply com- 
pounds that do not interfere with the ac- 
tion of the NaCl used with them, rather 
than real rhythm producers. 


Experiments on Resuscitation: C. C. 
JUTHRIE and G. N. STEWART. 
Kuhabko’s work on resuscitation of the 

excised mammalian heart after a long in- 

terval led us to undertake resuscitation 
experiments in entire animals. These were 

begun in the autumn of 1902. 

After five to fifteen minutes’ complete 
stoppage of the heart (determined by in- 
spection) by asphyxia, drowning, ether, 
chloroform or electrical currents, in many 
cases an efficient circulation was reestab- 
lished. A combination of artificial respi- 
ration, heart massage, occlusion of the 
aorta and arterial injection of defibrinated 
blood gave the best results. 

Disappearance of the pulse as deter- 


888 


mined by palpation or by the manometer 
curve does not coincide with complete stop- 
page of the heart. We saw restoration up 
to forty-four minutes after the pulse ceased 
to be felt. Doubtless the period of com- 
plete stoppage was shorter. 

Before proceeding further it seemed ad- 
visable to determine the limit after which 
resuscitation is possible in particular or- 
gans and tissues, especially in the brain 
and cord. In eats the chest was opened 
and the innominate and left subclavian 
arteries, and the aorta immediately below 
the origin of the left subclavian, were 
clamped. Artificial respiration was main- 
tained. The heart continued beating well 
for a considerable time. The reflexes dis- 
appeared usually in ten to thirty-five sec- 
onds, the respiration about the same time, 
a few gasps following for a minute or two 
more. The innominate and left subclavian 
were released after varying intervals, the 
aorta remaining clamped. The functions 
of the anterior part of the animal (in- 
eluding the brain and cervical cord) re- 
turned after an interval which was longer 
the greater the period of occlusion, but de- 
pendent also on the efficiency of the cir- 
culation. The longest interval after which 
complete restoration (ineluding voluntary 
movements, eye reflexes, etc.) has been 
hitherto obtained is twenty-five and a half 
minutes. After a fifty minutes’ occlusion* 
excellent respiratory movements returned, 
together with strong reflex movements of 
the fore limbs, including good crossed re- 
flexes, jaw reflexes and violent general 
spasms of the whole anterior part of the 
animal. The eye reflexes were not restored 
nor were we certain that any voluntary 
movements returned. 

The symptoms appear in a fairly definite 
order: (1) some constriction of the pupil; 
(2) twitching of skin over shoulders, on 


* This experiment was performed after the pres- 
entation of our paper. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 545. 


lower jaw or head or in the tongue; (3) 
gasping movements of jaws rapidly in- 
creasing in intensity and rate, and soon in- 
volving neck, shoulders, chest and fore 
limbs; (4) eyelid, light, and fore limb re- 
flexes, the latter first confined to the limb 
struck, but later crossed. The reflex ex- 
citability of the anterior portion of the 
cord is abnormally great; (5) extensor 
spasms of fore limbs, neck and head 
(usually opisthotonus); (6) voluntary 
movements of head, eyes and limbs. 

We do not know whether animals after 
such a long period permanently survive. 
A cat in which all symptoms of complete 
anemia of the anterior part of the body 
were present for five minutes after occlud- 
ing the innominate and left subclavian 
arteries, artificial respiration being kept up 
through a tube inserted through the glottis, 
recovered completely, although the extensor 


spasms after the anesthesia had passed off — 


were marked. Another cat after ten min- 
utes’ complete anemia had severe spasms 
and croupy respiration for some hours. 
The spasms and dyspnea do not depend on 
any lack of oxygen in the blood, shown by 
the appearance of the gums, tongue, etc., 
and they are not relieved by oxygen in- 
halation. This animal rapidly recovered, 
showing only some paralysis of the right 
limbs, which gradually improved. 

Some preliminary experiments have been 
made on the maintenance of an artificial 
circulation through the isolated head with 
the view, among other points, of ultimately 
investigating the question of cerebral vaso- 
motors. In one case the eye reflexes were 
still obtained with artificial circulation of 


defibrinated blood after about nine min- 


utes. As the blood had been kept in the 
ice box for twenty-four hours after being 
used for a previous experiment, and as this 
was one of our earlier. experiments, there 
is no doubt that a much better result can 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


‘be got. Defibrinated blood was found to 
be better than Locke’s solution. 


The Nature of Cardiac Inhibition, with 
Special Reference to the Heart of Lim- 
ulus: A. J. CARLSON. 

It is commonly believed to-day that the 
eardio-inhibitory nerve-fibers act directly 
on the heart muscle. This view is a corol- 
lary of the myogenic theory of the nature 
of the heart-beat. In Limulus the heart 
beat is neurogenic. The cardio-inhibitory 
nerves act on the local heart ganglion in a 
way to stop or diminish its activity and do 
not act directly on the heart muscle. This 
conclusion rests on the following evidence: 
(1) stimulation of the nerves that pass from 
the cardiac ganglion to the heart muscle 
produces motor and not inhibitory effects; 
(2) the diminution of the excitability of 
the heart during complete inhibition is the 
same as after extirpation of the heart 
ganglion; total inhibition thus amounts to 
throwing the ganglion out of function; (3) 
atropin paralyzes the cardio-inhibitory 
nerves only in case it comes in contact with 
the heart ganglion, but not if it comes in 
contact with the heart muscle and the 
nerves passing from the ganglion to the 
heart muscle. 

Weber’s theory of the nature of the 
cardiac inhibition is thus shown to be true 
for the Limulus heart. Stimulation of 
eardio-inhibitory nerves in Limulus pro- 
duces the same effects as those produced in 
the vertebrate heart by stimulation of the 
vagi. The mechanism of eardiae inhibition 
in vertebrates probably does not differ 
from that in Limulus, as all the changes 
produced in the heart by the stimulation of 
the vagi can be accounted for on Weber’s 
theory. Cardiac inhibition is, therefore, to 
be referred to the category of inhibitory 
processes known to take place in the central 
nervous system, that is, the inhibition of 
one neural process by another. 


SCIENCE. 


889 


Effects of Simultaneous Section of Both 
Vagi above the Origin of the Recurrent 
Laryngeal: G. N. STEWART. 

1. At the Madrid International Congress 
of Medicine (April, 1903) Ocafia showed a 
dog which, ten weeks after this operation, 
was in perfect health. It remained so for 
more than six months. He supposes that 
this was the first instance of such a result. 
In November, 1900,* however I described 
similar cases. In February, 1897, a dog 
was operated on, which lived in excellent 
health for many months. An account of 
this animal was sent on March 31, 1897, to 
a friend for insertion in an eastern medical 
journal, but was not considered suitable. 
At the autopsy I found the two portions of 
the left vagus still separated by a wide in- 
terval. In the right vagus such perfect 
union had taken place that only a fine 
linear scar remained, barely visible to the 
eye, but easily recognizable with the aid of 
a hand lens, and still better on microseop- 
ical examination of longitudinal sections. 
Such instances of perfect recovery and long 
survival are quite rare, at least in this 
climate (two, or at most three, cases out of 
sixty dogs, in my experience). Whether 
they are to be explained by some anomaly 
in the distribution of vagus fibers, or by 
some happy ‘conjunction of circumstances,’ 
which enables the animal to survive the 
eritical period, or, what seems less lkely, 
by an abnormally rapid regeneration or 
partial regeneration of one of the nerves, 
must be left undecided. 

2. In all dogs (including these excep- 
tional cases) after double vagotomy the 
ratio, pulse rate to respiratory rate is much 
increased (before operation, 3:1 to 5:1; 
after operation, 9:1 to 40:1). If the ani- 
mals live for more than a few days the ratio 
tends to diminish somewhat through slow- 
ing of the pulse. The rate of respiration, 


** American Yearbook of Medicine, 1901, p. 
548. 


890 SCIENCE. 


except in the anomalous animals that sur- 
vive indefinitely, shows remarkable con- 
staney even in dogs which live several 
weeks. Thus, after double vagotomy, a 
regulation of the heart rate is again deyel- 
oped which tends to bring it back towards 
the normal, while in the ease of the respira- 
tion, such a tendency, if it exists, is much 
feebler. In the exceptional animals the 
ratio shows a marked tendeney, even in the 
first few days, to return towards normal, 
both by a diminution in the pulse rate and 
by an increase in the rate of respiration. 

3. After section of the whole of one 
vagus and about half of the other, the re- 
maining vagus fibers are sufficient to keep 
the rate of the heart and respiration almost 
normal. With how small a proportion of 
vagus fibers intact, dogs (apart from the 
anomalous cases mentioned) will survive, 
remains to be determined, although it has 
been found that artificial stimulation of 
a comparatively small number of fibers 
causes the usual effects on the heart and 
respiration. 


The Influence of the Blood Pressure and of 
Atropin and Nicotin on Experimental 
Glycosuria: J. J. R. MacLrop and D. H. 
Douuey. (Preliminary communication. ) 
The glycosuria which follows puncture 

of the floor of the fourth ventricle in rab- 
bits can be inhibited by the administration 
of nicotine. This may act either by par- 
alyzing the synapses of the centrifugal 
fibers from the so-called glycosurie center 
as they pass through the upper thoracic 
sympathetic ganglia, or be due to a fall in 
blood pressure. 

By applying nicotin directly to these 
ganglia the glycosuria produced by stim- 
ulation of the central end of the vagus is 
also inhibited, but the marked fall in blood 
pressure which follows the operation neces- 
sary for exposing the ganglia, and not the 


effect of the drug on the synapses, may be 
the cause of the inhibition. 

In dogs a fall of blood pressure to 40 
mm.—produced by hemorrhage—causes the 
glycosuria produced by stimulation of the 
central ends of the vagi to disappear. 

The injection of nicotin into dogs or rab- 
bits rendered glycosuric by vagal or de- 
plessor stimulation does not, as a rule, have 
any influence in the amount of sugar in the 
urine. 

Atropin has no constant effect either on 
puncture glycosuria or on that due to stim- 
ulation of the vagus or cardiac depressor. 
Sometimes it causes the amount of sugar in 
the urine to diminish markedly, at other 
times it has no effect. No explanation can 
be offered for this result. 

Cuas. W. GREENE, 
Secretary. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


The Phase Rule and Its Applications. By 
Avex. Finptay. With an Introduction to 
the Study of Physical Chemistry by Wit- 
LIAM Ramsay. 13x18 cm.; pp. lxiv+ 313. 
New York, Longmans, Green and Co. 1904. 
Price, $1.60. 

While physical chemistry in a certain sense 
is as old as physics or chemistry, the appear- 
ance of Ostwald’s ‘ Lehrbuch der allgemeinen 
Chemie’ some twenty years ago really marks 
the beginning of a new era. Since that time 
physical chemistry has developed along two 
quite distinct lines. Van’t Hoff brought for- 
ward the osmotic pressure theory of solution 
and Arrhenius the theory of electrolytic dis- 
sociation, the two resulting in what may be 
called the quantitative theory of dilute solu- 
tions. Most chemists are fairly familiar with 
the development of this theory. Not so many 
people have interested themselves in the second 
line of work. Roozeboom felt the need of a 
basis of classification for the numerous double 
salts and compounds which are met with in 
inorganic chemistry. He found this in the 
phase rule of J. Willard Gibbs and he has 
developed it until it is now seen to be the one 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 545. 


SS ee eS 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


pcssible general basis of classification for all 
chemical phenomena. Its results are purely 
qualitative, but they are absolute. 

There has been a feeling that there was 
something antagonistic between the qualita- 
tive classification of equilibria and the quan- 
titative study of equilibria. When put in this 
way, the feeling is seen to be absurd, since the 
two things supplement each other. It is only 
by combining the two that we can hope to 
attain to a quantitative theory of all chemical 
phenomena. 

Mr. Findlay gives a very clear and ele- 
mentary statement of the phase rule and its 
applications. The book can be recommended 
most heartily. There are a few mistakes here 
and there, but they are not of serious impor- 
tance. We have here a most satisfactory in- 
troduction to the phase rule. It should not 
be forgotten that the phase rule is valuable 
in two ways, as a basis of classification and 
as an instrument of research. It is only the 
first aspect which has been considered in this 
volume. This is quite right and proper; but 
it is as an instrument of research that the 
phase rule is to come more and more prom- 
inently to the front in the next decade. The 
time has not yet come when a book can be 
written on this; but such a book will be neces- 
sary before very long, and it is to be hoped 
that Mr. Findlay may see his way clear to 


writing it. 
2 Wiper D. Bancrort. 


CZAPEK’S BIOCHEMIE DER PFLANZEN, VOL. I. 


One of the most unsatisfactory chapters on 
the subject of plant physiology is that relating 
to the chemical nature of plant substances 
and the reactions involved in their production 
and utilization. This situation has been due, 
not only to the intrinsic difficulties of the 
problems involved, but also to the unsatisfac- 
tory condition of the literature on the subject. 
While the handbook of Pfeffer has given the 
latitude and longitude of these problems to 
the student undertaking a serious study of the 
chemical aspect of plant physiology, the more 
detailed account of this phase of the science 
prepared by Ozapek will be a most highly ap- 
preciated resource. 


SCIENCE. 


891 


The first volume of the work under discus- 
sion reveals the scope of the undertaking. 
The preface indicates that the author has not 
proposed to write a text-book introducing the 
beginner to the subject, but rather to prepare 
a reference work which shall aid the more 
advanced investigator to use conveniently the 
work of his predecessors. This object has been 
most successfully accomplished, and no stu- 
dent of plant physiology can afford to miss 
this book from his list of immediately avail- 
able helps. 

Czapek’s services have not been enumerated, 
however, when the results of his wide reading 
and patient summarizing have been recognized, 
since the work in question is vastly more than 
a mere compilation. In these days when the 
democratic spirit of science opens the door of 
public expression to men of all ranks of 
scholarship, the task of discriminating accu- 
rately the raw from the ripe and the hasty 
from the well wrought is not always readily 
accomplished, and a proper sorting of the ma- 
terial at hand by one so well qualified is a 
genuine service to science. 

Then, again, in this eager time when so 
many men are straining to get the first 
glimpse of the real solution of fundamental 
problems, some are bound to guess shrewdly 
while others are endeavoring to be sure before 
speaking. To wisely divide this shrewd guess 
work from the solid fabric is the work of no 
mere compiler. In this direction, Czapek has 
rendered good service, 

The general chapters introducing the book 
are all worthy, but of the various subjects 
treated an especial interest at present attaches 
to the discussion of the fundamental facts of 
enzyme action, of the bearing of the theory of 
ionization on physiological processes and the 
significance of colloids and the colloidal con- 
dition. These subjects are here treated in an 
illuminating way. , 

The special part discusses in detail fats, 
lecithins, physosterin and related compounds, 
carbohydrates and the bodies forming the cell 
membranes. On the subjects covered by this 
volume, the student is given a practically com- 
plete citation of the literature appearing prior 
to June, 1904. 


892 


The second volume, the printing of which 
has been begun, will appear in the near future 
and conclude this most important contribu- 
tion of the working student of vegetable 
physiology. Ropney H. True. 

BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


The American Naturalist for May brings 
this journal up to date. It contains articles 
on the ‘ Affinities of the Genus Hquisetum, 
by D. H. Campbell; ‘Movements of Diatoms 
and Other Microscopic Plants,’ by D. D. Jack- 
son, and, after a long interval, another of the 
valuable ‘Synopses of North American In- 
vertebrates, XX., Families and Genera of 
Araneida,’ by Nathan Banks; ‘Biology of 
Acmea testudinalis Miller” M. A. Willcox; 
‘Habits of the West Indian Whitebait, A. H. 
Clark, and notes and reviews. 


Tue May number (volume 11, number 8) of 
the Bulletin of the American Mathematical 
Society contains: Report of the February 
meeting of the San Francisco Section, by G. 
A. Miller; ‘On the development of mathe- 
matical analysis and its relation to certain 
other sciences,’ by Emile Picard (St. Louis 
address), translated by M. W. Haskell; ‘On 
the class of the substitutions of various linear 
groups,’ by L. E. Dickson; ‘ Note on a problem 
in mechanics, by A. M. Hiltebeitel; ‘A geo- 
metric construction for quaternion products,’ 
by Irving Stringham; Reviews of Lechalas’s 
Géometrie générale, by Oswald Veblen; Net- 
to’s Elementare Algebra, by J. H. Tanner; 
Murray’s Infinitesimal analysis, by W. B. 
Fite; Tanner’s Elementary algebra, by James 
Pierpont; Annuaire du Bureau des Longi- 
tudes, by E. W. Brown; Gibbs-Roy’s Dia- 
grammes et surfaces thermodynamiques, by 
W. F. Durand; ‘ Notes’; and ‘New Pub- 


lications.’ 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
THE MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 


THe annual meeting of the Michigan Acad- 
emy of Science took place at Ann Arbor, 
March 30, 31 and April 1. The programs of 


SCIENCE. 


papers were good, and the meetings well at- 
tended by members and others from all parts 
of the state. On the evening of March 30 
the annual address was delivered in University 
Hall before an audience of two thousand by 
Professor T. C. Chamberlin, of the University 
of Chicago, the topic being ‘Old and New 
Hypotheses of the Earth’s Origin.’ The 
evening of the thirtieth was spert in a social 
smoker tendered by the University Research 
Club; and the excellent address of the retiring 
president of the academy, Dr. A. C. Lane, 
state geologist of Michigan, was delivered the 
afternoon of April 1, the topie being ‘ Natural 
Resources, their Conservation and Compensa- 
tion for Necessary Consumption, one Feature 
of which is a Scientific Search for Substi- 
tutes.’ 

The academy has had introduced into the 
state legislature a bill for a topographic sur- 
vey, and another bill for a natural history 
survey. The prospect for the passage of these 
bills seems good, and the academy decided to 
engage in a vigorous campaign to effect that 
end. 4 

Papers were read as shown by the following 
programs: 


SECTION OF AGRICULTURE. 


Vice-President, W. J. Beal, Agricultural College. 

Kenyon L. BUTTERFIELD, president of State 
Agricultural College, Rhode Island: ‘ Outline of 
a Course in Rural Sociology.’ 

W. O. Heprick, Agricultural College: ‘ Syllabus 
for an Elementary Course in Economics.’ 

R. 8. SHaw, Agricultural College: ‘ Syllabus for 
a Four-year Course in Live-stock Husbandry.’ 

U. P. Hepricx, Agricultural College: ‘ Syllabus 
for a Four-year Course in Horticulture.’ 

J. L. Snyper, president of Agricultural College: 
‘Social Phases of Agricultural Education.’ 

U. P. Hepricx, Agricultural College: ‘ Outline 
of Topics in Horticulture for some Grades of Com- 
mon Schools.’ 

CLARENCE E. HoimeEs, superintendent of State 
School for Blind, Lansing: ‘The Place of Agri- 
culture in the Rural Schools.’ : 

_F. L. Keexer, Mt. Pleasant: ‘School Gardens.’ 

J. B. Danpeno, Agricultural College: ‘Some 
Experience in the Management of School Gardens.’ 

ERNEST BuRNHAM, Kalamazoo: ‘The Prepara- 
tion of Teachers for the Rural Common Schools.’ 


[N.S. Von. XXT. No. 545. 


> 


O29: 0 ete wets 


>i ge"y 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


r 


Cc. W. Garrrecp, Grand Rapids: ‘The Rural 
School Museum.’ 

L. H. Barney, dean of Agricultural School, Cor- 
nell University: ‘Planning Courses for Rural 
Schools.’ 

Josepn A. JrEFFERY, Agricultural College: 
‘Some Lessons Concerning Soils for the Common 
Schools.’ 

; SECTION OF BOTANY. 

Vice-President, J. B. Dandeno, Agricultural 
College. 

F. C. Newcompe, Ann Arbor: ‘Geotropic Re- 
sponse of Stems and Roots at Various Angles of 
Inclination.’ 

J. B. Danveno, Agricultural College: 
Stimuli and Plant Functions.’ 

J. B. Pottock, Ann Arbor: ‘A Canker of the 
Yellow Birch accompanied by Nectria.’ 

F. A. Loew, Agricultural College: ‘A Study of 
the Effect of Dilute Solutions of Hydrochloric Acid 
upon the Radicles of Corn Seedlings.’ 

Exrten B. Bacu, Agricultural College: ‘The 
Toxic Action of Copper Sulphate upon Certain 
Alge, in the Presence of Foreign Substances.’ 

WALTER G. Sackett, Agricultural College: 
“The Relation of Bacteria to Plant Food.’ 

J. B. Pottock and C. H. Kaurrman, Ann 
Arbor: ‘Michigan Fungi Not Previously Listed 
in the Reports of the Michigan Academy of 
Science.’ 

R. P. Hipparp, Ann Arbor: ‘ Sexual Reproduc- 
tion in a Red Alga (Calithamnion Baileyi).’ 

W. J. Bean, Agricultural College: ‘ Vitality of 
Seeds after Twenty-five Years.’ 

J. B. Portock, Ann Arbor: ‘ Polystictus hirsutus 
as a Parasite on Mountain Ash, Maple and Car- 
pinus.’ 

J. B. Pottock, Ann Arbor: ‘Note on Gano- 
derma (Fomes) sessile, Murrill, Its Variation 
from the Original Description and Possible Para- 
sitism.’ 

S. O. Mast, Holland: ‘A Device for Aerating 
Aquaria.’ 

E. N. Transeav, Alma: ‘ Climatic Centers and 
Centers of Plant Distribution,’ 

Frances Stearns, Adrian: ‘A Study of Plants 
in Ravines near ‘Adrian.’ 

EpirnH Perrer, Detroit: ‘Plant Distribution in 
a Small Bog,’ 

ALFRED DacHNowSsKI, Ann Arbor: ‘ Ravines in 
the Vicinity of Ann Arbor.’ 

H. 8. Reep, University of Missouri, Columbia, 
Mo.: ‘ History of Ecological Work, 


* Color 


SCIENCE. 


893 


J. B. Potnock, Ann Arbor: ‘A Species of 
Hormodendrum Parasitie on the Araucaria.’ 

S. ALEXANDER, Ann Arbor: ‘A Southern Plant, 
New to the Flora of Michigan, Found Growing at 
Ann Arbor.’ 


SECTION OF GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY. 


Vice-President, M. S. W. Jefferson, Ypsilanti. 

S. ALEXANDER, Ann Arbor: ‘A Remarkable 
Floral Reversion Caused by Bud-Grafting.’ 

i. L. Mosetey, Sandusky, O.: ‘Changes of 
Level at the West End of Lake Erie.’ 

FRANK B. Taytor, Fort Wayne, O.: ‘ Relation 
of Lake Whittlesey to the Arkona Beaches.’ 

Epwarp H. Kraus, Ann Arbor: ‘ Occurrence 
and Distribution of Celestite-bearing Rocks.’ 

W. H. Suerzer, Ypsilanti: ‘Glaciers of British 
Columbia.’ 

I. C. Russert, Ann Arbor: ‘ Drumlin Areas in 
Northern Michigan.’ 

FRANK Leveretr, Ann Arbor: ‘ Interglacial Lake 


‘Clays of the Grand Traverse Regions.’ 


M. S. W. JErFersoN, Ypsilanti: ‘ Beach Cusps.’ 

Epwarp H. Kraus, Ann Arbor: ‘ Origin of the 
Sulphur Deposits at Woolmith Quarry, Monroe 
Co., Mich.’ 


SECTION OF SANITARY SCIENCE. 


Vice-President, T. B. Cooley, Ann Arbor. 

V. C. VaAucHAN, Ann Arbor: ‘The War Against 
Tuberculosis.’ 

F. G. Novy, Ann Arbor: ‘ Bird Hematozoa.’ 

Henry B. Baker, Lansing: ‘Am I My Brother’s 
Keeper?’ 

Cressy L. Winsur, Lansing: ‘The Scientific 
Necessity of Complete Registration of Vital Sta- 
tistics.’ 

W. G. Sackett, Agricultural College: ‘The Re- 
lation of Bacteria to Plant Food.’ 

S. F. Epwarps, Ann Arbor: 
Media.’ 

L. T. CiarK, Agricultural College: ‘ Technical 
Cultural Manipulation of Rhizobium.’ 

H. N. Torrey, Ann Arbor: ‘Staining by the 
Romanowsky Method.’ 

Bronson Bartow, Guelph, Ont.: ‘The Steam 
Still.’ 

W. R. Wricut, Agricultural College: ‘The Re- 
lation of the Bacterial Content to the Ripening 
of Michigan Cheese.’ 

T. B. Coontey, Ann Arbor: 
Hemolysins.’ 

V. C. VAUGHAN, JR., Ann Arbor: ‘The Action 
of the Intra-Cellular Poison of the Colon Bacillus.’ 


‘ Tryptophan 


“Some Bacterial 


894 


Sysiz May Wueeer, Ann Arbor: ‘ The Extrac- 
tion of the Intra-Cellular Poison of the Colon 
Bacillus.’ 

Mazsy Wermore, Agricultural College: ‘The 
Germicidal Action of Fruit Juices upon Certain 
Pathogenie and Non-Pathogenic Bacteria.’ 

James C. Cuanmnc, Ann Arbor: *‘ Disinfection 
by Means of Formalin and Potassium Permanga- 
nate.’ 

CHartes E. MarsHatt, Agricultural College: 
‘Bacterial Products in Milk and Their Relation 
to Germ Growth, 


SECTION OF SCIENCE TEACHING. 

Vice-President, W. H. Sherzer. Ypsilanti. 

I. B. Meyers, School of Education, University 
of Chicago: ‘Elementary Field Work—Aims and 
Methods.” Discussion opened by L. H. Bailey, 
Cornell University. 

M. S. W. JEFFERsoN, State Normal College: 
‘ Aims and Methods of Physiographice Field Work 
in Secondary Schools.” Discussion opened by R. 
D. Calkins, Central Normal School. 

C. E. Apams, University of Michigan: ‘ Aims 
and Methods of Zoological Field Work in Sec- 
ondary Schools.” Discussion opened by Miss Jessie 
Phelps, State Normal College. 

H. C. Cowzes, University of Chicago: ‘ Aims 
and Methods of Botanical Field Work in Sec- 
ondary Schools. Illustrated with lantern. Dis- 
cussion opened by E. L. Moseley, Sandusky High 
School, Ohio. 

J. Hartan Brerz. Albion College: 
in Botany for the Winter Season.’ 


* Field Work 


SECTION OF ZOOLOGY. 


Vice-President. Raymond Pearl, Ann Arbor. 
J. E. Dvegpex. Ann Arbor: Natural History 


Notes from the Hawaiian Islands— Role of 
Mucus in Corals.’ ‘Commensalism of Crab and 
Actinian.’ 


Husert Lyman Cxark, Olivet College: ‘The 
Value of the Pedicellariz in the Taxonomy of Sea- 
urchins.” 

L. Mureacn, Detroit: 
Some Crustacea.” 

Miss Jean Dawson. Ann Arbor: 
ical Study of Physa.’ 

S. O. Mast, Hope College: 
Stentor.’ 

S. J. Hotwes, Ann Arbor: 
of Phototaxis.’ 

C. C. Wurrraker, Olivet College: 
in the Blue Racer.’ 


‘The Static Function in 
“An Ecolog- 
‘Light Reactions of 
‘The Refiex Theory 


* Variation 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 545. 


Miss S. A. Ayres, Ann Arbor: ‘The Nervous 
System of Caenopsammia.’ 

RayMonD Peart and Frances J. DunpaR, Ann 
Arbor: ‘Some Results of a Study of Variation in 
Paramecium.” 

A. B. Citawsoy, Ann Arbor: ‘Some Results of 
a Study of Correlation in the Crayfish.’ 

J. E. DuERpeN, Ann Arbor: * Demonstration of 
Hawaiian Corals.’ 

The University Museum Hapettaen’ to Northern — 
Michigan—Cuartes C. Apams, Ann Arbor: ‘In- 
troductory Remarks.” A. G. RUTHVEN, 
Arbor: ‘An Ecological Survey in the Porcupine 
Mountains and Isle Royale. Orro McCREarRy, 
Ann Arbor: ‘ Ecological Distribution of the Bi 
of the Porcupine Mountains. Bryant WALKER 
and A. G. RutHven, Detroit and Ann Arbor: ‘ An- 
notated List of the Molluscs of the Porcupine 
Mountains and Isle Royale. N. A. Woop, M. M. 
Pret and O. McCreary. Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti: 
‘Annotated List of the Birds of the Porcupine 
Mountains.’ N. A. Woop, M. M. Peer and O. Mc- 
Creary, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti: ‘ Annotated 
List of the Birds of Isle Royale,’ 

Bryant WALKER, Detroit: ‘The Distribution of 
Polygyra in Michigan.” 

Frank N. Noresterx, Alma College: ‘The 
Ophidia of Michigan.’ 

Morris Gisss, Olivet College: ‘A Summary of 
the Work Hitherto done on Michigan Herpetology.” 

Hcusert Lyman Ciark, Olivet College: ‘ The 
Distribution of the Blue Racer and Rattlesnake in 
Michigan. (With maps.) 

Morris Grisps, H. L. Cusark and FRaNK N. 
NoTESTEIN, Olivet College and Alma College: ‘A 
Provisional List of the Amphibia and Reptilia of 
Michigan.” 

The officers elected for the ensuing year are 
as follows: : 

President—W. B. Barrows, Agricultural Col- 
lege. 

Vice-Presidents of Sections—Agriculture, Pro- 
fessor W. J. Beal, Agricultural College; botany, 
Professor J. B. Dandeno, Agricultural College; 
geography and geology, Mr. Frank Leverett, Ann 
Arbor; sanitary science, Dr. V. C. Vaughan, Jr., 
University of Michigan; science teaching, Pro- 
fessor E. N. Transeau, Alma College; zoology, 
Dr. J. E. Duerden, University of Michigan. 

Librarian—Dr. G. P. Burns, University of Mich- 


igan. A 
Secretary-Treasurer—Professor C. E. Marshall, 
Agricultural College. ~ 5 


F. C. NEWcoOMBE. — 


June 9, 1905.] 


THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 

A REGULAR meeting was held on April 11, 
at the American Museum of Natural History, 
President Rusby in the chair and twenty-two 
additional members present. 
The paper of the evening was on ‘Some 
Edible Seaweeds, by Professor H. M. Rich- 
After reference to the indirect importance 
of plankton organisms as a source of food for 

-animal life in the sea the speaker referred to 
- those forms of alge which are used directly 
by man as foodstuffs. They were grouped 
roughly under four heads—blue-green, grass- 
green, brown and red alge. 
In the first group, specimens of a form 
much prized by the Chinese were shown, which 
is, according to good authority, Nostoc com- 
mune flagelliforme. This becomes highly 
gelatinous when soaked in warm water and is 
used as a thickening or sauce. A Japanese 
form, ‘ Su-zen-ji-nori,’ of more doubtful na- 
ture, but probably an Aphanothece, was also 
shown. 
Among the grass-green forms mention was 
made of xarious species of Ulva and Entero- 
morpha, which in dried form go under the 
mame of ‘laver’ in the British isles and 
-€ao-nori’ among the Japanese. 
Among the brown forms only one of the 
Fucacez was mentioned as an article of food, 
namely Durvillea utilis, which is said to be 
eaten by the natives in certain parts of Chili. 
The Laminaria forms, however, include a 
large number of edible species. Alaria escu- 
lenta, common both here and in Europe, was 
at one time eaten occasionally in the occident. 
At the present time the Japanese and Chinese 
make great use of these forms, indeed, after 
fish, they constitute the chief article of export 
of the Hokkaido. They are exceedingly 
plentiful in that region and their collection 
and preparation for market is a thriving busi- 
ness. In this connection the report of Pro- 
fessor Miyabe and others was passed around 
and attention was called to the illustrations 
showing the mode of harvesting the seaweeds. 
The two most important species seem to be 
Laminaria saccharina (Laminaria japonica) 
and Ulopteryx pinnatifida (presumably iden- 


SCIENCE. 


895 


tical with Undaria distans more recently sepa- 
rated by Miyabe and Okamura), which are 
known under the respective names of ‘Kombu’ 
and ‘ Wakame’ by the Japanese. Many other 
forms are eaten, however. 

After reference to the well-known examples 
‘Trish moss’ (Chondrus crispus) and ‘ dulse,’ 
it was said that the two types most used are 
the delicate Porphyra forms and the more 
massive cartilaginous kinds, such as various 
Gigartina, Gelidium, Gloiopeltis species. Por- 
phyra has also been eaten by Europeans and 
is said to be used by the natives in paris of 
Alaska, but it is most highly prized by the 
Japanese and Chinese. Under the name oi 
‘asakusa-nori’ it is put up in neat tin boxes 
and largely sold in the Tokio markets, it being 
used by itself or for thickening, giving, as it 
does, a very glutinous mixture with hot waiter. 
‘Fu-nori,’ used chiefly as we use starch, is a 
mixture of species of Gloiopeltis and Endo- 
trichia, and, like all these forms, is sold dried. 

The speaker referred to agar-agar, which, 
on Wiesner’s authority, is said to come irom 
different species in different regions. That 
of Ceylon is from Gracilaria lichenoides, that 
of Java from Eucheuma spinosum, while the 
Japanese variety is furnished by Gelidium 
corneum and cartilagineum and Gloiopeltis 
tenax. Agar, in addition to its uses as a 
culture medium in bacteriological research, is 
said to be employed sometimes as an adulter- 
ant in the jellies of commerce, where it may 
be recognized by the siliceous frustules of 
diatoms, ete., from which it is never free. 

Other forms of Floridee are used as food- 
stuffs, attention being called to their figures 
in a Japanese popular work on the useful 
plants of Japan. 

In regard to the food value of alg it ap- 
pears that many of them, especially the blue- 
green forms, contain a very high percentage 
of proteids, though not much else of value. 
The gelatinifying substances obtained from 
the red forms appears to be a substance called 
gelose, which is similar to, or identical with, 
the pectic substances so commonly found 
either deposited in the middle lamella of the 
cells of higher plants, or in the walls them- 
selves. Mention was incidentally made of the 


896 SCIENCE. 


use of seaweeds in the manufacture of iodine 
and soda-ash. Dr. Rusby exhibited specimens 
of Fucus vesiculosus and an unnamed form, 
which are used medicinally. 

Dr. Howe spoke of dulse as an article of 
food and of its occurrence in the markets of 
New York. 

After further discussion, adjournment fol- 
lowed. 

L. H. Lightnin, 
Secretary pro tem. 


THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. 

A REGULAR meeting of the society was held 
at Columbia University on Saturday, April 
29. On the preceding Saturday the Chicago 
section met at the University of Chicago. 
The two sessions of the New York meeting 
were attended by thirty-eight members. Presi- 
dent W. F. Osgood occupied the chair, being 
relieved by Vice-President E. W. Brown and 
the secretary. The following new members 
were admitted: J. H. Grace, Peterhouse, 
Cambridge, Eng.; H. B. Leonard, University 
of Chicago; R. B. MceClenon, Yale Univer- 
sity; W. S. Monroe, Columbia, Mo.; J. C. 
Morehead, Yale University; Henri Poincaré, 
University of Paris; R. G. D. Richardson, 
Yale University; Miss S. F. Richardson, Vas- 
sar College; F. R. Sharpe, Cornell University; 
Miss M. S. Walker, University of Missouri. 
Six applications for membership were received. 
The total membership of the society is now 
490, including 34 life members. 

An appropriation of $100 was made toward 
binding the 
material. 


rapidly accumulating library 

The catalogue of the library now 
nearly 2,000 volumes, accessions 
~ amounting to some 500 volumes per annum. 


includes 


The greater part of the expense of binding is 
borne by the Columbia University Library, in 
which the collection is deposited. 

The society has recently issued, through 
The Macmillan Company, an octavo volume 
of 175 pages containing the lectures on mathe- 
matics delivered at the Boston colloquium, 
September, 1903, by Professors E. B. Van 
Vleck, H. S. White and F. S. Woods. 


[N.S. Vo. XXI. No. 545. 


The following papers were read at the April 
meeting: 

ARTHUR ScHULTzE: ‘Graphie solution of quad- 
ratics, cubics and biquadraties.’ 

Max Mason: ‘On the derivation of the differ- 
ential equation of the calculus of variations.’ 

D. R. Curtiss: ‘Theorems converse to Rie- 
mann’s on linear differential equations.’ 

VircIntaA RacspaLe: ‘On the arrangement of 
the real branches of plane algebraic curves.’ 

J. C. Morrneap: ‘ Numbers of the form 2%¢ +1 
and Fermat’s numbers.’ 

E. B. Van Vueck: ‘Supplementary note on 
theorems of pointwise discontinuous functions.’ 

JAMES PrERPONT: ‘ Inversion of double infinite 
integrals.’ 

JAMES PreRPonT: Multiple integrals (second 
paper.’ 

R. B. McCrienon: ‘On simple integrals with 
variable limits.’ 

E. O. Loverr: ‘On a problem including that 
of several bodies and admitting of an additional 
integral.’ 

M. B. Porter: ‘Concerning Green’s theorem 
and the Cauchy-Riemann differential equations.’ 

M. B. Porter: ‘Concerning series of analytic 
functions.’ 

J. E. Wricut: ‘ Differential invariants of space.’ 

Epwarp Kasner: ‘ On the trajectories produced 
by central forces.’ 

E. B. Wiuson: ‘Sur le groupe qui laisse invar- 
iant l’aire gauche.’ 

KE. J. WuLczynskr: 
geometry.’ 

I. M. Scnorrenrets: ‘On the simple groups of 
order 8!/2’ (preliminary communication) . 

I. M. Scuorrenrets: ‘Certain trigonometric 
formulas for the quantity #-+ ey, where @=0, 

Epwarp Kasner: ‘A theorem concerning par- 
tial derivatives of the second order, with applica- 
tions.’ 

J. E. Wricut: ‘On differential invariants.’ 

L. P. Etsennart: ‘ Surfaces,of constant curva- 
ture and their transformations.’ 

L. E. Dickson: ‘On the class of the substitu- 
tions of various linear groups.’ 

Jostan Royce: ‘The fundamental relations of 
logical and geometrical theory.’ 

The summer meeting of the society will 
be held at Williams College, Williamstown, 
Mass., on Thursday and Friday, September 
7-8. The San Francisco section will also 
meet in September. F. N. Couz, 

Secretary. 


‘Projective differential 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE, 
MARINE ZOOLOGY IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 


To THE Eprror or Science: At a time when 
zoologists are making their plans for summer 
vacation work it seems opportune to direct 
attention to the advantages offered even in 
such a distant territory as the Hawaiian 
Islands. During a visit to the islands last 
year, under the auspices of the Carnegie Insti- 
tution, for the purpose of studying the living 
corals, I was afforded the privileges of the 
public aquarium recently established near 
Honolulu, and the directors of the institution 
desire it to be known that they will be pre- 
pared to accord a similar courtesy to other 
zoologists visiting the islands for purposes of 
research. 

The aquarium is a modest structure, erected 
a little over a year ago, and is under the con- 
trol of the Rapid Transit Company, though 
the funds were largely provided by the gen- 
erosity of different gentlemen interested in 
the welfare of the islands. It is most ad- 
vantageously situated at Waikiki Beach, a 


suburb of Honolulu, and the adjacent coral. 


flats constitute most favorable collecting 
ground. Though no special appliances beyond 
exhibition and experimental tanks are avyail- 
able, yet the advantages of these and a con- 
stant supply of sea-water appeal to any stu- 
dent desirous of carrying out investigations 
on living forms. Moreover, with a generosity 
which is very praiseworthy, the directors are 
prepared to make whatever reasonable adapta- 
tions may be required. 

Our knowledge of the marine fauna of the 


Hawaiian Islands is becoming rapidly extend- . 


ed, mainly through the reports on the collec- 
tions made by the U. S. Fishery Bureau, 
under the direction of President D. S. Jordan, 
during the two successive seasons, 1901 and 
1902. The large addition to the number of 
species of fishes alone shows how very de- 
sirable was such faunistic work, and other 
groups are yielding a corresponding number 
of new forms. The physical conditions of 
the coral reefs have been studied in part by 
Professor A. Agassiz. Though the luxuriance 
of the life on the reefs does not equal that in 


\ 


SCIENCE. 897 


the more distant Tahiti, Samoa, or the Philip- 
pine Islands, yet there is sufficient, particu- 
larly in such places as Kaneohe Bay, to satisfy 
the most ardent investigator. 

For the student of terrestrial forms the 
islands are particularly interesting on account 
of the influence of introduced animals and 
plants upon an indigenous fauna and flora. 
Representatives from the east and from the 
west, from temperate and from tropical re- 
gions, here flourish, and against the pests a 
strong corps of entomologists is engaged in 
further introduction of possible remedial 
forms. The fact that the land shells of the 
islands served to supply the Rev. J. T. Gulick 
with material for the theory of isolation adds 
an interest to the evolutionary biologist. The 
ethnology and various departments of natural 
history are well cared for by Professor T. H. 
Brigham, of the Bishop Museum, and his staff 
of assistants. 

As a last word of attraction regarding the 
situation of the aquarium one may quote from 
the ‘ Report on Collections of Fishes made in 
the Hawaiian Islands’ by Professor O. P. 
Jenkins: 

Of all situations about the island of Oahu, the 
submerged reef which extends from the entrance 
of the harbor of Honolulu to some distance past 
Waikiki furnishes the most prolific supply of 
fishes, both as to number of species and amount 
of the catch. This reef at low water is from a 
few inches to a few feet under water and ex- 
tends from one mile to two or three miles from 
the shore, where the water abruptly reaches great 
depths. Over the surface and along the bluff of 
this reef may be found representatives-of most of 
the shore fauna of the Hawaiian Islands. This 
reef, so favorably situated, so accessible, and so 
rich in material, can not fail to be of increasing 
interest to naturalists who may have the good 
fortune to devote themselves to the study of its 
wonderful life. 

J. HK. DUERDEN. 

RuopES UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, 

GRAHAMSTOWN, CAPE COLONY. 


THE GREENE EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 


To tur Eprror or Science: The W. C. 
Greene Exploring Expedition consisting of 
Robert T. Hill, John Seward, Frank H. 


898 


Fayant and E. O. Hovey has finished its first 
exploration of the northern part of the Western 
Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. A sum- 
mary account of the first half of the trip, from 
El Paso to Guaynopita, has been given to the 
readers of Science. The second half of the 
journey was no less interesting than the first 
and was fully as productive of scientific ob- 
servations. 

Leaving Guaynopita by pack train on March 
11, the first stage of the journey was the climb 
of 3,500 feet out of the Yaqui (Aros) canon 
in which Guaynopita is located on to the great 
mesa out of which the mountains of the region 
have for the greater part been carved. The 
contrast in vegetation between different parts 
of this section may be illustrated by the state- 
ment that fan-leaf palms flourish in the gorges 
near the river, while on the high mesa one 
finds the great long-leaf sugar pine predom- 
inant. 

Our course lay southward for sixty or 
seventy miles along the broad plains and nar- 
row divides forming the mesa, or connecting 
different parts of it, and we had abundant 
opportunity of studying the topography of the 
great Tutuaca Cafion, which is tributary to 
the Yaqui (Aros), and of observing the contest 
for the drainage of the plateau between the 
streams flowing to the west and those flowing 
to the east. The dissection of the plateau 
is more pronounced toward the west, and our 
cross-section of the cafion of the Tutuaca 
River from its eastern boundary at the edge 
of the Mesa Venado disclosed acid and basic 
lavas, tuffs, agglomerates and conglomerates 
through six thousand feet of beds. The west- 
ern rim of the Tutuaca Cafion is near the 
important Dolores mineral district. Some of 
the extensive igneous action has been accom- 
panied and followed by strong mineralization 
of veins. At Dolores a fifteen-stamp mill of 
the most up-to-date construction is just being 
completed under the supervision of Manager 
J. Gordon Hardy for the treatment of the 
rich gold and silver ores of the Alma Maria 
vein by the direct cyanide process. 

Near Dolores we turned southward again 
and pursued our course along a series ot high 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 545. 


mesas, divides, arroyos and river channels un- 
til we reached the little Indian town of 
Yepachic. In this part of our route we passed 
through three or four fertile ranches and at 
Yepachie found the people (Tarahumares and 
Pimas) living for the most part from the 
tillage of a small alluvial plain surrounded by 
low mountains. Here we turned westward 
again and within a few miles reached the 
Cerro Boludo (Bald Mountain) district, which, 
like several others on our route, is character- 
ized by a mineralized quartz vein twenty to 
eighty feet wide which can be seen traversing 
hill and vale for miles. 

Six or eight miles south of Cerro Boludo 
lies the little Mexican camp of San Francisco, 
where a diminutive two-stamp mill feeds a 
primitive arrastra as a preliminary to pan 
amalgamation of the gold. Thence the 
Ocampo trail leads over a divide and across 
the deep cafion of the Rio de Mayo, down into 
and out of the Rosario arroyo before the great 
arroyo is reached in the bottom of which, at 
the Junction of two branch arroyos, is crowded 
the mining camp of Ocampo—a place better 
known by its old name of Jesus Maria. This 
is the site of many rich gold and silver mines, 
the most famous of which is the Santa 
Juliana. 

From Ocampo to Mifiaca, 100 miles, the trail 
crosses the high mesa, which has a gentle slope 
eastward and is partly dissected by compara- 
tively shallow cafions of varying depths. 
Mifiaca, the present terminus of the Chihua- 
hua and Pacific Railway, is in a beautiful 
broad basin about 7,000 feet above tide, which 
is traversed by the headwaters of the Rio 
Verde, a tributary of the Yaqui (Aros) River. 

At Mifiaca our party took train for Chihua- 
hua and thence went by rail to El Paso, com- 
pleting our noteworthy circuit in the western 
Sierra Madre Mountains of northwestern 
Mexico. The circuit was not very long, com- 
pared with the mileage of some expeditions, 
but the results along lines of physiographie, 
dynamic and economic geology are of impor- 
tance and will be published as soon as they 
can be put into proper shape, while the photo- 
eraphs taken illustrate as completely as prac- 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


ticable the phenomena observed. Among 
others the problems of buried mountains, 
bolsen deserts, ’mesas and the structure of the 
western Sierra Madres have had much new 
light thrown upon them, if they have not been 
solved. Epmunp Otis Hovey. 


NEWSPAPER SCIENCE. 


To THE Eprror or Science: In the interest 
of the dignity of scientific research I wish to 
repeat the statement, made by me on a former 
occasion, that I have not authorized the sen- 
sational reports concerning any work; and 
that I am in no way responsible for the idio- 
synerasies of our daily press. 

JACQUES Logs. 

BERKELEY, 

May 27, 1905. 


A BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY OF AMERICAN MEN 
OF SCIENCE. 

THE undersigned is compiling a ‘ Biograph- 
ical Directory of American Men of Science.’ 
It was begun as a manuscript reference list 
for the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 
but arrangements have now been made for its 
publication. The book should be ready in the 
autumn, nearly 4,000 biographical sketches 
being in type. The proofs have been corrected 
by those concerned, but in order to secure as 
great accuracy as possible a revised proof will 
be sent in the early autumn. 

This letter is written with a view to secur- 
ing biographical sketches from those living in 
North America who have carried on research 
work in the natural or exact sciences but who 
have not received proof of a sketch for cor- 
rection. Some of those who were asked to 
send the information required did not reply 
even in answer to a second and third request, 
and there are, of course, many who should be 
ineluded in the work but who for one reason 
or another did not receive the request for 
information. 

It is intended that each biographical sketch 
shall contain information, as follows: 

1. The full name with title and mail address, 
the part of the name ordinarily omitted in corre- 
spondence being in parentheses. 

2. The department of investigation given in 
italics. 


SCIENCE. 


899 


3. The place and date of birth. 

4, Education and degrees with dates. 

5. Positions with dates, the present position be- 
ing given in italics. 

6. Temporary and minor positions. 

7. Honorary degrees and other scientific honors. 

8. Membership in scientific and learned socie- 
ties. 

9. Chief subjects of research, those accomplished 
being separated by a dash from those in progress. 


The undersigned will be under great obli- 
gations to those men of science who will send 
him biographical sketches of themselves or 
who will secure sketches from those who 
should be included in the work—those who 
live in the United States, Canada, Newfound- 
land, Mexico or Cuba, and who have con- 
tributed to the advancement of one of the 
following sciences: mathematics, astronomy, 
physics, chemistry, geology, botany, zoology, 
pathology, physiology, anatomy, anthropology, 
psychology. 

The compiler of the book hopes that any 
assistance given him to make it as complete 
and accurate as possible will be at the same 
time a contribution to the organization of 
science in America. 


J. McKeen Carte.u. 
GARRISON-ON-Hupson, N. Y. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 
THE NOMENCLATURE OF TYPES IN NATURAL 
HISTORY. 

PracticaL work in the arrangement and 
eataloguing of ‘types’ and other museum 
material has shown us that the present nomen- 
clature is not yet sufficient for critically dis- 
tinguishing all the different classes of such 
specimens. Further, some of the terms which 
have been proposed for the purpose are al- 
ready employed in other ways: for instance, 
homotype is in use in biology; monotype is 
the name of a printing machine; autotype is 
the term for a printing process. We wish, 
therefore, to submit the following system of 
nomenclature; and we hope that, in making 
it more complete, we have provided a scheme 
which will render efficient service in the 
labeling and registration of types and typical 
material. 


900 


The terms printed in broad-faced letters are 
the additions or modifications for which we 
are at present responsible. A fuller explana- 
tion of all the terms will be found in the 
‘Catalogue of the Type and Figured Speci- 
mens of Invertebrate Fossils in the U. S. 
National Museum,’ a work which has been 
prepared by Charles Schuchert and is now 
passing through the press; and the present 
article gives a synopsis of the terms which it 
has been found necessary to use in connection 
with that and similar work. 

We now make another suggestion. After 
the different terms we have placed, in brackets, 
the contractions which we propose should be 
used in the actual marking of small specimens 
to which it is impossible or inadvisable to 
affix the full label. Our plan for such con- 
tractions is this: For types of the first class, 
two capital letters; for those of the second 
class, one capital and one small letter; for 
typical specimens, two small letters. s 

In the definitions which follow, the term 
‘ deseription’ indicates either a description by 
words, or by a picture, or by both combined. 
For the sake of accuracy we suggest that the 
original description by words (type-descrip- 
tion) be called the protolog, the original 
description by a picture (type-figure), the 
protograph. It is obviously more easy to 
identify actual types from the latter than 
from the former. 

Primary types Proterotypes. Material 
upon which original descriptions of species 
are based. 

Holotype [H. T.]. The only specimen pos- 
sessed by the nomenclator at the time; the one 
specimen definitely selected or indicated by the 
nomenclator as the type; the one specimen 
which is the basis for a given or cited proto- 
graph. 

Cotype (more properly Syntype) [S. T.]. 
A specimen of the original series, when there 
is no holotype. 

Paratype [P. T.]. A specimen of the origi- 
nal series, when there is a holotype. 

Lectotype [L. T.]. A cotype chosen, 
subsequently to the original description, to 
take the place which in other cases a holotype 
occupies (Aeztdés, chosen, picked). 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 545. 


Supplementary types (Apotypes vice 
Hypotype in use). Material upon which sup- 
plementary descriptions of species are based. 

Heautotype (vice Autotype in use) 
[H. t.]. Any specimen identified with an 
already described and named species, selected 
by the nomenclator himself in illustration of 
his species, such specimen not being identifi- 
able as one of the proterotypes. 

Plesiotype [P. t.] Any specimen iden- 
tified with an already described and named 
species, but not selected by the nomenclator 
himself, 

Neotype [N. t.]. A specimen identified 
with an already described and named species, 
selected to be the standard of reference in cases 
when the proterotypes are lost, destroyed or 
too imperfect for determination, such speci- 
men being from the same locality and horizon 
as the holotype or lectotype of the original 
species. 

Typical specimens (Icotypes) (2:zés, what 
is like).* Material which has not been used in 
literature, but serves a purpose in identifica- 
tion. 

Topotype [t. t.]. A specimen of a named 
species from the locality of the holotype or 
lectotype, in paleontology from the same local- 
ity and horizon. 

Metatype [m. t.]. A topotype identified 
by the nomenclator himself. 

Idiotype [i. t.]. A specimen identified 
by the nomenclator himself, but not a topotype. 

Homoeotype (vice Homotype, preoccu- 
pied) [h. t.]. A specimen identified by a 
specialist after comparison with the holotype 
or lectotype (dors, resembling). 

Chirotype [x. t.]. A specimen upon 
which a chironym is based (chironym, a Ms. 
name, Coues, 1884). 

In addition to the above, we have the use of 
the word ‘type’ in connection with genera—a 
given species is the type of the genus. The 
classification of such types is as follows: 


TYPES OF GENERA (Genotypes). 
Genoholotype. The one species on which 
a genus is founded; or a series of species on 


* éixdc, gen. étKdtoc, evko for evkoto, to make. Ico 
type for euphony. 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


which a genus is founded, the one species 
stated by the author to be the ‘ type.’ 

Genosyntype. One of a series of species 
upon which a genus is founded, no one species 
being the genoholotype. 

Genolectotype. The one species sub- 
sequently selected out of genosyntypes to 
become the ‘ type.’ CHARLES SCHUCHERT, 

S. S. Buckman. 


ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 
SUMMER MEETING OF SECTION E. 

Section E of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science will hold a sum- 
mer meeting at Syracuse, N. Y., July 19-22. 
Arrangements have been made for making the 
meeting enjoyable and profitable to all mem- 
bers of the section. The vicinity of Syracuse 
is one of great interest in several branches of 
geology: the fossiliferous rocks of the New 
York series are well exposed in many ravines; 
the surface shows most of the phenomena of 
chief interest in glacial geology; the pre- 
glacial and the modern topography have been 
worked out by specialists, and the economic 
geology of the district is important. The chief 
study in the field during the meeting will be 
the gorges and lakes of the glacial drainage, 
which are the most novel features of the dis- 
trict. 

In making its plans for the meeting the 
sectional committee has accepted the cordial 
invitation of the committee having in charge 
the joint summer courses in geology for several 
eastern universities and colleges to hold a 
meeting in conjunction with the summer 
school. 

The following program may now be pro- 
visionally announced: 

Wednesday, July 19, 8.00 p.m—The section 
will meet informally for the purpose of organ- 
ization and of listening to short addresses by 
the officers of the section, the state geologist 
and others. Professor T. C. Hopkins, of Syra- 
cuse University, will discuss local geology. 

Thursday, July 20.—F¥ield day with picnic 
lunch. The section will visit the Jamesville 
Lakes, the ‘fossil cataracts’ and the several 
glacial stream channels in the vicinity of 


THE AMERICAN 


SCIENCE. 


901 


Jamesville and part of the shore line of Lake 
Iroquois in Onondaga Valley. Field addresses 
will be given by Professor H. L. Fairchild on 
‘The Local Glacial Features’ and by Professor 
John M. Clarke on ‘The New York Series, 
with Special Reference to the Paleontology 
and Stratigraphy of the Syracuse district.’ 

8.00 p.m.—Popular illustrated lecture by 
Professor H. L. Fairchild on ‘Glaciation in 
North America with Particular Reference to 
the Effects of the Ice Sheet in Central New 
York.’ 

9.30 p.m.—Social meeting in the rooms of 
the University Club. 

Friday, July 21.—Field day with picnic 
lunch. The party will go by trolley to Fayette- 
ville and thence on foot to the glacial channels 
and lakes south and west of Fayetteville. 
Field address by Mr. Frank B. Taylor, ‘ The 
Great Lakes in Their Relation to Local 
Geology,’ 

.00 p.mM.—Business meeting of the section 
for the reading and discussion of papers. 

Saturday, July 22.—To Fayetteville by trol- 
ley or by boat on the Erie Canal. Visit the 
Fayetteville Channel, Round and White Lakes, 
the Mycene and adjacent channel northeast of 
Fayetteville, Salina ,Shales, Manlius  lime- 
stone, Helderberg limestone, Oriskany sand- 
stone and Onondaga limestone outcrops. Field 
address by Professor A. W. Grabau on ‘ The 
Physical Characters and History of Some New 
York Foundations.’ 

Free discussions of all papers will be invited. 

Further particulars regarding the meeting 
may be obtained by addressing Professor T. C. 
Hopkins, University, Syracuse, N. Y., or the 
undersigned. 

Epmunp Otis Hovey, 
Secretary Section E, 
Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 
AMERICAN Museum oF NATURAL History, 
New Yor«K City, 
May 23, 1905. 


PRIZE FOR A METHOD OF SETTING DIA- 
MONDS FOR CUTTING. 
ConsiwerRING the fact that the setting and 
resetting of diamonds for cutting purposes 
involves the use of an alloy, consisting of tin 


902 


and lead, the handling of which has been as- 
certained to produce injurious effects, 7. e., 
lead-poisoning, the government of the Nether- 
lands has decided to open a competition under 
the following conditions. 

The government desires a medium for the 
setting and resetting of diamonds to be cut 
—which needs not necessarily be an alloy— 
the use of which can not produce effects detri- 
mental to the health of those handling the 
same, or an elaborate project of altering the 
method now in use, in such a manner that no 
such injurious effects can be produced. 

The following requirements have further to 
be fulfilled: 

1. The mediuin or the method must be 
practicable for all sizes and shapes of dia- 
monds in the following branches of the dia- 
mond industry, viz., brilliants, roses and so- 
called non-recoupés, now being cut in the 
Netherlands. 

2. The application must be such as to be 
learned by the workmen, used to the present 
method of work, without any great difficulty, 
while the setting and resetting must not re- 
quire more time, or considerably more time 
than is usual now. 

3. The application and use must not entail 
considerable pecuniary outlay. 

The Minister of the Interior has appointed 
a committee of experts to consider the an- 
swers submitted, and to award the prize. The 
answers must be written in either the Dutch, 
French, English or German languages, and 
must be accompanied by samples or objects to 
enahle the committee to form an opinion 
about the practical value of the invention, as 
also of a legibly written address of the com- 
petitor. 

The answers, and the samples or objects 
pertaining thereto, must be sent carriage paid, 
and if sent from foreign countries duty paid, 
before January 1, 1906, to Professor Dr. L. 
Aronstein, chairman of the committee, Chem- 
ical Laboratory of the Polytechnic School, 
Delft, Holland. 

The prize to be awarded for a complete 
solution of the problem is six thousand florins. 
The committee is empowered to divide the 
prize among different competitors, or to par- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 545. 


tially award the prize in case of a partial 
solution of the problem, for instance if it is 
applicable to one of the above-named branches 
of the diamond industry. The committee is 
also empowered to prescribe certain condi- 
tions, to be fulfilled by the competitor, before 
awarding the prize. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

Ar the annual anniversary meeting of the 
Royal Geographical Society, on May 22, Sir 
Clements Markham resigned the presidency 
of the society which he has held during the 
past twelve years. Sir George Goldie, founder 
of Nigeria, was elected to the presidency, Sir 
Clements Markham and Colonel D. A. Johns- 


ton were elected vice-presidents. 


Dr.. Henry S. Pritcuert, president of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will 
give the commencement address at the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, on June 22. 

Dr. Lewettys F. Barker, who is giving up 
the headship of the department of anatomy 
at the University of Chicago to accept the 
chair of medicine at the Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity, was given a dinner by his colleagues 
at the University of Chicago, on May 27. 

M. Sépintor has succeeded M. Deniker as 
president of the Anthropological Society of 
Paris. 

LAFAYETTE CoLLEGE will confer the degree 
of Doctor of Laws on Professor Henry M. 
Howe, of Columbia University. 

Dr. WILLIAM JAMES, professor of philosophy 
at Harvard University, will give a course of 
lectures at the University of Chicago during 
the summer session. 

Magor E. C. Carrer, U. 8. A., commissioner 
of public health for the Philippines, has been 
relieved and will return to Washington. Dr. 
Victor G. Heiser, of the U. S. Public Health 
and Marine Hospital Service, has been ap- 
pointed commissioner of public health. 

Mr. H. E. Barnuarp, state chemist of New 
Hampshire, has been selected as the chemist 
for the new Indiana Laboratory of Hygiene at 
Indianapolis, provided for by the last legisla- 
ture. 


JUNE 9, 1905.] 


Proressor Rupotr Hauruat, of the Natural 
History Museum at La Plata, has been ap- 
pointed director of the Museum at Hildesheim. 


Dr. W. B. Wuerry has resigned his position 
as bacteriologist at the Government Labora- 
tories, at Manila, and has returned to his 
former position with the Rush Medical Col- 
lege at Chicago. 


Proressor Omort, the Japanese authority on 
earthquakes, is going to India to make an ex- 
amination of the scenes of the late Indian 
earthquake, more especially in the Kangra 
Valley. 


Mr. O. M. Letanp, department of civil engi- 
neering of Cornell University, will have 
charge of part of the field work connected 
with the survey about to be made to determine 
the boundary line between Alaska and British 
Columbia. 


Dr. Lewis E. Jewett, of the Johns Hopkins 
University, will be one of a party to observe 
the solar eclipse from North Africa. 


Dr. Huco Munsterserc, professor of psy- 
chology at Harvard University, sailed for 
Germany on June 1. 


Dr. L. O. Howarp, chief of the Division of 
Entomology, U. S. Department of Agricul- 
ture, and permanent secretary of the Amer- 
ican Association for the Advancement of 
Science, sailed on June 3 for Europe. He 
goes first to Italy and then to Germany, his 
object being, more particularly, to secure in- 
formation in regard to the parasites that feed 
on the gypsy moth and the brown-tail moth. 


Proressor B. M. Duaear, of the University 
of Missouri, sailed for Europe on May 20. 
He will attend the International Congress of 
Botanists at Vienna, and will spend the com- 
ing year in work at various botanical labora- 
tories on the continent. During his absence 
the department of botany will be in charge 
of Mr. Howard S. Reed. Mr. H. L. Shantz, 
of the University of Nebraska, has been added 
to the instructing force for the coming year. 


Dr. Ira N. Houuis, professor of engineering 
at Harvard University, will spend next year 
in Geneva. 


SCIENCE. 


903 


Dr. A. P. BricHam, professor of geology 
and natural history at Colgate University, 
will spend the summer in Europe, sailing on 
June 14. 
| Preswent Taytor, of Vassar College, will 
spend next year abroad. 

Art the meeting of the Paris Academy of 
Sciences, on May 22, M. Maquenne read an 
obituary notice of the late M. Duclaux. 


THERE will be a civil service examination, 
on June 28, for the position of plant pathol- 
ogist at $1,600 per annum in the Bureau of 
Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture. 


Tue board of estimate of New York City 
has appropriated $850,000 to begin the erec- 
tion of the New Bellevue Hospital, the cost 
of which will be $8,500,000. 


Tue Food Standards Committee of the Asso- 
ciation of Official Agricultural Chemists has 
been this week in session at the Great North- 
ern Hotel, Chicago, to give final consideration 
to the standards for edible oils and flavoring 
extracts. The following members were pres- 
ent: Wm. Frear, of State College, Pa.; Henry 
A. Weber, Columbus, Ohio; Melvill A. Scovell, 
Lexington, Ky.; Edward H. Jenkins, New 
Haven, Conn.; and Harvey W. Wiley, of 
Washington, D. C. Before returning to 
Washington, Dr. Wiley will deliver the com- 
mencement address at the Oklahoma Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station at Stillwater, the 
subject being ‘ Success.’ 

Tue International Institute of Sociology, 
established at Paris, of which Professor Gus- 
tav Schmoller, of Berlin, is the president, has 
accepted an invitation of the Sociological So- 
ciety, supported by the University of London, 
to hold its next congress in London in July, 
1906. 


Tue India correspondent of the Lancet 
writes: “The plague epidemic continues with 
unabated virulence. For the week ending 
April 22 54,602 deaths were recorded, as com- 
pared with 51,786 for the preceding seven 
days. The death-roll for 1905 promises to 
exceed all former records. In 1901 the total 
deaths from plague were returned at 273,679, 
in 1902 the number rose to 577,427, in 1903 


904 


it reached 851,263 and in 1904 it was 1,022,299. 
From January 1 of the present year up to 
April 15 the number of fatal cases is reported 
at 576,366, and it is very doubtful whether 
these figures tell the whole truth. Of the 
total of 64,214 seizures with 54,602 deaths 
during the week ending April 22 the Bombay 
presidency had 3,497 cases and 2,787 deaths; 
Madras, 65 cases and 65 deaths; Bengal, 4,993 
eases and 4,351 deaths; the United Provinces, 
18,249 cases and 16,637 deaths; the Punjab, 
33,162 cases and 27,362 deaths; Burma, 183 
cases and 175 deaths; the Central Provinces, 
223 cases and 175 deaths; Mysore state, 50 
cases and 40 deaths; Haidarabad state, 401 
cases and 316 deaths; Central India, 117 cases 
and 84 deaths; Rajputana, 2,924 cases and 
2,406 deaths, and Kashmir, 359 cases with 215 
deaths. These detailed figures will show how 
the disease has extended over the country and 
the heavy mortality of the cases. The mortal- 
ity is higher this week in the Punjab by 3,420, 
in the United Provinces by 753, in Rajputana 
by 200, in Burma by 20, in Kashmir by 28, in 
Bombay city by 132 and in Caleutta by 130. 
The only noticeable decrease is in the districts 


of Bengal, where the epidemic seems to be ' 


abating. In this area, however, the outbreak 
occurred earlier in the season. During the 
present outbreak the anti-plague serum from 
the Pasteur Institute in Paris has been some- 
what extensively used for the treatment of 
cases both in Bombay and Calcutta, and, al- 
though it is early to form a definite opinion, 
numerous individual reports would seem to 
show its value. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


Mr. Perctvan Lowetu has established a 
liberally endowed fellowship, to be known as 
The Lawrence Fellowship, for the Department 
of Astronomy at Indiana University. By the 
terms of the endowment the fellow is ap- 
pointed by the department, but the appoint- 
ment is subject to the approval of the founder. 
A Lawrence fellow shall be given an opportun- 
ity for astronomical research at the Lowell 
Observatory and to prepare a thesis on some 
astronomical subject agreeable to the director 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 545. 


and the fellow. Mr. John C. Duncan has re- 
ceived the appointment for the year 1905-6. 

Dr. W. W. Keen, professor of surgery at 
Jefferson Medical College, has presented to 
that institution $5,000 to found as a memorial 
to his wife the Corinna Borden Keen Research 
Fellowship. The conditions of the fellowship 
are that whenever there is accumulated from 
the income the sum of $500 it shall be awarded 
to a graduate of the college. 

Miami University has been offered $40,000 
by Mr. Carnegie for a library building on 
condition that a similar sum be raised for its 
maintenance. It is expected that work will 
begin at once. The addition to Brice Scientific 
Hall and the woman’s dormitory, Hepburn 
Hall, will be ready for use by the students of - 
the summer session. 

Mr. J. P. Brancu, of Richmond, Va., has 
given $30,000 to Randolph-Macon College for 
a dormitory. ; 

CoueaTEe University has begun the erection 
of a Science Hall to contain the departments 
of geology and geography, biology and physics 
and the museum collections. It will be built 
of stone at a cost of about $90,000, the dimen- 
sions being 117 x 70 feet. It will be ready for 
use during 1906. 

Ar the University of Colorado 86 degrees 
were conferred at the commencement exercises 
on June 7. The number receiving the various 
degrees was as follows: M.A., 9; M.S., 2; B.A, 
40; B. S. (engineering), 14; M.D., 6; LL.B., 
aly 

JouN Pearce Mircuett, A.B. (Stanford), 
who is now studying in Berlin, has been ap- 
pointed assistant in chemistry at Stanford 
University. 

Ar Barnard College, Columbia University, 
Miss Margaret A. Reed has been appointed 
lecturer in zoology, and Miss Marion E. La- 
tham, assistant in botany. 

Mr. Ernest Brown, lecturer in applied me- 
chanics in the University of Liverpool, has 
been appointed assistant professor in this sub- 
ject at McGill University. Dr. J. W. Hickson 
has been appointed assistant professor of psy- 
chology and lecturer in philosophy. 


_ 


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A CHAPTER, ALMOST UNIQUE IN THE 
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ANTARCTICA, or 


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By Dr. N. OTTO G. NORDENSKJOLD ana 
Dr. JOHAN GUNNAR ANDERSSON 


Dr. Nordenskjéld’s was one of the expeditions planned at the International 
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enormous unknown tract lying around the South Pole. The part assigned to 
the Antarctic was to approach the east coast of the frozen southern land early in 
the autumn of 1901, penetrate as far southward as possible and land a winter- 
ing party of six under Dr. Nordenskjéld himself. She was then to return to the 
Falkland Islands and Tierra del Fuego, picking up the party in the following 
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point of ice conditions. The Antarctic was unable to reach the wintering-place 
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vessel was nipped by the ice and sank ; and all three parties, isolated from each 
other, had to spend a second enforced winter in those regions, 

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Part II. discusses the properties of elements and their compounds in accordance with a modification of 
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students in the college pursue their studies, with the consent of the college faculty, under one or more of the faculties of the 


university. 


Barnard College, a college for women, is financially a separate corporation ; but educationally, is a part of the system 


of Columbia University. 


Teachers College, a professional school for teachers, is also, financially, a separate corporation; and also, educa- 


tionally, a part of the system of Columbia University. 


Each college and school is under the charge of its own faculty, except that the Schools ot Mines, Chemistry, Engi- 
neering and Architecture are all under the charge of the Faculty of Applied Science. 

For the care and advancement of the general interests of the university educational system, as a whole, a Council 
has been established, which is representative of all the corporations concerned. 


I.. THE COLLEGE, 


Columbia College offers a course of four years, leading to 
the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Candidates for admission to 
the college must be at least fifteen years of age, and pass 
an examination on prescribed subjects, the particulars con- 
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Information. 

Barnard College, founded in 1889, offers for women a 
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found in the annual Circular of Information. 


II. THE UNIVERSITY. 


In a technical sense, the Faculties of Law, Medicine, 
Philosophy, Political Science, Pure Science, and Applied 
Science, taken together constitute the university. These 
faculties offer advanced courses of study and investigation, 
respectively, in (a) private or municipal law, (b) medicine, 
(ce) philosophy, philology and letters, (d) history, economics 
and public law, (e) mathematics and natural science, and (/) 
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ties are open to members of the senior class in Columbia 
College. Certain courses under the non-professional facul- 
ties are open to women who have taken the first degree. 
These courses lead, through the Bacheélor’s degree, to the 
university degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Phi- 
losophy. The degree of Master of Laws is also conferred 
for advanced work in law done under the Faculties of Law 
and Political Science together. 


Ill. THE PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS. 


The faculties of Law, Medicine and Applied Science, con- 
duct respectively the professional schools of Law, Medicine, 
and Mines, Chemistry, Engineering and Architecture, to 


which students are admitted as candidates for professional 
degrees on terms prescribed by the faculties concerned. The 
faculty of Teachers College conducts professional courses 
for teachers, that lead to a diploma of the university. 

1. The School of Law, established in 1858, offers a course 
of three years, in the principles and practice of pee 
and public law, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Laws. 

2. The College of Physicians and Surgeons, founded in 
1807, offers a course of four years in the principles and practice 
of medicine and surgery, leading to the degree of Doctor ot 
Medicine. 

3. The School of Mines, founded in 1863, offers courses ot 
study, each of four years,leading to a professional degree, in 
mining engineerin and in metallurgy. 

4. The Schools of Chemistry, Engineering and Architect- 
ure, set off from the School of Mines in 1896,offer respect- 
ively,courses of study,each of four years,leading to an appro- 
priate professional degree, in analytical and applied chem- 
istry ; in civil, sanitary, electrical and mechanical engineer- 
ing; and in architecture. 

5. Teachers College, founded in 1888 and chartered in 
1889, was included in the University in 1898. It offers the fol- 
lowing course of study: (a) graduate courses leading to the 
Master’s and Doctor’s diplomas in the several departments 
of the College: (b) professional courses, each of two years, 
leading to the Bachelor’s diploma for Secondary Teaching, 
Elementary Teaching, Kindergarten, Domestic Art, Domes- 
tic Science, Fine Arts, Music and Manual Training ; (c) a col- 
legiate course of two years, which, if followed by a two- 
year professional course, leads to the degree of Bachelor 
of Science. Certain of its courses may be taken, without 
extra charge, by students of the University in partial fulfill- 
ment of the requirements for the degrees of Bachelor ot 
Arts, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy. 

The price of the University Catalogue is twenty-five cents 
postpaid. Detailed information regarding the work in any 
department will be furnished without charge upon applica- 
tion to the Secretary of Columbia University. New York. 


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Instruction 


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dates for the degree of Ph.D.) 
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JUN 19 190: 


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, 


Fripay, JUNE 16, 1905. 


CONTENTS. 
The Relations of Public Health Science to 
Other Sciences: PROFESSOR WILLIAM T. 
PED ONVTOK By ove-tis aishsfais diets ns ale yanwlaii< ls, sie a3 e.3 905 


Scientific Books :— 


Sargent’s Manual of the Trees of North 
America: PROFESSOR CHARLES E. BESSEY.. 914 


Scientific Journals and Articles............ 915 


Societies and Academies :— 


The Geological Society of Washington: Dr. 
Gro. Otis SmitH. The Chemical Society 
of Washington: Dr. A. SeweL. The New 
York Academy of Sciences, Section of As- 
tronomy, Physics and Chemistry: PRro- 
Fessor C. C. TRowsrivGe. The New York 
Section of the American Chemical Society: 
Dr. F. H. Poucu. The Torrey Botanical 
Club: Dr. MarsHatt A. Howe.......... 916 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


The Metric Error: 8. S. Date. Will the 
Metric System Save Time in Education? 


Weta: SEL SHAMCAN Gry, fSiarccic ends osm els ches « 922 
Special Articles :— 

The Pelé Obelisk Once More: PROFESSOR 

Wei Ci RUSSEL: soci bine coos wate pees 924 
Recent Vertebrate Paleontology :— 

Fossil Mammals of Mexico: H. F. C....... 931 
Museum Publications: F. A. L............. 9382 
Scientific Notes and News..........20cse0. 933 
University and Educational News.......... 935 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE RELATIONS OF PUBLIC HEALTH 
SCIENCE TO OTHER SCIENCES.* 


“ PHYSICAL science is one and indivisible. Al- 
though for practical purposes it is convenient to 
mark it out into the primary regions of physics, 
chemistry and biology, and to subdivide these into 
subordinate provinces, yet the method of investi- 
gation and the ultimate object of the physical in- 
quirer are everywhere the same.”—Huxley. 

Physical seience is one and indivisible; 
that, as I understand it, is the key note of 
this great congress, of which public health 
science forms one section, and as I am in- 
vited to eonsider, in the brief space of 
forty-five minutes, the relations of public 
health science to other sciences, I shall take 
the lberty of selecting from the whole 
number of ‘other sciences’ only a few, the 
relations of which to public health science 
seem to me for one reason or another espe- 
cially important at the present time. I 
accept the term public health science with- 
out hesitation, for any division of human 
knowledge which has worked out its own 
laws with strict adherence to the rules of 
inductive and deductive reasoning, as 
public health science has done, and which 
has reached results enabling it to predict 
with accuracy, as public health science can 
now predict, is entitled to a place and an 
honorable place among the physical sci- 
ences. 

Public health science had its rise and a 
considerable development in the eighteenth 
century. Before that time numerous pro- 
cedures tending to protect or promote the 
pubhe health had, indeed, at one time or 


* Address before the International Congress of 
Arts and Science, St. Louis Exposition. ° 


906 


another existed, but these were largely em- 
pirical and quite as often directed to the 
convenience of mankind as to their sani- 
tary safety. In this class belong the 
Mosaic code; the water supply introduced 
into Jerusalem by Hezekiah; the sanitary 
engineering of Empedocles; the Cloaca 
maxima; the water supplies of ancient 
Mycene and of Rome; and all the earlier, 
and too often futile, forms of quarantine. 
Even the art of inoculation for smallpox 
was only an ingenious knack introduced 
from the east, where it had been long used 
empirically, and although it was a public 
health measure now of the utmost interest 
and capable at the time of great practical 
service, it had until recently no scientific 
basis, but belonged in nearly the same 
class as the amulets and charms, the pray- 
ers and incantations, of the superstitious. 

It was not until the middle of the eight- 
eenth century, namely, in 1767, that Sir 
George Baker, by the use of the methods of 
pure inductive reasoning, made the first 
scientific discovery in public health science 
in the subdivision of epidemiology, namely, 
that the epidemic colic of Devonshire, Eng- 
land, was due to an obscure poisoning by 
lead conveyed through the common cider 
used for drinking in that district. In 
1774 the foundations of state hygiene and 
sanitation were laid in consequence of the 
patient investigations and startling revela- 
tions of John Howard, by an act of Parlia- 
ment providing for the sanitation of jails 
and prisons. The beginnings of marine 
hygiene and sanitation appear in 1776, 
when Captain Cook, the navigator, was 
awarded the Copley medal of the Royal 
Society for his remarkable success in pro- 
tecting the lives of his sailors on his sec- 
ond voyage. In 1796 Edward Jenner, 
working also in a strictly scientific man- 
ner, and employing the methods of rigid 
inductive research, laid securely for all 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 546. 


time the foundations of personal hygiene 
and immunization, by showing how we can 
produce at will such modifications of the 
physiological resistance or susceptibility of 
the human body as to make it immune to 
smallpox. 

The importance of these fundamental 
and splendid discoveries, not only to the 
public health of the time, but far more to 
the development of public health science 
in all the centuries to come, is inecaleu- 
lable. Reduced to their lowest terms, we 
have in these eighteenth century discoveries 
the germs of some of the most important 
divisions of public health science as it is 
to-day, namely, (1) epidemiology, (2) 
sanitation of the environment, and (3) m- 
munization of the human mechanism, this 
last the most marvelous phenomenon hith- 
erto discovered in personal hygiene. 

Time fails me to do more than name 
some of the principal steps in the advance- 
ment of public health science in the nine- 
teenth century. We have, for example, 
in 1802, the beginnings of factory hygiene 
and sanitation; in 1829, the first municipal 
water filter, one acre in area, constructed 
for the Chelsea Company of London; in 
1834, recognition of the important relation 
of poverty to public health, in the famous 
report of the Poor Law Commissioners of 
that year; in 1839, the beginnings of reg- 


istration and accurate vital statistics; in 


1842, an important report on the sanitary 
condition of the laboring population of 
England; and in 1848, a similar report on 
the health of towns; in 1854, for the first 
time clearly taught, the lesson, even yet 
not properly taken to heart, that drinking 
water may be the ready vehicle of a ter- 
rible epidemic of cholera. About 1860, 
striking epidemics of trichinosis first came 
into public notice, and here, also, belongs 
the magnificent work of Pasteur, while in 
1868, Lister, following in the footsteps of 


a 


JUNE 16, 1905.] 


Pasteur, revealed to the world the basis of 
true cleanliness in asepsis, and in 1876, 
bacteriology became firmly established as 
a science by Koch’s studies on anthrax. 
The decade from 1880 to 1890 may be 
ealled the golden age of ewxtiology, for in 
these years were discovered the hitherto un- 
known parasitic microbes of typhoid fever, 
tuberculosis, malaria, Asiatic cholera, diph- 
theria and tetanus. The last decade of a 
century which has well been ealled ‘the 
wonderful,’ witnessed the discovery of 
antitoxins by Behring and the beginnings 
of serum therapy. The list is long, and I 
have not mentioned nearly all of the dis- 
coveries of capital importance, but because 
of these and their fruits, I am in the habit 
of saying to my students that with the 
single exception of the changes effected by 
the acceptance of the theory of organic 
evolution, there has been no modification of 
human opinion within the nineteenth cen- 
tury more wonderful, or more profoundly 
affecting the general conduct of human 
life, than that in our attitude toward the 
nature, the causation and the prevention 
of disease—that is to say, toward public 
health science. 

No mere outline like this of the history 
of public health science can possibly serve 
to show how, like other applied sciences, 
this one has not grown as a branch grows 
from a tree, namely, from a large stem or 
stock of knowledge, tapering out into thin 
air, and with its latest growth its least and 
weakest. That common simile in which 
the various divisions of science are repre- 
sented as branches of the tree of knowl- 
edge, is a grotesque survival of a time when 
neither trees nor science were understood. 
No simile is perfect or even approximately 
correet, but one better than the tree and 
its branches for the origin and relation- 
ships of any inductive science is that of a 
river, rising from various and often ob- 


SCIENCE. 


907 


scure sources, growing in size and impor- 
tance as it proceeds both from the springs 
within its own bed and by the entrance 
and contributions of tributary streams, 
and finally pouring its substance into 
the mighty ocean of accumulated human 
knowledge. 

Up to the time of the establishment of 
the registration of vital statistics in Eng- 
land, in 1839, the stream of public health 
science, although full of promise, was only 
a slender thread, but when the results of 
registration were fully enlisted in its 
service it visibly widened and deepened. 
Epidemiology, as has been said, had the 
honor of giving birth to the science in 
1767, and it added to its offspring a rich 
endowment when, in 1854, Dr. John Snow 
proved that the water of the Broad Street 
well in London had caused an epidemic, 
in which more than six hundred persons 
died of Asiatic cholera. The stream of 
public health science was still further en- 
larged and quickened by the revelation in 
and after the sixties of the simple causes 
of numerous epidemics of trichinosis and 
of typhoid fever, the latter sometimes 
through milk. There was an extraordi- 
nary popular awakening in England to 
the importance of sanitation and public 
health measures in the middle of the nine- 
teenth century, but we look for some time 
in vain for any marked inosculation be- 
tween public health science and other sci- 
ences, such as physics, chemistry, micro- 
scopy, bacteriology, climatology, engineer- 
ing or education. We have, to be sure, 
minor contributions from the microscopists, 
such, for example, as that from Dr. Has- 
sall, who, in 1850, made a careful micro- 
scopical examination of the water supply 
of London and showed the presence in the 
public drinking water of muscle fibers, 
intestinal parasites and other materials, 
plainly derived from sewage; but it was 


908 


not until Pettenkofer and his disciples, in 
Germany, and Angus Smith and others, in 
England, began their splendid chemical in- 
vestigation that the tributary stream of 
sanitary chemistry enlarged materially 
that of public health science. In saying 
this I do not forget that my late friend 
and colleague, William Ripley Nichols, 
whose solid contributions to sanitary chem- 
istry were among the first in America, and 
will always remain among the best any- 
where, long ago pointed out that, as early 
as 1789, 


Foureroy studied the nature of ‘litharged’ 
wine, Berthollet (1801) the methods of preserving 
water for long voyages, Chevreul (1846) various 
chemical reactions which explain the hygiene of 
populous cities, and (1856, 1862, 1870) methods 
of preparing and preserving food; Graham and 
Hofmann reported upon the use of acetate of lead 
in sugar refining (1850), upon the London water 
supply (1851), and upon the adulteration of pale 
ales with strychnine (1882); Dumas was inter- 
ested in many sanitary matters and made, among 
others, reports on the mineral waters of France 
(1851), on the water supply of Paris (1859), on 
the treatment of sewage (1867), and on the pres- 
ervation of food (1870-72); Wurtz was for a 
number of years president of the Comité con- 
sultatif dhygiéne and a year before his death was 
president of the Société de médecine publique. 
His investigations and reports on sanitary sub- 
jects are numerous—on the disposal of the waste 
from distilleries and sugar-refineries, on the 
colors employed on German toys and in articles 
of food, on the adulteration of wines, ete. 

Other names will oceur to us—such as those of 
Sir Henry Roscoe, Sir Frederick Abel and Dr. 
Williamson, who served on the Noxious Vapours 
Commission of 1876; of Frankland, who gave 
years of service to the Rivers Pollution Com- 
mission of 1868 and in connection therewith de- 
vised an elaborate system of water analysis; we 
think also of Schutzenberger devising a method 
for the determination of oxygen dissolved in 
water (not, to be sure, simply for sanitary pur- 
poses), Mallet studying the various methods of 
water analysis, Remsen studying the organic mat- 
ter in the air, and Leeds the practical effect of 
charging with oxygen (or rather with air) water 
used for purposes of domestic supply.* 


*Wm. Ripley Nichols, address before Ameri- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 546. 


I dwell intentionally upon the service of 
sanitary chemistry to public health science 
previous to the rise of bacteriology, because 
I believe that, dazzled as we have been 
and still are by the blazing achievements 
of bacteriology, beginning, let us say, with 
the discovery of the microbe of tuberculosis 
by Koch in 1882, students of public health 
science have been too much inclined to un- 
derrate the past services and present rela- 
tive importance of sanitary chemistry. I 
know of few more important contributions 
to public health science, even since 1882, 
than the chemical work of the State Board 
of Health of Massachusetts under the able 
direction of my friend, Professor, after- 
wards President, Drown (the successor of 
Nichols) and his associates and successors ; 
or that of another friend, the late Professor 
Palmer, of the University of Illinois, whose 
chemical studies of the rivers of Illinois 
will long remain a monument to a life full 
of promise and too soon eut short, or that 
of still another friend, Professor Kinniecutt, 
who fortunately is still engaged in fruit- 
ful work. 

I have perhaps said enough, though it 
would be difficult to say too much, of the 
magnificent contributions to public health 
science of Pettenkofer and his disciples in 
sanitary chemistry; but the work of these 
investigators in sanitary physics and espe- 
cially the physies of the soil, of the atmos- 
phere, of the walls of buildings, and of 
heating and ventilation, in their relations 
to the public health are quite as important, 
and perhaps to-day even more neglected. 
In view of the increased facilities for 
transportation and the growing habit of 
traveling, together with the tendency to 
outdoor life, which seem to be character- 
istic to-day of all civilized nations, the next 
twenty-five years will probably see a re- 
can Association for the Advancement of Science, 


Proceedings American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science, Vol. XXXIV., 1885. 


| 


es Se ee oe 


JUNE 16, 1905.] 


turn to the patient and exact studies of 
the environment, such as the chemists and 
physicists began, and have in some meas- 
ure continued, since the middle of the nine- 
teenth century. These studies will be 
directed largely to further knowledge and 
- control of the environment, but they will 
not end there, for personal hygiene, owing 
to recent advances in physiology, is to-day 
one of the most inviting fields for work 
and education, and I hardly need to point 
out to a company of experts that the proper 
eare and right use of the individual human 
mechanism reacts favorably and funda- 
mentally upon the public health no less 
truly or effectively than an improved con- 
dition of the environment or of the public 
health tends to promote the welfare and 
long life of the individual. 

The sphere of hygiene may be divided, 
as it often is, into the two hemispheres, 
public hygiene and personal hygiene, or it 
may be cut into one portion dealing chiefly 
with the human mechanism and its opera- 
tion (personal hygiene), and another por- 
tion dealing chiefly with the environment 
of that mechanism (sanitation). The 
time has gone by when any one person can 
safely undertake to deal with the whole 
sphere of hygiene. The physiologist and 
the physician must in the future leave to 
the architect and the sanitary engineer 
such subjects as housing, heating and venti- 
lation, water supply and sewerage, pre- 
cisely as the sanitary engineer has never 
presumed to deal with foods and feeding, 
vaccines and antitoxins, exercise, sleep and 
rest. The former subjects deal chiefly with 
the control of the environment, the latter 
subjects chiefly with the control of the in- 
dividual, and sanitation and hygiene must 
henceforward be regarded as_ separate 
hemispheres of the science of health. 

The science of architecture, if under this 
head we inelude the principles of building 


SCIENCE. 


909 


construction, and the heating and ventila- 
tion of buildings, has dorie and is doing 
much of interest and importance to the 
student of public health science. For my 
own part, I am continually more and more 
impressed with the fact that the air supply, 
especially for the modern civilized and too 
often sedentary form of mankind, is in the 
long run quite as important as the water 
supply, the milk supply or any other 
supply. Surely, we ean not be too careful 
of the purity of a substance which we 
take into our bodies oftener, and in larger 
volume, than any other, and which has 
come, rightly no doubt, and as the result 
of long and painful experience, to be 
known as the very breath of life. I am 
well aware that human beings may sur- 
vive and seemingly thrive, even for long 
periods, in bad air, but I am certain that 
for the best work, the highest efficiency, 
the greatest happiness and the largest life, 
as well as for perfect health, the very best 
atmosphere is none too good. Hence I 
believe that the permeability of the walls. 
of houses and other buildings, and the 
heating and ventilation of dwellings, school 
houses, churches, halls and other public 
places, require, and in the near future 
will receive, a much larger share of our 
attention than they have to-day. 

In an age characterized by urban life and 
possessing sky-scrapers, tenement houses 
and other huge bee-hives, in which human 
beings aggregating vast numbers spend a 
large part of their lives, buildings require 
for their proper construction, lghting, 
heating, air supply, water supply, gas sup- 
ply and drainage, the scientific services not 
only of architects, but of engineers, and 
such publie buildings form one small sec- 
tion of the aid which modern engineering 
science 18 now everywhere rendering to 
public health science. The present has 
rightly been called an ‘age of engineering,’ 


910 


and to no other science, excepting only 
medicine itself, is public health science to- 
day more indebted than to engineering 
science. I have referred above to the con- 
struction of the first municipal filter at- 
tached to a public water supply as that of 
the Chelsea Company of London, con- 
structed in 1829. How different is it to- 
day! Not only nearly the whole of Lon- 
don, but also Berlin and Hamburg, and a 
thousand lesser cities all over the civilized 
world, are now protected more or less per- 
fectly from epidemics of typhoid fever, 
Asiatic cholera and other water-borne dis- 
eases by vast municipal filters, ingenious 
and scientific in design and costly in con- 
struction, the work of skillful and faithful 
engineers, and monuments, more precious, 
if less enduring, than brass, to the con- 
tributions of engineering science to public 
health science. Innumerable storage reser- 
voirs and vast distribution systems for sup- 
plies of pure water also bear witness to the 
enormous debt which public health science 
owes to engineering science, as do proper 
street construction and, still more, those 
splendid systems of sewerage with which 
so many modern cities are equipped, and 
which not only serve to remove quickly the 
dangerous liquid waste of human and ani- 
mal life, but also keep low and wholesome 
the level of the ground water, reducing 
dampness and promoting dryness of the 
‘environment, and thereby strengthening 
that physiological resistance by means of 
which the human mechanism fights against 
the attacks of infectious disease. Nor do 
the services of engineering science end here, 
for the fluid content of the sewers must 
always be safely disposed of, and sewage 
purification is to-day a problem of engi- 
neering science no less important or diffi- 
cult than that of water purification. These 
same processes of the purification of water 
and sewage are matters of so much moment 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 546. 


in public health science that in almost every 
country experiment stations are now main- 
tained at public and private expense for 
the purpose of working out the most prac- 
tical and most scientific methods of purifi- 
cation. 

In no respect have the services of engi- 
neering science to public health science 
been more conspicuous than in the applica- 
tion and the further study of the principles 
involved in the processes of water purifica- 
tion. It has lately been shawn, for ex- 
ample, that the introduction of pure water 
supplies has in many eases so conspicuously 
lowered the general death rate as to make 
it impossible to escape the conclusions (1) 
that the germs of a greater number of in- 
fectious diseases than was formerly sup- 
posed are capable of prolonged life in, and 
ready conveyance by, public water sup- 
plies, and (2), as a promising possibility, 
that as the result of the greater purity of 
the water supply the physiological resist- — 
ance of the consumers of pure water sup- 
plies is enhanced, in some manner as yet 
unknown; the net result being that the gen- 
eral death rate is lowered to such an extent 
as to lead to a rapid increase of population 
in communities previously stationary or 
multiplying far less rapidly. In the case 
of the city of Lawrence, Mass., for example, 
I have recently had the privilege of exam- 
ining the results of studies by the dis- 
tinguished hydraulic and sanitary engi- 
neer, Mr. Hiram F. Mills, which show that 
since the introduction of a municipal filter, 
which purifies the water of the Merrimac 
River supplying water to the citizens of 
Lawrence, while the population has in- 
creased nearly seventy per cent., the total 
number of deaths remains about the same 
as it was ten years ago. Mr. Mills con- 
cludes from the results of his studies—and 
I see no escape from his conclusions—that 
the introduction of the municipal filter has 


JuNE 16, 1905.] 


not only saved the lives of thousands of 
citizens, but has also caused the population 
to increase to a point much beyond any 
which it would have reached had the city 
continued to use, unpurified, the sewage- 
polluted water of the Merrimac River. A 
demonstration of this sort shows how easily 
the diminishing increase of population un- 
der a lower birth rate may sometimes be 
counteracted without resort to that fish- 
like spawning which seems to be the only 
remedy of those who are terrified by ‘race 
suicide,’ so called. Moreover, it is hardly 
necessary to point out that such a dimin- 
ishing death rate means a far more rapidly 
diminishing morbidity rate—in other words, 
it means a heightened working efficiency 
of the population as a whole, and it must 
not be forgotten that for most of the results 
obtained in the scientific purification of 
water supplies we are indebted to the sci- 
ence of engineering. 

On the other hand, we must observe that 
engineering science, so far as water puri- 
fication is concerned, is as yet only in its 
infaney. and by no means thus far alto- 
gether satisfactory. In the United States, 
for example, in the last two or three years 
a. number of epidemics of typhoid fever. 
have resulted from the defective operation 
or construction of municipal filters, and 
while much has been done, it is clear that 
much still remains to do. In this connec- 
tion it should be said that public health 
science in the United States suffers con- 
stantly and severely from an unsatisfac- 
tory condition of the science and art of 
administration or government in many 
American cities. Public health works are 
too often neglected, delayed, mismanaged 
or built at extravagant cost, to the sanitary 
and economic damage of the people as a 
whole, and the tendency is far too common 
to place the care and operation of costly 
devices or systems in incompetent hands. 


SCIENCE. 


911 


I can not here dwell, as long as I should 
like to do, upon the mutual relations of 
public health science and the sciences of 
legislation and administration. Speaking 
of my own country alone, I must confess 
that we are still very deficient in the appli- 
cations of these sciences. We have not 
even a national board of health, although 
we have, fortunately, in the Public Health 
and Marine Hospital Service a strong sub- 
stitute for one. The peculiarities of our 
democratic and republican government 
have hitherto made it impossible for the 
people of the United States to secure either 
from federal authorities or from more 
local sources that measure of paternal sani- 
tary and hygienic protection which they 
ought to have, and it is the duty of every 
American worker in this field to bend his 
energies toward a better organization of 
the public health service in every direction, 
municipal and state as well as national. 
The appointment in 1886 of a distinguished 
hydraulic engineer to membership on the 
State Board of Health in Massachusetts 
marked an epoch, so far as America is con- 
cerned, in both sanitary legislation and 
administration. This appointment was a 
formal recognition on the part of the public 
of the necessity of a larger proportion of 
engineering science in matters relating to 
the public health, and the results have justi- 
fied the new procedure. It is now, for- 
tunately becoming less rare in America to 
secure the services of engineers upon such 
boards and there can be no question that 
participation of the expert laity with med- 
ical men is likely to be extended, probably 
far beyond our present ideas. 

In a notable discourse before the Inter- 
national Medical Congress at the Centen- 
nial Exposition held at Philadelphia in 
1876, Dr. Henry P. Bowditch, of Boston, 
one of the pioneers of hygiene and sanita- 
tion in America, divided the century then 


912 SCIENCE. 


closing, as to its relation to public health 
science, into three periods, the first, from 
1776 to 1832, a period of reliance upon 
authority and upon drugs; the second, 
from 1832 to 1869, a period of true scien- 
tifie observation; the third, from 1869 on- 
wards, an epoch in which the medical pro- 
fession is aided by the laity and _ state 
hygiene is inaugurated. Dr. Bowditch has 
much to say of the desirability of a wider. 
cooperation of the laity in state hygiene 
and remarks: ‘In all that tends to the 
promotion of state hygiene hereafter thé 
laity will naturally and cordially cooperate 
with the [medical] profession.’ The his- 
tory of public health science shows Dr. 
Bowditch’s prediction to have been well 
erounded. The names of John Howard 
and Captain Cook in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, and of Edwin Chadwick, John Simon 
and Louis Pasteur (not to mention a host 
of lesser workers) in the nineteenth cen- 
tury, show conclusively that public health 
science has been, even from the start, by 
no means confined to medical men. We 
may go further and say that even when 
forwarded. by medical men these have sel- 
dom been busy practitioners. Sir George 
Baker and Jenner were, it is true, of this 
class, but not Pettenkofer or Koch or Ross 
or Billings or Reed.* 

Reflections of this sort naturally lead to 
a consideration of the reciprocal relations 
of public health science and the science of 
education. I do not need to dwell upon 
the beneficial effects of public health sci- 
ence upon the hygiene and sanitation of 
school children or school houses. These 
benefits have long been emphasized by sani- 
tarians and sanitary reformers, and are 
sufficiently obvious. The reverse of the 
picture, however, is by no means so well 

* “uring the course of an epidemic physicians 
are too busy to make observations which require 


much time or care, or to make more than brief 
notes.”—J. 8. Billings. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 546. 


understood. Unless one is familiar with 
the facts, it is difficult to conceive how little 
impression the splendid progress which the 
last fifty years have witnessed in public 
health science has as yet made upon the 
curriculum of education. From top to 
bottom and from bettom to top the schools, 
whether primary, grammar, high, normal, 
technical, medical or any other class, are 
recreant, inasmuch as they neglect almost 
wholly any adequate training of their pu- 
pils in the principles of public health sci- 
ence, which are confessedly of such pro- 
found importance to mankind. There is, 
to be sure, just now a popular wave of en- 
thusiasm touching the extermination of 
tuberculosis, but in the United States, at 
any rate, both schools and universities are 
singularly negligent of their most element- 
ary duties in this direction. Yet if what 
I have said before is true, if the laity are 
to participate from this time forward with 
medical men in sanitary and hygienic 
legislation and administration, if engineers 
and medical men in particular are to serve 
upon boards of health or in other executive 
positions connected with publie works, then, 
surely, it is the duty of the science of edu- 
cation to lend its powerful aid and not to 
fail to save the lives and health of the 
people as these can be saved to-day, but 
always to promote that public health and 
that large measure of consequent happiness 
which can probably be more easily and 
quickly accomplished in this way than in 
any other. 

As to the function of medical education 
and engineering education in respect to the 
dissemination of public health science, I 
shall say only a word. In spite of the 
reiteration by medical men of their belief 
in the importance of hygiene and pre- 
ventive medicine as a part of the equip- 
ment of the medical profession, it is a 
significant fact that in America even the 


JUNE 16, 1905.] 


best medical schools devote very little time 
to any adequate instruction in these sub- 
jects. It may be that this is wise and that 
the pressing necessities of practical medi- 
cine forbid any extended instruction in 
public health science. I am willing to be- 
lieve, if I must, that this may be the ease; 
but if it is, then the community must look 
for the most part elsewhere than to medical 
men for adequate investigation, legislation 
and administration of public health science. 
Medical men, must, of course, always par- 
ticipate in the work, in connection, particu- 
larly, with the control of epidemics and in 
those forms of preventive medicine which 
have to do with vaccines, serums and other 
means of modifying the vital resistance of 
the human body. But as regards the care 
and control of the environment, medical 
Knowledge is not indispensable, and the 
entrance of the engineer and the sanitary 
expert upon the field, as foretold by Dr. 
Bowditch nearly twenty years ago, is to- 
day a conspicuous, and probably a whole- 
some, fact. As to the attitude of engineer- 
ing education toward public health science 
there can be no question. If what I have 
said before is true, then engineers are 
bound in the future to take constantly a 
larger and more important part in public 
health work, and must be informed, and 
if possible trained, accordingly. Moreover, 
as regards both medicine and engineering, 
the problem is by no means insoluble, for a 
very short course of instruction rightly 
given would easily ineuleate the necessary 
fundamental principles, while electives or 
post-graduate work might enable those few 
whose tastes led them in this direction to 
investigate and specialize and more thor- 
oughly prepare themselves for public serv- 
ice. 

I can not treat, nor do I need to treat, as 
thoroughly as I would be glad to do, the 
mutual relations existing between medical 


SCIENCE. 913 


science, especially the science of medical 
bacteriology, and public health science. 
These are already sufficiently obvious and 
well known. 
ical men have served, often devotedly and 
sometimes heroically, in the cause of public 
health science. I take it, however, that 
since we have in this congress and in our 
own department a section of preventive 
medicine, I may pass over without com- 
ment this part of my subject. 

As regards sanitary bacteriology, how- 
ever, the relations existing between this 
and public health science are so funda- 
mental, so extensive and so important, not 
only on the medical, but also on the engi- 
neering side, that although we have also 
in this congress under the department of 
biclogy, as is entirely proper, a section of 
bacteriology, I may linger at this point for 
one moment. The bacteria and other 
microscopic forms of plant and animal 
life, all of which are conveniently included 
under the term microbes, have so lately 
begun to be understood and appreciated 
that we must still emphasize their extreme 
importance. The discoveries of the botan- 
ists and zoologists and revelations of the 
microseopists in this domain are compar- 
able, in their importance to public health 
science, with nothing less than the revela- 
tions of the telescope to astronomy. As- 
tronomy had, indeed, existed long before 
the invention of the telescope, and public 
health science, as we have shown above, 
had its beginnings nearly a century before 
any considerable progress had been made 
in micro-biology. But it is not too much 
to say that the developments in miero- 
biology since Pasteur began his work have 
not only revolutionized our ideas of the 
nature of the infectious diseases, but have 
also placed in our hands the key of their 
complete control. 

Concerning the relations of physiology 


From time immemorial med- 


914 


to publie health science, I must not fail to 
speak. Here is a field absolutely ripe for 
the harvest, but one in which the harvesters 
are as yet very few. I have lately had 
occasion to examine somewhat carefully the 
present condition of our knowledge of per- 
sonal hygiene—which is nothing more (and 
should be nothing less) than the applica- 
tions of physiologial science to the conduct 
of human life—with the result that I have 
been greatly impressed with its vast possi- 
bilities and promise. Man is a gregarious 
animal, and mankind is to-day crowding 
into cities as perhaps never before. More- 
over, the industrial and commercial age in 
which we live is characterized to an ex- 
traordinary degree by the sedentary life. 
Yet the sedentary life is almost unavoid- 
ably an abnormal life, or at least it is a life 
very different from that lived by most of 
our ancestors. In the sedentary life the 
maintenance of a high degree of physiolog- 
ical resistance apparently becomes difficult, 
and if the vital resistance of the community 
in general is lowered then the public health 
is directly and unfavorably affected, so 
that considerations of personal hygiene 
have a direct bearing upon the science of 
public health. 

There are, to be sure, interesting and 
suggestive symptoms of a wholesome reac- 
tion, in America, at any rate, against the 
evils of the sedentary life. Parks and 
open spaces are being liberally provided; 
puble and private gymnasiums are rapidly 
coming into being; publie playgrounds are 
thrown open in many of our cities, free of 
expense to the laboring, but, nevertheless, 
often sedentary, population; vacations are 
more than ever the fashion; sports and 
games are everywhere receiving increasing 
attention; while publie baths and other de- 
vices for the promotion of personal hygiene 
are more and more coming into being. All 
this is as it should be, but all is as yet only 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 546. 


a beginning. Here, again, the science of 
education is sadly at fault and in the direc- 
tion of educational reform as regards per- 
sonal hygiene lies immense opportunity for 
a contribution to public health science. 
The science of statistics, which has done 
great service in public health science in 
the past, is likely to do much more in the 
future. Without accurate statistics of 
population, mortality and the causes of 
sickness and death, the science of epi- 
demiology is impotent, and the efficiency 
or inefficiency of public health measures 
can not be determined. And yet in 
ignorant hands statistics may be worse 
than useless. It is a matter for congratu- 
lation to Americans that we now have in 
Washington a census bureau permanently 
established and under expert supervision, 
but until the various states and cities of 
the United States follow this excellent ex- 
ample of their Federal Government, one 


of the most important aids to public health ° 


science will continue to be wanting, as is 
unfortunately too often the case to-day not 
only in America, but in many other parts 
of the civilized world. 

Wiuuiam T. Sep@wick. 


MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE 
oF TECHNOLOGY. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclu- 
sive of Mexico). By CHarLes SPRAGUE Sar- 
GENT, director of the Arnold Arboretum of 
Harvard University, author of the Silva of 
North America; with six hundred and forty- 
four illustrations from drawings by Charles 
Edward Faxon. Boston and New York, 
Houghton Mifflin and Company; Cambridge, 
The Riverside Press. 1905. Pp. 24+ 826, 
octavo. 

A few years ago Professor Sargent brought 
to a successful close his monumental work, 
‘The Silva of North America,’ in fourteen 
massive quarto volumes, and including de- 
scriptions and figures of 585 species of trees. 


———rerrrrr 


JUNE 16, 1905.] 


While this must for centuries be the standard 
work on our native trees, its bulk and cost 
preclude its use elsewhere than in the herba- 
rium, museum or library, and it was impera- 
tive that the same author should prepare a 
handy field (or rather, forest) manual which 
should give to a much larger number of people 
the opportunity of studying our forest trees. 
This has now been done in an admirable 
manner in the Manual which made its ap- 
pearance some time in March of the present 
year. 

The book opens with a synopsis of the sixty- 
one families of plants included, the sequence 
being that of Engler and Prantl’s ‘ Die Natiir- 
lichen Pflanzenfamilien,’ and this is followed 
by an analytical key to the families, based on 
the characters of the leaves. Then follows the 
descriptive manual proper, in which after a 
clear and pretty full characterization of each 
family there is given a conspectus or analytical 
key to the North American genera. The char- 
acters of each genus are set forth much more 
fully than they are in the usual botanical 
manuals, and a paragraph is usually appended 
giving geographical, numerical and economic 
data. A convenient key enables the student to 
readily find the particular species in which he 
is interested. : 

The specific descriptions leave nothing to be 
desired, usually including full descriptions of 
the leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, the tree as a 
whole, its winter buds, bark and wood, and are 
followed by concise accounts of their natural 
geographical distribution, and the extent of 
their cultivation for ornamental and other pur- 
poses. With each species is a figure of the 
characteristic features of the species, usually 
the foliage, flowers and fruit. By means of 
these figures alone one can identify nearly 
every species. 

The book is thus thoroughly satisfactory, 
and must at once become a standard among 
systematic manuals. It will appeal to the gen- 
eral botanist as a distinct and notable contri- 
bution to the literature of systematic botany, 
and at the same time it will be recognized by 
students of forestry as an indispensable hand- 
book. For the latter, in this day of forestry 
schools and forestry courses of study in the 


SCIENCE. 


915 


colleges and universities, it is indeed fortunate 
that this manual has made its appearance. 
Without it North American dendrology was a 
most difficult subject for both professor and 
student, on account of the scattered and unco- 
ordinated descriptions in the botanical manu- 
als—the ‘Silva’ being quite too expensive a 
work for every-day use by students. This 
difficulty is now wholly removed by the pub- 
lication of the manual. 

Looking over the families which include 
North American trees, one finds that the coni- 
fers number 90 species and varieties; the palms, 
10; Liliaceae, 9; the Juglandaceae, 15; Sali- 
caceae, 32; Fagaceae, 52; Rosaceae, 169 (of 
which 132 are species of Crataegus); Legu- 
minosae, 34; Aceraceae, 17; Cornaceae, 8; 
Ericaceae, 9; Oleaceae, 19. The generic and 
specific nomenclature is modern, so that one 
finds Tumion (instead of Torreya), Hicoria 
(instead of Carya), Toxylon (instead of Mac- 
lura), Malus (instead of Pyrus), Sassafras 
sassafras (instead of Sassafras officinale), and 
Catalpa catalpa (instead of Catalpa bignonio- 
ides). No attempt is made to cite synonyms, 
the author evidently assuming that the student 
might well trust him in the selection of the 
oldest available name. The author has added 
a handy glossary of technical terms, and the 
volume closes with a very full index in which 
English and Latin names are arranged in a 
single alphabetical series, thus avoiding the 
nuisance of two indexes, one for the common 
and another for the scientific names. 

This book suggests to one that Professor 
Sargent is the man to give us a similar book 
devoted to the exotic trees (and probably 
shrubs also) of which so many are now given 
in this country. 

: Cuartes KE. Brssry. 

THe UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. 


- SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 


The Journal of Comparative Neurology and 
Psychology for May contains an article of 
100 pages, entitled ‘The Morphology of the 
Vertebrate Head from the Viewpoint of the 
Functional Divisions of the Nervous System,’ 
by J. B. Johnston, of West Virginia Univer- 
sity. The ‘head problems’ have recently re- 


o16 


ceived renewed study from the standpoints of 
comparative anatomy and comparative em- 
bryology by some of our ablest morphologists, 
but none of these researches appears to give 
adequate attention to the recent phases of the 
doctrines of nerve components and the func- 
tional subdivision of the system. 
Professor Johnston reviews this literature ex- 
haustively from the new point of view and in 
the light of his own researches (partly not 
before published), discussing the problems of 
head morphology and segmentation with illus- 
trative diagrams and tabular summaries. The 
phylogeny of the organs of special sense is 
diseussed fully with reference to their primi- 
tive segmentation and their derivation from 
more primitive types of sensory mechanisms. 


nervous 


Bird-Lore for May—June contains the fol- 
lowing leading articles: ‘The Motmots of our 
Mexican Camp,’ C. William Beebe; ‘Some 
Early American Ornithologists, II., William 
Bartram,’ Witmer Stone; ‘The American 
Bittern at Home,’ E. G. Tabor; tenth paper 
on ‘The Migration of Warblers, W. W. 
Cooke; Notes and Book News and Reviews. 
The section devoted to ‘The Audubon So- 
cieties’ contains much encouraging informa- 
tion in regard to bird protection, but shows 
that continued effort is still necessary, particu- 
larly in the case of game birds. The final 
paper is a ‘leaflet’ devoted to the Barn Owl 
and showing his good qualities as a mouser. 


The Popular Science Monthly for June 
contains papers by the following contributors: 


Wiit1am A. Locy: ‘Von Baer and the Rise 
of Embryology.’ 

Epwarp S. Horpen: ‘ Galileo.’ 

Artuur H. Dantets: ‘The Teaching of Logie.’ 

CnarLes A. Waite: ‘The Mutations of Lyco- 
persicum.’ 

Henry S. WititaMs: ‘ What is Research?’ 

W. J. Bear: ‘ Plants that Hide from Animals.’ 


SOCIETIES 
GEOLOGICAL 


AND ACADEMIES. 
THE SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 

Tue 168th meeting of the Geological So- 
ciety of Washington was held on April 26 at 
the Cosmos Club. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 546. 


As informal communications, Mr. L. C. 
Graton exhibited photographs of Taughannock 
Falls, New York, and Dr. F. E. Wright ex- 
plained a new method of determining the opti- 
cal character of minerals. The regular pro- 
gram included the following papers: 


The Ore Deposits of the Ouray Quadrangle, 

Colo.: Dr. J. D. Irvine. 

The ore-deposits are located in a small area 
of about three and one half miles square in the 
precipitous country in the near vicinity of 
Ouray, Colo. 

The rocks of the region comprise a series of 
sedimentaries ranging in age from Algonkian 
to Cretaceous, with included porphyries, while 
the higher hills are capped by thick beds of 
voleanic tuff. 

The ores are classified as_ silver-bearing 
fissure veins, gold-bearing fissure veins, re- 
placement deposits in quartzite, replacement 
deposits in limestone. 

The silver-bearing fissure veins penetrate 
the sedimentaries and pass occasionally up- 
ward into the volcanic tuff. They carry 
galena, tetrahedrite and some other sulphide 
in a gangue of barite and quartz. Replace- 
ments of limestone occur where beds of this 
rock are penetrated by the fissures. The 
silver values are present in the tetrahedrite. 

The gold-bearing fissure veins are associated 
with intrusive dikes of monzonite-porphyry, 
and contain chiefly auriferous pyrite with 
some chalcopyrite in a gangue of quartz and 
erushed country rock. 

The replacement deposits in quartzite are 
flat shoots of gold-bearing pyrite with a little 
galena and other sulphides which have been 
deposited in quartzite. It is thought that they 
owe their origin to alkaline waters that have 
ascended to the quartzite through minute fis- 
sures. The quartzite is fully replaced only in 
the neighborhood of the fissures and is sur- 
rounded by empty solution cavities in the 
quartzite resembling those usually encountered 
in the limestone beds. The ores range from 
$30 to $600 in value. : 

The replacement deposits in limestone are 
of three kinds. One is in the limestone beds 
along the courses of the normal fissure veins 


JUNE 16, 1905.] 


where they form flat, lateral enrichments of 
such veins. 

2. Large flat bodies of silica and _ barite 
with silver-bearing ores associated with 
minute supplying’ fissures. 

3. Deposits of gold-bearing ore composed of 
an intimate mixture of pyrite and magnetite 
with actinolite, quartz, epidote and other 
minerals of supposed contact origin. This 
class of deposit carries low values in gold and 
is thought to have been deposited by replace- 
ment together with the associated minerals by 
circulating waters subsequent to the porphyry 
intrusions. 

The geological age of all of these ores is 
Post Eocene. 


Structure of the Great Plains and the Moun- 
tains on their Western Margin: N. H. 
Darton. 

With this communication there was pre- 
sented an illustration showing the configura- 
tion of the Dakota sandstone under the Great 
Plains and on the flanks of the uplifts west- 
ward. This widespread formation has been 
extensively explored in its underground dis- 
tribution, by numerous deep wells, and its 
outcrop area has been mapped so that the 
structure of much of the region which it 
underlies is ascertained. This structure was 
shown by 100- and 500-foot contour lines and 
it exhibits many notable features. In gen- 
eral, under the Great Plains, the formations 


have but little dip and wide areas are mono- - 


clinal. The uplifts along the mountain border 
and in southeastern Colorado are marked 
features and it has been discovered that there 
is a low anticline extending across north-cen- 
tral Kansas and western Nebraska nearly 
to the Black Hills. In the bottom of the 
basins about Denver and northeast and north- 
west of the Black Hills the Dakota sandstone 
lies below sea level. In eastern South Dakota 
it abuts against the Sioux quartzite and is 
overlapped by Benton formation. 

Two diagrams were exhibited, illustrating 
the configuration of the Black Hills and Big- 
horn Mountain uplifts by contour lines drawn 
at the surface of Minnekahta limestone in the 
former and Bighorn limestone in the latter. 


SCIENCE. 


917 


In the central area of these uplifts, where the 
sedimentary beds have been removed by ero- 
Both 
these uplifts are of the ‘Uintah type,’ steep- 
sided and flat-topped and evidently due to 
direct upward pressure and not to crustal con- 
traction. Profound but local faults along the 
side of the Bighorn Mountains are 
notable features, due mainly to local uplift in 
Laramie time. 


Fault Phenomena Near Glen Echo, Md.: G. 

K. Ginpert. 

The locality is a disused quarry on the 
north bank of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 
about one fourth mile east of Glen Echo. The 
rock is gneiss. It is traversed by numerous 
systems of joints, as many as twenty having 
been noted. These are inclined in various 
directions and at various angles. .The joints 
of each system are approximately parallel, 
with interspaces ranging from a few feet to 
at least several yards. The joint surfaces 
most broadly exposed are not true planes, but 
show curvature. Many of the joints are evi- 
dently surfaces of slipping, or fault planes, 
the observed dislocations ranging from a frac- 
tion of an inch to two or three feet. 

The joint systems may be classed in two 
series, of which one is younger than the other. 
Many of the joint faces of the younger series 
are slickensided, and some of the joints con- 
tain veins of quartz. The older joints show 
no slickensides and carry no yeins, although 
there is independent evidence that they are 
planes of faulting. Their surfaces have a 
faint but persistent undulation or mammilla- 


sion, hypothetical contours are given. 


east 


tion. 

Where two fault planes of the older systems 
intersect, each is dislocated by the movement 
along the other, but the dislocated parts are 
connected by a fluted surface suggestive of 
an ogee molding. This phenomenon is sup- 
posed to indicate simultaneous (or alterna- 
ting) movement on the intersecting planes 
while the rock was within (or at the border 
of) the zone of flowage. Similar movement 
in the zone of fracture produces splintering 
or crushing at the intersections. 

The joint systems are interpreted as the re- 


918 SCIENCE. 


sults of successive strains distributed through 
a long period, the older having occurred when 
the rock lay below the zone of fracture. 
Geo. Oris SMITH, 
Secretary. 


THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


Tue 159th regular meeting was held Thurs- 
day evening, May 11, 1905, in the assembly 
hall of the Cosmos Club. 

The first paper, entitled ‘Chemical Glass- 
ware,’ was presented by Mr. Perey H. Walker. 
Analyses and tests of durability and solubility 
of a number of beakers and flasks were given, 
and samples of the various glasses shown. 
The most suitable for chemical use were zinc 
boro silicates, and may be distinguished by 
permanent trade marks. Much of the lime 
alkali silicate glass sold in this country is of 
very poor quality. 

The second paper, entitled ‘A Colorimeter 
for General Use,’ was presented by Dr. Oswald 
Schreiner. The speaker called attention to 
the increasing use of colorimetric methods 
for purely analytical and commercial purposes 
for both organic and inorganic compounds, 
and also for carrying on scientific studies in 
physical, physiological, sanitary and agricul- 
tural chemistry. A colorimeter of improved 
form was then exhibited and described. The 
parts coming in contact with the liquids are 
entirely of glass, mounted in a camera of 
wood. This instrument has the great ad- 
vantage of speed and accuracy combined with 
great versatility of application to colorimetric 
solutions, together with simplicity in con- 
struction. 

The third paper, entitled ‘The Occurrence 
. of Extractives in Apple Skin, was presented 
by Mr. H. C. Gore. The quantities were 
given in which apple wax and apple vitin 
occur in the epidermis of the apple, both on 
ripe apples and on apples examined at in- 
tervals during growth. The method of an- 
alysis of apple skins for apple wax and apple 
vitin, stated briefly, consisted of extracting 
the mare of the skin with petroleum ether, 
followed by chloroform, the petroleum ether 
extracting the wax and the chloroform re- 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 546. 


moving the vitin. The extracted wax was 
green or yellow colored, and melted at 59°- 
60°. The crude vitin was a white powder 
tinged with green or yellow and melted at 
240°-250° C. The two varieties of summer 
apples examined were poorer in these extract- 
ives than the five varieties of winter apples. 
The extractives were found to increase stead- 
ily during the growing season. In case of 
ripe winter apples the wax amounts to about 
30 mgms. per apple, the vitin to about 60 
mgms. The probable importance of such 
studies in connection with the disease resist- 
ance of fruits was discussed. 

Mr. F. P. Dewey exhibited a specimen of 
sodium ferrocyanide. A. SEMELL, 

Secretary. 


THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
SECTION OF ASTRONOMY, PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY. 


Tue regular monthly meeting of the section 
was on April 17 at the American Museum of 
Natural History, with Dr. W. S. Day in the 
chair in the absence of Dr. Ernest von Nar- 
droff. The program consisted of the follow- 
ing papers: 


Purposes and Plans of the Solar Eclipse Expe- 
dition of August, 1905: S. A. MircHeEtt. 
Dr. Mitchell gave an outline of the plans of 

the various expeditions to be made to observe 

the total solar eclipse which takes place next 

August and which will be visible in Labrador 

and Spain. He also spoke of the different 

problems that the members of the expeditions 
will endeavor to solve. The U. S. Naval Ob- 
servatory expedition which Dr. Mitchell will 


accompany will go to Spain on the U. S.. 


cruiser Minneapolis early in the summer. The 
paper was illustrated by lantern slides. 


Variation of the Duration of Afterglow with 
Change of Electrical Intensity and Fre- 
quency of Oscillation of the Electrodeless 
Discharge: C. C. TRowsrince. 

A long-continued study of the duration of 
afterglow has shown that smooth curves can be 
readily obtained showing the variation of the 
duration of the afterglow with change of pres- 
sure of the gas. It has been found that the 
maximum of duration of these curves, when 


ee 


JUNE 16, 1905.] 


the electrical intensity is small, is at the same 
pressure approximately as the minimum spark- 
ing potential of the electrodeless discharge, or 
the point at which the discharge is most easily 
started. Also, when the frequency of the dis- 
charge is altered by a change of capacity, the 
position of the maximum point of the duration 
curve is altered to correspond to the displace- 
ment of minimum sparking potential of the 
discharge. 

Lengthening the spark gap and thereby in- 
creasing the electrical intensity inside of the 
vessel in which the discharge takes place 
changes the form of the duration curve, and 
when the electrical intensity is thus increased 
above a certain amount the curve obtained is 
completely altered in form. When the after- 
glow in the rarefied air is allowed to diffuse 
into a vessel cooled to liquid air temperature, 
the duration curve is displaced some distance 
towards the higher pressure and is also changed 
in form, other conditions being the same; 
otherwise, the duration of the afterglow, which 
in the experiments was approximately thirty 
seconds, was found to be little different than 
when the air is at normal temperature. That 
a long-enduring glow can be obtained at the 
low temperature of liquid air and a pressure 
approximately one tenth of one millimeter is 
obviously important in its bearing on problems 
of astrophysics. 


The Figure of the Sun, an Explanation of the 
Motions of Mercury: ©. L. Poor. 
This paper, which is being published by 
the Academy, was read by title. 
The meeting then adjourned. 
C. C. Trowprince, 
Secretary. 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
NEW YORK SECTION. 

Tue eighth regular meeting of the New 
York Section of the American Chemical So- 
ciety was held at the Chemists’ Club, 108 West 
55th St., Friday, May 5, at 8:15 p.m. The 
chairman, Dr. Wm. J. Schieffelin, presided. 

The program of the evening was as follows: 
An Improved Form of Viscosimeter for the 

Testing of Oils: Dante D. Jackson. 


SCIENCE. 919 


The earlier forms of instruments for the 
determination of the viscosity of oils con- 
sisted of bottles or bulbs which delivered a cer- 
tain quantity of oil through an orifice of defi- 
nite size. The necessity for jacketing such 
instruments soon became evident, and various 
methods were employed for this purpose. In 
only a few cases, however, has any attempt 
been made to protect the orifice so that a uni- 
form temperature at this point would be as- 
sured, and in the cases where the orifice has 
been protected the oil under examination has 
been allowed to flow into a vessel which was 
outside the instrument. This causes a fall in 
temperature from the beginning to the end of 
the operation which is very considerable. A 
form of apparatus designed by the author for 
the testing of the viscosity of oil at 70° F. 
(21.1° C.) and 212° F. (100° C.) is so arranged 
that both the orifice and the oils under exami- 
nation are kept at an exactly uniform tempera- 
ture throughout the entire operation, and two 
very considerable errors in the results are 
thereby eliminated. 


Condensation of Succinylosuccinic Ester with 
Guanidine: A. W. Dox and M. T. Bogert. 
Various attempts were made by the writers 

to produce a naphttetrazine of the following 

structure: 


N 
sY~Y 
= ieee 

ON es 


The well-known quinazoline syntheses when 
applied to p-diaminoterephthalic acid, in 
which the anthanilie acid grouping is present 
on both sides of the nucleus, should give such 
a compound. But diaminoterephthalic acid 
proved to be very inert, and no condensations 
could be made with it. It was found, how- 
ever, that succinylosuccinic ester and guani- 
dine condensed to a derivative of the above 
naphttetrazine. The method of preparation 
and subsequent analyses showed the product 
to be 2, 6-diimino- 4, 8-dioxy-hexahydro- 1, 
3, 5, 7-naphttetrazine. There is a possibility 
also that the compound exists in the tanto- 
meric form, having two amino instead of 
imino groups. The substance is soluble 


920 


only in caustic alkalies and strong mineral 
acids. From sodium hydrate it erystallizes 
as a di-sodium salt in beautiful yellow needles 
with green fluorescence. On the other hand, 
a sulphurie acid salt can be obtained in color- 
less rhombohedra by diluting the sulphuric 
acid solution with water. 


Synthesis of Quinazolines from 6 Nitro-acet- 
anthranil: H. A. Sem and M. T. Bogert. 
The 6 nitro-acet-anthranil was prepared by 

the action of acetic anhydride on acetanthra- 
nilic acid. It is much more reactive than 
the acetanthranil. It combines at once with 
primary amines forming first, the acid amide 
by direct addition, and then by loss of water 
passing over to the quinazolines. 


NO, NO, 
/\—C=0 /\CONHR 
+NH,R=>| |_ 
/-—NGOCH, \_/NHCOCH, 
oO 
| 
(7 \N—B 
ater bon + H,0 
SG Ge 


The 6 nitro-acetanthranil is treated with an 
excess of the amine in a water solution of 
1 to 3. It is brought to boiling and the ex- 
cess of amine is distilled off. The solution 
is then made acid with acetic acid and filtered. 
The quinazoline thus obtained is purified by 
erystallization from alcohol. 

The derivatives prepared are the methyl, 
ethyl, normal propyl, iso propyl, secondary 
butyl, iso butyl, iso amyl and allyl substitu- 
tions of the (2)methyl (5)nitro- (4)ketodihy- 
droquinazoline. These are all white erystal- 
line solids of high melting points; soluble in 
hot alcohol, slightly soluble in cold; soluble 
in dilute acetic acid (from which they can 
not be erystallized) and practically insoluble 
in water. 


Influence of Organic Acids on the Precipita- 
tion of Antimony Sulphide; A. H. Prrerr- 
SON. 

In the presence of a slight excess of mineral 
acids, relatively large quantities of certain 
organic acids prevent the complete precipita- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 546. 


tion of antimony sulphide by sulphuretted 
hydrogen. The influence was studied quan- 
titatively and it was found that the influence 
was not directly proportionate to the masses 
of acid present, a limit being reached in each 
case, although the ratio of acid to the anti- 
mony present was inordinately large. The 
maximum effect obtained was for citric acid, 
which retains, in solution, seventy per cent. 
of the antimony present. 

Of the acids studied, ethyl tartaric came 
next, then malic, while tartaric was the least 
energetic. The effect seemed confined to the 
oxy-acids, because succinic acid is without any 
effect and the influence of the citric acid is 
entirely lost when its hydroxyl group has been 
acetylated. 


The Crystallization of Sodium Iodide from 

Alcohols: Morris Logs. 

It was accidentally observed that sodium 
iodide is extremely soluble in methyl alcohol 
and was not precipitated, even on the addi- 
tion of considerable volumes of anhydrous 
ethyl ether. The alcohol solution, on cooling 
to room temperature, separates out crystals in 
long shining plates. Below 0° a voluminous 
mass of fine needles separates out, which are 
identical in composition, but different in ap- 
pearance from those just mentioned. Melting 
point, 22 to 23°. Formula, NaI.3CH,0O. 
Under similar circumstances, ethyl alcohol 
dissolves the salt and erystallizes with it in 
proportion, NalI.C,H,O, while propyl alcohol 
yields 5Nal.8C,H,O. F. H. Poues, 

Secretary. 


THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 


A MEETING of the club was held at the mu- 
seum of the New York Botanical Garden on 
Wednesday afternoon, April 26, 1905, with 
seventeen persons present and President Rusby 
in the chair. 

The announced paper by Dr. P. A. Ryd- 
berg on ‘The Composition of the Rocky 


Mountain Flora’ was omitted by reason of — 


the absence of the author. 

‘Notes on the Wire-Grass Country of 
Georgia’ was the title of the paper presented 
by Mr. R. M. Harper. 


CC — ——————— 


JUNE 16, 1905.] 


The wire-grass country takes its name from 
the wire-grass, Aristida stricta, which is com- 
mon all over it. In a broad sense, the wire- 
grass country coincides with the pine-barrens, 
which constitute about two-thirds of the coast- 
al plain of Georgia, but for the present pur- 
poses the term is restricted to the Altamaha 
Grit region, an area of about 11,000 square 
miles. 

The climate of the region, as compared with 
New York City, is about 18° warmer in winter 
and 9° warmer in summer. The rainfall 
averages about fifty inches a year, and most 
of it falls in the growing season. The geo- 
graphical conditions are remarkably uniform 
throughout, and on account of this uniformity 
the flora is not very rich, only about one half 
as many species being known there as in the 
state of New Jersey, though the area is larger. 

The region is naturally forested through- 
out, but the forests are mainly of long-leaf 
pine, which gives little shade. Consequently, 
the most striking feature of the vegetation as 
a whole is the adaptation to sunlight, usually 
manifested by reduction of leaf-surface. 

The plants of the wire-grass country can be 
classified according to habitat into fifteen or 
twenty groups. The principal habitats are 
rock outcrops (constituting perhaps about one 
one-hundredth of one per cent. of the area), 
pine-barrens (over half the area), swamps, 
ponds, sand-hills, hummocks and bluffs, some 
of these with several subdivisions. 

Civilization has influenced the flora prin- 
cipally through agriculture, lumbering, tur- 
pentining and fires. Only a small proportion 
of the land may be said to be under cultiva- 
tion. Lumbering has little effect on the her- 
baceous flora, for the removal of the pine trees 
does not appreciably diminish the amount of 
shade. The turpentine operators have been 
practically all over that part of the country, 
and have done great damage to the forests. 
Fires sweep over most of the region every 
spring, being set purposely by stock-raisers to 
burn off the dead grass, but the fires do little 
damage where lumbering and turpentining 
operations have not been carried on. 

The known flora of the Altamaha Grit re- 


‘tina, Taxodium imbricarium, Aristida stricta 


SCIENCE. 921 


gion consists of about 725 native species of 


flowering plants, 75 weeds, 20 pteridophytes 
and 60 bryophytes and thallophytes. The 
lower cryptogams have been little studied. 
The largest families are Composite, 100 spe- 
cies; Cyperacee, 83; Graminer, 68; Legu- 
minose, 50; Serophulariacex, 30. 

Some of the commonest species of the re- 
gion are Pinus palustris, P. Elliottii, P. sero- 
Serenoa serrulata, Eriocaulon decangulare, 
Quercus Catesbaei, Eriogonum tomentosum, 
Magnolia Virginiana, Sarracenia flava, S. 
minor, Kuhnistera pinnata, Cliftonia mono- 
phylla, Nyssa biflora, N. Ogeche, Oxypolis 
filiformis and Pinckneya pubens. 

The following species are common in the 
wire-grass country (each being known from 
at least three counties), but are seemingly 
confined to Georgia: Sporobolus (a species 
with terete leaves), Rhynchospora solitaria 
Harper, Hriocaulon lineare Small, Polygonella 
Croomu Chapm., Siphonychia pauciflora 
Small, Viola denticulosa Pollard (with leaves 
a foot and a half long), Dicerandra odoratis- 
sima Harper, Pentstemon dissectus Ell., Bald- 
wina atropurpurea Harper, Marshallia ra- 
mosa Beadle & Boynton and Mesadenia sp. 
(near lanceolata). 

One of the most interesting features of the 
pine-barren flora, not generally known to 
botanists, is that the whole region was sub- 
merged beneath the sea in Pleistocene times, 
consequently the species now confined to the 
pine-barrens (from New Jersey to Texas), 
perhaps several hundred in number, have 
probably originated since that time. 

Mr. Harper’s remarks were illustrated by 
many photographs and specimens. The paper 
was discussed by Drs. Britton and Rusby. 

Mrs. Britton then spoke of certain interest- 
ing southern mosses, especially of Hrpodium, 
a curious genus having the habit of a Frul- 
lania or Lejeunea. A species of this collected 
many years ago by Sullivant at Augusta, Ga., 
was published by Austin as a hepatic under 
the name Lejeunea biseriata. Mrs. Britton 
discussed and exhibited also numerous mosses 
from the extreme southern part of Florida. 


922 SCIENCE. 


A few of these appear to be undescribed, but 
most of them are of species that are widely 
distributed in the West Indian region. 

Dr. Rusby showed specimens of spurious 
ipecae roots which have found their way into 
the markets. The true ipecac (from Ceph- 
aélis Ipecacuanha of the family Rubiacer) 
is now hard to obtain and high-priced. Some 
of the spurious root comes from other species 


ot the same genus, but the most common . 


adulterant is from the genus Jonidium (Cal- 
ceolaria) of the family Violacee. Dr. Rusby 
exhibited also specimens of Porteranthus 
stipulatus, which is sometimes called the 
North American ipecac. 

Dr. Britton showed living plants of two 
species of Crassulacee which had come into 
flower in the greenhouses of the New York 
Botanical Garden. One was Sedum Nevii, 
hitherto described from dried material, a spe- 
cies collected originally in southwestern Vir- 
ginia, but since found to extend to Indiana. 
The other was a Pachyphytum from Mexico. 
Dr. Britton stated that in North America, 
north of the Isthmus, 284 species of Crassula- 
cee may be recognized, distributed in 25 
genera. Representatives of all these genera 
have now been studied in the living state. 

Marsuatt A. Hows, 
Secretary pro tem. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE METRIC ERROR. 

To tue Eprror or Scrence: In your issue of 
March 24, Mr. Henry B. Hedrick, of the 
United States Naval Observatory, Washing- 
ton, D. C., shifts from one metric fallacy to 
another. The regulation school children fal- 
lacy, as illustrated by the Hon. James H. 
Southard, chairman of the Committee on 
Coinage, Weights and Measures, in his report 
to the House of Representatives in 1902, and 
by Lord Belhaven in discussing a compulsory 
metric bill in the House of Lords on February 
23, 1904, is that the adoption of the metric 
system will shorten the school life of every 
child, including all branches of study, from 
two thirds to three years; in other words, that 
the eight years will be cut down to seven and 


[N.S. Von. XXTI. No. 546. 


one third or even to five years. It is on this 
basis that Mr. Southard estimates a saving of 
$1,000,000,000 in every generation. It is 
clearly impossible to save by the adoption of 
the decimal system any of the time occupied 
by the study of non-mathematical branches, 
such as physical training, penmanship, lan- 
guages, geography, history, nature study, 
drawing, cooking, sewing or music. ‘The say- 
ing must be made in the time devoted to the 
study of compound numbers, weights and 
measures, which occupy 20 per cent. of the 
school arithmetic. Applying this rate, 20 per 
cent., to the 344 weeks occupied during the 
eight years by all branches of mathematics, 
we find 6.8 weeks to be so consumed. ‘This 
estimate is not only fair, but extremely liberal 
to the metric system. It is based on the eight- 
year schedule adopted for the public schools 
of New York City. The weekly time of 1,500 
minutes is apportioned among the different 
branches, and the uncertain amount of time 
devoted to study outside of school hours is not 
included. Thus there is no confusion of 
schedule weeks with regular weeks. The case 
is simple. This metric fallacy is the claim 
that from two thirds to three years of the en- 
tire school life can be saved by the adoption 
of the metric system of weights and measures ; 
when in fact, less than seven weeks is now 
devoted to compound numbers, weights and 
measures. 

Turning from this old fallacy, let us con- 
sider the new one formulated by Mr. Hedrick 
to the effect that the adoption of the metric 
system would save ten per cent. of the time 
devoted to mathematics, or about two thirds of 
what ‘may be called a mathematical year of 
school life. In other words, that ‘the pupil 
would be about a year ahead in mathematics 
at the end of the eight years if he had only the 
decimal system to learn.’ 

In exposing this new fallacy it is unneces- 
sary to dwell on the fact that the study of 
weights and measures in the school is merely 
very superficial memorizing and that the real 
knowledge of weights and measures is ac- 
quired outside of the school by using them; 
nor on the fact that the 343 weeks covers 


~~ 
= 


— i ca ey! 


a Oyting-«' \. at ee 


JUNE 16, 1905.] 


geometry and algebra, from which the special 
study of weights and measures is excluded. 
We can ignore these considerations because 
the fallacy of Mr. Hedrick’s claim is due 
chiefly to his assumption that the use and 
study of fractions can be restricted to deci- 
mals. That is impossible because the uni- 
verse is not built that way. To save time by 
abolishing the study of vulgar fractions is to 
promote ignorance, not knowledge. Such a 
policy of saving, carried to its legitimate con- 
clusion, would do away with all study and 
award diplomas for what the graduate from 
the school of ignorance does not know. 

The earth, from which the French scientists 
a century ago thought they had derived the 
meter, persists in revolving on its axis 
365 29928 times during one revolution around 
the sun. Everything from the chemical com- 
binations of the elements to the arrangement 
of the planets and fixed stars proclaims the 
eternal verity which John Quincy Adams thus 
expressed to Congress in 1821: 

Decimal arithmetic is a contrivance of man for 
computing numbers, and not a property of time, 
space, or matter. Nature has no partialities for 
the number ten, and the attempt to shackle her 
freedom with them will forever prove abortive. 

It seems like a waste of time to demonstrate 
this self-evident proposition, but as many, in- 
cluding the House of Lords and the chairman 
of the Committee on Coinage, Weights and 
Measures of the House of Representatives, 
have reached the opposite conclusion, it may 
be worth while to ask them to examine a 
French arithmetic. Take that excellent work 
by Joseph Garnier, ‘Traité complet d’arith- 
métrique théorique et appliqueé au commerce, 
a la banque, aux finance et a l’industrie.’ The 
fifth edition (1900) contains not merely a few 
incidental references, but many comprehensive 
chapters dealing with vulgar fractions. Here 
are a few chapter headings: ‘ Numeration et 
propriétés des fractions ordinaires,’ ‘ Reduction 
des fractions au méme denominateur,’ ‘ Simpli- 
fication des fractions ordinaires,’ ‘ Conversion 
d’un numbre entier, et d’une expression frac- 
tionnaire,’ ‘ Addition des fractions ordinaires,’ 
‘Soustraction des fractions ordinaires,’ ‘ Mul- 
tiplication des fractions ordinaires,’ ‘ Division 


SCIENCE. 


923 


ordinaires, ‘Conversion des 
fractions ordinaires en fractions décimales et 
réciproquement,’ ‘ Fractions décimales period- 
iques,’ ‘ Question sur les partages proportion- 
nels, sur les mélanges.’ 

If these titles are not sufficient the metric 
advocate in English-speaking countries can 
be convinced by reading the French arithmetic 
and studying its problems. It includes 43 
pages on the metric system; 12 pages on old 
pre-revolutionary weights and measures; 13 
pages on the comparison of the old measures 
with the new; 22 pages on compound num- 
bers; and 86 pages on vulgar fractions. 

The chapter on the metric system, entitled: 
‘Poids et Mesures—Nouvelles Mesures au 
Systéme Métrique,’ effectually dispels the 
illusion that the metric system in its entirety 
is simple. The system is explained there, not 
to make converts to the metric cause, but for 
practical application to every-day work. The 
metric system in the French arithmetic with 
its foreign nomenclature and combination of 
decimal with binary divisions, such as hecto- 
litre, demi-hectolitre, double decalitre, deca- 
litre, demi-decalitre, double-litre, litre, demi- 
litre, double decilitre, decilitre, demi-decilitre, 
double centilitre and centilitre, is the very 
uniformity of confusion. There are the same 
complex vulgar fractions and weird problems 
that one finds in all school arithmetics, only 
in the French form perhaps a little more 
weird. And all this in France more than a 
hundred years after the following decree was 
issued by Robespierre: 

Decree of August 1, 1793. 

Art. 1. The new system of weights and meas- 
ures founded on the measurement of the earth’s 
meridian and the decimal division will be used 
throughout the Republic. 


des fractions 


In the face of such evidence, what is left 
of the claim that the metric system will save 
two thirds of a year or two thirds of a minute 
in the study of mathematics in school? 

That the teaching of the metric system in 
American schools at the present time is but 
a pretense can be proved by asking any grad- 
uate a few simple questions. The fact is, that 
the introduction of the metric system into 
English-speaking countries, instead of making 


924 SCIENCE. 


the edueation of the child easier, will make it 
vastly more difficult, because it will then be 
necessary to teach the old system, which will 
persist in use, and also to teach in fact as well 
as in name the metric system with the con- 
fusing ratios, direct and reciprocal, between 
the English and metric units. 

If any one wants proof of this he can find it 
in the same French arithmetic. One chapter, 
‘Nomenclature des anciennes mesures et com- 
parison avec les nouvelles,’ treats of old units, 
a few of which are: towse, pouce, ligne, aune, 
pas, lieue, perche, arpent, solive, corde, setier, 
muid, mine, minot, livre, once, denier, grain. 

If he still doubts let him go to some great 
French industry, textile manufacturing for 
example, and there study the chaos of weights 
and measures, thus described in 1902 by Paul 
Lamoitier, a French manufacturer: 

We are as much in the anarchy of weights and 
measures for the textile industry as at the time 
of the Revolution. * * * 

The famous aune, do you know its equivalent? 
Exactly 3 feet, 7 inches, 10 lines, and 10 points, 
er in other words, 1.188447 meters; the foot being 
equal to .324839 meter and divided into 12 inches, 
the inch into 12 lines and the line into 12 points. 

You would not imagine this as you are in the 
habit of calling it 1.19 meters. You laugh! It 
is, however, no laughing matter, unless you con- 
sider it as I do, profoundly ridiculous. * * * 

I will take my oath that the manufacturer of 
Rouen if he has not studied each section sepa- 
rately, has no idea what is the standard of Reims 
or the denier of Lyons or Milan. And on the 
other hand the manufacturers of Reims and Lyons 
are likewise puzzled in making comparisons of the 
diverse numberings of the diverse materials. 


Such is the condition of French weights and 
measures at the present time. The evidence 
here presented is from French sources and 
makes ridiculous not only the claim of say- 
ing in education, but the whole metric proposi- 
tion as well. This school children fallacy is 
confined to English-speaking countries where 
in the absence of experience with the metric 
system the imagination supplies the founda- 
tion for argument. The French labor under 
no such delusion. 

Of course, if they insist, English-speaking 
countries can learn about the metric system 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 546. 


in the high priced school of their own experi- 
ence, but more than a century of experience 
in France can be had without money and 


without price. Samuet S. Date. 


Boston, Mass., 
March 27, 1905. 


WILL THE METRIC SYSTEM SAVE TIME IN 
EDUCATION 4 


In the article entitled, ‘The Metric Fallacy,’ 
Science, March 3, p. 353, is the statement that, 
in the New York public schools: ‘The time 
allotted for all branches of mathematics 
amounts to 341 weeks for the eight years.’ 
These figures relate to the actual time spent 
in recitation, which extends through nearly 
one year of school life, that is, about one 
eighth of the entire time. A complete educa- 
tion, to which Lord Kelvin referred in the 
British Parliament, includes high school and 
college, eight years more, which, with the same 
division of time, gives two years of solid 
mathematics. In England, one sixth, instead 
of one eighth is given to mathematics, and it 
is not extravagant to say that one half of this 
is wasted because of our barbarous weights 
and measures. Part of the economy of time 
shown in this country is due to our decimal 
money, part to the disuse here of many of the 
old English measures still taught in the Eng- 
lish schools, and part to the greater use here of 
the metric system in our higher education, or 
perhaps it would be more correct to say, the 
non use therein of the English system. 

Wm. H. Seaman. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 
THE PELE OBELISK ONCE MORE.* 


THE recent massive-solid extrusion from 
within the crater of Mont Pelé has been de- 


* Descriptions of the ‘dome’ and of ‘spine’ or 
‘obelisk’ of Mont Pelé, with references to many 
previous papers relating to the voleano, may be 
found in: Hovey, E. O., ‘The New Cone of Mont 
Pelé and the Gorge of Riviére Blanche,’ in Ameri- 
can Journal of Science, Vol. XVI., 1903, pp. 269- 
281. Hovey, E. O., ‘The 1902-1903 Eruptions of 
Mont Pelé, Martinique, and the Soufriére, St. 
Vincent,’ in Comptes Rendus IX. Congrés géol- 
ogique international, de Vienne, 1903, pp. 707-738. 


ee. ee ae 


1 By em # 


JUNE 16, J$05.] 


scribed by several observers as consisting of 
two parts: a ‘dome,’ and a ‘ spine’ or ‘ obelisk.’ 
The former was a dome-shaped elevation de- 
veloped within the crater, which occupied a 
large portion and in fact nearly the whole of 
its interior and overtopped its rim. It was 
situated directly over the voleano’s conduit, 
and numerous explosions occurred in its sum- 
mit portion. The latter, 7. e., the ‘ obelisk,’ 
was situated on one side of the dome and rose 
as a mighty tower to a height of more than a 
thousand feet above it. While the two struc- 
tures just referred to have been described as 
distinct, perhaps in part for convenience in 
recording observations, there seem to be good 
reasons, as will be stated below, for consider- 
ing them as parts of the same massive-solid 
extrusion or, as termed by some writers, 
“eumulo eruption.’ 

In explanation of the upheaval of a mighty 
spire or obelisk of rigid rock from within the 
crater of Mont Pelé, two hypotheses have been 
offered. The obelisk has been considered by 
several geologists as the freshly congealed and 
rigid summit portion of a column of molten 
rock or magma, which was forced out of its 
conduit in a massive-solid condition. <A sec- 
ond hypothesis, advocated by Angelo Heil- 
prin,* is in brief, that a plug of old lava, 
formed by the cooling and hardening of a 
residuum left im the conduit of the voleano 
after some previous eruption, was forced up- 
ward and in part extruded from the crater. 

Of these two hypotheses the known facts 
seem to favor the acceptance of the first men- 
tioned, for the reason, in part, that the de- 
cidedly vigorous eruptions of the voleano, espe- 
cially during the earlier stages of its present 
period of activity, when vast quantities of 
fragmental material were ejected, show that 
the conduit had what may be designated as a 
free vent. The large size of the column of 
black, debris-laden steam, estimated at 1,500 
feet in diameter at the base, which at times 
rose straight into the air for several thousand 
feet, is also proof that the conduit was not 

* Heilprin, Angelo, ‘The Tower of Pelée,’ pub- 
lished by J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia and 
London, 1904, size 9 by 12 inches, pp. 1-62 and 22 
plates. 


SCIENCE. 


925 


seriously restricted in its upper portion, and 
demonstrates that one large opening and not 
several small orifices was present. The great 
amount of dense and seemingly old lava 
mingled with scoriaceous and fresher appear- 
ing material which has been discharged, is 
apparently good evidence that the plug of old 
lava present in the conduit when the recent 
eruption began, was, in part at least, shattered 
and the fragments, together perhaps with 
masses of similar material torn from the walls 
of the conduit, widely distributed as ejected 
blocks, lapilli, dust, ete. There are still other 
considerations which favor the idea that the 
obelisk was formed by the recent congealing 
of a rising magma, rather than that it was a 
solid mass at the beginning of the recent 
period of activity. Among these considera- 
tions is the fact that the total vertical meas- 
ure of the massive-solid extrusion, in case the 
obelisk had not in part fallen from time to 
time, would have been some five or six thou- 
sand feet. The frictional resistance of such a 
plug, if rigid throughout, would, as it seems, 
have been greater than even voleanic energy 
could have overcome, and certainly far greater 
than is demanded by the hypothesis that a 
magma was cooled and consolidated in its 
upper portion as it rose from below. Then, 
too, as observation seems to indicate, Mont 
Pelé is composed principally of fragmental 
material ejected during previous eruptions, 
and the walls of the present conduit may 
reasonably be assumed to be relatively weak, 
and in ease it had contained a solid ‘ voleanic 
neck’ to a depth of five thousand or more feet, 
the fresh discharges would have found an exit 
by means of a new or side opening instead of 
pushing the plug out vertically and causing 
explosions about its periphery. 

Recorded knowledge concerning voleanoes is 
still too incomplete to enable one to form a 
well-substantiated judgment as to the manner 
in which the reopening of a conduit is aceom- 
plished after a period of quiescence and ap- 
parent extinction, but the best tentative view 
in this connection seems to be that a magma 
in a voleanic conduit requires a long period of 
time, possibly several thousand years, to lose 
sufiicient heat to admit of a change to a solid 


926 


condition to a considerable depth. When 
pressure is renewed at the base or basal por- 
tion of a conduit after a period of rest, pre- 
sumably the still hot material contained in it 
would afford the path of least resistance for 
the ascent of material forced upward from 
deep within the earth, and the former avenue 
of discharge would be reopened. As will be 
shown later, there are reasons for assuming 
that the magma in the conduit of a dormant 
voleano solidifies progressively from its pe- 
riphery towards its center, and that previous 
to complete consolidation there is a tube of 
rigid lava present, enclosing a vertical core 
of plastic or liquid rock. The summit por- 
tion of the material in the conduit of a dor- 
mant voleano, however, is always rigid and 
must be fractured and the fragments produced 
ejected, or else heat ascending from a depth, 
perhaps conveyed by gases and vapors, leads to 
a sufficient increase in temperature to cause 
the previously solid lava forming the summit 
of the plug to become partially or wholly vis- 
cous. Should a condition of inactivity con- 
tinue sufficiently long to permit the magma in 
a yvoleano’s conduit to become solidified to a 
considerable depth, say several thousand feet, 
it is reasonable to assume that a truly extinct 
condition would be reached and that an in- 
crease of pressure at a depth would lead to 
the formation of fissures and the opening of 
a new conduit. 

The speculations just indulged in seem to 
favor the hypothesis that the obelisk of Pelé 
was composed of fresh lava in distinction 
from lava formed by the secular cooling of a 
magma left in the conduit at the close of some 
former eruption. On the other hand, the 
change of a fresh magma, rising from a depth, 
to a solid condition as it nears the summit of 
its conduit, implies a very rapid rate of 
change from a plastic to a rigid condition. 
In this connection it is to be remembered that 
during a certain period of eighteen days the 
growth of the obelisk of Pelé was at the rate 
of about forty-one feet per day. The sugges- 
tion here presents itself that the rate of down- 
ward progressing change from a plastic to a 
rigid condition might not have been the same 
as the rate of bodily ascent. Most probably 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 546. 
each process was variable. The portion of 
the obelisk extruded during a certain period 
of time may have required a longer period of 
time for its consolidation. 

Under the assumption that the obelisk of 
Pelé was composed of fresh lava, two chief 
methods or processes have been suggested by 
which a change from a plastic to a rigid con- 
dition of the material extruded was brought 
about. One of these explanations and the one 
I have previously favored, ascribes the loss of 
heat from the magma in the summit portion 
of a voleano’s conduit, mainly to conduction 
through its confining walls, aided, and per- 
haps dominated by, the cooling influence of 
descending percolating water. Assuming that 
this is the main process involved or the one as 
may be said in control, it follows that the 
magma adjacent to the walls of the conduit 
in its upper portion would change to a solid 
condition previous to the central part; that is, 
in a given horizontal section consolidation 
would progress from the circumference toward 
the center. Coupled with this process and as 
it seems an accompaniment of any method of 
cooling after the protrusion of solid material 
has begun, is the loss of heat from the ex- 
posed summit-portion of the column by radia- 
tion, escape of steam and gases through fis- 
sures, the cooling influences of rain, ete. 

Another process by which the cooling of a 
magma in the summit-portion of a volecano’s 
conduit may be brought about, has recently 


‘been suggested by A. C. Lane* and G. K. 


Gilbert,t and is based on the principle that 
vapors and gases on expanding withdraw en- 
ergy from surrounding media, the assump- 
tion being that a rising magma near the con- 
dition of consolidation and containing oc- 
cluded vapors and gases, would experience a 
decrease of pressure as it rose; and in conse- 
quence the vapors and gases would expand and 
withdraw heat from the walls of the contain- 
ing vesicles and promote their solidification. 
The application of this principle to rising 
magmas seems to be legitimate, but implies 
that material is removed from the summit of 
the ascending column; if the material dis- 

* Science, December 11, 1903. 

+ Science, June 17, 1904. 


JUNE 16, 1905.] 


charged is all in a massive-solid condition, as, 
for example, in case a solid plug is forced out 
of a voleano’s conduit, there would be no loss 
of pressure so long as the plug or obelisk 
remained intact—except the probably negli- 
gible part due to decrease in atmospheric pres- 
sure with increase of ascent above the summit 
of the conduit—and consequently, no tendency 
to upward expansion. As the extruded ma- 
terial emerged from its conduit, however, there 
would be a conspicuous decrease in resistance 
to lateral expansion and the mass should en- 
large laterally, and in consequence cool most 
rapidly by reason of the expansion of occluded 
steam and gases, in its peripheral portion. 
That is, there would be a tendency for the 
extruded mass to expand horizontally on es- 
caping from its conduit, and the energy so 
utilized would decrease the tendency to up- 
ward expansion. The higher the mass rose 
above the summit of its conduit the greater 
would be the pressure on its basal portion 
due to its increasing weight, and for this 
reason, also, there would be a_ tendency 
toward basal enlargement. By reason of these 
two processes, in case no loss was sustained 
owing to explosions, dislodgment, ete., there 
would be a tendency for the rising mass to 
assume a bottle shape, 7. e., a circular tower 
with an expanded base. 

The two methods of cooling just considered 
have a joint tendency to cause the outer por- 
tion of the ascending mass to become rigid at 
an earlier stage than the central portion, and 
hence to form a hollow rigid tube enclosing a 
more highly heated and perhaps still plastic 
central core. 

An inspection of the admirable photographs 
of the obelisk taken by E. O. Hovey, Angelo 
Heilprin and others, shows that it was situ- 
ated sub-centrally in the crater from which it 
was extruded, and adjacent to its northeastern 
border. The side facing the center of the 
crater was rudely coneave and its outer 
margin in horizontal section, somewhat defi- 
nitely convex. The photographs also indicate 
that subordinate crags within the crater and 
in part adjacent to the base of the obelisk, 
were so arranged that in a horizontal section 
at the level of the crater’s rim they, togéther 


SCIENCE. 


927 


with the base of the obelisk, formed a rude 
circle. These deductions, together with the 
fact that explosions occurred from time to 
time at the base of the obelisk and, as seems 
to have been the case, mainly on its south- 
western or inner side, suggest that the tower- 
like mass was a portion of the encircling wall 
of an essentially hollow plug of rigid lava 
constituting the new dome, which was forced 
upward and out of the summit of the volcano. 
That is, the obelisk was a portion of the wall 
of a tubular plug, the greater portion of which 
became broken and was dislodged as it rose. 
The ‘cork,’ in other words, was not solid 
throughout in cross-section, but composed of a 
rigid enclosing wall, with less rigid and per- 
haps still plastic material in its central por- 
tion. 

If the above deductions from the study of 
photographs and the observations of others are 
well founded, they certainly indicate that the 
cooling and consolidation of the magma in 
the conduit of the voleano progressed from its 
periphery toward the center. At the same 
time, whenever portions of the summit of the 
column were removed by explosions, or a por- 
tion of the obelisk fell—there having been no 
overflow of molten lava—decrease of pressure 
on the part remaining must have occurred, 
thus favoring consolidation throughout the 
summit-portion of the truncated column on 
account of the expansion of occluded steam 
and gases as outlined above. 

It is suggestive to note also, as having a 
bearing on the general process of volcanic 
eruption, that relief of pressure brought about 
in the ways just considered, would favor a 
renewed ascent of the material remaining in 
a conduit, and likewise a renewal of explosions 
at its summit. 

In the light of the hypothesis that periph- 
eral cooling was the controlling condition in 
the case of the recent massive-solid eruption 
of Mont Pelé, several seemingly discordant 
observations may be grouped in orderly se- 
quence. For example, the conical mound of 
rough, glowing lava present in the crater and 
resembling a ‘cone of eruption’ during the 
days immediately succeeding the great erup- 
tion of May 20, 1902, may be considered as 


928 SCIENCE. 


the congealed summit of a column of fresh 
lava which rose in the voleano’s conduit. Be- 
neath this hot and steaming initial plug, as 
may reasonably be assumed, the heat increased 
and the solid lava passed gradually into still 
plastic magma below. Cooling continued not 
only at the summit of the column as it rose on 
account of radiation, the escape of steam and 
gases from fissures, ete., and as has been sug- 
gested, on account of the expansion of steam 
and gases occluded in the magma, but also, 
and at a maximum rate, adjacent to the walls 
of the conduit principally through the influ- 
ence of conduction and the ingress of surface 
water. The rise of the column, owing to pres- 
sure at its base, caused it to protrude from its 
encircling crater, but portions of its rigid wall 
fell or were shattered by steam explosions in 
its central part and only the remnants left 
standing reached a conspicuous height. The 
changes in the position of the obelisk as ob- 
served from time to time seem consistent 
with the explanation just offered, since the fall 
of one prominent spine or obelisk would leave 
some other portion of the rim conspicuous, 
and as it in turn was forced upward, seem to 
take the place of its fallen predecessor. 

The fact that the outer surface of the 
obelisk, 2. e., its northeastern side, was striated 
vertically, owing to friction against the wall 
of the conduit from which it was protruded, 
is evidence that there was but little if any 
opportunity for steam to escape from below in 
that portion of the periphery of the crater. If 
the rising plug fitted its conduit equally well 
all about its contact with its enclosing conduit, 
it is difficult to understand where the numer- 
ous steam explosions which are known to have 
oceurred adjacent to the base of the obelisk, 
were located—in case the plug was _ solid 
throughout its summit-portion. On the other 
hand, if it is assumed that the inner part of 
the rising column was less rigid than its outer 
portion, and as is consistent with this idea, 
perhaps even plastic at the center, it is legiti- 
mate to infer that the central portion ‘of the 
summit of the rising column was removed by 
steam explosion, at the same time that the 
more prominent crags on the crest of its rigid 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 546. 


peripheral portion were caused to rise high 
in the air. 

Another series of facts which demands con- 
sideration in the above connection is that the 
rate of ascent of the dome and of the obelisk 
was not the same. Explosions occurring in 
the summit of the dome removed portions of 
its mass and a similar result was brought 
about in the case of the obelisk by the dis- 
lodgment of fragments. Varying conditions 
were thus introduced, but so far as can be 
judged the rate of ascent in either instance 
did not respond to these changes. Why the 
energy exerted in causing the massive-solid 
extrusion was not all consumed in elevating 
the core of the plug, where the resistance from 
weight was the least, and where the tempera- 
ture was highest and consequently the tend- 
ency to plasticity the greatest, is far from 
clear. This is one of the considerations which 
advocates of the ‘fresh lava hypothesis’ to 
account for the production of the Pelé obelisk 
are called upon to.meet. But in this connec- 
tion, as in reference to the rapid rate of cool- 
ing demanded by that hypothesis, an adequate 
explanation does not seem to be at hand. 

Sequence of Events-——The sequence of 
events during a massive-solid volcanic erup- 
tion, and the leading variations in what may 
be termed the normal process due to secondary 
conditions, may provisionally be grouped as 
follows: 

Tf the magma forced upward from deep 
within the earth, through a voleano’s conduit, 
becomes highly viscous or nearly solid before 
reaching the surface, it may be forced out of 
the conduit and expand in the crater to which 
the conduit leads. The amount of expansion 
will depend principally on the degree of 
plasticity of the mass, the range being from 
such a degree that the material will flow un- 
der the influence of gravity, to rigidity under 
the pressure present. The distinction between 
an effusive and a massive discharge is that the 
material extruded in the former instance .is 
sufficiently mobile to flow and possibly to form 
a well-defined stream, and in the latter in- 
stance is so viscous or even rigid that lateral 
motion does not result. Between the two there 


JUNE 16, 1805.] 


is a complete gradation. The range in the 
physical .condition of the extruded lava is 
from fluidity approaching that of water, to 
rigidity such as cold lavas ordinarily present. 

The constructional shapes resulting from 
the extrusion of lava ranging in consistency 
from a highly viscous to a rigid condition, 
should form a sequence from irregular tume- 
factions and bottle-shaped towers, to angular 
erags with nearly vertical sides. A sequence 
of variations should also be produced owing 
to the amount of material extruded, its rate 
of ascent, ete. The constructional topographic 
forms should present destructional modifica- 
tions, in case explosions oceur, or portions of 
the extruded material are dislodged. 

The results produced by massive-solid erup- 
tions, as may be judged if all the modifying 
eonditions are considered, are so varied that 
it is not practicable at present to follow each 
modification in detail. The place of the Pelé 
obelisk in the general sequence, however, may 
be readily indicated. 

Under the hypothesis that the Pelé 
obelisk was composed of fresh lava, which 
congealed and became rigid, at least in part, 


as it rose through its conduit, and was pro- - 


truded high in the air, let the reader endeavor 
to construct in faney the topographic form 
that would have resulted, had there been no 
explosions and no loss owing to dislodgment. 
Under these assumptions the outer portion of 
the extruded mass would cool more rapidly 
than its central portion, and the surface might 
become rigid while the core was yet plastic. 


ae Af ti 
a b c 


Fic. 1. Ideal diagrams illustrating the shapes 
of massive-solid voleaniec extrusions. 


The extruded material at an assumed stage in 
the eruption would have some such form as 
is outlined in Fig. 1, a. At such a stage the 
highly heated core of the extruded column 
might serve as a continuation of the conduit 


SCIENCE. 


929 


and an escape of steam possibly with explosive 
violence and accompanied by fragmental dis- 
charges, occur in the pseudo-crater at its 
summit. 

Providing explosions occurred as the dome 
rose, it might be more or less shattered. 
Vigorous explosions might remove the sum- 
mit-portion of the ascending mass as fast as 
it was forced out of its conduit, and the fact 
that a massive-solid extrusion had occurred be 
masked so as to make it appear that only a 
fragmental-solid eruption was in progress or 
had taken place. It should be borne in mind 
that effusive, fragmental-solid and massive- 
solid eruptions with all of their varied accom- 
paniments are but phases of a single process. 

Vigorous explosions during the ascent of a 
column similar to the one suggested in Fig. 
1, a, might cause the removal of a part of the 
material composing it, leaving portions of its 
solid exterior standing as angular crags and 
tower-like spines as shown in Fig. 1, b. This 
diagram, as the reader will recognize, is in- 
tended to indicate in outline—all suggestions 
as to accumulation of débris, and other sec- 
ondary results being eliminated—the condition 
of the massive extrusion in the crater of Mont 
Pelé at the time the obelisk was most prom- 
inent. During the continuance of the condi- 
tions indicated in the diagram, vigorous ex- 
plosions might occur in the truncated summit 
of the ‘dome’ while portions of its shattered 
periphery formed conspicuous eminences. Ex- 
plosions of this nature, as has been observed, 
occurred in the summit of the ‘dome’ of 
Mont Pelé; and, as it is reasonable to assume, 
the final fall of the obelisk was due chiefly to 
the shocks caused by explosions at its base. 
The general shape that the extruded material 
would present after being truneated by ex- 
plosions, is roughly indicated by Fig. 1, c. 

The considerations just presented seem to 
make it reasonable to conclude as already 
stated, that the ‘dome’ and the ‘ obelisk’ of 
Mont Pelé were parts of the same massive 
protrusion and that. the various shapes as- 
sumed from time to time were due mainly to 
the shattering and in part the dispersion of 
the rising mass by steam explosions; also, 


930 SCIENCE. 


that the material extruded in a massive condi- 
tion consisted of fresh lava which was forced 
outward from deep within the earth. The 
observed results appear, also, to be consistent 
with the view that the cooling of the material 
extruded progressed most rapidly in its peri- 
pheral portion and that its central portion, 
particularly after partial truncation had oc- 
curred, was sufficiently hot to cause explosion 
accompanied by fragmental-solid discharges.* 
If these contentions are well founded, it fol- 
lows that the exterior of the plug—considering 
the dome and the obelisk as portions of a 
single extruded mass—should be composed of 
dense and possibly vitreous rock, and become 
more and more scoriaceous towards its center. 

The above suggestion in reference to the 
physical condition of the extruded material 
differs from the conclusion reached by me in 
the same connection, in a previous publica- 
tion, + which was based largely on the observed 
granular condition of the rock present in the 
central portion of a massive-solid extrusion 
near Pauline Lake, Oregon.{ This discrep- 
ancy seems to indicate that the conditions 
which modify massive-solid eruptions are 
more varied than is at present understood and 
that the results in any two instances may not 
be closely similar. 

The theory of volcanic eruptions may in- 


*The above considerations seem to be in har- 
mony with the results reached by A. Lacroix, in 
a recently published volume (‘ La Montaigne Pelée 
et ses eruptions,’ Paris, 1904). This report has not 
reached me, but a review by Ernest Howe, SCIENCE, 
April 14, 1905, contains the following statement: 
“Lacroix denies that it (the dome) is of frag- 
mental nature and states that it is, in fact, a 
homogeneous mass of viscous lava surrounded 
by an envelope of the same substance cooled and 
consolidated. * * * The viscous magma on 
reaching the surface through the throat of the 
voleano and forming a protuberant mass is 
quickly surrounded by a solid shell or envelope 
which protects the still pasty interior from a too 
rapid cooling.” 

+ Russell, Israel C., ‘ Criteria Relating to Mas- 
sive-Solid Voleanie Eruption,’ in American Journal 
of Science, Vol. XVII., 1904, p. 264. 

t Mount Newberry, U. 8S. Geological Survey, 
3ulletin No. 252, 1905, pp. 97, 106-109. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 546. 


structively be pressed a step farther: As the 
cooling and consequent consolidation of a 
magma forced out of a conduit in a viscous 
or solid condition, progresses from its periph- 
ery towards its vertical axis, it follows that 
in case a voleano becomes dormant the same 
process will continue in the deeper portions of 
the conduit, and should eruptions be renewed 
after a period of rest, the avenues of discharge 
should be through the central part of the par- 
tially consolidated material in its throat. In 
case the energy of the renewed eruptions was 
not sufficient to fracture and discharge, or the 
heat adequate to re-fuse the consolidated 
lining of the conduit, it would remain, and if 
the process was repeated, the tube would 
become closed by successive additions to its 
rigid lining, and final extinction result. 

In the case of Mont Pelé, the process just 
outlined is, perhaps, in progress, and the dense 
rocks in the rim of the crater, which form 
Morne Lacroix and Petit Bonhomme, be rep- 
resentatives of the outer portion of a pre- 
vious eruption similar to the one of recent 
occurrence. 

Generalizations.—The various forms which 
massive-solid voleanie eruptions may be ex- 
pected to assume should be regulated by sey- 
eral secondary conditions, a number of which 
might be in operation during a single period 
of discharge, or some one dominate all the 
others. For example: (1) the physical condi- 
tion of the extruded material may range from 
plasticity to rigidity, dependent upon the 
chemical composition of the rising magma, its 
temperature, rate of cooling, rate of ascent and 
probably still other conditions; (2) the degree 
of explosive energy may range from such 
intensity that the entire summit-portion of the 
extruded material would be blown away, to 
such feebleness that but little change would be 
produced in the constructional form due to 
extrusion; (3) differences in the rate of cooling 
and consequent consolidation may result in the 
formation of a solid plug, or a plug with a 
rigid exterior and a still plastic interior. Each 
of these various conditions would react on 
many, if not all, of the others, and in conse- 
quence the variations in the final result, 


: 
| 
} 
} 
| 
{ 
\ 
' 


JuNE 16, 1905.] 


whether considered geologically or topograph- 
ically, have a wide range. 

It is to be remembered, however, that mas- 
sive-solid eruptions are but one phase of the 
voleanic problem and, for their complete elu- 
cidation, should not be rigidly separated from 
other phases of the same process. 

IsraEL C. RusseEtu. 


RECENT VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY. 
FOSSIL MAMMALS OF MEXICO. 


THE mammalian paleontology of Mexico 
offers a most interesting field for investiga- 
tion, since it promises to reveal the southern 
range of many North American Miocene and 
Pliocene types, as well as the northern range 
of South American types, Pliocene and Pleis- 
tocene, in addition to many types which will 
be found to be peculiar to Mexico. The lit- 
erature of the subject is still quite limited, 
including contributions by Richard Owen,* 
by Professor Copet and a recent interesting 
memoir by Dr. M. M. Villada,t of the Na- 
tional Museum of Mexico. 

In connection with the proposed visit of the 
International Geological Congress to Mexico 
in the summer of 1906 the following cursory 
notes may be of interest. 

The elephant remains in the National Mu- 


* Owen, R., ‘On Fossil Remains of Fquines from 
Central and South America referable to Hquus 
conversidens Ow., Equus tau Ow., and Equus 
arcidens Ow., Phil. Trans., 1869, pp. 559-573. 
“On Remains of a Large Extinct Lama (Palau- 
chenia magna Ow.) from Quaternary Deposits 
in the Valley of Mexico,’ Phil. Trans., 1869, pp. 
65-77. 

7 Cope, E. D., ‘Review of Dumeril et Bocourt’s 
Mission Scient. Mexique,’ Amer. Nat., Vol. XVIIL., 
1884, p. 162. ‘Gigantic Bird from Eocene of 
Mexico, Diatryana Gigantea,’ Pr. A. N. S., 1876, 
p- 10. ‘Extinct Mammalia of the Valley of 
Mexico, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., Vol. XII., 1884, 
117, p. 1. ‘ Report on Coal Deposit near Zacualti- 
pan, Hildalgo, Mexico,’ Proc. A. P. S8., XXIII., 
122, 1885, p. 1. ‘The Comision Cientifica of 
Mexico,’ Amer. Nat., X1X., 1885, p. 494. 

= Villada, Manuel M., ‘Apuntes acerca de la 
fauna fosil del Valle de Mexico, Anales del Museo 
Nacional de Mexico, T. VII., Entrega 14, Ma, 
1903, pp. 441-451, 8 pll. 


SCIENCE. 931 


seum have usually been ascribed to Elephas 
columbi; but they include molar teeth not 
only of this species, but of the much larger 
form, Hlephas imperator. In the collection of 
the Geological Survey of Mexico in the new 
survey building are the skull and tusks of an 
EH. imperator of magnificent proportions, the 
tusks measuring 5 m. 10 ecm., or 16 feet 10 
inches, in length; this specimen was secured 
during the excavations for the great drainage 
eanal of the Mexican Valley. Owen’s type 
of Hquus conversidens and Equus tau from 
the valley of Mexico belong to the National 
Museum, but are not at present accessible, 
owing to changes in the building. ‘There is, 
however, the skull of a Pleistocene horse from 
the valley of Mexico referred by Villada to Z. 
excelsus, but probably belonging to a distinct 
and much more massive type of animal with 
exceptionally powerful postorbital arches. 
Here also is found the fine carapace of a 
glyptodon (Glyptodon mexicanus). 

The new building of the Geological Insti- 
tute of Mexico is being pushed forward to 
completion with a view to the yisit of the 
International Geological Congress. The di- 
rector, Dr. José G. Aguilera, very kindly ex- 
hibited to us the chief specimens of mam- 
malian fossils. These include the skull of a 
mastodon probably related to the South Amer- 
ican M. humbolti, the palate and teeth of a 
small variety of horse of the size of a donkey, 
labeled by Castillo in 1866, but not yet de- 
seribed. Besides the skull above noted there 
are several single teeth of Hlephas imperator, 
molars of the M. humboltti type from Chiapas, 
of the H. columbi type from the village of 
Zacapu in Michoacan, of H. imperator from 
the valley of Puebla. In a bed of lignites, 
probably of Upper Miocene or Loup Fork age, 
were found the types of Hipparion (= Proto- 
hippus) castillec Cope, and teeth belonging to 
Mastodon floridianus, also teeth of the peccary. 
Also probably of Loup Fork age from the val- 
ley of Toluca is the jaw of a rhinoceros, a very 
short-skulled type, the canines being separated 
by very short intervals from the premolars, 
while the molar teeth are exceptionally long- 
crowned. Very large horse teeth found in the 


932 


valley of Mexico may correspond with the 
large skull in the National Museum. Of 
great interest is the skull of a very large true 
cat, puma-like, found in the excavations of the 
Grand Canal. 

From the Pleistocene near Zumbango, state 
of Mexico, remains of a large undescribed 
bear have been found. Here also is the type 
of Glyptodon mexicanus. A complete shield 
of the same animal is reported to be in the 
collection of the school of mines. In the 
same collection is found a fine specimen of 
Bison latifrons and remains of fossil horses. 

The gravigrade sloths are represented by 
teeth from Tequixquiac. 

From the state of Chihuahua, northern 
Mexico, are remains of Upper Pliocene or 
Pleistocene horses and llamas. Fossils are, 
however, most abundant in the Lower Pleisto- 
cene of Puebla near the city of Puebla in the 
village of Totemehuacan. A fine collection 
from this locality was lost by fire while on its 
way to the United States for study. An older 
horizon is also represented here. The masto- 
dons were very widely distributed, teeth com- 
ing from Hidalgo, from the valley of Toluca, 
from Teul in the state of Zacatecas. Abun- 
dant elephant teeth are also reported by Mr. 
C. W. Beebe from the Lower Pleistocene, near 
Guadalajara. 

In 1903 the Mexican government made pro- 
vision for the increase of the staff of the 
Geological Institute which had been created 
by congress in 1888. The staff now includes 
the director, Dr. José G. Aguilera, an assist- 
ant director, six geologists, three assistant 
geologists, one chemist and assistant, three 
topographers. The director is now giving his 
most active attention not only to the actual 
field work of the survey, but to the extension 
of the library and to the arrangement of the 
collections, in preparation for the visit of the 
International Geological Congress. 


Hk 0: 


MUSEUM PUBLICATIONS. 

The Annual Report of the Director of the 
Field Columbian Museum for 1903-1904 
chronicles the steady growth of this great 
museum and emphasizes the necessity for 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 546. 


having its collections transferred to perma- 
nent quarters as soon as possible. 

This museum probably has the largest and 
best display of botanical material of any insti- 
tution in the United States, and judging from 
the plates the specimens are very well exhib- 
ited. The collections illustrating mineralogy 
and economic geology are also large, well dis- 
played and well labeled. But when it is stated 
that 500 labels were needed to complete the 
labeling of the gold and silver ores aldne, it 
leads one to ask if there may not be such a 
thing as displaying too many specimens. We 
have all heard of the man who could not see 
the forest for the trees, and there is danger 
that the museum visitor may fail to grasp a 
few general and important facts on account of 
the number of details. The modern tendency 
of museums is to lessen the amount of ma- 
terial on exhibition and to increase its educa- 
tional value, and there is no doubt that a 
small number of specimens well displayed and 
well labeled are more effective than a multi- 
tude of objects. 

The list of Museum Publications is a strong 
one and the two volumes of Elliot’s ‘ Land and 
Sea Mammals of Middle America and the 
West Indies’ were most acceptable. Zoologists 
may not agree with Mr. Elliot in all his con- 
clusions, but it remains to be said that no one 
but he has had the courage to attempt the 
task of bringing together and systematizing 
the present knowledge of the mammalian 
fauna of North America. 

The Prize Essay Contest, published by the 
Carnegie Museum, forms a pamphlet of 68 
pages, containing the addresses delivered on 
the occasion of awarding the prizes, with lists 
of the prize winners and contestants; although 
the essays themselves are not printed as has 
heretofore been the ease. 

Undoubtedly these contests do much. to 
bring children to the museum, but it is a little 
questionable if they do not think more of the 
possibility of winning a prize than of the ob- 
jects in the collections, and it would be inter- 
esting to know how many go again. 

It is surely a good thing to induce the publie 
to visit a museum, but might not the ma- 
chinery of the Prize Essay Contest have 


JUNE 16, 1905.] 


achieved even more permanent results if used 
in some other way ? 

In looking over the reports of various mu- 
seums it becomes evident that too much stress 
must not be laid on mere number of visitors. 
Three great institutions show a drop in 1903 
or 1904 of from 70,000 to 50,000, while the 
United States National Museum exhibits a 
large increase, following a large decrease. 
None of the museums in which the attendance 
has declined has fallen off in the quantity 
or quality of their displays; on the contrary, 
they have made very great progress, and yet 
the public for some unexplained reason seems 
temporarily to have lost interest. How much 
the frequent expositions of the last ten years 
may have had to do with this it is impossible 
to say, but it probably has had its effect in 
decreasing attendance. 

Be Aceallss 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 


Proressor L. Hermann, Konigsberg, Pro- 
fessor H. A. Lorentz, Leyden; Professor Henri 
Moissan, Paris, and Professor Hugo de Vries, 
Amsterdam, have been elected foreign mem- 
bers of the Royal Society. 


‘Dr. Frieprich Konirauscu, who recently 
resigned the directorship of the Reichsan- 
stalt, and has changed his residence, has been 
made an honorary member of the Berlin 
Academy of Sciences instead of a resident 
member as hitherto. 


M. Louris Henry has been elected a corre- 
sponding member of the Paris Academy of 
Sciences, in the section of chemistry. 

CampripGe Universiry has conferred the 
honorary degree of Se.D. upon Commander 
R. F. Seott and Sir Francis E. Younghus- 
band, K.C.LE., LL.D. 


Tue Broea prize of the Paris Anthropolog- 
ical Society has been awarded to MM. Lau- 
nois and Roy for their biological study of 
gigantism. 

Proressor Grorce T. Lapp, who has re- 
signed from the chair of philosophy at Yale 
University, has arranged to pass the latter 
half of next year as professor of philosophy 
at Western Reserve University. At the close 


SCIENCE. 


933 


of the war in the east he expects to go to 
Japan to lecture on educational methods under 
the auspices of the Japanese Imperial Educa- 
tion Society. 


Dr. B. F. Cuarke, professor of mechanical 
engineering at Brown University, retires at 
the end of this year, in accordance with the 
pension regulations recently adopted by the 
corporation. 


Dr. G. F. Hurt, Appleton professor of 
physics at Dartmouth College, will spend 
next year abroad, working in the laboratory 
of Professor J. J. Thomson, at Cambridge. 


Proressor Orin F. Tower, of Western Re- 
serve University, has a six months’ leave of 
absence, which he is spending at the Uni- 
versity of Berlin. 


Dr. W. J. Humpureys, Ph.D. (Johns Hop- 
kins, 797) has been appointed chief physicist 
of the United States Weather Bureau, in 
charge of the new physical laboratory in the 
mountains of West Virginia, near Gap Mills. 
Before assuming his new duties, Dr. Hum- 
phreys will go abroad to study foreign labora- 
tories. 

Mr. I. B. Ponte Evans, B.Se. (Wales), has 
been appointed assistant for plant diseases 
under Mr. J. Burtt-Davy, government agros- 
tologist and botanist of the Transvaal De- 
partment of Agriculture. Since October, 
1903, Mr. Pole Evans has been working for 
his research degree at Cambridge under Pro- 
fessor Marshall Ward, being engaged prin- 
cipally in an investigation of the rusts of 
cereals. During this time he has been acting 
as demonstrator in elementary biology for Mr. 
Seward, and last term had charge of the 
practical work of Professor Marshall Ward’s 
advanced course on fungi. The cereals of 
the Transvaal are greatly affected by parasitic 
fungi, and its flora presents a new and prac- 
tically untouched field for the mycologist. 


Proressor BERNHARD PROSKAUER has been 
appointed head of the chemical department of 
the Institute for Infectious Diseases at Berlin. 


THE courses that Professor Wilhelm Ost- 
wald, of the University of Leipzig, will offer 
at Harvard University during the first half 


934 . SCIENCE. 


of the approaching academic year are: ‘ The 
Philosophy of Natural Science,’ three lectures 
a week, and ‘The Fundamental Conceptions 
of Chemistry’ and ‘ Catalysis,’ each one hour 
a week. 

Sir Francis YOUNGHUSBAND gave the Rede 
lecture at Cambridge University on June 10, 
his subject being ‘ Our True Relationship with 
India.’ 


For the purpose of scientifically exploring 
the atmosphere, Comte de Castillon de Saint- 
Victor made an ascent on June 7, in his bal- 
loon Centaure, taking with him M. Joseph 
Jaubert, director of the municipal observa- 
tories of Paris, and Dr. Jolly. Other aeros- 
tatic ascents were made on the same day from 
Berlin, Strasburg, Barman, Munich, Vienna, 
Zurich, Rome and Trappes. 


Tue statue of Sir Thomas Browne, which is 
being executed by Mr. Henry Pegram, A.R.A., 
is now well advanced, and it is intended that 
it shall be erected and unveiled in its position 
in the Haymarket, Norwich, on October 19, 
the tercentenary of Sir Thomas Browne’s 
birth. 

Tue class of 1904 of the University of Penn- 
sylvania is collecting funds to erect a statue 
of Benjamin Franklin, the founder of the 
university. The class of 1905 has voted to 
erect a statue of William Smith, the first pro- 
vost of the university. 


Part of the old Speedwell iron works, near 
Morristown, N. J., in which Professor S. F. B. 
Morse and Stephen Vail perfected their first 
telegraph instrument, was destroyed by fire 
on May 22. 

Dr. Ernst Kuster, professor of surgery at 
the University of Marburg, will deliver the 
principal address at the unveiling of the 
memorial to von Esmarch, at Tonning, his 
birthplace, which will take place on August 6. 

Dr. Apert Hitcer, professor of applied 
chemistry at the University of Munich, died 
on May 18, at the age of sixty-six years. 


TuerE will be a civil service examination 
on July 5 for the position of aid in the 
Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of 
Agriculture, at a salary of $600 a year. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 546. 


A COLLECTION of birds’ eggs, consisting of 
complete sets, representing more than five 
hundred different species of birds, made by 
Mr. Gordon Plummer, has been presented to 
the biological department of Dartmouth Col- 
lege by his son. 


Mr. J. Prerpont Morcan has presented tq 
the American Museum of Natural History 
the George F. Kunz collection of meteorites, 
which has been on exhibition for some years 
as a loan. The collection comprises some rare 
specimens, including two which are unique 
and have never been described, and the largest 
mass (1,038 pounds) of Cafion Diablo which 
has been found. The department of con- 
chology has received from Mr. F. A. Constable 
a gift of the last instalment of the celebrated 
Hirase collection of the land shells of Japan, 
and the series is now on its way to the mu- 
seum. This instalment comprises about 1,000 
specimens of shells belonging to 220 species, 
bringing the total of the Hirase collection in 
the possession of the museum up to about 
4,000 specimens of 800 species. The series is 
fully representative of the land molluscan 
fauna of Japan, and while the specimens are 
not strikingly beautiful, they are of high sci- 
entific interest. 


THE sittings of the delegates appointed to 
consider the establishment of an International 
Agricultural Institute began at Rome on May 
30. The London Times states that the con- 
ference has appointed three committees. The 
first, which will consider the organization of 
an international institute, has appointed as 
its chairman the French ambassador and as 
members the other ambassadors and some of 
the delegates to the conference, including Sir 
Thomas Elliott and Sir Edward Buck. The 
aims which the institute is to attain will 
form the subject of the second committee’s 
attention. This committee will be divided 
into two sections, of one of which Lord Minto 
has been appointed president, while Sir 
Thomas Elliott is among the members. The 
task of the third committee is to examine the 
methods of defraying the expenses of the in- 
stitute. Signor Rava, minister of agricul- 


7 


JUNE 16, 1905.] 


ture, will preside over it, and Lord Jersey and 
Mr. Gill will be among its members. 

Ir is announced that the Proceedings of the 
Royal Society is henceforth to be brought out 
in a new form. It will assume royal octavo 
size, and be printed in larger type than is the 
case at present. Also two series will appear 
in future, one embracing mathematical and 
physical papers, the other biological papers, 
and each part will be on sale to the public 
separately. 


AT a meeting of the Zoological Society of 
London on April 18, Dr. W. J. Holland, F.Z.S., 
director of the Carnegie Museum and Insti- 
tute, Pittsburg, U.S.A., gave an account, il- 
lustrated by stereopticon slides, of the dis- 
covery of the skeleton of Diplodocus carnegit 
Hatcher, a reproduction of which he was in- 
stalling in the Gallery of Reptiles at the 
British Museum (Natural History), South 
Kensington. After paying tribute to the gen- 
erosity of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who had sup- 
plied the funds necessary for the extensive 
explorations which were being carried on by 
the Carnegie Institute, under the direction of 
the speaker, he went on to speak of the geology 
of Wyoming and of the immediate locality, 
where the specimen was obtained. He in- 
cidentally described the methods employed by 
American collectors to secure vertebrate fossils 
in fine condition. He then discussed the 
osteology of Diplodocus, briefly pointing out 
some of the more interesting structural fea- 
tures of the skeleton, and in this connection 
animadverted upon certain so-called ‘ restora- 
tions’ made public in popular magazines and 
emanating from artists whose artistic ability 
was quite in excess of their scientific knowl- 
edge. Dr. Holland concluded his account by 
exhibiting in rapid succession pictures of a 
few of the more remarkable skeletons which 
had been recovered by the paleontological staff 
of the Carnegie Museum from various local- 
ities in the region of the Rocky Mountains. 
At the same meeting Dr. Smith Woodward, 
F.R.S., read a paper on a unique specimen of 
Cetiosaurus leedsi, a Sauropodous Dinosaur 
from the Oxford Clay of Peterborough. He 
described the fore and hind limbs and the tail, 


SCIENCE. 


939 


and confirmed the observation of the late Pro- 
fessor O. C. Marsh, that Citiosaurus was one 
of the more generalized Sauropoda. 


Mr. Epwin C. Eckert, of the United States 
Geological Survey has just completed a report 
on the cement materials and industry of the 
United States. In view of the phenomenally 
rapid growth of the cement industry within 
recent years, the publication of this report is 
exceptionally timely. In collecting data for 
it, Mr. Eckel-visited every district in which 
cement is produced and examined nearly 
every plant in operation. Information re- 
lating to undeveloped deposits of cement ma- 
terials was obtained by personal examination 
and from the published and unpublished work 
of other geologists. The discussion is in four 
parts, the first relating to the materials and 
manufacture of Portland cement, the second 
to Portland cement resources of the United 
States, the third to natural cement resources 
of the United States, and the fourth to the 
materials and manufacture of Puzzolan or 
slag cement. Few people realize how mani- 
fold are the uses of cement. In its impor- 
tance to our present civilization it is sur- 
passed among mineral products only by iron, 
coal and oil. In rate of increase in annual 
production during the last decade even these 
three products can not be compared with it. 
In 1890 the total production of Portland ce- 
ment in the United States was 335,500 barrels, 
valued at $439,050; in 1903 it exceeded 22,- 
000,000 barrels, while the value was over 
$27,000,000. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


Tfir proposed affiliation or alliance of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology with 
Harvard University was approved at a meeting 
of the corporation of the institute on June 9. 
Thirty-two of the forty-seven members of the 
corporation were present, and by a vote of 20 
to 12 it was agreed to accept the terms of the 
agreement recently drawn up by the com- 
mittee of the two institutions. Before the 
agreement can become effective the corpora- 
tion and overseers of Harvard University 
must take action and several legal questions 
must be passed upon by the courts. It will 


936 


be remembered that on May 5 the faculty of 
the institute adopted by a vote of 56 to 7 the 
report of the committee adverse to the affilia- 
tion. <A full account of the report adopted 
by the faculty and of the minority report, 
together with an account of the meeting of 
the alumni on May 4 has been published in 
a special issue of The Technology Review. 


GENERAL WILLIAM J. Pater, of Colorado 
Springs, Col., and Mr. Andrew Carnegie have 
donated respectively $100,000 and $50,000 as a 
nucleus to the $500,000 endowment fund for 
Colorado College. 

At the Commencement exercises of the 
Catholic University of America the rector, 
Mgr. O’Connell, stated that the university 
possesses, untouched by the Waggaman fail- 
ure, assets and resources valued at $1,003,801. 
The bishops’ collection ordered by the pope 
has resulted in $113,550 being turned into the 
treasury from ‘77 dioceses. A contingent 
fund of $200,000 has been raised since the 
Waggaman failure and has been invested in 
railroad bonds. 


Eart B. Lovet, adjunct professor of civil 
engineering at Columbia University has been 
appointed director of the College of Civil Engi- 
neering, at Cornell University, as successor to 
the late Professor E. A. Fuertes. 


Dr. RatpH Haminton Curtiss, lately Car- 
negie assistant at the Lick Observatory, has 
been appointed assistant professor of astron- 
omy at the University of Western Pennsyl- 
vania. 

In accordance with the tutorial system 
adopted by Princeton University, preceptors 
with the grade of assistant professor have been 
appointed in the department of philosophy and 
psychology as follows: Professor R. B. John- 
son, of Miami University; Dr. Adam Leroy 
Jones, of Columbia University; Professor W. 
T. Marvin, of Western Reserve University; 
Dr. Wilmon H. Sheldon, of Columbia Univer- 
sity, and Dr. E. G. Spaulding, of the College 
of the City of New York. 

Tue following appointments have been 
made in the scientific departments of the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina: T. F. Hickerson, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 546. 


instructor in mathematics; J. C.- Hines, Jr., 
assistant in physics; E. B. Jeffress and B. H. 
Perry, assistants in geology; W. H. Kibler, 
B. F. Royal, T. P. Cheshire, assistants in biol- 
ogy; EH. E. Randolph, C. W. Martin, L. M. 
Kelly, G. L. Paddisson, assistants in chem- 
istry. 

Dr. James Bissett Prarr has been ap- 
pointed instructor in philosophy and psychol- 
ogy, at Williams College. 

Two fellowships of the value of $500 each, 
granted annually by the Woman’s College of 
Baltimore, have this year been awarded to 
Miss Sabina Claire Ackerman, Easton, Pa., 
who will study chemistry at the University 
of Pennsylvania, and to Miss Sara White Cull, 
who will study biology at Columbia Univer- 
sity. Other awards in science were as fol- 
lows: The two scholarships at the Marine 
Biological Laboratory, at Woods Hole, Mass., 
to Miss Katie M. Brough, of Hanover, Pa., 
and to Miss Mary J. Hogue, of West Chester, 
Pa., both members of the graduating class. 
Three Woman’s College scholarships, estab- 
lished at the Cold Spring Harbor Marine 
Laboratory of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts 
and Sciences, to Miss Ethel Nicholson Browne, 
Miss Hettie Cole Caldwell and Miss Maude 
Cecil Gunther, of Baltimore, members of the 
junior class. 

Mr. Ciarence Morcan (Harvard) has been 
appointed to the new chair of railway trans- 
portation at McGill University, and H. H. 
Mackay (Dalhousie) has been appointed as- 
sistant professor of civil engineering. 

Mr. Witiiam Frnpuay, tutor in mathematics 
at Columbia University, has been appointed 
professor of mathematics at McMaster Uni- 
versity, Canada. 

Mr. A. R. Lorn, B.A. Oxon., assistant to 
the professor of moral philosophy and lecturer 
on political science in Aberdeen University, 
has been appointed professor of philosophy 
and history in the Rhodes University College, 
Grahamstown, Cape Colony. 

Mr. Epwarp P. Cutverwett, M.A., fellow 
of Trinity College, Dublin, has been ap- 
pointed to the new chair of education in the 
university. 


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{ 


Fripay, JUNE 23, 1905. 


CONTENTS. 


Plant Physiology: PRorESSOR BENJAMIN M. 
IDIGEEPND 64 Serctoty Gaia ons Oioten acai ae Amer Cane 937 


Scientific Books :— 
Shattuck on the Bahama Islands: W. M. D. 958 


Societies and Academies :— 
The Philosophical Society of Washington: 
CHARLES K. WEAp. The Science Club of 
the University of Wisconsin: F. W. WOLL. 
The San Francisco Biological Club: PrRo- 
FESSOR W. J. V. OSTERHOUT. The Psycho- 
logical Club of Cornell University......... 955 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
An Automatic Catalogue of Scientific Lit- 
erature: G. N. Coruins. ‘ Life and Chem- 
istry’: PRorEssoR M. A. BRANNON........ 958 


Special Articles :— 
The Ideas and Terms of Modern Philosoph- 
ical Anatomy: PROFESSOR HENRY F. Os- 
BORN. Some Ph.D. Statistics: PROFESSOR 
EVE DOM SL OMBON Recess #0 sels acces cess 959 


Botanical Notes :— 
Michigan Forestry; A New Book on Ecol- 


ogy; Original Descriptions of Species; 
North American Rusts: PROFESSOR CHARLES 
HIS DEISSHY anvtntrcedae cis ater ee earn: aatloe as 963 
pe iuscography: Co Re Wis ccece s acn eo debe os 964 
The University of Wisconsin............... 964 
The Museum of the Brooklyn Institute...... 965 
Award of the Barnard Medal.............. 965 
The American Anthropological Association.. 966 
Selentiie- Notes and News........0602..00- 966 
University and Educational News.......... 963 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of SCIENCE, Garri- 
son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


PLANT PHYSIOLOGY—PRESENT 
PROBLEMS.* 

To the very year one century has elapsed 
since Theodore de Saussure published his 
remarkable investigations relating to the 
nutrition of plants and to the influences 
upon plants of certain well-known physical 
forces. Although preceded by the publi- 
cations of Duhamel, Hales, Ingenhouss and 
Senebier, as well as by those in a somewhat 
different line, by Konrad Sprengel and 
others, we may look upon the work of de 
Saussure as a wonderful production for 
his time and as strikingly indicative of the 
status of plant physiological problems a 
century ago. His paper may be regarded 
in a sense as the original charter or consti- 
tution of plant physiology. Fortunately, 
it is assigned to an eminent and experi- 
enced botanical historian to recite the 
amendments which mark the wonderful 
growth of this historic instrument. There 
remains, therefore, the task of suggesting 
some directions of future growth. 

No distinction need here be made _ be- 
tween those problems which are readily 
seen to involve the closest work in such 
other sciences as physics and chemistry 
and those which do not show a relationship 
so close. There is certainly much in physi- 
ology which must be based upon physies 
and chemistry, but when dealing with the 
causes of the activities of living organisms, 
it is in relatively few cases that explana- 
tions may ever be offered in terms of 

* Address read before Section C, Plant Physiol- 


ogy, International Congress of Arts and Sciences, 
St. Louis, September 22, 1904. 


physies and chemistry alone. Nor is it 
possible to offer such explanations without 
the assistance of these sciences. The prog- 
ress of the work in physiology is indis- 
solubly bound up in the development of 
other sciences. The benefits are, however, 
mutual, and as physiology acknowledges 
the fundamental importance of these re- 
lated sciences, they in turn must acknowl- 
edge the important contributions, often of 
fundamental nature, which have resulted 
through physiological investigation. 

In such a paper it would be impossible 
to do more than outline briefly some of the 
relationships of special problems which, for 
one reason or another, merit emphasis. In 
general, the problems in plant physiology 
have been well brought out and system- 
atized through the monumental work re- 
cently completed by Professor Pfeffer. To 
him the science owes a debt of gratitude 
which may be acknowledged as well by one 
who attempts to suggest future work as 
by the historian. Again, due recognition 
should be made of those who have in recent 
years based upon this or any similar topic 
valedictory addresses before various botan- 
ical organizations—notably, those of Pro- 
fessors Vines, Ward, Barnes, Reynolds 
Green and others. 

The fact that every cell or organ re- 
quires its food materials, or at least its 
nutrients, in liquid form, readily empha- 
sizes the fundamental importance of those 
problems suggested by the relation of the 
plant to solutions. The mechanisms for 
absorption and the general and special 
diosmotie properties of the living cell, all 
of which have been studied with the most 
consummate skill, have yielded matchless 
results; yet the rewards for future research 
show at present no distinct limitations. It 
has not been possible to determine the 
nature of the plasmatic membrane which 
directly or indirectly possesses such marked 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 547. 


powers of selection and accumulation. The 
conditions under which the activities of 
this membrane may be modified are but 
poorly understood ; and it is, perhaps, quite 
beyond the present possibilities to deter- 
mine the mechanism of this modification, 
for in that must be involved one of the 
most important vital activities of proto- 
plasm. Perhaps, when much more data 
have been accumulated by a study of 
plants of diverse habitat, the conditions of 
this modification may be more clearly dis- 
tinguished. It is known that continued 
endosmosis of a particular solute depends 
largely upon the use or transformation of 
this solute within, yet it is not always pos- 
sible to demonstrate any change in the 
substance absorbed. In any event, it is 
necessary to ask further light upon the 
exosmotic resistance of the plasmatic mem- 
brane to the accumulation of turgor-pro- 
ducing substanees, or, in other words, to a 
further explanation of what may be 
termed one way penetration. To these 
phenomena the processes of excretion and 
secretion are closely allied, whether they 
are ultimately, periodically, or continu- 
ously the function of certain protoplasts. 

Further chemical knowledge is needed 
dealing with the meaning of high pressures 
and of the accommodation of very high 
pressures in the fungi. As a rule, those 
protoplasts seem to be resistant to such 
high pressures which are also resistant to 
cold, desiccation and other stimulation. 
Mayerburg, working under the instruction 
of Professor. Pfeffer, has recently applied 
himself to a study of the method by means 
of which the organism may regulate its 
turgor. It is evident that one of two 
propositions must be assumed, and that 
increased turgor may be produced either 
(1) by the penetration of substances from 
without, or (2) by substances of strong 
osmotie action produced within the cell 


JUNE 23, 1905.] 


through the stimulative action of external 
agents. It was determined in this case 
that in general no absorption of the sub- 
stances bathing the plant occurs; therefore, 
osmotie substances are produced within 
the cell and largely by increased concentra- 
tion of the normal organic cell products. 
The extent and method of this capability 
for turgor regulation are highly important, 
as is also the general question of the rela- 
tion of turgor to growth. In recent times 
some of the important problems in this 
connection have been well suggested by the 
work of Ryssleberghe, Puriewitsch, Over- 
ton, Copeland and Livingston. 

The absorptive systems of plants seem 
to be admirably adapted for their needs 
from a diosmotie point of view. Diffusion 
may, therefore, be sufficiently rapid to sup- 
ply all demands of the absorbing cells or 
organs. Nevertheless, the assumption that 
ordinarily diffusion through the cell and 
plasmatic membrane is sufficiently rapid 
properly to provide for the translocation 
of metabolic products from cell to cell is 
certainly open to further inquiry. Present 
knowledge of the translocatory processes is 
insufficient. Plasmatie connections between 
cells are now known to be of common oc- 
currence, and this fact has given further 
interest to the above inquiry. Brown and 
Escombe are of the opinion that the plas- 
matic connections are eminently adapted 
for all of those phenomena which they 
have found td belong, as subsequently men- 
tioned, to miultiperforate septa. They 
claim, further, that with slight differences 
of osmotic pressure the necessary concen- 
tration of gradient for increased transloca- 
tion would be very simply effected. 

Thus far it has been difficult to throw 
any light upon cell-absorption and selection 
in many complex natural relationships by 
calling in the assistance of the dissociation 
theory and the ionic relationships of the 


SCIENCE. 


939 


salts in the soil. The external relation- 
ships of nutrient salts, or the relative 
abundance of these in substrata supporting 
vegetation, constitutes a problem with 
which the physiologist must be concerned. 
It is only necessary to glance at the results 
of work done by various experiment sta- 
tions in this country to be convinced of 
the great physiological importance which 
may be attached to such studies. 

Recent results tend to emphasize the 
importance of considering to a greater de- 
gree the physical conditions of the soil. 
Some have even gone so far as to claim 
that practically all soils contain a sufficient 
quantity of plant food; and that the all- 
important question is the regulation of the 
water supply in accordance with the qual- 
ity of the particular soil. This latter, 
however, is an error into which few physi- 
ologists have fallen. Nevertheless, precise 
studies upon the relation of plants to the 
physical characters of soils afford prob- 
lems which should receive the best atten- 
tion. Many of the problems are not new, 
and in a qualitative way, at least, the prob- 
lem of the relationship of the conservation 
of moisture and the tilth of the soil to 
productiveness has been duly appreciated 
by the best agronomists. We must notice 
with regret, therefore, that botanists have 
not always appreciated the importance of 
such work. Either directly or indirectly 
the water factor is a chief one in regulating 
the activities of the living plant and must 
be considered from every possible point of 
view. 

It may, perhaps, be less a problem than 
a routine matter to determine the relation 
of the rate of absorption of salts in the soil 
solutions to water under the varying condi- 
tions of growth and transpiration. Never- 
theless, information of this nature is im- 
portant. 

In spite of all the recent work, the phys- 


940 SCIENCE. 


ical explanation of the ascent of water in 
trees is a problem which must be mentioned. 
The renewed investigations which have 
been made along this line from an objective 
point of view will undoubtedly contribute 
to its eventual solution. 

It is a matter of interest that in their 
studies of the physics of transpiration, 
Brown and Escombe have found evidence 
to regard this process also as a matter of 
diffusion through maultiperforate septa, 
rather than a matter of mass action. It is 
caleulated that by diffusion water may pass 
out of the stomates to an extent as much 
as six times the actual amount of trans- 
piration which has been observed in special 
cases. 

The great number of cytological investi- 
gations which have been completed within 
the past ten years indicate notable advance- 
ments in a most important field; and this 
is particularly true with relation to the 
study of nuclear phenomena. Through 
this work light has been thrown upon many 
problems of cell physiology and of develop- 
ment: and as a result of the latter new 
theories of heredity have been advanced. 
Nevertheless, the field for investigation has 
been constantly broadened and many new 
lines of research made possible. In spite 
of the excellent results accomplished, there 
is yet great uncertainty as to the interpre- 
tations which have frequently been made. 
In no field of work, perhaps, is it possible 
for the personal factor to enter into the 


results more largely than in this. Again, 


it is unfortunately true that fixed material 
has been studied almost to the exclusion 
of all other and that even general observa- 
tions relating to the conditions of growth 
have been omitted in many instances. 
Much attention has been bestowed upon the 
minutest details which seem to be of mor- 
phological significance in the nucleus; but 
often the purely physiological side has been 


[N. 8. Vou. XXI. No. 547. 


insufficiently emphasized. It is quite pos- 
sible that in different plants, the exact 
method of chromosome division, or the 
manner of nucleolar disappearance, may 
not be similar; and it is certainly well 
known that external conditions may con- 
siderably modify the details of spindle for- 
mation, and perhaps other details in 
nuclear and cell division. The important 
point in every case is to determine if the 
same physiological purpose may be accom- 
plished. 

It is extremely important, however, to 
the subject of physiology that the methods 
which have made possible these cytological 
advances shall be extended and utilized in 
developing a knowledge of all of the vari- 
ous activities of the cell. In this way, a 
clearer insight may be given of many ab- 
struse metabolic processes; and certainly 
further light may be thrown upon the mat- 
ter of protoplasmic decompositions and 
secretions, the production of enzymes and 
alkaloids, tannins and other products. Go- 
ing hand in hand with observations upon 
fresh material, the limitations of micro- 
chemistry alone should determine the pos- 
sibilities in this direction of the work. 

In such cytological investigations, Fisch- 
er’s work on the artificial production of 
effects resembling those seen in fixed proto- 
plasm should be borne well in mind. This 
work is timely, and may assist in checking 
irrational developments by forcing a proper 


regard for a comparison of the effects ob- | 
served in fixed tissues with those shown by 


the living material. 

There are, moreover, but few directions 
in which the study of metabolism and 
metabolic products may not profit from 
cytological research. A notable instance 
of what there is to be done is well indicated 
by the work of the late Dr. Timberlake on 
the division of plastids and the develop- 
ment of the starch grain. 


. 


JUNE 23, 1905.] 


Photosynthesis is a topic which has re- 
ceived a full share of physiological investi- 
gation throughout the past century; yet 
the problems demanding attention are too 
numerous for complete enumeration. The 
mechanism of gaseous exchange in leaves 
has repeatedly been experimentally proved 
to be the function of the stomates. After 
critical physical experimentation, Brown 
and Escombe have recently reported that 
the results of their studies of diffusivity 
through multiperforate septa are closely 
applicable to the herbaceous leaf with its 
stomates and substomatic chambers.  As- 
suming their calculations to be correct, and 
granting that all of the incoming carbon 
dioxide is removed, it is estimated that with 
the stomates open the maximum observed 
rate of fixation of CO, in Helianthus (which 
is .134 ¢.c. per square centimeter per hour) 
would be only 5.2 to 6.3 per cent. of the 
theoretical capacity of the diffusion appa- 
ratus of the plant. In other words, with a 
gradient between the outer and inner air 
of only 5 to 6.5 per cent. pressure, the 
maximum observed fixation is well ac- 
counted for. ; 

Important problems in the general study 
of photosynthesis may well begin with that 
of a better knowledge of the structure of 
the chloroplasts and the constitution of 
chlorophyll. Neither of these, however, is 
absolutely essential to further physiological 
observations of a fruitful kind. One of 
the questions long ago raised is still perti- 
nent: what is the connection between 
chlorophyll and the plastid in which it 
is embedded? An answer to this question 
may perhaps afford in time an answer 
to the general inquiry as to the location of 
the true photosynthetic property. If 
chlorophyll is always the same chemically, 
it is perhaps probable that the first product 
of photosynthesis may always be the same, 
although this is not necessarily true. In 


SCIENCE. 941 


any case, the chief problems hinge upon the 
method of decomposition of carbon dioxide 
and water and the synthesis of the first or- 
ganic product. Neither the hypothesis of 
Bayer, Erlenmeyer, Crato, Bach, Putz, nor 
any other, has, to any considerable de- 
gree, been made capable of experimental 
proof, although that of Bayer has been 
most generally accepted. Each of these 
assumptions offers some suggestions for 
future work. Perhaps it may as well 
be said that they, to a certain extent, 
bias future research. Nevertheless, even 
when the chemical reactions in this syn- 
thesis become known it may yet remain 
problematical how the energy of sunlight, 
that is, of those rays most absorbed, with 
wave lengths of 660 to 680 » is made avail- 
able, or whether it is this energy directly 
or indirectly which is concerned in the de- 
composition. It has been well assumed 
that the hght waves may not be immedi- 
ately serviceable, but only after transfor- 
mation into other forms of energy. Fur- 
ther, it is not known to what extent this 
energy is operative in subsequent trans- 
formations. The conditions under which 
photosynthesis occurs have been worked out 
with a fair degree of accuracy, the status 
of these problems having been well set 
forth by Ewart and others. It is known 
that when deleterious agents act at a given 
concentration merely to inhibit the assim- 
ilatory function (the cell not being perma- 
nently injured) there is no evident change 
in the chlorophyll, from which it has been 
inferred that the assimilatory arrest has its 
origin in the plasmatie stroma. In all 
eases photosynthesis can not long proceed 
except under conditions of health of the 
protoplasts. | Nevertheless, the effects of 
deleterious agents have not always been 
studied by very delicate tests, and further 
attention might be bestowed upon this mat- 
ter by the use of the photobacterial method, 


942 


or other delicate methods, recently sug- 
gested, for it is of considerable interest to 
determine the relation of the photosynthetic 
activity to such agents as compared with 
other activities. 

Recently the effects of temperature on 
photosynthesis have been carefully worked 
out by Miss Matthaei. She states that the 
eurve of synthetic activity rises with in- 
creased temperature, that it is in general 
convex to the temperature abscisse and 
somewhat similar to the curve of relation 
between temperature and_ respiration. 
There is a certain maximum for each tem- 
perature. It has also been ascertained that 
there is a certain economic light intensity 
beyond which there is no increased photo- 
synthetie activity, and doubtless only in- 
jury. This is of special interest in connec- 
tion with some recent work by Weis. Ree- 
ognizing the fact that plants are of very 
different types with relation to their light 
requirements, he has sought to get an ex- 
pression of their assimilatory energy. He 
finds that Gnothera biennis, a well-marked 
sun plant, fixes under favorable conditions 
of temperature, and in direct sunlight, 
about three times as much CO, as in diffuse 
light (light of one sixtieth to one ninetieth 
this intensity). On the other hand, Poly- 
podium vulgare assimilates in diffuse hght 
somewhat more energetically than in direct, 
while Marchantia polymorpha occupies a 
position intermediate. This will be wel- 
comed by physiologists as.a field for whole- 
some ecological study, for an extension of 
such investigations to an analysis of plant 
associations with relation to the light factor 
may yield profitable results. 


In 1901, Freidel made the surprising re-’ 


port of success in securing outside of the 
living plant a gas exchange similar to the 
photosynthetie action of chlorophyll. He 
was later unable to confirm his previous 
zonclusions, nor were the subsequent results 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 547. 


of Macchiata and Herzog concordant. Re- 
cently, Molisch has employed upon this 
problem the photobacterial method of 
Beijernick. He finds that the expressed 
sap of certain plants may for a time main- 
tain photosynthetic activity, but since usu- 
dlly the sap loses this power when filtered 
through a Chamberlain filter, it is believed 
to be due to the presence of living plasmatie 
particles. Nevertheless, it is claimed that 
an exchange of gases characteristic of 
photosynthesis may proceed in a solution 
of the leaves of Lamiwm album dried crisp 
at 35° C. and then ‘rubbed up’ in water 
and filtered. The observation demands 
much further study, for it must be remem- 
bered that the test is by means of the liber- 
ation of oxygen, and Ewart has shown that 
some bacterial pigments may have the 
power of evolving oxygen. In the last- 
named case the gas evolved appears to be, 
as he states, ‘occluded oxygen absorbed 
from the air by the pigment substance ex- 
ereted by the bacteria.’ 

It can not be stated at the present time, 
however, as was assumed from Freidel’s 
first work, that there is any enzyme con- 
cerned in the photosynthetic activity. 

To a large extent the problems involved 
in a study of the assimilation of nitrogen 
are limited by the very imperfect chemical 
knowledge of nitrogenous products, and 
may not, therefore, be very clearly defined. 
Practically, the whole question of the for- 
mation of amides, proteids or other nitrog- 
enous compounds in plants remains in ob- 
security. It is known that these are formed 
in both non-chlorophyllous and chlorophyl- 
lous plants and that while in the former it 
may proceed in darkness, in the latter, light 
is apparently required for the most vigor- 
ous synthesis. In the latter case it may 
seem to suggest that there is need of the 
active cooperation of the chlorophyll ap- 
paratus; but here again the influence may 


JUNE 23, 1905.] 


be only indirect, since the roots, as well as 
the aerial parts of chlorophyll-bearing 
plants, are said to possess, to a certain ex- 
tent, this synthetic power. Interesting 
suggestions have been recently made by 
Godlewski. The part played in photo- 
synthesis by nucleus and cytoplasm, re- 
spectively, is unknown and may be im- 
portant. 

Some careful studies have been made 
dealing with the sources of organic nitro- 
gen in certain of the molds, but owing to 
the very great variety of fungous habitats, 
further studies may indicate unusual spe- 
cialization—perhaps even to such extent as 
is now known to be true with the bacteria. 

Saida has confirmed and extended the 
early work of Puriewitsch and_ others, 
clearly demonstrating that under certain 
conditions some of the fungi are able to 
utilize to a variable degree the atmospheric 
nitrogen. It would be interesting in this 
connection to give further attention to 
various groups of saprophytic fungi. In 
a public lecture Moore has recently made 
known the results of remarkably definite 
experiments showing that the organism (or 
organisms) of leguminous tubercles assim- 
ilates free nitrogen apart from its hosts, 
and that, therefore, the symbiotic associa- 


tion gives the parasite no nitrogen-assim- 


ilating advantages. Moreover, this nitro- 
gen assimilating capacity increases under 
conditions of artificial culture, and this 
increased power is heritable to a consider- 
able extent at least. This is an important 
fact and deserves further attention. 
Recently Reimke, Benecke and others 
have focused our attention upon the nitro- 
gen supply in sea water. They find that 
the organisms Clostridiwm Pasteurianum 
and Azgotobakter chroococcum are found in 
the ooze of sea bottoms; and the suggestion 
is made that the external but, neverthe- 
less, close association of these micro-organ- 


SCIENCE. 


943 


isms with certain marine alge may explain 
the power of these alge to grow so vigor- 
ously in situations in which they are 
found. The nitrogen supply is probably 
one of the most important problems. re- 
lating to the marine’ alge. It is to be 
borne in mind, however, that the question 
of fundamental interest is always that of 
how these micro-organisms are able to 
utilize the nitrogen which is absorbed in 
gaseous state. No such power is known 
among phanerogams. It has not yet been 
demonstrated to be possible with the lower 
alge, and certainly none of the interesting 
results so far obtained indicates that it is 
a very fundamental character of fungi and 
bacteria. In this connection, perhaps, it 
may also be stated that nothing whatever 
is known concerning the method by which 
carbon dioxide is chemo-synthetically util- 
ized by the nitrite and nitrate bacteria. 

There are many interesting problems 
afforded by the general phenomena of 
metabolism, with relation both to those 
products which may be immediately util- 
ized and to those which may be stored up 
for future use. It is well known that dur- 
ing active growth special foods may be 
taken out of circulation and stored up. 
The stimulus to such storage is not easily 
determined. In many instances it is ap- 
parently the protoplasm which is decom- 
posed in order that these storage products 
may be formed; therefore, so far as pos- 
sible a study of all protoplasmic decom- 
position phenomena is especially necessary. 
The deposition of the cell plate and the 
storage of reserve cellulose are especially 
interesting. It will be extremely difficult 
to follow the succession of changes in- 
volved, yet some information will un- 
doubtedly be gained. ‘ 

The migration of compounds, ‘particu- 
larly of those containing nitrogen, mag- 
nesium and potash, to growing vegetative 


944 SCIENCE. 


parts and to the developing seed is most 
remarkable. The production, whether. 
regulatory or otherwise, of the numerous 
by-products in the cell, such as tannin, pig- 
ments, organic acids, ete., is also of pe- 
culiar interest. The functions of some of 
these compounds must be most important, 
and should receive further attention. Tan- 
nin, particularly, is doubtless of much 
economic importance in the regulation of 
turgor and in augmenting the resistance to 
injurious external agents. Astruc has re- 
cently shown that acids are found in the 
younger parts of non-suecculents and mostly 
in the region of maximum turgescence ; 
and that there is a progressive decrease of 
such compounds in the older organs. In 
succulents, moreover, very slight changes 
in the external conditions materially affect 
the acid content. 

It can not be expected that all of the 
information desirable with relation to the 
composition and action of hydrolyzing and 
oxidizing enzymes will be obtainable until 
more is known of the proteids, to which 
group the ferments seem to belong, or with 
which they are at least closely related. 
Whether these enzymes are concerned with 
the metamorphoses involved in rendering 
soluble or transforming pectin, proteids, 
elucosides, starches, cellulose, fats, or 
sugars, their physiological activities are in 
the highest degree remarkable, and worthy 
of the closest study. The problems which 
relate to their occurrence, composition, 
production and action require, however, 
the combined attention of physiologists and 
organie and physical chemists. In recent 
times, through the work of Brown and 
Morris, Fischer, Green, Prescott, Vines, 
Loew, Beijerinck, Neweombe, Woods, and 
many others, these compounds have re- 
ceived renewed attention. It may be that 
at present too many obscure phenomena 
are passed over with the superficial expla- 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 547. 


nation that they are the result of enzyme 
action, and, therefore, require no further 
consideration. 
ments are largely concerned with the regu- 
latory production of modification of nu- 
merous metabolic products. The activity 
of each enzyme is circumscribed, yet the 
power to do work borders upon the miracu- 
lous. It is asserted that invertin may in- 
vert 100,000 times its volume of cane sugar, 
and pepsin may transform 800,000 times 
its volume of proteids. The chemist is 
especially concerned with the composition 
and occurrence of these, but the physiolo- 
gist is interested not alone in the occur- 
rence and specific action of the enzymes, 
but also with the effects upon the general 
metabolism of the individual plant, with 
the methods and conditions regulating the 
secretion of these products, and with their 
vitalities or limiting external conditions. 
Ferments may be concerned with external 
cellular digestion, that is, with the solution 
and absorption of foodstuffs from without, 
thus necessitating exosmosis, or with intra- 
cellular modifications, preparatory to the 
direct use of the substances modified in 
metabolism or in translocation. Again, 
the ferments may be present only at a cer- 
tain definite period in the life of a cell, 
produced, undoubtedly, by special require- 
ments and special stimulation. 

When isolated, or at least when outside 
of the cell, many enzymes are most active 
at temperatures far above those which may 
be maintained within the living cell. An 
explanation of this fact is difficult. Com- 
parative studies of their reactions to lght, 
heat, toxic agents and other stimuli should 
be made. In the penetration of parasites, 
cellulose-dissolving ferments are important, 
but further information is needed before it 
can be said that the presence or absence of 
such enzymes to any great extent affects 
the resistance of certain varieties and spe- 


It is known that the fer-- 


JUNE 23, 1905.] 


cies to fungous attacks. It has been stated 

that the resistance of plants to fungus 
attacks is due largely to the presence of 
certain enzymes or toxalbumens present in 
the cells of the host; and by others it has 
been suggested that susceptibility is fre- 
quently a special property due to the pres- 
ence of certain oxidases, which are regu- 
lated by external conditions. 

It has been shown that the mosaic dis- 
ease of tobacco and other similar diseases 
are accompanied by certain oxidase fer- 
ments which appear to prevent the diges- 
tion of reserve food. , The ferment is de- 
veloped in the growing parts of the plant, 
it may be transferred from plant to plant, 
and on the decay of the diseased organism, 
it is supposed to be set free in the soil. It 
is believed that it is then capable of dios- 
mosis and infection of the young seedling. 
While it can not be shown at present that 
the enzyme is beyond all question the di- 
rect cause of the disease, this field of work 
is certainly one which might yield most 
interesting results. In this connection it 
may be stated that peach yellows and sev- 
eral other important contagious diseases 
are believed to be of somewhat similar 
nature. It is also claimed that the keep- 
ing qualities of fruits may bear a certain 
relation to the amount of enzymes present 
at the time of storage; and, therefore, a 
knowledge of the time and conditions of 
the production of such enzymes would have 
ereat economic value. 

In general, Czapek found no enzymes to 
occur in the exeretions from the roots of 
higher plants, and it is now generally be- 
heved that the roots of one plant may de- 
velop no excretions injurious to neighbor- 
ing plants, and, therefore, there may be no 
biological relation between the roots of 
non-parasitic plants associated in the given 
plant society. It must be said, however, 
that the information at hand may not be 


SCIENCE. 


d45 


taken as final. There are yet some pe- 
culiar facts with relation to the rotation of 
crops which may not be readily explained 
on the grounds of the exhaustion of plant 
nutrients or of the physical condition of 
the soil. 

The fermentation of tobacco and tea, or 
hay and manure, involves enzyme actions 
which in recent times have received some 
attention, although the problems which are 
of most physiological importance require 
solution. The general belief is that in all 
cases of enzyme action these compounds do 
not form a part of the substance upon 
which their action is exerted, but they act 
as a key in each particular case, unlocking, 
or rendering labile, a certain organic com- 
pound, which is then subject to rearrange- 
ment and transformation. This is all, 
however, too speculative for profitable con- 
sideration, although such speculation may 
have no evil influence if it is not permitted 
to encourage the reference of all unusual 
phenomena to an unusually obscure and 
difficult process. 

The early perfection of water culture 
methods permitted a careful study of the 
mineral nutrient requirements in the high- 
er plants. Pure culture methods have af- 
forded a more accurate means of studying 
the needs of fungi and certain alge. As 
usually installed, water cultures of the 
higher plants contain bacteria, so that they 
afford only a practical test of the require- 
ments. The problem demands some con- 
firmatory tests, at least, under pure cul- 
ture conditions, particularly when organic 
compounds are employed. It is possible to 
grow, in a limited way, higher plants under 
pure culture conditions. 

With the fungi, exact studies may be 
made upon the influence of the different 
nutrients on the general form and upon 
the production of conidia, ete. It has been 
found, for instance, that, in the absence of 


946 


potassium, Sterigmatocytis niger may pro- 
duce no conidia or very curious modifica- 
tions of the conidiophores. By far the most 
interesting problems with relation to the 
mineral nutrients are those which have to 
do with the réles of these elements in 
metabolism. The effect of the lack of one 
or another element is made manifest by 
some general macroscopic change, and 
sooner or later, by disturbing pathological 
changes and subsequent death. It is re- 
ported, for example, that the absence of 
iron prevents the development of a healthy 
green color, and a scarcity of potassium is 
made evident, especially, in reduced pho- 
tosynthesis. 

We are yet merely at the threshold of 
these problems. <A cytological and micro- 
chemical study of numerous plants in vari- 
ous conditions of culture is needed. Loew 
has instituted some good work in this direc- 
tion. He attempted a careful microscopic 
study of Spirogyra under the conditions 
indicated. Although well rewarded, he 
has not followed up the result. The prob- 
lem is, nevertheless, again under serious 
investigation, and when much time and 
thought shall have been devoted to it, with 
the utilization of the best cytological meth- 
ods available, important results may be 
anticipated. The possibilities of the fu- 
ture are particularly dependent upon this, 
that investigation must be made of all 
macroscopic changes as well as of all dem- 
onstrable microscopic changes. 

The interrelations of parasites and hosts, 
or of symbionts, are of such great physi- 
ological interest that some of the most 
significant problems may not justly be 
omitted in this connection. It has long 
been assumed that the conditions of nutri- 
tion of a host plant determine to a consid- 
erable extent its immunity to parasitic 
attack. Ward was unable to detect in the 
bromes any modification of resistance due 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 547. 


to either high cultivation or to lack of 
sufficient mineral nutrients. 

The results which have been attained 
with the Uredinacew have established the 
fact of the existence of ‘biologic forms.’ 
This opened a new problem in the study of 
the Uredinacee and it was later ascertained 
that similar host-restricted forms are pres- 
ent in other groups of the fungi, especially 
in the powdery mildew Erysiphe graminis. 
Salmon has found bridging host species by 
means of which the parasite may pass from 
one species or host to another; for example, 
the form of E. graminis on Bromus race- 
mosus is incapable of affecting B. commu- 
tatus, but does not fail to affect B. horde- 
aceus; and the spores produced on the lat- 
ter will then affect the previously immune 
B. commutatus. From infection studies it 
is further found that there are biologic 
forms among the grass hosts as well. 
Salmon reports that this restriction of the 
parasite to certain hosts may be broken 
down if the vitality of the leaf has been 
lowered by traumatic means. In this case 
penetration would result either in the in- 
jured area or certainly within the sphere 
of the traumatic influence. Spores pro- 
duced by such infections proved capable 
of infecting uninjured leaves. The appli- 
cation of these results is certainly far- 
reaching; yet they must be extended and 
confirmed before a conservative explana- 
tion may be advanced. It is undoubtedly 
more or less in line with the well-known 
capacity of such fungi as Botrytis, Nectria 
and certain Basidiomycetes to become para- 
sitic under special conditions. Two lead- 
ing inquiries may be suggested: (1) What 
constitutes immunity or resistance in the 
host? (2) What constitutes virulence or 
attenuation in the parasite? 

As the result of practical experiments 
in cross inoculation, on the one hand, and 
of close morphological study, on the other, 


JUNE 23, 1905.] 


some investigators have long claimed that 
there are racial or specific differences be- 
tween the organisms producing the tuber- 
eles on the roots of certain leguminous 
plants. From the results obtained by 
Moore (in the U. 8. Department of Agri- 
culture) which have been reported, but not 
yet published, I am permitted to recite a 
further interesting fact of accommodation. 
When an organism isolated from one host 
species is grown for a time artificially, un- 
der special conditions of nutrition, its 
host limitations are in great measure broken 
down, and it may produce tubercles on a 
variety of leguminous plants. It is like- 
wise conceivable that in the case of certain 
yeasts the temperatures at which spores are 
formed, and the specific fermentative ac- 
tivities, may be changed by special condi- 
tions of cultivation. 

In view, therefore, of the work already 
accomplished it is certainly evident that 
the propriety of basing what are termed 
species upon certain physiological char- 
acters has distinct limitations. I do not 
intend to bring into this paper a discussion 
of the inadequacy of the present nomen- 
clature system from a physiological point 
of view. It may be said, however, that it 
is scarcely possible for the systematist to 
consider all physiological characteristics, 
or to appreciate the confused ideals of the 
physiologist. : 

Stimulated by the marked advancement 
which has been made in physical chemistry, 
especially in the knowledge of electrolytic 
dissociation, the past few years have added 
much to our fund of information with rela- 
tion to the toxic action upon plants of solu- 
tions of both acids and salts, as well also as 
of certain non-electrolytes. The work of 
Kahlenberg and True, Heald, Krénig and 
Paul, Clark and others has contributed 
enough data for an appreciation of the 
limitations of toxic action. Nevertheless, 


SCIENCE. 


947 


no broad generalizations are as yet possible. 
Indeed, it is not generalizations which are 
wanted, but further experimental data 
bearing upon the relation to the toxicity of 
the ions and molecules and their respective 
interactions. 

Studies may well be made dealing with 
the relation of nutrition to toxie agents, 
the effects of temperature and other condi- 
tions upon such action, and the aeecommoda- 
tion of organisms to increasing strengths 
of deleterious agents. Naegeli’s work on 
the oligo-dynamie action of copper is be- 
ginning to be appreciated and in one way 
or another the results have in recent times 
been repeatedly confirmed. In most eases, 
however, no allowance has been made for 
the action of the nutrient salts which may 
be present in the culture fluid and which 
may affect in a very dissimilar way two 
different electrolytes. In this connection 
it is only necessary to eall attention to the 
toxie action of certain compounds of mer- 
eury, in which increased toxicity, due to 
the presence of small amounts of some other 
salt of the same acid as the mereury salt 
used, is indeed quite remarkable. Within 
the past few months an unusually interest- 
ing paper has appeared in which Kanda 
reports the action of certain toxic agents 
upon plants grown in pots as compared 
with those plants grown in water cultures. 
His important conclusions are as follows: 
(1) A strongly dilute copper sulphate solu- 
tion, even 0.000,000,249 per cent., is injuri- 
ous to seedlings of the common garden pea 
in water cultures; and neither a solution 
ten times nor one a hundred times more 
dilute produced any stimulative effect. 
(2) In pot experiments with soil, the same 
seedlings are uninjured when watered 
twice a week during a period of from five 
to eight weeks with a solution of .249 per 
cent.; in other words, even after from five 
to seven grams of copper sulphate were 


948 


present in each pot. No explanation is 
offered of this remarkable diversity of ac- 


tion, but within the past few months an- - 


other paper has appeared which may 
throw light upon the results given. True 
has ascertained that finely divided paraffin, 
quartz sand, filter paper or other insoluble 
substances are all found to reduce the toxic 
action of the deleterious salt. It is ex- 
plained on the assumption of an absorption 
of the toxic molecules by the surface of the 
insoluble particles. Increasing the num- 
ber of grains of sand, for instance, in any 
toxic solution produced the same effect as 
increasing the dilution. From the results 
of these two papers it would seem, there- 
fore, that we have two entirely different 
sets of conditions to deal with when any 
test of such action is made in water cul- 
tures, on the one hand, and in soils, on the 
other. If Kanda’s results are confirmed, 
an extensive series of tests with both fungi 
and higher plants should be made in order 
to determine some relation which may give 
a working basis for further comparisons. 
In fact, much of the work thus far done 
will have to be reexamined in the light of 
these results, for if any precipitate or 
other solid particles have been present in 
the solutions, an error will enter into the 
calculations. The question will also arise 
if the surface extent of the vessel used in 
the culture is of any consequence. The 
practical bearing of these results in the 
treatment of soils is a matter which may 
prove of unusual economic interest. 

Loew observed that marked injury re- 
sults when such a plant as Spirogyra is 
placed in a solution of a magnesium salt, 
or in a solution in which magnesium is in 
excess. From all of the results obtained 
Loew has inferred that there is present in 
all plants requiring calcium an essential 
calcium protein compound. When mag- 
nesium must, owing to the predominance 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 547. 


of this element, be substituted for calcium 
in this proteid compound there results a 
lessening of the capacity for imbibition, 
attended by unfavorable consequences. It 
has been further ascertained by the work 
of May, Kearney and Cameron, Kusano, 
Aso and others, that there is for each plant 
a certain more or less definite relation be- 
tween calcium and magnesium. Neverthe- 
less, further experimental proof is needed 
before this brilhant hypothesis may be ac- 
ceptable in its entirety. It may here be 
noted that in a paper read by the writer 
before the Society for Plant Morphology 
and Physiology it is indicated that mag- 
nesium compounds exert upon the marine 
alge the least injurious action of all 
nutrient bases. On the other hand, it has 
not been demonstrated that the marine 
alge require calcium. 

The general phenomenon of chemotaxy, 
or chemotropism, demands searching in- 
vestigation in view of the recent work of 
Jennings on flagellates, that of Newcombe 
on root responses, and other studies on the 
fungi. There is much to be done in de- 
termining the effects of heat and cold 
upon special processes, in a study of the 
relations of temperatures to other condi- 
tions of the environment, and in showing 
the limitations of accommodation phe- 
nomena. In the latter study, moreover, 
the effects’ of accommodation upon the 
general constitution of the organism should 
be followed. Stimulation at high or low 
temperatures merely expresses an intensi- 
fied or modified irritability. It may be 
observed in this place that death at the 
supramaximal or subminimal may be due 
to changes of a very definite nature; but 
as Vines has indicated, this means very 
little. To say that death at the supra- 
maximal is due to the coagulation of an 
albuminoid as suggested by Kuehne is in- 
sufficient. For the immediate effect upon 


JUNE 23, 1905.] 


the protoplasm of this high temperature 
must also be of consequence. The external 
conditions of temperature of the effects 
of a modification of conditions are more or 
less readily determinable; but it has not 
been possible to follow the internal 
changes which result. It may be noted 
that the freezing point of a plant is lower 
than that of the expressed sap; yet of 
course the freezing point is not necessarily 
a valuable indicator of injury. The effects 
of temperature upon reproduction will be 
treated of later. 

The symbiotic relationship of fungus 
and root to Mycorhiza offers a fine oppor- 
tunity for careful investigation. The 
studies which have already been made 
serve only to put the reader in a state of 
hopeiess confusion. 

The universal phenomenon of irritability 
as manifested by trophic phenomena has 
been a fruitful field of investigation. The 
general methods of irritable response have 
been determined; and the best work of 
such investigators as Haberlandt, Noll, 
Czapek, Newcombe, MacDougal and others 
has more recently been directed to the 
deeper problems relating to the internal 
mechanism of response and to the exact 
methods of transmission of the stimulus, 
as well as to the immediate changes in the 
cells affected. 

A word may be said concerning the re- 
generation phenomena which are strikingly 
characteristic of the lower groups of plants, 
but which in the higher plants do not seem 
to be well emphasized, and are certainly 
less understood. The regeneration of the 
root tip has been best studied. In none of 
the higher plants has it been possible from 
a single isolated active non-sexual cell, or 
a small group of cells, to regenerate the 
plant. 

Although a study of the physiology of 
reproduction may be said to have had its 


SCIENCE. 949 


origin in the early observations of Camer- 
arius, all early studies represented largely 
only the ecological aspect of the subject. 
It is only in very recent years that rapid 
strides have been made in the general 
physiology of reproduction. The effect 
of conditions upon the production of an- 
theridial or archegonial thalli or of pistil- 
late or staminate flowers among dicecious 
and polygamous plants has received very 
slight attention. During the present year 
Laurent has published the results of ex- 
perimentation during a period of seven 
years with the effects of fertilizers, or 
plant nutrients, upon spinach, hemp and 
Mercurialias annua. It will be seen that 
according to his results an excess of nitro- 
gen or calcium has a tendeney to produce 
staminate flowers in the spinach, while 
potassium or phosphorus tends to increase 
the production of pistillate flowers. The 
seed produced on the pistillate flowers of 
these plants gave a preponderance of 
female plants; but from these plants, in 
turn, the seed yielded a larger number of 
staminate plants. So far as I have been 
able to learn, it has never been determined 
if in a ease of dicecious perennial plants it 
is possible by a change of conditions to in- 
duce a temporary or permanent change 
from pistillate to staminate flowers, or vice 
versa. In the same way, the influence of 
grafting or budding a scion of one upon 
the other has not been made out, although 
it is assumed that the flower will be char- 
acteristic of the scion. 

It is with reference to the effects of ex- 
ternal conditions upon the production of 
sexual and asexual fruiting organs that 
unusual progress has been made. In this 
direction a field of great magnitude has 
been opened by the work of Klebs, and it is 
evidently being pursued along all possible 
lines. As yet this work has been extended 
only to a few green alge (as, for example, 


950 SCIENCE. 


Hydrodictyon and Vaucheria); several 
fungi (Sporodinia grandis and Saprolegnia 
mixta especially) ; certain yeasts and bac- 
teria, and finally, to several species of 
phanerogams. While with the alge the 
light relation is of prevailing importance, 
with the fungi it is more particularly a 
matter of nutrition or transpiration. Asa 
rule, with the latter Klebs finds the stim- 
ulus to reproduction in the failure of the 
food supply in the immediate vicinity of 
erowth. That is, beginning with a well 
nourished mycelium a diminution of food 
supply, other conditions being constant, 
usually compels reproduction. A change 
in the specific chemical content may be 
effective, and in other cases there are other 
concurrent stimuli. In the study of phan- 
erogams it would seem that the problem is 
one which is, as a rule, far more complex. 
It has, however, been found possible with 
a few species to produce at will continuous 
vegetative growth or continuous flowering, 
to induce fruiting in a well nourished 
vegetative shoot, and to incite vegetative 
erowth in a flowering axis. It is probable 
that all shades of difference will be found 
in the capability of plants to have these 
processes distinguished by releasing stim- 
uli; and it remains for the future to de- 
termine to what extent this is possible. 

The general law which seems to be war- 
ranted is, that conditions most favorable 
for growth do not favor reproduction. The 
problem then is to determine for every or- 
ganism what are these conditions under 
which, on the one side, growth, and on the 
other, reproduction, may occur. Whether, 
under any circumstances the complete 
cycle of development may be run without 
any change in conditions apparently 
awaits proof. ; 

In grafting it would seem that seldom, 
if ever, do any characters of the stock pass 
into those of the scion except such char- 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 547. 


acters aS may be due to the presence of 
diffusible metabolic products, or products 
capable of self-propagation upon requisite 
stimulation. In this manner it has been 
shown that albinism may be transmitted 
from stock to scion. Again, Strasburger 
has indicated that atropin is accumulated 
in the potato when on a potato stock there 
is grafted a scion of Datura stramonium. 
It has been found that hardiness in the 
stock may affect the scion to a marked de- 
gree, but here the real problem is to de- 
termine what constitutes hardiness. 
Fusion possibilities in vegetative cells 
are more or less common in all groups of 
plants. In basidiomycetes parallel fila- 
ments fuse under many conditions of 
development, and a pseudoparenchymatous 
tissue may result. In grafting, the layers 
which fuse may represent different spe- 
cies or even different genera. Little is 
known concerning the factors influencing 
such fusions. Allusion may also be made 
to the fact that plasmodia of the same spe- 
cies of myxomycetes (at least when pro- 
duced in nearly similar conditions) fuse 
with one another. It should be accurately 
determined if this is an inherent property 
of the same race or species only, and if this 
fusion tendency may be weakened or dissi- 
pated by diversity of conditions under 
which the plants may be grown. The solu- 
tion of sueh problems with simple and 
rapidly culturable organisms may even 
throw some hght upon the more complex 
problems of self sterility and prepotence 
(in the sense in which these terms are used 
horticulturally) in higher plants—phe- 
nomena which may not be explained with 
present information. It has been found 
that tomato and tobacco fruits are some- 
times formed without pollination; and the 
same is true of other,plants. In certain 
eucurbits the act of pollination seems to 
afford a stimulus for the development of 


JUNE 23, 1605.] 


‘the fruit, even the dead pollen serving to 
eall forth this response. Under such cir- 
cumstanees it may well be that other chem- 
ical stimuli may produce the same effect. 
On the whole, there are no more interesting 
problems in physiology than those relating 
to pollination, the penetration of the pollen 
tube, and conditions of fertilization. Many 
phases of these problems have thus far been 
studied by gardeners and horticulturists 
alone. 

In this connection may be mentioned 
another fusion phenomenon of physiolog- 
ical interest—that of double fertilization in 
the angiosperms. This fusion of the sec- 
ond sperm nucleus with the endosperm 
nucleus (itself a compound of two nuclei 
of the gametic groups) or with one of the 
polar nuclei, may have a special signifi- 
cance, or it may be merely the expression 
of the fusion tendeney which has not been 
lost, although the function of the endo- 
sperm nucleus may have undergone spe- 
cialization. In the case of the pine, it will 
be remembered that the second sperm 
nucleus frequently undergoes division in 
the cytoplasm of the egg. What is meant 
by the fusion of the gametes? This is 
always a fundamental problem. It may be 
strictly a matter of the fusion of charac- 
ters, or it may further be a stimulus to 
embryonie growth. It is a remarkable 
fact, however, that this stimulus to embry- 
onic growth does not merely involve the 
embryo itself. The limitations of the cor- 
relations which seem to exist between the 
mere process of fertilization and incitation 
to growth in the extra-carpellary strue- 
tures are extremely complex. On the other 
hand, the process of fusion is often imme- 
diately followed by the resting period. 

It would be extremely well if further 
attention could be directed to the matter 
of parthenogenesis in the higher plants. 
Except in the case of Nathanson’s studies 


SCIENCE. 


951 


upon Marsilia, little has been done to indi- 
eate the conditions which may induce or 
which may tend to induce this process. In 
recent years, artificial fertilization, or stim- 
ulus to a certain growth of the egg in the 
lower animals, has been effected by chem- 
ical agents, by changes in the density of the 
solution, and by other means. This work 
has demanded world-wide attention from 
animal physiologists. It has been too much 
neglected from a botanical point of view, 
although the difficulties involved in similar 
studies with plants would be, for the most 
part, immeasurably greater. Yet it is cer- 
tainly possible to prosecute such studies 
along the lines indicated. 

Except in the case of Sporodinia grandis, 
and perhaps one or two other species of 
Mucoracee, mycologists have experienced 
great difficulty in securing the zygosporic 
stage of these fungi. The recent paper by 
Blakeslee, announcing the conditions goy- 
erning zygosporie formation in this family, 
seems to open a field for investigation 
wholly novel and suggestive. The sub- 
stance of his results is that this family 
may be divided into two principal cate- 
gories, designated, respectively, as homo- 
thallie and hetereothallic, these terms cor- 
responding to monoecious and dioecious 
forms among higher plants. Sporodinia 
grandis belongs to the homothallic type, 
both gametes in every union developing 
from the same thallus. Rhizopus nigri- 
cans belongs to the second and larger class, 
the hetereothallic type, in which the two 
gametes are invariably the product of two 
mycelia, which mycelia are sometimes of 
diverse vigor. When in culture, the two 
strains, as they are termed, grow together, 
zygospores are abundantly produced along 
the lines of contact. These are the striking 
results of this important paper; but other 
related physiological facts have been ob- 
served, and only further investigation can 


952 


tell whether this is a special case of gametic 
union in the fungi, or whether similar. phe- 
nomena may be found to be characteristic 
of other groups where there is gametic 
union. 

The discovery of Mendel’s hybridization 
studies and the independent confirmatory 
evidence furnished by de Vries, Correns 
and others all indicate the necessity of 
differentiating unit characters and of fol- 
lowing separately the inheritance of each 
unit character. The idea which it involves 
of the purity of the gametes with respect 
to unit characters, the segregation of unit 
characters in the formation of the gametes, 
is one of fundamental importance. Such 
work has given a marvelous impetus to 
studies in inheritance. 
gators have followed up this work, but it 
will be many years, perhaps, before a test 
of the Mendelian laws ean be carefully 


Numerous investi- 


made with any great number of plants and ° 


animals. The exceptional instances al- 
ready reported of the appearance of mo- 
saic characters and the dissimilarity in the 
product of reciprocal crosses themselves 
indicate further fields for experimental 
research. Only a word need be said bear- 
ing upon the phylogenetic side of physi- 
ological work, since phylogeny, as well as 
pathology or ecology, constitutes a separate 
section of biological science. The ad- 
mirable work accomplished by de Vries, 
serving beyond all question to demonstrate 
experimentally the origin of species by 
leaps or mutations, necessitates laying fur- 
ther stress upon discontinuous variation as 
a factor in the origination of existing spe- 
cies of plants. It is to be doubted, how- 
ever, that most botanists will at present 
concur in such an opinion as that the evi- 
dence advanced is sufficient to disregard 
or disparage the part which is played by 
continuous variation in the origination of 
species. Continuous variation must be 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 547. 


manifest by relatively slight variations; 
and it would be unfair to expect at this 
time the experimental proof of its effi- 
ciency. It may even be assumed that there 
is a complete series between continuous 
variations and discontinuous variations, as 
well, perhaps, as between the possibilities 
of inheriting immediately or ultimately 
such variations. Many of the problems in 
plant physiology are distinctly practical 
problems. The task of the physiologist is 
primarily to study the activities of plants 
irrespective of practical bearing. To have 
the greatest possible breadth and force, 
however, the cultivated plant may not be 
neglected in any of its artificial environ- 
mental conditions. It is unfortunate that 
as yet physiological botany has not been 
made fundamental to agronomy, hortieul- 
ture, forestry and other sciences, arts or 
commercial pursuits. Physiology can not 
be limited by any practical problems, nor 
can any sacrifices be made, but a sympathy 
with commercial endeavor will invigorate 
the work, will afford equipment and will 
contribute towards the common good. 

In conclusion, it may be said that pres- 
ent-day physiology, even more than any 
other section of biological science, is funda- 
mental. Many phases of pathology, ecol- 
ogy, phylogeny and experimental morphol- 
ogy, especially, may not be clearly differ- 
entiated as sections. Broadly conceived, 
plant physiology concerns itself: 

1. With the relationships of existing or- 
ganisms, ontogenetically and phylogenetic- 
ally. Phylogeny would necessarily claim 
much of this general field, as would also 
morphology, ecology and other subdivi- 
sions. 

2. With the functions or activities of 
organs, tissues and cells, and the interac- 
tions and interrelations of these one with 
another and with external forces. It is 
here that morphology touches physiology 


JUNE 23, 1905.] 


most closely and here experimental mor- 
phology must have its basis. 

3. With the incorporation and excretion 
of matter, metabolism and growth, the 
sources and uses of energy, irritability, 
and the minute constitution of living 
matter. In this last are included many of 
the most fundamental problems, not neces- 
sarily problems involving the question 
‘What is life?’ but problems concerned 
with the resolution of those factors and an 
intimate knowledge of those materials 
which make life possible. 

BENJAMIN M. Ducaar. 


SOIENTIFIC BOOKS. 
THE BAHAMA ISLANDS.* 


This handsome volume on the Bahama 
Islands is of merit in two regards. It is an 
appropriate expression of the energetic initia- 
tive of its editor in developing an interest in 
geography in Baltimore, and it is a serious 
scientific study of a peculiar group of islands. 

Professor Shattuck offered a course of lec- 
tures on physical geography to the teachers 
of Baltimore several years ago. The course 
proved attractive and was well attended; it 
was followed by an association of the teachers 
for more lectures and for field excursions 
under Shattuck’s guidance. This association 
was soon succeeded by the organization of the 
Geographical Society of Baltimore under the 
presidency of D. C. Gilman and the direction 
of a distinguished board of trustees. The 
membership in the society rose to something 
like 1,500 in its first year of existence. Its 
objects were to place before the public of Bal- 
_timore an annual course of lectures dealing 
with geographical subjects, to foster geograph- 
ical research, and from time to time to pub- 
lish monographs of geographical investiga- 
tions. All these objects have now been real- 
ized; hence although the activity of the so- 

*The Geographical Society of Baltimore. The 
Bahama Islands. Edited by George Burbank 
Shattuck, Ph.D., associate professor of physio- 
graphic geology in the Johns Hopkins University. 
New York, Maemillan. 1905. 630 pages, 93 
plates, 7 figures. 


SCIENCE. 


953 


ciety has been sadly interfered with during 
the past year by the disastrous conflagration 
of 1904, the secretary, as director and editor 
ot the Bahama expedition, has had so notable 
a success in bringing out a monographie vol- 
ume on the first investigation undertaken by 
the society that we confidently expect a re- 
vival to full activity in due time, and a vigor- 
ous continuation of the work thus begun. 
Shattuck having made a preliminary visit to 
the Bahamas in 1902, the expedition of over 
twenty members left Baltimore June 1, 1903, 
in the Van Name, a hundred-ton schooner, 
provisioned for a two-months’ cruise, and 
with an equipment to which the governmental 
bureaus at Washington and the Johns Hop- 
kins University had contributed. The results 
of the expedition are now set forth in sixteen 
chapters by nearly as many authors. Shat- 
tuck and Miller describe the, geology and 
physiography of the islands; Dall discusses 
the fossils and the non-marine mollusks; 
Fassig reports on magnetic and climatic ob- 
servations, and Shidy on tides. The soils are 
elaborately classified by Mooney; Coker de- 
seribes the vegetation, and Coffin tells of the 
mosquitoes. The fishes, birds, reptiles and 
mammals are reported on by Bean, Stejneger, 
Riley and Miller; the sanitary conditions by 
Penrose. The longest chapter is a history 
of the islands by Wright, and the volume 
closes with some general geographical consid- 
erations by Shattuck. The illustrations are 
numerous and good. 
Earlier observers have shown that the Ba- 
hamas consist of 29 islands, some of which 
are mere skeletons or strips of land, with 
numerous small keys and rocks, in all some 
three thousand in number, rising from a 
shallow submarine platform or plateau, which 
in turn stands up rather abruptly from the 
deep ocean floor. The material of the plat- 
form as far as known and of all the islands 
is altogether caleareous, of shell and coral 
origin, worked over by waves and winds. On 
the islands the rock is weathered into a ragged 
and pitted surface; its texture is so weak that 
it is sawed or chopped into blocks for house 
building. The area of the islands is but a 
fraction of that of the platform, partly be- 


954 


cause of submergence from a time of a more 
continuous land surface, partly because of 
shore erosion, which goes on furiously during 
autumnal hurricanes. The submergence is 
inferred to have amounted to 300 feet, because 
the islands are honeycombed with caverns, of 
which the deeper ones descend 300 feet be- 
neath present sea level.* Observations by the 
geologists of the expedition indicate that the 
submergence of the islands has recently been 
somewhat greater than now, for stratified de- 
posits containing fossils of living marine spe- 
cies are found at altitudes of fifteen or twenty 
feet at many places. Whether the islands are 
now rising or sinking is not asserted, but the 
bench marks that were set up and carefully 
measured with respect to sea level will make 
it possible to answer this question within a 
few score years. 

The shallower parts of the submarine plat- 
form are so thickly studded over with coral 
reefs that it has proved impracticable to chart 
them. At certain points the platform is 
pierced with ‘ocean holes,’ or areas of deep 
blue water in the midst of the shallower green 
sea. Here the tide ebbs and flows through 
sub-platform passages; in one instance that is 
described a descending eddy was noted, with 
coneave surface and foaming center. The 
tides were carefully observed at Nassau and 

* This line of argument is in accord with cur- 
rent geological opinion, yet it does not appear to 
be altogether proved that submarine caverns may 
not be dissolved out by fresh-water streams which 
descend beneath the level of the sea and rise again 
to the sea floor; just as caverns are conceivably 
formed beneath the level of the ground-water 
table on the land. Many land caverns now above 
the water table are filling with calcareous de- 
posits; the excavation of such caverns by solution 
may have taken place before the neighboring 
valleys were worn to their present depth, or when 
the region stood at a lower level, so that the 
cavern zone was beneath the water table, and the 
growing cavern was filléd with water. Whether 
the cavern zone was beneath the land or beneath 
the littoral sea floor is immaterial, so long as the 
Is it not indeed 
possible that the excavation of some submarine 
caverns was begun as well as continued by the 
tidal currents now flowing through them? 


ground water is kept in motion. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 547. 


thus better determined than ever before for 
these islands; they are shown to be of the 
Atlantic type, that is, with two subequal high 
tides in each lunar day; and not of the Gulf 
type, in which, as a rule, only one tide occurs 
each day. The mean tidal range is 2.634 feet, 
with spring and neap means of 3.051 and 
2.129 feet; the mean lunitidal interval or cor- 
rected establishment of the port is 7 h. 22.8 m.; 
but the variation of this interval due to pri- 
ming and lagging may amount to 45 minutes. 
The well-known uniformity of the Bahaman 
climate is attested; even in early summer, 
temperatures of 80° or 90° were not oppres- 
sive, the air being moderately dry and usually 
in motion. Flights of kites and observations 
on clouds indicated a diminution in the 
velocity of the prevailing easterly trade wind 
above 4,000 feet altitude, a curious contrast 
to the conditions obtaining in temperate lati- 
tudes where an increase of velocity with 
height is the rule. 

The soils of the islands are described in 
greater variety than one might expect on a 
foundation exclusively calcareous, seven types 
being recognized. The most important are 
the black loam and the red loam. The former 
occupies about three fourths of the surface, 
and makes what is known as ‘ provision land,’ 
because of its use for subsistence crops. It 
is good for citrus fruits, among which the 
shaddock or grape fruit takes the lead; but 
this soil is so thin that when fruit trees are 
planted, a hole is first blasted in the under- 
lying rock. Sisal, which is destined to be an 
important product, and cotton, more impor- 
tant formerly than now, also grow in this soil; 
the cotton plant grows tree-like, living over 
several seasons and having to be pruned to 
keep its branches within reach. The red 
loam soil is the best for pineapples, a very 
important crop, as over seven million dozens 
were exported in 1902, yielding almost $200,- 
000; but the prices have fallen in recent years, 
partly on account of the poor treatment of the 
pineapple in marketing it. The receipts from 
this source are at present much exceeded by 
those from sponges. 

We shall pass rapidly over the biological 
chapters. There is an elaborate list of plants, 


ns 


en 


Se 


JUNE 23, 1905.] 


950 species of native and naturalized forms 
being noted, including seven indigenous 
palms, several figs and thirty orchids. Many 
species are shared with the United States, but 
most of our deciduous forest trees are want- 
ing. The important geographical element of 
distance shows its effect in the less number of 
continental plants in the southern than in the 
northern islands. Although the yellow fever 
mosquito was found, thus making a properly 


screened quarantine desirable at Nassau, the 


absence of Anopheles indicates that, from the 
standpoint of malarial diseases, the islands 
are a good health resort; on a later page, the 
islands are described as favorable for con- 
sumptive cases also. The only marine forms 
described in detail are fishes; these are noted 
as having a popular interest for the tourist 
because of their extraordinary colors and 
forms, well seen when watched through the 
floor of a glass-bottomed boat. Of reptiles 
and batrachians, no less than 22 out of 35 
species and subspecies are restricted to the 
islands. Forty-four endemic species of birds, 
out of a total of 204 species and subspecies, 
are described in detail in their bearing on the 
derivation of the Bahaman avifauna. Only 
eight mammals are found whose presence is 
not certainly due to man; these include rats, 
mice, the rat-like hutia, raccoons and bats. 
The chapter on sanitary conditions is of 
unusual and pitiful interest. Some of the 
islands have only white inhabitants; some 
have nearly all blacks; others are variously 
mixed as to race. The island of New Provi- 
dence, on which Nassau is situated, has a 
well-civilized mixed population; the island of 
Andros, the largest of the group, has a rela- 
tively barbarous population of blacks. The 
islands of only white population have many 
degenerates. At Hopetown there has been an 
excessive amount of intermarriage, and al- 
though the original stock was good, the pres- 
ent condition is deplorable, the climax being 
found in a family of eight children, of whom 
five are idiots. Amn instructive genealogical 
tree is given in connection with this case. 
Leprosy is not uncommon, but except at Nas- 
sau there is no isolation of those suffering 
from this dread disease. The expedition was 


SCIENCE. 955 


provided with an excellent medical outfit, and 
at each town a free dispensary was established 
during the stay there. The people were timid 
at first, but after gaining confidence they 
came in throngs; when the party had to re- 
turn to the schooner, it was with difticulty 
that the outfit was packed up, and a way 
forced through the crowd; the more deter- 
mined invalids followed on boats, climbed on 
board the schooner and begged to be cared 
for. A special account is given of the most 
important diseases met with. 

The chapter on the history of the islands 
is a book of 160 pages in itself. After brief 
description of the early buccaneering days, 
special attention is given to the problems of 
slavery, with sufficient indication of the 
wretched treatment that too often occurred, 
and little illustration of the obsolete argu- 
ment that the conditions of the blacks was 
then better than under freedom. Yet to-day 
the condition of the people must certainly be 
low, for one of the governors, recently ap- 
pointed by the crown, thinks that there is not 
enough good material in the islands to provide 
the twenty-nine members of the legislature 
which is to share the government with him. 
“What is wanted here,” says the governor, 
“is a system based on that so ably conducted 
by Mr. Booker Washington, at Tuskegee, 
Alabama, United States of America, and until 
that or some similar scheme based upon indus- 
trial training as the main factor in the educa- 
tional method is adopted, I fear that no im- 
provement in the condition of the large native 
population in this colony will be manifested.” 
In view of all this, one must conclude that the 
islands, with their mild and attractive climate 
and the beauty of their oceanic setting, must, 
nevertheless, be taken as illustrating the un- 
fortunate and depressing consequences of 
monotony and isolation. 


Wade ©: 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
Tue 602d meeting was held May 13, 1905. 
Mr. L. W. Austin read a paper on ‘The 

Specific Heat of Gases at High Temperatures,’ 

describing experiments made by Professor Hol- 


956 


born and himself at the Physikalisch-Tech- 
nische Reichsanstalt during the years 1903-04, 
with the object of bridging the gap in our 
knowledge of the specific heat of gases between 
200° and 1000°. Below 200° we have the ex- 
periments of Regnault and others, while be- 
tween 1000° and 2000° we have the explosion 
experiments. Regnault and his co-workers 
found the specific heats of the simple gases in- 
dependent of temperature, while Mallard and 
Le Chatelier have concluded that the specific 
heats increase with temperature. The method 
of mixtures at constant pressure was employed, 
the gases being heated in an electrically heated 
nickel tube filled with nickel filings, according 
to the method of Wiedemann, and the heat 
being taken up in the calorimeter by small 
silver tubes filled with silver filings. The tem- 
perature of the hot gases was measured by a 
platinum/platinum-rhodium thermoelement at 
the point where the gases entered the calori- 
meter. After leaving the calorimeter the gases 
were caught in a gasometer at atmospheric 
pressure, the volume being measured by means 
of the displaced water. The gases did not 
come into direct contact with the water but 
were caught in a rubber bag, so experiments 
were possible with the more easily absorbed 
gases. In Table I. the results for the simple 
gases, and oxygen, nitrogen and air, are given. 
These indicate an increase in the specific 


TABLE I. 
Between. N. oO. Air. 
10-200° (0.2438 ) * (O20 7b) (0.2375) * 
20-440° 0.2419 0.2240 0.2366 
20-630° 0.2464 0.2300 0.2429 
20-800° 0.2497 0.2430 
Table II 
fa] Lom Lo} 
PMA ire eee ce 
a 3 Ee g 82 
Z ge re ee 
0° 0.1870 0.1952 0.1880 0.1980 0.2028 
100° 0.2145 0.2169 0.2140 0.2100 0.2161 
200° 0.2396 0.2387 0.2390 0.2220 0.2285 
400° 0.2840 0.2450 0.2502 
600° 0.3230 0.2690 0.2678 
800° 0.3550 0.2920 0.2815 


* From Regnault. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 547. 


heat of about three per cent. for air and nitro- 
gen between 20°-440° and _  .20°-800°. 
However, as the limit of accuracy is hardly 
better than + 1 per cent. the observed differ- 
ence but little exceeds the possible errors of 
observation. The results for carbon dioxide 
are given in Table II. compared with those of 
Regnault, Wiedemann, Mallard and Le Chate- 
lier, and Langen. 

Mr. A. L. Day described ‘An Interesting 
Pseudosolid.? It was a fine foam made of 
Plateau’s solution or white of egg and sugar. 
Cylinders cut from this showed elastic proper- 
ties like a solid but through a wider range and 
a fracture, photographs of which appeared like 
marble fractures. Since the dimensions of 
the cylinder under stress could not be measured 
directly photographs were used; the results 
were consistent to one half per cent. Poisson’s 
ratio came out nearly .50. He also detailed 
the results of experiments on ‘The Linear 
Foree of Growing Crystals. Thus, an alum 
crystal raised a weight of 1 kg. per sq. cm. 
through several tenths of a millimeter; the 
growth takes place only at the lower edges and 
the area of the supporting edge is too small 
to measure with accuracy; the forces are of 
the order of other molecular forces, and are 
quite sufficient to produce and enlarge fissures 
in the rocks. Both investigations have im- 
portant bearings in geology. 

President Littlehales then read a biograph- 
ical sketch of the late David Smith, chief 
engineer in the navy (1834-1903); his most 
notable services were in standardizing naval 
equipment and in improving the ventilation 
of ships. CuarLtes K. WEap, 

Secretary. 


THE SCIENCE CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
WISCONSIN. 

Tue .eighth meeting of the club for the 
year 1904-5 was held on Thursday, May 18, 
at 7:30 p.m., in the physical lecture room, 
Science Hall. 

The first paper of the evening, by Professor 
J. L. Bartlett, dealt with the subject, ‘ The 
Influence of the Madison Lakes on Local Air 
Temperatures.’ The speaker showed that 


JUNE 23, 1905.] 


through the influence of the lakes, which cover 
one third of the total area within a radius of 
six miles from the university, the growing 
season at Madison is appreciably lengthened. 
It was shown by comparisons with the average 
data for four neighboring stations, which have 
strictly continental temperature conditions, 
that there is an average departure from local 
continental types of from 0 to —38 degrees in 
the mean maximum temperature during the 
various months of the year, of 0 to +4 de- 
grees in the mean minimum temperature, and 
an increase in summer and autumn in the 
mean monthly temperature, and a decrease in 
spring. 

The subject of the second paper of the even- 
ing, by Professor C. S. Slichter, was ‘ The 
Underflow of the Arkansas River. The 
speaker presented the results of an investiga- 
tion conducted last summer under the auspices 
of the United States Reclamation Service of 
the region covering the drainage basin of the 
Arkansas River from Garden, Kans., west- 
ward to the state line. The work done indi- 
cates that the water of the Arkansas under- 
flew has its origin in the rainfall upon the 
sand hills to the south of the river and upon 
the bottom lands and plains to the north of 
the river. The rate of movement of the un- 
derflow was found by the electrical method 
to vary between eight and eleven feet for 
twenty-four hours. It was shown that the 
“Arkansas River contributes water to the un- 
derflow in time of flood. When the river was 
high a movement of the ground water away 
from the river channel was measured and 
found to be about eight feet for twenty-four 
hours. 

The following members were elected officers 
of the club for the year 1905-6: 


President—Professor Louis Kahlenberg. 
Vice-President—Professor C. K. Leith. 
Secretary-Treasurer—Professor Richard Fischer. 


F. W. Wott, 
Secretary. 


THE SAN FRANCISCO BIOLOGICAL CLUB. 
A MEETING of the recently organized San 
Francisco Biological Club was held on April 


SCIENCE. 


957 


22, 1905. The following papers were pre- 


sented: 

PRESIDENT Davip SrarrR JorpDan: ‘ Actual 
Origin of Species.’ 

PROFESSOR JACQUES Logs: ‘On _ Artificial 
Parthenogenesis.’ 


Proressor G. J. Petrce: ‘Irritability in Alge.’ 

PROFESSOR J. B. MacCatitum: ‘On the Diuretic 
Action of Certain Hemolytics.’ 

Dr. F. W. Bancrort: ‘On the Validity of 
Pfliiger’s Law for the Galvanotropie Reactions 
of Paramecium.’ 

Dr. P. OLSSON-SEFFER: 
Oceanie Currents.’ 

Dr. Harotp Heatu: ‘The Development and 
Significance of the Body-cavity in Certain In- 
vertebrates.’ 

Proressor J. C. MERRIAM: ‘ Adaptive Radiation 
in the Early Reptilia.’ 

Proressor C. A. Korom: ‘On the Structure of 
some Pelagic Ciliata.’ 

Proressor W. A. SETCHELL: ‘ Regeneration in 
Kelps.’ 

Proressor W. J. V. OsTerRHOUT: ‘ Polarity in 
Plants.’ 


“Seed-transport by 


W. J. V. OsterHout, 
Secretary. 


THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLUB OF CORNELL 
UNIVERSITY. 

Tue session of 1905 has been devoted to 
the consideration of experimental studies of 
memory and economical learning. The fol- 
lowing papers have been read: 


PrRoFESSOR TITCHENER (two papers): ‘The 
Work of Ebbinghaus.’ 

PROFESSOR BENTLEY (two papers): ‘The Work 
of Mueller and Schumann.’ 

Mr. H. C. SrevENS (two papers): ‘The Work 


of Mueller and Pilzecker,’ 

Miss E. Murray: ‘The Importance of Repeti- 
tion.’ 

Mr. J. H. Corrin: ‘Learning by Whole and 
Part.’ 

Dr. T. DE Laguna: ‘ The Distribution of Repeti- 
tions.’ 

Mr. R. B. WaucuH: ‘ Economy of Learning, I.’ 

Mr. 8. P. Hayes: ‘ Economy of Learning, II.’ 

Mr. A. C. Munsee: * Economy of Learning, III.’ 

Mr. G. H. SABineE: ‘ The Trend of Investigation: 
Problems and Methods.’ 


958 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 


AN AUTOMATIC CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC 
LITERATURE. 

To THE Epiror oF Scrence; The cataloguing 
of current scientific literature is receiving con- 
siderable attention at the present time. The 
difficulty of accomplishing this with prompt- 
ness and completeness is well shown in the 
first annual issue of the ‘ International Cata- 
logue of Scientific Literature’ comprehen- 
sively reviewed by Professor H. B. Ward, in 
a recent number of ScrENCE. 

The spectacle of four organizations em- 
ployed in practically the same work, viz., the 
cataloguing of zoological literature, and all 
the catalogues found to be incomplete when 
carefully scrutinized in any particular line, 
would seem to demonstrate the futility of 
hopes for a complete catalogue in a system 
where the cataloguers are compelled to collect 
and review the literature. 

For a catalogue of scientific literature to 
be of great value it should enable a writer to 
feel that justice has been done his predeces- 
sors when the literature catalogued under any 
subject in question has been canvassed, and 
this will not be the case if there is even a 
doubt as to completeness. On the other hand, 
a catalogue, in which confidence was justified, 
would save an enormous amount of labor 
and greatly increase the efficiency of the 
world’s investigators. 

The character of the publications in which 
the results of scientific work appear are so 
diverse and difficult of access, and the amount 
of literature to be catalogued is really so 
large that any approach to absolute complete- 
ness by the means now employed seems out 
of the question, even with the most liberally 
endowed organization. 

It seems clear to the writer, at least, that 
the desired result can be obtained only by 
some scheme in which the authors themselves 
are responsible for the cataloguing. 

In scientific work the class that writes is, 
to a large extent, the same as that which con- 
sults the literature and it would seem only 
just that those wishing to use the work of 
others should be willing to make their own 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 547. 


work accessible. Scientific etiquette now de- 
mands that articles be published under reason- 
ably short and appropriate titles, thus assist- 
ing the cataloguers in their enormous under- 
taking. May it not be possible to carry this 
a step further ? 

Let it be considered a necessary part of the 
publication of an article, that the title, at 
least, and an abstract, if desired, be submitted 
to the cataloguing organization. The labor 
of that body would then be confined to edi- 
torial work and could be accomplished by a 
comparatively small staff. The abstracts 
would convey the ideas of the authors and 
the interest which every writer takes in his 
own work would insure the completeness of 
the catalogue. It would be necessary to es- 
tablish a maximum ratio between the length 
of the article and the length of the abstract. 
The general classification of the subjects 
would need to be made public and the authors 
should indicate under which branch they wish 
their work to be catalogued, it being allowable 
to catalogue a title under more than one sub- 
ject-head with cross-references to the place 
where the abstract appears. 

The title and abstract should be submitted 
simultaneously with the appearance of the 
publication; thus the catalogue could be com- 
plete to date of issue. This feature would also 
be entirely automatic, as it would be to every 
author’s advantage to have his work placed 
before the public as promptly as possible. 

Any scheme of this kind will appear to many 
as fanciful. Whether this charge be just or 
not depends entirely on the way in which the 
scheme is launched. 

If simultaneously adopted by the large sci- 
entific organizations its automatic nature 
would insure its success. If put into opera- 
tion prematurely by any organization that 
does not command the support of the scien- 
tific public its failure is no less certain. 
Indeed, an attempt of similar nature was 
made not long since by an obscure institution 
whose prospectus received little or no atten- 
tion, other than that aroused by the fantastic 
English in which it was couched. 

G. N. Cotirys. 


U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 


JUNE 23, 1605.] 


‘LIFE AND CHEMISTRY.’ 


To THe Eprror or Science: The interesting 
address of Professor Charles Baskerville, en- 
titled ‘Life and Chemistry,’ published in 
Science, Vol. X XI., No. 539, contains a state- 
ment which ealls for review. He says that 
“ Seed, one of the means of nature’s reproduc- 
tion, may remain years, centuries, in vaults, 
as within the Egyptian pyramids. When sub- 
jected to the proper conditions, they sprout 
and reproduce.” What are the ‘ proper condi- 
tions’ for the germination of these mummy 
seeds? DeCandolle, and others, experimented 
with seeds in many ways, and were unable to 
prove that they possessed such remarkable 
longevity as that referred to in Professor 
Baskerville’s address. Their germinating ex- 
periments indicated that few seeds retained 
their ‘vitality’ after ten to fifteen years. 
They appeared to believe that thirty years was 
the limit of longevity in the most vigorous 
seeds. . 

Seeds collected from mummy eases, and re- 
ported to have germinated, are regarded by 
many botanists as ‘salted. This view re- 
garding the short longevity of seeds is current 
in botanical literature. If that literature is 
incorrect it should be revised. 

M. A. Brannon. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


THE IDEAS AND TERMS OF MODERN PHILOSOPHICAL 
ANATOMY.* 


Tue ideas of philosophical anatomy have 
been developed during three periods of human 
thought: First, the Greek, in which adapta- 
tion was clearly perceived as the central phe- 
nomenon of life, in its morphological and 
physiological expression. Second, the pre- 
Darwinian period, in which ideas of the 
environmental relations were developed espe- 
cially by Bacon; and various forms of mor- 
phological, physiological and especially psy- 
chical adaptation were developed gradually 
through the studies of Buffon, Lamarck, Geof- 
froy, St. Hilaire and more especially Goethe; 


* Presented before the New York Academy of 
Sciences, by Henry Fairfield Osborn, April 10, 
1905. 


SCIENCE. 


959 


adaptations began to be distinguished broadly 
into primary, or those which had been of use 
in past time, and secondary, or those which 
were recent in origin and in full use at the 
present time. Even prior to these writers, 
however, Vesalius in his studies of human an- 
atomy perceived the importance of this dis- 
tinction. Philosophical anatomy really owes 
to Darwin himself the fundamental ideas 
which are involved in the terms primitive, 
retrogressive, progressive and dominant, and 
are now understood with perfect clearness. 
This is the third period of anatomy as estab- 
lished on evolution. Huxley in his brilliant 
essay of 1880 on ‘The Laws of Evolution as 
Applied to the Mammalia’ was the first to 
emphasize persistent primitive characters and 
modernized or adaptive characters, laying 
great stress on the importance of the former 
in questions of phylogeny. Among many 
other anatomical papers EK. Ray Lankester’s 
‘Degeneration, a Chapter in Darwinism,’ 
brought out especially the significance of ret- 
rogressive changes. 

Huxley was a master of logic, but even his 
keen vision failed to recognize the vast im- 
portance of the element of analogy, or sim- 
ilarity of function, in bringing about a sim- 
ilarity of structure in evolution independent 
of real similarity of kinship. This final phase 
broad extension of paleontology, and the dem- 
onstration over and over again in nature that 
similar forms have been produced indepen- 
dently either by parallelism from animals 
related in ancestry, or by convergence in 
animals unrelated in ancestry. To these 
processes and results of similar modeling 
Lankester has applied the fitting terms homo- 
plasy and homoplastie. 

In the table an attempt is made, for the first 
time to my knowledge, to bring together all 
these processes of change and to indicate their 
interrelations. There can be little disagree- 
ment as to the terms in columns I., II., III., 
but some surprise may be felt as to the broad 
inclusiveness of column IV. The justification 
for this column lies in the fact that in the 
analysis of any animal form the questions 
which each anatomist should put to himself 
as regards each character are: Is this a primi- 


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SCIENCE. 


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JUNE 23, 1905.] 


tive or a secondary character? If primitive, 
is it in a balanced or stationary condition, or 
is it in process of change? Secondly, is this 
a retrogressive or a progressive character? 
Questions to be answered certainly only by 
the evidence afforded by ontogeny or paleon- 
tology, and in a comparatively limited number 
of cases by comparative anatomy. Further, 
it may be necessary to ask: Is this a dominant 
character, or one which has attained such im- 
portance in evolution as to crowd out and 
overshadow all others ? 

Anatomical analysis, however, does not stop 
here; we must constantly be on the lookout for 
transitional characters or characters in the 
very act of change. These transitional or 
evolutional characters appear at present to be 
of four kinds: first, modifications, or such as 
have been brought about during the life of 
the individual without necessarily being con- 
nected with germinal changes; second, fluc- 
tuations, or fluctuating variations, changes of 
degree or proportion which may be due either 
to somatie or to germinal causes, one of the 
most difficult problems in regard to fluctua- 
tions being to ascertain how much is germinal 
and how much is purely somatic; third, salta- 
tions, which are altogether germinal, or at 
least prenatal, in origin, including marked 
changes of kind, the ‘sports’ of Darwin and 
Galton, the ‘discontinuous variations’ of 
Bateson, and the ‘mutations’ of de Vries. 
Wide celebrity has been given to the word 
‘mutation’ through the brilliant experiments 
and observations of de Vries, but the original 
significance of this term as employed by 
Waagen and Scott was a different one, and I 
think it probable that Waagen used it in the 
sense of determinate variation. Fourth, recti- 
gradation, a new term with which I propose 
to characterize what in the year 1889 I de- 
seribed as ‘definite variations’; it embraces 
changes which many writers have described as 
‘orthogenetic,’ under the supposed law of 
direct change, usually in an adaptive direc- 
tion, which is described as Orthogenesis; these 
probably are the ‘mutations’ of Waagen. 

All the processes in column IV. are those 
which may be observed at the time or moment 
of observation in any organism, provided we 


SCIENCE. 


961 


have sufficient keenness of perception or suftfi- 
cient knowledge to discriminate between them. 

The elements of comparison given in column 
V.,on the other hand, relate strictly to questions 
of origin, or to the past and the future, also to 
questions of comparison. The first broad dis- 
tinetion of comparison is between I., Homolo- 
gous, and IJ., Analogous characters. In a 
strict interpretation homologous refers only to 
those elements which are ‘homogeneous’ (Lan- 
kester), or have an actual similarity of origin 
or ancestry. Under analogous characters there 
is a simple distinction to be drawn between 
the results of parallelism and of convergence, 
terms which I maintain should be used in a 
somewhat stricter sense than they have been 
hitherto. Looking to the past and future, we 
have III., the non-analogous characters and 
the broad phenomena of divergence. Appre- 
ciation of animal divergence, or of divergence 
in special structures and organs, naturally be- 
longs to the evolutionary period of anatomical 
thought; a period beginning with the branch- 
ing system of Lamarck and continued in the 
still clearer perception of divergence in the 
writings of Darwin. I have elsewhere pro- 
posed to employ the term ‘ adaptive radiation ’ 
for the general phenomenon of divergence as 
observed in a single group, distinguishing 
such a group in process of divergence as a 
‘radiation,’ either a ‘continental radiation’ 
where diverging on a large scale, or a ‘ local 
radiation ’ where diverging in a more restricted 
environment. 

It will be observed that while these ideas 
and terms are all evolutionary they are also 
purely anatomical, and restricted to anatomy. 
In a second communication the ideas and 
terms of modern evolution will be similarly 
treated. Henry F. Osporn. 


SOME PH.D. STATISTICS. 


WE do not have to go very far back in the 
annals of higher education in the United 
States to discover a period when the percentage 
of instructors at a given university who had 
received the doctorate from the same institu- 
tion, excluding foreign degrees, came _ peril- 
ously near the maximum. During the last 
ten or fifteen years, however, quite a change 


J62 


has been effected in this respect, so that at 
the present day there are few prominent uni- 
versities in the country where the number of 
faculty members who hold a Ph.D. degree 
from another university is not larger than the 
number of those who received the degree from 
the institution in which they are giving in- 
struction. There has been a noticeable change 
during the past decade also in the percentage 
of degrees received from foreign universities, 
and while there has been no perceptible de- 
crease in the actual number of degrees taken 
abroad, there has been of course a consider- 
able increase in the number conferred by 
American universities. In 1884 only 28 Ph.D. 
degrees were granted on examination by Amer- 
ican universities; ten years later (in 1894) 
there were 233, and fifteen years later (in 1899) 
there were 325. 

Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Johns 
Hopkins, Pennsylvania and Yale are the uni- 
versities that are turning out the largest num- 
ber of doctors, and it may be of interest to 
know how these universities, as well as a num- 
ber of other representative institutions of 
higher learning, stand in the matter of ‘in- 
breeding.’ In the following figures only in- 
structors of professorial rank, having a seat 
in one or another of the university faculties, 
are considered. In only three institutions is 
the number of degrees received from the home 
university larger than that received elsewhere, 
namely, in the case of Yale, where 46 of the 
67 professors holding the Ph.D. degree, or 
69 per cent., received it from Yale and 21 from 
other institutions; in the case of Johns Hop- 
kins, where 27 out of 41, or 66 per cent., re- 
ceived it from Johns Hopkins and 14 from 
elsewhere; and in the case of Pennsylvania, 
where 26 out of 45, or 58 per cent., received 
it from Pennsylvania and 19 from elsewhere. 
The other institutions from which figures were 
secured run in the following order, the figures 
representing in each case the number and 
percentage of professors who received the de- 
gree from the home university: Cornell 32 
out of 70, or 46 per cent.; Columbia 32 out of 
73, or 44 per cent.; Michigan 10 out of 25, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 547. 


or 40 per cent.; Harvard 21 out of 55, or 
38 per cent.; Princeton 12 out of 33, or 36 
per cent.; Chicago 25 out of 86, or 29 per 
cent.; Wisconsin 13 out of 49, or 27 per cent. ; 
California 4 out of 46, or 9 per cent. It is 
only natural that universities like California, 
Wisconsin and Chicago should’have a high 
percentage of Ph.D.’s from elsewhere on their 
faculties. 

The above figures also show that in the ac- 
tual number of doctorates held by members of 
the faculties the universities rank in the fol- 
lowing order: Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, 
Yale, Harvard, Wisconsin, California, Penn- 
sylvania, Johns Hopkins, Princeton and Mich- 
igan. Chicago also has the largest number 
of Ph.D.’s from elsewhere, followed by Cali- 
fornia, Columbia, Cornell, Wisconsin and 
Harvard. 

The following universities in the order 
named are represented by the largest number 
of doctors of philosophy at the institutions 
above enumerated, excluding in each case the 
degrees granted by the same university: Johns 
Hopkins, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton 
and Pennsylvania. Among foreign universi- 
ties, Leipzig has by far the largest representa- 
tion, having 37 doctors of philosophy on the 
faculties of the universities under discussion, 
as against 40 from Johns Hopkins. The other 
universities represented by more than one 
doctor follow in the order named: G6ttingen, 
Halle, Berlin and Munich (10 each), Freiburg, 
Heidelberg, Strassburg, Jena and Rostock and 
Wiirzburg (2 each). Complete returns were 
not made by every institution, but the figures 
are close enough to reflect existing conditions 
with sufficient accuracy. 

The statistics prove that most of the uni- 
versities concerned attract to their faculties 
a considerable percentage of holders of Ph.D. 
degrees from other institutions, that Yale, 
Johns Hopkins and Pennsylvania are the chief 
exponents of ‘inbreeding,’ that the western 
universities, as might be supposed, draw the 
largest percentage of doctors from elsewhere, 
that Johns Hopkins has the Jargest Ph.D. 
representation of any American university, 


JUNE 23, 1905.] 


and Leipzig of any foreign university, on the 
faculties of the institutions under discussion. 


Rupotr Tomso, JR., 
Registrar. 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 


BOTANICAL NOTES. 
MICHIGAN FORESTRY. 


Tuat rational views as to forestry are 
steadily growing in popular favor is shown 
by the increasing attention which is given 
the subject by state and local organizations. 
The recent appearance of the report of the 
Michigan Forestry Commission forcibly em- 
phasizes the changed attitude of the people 
with reference to the forests. Many years 
ago the writer was an interested eye witness 
of the lumbering operations which finally 
denuded the state of its fine forests, and at 
that time nothing that any one said had the 
least effect in staying the hands of the de- 
stroyers. There was but one thing to be done 
with the forests, and that was to destroy them. 
And now, alas, when it is too late to save even 
a remnant of the magnificent tree growth the 
public conscience has been awakened, and the 
enormity of the crime is beginning to be 
realized. 

The report enumerates the steps taken by 
the commission in the campaign of education 
which it has inaugurated, and includes the re- 


port of the warden of the state forest reserves- 


(Professor Roth), followed by a collection of 
essays by a considerable number of public- 
spirited citizens, all tending to create an in- 
terest in the planting or conservation of 
forests. The forest reserves include about 
34,000 acres near Higgins and Houghton 
lakes in Crawford and Roscommon coun- 
ties. Originally almost all of the land of 
these reserves was covered by heavy forest of 
pine, cedar, tamarack and some hardwoods. 
In a few striking sentences Professor Roth 
tells the story of the destruction of the great 
forest, and the transformation of the sylvan 
landscape into a dreary waste. It is a pitiful 
tale of greed for gain coupled with utter care- 
lessness as to the future of the country. Pho- 
tographs make very real the story he so graph- 


SCIENCE. 


963 


ically tells. Yet other photographs give us 
a view of the more cheerful story which may 
be told in the future when the seedlings now 
springing up are allowed to grow into a new 
forest. If the fires are kept out these areas 
may again be covered with trees. To this 
end the commission is working, and in this 
laudable undertaking every scientific man in 
the country will wish them Godspeed. 


A NEW BOOK ON ECOLOGY. 


At last, after much delay, the University 
Publishing Company, of Lincoln, Nebr., has 
issued Professor Clement’s book on ‘ Research 
Methods in Ecology.’ An adequate review of 
this important contribution to modern botany 
will appear in due time, and it is only neces- 
sary to say now that it analyzes critically the 
problems which confront the practical ecol- 
ogist (theoretical ecologists appear to have no 
such difficulties), and discusses the methods 
of solution with great detail, in which many 
illustrations and descriptions of instruments 
are used. 


ORIGINAL DESCRIPTIONS OF SPECIES. 


A. A. Heuer, of Los Gatos, California, has 
undertaken the publication of a series of 
fascicles in which appear the original descrip- 
tions of all of the North American species of 
certain genera of plants. He has already is- 
sued such fascicles for Lupinus, Trifolium, 
Ribes, Castilleia and Artemisia, including 
descriptions of 464 species. Each species is 
given a separate sheet, and the sheets for each 
genus are enclosed in special manila paper 
covers. The cheap price of these reprints 
(about one cent each) places them within the 
reach of all botanists who are interested in 
this department of systematic botany. 


NORTH AMERICAN RUSTS. 

Proressor Hotway, of the University of 
Minnesota, has begun the publication of an 
important work on the rusts, entitled ‘ North 
American Uredineae,’ of which Part 1 of 
Volume J. has just appeared. This part is a 
quarto pamphlet of 32 pages of text, accom- 
panied with ten photomicrograph plates of 


964 


uredospores and teleutospores. The arrange- 
ment is by hosts, the present part being de- 
voted to the species of Puccinia parasitic on 
certain Ranunculaceae (Caltha, Delphinium, 
Anemone, Pulsatilla, Clematis, Trautvetteria, 
Ranunculus, Cyrtoryncha),  Berberidaceae 
(Berberis, Podophyllum), Papaveraceae (Cap- 
noides), Bromeliaceae (Pitcairnia), Commel- 
inaceae (Commelina), Juncaceae (Juncoides), 
Liliaceae (Chrosperma, Veratrum, Xerophyl- 
lum, Zygadenus, Allium, Brodiaea, Calochor- 
tus, Asparagus, Clintonia, Aletris, Smilax), 
Amaryllidaceae (Cooperia, Bomarea), Irida- 
ceae (Iris), Orchidaceae (Cypripedium, un- 
known orchid). The photographs are excel- 
lently reproduced, and with the full descrip- 
tions (all drawn from the specimens) should 
prove very helpful to the student of these 


plants. Cuartes E. Bessey. 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. 


MUSEOGRAPHY. 

Aw historical and bibliographical work of 
great value is that recently published by Dr. 
David Murray, of Glasgow, under the title of 
‘Museums, their History and their Use’ (3 
vols., Glasgow, 1904). The first volume forms 
a notable repository of information concerning 
the development of the museum as a scientific 
institution, beginning with the earliest times. 
Interspersed with accounts of the older mu- 
seums and their exhibits are brief notices of 
scientific workers, together with their con- 
tributions and attitude of mind toward con- 
troverted questions. An excellent summary is 
given, for instance, of the discussion of fossils 
amongst learned circles of two and three hun- 
dred years ago and earlier. 

The author remarks that his purpose has 
been to provide, in the first place, ‘a short 
list of the books bearing on the bibliography 
of museums, which I had found useful, that 
is, a bibliography of bibliographies.’ The 
next subject, museography, is dealt with more 
fully, but not exhaustively, after which is 
given a selection of books on the practical 
work of museums—the collection, preparation 
and preservation of specimens, their registra- 
tion and exhibition. Nearly the whole of the 
second and third volumes is devoted to cata- 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXII. No. 547. 


logues and other works relating to particular 
museums and special collections. Not the 
least important section of the work contains 
individual suggestions and criticisms on the 
part of the author, his extensive acquaintance 
with museums the world over rendering all 
that he has to say timely and instructive. 
Yet on the whole the work is written from the 
archeological standpoint, rather than the tech- 
nical, or purely scientific. 


C: Bat 


THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. 


Tue legislature of Wisconsin has passed a 
law giving the University of Wisconsin two 
sevenths of a mill tax for current expenses, 
and has made a special appropriation of $200,- 
000 a year for three years for constructional 
and other emergency work. On the basis of 
the present assessed valuation the two sevenths 
of a mill tax will yield $525,000, which with 
the $200,000 make the appropriation from the 
state $725,000, even if there is no increase in 
the assessed valuation. The other sources of 
income are suflicient to make the budget of the 
university for the coming year about $1,- 
000,000. 

A number of appointments and promotions 
have been made: E. B. McGilvary, A.M. 
(Princeton), Ph.D. (California), Sage pro- 
fessor of moral philosophy of Cornell Univer- 
sity, has been appointed professor of philos- 
ophy; and Edward C. Elliott, B.S. (Nebraska), 
Ph.D. (Columbia), now: instructor in Teachers 
College, Columbia University, associate pro- 
fessor of education. Dr. Charles E. Menden- 
hall has been promoted to a professorship of 
physies; Dr. Frank C. Sharp to a professor- 
ship of ethics; C. F. Burgess to a professor- 
ship of engineering, and Ransom A. Moore, 
to a professorship of agronomy. Albert H. 
Taylor has been promoted to be assistant pro- 
fessor of physics; Leonard S. Smith, to be 
associate professor of topographic and geodetic 
engineering; Herbert F. Moore, to be assistant 
professor of mechanics, and Edwin G. Hast- 
ings to be assistant professor of agricultural 
bacteriology. 

Instructors have been appointed as fol- 


rma nah neem ° Ms me el 


et] 


ee ee ee 


JUNE 23, 1905.] 


lows: Mathematics—R. S. Peotter, B.S. (Wis- 
consin), and R. A. Moritz, B.S., M.A. 
(Wisconsin). Physics—Leonard R. Ingersoll, 
B.S. (Colorado College), now fellow in phys- 
ies. Chemistry—Roy D. Hall, B.S., M.S. 
(Wisconsin), Ph.D. (Pennsylvania); F. L. 
Shinn, B.S. (Indiana); Harry B. North, 
Ph.G., B.S. (Wisconsin), now assistant, and 
Edgar B. Hutchins; B.S. (Ottawa), M.S., 
Ph.D. (Wisconsin). Hducation—Walter F. 
Dearborn, A.B., A.M. (Wesleyan), Ph.D. (Co- 
lumbia). Mechanics—M. O. Withey, C.E. 
(Thayer). Mechanical drawing—E. 8S. Moles, 
B.S (Wisconsin), and John E. Boynton, B.S. 
(Wisconsin). Topographical engineering— 
Ray Owen, B.S. (Wisconsin). Hydraulic 
engineering—Charles J. Davis, C.E. (Cor- 
nell). Electrical engineering—Frank J. 
Petura, B.S. (Wisconsin); George G. Post, 
B.S. (Wisconsin), now assistant, and John C. 
Potter, B.S. (Wisconsin), now assistant. 
Assistants have been appointed as follows: 
Anatomy—David A. Crawford, B.A. (Wiscon- 
sin). Botany—William G. Marquette, B.A. 
(Wisconsin), now assistant; Ruth F. Allen, 
B.S. (Wisconsin). Phystcs—Willibald Wen- 
iger, B.A. (Wisconsin); R. A. Wetzler, B.S. 
(Minnesota) ; W. E. Wickenden, B.S. (Denni- 
son); Elmer H. Williams, B.A. (Wisconsin) ; 
Archie S. Worthing (Wisconsin); Vernon A. 
Suydam, B.L. (Wisconsin); V. P. Spence, 
A.B. (Northwestern). Zoology—A. B. Claw- 
son, B.S., M.S. (Michigan). Civil Engineer- 
ing—R. F. Ewald, B.S. (Wisconsin). 


THE MUSEUM OF THE BROOKLYN 
INSTITUTE. 

On June first the central section of the 
museum of the Brooklyn Institute was opened 
to the public, as well as the halls that have 
been temporarily closed, owing to the installa- 
tion of new collections and the rearranging of 
the picture galleries. The ethnological col- 
lections obtained by Mr. Culin during two 
seasons’ work in Arizona and New Mexico 
are shown for the first time. They occupy 
the hall formerly devoted to casts from the 
antique, and comprise a well-balanced series 


illustrating the arts and industries of the 


SCIENCE. 965 


Pueblo Indians, while special attention has 
been given to objects pertaining to their re- 
ligious ceremonies. There are thus displayed 
about 200 small figures representing the cos- 
tumes worn by the dancers and 100 of the 
actual masks worn on these occasions, this 
being much the most complete collection in 
any museum. 

The natural history collections have been 
completely rearranged during the past year 
and extensive additions made to them, but, 
owing to the architectural features of the 
central section a thoroughly systematic ar- 
rangement will not be possible until the com- 
pletion of the new wing now in process of 
construction. Among the special collections 
still in process of installation may be men- 
tioned one illustrating the problem of flight 
and the various adaptations by which it has 
been solved in nature, and one illustrating 
individual, sexual, seasonal and geographic 
variation. The latter includes eight of the 
thirteen sub-species of horned owls recognized 
by Mr. Oberholser, the contrast between the 
Alaskan, Hudsonian and desert forms being 
very striking. A group of Ellesmere Land 
musk oxen, Ovibos moschatus wardi, has also 
been placed on exhibition, which includes an 
old male, a female and yearling from the 
same herd. 


AWARD OF THE BARNARD MEDAL. 


Tue Barnard medal of Columbia Univer- 
sity has been awarded to M. Henri Becquerel. 
In making this award at the recent Columbia 
exercises, President Butler said: “In accord- 
ance with the terms of the will of Frederick 
A. P. Barnard, tenth president of Columbia 
University, a gold medal is established, known 
as the Barnard medal for meritorious service 
to science. This medal is awarded at com- 
mencement at the close of every quinquennial 
period, to such person, if any, whether a citi- 
zen of the United States or of any other 
country, as shall, within the five years next 
preceding, have made such discovery in phys- 
ical or astronomical science, or such novel 
application of science to purposes beneficial 
to the human race, as, in the judgment of 
the National Academy of Sciences, of the 


966 SCIENCE. 


United States, shall be deemed most worthy 
of such honor. The Barnard medal was first 
awarded at the commencement of 1895, to 
Lord Rayleigh, and to Professor (now Sir) 
William Ramsay. At the commencement of 
1900 the Barnard medal was awarded to Pro- 
fessor Wilhelm Conrad von Roéntgen. On the 
nomination of the National Academy of 
Sciences, the award for 1905 is made to Henri 
Beequerel, member of the Institute of France, 
for important discoveries in the field of radio- 
activity, and for his original discovery of 
the so-called dark rays from uranium, which 
discovery has been the basis of subsequent 
research into the laws of radio-activity, and 
of our present knowledge of the same.” 


THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL 
ASSOCIATION. 

Tue American Anthropological Association 
will meet in San Francisco, California, August 
29-31. It is planned to combine the meeting 
with an excursion by the association to the 
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition at 
Portland. Arrangements will be made facili- 
tating the visit by members of the association 
to educational and other points of interest 
on the Pacific Coast. This will be the first 
meeting of the association, or of any body 
of national scope devoted to anthropology, held 
on the Pacific Coast, and a large attendance 
from the western states is expected. Professor 
F. W. Putnam will preside. 

Titles of papers and applications for mem- 
bership should be sent to Dr. A. L. Kroeber, 
secretary of the committee on arrangements, 
Affiliated Colleges, San Francisco, or to Dr. 
George G. MacCurdy, secretary of the asso- 
ciation, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 
The headquarters of the association will be 
the Museum of the Department of Anthro- 
pology of the University of California, Affili- 
ated Colleges, San Francisco. Further infor- 
mation in regard to special railway rates and 
other arrangements connected with the meet- 
ing may be obtained from Dr. MacCurdy. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 
Princeton University has conferred the de- 
gree of Doctor of Laws on Professor Charles 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 547. 


Augustus Young, who has this year become 
professor emeritus of astronomy, after hold- 
ing the chair at Princeton since 1877. 

CotumpBia University has conferred the de- 
gree of Doctor of Science on Dr. R. S. Wood- 
ward, who has resigned the chair of mechanics 
and mathematical physics to accept the presi- 
deney of the Carnegie Institution. 

Oxrorp University will on June 28 confer 
its Doctorate of Science on George H. Dar- 
win, F.R.S., professor of astronomy at Cam- 
bridge. 

THe University of Manchester has con- 
ferred the honorary degree of LL.D. on Dr. 
Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Co- 
lumbia University. 

Syracuse Universiry has awarded the de- 
gree of LL.D. to Professor David Eugene 
Smith, who holds the chair of mathematics at 
Teachers College, Columbia University. 

Tue University of Colorado has conferred 
the degree of Doctor of Laws upon Dr. Richard 
W. Corwin, chief surgeon of the Colorado 
Fuel and Iron Co. 

Cotumpia University has conferred the de- 
gree of M.S. on George Francis Sever, pro- 
fessor of electrical engineering in the univer- 
sity, and on Frederick A Goetze, superin- 
tendent of buildings and grounds. 


Mr. W. T. Bricuam, director of the British 
Museum of Ethnology at Honolulu, has been 
given the degree of Doctor of Science by 
Columbia University. He was presented by 
Dr. H. C. Bumpus, director of the American 
Museum of Natural History. 

Proressor H. A. Lorentz, of Leiden, has 
been elected a corresponding member of the 
Berlin Academy of Sciences. 

At the commencement exercises of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania a portrait of Dr. 
William Osler was presented by Professor 
Howard M. Fussell, on behalf of the classes 
from ’85 to 791, who studied under Dr. Osler 
when he occupied the chair of clinical medi- 
cine at the university. 

Taz Glasgow University Club of London 
held its annual dinner on May 26, when Sir 
William Ramsay presided. Lord Kelvin was 


A a A, I A IO IRs of O 
5 


dcam “2g 


J 
> 
4 
’ 
5 
. 
5 


JUNE 23, 1905.] 


elected president of the club for the ensuing 
year. 

At the annual meeting of the Iron and 
Steel Institute held in London, May 11, a 
Carnegie research scholarship of $500 was 
awarded to Henry Cook Boynton, instructor 
in metallurgy and metallography in Harvard 
University. 

Mr. C. D. Howarp, associate chemist of the 
West Virginia Agricultural Station, has been 
appointed chemist to the New Hampshire 
Board of Health, Concord, N. H. 

Dr. Aucust Hocnu, at present assistant 
physician and pathologist at McLean Hospital, 
Waverly, Mass., will assume the position of 
first assistant physician at Bloomingdale 
Asylum, White Plains, N. Y., where he will 
continue his researches in psycho-pathology. 


Dr. W. B. Scorr, professor of geology and 
paleontology at Princeton University, gave 
the oration at a joint meeting of Phi Beta 
Kappa and Sigma Xi societies at the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, on June 14. 

Dr. A. S. WHEELER, associate professor of 
organic chemistry in the University of North 
Carolina, will give a course of lectures on or- 
ganic chemistry at the Harvard University 
summer school. 

In commemoration of Audubon’s one hun- 
dred and twenty-fifth birthday, the American 
Museum of Natural History has placed on 
exhibition a collection of Audubon relics. 
Among the objects is the portfolio in which 
Audubon carried specimen plates while secur- 
ing subscribers to his great work in this coun- 
try and abroad, together with sketches and 
finished plates. 

A second International Congress deyoted to 
the Rontgen rays will be held in Amsterdam 
in 1908. : 

The British Medical Journal states that the 
Laryngological Society of Vienna is about to 
take steps to organize a festal celebration to 
be held in 1908 in honor of the jubilee of 
medical, as distinguished from physiological 
laryngoscopy. It was in 1858 that Professor 
Turck showed the far-reaching applications in 
the domain of medical practice of Manuel 
Garcia’s great discovery. It is hoped that all 


SCIENCE. 


967 


the leading representatives of laryngology 
throughout the world will be present on the 
occasion. 

The Scottish Geographical Maguzine states 
that an expedition has recently started with 
the object of thoroughly investigating the 
oceanography and ‘biology of the region be- 
tween India and Madagascar. The vessel 
employed is H.M.S. Skylark, under the com- 
mand of Captain Boyd Somerville, who is 
accompanied by two civilian men of science, 
Mr. Stanley Gardiner and Mr. Forster Cooper, 
both of whom have already been engaged in 
scientific work in the area under investigation. 
The Skylark is to go first to the Chagos Archi- 
pelago, then to Mauritius, which it is expected 
will be reached about August 1. The voyage 
will then be continued via the Cargados reef 
to the Seychelles, whence the return will be 
made to Colombo, the starting-point. Messrs. 
Gardiner and Cooper are to be left at the 
Seychelles, where they hope to spend some 
months in scientific work, returning home in 
January, 1906. 

It is stated in Nature that at the forty- 
second general meeting of the Institution of 
Mining Engineers, held in London on June 2 
and 3, several interesting papers were read. 
Mr. T. Y. Greener dealt with the firing of 
boilers by waste heat from coke ovens. Mr. 
M. R. Kirby deseribed the compound winding 
engine at Lumpsey iron mine. Its steam 
consumption is only 38 pounds to 40 pounds 
per indicated horse-power hour. Mr. F. Hird 
gave the results of tests of the electric wind- 
ing engine at Friedrichshall, and Mr. E. Lozé 
deseribed electric winding engines installed 
at French collieries. Mining education in 
the United States was discussed by Professor 
H. Eckfeldt, and in New Zealand by Professor 
J. Park. Coal mining in India was dealt 
with by Mr. T. Adamson. Mr. J. Jeffries 
described the occurrence of underground fires 
at the Greta colliery, New South Wales. Mr. 
W. C. Blackett and Mr. R. G. Ware described 
a striking innovation in mining practise, the 
use of electrically driven mechanical convey- 
ors for filling at the coal-face. Two years’ 
experience has shown a saving of 48 per cent. 
over the ordinary pick and shovel method. 


968 


Lastly, Mr. A. R. Sawyer gave an account of 
the geology of Chunies Poort, Zoutpansberg, 
Transvaal. Incidentally, he mentioned some 
old copper workings where native copper oc- 
curs in some abundance in dolomite. 

Tue Naturwissenschaftliche Verein at 
Karlsruhe has, thanks to a considerable legacy, 
been placed in a position to establish two 
new stations for seismic observations, the one 
in an underground passage at Turmberg, near 
Durlach, the other in Freiburg. 

Tue London Times states that a large com- 
pany assembled in the Oxford University 
Museum on May 31 at the annual conver- 
sazione of the Junior Scientific Club. An 
attractive program had been arranged. Pro- 
fessor E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., delivered a lec- 
ture on ‘Some Recent Work on Protective 
Resemblance and Mimicry in Insects, and 
Dr. A. E. Tutton displayed some of his latest 
lantern slides of Alpine scenery. There were 
demonstrations of the properties of radium 
and spinning tops, experiments on color, and 
an exhibition of thermit and high tempera- 
tures, which included the making of artificial 
diamonds. Messrs. Zeiss exhibited their in- 
strument for seeing ultra-microscopic par- 
.ticles, and there was a working installation of 
wireless telegraphy. The Pitt-Rivers Mu- 
seum was thrown open, and music was pro- 


vided by the band of the Grenadier Guards. 


Nature says that under the name of the 
‘Potentia Organization,’ an international asso- 
ciation has been formed with the object of 
establishing among nations a mutual relation- 
ship and cooperation for the diffusion of ac- 
curate information and unbiased opinion con- 
cerning international events and movements, 
and to combat narrow, prejudiced, and often 
interested views and news that contribute so 
much to international mistrust and misunder- 
standing. It is proposed to publish through- 
out the world, through the medium of news- 
papers and reviews, statements of simp‘e fact 
and expressions of opinion by eminent public 
men of all nations on all important political, 
social, philosophical, economic, scientific and 
artistic questions, to present the sincere views 
of experts on all current international events, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 547. 


and to refute false or biased news and views 
calculated to spread error and to endanger 
the peace and progress of the world. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 


At the commencement of Princeton Uni- 
versity it was announced that an annual in- 
come of $100,000 had been guaranteed for the 
preceptorial system, that $300,000 had been 
given for a recitation hall and that 336 acres 
of land had been added to the property of the 
university. 

Mr. Morris L. Crioruter, of Philadelphia, 
has given $50,000 to Swarthmore College, to 
endow a professorship of physics. 

Tue library building of Vassar College, 
erected by Mrs. F. F. Thompson, of New York, 
at a cost of $500,000 was dedicated last week. 

Dr. A. W. Harris, director of the Jacob 
Tome Institute, and previously director of the 
Office of Experiment Stations of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, has been elected presi- 
dent of Northwestern University. 

Mr. Henry S. Drivxer, general solicitor of 
the Lehigh Valley Railroad, has been elected 
president of Lehigh University, to succeed the 
late Dr. Thomas Messinger Drown. 

Dr. CHarLtes Henry Smytu, professor of 
geology at Hamilton College, has been elected 
professor of geology at Princeton University. 

Dr. Nicnoitas SENN has been elected pro- 
fessor of surgery and Dr. Frank Billings 
professor of medicine at the University of 
Chicago. 

Dr. H. K. Wore, formerly’ professor of 
philosophy at the University of Nebraska 
and recently principal of the Lincoln High 
School, has been elected professor of philos- 
ophy and education at the University of 
Montana. 

Mr. W. L. Hatt, of the U. S. Bureau of 
Forestry, has been appointed lecturer on tree 
planting at Yale University. 

Ivan E. Wattry, B.S. (University of Iowa, 
05), has been elected professor of natural 
history in Upsala College, New Orange, N. J. 
He has been specializing in the biological 
sciences at Augustana, Princeton and lowa 
during the last three years. 


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Infra-red Absorption Spectra. 1{. Gases. 
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ANTA..-TICA, 


or Two Years Amongst 
the Ice of the South Pole 
BY 
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AND 
Dr. JOHAN GUNNER ANDERSSON 


With 288 illustrations and 4 maps, 
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The party under Dr. Nordenskjéld was left as 
far southward as possible in the autumn of 1901, 
expecting to be picked up in the next spring. 
But the relieving ship was then unable to pene- 
trate as far as it had done the previous year, 
Dr. Anderson attempted to reach the place over 
the ice and failed. The ship attempted to force 
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parties isolated from each other were forced to 
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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. 


Fripay, JUNE 30, 1905. 


OONTENTS. 


The Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
and Harvard University :— 
Agreement between Harvard University 
and the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology; Hatract from the Will and Codicils 
of the Late Gordon Mckay; Extracts from 
the Minority Report in Favor of the Alli- 
ance; Hatracts from the Report Adverse to 
the Alliance adopted by the Faculty...... 969 


Scientific Books :-— 


Gardiner on Madreporaria: Dr. T. Way- 
STV AUNID Bap PACU GHITUAUIN rte exe) o)e) skanstfaie, ase: eye,fonds ayo ope 984 


Societies and Academies :— 


The Society for Experimental Biology and 
Medicine: Dr. Wittiam J. Gins. The 
New York Academy of Sciences, Section of 
Geology and Mineralogy: PRoressor A. W. 
GRABAU. Section of Biology: PROFESSOR 
Vi Rae Anus ES LGEICO Wee cot avawererte saat ascnelere a cae 986 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Pre-pleistocene Deposits at Third Cliff, 
Massachusetts: ISAIAH BOWMAN. Haoglos- 
sum in the Delaware: HENRY W. Fowl er. 993 


Special Articles :— 


The Brain of the Histologist and Physiol- 
ogist, Otto C. Lovén: Dr. Epwarp ANTHONY 
SPITZKA. Apples Injured by Sulphur 
Fumigation: H. J. HUSTACE............. 994 
The Floating Laboratory of Marine Biology 

of Trinity College: PRorrssorR CHARLES L. 


EDVARD Smaertutnaiomn teats nt esis ite cis atccat .6 995 
Frederic Delpino: Dr. J. Y. BERGEN........ 996 
The American Microscopical Society........ 996 


Columbia University and Dr. R. 8S. Woodward 997 
Scientific Notes and News...............-. 997 


University and Educational News.......... 1000 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the Editor of ScIENCE, Garri- 
son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 


MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF 
TECHNOLOGY AND HARVARD 
UNIVERSITY. 


THE 


THE proposed affiliation or alliance of 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
with Harvard University was, as we have 
already reported, approved at a meeting 
of the corporation of the institute on June 
9. Thirty-two of the forty-seven members 
of the corporation were present, and by a 
vote of 20 to 12 it was agreed to accept 
the terms of the agreement drawn up by 
the committee of the two institutions. 
Before the agreement can become effective 
the corporation and overseers of Harvard 
University must take action and several 
legal questions must be passed upon by the 
courts. It will be remembered that on 
May 5 the faculty of the institute adopted 
by a vote of 56 to 7 the report of the com- 
mittee adverse to the affiliation. A full 
account of the report adopted by the fac- 
ulty and of the minority report, together 
with an account of the meeting of the 
alumni on May 4 has been published in a 
special issue of The Technology Review. 

In view of the great importance of the 
proposed merger for university develop- 
ment and technological education we re- 
produce here: (1) The agreement pre- 
pared by President H. S.. Pritchett and 
Professor A. Lawrence Lowell on behalf of 
the institute and Dr. H. P. Walcott and 
Charles Francis Adams, 2d, Esq., on behalf 
of the university, now adopted by the cor- 
poration of the institute; (2) the will of 
the late Gordon McKay in so far as it re- 
lates to his bequest to Harvard University, 


d70 : SCIENCE. 


and (3) extracts from the report adverse 
to the alliance adopted by the faculty of 
the institute and extracts from the minority 
report. 


AGREEMENT BETWEEN HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
AND THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE 
OF TECHNOLOGY. 

Harvard University and the Massachu- 
setts Institute of Technology, being con- 
vineed, after a careful consideration of the 
conditions which affect the work of educa- 
tion in industrial science, that such work 
can be greatly advanced and enlarged by 
a cooperation of the two institutions, in 
order to secure mutual assistance, render 
possible a larger enterprise, promote econ- 
omy, avoid duplication and competition, 
and give to the purpose of donors who have 
bestowed money in trust for that object a 
fuller accomplishment, do make this agree- 
ment, which shall endure so long as it shall 
be found to serve, to the satisfaction of 
both institutions, the objects above de- 
elared. But, whereas the carrying out of 
such agreement will require the employ- 
ment of the income of the funds which the 
University holds, or will hereafter hold in 
trust, and the University feels that faith- 
fulness in the performance of these trusts 
which it has accepted is its first duty, to 
which all other considerations must yield, 
this agreement shall not go into effect until 
and unless the University shall have ap- 
plied to the Supreme Judicial Court for 
instructions and the court shall have made 
a decree that this agreement may be carried 
out without violation of its duties as a 
trustee and in accordance with law and 
equity. 

I. 

The organization of the University, the 
organization of the Institute, and the title 
of each to its property and funds shall re- 
main unaffected by this agreement, as shall 


also the rights and duties of each in invest- 
ing and managing its funds. 


i i 


The institution for the combined work of 
promoting and furnishing education in in- 
dustrial science, which it is the object of 
this agreement to establish, shall retain the 
name of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology ; it shall be under the direction 
of an Executive Committee, and the in- 
struction therein shall be given by a Fac- 
ulty, which two bodies shall be constituted 
as herein below provided. 


Lau 


The said Executive Committee shall con- 
sist of nine persons, to be designated by 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
of whom two shall be the President of the 
Corporation of the Institute and the Treas- 
urer of the Institute, and three shall be 
members of the Corporation of the Uni- 
versity. 

Subject to the restrictions herein below 
expressed, the said Executive Committee 
shall have the general administration and 
superintendence of all matters concerning 
said combined work, including the appoint- 
ment of officers of instruction and govern- 
ment, and of servants, the power to remove 
any of them, the fixing of their salaries and 
the prescribing of their duties, the care of 
buildings, property, and equipment, the 
appropriation of money put at its disposal 
under this agreement, the fixing, collecting, 
and expending of students’ fees, and the 
supervision and direction of the work of 
the Faculty, these being substantially the 
powers now conferred on the Executive 
Committee of the Institute by its by-laws; 
it being, however, expressly provided that 
all appropriations from money furnished 
either by the University or by the Institute, 
and all proposed appointments or removals 


of officers whose salaries are to be paid 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 548. 


JUNE 30, 1905.] 


therefrom, shall be submitted to the Cor- 
poration concerned and approved by it be- 
fore being finally adopted, it being under- 
stood that students’ fees shall be deemed 
to be furnished by the Institute, and that 
no change shall be made in those fees with- 
out its approval. 

The said Executive Committee shall keep 
records of its proceedings, and shall make 
reports to the Corporation of the Univer- 
sity and the Corporation of the Institute 
annually, and at such other times as either 
Corporation may request. 


LV. 

The President of the Institute for the 
time being shall be the President of the 
said Executive Committee, and shall pre- 
side at its meetings, when present. His 
salary, as fixed by the Corporation of the 
Institute, shall be paid from the funds fur- 
nished by the Institute. He shall be the 
Chairman of the Faculty, shall have the 
superintendence of the several depart- 
ments, and shall act as general executive 
and administrative officer, subject to the 
direction and control of said Executive 
Committee. He shall annually make a re- 
port to the Corporation of the University 
and to the Corporation of the Institute. 
Whenever a person shall vacate the office 
of President of the Institute, he shall there- 
upon cease to be a member of the said 
Executive Committee. 


iV: 

The Treasurer of the Massachusetts In- 
stitute of Technology shall be ex officio the 
Treasurer of the said Executive Committee. 
He shall, as Treasurer of the said Execu- 
tive Committee, have charge of the funds 
put at the disposal of said committee, shall 
make such payments as the committee may 
authorize, shall keep accurate accounts of 
all money received and expended, and shall 
make report of his doings annually, or 
oftener if required, to the said committee, 


SCIENCE. 


971 


and to the Corporation of the University 
and to the Corporation of the Institute. 


VI. 

The Faculty shall consist of all the pres- 
ent professors, associate professors, and as- 
sistant professors of the Institute, and all 
professors, associate professors, and assist- 
ant professors of the University who now 
give courses of instruction leading to de- 
grees in industrial science, and such officers 
hereafter appointed as said Executive Com- 
mittee may designate. The present pro- 
fessors, associate professors, and assistant 
professors of the University as aforesaid 
shall not be removed nor. have their present 
salaries reduced without the consent of the 
Corporation of the University. 

Subject to the supervision and direction 
of the said Executive Committee the Fac- 
ulty shall have charge of instruction and 
discipline. 

Var. 

Subject to the reservations hereinafter 
set forth the University shall place at the 
disposal of said Executive Committee, as 
above provided, the net income of all funds 
which are now credited on its books to the 
eredit of the Lawrence Scientific School, 
also the use of all machinery, instruments, 
and equipment which the University holds, 
and the income of all property which it 
may hereafter acquire for the promotion of 
instruction in industrial science, and also 
three fifths, but no more, of the net income 
which may accrue from the bequest and 
devise of the late Gordon McKay. 


Wen: 

Subject to the reservations herein set 
forth, the Institute shall place at the dis- 
posal of the said Executive Committee the 
net income of all funds and the use of all 
property and equipment which the Insti- 
tute may hold for the promotion of instruc- 
tion in industrial science, reserving only 


972 SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 548. 


EVERLTT B st? 


hel 
> 
= 
Ry 
Y 
6 
> 
x 
S 
5 
x 
= 


Map showing the proposed site of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and its relation to 
Harvard University. (From the Boston Transcript.) 


such amounts and property as it may re- 
quire to maintain its organization and to 
carry on such functions as may remain to 


it independently of the promotion of indus- 
trial science. 


Dx 
In so far as money contributed by either 
Corporation under this agreement may be 
used by the said Executive Committee for 
the purchase of equipment or supplies, the 


JUNE 30, 1905.] 


title thereto shall be in the Corporation 
whose money is appropriated therefor. 


xe 

The site of the institution shall be in 
Boston on the right bank of the Charles 
River, as nearly as practicable opposite to 
Harvard Square, and the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology shall there erect, 
furnish, and equip buildings having the 
capacity of at least its present buildings. 
But the Institute shall not be required to 
proceed with such purchase and construc- 
tion until it shall have sold a sufficient part 
of the land which it now owns. Provided, 
however, that this agreement shall be 
avoided if at the end of four years from 
the time when this agreement goes into 
effect the Institute shall not have purchased 
said land and proceeded to a substantial 
extent with such construction. 


Das 

Within three years after the Massachu- 
setts Institute of Technology begins the 
construction of such new buildings, if the 
Institute is then prepared to give in its 
new location to the students of the Lawr- 
ence Scientific School all needed instruc- 
tion in industrial science, the Lawrence 
Scientific School shall be discontinued as 
a separate school of industrial science so 
long as this agreement remains in force. 


DOT, 

The degrees of Bachelor, Master and 
Doctor in Science, so far as given in indus- 
trial science, and all degrees in engineer- 
ing, together with the requirements of 
courses of study leading to these degrees, 
shall be within the province of the Fac- 
ulty; and these degrees shall be conferred 
by the Corporations of the University and 
the Institute, acting separately. 


Ui 


Male students in the Institute shall have 
the same privileges as students in Harvard 


SCIENCE. 


973 


University in the use of the playgrounds, 
museums, and libraries of the University. 
Under regulations to be made by the two 
Corporations, and on payment of proper 
fees, students of the Institute shall be ad- 
mitted to courses of instruction and the use 
of laboratories of the University, outside of 
those pertaining to industrial science, and 
students of the University to the courses 
and use of laboratories of the Institute. 


XIV. 

The Corporation and Overseers of the 
University and the Corporation of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology shall 
each have full right at all times to inspect 
the institution, and suggest to the said 
Executive Committee changes in the meth- 
ods of management. 


XG 
The Department of Architecture in the 
University and in the Institute respectively 
are not included in this agreement, but re- 
main unaffected hereby. 


XVI. 

It is expressly provided that, as regards 
the funds and property of the University 
and of the Institute respectively, this 
agreement shall be subject to any special 
terms and requirements upon which such 
funds and property may be held; and any 
property or funds which may be held at 
any time by either Corporation under such 
terms and restrictions as would prevent the 
use of them in the precise manner contem- 
plated by this agreement shall, neverthe- 
less, be used by the two Corporations re- 
spectively for the support, benefit, or en- 
couragement of the scheme agreed upon, 
in such manner as may be permissible and 
in accordance with the trusts upon which 
they may be held. 


XVII. 
The arrangements established by this 
agreement may be terminated at any time 


974 


either by the President and Fellows of 
Harvard University or by the Corporation 
of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology, upon reasonable notice to the other 
Corporation. 

In the event of the termination of this 
agreement, the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology must pay, at such prices and 
upon such terms as the parties may agree 
upon, and, if they can not agree thereon, 
as may be fixed by arbitration (usual arbi- 
tration clause), for any buildings or fix- 
tures upon said site, paid for with funds 
furnished by the University. 


XVIII. 

This agreement shall take effect when 
finally adopted and approved by the Cor- 
poration and the Overseers of the Univer- 
sity and the Corporation of the Institute, 
and when and if a decree of the Supreme 
Judicial Court, as provided for in the pre- 
amble hereof, shall have been obtained. 


EXTRACT FROM THE WILL AND CODICILS OF 
THE LATE GORDON McKAY. 

I direct that eighty per cent. of the bal- 
ance of said net annual income, after pay- 
ing the annuities (the remaining twenty 
per cent. being held as a reserved fund to 
cover any future possible deficiency in the 
annual income to pay said annuities), shall 
be safely invested by my trustees from time 
to time until such accumulations amount to 
the sum of one million dollars, and then I 
direct my trustees to pay over said sum of 
one million dollars to ‘the President and 
Fellows of Harvard College in their cor- 
porate capacity,’ if said Corporation shall 
accept the same for the purposes and upon 
the terms and conditions hereinafter set 
forth, to be held and applied by them and 
their successors in said capacity for the 
purposes and trusts hereinafter declared. 

I also direct said trustees to pay to the 
said President and Fellows (if and after 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 548. 


said sum of one million dollars has been 
paid over to them, as aforesaid) annually 
eighty per cent. of the balance of the net 
income accruing from the remainder of my 
estate after paying the existing annuities; 
and upon and after the death of the last 
surviving annuitant I direct said Trustees 
to pay over to the said President and Fel- 
lows of Harvard College all the residue of 
my estate, including all unexpended in- 
come, all of which said sums I give to the 
said. President and Fellows of Harvard 
College, provided they accept the same, as 
aforesaid, strictly upon the trusts and pur- 
poses following, namely :— 

I direct, if the said Corporation, the 
President, and Fellows of Harvard College 
accept said gift, that the sum total of all 
the property and moneys conveyed by my 
trustees to the President and Fellows of 
Harvard College shall be forever known 
and described in the records of the Presi- 
dent and Fellows and on the books of their 
Treasurer as the Gordon McKay Endow- 
ment. 

I give the President and Fellows full 
powers to hold, manage, and protect, im- 
prove, sell, invest, and reinvest at their 
discretion, from time to time, the property 
in which this Endowment may at any time 
be invested. I also give the said Corpora- 
tion authority, in case the principal shall 
be at any time impaired through misfor- 
tune, to accumulate the income of the 
Endowment, or any part thereof, until the 
principal shall be made good; but, in order 
that the principal and income may share in 
the guaranty or insurance which is derived 
from the large mass and wide distribution 
of the University’s investments, I prefer 
that the investments of the Endowment be 
merged, as soon and as far as in the discre- 
tion of the President and Fellows they 
prudently and equitably may be, with the 
general investments of the other permanent 
funds held by the President and Fellows. 


JUNE 30, 1905.] 


The net income of said Endowment shall 
be used to promote applied science :— 

First. By maintaining professorships, 
workshops, laboratories, and collections for 
any or all of those scientific subjects which 
have, or may hereafter have, applications 
useful to man; and 

Second. By aiding meritorious and 
needy students in pursuing those subjects. 

Inasmuch as a large part of my life has 
been devoted to the study and invention 
of machinery, I instruct the President and 
Fellows to take special care that the great 
subject of mechanical engineering in all its 
branches, and in the most comprehensive 
sense, be thoroughly provided for by my 
Endowment. 

I direct that the President and Fellows 
be free to provide from the Endowment all 
erades of instruction in applied science, 
from the lowest to the highest, and that 
the instruction provided be kept accessible 
to pupils who have had no other oppor- 
tunities of previous education than those 
which the free public schools afford. 

I direct that the salaries attached to the 
professorships maintained from the En- 
dowment be kept liberal, generation after 
generation, according to the standards of 
each successive generation, to the end that 
these professorships may always be at- 
tractive to able men, and that their effect 
may be to raise, in some judicious measure, 
the general scale of compensation for the 
teachers of the University. 

I direct that the professors supported 
from this Endowment be provided with 
suitable assistance in their several depart- 
ments by the appointment of instructors of 
lower grades and of draughtsmen, foremen, 
mechanies, clerks, or assistants, as occasion 
may require, my desire being that the pro- 
fessors be free to devote themselves to 
whatever part of the teaching requires the 
greatest skill and largest experience and to 


SCIENCE. 


975 


the advancement of their several subjects. 

I direct that the President and Fellows 
be free to erect buildings for the purpose 
of this Endowment, and to purchase sites 
for the same, but only from the income of 
the Endowment. 

I direct that all the equipment required 
to illustrate teaching or to give students 
opportunity to practise, whether instru- 
ments, diagrams, tools, machines, or appa- 
ratus, be always kept of the best design and 
quality, so that no antiquated, superseded, 
or unserviceable implement or machinery 
shall ever be retained in the lecture-rooms, 
workshops, or laboratories maintained from 
the Endowment. 

Finally, I request that the name Gordon 
McKay be permanently attached to the pro- 
fessorships, buildings, and scholarships, or 
other aids for needy students which may 
be established, erected, or maintained from 
the income of this Endowment. 


EXTRACTS FROM THE MINORITY REPORT IN 
FAVOR OF THE ALLIANCE.* 


I. If the plan is not adopted, Harvard 
will be obliged to energetically develop the 
Lawrence Scientific School as a broad col- 
lege of applied science. With her ‘re- 
sources, reputation, and large body of 
alumni, and profiting by the lessons of 
experience, there is no doubt that she can 
make this school a success. This is abun- 
dantly proved by the experience of other 
universities which have technical schools. 
This school will be a rival of the Institute 
in the same community. 

II. Competition in business or in educa- 
tion always involves some economic waste. 
In edueation it is beneficial only if neces- 
sary to keep up the spur to endeavor. The 
Institute does not require competition with 

*This report was signed by Professors Fay, 
Jaggar, McKibben, Moore, Swain, Walker, and 
was supported by President Pritchett. 


976 


Harvard for this purpose, and without it 
will have ample competition with the 
rapidly growing schools of the Middle and 
Western States. 

III. Of two competing schools, either 
one will be better than the other or they 
will be different. If Harvard should build 
up a great technical school, though ours 
might on the whole be the better, Harvard 
would undoubtedly draw to herself many 
strong students. Every strong student 
that we lose is a distinct disadvantage to 
us. We should keep all the strong stu- 
dents, if possible, and let the weak ones go 
to other schools. 

If Harvard should make the Lawrence 
Scientific School a graduate school, as we 
understand is desired by its Dean, would 
not many of the strongest men who come 
to Boston to study engineering prefer to go 
where they would be associated solely with 
more mature men, all having completed 
their undergraduate courses and devoting 
themselves entirely to professional work, 
instead of coming to the Institute, where 
they would be associated with younger 
men, and with many special students, in an 
undergraduate school? 

IV. Technical education in this country 
is scareely fifty years old. It is not yet 
on the same plane with instruction in the 
so-called learned professions. The time 
has not yet come for making engineering 
schools generally graduate schools, lke so 
many of those of law and medicine. The 
Institute and most other engineering 
schools must remain primarily, for some 
time at least, undergraduate schools; but 
the level of industrial education will in the 
course of time be gradually hfted. The 
engineer, in order to reach the highest 
standard, will be expected to be liberally 
trained and yet to be a specialist. The 
Institute being one of many, when the uni- 
versity technical schools more generally 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXT. No. 548. 


reach the standard of the Institute,—and 
some of them have already fully reached 
and perhaps in some respects exceeded it, 
—is there not ground for believing that 
the young man who desires to qualify him- 
self most completely for the engineering 
profession will seek the school which has 
the broadest environment, where he will be 
brought into relations with students of 
other professions ? 

V. The Institute having shown the way, 
there are now many technical schools where 
forty years ago there were few. A great 
majority of these are intimately connected 
with universities, and the fees at many of 
them are very low; they are doing excellent 
work, some as good work as the Institute; 
they have a much larger body of students; 
and they are turning out each year a much 
larger body of graduates than the isolated 
technical schools. The influence of these 
university technical schools, industrially 
and educationally, is increasing relatively 
in comparison with the isolated technical 
schools. May not our own influence di- 
minish in the course of time, as the body of 
alumni of the university technical schools 
increases in number and in influence? 
Will we not gain by placing ourselves in 
the main educational current in the coun- 
try, by allying ourselves with our most 
powerful university, especially as we can 
do so without sacrificing our methods or 
our control? 

VI. Competition from the West will in- 
erease. The industrial centre of the 
country is shifting. When the Institute 
was established, it was in New England; 
and even the iron industry and the mining 
industry were important here. As the 
years go by, new technical schools will be 
established in the West, at places like Chi- 
eago and Pittsburg, either independent or 
connected with universities. These schools 
may well be in closer touch with the indus- 


Junu 30, 1905.] 


tries of the country than any school in New 
England would be. When they shall have 
had time to grow to their full development, 
what will be the effect upon the Institute 
of Technology, especially if it is isolated, 
out of the main current of educational de- 
velopment, and actively competing for sup- 
port and students with another strong 
school not three miles distant? 

VII. If this agreement is rejected by the 
Institute Corporation and Harvard ener- 
getically develops her technical school, 
Harvard alumni all over the country— 
lawyers, bankers, merchants, engineers, 
men in responsible positions in the great. in- 
dustries—will be enlisted in an active cam- 
paign to promote Harvard interests as 
against Institute interests. By acting to- 
gether and giving the preference to Har- 
vard graduates, they may at least seriously 
hamper the growth and retard the develop- 
ment of the Institute. By allying our- 
selves with Harvard, we should gain the 
active support of this large and influential 
body of men instead of their opposition. 

VIII. By combination and cooperation 
instead of competition there is economy in 
administration; in heads of departments; 
in libraries and photographs; in museums 
and collections; in lecture apparatus and 
similar appliances; in buildings, especially 
as regards large lecture-rooms not often 
used; and, to a greater or less extent, in 
laboratory apparatus. 

IX. There is also an economy or an in- 
crease of efficiency in combination, with 
reference to the instructing force. With 
the same number of men that would be re- 
quired for two separate institutions a 
single institution would allow greater 
specialization in the teaching, permitting 
the student to come in contact with a larger 
number of inspiring teachers, or it would 
enable more than one teacher to teach the 
same subject, thus stimulating each to do 


SCIENCE. 


977 


his best. This stimulus would be greater 
if the two teachers were in one institution 
than if they were in two. There might, 
and probably would, also be an economy 
in the number of teachers, especially in 
the purely lecture courses, and, as already 
stated, in heads of departments. 

X. If Harvard energetically develops 
her technical school, she will probably, in 
course of time, have more resources avail- 
able than the Institute, considering her 
large number of wealthy alumni and their 
relations to the business world. The Me- 
Kay will provides ‘‘that the salaries at- 
tached to the professorships maintained 
from the endowment be kept liberal, gen- 
eration after generation, according to the 
standard of each successive generation, to 
the end that these professorships may 
always be attractive to able men, and that 
their effect may be to raise in some judi- 
cious measure the general scale of compen- 
sation for teachers of the university.’’ In 
the course of time, therefore, when the 
McKay money becomes entirely available, 
it seems inevitable that Harvard will have 
a very high standard of salaries for pro- 
fessors in her technical school,—probably 
much higher than those at the Institute. In 
this ease she could attract to these positions 
the ablest men, who ean not now afford to 
be teachers because of the inadequate re- 
ward. Whether under these conditions the 
Institute would be the leader in technical 
education in this community is at least 
doubtful. 

XI. Increase in the number of students, 
if accompanied by corresponding adapta- 
tion or organization of the teaching foree, 
should also conduce to economy and effi- 
ciency. 

XII. Whether the plan is adopted or not, 
we can limit our numbers by raising the 
standard. If increase of numbers is a dis- 
advantage, we should limit them in this 


978 


way rather than in any arbitrary way. By 
adopting the proposed plan, we retain the 
field, and can get all the strongest students 
from this community. If there are two 
schools, Harvard will very likely get as 
many as we do. 

XIII. The addition of the Harvard 
Faculty to that of the Institute would be 
a distinet. gain. Whether all would har- 
moniously work together at once is of 


little consequence. Temporary adjust- 
ments might have to be made. With 
broad-minded cooperation a larger effi- 


ciency would result by adding to our body 
a staff of able teachers with new ideas and 
without Institute traditions, but animated 
by ideals and purposes as high as our own. 
Of all men the teacher is most likely to get 
into a rut. In-breeding emphasizes this 
tendency. The influx of a body of new 
men with other points of view than our 
own would tend to counteract it. 

XIV. If the proposed plan should result 
in more intimate association between our 
Faculty and the Faculty of Harvard Col- 
lege, the result would be beneficial. 

XV. Institute students are given a nar- 
row training, and would benefit by associa- 
tion with men studying the humanities and 
the other professions. 

XVI. One great lack which Institute 
men have always felt is college life and col- 
lege spirit. Many of them come from 
their homes or boarding places in the morn- 
ing, attend their classes, and go home at 
night, seeing little of their fellows, and 
gaining no experience in the art of getting 
on with men. Their after-success will 
probably depend as much upon their abil- 
ity to deal with men as upon a knowledge 
of their profession, and their progress may 
be much retarded by a lack of some 
qualities which they might gain at the In- 
stitute if they could take the time for more 
intimate association with their classmates. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 548. 


Moving to a site out of town would give 
the opportunity for a change in this re- 
spect, since it would render possible the 
introduction of dormitory life. 

XVII. The surroundings of many of our 
Institute students in cheap _ boarding 
houses, with poor food and the temptations 
of a great city about them, are in many 
eases most unfavorable. We believe the 
distractions and diversions of such a life, 
and even the distractions in home life from 
the presence of friends and relatives and 
from home chores and duties, are much 
greater on the average than those which 
would arise under proper management in 
the dormitory system. The proposed plan 
would be an. improvement over present con- 
ditions, because a larger proportion of stu- 
dents would live in the suburbs, and be- 
cause dormitories might be established, 
which is now impracticable. 

XVIII. Educational institutions must 
depend more and more upon gifts from 
wealthy men. Harvard University and 
the Institute are in the same community. 
They must appeal for support to the same 
class of persons, and in many eases to the 
same individuals. If the two were work- 
ing together, the finanical results would be 
better than if the two were working sepa- 
rately and in opposition to each other. 

XIX. Rich men who have large sums of 
money to give away desire to have their 
gifts expended economieally, and, as a rule, 
they believe that economy results from 
combination and cooperation rather than 
from competition. If this agreement 
should be declined by the Institute, many 
of them would say that the Institute was 
unwilling to cooperate, and thereby in- 
crease efficiency and economy, while Har- 
vard University was willing to cooperate. 
This attitude would render them less likely 
to give to the Institute. 

The present plan seems to offer almost 


June 30, 1905.] 


the ideal form of affiliation. The Institute 
students, together with those now registered 
in the Lawrence Scientific School, number 
about 2,100; the Harvard College under- 
graduates number about 2,000. The tech- 
nieal school, therefore, would be the larg- 
est part of the combination, and would be 
subject to its own Faculty. It would seem 
most improbable that under these circum- 
stances the smaller body, the great ma- 
jority of whom are also earnest men, could 
unfavorably affect the larger and more 
compact professional body. 

XXI. The reciprocal privileges which 
the plan proposes would very likely be of 
great value to both institutions, partic- 
ularly in the case of advanced students. 

XXII. By the plan proposed we ean get 
all the benefits of combination and coopera- 
tion without relinquishing the power to do 
anything we are able to do under present 
conditions. 

XXIII. The plan proposed would be of 
advantage to Harvard for many of the 
reasons which have already been adduced. 

XXIV. The plan proposed would be of 
benefit to the community by giving it on 
the whole better advantages for technical 
education than could be obtained in any 
other way, and by enabling it to enthusi- 
astically support, financially and morally, 
a single great institution with which the 
name of Boston and Massachusetts would 
be everywhere associated. 


Conclusion. 

Weighing the arguments in favor of the 
plan and those. against it, we believe that 
those in favor decidedly outweigh those 
against, and that the possibilities are 
offered us of building up a better and a 
greater Institute of Technology than has 
hitherto existed. We believe, moreover, 
that the plan would be an educational bene- 
fit not only to the Institute, but to Harvard 


SCIENCE. 


979 


University and to the community. Boston 
would have one great technical school unit- 
ing the forces of two great institutions, 
and with a united community supporting 
it. It may be anticipated that it would 
not be allowed to suffer financially. The 
Institute would be free, under the plan, 
to develop in any way which might seem 
best, and it could do anything under the 
plan it can do at present, with the added 
advantage of MHarvard’s support. We 
could draw to us the strongest students not 
only from this community, but from other 
parts of the country, without suffering any 
of the disadvantages which would arise, as 
we believe, from the active competition of 
a neighboring and powerful school. The 
best way, and indeed the only way to ac- 
complish in full measure the greatest fu- 
ture for the Institute, would seem to us to 
lie in securing control of the field of tech- 
nical education in this community. 


EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT ADVERSE TO THE 
ALLIANCE ADOPTED BY THE FACULTY. 


In the list of advantages to the Institute 
connected with the proposed agreement, 
removal to the Brighton location has been 
included by few. President Pritchett 
does not view it with complete favor, and 
opinions differ merely as to the degree of 
disadvantage. Apart from the financial 
question and the mandatory character of 
the agreement in this respect, the proposed 
site has disadvantages connected with the 
housing and life of the students and the 
problem of transportation. 

At present 44 per cent. of our students 
live at their own homes, with advantage 
to themselves and to the Institute. Un- 
doubtedly this has an important conserva- 
tive effect in determining the atmosphere 
of the Institute. Removal to a more dis- 
tant site would greatly decrease this num- 
ber, and increase the total cost of living 


980 SCIENCE. 


to the student body. . It would also intro- 
duce the problem of establishing a dormi- 
tory system—a problem altogether too im- 
portant to be settled thus incidentally. A 
carefully devised dormitory system, it is 
true, might not seriously menace the pro- 
fessional spirit of our students; but the 
establishment of such a dormitory system 
in proximity to Harvard College would in- 
volve exceptional difficulties. Upon the 
question of transportation it may be said 
that the means now existing and projected, 
together with the increased facilities that 
a demand would stimulate, make the loca- 
tion as accessible as might be expected of 
any place at a similar distance from the 
center of Boston. 

On the other hand, our present site has 
contributed in no small degree to the dis- 
tinct individuality of the Institute. This 
site, in a busy city, is by many regarded 
as one of our most valuable educational 
assets, and has great strategic advantages. 
Students can live in any of the surround- 
ing suburbs, and can in general reach the 
Institute by one line of steam or electric 
ears without change, and are within walk- 
ing distance of the railroad stations; and 
in like manner they can go from the Insti- 
tute to engineering and industrial works in 
a wide circle of suburbs and neighboring 
towns. The central location attracts to 
our halls educational and engineering 
bodies that help to make a professional 
atmosphere, and assist in advertising the 
Institute to a scientific constituency of the 
utmost importance. 


Lack of Definition of the Term ‘Industrial 
Science,’ as Bearing upon Instruction 
and wpon Degrees. 

In connection with the proposed alliance, 
much has been said of the avoidance of 
educational duplication; but the terms of 
the agreement as they stand fail to make 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 548. 


it clear that any definite partition has been 
formulated, either in scientific instruction 
or in the granting of degrees in science. 
Nowhere is there a definition of the term 
‘industrial science,’ upon the exact mean- 
ing of which these matters depend. The 
interpretations of the term which have 
been given to us, in so far as they make 
matters clear, imply that the intention is 
to consent to continued duplication in large 
elementary courses and in some advanced 
classes, rather than to attempt the unsound 
and impossible separation between pure 
and applied science. It has been explained 
to us that the intention is to continue in 
the Institute both instruction and the 
granting of degrees in such branches of 
pure science as chemistry, physics, geology, 
and biology. There is reason to believe 
that the University contemplates the reten- 
tion of instruction and degree-giving in all 
these subjects, as well as the retention of 
elementary instruction in at least some 
branches of industrial science as College 
electives. The University also reserves its 
right to grant any and all degrees, in ap- 
plied science as well as in pure science; 
but the agreement implies that Harvard 
degrees in applied science would hereafter 
be granted only upon the recommendation 
of the Faculty of the Institute. The Insti- 
tute, on the other hand, seems to agree by 
implication to discontinue the granting of 
the Ph.D. degree, and of all degrees in 
other than ‘industrial science,’ which, as 
interpreted to us, is to inelude those 
branches of pure science, already men- 
tioned, in which degrees are at present 
granted by the Institute. If, as would ap- 
pear, the wording of Section XII. consti- 
tutes an abdication on the part of the In- 
stitute of the right to grant any degrees 
other than those specified, why should such 
an abdication be permissible on the part 
of the Institute when, as we are informed, 


JUNE 30, 1905.] 


the lawyers doubted whether the Univer- 
sity could legally divest itself of a similar 
right? 


Probability that the Earlier Years of In- 
stitute Work would be Absorbed by 
Harvard College. 

Disaster to the integrity of the Insti- 
tute’s curriculum will, it seems to us, be 
the logical result of this lack of definition 
of the term ‘industrial science,’ when it is 
taken in connection with the fact that the 
College gives, and is likely to continue giv- 
ing, elementary courses in mathematics, 
and in chemical, physical, and engineering 
subjects. It will be much more natural 
for a student intending to get an engineer- 
ing degree to take his elementary work in 
the College. That such a result is antici- 
pated by the framers of the agreement 
would appear from the statement of Presi- 
dent Pritchett that the stronger technical 
schools are to take a forward step by which 
they will be free from much elementary 
work. 

Two special causes are likely to contri- 
bute largely to this result. The first is 
that the tuition fee at Harvard is $100 less 
than that of the Institute. Even if the 
fees were to be equalized, at a serious 
financial loss to the Institute, there yet re- 
mains the second fact that participation in 
University athletics is open only to students 
enrolled at Harvard. Boys who are in- 
tending ultimately to become engineers, 
but who are also ambitious of athletic dis- 
tinction, or even those who desire the real 
use rather than the partial privilege of 
the Harvard playgrounds, would be lkely 
to take their elementary work in the Col- 
lege rather than in the Institute. Under 
existing conditions many parents prefer 
the professional atmosphere to’ the acad- 
emic, and send their sons to the Institute 
rather for that reason than because they 


SCIENCE. 


981 


have any particular engineering career 
definitely planned for them. It ean hardly 
be expected that this patronage would con- 
tinue under the altered conditions now pro- 
posed. 

Yet the most serious effect upon our cur- 
riculum, in consequence of such a change of 
methods, would be the loss of that absolute 
control over our instruction which we con- 
sider essential to the maintenance of our 
standards. If we turn over our elemen- 
tary scientific work to another faculty, 
whose educational purposes and methods 
are essentially different from ours, we 
make impossible that close coordination of 
studies which we consider a prerequisite 
of suecessful technological education. 
Courses of elementary instruction, actually 
conducted by the Institute, not only give 
us a rule of comparison between the scien- 
tifie preparation that is offered by students 
coming from other institutions and that 
which we desire and can insist upon, but 
they insure an advantageous uniformity 
of training to the great bulk of our stu- 
dents in those scientific studies which are 
the fundamentals of all technological edu- 
eation. We do not view any prospect of 
their abandonment with favor. 


Sacrifice of Control. 


A further disadvantage of the proposed 
agreement is the modification that it makes 
in the present method of government of 
the Institute. A new Executive Com- 
mittee is created, of which at least three 
members out of nine shall be members of 
the Corporation of the University. It is 
our opinion that under this arrangement 
the ‘organization, control, and traditions’ 
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 
ogy would not be so safeguarded as to in- 
spire that confidence in the preservation 
of its individuality and in the continuance 
of its educational autonomy which we re- 


982 SCIENCE. 


gard as absolutely essential to the well- 
being of the Institute and to the efficiency 
of iis, work? * * * 


The Department of Architecture. 


A thoroughly objectionable section of 
the agreement is that which excludes the 
Department of Architecture from its pro- 
visions, leaving the future of one of the 
original and one of the most brilliantly 
successful departments of the Institute 
wholly unsettled and problematical. * * * 


Loss of Alumni Interest and Support. 

Another disadvantage of the alliance is 
the danger that the interest and support 
of the graduates of the Institute will be 
sacrificed. An important element in the 
organic growth of an educational institu- 
tion is a strong, well-organized association 
of its alumni, the men who can best appre- 
ciate the advantages and needs of the insti- 
tution and who know the places where it 
can be strengthened. The Institute has 
such an Alumni Association, with local 
branches in all parts of the United States, 
and with a compact subsidiary organiza- 
tion in the form of an Association of Class 
Secretaries which has proved itself to be 
useful and efficient, and which promises to 
grow in importance. The alumni have 
shown a deep and enthusiastic loyalty, 
which has taken a practical form in sub- 
scription for the William Barton Rogers 
Scholarship Fund, the Walker Memorial 
Ruilding, and, more recently and gener- 
ously, for the Technology Fund. If the 
proposed alliance is accomplished, the in- 
terest of the alumni is sure to diminish 
with their diminished responsibility for the 
maintenance of the Institute, and may be 
altogether alienated. The loyalty of fu- 
ture graduates would at best be a divided 
sentiment. 


[N.S. Vou. XXT. No. 548. 


Conclusion. 

An institution which has passed beyond 
its formative period has a right, as a man 
has, to its own character and individuality. 
It has earned the right to grow and change 
along its own lines, and not to be violently 
wrenched out of them and made over, 
under new and untried influences, into 
something different from itself. Such a 
course might be justifiable as a desperate 
expedient in the case of a demoralized and 
decaying school. But the Institute is in 
no sense a decaying institution. While 
making no claim to perfection, it desires 
nothing so earnestly as a fuller and richer 
though not necessarily a larger growth. 

In point of numbers, however, the Insti- 
tute, despite a steady increase in its re- 
quirements for admission and an excep- 
tionally high tuition fee, is more than hold- 
ing its own, not only in Massachusetts, but 
throughout New England, and not only in 
New England but throughout the United 
States. Our defects—and no one is more 
conscious of them or more desirous to 
amend them than is the Faculty—are in 
part consequences of growth and of suc- 
cess. In part, however, they are inevitable 
defects of the qualities which have made 
us what we are. The lack of academic 
leisure and of monumental college sur- 
roundings, and the absence of a great part 
of the social and athletic life of the typical 
American college,—such losses are a neces- 
sary price which we and our students pay 
for the spirit of professional study, of 
business-like regularity, and of scientific 
accuracy. In the training of engineers we 
believe that these qualities are worth vastly 
more than the desirable things which we 
sacrifice in order to obtain them. While 
continuing to insist upon these qualities, 
we shall be glad, so far as we ean safely 
do so, to diminish their defects. But we 
believe that we ean best accomplish this by 


-_ — 


JUNE 30, 15905.] 


remaining free to deal with the problem by 
methods under our own control. With that 
high regard for the spirit of university life 
to be expected from a body of men more 
than half of whom, as is the case with this 
Faculty, have received their training from 
colleges and universities, rather than ex- 
clusively from technological schools, we are 
nevertheless firmly.convineed that the ef- 
fect of direct contact and intermingling of 
our student body with the dormitory, social, 
and athletic life of college undergraduates, 
under the conditions obtaining in this case, 
would be more harmful than beneficial, and 
that it would be little less than totally de- 
structive of the established character and 
atmosphere of the Institute. 

A successful and valuable school quite 
different -from ours might no doubt be de- 
veloped under university conditions, but 
that would much better be done indepen- 
dently, from such beginnings as already 
exist, rather than upon the basis of our 
reputation and at the cost of our individu- 
ality. With institutions, as with men, 
character is a thing which may be under- 
mined and destroyed, but which can not be 
bought or sold or transferred. The success 
of the Institute thus far has surely not been 
due to its wealth, to its superior equipment, 
or to large salaries paid to its instructing 
staff. Its suecess has been and still is a 
success mainly of character and morale; 
and it is precisely these vital qualities 
which the Faculty believes would be de- 
stroyed by the changes called for under the 
terms of this proposed agreement. For it 
is not merely proposed to remove the Insti- 
tute to a new site, but to graft it upon 
another institution. 

Very grave questions of policy would at 
onee confront the new Executive Commit- 
tee in the problems arising from removal 
and from the establishment of an entirely 
new type of life among our students, and 


SCIENCE. 


983 


from the adjustment of working relations: 
with the University. The 
and differences within the Committee to 
which these questions would give rise, and 
ought to give rise, might under this agree- 
ment lead at any time to one of two 
things:— the rupture of the agreement, or 
the transfer to the University of a complete 
control over the working Institute by the 
election of a majority instead of a minority 
of the joint Executive Committee from the 
membership of the University Corporation. 
The adoption of this agreement would 
therefore plunge the Institute at once into 
a condition of uncertainty concerning the 
preservation of its individuality and con- 
trol,—an uncertainty probably more preju- 
dicial to its organic development than an 
immediate and entire surrender of control 
would be. Even the full assent of the 
Institute to the proposed agreement would 
not make it certain that the project is to 
be earried out. It would have still to 
receive the sanction of the University, the 
ratification of the Overseers, and to await 
indefinitely various legal proceedings and 
decisions. All these contemplated delays 
and uncertainties would be further aug- 
mented by such other contingencies and 
delays as must necessarily arise in carrying 
out so vast and complex an undertaking. 
This period of uncertainty, extending in- 
evitably over five or six years, would be 
most prejudicial to the educational work 
and to the educational prestige of the In- 
stitute. 

In closing, the Faculty is glad, in ae- 
eordanee with a request made by the Presi- 
dent, to take this opportunity to state that 
it fully believes in the possibility of co- 
operation in effort between Harvard Uni- 
versity and the Institute, and trusts that 
this may be secured in the future to as 
ereat an extent as practicable. There are 
necessarily limitations to such cooperation, 


controversies: 


984 SCIENCE. 


but we are convinced that it is possible, by 
consultation and conference, to secure a 
cooperation thus limited which will prove 
beneficial to industrial education in gen- 
eral, as well as to the particular work of 
both institutions. By the more frequent 
interchange of instructors, by allowing to 
the advanced students of each institution 
such privileges of instruction in the other, 
as may be practicable, by the common use 
of valuable apparatus, by the participation 
in University and Institute seminars of 
instructors and students of both institu- 
tions, by giving advanced courses of lec- 
tures to the combined classes of both insti- 
tutions; perhaps by mutual agreement 
from time to time tc relegate certain 
branches of instruction to one of the two; 
by carrying out together advanced engi- 
neering researches and tests,—by these, 
and by various other ways that will suggest 
themselves, much may be accomplished in 
harmonious effort which should be highly 
beneficial to both the University and the 
Institute. This development, however, 
must be a growth. It can not be forced, 
as the proposed agreement would attempt 
to force it, for it is in the nature of con- 
tinuous experiment, presenting problems 
for the solution of which no data exist. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 


Madreporaria, Parts III. and IV. By J. 
Srantey Garprner, M.A., ete. (From ‘ The 
Fauna and Geography of the Maldive 
and lLaccadive Archipelagoes, Vol. IL, 
Supplement I., pp. 933-957, pls. LX X XIX— 
XCTIIT.) 

The first installment of Mr. Gardiner’s re- 
port on the Madreporaria from the Maldive 
and Laccadive Archipelagoes has already been 
reviewed in the columns of this journal.* 
The second installment, which has just been 
received, contains an account of the Fungida 
and Turbinolide. 

*Vol. XX., No. 511, pp. 503-505, October 14, 
1904. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 548. 


III. Fungida.—548 specimens, besides a 
number of young forms and fragments, were 
obtained. These are divided into 27 species 
and 2 varieties, representing 15 genera; 
against 24 species and 9 genera reported by 
Klunzinger from the Red Sea, and 15 species 
and 7 genera found by the author in the 
Pacific. 

The following is a list of the genera with 
the number of species referred to each, and 
the names of the forms considered new: 
Psammoseris, 1; Siderastrea, 4, S. maldi- 
vensis, nov.; Agaricia, 1, A. ponderosa, nov., 
+ var. minikoiensis, nov.; Fungia, 3; Podo- 
bacia, 1; Halomitra, 1; Herpetolitha, 1, H. 
simplex, nov.; Cycloseris, 2; Diaseris, 1; 
Pavonia, 1; Leptoseris, 3, L. incrustans, nov.; 
Echinophyllia, 1; Pachyseris, 1; Coscinarea, 
2, C. donnani, nov.; Psammocora, 4; P. di- 
varicata, Nov. 

Mr. Gardiner does not follow yon Maren- 
zeller in referring Stephanoseris to the syn- 
onymy of Heterocyathus and Psammoseris to 
that of Heteropsammia, but combines Ste- 
phanoseris and Psammoseris under the latter 
name. He goes further and puts the type 
species of Psammoseris (P. hemispherica) in 
the synonymy of the type species of Stephano- 
seris, which was originally described as 
Heterocyathus rousseanus. 

I somewhat doubt the correctness of the 
generic determination of Siderastrea clava, S. 
lilacea and 8S. maldivensis. Mr. Gardiner 
calls attention to these ‘having in their sur- 
face parts the thece of neighboring calices 
quite separate from one another, joined to- 
gether only by cost, instead of fused to- 
gether into a single dividing wall’ This dif- 
ference did not escape his attention. 

Mr. Gardiner himself doubts his Agaricia 
ponderosa really being an Agaricia. I feel 
rather confident that it is not an Agaricia. 
The type species of the genus is A. undata 
(Ell. & Sol.) Lamk; the type specimen is in 
the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, where I 
have seen it and Professor J. Graham Kerr has 
kindly sent me photographs. The genus can 
be briefly characterized as follows: Corallum 
compound, thin, foliaceous. Common wall 
imperforate, naked, finely striate; no differen- 


EEE — - —_— 


ee 


JUNE 30, 1905.] 


tiated corallite walls. Calices forming more 
or less definitely concentric series, which are 
bounded below by a subealicular swelling or 
ridge; there is no swelling or ridge above, the 
septo-coste running directly to the next series. 
Septa well developed, distinctly radiate, im- 
perforate. Columella a_ single tubercle. 
Agaricia fragilis (Dana) agrees in. generic 
characters with the type and is a closely re- 
lated species. 

I think that Mr. Gardiner’s criticism of 
Professor Déderlein’s monograph, ‘ Die Koral- 
lengattung Fungia,’ is in some respects too 
severe. He says: “It is quite clear that that 
author [Déderlein] has, generally speaking, 
no scientific basis for his description of ‘ va- 
rieties.’” The word variety is difficult to de- 
fine in a manner that will be satisfactory to 
all systematists, and Mr. Gardiner himself is 
guilty of an inconsistency. Under Fungia 
dentigera, he speaks of ‘a true variety, the 
separating characters of which are discon- 
tinuous. If the characters are discontinu- 
ous, the specimens belong to a distinct species. 
Mr. Gardiner in Part I. of his ‘ Madreporaria 
of the Maldives and Laccadives’ says ‘ dis- 
continuous or specific’ variation. Variation 
in corals is so complex and its causes are so 
little understood that one should be very 
lenient in criticizing the efforts of a fellow 
worker to handle its phenomena. ‘There are 
mistakes in Doéoderlein’s work; some of his 
varieties can not be maintained by any of 
the usually accepted canons of zoological 
nomenclature, but his work is earnest and he 
has much advanced our knowledge of the 
genus F'ungia. 

I am glad to see that Mr. Gardiner con- 
siders Podobacia a valid genus, and heartily 
agree with him in that course. 

As regards Cycloseris and Fungia, I agree 
with Déderlein. The only possible basis for 
their separation into two genera would be in 
Cycloseris having originally only six primary 
septa and Hungia twelve. The validity of 
this character is extremely doubtful, as it 
rests on a very slim foundation. 

Without entering into a discussion of my 
reasons, I will state that I believe Quelch was 
correct in uniting Cycloseris and Diaseris, 


SCIENCE, 


985 


and, as stated in what precedes, I agree with 
Déderlein in combining both with FPungia. 

IV. Turbinolide—The number of. speci- 
mens collected is not given. Six species, rep- 
resenting 4 genera, are referred to the Tur- 
binolide. They are Flabellum, 2, F. multi- 
fore, nov.; Tropidocyathus, 1, T. cooperi, nov.; 
Heterocyathus, 1; Paracyathus, 2. 

Mr. Gardiner’s paper is an important con- 
tribution to the literature of reef corals. He 
gives valuable notes on variation, careful de- 
seriptions and figures all the forms described 
as new and several of those referred to pre- 
viously described species. 

The studies being made on the coral faunas 
of the Pacific and Indian oceans are bringing 
out many interesting facts of their geograph- 
ical distribution. I have just completed a 
study of the Hawaiian Fungida, and may be 
pardoned for comparing them with those from 
the Indian Ocean. The following is a list of 
the species, with notes on their occurrence 
elsewhere: Fungia (Oycloseris) patella (Ell. 
& Sol.), east coast of Africa, ete.; Fungia 
(Diaseris) fragilis (Aleock), Indian Ocean; 
Fungia scutaria var. dentigera Leuckart, 
Indian Ocean, ete.; [FPungia oahensis Déder- 
lein; Fungia paumotensis Stutchb. (fide 
Quelch), Philippines, ete.; FPungia echinata 
(Pallas) (fide Studer)]* Indian Ocean, ete.; 
Bathyactis stephana Alcock, Indian Ocean; 
Stephanaria stellata Verrill, Panama; Ste- 
phanaria n. sp.; Pavona varians Verrill, aff. 
P. repens Briiggemann; Pavona n. sp.; Lep- 
toseris (1) n. sp., aff. LZ. fragilis M. Ed. & H.; 
Leptoseris (2) n. sp.; Leptoseris (3) n. sp., 
aff. L. papyracea (Dana); Leptoseris (4) n. 
sp.; Psammocora, aft. P. superficialis Gar- 
diner. 

A fair proportion of the species actually 
occur in the Indian Ocean, some as far west 
as Africa, or have there analogues so similar 
that specific separation is doubtful. As would 
be expected, the Panamic fauna is represented 
to some extent. 

T. WAYLAND VAUGHAN. 

May 15, 1905. 

*JT have not seen specimens of these from the 
Hawaiian Islands, but the type of the first is 
from there. 


986 SCIENCE. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
THE SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND 
MEDICINE. 

Tue twelfth meeting of the Society for Ex- 
perimental Biology and Medicine was held in 
the laboratory of clinical pathology of the Cor- 
nell University Medical College, on Wednes- 
day evening, May 24. The Vice-President, 
Edward K. Dunham, was in the chair. 

Members present.—Atkinson, Auer, Brooks, 
Burton-Opitz, Crampton, Davenport,* Dun- 
ham, Emerson, Ewing, Field, Flexner, Gies, 
Herter, Levene, Levin, Lusk, Meltzer, Men- 
del,* Morgan, Noguchi, Norris, Oertel, Opie, 
Richards, Salant, Sweet, Torrey, Wallace, 
Wolf. 

Members elected—Joseph Erlanger, E. O. 
Jordan, Otto Folin. 


ABSTRACTS OF REPORTS OF ORIGINAL 
INVESTIGATIONS.t 


Contributions to the Study of Sulfur. I. The 
Metabolism in Brombenzol Poisoning: W. 
Macxim Marriott and C. G. L. Wo tr. 
Administration of brombenzol to dogs re- 

sulted in increased elimination of nitrogen 
and urea. Urea closely followed total nitro- 
gen. Preformed ammonia was decreased. 
Creatinin elimination was not appreciably 
affected. Total sulfur excretion was not in- 
creased, but there was almost complete sup- 
pression of alkali sulfates. Excretion of 
neutral sulfur, represented for the most part 
in this case by parabromphenyl-mercapturic 
acid, was increased 400 per cent. Ethereal 
sulfate elimination was markedly increased. 
Total sulfate-sulfur was diminished. Excre- 
tion of chlorin and phosphorus was practically 
unaffected. Nitrogen and fat were increased 
in the feces. The drug caused ulceration of 
the stomach and intestines, and degeneration 
of the liver and kidneys. 


* Non-resident member. 

7 The abstracts presented in this account of the 
proceedings have been greatly condensed from ab- 
stracts given to the secretary by the authors 
themselves. The latter abstracts of the reports 
may be found in current numbers of American 
Medicine and Medical News. 


[N.S. Von. XXT. No. 548. 


On Experimentally Produced Variations in the 
Energy of Tumor Growth: Leo Lors. (Pre- 
sented by James Ewing.) 

The author’s observations point to the gen- 
eral conclusion that it is possible to cause an 
experimental increase or decrease in the en- 
ergy of tumor growth. Such variations may 
be brought about by direct stimulating or de- 
pressing influences on the tumor cells. The 
stimulation effects may become cumulative. 


Demonstration: Photographs and Plumage- 
charts of Hybrid Poultry, with Remarks: 
Cuartes B. Davenport. 

Dr. Davenport exhibited photographs and 
plumage-charts of four hybrids between dif- 
ferent races of poultry, and also of their 
parents, and remarked on the nature of the 
inheritance illustrated by each example. 


Experimental Cirrhosis of the Liver: RicHarp 
M. Pearce. (Presented by Eugene L. Opie.) 
Necrotic lesions were produced in the liver 

of the dog by injections of hemolytic immune 

sera of high hemagglutinative power. The 
author’s observations have demonstrated that 
cirrhosis may follow extensive primary de- 
structive lesions produced in this way (a view 
not yet fully accepted) and thus support the 
contention of Kretz that cirrhosis is essen- 
tially the result of a series of repair processes 
following repeated injuries of liver paren- 


chyma. 


Experimental Arteriosclerosis: Ricuarp M. 
Pearce and E. McD. Stanton. (Presented 
by J. E. Sweet.) 

Intravenous injections of adrenalin produce 
in rabbits vascular lesions that are limited 
to the aorta and that exhibit more or less 
definite sequence.’ Five to six injections of 
3 to 25 minims of 1-1,000 solutions every 
24-48 hours for long periods cause at first 
histologically important changes in the media. 
After about 12-15 injections very definite 
lesions are evident macroscopically. In the 
experiments continued for 6-8 weeks, the 
process becomes very diffuse and small dila- 
tions of the thinner portions of the aorta as- 
sume the appearance of aneurisms. At this 
stage the destruction of the elastic fibers is 


haa « "a=, -  —_—_——- 


JUNE 30, 1905.] 


extreme and all degenerated areas are in- 
filtrated with calcium salts. 

Whether the vascular changes are due to a 
primary toxic action of the adrenalin or 
whether they are the result of the increased 
arterial tension which it causes, has not been 
determined. 


On the Chemical and Physiological Properties 
of Ricin, with Demonstrations: Tuomas B. 
OsporNE and LarayetTE B. MENDEL. 
The most active preparation proved fatal 

when administered subcutaneously to rabbits 
in the small dose of 0.0005 malligram per kilo 
of body weight. The toxic constituent of the 
castor bean appears to be an albumin. Ricin 
is like other albumins in composition, heat 
coagulation, color reactions, precipitation re- 
actions, specific rotation, state of combination 
of its nitrogen, ete. By tryptic digestion the 
agglutinating power of pure ricin may be 
greatly impaired or destroyed. The experience 
of the authors lends no encouragement to at- 
tempts to ‘purify’ such toxins by methods 
designed to eliminate proteid substances from 
the active materials. 


On a Method of Determining Indol, with 
Demonstrations: C. A. Herrer and M. 
Loutse Fosrrr. 

The authors described a rapid and accurate 
means of determining indol. It is based on 
the fact that indol, in slightly alkaline solu- 
tion, readily condenses with naphthoquinon 
sodium mono-sulfonate and forms a_ blue 
crystalline compound that is only very slightly 
soluble in water but is readily extracted by 
chloroform from a watery solution or suspen- 
sion. The condensation product is di-indyl 
naphtho-ketone mono-sulfonate. Its solution 
in choloroform is red. The method is well 
adapted for colorimetric or gravimetric deter- 
minations. 


Anesthesia Produced by Magnesium Salts, 
with Demonstrations. A Preliminary Com- 
munication: 8. J. Metrzer and Joun Aver. 
The authors exhibited two guinea pigs which 

were deeply narcotized by subcutaneous injec- 

tions of magnesium sulfate. One of these 
animals had been similarly narcotized twice 


SCIENCE. 


987 


before and fully recovered each time. If the 
dose of magnesium salt is not too large, heart 
beat, blood pressure and respiration remain 
nearly normal during periods of narcosis in 
which any operation can be performed without 
resistance. Certain maximum doses can not 
be exceeded without causing extremely toxic 
effects. 


Enzymes and Anti-enzymes of Inflammatory 

EHaudates; Eugene L. Opts. 

Inflammatory exudates removed from the 
pleural cavities of dogs one or two days after 
injection of the irritant (aleuronat) undergo 
very little change, while those removed three 
or more days after the onset of inflammation 
exhibit appreciable though slight autolysis. 
There is no relation between the amount of 
digestion and the number of cells which are 
present. The serum inhibits autolysis in a 
suspension of the cells separated by centrif- 
ugalization. The antilytic action of the 
serum is favored by an alkaline reaction, but 
is completely prevented in an acid medium. 
The serum of the exudate contains a pro- 
teolytic ferment’ which is. active only in an 
acid medium. In the later stages of such 
inflammations there is some diminution of the 
antilytiec power of the exudate. 


Shallow Well Waters of Brooklyn: Jamus P. 

ATKINSON. 

The author’s observations justify the con- 
clusions that the sandy soil of Brooklyn can 
not be relied upon as a safe filter for the well 
waters of that borough, that Brooklyn soil 
in populous districts seems to be nearing the 
saturation point for sewage, and that many 
of the shallow wells in Brooklyn are, there- 
fore, in growing danger of serious pollution. 


The Influence of the External Temperature 
upon the Viscosity of the Blood: Russpiu 
Burton-Opitz. 

The author has found that the viscosity of 
the ‘living’ blood can be greatly influenced 
by changing the external temperature. Vis- 
cosity was markedly increased in dogs im- 
mersed in water at 25° C. Warm water baths 
(42°-45° ©.) produced a corresponding de- 
erease in the viscosity. Specific gravity of 
the blood showed corresponding variations. 


988 


The Changes in the Viscosity of the Blood 
during Narcosis; RussELL Burron-Opirz. 
It was found that the viscosity of the blood 

is increased by deep ether or chloroform nar- 

cosis and lessened during light anesthesia. 

Specifie gravity of the blood was increased by 

deep and lessened by light ether narcosis. 

Chloroform, on the other hand, produces a 

slight deerease during deep and an increase 

during light narcosis. Hence the specific 
gravity can not be regarded as a-perfectly ac- 
curate index of the viscosity. 


Studies of the Effects of Radiwm on Plants 
and Animals, with Demonstrations: Com- 
municated by WituiamM J. Giss. 

I. Preliminary notes on the effects of 
radium rays on plants. C. Stuart Gager. 
Plants are stimulated. For this stimulus 
there are minimum, optimum and maximum 
points, depending upon the proximity of the 
radium to the plant, the strength, quantity 
and condition of the radium salt, the time of 
exposure and the nature and condition of the 
tissue. 

II. The action of radium rays on Amaba 
proteus and upon other microorganisms. 
Louis Hussakof. No visible effects were pro- 
duced, by even the strongest radium prepara- 
tions, during periods of observation of about 
an hour.. The water surrounding the animal 
in each experiment may have prevented ra- 
diant effects. 

III. The effects of intravenous injections of 
radium bromid. Russell Burton-Opitz and 
G. M. Meyer. Increased blood pressure, 
caused by general vasoconstriction, always 
promptly followed injection of radium prepara- 
tions in small dogs. This effect was soon 
followed by a fall of pressure, due to decrease 
in frequency and accompanied by irregularity 
of the heart. The variations in blood pressure 
were extreme. These effects occur after divi- 
sion of both vagi. Respiration gradually de- 
creases in frequency until respiratory paral- 
ysis results. A striking qualitative similarity 
was found to exist between the effects of 
pure barium bromid and radium _ bromid 
preparations of low activity (240 and 1,000). 
Radium bromid of 10,000 activity, however, 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 548. 


differed from barium bromid in failing to 
cause irregularity in the action of the heart. 
Quantitative differences were also noted. 

IV. The radioactivity of the different organs 
after intravenous injections of radium bromid. 
Gustave M. Meyer. Thus far determinations 
have been made only on the dogs used in the 
experiments of Burton-Opitz and Meyer (II1). 
Practically all parts except the brain were 
found to be radioactive. The blood always 
manifested the greatest radioactivity. 

V. The influence of radium bromid on me- 
tabolism in dogs. William N. Berg and Will- 
iam H. Welker. Feeding experiments have 
thus far failed to show appreciable results, 
except an increase in elimination of total sul- 
fate in the urine. WILLIAM J. GIEs, 

Secretary. 


THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 

OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 

At the meeting of April 3, 1905, Professor 

Stevenson presiding, the following papers were 
read: 


The Physiography of the Adirondacks: J. F. 

Kemp. 

The Adirondacks cover some 10,000 square 
miles, and except for the White Mountains 
of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge of 
North Carolina, are the loftiest summits east 
of the Black Hills of Sotth Dakota. They 
are metamorphosed Precambrian sediments 
and eruptives with a surrounding fringe of 
Paleozoics beginning with the Potsdam and 
ending with the Utica, except for the Glacial 
drift. The eastern portion is mountainous, 
the western a high plateau which slopes to 
Lake Ontario. Three peaks exceed 5,000 
feet. The general profile of the mountains 
is serrate, but there is great variety of shape. 
There are two contrasted types of valleys. 
One type, doubtless an instance of greater 
geological antiquity, presents gentle slopes and 
great maturity of form. Its members run 


SECTION 


_east and west, and north and south, and are 


occupied in some cases by the larger lakes. 
The second type is more recent, and is due 

to faulting. The valleys have on one or both 

sides precipitous escarpments. The cliffs run 


JUNE 30, 1905.] 


northeast and southwest or northwest and 
southeast. A third series of breaks running 
nearly due north is also at times in evidence. 
The faults are most often the result of differ- 
ential movements causing even a marked 
sheeting of the rocks. The faults run out 
into the Paleozoic areas, and are shown with 
diagrammatic distinctness, where they have 
been especially described by H. P. Cushing. 

The problem of the drainage is of especial 
interest. All the waters go ultimately either 
to the Hudson or the St. Lawrence. The 
courses of the large streams follow sometimes 
the older type of valleys, sometimes ‘the later. 
Barriers of drift have often driven them from 
their old lines across low, preglacial divides 
into new ones. The courses of the Hudson 
and Onondaga are particularly striking illus- 
trations, each exhibiting one or more marked 
bends to the eastward. The courses of the 
two were described and discussed in some 
detail. 

The different types of lakes were also de- 
scribed including the river valleys ponded 
by barriers of drift, the fault valleys and 
the relations to the older type of depression. 

The nature of the ice invasion and its modi- 
fying effects were passed in review, chiefly 
along the work of I. H. Ogilvie. With a brief 
statement of the Post-glacial lake-fillings, ete., 
which have been especially set forth by C. H. 
Smyth, Jr., the paper closed. 


The Paleogeography of Mid-Ordovicic Time: 

CuHartes P. BrerKey. 

Both the Cambric and Ordovicic formations 
contain prominent sandstone strata alter- 
nating with dolomites wherever exposed in 
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, IIli- 
nois, Missouri, Arkansas and Indian Terri- 
tory. The northern margin, however, is pre- 
vailingly more arenaceous than the southern, 
where shales replace many sand beds. At still 
greater distance, in Ohio, Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee, these are in turn represented by lime- 
stones largely. 

The uppermost one of the series is the St. 
Peter. This sandstone, as well as each of the 
more important ones below, is believed to rep- 
resent an extensive retreat and re-advance of 


SCIENCE. 


989 


the sea. Few marks of the erosion intervals 
are preserved. Only here and there has the 
mantle of sand permitted much attack upon 
the underlying dolomite, and the reworking of 
the sands themselves has obliterated most in- 
ternal evidence of such history. 

Much of the sand, furthermore, is wind- 
blown. This reworking by the sea and the 
wind is believed to be the chief cause of the 
extreme purity of the St. Peter. 

The St. Peter stage of the Ordovicic, there- 
fore, represents a retreat of the Mississippian 
sea from the vicinity of Lake Superior to 
probably as far as Ohio, southern Illinois and 
Arkansas, followed by a readvance to its 
original position. The northern part of the 
St. Peter contains a sedimentary break. In 
part it is both older and younger than the 
same formation in its southern extension, 
while, on account of the reworking accom- 
panying the sea advance, there is greater con- 
formity with overlying than with underlying 
beds. A. W. GRABAu, 

Secretary. 


At the meeting of May 1, 1905, Vice- 
President Hovey presiding, the following 
papers were read: 

The Pleistocene Beds of Sankaty Head, Nan- 
tucket: J. Howarp WInson. 


When visited by early explorers, the section 
at this locality was kept freshly exposed by 
the cutting back of the bluff by the sea, but 
for quite a period of years this has been pre- 
vented by the northward extension of the 
Siasconset apron beach, so that the face of 
the bluff is now covered with talus and over- 
grown with beach grass. 

The locality was visited during the summer 
of 1904 and considerable work done in ex- 
posing the section and making a collection of 
the fossils. 

This work resulted in the collection of 81 
species, 21 of which had never been reported 
from this point, including Pandora crassidens 
Conrad not previously found in any horizon 
above the Miocene, and Serripes laperonsii 
Deshayes and Macoma incongrua Von Mar- 


990 SCIENCE. 


tens belonging to the Arctic fauna of the 
Pacific coast and not heretofore reported east 
of Point Barrow. 

A number of facts differing somewhat from 
those reported by former observers were no- 
ticed and have resulted in a somewhat differ- 
ent interpretation for the phenomena pre- 
sented by these deposits. 

The deposits are not of glacial origin, for 
(1) numerous delicate and unworn shells oc- 
cur; (2) bivalves such as Solen, Venus and 
Mya occur in the position in which they lived 
with both valves together, and in the case of 
Venus, with the ligament in place; (3) the 
faunas are not mixed as would be the case if 
of glacial origin, the lower beds containing 
shoal-water species of a southern range, and 
the upper, deeper water species of a northern 
and even Arctic type. 

The lower beds were deposited in a shallow 
inlet or lagoon, as shown by such species as 
Mya, Ostrea and Venus and especially by 
numerous mud crabs and the presence of our 
edible crab, Callinectes sapidus, while the 
upper beds were deposited during a subsidence 
of the area contemporaneous with the advance 
of the Wisconsin ice sheet, as shown by the 
deeper water and more northern species. 

After the destruction and washing into the 
lagoon of the protecting barrier beach, as 
shown by the overlying rounded and pure, 
white sands, the ice reached and passed this 
point, eventually burying the beds under fifty 
feet or more of drift. Later, a reelevation 
took place, bringing the land to about its 
present position. 


Early Stages of some Paleozoic Corals; C. E. 

GORDON. 

J. E. Duerdon in the Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity Circular for 1902 has endeavored to 
show by studies based on Lophophyllum pro- 
liferum that the Rugosa exhibit a hexameral 
plan of growth of the primary septa, in so far 
as L. proliferum may be taken as representa- 
tive. Certain studies on Streptelasma pro- 
fundum show a primary tetrameral plan. The 
fact that S. profundum is a middle Ordovicie 
type suggests that this is the primitive con- 
dition. Moreover, a careful examination of 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 548. 


Duerdon’s figures shows that they lend them- 
selves to an entirely different interpretation 
from that which Duerdon gives. This inter- 
pretation is that two of the so-called primary 
septa are secondary septa precociously devel- 
oped; that their sequence and ultimate posi- 
tion are the same as those for the secondary 
septa which appear in the corresponding posi- 
tions in the corresponding quadrants of a 
zaphrentoid coral; that the fossula and car- 
dinal septum are on the concave side of the 
corallum; and that if Duerdon’s figures be 
inverted they reveal a perfect similarity to a 
zaphrentotd coral, as far as the order of ap- 
pearance and the arrangement of the septa 
are concerned. 

The fact that LZ. proliferum is of Carbonic 
age indicates that it is a modified type of the 
zaphrentoid coral, the first secondary septa 
appearing in nepionic stages and thus simula- 
ting the character of primary septa. 


A New Lower Tertiary Fauna from Chappa- 
quiddick Island, Martha’s Vineyard: 
Tuomas C. Brown. 

A few years ago while studying the Cretacie 
deposits of Long Island, Block Island and 
Martha’s Vineyard, Dr. Arthur Hollick made 
a collection of fossil molluses and plants from 
Chappaquiddick Island. The fossil molluses 
were deposited in the Columbia University 
collection without being fully and carefully 
studied. 

These fossils occur in the island in ferrugi- 
nous concretions. They seem to have been 
deposited somewhere to the north of where 
they are now found, then moved as glacial 
drift, reassorted and deposited in their present 
position. From their lithological similarity 
to concretions containing undoubted Cretacie 
fossils found elsewhere on Martha’s Vineyard, 
Dr. Hollick thought that these concretions and 
their contained fossils must be of Cretacic 
age. 

Professor Shaler noted the occurrence of 
these concretions and their similarities to the 
Cretacie drift, but being unable to find any 
distinctive organic remains hesitated to set 
them down as Cretacic. 

Professor R. P. Whitfield considered that 


7 


JUNE 30, 1905.] 


these rocks could hardly be Cretacic, since the 
fossils were of a more recent type. 

A careful study of the fossils has shown 
that this material is not Cretacie but Eocene 
in age. This fauna from Chappaquiddick 
represents a new and distinct Eocene province, 
differing from all the other Eocene provinces 
of the Atlantic coast, but no more widely 
different from these than they are from one 
another. Although in this fauna there are 
several species somewhat resembling those of 
the provinces to the south, on the whole it 
would seem to be more closely allied to the 
Eocene of England. The genera most abun- 
dantly represented in these Chappaquiddick 
deposits, e. g., Modiola, Glycymeris, are also 
among the most abundant in the English de- 
posits. These same genera, although repre- 
sented in the Atlantic and gulf provinces, are 
there more sparsely distributed and occur with 
other more abundantly represented genera 
that appear to be altogether wanting in the 
Chappaquiddick deposits. 

A comparison of this Chappaquiddick fauna 
with other Eocene faunas indicates that it is 
of lower Eocene age, the species most closely 
resembling those found in this fauna being 
found in the lower beds of the Atlantic and 
gulf provinces, the Tejon of California and 
the lower beds of England. These deposits 
may possibly be of the same age as the Shark 
River beds of New Jersey, but being deposited 
in a region separated from this have no forms 
in common with it. But such correlation 
could be only conjecture. As the correlation 
of the well-known Eocene deposits is even yet 
very uncertain it is unnecessary and impossi- 
ble to place these beds any more definitely than 
simply to say that they are Lower Eocene. 
Structural Relations and Origin of the Limo- 

nite Beds at Cornwall, N. Y.: O. A. Harrt- 

NAGEL. 

The limonite at the Townsend iron mine, 
near Cornwall in Orange County, N. Y., is 
found at the base of the New Scotland beds 
where the latter are in contact with the Long- 
wood red shales. The source of the iron is 
evidently from the red shales but whether the 
contact was due to overlap or faulting has not 
been previously explained. Two thirds of a 


SCIENCE. 


991 


mile north of the mine the Decker Ferry, 
Cobleskill, Rondout, Manlius and Coeymans 
formations, having a total thickness of 95 
feet, are found between the New Scotland and 
Longwood beds. In the region of the mine 
the strata are nearly vertical and in faulting 
a wedge-shaped block was forced up, bringing 
the red shales in contact with the New Scot- 
land beds. A cap of limestone has until re- 
cent geologic times protected from erosion the 
mass of soft Longwood shales which now form 
a steep hill, but which is rapidly being worn 
away. 

Types of Sedimentary Overlap: A. W. 

GRABAU. 

With a normal sea shore, a rising sea level 
will produce the phenomenon of progressive 
overlap, a falling sea level that of regressive 
overlap. If the sea transgresses slowly, and 
the rate of supply of detritus is uniform a 
basal rudyte or arenyte is formed which rises 
in the column as the sea advances, and whose 
depositional off-shore equivalents are succes- 
sive beds of lutytes or organic deposits (bio- 
genics). Types of such basal beds which pass 
diagonally across the time scale, are seen in 
the basal Cambric arenytes of eastern North 
America, which as the Vermont Quartzite are 
lower Cambric, and as the Potsdam are Upper 
Cambric. Again in the Basal Cretacic 
arenyte of southwestern United States, this 
is shown, these being basal Trinity in Texas, 
Washita in Kansas, and Dakota or later on 
the Front Range. Examples of this type of 
progressive overlap are numerous and famil- 
iar. On an ancient peneplain surface the 
transgressing sea may spread a basal black 
shale, as in the case of the Eureka (Noel) 
Black shale, which is basal Choteau in south- 
ern Missouri and basal Burlington in north- 
ern Arkansas. Regressive movements of the 
shore succeeded by transgressive movements 
give us arenytes which are enclosed in off- 
shore sediments and which within themselves 
comprise an hiatus the magnitude of which 
diminishes progressively away from the shore. 
An example of this has recently been discussed 
by Berkey * who finds that the St. Peter Sand- 
stone in Minnesota marks the interval from 

* See ante, April meeting. 


992 


lower Beekmantown to upper Stones River, 
which interval is represented by several thou- 
sand feet of calcareous sediments in other 
regions distant from the shore of that time. 
In marine transgressive overlaps, later 
members overlap earlier ones toward the 
source of supply, 2. e., towards the old-land. 
In non-marine progressive overlaps, later 
members overlap the earlier ones away from 
the source of supply. Thus in a growing 
alluvial cone, the later formed beds will extend 
farther out on to the plain away from the 
mountain. If several successive fans of this 
type are formed one above the other, owing 
to successive elevations of the source of sup- 
ply, only the latest beds of each delta will be 
found on the outer edge of this compound 
delta, the hiatus between the beds being fur- 
ther emphasized by the erosion which the last 
bed of the first delta underwent during the 
time that the early beds of the second delta 
were deposited nearer the source of supply, 7. e., 
before the last bed of the second delta covered 
up the remnant of the last bed of the first 
delta and thus protected it from further ero- 
sion. A good example of this type of overlap 
appears to be presented by the Pocono, Mauch 
Chunk and Pottsville beds of the Appalachian 
region. These formations are with exception 
of the negligible Greenbrier member, of non- 
marine origin, representing the wash from the 
growing Appalachians. In western Pennsyl- 
vania only the latest beds of each (barring 
portions removed by erosion between the dep- 
osition of the successive fans) are found rest- 
ing one upon the other, the interval between 
the beds becoming less and less toward the 
anthracite regions. A. W. GRasau, 
Secretary. 


SECTION OF BIOLOGY. 


Ar the April meeting Professor H. F. Os- 
born presented a discussion of ‘The Ideas and 
Terms of Modern Philosophical Anatomy,’ and 
Dr. O. R. Hay described ‘Turtles of the 
Bridger Basin.’ The full abstract of Professor 
Osborn’s paper was published in Scrence 
for June 23. Dr. Hay gave a brief descrip- 
tion of the extent of the Bridger beds and of 
the nature of the materials composing them. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXI. No. 548. 


He expressed the conviction that these deposits 
had not been made in a lake, but over the 
flood-grounds of rivers. The region was 
probably covered with forests, and teemed with 
animal life. In the streams were numerous 
turtles. Many species of these have been de- 
scribed by Dr. Leidy and Professor Cope. In 
the speaker’s hands are materials for the de- 
scription of about a dozen more species. The 
American Museum party of 1903 collected 
many specimens of the genus and these have 
furnished good skulls, neck, shoulder and pel- 
vie girdles, and the limbs. These materials 
confirm the validity of Lydekker’s group called 
Amphichelydia, and show that from it sprang 
the modern super-families Cryptodira and 
Pleurodira. 


At the May meeting of the section papers 
were presented by Professor E. B. Wilson on 
‘ Observations on the Chromosomes in Hemip- 
tera,’ and by Professor H. E. Crampton on 
‘Correlation and Selection.’ 

Professor Wilson’s paper presented the re- 
sults of an examination of the mode of distri- 
bution of the chromosomes to the spermatozoa 
in Lygeus turcicus, Cenus delius, Podisus 
spinosus and two species of Huchistus. In 
none of these forms is an accessory chromo- 
some (in the ordinary sense) present, all of the 
spermatozca receiving the same number of 
chromosomes, which is one half the sperma- 
togonial number (the latter number is in 
Podisus sixteen, in the other forms fourteen). 
In all these forms, however, an asymmetry of 
distribution occurs such that two classes of 
spermatozoa are formed in equal numbers, both 
receiving a ring of six chromosomes (in 
Podisus seven) that are duplicated in all the 
spermatozoa, and in addition a central one 
which in one half the spermatozoa is much 
smaller than in the other half. These cor- 
responding but unequal chromosomes (which 
evidently correspond to some of the forms- 
described by Montgomery as ‘chromatin 
nucleoli,’ and agree in mode of distribution 
with that which this author has described in 
the case of Huchistus tristigmus) may be called 
the ‘idiochromosomes.’ They always remain 
separate in the first division, which accord- 


JUNE 30, 1905.] 


ingly shows one more than one half the sperma- 
togonial number of chromosomes, but at the 
close of this division conjugate to form an 
asymmetrical dyad, the number of separate 
chromatin-elements being thus reduced from 
eight to seven (in Podisus from nine to eight). 
A reduction of the number to seven in the 
first division, such as has been described by 
Montgomery as an occasional or usual process 
in Huchistus and Canus, was never observed. 
In the second division the asymmetrical idio- 
chromosome-dyad separates into its unequal 
constituents, while the other dyads divide sym- 
metrically. One half the spermatozoa, there- 
fore, receive the large idiochromosome and one 
half the small, the other chromosomes being 
exactly duplicated in both. 

Correlated with this asymmetry of distribu- 
tion is the fact that the spermatogonial chro- 
mosome-groups do not show two equal micro- 
chromosomes (as is the case in such forms as 
Anasa, Alydus or Protenor, where an accessory 
chromosome is present) but only one, which is 
obviously the small idiochromosome, the large 
one not being certainly distinguishable at this 
period from the other spermatogonial chromo- 
somes. The final synapsis of the idiochromo- 
somes is deferred to the prophases of the second 
division, somewhat as that of the two equal 
microchromosomes is deferred until the pro- 
phase of the first division in Anasa, Alydus 
and some other forms. A remarkable result 
of the difference in this regard between the 
forms that possess and those that lack a true 
accessory chromosome is that in the former 
ease (Anasa, Alydus, etc.) the first division of 
the small central chromosome is a reduction- 
division and the second an equation-division; 
while in the latter case (Lyge@us, Canus, ete.) 
the reverse order manifestly occurs. The rela- 
tion of these observations to earlier ones by 
Paulmier, Montgomery and others was pointed 
out, with a discussion of their bearing on the 
Mendelian phenomena of heredity and the 
problem of sex-determination. 

Professor Crampton presented briefly some 
of the conclusions drawn from the results of 
his work upon variation, correlation and selec- 
tion among saturnid lepidoptera. The earliest 


SCIENCE. 


998 


studies showed that eliminated individuals, 
when compared with similar members of the 
same group that survive, prove to be more 
variable and of somewhat different types, 
although this relation between variability and 
selection is not a constant one. The charac- 
ters utilized for these preliminary studies, 
namely, certain pupal dimensions and propor- 
tions were of such a nature that they could not 
serve the pupa directly in any functional man- 
ner, wherefore it was concluded that their con- 
dition of correlation formed the actual basis 
for the selective process, formative correla- 
tion being also distinguished from functional 
correlation. That the general condition of 
correlation among the structural characters of 
pups formed, indeed, the basis for selection 
was further indicated by the results of a sta- 
tistical study of the correlations between vari- 
ous characteristics of pupal groups from several 
different animal series; although an advantage 
did not always appear in favor of the surviving 
group. On the basis of the foregoing, a gen- 
eral theoretical conception was developed, ac- 
cording to which the whole series of internal 
elements and the whole series of external in- 
fluences were regarded as involved in the 
determination of the general condition of cor- 
relation or coordination that formed the basis 
for selection, as adaptive or the reverse. 
M. A. Bicrtow, 
Secretary. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 


PRE-PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS AT THIRD CLIFF, 
MASSACHUSETTS. 


To tue Eprror or Science: It has been 
suggested by several writers (Shaler and Ver- 
rill) that Tertiary and Cretaceous deposits 
may occur on the floor of the sea north of 
their known occurrence on Marthas Vineyard 
and Cape Cod. ‘Their northerly occurrence 
on land has not been noted except for the 
Miocene greensands at Marshfield, Mass. 
(Duxbury sheet, U. S. G. S.). During the 
spring field season at Harvard University the 
writer reexamined the coast from Boston 
Harbor to Peaked Cliff, fifteen miles south- 
east of Plymouth harbor, in order to test, by 


994 SCIENCE. 


means of the excellent cliff sections, the sug- 
gestion of the occurrence of such deposits. 
Pre-Pleistocene deposits were found at Third 
Cliff, twenty miles southeast of Boston, and 
possibly at Peaked Cliff, southeast of Ply- 
mouth. 

The section at Third Cliff shows yellow 
clays at the base conformably overlain by 
yellow and white sands and succeeded by a 
bed of bright red sands with an unconformity 
at their base. On the eroded edges of the 
red and white beds are deposited dark, glau- 
conitie and lignitic clays and sands. The 
entire series of beds has a total maximum 
thickness of sixty or seventy feet, and out- 
crops for a half mile along the cliff face. 
Absolutely no erratic material occurs either 
within the beds themselves or along the lines 
of unconformity. 

The lithologic characters of the lower beds 
are like those so persistently characteristic of 
the Cretaceous from Marthas Vineyard to 
New Jersey; while the upper beds of dark 
clays appear to be homologues of the Miocene 
at Gay Head and at Marshfield. This fact, 
together with the evidence of the unconformi- 
ties and of the lignites is being examined 


with a view toward suggesting probable cor- 


relations with the deposits worked out at Gay 
Head by Professor Woodworth (Bull. Geol. 
Soc. Amer., VIII., 1897, 197-212); although 
the absence of specific paleontologic evidence 
renders such correlation merely tentative. 
The detailed descriptions of the beds and the 
conclusions inferred with respect to their age 
will be published in a later paper. ” 


TsatAn Bowman. 
CAMBRIDGE, MAss. 


EXOGLOSSUM IN THE DELAWARE. 


Tue occurrence of the little minnow, Hxo- 
glossum mazillingua (Le Sueur), in the Dela- 
ware basin is of interest. So far as I am 
aware, it has not been taken in any of the 
tributaries of the Delaware before the capture 
of two examples which,I caught in the Red 
Clay Creek, Chester County, Pa., during 
April of 1904. In this instance I am in- 
debted to Mr. Alfred ©. Satterthwait, who 
assisted me in securing the specimens. When 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 548. 


first seen, I was under the mistaken impres- 
sion that they were simply young unmottled 
examples of Catostomus commersonni. 

In the Susquehanna basin this fish is abun- 
dant and I have also met with it in tribu- 
taries of the Allegheny in Pennsylvania, espe- 
cially near Cole Grove, in McKean County. 


Henry W. Fow er. 
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, 
PHILADELPHIA. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES. 


THE BRAIN OF THE HISTOLOGIST AND PHYSIOLOGIST 
OTTO C. LOVEN. 


Proressor Lovén, the Swedish histologist 
and physiologist who will be best remembered 
for his discoveries of the endings of the taste- 
fibers in the papille of the tongue of mammals, 
as well as of the vaso-dilator nerves, had ex- 
pressed it as his wish that his brain be pre- 
served after death and studied by his friend 
and associate, Gustaf Retzius. 

With characteristic care and skill Professor 
Retzius has just published his studies upon 
Lovén’s brain in Biologische Untersuchungen, 
Vol. XII., 1905. The brain exhibits a richness 
of fissures and these are marked by a superior 
degree of tortuousness and ramification. The 
subparietal region is very complex in its sur- 
face configuration, while the central (motor) 
regions are only moderately developed. The 
cortical centers for speech and language for- 
mation are notably large, and Professor 
Retzius brings this fact into relation with 
Professor Lovén’s notable powers of clear, ex- 
act and logical expressions of thought in 
words; less so in the way of oratorical finesse 
than in the talented use of the best and most 
adequate expressions. The weight of the 
brain is not given in this report though its 
size is said by Retzius to have been well above 
the average. Epw. AnTHoNy SPITZKa. 


APPLES INJURED BY SULPHUR FUMIGATION. 

RECENTLY some injured Esopus Spitzenburg 
apples were received at the New York Experi- 
ment Station with a request to diagnose the 
trouble. They were of the first grade, each 
fruit wrapped in paper, and packed in a bushel 
box. The financial loss was important, as a 


JuNnr 30, 1905.) 


considerable amount of high priced fruit had 
been ruined. 

Scattered irregularly over the surface of 
each apple were conspicuous spots of various 
sizes where the epidermis was dead, discolored 
and slightly sunken. Each spot was nearly 
circular, though on some apples the adjacent 
spots had coalesced, forming a large affected 
area of irregular shape. Beneath each spot 
to a depth of a few millimeters, the flesh was 
dead, shrunken and dry, appearing as though 
affected with a dry rot. There was no dis- 
agreeable odor or taste to the dead flesh or 
epidermis. 

In the center of each of the smaller spots, 
and scattered over the larger affected areas, 
were small bodies resembling the pyenidia of 
a fungus, but examination showed them to be 
only the normal lenticels of the apples. 

Failure to find either fungi or bacteria as a 
cause of the injury led to the belief that some 
treatment of the fruit, such as fumigation, 
might be a cause. Sulphur, being commonly 
used for fumigation, was experimented with 
to note the effects of the fumes upon ripe 
apples. Fruits of different varieties including 
Esopus Spitzenburg were placed in a bell jar 
which was then filled with sulphur fumes. 
After five minutes the fruit was removed and 
found to have developed numerous spots that 
were in every way identical with those on the 
apples received for examination. 

This experiment was repeated many times 
with wet and with dry fruits, but the charac- 
teristic spots were always produced. The 
spots continued to enlarge for some time after 
the fruits were removed from the fumes. 

The presence of a lenticel in the center of 
each spot would indicate that the sulphur 
dioxid passes into the fruit at this point and 
causes the bleaching of the tissue. A similar 
effect was produced where an artificial break 
in the epidermis was made. A lenticel makes 
a strong color contrast with the bleached epi- 
dermis, thus giving it the appearance of a 
pyenidium. 

Sulphur was the only substance used in 
these experiments; it is possible that other 
chemicals would produce a similar injury. 


Geneva, N. Y. Hi. J. Husvace. 


SCIENCE. 


995 


THE FLOATING LABORATORY OF MARINE 
BIOLOGY OF TRINITY COLLEGE. 

ARTICLES of incorporation have been filed 
with the secretary of the state of Connecticut 
‘to establish and maintain a floating labora- 
tory of marine biology for exploration in 
oceanography and the collection and investiga- 
tion of the organisms of the sea; to supply 
colleges, museums and other institutions with 
material for investigation, study and exhibi- 
tion.’ 

A vessel of about ninety tons burden will 
be secured and equipped with the necessary 
dredges, trawles, tangles, tow-nets, etc., as 
well as chemical reagents and glassware for 
work in marine zoology and botany. When 
the boat is anchored in a protected harbor im- 
mediately it becomes a laboratory. The vessel, 
in sailing from place to place in the ocean, 
will furnish most favorable facilities for the 
investigation of the distribution and variation 
of organisms. On each expedition it is 
planned to stay in some particularly desirable 
locality for about one month so that problems 
of eytology, embryology and physiology may 
be undertaken. Competent preparators, art- 
ists and photographers will be on the staff so 
that not only museums and laboratories may 
be supplied with material, but an effort will 
be made to meet the specifications of investi- 
gators as to fixation and preservation, together 
with sketches, or photographs, of the organ- 
isms desired for their work. In going to a 
new region each summer large collections for 
research will be made year after year and it 
is hoped to greatly extend our knowledge of 
the local faunze and flore of the western At- 
lantic. 

In the early summer of 1906 the vessel will 
sail to the Bahamas. After a month in the 
sub-tropics the boat will weigh anchor for the 
eruise northward, making a harbor every hun- 
dred miles or so for the purpose of getting 
material for comparative studies. In the 
Bahama Islands the conditions are very fa- 
vorable for the most abundant and varied 
organisms since these islands are situated in 
the mouth of the Gulf Stream where it de- 
bouches between Florida and Cuba, bringing 
with it myriads of creatures caught up in the 


996 


wide cireuit of the current from the equator 
and through the Gulf of Mexico. The cli- 
mate, though warm, is agreeable in summer 
and usually keeps between 84° and 86°. The 
trade winds blow steadily, the waters are clear 
and the people honest and simple hearted. 
Biological investigators have already found 
the life there in summer both interesting and 
delightful. These healthful conditions are 
of great importance for northern men when 
working hard with both mind and body on the 
edge of the tropics. 

While this project centers in Trinity Col- 
lege, shares have been taken by those inter- 
ested in other institutions and it is in the 
largest way for the benefit of all investigators 
who care to take advantage of the opportuni- 
ties offered. CuHarues L. Epwarps. 


FEDERICO DELPINO. 


By the death, at the age of seventy-two, of 
Professor Federico Delpino, of the University 
of Naples, modern botany has lost one of its 
pioneers. For, according to Friedrich Lud- 
wig, a leading authority on the subject, the 
foundations of plant biology were laid by the 
publication in 1867 of Delpino’s ‘ Thoughts on 
Vegetable Biology, on Taxonomy and on the 
Taxonomic Value of Biological Characters.’ 

Born at Chiavari, in the province of Genoa, 
his childhood was largely passed in the garden 
of his father’s house, where he studied closely 
the habits of ants, bees and wasps and suc- 
ceeded in discovering the mode in which the 
great blue-black bee, Xylocopa violacea, con- 
structs its nests. His education was the 
classical one usually given to an Italian boy 
of that day, and his employment for nearly 
ten subsequent years was in the routine of 
the custom house. 

About 1864 a friend called Delpino’s atten- 
tion to the account of an English observer of 
the manner in which a Ligurian orchid was 
pollinated by Xylocopa. Delpino at once re- 
plied to his friend that there should be a 
similar apparatus in the flowers of the As- 
clepiadacee and he hastened to Chiavari to 
verify this prophecy. Here he quickly found 
the Xylocopa in the act of pollinating the 
flowers of a magnificent Brazilian asclepiad. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Vou. XXT. No. 548. 


The discovery of the relation between this 
plant and its insect visitor was a turning point 
in Delpino’s career, for the paper which he 
promptly published at once put him into rela- 
tions with the botanical world and marked the 
beginning of a long series of brilliant re- 
searches. Becoming a professional botanist, 
Delpino taught successively in the universities 
of Genoa, of Bologna and of Naples. 

His predominant interest was always in the 
relations between plants and animals, but he 
made valuable researches and thought pro- 
foundly on other departments of botany, at- 
tacking problems as far away from his chosen 
subject as phyllotaxy and plant geography. 

As a university professor Delpino was prob- 
ably more feared than loved by his students. 
No member of the first class which took the 
final examination in botany at the University 
of Naples after Delpino’s assumption of the 
instruction in that department will ever for- 
get the wholesale manner in which the failures 
were recorded. His manner, too, would im- 
press one who met him for the first time as 
somewhat ascetic. But an experience of al- 
most ten years, of the unvarying courtesy with 
which Pr’}-:ssur Delpino, in frail health and 
loaded wit arches of his own, would re- 
spond to every demand for an opinion leads 
the writer to remember him as no less typical 
an Italian gentleman than he was an ideal 
scholar. J. Y. BERGEN. 

NAPLES, 

May 26, 1905. 


THE AMERICAN MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 


Tue twenty-seventh annual meeting of the 
American Microscopical Society will be held 
at Cedar Point (Sandusky), Ohio, on July 5, 
6, 7 and 8, 1905. The society will be the 
guest of the Ohio Lake Laboratory under the 
direction of Professor Herbert Osborn of Ohio 
State University who has placed at the dis- 
posal of the meeting all the facilities of the 
laboratory and who is planning excursions and 
collecting trips to demonstrate the rich fauna 
and flora of this region. The meetings will 
be held in the laboratory with the exception of 
the president’s address which will be given in 
Sandusky. 


JUNE 30, 1905.] 


The general outline of the program shows 
that Wednesday morning is devoted to busi- 
ness, the afternoon to the reading of papers 
and the evening to the address of the retiring 
president, Dr. Henry B. Ward, on ‘The Re- 
lations of Animals to Disease.’ Thursday’s 
program is especially devoted to medical zool- 
ogy, the morning being given to papers and 
the afternoon to a symposium, led by the presi- 
dent, on animal parasites, their effects on the 
hosts, with demonstrations of specimens and 
microphotographs, and discussion. This even- 
ing the society will be tendered a reception. 
Friday the program includes papers and a 
symposium on fresh water biology, led by Dr. 
R. H. Wolcott, covering the field of limnobiol- 
ogy. The evening will be spent on the beach 
and Saturday will be devoted to excursions. 

Summer tourist rates make Sandusky an 
easy place to reach from all points, and the new 
hotel, ‘The Breakers,’ which has been selected 
as headquarters, insures satisfactory accom- 
modations. There will be at the meeting 
demonstrations of apparatus and specimens 
both by firms and individuals. Persons haying 
specimens or photomicrographs of parasites 
and other forms which they may wish to show 
can send them to headquarters in care of the 
officers and they will be duly presented and 
returned at the close of the meeting. 


COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY AND DR. R. S. 
WOODWARD. 

Ar its recent commencement exercises, Co- 
lumbia University conferred the degree of 
doctor of science on Dr. R. S. Woodward, 
formerly professor of mechanics and mathe- 
matical physics, and now president of the 
Carnegie Institution of Washington. He was 
presented by Professor Edmund B. Wilson, 
head of the department of zoology and Dr. 
Woodward’s successor as dean of the faculty 
of pure science, who said: “It is a rare dis- 
tinction to have attained a position of com- 
manding eminence at once in scientific dis- 
covery, in scientific teaching, and in the direc- 
tion of scientific and educational affairs. It 
is my privilege to present for the honorary 
degree of doctor of science one whose many- 
sided achievement has written his name high 


SCIENCE. 


997 


on the rolls of fame for all of these—Robert 
Simpson Woodward, for many years the hon- 
ored and beloved dean of the faculty of pure 
science, and now president of the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington. In a distin- 
guished service of more than twenty years 
under the national government, as engineer 
of the lake survey, astronomer and chief 
geographer of the Geological Survey and as- 
sistant on the Coast and Geodetic Survey, his 
varied and profound researches won for him 
a secure place in the front rank of those who 
have successfully grappled with the great 
problems of astronomy and geophysics. For 
twelve years a professor at Columbia, his work 
as teacher and investigator in the fields of 
mechanics and mathematical physics has of- 
fered a model of lofty ideals and exacting 
standards to his fellow students, whether those 
whom he taught or those who taught with him. 
As dean of the faculty of pure science he has 
served Columbia with a conspicuous devotion, 
loyalty and success that will not be forgotten. 
His has been the leadership not alone of the 
eminent scholar and wise counselor, but of 
the trusted friend, and his example has taught 
once again the lesson, greater than any in his 
own large and difficult field of scholarship, 
that the cause of learning may be advanced 
as much by the quality of the man as by the 
achievement of the man of science. As presi- 
dent of the New York Academy of Sciences, 
of the American Mathematical Society and 
of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, he has been the far-seeing 
and eloquent spokesman of science to his fel- 
lows. He has now been called to a place of 
leadership in organized scientific inquiry for 
which history can not show a parallel. Co- 
lumbia bids him godspeed, and gladly pays 
her tribute of honor to one whose life and 
work have been an honor to her.” 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

Tue American Chemical Society met last 
week at Buffalo under the presidency of 
Francis C. Venable, of the University of 
North Carolina. 

THE seventh annual meeting of the Astro- 
nomical and Astrophysical Society of America 


998 


will be held in New York City, December 27- 
28, 1905. 

Dr. Wittiam Oster has been made honorary 
professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins 
University. Oxford University has conferred 
on Dr. Osler the honorary doctorate of medi- 
cine. 


Tue University of Michigan has conferred 
its doctorate of laws on President Henry S. 
Pritchett, of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, and the doctorate of science on 
Professor W. W. Campbell, director of the 
Lick Observatory. 

Dr. Epuarp STRASBURGER, professor of bot- 
any at Bonn, has been awarded the gold medal 
of the Linnean Society of London. 


Tue Society of Arts has awarded its Albert 
medal to Lord Rayleigh, “in recognition of 
the influence which his researches, directed 
to the increase of scientific knowledge, have 
had upon industrial progress, by facilitating, 
amongst other scientific applications, the pro- 
vision of accurate electrical standards, the 
production of improved lenses and the de- 
velopment of apparatus for sound signaling 
at sea.” 

Dr. Henry H. Donaupson, since 1892 pro- 
fessor of neurology at the University of Chi- 
cago, has been elected professor of neurology 
at the Wistar Institute of Anatomy, Phila- 
delphia, having been selected for this position 
by the advisory board of the institute, consist- 
ing of .leading American anatomists. Dr. 
Donaldson will assume his new duties at the 
institute on October 1, 1905, and will be at 
the institute during January, February and 
March. This arrangement will continue for 
two years, when Dr. Donaldson will be per- 
manently transferred to the institute. Every 
effort will be put forth to establish a strong 
corps of neurological workers, as neurology 
will be the field to which the institute will 
devote its first attention. An assistant to 
Dr. Donaldson will be selected by the ad- 
visory board. 

THE departmental committee appointed by 
the British Board of Agriculture and Fisheries 
to inquire into the nature and causes of grouse 
disease has made the following appointments: 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 548. 


C. G. Seligmann, Ph.D., bacteriologist to the 
Zoological Society of London, as bacteriologist 
to the commission; A. E. Shipley, M.A, 
F.R.S., lecturer on advanced morphology of 
the invertebrata to the University of Cam- 
bridge, as expert on the subject of internal 
parasites; H. Hammond Smith, M.D., as as- 
sistant bacteriologist and additional field ob- 
server; George Clay Muirhead, B.Sc., as field 
observer. 

Sir ArcurBaLD GEIKIE will give the Huxley 
lecture at Birmingham in 1906. 


Oxrorp University has conferred the hon- 
orary degree of doctor of science on Professor 
E. Ray Lancaster, director of the Natural His- 
tory Museum, London. 


Tue University of Wales will confer the 
degree of doctor of science on Sir John Will- 
iams, emeritus professor of midwifery at Uni- 
versity College, London, and the degree of 
doctor of letters on Dr. Henry Jones, professor 
of moral philosophy at the University of 
Glasgow. 


Ar the commencement and dedicatory exer- 
cises of Washington University, St. Louis, 
June 15, the degree of doctor of laws was con- 
ferred on Professor William G. Raymond, dean 
of the College of Applied Science, State Uni- 
versity of Iowa. 


Cotcate University has conferred the de- 


‘gree of doctor of laws on Professor A. S. Bick- 


more, in charge of the department of public 
instruction of the American Museum of Nat- 
ural History. 

ComMaNnpeR R. E. Peary, U.S.N., expects 


to sail for the Arctic regions on his new ship 
The Roosevelt on July 4. 


M. Jean Cuarcor has returned to Paris 
from his explorations in the Antarctic regions. 
He was expected to lecture before the Société 
de Geographie on June 16 and before the 
Royal Geographical Society on June 26. 


Proressor GerorGE FREDERICK WRIGHT, of 
Oberlin College, will make a geological ex- 
pedition to southern Russia, returning in 
January. 


THE regents of the University of Wisconsin 
have granted Professor Wm. H. Hobbs leave 


JUNE 30, 1905!) 


of absence for the coming academic year. He 
will spend some time in study with Professor 
Ed. Suess at Vienna and with Freiherr Ferdi- 
nand yon Richthofen in Berlin, in addition 


to carrying out some geological work in the 
field. 


Durine the summer of 1905, members of 
the geologic, topographic and hydrographic 
corps of the United States Geological Survey 
will be at work in forty-four states and five 
territories. Mr. C. W. Hayes will have gen- 
eral supervision of field and office work of the 
division of geology and paleontology, but the 
investigations in paleontology and _ stratig- 
raphy will be specially supervised by Mr. T. 
W. Stanton, those in petrology by Mr. Whit- 
man Cross, those of metalliferous ore deposits 
by Mr. S. F. Emmons, those in physiographic 
and glacial geology by Mr. G. K. Gilbert, 
those of pre-Cambrian and metamorphic rocks 
by Mr. C. R. Van Hise. The field and office 
work of the eastern topographic branch will 
be supervised by Mr. H. M. Wilson, the work 
of the western topographic branch by Mr. E. 
M. Douglas. Topographic mapping will be 
under field and office inspection of Mr. J. H. 
Renshawe. The supervision of field and office 
work of the division of triangulation and 
computing will be in charge of Mr. S. S. Gan- 
nett. Mr. F. H. Newell will have general 
supervision over the work of the hydrographic 
branch, but the investigations in hydro-eco- 
nomics will be specially supervised by Mr. 
M. O. Leighton, those in hydrology in the 
eastern states by Mr. M. L. Fuller and in the 
western states by Mr. N. H. Darton. The 
work of measuring streams will be directed 
by Mr. N. C. Grover. 

Mr. Le Roy Aprams, A.B., A.M. (Stanford), 
who has held a fellowship in botany in Colum- 
bia University during the present year, has 
been appointed assistant curator in the divi- 
sion of plants of the United States National 
Museum. 


Witiramw F. Kirxpatrick has been appointed 
assistant botanist in the North Carolina Col- 
lege of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. 

Dr. J. Patt Goong, of the University of 
Chicago, gave an address on ‘ Forest Conser- 


SCIENCE. 


999 


vation,’ before the Federation of Women’s 
Clubs of Kentucky, at Cynthiana, on June 9. 
At the close of the address a State Forestry 
Association was organized, with Hon. Robert 
Worth Bingham, of Louisville, president, Mr. 
W. M. Reid, of Louisville, secretary, and Col. 
M. H. Crump, of Bowling Green, treasurer. 


THE annual meeting of the Society of Chem- 
ical Industry will open on July 10, at Uni- 
versity College, London, when the president, 
Dr. Wm. H. Nichols, will deliver an address. 


Tue faculty and students of the medical 
and dental departments of the George Wash- 
ington University have erected, in the main 
hall of the department of medicine, a bronze 
tablet to the memory of their late dean and 
professor of chemistry and toxicology, Dr. 


Emil Alexander de Schweinitz. 


A MONUMENT in honor of Professor Tarnier 
was unveiled in Paris, on June 1, and handed 
over to the city by Professor Brouardel. The 
British Medical Journal states that the monu- 
ment—which is a high relief by the well-known 
sculptor, Denys-Pusch—represents Tarnier, in 
the blouse and apron he wore in hospital, 
standing at the bedside of a mother who holds 
her infant in her arms, whilst at the head of 
the bed is indicated an incubator. An elegant 
portico by the architect Scellier, of Gison, 
serves as a frame to the marble, and this decor- 
ates the rounded end of the Clinique Tarnier, 
which faces the Boulevard Montparnasse at 
the junction of the Rue d’Assas and the 
Avenue de l’Observatoire. Above the sculp- 
ture are the words ‘ Tarnier, 1828-1897,’ while 
below is the inscription, ‘To the Master, who 
devoted his life to the mothers and infants: 
his colleagues, his pupils, his friénds, his ad- 
mirers.’ 

THe deaths are announced of Dr. Franz 
Pless, emeritus professor of chemistry at Lem- 
berg, at the age of eighty-six years, and of Dr. 
A. A. Stuckenberg, professor of geology at 
Kasan. 


THERE will be a New York state civil ser- 
vice examination, on July 19, to fill the posi- 
tion of chief of the Bureau of Statistics and 
Information of the Department of Agriculture, 
with a salary of $1,500; and of assistant in 


1000 


photographic chemistry in the Cancer Labora- 
tory at Buffalo, at a salary of $720. 


A NEW pharmacological Institute. has been 
opened at Vienna under the direction of Pro- 
fessor Mayer. } 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 
Tue Ontario legislature is expected to pro- 
vide $500,000 for Toronto University, part of 
which will be used for a university hospital. 


Mrs. E. C. Tuayer, of Keene, N. H., has 
given $50,000 to Brown University for general 
purposes. 


Mrs. Tuomas F. Ryan has given $50,000 
to Georgetown University towards the cost of 
the new gymnasium. 


Dran W. N. Powx, of the Cornell Medical 
College, has given $15,000 for the establish- 
ment of John Metcalf Polk memorial prizes 
for medical students. 


Two traveling scholarships of the value of 
$1,500 each have been established at the Uni- 
versity of Paris for women who intend to 
become teachers. 


Tue formal dedication of the new physical 
laboratory at Purdue University took place on 
May 20. The principal address was by Pro- 
fessor Henry S. Carhart, of the University 
of Michigan, his subject being ‘Some Leaders 
in Physical Science.’ 


Tue School of Applied Science of the State 
University of Iowa has been reorganized into 
a college, and the present director of the 
school, Professor William G. Raymond, has 
been made dean. A new fireproof building is 
being erected, and is expected to be in service 
before the end of this year. Contract has 
just been let for the building of a dam across 
the Iowa River below the university grounds. 
This dam, besides providing a sheet of slack 
water about two miles long on which the uni- 
versity borders, will provide power for the 
institution, and for experimental purposes, 
and will have constructed near one end a 
canal across which removable dams of various 
sections will be placed for the study of flow 
over such structures. 


SCIENCE. 


[N.S. Von. XXI. No. 548. 


THE Rev. Dr. Herbert Walsh Welch has 
been installed as president of the Ohio Wes- 
leyan University. 


Proressor E. B. Lovett, of Columbia Uni- 
versity, has declined the call to be dean of the 
College of Civil Engineering of Cornell Uni- 
versity, owing to the fact that certain alumni 
have objected to the appointment. 


Proressor CHartes G. Rockwoop has be- 
come professor emeritus of mathematics at 
Princeton University. 


Proressor Grorce W. Priympton, head ‘of 
the department of civil engineering in the 
Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, will retire 
at the end of the academic year. 


At the Johns Hopkins University Dr. 
Florence R. Sabin has been promoted to be 
associate professor of anatomy. Other ap- 
pointments in the medical faculty are: Dr. 
William S. Baer, associate in orthopedic sur- 
gery; Dr. Thomas R. Boggs, associate in 
medicine; Dr. Charles H. Bunting, associate 
in pathology; Dr. Richard H. Follis, associate 
in surgery; Dr. William W. Ford, associate 
in bacteriology; Dr. J. Morris Slemons, as- 
sociate in obstetrics; Dr. George Walker, 
associate in surgery; Dr. J. Hall Pleasants, 
instructor in medicine; Dr. Francis C. Golds- 
borough, assistant in obstetrics; Dr. Arthur 
W. Meyer, assistant in anatomy; Dr. Robert 
Retzer, assistant in anatomy, and Dr. George 
H. Whipple, assistant in pathology. The two 
university fellows in pathology and physiology 
are Drs. Ernest K. Cullen and J. A. E. Eyster. 

Mr. Wm. Harper Davis, instructor in phi- 
losophy and psychology at Lehigh University, 
has been elected assistant professor, in charge 
of the department. 

Dr. E. L. Norton, of the University of 
Wisconsin, has been appointed instructor in 
philosophy at Adelbert College. 


APPOINTMENTS at Yale University have been 
made as follows: Seth E. Moody, Howard D. 
Newton, Carl O. Johns and Paul M. Butter- 
field, assistants in chemistry; Dr. C. B. Rice, 
instructor in applied electricity; Luther C. 
Weeks, assistant in mathematics; Philip H. 
Mitchell, assistant in physiological chemistry. 


SCIENCE.—ADVERTISEMENTS. Vv 


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The Meeting of the American Historical Association at 
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Infra-red Absorption Spectra, II. 
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Parr I. takes up the consecutive experimental development of the principles upon which systematic 
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Parr II. discusses the properties of elements and their compounds in accordance with a modification of 
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The Insulation of Electric Machines = xnav 


BY «This is the first book to be published on this most important 
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HARRY W. TURNER al apparatus, as nine-tenths of the ultimate breakdowns in elec- 
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The Bahama Islands 


Edited by GEORGE BURBANK SHATTUCK, Ph.D., 
Assistant Professor of Physiographie Geology in the Johns Hopkins University. 


With 92 plates, of which 25 are color-allustrations of vegetation, fishes, maps ; 


also map and diagrams. 
32 + 630 p. Royal Quarto, il., cl., $10.00 net. 


‘The Bahama Islands’’ is issued as the first monograph of the Geographical 
Society of Baltimore. In June, 1903, the Society equipped and sent out to the 
Bahama Islands a scientific expedition under the direction of Dr. George B. Shattuck 
of the Johns Hopkins University. Investigations were carried on in Geology, Paleon- 
tology, Tides, Earth Magnetism, Climate, Kite-flying in the Tropics for atmospheric 
observations, Agriculture, Botany, Mosquitoes, Fishes, Reptiles, Birds, Mammals, 
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from original records in possession of the government. The book contains chapters 
on each of these subjects. The chapter on Geology is written by Dr. George B. 
Shattuck of the Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Benjamin LeRoy Miller of 
Bryn Mawr College ; that on Paleontology by Dr. Wm. H. Dall, U. 8. National 
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vill SCIENCE.—ADVERTISEMENTS. 


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